the first trial

[airlockedmods]

[With the announcement, the Champions are free to decide amongst themselves what order the groups leave in. Once that's done the process of teleporting is automatic and happens in the blink of an eye. Once second they're in the center of the cafeteria before a soft blue light surrounds them and then they're standing in the middle of a circle of podiums.

The room itself it the same shiny, chrome-covered atrocity as most of the rest of the ship save for the sections of floor that aren't the teleporter: those are thick clear glass that show nothing but empty space and stars beneath the Champions' feet. As for the podiums they're the same sort of garish chrome with a digital screen facing toward the center of the circle. The screens each have a name and title associated with a Champion written in green block letters, all save for Chitanda Eru, the Champion of Curiosity. Hers are a striking red and, floating above her podium, is a greyscale portrait framed in some kind of bold, mechanical-looking frame. She smiles out at the group, her eyes wide and sparkling even with the noticeable lack of color.

The Overseers are waiting when they all arrive, standing on a floating platform just high enough to be out of reach and back far enough toward a far wall to have a full view of the court room. Both are dressed in pressed black suits, standing straight and tall. It's hard to read their expressions clearly with the height but Jamie looks particularly rigid in his posture. Bolton, on the other hand, looks more at ease, though he's standing close to Jamie.]

Welcome, Champions, to the courtroom! Nineteen of you have entered, but - in the best case scenario - only eighteen of you will leave. The goal here is to compile the evidence that you've gathered and figure out who the killer is. Once you think you have an answer, we'll call a vote where you'll use the podium in front of you to vote on the title of the Champion who you all agree has broken the peace. If you're correct, the culprit will be executed and the rest of you will be allowed to go back upstairs. If you're wrong, however, the killer goes free and the rest of you take the punishment in their place.

There's no time limit, but remember - I hate being bored. Now let the first trial begin!

Comments

[tasteslikesurvival]

That...actually makes sense.

[decarded]

So he says, but a book on human biology wouldn't explain how to use a shower or a sink.

[tasteslikesurvival]

Actually--yeah, you're right. Anatomy isn't covered by that kind of thing!

[ratherdoweddings]

People like Thomasin-chan were from before indoor plumbing, too!

[fatherofsin]

No, but one with sufficient intelligence could get a good idea why they're made that way and avoid many an awkward question. So that's still some plausible deniability.

[decarded]

But when taken with the rest of the evidence, how far does that plausible deniability go?

[fatherofsin]

You'd be surprised at the coincidences I've encountered in my life. We need something actually definitive or it can be explained away, however unsatisfactory it is. Something that can't possibly be a number of coincidences. Because if you want to use literature, a number of us were studying varying things in the library. Even some of our medieval-minded could have learned enough to rig a miniature trebuchet with a battery to strengthen it.

[decarded]

If you have a better suspect, I'll be happy to turn my attention to them instead—but the evidence keeps coming back to Toby, again and again.

[fatherofsin]

To be entirely frank, we're not even sure this miniature trebuchet is what killed her. All we know is she was impaled with knives in the art room at night while working on a poster. Not how, or who, or even if this object has any true relation to the case. The only reason Toby is a suspect is because maybe someone used a model trebuchet as a weapon. There's not actually enough evidence either way.

[ Once he's calmed down a moment. ]

...We need to recreate the crime's events. Figure out if that is actually the murder weapon or not. Because we aren't even sure of that or if it was some object that got caught in the crossfire somehow.

[decarded]

...If the model wasn't the weapon, but instead something that was broken in the scuffle, that would explain why it was in pieces.

[Honestly... That seems more logical to Angelica, and would also explain why Toby keeps insisting that he didn't build that.]

[fatherofsin]

[ YEAH. ]

It also wouldn't be a very accurate weapon. While that would explain the knife in the wall, so would someone trained in combat throwing it hard enough. In fact, I'd half expect more knives in the wall if it were used unless someone knew how to force it to be more accurate.

[decarded]

Even putting that aside, it seems an odd choice for a weapon. A hard object and a slingshot would have been more effective, and simpler to make.

Though, having said that... I doubt even those of us skilled with knives would be able to embed a kitchen knife in the wall as deep as it apparently was, just by throwing it. Their weight isn't balanced for that, and they're flimsier than knives intended for combat. It seems likely that the speed and trajectory of the knives was assisted somehow, even if not by the trebuchet.

[tasteslikesurvival]

If that's the case why not try finding a book on engineering or architecture? Someone who makes a living off engineering could gleam enough from that.

[fatherofsin]

...It's entirely possible that they didn't have that, or those books were all in use at the time. We're going to need something definitive to make this stick.

[tasteslikesurvival]

That doesn't mean he couldn't have asked for those kinds of books first.

[fatherofsin]

Well, yes, I'm not denying that. But it's also not something that can't be chalked up to coincidence.

[damnfourthemerald]

Actually, we don't. We'll vote when we think we have the answer. There's going to be a vote whether we reconstruct the scene piece by piece or just wildly accuse. We could all just vote when we're reasonably sure. At no point did the Overseers suggest we had to prove anything.

[He's just pointing that out.]

[fatherofsin]

...Well, yes, but are you willing to gamble your life on circumstance?