WEEK 2 TRIAL

[probe]

POPULATION: 28

Rise and shine, little sinners. Did you rest well? Hope you weren't too perturbed by the events of the day before. Things seem to be perfectly normal throughout your morning, but at 12pm, everyone will receive a mass text message to their phone.

Proceed to the conference room.

Whether you agree or disagree, soon you will find yourself physically moving toward the conference room on the bottom floor, filing into the room and taking a seat in one of the vacant chairs. Two metal boxes sit at the end of each table along with a collection of pens and colored notecards. At the head of the room, Greed, Wrath, Despair and Sloth patiently wait as the TV above them displays a message.

Victims: Vlad Masters, Steven A Starphase, Luca Valentino

Once the last participant enters the room, the door will swing closed behind them and lock them inside.

Greed is seated at the end of the table with a series of papers in their hands. Wrath is sitting sideways in a chair, leaning against Despair, feet in Greed's lap, with their phone out, taking selfies. Despair seems to be holding still to allow this. Sloth is dead asleep, head down on the table and snoring. When some of the last few people enter, they startle awake suddenly with a yelp which gets everyone's attention.

"Ahh, I'm up! Wow, it's time already?! You guys have 9 long hours to figure everything out!"

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Hello, and welcome to your third trial! Over the course of the next nine hours, characters will have the opportunity to discuss, investigate and theorize about the events of the day before! While mini-investigations were held yesterday, today is the day characters will have time to examine the body of the victim and explore relevant locations.

There will be a mod-tag break between 4pm EST/1pm PST to 5pm EST/2pm PST. While the trial may continue and players can tag each other, mod-led threads such as questions and investigations will be on hold.

Finally, while voting is not mandatory, we do have a voting page should characters wish to vote! Please be sure that your vote is in by the time trial finishes (9pm EST/6pm PST) if you wish to vote.

Good luck, and have fun!

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Comments

[maelstroms]

I'm not friendly but I haven't done much to earn anyone's ire to that degree, as far as I know, besides Vlad's sulking after I threatened him. [ Because, like, he did. ] It wouldn't surprise me if it was opportunistic.

[toesies]

We were in the same room as Vlad, I guess... Unless it turns out it's connected to one of the other guys.

[maelstroms]

Mm, three dead does make it all the more complicated. If someone was in the garden... Vlad is the most likely, but I wouldn't rule out the other two. We'll have to figure out where their bodies have connections, I guess, and go from there.

[ hate it ]

[liuli]

It could be similar to last week. After all, Grell made a public showing of stirring the pot during execution the week before, and turned up dead. Vlad, though doubtfully intentionally, irritated you during execution. I can see where this person's logic may have been.

[ a snort. ] Not that it was good logic, all things considered. [ what kind of a frame job. ]

[maelstroms]

[ He makes a bit of a face. ]

If he kept flapping his mouth, maybe I would have been more inclined. But he wasn't worth my time after that. [ More important things to worry about. ] I can also understand the logic, even if it's not particularly good logic, so maybe it's not someone very bright.

[ ope there's some of the dry deadpan ]

[liuli]

That's the spirit.

[ lol you're kinda funny, god man ]

[maelstroms]

Considering the way we chase our asses, that could be anyone.

[ lmao ]

[shiftingwinds]

Actually, there's something I was thinking about...

[this is just late because mY WORK PHONE WON'T SHUT UP]

Vlad messaged me out of the blue to ask where I was staying on Thursday night. It... struck me as a little strange, but I thought maybe he didn't have anyone else to ask, so I told him. [...] He did say, though, that it was in case anything happened.

So... since you and I have been together each week so far, Ming-xiong, do you think maybe he wanted to stay where you were just in case he woke up...? Then he could have taken your shovel to try to defend himself.

[maelstroms]

It's a possibility. [ He won't rule it out. ] Ever since you told me to start taking the shovel with me, when we were locked in with Molly, Harrow, and Beau, I've had it. Everyone's seen me with it. It's a guaranteed weapon, whether for a murderer to use or for a victim to defend themselves with.

Finding himself in a large group, maybe he felt that it would be safety in numbers with a means of defense.

This doesn't explain my boots, but we'll get there. Theories won't hurt while we wait for evidence.

[shiftingwinds]

...

[well, she's not going to say he shouldn't carry his shovel because she absolutely wants him to have a means of defense if someone comes after him, so - ]

Ahaha... if that's the case, maybe we shouldn't go to the same place anymore, so it's not so easy for people to figure out where you are.

[toyska]

[She's trying to be considerate, which is fair, but--]

I'm not sure how much that would help, really. If he's outside of his room when the doors lock, whoever is awake could simply wander at their leisure to find him anyway.

[Since the rest of them get forced hibernation and all.]

[shiftingwinds]

...you're right about that.

[mmmmgh. hate it!]

[headmt]

This makes me believe Vlad had planned this. Or had a plan to defend himself with someone else's weapon, had it come down to it.

[chevaleros]

...Given the voting results every week thus far, it wouldn't surprise me if he was preparing himself for this.

[ wow we hate vlad so much ]

[shiftingwinds]

He did seem to think that someone - or, perhaps, multiple someones - had it out for him...

[sengokus]

[ . . . ]

Yeah. He drank himself into a stupor last week after trial, all grouchy. I'm guessing it's 'cause he got second again even though he didn't really do much.

I wouldn't say he was preparing... but he could tell he was unpopular.

[shiftingwinds]

[


and now he's dead.]

Aaah... what a mess.

[chevaleros]

Indeed... [ was he really killed for being unpopular? was kaz killed for being annoying? our murder standards ] In any case, it could make sense that he didn't want to be caught off-guard or alone. But we'll see once we find the shovel.

[sengokus]

It is.

But... well, we can start putting stuff together. I know that Vlad-san was with you both, but there's also where Luca-san was staying with Leclerc-san, right?

Does anyone know where Starphase-san was? I think we should check all the rooms that we know they started from.

[headmt]

He complained to me about his 2nd place finish at the Tamaki trial rather loudly.

[gamerbrain]

He talked to Aoi about it, too.

He just wanted to be liked.

[sengokus]

[nods]

Yeah, he was bummed. Though to be fair, I would too if I was just trying to help and I got dogpiled on. [is this why mineo defends white so much]

But either way, I think people are getting the idea of who's unpopular and might be targeting them on purpose. But that's just a theory, and only counts for Vlad-san this week.

[liuli]

That was definitely why. [ vlad your drinking. ]

We had also just come back from our little adventure, right before the doors locked. Most of Vlad's injuries were healed, as far as I remember, but it would certainly be a reason to be jumpy.

[toesies]

People kept voting for him even after we learned about the executions, so... It wouldn't surprise me if he did come up with a plan.

[shiftingwinds]

Right... I can almost understand voting for him before we knew what it would do... [but only almost] But doing it even after that, when we have the option not to?

That feels like crossing a line.