week five: trial

[cyclists]

Week Five: Trial
18 in Competition

It may be difficult to sleep with the light shining so brightly throughout the night, but the participants can rest easy knowing they will not be plagued by unwanted, disturbing dreams. Early the next day, a bell chimes and all will feel compelled to enter the main meeting hall.

The hall looks mostly the same as it always has, the two thrones for Lune and Sol at the head of the room and scrolls hanging from the walls. The metal box sits on a table near the front, along with the glass boxes perfectly centered before the benches in the room. Now that the trial is in session, Shirasu, Lili, Miki and Minato's coffins are open, and their bodies will be available for examination.

Lune and Sol are seated in their thrones, patiently waiting for the last participant to settle. It's only when everyone has gathered that Sol speaks first.

"Nine hours. Don't forget."

They stop, glancing at Lune and gesturing for them to say their piece.

"Face the truth directly, and don't turn away from what you may find."

✩★✩

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the fifth trial!

We'll go over a few notes briefly as we will be playing this trial a bit differently than other games.

As noted, there was no investigation period on Friday. However, today participants will have the chance to investigate areas in the game setting as they see fit! This can be done by providing the name of the location you want to visit to the host header comment. To help with the ease of the trial and for IC mechanics, only one location may be visited at a time. In addition, these locations can be manipulated and adjusted upon request to test theories and solve puzzles, so please feel free to ask if you're searching for clues! Your host will also be accompanying you on these visits.

Most importantly, before the trial is over, please place your character's vote over on the voting page. Voting will close at 9pm EST/6pm PST, and will serve as our activity check for the week, so please be sure you get your vote in before it ends unless you have contacted us previously.

If you have any questions at any time, please let do us know by pinging us on Discord! Dana and Ty will be in the chat and available for all questions. Thank you, and have fun!

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Comments

extra crunchy princess

[televised]

Checked Lili's corpse. She has rope burns on her wrists from being bound by this— [She lifts a golden rope up, which is bloodied in certain parts.] And... Shark bites on her head and leg. Her leg, specifically, was nearly torn off from her body.

[Which is pleasant!]

I couldn't find any other injuries on her. Though I think... the blood loss from her injury got to her before she had a chance to drown to death. [Is that better or worse? Unsure.] It didn't look like she made it back to shore before she died, either. I found a pair of koto picks in her clothes, but the pin she usually wears is missing.

[The koto picks and rope will be available if anyone wants to take a closer look to them.]

[leaberator]

[ well since val AND shess aren't AROUND ]

That rope... That's Miki's.

[televised]

[...]

The one she got on Tuesday, right?

[leaberator]

Yeah. It's... It could temporarily contain the corruption in someone if you tied them up with it.

[televised]

And Lili was tied up with it.

[leaberator]

... And Sol confirmed one of the dead was corrupted.

[ what the fuck!! ]

[moonprisonpower]

At least it's consistent.

[ salt intensifies ]

[leaberator]

[ THE DARKNESS SUCKS #FUCKYOUDARKNESS ]

Great.

[moonprisonpower]

[ be original darkness :/ ]

Do we know how long the darkness was contained for with the rope?

[leaberator]

So long as they were tied with it, I think.

[televised]

If it was used by Miki, that would make Lili the one Sol was talking about.

[leaberator]

Someone took that rope off Miki. Either it was convenient, or... they knew how it worked.

[televised]

[...?]

How are you sure it was stolen?

[leaberator]

I'm not, but if Miki used it herself, who killed her?

[televised]

... Miki was covered in sand while Lili wasn't. That means— Did she make it to shore without drowning, and then got strangled?

[Why did one corpse make it to shore while the other didn't, basically.]

I assume the same person who killed Lili also killed Miki. But the difference in methods is bothering me.

[leaberator]

Like tying Lili up and feeding her to a shark, but strangling Miki and leaving her unbound? It doesn't make any sense.

[televised]

Exactly. The vision made it look like they were together around the time of the deaths, but if that's the case... Why the fuck are their deaths so different?

[leaberator]

If Lili was the one who was corrupted... how did they know?

[televised]

She didn't have any additional injuries on her. So I doubt they found out because she attacked her killer, first.

[leaberator]

That's another thing. Lili wouldn't have gone down without a fight, tied up or not.

[twinsightful]

[...yeah, he's worked out pretty much what Axel's worked out regarding how the rope works and why it's on Lili given he was told how the rope works, so he just. Stares.]

What do you mean the pin's missing? [Let's. Focus on that, clearly, instead of his partner being corrupted what the fuck.]

[televised]

Exactly what I said. It wasn't on her when I checked.

[twinsightful]

That doesn't make sense. She always had that on her. [He will fight whoever has it???]

...there's also the obvious question about the rope. How good were the knots?

[televised]

It could have fallen off while she was in the ocean, or... Someone took it with them before throwing her in.

[Either one is bad.]

Good enough that Lili couldn't slip out of them. I didn't have a lot of trouble undoing them, but they were nice and tight.

[twinsightful]

...then I don't know if it was Miki. That doesn't seem like her style. [But that's all he seems to say before he concedes and lets everyone else talk because this is now like an hour behind]