WEEK 1 - Trial

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (1)

saturday TRIAL DAY ONE (40) survivors At 9 AM, a klaxon alarm begins blaring in every area of the ship. The alarm will continue to go off until everyone has gathered in the conference room. Should anyone be running late or avoiding the trial for whatever reason, a robot guide will appear wherever they are and gently but firmly escort them into the room. Once all the living players are present, the conference room doors will lock shut; anyone who wishes to leave for whatever reason will need to ask AL-2955 or one of the robots. Anyone leaving for non-investigative purposes, such as bathroom breaks, will be accompanied by a robot escort. The large round table in the center of the conference room has been set up to help the trial run as smoothly as possible. Three holographic screens hover above the center hollow of the table, visible from every angle. The first screen displays the pictures and profiles of the suspects and victim; the second displays the autopsy report; the third displays a blank word processor. Each of the chairs comes equipped with a virtual keyboard which can be used to type information directly into the third screen, such as theories and updated information; they can also be set into privacy mode, which will transfer whatever notes someone writes directly into their datapad instead of on screen. There's also a tablet function for those who wish to draw charts or pictures on screen. The keyboards will detect the DNA of whoever's using them and record who's typed what - simply press an area of text and the name of whoever wrote it will pop up. The area to the right of the table has been temporarily sectioned off with a glass partition and sliding door for hygienic issues. Inside, the victim's body has been laid out on a metal autopsy table, covered by a plastic sheet. Above it is a holographic screen that displays a close-up color photograph of the body when it was found. A hand sanitizer dispenser has been considerately attached to the wall nearby for anyone getting up close and personal to the body. To the left of the conference table is a display case. Any evidence found during the investigation will be carefully collected by the robots at some point the previous day and placed here before the trial starts. Beneath each piece of evidence is a small tablet where players can type up information, such as a short description or where it was found. There are also empty areas left over for any evidence that may be found during the trial. The shelf at the very bottom of the case has been reserved for an extra rulebook in case anyone needs it. Food will be served throughout the day by the robots, who will take individual orders whenever you're feeling hungry. At 7PM, the trial will adjourn for the day. All players will be escorted by the robots into the cafeteria. From there, they're free to head into the lounge, the viewing deck, the chapel, or back to their rooms. All other areas of the ship have been locked off, and every player will be accompanied by a robot until they return to their room for the night. Any attempts to enter a locked off room or physically interfere with the trial or evidence outside of their room will cause the robot to raise a ship-wide alarm.

victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Rulebook
Voting

Comments

[tevinteriscoming]

Well done! That's at least as likely as anything else to be the weapon.

[socloverit]

[PREENS she's always here for other people's approval]

But if it's...uh, Callie's key like Dave said it might be, it's kind of weird that she got killed with her own knife, right?

[antietam]

She might have been carrying it around. Possibly pulled it out to defend herself?

[chiseler]

Not that weird. Not if she was gonna use it to try and defend herself first, or at least make it look a little less suspicious on the killer's part.

[brooches]

I hate to sound morbid but -

[ Elizabeth knows nothing of the girl but she has read enough books to understand that twists usually happen near the end. A big reveal. ]

Could she have been up to no good herself..? I haven't spoken with her and I'm sure she was a lovely woman but... The Daycare was in disarray when I arrived, so we may be looking at this in the wrong perspective.

[breakshot]

That wouldn't be too far-fetched a possibility. It could explain the use of medical ointment, if the one who killed her somehow got defensive wounds in the process.

[brooches]

Nothing is far-fetched now.

[ She hates this, she really does. ]

The person may have been fearful of prosecution or from our reactions...

[deformity]

That's... what I was thinking. [ And the troubled look on his face says he really doesn't like thinking it. ] It's rather strange isn't it? That the killer would stab her in the front? And not in the heart or, well, under the ribs and to the heart either. I'm no expert, but we do use the phrase "backstabbing" for a reason. You would think that the killer would want to catch their victim unaware.

[bloodbiter]

It could have been taken from her if she had it on her person.

[muties]

Not really. It makes sense, and the killer probs figured it was better since it wouldn't trace back to them. They just had to take it from her.

[socloverit]

[damn you guys were right on that]

Okay, yeah, that all makes sense... So there was probably a fight, and the ballpit must have been popped then, right? [the true victim] And during that fight the killer got the knife away from her. Either she was trying to defend herself, or maybe she provoked the fight...

[tevinteriscoming]

A thought.

Your brother wrote that the mechanism to change the key into a knife was not easy to discover. Correct? And her card also describes the item as a key, not a knife.

[brooches]

Which, excuse me if I sound presumptive, makes sense with the theory that she initiated the brawl in the Daycare. Could this be self defense?

[tevinteriscoming]

It's certainly possible. At the least, the killer must have seen the key used as a knife before attacking; otherwise, how could they know?

[qundercover]

Most folks don't set out to kill someone without a weapon of their own. Shit, I'd call that the first step. Sounds like either she started it, or they came prepared. Probably wouldn't have bothered to hide the weapon if they didn't know it had something to do with the murder too.

[tevinteriscoming]

That's interesting as well. The killer knew how to turn the weapon back into a key. So they must have seen it as a key at some point.

[bloodbiter]

Perhaps she only turned it from a key into a knife once she saw them and determined they would be a viable target, and the killer witnessed her doing so. After all, she wouldn't want to be seen carrying a knife around before finding a victim - it would make her look extremely suspicious.

[tevinteriscoming]

True, it's possible. I've no idea whether there are other explanations, but the order of events seems important, yes?

[bloodbiter]

Although... It has been noted how the wounds were made rather cleanly. You would think that if someone was acting solely in self defense to stop her from taking their own life, they would at least be a bit uneven, wouldn't you? If they were in a situation where haste was required...

[socloverit]

Right. I didn't even notice, he was the one who found the spot where it opened after I gave it to him. So it's obviously, like, a secret knife.

[tevinteriscoming]

Then it's quite unlikely that, if the killer had taken the key from Callista with her unaware, they would have known to use it as a knife.

[deformity]

But if we turn the situation around and Callista was the one with killing intent, then it makes a bit more sense.

Like you said, it's unlikely that the person who used it knew what to do with it -- or that it was a knife at all -- unless it was already in knife form when they first saw it. Which brings to question why Callista had her knife out in the first and... [ He tilts his head. ] why the person who killed her didn't have a weapon planned. Unless, of course, they weren't planning on anything of the sort that night.

[tayu]

So--why'd they go to the daycare first of all places?

[Was Callista just looking for a good victim? But why there....did she call someone there?]

[deformity]

I'm don't know. That might be where we're missing something. Why were they there in the first place? No matter who is the victim or the killer is in this case, we don't really have an answer to that question, do we...

Do you think we should make another trip to the daycare?

[tayu]

[She's not sure it would help at this point......]

For now, let's look at what we've got.

[For example--]

The state of the scene, the state of the body, and where the daycare is, for instance. [And why they'd be there, but...that's a tougher start.]