WEEK TWO - Trial Day Two

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (2)

sunday TRIAL DAY TWO (38) 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. The trial will end at 9:00 PM, at which point all players will have been expected to cast their vote.

victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Rulebook
Voting

Comments

thoughts on timing and taken items

[tevinteriscoming]

Shall we discuss the timing?

We know Raleigh was killed between 4 and 4:45 in the afternoon, but even without the killing, our killer had a very busy Friday afternoon.

We've four out of five suspects who've had items go missing or be tampered with. Elizabeth lost a brooch, Todd lost a pair of shoes, and Tsukuyo her kunai. In the case of all three of them, the item likely went missing at some point on Friday. Todd wore his shoes Thursday, and Tsukuyo believes she would have taken stock of her items Thursday evening.

More interesting is Fiona, who was wearing her jacket until 3 PM on Friday. But according to Fiona's alibi, she was also in her room until about 4 PM. I think it rather unlikely the killer stole into her quarters while she was there. If all of that is accurate, the killer was in Fiona's quarters at some point between 4 and 4:45. It wouldn't shock me, however, if the killer entered all of the rooms which were tampered with around 4 PM or shortly before, perhaps with the exception of Elizabeth, as the office where the brooch was found was likely set up in advance. While Tsukuyo was out and about most of the day, both Elizabeth and Todd returned to their rooms in the middle of the day, meaning the killer must have stolen into their rooms either in the morning, or in the afternoon, after 2 PM for Todd and after 3 PM for Elizabeth.

And then Emily. We've found nothing of her items. It may or may not be relevant, but Emily was in her room between 4 and 5 PM, at precisely the time the killer must have been active in the hallways.

[And with that, he's going to mark up a map on his tablet. Yeah, he figured out font colors now. Someone needs to tell him Papyrus isn't as classy as he thinks it is.]

It looks to me as though the killer may have been using Alita's room as a base. From there, the office and both Elizabeth and Tsukuyo's rooms would have been convenient. Todd and Fiona's, slightly less so, and Emily's, somewhat off course.

[thanatosincarnate]

{ He thinks it was a good idea to bring up the items -- and the timing again. Speaking of the items... }

It seems our killer thought this well-out in advance. Do you think it's possible that the killer could be one of those "framed" -- intending to leave the one suspect who wasn't as an outlier in an attempt to make Emily appear suspicious?

[isodope]

It might be that, or they didn't have enough time to grab something from Emily. They clearly were in the mind of creating suspects.

[thanatosincarnate]

It may be a good idea to debate it.

Why were they so adamant in their creating suspects? To cause confusion, or make the ones "framed" look the least likely to be a culprit? They had enough time to swipe Elizabeth's brooch in advance, so theoretically when they began to "frame" the others, the culprit should have known which places would be easier to grab items from.

Which do you think is the most likely reason?

{ Just out of curiosity. }

[isodope]

Bit of both. It means every suspect was involved in some small way. And if the culprit themselves used one of their own items, it wouldn't look strange. Framing themselves in order to look innocent.

[tevinteriscoming]

Yes, I find it very unlikely the fact that Emily is the only one not implicated thus far is damning evidence against her. But it may be as simple as it was impossible for the killer to enter Emily's room when he or she intended to, as she was in there. It was also less conveniently located.

[socloverit]

I think we should consider Raleigh, too... The killer had to do all of this and make sure Raleigh was in the right spot. Like, this wasn't just a trap they set for anyone who was in the kitchen. They only got the room key because they killed a vulnerable player, and they took the tablet from him. So they needed the time to get him where they needed him...however they did that.

[tevinteriscoming]

Surely they received the key before killing him? Otherwise I don't see what use most of the tools would be.

But yes, certainly. It's a very tight timeline. I don't believe for a moment they set an alarm for 4:30 expecting to happen upon one of the two vulnerable players, both of whom one would expect to be able to defend themselves, and commit murder so quickly.

Is there any way Raleigh's death could also have been set up in advance?

[socloverit]

Of course they got the key before the murder. I just mean he was definitely the intended target. But...do you mean they killed Raleigh before setting up all that evidence? Or that they set up a trap and made sure to send him where it was..?

[tevinteriscoming]

They can't have killed Raleigh beforehand, as we know he died between 4 and 4:45. But perhaps he was unconscious or otherwise indisposed?

I admit I haven't the faintest idea how they work. Is there any way it could have been set so the robot would have killed him at a certain time?

[socloverit]

I dunno, there's no sign of the killer having a way to knock him out or drag him to the cafeteria... And I don't think that could have happened with these robots, even before the killer cut up poor Mister Roboto. [clover don't NAME the MURDER WEAPON]

It really could have been just as easy as asking to borrow the tablet and asking him to meet them at the cafeteria at a certain time...

[tevinteriscoming]

If that's how it was done, then doesn't the crime depend on who he might have agreed to meet in the cafeteria?

[socloverit]

At least partially, yeah. I didn't know of who he hung out with, but I don't think anyone on the list is, like, especially inherently suspicious, though.

[tevinteriscoming]

True. He was military, wasn't he? He certainly looked capable of defending himself. Perhaps he didn't view anyone as a threat.

[socloverit]

Yeah...

The other thing is, though, that I was wondering how the killer made sure Raleigh was in just the right place to drop the robot on him. Like, it's way too lucky for him to be in just the right place and then not notice the falling robot in time to move, isn't it? But do you think maybe he could have been up there and then pushed, and then they pushed the robot after him?

[isodope]

Might have been as simple as asking him to meet in the cafeteria and then dropping a fuckin' robot on him. As long as they dropped it right as the alarm went off.

[tevinteriscoming]

Why on earth would he have come? As a vulnerable, on the day of the murder?

[refactor]

Listen, don't know the guy, not even trying to discredit either of you here, but. Just putting out a potential answer to your question. "Because he's an idiot"?

[ Because, really, going with anyone anywhere on murder day is dumb, and yet Jack doesn't think that's impossible... Jack just also doesn't think highly of people, though. ]

[tevinteriscoming]

Sadly plausible. Better question. Why on earth would the killer have been so confident he would come when called?

[refactor]

[ Jack nods, since he agrees that this is probably a more productive question to be asking ]

Well, coulda been a few things. Didn't know the guy, but- Well, just from appearances? Which I'll admit, not the most rock solid theory from that, but from appearances, he kinda just looked like the kind of guy that would do something if you asked nicely. The real stand-up guy type.

[ Jack don't sound mildly disapproving of this... ]

[tevinteriscoming]

Which appearances are you drawing that inference from, exactly? [Just because he's cute doesn't mean he's nice.] But I suppose it's possible. Especially as he likely thought he could defend himself.

[refactor]

[ He waves his hands vaguely, but just with his conversation as he explains. He's the kind of guy that definitely speaks with his hands. ]

God- I dunno, he's just got that kind of face. Slightly gruff in the "I can definitely kick your ass" way, so yeah, thought he could defend himself, but still got enough of the handsome features to be trustworthy instead of- Of the crazy military stereotype. You followin'? Nahhh, probably not, you don't even have movies I bet.

[ He waves his hand dismissively, moving onto a different point. ]

But, that guy? Yeah, I bet he didn't take any of these suspects super seriously. Regardless of which one actually did it, they've all kind of got the general appearance where you could look at them and go, "yeah, I could take 'em." Maybe minus Tsukuyo, since she's got the whole badass scar on the face thing.

[tevinteriscoming]

Sadly, I haven't known handsomeness to correlate with trustworthiness in all circumstances. But I take your point; he didn't seem like a bad one.

I suppose anyone could easily have claimed they'd found a body, or interrupted a plot, and needed help immediately. Perhaps it's too soon to assume that all of us would have been too suspicious to help.

[thanatosincarnate]

Him being an idiot aside, he could've been fooled into believing he had to accompany the killer.

We don't know much about Raleigh's personality, but if he were the naive sort, the killer could have even feigned that there was something dangerous in the cafeteria, and that they would have liked to have been accompanied.

[tevinteriscoming]

Yes, I suppose that's possible. Maybe the killer simply claimed a plot against Maria was underway in there.