FIRST TRIAL

[neverhadafriend]

[Once the investigation begins to wrap up, there's a loud feedback noise as a blue speaker appears from thin air. In a tinny, warbled voice not unlike an announcer in a strip mall:]

Will, uh, the people who've been kidnapped against their will and brought to this terrible place please report to the lobby?

[As you approach the lobby, Genie can be found floating overhead, looking...well, nervous. Once everyone has gathered, he waves his hand, and the floor begins to rumble and shake. Slowly, the compass pattern on the ground begins to come apart, reforming and arranging themselves into a spiral staircase descending down into the ground. It's difficult to tell where it leads just by peering down--it looks like you're going to have to walk down there, yourselves.]

See you all downstairs.

[Genie disappears in a puff of smoke. As you descend the staircase, you'll notice the air growing colder and colder, the club disappearing far above you. Eventually, you reach a pair of metal double doors, each of which has a porthole to allow you to look into the room--although it's difficult to make out many details.

As you push open the doors, a blast of warm air greets you as the bright lights overhead practically blind you. After your eyes adjust, you'll notice that the entire perimeter of the room has been decorated in bamboo or thatch, as if someone had transported a beach-side attraction to an underground bunker. The room itself is circular, with a series of podiums set up in a ring. In the center of the podiums is what looks to be a stage. It looks like the numbers on the podiums correspond to your room numbers.]

So! I'm sure the audience at home knows how this works, but for those who are, um, new to this whole system, I'll lay out the rules. You've gathered the evidence, which means it's time to go over it all and figure out who killed poor Doctor D.

BOY, I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHICH ONE OF THESE SUCKERS DESERVES TO BE EXECUTED!

[The new voice comes from above in the form of a metallic squawk, and if you look up, you'll notice that dozens upon dozens of swings and branches hang from the ceiling. Colorful, tropical birds perch above, staring expectantly down at the guests, but their movements seem stiff and inorganic. The bird that spoke up, an orange and yellow conure, leans forward on its perch and leers down at Genie.

Genie clears his throat, ignoring the bird.]

...Oh, yeah. And, um, if you don't vote for the correct culprit, my master said that he'd kill you all. So let's hope you sleuths are good at sniffing out murderers.

[He doesn't seem terribly enthused about it, and doesn't even whip out any funny pop culture references. To be fair, no one would, given the circumstances. The birds, however, begin jabbering among themselves, looking very excited about their newfound entertainment.]

[ TRIAL START! ]

Comments

glitter check

[primafacie]

Yes, I think checking everyone's shoes would be most helpful, since I found footprints in the glitter made afterward.

[doofenshmirtz]

[Norm raises his hand.]

I will gladly submit to a glitter check! Though, I do think that the people who examined the body and/or scene should be suspect, as well!

[primafacie]

Yes, of course. It does help to narrow down where we're looking, though.

[doofenshmirtz]

Of course!

[He stiffly lifts his legs one by one for Sugarplum to check. He has a copious amount of glitter on the soles of his feet.]

mods?

[primafacie]

[Ah. Hm.

Question: do Norm's feet look like the larger set of footprints?]

[dannydorito]

[Stage whispered-]

Check the murdernerdbot's shoes!

[dannydorito]

Wow. There are children present. I'm kinkshaming.

[primafacie]

William, I will knock you down again.

[dannydorito]

That does nothing to disprove my point!

[But fine, sure. He's got a distinctly Sugarplum-shaped imprint of glitter on his torso from mysterious circumstances, but his shoes are spotless.]

[primafacie]

Hm, well. I suppose you're clean enough.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

You wh- Oh come on! I mean checking shoes!

[dannydorito]

That is how it starts!

[feudalladyshandmaid]

And I'll end it before it gets to that.

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

[ Local teen covered in glitter sort of. Raises a shoe. She has the balance to do it while it's still on her foot!

And I mean yeah, there's glitter. ]

[primafacie]

[Yeah, I mean. Same. Sugarplum's just covered in glitter.]

That's to be expected, I suppose. We were both in that room.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

You were both inspecting the... body?

[That's weird to say.]

[primafacie]

Ah, no - she inspected the body. I inspected the inator.

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

I looked at the body, she looked around the room. It would be really hard to get in and out of that room without...

[ Gestures at her whole Skin Of A Killer situation she has going on now. ]

Re: glitter check

[tadaishi]

You know I was helping with the doctor's body.

[His jeans are notably covered in glitter but his t-shirt and chucks are relatively clean.]

[primafacie]

It was unavoidable, really. Don't worry, I'm sure it wasn't one of us.

[The three of them are just. They live like this now.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Clear. [You're free, Tadashi. For now.]

You didn't happen to notice anything else about the body? Anything at all?

[tadaishi]

Just that the explosion is probably what killed him.

[kuzcospoison]

[Kronk takes a sandal off to show that it's clean, being careful to handle it with his left hand, as his right hand still has a good amount of glitter on it from holding onto the towel.]

[primafacie]

The glitter is from the towel I presume? [She's just making sure!]

[kuzcospoison]

Oh. Yeah, it's from that- been stuck to me ever since I fished it out of its hiding spot.

Ironic, given that a towel's supposed to get rid of mess, not make more... kinda raises the question of what they were trying to wipe off with the thing.