First Trial

[stagemanagers]

[As the investigation ends, you'll hear Hester's voice inviting you to the auditorium. As this happens, the twin doors on either side of the concession stand, across from the gym, will click open. You can enter on either side; both go to the same place.

When you enter the auditorium, it's dark. There's only the small lights along the walkway behind all the seats, just enough to illuminate where you're going. There's a central path between the seats, down towards where you know the stage must be. That's where you must be going, right? As you pass each row of seats, the lights at their ends flick on, marking your procession and slowly making more and more of the room visible. Shortly, you can see your destination: a circle of podiums stationed in the orchestra pit, below the lip of the darkened, curtained stage. They're all identical, labeled with a cast member's name, save for Mumble's, which is draped in black crepe and has a framed monochrome photo of him - Elijah Wood him - on top.

When you reach the podiums, the lights above the stage finally come on. It's time to meet the Wizard.

The mechanical head, with glowing green eyes, is installed above the stage and the still-closed curtain. Even if you were standing on the stage, it'd be well out of reach. It peers down at all of you, its motions fluid, and speaks with a booming, artificial-sounding voice:]

Welcome to your first trial, everyone. I am the Wizard. It's time to determine who was responsible for the murder of Mumble. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves and work together - you'll have to show teamwork if you want to leave this room alive.

Comments

[employeeoftheyear]

But people were talking about Mumble hanging out in the freezer before, right? Wouldn't that already be proof that he could get in and out easily?

[sugarlumps]

I got out super easy this morning.

[mayavericks]

Did you close the door behind you?

MODS

[sugarlumps]

Yeah? Pretty sure. I didn't, like, pull it shut or anything.

[...okay so I didn't think it would be in any way relevant during the actual investigation threads, but assuming the freezer door actually shut while she was inside would there have been any real difficulty in getting back out?]

[stagemanagers]

[It wasn't super difficult for LSP! Granted, she'd only been in there for a couple of minutes.]

[barberic]

Was he doing so with the door open, or closed? The cold air escapes when the door is open [Yes, Benji, that's how freezers work] so perhaps he was used to that level of cool air, but not... being confined in the cold.

[employeeoftheyear]

Dunno, but he's a penguin. I think I read somewhere that they're usually pretty good at standing the cold.

[mcfife]

But he was trapped in his human form. He wouldn't know that we get cold quickly. If he were locked inside, he would not have believed to have called for help.

[employeeoftheyear]

...He was?

[Wow he sure is learning a lot of things about what humans look like this week.]

[voicerights]

[bro. spongebae. have a sideways look]

Not all of us who are in new bodies have fully accumulated to them.

[employeeoftheyear]

Wait, I'm confused, what do penguins look like then?

[1/2]

[brokeforgood]

Adorable.

[2/2]

[brokeforgood]

[OH NO]

[violentenvies]

Ah, well...they're as big as ducks, but can't fly because they have no feathers on their wings.

[actual accounts of penguins from the times leave something to be desired, what do you want]

[sugarlumps]

They're those little tuxedo birds, duh. They live in the Ice Kingdom.

[mcfife]

Yes. He wasn't used to the transformation. It had put him in a vulnerable position.

[defyingfrigidity]

... You know, I'd like to know how him being... turned human is possible, when he was originally something else. But considering everything else that's happened in this place since we all woke up here, I'm not terribly surprised something like that happened.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

It could be anything, like... maybe there was a spell, or he drank some special potion before turning up here. It could be anything.

[disharmonizes]

Oh, turning someone into something else isn't all that rare, as far as magic goes. The same happened to me, though I can usually just turn myself back.

[defyingfrigidity]

But that's you doing it to yourself. Doing it to someone else? Someone who was an animal?? That seems completely different.

[Not like she's judging animals or anything! It just seems more complicated, is all.]

[disharmonizes]

I'm just saying it's not that uncommon. And I didn't do it to myself this time.

[voicerights]

I am still gathering data as to the method behind it.

[sugarlumps]

Yeah, I still wanna know why I look like this, I was way hotter before I got here.

[howtheworldwas]

[ mumble is a WHAT ]

[brokeforgood]

[uh, same sis]