third 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. Some of you have a detour to make beforehand- Hester lets you in to her office to drop off the precious cargo without incident. She then slips off to in the direction of the scene shop.

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. The SQUIP, the Balladeer and Rina now have theirs draped in black crepe and with a framed monochrome photo of them on top.

When you reach the podiums, the lights above the stage finally come on. the Wizard is once again waiting for you. Beside it Hester is slowly lowers in on her bubble. Either she was magicked up there or the catwalk repair had a very impressive turnaround time. The Dad Squad and Peregrine have already seen this week's look but those who haven't might notice the braid bun her hair is in has half-fallen out and her little white heels are covered in dirt.

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

Comments

[mayavericks]

Lumpy-san. Consider if Mumble had died this week. Would you not think it a stupid idea to ask Elisabeth-san half of what we did? She clearly was upset and did not remember.

At this point, most of us trust one another. We... have to be amenable to asking the difficult questions.

[sugarlumps]

What's being upset about it have to do with it? Bobsponge couldn't hurt anything ever and Varian's a noodle.

[comeandfindme]

She's saying sometimes when people are upset they forget things they do. [ Frustrated, that she has to explain this— ] It's why people were pressing me last week, 'cause that's what happened with Sissi, it's— it's a trauma thing, okay?

[sugarlumps]

...Yeah but this is Varian and Bob, they wouldn't do anything to forget.

[mayavericks]

Trauma is... a lot. It could make any one of us forget.

[sugarlumps]

Then we need to start asking questions about forgetting stuff that actually makes sense, glob!

[why is this so hard]

[mayavericks]

My point is that we do not understand any of the circumstances. We do not know what happened last night, or what could have come over any one of us. Furthermore, we know only what others share. Barring a few exceptions -- [Eurydice and Orpheus, Cassandra and Varian.] -- None of us know one another here.

It is... very easy to lie.

[employeeoftheyear]

But we do know each other here.

We're all friends, right?

[sugarlumps]

Yeah, we've been here, like, a month.