✦ WEEK ZERO: TRIAL

[streamy]

✦ WEEK 0, TRIAL: VICTIM ARCHETYPE

TRIAL

29

REMAINING

WUH-OH?

Rise and shine, superstars! It's a brand new day and a brand new opportunity to prove that you have what it takes to win this season's grand prize. Didn't manage to sleep well after yesterday's grisly discovery? A shame. But filming schedules are a cruel mistress, and they don't care to wait for the sleep deprived. As soon as the clock strikes 11:30AM, an announcement will play from the numerous loudspeakers hidden around the island:

THE REAL WAIFUS OF STREAMY VALLEY SEASON 11 RUNNER UP

All contestants, please report to Gold P. Beach. The next segment of this week's thrilling sudden elimination round is about to begin. I repeat, all contestants, please report to Gold P. Beach. The next segment of this week's thrilling sudden elimination round is about to begin.

... Hey, doesn't that voice sound familiar? Is this what they call a celebrity cameo? Huh. Ignore the announcement, and you'll soon find yourself accosted by the local mascots — namazu, loporrits and gestrals alike following after you and trying their damnedest to haul your ass to the beach. And if the pleading stare of these adorable(?) creatures is still not enough to get you moving, then worry not! Because at exactly 11:59AM, if you still haven't made your way over to the beach, a trap door will abruptly materialize under your feet and drop you right into the path leading up to the beach! Better stick your landing, or millions of viewers across the galaxies will watch you belly flop onto the ground. Embarrassing... The path leading up to the beach has been lined with torches, carving out a direct trail that leads right into the bowels of The Council — an old, abandoned ship that rests on the island's south shore. Whether it's the real deal or a fantastic piece of art from this season's set designers is anyone's guess, but you should probably avoid rubbing up against the rustier looking bits and bobs just in case. Inside the bowels of the rotting vessel, you'll see a circular area with enough benches for all of the remaining contestants to lounge about, and several long stone slabs that look a little less empty than usual. And while the sun shines bright above you during the daytime, you'll find that the torches surrounding the ship will soon become your only source of illumination once the sun sets and you are plunged into the murky darkness of the night. Well, with the sole exception of one torch that will remain unlit the entire time. At the far end sit three thrones with a rather peculiar display behind each one, and currently occupied by Live, Laugh and Love. A large LED display has been hung up behind them, which simply reads:

TIME REMAINING 09:00:00:00

As soon as it's officially 12:00PM, the LED display will begin to count down until it hits 00:00:00:00 at the very end of the trial. To the left of your hosts, there's a large beach cooler filled with all kinds of chilled drinks — from water bottles, to juice pouches and sodas, and, yes, even half bottles of wines and other alcoholic drinks. There's a plastic table nestled a couple of feet away, where the remains of the ship shield it from the sun, covered in a spread of sandwiches, baked goods, chips, dips, and what appears to be leftovers from yesterday's lunch and dinner. None of these items are fresh and most of them look like they came right out of a vending machine, but it's the thought that counts...? Welcome to your very first trial, superstars! Better get nice and comfy, because you're going to be here for a long, long while.

☰ VICTIM(S)

Will

☰ OOC NOTES

✦ It's trial time, baby! Over the course of the next nine hours, characters will have the opportunity to discuss, investigate and theorize about this week's murder. Characters will have time to examine the body of the victim and explore relevant locations. ✦ There will be a one hour tag break starting at 4PM EST/1PM PST. While players are allowed to keep tagging through the hour, all mod tags will pause and players are encouraged to take a break, eat and hydrate. ✦ The voting page is now unlocked! Please read through the post carefully for more information about how voting will work in this game. Note that voting is not mandatory in The Vine, and it is up to each character to decide if they wish to cast a vote before the end of the trial or not. ✦ Characters will be unable to leave The Council until the end of trial, as they will be blocked off by that same translucent barrier that prevents them from entering the currently locked segments of the island and a small gaggle of some very determined mascots. You wouldn't want to make them sad, right...? Exceptions will be made for the purpose of investigations, of course, where characters will be accompanied by an NPC escort.

🔗 FULL NAVIGATION

NPC QUESTIONS // NETWORK // VOTING // BODIES // EVIDENCE TURN-IN // EVIDENCE CHECK // INVESTIGATION REQUESTS // INVESTIGATIONS // LATEST FLATVIEW

Comments

INVESTIGATIONS

[streamy]

[ come on barbie let's go party ]

THE LEMON LOUNGE....?

[streamy]

[ Laugh will lead the way back from the ship towards the mansion. as the group walks, they might notice there's blood on the ground along the way! mysterious blood that perhaps another group will have to investigate because you are already heading towards the mansion....

as the group arrives at the front porch, the mysterious blood becomes less mysterious; it leads up the front porch and past the front door of the mansion. the front door also appears to be partially open, and you can see that some of that mysterious blood continues inside...

for your reference, here is the map!

laugh stops here and puts their hands on their hips. ] You sure you all just want to go straight upstairs...?

[headmt]

[ first question, is the mysterious blood still pink?

but, okay, stopping too. the trail goes into the mudroom based on the map, right? ]

Is that a hint? We can start here. I'm good with blood.

[ if he looks at the front door is there anything on it like big bloody handprints or marks OR BLOOD? ]

[lactoseintolerable]

I was thinking maybe we'd just skip past all this, actually!

[yeah no of course he's here to look at this blood. glancing it over...]

Say, are all of you this-- leaky.

[like, how much blood was inside one singular will? it's a lot more liquid than jam is though, so this is... fine.

what kind of blood trail is this, is it a decent amount or is it a trail of drips/drops?]

[disdainer]

I suppose not all cookies are stuffed. The answer is no. But in Will's and the majority's case—yes.

[ her brow immediately furrows. ]

We should find where it leads. No point in going to our lounge if that isn't where the altercation began. [ like, if the blood isn't actually coming from the stairway… ] We, or someone else, can always circle back if this trail yields nothing.

[streamy]

[ laugh’s head turns just enough to molly, and they say, ] No idea what you mean…~ [ but then a ;) appears on their screen so you know.

that’s correct re: mudroom, yes! for the front door, mollymauk will see that there’s some damage on the frame from some kind of an impact, as well as on the hinges.

the mysterious blood is in fact red. said trail of blood is smudged up on the ground - it’s a decent amount and fairly consistent. since they’re looking at the ground and the blood there, they’ll see there’s also a lot of sand tracked onto the porch. no there are not any discernible footprints before you ask. both blood trail and sand trail appear to continue inside; past the open door, they might see some objects on the ground.

and you know what since sandrone mentioned it, the trail of blood does not go to the stairs. ]

[headmt]

Who is "all of you"? What Sandrone said though. I use my blood for magic, so I'm leaking a good deal, but I try not to leave it all over the place like this.

[ he keeps getting lumped in with humans and it's starting to make him consider mischief.

okay actual invest: because of the sand, does it seem like the trail actually leads from outside to inside the house? which side of the door has the impact marks? Does it look kicked/hit with a weapon or more like someone fell into it? molly will try and move it a little to figure out which way it's broken. ]

Think I see something in there ... ?

[ someone else can get Objects ]

[lactoseintolerable]

As in people this shape! Did I say 'humans'?

[HE IS A COOKIE, OKAY, you are all freaks equally amen.

eyeing the trails on the way to go look closer at these mysterious objects:]

Looks like how messy it is works out in our favor here, though.

[disdainer]

Plenty of things can take the shape of humans. We'll have to talk about broadening your horizons later.

[ the way she's gotten mistaken as human several times too and the only person who's really questioned sandrone's key is dead now. time for the non-humans to cause trouble.

but while molly handles the door and shadow milk inspects the objects, sandrone ventures further inside. if there's no blood coming from the stairs, does the trail actually start in the mudroom, or are there any indications pointing toward the home theatre and beyond, or toward the dining hall? ]

It does save us trouble.

DINING HALL

[streamy]

[ laugh leads stelle, blade and nice over to the dining hall area! they will follow the same blood and sand that the other group followed but turn left into the dining hall itself.

click to expand to see location description

Adjacent to the kitchen is the GRAND DINING HALL. Perfect for planning luncheons and dinner parties, there are enough tables and chairs for up to 45 attendees. Way more than enough for your group of 30, right? Like the rest of the decorations in the mansion, the Grand Dining Hall is of course decorated in shades of gray, white, blues and pinks — all pastel, of course. In the corner of the dining hall, almost seemingly out of place, contestants a hot pink vending machine with a bright, glowing sign at the top. The machine itself is completely opaque, and any attempts to break it or dismantle it will fail. Unfortunately, it appears that the machine is currently out of service.

... And boy, it is a mess in here! I bet you're not surprised. the tables are in total disarray, chairs are scattered and overturned and there's blood and sand on the floor near everyone's feet. there's blood in a few spots besides the trail as well. laugh will step back and summon up their weird pixel bird (?) (it might be a bat) creature and gesture the group ahead. ]

[perfaketion]

[Oh god, it's such a mess. This is 1000x worse than seeing a body. At least organize your crime scene. This is vile.

Anyway, it takes everything in him to not start picking up. Nice is going to avoid stepping in blood and sand as best he can and just look at some of the chairs. Are they broken? Does it seem like they were simply knocked over or if they were thrown with some force?]

[starpitcher]

[ we're going to end up with a second body just via nice losing his whole mind over this room.

stelle, on the other hand, finger wiggles to birb friend. henlo buddy. she doesn't even pause otherwise and straight up waddles into the mess to start digging around under the chairs and tables. raccoon core... ]

It sure looks like there was a fight.

[0202]

[The two extremes, right here.]

Make sure to take pictures before moving anything!

[Blade will snap pictures of the blood/sand trail and the splotches of blood. About how big are the splotches anyway? He'll put his foot next to one to measure.]

Nice-Nice, are you going to be okay here?

[He remembers that Nice likes keeping things orderly.]

[streamy]

[ laugh pats nice on the back as he goes into the room. ] Deep breaths, buddy.

[ and then they’re off! the bat/bird/pixel amalgamation is pleased.

starting with nice! the chairs don’t seem to be broken - more like they’ve been shoved aside or knocked over. a bit of both. in particular, he’ll notice a cluster of them shoved together at a table, but perhaps he should watch his step, because there’s a pool of blood near them!

as stelle gets on the ground, she is getting both blood and sand on her legs from the trail. however, since she’s on the ground, she will see two objects - one distant, and one on the other side of the table

for blade, since he’s looking at the trail, he can see it goes from the pool where nice is standing back out the door. the blood does appear to be relatively smudged. there aren’t exactly blood “splotches” so much as there’s blood in a couple of places! one of them is the pool mentioned before. ]

[perfaketion]

[Wheeze. Deep breaths okay.

Going to very pointedly avoid the blood pool and he'll inspect the chairs more closely. Is there blood on the chairs too? Or unique damage?]

[starpitcher]

[ terrible how she seems to be absolutely fine just covering herself in filth. rip in heck, nice.

but since her trial eyes spots multiple objects, she'll immediately start peering over to the other side of the table first. what fun mysterious object is here? ]

[0202]

[Fair enough! Since Nice is avoiding the blood pool Blade will go over to investigate that now. How big is it, and does it have any distinct shape or is it just "blood be here"?]

THE BEACH

[streamy]

[ love leads them out of the council. we walking, boys.

on the way from the council to the beach, you can see a wide line in the sand, with blood. it seems to be going in the direction of the council, judging by the way the sand is moved. like how you can tell which way someone pulled a rake through something.

closer to the docks, where love deposits you guys, there's a mess of kicked up sand. the line seems to go all the way to the mansion, though it looks like that line is still yet leading from the mansion to the council. ]

[syncer]

[ Thank you, Love, you're a bro.

He's eyeballing that wide line in the sand before they get to the docks, but once they're there he stops to take a look. Are the lines from the Council to the beach and the mansion to the Council the same width?

He's also just going to drop to a squat to peer at the mess of kicked-up sand to peer closer for any loose objects. ]

Well... pick a grain, I guess.

[bawanggong]

[ thanks love, i say in my most british of accents. ]

I am not sieving this crap.

[ anyway, modsies, so i have this in my brain it goes... wide line going from the council to this area they're in now, but also from this area to the mansion itself? he will do a little wander, following the wide line going towards the council and try and see if he can get an idea of roughly how Wide this line is, and if there's anything IN the line left behind.

like blood in the sand, for example. ]

[staghunt]

[ it's all i hear in my mind. ]

Yikes. No kidding.

[ are there any points in the line itself that seem to stop at all (frequently? infrequently?) or is it one singular pull like whatever was pulled through it never came to a stop? anything bracketing the edges of the line nearby like other weird marks or indents? ]

[streamy]

[ SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. sand is my enemy.

the lines are the same width and they're like... the same continuous line. so like. from the mansion, to the beach, all the way to the council. it does not stop at all, it looks like one singular pull. sometimes it does look a little wider? and there's one certain spot where it looks like a snow angel that just keeps on going forever. there's blood smudges all along this.

to the far left from this line, there are separate marks in the sand.

the kicked up sand has a few things about it. there's a bit near the waves that has two sets of partial footprints. both of them are getting washed away by the water so you can't get a sense of size other than one is smaller than the other. the smaller set digs a bit into the sand, and turns. the other set is behind it, following along. these are separate from the other two things.

also further down the beach is something sticking out of the sand. ]

[syncer]

[ Since the other two are doing more in-depth investigations of the lines themselves, he will note where the line goes before he gets up to wander off down the beach. He seems to be walking to see if there's anything else along the way, but he's steadily heading for the thing sticking out of the sand. As he goes though, he does call over his shoulder. ]

Check both ends of the line where you can, there's some marks to the left and I'm not sure where on our timeline it falls. Looks like we've got footprints, too, but after this many hours we might not have a lot of luck gauging size. It at least confirms two people... not that we needed to know that.

Anything stick out on your end?

[bawanggong]

[ so, uh. does this line in the sand look like it could be will metaphor refantazio width? out of curiosity. ]

There's blood smudges all around the sand. I'm kinda wondering if this was a body drag? Not necessarily a corpse one.

[ he'll job up towards the mansion and try and look at the start, or closer to the start, of the lines there, see if there's anything at the possible start of all this. ]

[staghunt]

It's just one long path too - no interruptions. Whoever did this or whatever did this didn't have to stop. The width gets a little wider in some places. And there's this weird shape here -

[ can he carefully make his way over to take a look at the weird snow angel shape? is there anything in it at all, is it shallow or deep? ]