FIRST TRIAL

[keyofimagination]

[As the living guests finish investigations, they will hear a small click from the library. The door in the back of the room is now open, and true to The Narrator’s words, it leads to the boiler room and in the back there’s an elevator, already open for the guests. However this elevator doesn’t look anything like a normal elevator.

The elevator doesn’t start until everyone is seated and buckled in, and when it does, instead is starts moving backwards for a few moments before going up. As it moves, your host’s calm voice is heard inside the elevator.]

Friday the 13th. It’s often considered the most unlucky day of the year, and for young Vanellope von Schweetz, she has encounter the greatest misfortune of all. Young Vanellope, who at the end of the day just wanted someone who loved her, instead found herself with nothing but pure hatred. And now Vanellope will have a new game to call home, a game only referred to as… The Twilight Zone.

[As he finishes, the elevator halts with an ominous creak. There is a long stretch of silence before The Narrator speaks again.]

You are about to discover what lies beyond the fifth dimension. Beyond the deepest, darkest corner of the imagination… in the Tower of Terror.

[And then, suddenly, the elevator drops. Hard. None of the guests will have a clear enough mind as they are suddenly being plunged to the ground to notice this, but somehow, the elevator is moving faster than gravity would normally work. But just before they would reach the ground, the elevator suddenly moves back upwards, and then drops again.

This repeats for what seems for an eternity, until the elevator quickly climbs to the very top and stops suddenly. There is a cheerful ding and the elevator doors finally open.

The doors open up to a 30’s-style night club. It’s impossibly clean for a hotel that’s been out of commission for decades, as, unlike the rest of the hotel, it was never closed. There is a grouping of 12 tables sitting in front of a stage, with a placecard, notepad and pen sitting on each one. Boarding the walls there are also 24 pictures, each one representing a guest. While everyone else’s picture is in full color, Vanellope’s is in grayscale.

Light music fills the room, and will continue to play for the rest of your time here.On the stage, The Narrator is already here, straddling one of the chairs and smoking a cigarette.]

Welcome to the Tip Top Club. I hope your trip here was uneventful.

[Judging by his knowing smile, he seems to know exactly that something went down in the elevator.

Each of you has assigned seating arrangements, though you are free to move about the club as you please. You will find that there are several amenities here, however, your main goal here will be solving the mystery that had been put forward.

Feel free to discuss this amongst yourselves, and once you feel you have an idea of who committed the crime, write their name down in your notepad. Majority rules, and participation in this activity is mandatory.

There will be no set time limit for this trial. I trust that you have found enough evidence to properly figure out who the culprit is.

[But on the bright side of all of this, there’s an open bar for those who already want to forget today.]

Comments

[lusito]

[what are you talking about, he is being so helpful right now]

No thanks. I much prefer having my voice heard just as much as anyone else's here today: perhaps next we should derail things further by discussing our host's chair-sitting habits next?

[fairlypushy]

Can you not? [The bottles behind the bar all rattle.] A girl is dead you good for nothing-!

[A glass shatters, and Amanda takes a deep breath. It's possible she is not in a great mood right now.]

1/2

[lusito]

[At that, Joshua actually giggles]

Temper, temper! But alright, if you insist...

[lusito]

... how about we discuss how you and Thalia are still worthy of suspicion for this murder?

[How's that for a topic, Amanda?]

[forgottenfounder]

[Oswald looks at Joshua, then shoots Amanda a concerned look.]

What are you talking about?

[fairlypushy]

I think he's talking about the blood on our shoes. We were both investigating in the game room - I was handling the candy [which is actually on the table she was just standing on whoops] and Thalia . . . she gave rites.

[That's what Amanda is pretty sure Thalia did, anyway.]

[darnsitall]

And he must think it was all a ruse to try and throw the rest of us off your trail! Is that it, Joshua?

[lusito]

Really now? I can't possibly be the only one who noticed the blood on their shoes during that little inspection earlier. And yes, they both claimed it was from when they investigated the game room, but how do we know that blood wasn't already there before they "volunteered" to inspect it?

[There's a pause, before he tilts his head a little]

Though, given that little display just now, I'm more inclined to think that I was lied to about one's abilities being dampened here... or at least, not everyone had that treatment done to them.

[darnsitall]

Do you think some kind of magic was involved?

[higitusfigitusmigitusmum]

[Ooooh boy if that's the truth he's gonna be fuckin PISSED.]

[sentree]

Well, mine aren't entirely.

[ To demonstrate, a show of good faith, Thalia creates a bit of static between her fingers, holding them up for all to see. ]

For better or worse, I've still got some demigod abilities, though this is kind of all I've been able to do, little shocks.

[geomanctic]

For some of us, breaking glasses is dampened.

[sentree]

[ Thalia has admittedly been kind of quiet, but it looks like she's having a hard time figuring out just where to jump in. A kind of frustrated confusion. This however, this is enough of an attention grabber. ]

Excuse me?

[lusito]

[He likes you, Thalia, but--]

We have to examine all possibilities, like whether or not one of you lied about the blood on your shoes. Understandable that you'd also be a suspect on this matter, isn't it?

[sentree]

[ Oh. Okay, no, that does-- ]

There's a few problems with your suggestion though, like how we don't even know if footprints were left.

But fine. If you want me to clear myself, how about one of the girls checks me for wounds? I've got nothing to hide.

[grownmammal]

...Yeah, they are the only ones who had blood on 'em, ain't they?

[ Talk about suspicious. ]

[sentree]

We were also looking for footprints when, excuse me if I'm wrong here, but did anyone even find evidence of footprints? Stepping in blood would leave something on the floor too.

[grownmammal]

If there was a fight, though... Who's to say the blood wasn't from that? Or that it wasn't messed up in the fight?

[sneezelikeakitten]

[OKAY SO YOU KEEP PICKING ON THALIA-]

I don't think it could have been Thalia. Mostly because of the game that was left out. That game requires a lot or reading, and-[Please don't hit him]-Thalia can only read Ancient Greek fluently. She has trouble with English. Why pick a game if you can't even read it correctly?

[sentree]

[ It's...fine Dipper, she sighs. ]

Yeah, I needed his help to even get through the profiles. I haven't read big blocks of English in years, so actually deciphering it's close to impossible.

[lusito]

Really? [Huh]

[fairlypushy]

If that's true, Tadashi and I played it last week and we barely figured it out.

[greatwidesomewhere]

[Belle's just. Staring.]

Did...did you do that?

[fairlypushy]

. . . Sorry. [She actually does look sorry, for what it's worth.] It happens when I get upset.

[greatwidesomewhere]

You don't have to be sorry. [She gives Amanda a tiny, reassuring smile.] It's just...surprising.