Trial 1

[yourghosthost]

[After everyone has finished their investigations, everyone finds themselves gathering in the stretching room once more. The door shuts behind them. The corpse swings above the proceedings, ominously, and wandering eyes can't help but draw their attention to it.

It especially draws attention when it appears to move upward.

The whole room seems to move downwards, as the walls get longer and the ceiling gets further away. A snide comment from your Host echoes throughout the room:]

Tell me. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it just your imagination?

Find your place in the graveyard. I will be with you shortly.

[After a few moments, the room stops. A new door opens.

It appears to be an outside area, covered in overgrown plants and moss. An incredibly high gated fence surrounds the whole area, and perpetual darkness (accompanied by a bright full moon) sets the mood. A cobblestone path goads you on through this area, leading to a circle of 25 tombstones, each labeled with a participants picture, name and their birthdate. They're arranged to face each other, ominously enough. On top of each tombstone is a small typewriter-esque keyboard.

The only unique tombstone here is the only marked for Karolina. It's adorned with a red rose and a glass of cognac, and her tombstone is marked with a limerick:

Here Lies Karolina Dean
She might have had a rough life
But she really didn't deserve that knife

As everyone finds their places, the Host speaks.]

The keyboard on your tombstone shall be used for voting who you believe committed this crime. Due to the...nature of some of our participants, I will be forgiving misspellings and accidental presses, but each guest shall only receive one vote, and we go by majority rules.

Take all the time you need, please. There's no turning back now.]

Comments

[outsidethecircle]

I'm not sure. I don't really pay attention to what other people are wearing if I'm not drawing them.

[Mods? Beuller?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[Well it is a long, thing strip of fabric, maybe this could have belong to someone in the past for something?]

[sixfingeredstan]

[Ford's brow furrows in concern.] I hate to say this, but that almost looks like what Ping uses to tie his hair back.

[outsidethecircle]

It does kind of.

[whistlenotchirp]

Well, he has that on him, doesn't he?

[sixfingeredstan]

He could have multiples.

[sixfingeredstan]

Perhaps we should compare. Ping does have black hair, too.

[arpeggiositar]

Man this is rough...

[Ping seemed like a nice enough guy, but Demyx can't deny this does look a bit bad for him]

Ping is a soldier, I dunno if I can see him killing someone by accident.

[sixfingeredstan]

He's also young. He told me he's actually underage. It's easy for someone young and scared to make a mistake like that.

[thetimebomb]

[She's starting to feel a sense of dread in her gut.]

Actually, if the culprit killed Karolina on accident, would we still have to execute them? It feels... like a completely different situation if they didn't kill someone for the motive.

[sixfingeredstan]

I don't know if our hosts would see it in shades of grey like that. They seem very...insistent.

[whistlenotchirp]

Even so, a lot of folk here are underage. Surely there's some kind of... juvenile rule here?

[sixfingeredstan]

I'd like to think so.

[But he's not buying it.]

[thetimebomb]

GH can't be that unreasonable, can he? If it's a kid, that's...

[Like, even thought a little while ago murderers deserve to die, she didn't mean it like this.]

[folkscallmewander]

[Wander cautiously looks over at Ping.

...He doesn't like this.]

[sentadaughter]

[SHE SEES THOSE LOOKS AND SHE IS FROWNING AT ALL OF YOU

But yes her hair is tied up in a bun right now. If you were curious.]

[sixfingeredstan]

Ping? I hate to ask, but...may we see your hair tie for comparison, too?

[sentadaughter]

I...

[Her hands go up to her bun, but she hesitates. If she takes her hair down, they will be able to see, and they will know the truth about her immediately. She can only do so much to conceal her real identity, after all.

But Karolina is dead, and this is the only way to bring justice. So she sighs, resigns herself to not being able to hide it anymore, and she unties her hair. She pulls out the fabric (which, Ford will be able to tell right away, is actually a rather large handkerchief that has been folded up to work as a hairtie) and lets her hair fall down.

If they figure it out, then let it be. The army can't execute her here, at least.]

[sixfingeredstan]

Thank you.

[He glances at his face once again, and spends a long time squinting at the boy soldier. Something's off, there. He has his suspicions, but now isn't the time to voice them.

He holds the handkerchief next to the strip of bloody fabric. Are they similar? In color, if not in dimension?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[The color is an exact match.]

[sixfingeredstan]

....Ping. I'm sorry, but this doesn't look good for you.

[He really hates this. He really, really hates it. He doesn't want to condemn anyone, but...]

Is there anything you'd like to say?

[outsidethecircle]

[...Oh. Uh.]

That's...

[That's almost a match, isn't it.]

[kindaruledatit]

[There's something about this. It gnaws at her. Something is up about Ping, so if she can just figure it out...

Hmmm.]

Oh man...

[sixfingeredstan]

[Ford glances over at Wendy, and leans in to murmur to her.]

Does anything about him seem...off, to you?

[aboyandhiscar]

[why are we all staring at this perfectly fine actual dude with nice hair, nothing weird about that.






oh shit the cloth tho]

Yo. . .