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

[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?

[kindaruledatit]

[Leans in as well.]

I mean, it's kind of obvious, right?

[sixfingeredstan]

With the hair down....It makes me wonder why I didn't notice before.

[....Shit.]

And that would explain the bathroom situation.

[kindaruledatit]

I just... really don't want this.

[Here she was, almost hoping to be angry at Karolina's killer.

But, at the thought that it was an accident? She can only stew at her tombstone, looking quite lost.]

[sixfingeredstan]

I know. None of us do.

[This has all gone from worrisome to disturbing much too quickly for Ford's liking.]

[outsidethecircle]

...But we all decided the bathroom didn't matter, didn't we?

[...Ping is a guy!]

[sixfingeredstan]

But if Ping is actually...a girl, as I suspect. And his, or her, hair tie was found in the bathroom....well, then, it's too fitting to ignore.

[outsidethecircle]

...Oh. Oh.

[... The kid found a vital clue after all. And she doesn't know what to do about this.]

[sixfingeredstan]

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have discounted that evidence so quickly.

[outsidethecircle]

I don't think we could have expected that.

[terribibble]

... Was that... the secret, do you think? And Karolina found out somehow and that, that... that's why?

[He doesn't know Ping. He just knows Ping is a soldier, and that Ping seemed better than that.]

[sixfingeredstan]

That could be. But I....I don't know yet.

[He doesn't want to believe any of this. It's too much.]

[terribibble]

I doesn't seem like it'd be enough to murder over, is all, and Karolina is -- was -- she wouldn't have told.

[It can't be just that. But he didn't want to think anyone would at all so really there's no way to make this better.]

[ilovepuppies]

Ping is a GIRL!?

[countdown to gay panic in 3...2...1...]

[outsidethecircle]

I guess so.

[Star, what is gay panic? Are you okay.]

[ilovepuppies]

I thought he was a really pretty guy!

[That moment when you're bi]

[kindaruledatit]

Sure looks like it.

[Bi calmness is already in effect.]

[ilovepuppies]

My entire life is a lie.

[teach her your ways, Wendy.]

[amadeusrockette]

It's rude to out people, you know.

[sixfingeredstan]

I agree, but in this situation, it seems to be evidence.

[amadeusrockette]

[Julia can't argue that but still!!!!

She's just gonna glare at him.]