FIFTH INVESTIGATION

[grimgrinningghosts]

[Ten deaths have occurred in this mansion, one guest is still completely missing from the mansion with no clue where he is. How many more deaths with occur in this mansion? Will the remaining guests ever know a time when they don't have to worry about someone close to them dying each week?

Nothing seems immediately off, but you should all know by now to never trust Fridays.

Investigate?]

Comments

[terribibble]

[See, he'd expect stab wounds since they'd have to have used a knife to skin her.

Unless they didn't use a knife to skin her in which case he's Very Unsettled.

Anyway-- is there anything defining about the bite mark? Unusual size, sharp teeth, anything he could tell from looking?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[The bite marks are very large, big enough that it's hard to believe that it could have come from any living guest here.

Yes, even Maui.]

[terribibble]

[Well that's... hm. He doesn't like that, no sir. You mean to tell him there might be some kind of giant bitey monster that can perfectly skin animals just running around in this house? Fuck that.

He takes a nervous sip of his coffee (by which I mean he chugs about half the cup) and decides to take a closer look at the pile of pelts itself. There was a body in there. Half a body. There might be something else?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[The pile of pelts look pretty normal actually. Besides the... you know... pelt of the lion that was just alive the previous day.]

[terribibble]

[Okay -- okay. Okay. That's good. No knife, or additional dead body, or anything like that. Goodness gracious.

He chugs the rest of his coffee and stands. Unless there's anything else noticeably off about the body he's going to go looking at the different taxidermied animals. Maybe it wasn't some giant bitey skin-stealing monster. Maybe she just... uh... jumped up and hit herself on one of them. The mouth, specifically. Repeatedly.

He isn't sure what the signs of that would be. Tawny lion hair on one of the heads? He's trying.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[There are a few more things off about Kiara's body, actually.]

[terribibble]

[WELP. It was nice having a momentary respite from looking at the dead body in order to look at the other dead bodies that were already in this room but I guess we're back at it again at the krispy kreme

WHAT ELSE DID SOMEONE DO TO THIS POOR SWEET LION PRINCESS]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[There are more scratches of various kinds on Kiara's pelt.]

[terribibble]

[Like... like clawmarks?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[They're not clawmarks. Honestly for the most part the scratches are pretty shallow.]

[terribibble]

[Well that's... odd. Very odd. Shallow scratches that aren't clawmarks, but where did they come from then...?

None of this is adding up right and he doesn't like it at all.

Anything else? Something that might point specifically to what killed her? Besides getting skinned.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[This doesn't necessarily point to her death, but there are splinters in Kiara's paws.]

back at it again now that work's over

[terribibble]

[Splinters. But nothing in here that's wooden seems to be broken, does it?]

welcome home, time for death

[grimgrinningghosts]

[It doesn't seem like it. Whatever caused the appearance of the splinters doesn't seem to be here.]

[terribibble]

[Hmm. Okay. Is there anything else about the body? There is so much going on with this body.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[ink SHES MISSING ALL OF HER ORGANS of course theres a lot going on with it

While there's nothing in the way of major wounds outside the bite marks (i.e. there's no like, giant bloody wounds or anything like that - partially because she's a fucking pelt), there are a few small blood smears on the body.

Okay, that's it, there's everything about the body.]

[terribibble]

[WHERE ARE KIARA'S BONES

Do they look like fingerprints? Smeared ones? Or just General Smears.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[It's very smeared, but it does look like a handprint.]

[terribibble]

[WELL. That tracks. So maybe she was at least skinned by a human and not, as he still halfway suspects, some kind of skin-stealing demon.

He can hope.]

[kindaruledatit]

[Peers in. He Fiddleford, do you need a teenage girl with experience in this sort of thing? No? Well you've got her anyway.]

Is that... claw marks?