THE SECOND INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

THE SECOND INVESTIGATION

[It's Friday once more. As the third week begins to near it's end, the tensions-and nightmares-among everyone is on the rise. It doesn't help that this is Friday-and Friday is shaping up to be a bad day of the week.

The question is whether this Friday will be any different from the last. Perhaps this Friday will be different. After all, the morning is over, and nothing happened yet!

But then, isn't that strange too? Maybe it would be better to look around. Just in case.]

Comments

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[Both. There's a splash of it on the walls, but more of it on the stairs themselves. While he's looking closely at it, he'll find the missing harp wires flung off to the side.

Be careful when walking. There's a lot of blood here, enough to slip on.]

[notadinosnack]

[He'll go ahead and grab the missing harp wires so they can be returned after the trial. And he's probably quite glad for the fact that he always wears thick leather gloves right about now. He'll keep on going, of course moving carefully. He's definitely used to exploring dangerous and slippery areas and shouldn't have trouble making this climb.]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[Well, although the stairs go on for much further past this, he won't have to walk too much more to follow the bloody path.

The head, at last, is found there, just lying on one of the steps.

It's definitely the head of Franciscus Erkens.]

[notadinosnack]

[That's exactly what he was dreading seeing. And there's really nothing he can do about this insult, but if the eyes are open, he will bend down and shut them.]

Rest in peace, friend. We'll figure out who did this.

[From there he'll look around some more. Has he reached the top or is there anything else of note here?]

[strangerpeople]

[He has not yet reached the top of the stairs. There's still a blood trail going up them, too. Awesome.]

[notadinosnack]

[Okay, let's follow the trail. Why can't this be a festive trail of glitter? He'll tread carefully and continue to keep an eye out for any possible clues along the way.]

[strangerpeople]

[only you can make the blood trails sparkle, Thanatos!

Further along the trail, he'll see a strange black bundle.]

[notadinosnack]

[So he'll go ahead and bend down look closer at this bundle. Can he open it up and see what is wrapped up in there, or will he need a knife or something?]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[It's not that complicated. Once he picks it up, it will actually be clear what this crumpled up black fabric is - a robe from the sanctum. And an incredibly bloody one, at that!]

[notadinosnack]

[He's really glad for the gloves right about now. So he's going to try and hold it up and see if there would be anything that may tell him about who wore it. Does it give a clue about height? Or are there any rips?]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[Not really. But....

There's a few blonde hairs inside of it.]

[notadinosnack]

[Also going to grab those so they can be compared to the others and he'll try not to get blood on them. This is really giving him a sinking feeling in his gut about who it could be. Still, he must continue because they have to figure out who it is. Anything else in this area, or shall he continue upwards?]

[strangerpeople]

[Just a little more blood trail to follow. He's almost there.]

[notadinosnack]

[He's definitely going to need a good drink after this and thank goodness he can hold his liquor well. He'll continue to follow the trail on up the stairs then. So what is left to find?]

[strangerpeople]

[As the stairs continue to wind, he'll find another window just like the one that was in the dining room. It's way too small to fit an entire body through, but he could totally stick his hand out of it and scare the crap out of the people in the library!

Most notably, though, the blood trail ends here. Perhaps he should take a look around.]

[notadinosnack]

[And since Thanatos is totally the sort to do so, he will indeed stick a hand out the window and wave, while using his power as well to draw more attention to it.

Then he'll actually be the mature adult he is and take a look around.]

[strangerpeople]

[That was fun. Now, below the window, there appears to be a scroll.]

[notadinosnack]

[And since his gloves are likely quite covered in blood by now, he'll go ahead and take them off for a moment and open up the scroll to take a look at it.]

[strangerpeople]

[It contains the Spells of Transformation.

Franciscus used to be in possession of this...]

[notadinosnack]

[And how convenient that he's now in possession of the hat too. Thanks for that Jun. He'll read it over and then tuck it away in his belt. He didn't know Franciscus was in possession of it, but someone else may know what this means. It also could be useful to have. Is there anything else of note around here? Besides the obvious gross blood?]

[strangerpeople]

[That's it. You did it, Thanatos, you climbed the whole mountain staircase... (Well actually there's some more staircase left but it's got a big magic lock at the end so don't bother.)]