THE THIRD TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE THIRD TRIAL

[After the finale clues are found, the ticking which we totally didn't forget to add to the investigation post in everyone's head stops, and the Elder Steward's voice echoes through the webs.]

Excellent. Now, please, proceed to the ossuary! Do not tarry.

[Just like before, the Ossuary rumbles upwards to accept the remaining Strangers, with bats hassling those who take too long. Just like before, chains drag everyone to their respective coffins, and in the center are souls for sustenance. You might expect the only true difference to be that piles of skulls now replace the coffins where Zelda, Bangladesh, and Jun might have otherwise stood when they were alive. However, one more change has been made - Eric's coffin is now quite a bit fancier and even a little less coffin-looking. For example, it has a nice chair! Apparently there's some favoritism afoot.

Once everyone is in place, the Elder Steward strolls forward to the edge of the circle, hands crossed beneath his robes. The scrolls glow to reveal the evidence and the suspect list as this happens.]

THE OVERBOARD	THE CIRCUIT	THE RUBBER	THE NEON
				THE ENEMY

Now. Let us get started, shall we?

[And with that, the ticking begins anew. Someone killed. It's time to decide who's responsible.

The trial for the murder of Jun Ushiro, The Launcher, has begun.]

Comments

DIAGRAM TIME

[whiterosefoes]

Let's try to put this all together. Does anyone have something to write with?

[After she's gotten it from a person or the stewards or whatever, she comes up with a map.]

Jun's body was right here by the chair nearest the bookshelves, by the way. I didn't have room to draw him, and...

[maybe not the heart either.]

[relieable]

[he's looking at the map]

...it's like someone tried to create some kinda... domino effect, maybe. Like one of those machines... I can't think of the name. Gold-something.

[incendiarize]

Yeah, like...some kinda trap. Maybe like...pulling the door open moved the bucket to knock the shelves over or something?

...D'you think someone could've shot an arrow through the passage window to where he was?

[relieable]

[♪ mousetrap i guarantee it's the craziest trap you'll ever see ♫]

If they were really good at it, maybe? They'd only get, like, one shot.

[notadinosnack]

As others can attest to, I was able to fit my hand through it last week. An arrow would definitely be able to be shot through it.

[yonosoymaria]

He was... somewhat facing that way. His back was to the door.

[incendiarize]

So....what if someone set the trap, but someone else shot him through the window, and then Emma coincidentally opened the door and set off the trap right....after....

Wait.

If the trap was rigged to go off when someone opened the door, but Jun was already in there.... Maybe he used the shrinky spell and passage, but he didn't get magic, he was trying to understand it when he died.

Could Jun have set the trap?

[notadinosnack]

The one that shrinks is the Spell of Transformation not the Spell of Binding.

[incendiarize]

Yeah, but he felt weird about magic in general, right?

[notadinosnack]

But it was confirmed he was looking at a different spell right before he died. I'd think if he wanted to shrink himself he'd need the right spell for that one.

[incendiarize]

I mean - there's only two ways into the library, right? And you have to shrink to get in through the window. So if the trap was rigged against the door, then either he went in the shrinky way - which seems weird since he felt weird about magic - or he set the trap.

[notadinosnack]

But if he set the trap then why sit so close to it? There were chairs on the other side of the room where it wouldn't touch him.

[incendiarize]

If he didn't set it, then why'd he think to use the shrinky way? Instead of just using the way that doesn't need magic.

[notadinosnack]

Remember he also didn't see the arrow coming and it hit him in the chest. I think he was so absorbed in that scroll that he was completely unaware of his surroundings.

[incendiarize]

Wouldn't that have been after? I'm talking about when he entered the library.

[notadinosnack]

Okay let's try and figure out the possibilities here. First, Jun entered the normal way and set the trap. This makes little sense because he wouldn't have sat near the trap.

The second is he was there and unaware of someone else entering or being present while they were setting the trap. Not impossible if the culprit was very quiet about it.

[incendiarize]

Maybe we should think about why the trap. Emma wasn't crushed, so it's not like they were rigged to fall on the doorway...

[notadinosnack]

There's a lot of possible reasons. The most obvious seems to be to try and frame her. Remember how Eric reacted?

[joinhands]

If he did set the trap... We would have a logical explanation for Miss Millstein's unusual involvement.

Jun cared for her very much. Could he have pushed her out of the way and taken the blow?

[incendiarize]

Based on my vision, I don't think he knew she was there...

But he also wouldn't have any way to know she'd open the door, right? Here's what I'm thinking...

Jun goes to the library to read up on magic, but....doesn't wanna be found, or something, so he rigs up the trap. But he gets so absorbed in reading, he doesn't realize how close to it he is. Then someone shot him through the window, and a couple seconds later, Emma happens to open the door and set off the trap.

That's the best I've got right now.

[joinhands]

Rube Goldberg.

...but why? Was it to avoid getting blood on themselves? Did they actually want to get Miss Millstein killed...?

[relieable]

[Rube Goldberg! Osomatsu nods]

Haven't figured that part out yet. I was mainly just thinking aloud.