Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

And once everyone has finished their investigations of the building, the door down at the bottom of that stairwell in the dorms seems to once again have been unlocked; it opens slowly and as though of its own volition, swinging outward lightly after an audible click of the latch. Hopefully everyone knows better than to stand in front of it by now, but if not...well, it's gentle enough to provide some sort of encouragement to move without straight-out hitting anyone. For the third time in as many weeks, the stairwell that door leads to is dark; the only light visible is what managing to get in from the courtroom below. The room itself remains as unforgiving and imposing as ever with its walls made entirely of concrete and steel; the podium circle stands starkly in the center, wooden structures ringing the darkened pit below. Again, there's been a change in the podium setup; Blue and Walt have joined those with podiums draped in black. Their profile portraits are arranged atop them, greyed-out and observing the proceedings, along with the rest of those that you've lost. As always, the thirty-sixth podium stands empty. Once everyone has found their place in the circle, Jericho can be heard over the public-address system; he seems to have gotten himself together a little more since morning, though he still doesn't quite seem up to the usual. "Methodical's been taken from you; almost all of you know why you're here right now, and even if your secrets aren't safe anymore, I'd still suggest doing your job to the fullest - unless you consider those secrets worth dying over, even if they aren't worth killing over. As for the guilty party...your secret's safe with me, but unfortunately? You're not safe at all just yet. Whether you manage to actually ensure that you are by the end of the trial is a different matter, I guess. Innocent against the guilty. Let's go round three, see how well you all come out. As always, do your best!" Twenty-nine Participants remain. Let's see how many remain at the end of the day.

Comments

[brandnewday]

It'd be nice if we could say it was definitely a woman, but...guys could go in there, too. Where do ya think all of this started?

[hesperos]

It kinda seems like it might've started in the bar first? At least in the sense of "this is where the would-be culprit and actual culprit met up".

Then, after Walter's drugging attempt failed, they probably went to the billiards room next.

[ninehundredlives]

It is right there. If he was being attacked, the pool cues were probably the nearest things that seemed like a half-decent weapon.

[hesperos]

[ He'll nod. ]

Yeah, though that didn't work out for him.

After his attempt to fight back failed, he probably tried to make a break for it again, and lost his arm in the process. He was probably cornered in the infirmary and that's when the culprit finished him.

Then, the culprit saved the bathroom for last.

[brandnewday]

But the bathroom and the pool room are in different directions if you start at the bar, right? So when did they go to the bathroom?

[destage]

...They might have gone after all was said and done.

[heritrix]

[Given what she's telling Adelina here, and her theory about Walter being the one to start this...]

What if the culprit took a drink in the bar, and we started feeling the effects they went to the bathroom? Realizing their drink was spiked, they could have returned to the bar to get even, and then the chase went from there, to the billiards hall, and the stairwell.

[ninehundredlives]

So maybe the red stuff could have been from their reaction to the pills?

[In her experience, painkillers don't make you hack up red slime, but who the fuck knows man]

[notaccurate]

That hinges on Walter staying in the bar after poisoning someone, though. Would he even stay behind after something like that?

[heritrix]

I wouldn't. But if we're going with the theory he underestimated his opponent, maybe he didn't expect they would be back.

[No one expects "suddenly bears".]

[destage]

...It'd have to be someone who'd at least be willing to take a drink from someone here.

[There are plenty of people here who don't trust a damn soul. Not that one could blame them, but...]

I wonder if they'd still be feeling the effects now.

[firstaid]

[Estelle's just been kind of listening, but as horrifying as this all is, these theories are incredibly intriguing.]

If this theory is indeed true, I wonder that as well.

[destage]

I haven't taken anything like that before, so I'm not entirely sure of the effects of taking too many or how the person would be...

[someone more intelligent should do this, basically]

[ninehundredlives]

Could I see the bottle? [You said "painkillers", but there's different types even within the infirmary, probably]

[brandnewday]

Of course you can!

[Here you go! Hibiki's more than glad to trek over and hand it off. Can she hang out over here??? Probably not, she'll go back.]

MODS

[ninehundredlives]

[How strong are we talking, here, in terms of painkillers?]

[trustfellows]

[To put it in highly scientific terms, pretty damn. Like, the not-fucking-around ones.]

[ninehundredlives]

[You could stay here if you want, Hibiki, Susan doesn't seem to mind. But more to the point...]

These are strong. It depends how much they had, if they really had any, and how late this all happened. But they could still be feeling it. Especially since...

...you all did see that list I put up in the bar, didn't you? About what not to mix with alcohol? [Definitely do not mix opioids and alcohol.]

[destage]

...They could have easily had a bad enough reaction to it, but...

Isn't there the distinct possibility that they would be dead, too? From drinking that. They'd have to be strong to shrug that off, right?

[ninehundredlives]

Yeah. It's not too hard to overdose on pills like this even without alcohol.

They'd have to be healthy, and probably large enough to handle that amount. Or...maybe just not human. I don't know anything about how another species might react to...any of this.

[innocentloveholic]

...Not to be a bust, but if they were super strong painkillers, and they had them with a drink? They prooooooobably wouldn't be in any condition to go ripping arms off.

[ Especially if we're going to go ahead and hope they're still feeling the effects now. ]

It's a little more likely that Methodical's the one who got drugged, even if he's a whizzo with chemistry or whatever.

[heritrix]

What symptoms would we be looking for, then? I'm not familiar with most painkillers.

[bloodisthicker]

...if it happened afterwards, perhaps Walter could have injured the culprit with the cue stick if they chased him into the billiards room after realizing he tried to poison them. We still don't know what that red substance is, after all.

[heritrix]

[Yeah, there's definitely nothing preventing a guy from going in, so she wouldn't rule anyone here of the male persuasion out either.]

If you asked me before this, I would say the bar, but... Given the lack of blood, it could very well have been the bathroom.

[brandnewday]

If you start at the bathroom, at least you can go through all three rooms without havin' to double back...but that seems weird, too.