round seven

[mewreview]

blank state round seven



day twenty-three

[Once again, all of you are gathered in the central room. The two flat screen TVs asked for are turned on, and hooked up to the laptop over near the desk. At the desk, you can also find many notebooks, pens, pencils, and markers.

Finally, there is 1 scratch marks scratched into the wall.]

Setting
Timeline
Cast
Graveyard

Comments

Theories

[mewreview]

[The cat sits inside his box fort, surveying your investigative efforts somewhat disdainfully. You're welcome to approach him with a theory.]

[volcanoes]

Mary Woods got killed in the attack on the Shade mansion the day before Sherwood died.

[bloomnobly]

Eeeeeeh, just to confirm, even though it seems rather obvious...Shade-san's power was manipulation of flame. It would explain how his clothes seemed to be damaged by fire, but he had no bodily wounds, among all of the rather obvious allusions to flame, such as his alias and his costume.

[souredsweet]

Paladin was the one to kill Mary Woods that day, driven by her bond with Johnathan, who Mary had taken hostage.

Cabinets and Safes

[mewreview]

[The usual array of cabinets is set out, each labeled with the name of one person here, and each locked tightly.

However, near the cabinets are four much smaller cabinets - they look a little like a miniature safe. All you have to do to open one is turn the dial, and it will open automatically.

Like the cabinets, upon opening the safe, you will be transported to a "memory." But this memory is unlike what you experienced before. First of all, only the person opening the safe, and anyone immediately next to them when they open it, will be transported into the memory. Second of all, rather than watching someone else's memory play out, you will be watching it from the perspective of a person living that memory. You will see through their eyes; you will feel what they feel and live through their emotions.

At the outset, there isn't much in the safes - at first nothing more than a feeling, then perhaps some sketchy visuals later on - but as you learn more, the memory will develop. ]

First Safe

[mewreview]

[The person opening the safe, and anyone immediately next to them and helping them open, will experience the following as vividly as if they were living it: ]

For now, when you open the safe, your senses are immediately swallowed by darkness. There is nothing to see, hear, touch, smell around you. All there is is an emotion - incredible rage. You can't concentrate on anything else; you're too consumed with anger and you want revenge.

Findings

[mewreview]

The laptop has been opened to a basic word processor program; anything entered on it will be automatically displayed on the flatscreens. You can write up any theories or the summary of the findings so far here.

(OOC: Feel free to reply to this comment with any theories or facts about the case that you've found; however, please do not thread under this subheading. This is just to provide a handy recap of the trial so far.)

Safe Emotions

[volcanoes]

Safe One: extreme range, desire for revenge

Safe Two: hopeless depression and fear

Safe Three: bitterness, shattered faith, not thinking much of yourself but not really caring

Safe Four: frustration, self-blame, inability to do something important, feeling useless

The Scene; gore

[mewreview]

[Go down the hallway and open the first door to the right. You will step into what looks like another location entirely.

You can walk around and interact with the scene, but you cannot take anything, destroy anything, or alter anything. When you're ready to leave, if you step back in the direction you came from, eventually you'll find the invisible doorway leading you back into the hallway.]

You find yourself in some sort of underground vault. The walls are metal and clearly soundproof; probably bulletproof as well, and the ceilings are covered with complicated surveillance equipment. The walls on one part of the room are covered with picture frames - mostly newspaper stories hailing Captain Phoenix as a hero, although some frames are missing. There is what appears to be an old costume with a flame motif in a glass case, and next to it a glass case containing a black and cracked helm with a gold laurel crown. In the corner of the room is a cabinet stocked with weapons. Some of it is clearly training equipment, but some of it looks very dangerous. There are deep scorch marks on parts of the walls.

Against one of the walls is the body of Mai, or what is left of it. Her bones are broken, and she's slumped limply, and the wall itself is splattered with blood and brain matter. The back of her skull is missing. It almost looks like the exit wound of a powerful weapon, but there is no sign of any entry wound. The body is wearing a black suit, but the sleeves of the suit seem to be charred as though burned, although no other part of her body shows signs of burn marks. The body has been badly slashed and stabbed, and there is a bloody sword lying next to it that looks identical to the swords in the training cabinet. Above the body, in blood, is written the word VLTIO.

At the back of the room is a door; it's as heavy as everything else in the room, but it has been left open, and leads into a narrow underground tunnel with dirt walls and floors. There are footprints on the ground from sneakers; they seem to belong to someone fairly small, and someone who was running.

On the other side of the room is another door. You would ordinarily need some sort of code to open it, but it seems to be unlocked. You can walk up a narrow staircase, which leads to a hidden panel in a wall. Beyond the hidden panel is what appears to be the study of an impressive mansion. You can look out the window and see a sprawling garden, but all of the plants in it seem to be dead.

Re: The Scene; gore

[bloomnobly]

[ flinching as soon as she walks into the room with the body ]

O-Oh gods...I don't think I'll ever get used to this. I can't even tell who this is, how atrocious.

Profiles

[mewreview]

Sherwood Shade (deceased): A reclusive billionaire. Several years ago, after an injury, newspapers revealed his secret identity as the superhuman vigilante Captain Phoenix. Since that time, he and his children have seldom been seen to leave the family mansion, and Captain Phoenix only sighted again once.

Jonathan Shade: Sherwood Shade’s teenage son. Despite his powerful father, he never became a hero or manifested superhuman abilities himself. After his father’s death, however, he blamed the elusive Nero and swore revenge.

Starling: A young orphan girl who manifested her shapeshifting powers early. She was taken in by Captain Phoenix ten years ago, who adopted her as his daughter and promised to train her.

Nero (deceased?): A vicious superhuman with telekinetic abilities, and an old enemy of Captain Phoenix. He appeared to be killed several years ago, but after Captain Phoenix’s death, there have been rumored sightings of him once again. He was infamous for the gory way he would kill his victims.

Mary Woods (deceased): A teenage girl whose abilities are some of the most powerful the world has ever seen. She was revealed to be the villain Nephthys, who had attacked the Shade family mansion and nearly destroyed the city the day before Shade's death.

Paladin: An idealistic young superheroine who began fighting crime in the wake of Captain Phoenix’s retirement. She is also the same age as Johnny, and the two are close friends.

Safes

[volcanoes]

...Let's get them open. [He gestures at the safes. Who's going to help him?]

[bloomnobly]

I will assist. [ any number in mind? ]

Nero and Nephthys

[psychup]

I didn't see the movie this was all based on, so I might be completely wrong.

But don't you think it's strange that Jonathan thought Nero was the person who killed his father, even though a different person attacked them the day before? Nero was supposed to be dead.

I wonder if there's a reason.

[bloomnobly]

Perhaps Nero-san and Mary-san were in cahoots.

superpowers?

[whiterosefoes]

A lot of these profile cards mention specific powers, but a couple - Nephthys and Paladin - don't have them listed. Do you think the powers have anything to do with anything?

Since we have a shapeshifter among them, we should probably consider whether she'd pretend to be one of the other people. I have no idea who, yet, but it's just kind of obvious.

[and maybe she just thinks talking about powers is fun...]

[volcanoes]

Sometimes superhero names are related to the powers, right? [Not... That Iceland has ever been interested in superhero stuff, that's for kids!]

Mary Woods

[volcanoes]

Mary got killed in her attack on the Shade mansion the day before Sherwood died. No one had ever seen her before the day, so it was a surprise attack, and she took a hostage, but she was killed before anyone else was. Sherwood didn't kill her, though.

[souredsweet]

The attack happened at the manor, right? Or part of it, anyway... [considering it mentions city-wide destruction and all.]

If Sherwood didn't kill her, it was likely one of the children, right? Or Paladin, if she had been around at the time. We should figure out who the hostage was as well.

Mary's Powers

[volcanoes]

Mary got her powers after something traumatic happened to her when she was a kid. They got stronger when she got older. She could drain the life force out of stuff to make herself stronger, which is why all the plants are dead.

[bloomnobly]

[ was writing something on the whiteboard when she hears this MARKER CLATTERING TO THE FLOOR ]

...pardon?

Starling's Powers

[obeytherod]

[He's looking particularly irritable right now, but he'll present what he's found.]

Starling had powers when she was younger, but she as she got older she couldn't use them anymore even despite all the training Shade put her through.

[He's not really sure where this gets them, though.]

[bloomnobly]

[ adding in: ] Oh, yes, the cat also told me that Shade-san wanted to train Starling-chan with weapons, despite her powers.

Nero's "Death"

[souredsweet]

Nero supposedly died in a self-caused accident, but the only thing found was a helm rather than a body. [HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS so:]

Phoenix suspected that he had lived and would come for revenge... The cat said that if we could figure out what the accident was, he would tell the rest.

[psychup]

Mr. Shade.

Okay, so the accident is something we should be able to predict happened. So it has to have been mentioned in something we know, right?

Surveillance Cameras, Starling, and Jonathan

[obeytherod]

Since we're already working on Nero, and Paladin and Mary didn't do it, that leaves only two other people who could have if it turns out Nero isn't the one. I have an idea, but the cat won't except it without more evidence. [So he's putting it up for discussion. Since he kind of sucks at presenting theories and has a tendency to jump to conclusions.]

Shade was killed in his own home by surprise, but that place was covered with security equipment. It looked impenetrable, and there didn't seem to be more than one way inside. I think somebody who he wouldn't have suspected when seeing on the cameras, or heard walking around, killed him.

That leaves Starling and Jonathan. According to what we know now, neither of them had any powers, but Starling had been trained with a sword. Out of the two she seems more likely, especially when Jonathan was the one who went looking for revenge.

[acemedium]

[Maya seems unusually serious and quiet this time around]

Starling used to be able to shapeshift, right? I wonder why she lost that power....

Nero's death and Mary's motive

[acemedium]

[Maya's been unusually quiet, but:] I just found out from the kitty that Nero was dead after all. He tried to kidnap Mary to make her powers appear, and they did - but they were out of control, and they ended up killing him and destroying a lot of stuff! And she absorbed his powers, too!

Mr. Shade came and managed to stop her, but he was really badly injured in the process and that's how his secret identity was revealed! He didn't see Nero died, and he was scared Nero would come after him, so... he didn't really believe he was dead.

The cat said that there was a reason Mary attacked the Shades and that when she did it was the first time she called herself Nephthys. It wasn't because she blamed Mr. Shade... we have to figure out why.

[psychup]

Wow! You figured out a lot!

Now we need to figure out why Mary attacked them, and also why Jonathan believed Nero was the murderer so strongly. I think I have an idea about that second part.

Jonathan's Safe

[psychup]

It looks like we got one of the safes open. Does anyone want to open it with me?

I also learned that Jonathan believed Nero was his father's killer because the scene was similar to Nero's other crimes - he used to write latin in blood at crime scenes. But the cat said it was a little more complicated than someone trying to frame Nero. I'm not sure what it means.

[acemedium]

I'll do it....!

Maybe... that latin thing meant sonething to Mary too? Like a villain catchphrase...

Starling's Safe and Mary and Paladin

[acemedium]

We got another safe unlocked! I'm gonna open it. [So if you want to open it with her, feel free to step up for a fun-filled cabinet viewing]

And... I think we really need to find out more about Mary and Paladin! Those two last safes have to belong to her, right?

[psychup]

Another one?

Well...I can help open it, if you want!

Paladin

[whiterosefoes]

I feel like Paladin is the person of interest whom we know the least about. Right now all we know is that she killed Mary.

So let's see. She started doing her heroine thing after Captain Phoenix's retirement. Why? Even if she was a friend of Johnny's so there's a connection there, it doesn't quite lead from A to B.

The Captain was relying on Starling to protect him, but you'd think if Paladin was Johnny's friend and a super heroine, she'd be trying to do the same for their family. That was never mentioned at all, though, in Johnny's cabinet... still, she supposedly rescued Starling when she killed Mary, but the cat said it was only because she got there first.

So what was she even doing?

[acemedium]

We don't really know anything about her..... Why did she become a superheroine in the first place? She picked up Mr. Shade's slack, but....

Mary

[courthouserock]

Let's talk about Fraulein Mary, seeing as how we've yet to determine her motive for turning to the dark side. So far, we know that the attack on Starling was the first time she ever called herself - what was it again? - that Egyptian goddess. We also know that she had lost control of her powers a few years ago and Captain...Shade stopped her, and that resentment played no factor in her motive.

The two safes left are bitterness and depression with fear, ja? Then one of them must be why she decided to pursue a life of villainy.

[souredsweet]

She didn't really pursue a life of villainy at all, though, did she? It sounds like that one singular incident was an isolated one... The cat said that she launched that attack and took on the name and such to draw Shade out, also.

Starling's safe update

[souredsweet]

The cat has updated Starling's safe. Malik-san and I are going to take a look, if anyone else would like to come. [a beat, and he adds:]

It seems like she wasn't the one to kill Shade, at any rate.

[acemedium]

I'll come.

Paladin's safe

[acemedium]

The cat unlocked Paladin's safe! That's three down, and one or two left to go...!

I guess... we can open it together? Whoever wants to. [Maybe they'll figure out who the killer is, finally]

[whiterosefoes]

I'm in. Let's see what kind of hero she really was.

Mary's Safe

[obeytherod]

...The last safe is unlocked thanks to Kaoru and I. Let's go have a look, shall we?

[He sits himself down on the safe while he waits.]

[bloomnobly]

[ hovering nearby. she needs to see this for herself. ]

Jonathon's Safe: Part 2

[whiterosefoes]

[Well, someone just heard some rough news from the cat. Harriet runs a hand roughly through her hair before speaking.]

I've just confirmed that Jonathon killed his own father. He had powers after all, complete with a destructive split personality.... there was indeed a second part to his safe.

[Rather than ask who wants to come, she'll just stand in front of it and let someone approach.]

[fjords]

Again? Is the cat tryin' to tell us something? [ children killing their own parents?? ]