Mini 61: Trial

[Tetsu]

As the music died down, all of you were in shocked...somehow...one of your newly met companion lay dead on the floor of the Dining Table in an Inn at a deserted town. Could it be any more crazy?! You all look around, but first assumption, you all already have a suspect. Now how to pin the crime on them...or was there a much more higher force at work here?

Truth Bullets

SPOILER: Click to show

{ Body}Vesta's body is very obviously fried. Nothing more to it. You noticed her expression of shocked and mid scream was etch on her flamed face.

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{ Dining Tables/Hall}The place was with a lot of tables and a fireplace. You noticed the tables all still have their soup bowl on it. In the fireplace, an oddly shrivel up thing was found charred. Aside from that, the table where Vesta was sitting has now been fully charred. Dang it wish someone would have gotten some marshmallow when she was burning.

SPOILER: Click to show

{ Front of Shop}The front of the shop seems to be looking good except for a broken glass near one of the racks.  Aside from that, the racks seems to have a lot of items but only few were taken such as magic scroll, healing salves, smokescreen powder, some trinkets and some elemental orb were taken as well. 

SPOILER: Click to show

{ Back of Shop}The back of the shop seems to be a mage/wizard/sorcerers dream, it comes with a lot of herbs and spices as well as a big cauldron to brew things in. On the work table you noticed a pestel and mortar had been used and that there seemed to be residue left on the table. There seems to be some ingredients moved and also a circular shape left on the dusty table too.

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{ Smithy}The smithy seems much more cleaner than what some of you might have saw. However, the Counter seemed to be broken and one of the display cabinet is missing something sharp. the Smithy bedroom seemed to have been used as the bedsheet was crumpled.

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{ Bar Storage}The storage of the bar seemed to hold many fresh ingredients. Why are they there in this abandoned town..no one knows. Aside from that, there seemed to be cooking utensils and equipment, the fridge is stocked up on frozen seafood and meat as well. A pot, a few packet of soup stock and prawns has gone missing from here...

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{ Bedroom in Inn}The place seemed to not have been touched much say only two beds where the bedsheets has been crumpled up.

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{ Bar Counter}This place has been used a lot tonight, on the stove behind the counter, there was still a pot on it with more chowder inside. The sink seems to be filled with mugs/glasses and peels of carrots and potatoes left in it. How hygienic of the Chef >.< no Michelin Star for you, health violator!

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{ Foyer}The place seemed okay with chairs and all and a furnace. However, there seemed to be some damp spot on one of the chairs and a bucket next to it. Hmm..did someone go to the bathroom here?

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{ Entrance }The entrance has practically nothing except for a table with a book and a quill and ink. It seemed to have all your details and timing when you arrived at the inn

How Alignments Work

- It might have influence your alibi

- Will be how you present yourself in Trial

- You can follow the alignment or don't it's up to you.

- But you need to solve the howdunnit and then whodunnit. Any questions, do dm me or ask in the chat..which I will clarify to my best efforts
- More so trial will end Sunday 10pm for the AmeriCanadians and 5:30am for Euro/NorthPolish and Monday, 10am for South East Asian and Oceania.

With that I bit thee good luck!

[Peregrine]

Lani knocks their bull carcass back into position, letting out a raspy, hacking cough.


"...What, like we gotta discuss this? We all just saw it happen. That pompous little lizard just torched the tree-hugger. Case closed!"


With that, they lean in their chair and set their feet on the table.

[sageofbrush]

"well mabye it was someone who cooked the food" he says talking to Lani "also I need to know if sal is allergic to anything"

[Ktoasty]

"I saw it too. Sal killed Vesta at the best part of the song too. Taking a life and taking a song is just too cruel."

[mao]

“NOOOOOOOO!!! VEEEEEESTAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

Sal the Pompous is sobbing incoherently, shedding a few salamander tears along the way.

“H-how did this happen… What have I done?!” He covers his face with his tiny salamander hands. He really could not comprehend how it had come to this.

Spoiler Alert: Here’s how, Sal.

SPOILER: Click to show

(The following text may be only partially accurate due to Sal the Pompous being prone to severe delusions of grandeur that may or may not affect how they remember things.)

5pm
In their search of elusive “grapewine scarab”, a quest for an insectious delicacy that might have been born out of Sal’s tendency to mishear the DM, the salamander and his wooden assistant robot find themselves standing in the rain outside the Inn.

As they enter, Sal rolls Perception and ends up getting a decent roll despite having a negative Wisdom score. He spots six other people in the Entrance, all soaking wet.

There’s a man in purple robes, a colossal skull-wearing berserker, a wizard with a crow familiar (Sal is immediately suspicious of them), a green-haired fellow, a blonde-haired and well-dressed cleric and a blue-haired lay, whose presence could only be described as serene. Two more people enter, a masked man and an axe-wielding girl.

Sal the Pompous, of course, proceeds to introduce himself as a “adventurer, master alchemist, ambassador, esquire Salazar Amadeus Mander” and then also handwaves Vesta’s existence as their assistant. Sadly, no one is paying attention, as the green-haired fellow and the skull-headed berserker get into a fist fight. Truly barbaric!

While Vesta tries to diffuse the situation, Sal shouts some words of encouragement at their brawl. It was only after a broken window and the blue-haired lady’s song, that the fight ended, along with the heavy pouring outside. Everyone started going their separate ways.

6pm
The salamander drags Vesta towards the Smithy, very politely and justifiably reminding her that she has spent the entire day being useless. If it wasn’t for Sal dragging her there, she would have never found that poisonous mushroom growing next to the building! They enter the Smithy, where Sal marvels at the selection of edged weapons. He finds a shiny dagger and pockets it, since you never know when you need something to stabby-stab with.

Vesta makes a HUGE deal about it, and Sal, being the better person, doesn’t respond to their unfounded complaints, settling for gritting their teethless salamander mouth. Sal is too exhausted to explain to his assistant why stealing isn’t wrong. It’s starting to remind him of that one time he had to explain why it was okay to throw an innocent chicken vendor to jail under the Espionage Act for not letting the party appropriate all their chickens “in order to protect the city from a foreign invasion” when they had a very brief moment of political sway and ended up causing a nation-wide famine. Only thing that mattered was that he was right.

7pm
Sal wanders off without Vesta, making angry salamander noises as they do. They head to the Shop and pass by the axe-wielding girl, who is headed in the opposite direction. As they enter, they found racks upon racks of trinkets, healing potions, spell scrolls and the like, along with some broken glass on the floor. As they were searching for a flaming orb to boost their firepower - oh yeah, Sal is the descendant of a mighty red dragon and loves to watch things burn down - a ninja came in and was trying to act stealthy, but they were no match for Sal’s negative Wisdom score. He eventually found a flaming orb and a freezing orb, and again, with absolute moral justification, pockets the orbs.

8pm
Sal heads to the Entrance to show their shiny new orb to Vesta, who was checking the books. The green-haired fellow, the axe-wielding girl and the creature in purple robes were all sitting on the bar counter too. Vesta asks if he stole it - a completely unfounded assumption that the salamander took immediate slight to. Why would they steal it?! It was irrelevant in this context, that Sal had indeed stolen the orb, because Vesta was assuming they had without cause. It ends up in a verbal disagreement, after which both of them go their separate ways, Sal storming off to the bedroom, Vesta somewhere else.

9pm
Sal begins to hear - gasp - the sound of his conscience in the bedroom. He’s actually thinking about what he’s done wrong, although that doesn’t last very long. After all, he’s in the right and Vesta is in the wrong like always. If it wasn’t for the axe-wielding girl, who must have witnessed their fight and followed him to the bedroom to ask how they were doing, Sal might have not given Vesta yet another chance at being his assistant. The axe-wielding girl sings a beautiful song and after that… Sal feels... something?

He realizes he doesn’t want to lose Vesta over a stupid argument - even if she was totally wrong - and must treat her better. Maybe he’ll give her a raise? Sal decided that he would grace Vesta with the juiciest worm of his collection later that night to show his appreciation for her. The call for dinner interrupts his deep contemplation.

10pm
When Sal entered the Dining Room, Vesta had already taken a seat and saved one for him. He apologized how he acted in the best way he possibly could have: “I’m sorry that you were wrong, Vesta. It happens to the best of people who aren’t me. I’m willing to forgive you and move past this.” Vesta simply shrugged and said they don’t mind. Proud of himself at how he humbled himself before all these people to apologize. He noticed that Sona was sitting across him and Vesta, while Forrest, Lani and Wenderlyn were sitting together, as well as Nero and Jack who were at another table. Chowder served us our food, chowder, while Suisei started performing a song and Sona joined her in a duet.

At that point, Sal took a careful sip of the chowder. Being a salamander, his digestive system was unsuited for anything else but bugs, but one drop couldn’t kill anyone, could it?

He immediately starts feeling uneasy. Something is wrong. He’s turning all the wrong colors. Vesta turned to him and asked what’s wrong, and then it happened… a burst of fire erupted from Sal’s mouth and doused Vesta in flames. It was unlike Sal’s normal fire breath, much more amplified. Vesta was screaming and Sal was anxiously trying to put out the flame but… although they both knew a lot of fire spells, neither of them knew the spell to extinguish flames!

But instead of taking any of that into consideration, Sal pointed his tiny salamander finger at the wizard, Wenderlyn, and their bird familiar, and made a baseless accusation. “IT WAS THEM! THE BIRD AND THEIR HUMAN! EVERYONE KNOWS BIRDS ARE PURE EVIL! THEY LOOK AT ME ALL HUNGRY LIKE A PIECE OF MEAT! I’M NOT EDIBLE!!!”

[Crow]

Ignoring the noises made by the Lizard, Wenderlyn rubs his goatee as he says.

“Sona, when you sat with Vesta and Sal, did you notice anything odd? Also, would you mind telling us what you were doing while sitting with them?”

Turning towards Lani, Wenderlyn huffs in contempt.

“Barbarian and jumping head first into conclusions. Yes the disgusting vermin burn the weed but from what I observed there was a slight absent-mindedness to them at that time. I suspect either hypnotic agent or a spell had been at work here.”

Giving Suisei a side glance, Wenderlyn leans on his staff. Smirking at the bard.

“By the way drenched wench, Your timing there was quite coincidental don't you think? Tell me, who did you encounter in the item store and tell us what did you burn in the fireplace.”

Scratching the head of his pet Crow, Wenderlyn chuckles slightly.

“That reminds me, Chowder, did you prepare the bowls and soup yourself or did someone helped you? Actually, who else did you see around you while you cooked?”

[Ame]

"Good evening everyone!"



"It's your shooting star! Your diamond in the rough! Hoshimachi Suisei!"

She gives Sona a friendly smile

"I hope you enjoyed my show! Thank you to Sona for assisting me!"

*Suisei has not yet realised someone has died.

"Hm? What's wrong everyone? You all look like someone died."

Upon looking around the room and... actually listening to the people in the audience, she realises that, was exactly what had happened.

"Ah! My apologies everyone! How could this have happened? How long ago did this happen?"

[Ame]

May 28, 2021 22:51:27 GMT -6 Crow said:

“By the way drenched wench, Your timing there was quite coincidental don't you think? Tell me, who did you encounter in the item store and tell us what did you burn in the fireplace.”

"Now now, that's not a very nice thing to say. I'm just an travelling idol, preforming where I can."

"I don't think there was anything strange about my timing."

"Let's see. I was in the magic shop, although I am an idol, I'm an adventurer just like you all. I went there once the rain had passed, and the fighting had ceased. I was quite impressed with Sona's singing, and I was delighted to see go there as well. One of the boys in the fight, Nero was there too, it looked as if they went into the back of the shop. I lost track of him, at least. Forrest was there as well. I'll have to admit, I was a little enamoured by their beauty and tripped over. They saw me and we just, giggled about it."

"And... I don't understand what your asking me? What I burnt?"

Suisei shakes her head

"The only time I was near the fire was just before I started my performance, it was a little chilly, so I went to heat up by the fireplace."

[Crow]

Snorting in disdain, Wenderlyn said sarcastically.

“Oh suuuure, you are indeed warming yourself in front of the fireplace at 10pm. You were so focused on it you somehow missed whatever object was burning there.”

Glancing at Jack, He added.

“Around 6pm there wasn't any foreign object burning in the fireplace. I should know since I lit it back up. That masked weirdo over there was "warming" up to an unlit fireplace so I decided to be a good Samaritan and light it for him.”

“Could be him who burn whatever it is in there or could be anyone elses. But it's not my business at that time since I went to the shattered window and casted mending on it.”

[Ame]

May 29, 2021 1:43:56 GMT -6 Crow said:

“Oh suuuure, you are indeed warming yourself in front of the fireplace at 10pm. You were so focused on it you somehow missed whatever object was burning there.”

"Well. Yeah? Where are you going with this? As you said, it was 10pm at night, on a cold day, with a broken window letting in cold air."

"I, don't see how this is unusual at all."

Suisei lets out a sigh

"I'm not sure what's in the fireplace. I know I didn't put anything into the fire, and it would have been very difficult to spot something black among the coals of the fire."

"Fire gets to about... 500 degrees in a fireplace. Considering it's shrivelled and charred, it would have had to have been something organic."

"Or! It's a minor illusion! Wouldn't be terribly difficult for a magic castor such as yourself to create, wouldn't it? I can't think of anything that would react like that in a fire so hot!"

"You said you lit the fire, it should have been easy for you to hide it in there. Or really, anyone who can cast magic like that who was in the Dining Hall could have done it covertly."

Suisei thought for a moment

"Where you always by the fireplace? Like, did you always have eyes on it?"

[Crow]

“Hmph, clearly it is not a minor illusion. A minor illusion wouldn't be affected by it's surrounding and no why should I pay attention to a fireplace?”

Shaking his head, Wenderlyn made an exaggerated sigh.

“Besides, you're not listening to me. I casted mending on the broken window, fixing it. At least it would hold up for the rest of our stay here. So there is no reason for this stink hole to be cold by the time you were in front of the fireplace.”

Raising his brows, it quickly turns into a frown as he continued.

“Not to mention, You were here since 8pm according to the Lizard. By 9pm you seem to sang them something which causes them to feel odd. Then by 10pm you are in front of the fireplace. Through all this time you didn't step out into the cold so your reasoning for it to be cold is invalid.”

[Crow]

"Argh.. ya know what, put the entire fireplace thing aside. Wet Siren, the lizard seems sure you were in this Bar by 8pm. but tell us about where you are and who do you see before that as well as the time you were with the lizard in this stink hole"

Stomping his staff, Wenderlyn demanded the Idol.

[Zero One/Zero Two]

At 5pm, I entered the Inn as it was still raining. There was 8 people inside of it. (Minus 1 I'm still not yet sure who.) And then the goat-looking guy got into a fight with the green-haired guy, and then the stick-looking guy tried to break the fight, but unsuccessful. And then the anime looking girl started to sing, and they both stopped the fight. And that's when everyone splits up. Coincidentally, the rain stopped too. Huh...

[⋆⋅ Sage ⋅⋆]

Forrest clutches his staff, a look of anger marring his dainty face.

"Now what in the world happened here? I witnessed Sal set fire to Vesta! Obviously he was the one to cut short her life. But I cannot believe that that is where this story ends!

"It seems that Sal was feeling poorly just before he started to spew fire. I am sure that, under normal circumstances, there is no way he would torch his own vehicle friend. As it were, I witnessed Lani sneezing uncontrollably at around 7pm. When I saw them again at 9pm, their eyes looked red and puffy, and it seemed to me like they had been infected by something. I wonder if Sal was infected by the same phenomenon, and that caused him to sneeze fire."

He turns to Lani, tilting his head in interest.

"Mind if I ask what went on prior to you becoming ill?"

[Zero One/Zero Two]

Infection, or some kind of sickness, huh? Could be possible. But then again, could salamander get sick? Hmm...

Anyway, at 6pm, I head to the Dining Tables/Hall to warm myself, but unsuccessful because of the frozen, chilling winds that came rushing in from the broken window, as if trying to suck out the life from the Inn's inhabitants. Or perhaps an ominous sign of what's to come...

But luckily for me, the wizard guy came to the fireplace, and do his wizard stuff, and chant his wizard spell and, poof, just like magic, the fireplace lits up. And no sooner than later, I felt the warmth of the fire came creeping in. And for a moment there, it feels warm, nicr and cozy. And then the wizard fixes the broken window. Good guy wizard.

Now, back on the topic, could it also be that the salamander guy, had some kind of allergies, and it somehow makes him breath fire uncontrollably? Cause we know when human people have some kind of allergic reaction, they sneeze uncontrollably. Hmm...