[Fin] Murder in the Mountains (End)

[Caret]

Nellie stares confusingly at the sky. "Who is this "Monsieur Iamfrench"? Is he some super stereotypical French gentlemen? Or is he yet another cultist? Or could he be some kind of a twisted combination of both?"

[Kennifer]

Amy snickers.

"Iamfrench... okay that's a funny name, it sounds like a character from Saturday Night Live or something."

A pause.

"Okay. Need to focus."

[PointMaid]

> Are the prints a bit wonky and inconsistent, as if walking in shoes too large for you (say, to frame someone), or are they consistent with someone walking normally in the size they usually wear?

[wingedcatgirl]

> Are the prints a bit wonky and inconsistent, as if walking in shoes too large for you (say, to frame someone), or are they consistent with someone walking normally in the size they usually wear?

There's only barely enough print to confirm that they are shoes!

[Kennifer]

...

>does anyone have dirt on the soles of their shoes?

[wingedcatgirl]

>does anyone have dirt on the soles of their shoes?

You came here on a hiking trip. The only people without dirty shoes are the people without shoes.

[Caret]

"Well... who here doesn't have shoes? I do have shoes, just for reference. Unless somebody without shoes stole shoes in order to conceal their identity. Is that even a possibility?"

[PointMaid]

So the only information we have is what we had before, and that there are a few footprints. But not enough for much inference about them at all. Which... technically could even have been done by the little Soul, if they planted them to imply it was someone with shoes. Admittedly, that's reaching a bit, isn't it? But whoever it is would have to have cleaned up quite a bit not to track dirt all around the cabin, wouldn't they?

[glow=#72FF84]
Tainted Soul - CPR Doctor(?), claims to have saved Red two nights ago
Dr. Benjamin Kondraki - Bus Driver, seemingly confirmed by Knuckles' evidence and other people's stories lining up
Xrendak "Nellie" Nel'ren - Commuter(?): "Again, if I was a cultist then why would I mysteriously vanish while one of my fellow cultists was in the process being prosecuted?"
Chip and Ada Lieber - Fruit Vendor, seemingly confirmed by the "mod error" (whatever that is) a couple of days ago and the fact that their actions seem to line up with other's accounts
Amy - Unjester(?), the fact that Malakhiri attempted to frame Amy as the Rolecop seems to lend credence to her being the Unjester unless that was a scheme to give her towncred... actually, I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt
Bonus Boss Z - Bulletproof, seemingly confirmed by physical evidence and Knuckles' evidence
Blue - Coroner(?), unless Freddy was actually the Coroner, which seems unlikely
Midnight Red - Amnesiac, claims to have remembered being the Investigator, might have remembered Wannabe
Lotus - Stalker, seemingly confirmed by Malakhiri's attempted attack on her a couple nights ago based on Knuckles' evidence

...I was asking myself who would need to get rid of Knuckles, but really, any cultist would want to eliminate them, given their ability. Maybe we should ask who has contributed the least to investigation that actually panned out, or that might have been trying to steer us in another direction, given what we know. I'm.... still not sure anyone entirely stands out that way. But, think.

[Kennifer]

"...okay, that was worth a shot but... yeah. We should look at those whose stories can't be confirmed, and... maybe how they've voted or contributed to the investigations. Which yes,  I know includes me on the whole 'can't be confirmed' thing..." She made finger quotes as she said this. "...but between Malakhiri being so adamant about voting for me at first and the fact I've tried to be so helpful the cult would see me as a threat and the fact I voted for both Malakhiri and Mitsuhi... again, I'd hope you'd give me the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, any of you note-taker types kept a record of who did what and voted who and yada yada yada, we should look at that. The Soul doesn't line up with this kill because of... well, lack of shoes and I'm not sure they could swing a barbell around enough to damage the floorboards, could they? but... other than that it's hard to pin down to anyone."

[PointMaid]

Okay, here, there it is. The final vote tallies so far -- and Day 1, where we reached no majority for a No Elimination but I was taking notes on who voted for it and who later took back their vote for it so we had more time to get acquainted.

Day 1: No Elimination - High Priest, Tainted Soul (Took back their vote), Kondraki, Red, Mitsuha (Took back their vote), Lloyd Henrick, Xendrack "Nellie" Nel'ren (Took back their vote)

Day 2:
Votes: 8/14 to confirm
Kondraki - Chip/Ada
No Elimination - Kondraki, Tainted Soul, Jean, Mitsuha, Lloyd, Knuckles, Malakhiri, Nellie (8)

Day 3:
Votes (7/13 to confirm)
Jean - Z, Malak, Red, Chip and Ada, Nellie, Tainted Soul, Blue
Malak – Jean

Day 4:
Votes (7/12 to confirm)
No Elimination - Malak
Malak - Kondraki, Knuckles, Nellie, Chip & Ada, Amy, Red, Z

Day 5:
Votes (6/11 to confirm)
Mitsuha: Tainted Soul, Knuckles, Mitsuha, Amy, Lotus, Z (also Blue, after hammer)

[Magolor]

"...if Red were the Wannabe, whether he's in cahoots with the ghost or not, then he would indeed benefit the most from killing Knuckles. In fact, if he were allied with us, and potentially an Investigator, the Cultists would be risking too much by leaving him be. Although there's always a chance he's actually telling us the truth, and the Cultists are framing him... he's the most suspicious. With Knuckles's death, there's not going to be any way to confirm he's telling the truth, either. Same goes for the ghost and Blue. Nellie can prove herself, of course, by Commuting one night when others visit. The three we absolutely cannot find out any information about also serve no function through roles. Red, we can't trust fully; the ghost's claimed role of CPR Doctor was used already; and the Coroner role Blue called doesn't matter with the Janitor gone. The logical approach, then, is to vote out one of those three each day. That will guarantee victory... at a loss of five innocent lives, at worst. Alternatively, if we can somehow keep tabs on Blue and the ghost, we can force a state where the Cultist, or Cultists, can't kill without giving themselves out.

The Bus Driver, Kondraki should swap one of us other 4 out with Amy or one of the three, or choose not to;
The Fruit Vendors, Chip and Ada, along with me, should visit Nellie,
who should Commute tonight;
and Red, if you really are an Investigator, I think you should visit Nellie, too. We simply can't trust you yet, unfortunately..."

[PointMaid]

...Look, we said last night that us visiting Nellie with fruit wouldn't help, Lotus. You didn't give a response. We wouldn't know if it actually arrived from our end, and Nellie could just say they didn't receive the fruit.

[Caret]

"Like Chip and Ada said, if I was a cultist, then I could just lie about not receiving the fruit without actually commuting. But... what if the the cultist (or cultists) is thinking about how to take advantage of our roles because we're stating our plans out loud? If that's the case, then I think that everyone here should simply try to use their best judgement while using our roles tonight. I don't want to end up making the same mistakes as I did back in... sorry for that tangent."

[Kennifer]

"Yeah, having everything out in the open is dangerous. If the cultists knew I'd be swapped out with some innocent every night, you'd think they'd just... go after me so they'd get someone important instead. And if I'm swapped with one of them, well... actually if they got one of their own that'd be good for you but wouldn't help me. So..."

Amy frowns.

"Swapping people around is probably more helpful if both parties are unknown, yeah. God I don't even know any more. We've even got actual evidence today but haven't got a definite suspect yet. And I don't particularly like the idea of voting out possibly innocent people to narrow down the suspect list, either."

[PointMaid]

...I do think one key is in the voting records and other such things.

Let's examine the Soul's... I don't like condemning a child any more than my husband. But there were those chips. The Soul has been strangely quiet all these days, not that that's always a sign of guilt, of course. And then their voting record. They voted for No Elimination the first two days, the first day retracting their vote out of fear of looking suspicious, or so they said. They voted for Jean after she'd already confessed, as I recall. Didn't vote for Malakhiri, who was fighting until the end. And was the first to vote for Mitsuha -- when we all knew, because she'd been linked to Malakhiri through calling herself a Mason, that she had to be a Cultist and we all knew it was a foregone conclusion. Chip and I waited to vote for her until later, so that we could gather and pool information that could be used today, who might be good to watch carefully even if we couldn't narrow it down completely.

[TenOfSwords13]

My investigations vouch for the Soul. Plus it doesn't seem unlikely that the cult would exploit the usability of the Soul's skeleton as a weapon to frame them. I admit that their voting has not been spectacular, and that is one of the reasons I chose to investigate them, but I cannot see them as being evil.

[PointMaid]

...I'm afraid I've already explained that a vouch just by you at the moment doesn't hold a ton of weight with me, since you could be a part of the cult. Unless either you or the Soul can be vouched for by someone else.

Let's look at Nellie's record, though. Also voted for No Elimination day 1 and two, but took back their vote day one. Voted for Jean day three -- was that before or after Jean's confession? Actually, if doesn't really matter, does it? The cultists who voted for her didn't know what she was before the confession. Malakhiri themself voted to off Jean. They did vote for Malakhiri day four, and no vote day five, yesterday.

[TenOfSwords13]

Blue as well, for that matter. The only cultists they voted to end were one she did not know about, and one who was already pulbicly a cultist.

[TenOfSwords13]

... wait, no that leads to a logical fallacy. Apologies.

[Kennifer]

"As for my own votes... I simply chose not to vote the first day because I didn't know enough about anybody to know who to vote for. Second day

seemed to end before I got the chanceaka phase switch when I was asleep lol

, third day Jean was already doomed before I had a chance. And I voted for both of the other cultists."

[PointMaid]

...I still think the Soul's voting record, them not helping with investigation as far as I remember, and the bone chips, all together, are the most damning out of the current suspects. Of course, there are the shoe prints...

They could have planted prints for just that purpose, being the one without shoes. We didn't see tracks anywhere but near the dig, did we? Wouldn't they have tracked dirt everywhere with that kind of operation, with nobody dedicated to cleaning it up -- although they could have tried to clean up, I suppose? It does bring up the question of why the dig and burial in the first place. Or they could have an accomplice, as you pointed out.

...Anyone else have thoughts on that or something to add?

[Zanreo]

"Yeah, I agree... I feel the Soul is hiding something."

[Magolor]

Lotus sighs at the objections to her plans. This time, however, it's less annoyed than it is defeated.
"...I... I don't know anymore. I just want to get out of here, preferably withy my sanity and morals intact.... I though talking out what to do would stop what happened last... ahem. I do agree that there were a few times where I wished I could tell someone what to do privately, though. I just..."

She trails off, then replies to the thing about the burial.
"It would need a tool, right? Then we should check that skeleton's bone club..."

[Zanreo]

≥examine bone club

[wingedcatgirl]

≥examine bone club

Tainted Soul's club shows no sign of having been used for digging.