[Fin] Murder in the Mountains (End)

[Caret]

> are there any more bone chippings?

[TenOfSwords13]

You will find nothing, but I suppose I should really be helping...

>Look for markings of any kind on the bone

[Kennifer]

"I thought the barbell was what was used to break the hole in the floorboards. Although this doesn't mean the Soul is innocent... they could be a cultist, Red could have remembered being a Wannabe and is covering for them. If this is the case I'd think they could've worked together or Red did the kill... they seem more able to lift a barbell and leave footprints than the Soul. And that voice saying children, plural, makes me think there are still two cultists... so Red remembering being a Wannabe is not out of the question, and claims of investigating the Soul, finding them to be a Doctor, yadda yadda yadda whatever all happened there as a cover for bringing Red into the cult."

Amy pauses.

"Or it was Blue or Nellie or something, but..."

[PointMaid]

Hmmm... I just thought of something.

> Is Knuckles missing his shoes or gloves?

...The killer could have used Knuckles' own shoes to leave the track. I know it's a long-shot again.

[wingedcatgirl]

> are there any more bone chippings?

No.

>Look for markings of any kind on the bone

Nothing of obvious interest.

> Is Knuckles missing his shoes or gloves?

He is not.

"Not entirely sure what part of 'you've found all the material evidence' is confusing to you."

[PointMaid]

...Maybe the part where there's essentially nothing that helps much, and when we try to look at the evidence more closely to make it help, since that's all we apparently have and it's still not much, we can't see for... well, for anything? Is that you? Are you doing things to our eyes? I didn't need glasses before this.

[PointMaid]

...They're on your face, honey?

...Well, yes. But I seem to need a stronger prescription.

[Caret]

"Looking at Blue's voting record, she barely contributed to the vote at all. The only times she voted was against Jean, who was the Wannabe, but the cultists didn't know that at that time, and against Mitsuha, who was a lost cause to the cultists at that point, and the fact that Blue voted right after Mitsuha got the decisive vote makes it all the more suspicious. But... if Blue is actually a cultist, then that would also probably mean that that bear automation was the real Coroner, meaning that Red would also be lying about his role if this is true."

"But... why would Red claim that he knows the Soul's role assuming that he is a cultist and the other cultist isn't the Soul? Is he trying to take the Soul down with him or what? Could that even be a possibility?"

[PointMaid]

Um... yeah, that's why I didn't bring up Blue. I didn't think it was likely, from the stuff you mentioned. And if I'm right, she roleclaimed early enough that guessing an unclaimed role would be risky, double this as she wouldn't be able to guess that Freddy was the true Coroner any better than we could, and there had to have BEEN a real Coroner, given what we know for sure, right? It couldn't have been the role that the Cultists knew was unclaimed.

[Kennifer]

"It seems like the role the Cultists knew was unclaimed might've been the Masons, give each other an alibi. Even though that didn't work. Unless it wasn't, and they just picked something that hadn't been claimed yet but wasn't likely to be used based on already claimed roles and the number of people who hadn't claimed. Which... sounds like the kind of thing Malakhiri would've done, actually."

[PointMaid]

I think that's a likely scenario with the supposed Masons, yeah. They roleclaimed late and, as you said, with the already claimed roles and the number of people who hadn't claimed yet, it was unlikely to have been actually used, especially if the rest of us that weren't in the cult were telling the truth.

[Kennifer]

"So if the Mason role wasn't the one the cultists knew nobody had, which it's looking like is the case... okay, let's see. Chip and Ada seem to check out as the fruit vendors, since people have mentioned receiving fruit baskets. Not that they couldn't be lying about that, but unless all of them were cultists that's pretty unlikely. Kondraki's reports of who he's switched has lined up with other people's accounts... again, more people corroborating that than there are would-be cultists. And I would hope people would believe me at this point; between my accounts, my voting record, the fact that Malakhiri was so quick to throw me under the bus before taking it back and saying that either I was worthless because I'm the Unjester or claiming I was a Rolecop... Lotus too, her accounts line up although the whole 'hey vote one of these people yadda yadda yadda maybe they're innocent maybe we get a cultist' idea is... questionable, but I think her intentions are good. Especially since poor Knuckles vouched for her and his roleclaim was true."

She paused to take a breath.

"I'm really inclined to believe that Red recalled the role of the Wannabe; we can't verify for sure that Blue is in fact the Coroner and that Freddy was the Investigator, unless those disembodied voices are going to tell us Freddy's role now that we got the Janitor eliminated... I doubt they'd give us that kind of help though. Lloyd's claims of having been the Jailer seemed to line up as well, at least with my own accounts and if you're all willing to still believe me. But the fact the Death voice said there were children, plural, definitely makes me think there are two cultists left... they'd said there were three at first, then changed to four, but that was before Jean, the original wannabe, was executed. I'm guessing Jean was the original potential 'number four' there, three genuine cultists and a wannabe. I don't know why an Amnesiac would want to remember being a wannabe cultist instead of one of the more useful innocent roles but hey, that's me."

Another pause.

"...it's possible I'm missing or misreading something, this whole thing's got my brain gone more loopy than usual. But... is this about where we are, do you think?"

[TenOfSwords13]

That is what we know, more or less. I understand the skepticism of my alignment, but I am willing to die once I have accomplished as much investigation as I can. Which may happen sooner than I believe.

[wingedcatgirl]

"...we can't verify for sure that Blue is in fact the Coroner and that Freddy was the Investigator, unless those disembodied voices are going to tell us Freddy's role now that we got the Janitor eliminated..."

"I'd love to tell you these things - but I don't know them myself, so I can't."

[PointMaid]

Honestly, while it's vaguely possible, Blue seems more like she's just... I don't know, zoned out, dissociated? I don't know. Not all there. She hasn't been saying much at all. It could be trying not to give anything away, or that could just be how she reacts to being scared out of her mind. I'd love to ask her about it, if... anybody sees her around.

I mean, she's not the only one that's been quiet... there's the kid. The spirit.

I know, hon. Hmmm... I was going to say maybe we should look at who they targeted to kill... Freddy, Lloyd, Knuckles... But, one, they might've been selected by Malakhiri or Mitsuha, not who we're looking for. And I'm not really seeing how it helps. Knuckles was a threat to anyone in their position. I'm still confused why the burial, though. Is there something that the burial covered up?

[TenOfSwords13]

Hmmm... perhaps reading through the events of the past...

Red is now flicking through his notes, looking for explanations for... things. While I sleep.

[Kennifer]

"Only thing I can think of was a half-assed attempt to hide the evidence now that their Janitor is gone, but... I'm not sure how much sense that makes."

[PointMaid]

What would they possibly be hiding, though? It looked like a stab in the back. There's nothing about that that's going to be hidden by burying the body if we uncover it, and... it's a huge excavation INSIDE. It's something we're going to notice and uncover.

[Kennifer]

"Maybe they could've thought they could hide it completely and put the floor back together over the top, so we'd wonder where the body went and waste the whole day looking for it instead of investigating and using social deduction, but they didn't have enough time? Your guess is as good as mine, honestly."

Amy tried not to chuckle as she pictured this in her head.

[PointMaid]

Maybe. You know... I didn't notice a spade or anything that would help to pile the dirt on top of Knuckles either. ...I'd sure like to ask certain people questions about what they were doing but I HAVEN'T SEEN THEM AROUND, WHICH IS REALLY STRANGE WHEN WE'RE ALL TRAPPED IN A TINY CABIN TOGETHER!

Ada is clearly agitated.

...Are you ok, hon? I can see if there's hot chocolate in the kitchen. You know, that's exactly what I'll do.

...Chip heads to find hot chocolate.

[Kennifer]

"...okay yeah I guess we're all kinda tense, huh? You um... gonna be okay?"

[PointMaid]

Yeah, yeah.

...She seems more composed after Chip brings her a hot cocoa.

[Caret]

"Wait, I have an idea! Everybody tell me what you did and who you visited these past five nights! I'm going to try analyzing everyone's actions!"

[PointMaid]

Ada is... slightly calmer now that she's got a hot drink.

We try to send fruit to Amy the first night. Apparently we got jailed by Lloyd. Then we sent some to Lotus night two. Night three, we tried to deliver sour grapes - as a joke - to Kondraki, but they got sent to Malakhiri by 'mod error', whatever that is. Then the next two nights, we figured we'd made our point and didn't want to mess anything up or get in the middle of anything, so we stayed in our room.

[Kennifer]

"The first night, I tried to visit Malakhiri but got hit with weird music. Nothing else happened.
Second night I visited Chip and Ada, nothing happened.
Third night I visited the Soul, which Lotus saw and talked me into roleclaiming, nothing else happened with the actual visit.
Fourth night I tried to visit Mitsuha because I knew she had to be a cultist and was hoping she'd freak out and try to kill me, but nothing happened.
And then last night I tried to visit Nellie... and yet again nothing happens.
I guess nothing happens when I do that, unless I found a Gunner standing ready to shoot anybody who comes in or something... unfortunately."