Welcome to the investigation portion of our despairing roleplay! The investigation will run until the trial begins, which is a fairly hefty amount of time, so use it wisely! Personal investigations should not take the entire time, but the time window exists in order to accommodate for everyone’s schedules. There are many things to uncover, so put on your detective caps and go!
As this is the first investigation, Monoguin and Yonamine will attempt to assist you all in figuring out the type of questions to ask, what objects to investigate, etc! At least one of us should be on at all times during the period in order to hand out evidence. If you have any questions or theories during the investigation, don’t hesitate to ask or throw them out! It might give someone else some sort of breakthrough.
The wonderful thing about this roleplay is that not only do your characters have to piece together the evidence to figure out the culprit, but YOU must do so as well! Have fun!
I suggest keeping some sort of record about the things you find! Write them down, copy/paste ‘em, do SOMETHING to remember them! Assume everything that happens during the investigation is important.
1) Stick to your assigned group and rooms! There may be special circumstances in which one may switch groups, but otherwise, only perform investigations where you’ve been assigned! You’re allowed to look at the other group’s rooms, but cannot physically investigate there as your character, nor can you use that information in-character during the trial unless someone shares it with you.
2) Ask questions! There are approximately 25 pieces of key evidence to uncover in the first case, and each one has at least one point of interest! In order to get the most information possible, you’ll have to ask Monoguin questions about the crime scene! Be specific in what you ask--vague questions will get you vague answers. Keep asking questions about an object until you’re sure you’ve got everything! (We’ll probably tell you when you’ve got everything you need to know, as there are only a few subpieces for each clue this time around.) You may ask several questions at once to cut down on chat clutter, but it’s fine if you don’t!
Example:
BAD: Is there anything of interest in the room?
-- It’s a crime scene, buddy! Of course there’s interesting stuff.
GOOD:Is there anything of interest on the desk?
-- There appears to be a lamp, hairbrush, and notepad present on the desk.
After this, your investigation may go a number of ways! You can either ask about specific objects or overall questions about the area as a whole, such as if there is any blood on the desk, anything knocked over, etc. For this example, we’re gonna investigate the hairbrush!
BAD: What’s up with the hairbrush?
-- There is a blue plastic hairbrush sitting on the desk. You tell me. What, you wanna throw it at a Titan or something?
GOOD: What can you tell me about the state of the hairbrush?
-- The bristles are in slight disarray, probably due to frequent use.
Is there any hair in the brush?
--The brush is completely clean of hair, besides a few stray strands. There appears to be something else stuck in the bristles, however…
Is anything stuck in the brush/What is stuck in the brush?
--There appears to be some dried blood stuck to the bristles, as well as the strands of hair. Also, the third bristle from the top on the left is missing its plastic bulb thing. But that’s irrelevant.
What is the condition of the handle?
-- There are several chips in the plastic, probably from being dropped onto a hard surface. Again, most likely from frequent use.
Is there any blood on the handle?
-- There is a small, bloody handprint on the handle, almost like someone was grasping the brush.
Is there anything else of interest about the brush?
-- Other than the blood, it appears to be a normal hairbrush!
With this evidence, the most likely conclusion would be that the murderer attempted to brush the victim’s hair while their hands were still covered in the victim’s blood. As for the blood in the bristles, let’s say our victim died from a blow to the head! Naturally there would be blood in the hair, so it makes sense. Investigation of a wastebasket may provide useful info as well, as there may be more hair there, further proving that the brush was not used until sometime around the time of murder. The small handprint suggests a female culprit, although a male of small stature could work, too. As to why the culprit was brushing the vic’s hair after brutally murdering them? That one will take a bit of digging/context and may not be revealed until later! Maybe they felt bad for killing the person! Maybe it was a dress-up murder! Or, maybe, they’re just a creep!
3) YOU must ask a question in order to use the information that follows! Unless you are investigating in a group (aka, pairing up with someone else online), each individual must ask to investigate an object. It doesn’t matter if someone before you investigated the hairbrush and found out a bunch of things about it. If you want your character to be able to use the information, you’ll have to ask similar questions!
4) Feel free to RP your investigations, too! You might be asking us the questions, but that doesn’t mean your character can’t pick up an item and inspect it! In fact, it might be rather useful at some points….
5) Once you’ve collected as much evidence as you think you need, spend some time looking over things and start attempting to draw conclusions! You guys can collaborate to try to figure it out! Keep in mind though that even if YOU have it figured out (or think you do), does your character?
6) All normal chat rules apply.
