Event || Cluedo

[melodiesmods]

Characters: Investigators and their witnesses.
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: 15th June - 30th June.
Summary: Catch-all log for the Cluedo Event. If you would like to pursue investigations and play out the fall-out of the Cluedo events, this is the post for you. Please refer to the second OOC Post for the setting and what there is to be played. Another Log will be posted at a later date to play the murders.
Warning: Investigation and murders.

Comments

June 20 - Open Dicussion Thread for Investigators/Witnesses/Anyone

[umslay]

With the third set of bodies found, Ales knew that someone was in Aqures Ixen targeting all of the Heroes and any unlucky native that happened to be nearby. Each murder was days apart, and while the Heroes could come back after a week or two, dying meant being unable to help protect the world. This was aserious damper on their work. Not only that, but they targeted some of the most useful people among them. Why Jade? He was one of the most useful Heroes. Was this really the work of the Cult?

On the 20th, Ales put out a notice for the Heroes of Light and for residents of Aqures Ixen to come to a meeting at the Observatory. There had to be a pattern behind all of this, and the clues found at the other places would help. He had rearranged the chairs in the meeting room to form a circle, making it easier for everyone to share their thoughts. He picked the largest and most comfortable chair for himself, of course, because he was clearly the most capable Hero among then.

He tried not to come off as condescending when everyone had gathered and he stood up to speak. "I'm sure we don't need a reminder as to why I've gather you all today, but allow me to explain it to the ones that only recently heard of recent events. The past few days, we've found Heroes of Light targeted and murdered in the streets, and by now I'm certain that this is a deliberate act against everything we work for. We need to find this person and apprehend them.

"Now, I can tell with certainty that each murder was carried out by someone different. The killing methods are different and reflect various skillsets, but I believe that they were under the orders of another party. What we have to do first is to pinpoint the culprits and work on from there.

A simple goal to work towards, but Ales had a theory on his mind.

"There was something I found unusual about the first murder. The victims' bodies were cold and damp, and James Kidd agrees that they were frozen with ice magic. Or they were struck by an ice weapon, but that's a rare weapon that could give away the culprit's identity. However, that's now how they died. They were killed with a well-placed dagger attack, as if it were the work of an assassin. But only mage classes can use powerful ice attacks."

He paused. This idea was a stretch, but if it were true...there was a hidden discontent among their ranks.

"Using those two skills would be impossible for a native, as they're part of two different Jobs, unless the attacker was a Hero of Light...or one of our enemies that can equip two Jobs at once. I would prefer it to be the latter, but what person with a rare ability would go out to the streets and endanger themselves through petty murder? I can't think of another reason."

The Heroes can protest all they want against that theory, but Ales had no qualms about hinting at betrayal among them.

"What of the other murders? Did anyone find clues?"

Re: June 20 - Open Dicussion Thread for Investigators/Witnesses/Anyone

[iknowtheconsequences]

Kaji has dragged his own desk chair over to the circle. He's not usually prone to agitated fidgeting, but today he flicks the cover of his zippo open and closed with a click.

"If it's a Hero of Light, then good, that's limited our field of suspects. We're scared, fine, but we need to show the public that we're doing something about this. And yet not give the public reason to doubt us." Click.

"There's not a good answer. We pull all our resources back, it looks like we're abandoning everyone else. We carry on as normal, it looks like we don't care. We can patrol, publicly, and in pairs, so that no one is alone after dark. These murders have all taken place after dark, not a surprise, though." Flick, click. Flick.

"Captain Harkness fell from a rooftop, despite having the Dragoon job equipped, unless there's something else that uses spears primarily. The other victim," at this point, Kaji isn't even sure which name he should go by, "had his neck broken. Suggests somebody physically strong."

"If it is a Hero of Light, the plus side is that we can't change jobs very often. Only a few jobs that use Ice magic, Red Mage, Black Mage, Magitech Knight? Gunner if you've got Red or Black as your secondary..." Kaji raises his hand. "I've got Red Mage equipped right now, who else?

Re: June 20 - Open Dicussion Thread for Investigators/Witnesses/Anyone

[sesenta]

Akane sat very quietly, her hands in her lap wrung together so tightly that the color had been drained from her fingers. She'd finished her crying, though she visibly flinched when Kaji mentioned the third victim. What bothered her most was that she didn't know why any of this had happened. What was the motive?

She actually had a pretty good idea as to that end.

"I think..." Her voice was hoarse as she spoke, broken, and she had to pause and swallow before making another attempt. "I think whoever did it is intentionally trying to discredit Heroes of Light." Her gaze rested on the floor where the toe of her boot lightly pushed over her other foot. "Moving the bodies like that, putting them out in an open display...and the multiple methods of killing...it's all designed to make us look bad, like we can't protect the people of this city, or ourselves. Worse, whoever organized this wants to frame us, or several of us, for all of these murders."

Her throat bobbed as she took another hard swallow. "Even we think it might be one of us, or several of us. It might even have something to do with the attempt last month to make everybody sick. Maybe that's why Mr. Curtiss was targeted first, since he was responsible for creating the cure."

Re: June 20 - Open Dicussion Thread for Investigators/Witnesses/Anyone

[iknowtheconsequences]

"Is this really about Jade?" No. Wait. Follow that up. "Maybe this is about Jade. Another point, Jade was one of the more powerful among us. Not only, who has ice magic, but who has ice magic that would be strong enough to take him out?"

Kaji stands and goes to Zelda's desk, not his own, to look through the registry of Heroes. Who's been here the longest? Who's well known for having powerful magic?

"People closest to mastering ten jobs, other than Jade, himself? 'm going by who's been here a damn long time, the people I know are powerhouses. Yuffie Kisaragi, Sparks Nevada, Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, Princess Zelda, Terra Branford, Miss Yuna, Bartz Klauser, Tsubomi Hanasaki, Chiaki Nanami. Shit, Harkness is on the list, too."

Kaji looks up at Ales. "Ales Mansay. Ryoji Kaji. Ib Kaji." There is a pregnant pause, as if wondering if anyone is going to dare to accuse his daughter.

Kaji drops the registry for anyone to look at. "Am I missing anybody obvious?"

[im_pancake]

"I think we're looking at this the wrong way." Twilight sparkle said, piping up. She had been following the investigations but not actively making a move until now. This was way beyond solving who ate a cake on a train. "We're considering people too strong who might have done this and even pointing fingers at people we consider friends, family and so much more."

"We have to consider the fact that there are others out there who can nullify our abilities, like Palitutu."

Joining in

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza had been quietly looking into the clues over the past few days. The more bodies turned up, the more tangled up the facts became.

"To have moved the bodies, in their crystal form, would have taken tremendous strength. I doubt a single person could have done it without being seen. I think these murders must be the work of a group. That would account for the differing methods of the murders."

He nodded at Kaji. "I think patrols would be wise. And we need to compile a list of all the Heroes who have the skills to have committed the crimes. A blade wielding mage or a Hero with an ice enchanted blade, someone with the agility to throw a Dragoon from a great height without allowing him to use his skills to save himself, and so on." It was pathetically little to go on, but at least it was a start.

Re: Joining in

[red_planet_blues]

Sparks had stood against the wall, arms fold, foot tapping irritably. He hated that he couldn't get ahead of whoever was doing this, and he didn't want more Heroes or anyone else dying on his watch.

He nodded in agreement with Akane's thoughts.

"Let's not forget two people who weren't Heroes were brought into all of this too. They don't regenerate like the rest of us. Also, whoever's doin' this is gettin' personal. Why not just use a gun? Why use a small blade, or your hands?

And darn right you'll stick together after dark. There's gonna be a curfew issued until this is solved."

[line_piece]

Chiaki had been rather silent up until this point in the discussion, but her own name appearing on the list of suspects turns her stomach in a way she hasn't felt in a while. She's not offended, but this whole thing leaves a rather bad taste in her mouth.

"...It's true that I have several of the Jobs necessary to have committed these crimes," she agrees out loud, "but I have more reason than most not to have."

There's a short pause as she chews her lip, thinking something over. Any good investigator knows that you can't make a claim like that without providing evidence. There are some things Chiaki would rather have remained private, but...

"Anyone who doesn't believe me is free to look at my file in Palitutu's laboratory. I'll unlock it. If what you read there isn't convincing enough, I'll let myself be taken in until this is all over."

[her_rose_is_red]

Ib quietly listens to the grown ups try to hash this all out. She runs over the list of names her father mentioned. There is one name missing. The person Ib is the most suspicious of. It's entirely possible that her voice is lost in the discussion.

"..... James Kidd."

[zodiac_brave]

"We cannot accuse someone without the facts. I do not believe Kidd willing to kill without cause, nor capable of moving those crystals without aid. Nor do I think you a likely culprit, Chiaki."

He shakes his head. "We need to find more evidence to uncover the truth. Perhaps if we can find out where each victim was...where the crime occurred, we could learn more."

He tries to phrase it delicately. Ib has been through enough as it is.

[iknowtheconsequences]

Kaji holds up a single finger to Ramza, and turns to Ib more fully. "I'm aware of the style of Kidd's extra-heroic activities, even if I can't follow him. And if he decided that some of us needed his own brand of justice? Best way to make everyone else think you're up to nothing is to ingratiate yourself to the right people."

"Curtis was in the 11th District, probably on his way home from the Research center. Ditto for Harkness and Kurashiki, but they could've been there for any reason." Frankly, all the good pubs are over there.

"What makes you think it was Kidd?" The floor is yours, if you want it, Ib.

[her_rose_is_red]

She looks away from Ramza's gaze, down at the floor. It's not that she didn't expect an answer like that though. She is just a kid. And she honestly doesn't have any evidence.

And then her eyes flick backup to meet her father's gaze and she doesn't quite smile, but there is a little flash of gratitude. She knew he'd listen. Even if she doesn't have much. Even if she's wrong.

She doesn't think think she's wrong though.

"Um... mostly the time. Because Kidd was already there when I found Jade. Standing over the..."

She can't say body.

"...Standing over him. It doesn't take long for a hero to turn crystal, right? Jade wasn't crystal yet when I saw him. So... So he couldn't have been... that way... for long."

He couldn't have been dead very long is what she means. Why is so hard to talk about people you knew being dead? Ib is a little bit frustrated with herself. She wants to be treated as an adult but she has to act like one first.

[needsteaplz]

Saori gripped the arm rest of her chair until her knuckles were white when she hear Ib accuse Mary--no James Kidd. No, ripping at a child who's seen too much wasn't something she'd lower herself doing. It wouldn't help anyone. She just wished she was here to explain herself to them instead of going off on her own. They would've understand like she does.

She shook her head. "Kidd's only been listed l as a witness for now. In order to obtain the Assassin job, you need both Thief and Ninja equipped. While there is one skill Ninjas has elemental properties, it's too weak to do what it did to the victims. To my knowledge, he doesn't posses a job that has ice magic so that would eliminate him as a suspect for the first one. He was probably trying to examine the murders himself so it's possible it would've looked like he did the murders out of context."

"Going back to motives of these murders, maybe discrediting the Heroes isn't the only reason. What if this is meant to intimidate us? I mean, we are getting closer to that date we cross paths with Palitutu. If she can disable our jobs, who knows what other things she's developed just for us."

Threadhop

[umslay]

"Alright, so if we think about the skillsets each of the killers had, we can narrow it down to the classes." He held his notepad on his lap and drew a line through the center of a page. One side has a list of traits, ad the other had names

"The first killer used some higher level ice magic, something that could freeze Jade and two other victims in place. Then they used a small blade to strike the final blow. This means someone with one of the sneakier jobs like Ninja or Thief did it, but a Red Mage does have a skill with swords."

He paused for a moment. There were a lot of Mages among their numbers, which made it difficult, but the latter criteria narrowed it down. "Off the top of my head, the Ninjas and Thieves I recall are Yuffie, James Kidd, Ellie, Sheena, Reno, Graham...no, can't be him. It's too subtle to be Graham's work. However, they don't have any magic abilities, unless there's something about their Jobs I'm forgetting. Of course, there are Red Mages to consider, but I do not talk with many on a regular basis.

"Second murder. Whoever it was had to be physically capable of breaking someone's neck and traveling across rooftops in order to toss Jack off without much difficulty. A strong and nimble physical class."

Another pause. "Say what you will, but I doubt a Warrior or Paladin could get onto the roof in the first place, much less attack Jack in such a precarious location. If anyone has clues as to what kind of scuffle occurred on the roof, we might be able to narrow it down.

"Third murder. Someone very, very strong. This has to be a heavily armored class or one of those Jobs that give super strength. The strongest Hero I can think of is Tazendra, and that's only due to her size."

He might be wrong with his assumptions, but better to have any suspects than none.

[confidentia]

"While it seems reasonable to apply this kind of logic for the first case, I think we might be locking ourselves out of learning the truth behind the other two." Mulling over what has been said, Ace folds his arms.

"If the attacker had planned their steps carefully, the element of surprise would have granted them a significant advantage. Anyone trained in the art of combat could have been able to push somebody else off a rooftop regardless of the Job equipped, and a broken neck, too, might have been the result of such a fall." He was aware that his words would draw suspicion to people such as himself, but it was only fair that they looked at this from every angle. "That is, assuming the victims had a reason to be there at that time, considering that a rooftop wouldn't be the most conventional place for meetings. Especially at night."

"As far as the third case is concerned, I'm not convinced by the concept of the murderer using physical force to carry out the task. It seems unlikely to me that they would have been able to sneak into that section of the Hospital undetected, unless they had resorted to other means." He tilted his head. "Like an Illusionist capable of teleporting between locations at will, or somebody with the skill of moving objects. They had to work fast for it to work out."

"And lastly, there are those among us who have developed unique Jobs at the Laboratory. Maybe the culprits were using abilities we're not even aware of, so let's be careful about relying on that aspect alone."

[umslay]

Ales shook his head. "Ramza mentioned that Jack was a Dragoon. He could get up to the rooftops with ease,and Santa might just have been an unlucky bystander.

"Illusionist, hm? I didn't think of that." But that made sense. They could easily teleport between locations and carry heavy objects with that spell. His face grew dark. "And they can throw objects around with telekinesis. There aren't many high-level Illusionists among us."

[zodiac_brave]

"Do we know which Heroes have high enough Illusionist skills to pull it off? Zelda had such powers back in December, as did Lady Ashelia, but I do not know who else would. If we could compile a list, we could begin clearing those with alibis and reduce the number of suspects." There certainly could not be all that many.

He paused over a point that the others seemed not to consider important. "But could an Illusionist exercise precise control over an object thrown with their powers? The native victims from last night were struck and killed with rocks. 'Tis not an easy task. Such a blow would require power and precision." Ivalicean cadets practiced such maneuvers so that they would never be without a weapon, but he did not think it was the case for other Heroes. He wondered if a Hero's job skill could afford them the same results as years of training would.

[playing_hearts]

Alice has mostly stayed quiet during this meeting. There's a notebook on her lap and she's been taking notes on the different theories mentioned. A lot of the focus seems to be on the 'how' of these cases. She taps the book thoughtfully with her pen.

"Do we have an accurate estimate on the times of death in each case? Not just the heroes, but the other victims as well?"

[nomorecowbell]

Nanami wasn't going to mention the fact she was also an Illusionist. She didn't kill any of these people, after all.

"Did anyone else see the footprints?" Nanami asked. "On the roof, near where Jack..."

Nanami knew Heroes came back. But that didn't mean she liked thinking about it. "... fell off. They looked funny, I thought. Not like 'these are Moogle tracks, not human', but... funny."

[line_piece]

While they're still tossing out theories, Chiaki's got one. And one that apparently makes her pretty uncomfortable, judging by the look on her face. She's usually able to discuss things fairly calmly and without betraying much emotion, so there is definitely something bothering her about all of this.

"...Have we considered that there might be a mastermind behind the individual murders? Someone handing out orders, or who's found a way to either control people or talk them into it?"

There's a pregnant pause as she chews over her next question. It will seem very strange to anyone she hasn't told about her pre-Crystallis history.

"And just for the record, no one's seen a black and white robotic bear walking around since all of this started, right?"

Discussing Public Relations

[shepherd_prince]

"There's another matter we should discuss," Chrom sighed. All of this business was beyond grim and unpleasant. And with Robin oddly absent and silent, there was a small and heavy lump of worry sitting in the pit of his stomach. "We need to address the citizens of the city and inform them of what little we know, as well as advise them on how to remain safe. We would not wish to lose their confidence in us, or become panicked."

His hands, which had been joined beneath his chin, dropped slowly down to the desk in front of him.

"If there are no objections, I could draft this letter and include any sentiments you wish to be made known."

Re: Discussing Public Relations

[iknowtheconsequences]

"I've been saying for months we needed a PR manager," Kaji mutters, but then he snaps his fingers excitedly. "Okay. Way I see it, there's three things we need to make sure to tell the public."

Ticks off one finger. "One, there is a danger, and we are investigating it in conjunction with local police and military. Even if it does turn out that we're doing most of the leg work, let's not make it look like we're running off on our own. Announce anything about additional patrols and curfews here," he waves a hand in Sparks' direction, "whatever safety measures the police are implementing."

Two. "I've lived through a global catastrophe situation that displaced a lot of people once before. Soon as there's trouble, people try to single out those refugees." Kaji waves his hand in a circle as if trying to generate thoughts. "Something something, local individuals taking the law into their own hands will not be tolerated, no reason to suspect people not native to Aqures Ixen. Something to show that we're keeping an eye on the refugees and won't turn a blind eye to some kind of fake justice retributive act."

"And lastly, we announce that we do have some suspected individuals that we are on the lookout for. What we're actually doing is monitoring each other closely. But what we tell the public? I vote for wanted posters for those three spies we've run into before. Jenni, Deweg, and Gibbs? Most likely? Got nothing to do with this. But they're perfect patsies to put up in front of the public. Who knows? Maybe somebody'll even finally find one of them."

Kaji lets his hand drop back into his lap with a plop. "It's all about the public perception, keeping everybody calm so the investigators can do their jobs."

Re: Discussing Public Relations

[umslay]

Ales gives Kaji a look. He was doing so well in this eyes, and then he had to make all those suggestions.

"Outright lies to the public? If it's not one of those three, we're going to get roasted after the culprit is caught. Partial truths are one thing, this is another."

It was difficult enough for Ales to maintain his image among the residents of the Glade while he was off amassing his own mecha army. Keeping up a lie when a Hero murderer caught red-handed by a native would break the illusion was impossible.

Re: Discussing Public Relations

[nomorecowbell]

"Can we say we're following up on people who have attacked the Heroes and citizens in the past?" Nanami said. "That's not a lie. We're not saying they did it, just that they are suspicious because they've hurt the city before."

Re: Discussing Public Relations

[shepherd_prince]

Chrom inclined his head toward Ales. "Agreed. We must present ourselves truthfully and honestly. Pointing a finger at former Herans will only increase hostilities against refugees, rather than diffuse them. No one seems to be placing the blame at the feet of refugees in any case, I would not wish to give them cause to start."

He made a few notes, the tip of his quill scratching on the paper in front of him. "But Kaji's first point is a solid one. Informing them of the threat in a calm manner, and stressing our willingness to cooperate alongside the civilian populace is important. The manner in which these murders are carried out and left in the open seems designed specifically to elicit fear and suspicion. I would like to see the culprits fail in this attempt at the very least, as it may provoke them to acting rashly, and it will be easier to discover their identities."

Next he looked to Nanami and nodded. "It is a truth, and shows what steps we're taking without being too explicit about our actions. After all, there must be some discretion practiced so that our moves will not be anticipated by those responsible."

He truly did not believe that any one of those assembled here had spilled innocent blood, and as such, he trusted that he could speak freely in this room.

"I think a curfew should merely be suggested at this point, as we cannot enforce such a law. That's the duty of the current regent, Cid. But certainly we should ask for citizens to exercise caution after sundown."