Trial 1 - Christie

[Karenina]

"Christies body... blood everywhere... The door handle facing the Foyer had a smudge of blood on it... But despite that... there was no blood on any of the other handles leading to the other Princes rooms. Were the murderer's hands simply not stained enough to care... or did they run away through the reception after the deed was done?"

[Arie Camillia]

"Ah, several of these loops are starting to close now... If what Tserriednich says is true, then the original missing knife from the Deck 1 kitchen now resides in the Fourth Prince's kitchen, meaning we are following a dead lead with a knife from the kitchen. We know that the killer left the room after the murder, but with how much blood there was at the scene it's unlikely they weren't covered in blood. But an interesting point was brought up... if the killer was covered in blood after the murder, there should've been another smudge on the other door handles. It would be strange for them to have one clean hand and one dirty hand."

"If the Fourth Prince's bathroom was deep cleaned recently, then how do we close this loop? Why would the killer return to the Fourth Prince bathroom to clean off rather than completely wash off in whatever bathroom they ran across after the murder? Is it a red herring or just that simple?"

"My theory is that they likely did clean off in the Fourth Prince bathroom, explaining the state it was found in during investigation. It is therefore not a stretch to assume the door handle to his room was also cleaned at the same time before the killer rejoined the other guards."

[Chatt]

Fourth Prince Tserriednich: "Mmm, I like the analysis happening right now. Small issue with your theory, though. I was in my living room the entire time. I'd have noticed someone coming in to my room like that. Unless they have a way to move without being seen multiple times a day, something even our Carmilla can't provide. Also the deep clean of my bathroom was because a certain bear filled the tub with honey. Come now, don't disappoint me, what else do you have?"

[Falin Touden [Ven]]

"Yes Prince Tserriednich is right, the bathroom was cleaned way before the concert, meaning that the 4th prince's bathroom was not used. What I was stating is that the other three bathrooms have not been cleaned. There was a kitchen cleaned though, but I presumed because of a certain cook.

[Stella Magna Nulla]

"Hu Tao, may I ask for your exact route during the day of the murder after the concert? It's quite important to my balanced breakfast of the truth!"

[Arie Camillia]

"Hmm... too many loops, it's all very confusing. Perhaps the murder route was much simpler, and the killer simply left towards reception in the dark. Most people wouldn't see blood trails in the dark, or maybe if someone was hiding a weapon. We can't know for sure or rule out the possibilities of SHSL abilities and secret passages, however."

"If we look at the time of body discovery and compare it to Carmilla's testimony, the time of murder was anywhere from 9:33-9:43PM UCT. I've been looking at the reception logs, since it might be a clue as to our possible candidates, excluding any supernatural abilities or shifty passages. Since a majority of us were at Hu Tao's and Ruka's concert, which concluded at 8:20PM UCT, we can easily decipher the direction of these movement logs since most of us would've been in Deck 1 already."

"The people that were in Deck 1 at the time of the blackout from 9:11-9:44PM UCT were Otoshin, Hu Tao, Ruka, and myself. I base this on the logs never showing us. According to the logs, Gat, Odelia, and Count were also in Deck 1, but all three claim to have been in the ballroom."

[Zote]

"I do not have anything to add in regards to the investigation. Everything I found has already been testified to.

I will attempt to provide an alibi for myself during the events of the blackout:"

"I was speaking with His Highness the Third Prince in his study when the blackout occurred. I remained with him until it ended, as any good guard ought to."

"I would also like to ask a question at this point in time. It would seem that a current theory proposes the use of some kind of secret passage to avoid the Reception checkpoint, if my ears are working well. I am wondering - can anyone prove the existence of this secret passage? Or, any other passages at all?

Many of us were dashing around the ship like mad animals on a desperate search for puzzles. If that is true, then we should have found at least one secret passage by now. If none are yet proven to exist, I believe we may be searching a wasp nest for honey."

[Karenina]

"Lady Carmilla... Alerted Kaede that something was amiss at around 9:39PM UTC... And then five minutes prior to that... she heard commotion outside... This would mean... that the foul deed... would have happened more specifically around 9:34PM UTC... The murderer then would have to make a fast getaway... Or someone might shine a light on them and see them holding a bloody knife... Or simply dispose of the knife using other means... Such as an ability of a prince..?"

[Arie Camillia]

"If that is the case, we'd have a window of approximately 10 minutes between the murder and when the lights turned back on. If the murder happened on Deck 1 in the foyer of Prince Carmilla's room, they would have 10 minutes to clean themselves off, which is plenty."

"However, I'm looking at the times on this reception log, and unless I'm mistaken, no one left Deck 1 following the murder at 9:34PM UTC until Kaede exits at 9:48PM UTC. Of course, I'm open to corrections on my interpretation of this log, but assuming this is the case, then the killer had to have cleaned off on Deck 1 before rejoining the guards."

"Of course, there is every possibility that the killer simply exited using a secret passage way."

[King V]

"Aha! I-I know how to get out of this...! The culprit must be Kaedae! She visited all of the rooms that were associated with the murder! She went to electrical, she went to the 2nd prince's room, and she must have visited the 5th prince's bathroom at some point too! She mixed up the chronology in her alibi to not seem suspicious... in reality, she murdered Christie, cleaned up in the 5th prince's bathroom, and went down to fix the lights so she could fake an alibi, then came back upstairs just in time to pretend to find the body."

"Kaedae is conspiring with Carmilla to attempt to get us killed! That's the reason she killed her fellow guard!"

[John Dark Souls]

"Heya, Huttie. Do you still have that slab of meat? Mind if we borrow it let Oddie go stabby stabby at it for a second?"

[Arie Camillia]

"Hmmm... now that I think about it, have we heard a testimony from Prince Tubeppa? I ask simply because I need to narrow down my list of potential routes. I and Prince Zhang Lei can both confirm that we didn't hear anyone besides his own guards enter the room. Prince Tserriednich also didn't hear anyone coming in."


"For the most part, no one exited Deck 1 following our 9:34PM UTC approximation of the murder time except for Kaede, who exited well after the lights were operational. This should mean that clean-up happened on Deck 1, but I digress."

"Access to the bathrooms or an alternate route out of Deck 1 should at the very least require entry through the foyer and living room, so may we have a statement from Prince Tubeppa about their whereabouts during the blackout?"

[Chatt]

Fifth Prince Tubeppa: "I was in my lab for the duration of the blackout, so I potentially wouldn't have heard anyone entering my living quarters. Hu Tao and Ruka came and joined me towards the end. I saw no one else during that time."

[Arie Camillia]

"Then, new working theory: The blackout happens at 9:11PM UTC, after which our killer takes advantage of the darkness while on Deck 1. They walk into the Second Prince's foyer and stab the first person they see, being Christie. Knight's and Prince Carmilla's testimonies estimate that this took place around 9:34PM UTC."

"Following the murder, our killer would need to wash off the blood; they have a few possible routes through which this end can be achieved:"

"1. They leave through reception and access a communal bathroom to wash off. This could be possible given then buffer time of 10 minutes they had after the murder, but there were absent logs following the murder. To reiterate, the first logged exit through reception took place at 9:48PM UTC by Kaede."

"2. The killer never leaves Deck 1 during the blackout and washes off in their prince's room. Again, plausible, but narrows down our options. The blood drips from Christie's body led towards Prince rooms 3-5 and reception, and there were no bloody smudges on the external door knobs on any of these doors. This leaves us with 3 possible routes after eliminating the reception route. To reiterate, neither I nor Princes Zhang and Tserriednich heard anyone enter outside of their respective guards. However, Prince Tubeppa cannot confirm nor deny whether someone entered their suite. This does not rule out any specific person, as it's possible anyone could have entered without her knowing, but how likely is it for her and two guards to not notice someone in their suite?"

"3. The killer uses a secret passage to exit Deck 1 entirely, bypassing reception. Taking into account the previously stated information, if there were a secret passage to bypass reception, this would explain the gap in exit logs. If the killer used this route, they could have easily washed off, disposed of the evidence, or re-enter Deck 1 with a solid alibi."
    If this were the case, Prince Tubeppa's room is again our prime candidate for an escape route. The killer reasonably would not be searching for an escape route in another prince's suite, and again, Prince Tubeppa cannot confirm nor deny entries into their suite during the blackout. Since Hu Tao and Ruka showed up in the laboratory towards the end of the blackout, it's not entirely unreasonable for one of them to have exited through a passageway and re-entered Deck 1 to have witnesses to their alibi."

"Out of these, I believe either 2 or 3 are our most likely candidates, which puts Prince Tubeppa's guards into question."

[Satori]

Apr 3, 2023 12:54:35 GMT -8 King V said:

"Aha! I-I know how to get out of this...! The culprit must be Kaedae! She visited all of the rooms that were associated with the murder! She went to electrical, she went to the 2nd prince's room, and she must have visited the 5th prince's bathroom at some point too! She mixed up the chronology in her alibi to not seem suspicious... in reality, she murdered Christie, cleaned up in the 5th prince's bathroom, and went down to fix the lights so she could fake an alibi, then came back upstairs just in time to pretend to find the body."

"Kaedae is conspiring with Carmilla to attempt to get us killed! That's the reason she killed her fellow guard!"

"It seems that the cereal may have clouded your judgement. Now first of all. Why would I kill one of my fellow guards especially this early in the game? Wouldn't killing Christie be detrimental to Carmilla's safety since she would have less guards protecting her?"

"Secondly. To clarify my alibi. "I went to the reception at 8:46 PM utc entering deck 2 then went through the reception again at 9:48 PM utc going back to Deck 1 which was when I went to check up on Carmilla." Now assuming the time of death was around 9:34PM UTC as KoD claims. I couldn't have done this murder since I was around Deck 2 when the murder happened. I will also claim that I've never been to any other prince room other than Carmilla's room at any point during the day."



"Hmph! It seems you aren't exactly the brightest here cuz your a filthy man just like your boss Tserriwhatshisname here!"