[EVENT | Mystery Games] INVESTIGATIONS LOG

[ironwood]

Characters: Arno Dorian, Aya, China Sorrows, Gene Khan, Hiro Hamada, Jack Frost, Klaus Reinherz, Midii Une, Pepper Potts, Raine Sage, Valdis, Zelgadis
Date: 15-28 August 2015 (2016 in-game)
Location: Various
Situation: Let the Mystery Games begin!
Warnings/Rating: None yet, please label threads as needed!

On the morning of the 15th each team receives a package at their residence, dropped in their letterbox or by the door. The package gives details of their assigned crime and their teams, as well as the teams competing against them. The package also includes a roll of fake banknotes as a stand-in for real juulan, and a map of the area their crime will take place. In some cases, this area will be very large, or be a series of areas in different sectors, and may come attached with a schedule so that the actors can take breaks without being accosted.

There’s also a short list of rules for the games at large, though these are primarily common-sense (ie; no real brawls, no real weapons, no real injuries, no buying of answers from other teams). Teams aren’t allowed to ask each other questions about their cases, though no penalty is given for general interaction.

Contestants are also allowed to leave the area in which their crime takes place, but any clues gained by doing so will be considered breaking the games’ fourth-wall and thus cheating, and is grounds for disqualification. No one should need to leave the crime-area to solve the crime! (Discussion amongst team-members outside of crime areas is not considered cheating, obviously, though the judges do recommend such discussions happen in private to prevent some over-excited bystander interjecting. They’ll do all they can to maintain the integrity of the games, but they’ll need the contestants’ help for that!)

The packages will, finally, direct teams to attend to their crime-scenes at a specific time and no earlier -- in order to stagger the arrival of each of the teams at their respective crimes. The first day is the only time where such rigid timing is necessary, though it’s common courtesy, in the event of running into another team at a witness’s house, to come back another time and without spying.

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LINKS
Crime #1 Investigation | Crime #2 Investigation | Crime #3 Investigation | Party/Awards Log | OOC post

OOC
Some starters have been provided for each crime, but feel free to label specific in-game locations for each new thread as needed! We have no preference how the threads get divided up depending on what works for each group of players, but please keep all the Crime #1-related things to its top level comment, all the Crime #2-related things to its, etc etc.

Please note that players are free to puppet the NPC teams as they see fit, so long as they keep to the outlines provided in the OOC and log information. The mods will not be NPCing any of the mystery game characters for this log, so player teams can write them as needed.

Comments

TEAM 1 INVESTIGATION - THE MOTHER’S EMPTY NEST

[ironwood]

The Case of the Mother's Empty Nest will have teams spending a good amount of time in the Wood Sector, with stops in both Central and Earth. All the participating "players" of this mystery seem very in the game, enthusiastic about their roles, and aside from Mesul at the beginning, none of them break character unless there arises an actual problem between the teams. The Case #1 specific locations are marked with bright green flags, except for the alley where Juhino was supposedly taken from, as it runs behind a high-traffic area and thus the area shopkeepers were worried about accidental interference with their businesses.

Kedan participants at the College will be marked by wearing a green armband of the same colour as the flags, so they can be easily located amongst the bustle of the regular student body. Because the College is still in session and actual classes are going on, all teams will be warned not to get carried away in their investigations, and any unruly teams which disrupt the normal activities of the College will be asked to leave, and will lose access to that investigative venue of the case.

There are a total of five teams including the Foreigners' working on this case, and it becomes evident fairly early on that two of of the four kedan teams must be working in tandem with one another and slipping each other information. While there's no way to prove this conclusively since it is against the rules, it'll be important to keep one step ahead of this unconventional alliance if the other teams have a chance of winning.

[bigdamnhiro]

He's been watching, as they carry on with their investigations, and he's been noticing a couple things he's a little salty about. Mainly a couple of teams he's a little salty about. One didn't show up here, the other didn't show up there, he's seen two or three members of both teams lurking not far from one of the crime scenes, obviously interacting, and he's starting to get suspicious.

They pass a couple of opposing team members as they're walking down the street. He's pretty sure they weren't talking about the weather until they saw the Foreigners' team hanging around.

"They're cheating," he huffs. "Seriously?"

[inkulcation]

China glances over. And down. Hiro's about a full foot shorter than she is, and a mess of a teenager, but he seems sharp enough so far. "Of course," she says with a smile, which says somewhat more of amusement than the carefully pleasant one with which she'd introduced herself. "They think they can get away with it. And we certainly don't have any conclusive proof, apart from some shifty glances. What do you plan to do about it?"

For her own part she seems amazingly unconcerned by this turn of events, at least for now.

[unetrustworthy]

She'd been quiet up until that point. Seemingly lost in her own world as she continued to jot down a series of notes in her notebook. French, if anyone dared to glimpse over her shoulder, though the wall of blonde hair obscuring her face.

One would think she hadn't been paying the least bit attention, but her head immediately jerked upward the moment Hiro uttered the words cheating. She shared after him, gaze switching to China when the woman spoke in turn, and then over to a few of the other team member groups still in the area.

"If they're cheating, then there had to be proof. We just need to find it."

[gathersnomoss]

"Or we just focus on beating them rather than investigating them," Zelgadis said. "The more time we spend on them, the less we have to actually try to solve the mystery. The only other option would be to ask the other teams to keep an eye out on this, but avoid working with them otherwise."

He couldn't remember if that was against the rules, but it was at least in the spirit of the rules.

[bigdamnhiro]

"Okay, but they're sharing information, which means they're doing everything twice as fast as us! Which means no matter how much we focus on investigating, they're gonna be one step ahead," he presses with a quiet huff. It's hard to win the game by playing fair when the other guy's cheating.

"Look, if we can't find proof, why don't we just sabotage them? Convince both teams their allies are feeding them fake information, and then let them deal with each other." Because somebody can't just let it go.

[inkulcation]

"Proof of words alone won't be easy," China warns. "It's most likely to show in their results, by which point it will be too late." But she gives Hiro a look that might be approval, before returning her attention to those teams still in the area. "Sabotage, on the other hand..."

Convincing them that up is down and left is right? That's more her style. She smiles again. "I can be very convincing," she says, like it's her own private joke. "Shall we split up temporarily, then? There's no point in diverting everyone from the mystery, after all."

[unetrustworthy]

Midii was tempted to argue that she could multi-task well enough. Focus on the clues presented to her and keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviors on the parts of the other teams.

First, she turned to Hiro. "But if we get caught, then we'll be the ones getting in trouble." After all, to do the convincing, they would have to be seen conversing with both teams. Which could get messy. "There must be some way to prove that they're cheating that won't risk our team too."

Then, she side-eyed China. "How would you split us up?"