Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
So why is he sassin' us in the options? : (
A Blaze Alights (RWBY/CKII, After The End)
- Thread starter Powerofmind
- Start date
- Status
CthuluWasRight
Fresh Meat for the SV Grinder
- Location
- Canada
Honestly, he's the only clear option we have. As much as it might seem like some kind of magic trick, I doubt that whomever broke the rationing was sneaky enough to pull some expert disguise. Anders has no alibi and is displaying no physical symptoms- unlike everyone else. We're not Sherlock Holmes (although after @Icipall's previous comment I'd love to see someone do a Sherlock Holmes-style Omake with us and Cado) and I'll take anything involving a clear sign of guilt at this point.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Do you think it is better to punish someone without clear indication of guilt for the sake of punishing someone/being a leader vs doing something more collective or erring on the side of doubt? (This is to the whole thread, really.)
Non-canon Omake: Lyra Holmes and Dr. Zhao-Fan?
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
If you want to blame someone, blame @CthuluWasRight . I debated whether or not to write this, but he pushed me down the waterfall.Case Unclosed: The Tales Of Detective Lyra
Lyra Zhao-Fan furrows her brow in concentration. Their entire water supply lost to stupidity and lack of discipline. 4 suspects, each of them a trusted member of her retinue, with no clear proof of which one of them was responsible. What a conundrum this trip turned out to be. As Lyra racks her brain in order to figure out who the culprit is, she suddenly hears a sound of violin and feels a wave of inspiration come over her.
"Lyra, are you ok?" Cado Zhao-Fan asks of his wife, as he sees her suddenly go rigid. "We can just continue on our way. This is not your fault and the nearest settlement is close by. We can acquire supplies and fix the water tank there. It is not imperative for you to try to figure out who is responsible. We both know that inquisitive actions aren't our strong suits.
"Pish-posh, my good fellow. I could never leave a mystery like this just lying around. Do not be an imbecile and come on, Dr. Fan, we have a case to solve," Lyra suddenly declares, turning around sharply, brandishing an old fashioned pipe, which Cado could swear he has never seen or felt on her, especially after last night's thorough make-up-sex session and hasty rise from their bed this morning.
"Lyra, what are you…Where did you..?" Cado tries to ask, confused. And why did the skin below his nose suddenly itch so much?
"Dr. Fan, what did I just tell you about being an imbecile?" Lyra asks, exasperated, as she dons her ear-flapped travelling cap.
"…To not be, Ma'am," Cado answers.
"Excellent, you're learning. Now, stop wasting your time with trivialities and follow me, we have a lot to do before I can solve this case," Lyra declares, delighted, as she starts heading away.
"Of course, Mrs. Zhao-Fan, but where are we going?" Cado asks while running a finger over his neatly trimmed mustache.
"Why, to the crime scene, of course," Lyra calls back to him.
-Red Sun pilgrimage caravan; the supply van, 8:47 AM-
"The victim is a near 300 gallon opaque water tank. Due to the surprise Grimmsblood-outbrake, lot of the water was used to either to take care of the sick, or left to them so that they can survive until the next caravan picks them up after the worst of the outbreak was over and the pilgrimage caravan continued on its journey. Due to this decrease in the caravan's water supply, a water rationing was established. Apparently, this ration was not enough for someone and they decided to drink more from small hole in the tank, drilled near the bottom and back, using a cork stopper to fill the whole to stop it from leaking.
Due to these circumstances, it is safe to assume that the hole was drilled between last night and the caravan leaving the infected, though most likely the hole is rather recent due to the dehydration starting to take its toll on the retinue, making them do a stupid decision. Also, the cork itself didn't come off until last night, since the lack of water wasn't noticed until today. Also, due to the low amount of water in the tank there wasn't much spillage, meaning the cork could have gone off at any point of time during the night, since there wasn't enough of it left in the tank to spill everywhere on the van's floor, which would have alerted the person on guard duty. And speaking of the guards, the tank is guarded every night by member of the retinue and there's one guard shift during the night," Lyra summarizes, taking a breath from her pipe, which quickly led into loud coughing.
"Aha, so the culprit is obviously one of the guards on duty that night!" Cado denotes triumphantly.
"Wrong. We cannot denounce the possibility that the culprit decided to take a drink two nights ago or earlier, and that it was the rattling of the van during driving that made the cork fall off, not the culprit putting it back improperly. It is also possible that the culprit drank from the tank during the day, morning or evening, though these are less likely possibilities," Lyra admonishes Cado, getting her coughing under control.
"Then could it have been possible that an outside party or a stowaway could have done it, Mrs. Zhao-Fan?" Cado asks.
"No. Since the caravan is so small, it would be impossible for the stowaway to stay hidden, and due to us being in an inhospitable desert with roaming grimm, it is very unlikely and infeasible that there would be brigands or wanderers lurking near the caravan, Dr. Fan," Lyra answers.
"Hmm, true, true. So, how will we figure out the culprit, Mrs. Zhao-Fan?" Cado contemplates.
"That's easy, Dr. Fan: through deduction and logic. After studying the crime scene and the victim one more time, we will need to interrogate the suspects.
-Red Sun pilgrimage caravan; outside of a tent reserved for interrogations, 9:50 AM-
"We have four suspects in this case, all of them suffering from differing effects of dehydration. The first one is Carlos, who is suffering from mild headaches. He was one of the two people on guard duty last night. He was also the one who first noticed that the water tank was empty and informed others of it, which nearly lead into a brawl after people started suspecting each other," Lyra starts listing while taking another long breath from her pipe, this time keeping her coughing mostly under control.
"Wouldn't that mean that at least he is innocent, since he was the one who brought up the fact that the tank is empty?" Cado brings up.
"Of course not, Dr. Fan, do not be foolish. It is entirely possible that he did that in order to push suspicion away from himself and point it towards others. And besides, it is easy to pretend to have headaches.
Now, to continue, the second suspect is Mikael, who has been moving stiffly and sleeping more recently. He was on guard duty two nights ago. A strong case for his innocence, but not definitive.
The third suspect is Bethany, who has been suffering from emotional imbalance, which has led to crying. The important thing to note is that while she has been crying, there have been no tears. She was on guard duty two nights ago, on the same night with Mikael," Lyra continues.
"Could her emotional imbalance lead her to breaking the rationing?" Cado intersects.
"Possible. Good to see you using your head, Dr. Fan," Lyra congratulates him.
"Now, the last suspect is Anders, who has not been sweating despite the desert heat. While a strong indicator for a lack of water to sweat, he was on guard duty last night," Lyra finishes her list of subjects.
"Now, before I go through interrogating them," Lyra says, turning to face Cado and brandishing her pipe:
"Who do you think is the culprit?"
Hopefully I didn't completely butcher this. Most of my Sherlock Holmes knowledge come from Hound of Baskerville-movie, crossovers, cultural osmosis and Sherlock Hound.
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Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
The expected random typos, though it's pretty nice despite it (I have experience reading ff.net stuff, I read around typos surprisingly easily despite my own near-perfectionism). I was especially entertained by the absurdity in the beginning, but then I'm an absurd person, sooo... take from that what you will.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Yeah, sorry about those. I'm good at noticing typos in other peoples works, but not in my own.
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
Honestly a couple of missing articles isn't nearly as bad as some things I've read, so it really doesn't detract much of anything. You could get away writing a quest or fic with that level of quality, beta be damned, especially considering English is a second? language for you. I know I'd read it.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Heh, I've considered it, but I'm really bad at coming up with continuous narrative. I can come up with ideas and scenes, but tying them together is hard. And writing itself is hard for me as well, since I have a bad memory and have trouble keeping my thoughts in order.
And yeah, English is my second language.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
@Powerofmind Do we remember Anders sweating earlier in the trip?
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
People sweat easily enough under a desert sun, but you've been driving around the south shore, which produces a breeze thanks to the miracle of thermodynamics. The trick to things is that sweating is natural. Even if you're not hot, the body sweats all on it's own for the sake of it because to sweat a few times a day is healthy.
People who drink more than others are actually more likely to sweat out the excess, since regardless of intake around 10% of output water is sweat.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Okay. Let's rule out Bethany and Anders, then. It's been long enough that I think they would have rehydrated at least partially to show some brief symptoms of sweating or tear tracks.
Mikael might have had more problems actually drilling the hole quietly if his symptoms are as bad as indicated.
[X] Stupidity is it's own punishment. The accused will spend the rest of the trip to civilized lands with half food rations as well.
-[X] The culprit is Carlos
By process of elimination, again assuming that Cado is clear and Powerofmind isn't screwing with us by presenting the evidence in this fashion.
Mikael might have had more problems actually drilling the hole quietly if his symptoms are as bad as indicated.
[X] Stupidity is it's own punishment. The accused will spend the rest of the trip to civilized lands with half food rations as well.
-[X] The culprit is Carlos
By process of elimination, again assuming that Cado is clear and Powerofmind isn't screwing with us by presenting the evidence in this fashion.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
[X] Stupidity is it's own punishment. The accused will spend the rest of the trip to civilized lands with half food rations as well.
-[X] The culprit is Carlos
Hopefully we're not wrong and this will not end up biting us in the ass.
-[X] The culprit is Carlos
Hopefully we're not wrong and this will not end up biting us in the ass.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Well, like I asked right before your omake--do we believe it's better to be 'strong' at risk of being wrong vs taking the soft route? I'm still willing to switch as I'm not hugely decided yet TBH.
It's being viewed as too indulgent/weak leadership vs the risk of alienating someone for being wrong.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
I know, I know. As I said before, Carlos does seem the most likely culprit and we can't just ignore something like this happening. And the others actually want a grave punishment.
I just don't like possibly blaming and punishing someone of something they didn't do.
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
I can give it till the end of the night, but so far you're pointing to Carlos as the perpetrator, and are willing to punish him in a severe, but not deadly, way.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Wait, wait. How about this?
[] Write-In: Responsibility lies with the guards on-duty. They should have either discovered preexisting sabotage at the start of their shift or the act occurred during their shift, regardless of who the culprit is.
--[] Carlos and Anders will be on three-quarters rations for the rest of the trip to civilized lands as punishment.
[] Write-In: Responsibility lies with the guards on-duty. They should have either discovered preexisting sabotage at the start of their shift or the act occurred during their shift, regardless of who the culprit is.
--[] Carlos and Anders will be on three-quarters rations for the rest of the trip to civilized lands as punishment.
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
Such an implication places no blame on the possible perpetrator's actions themselves, merely the guards failure to deal with it. You can't really get away with that. One of their trusted comrades was the water thief, people that they literally put their lives in the hands of since water watch isn't the only reason to have a night watchman.
That's why death is even on the table as punishment; because those actions are tantamount to killing everyone in the party. The people with you are expected above all else to do their duties and put their lives in your and each other's hands. Going behind their backs and stealing precious water, even if the tank didn't spill, is enough reason not to trust a man to watch your back as you sleep. If they'd steal water, and risk someone else dying of thirst, what else would they make others give up to save their own skins?
Raiu
Per Aspera Ad Astra
- Location
- United States
I can agree with Powerofmind here. Stealing water in the middle of a desert is something which is worse than killing a single person BECAUSE it puts everyone in danger. That's part of the reason why stealing national secrets is considered treason and historically was a strict "Death by execution and subsequent desecration of corpse, along with a excommunication thrown in for good measure." That's a bit harsher than even the Medieval period's punishment for murder.
Putting the blame onto the guards is arbitrary as hell. Seriously, it does absolutely nothing to actually punish the person who harmed the community, and it's the sign of a horrific leader. Our prestige would take a hit on that, for sure, and that's something that we kinda need for dealing with all these vassals.
Punish the criminal, not the guards.
Putting the blame onto the guards is arbitrary as hell. Seriously, it does absolutely nothing to actually punish the person who harmed the community, and it's the sign of a horrific leader. Our prestige would take a hit on that, for sure, and that's something that we kinda need for dealing with all these vassals.
Punish the criminal, not the guards.
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
Oh hell no, I'd have given you an ~90% chance for Arbitrary. You said it yourself. Punishing the guards is arbitrary as hell.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Respectfully, I disagree. It's the guards' responsibility to watch the supplies. Yes, someone is specifically to blame, but they also failed at their jobs. This isn't arbitrary at all, people with the appropriate responsibilities get punished all the time for fuck-ups. It's the very fact that they're supposed to be the ones watching out for everyone else's lives in the night and they didn't manage it.
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Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
You don't punish a guard because the other guard at the other end of the building disabled the fire alarm and let in a bunch of thieves. You don't punish the loyal half of your levy because Ro infiltrated it and set up the cordon to fall.
Betrayal is never the fault of the men tasked with trusting the betrayer.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
No, you punish them for never checking on the building and doing rotations. That is incompetence and gets punished. This isn't about loyalty.
If this is as cut and dry as you're trying to make it out, then there was instead a clear delineation of responsibilities for who was guarding the water in this instance, at which point we should know this information and know who specifically was in charge and who is far more likely to be the actual guilty party. The situations aren't nearly the same as the previous parallel you are trying to present as to why not.
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
You... do know who was on duty each night, and in which order they were on duty. There was a clear responsibility for person X to be awake and on watch for grimm, thieves, or anything really, at times Y to Z. The issue is that someone clearly shirked that duty to steal water, and there was no reasonable expectation for anyone to notice it.
- Location
- The Beach
In Military training, if one guy fucks up, everyone gets punished. It encourages slackers to up their game and get their job done or get shunned by everyone else, and encourages people to work together.
While this situation is different and more complicated, it's obvious our guards here fucked up.
Hm. Not really sure what to do then.
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Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Why is resource inspection not part of their normal duties? What kind of camp are we even dealing with here? It seems to be down to basically Cado + Lyra + 4 people + a vehicle or two. This can't be that large a camp, actually.
How and why was...actually, you know what, first...
Uhhh, can you resolve this?
Carlos was on guard that night.
Carlos is the one who noticed it first.
But "one of the retinue awoke" to discover the water.
So...how does that work?
Yes, exactly, thank you.
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