PnP Group [DATA REDACTED] Session 18

[16:28] <~Headlong> GDRL-2 Addendum 18
[16:28] <~Headlong> "Shovel and a mop, Mister Barrel... You know the drill."
[16:33] <~Headlong> The Dullahans, all six of them, stand over the corpse of Mrs. Butterball. As previously described, the corpse is pristine, untouched. To determine the cause of death, it seems that Sugar Cane's suggestion of an on-site autopsy is becoming more and more practical.
[16:34] * Redshift stands quietly by, tapping a hoof idly on the floor. He isn't really sure what to do just yet, so he waits for now. Sucks that somepony died, though. Huh. He looks arounds, is there a case file anywhere?
[16:35] <~Headlong> Redshift idly plays with the sand, then. He knows that if there's a case file, one of the more investigative ponies probably has it. Scribbles strolls around the concession stand, examining the food.
[16:37] * Redshift decides that it's probably a good idea to take a look for the file, then. He calls to the investigative ponies. "Hey, you! Any of you got a case file we can look at?"
[16:37] * Giddy rubs the back of his head. Wait. What? Weren't they in.... No, no. They'd never gone to Mane. He seemed to be developing a headache quick, which didn't help the queasiness that he felt by looking at a body. "Um... Urg. Shit. Hey, guys. Do any of you have any ideas where to start looking on this... Body?" He resisted a gag. Bodies, particularly pristine ones, had a habit of doing this to him.
[16:38] * Bonnet is standing a few steps back, a hoof still over her nose.  Glancing this way and that at the event decorations, trying to avoid looking at the unfortunate pony.
[16:40] <~Headlong> Scribbles waves to Redshift with a wing. "I've got my notes here, Red. Come take a look."
[16:41] * Redshift trots over to Scribbles with alacrity, leaning over to take a look. "Whaddya got there?"
[16:44] <~Headlong> She flips through her notes. She has most of Sugar Cane's observations from his personal case file written down. What's Red looking for, though?
[16:46] * Redshift peers through the notes to look for information about the victim. Who was she? How old was she? Where did she work? Who were her friends, relatives? Did she have any interesting habits?
[16:47] * Lucky_Star ([email protected]) has joined #FruityRumpusAssholeFactory
[16:47] * Lucky_Star is now known as Scribbles
[16:48] * Bonnet hmms thoughtfully as she looks over the decorations, "This was a pretty decent-sized bash...  Do you think they managed to talk to all the ponies that attended?"
[16:51] * Giddy looks around. Nopony there seemed to favor the corpse. Guess it was up to him to figure some things out. Fun. He proceeded to go up to the stiff and grit his teeth and started looking for some sort of initial spark or impact point.
[16:57] <~Headlong> Sugar Cane, and subsequently Scribbles, had noted that Butterball was running for Mayor of Ponyville before she was murdered. She was a middle-aged mare, but quite healthy and had many years ahead of her. Her friends and relatives, he says, were devestated to hear the news, and there was a great mourning for her.
[16:58] <~Headlong> She was a perfectly average pony, running on a platform of down-home, common values. The election was the only thing of note she'd done recently.
[17:00] * Redshift hmms, poring through the notes. What about her competitors? Had they anything to say?
[17:01] * Scribbles was flipping through her own notes, scrounging about the crime scene for anything of note.
[17:03] <~Headlong> Based on the position of the body in the blast radius, it seems that /she/ was the epicenter. The ash is almost shaped around her body, had she been standing up at the time. Redshift finds that Sugar Cane had, obviously, suspected her competitors, Mayor Mare Jr. and Spending Spree, but they couldn't be reached for questioning at the time, as they were travelling from the fundraiser back to Equestria.
[17:06] * Giddy grimaced and tried to fight back against a green complexion. Right. He began investigating the blast itself. Did it have a direction that it came from? How big was the blast? Is it big enough to throw out, he didn't know, a molotrot cocktail?
[17:08] * Redshift sighs, as he looks through the notes still. Alright, cool, cool. Enough about the dead pony. What about the witnesses?
[17:09] * Bonnet hobbles around upwind of Butterball, finally taking the hoof away from her nose and trying to take a few shallow breaths as she keeps looking around, "You know... for a function like this there should have been a ton of photographers on-site..."
[17:13] * Scribbles looks up upon hearing Bonnet's outer thoughts. "Yeah. Most newpapers and magazines would eat this sort of party up, like parasprites in the middle of a spring harvest." She says, wandering around the crime scene and casting a glane at the ash-marked blast radius. "Must've been a private affair."
[17:15] <~Headlong> Giddy can tell that the blast was almost perfectly spherical, unilike that of any Molotrot Cocktail he'd ever seen thrown. It's difficult to tell the direction of the blast, since it appears to have originated low to the ground, and exploded outwards in a circle. It has a radius of roughly 3 feet.
[17:17] * Bonnet shakes her head a little, looking around for vantage points, "Even if it was a private affair, do you know any self-respecting paparazzi that would pass it up?"
[17:18] * Redshift apparently finds no notes of any witnesses. He sighs, looking to Sugar Cane. "You mind if I have a copy of these?"
[17:18] <Redshift> *make a copy
[17:18] * Giddy narrows his eyes. Well, alright. If the scorch marks on the ground were this round, odds are that... He lifted his head. Odds are this reaction happened below her, unless it just straight-up came from nowhere. He'd almost smirked at that. "Self-respecting paparazzi is a bit of an oxymoron, Bonnet." He said, grimly.
[17:21] * Bonnet looks back to Giddy, giving a small smile, "I know, I've had my picture taken by plenty."
[17:21] * Scribbles goes back to scrounging the scene for evidence.
[17:22] <~Headlong> Red determines, as Scribbles did, that of the witnesses Sugar Cane could get from witnesses, only three of them could actually be reached for further questioning. The DJ, Neon Trees, Butterball's husband, Corn Rows, and one caterer, hoof-picked by Butterball herself, Amaretto.
[17:24] * Giddy frowns, then calls out to the crew. "Hey, does anyone have some gloves or some shit? I want to check what's underneath her."
[17:24] * Redshift hums softly, looking to Sugar Cane. "OK, do you know where we can talk to these witnesses for ourselves?"
[17:24] <~Headlong> Sugar Cane isn't even there!
[17:26] * Giddy sighs. Right. Hard way. "One of you get over here. I'm going to lift her up. I'll be a bit preoccupied in doing so. One of you check what's under her."
[17:28] * Redshift checks the notes then!
[17:29] * Bonnet turns around to look at Giddy and Mrs. Butterball
[17:29] <~Headlong> All of them are staying back at a hotel on the mainland.
[17:31] * Giddy lifts the corpse with a grunt of effort and a consistent bright flash of amber light. Trying to lift heavy things like ponies with telekinesis feels like he's trying to balance a bowling ball on his head.
[17:31] <~Headlong> Bonnet's hunch about paparazzi may not be as off as she suspected. As she turns, she uncovers a small wire in the sand, leading towards where Butterball had fallen.
[17:31] * Scribbles moves over and starts searching where Mrs. Butterball was.
[17:32] * Redshift grumbles. Great. So much for talking to the witnesses. He looks over to see what the others have found.
[17:35] * Bonnet starts a bit as she feels the wire underhoof.  Stepping off it, she leans down and looks a little closer before pawing at it, "I may have something here."
[17:37] <~Headlong> Scribbles can now see directly underneath Mrs. Butterball. It seems that the ground directly where she once stood has been turned to glass.
[17:37] * Scribbles ran a hoof over the glass. "Well now.."
[17:38] <~Headlong> It's still a little hot, but not uncomfortable to touch.
[17:38] <~Headlong> Bonnet's seen such a wire before. She recognizes it as a typical microphone wire.
[17:41] * Scribbles tries to move the glass, to see if something was under it.
[17:42] <~Headlong> There's sand under it, silly Scribbles. The sand itself beneath Mrs. Butterball had /been turned/ to glass.
[17:42] * Scribbles sets the glass aside, scratching her chin. "You can put her down now, Giddy."
[17:44] * Bonnet takes off her pith helmet and uses it to scoop away the sand from the wire, following in whichever direction goes towards the victim pony.
[17:45] * Giddy lowers the corpse down with some difficulty. Celestia, if the smell wasn't the worst part of it, the headache he'd wake up with probably would be. "What did you find? I saw something shiny." He wheezed out, rubbing his head comfortingly. When he eventually looked down, questions were answered. "Follow that wire, it's pretty much our only lead here."
[17:46] * Scribbles points at the pane of glass. "Something dissproving one place the flames could've come from."
[17:48] <~Headlong> The wire leads Bonnet right past the explosion radius, to the table closest to where Butterball had died. Scribbles' glass is much less a pane... it's more like a clump. It's not uniform at all.
[17:51] * Scribbles rubs her head. "Maybe.. Have you checked her pockets?"
[17:51] <~Headlong> It leads right under the table cloth.
[17:51] * Bonnet points back the way she'd come, "Check that way and see where it goes."  She looks back to her end, pulling up the table cloth with her mouth, ignoring what's on top of it.
[17:52] * Giddy rubs his head. Shit. "So, the only two fucking options we have are that it came from above, or we're just dealing with some magic bullshit, in which case trying to get a name or a direction is worthless!" He complained, looking rather cross that this hadn't panned out how he'd like it to have. For fuck's sake, why couldn't this be easy? Shouldn't the foundation have, like, a big badass...
[17:52] * Giddy ...investigator force? If it's us, then they could do a /lot/ better than a famous haberdasher, a race car driver, a kid, a novelist, and an antique dealer.
[17:54] <~Headlong> The wire leads up into the air to a omnidirectional microphone, taped to the underside of the table.
[17:58] * Giddy blinks. Ooh. Progress. "What do we have here?" He muttered, craning his neck down. Maybe this would be easy. "Where's this broadcasting to? Is it recording? Was it recording?"
[17:58] * Scribbles waved a hoof to get Giddy's attention.
[17:59] * Giddy blinks and looks at Scribbles. "Um. No. I mean, was she wearing pockets? It's kind of hard to tell with the..." He motioned to the blackened corpse. "Yeah."
[17:59] * Bonnet hmms softly and leans in close to look at the microphone.  With a little grin, she turns around to smile at Giddy, holding a hoof up to her mouth for silence.  She waits a few moments, then turns back to the microphone, getting as close as she can, and then screaming into it at the top of her lungs.
[18:00] <~Headlong> The corpse is absolutely not blackened at all.
[18:00] * Giddy 's ears shoot up and then flatten out. Suddenly screaming!
[18:01] * Scribbles looks down at the corpse, then her attention shoots over towards Bonnet. "What under Celestia's Sun!?"
[18:02] <~Headlong> Redshift, who has been standing out by the DJ's turntables, reviewing Scribbles' notes, can hear the faint scratching of audio feedback over Bonnet's screaming.
[18:03] * Bonnet stops and looks around to the direction the wire disappeared off to, listening carefully.
[18:03] * Redshift jumps from where he's standing, Scribbles' notes almost dropping from his telekinetic grasp, head whipping to and fro to find out what the /hell/ that noise is. His voice is a rushed, loud "Whatwuzzatwhatwuzzat?!"
[18:05] * Scribbles rubs her ear. "Bonnet.. What..? Why..?" She sorta-asks
[18:05] * Giddy rubs his face. "Scribbles, you get on checking her anything. I'm going to try to figure out if she died of asphyxiation or poisoning or fuckall if this fire didn't do it."
[18:06] * Giddy looks at Scribbles. "She was trying to see where this wire might've gone and if it's close."
[18:07] * Bonnet smiles softly and gets out from underneath the table, brushing the sand off her legs, "That's correct.  Well, on with plan B, then."
[18:09] <~Headlong> Redshift, startled as he may be, notices that the feedback came from somewhere behind the DJ's stage.
[18:09] * Scribbles nods and starts searching Mrs. Butterball's pockets, taking care not to disturb the body too much.
[18:12] * Redshift blinks, listening again. What was that? He turns, heading in the direction of the feedback, trying to find the source of the noise.
[18:12] <~Headlong> She's carrying several business cards for those ponies who are no doubt her sponsors for her campaign. There are also several of her own. She also has a hotel key, several paper bits, and a watch.
[18:13] <~Headlong> Redshift is led behind the stage, where he finds the caterer's van.
[18:13] * Scribbles thinks it couldn't hurt to take a closer look at the watch.
[18:14] * Bonnet scuffs through the sand, following the wire in the other direction away from the bug.
[18:14] * Redshift investigates the caterer's van. Where /was/ that sound coming from?
[18:15] <~Headlong> The time reads 9:14 pm... Distinctly not the time it was now. Curious. Bonnet is lead in the same direction as Redshift, back behind the stage. Red and Bonnet can both see a glimpse of a wire leading up into the caterer's van through the back door.
[18:16] * Redshift frowns at the wire, running a hoof along it, as he tries to follow it into the caterer's van. He heads inside. What's in there?
[18:16] <~Headlong> The backdoor is locked, as are the other doors on either side. He'll never know, lest he open it.
[18:17] * Scribbles switched her attention to the collection of business cards. "Might not have killed her from the inside, her watch is stopped."
[18:18] * Redshift hums. Could he give it a try? He tries to call upon his magic - he doesn't know if it will work, but he can try - and tries to manipulate the lock's inner mechanisms with his telekinesis in an attempt to open it.
[18:18] * Bonnet gives a nervous little giggle as the wire leads her straight to the catering van.  Well... it seemed like a good idea at the time.  She hmms softly as she examines the van, considering her options.  A window maybe?
[18:20] <~Headlong> Red finds that he simply lacks the finesse to open it properly with just his magic. Bonnet notes that the windshield, side windows, and rear windows are indeed made of glass.
[18:22] * Redshift quickly abandons that idea. He looks around, pondering the van. He looks to the pony beside him, and asks her. "Yo, Bonnet. Got anything I could use to try to pick this lock? A loose wire or a paper clip or anything like that?"
[18:25] <~Headlong> Back at the corpse, Scribbles and Giddy see the business cards are of lawyers, PACs, and larger corporations. Seems this party had everypony who was anypony at it!
[18:25] * Bonnet turns around to pull open her saddlebag, mumbling and nosing things around until she finds what she's looking for, "Well... nothing for picking... how about this?" Biting down, she slowly draws a very solid and lethal-looking red pitchfork from her bag, transfering it to her hooves and giving it a flourish spin.
[18:26] * Giddy blinks. Scribbles... Might have something there. "Alright, so wait. Her watch is stopped. What time did she die?"
[18:27] * Redshift blinks at Bonnet's...um. What the hell was /that/ doing in there? He just gapes for a moment, before nodding. "Uh...let me try it." He takes the pitchfork in his magic and attempts to pick the lock with it, ludicrous as that may look from a third-person perspective.
[18:28] * Scribbles checks the watch again. "Forteen after Nine in the evening."
[18:29] * Bonnet giggles quietly at Redshift's reaction.
[18:30] <~Headlong> Ludircrous as it may be, Bonnets trident/pitchfork provides enough to pick the lock, and probably prevent it from ever locking again.
[18:32] <~Headlong> When the doors fly open, they find that the wire leads to a simple tape recording device, still whirring.
[18:33] * Giddy rubs her chin. "Okay, so stop me if I'm getting out of step." He starts gesturing to the corpse. "She's up there, right? Giving her speech, giving her speech. Then a big fireball happens. And we know she didn't die due to burning because, well, yeah. But think about this, what kind of thing would stop a watch?"
[18:34] <Kopesh> "An EMP perhaps?"
[18:35] * Scribbles runs through the possibilities in her head. "Magnets. Shock, both electrical and from large amount of heavy, quick force, some types of magic. My uncle's watch stopped when he walking into a cathedral once, but that might be a coincidence."
[18:36] * Redshift blinks. Huh. That worked. He doesn't really think twice about it, though, as he simply hoofs it back to Bonnet and heads off to peer at this listening device. What make was it, and what was it recording to?
[18:37] * Bonnet gives a disappointed murmur at the lack of occupancy but happily takes her pitchfork back, giving it another little twirl before stuffing it back in her bag.  After securing it closed again, she trots up with Redshift to examine the insides of the van.
[18:38] * Giddy points at Scribbles. "Yeah, that. That thing. Magical disturbance. So, my thing is, what if this isn't one thing happening? What if the magic fire bullshit happened, and that caused another magic bullshit thing to happen?" He looked at the watch. "Do you think you can get it going again?"
[18:39] * Scribbles took the watch in her hoof. "Well.. I could take a look at it, if I had some tools to work with.:
[18:39] <~Headlong> It's a Cannon-Fodder brand tape recording console, fairly recent. Given the fact that it's a tape recording unit, it's almost undoubtably recording two the reel of tape still spinning in it.
[18:41] * Giddy has a theory. "Don't remove it. I have a weird fuckin' idea."
[18:43] * Scribbles pulled her hooves back from the watch. "Let me take a few steps back first."
[18:43] * Redshift looks to the device with a frown. He attempts to stop the recording and remove the tape.
[18:45] <~Headlong> Considering all Red needs to do to do that is press a button and lift the tape out, he does this with relative ease.
[18:46] * Bonnet looks around the rest of the van while Red takes care of the tap.  Seeing if she can find any notes, or anything out of place.
[18:46] * Kopesh steps back and watches, thinking about what kind of magical discharge would cause flames, not burn anything, but still cause enough heat to turn sand into glass. Assuming that her person pass not somehow protected from the heat.
[18:46] <Kopesh> was, not pass*
[18:47] * Redshift investigates the tape. Was it labeled?
[18:47] <~Headlong> It is not. It has, however, been going for some time.
[18:47] * Giddy shakes his head. "No, no, nothing like that. Just, alright. Here's my idea." He looks at the watch to see if there's any sort of manual controls. "Alright, so. If she burst into flames, she should have /some/ markings of it on her. The glass under her shows that something should've changed on her, but it didn't. So, I got to thinking, if she's this pristine, what if she didn't actually die?"
[18:47] * Redshift looks to the device. Was the a way to rewind and play the tape?
[18:47] <Redshift> *there
[18:48] * Scribbles scratches under her chin. "That.. Hmm.." She thinks about it for a moment.
[18:48] * Kopesh nods. "I was wondering the same. She could be in some kind of stasis."
[18:50] <~Headlong> Giddy finds that there's a "reset", "stopwatch", "lap", and "zero" functions.
[18:51] <~Headlong> Red, however, has no such luck getting what he wants. Perhaps that DJ equipment has something that could work?
[18:52] * Redshift thinks that the DJ equipment might have something that could work! Even if his player would prefer that blatant hints not be made like that again! He goes off, tape in hoof, to investigate the DJ's stand.
[18:53] * Giddy lifts her leg. "Alright, so, here's what I think happened. There's this big fireball. And the fireball reasonably let out a bunch of magic. And some magic stops watches, right? So, the EMP stops the watch, the watch turns out to be an SCP bullshit magic device, and then she just... Stops." He was treading on ice here. "So, the question is, what button here will snap her out of being stopped?"
[18:59] <~Headlong> Once there, Redshift quickly finds a tape deck that looks like it could fit the tape. Inside is another tape labelled, "Equestrian National Anthem."
[18:59] <Kopesh> "Assuming that it would respond to button presses."
[19:01] * Redshift rolls his eyes. He wasn't gonna bother listening to a song he already knew by heart. He removes the tape and sends it aside, putting the new tape in and rewinding.
[19:02] * Giddy shrugs. "Do you have any better ideas?"
[19:02] <~Headlong> It takes a while to rewind. The tape has been on for some time, after all. Eventually, he reaches the end though.
[19:02] * Scribbles scratches her head. "Well. We should at least take a look. We don't want the next group to give her an autopsy is she's still alive."
[19:03] * Redshift hits the play button. Even if that was a lot of stuff to go through, it was worth listening to the beginning to find out what the recording was for.
[19:04] <Kopesh> "Not sure they could if a fireball did nothing."
[19:05] <~Headlong> Much to Red's surprise, or not at all, perhaps, the recording plays through /all/ the speakers around the island venue. "Testing... Testing..."
[19:05] <Scribbles> "Better safe than sorry."
[19:05] <Kopesh> "Not disagreeing." He looks at Giddy. "Go for it."
[19:06] <~Headlong> The voice that announces this is low, muttering. The noise of other ponies moving metal things and reversing trucks play over the recorded voice for a while. "And... right down here..." The rip of duct tape comes, then silence.
[19:08] * Redshift just listens.
[19:08] * Bonnet decides to take a quick break in her search of the van's interior to strip out of her Daring Do outfit, stuffing them back into her saddlebag.  She smiles as she pulls out the pitchfork again, propping it up in a corner as she pulls out the outfit that goes with it and carefully pulls it on.
[19:08] * Giddy holds his breath. Right. He hesitantly reaches for the "reset" button...
[19:11] <~Headlong> The recording resumes several minutes later. "...Evening everypony, and welcome to Malakara Island, and to my fundraiser!" There's a smattering of applause. This is blaring out of the venue's speakers.
[19:11] <~Headlong> Giddy's hoof presses the button, and the time resets to 0:00.
[19:11] <~Headlong> The time on the watch, of course. What, did he expect it to reset time, or something?
[19:13] * Giddy kinda did. How anti-climactic. He clicks the stop-watch button
[19:15] <~Headlong> The 0:00 begins to flash rhythmically, waiting for him to press the button again.
[19:15] * Redshift knows the speakers are all blaring the sounds from the recording. But he just wants to listen! He lets it play on.
[19:16] * Giddy rolls his eyes, then tries lap.
[19:16] * Bonnet wiggles into her costume, giving a relieved sigh at the feeling.  Slinging her saddlebag back on, she gives the interior of the van another once-over for anything out of place.
[19:16] * Scribbles looks around as well, listening to the recording.
[19:17] <~Headlong> "As you all know," The middle-aged mare's voice continues, "This is a very special night, indeed! For, not only is it my first ever bid for mayor, but it's also my fourtieth birthday!" Another pony shouts, "Cheers!" And there's more applause. The stopwatch starps counting when Giddy presses the last button.
[19:18] <~Headlong> fortieth*
[19:19] * Giddy grumpily tries to fix the watch so that it starts back up at 9:14.
[19:24] * Redshift just waits.
[19:25] <~Headlong> Giddy does this with little trouble. "So, I want everyone to try some of the cake!" Laughter. "Once the festivities are under way, feel free to stop by my table!" There's a few more cheers and some catch electronic music plays. There's indecipherable babble for a while, but eventually, something clearer happens.
[19:26] <~Headlong> Bonnet finds nothing out of place in the Caterer's van. She's no doubt seen the inside of one before, and it's perfectly ordinary in every way... Even the Rat Poison sitting on the floor under the passenger's seat.
[19:28] * Redshift wonders just what that something "clearer" is. His face is set, listening intently.
[19:29] * Giddy puts on a scowl. Well, fine. Fuck. "Welp, there goes that idea." He mentioned.
[19:29] <~Headlong> "Mrs. Butterball!" An oily, old stallion's voice croons. "How lovely it is to see you!" The voice, now identifiably Butterball's, responds with a "Oh yeah, Mr. Spending Spree! Good ta see ya!" She giggles. "How are you enjoying the-"
[19:30] * Scribbles was busy listening to what was being played over the speakers.
[19:32] <~Headlong> There's an inequine roar, loud and close to the microphone. Nopony in the crowd seems to react, though, until there's a loud crash and was is clearly an explosion. /Then/ there are dozens of panicked screams and shrieks of terror.
[19:33] * Scribbles flinches and turns to Redshift. "Rewind whatever that is."
[19:33] * Redshift jumps slightly at the noise, but he remains thinking, the gears turning in his head. OK. Logic. The crowd didn't react until after the sound of the explosion. he reckons it's safe to assume that whatever made the roar, the crowd could neither see nor hear it.
[19:33] * Bonnet blinks a little at finding the poison and gulps audibly.  Not finding any clearly labeled secret notes though, she climbs down out of the van, trotting over to rejoin her companions listening to the recording, stumbling a little as the explosion plays catching her off guard.
[19:34] * Redshift looks to Scribbles and nods. "Yeah. Sure." He rewinds the tape a tad to play it back.
[19:34] * Redshift , in the meantime, closes his eyes. That growl...can he identify what it is?
[19:34] * Scribbles blinks, thinking to clarify. "Just before Spending Spree comes in."
[19:37] * Redshift did just that.
[19:37] <~Headlong> Redshift finds that he's never really heard that sort of roar before.
[19:39] * Scribbles looks around the scene as the recording plays again, visualising Butterball meeting Spending Spree, making mental notes of where the catering car and the DJ's booth both are.
[19:42] * Bonnet trots up to Redshift and Scribbles as the roar and explosion plays again, now wearing her bright bright red jumpsuit, a spaded tail swishing behind her in place of her normal bob, "Sounds like you found something..."
[19:43] * Redshift looks to Bonnet. "You think?" He blinks at Bonnet's new getup. "Where'd you get that?"
[19:44] * Scribbles nodded. "It came from over there." She said, pointing to where Bonnet screamed. "And.. Pounced on her, over here." She looks between Butterball and the microphone table, judging the distance between the two.
[19:45] <~Headlong> It's about twenty feet. A respectable jump, from a (presumed) standstill.
[19:47] * Scribbles notes that. "It roared, so it must've.. Either been told to attack Butterball, or felt threatened by her."
[19:47] * Redshift holds up a hoof. "Hold on, hold on. There might be more on the tape." He has the tape play on just after the explosion.
[19:49] * Bonnet gives a prideful little smile to Redshift, "I made it."  She quickly quiets down though to listen on with the others, considering the information they'd found.
[19:49] <~Headlong> There's a lot of screaming for a long time, then a lot of silence.
[19:49] <~Headlong> A /lot/ of silence.
[19:50] * Scribbles blinks and continues. "Nopony saw it, so maybe.. Some kind of spectre or spirit.."
[19:51] * Redshift fast forwards the tape some.
[19:52] <~Headlong> Silence... upon silence upon silence.
[19:53] * Redshift sighs, as he takes the tape out of the player and pockets it. Silently, without acknowledgeing the others, he suddenly slinks off without a word back to the van.
[19:54] * Bonnet taps a hoof on the ground, "There was only the one roar, right?"
[19:55] <Kopesh> "It could have been fake too. To be a signal."
[19:57] * Bonnet nods a little, "Yeah, I know they do that sometimes in the movies..."
[20:00] * Scribbles nods. "Maybe.. But first a loud roar, coming from where Butterball was sitting, that nopony could hear, but it still comes through on the recording. Then, poof! There's a burst of flames, and Mrs. Butterball drops."
[20:01] <Kopesh> "How well can audio recordings pick up things beyond a normal pony's range of hearing?"
[20:04] * Scribbles scratches her head. "'Unno. But it's a common thing in most horror stories, microphones and TVs pick up ghosts and such things beyond the veil of the living."
[20:06] <~Headlong> Redshift is back at the van, and he sees everything that was there before, including a bottle of Rat Poison.
[20:06] * Redshift frowns, tilting his head at that. Were there rats around? He lifts up the bottle in his telekinesis and investigates the bottle.
[20:07] <Scribbles> "Ghosts are kinda anomalies in fiction. Maybe the ghosts ponies see in non-fiction are anaomalies we're after?"
[20:08] <~Headlong> It's a fairly unassuming bottle of poison. It's about 3/4 full.
[20:09] * Redshift tilts his head at that. So this bottle has been used before. He holds onto it for now, as he investigates the rest of the van. What was in the glove compartment?
[20:09] * Giddy sits down. Well, crap. The wind got kinda knocked out of his sails, there.
[20:10] <~Headlong> Unsurprisngly, there are gloves in the glove compartment, as well as a map of Burrmuda, and a cigarette lighter.
[20:11] * Redshift looks at the map of Burrmuda. Anything marked that might be of interest?
[20:11] <Kopesh> "Certainly possible. But, how would a ghost have done that trick?"
[20:12] * Scribbles scratches her neck. "That roar.. It sounded like an animal, a predetor if I had to guess. But most pedetor's only attack to survive, either it's to eat or defend themselves." She says. "I think.. It was baited into attacking Mrs. Butterball, somehow."
[20:13] <~Headlong> Other than the island they're on, only the hotel where the caterer Armaretto is reported to be staying is marked.
[20:13] * Bonnet lets out a small sigh and slumps up against the DJ table, trying to think things over.  After a few moments she realizes the tape had distracted her.  She turns to look at the rest of the ponies present, "Oh, by the way... you guys should probably not eat anything that's set out... there was rat poison in the catering van..."
[20:15] * Scribbles looks over at Bonnet, something clicking in her head. "Rat poison.. Hmm.."
[20:15] * Kopesh blinks. "Well, that's good to know."
[20:18] * Redshift ponders that. He looks back at the group...aw, shucks. If they were gonna sit and bicker needlessly amongst themselves, that was their call and not his. He decides to pocket the map for himself, as he simply dashes off for the hotel.
[20:19] <~Headlong> Redshift dashes into the water. It was mentioned previously that the hotel was on the mainland.
[20:19] * Scribbles blinks. "That opens up a few things.. Either somepony killed Butterball using this ghostly-ghost-thing, and frame somepony else. Or, maybe somepony close to Butterball tried to get rid of her, and the party, and was foiled by dumb luck.
[20:20] * Redshift doesn't do any of that, then. He just sighs and plunks his rump by the side of the van. What to do now? He ponders, as he dashes back to the town square instead. He still has Scribbles' notes, so if there was a phone number somewhere, perhaps he could call the hotel?
[20:23] <~Headlong> Sugar Cane neglected to provide a phone number for the hotel. They would, after all, have limited signal out on this island.
[20:25] * Giddy sighs. "So what do we do about this shit?" He muttered, looking up at the others. "None of us are fuckin' ghost bear catchers. Unless one of you are holding out on me."
[20:26] * Redshift sighs, slowing to a halt. No phone number could he find...drat. He looks back to the notes, leafing through them again. Deciding there's nothing, he dashes back to the end of the wire, where the micorphone wire ended. Maybe he could find something else there.
[20:27] * Bonnet takes the pitchfork off her back and sinks the tip into the sand, leaning up against the shaft, "Sorry... no ghost bear catcher costumes..."
[20:27] <~Headlong> He finds hoofprints, likely Bonnet's and the ponies who sat there. There's also the microphone, still there as well.
[20:28] * Redshift picks up the microphone and investigates that.
[20:28] * Scribbles shakes her head. "I think.. Unless anypony else has a lead." She says, looking at the group. "We've hit a dead end here."
[20:31] <~Headlong> There's plenty of island left to explore... Perhaps another day, though.
[20:31] <~Headlong> : PLAYBACK PAUSED, GDRL-2 ADDENDUM-19 PLAYBACK BEGIN :