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The Adventure of the Runaway Room
Transcript
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Ryunosuke Naruhodo
(As a defence lawyer... it's my job to advocate for the defendant as best as I can. But still... I feel as though there's something even more important at stake here...!)

Episode 3: The Adventure of the Runaway Room is the third episode of the game The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures. It is another trial-only episode, this time introducing the Old Bailey Courtroom and its jury. Ryunosuke Naruhodo and Susato Mikotoba have taken a long journey on the SS Burya to the United Kingdom, getting to London by train and finally arriving at the office of Lord Chief Justice Mael Stronghart by carriage, to formally request that the study tour intended for Kazuma Asogi go ahead with Naruhodo as the lawyer. The imposing Lord Stronghart, interested in testing Naruhodo's resolve, sets him immediately on a seemingly insurmountable task: representing the philanthropist Magnus McGilded, accused of murdering an East-End brick maker called 'Thrice-Fired' Mason, as attested to by multiple witnesses. To make matters worse, Naruhodo's opponent is the "Reaper" Barok van Zieks, a "cursed" prosecutor whose defendants are all marked for death. As the trial goes on, a deeper conspiracy emerges, putting into question Naruhodo's core beliefs instilled by Asogi about being a lawyer.

Acts and chapters[]

Act Chapter Details
"Investigation" "Opening" N/A
"Trial, Part 1" "Pre-Trial"
"Trial Start"
"Summation Examination" Consists of the actual summation examination.
"Trial, Part 2" N/A
"Trial, Part 3" "Recess"
"Gina's Entrance"
"Conclusion"

This episode has an unusual structure for the Ace Attorney series as a whole. The "Investigation" act is a red herring, consisting of just the Lord Chief Justice's Office and not containing any actual investigation to collect info about the case at hand. In some sense, "Investigation", "Trial, Part 1", and "Trial, Part 2" could be considered one act, with the only save prompt intermission being between "Trial, Part 2" and "Trial, Part 3". Instead of an intermission between the first and second trial parts, the chapter "Summation Examination" bleeds between the two, despite the actual summation examination occurring on the Part 1 portion.

Timeline[]

To edit the information in this table, go to Template:Timeline and edit the information there.
Date Event type / related incident Description Notes
February 15, GAA (Meiji 35) The Adventure of the Runaway Room Mason Milverton is murdered. N/A
February 18, GAA (Meiji 35) The Adventure of the Runaway Room Ryunosuke Naruhodo and Susato Mikotoba arrive in Britain. Naruhodo makes his English court début in the trial of Magnus McGilded for the murder of Mason Milverton. McGilded is burned to death after the trial. N/A

"Opening"[]

Glancing over my records of the late last century, I am faced by the event of a certain bitter winter. A murder in a carriage as it sped through dense London fog in the dead of night -- Though the victim and the perpetrator were the only ones inside, there were multiple witnesses to the crime itself. However, none could have imagined at the time that such a seemingly obvious case as this would end in such a horrendous manner. My friend, Mr. Herlock Sholmes, once said of the incident, 'I believe that perhaps that case was indeed the "prelude" -- the beginning of a long concerto that impressive Japanese student and I were to play together.'
Runaway Room

The Runaway Room.

9:21 a.m.

Ryunosuke Naruhodo and Susato Mikotoba arrived at Whitehall to meet the Lord Chief Justice, Mael Stronghart. News of Asogi's fate had already been sent by telegram, but Stronghart was surprised when Naruhodo requested that he take Asogi's place. Stronghart was dismissive due to a lack of qualifications, until Naruhodo mentioned his intent "to do everything that Mr Asogi planned to do." Stronghart decided to put Naruhodo to the test, by having him defend someone in a real trial that would take place very shortly. It was a simple case, and the defendant had not secured a lawyer, but since the alleged crime was murder, the defendant would receive capital punishment by hanging if found guilty. This horrified the two exchange students, as they did not want to put someone's life on the line simply for a test. Nonetheless, the defendant had no other advocate, and Stronghart left them to decide what to do about this fact.

"Pre-Trial"[]

9:45 a.m.

Naruhodo and Mikotoba arrived at the Old Bailey with fifteen minutes to spare. Their would-be client, a famous philanthropist by the name of Magnus McGilded, offered a thousand guineas for Naruhodo to stand beside him in court. He also revealed why someone like him was unable to secure a lawyer; the prosecutor was Barok van Zieks, also known as the Reaper, and whenever he stood as the prosecution, the defendant would be damned. Before Naruhodo could get any more information, however, the bailiff called on them.

"Trial Start"[]

10:00 a.m.
Megundal Jury

The jury.

Naruhodo's first trial in Britain's highest court was a lot to take in, from the courtroom itself, to the jury, and even Lord van Zieks himself, whose opening comments about the young Japanese student's terrified look cut deeply. Apparently, van Zieks had taken a five-year leave of absence, but had suddenly taken on this case, though he left it up to the judge's imagination as to why.

Van Zieks opened with the basic details of the crime, which had happened three days ago at 10 at night. A skilled bricklayer called "Thrice-Fired" Mason had been stabbed with a large knife inside an omnibus. Van Zieks presented the autopsy report, a photographic print of the crime scene, and the gloves that McGilded had been wearing at the time, the right one having a bloodstain. Only the two parties concerned had been inside at the time. He then called forward the three witnesses to the incident: the driver Beppo, banker Bruce Fairplay, and hatter Lay D. Furst. The witnesses proceeded to describe what they had seen, while the omnibus itself was wheeled into the courtroom.

Milverton Dead

"Thrice-Fired" Mason's body with the knife embedded in him.

Desperate for some kind of footing, Naruhodo questioned the witnesses for more information. Beppo testified that it had been the last bus of the evening, and confirmed that exactly four passengers had been on board at the time, while complaining about having made only twenty pence on the ride as a result. Fairplay and Furst had been on the roof seats when the crime occurred; Furst had at one point gazed into the inner seats through the omnibus's skylight, and screamed upon noticing the knife protruding from the victim. Beppo had stopped the carriage after the scream. He testified to seeing Mason collapsed on the floor while McGilded plunged the knife into his victim's belly. Both of them had been wearing hats, obscuring their faces from view.

Each time Naruhodo pressed for more information, the added testimony only made his client look worse, and the jurors steadily submitted guilty verdicts, with number five, who was the master of the London Guild of Coachmen, trusting Beppo's statements. In order to convince one remaining holdout, number six, who had faith in McGilded's generous character, van Zieks revealed the dark secret behind the defendant's vast wealth: predatory lending. McGilded would use hopelessly high interest rates to ensure that his borrowers would default so that he would take all of their possessions. Describing the defendant as "a vulture that preys on the weak," van Zieks revealed that Mason was one of the debtors, and the night of the murder was his final repayment date. The submission into evidence of the debtors' ledger corroborating the prosecution's claims sealed the final guilty verdict.

The unanimous decision triggered an immediate suspension of trial proceedings pending the final adjudication. Mikotoba glanced through her Encyclopaedia of British Law and discovered a curious footnote explaining that, at this point, the defence still had a right to request a "summation examination". This procedure involved having the jurors explain their reasoning for their leanings, giving the defence one final chance to persuade them to reconsider and force the trial to resume. Determining Mikotoba's text to be some 50 years old, van Zieks and the judge explained that the summation examination was an antiquated procedure that had fallen out of use long ago due to being ineffectual and perceived as a waste of time. Since the right had never actually been revoked, however, the defence made the request for a summation examination.

"Summation Examination"[]

At first, Naruhodo believed that he would have to use persuasive speech to try to convince the jurors. However, Mikotoba explained that his arguments in doing so would sound like excuses and only entrench the jurors further in their beliefs. Instead, she recommended pitting the jurors against each other by exposing contradictions between their individual arguments. Indeed, juror number two cited Beppo's statements about the fares, but those statements contradicted number five's statement that fares had not gone above fourpence in years. There was also a contradiction between jurors three, who cited Fairplay's account of the stabbing, and six, who cited Beppo's. Seeing that these jurors were starting to change their leanings, the foreman argued that McGilded had simply stabbed the victim twice, but this was impossible, as the autopsy report mentioned only a single stab wound. The four jurors, a majority, reversed their leanings, forcing the trial to continue.

The three witnesses were summoned again to cleared up the two issues brought up in the summation examination. Beppo was forced to admit that the discrepancy was not because of an extra person but because he had been charging fivepence for the last ride of his shift. He also admitted that he had not seen the moment of the crime, since he had only been alerted to it by Furst's scream. Fairplay, fearing that his own testimony would come into question, firmly attested that he would never forget the sight of the blood-soaked hands. Naruhodo accused him of lying, however, because there was only a small stain on McGilded's right glove. Naruhodo revealed that Fairplay owed McGilded twenty guineas according to the debtors' ledger, providing a motive to ensure that McGilded received a capital punishment, annulling the debt.

Megundal and Mortar

The view from the skylight.

Fairplay admitted that he had not seen the exact moment of the murder. However, he insisted that he had indeed seen both of McGilded's hands stained with blood, with Furst making that same claim. He further argued that a third person would have been seen, but Naruhodo disagreed. He pointed out that Fairplay and Furst could have only seen the seats where Mason had sat, and not the ones on the opposite side. He proposed that McGilded had sat on those opposite seats, and a third person had sat beside Mason with blood-soaked hands.

McGilded was called to the stand to explain why he had not said anything about a third party. He confirmed that there had been a girl with them inside the cabin, whom he had allowed to escape the scene to avoid drawing suspicion to her. He speculated that she was watching the trial right now. Suddenly, thick smoke began to fill the courtroom. The judge called for an emergency recess and had the courtroom cleared.

"Recess"[]

12:52 p.m.

Naruhodo wanted to talk to McGilded, but he had been summoned to the prosecutor's antechamber along with a girl who had been caught trying to escape. If the girl were indeed an extra passenger, the fare totals no longer added up.

"Gina's Entrance"[]

1:00 p.m.

Trial quickly resumed, and van Zieks explained that the cause of the disturbance was a sort of advanced smoke grenade used by the army. A girl had used it to conceal her escape, but had been caught and was now on the stand. She stayed silent, refusing to answer any of the judge's questions. McGilded explained that her behaviour was tied up with the events of Mason's murder, as she was the fifth passenger.

Finally, it was time for the defendant's side of the story. According to him, he had boarded the omnibus alone, with seemingly no other passengers aboard at the time. He had taken the back seat and promptly gone to sleep, only to be woken up by a loud thud followed by a scream. Seeing the victim's body on the floor, he had sat it up on the opposite seat, wishing not to draw attention to himself. He had then lifted his own seat where the scream had come from. Finding the girl there in a storage compartment, McGilded had gotten her to sit next to the victim and talked with her, setting up the scene that Furst had witnessed. The girl was Gina Lestrade, a pickpocket who wielded a smoke gun that she had stolen the other day, and her testimony corroborated McGilded's.

Legjection

Van Zieks objecting by slamming his leg.

From the two testimonies, it was evident to jurors one and four, the only ones who had not voted innocent, that Lestrade could not possibly have been the culprit, but McGilded had taken on the risk of being implicated for the crime to protect her. Just when it looked like the defence was about to win, however, van Zieks submitted a Scotland Yard report stating that the storage compartment had been filled with Beppo's belongings, and added that he had personally overseen the police investigation and could confirm that this had been the case when the omnibus was submitted to the court. Naruhodo and the jurors were asked for their thoughts on the matter, with Naruhodo having had an opportunity to examine the omnibus himself, and number five, the guildmaster, confirming that the compartment would have held equipment for running and maintaining the carriage. He, along with jurors three and four, immediately reversed their decisions, leading Naruhodo to cross-examine Lestrade's testimony.

According to Lestrade, she had sneaked into the carriage while the driver was at a pub. Naruhodo asked her to elaborate about the time frame when McGilded had discovered her and sat her next to the victim. She revealed that, at one point, the carriage shook, and the corpse fell on her, resulting in both of her hands being covered in blood. She also testified that, because of McGilded sitting on top of her hiding place, she could not see anything. McGilded asked if she had heard anything, either, to which she replied that all she had heard was his snoring. This did not add up, as she should have heard Mason get onto the omnibus.

The remaining jurors started leaning guilty, but before number two could submit the last verdict, Naruhodo suggested an alternate entrance through which Mason had entered the carriage: he had fallen through the skylight, explaining the loud thud. At this, Fairplay and Furst angrily returned to the stand, realizing what Naruhodo's argument entailed for them, and the gallery was thrown into a frenzy. Furst recalled a time when he had tried to open the skylight from the inside and failed, but Lestrade explained that there was a catch to open it from the outside. Naruhodo and Mikotoba were then able to check the open skylight, where they found a bloodstain. Combined with another bloodstain discovered on the omnibus floor, this seemed to prove Naruhodo's claim conclusively.

At this, van Zieks stated that, like the storage compartment, the bloodstain on the skylight had not been there during the Scotland Yard investigation. He explained that, although this was McGilded's first time actually on the dock, there were other cases involving him that had similar instances of facts being mysteriously "adapted". Though the omnibus had been in full view throughout the trial, Naruhodo realized that Lestrade's smoke grenade could have provided the necessary cover. He also remembered that the bloodstain on the omnibus floor had not been there, either.

Cosney clap

McGilded laughing in triumph.

McGilded furiously demanded for the trial to end, as memories did not constitute evidence of any tampering. The judge reluctantly agreed with the defendant on this. Van Zieks could only say that he had nothing further to present, so in the absence of anything that could confirm his allegations, the trial could no longer continue and would have to end in a not guilty verdict. McGilded laughed and thanked Naruhodo for his services, clapping his hands while the audience and jury reacted in confusion and anger. This all felt wrong to Naruhodo as he no longer knew what was truth and what was fiction. Van Zieks took full responsibility for letting this happen, but warned McGilded that this was far from over.

"Conclusion"[]

5:14 p.m.
Megundal Death

Omnibus ablaze.

Naruhodo had just won his first trial in Britain, but it felt hollow due to all of the lingering questions. He declined McGilded's aforementioned offer of one thousand guineas, saying that he could not possibly receive that much. Suddenly, a bailiff called for McGilded, who explained that Scotland Yard was going to examine the omnibus again, and that he had asked to be present for it. However, changes in the schedule made it so that the examination would occur immediately.

Immediately afterward, Lestrade aimed her smoke gun at Naruhodo, but was interrupted by a much younger girl, who pulled out a similar, but even bigger gun. The little girl revealed that she was the inventor of these smoke guns, and that Lestrade had stolen one from her. The girl forced Lestrade to come with her to her "laboratory" to apologize to her "technician". Now alone, Naruhodo and Mikotoba realised that they still had no place to stay, and Naruhodo began to regret turning down the bulk of McGilded's payment offer.

True to van Zieks's portent, a bailiff soon found the omnibus ablaze. The discovery attracted the attention of a detective, who exclaimed that nobody was supposed to be in the courtroom until the investigation had started. To his horror, someone was inside the flaming carriage. The judge and van Zieks arrived to witness the terrible sight as well, with the latter looking on silently.

Cultural references[]

Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus.

  • During the cutscene where Naruhodo and Mikotoba leave the train station and walk into Piccadilly Circus, there are a number of references to the British comedy troupe Monty Python:
    • "Cleese & Palin British Tailors" is on the street level of the "London King", referencing John Cleese and Michael Palin.
    • The "Imperial Hotel" has a sign for "Terry's Lever Watches", referencing Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones.
    • The building next door to the "Imperial Hotel" is "Idle & Jones", referencing Eric Idle and Terry Jones.
    • Beside the "Piccadilly Pavilion" is the "Gilliam Theatre", referencing Terry Gilliam.
    • A nearby omnibus has an advertisement on it for "Great Richard Chocolates", which is likely a reference to the character Biggus Dickus from Monty Python's Life of Brian.
    • Another omnibus has an advertisement for "Brian's Cocoa", likely referencing the eponymous character from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Series references[]

When inspecting the omnibus, its back is labeled "Phoenix Wright Omnibus". This is true even in the original Japanese version of the game.

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