"Shall we see what the prisoner has to say for himself before passing sentence? Josep, bring the prisoner here."
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Garekk walks up to the group as Bendalis asks her question about the supplies "We are well stocked, and have enough supplies for about two weeks or so, give or take. We also own the mule and cart that we were using yesterday."
As the Baron walks in, Garekk straightens and focuses in on the Baron. "My lord, as you wish."
Flandrion says, "If we should need more supplies I can contribute some money towards purchasing them."
Flandrion then waits to see what happens with the prisoners.
"I would be interested in what the prisoner has to say. He certainly wasn't afraid of me growling. Many would be."
"The prisoner, my lord," Josep says as he drags in the captured necromancer who is still bound and gagged.
The Baron stands from his seat and begins to speak.
"You stand accused of murder, torture and necromancy. As I am sure you are aware these are very serious crimes in Ustalav, the penalty for any of them can be death. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
The baron nods to Josep who removes the gag from the necromancer's mouth.
"My lord, I must protest. I was assaulted in my home by several of these men and women before you. They stormed into my home believing that they would find evildoers there and interpreted everything they saw through the lens of that belief. Can any witness here say they saw me kill or torture anyone or practice necromancy? Is attempting to increase one's learning of the arcane sciences a crime? What of sneaking into a home like thieves in the night and assaulting the owner or acting as vigilantes?"
The baron turns to look at the party to see what they will say.
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"'Blood has its uses, but degrades a body so much faster.' These are your words, when I told you, and my friends, about the bodies of the woman and child I found in the fortress, with their blood being drained in buckets.
"'Being afraid of the dogs is the first wise thing you have said to me. Tell me what you know of the anjingmati?' Those are also your words."
Hailey then goes on to explain what the anjingmati are for everyone.
"But if you still claim innocence, then let me put it logically to you. When I found a dead woman and child, I alerted my friends and we, believing the killer, or else that the killer had to be you or the person who had spoken to you before you knew of our arrival, and that thus you were in common cause with you, we arrested you and turned you over, first to the captain of the village, and then to the baron himself. Our intentions were to bring a killer to justice.
"So if you are innocent, who did you notify when you discovered the dead bodies? Did you send for the constables? Did you do anything, except help, or at least refrain from preventing, the blood to be collected in buckets?"
Then Hailey sighs and shakes her head. She removes the scroll of Blindness.
"I found some scrolls, one of which was turned into the baron for evidence, and this one I kept for myself in case I should need it. Blinding a foe is an excellent way to defeat an enemy without actually killing him. I suggest we require this man to write something. Then we can see if he is also the author of the scrolls."
Whispering to Hailey: Whispering to Hailey: "What about that business about all those crows dying after saying something about releasing whatshisname? That's suspicious too, isn't it?"
Blinking at Hailey as if he'd been scolded for having one of his large hands in a jar of sweet meats (again), Draalûsh stands upright with a jolt and faces the Baron.
"She's quite right!just before meeting my newfound friends here, a murder of crows came into the village square of Kotla. Then they all, in unison, no less:"
"The crows all died. Also in unison. Me and my newfound friends here were the only strangers in Kotla just then. An ominous character reference for someone protesting his innocence, I should think! The people of Kotla were at wit's end with fright. Truth to be known, I was worried too. And I grew up in Trunau; a lonely enclave of Humans in Belkzen where talking about raiding Orcs was as common as talking about the weather!"
"'Blood has its uses, but degrades a body so much faster.' These are your words, when I told you, and my friends, about the bodies of the woman and child I found in the fortress, with their blood being drained in buckets.
"'Being afraid of the dogs is the first wise thing you have said to me. Tell me what you know of the anjingmati?' Those are also your words."
Hailey then goes on to explain what the anjingmati are for everyone.
"But if you still claim innocence, then let me put it logically to you. When I found a dead woman and child, I alerted my friends and we, believing the killer, or else that the killer had to be you or the person who had spoken to you before you knew of our arrival, and that thus you were in common cause with you, we arrested you and turned you over, first to the captain of the village, and then to the baron himself. Our intentions were to bring a killer to justice.
"So if you are innocent, who did you notify when you discovered the dead bodies? Did you send for the constables? Did you do anything, except help, or at least refrain from preventing, the blood to be collected in buckets?"
Then Hailey sighs and shakes her head. She removes the scroll of Blindness.
"I found some scrolls, one of which was turned into the baron for evidence, and this one I kept for myself in case I should need it. Blinding a foe is an excellent way to defeat an enemy without actually killing him. I suggest we require this man to write something. Then we can see if he is also the author of the scrolls."
"So the same scroll that would condemn me is acceptable for you to use? Is breeding animals a crime? Is knowing how to preserve a body a crime? As I asked earlier is the study of the arcane sciences a crime? Can you prove that I knew about the bodies you claim to have found and can you even prove that there were bodies? My lord I am falsely accused, these mercenaries have no real proof and are trying to use your paranoia to make some money from finding a criminal."
Blinking at Hailey as if he'd been scolded for having one of his large hands in a jar of sweet meats (again), Draalûsh stands upright with a jolt and faces the Baron.
"She's quite right!just before meeting my newfound friends here, a murder of crows came into the village square of Kotla. Then they all, in unison, no less:"
"The crows all died. Also in unison. Me and my newfound friends here were the only strangers in Kotla just then. An ominous character reference for someone protesting his innocence, I should think! The people of Kotla were at wit's end with fright. Truth to be known, I was worried too. And I grew up in Trunau; a lonely enclave of Humans in Belkzen where talking about raiding Orcs was as common as talking about the weather!"
[dice=diplomacy (untrained)]1d20+4
"Can you prove there were no other strangers in Kotla?"
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"There were no other strangers that the people literally prepared to arise and smite, save but the quartet of myself, Garekk, Swift-Palm, and you.
"Baron, I have no interest in money, only in power, and in using that power to prevent the rise of the tyrant you fear," Hailey confesses. "And it was, indeed, he, who tried to recruit me to join with some rather unspecified Dark Path.
"This man is an expert at weasel-words, good baron. He can make a whole speech without actually saying anything substantial at all. He should run for office, not practice magic."
Bendalis speaks calmly, her voice neutral in tone, her words damning.
I can attest that the crows rose, and spoke, and fell. I helped bury them myself. As for the rest, I've had little reason to doubt the priestess. She's been forthright. You, sir, on the other hand, appear to be ill-schooled in logic, which is quite worrying for a self-professed student of the arcane.
To whit, You ask your accuser to prove a negative which any first year logician will tell you is unprovable. To demand it implies one of two things. Either you argue in bad faith, which seems likely, or you were ignorant of this principle. If you argue in bad faith, you prove your guilt, and little more need be said about it. Let us assign that possibility some probability, and move along to the alternative and what it tells us of your character. We assume then that you were ignorant of foundational math.
If as you say you have studied the sciences, you must have skipped foundational studies in math in favor of pursuing other, perhaps darker, arts. Your choice to eschew the more traditional scholarship does you no favors, for it forces us to question what other areas of study you might have ignored. Did you discard religious and philosophical study as unnecessarily restrictive? Did you ignore the knowledge of geography and thus the potential consequences of an experiment upon your neighbors? Did you decide that as math was too theoretical, you need not study it's practical application to engineering, thus allowing for ill formed laboratory structures?
In short, your demonstrable disregard for logic calls into question your very competence to pursue those self-same arcane sciences which you protest are your peaceful study. This would leave your pursuit is dangerously ungrounded in the natural world which you hope to affect. You must understand the nature of a thing, before you seek to manipulate it with arcane energies. So in this interpretation, you are merely a dangerous practitioner with no rudder to guide you, no restraint, no connection to the scholarship you claim to have.
To argue from authority, you must first have that authority. So here again we must assign some probability, and it seems to me the lesser of the two potentials. Even with some uncertainty in our evaluation, the first interpretation, that you argue in bad faith out of some sense of fear seems most likely. In short, you strike me as a desperate man caught against the cold haft of justice by the church of Nethys, and grinding against the rule of law as administered here by the Baron.
She seems bored, and returns to her reading of a simple text on geological formation of shale.
Flandrion says, "The entire business with the crows in the village was why I joined this group. I had been in the village on my own errand. But given the way the message was sent and worded left me with the impression that whoever sent it wouldn't be picky about which outsiders he ended up attacking. I talked to Hailey and her people and found them to be reasonable so I have assisted them. The prisoner, for his part, instead of protesting his innocence when he had the chance to chose to speak only in Infernal."
"So I am to be damned for the language I speak, which is spoken by at least one of those accusing me; or is it my spells which those accusing me plan to use themselves; or perhaps my failure to be a successful student of mathematics and engineering? My lord, these people who accuse me would have me killed for things they also do and know or for something which would see most men of this country killed. They have no real evidence for the crimes they accuse me of and are basing their case completely on circumstantial evidence and hearsay."
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"You could always simply save yourself and tell me whom you were speaking Infernal to, other than me through the use of the spell Nethys himself gave me as a reward for my focus on preaching the virtues and importance of knowledge.
"You see, good baron, priests are given a spell out of each of the dictates of their god that they choose to specialize in, and one of mine, the supremacy of knowledge, permits me to interpret languages that I hear for a short time. Pardon me, baron. Call of nature."
Hailey excuses herself and leaves the room. But she does not try to find a place to relieve herself. She cries, and opens the spellbook. Carefully, she removes the pages upon which her own spells, Shield, Sleep, and Charm Person, can be found. Then she puts those three pages, and the scroll of Ray of Enfeeblement, into a safe, secure place in her backpack.
I can use these pages to make a new spellbook as we travel. One that rightfully belongs to me. Oh, Nethys, forgive me.
She returns to the room a few minutes later, holding the spellbook for all to see.
"Good baron, this is his spellbook. I found it and confiscated it, hoping to turn it in to the church of Nethys, for my assignment here is to find proof of necromancy and the ancient artifacts of old, and confiscate them so that they can be turned over to either my church or our allies in the Dark Archive. Only there, in one of those two places, can the evil artifacts be kept and safely studied and protected, but not used.
"And the reason I wanted to turn this book into my church is because it's along the lines of that which I was sent to find. Every spell in here, except for the cantrips, is pure necromancy. And it's his book. I'm sure of it. I do not want to part with it, for if I return empty-handed, the Archbishop would never forgive me, as where this spellbook would please him greatly as proof of my claims about what's happening here.
"But I shall be fair, good baron. If you demand the spellbook in evidence, I shall turn it over to you, and seek other proof of necromancy to turn in to the Archbishop. Perhaps would be good enough to allow me to make a copy first?"
She is trying very hard not to break down and cry at losing her great prize, but at least she'll still have four spells and the ability to start again if he does demand it.
"So once again I am to be condemned for knowing spells that you know? why is it a crime for me to know them and not for you to? Do any of these spells raise the dead?"
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"In case you haven't noticed, Mister, I am not the issue here. You are. It's my business to understand arcane magic because my god regulates it, as he does divine magic.
"And to be honest, baron, I'm here to destroy the magic that haunts your place. To do that, I must understand what it is I am destroying. All the swordsmanship in the world may well kill the body of a necromancer, or an undead tyrant, but their soul, and their power, lives on. Only magic can truly conquer magic. That is part of the problem here. The villains were slain, but the power remains, and Ustalav will not be safe until it is neutralized. That's what I intend to do.
"So knowing this place's history and what necromancy has done, why would you wish to specialize in it unless you were trying to become a counter-speller? And if you were, why no abjurations? Sorry, baron, that means white magic that protects people."
"My lord, do you hear the hypocrisy from the mouth of this priestess, what she does isn't relevant because she isn't the one on trial. In that case my lord, I wish to give testimony to crimes of the highest order, this alleged priestess of Nethys is a necromancer and sorcerer, learned in the tongues of devils and the arts of raising the dead. She possesses a book containing spells of fell and grave power, which she currently holds in her hands. She is willing to accuse and punish others who have the same knowledge she does simply because they do not serve her god. What would my writing prove? If she is allowed to possess these spells then why would I not be allowed to?"
After the necromancer speaks the count says something for the first time since the debate started.
"Cousin, having never met any of these people before last evening I must convey to you my concern at the lack of evidence presented against the alleged necromancer today, yes he has spoken to me of his involvement in a group devoted to the research of the arcane. But to my knowledge such is in and of itself not a crime. Regardless of his guilt, is it wise for you to condemn a man to death or mutilation without any hard evidence? What is to stop your hand from being forced in the future to act against a falsely accused man based on similar claims due to this precedent?"
"The difference is one of intention," Hailey counters. "I offer you the spellbook, and all my knowledge, freely. He hides and tries to blame me."
She looks at the cousin.
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20 + 3
he seems genuinely concerned that setting precedent with this case could cause greater problems in the future.
"The difference is one of intention," Hailey counters. "I offer you the spellbook, and all my knowledge, freely. He hides and tries to blame me."
She looks at the cousin.
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20 + 3
"My intention is that I am innocent of the crimes I am accused off. I am merely attempting to show that testimony can easily be twisted to appear to indicate one is guilty of serious crimes even if they are not."
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"Wait a second. The place we found you in was guarded by skeletons. And in the laboratory in which we captured you, there was a corpse that appears to have several tubes placed into it that were draining fluids into vials on smaller, shorter tables. Not to mention a skeleton chained to the floor in the centre of the room in a circle of gold. No man of good heart would see anything in that room with anything but disgust, while I was intrigued, for it was proof of what I was looking for, thus my faith allowing me to bypass the horror. Yet you showed no reaction at all to the vileness in that room.
"What were you doing, or at least allowing, in that room? Explain all of this!"
She wrathfully dumps all of the reagents and magical supplies that she took from the room onto the floor. Hopefully there is something good and incriminating (for him, not for Hailey) in there.
"Wait a second. The place we found you in was guarded by skeletons. And in the laboratory in which we captured you, there was a corpse that appears to have several tubes placed into it that were draining fluids into vials on smaller, shorter tables. Not to mention a skeleton chained to the floor in the centre of the room in a circle of gold. No man of good heart would see anything in that room with anything but disgust, while I was intrigued, for it was proof of what I was looking for, thus my faith allowing me to bypass the horror. Yet you showed no reaction at all to the vileness in that room.
"What were you doing, or at least allowing, in that room?"
"This room you speak of, do you have any proof of it?"
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"I recall you had a magical dagger. I'd forgotten about that. Perhaps the kind of dagger to slit throats. For don't forget, good baron, that I found a woman and child with slit throats, and we did bring those bodies to you, didn't we?
"And that, sir, is the reason we're here. If you didn't kill those two people, then I suggest you tell us who did. Someone did, but I lack the strength to even try, and Garekk and Swift-Palm lack the will to slay a child.
"Now how do you prove a room, sir? What do you suggest? That I take you and one of your men there and hope it wasn't cleaned up and cleaned out? Perhaps the sword you found, Garekk?"
Flandrion asks, "Is the prisoner wearing the same type of necklace that was on the animated bear skeleton and the other necromancer that you found?"
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After listening to the back and forth between Hailey, The Baron, and the Prisoner, Garekk finally steps forward with something to say.
"My lord; in my lands, being found with the weapons that murdered an innocent, in this case the skeletons that we believe attacked several good men and women of your outlying village, would be evidence to convict a man without a damn good story. A story that was not based simply on "They can do it, but I can't". In addition, the possession of human bodies for the obviously nefarious reasons of creating the hell hound things that we found would also be grounds for conviction and execution. However, for more solid proof, Allow us to take you to the scene of the attack. A brutal attack that left one of an entire family behind to tell the tale. Unfortunately he fell to mortal wounds shortly after he was found. The blood trail leaving this attack lead straight to a portal. Through this portal, we trailed the blood to this mans safe hold. Putting this together with the rest, you will no doubt see that there is no setting of precedence here, but simply following the logic from one step to another and ending at this mans feet. If this man did not commit these crimes, then he must at least be an accessory to them, and judging from his attitude, a very willing accessory at that."
After Garrak's words the baron stands and indicates for silence. "While I share my cousin, the count's, concerns for ensuring that there is proof of one's crimes before punishment; I believe it is clear to all that this man is merely attempting to use his smooth and silvered tongue to dodge his crimes through half-truths, omission and misdirection. He shall be executed at noon tomorrow. Josep have a pyre built in the square."
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"You will have Nethys' blessing for this, good baron. Thank you. Do you wish to retain the spellbook or shall I bring it to the Archbishop?"
She then looks at the necromancer, but only for a moment.
The real question is still where is the master? And for that matter, what is the master? Mortal or devil?
"Good Riddance to him!"
Draalûsh looks quizzically at the Necromancer.
"Still, he wasn't afraid of me when I first exchanged pleasantries with him. He doesn't seem the type to scare easily, even now."
Swift looks at scene with a somber face. He hasn't spoken up since the uproar had commenced, either unable to formulate his thoughts quick enough, or unsure what to say, he kept to himself the whole duration.
At the announcement of his sentence, the monk closes his eyes in disbelief. He quietly slips out of the room to find a quiet place to contemplate his thoughts.
Unless the baron stops her, Hailey will retain the spellbook and go to Swift-Palm.
"Are you all right?" she asks.
If the baron has not confiscated the spellbook, she will use the Mending cantrip to restore the torn out pages to the book.
The baron will not keep the spellbook.
Josep also informs the party that most of the items they confiscated from bandits about 2 weeks ago were never claimed.
+1 strength composite longbow with 20 arrows, a pair of hand-axes, a light crossbow with 15 bolts, a short sword, a longspear, 2 Javelins, 3 sets of studded leather, 2 bucklers, 1 gold piece, 14 silver pieces and 187 copper pieces.
Garekk takes the bounty, with thanks. "Our thanks, my lord. The proceeds from this will continue to help your people as we help to defend your lands."
"If nobody has any objections, I could use that light crossbow. It's one of the few weapons I'm much good with."
"Hailey,... You cannot ask the storm to temper it's wrath, as you cannot ask me to withhold my feelings towards this judgement."
He looks over at her with a thin smile.
"The choice in this matter is not mine to make. I will respect the baron's decision. I think all of this madness is getting me, I'm not as prepared for this mentally as I had first assumed. After some meditation, I believe I will be in working order."
He puts a friendly hand on her shoulder and gives her a sad look.
Bendalis tucks the extra arrows away.
"They're not much, but we can hunt with them if we must."
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Unable to check the growing sense of concern for her friend, Hailey touches his forehead and speaks a gentle prayer to Nethys on Swift-Palm's behalf, in gnomish.
She petitions Nethys to provide Swift-Palm guidance and comfort, and perhaps enlightenment.
Then, if he wishes her to, she will leave him in peace.
Draalûsh will offer up 10 gp into the party's coffers for the light crossbow and the fifteen bolts to go with it.
"It's the least I could do. Since I wasn't with any of you when you got this swag."
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Garrek nods at Draalushs' generous offer. "My thanks. We are all in this together now, so we must look after and take care of each other."
With a clear conscience over the recent affairs, Garrek takes the spoils down to the market and sells off what is not needed. Along the way, he also picks up 20 more arrows and 20 bolts for the companions stores. Finished with his tasks, he returns to the company of his friends.
"When do you think we should seek out this castle? And do you think it is the same one that we were looking for before?"
"I'm ready go to any time. From what I've heard so far, it sounds like the castle you looked for before is probably the same one we need to look for now."
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Hailey will go and look for Bendalis when she is finished repairing her spellbook.
"My recent spellbook scare has given me a bit of what strikes me as wisdom, though I don't know if you'll agree with me. I suggest that we copy each other's spellbooks into our own, for even if it takes more effort to cast a spell that is against our natures, illusions and conjurations, in my case, the knowledge is not lost should one spellbook be. That way, should one spellbook be lost, or should one of us fall, the other can pick up right where she left off with all her power and knowledge, at least as far as spells go, at the ready.
"Do you concur?"
That seems practical. I do not know if it is wise. Still, better to preserve knowledge than hoard it. Let us look for a quiet place to scribe. Being interrupted would be troubling.
Bendalis reluctantly agrees.
Flandrion says, "I'm ready to go when you all are."
Swift returns to the group and announces that he is also ready to move on. He seems to be in a better mood considering his previous feelings.