Bulldozer wallops the smaller Wraith, hard.
These wraiths seem incredibly resistant to Azrin's channeling.
Elsa splits off from the larger wraith and circles around to Bulldozer, while Brother Swarm heads to Azrin.
Elsa misses Bulldozer, but Swarm punches his clawed hand through Azrin's chest, but Azrin has adapted to the chill of the grave since his last encounter with Karin, and fights off the sapping of his vitality.
Ezekiel 5 foot steps in and smashes, then bites at Elsa.
Bulldozer applies his Dergar to where it hurts.
Azrin tries to recall the weaknesses of Wraiths.
Bulldoer nets a swing and a miss.
Azrin recalls that Wraiths are powerless in sunlight. Unfortunately, it has to be natural daylight, r magic FAR more powerful than he has access to currently.
Other than that, they take full damage from Positive Energy attacks despite their incorporeal nature halving the effectiveness of spells.
Azrin casts Cure Serious Wounds on Swarm and takes a step away from him (trying to lure him toward the more resilient melee fighters).
Swarm eats the full damage from the holy energy and shrinks away from Azrin.
He sinks into the ground and pops up next to easier prey, flanking Bulldozer between him and Elsa.
Elsa waits for him to act before following his lead.
Bulldozer
Azrin
Swarm
Elsa
Ezekiel
He swipes at Bulldozer, and she follows suit.
Bulldozer is so preoccupied fending off Elsa he dodges right into Swarm's blow!
Bulldozer's life is sapped to the maximum possible amount Swarm can draw from him.
Ezekiel moves in and bites at Elsa, then slams his hammer at Swarm.
He misses Elsa, but smashes Swarm but good!
Azrin swings his mace at Swarm as he sinks into the ground.
Bulldozer swings with all his might at Swarm for a Power Attack.
"You think that's pain? I'll show you pain!"
Bulldozer finishes off Swarm...unfortunately.
Elsa stops moving for a moment, then her childlike form blurs, and grows, taking on a more sinister form, and loses all resemblance to the dead child.
"Food..." she whispers, all trace of Elsa gone. Only the Wraith remains.
"Now that's just cheating!"
Azrin casts Cure Serious Wounds on Elsa
The Wraith Formerly Known As Elsa explodes.
The two remaining wraiths fly up to you and stare for a few seconds.
Thankfully (or not) they fly off into the darkness, electing to harass innocent people elsewhere in the world instead.
"I couldn't do much more against them anyway." Azrin sighs, dejectedly sheathing his mace.
Azrin casts Speak with Dead on Elsa's corpse.
"How were you killed?" he asks the corpse.
"I was killed by the black spooky thingy. It was scary."
"What did the black spooky thing look like?"
"Like a big black spooky thing." she says, sounding a bit puzzled.
"It was big, and black, and floaty."
She goes silent for a moment.
"Ooh! Ooh! And it had red eyes!" she seems proud of herself for remembering this detail.
"Works for me. Let's take Karrin's body and get out of here."
He looks at the children's skeletons one last time before leaving.
"I...we should come back in daylight and give them a proper burial. Or at least arrange for someone else to do it. It's not right, leaving them to rot like that."
Azrin casts Cure Light Wounds to heal himself and Bulldozer.
"Oh, that reminds me...when we've got the time we should try to find someone who can cast Restoration and restore Bulldozer's and my drained life force. That spell is beyond my current ability, I'm afraid."
Everyone finds a nearby temple of Pharasma and gets themselves touched up.
"Now hold still while I stick this fire up your..." the priestess begins, and everything fades to black.
When you awaken, you feel better, though highly uncomfortable.
"Er, yes...thank you, sister."
Once they are out of the temple, Azrin rubs his eyelids, mumbling something about how many weirdos there are amongst Pharasma's followers.
On the way back to the inn , Azrin seeks out a funeral service and hires them to collect the children's bodies.
"There are some Wraiths in the area, but if you go when the sun is out, you'll have nothing to fear from them."
The morticians shrug and agree, and you have a wonderful night's sleep.
The next morning is the Trial of Hergstag. The same routine is carried out as last time. The Chief Justice gives a long winded speech, then hands over the floor to the prosecution.
The tension of the crowd is palpable as Otto begins to speak.
"The Beast stands accused today of one of, if not THE most heinous crime in Lepidstadt history, the brutal abduction and murder of four children from the once peaceful farming village of Hergstag. Their community was devastated by this tragedy, and never fully recovered. It lies abandoned now, a decaying husk standing as a testament to the Beast's savagery. Alleged, I mean."
"Yes, yes, we concede that the Beast does not appear to have been present in Morast, but there's no such defense here. He was found holding one of the children's bodies, cruelly laughing in her parent's faces! No, there's no doubt that the Beast is guilty, and has not even the humanity to be ashamed and repentant of its crimes. But, you don't need to take my word for it. I call Garrow, Starle, and Flicht to the stand, your honor."
The audience starts grumbling.
The three sisters you spoke with file in and give their testimony. They tel the jury everything they told you...though conveniently forget to mention the bit about Karrin dying several days AFTER the Beast fled the town.
As they file out, the crowd whips into a frenzy.
"He's guilty! PLAIN AS DAY HE'S GUILTY!"
"Screw the trial, we have all the evidence we need! BURN THE BEAST!"
"BURN THE BEAST! BURN THE BEAST! BURN THE BEAST!" the chant begins, and goes on for several minutes before Chief Justice Kard bangs his gavel loudly.
"Silence." he intones, and the crowd quiets. "The Defense still hasn't presented their evidence."
"The Defense may present"
Kaple briefly considers going up and making a speech, as Otto did, but shakes his head dejectedly.
"Y-you guys just go ahead. You're probably b-b-better off without me anyway."
Bulldozer plays with a piece of string from his Pathfinder Kit while slowly nudging Azrin.
"Hey I think they want you to speak or something. Go drop on their heads some evidence just like I dropped my Dergar on those wraiths."
"There was something else the witnesses forgot to mention: When we visited them yesterday, they told us that Karin was found dead in her bed, without a mark on her, and no sign of forced entry, two days after the Beast was run off."
"But you don't have to take my word for it. We have brought Karrin's body with us. With the court's permission, I would like to cast Speak with Dead on it."
Once he has permission, he does so.
"How were you killed?"
Karrin tells the same story as Elsa.
The crowd, however, grows restless.
"Blasphemy!"
"Have you no respect for the dead!?!?!"
More than the lot of you combined.
"We had no choice. The Wraith that killed these children left no physical evidence. And I have already arranged for all of the children to be given a proper burial."
A man snorts loudly, but there are no further interjections from the peanut gallery.
"I hope we've made it clear by now that there are more dangerous things than the Beast running amok."
With the evidence presented, and the crowd quieted (though not placated), the second day of the trial ends with evidence once again winning out over well spoken condemnations.
"Good job!" Kaple exclaims.
"N-now you just need to investigate the Karb Isle Sanctuary. If we win there, the Beast will be proven innocent!"
"I'd start by talking to Karl, the sole survivor, but you're better at this than me, so..."
"Good idea! Thanks for the advice, Kaple."
Azrin Gathers Info about this last case on the way to wherever Karl is.
The Karb Isle Sanctuary was an asylum, and a refuge for the deformed, started by Doctor Brada. The idea came to him when the villagers in the areas surrounding Lepidstadt burned his uncle alive due to a physical deformity he possessed, which caused him to be branded as a monster.
Allegedly, the Beast started a fire which killed all the inhabitants save one: Karl, Doctor Brada's assistant, who was permanently blinded in the ordeal.
Karl lives alone, in a small cottage by the river. He prides himself on his independence despite his handicap.
When you arrive, and knock on the door, he greets you (with a small delay as he navigates the home).
"Hello! I rarely get visitors out here. It's refreshing." he says, smiling. His eyes are now nothing more than a mass of burned scar tissue, though manage to convey his emotion, still.
"So, what brings you around here?"
"I hit things hard until they fall down. What about you?"
"Is that a threat?" he looks puzzled.
"No, that's just my job. What's yours?"
"You'll have to excuse my friend, he has a peculiar sense of humor!" Azrin says while glaring daggers at Bulldozer.
"In any case, we're investigating the Karb Isle Sanctuary fire. Would you mind giving us your account of what happened? And understand that you are NOT under any threat of violence."
"Oh, yes, of course." he says, still looking a bit wary after Bulldozer's remarks, but more relaxed.
"Come in, please. I just made some tea if you want some."
He slowly shuffles over to his table and chair, carefully pours three cups of tea, and sits, holding a cup in both hands.
"I have some scones as well, if you like."
He takes a sip of tea, and begins his story.
"Well, I think you've probably heard most of what happened. Something started a fire in the Sanctuary, and it burned to the ground with everyone inside."
"Most people, however, don't have the unique perspective I had. When I went back in to save Dr. Brada, I quite clearly saw a humongous hulking creature leaving the Sanctuary just before the fire took my sight from me." his voice trembles a bit as he says the last part.
"They never did recover Brada's body. Poor man was probably burned to ash. And I'm as sure as I can be it was the Beast who did it. By all accounts he matches what I saw. I wish I could give you something more concrete, but without being able to see him myself, I can't tell you any more than that his description matches the image I saw, as obscured by smoke and darkness as it was."
"Thanks for your help, and for the tea."
Guilt washes over Azrin's face as he looks at the disfigured man.
It would be too costly for us to restore his eyesight. Besides, I couldn't in good conscience leave him with that Pharasman priestess...
He shivers as he recalls last night's "treatment".
No. Lady as my witness, I'll come back and cure his blindness myself some day.
Once they leave, Azrin puts a hand on Bulldozer's shoulder.
"I appreciate you trying to be friendly to the witnesses. But next time, don't mention that you kill for a living. People get a little uncomfortable when someone brings that up."
"Anyway, let's hear what the Beast has to say for himself."
Karl calls out after you when you start to leave.
"Wait! Wait! One second!"
"I forgot something important. If you head out to the Sanctuary, be careful. The Dippelmere has a bit of a Ghoul problem, and they may have moved in. Can't believe I almost forgot to mention that."
Back at the Beast:
"I'm not even sure what this Sanctuary IS." he says in regards to any questioning about it.