Darius and Jones scare off two more, while Bulldozer slips on a mid-air banana peel and manages to miss one of the commoners.
Ezekiel will smash the battering ram.
Ezekiel hits the battering ram. It shudders, but does not quite break.
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"I'm only trying to help you people. Trying to attack the Beast head-on will just get you all killed. Let the authorities deal with him tomorrow."
Jones disperses enough that they leave off their assault, though the door barely holds.
The last three ringleaders look at each other and shrug.
"Well, we've come too far to turn back now! Burn it all!" they cry.
The mob begins throwing vials of alchemist's fire and torches through the windows of the courthouse, while a few intrepid members hack the remainder of teh door down with an axe.
They swarm into the courthouse, heedless of the fact that their brothers in pitchfork are trying to brun the place down around their ears. Though perhaps they are slightly more intelligent, since the whole courthouse is made of stone and unlikely to go up from such pitiful means.
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"It seems our unique combination of diplomacy and third-degree burns has failed."
Jones pursues.
You catch up with the peasants around the same time one of them has jabbed a pitchfork into the beast's shoulder, and another has tossed a torch onto it.
This, it seems, is one step too far for the creature.
It snaps its chains as though they were made of paper, and busts through the iron bars of its cell with similar ease. Its eyes have gone completely white, and an expression of pure fury is on its usually placid or fearful face.
It grabs a peasant in each hand, and merely squeezes. There is a sickening crack as their spines shatter, and a loud *ZZZAPP* as his hands course with electricity for good measure. It drops the smoking corpses of the throroughly dead peasants on the ground, and turns on the rest of the group, growling like the Beast it is often called.
Jones tries one last time to reason with the mob.
"Drop your weapons and run! He will not attack you if he does not consider you a threat!" Hopefully.
"Um...yeah!" the mob collectively looks at you like you're an idiot in mid-step.
They skedaddle 60 feet in the direction that gets them the furthest away from the Beast.
Darius was well aware of the beasts ilk, they would go berserk at times like Golems often did, HOWEVER the beast was different, as he was sentient. Perhaps he was simply defending himself and with those attacks, he surely was.
" Yes Yes, he is on a murderous rampage brought by you yourselves, I hope your legs can carry you far away! BEAST don't make this any harder on yourself! Only kill those who strike at you but leave the others alone! "
The Beast stares at Darius for a long moment, clenching and unclenching its fists. It does not appear Berserk as of yet, but the next thing to it for certain. This Beast, somehow, flies into Rages as fighters like Ezekiel tend to.
After a short while it punches the wall in frustration, leaving a fist sized hole through it, and heads back into its cell, slowly calming itself.
"Thank you. I would have slaughtered them." it says simply, before resuming its place on the stool, surrounded by shattered chains.
Darius nods and watches, his hand braced on his whip until the Best decided to return to its 'cell' " Indeed, you have no need to 'THANK' me Beast. You have sat there taking their vitriol for the coming week innocently being blamed for something you did not do. Not only that, you could have easily broken out of here anytime you have wanted and killed everyone else, but you choose not to. THIS, people is your 'BEAST' it is a creature that is thinking and caring enough to keep YOUR narrowed mindset intact. The trial should go easy tomorrow as we have found undeniable proof the Beast is innocent and I will PERSONALLY make sure each and every one of you here that tried to attack this creature.. are punished.. SEVERELY. " Daruis cracks his whip hard on the ground cutting up stone with it's metal make.
Bulldozer moves right up next to the closet peasant throwing alchemist's fire and attempts to disarm him unarmed, taking the vial.
"Yeah, let's shoot at them with crossbows." says Z sardonically, waving her hand dismissively.
"Since someplace is obviously selling alcohol, I'm going to go get a drink."
"The people outside have better hope they've gone by the time I get out there."
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Bulldozer knocks the alchemist's fire out of a peasants hand and it scorches his shoes.
"Hey! This is my only pair!" he yells, about the same time the remaining 8 people who ran into the courthouse run out screaming.
"The Beast is on a rampage! It snuffed out Fred and Tim like they were nothing! VAMOOSE!"
The mob scatters...though don't make it very far. The town militia has finally shown up to quell the mob, and they manage to wrangle up the majority of the remainder and jam them all into another holding facility in the middle of town.
Why it has taken them so long to show up is a mystery, though not a particularly complex one.
Z laughs as she walks.
"Vamoose!... " she shakes her head and heads off in search of a Tavern or Inn.
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Jones looks at the Beast, surrounded by broken bonds in cell with no bars.
"We will have to tie you up," he says apologetically. "I know it won't hold you, but hopefully it will prove that you're not trying to escape. I hope you understand."
Once that's taken care of, he heads back to the Inn where he has been staying, and starts using his Formula Alembic and Vorkstag's book to expand his repertoire.
He then drinks a Lucid Dream Polypurpose Panacea and goes to sleep.
What a day...
Ezekiel nods to the Beast. "I understand something of your fury. I know the fight you feel, holding it back. You are strong."
Darius also goes to sleep he was curious what the next day would bring, even more so what he could do to find EACH AND EVERY PERSON that didnt run and contributed to the incident.
The next morning the final day of the trial commences. The audience stands are quite a bit emptier today than yesterday, but otherwise there are no signs of yesterday's riots in the courthouse proper (though the courtyard and outside walls are scorched).
The audience is even more hostile than usual, thogh it is a seething, silnt anger as they glare at you, united in their hatred.
The Judges and othe rofficials are not nearly so unified, however. They seem torn between mild anger at you for killing a few of the members of the mob, and great exasperation at the townspeople for being stupid enough to attempt such a thing in the first place.
"We wil now begin the final day of the trial of the Beast of Lepidstadt. Prosectution, begin your opening statements." the Chief Justice says, and sits down, rubbing his temples.
"It has been said that the Beast is a gentle creature, innocent of many of the crimes we've laid at its feet the past few days. I assume the Defense will keep up such claims through today. Saying the Beast obviously coudl not have burned down the Sanctuary, killing a trusted member of teh community, and a score of his patients as well."
"But we got our proof last night. The Beast murdered two upstanding members of the community after breaking out of its cell last night. If not for the newcomers subduing it, who knows what damage it could have caused?"
"It is dangerous, and murderous, there is no doubt of that. Simple pleas of its innocence and gentle nature no longer hold weight. That's all I have to say."
The Prosecutor sits.
"Does the Defense have an opening statement they'd like to present?" Kard prompts.
"First, I would like to point out that the Beast only killed those who attacked it first. If a mob broke into your home and attacked you with torches and pitchforks, would you not defend yourself by any and all means at your disposal? And would you not be at least partially forgiven for acting in self-defense?"
"In any case, we are not here to discuss last night's unfortunate incident. At this time, I am prepared to offer irrefutable proof, not only of the Beast's innocence in regards to the burning of the Sanctuary, but of the guilt and treachery of two particularly prominent members of your community: Vorkstag and Grine!"
"Until recently, numerous clues were found linking those two to the Beast's alleged crimes, but nothing conclusive. But at the ruins of the Sanctuary, my associates happened upon the remains of none other than Doctor Brada himself. The truth about what happened at the Sanctuary was soon unveiled in a visit to the Pharasman temple."
"I'm told that many of you consider extracting information from the dead unethical and disrespectful. However, I think you'll find that this transgression committed in the name of justice pales in comparison to the horrors committed by Vorkstag and Grine for their own selfish gains."
He then calls upon the priest who cast Speak with Dead on Brada, and asks him to recount what the Doctor told him.
The audience seems skeptical, but the Judges murmur quietly, seeming more willing to believe your story.
"Do you have any further proof of this?"
Ezekiel, who has been lugging around the tied-up (dead?) bodies of Vorkstag and Grines this entire time without complaint, presents them to the court.
"Yes, you brought these creatures and left them. We have humored you thus far. What do they have to do with anything?"
"Upon investigating Vorkstag and Grine's Chymic Works, we discovered that their factory is a front to something much more sinister. Among other things, they are serial killers and necromancers. They are responsible for most of the hardships your community has experienced lately."
"But more to the point, they are what they claim to be. Grine is not a gnome, but a Dark Creeper, and Vorkstag is a Skin Stealer, a creature that dons the skins of its victims as a perfect disguise."
"Ladies and gentlemen, the creatures before you are the true forms of Vorkstag and Grine, the real Beasts of Lepidstadt!"
Ezekiel pauses for a moment, remembering events. "We also found a big dog creature made from many bodies, like the Beast. We killed that."
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Grine looks just normal enough that he merely gets looks of distaste.
"He's deformed he is, no wonder he went on a mad murderin' spree...
Vorkstag, on the other hand, is quite clearly monstrous.
"Lady preserve us, THAT'S the man I've been buyin' the stuff to wash my undies from? I'll have to burn 'em!"
The rest of the crowd, of course, acts on Pavlovian response to those words.
"Yeah! Burn them! Burn them! Burn them!"
"Wait, are we still talkin' about me undies or Vorkstag and Grine?
"Either one, really.
Turning to the crowd, Ezekiel says "Shut up. We let the court decide what happens."
"Oy, shut yer trap devil boy. We'd burn you too if we thought it'd do anything."
"Get on with it!"
The Judges call a recess, and spend hours in deliberation. Eventually they call everyone back in for the verdict.
Chief Justice Kard stands at the podium, looking as though he's been sucking on a lime for the past few hours, while Judge Daramid smirks at him behind his back.
"After much deliberation, we must unfor-I mean unanimously decide that the Beast is...not guilty. There is no evidence linking him to ANY of the crimes committed. He may go free."
"We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks and commendation to the investigators, who have brought the truth of these horrid matters to light."
The crowd (such as it is) immediately rises in anger and tries to charge the Beast, but are held back and forced out of the court by the guards.
"NO! WE MUST BURN HIM BEFORE HE KILLS MORE OF US! BURN THE BEAST!"
Ignoring them, the Beast leans over to speak to you.
"Thank you." his voice catches "You are truly my greatest friends in teh world. My only friends, really..." he says, wistfully.
"I will go home now, to see my Father. Meet me in a few days at Schloss Caromarc, my Father's home, and I will be able to thank you properly."
With that, the guards escort him from the courthouse, beating back any of the small mob outside that attempt to lay a hand on him. Despite their disgust at the verdict, and hatred of the Beast, they know their duty.
They release him some time later in the Dippelmere Swamp.
While Z had attended the trial it was only halfway out of any interest in the beast, she was hopeful she'd spot the man who shot her the other night with a crossbow.
Z left the courthouse disappointed.
While the townsfolk hated the beast out of fear and ignorance, she found herself also disliking it.
She knew it was innocent of its crimes, but it stayed in a cell it could have walked out of at any moment and let the town work itself into an absolute frenzy that cost people their lives. Really stupid people, but they could have continued on living their extraordinarily stupid lives all the same.
Worst of all, she still couldn't find the bastard who shot her.
Still, the beast said something that concerned her. my master.
If the beast was serving to someone then that person assuredly knew he was captured and on trial. That same person also somehow managed to make something as wholly strange as the beast and control it.
She didn't care to be given the cow paddy or whatever it was the beast thought was a reward, but meeting his owner sounded like something she should do.
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"Let's go the stuff from that Daramid person."
Ezekiel goes to do so.