@Kintampo: Your hand is drawn towards the target, discharging your electricity! However, the poor proximity causes the jolt to be fairly weak.
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Benson groans as the dagger drives into his chest, barely missing his heart. His dueling sword instantly comes alive and Benson tries to give worse than he got.
Crit. range: 19-20
Confirm Crit if needed
Hating the disadvantage of the cramped hallway, Benson grits his teeth and tries to slip around the guy to get behind him.
If it works, he will take up a position on the opposite side from where Benson started.
"You'll find us not so easy to take down as murdering drunks in their sleep. Time to face justice's blade."
@Benson: Almost expecting your blade, he easily dodges your swing. However, he seems unable to stop your entrance into the room!
Init Order (bold = up!)
Raevin (standard action only)
Kintampo
Wyeth
Benson (10 damage)
Marduk
Unknown man (3 damage)
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Wyeth nods at Marduk and bounds up the stairs behind him. Upon hearing Kintampo's excited instruction and seeing the tight quarters ahead, the oracle shifts his fauchard to the left hand and draws his mace. Skidding to a halt just outside the doorway, he swings low as the man spins to face Benson, attempting to hook the scoundrel's leg and yank.
@Raevin: The doorway provides enough cover that your blade misses the man entirely.
@Benson: You are correct, +2 for flanking!
@Wyeth: Seeing your polearm, the unknown assailant doesn't worry much about you... until your mace gets him at the back of the knee, bringing him down on both hands.
Seeing he's surrounding in a terrible position, he drops his weapon, places both of his hands on his face and screams,
The sound of rabbling can be heard outside.
Init Order (bold = up!)
Raevin
Kintampo
Wyeth
Benson (10 damage)
Marduk
Unknown man (3 damage)
@Kintampo: He's not moving otherwise.
Init Order (bold = up!)
Raevin
Kintampo
Wyeth
Benson (10 damage)
Marduk
Unknown man (3 damage)
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Benson will kick the dagger out of reach, saying, "Don't wipe my blood off of that. And don't heal me. And we need to subdue him without injuring him. Tie and gag him." Benson will sheath his sword. If he still has an action, he will ready his light mace.
To the guy, he'll say, "Good luck convincing the sheriff we tried to kill you. We outnumber you five to one and yet you've just got a bruised knee and burn while I've got a hole in my chest where you stabbed me. If we had wanted to kill you, we obviously could have, so just give it a rest!"
The surrounded and nearly dogpiled man offers no resistance, but continues screaming. The house quickly fills as numerous folks, armed with whatever they had, storm the house, led by the evangelical Ekira.
, she shouts, coming upon the scene with a smug grin on her face. "I knew you lot were up to no good!"
"Yes, save me from these vile people!"
Before anyone else can get a word in, the small-sized sheriff worms his way into the now filled family room. "Now, hold it here, miss Ekira. I want to hear from them first. Let these folk present their case, starting with this fellow tackled to the ground. If they fail to convince you, we can take this in my office to discuss further."
The woman frowns, but nods solemnly. "Very well, make your case! Prove to me, and Dawnton, of your innocence!" "Yeah! Yeah!", shouts the crowd of angry men and women.
The man finally stands up, moving to Tobias' side, whimpering as he speaks. "I was walking by, from the Beer Gardens, when I accidentally bumped into that man, o-o-o-ver there!", pointing to Wyeth. "He marched me in here, told me to stay quiet or he'd gut me like a fish... I heard his friends killed a couple of folks last night, so I just ran in the house! They all tried to ambush me, and I found a knife and managed to hurt the killer there!", shaking as he points his finger now at Benson. "Thank Iomedae you came to save me!", crawling on his knees as he wraps his arms around Ekira."[/b]
"Hmm.... I see.", mutters Tobias. Ekira chimes in as well. "You poor man, we'll see to it justice is uncovered. And you, rabble rousers, what do you have to say?"
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Marduk looks firm at the man.
"Hardly... my friend with the peg leg walks less fast than you, so you'd have outran him. Inconsistency there. Also quite the lecher huh, you wrap your hands around an inquisitor's legs, you trying to peek up her skirt or to measure her curves? Best come clean ",
he looks at her,
"no offense meant miss Ekira, but really look at the guy. I'm sure if you'd smite or detect evil on him you'd feel the aura of lies and deceit. Even better, i propose you detect evil on us, you'd see we are not your enemy."
Marduk isn't exactly the best in diplomacy, diplomacy help for favorable conditions? :)
The man cowers under the half-orc's steely glare.
Some of the crowd turns and looks at each other. "murmur...murmur....Huh, I never noticed his leg.... his rugged looks steals the show.... stop looking him over honey!...murmur....murmur"
Ekira, however, isn't impressed.
She closes her eyes, palms out, muttering to herself. She moves over the entire room and shakes her head. "No evil from any of you... but of course this means that your souls are too weak to show an aura of what you really are!"
Drawing her sword when Marduk steps up, she points it at his neck, the crowd gasping before falling to silence.
"Do not explain to me how Iomedae's gifts work you heathen! You are being given time to make your own case, not for me to do the work for you! Now back off!", she yells, blade still pointed at Marduk.
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Marduk's vein is twitching.
One...two...fist....three fist...four punch....Zen >:(
He takes out his hand in a passive manner and pushes the point away.
"My my, such offensive language. Some peninsulae tea would calm the spirit. Now, will you give a proper example of etiquette and manners to these fine townsfolk? Threatening an unarmed traveler...what would the children think of this? It seems i am the one displaying proper manners, and i'm half-kin?"
"I've seen your kind before, the monastic type who do not need weapons to wound someone.", the woman slowly sheathing her sword after her explanation.
"And degrading yourself for your own mixed blood? I am not the one with issues it seems."
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To see if Benson can tell whether the guy is left-handed.
In case a different check is needed, he also wants to see if the guy's coat has "stylish obsidian buttons that were the hot thing a decade ago" described by Raffelo.
Maybe if we can get him to quit hugging Ekira we can see his buttons, although I would hope it would not be a high DC to notice buttons.
Also, does he have dark hair?
@Benson: There are black buttons. His hair is indeed dark; you also recall the dagger was in his left hand when he stabbed you with it.
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When Marduk comments on Wyeth's speed -- or the lack thereof -- the oracle shifts his weight and extends his metal peg leg so all can see.
"So," he says in a ponderous tone, "a cripple managed to somehow overpower you and 'march' you in here. Yet there are..." He turns and points at each party member in turn as he counts in an exaggerated fashion, "one, two, many, more, thumb... well, let's just say 'a lot of us,' shall we? And we 'all tried to ambush you,' as you put it."
"And not only were we not successful, you managed to stumble across a dagger in an abandoned farmhouse and stab Benson here with it."
He looks up at the assembled crowd. "Really, is there a reason to believe any of such a preposterous story? Any sane, reasonable person," he said, eyes roving over the townsfolk, "should be able to see through such a tall tale."
"And then there's Erika," he said, still addressing the townsfolk. "Truly, I am impressed beyond words by the people of this fair village, that you can overlook her manner. I certainly wasn't able to! I held my tongue in politeness as best I could, but she finally pushed me beyond my limit, and I lashed out at her verbally. And for that," he said with an honest bow to the inquisitor, "I do apologize. We, none of us, can help who we are for the most part, and I should have been more tolerant towards her behaviors -- her many behaviors -- that grate upon my nerves."
"It was beneath me, but I am only human... well, half-human," he says with a sideward glance and grin at Marduk. "You all have my respect and admiration for moderating your reactions with her living among you and your having to deal with her every day."
"But let's set that tolerance aside for just a moment, shall we? Think about how she acts. Truly think about her repeated, vicious accusations, about the seeming 'witch hunt' she's been on since arriving here. Look at how she's reacted to my traveling companion just now, right before your eyes. Marduk may look... different... imposing... but I have long traveled with him, and I can tell you he is a fair, honest, and lawful person. He is a monk, a follower of Irori. Irori, a patron not of war or carnage, but of enlightenment, healing, inner strength."
He turns and smiles at the half-orc. "I am not one to condone worship, but I daresay Irori is fortunate to have such a disciple as Marduk. He has offered no offense, yet think on how she lashed out at him. How she screamed and even drew her weapon."
"Think about how often she's acted similarly towards me," he adds quietly. "Or mister Gangtee, here. Or, I would wager, many of you."
"I don't mean to defame her -- as I said, none of us can help being who and what we are -- but think about her, about the man claiming we accosted him, about the sheriff... about us. Who makes the most sense, whose stories are most believable, who acts rationally and who doesn't?"
He doffs his possum-skeleton helmet in a deep bow before Erika. "Again, I do apologize for my behavior. These villagers set a standard towards which we should all strive." He empasizes the "all," looking at her pointedly as he utters the word.
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"When we first arrived, Ekira demanded that we strangers give an account of why we were here; it was not very welcoming. From what I've heard, she gave an even harsher welcome to the Pathfinders accused of murder, stirring you all up to execute them as soon as possible, even though the evidence was circumstantial at best.
"Yet not long ago I uncovered evidence that this man has been in the city for several weeks. Does anyone know his name? Does anyone know where he's from or why he's here? Why give us such a hard time but let this vagrant skulk about without challenge? Yet when he gives his lame excuse of being kidnapped by a man with a gammy leg, you seem ready to believe him and not us?"
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"Many of you, including Ekira, saw us at the beer garden not long ago. While we were there, someone slipped a note into Wyeth's pocket," Benson pantomimes slipping something into Wyeth's pocket. "The note claimed to be by someone who was being held prisoner in this house, someone who had been forced to write the note claiming to have witnessed the Pathfinder's alleged murder of two people last week and other letters. The writer claimed he or she would attempt to get this to a child to give to us. It claimed the murderer was about to strike again. The writer asked us to come to his or her rescue."
Benson pauses to survey the crowd and to let them absorb this. "We thought it strange this person would ask us for help. Why not send the note to the sheriff? So, the first thing we did was to visit Orug and to ask him what he thought of the note. When he said the house mentioned in the note had been unoccupied for some time, we feared the worst." Benson looks to Orug in the crowd. "Is this not so?"
"From his store we dashed to the Sheriff's house, showed him the note, and told him we'd come here to see if we could find anyone kept as a prisoner, while he alerted you fair people to the possibility that the murderer was still at large." Looking at the sheriff, Benson asks, "Mr. Mayor, is this not so?"
"We crept through the house up to this spot, when this man ambushed me from behind a door, nearly stabbed me in the heart, something he could only do by attacking me from a cowardly position, and the moment he realized we had him outnumbered, he started bawling and crying to attract your attention and get your sympathy. So you see, we have been in full view the whole morning and have not had the chance to do what he claims. And I notice no one has stepped forward to corroborate his fairy tale."
@Raevin: The description of the man does seem to match; but as the finder of the button, you can see that not only do the buttons match... but he's missing one along his left breast pocket!
@Everyone: True, but there are some benefits for a well presented argument, and some evidence is stronger than others and get you bonuses as well!
@Wyeth: Your tale, while of course not influencing Ekira at the least, does seemingly calm the townsfolk down somewhat. While the townsfolk quickly discuss Ekira's motives, the Iomedaean gives you a steely glare of hate.
@Benson: Orug nods in agreement to your line, almost smiling as he gets to be a participant in the proceedings. The mayor confirms the second line as well. "Aye, I went to round up the guards, but Lady Ekira here happened to get some of 'em as well as a good number of townsfolk headed in this direction."
The townsfolk murmur amongst themselves, although they seem split on Benson's testimony. Of course, Ekira is not accepting this tale. "Or... you could have made up the whole thing and then surround this man. After all, I see the reach that weapon has; if you tried running from that you'd get cut down before you made it five feet!"
@Raevin: The crowd gasps outloud, including Orug's uncharacteristically high shriek. Ekira walks up to Raevin, examines the button, and the man's jacket, raising an eyebrow. "Could have been torn in the scuffle... doesn't explain the dirt..."
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"That's not the only evidence that he had something to do with the first two murders!" Benson adds while the crowd is beginning to doubt themselves. "Before we came to Dawnton, we stopped into the Pathfinder's guildhall in Nerosyan, as we usually do, to find out if they have any news that might interest a group of merchants. The venture captain told us about the spot of trouble some Pathfinders had gotten into while investigating a tip they had received that there were some Sarkosian ruins in the area. He asked us to check on their situation while we were here."
"Turns out the letter they received about the ruins was sent by someone from Dawnton. This morning, I showed the courier the letter and he described the fellow who had given it to him here in Dawnton as a tall dark haired man wearing a coat with obsidian buttons." Benson gestures with his hand toward the man, as if to say, here he is.
"Guess what? The handwriting of that letter matches the note Ekira was given that made the anonymous claim that he had seen the Pathfinders commit the two murders. Not only that, the handwriting on the note we just received, drawing us into the ambush by this man, also matches the other two messages. And on top of all that, the handwriting suggests the notes were written by a left-handed person. Now this man, who admits to stabbing me, is left-handed! Notice that the wound is on my right side." Benson parts his coat to show the blood-soaked wound on his right chest. "This wound was delivered by a left-handed person."
"So this mysterious stranger was in town at the same time as both sets of murders. We were not yet in town when the first murders occurred. The Pathfinders, who stand accused of those murders, were in jail when the second two murders occurred. But this man was in town, and was writing letters and notes that prove he was connected to both murders. Now he lies about his attempt to murder me."
As Benson finishes his speech, he glares at the man and waits to hear the crowd's reaction. Then just to try to win a little more sympathy, he clutches his side and slumps to the ground, looking to Wyeth. "I think it's time you healed me. I'm not feeling well at all. I've lost a lot of blood."
@Benson: You can also make a separate Diplomacy check for the fact that his left handed.
@Kintampo:
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"I would also like to add to my companions convincing presentation that the second victim was murdered by someone that is relatively tall. I would like you to remember the three pathfinders that are currently in jail. Although I suppose you could call the halfling tall for one of his race neither the halfling nor any of the dwarves is capable of reaching as high as where the stabwounds are on the diseased."
Kintampo points to the man they apprehended "while you might notice that this fellow here is rather large and could easily have made those wounds. I am not saying that he did, that is for the sheriff to decide. I am just pointing out something that caught my eye."
@Kintampo: The crowd murmurs again with this new insight brought to their ears. "Well, they could have forced the man down to his knees first... standing on each others shoulders?"
You hear a slight, high-pitched, giggling coming from Ekira's direction.
You notice that the giggling is not coming from Ekira... but just above her.
"What's that you say?", Ekira calls out to Raevin, catching wind of her name.
The look on her face is that she doesn't know what Raevin was talking about.
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"And what is more" Kintampo continues, trying to talk over Ekira's question
"is that the body found in Otto's farm had obviously been moved from elsewhere after the poor man died. The murderer obviously laid the body in Otto's farm and then made sure that the pathfinders went there. After that it was easy for him to point to them as if they did the foul deed"