"I don't know this Andrew you speak of, but Zakon always pays his debts. And I owe you all. So count me in. Can we get some sleep first? Between being flayed alive and these harrowing fights I could fall asleep faster than those two." Zakon thumbs at Nizvit and Naxx.
"Holy woman, you ready to travel? Have a name? And for the love of .. someone wake that fire thrower up again." Finishing gathering all the usable supplies he can carry he helps gather the rest of the party and prepares to move out.
I suppose I will need a new name. I serve the Empyreal Lords, but Arshea the most. More for her love than her lust. This must be her form of humor.
As Lady Thomasina explains very little, a wilting chorus of laughter echoes along the wind outside, ephemeral and light.
Naxx and Nizvit seem to stop falling asleep randomly, which likely means that the poison is cured from their system, however the group thinks that they have found very little to help Andrew thus far.
Skipping the first day of the trial might be harmful to Andrew's case, but exploring more of the Chymic Works without any strength might end in a worse fate that death for Andrew.
Naxx yawns and stretches
"I agree, Andrew should be our priority right now. Otherwise all we have done up till now might have been for nothing."
Naxx yawns some more
"But how best to help him?"
Gaarm is too exhausted to get into Sir Thomas' sex change at the moment as he has once again survived death.
"Let's get some rest. We can figure out all of this in the morning and...and...and this." He points at Sir Thomas. "We need to tell the court everything that we found at each crime site."
"Sleep sounds great." Zakon says as he puts an arm under Nizvit to help prop the kobold up.
"Mayhaps one of you could fill me in on this Andrew chap. What he is accused of, by whom, and why you need to find evidence here. On the way back or in the morning. Either way I be back here. And they pay. For every single .... they will pay." Zakon shakes his head in anger, frustration, and exhaustion.
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So we will grab a short rest and wake up in time for the trial. Those who need to rest longer may arrive at the trial latter, if it means getting their spells back. It is up to them.
I will be cutting my sleep a little short so that I can make the start. If you feel you will be more effective with a full night's sleep, then take it.
"I'll go with ya Sir? Lady? Thomas." Gaarm grabs his gear and heads out with the holyman to the trial.
If alone Gaarm shifts about nervously. "Did you see her also?"
So let me get this straight, you all want to head to this person's trail, this Andrew, but I still don't know who he is or what he did, or why you all want to help him. I can tag along, but I am not going to be able to help you out if you don't fil me in on some of the details here." Zakon again impores his rescuers to enlighten him on their apparent obsession with Andrew.
"As for sleep, I am not accustomed to much anyways. Some clean straw and if any of you are loud snores, a bit of privacy if you will. I don't need much time to prepare myself, but if it is all the same to you I am going to sleep in and meet you there."
Upon reaching their safe house, Zakon pulls some clean linnen from his pack and after washing his much healed wounds, wraps them up in sterile bandages.
As soon as he curls up and closes his eyes, he drifts into a peaceful sleep and begins to snore like a conjested walrus.
Driven by his wish to help Andrew Naxx decides to though it out and just move along to the trial and see what's going on there....and possibly help out if possible.
As the three of you arrive at the courthouse a few minutes before 7am, you find that Gustav is pacing around outside nervously until he spots you as part of the crowd outside the courthouse.
He rushes over to you and begins to pull at Gaarm's arm. "Quickly, w-we must get y-you into th-the Defense Chamber before I need t-to be in court." he says without explanation.
As he basically pulls you through the crowd, he looks oddly at Lady Thomas. "Y-you were a man, right?" he says as he stops abruptly, rubbing his eyes. "Irrelevant."
He immediately starts moving once more and makes his way into the building, past the groups of people filing in. He pushes the trio of you into a room with some basic chairs and a table. A single guard stands inside the room, his face is obscured by a mask of Pharasman origin. "Now, I w-will call y-you t-to th-the stand as soon as th-the Prosecution is done. No tricks or sh-shenani-ni... magic. T-today is th-the charge for th-the t-town of Morast, remember th-that." he adds before quickly leaving as you hear the sounds of a gavel echoing in from the hallway.
---
Zakon, soundly asleep for eight solid hours, awakes around 9am to the smell of sausages and bacon being fried down in the tavern below. His bed is quite warm and it feels good against his skin, especially in light of his last few days of torture.
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"Oww. Hot. Too hot. But delicious." the tiefling cries out as he skewers another sausage. Chewing loudly with his mouth open, crumbs of fat and spittle fly from his flapping lips.
"Eggs." comes the only intelligible word from the man. A serving lass brings him over a few fried eggs on a wooden platter. Grabbing a sausage, the uses it to pierce the golden yolks. Coated in runny goodness, he pops a another sausage in his overfilled mouth.
The boulder of pork gets lodged in his throat, choking him for breath. Head whipping side to side, he scrambles from his chair looking for assistance. Fiercely point to his throat, he pantomimes his perilous predicament. Finding no one willing to help, he throws himself on the back of a chair, and coughs up the crumbled remains of multiple sausages. Gasping for breath, he gives a derisive glance at the multitude of unwilling bystanders. "Jerks."
Wiping his hands on the greasy linen napkin, he makes his way back up to his room. He opens his spellbook first, pouring over the arcane symbols. Silently mouthing the words, he repeats the words over and over, swirling his fingers in a rhythmic pattern. Opening a pouch, he dumps the contents out. Looking for missing ingredients, he makes a list of items he need to replenish to assist his spellcasting.
His spells preparation complete, he moves to his formale book. Opening the yellowed pages, he rummages in his backpack for the pilfered alchemical items. Mixing powders, liquids, and herbs, he brews his first concoction. The minutes extend as sweat drips down his horned face. His hands, barely shaking, tap out powder, and tip liquids into a bubbling, viscous substance.
With a grin of satisfaction, he places the mutagen in his breast pocket, secure and safe. He quickly flips from one page to the next, filling vial after vial with extracts. Sealing them with a thumb length of cork, he refills his bandolier.
Satisfied that he is ready, Zakon relieves himself in the chamber pot, opens the door, walks down the hallway, and slides the filed aromatic pot under Naxx's bed.
Brushing his hands off in a slapping motion, a satisfied grin on his face, Zakon begins to whistle a Cheliaxian marching song as he heads down the stairs, out the tavern door, and towards the trial of the man he doesn't know.
It is going to be a great day. he thinks to himself.
Gaarm turns red. "Ummm. We may not be much help at this point. We got zero information from the Morast incident. The people didn't want to answer anything, things got a bit heated and we were asked to leave town."
Once Zakon enters the room Gaarm begins to fill the Tielfling in on the Andrew situation or rather he let's the nervous defense attorney fill in the gaps.
"Basically this kid-like giant is being set up for some reason or another and those men trying to kill us all are involved. We traveled to each of the outlying areas to try and find some sort of proof of Andrews innocence but it seems that everyone and everything is against him."
Nizvit needs a lot of recovery, or he too will be at death's door
Gaarm paces the room. "So I guess we just wait here until we are called." he runs his hand through his hair. "Sure hope we ccan actually help the guy. This is going to be tough. Especially since we didn't find shit in Morast."
I am happy with doing it kind of live.
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An iron bracelet with silver filigree work depicting a moon eating an owl.
One unbroken vial that has rolled into a corner. The label on the vial is very damp, but the words “Vorkstag and Grine, Chymickal Bleach” are still clearly visible.
A slightly melted gold belt buckle.
Bodies of several patients
Dr Brada's body
In Hergstag we found:
Below the scarecrow, you find a small 10' wide cave. Investigating inside, you find the skeletal remains of four children. -The bones did not show any signs of damage.
The group finds a large, deserted boarding house. The group investigates the house but finds nothing to not aside from a small boy's room that appears to not have been touched during the rapid departure.
Five other children's rooms left completely intact.
At the island in the swamp we found.
The corpse wears a colorful patchwork coat with numerous pockets holding an oil of keen edge, a package of bodybalm (Adventurer’s Armory 9), a silver hip flask still containing brandy worth 30 gp, and a crimson felt purse containing 31 pp and 22 gp. A masterwork shortsword and a wand of ghost sound (22 charges) lie in the nest nearby.
At the coracle (a small, circular one-person boat), Gaarm pulls up a heavy sack. The sack is very large (big enough to hold a Medium-sized humanoid) and has dried blood soaked into its fabric. The sack holds some rope, a gag, a rusted lantern, a trio of heavy knives, and a rusted shovel.
Detached human face.
A vial from Vorkstag and Grines
Sir Thomas arises early the next morning, not quite completely rested from the night before. He completes his contemplation of the love of the Empyreal Lords a little early before setting out to the court house.
Gaarm looks to Sir Lady Thomas. Knowing he isn't the most level headed he clears his throat. "Might be best you do the speaking fer us. As we saw in Morast my anger only seemed to get in the way and not help Andrew."
I will do what I can. I only hope that my new form does not cause people to worry.
As the group discusses their findings over the next few hours, a knock is heard on the door. The Pharasmin guard speaks from behind his mask. "The court will see you now."
Lady Thomas is allowed past, but the guards holds up his hand to obstruct Gaarm, Naxx and Nizvit. "You three will sit in the witness gallery while your comrade is interrogated. The use of magic is strictly prohibited while you are in the court. Also, you shall not speak unless spoken to." he says before lowering his hand.
"You may head in. Another guard will assist you in finding your seats." he adds as you pass.
---
Lady Thomas enters the room and another similarly dressed Pharasmin escort him to a chair in the center of the room, on a dais. Hoisted from the ceiling is a cage containing Andrew. The witness chair sits directly under the slightly swinging cage.
In front of the chair, a semi-circle of benches sit with townsfolk looking on in sullen silence as three judges sit at a raised table. You recognize Judge Daramid amongst the trio.
Standing below the desk, you see a humanoid clad in black half-plate with a full visor, obscuring their identity. As Lady Thomas approaches, the person speaks, their voice obscured by magic. "The Lady Thomas approaches to bear witness for the Defense! Please be seated!" they cry as they strike a nearby gong. As they turns to strike the gong, you see an extremely ornate greatsword on their back.
Next to the black-clad person, a lithe woman sits in an ornate chair. She bears the robes of Pharasma and her eyes are pure white, she chants to herself at an almost imperceptible volume, the only indication is that of her lips moving.
As Lady Thomas sits and the rest of her comrades are seated at the rear of the room (behind the witness' chair), the lead judge bangs a gavel. "I, Judge Aldaar, recognize the paladin of Arshea and permit the holy woman to speak without divination or enchantment." he says, his firm voice at contrast with his advanced age.
"You may start, Ser Kaple." states Judge Daramid with a kind smile.
Gustav stands and bows towards the judges. "Th-thank you, your h-h-honor." he states with respect before turning to Lady Thomas.
"Lady Th-thomas." he starts. "Please tell the court of your excursion to Morast and your findings at this location."
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Gaarm watches with interest.
This may not go well but maybe Sir/Lady Thomas can spin it in Andrew's favor.
Naxx sits quietly listening to what is being said.
The People of Morast were understandably a little wary of outsiders. Our introduction did not go well and wishing not to provoke any violence we took our search to the Swampy region nearby. While there we came across a very curious finding. Something clearly out of place that was meant to remain hidden. In the boneyard we found the most curious of findings. We found that six of the graves had been disturbed. But not in a normal way, it was as if they had collapsed from below. It did not seem like something a raging brute would have been capable of doing. This had us intrigued. In the swamp we found a small boat, a coracle. There appeared to be dried blood along the bottom of the coracle. The boat itself contains an oar, a moldy leather travel bag with a damp artisan’s outfit inside, and what appears to be a detached human face. In addition, a length of rope stretched from the boat into the waters below. Attached to this rope was a sack. The sack contained some rope, a gag, a rusted lantern, a trio of heavy knives, and a rusted shovel.
Four things stood out to me:
First, could a raging beast really have use for the coracle? Surely the boat would have sunk. It barely had room for someone my size.
Secondly, the user of the boat clearly had some nefarious purpose, why else would they have the items they had, and why would they have the skin of this face? Sir Thomas says as she turns in the face for evidence.
Third we found this lantern, how precisely does a raging beast light a lantern?
And forth, how does a beast disturb the graves in such an odd manner. If they were disturbed by a beast, would they not have been disturbed in a fashion similar to that of a dog other other animal? Instead they seemed to collapse from within.
Someting nefarious was certainly going on here, but it just seemed like a very odd way for a beast to go about it. Nothing, at least there, seemed to support the theory of a raging beast. It seemed much more calculated, much more thought out, and much better provisioned. We even found this empty vial, we were unable to determine what it had contained, but ho likely is it that a raging beast would be able to delicately open this glass vial up and drink the contents? Sir Thomas says before handing over the vial.
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The judges listen and slowly take in the information spilled by Lady Thomas. Their faces don't betray any emotion as they listen and Gustav lets the woman speak her piece.
"N-nothing further." he says, taking his seat.
"Prosecution may cross-examine the witness." states Judge Aldaar plainly as Otto stands up from his seat.
"Thank you, your honor." he says with a slight bow. "Now, you have presented a great deal of found evidence, but I seem to be lacking in understanding as to why this evidence is relevant to the case at hand. It seems that you found some graverobber's hidden camp, which is a grievous crime, but it surely has nothing to do with the abductions by the Beast that the previous witnesses have attested to."
"Can you please explain how any of this is relevant to the case at hand, Lady Thomas?" he asks.
Well you have pointed out the relavence yourself. It is clear that there is something else afoot. Something that we will expound upon during the rest of the trial. For now let the evidence show that there is something else going on.
"Are you suggesting that the presence of other crime should cast doubt on eye witness accounts of the Beast's crimes? " he asks, not giving much time for Lady Thomas to speak.
"Perhaps we should look more into the theft of a barrel of apples from the market by some kids. Do those kids have something to do with the Beast's actions or is this just as absurd as attributing some graverobbing to be evidence to exonerate this creature?" Otto says with eloquence.
sputters Gustav. "Grand-s-standing. " he says with a roll of the eyes.
The Chief Justice finally speaks. "Sustained. Keep your questions on point counselor. "
With a bow, Otto obsequiously responds. "Yes, your honor. "
"Lady Thomas, is the presence of other crime in the general area of the Beast's actions enough to absolve the creature in your learned eyes? "
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