Gaarm looks at all of the gawkers and onlookers. "WHAT? WHAT IS GOING ON?" He screams at all of the milling people as he is unaware what they are looking at let alone saying.
He makes his way through them as he pushes them left and right to get through the mass to make his way to the inn.
The group comes out and the crowd parts for the bloodied adventurers, ever so slightly. At least there is enough room for you to pass as you bump shoulders with some of the more obstinate townsfolk who look at you with confusion as Zakon screams unintelligibly, due to his deafness. Gaarm's screaming is also highly disturbing and Lady Thomas' words do little to calm the crowd as you can tell that they are becoming more and more agitated.
"You think they were robbing Vork and Grine?
"That little kobold is kind of cute..."
"They are trying to blow up the town!"
"How dare these outsiders cause trouble in our town! Something should be done about them!"
You force your way through the crowd and find that you make it to the inn unmolested, despite the unwary crowd. You walk into the inn and find the warmth from the hearth to be deeply satisfying and the smell of the roasting lamb is earthy with a hint of flavorful spice.
As good as the inn sounds, Lady Eleanor has a duty, and that is to report what has happened to a competent lawful authority. She would head down to the closest thing to a guard HQ and ask to speak to someone in charge.
Naxx tries to calm the crowd as he makes his way after the rest of the party, mumbling comforting if somewhat meaningless words joined into phrases to soothe the people hearing them.
Gaarm's entire body hurts. The warmth from the heart fire does little to soother his sore muscles and ringing ears. Grabbing his key Gaarm stumbles his way up to his room like some sort of drunken beggar.
His feet stomp heavily up the stairs that easily sounds over the din and rush of the patrons below. Reaching his room he barely undresses as he crashes into the straw-filled mattress and passes out. It is difficult to tell if he passed out from either exhaustion or from the pain induced stress that wracked his body throughout the day.
Gaarm, choosing to head to the inn and leave Lady Thomas to her task, makes his way to the inn, eagerly entering his room and passing out on the soft bedding that comprises his lodgings for the stay in town.
After the long day, Gaarm finds that sleep comes easily, if not fitfully. He looks outside to see that dusk has settled, but vibrations coming through the floor indicate to the deafened man that there is a lot of noise below. Either that, or there is quite the drilling operation in progress. The smell of the meats sizzling over the fire is quite appetizing, however the silence and the comfort of the bed is also very alluring.
---
Lady Thomas, choosing to report their findings as soon as possible, heads towards the courthouse and moves to the enforcement side of the building, choosing to speak directly to the guards. She reaches the desk and her imposing manner and relative beauty seem to confer a bit of heightened status as the sloppy-looking desk jockey straightens up, sucks in his gut and puts down his flaky, baked pastry. "Umm... What can I do for you, miss... I mean, Madam of the Arshean Order." he says, correcting himself once he sees your ornamentation on your armor.
As Gaarm falls asleep, gently, like new a new born baby just finishing suckling at its mother's breast, while Zakon paces like an angry, feral cat captured and placed in a menagerie.
Why will noone help me? I stand hear, deaf, unable to hear and they just walk around as if I am ok. Lady Elanor is so[/i] worried about this Andrew chap, Gaarm is sleeping, and the others, I do not know what they are doing. Do they only care about themselves?[/i]
Zakon pulls the door open, walks down the hallway, and bangs on the nearest door. '"
"Someone 'elp me. I nucking deaf! Get me help!"
Smiling at the man manning the desk, I was hoping to speak with the senior person present. I have a report to make of a very serious nature. Very Grim indeed.
An air of impatience surrounds Lady Thomas, the weight of what she has seen weighs down upon her like the oppressive clouds of gas she had just left. As she waits she unconsciously slowly clenches and unclenches her fist.
Naxx debates joining Lady Elanor or keeping an eye out for his deaf companions and in the end decides to join the deaf squad. That way they might at least get some warning if something bad can be heard.
As Zakon violently attacks a door and screams unintelligibly, an angry brute of a man rips open the door and begins to yell at the poor, deaf tiefling, however the man cannot make out what is being said as he has lost the ability to hear. Given that Naxx has decided to 'watch over' the deafened ones, it is a wonder where the man is while Zakon clearly starts to make enemies in the inn.
After a few seconds of likely profanity, the door slams in Zakon's face.
---
The man looks around, a bit confused, as he thinks about the matter. "Umm... well this isn't quite..." he stumbles as he looks at the charismatic warrior in front of him. "Uhh... maybe..."
The door to the guard station opens and a man in a smartly-dressed guard uniform replete with decoration enters and the man stiffens. "Lieutenant! This woman needs to speak with you." he says with a salute.
The man looks up from his paperwork at Lady Thomas and scowls a bit. "Oh, you are part of that trouble-making group working with the Beast of Lepidstadt. This should be good." he says as he waits for you to speak.
Walking in Lady Thomas makes a short bow with her head before starting in with her report.
Well met Lieutenant, I am saddened to bring ill news. My vows include respect for legitimate authority, which right here, is you. It seems that there has been quite an operation at the Chymic Works, it seems for quite some time. Certainly something it would behoove a lieutenant to uncover. It seems that there has been much experimenting with the skinning of people, some at least while still alive. The skins have been kept in a wardrobe, while dead bodies littered the place. It is quite the horrific sight we have stumbled upon in our inquiry. If you would like to be the one to officially uncover the crimes, I will take you there myself. After which I will give a full accounting of what has happened. Of course if you are too busy to make this discovery, perhaps a couple of your men could use the credit?
She extends her arm as if offering to help the lieutenant to his feet.
Nizvit simply holds his claws to his head as they walk. Trying to force himself to think that that is why he cant hear anything.
-Posted with Wayfinder
As the door slams in Zakon's face he muses to himself who that was, and where his friends are.
He returns to his room and scribbles on a piece of parchment, and drops some coins in a leather pouch. He exits his room and goes back to the door he knocked on earlier. Once again his fist pinions into the door until it open. As the angry man opens the door, Zakon holds up a finger, then puts his leather bag in the man's hand, followed by the letter in the man's other hand.
Love,
Zakon
Gaarm does indeed care about his friends and companions, though the toll that his body took in that building of nightmares has left him all but wanting to seek death as he snores loudly in the crooked bed while the chaos outside continues to envelop.
Perhaps it is best Gaarm is not there as his past actions with dealing with crowds has had ill effects.
The man looks at the woman with a raised eyebrow, clearly skeptical of her claims, which isn't helped by her extending a hand to him for no apparent reason. He lets his hand holding the paperwork fall to his side as he listens to the woman.
The man barks out to the sloppily-dressed man behind the counter. "James, get whatever men you can find and tell them to get down to the Chymic Works in twenty minutes. Full search of the premises." he commands as the man salutes and stumbles through the door in the rear of the station. It is clear that Lady Thomas' station as a priestess of Arshea has granted credence to her words, however the man still seems to be examining her with his hawkish eyes.
The keen detective looks at Lady Thomas. "Tell me, how did you 'stumble' upon this great crime?"
---
The jingling pouch thrust into his hand intrigues the man as he opens the door to find the tiefling holding a piece of paper in front of his face. His fingers trace the coins in the pouch and the man uses the other to open the lace to inspect the initial payment.
A smirk crosses his face and he grabs the paper, reading it, before turning his eyes and grin to Zakon. He tosses the bag with a few coins over his shoulder into the room behind him. If Zakon could hear, the sound of the coins clattering across the floor would fill his ears, but instead he merely sees the man rub his fingers together and then open the hand as if expecting a larger payout for the favor requested.
"Nafter I get healed." the silent language of commerce is one that Zakon speaks with needed to get hear. "Where to? "
Turning back to the man, "My friends too."
Smiling that the Lieutenant was taking the crime at least somewhat seriously, We had gone to the Chymic works to investigate a frail lead we had from a crime scene involved in the trial. Arriving at the premise, we asked to come in but were denied. It was shortly after that a blood curdling scream came from within the building. Unsure of what had happened, but hoping to be of some assisance we went inside. It was there that a horrible sight met our eyes. It seemed that Vork was in the middle of skinning a tiefling alive. I healed the poor fellow as best I could. Before we went to confront the proprietors further. The proprietors fought us off temporarily, but we were able to return earlier today. The rest of the place was even more grotesque. It seems that there was a skinstealer at work. We even came across a closet of skins. As if he would choose what to wear in the morning.
The lieutenant listens intently as the paladin of Arshea speaks. His eyes look over the woman sharply as she explains the situation that the group found themselves in and he seems unswayed by her natural charm.
"So, you discovered that a crime was being committed and immediately took action." he says as if he is starting a mental checklist. "In addition, you discovered this crime yesterday and rescued the tiefling. You fought off the criminals and returned the following day, today. Is this everything?" he asks rhetorically as he coughs, covering his mouth with his right hand before moving on.
"After dealing with the immediate problem of the tiefling's situation, you did not leave to inform the guards. You then confronted the owners of the building of your own accord before leaving, but you still never informed the guards even after you left and slept, attended a trial and returned to the scene of the crime?" he says, incredulous. Clearly, he wishes that you answer this question.
---
The man shrugs and grabs the lot of you, dragging you to the nearest temple, Gravecharge. You all are familiar with one of the largest temples dedicated to the Mistress of the Boneyard: Pharasma.
You can easily find the low-level spells in this setting.
Gaarm continues to snore ever loudly through the night. He only shifts in pain and discomfort as he rolls over and his heavy stone arm smashes a good size hole through the wall.
A terrified and wide eyed woman clutches sheets tightly to herself and screams from the other side of the wall but yet Gaarm continues to sleep like a newborn baby.
Lady Thomas a little annoyed but understanding the lietenant's questions speaks deliberately, You will have to excuse my sloth in reporting the crime. I did find myself unexpectedly dead. That and I viewed the trial as my first duty. Perhaps it was my zeal for justice that clouded my judgement and delayed my report in lieu of further action.
Zakon looks worried as the man leaves without Gaarm, however the door wouldn't be answered after repeated knocking and the mercenary chosen by Zakon isn't willing to wait. This leaves the group in an awkward position, however they still aim to be healed before the night ends.
Gaarm, however, sleeps peacefully.
---
"You can sugarcoat this however you like, but it seems like you viewed 'helping' a criminal as your first duty, revenge as your second duty and sleep as your third duty. Where exactly does following the law fit into your sense of duty? Are you not a follower of the law, Miss Thomas?" he asks, also annoyed by her flippant response as to following the law in his city.
"Don't leave town." he says as he begins to write once he reaches the desk. "You are officially under investigation by the city of Lepidstadt and we will be contacting your temple leaders to inform them of your failure to follow the law." he says, raising his head only to level the last bit of his decision on the matter. "Now leave my sight before I throw you in prison next to the Beast. If you are caught breaking the law again, then I will have you locked up along with your friends."
He goes back to working on his paperwork as he expects you to leave immediately.
Naxx after hearing Zakon scream prods Nizvit awake and starts writing a note explaining that Zakon wants him to go to him and meet a healer.
He then takes the note back and seeing how Gaarm's arm punched a hole in the wall retreats to a what he assumes will be a save distance before throwing a pillow at Gaarm in the hope of waking him up before showing him the same note.
It will take more than a soft and fluffy pillow to awaken Gaarm from this pain induced slumber. As the fluffy pillow lightly smacks Gaarm in the back he rolls over and grabs it, pulling it in close to him as he whimpers in pain.
Eventually, assuming, Naxx does not quit or retreat from trying to awaken the large man. he jerks up in the bed. His eyes red and his face full of anger from a cloudy mind. "WHAT!"
Squinting he leers at the note. "MEOW? WHAT TIME IS IT?" He swats the note from his face as he tries to lay back down.
Looking around the temple of Pharasma, Zakon cannot help but shudder inwardly. What is with all these swirls? Get me out of the this crazy place!
His hearing restored, Zakon looks at the burly man and flips him an extra five gold pieces. "Your money now. I suggest you use it for a bath."
"And you priest, thank you for the healing. Try to focus a bit more on living, rather than your life when you die. For you have no life then." immensely proud of his philosophizing, relishing the sound of his own voice once again in his own ears, Zakon lets out a howl of joy, ""
"I could even listen to Lady Eleanor drone on about laws and other things that bore me." a huge grin on his face, Zakon saunters back towards their hotel. Not really taking any particular path, he is just focused on the passer-byers, looking for young, attractive women with low standards.
Unfortunately he sees Lady Eleanor arguing with a mid level bureaucrat. Rolling his eyes, Zakon pivots and approaches the pair. Overhearing the tail end of the conversation, Zakon does what he does best, acts like Zakon.
"Hold on a minute, what is your name and rank?" Zakon takes out a dry quill and rips a sheet out of a picture book he was reading. He wets the end of the quill and readies to write the man's response. "I want to make sure to get this straight, a concerned citizen is reporting heinous crimes, most notably the unlawful attempted removal of my skin without my authorization, and a bunch of other really bad stuff, and here you are solely concerned about timelines?!? Man, I almost died, he ... well she was a he yesterday, died, another guy I meant, he died, but you are not concerned about that!?!? You want to tattle like a four year old girl catching her older brother nicking a extra slice of pie!?!?
"Come on man, up! Get up! Rouse the guards, wake a judge, tell the church of Abadar to ring the bells, let's get on this. This is the citywatches greatest day! There is actually a crime they can do something about."
As Zakon bursts into the guard's headquarters and starts to make a ruckus as the Lieutenant dismisses Lady Thomas, the man's face sours even farther, if that is humanly possible. "Quiet down, you impudent devilspawn." he says with a snarl. "My men have already been dispatched to investigate the crimes you seem to want to scream about, however the crimes of others does not exculpate you from your own crimes. Vigilantism is illegal in Lepidstadt and I have half a mind to throw both of you in jail right now. Once you are behind bars, I'll let you scream until your throat is hoarse."
"Either that, or you can shut the hell up, leave quietly and stay in town until you are summoned." he says, steely eyes leveled with Zakon's. "Your choice."
Gaarm continues to stare blankly at Naxx. "JESHT GONNA STAY SILENT? ARE WE GOING OR NOT?" Gaarm sits up out of bed and heads to the door and out of the inn. Not quite sure where Naxx is leading him at all hours of the night.
"Quiet down, you impudent devilspawn. My men have already been dispatched to investigate the crimes you seem to want to scream about, however the crimes of others does not exculpate you from your own crimes. Vigilantism is illegal in Lepidstadt and I have half a mind to throw both of you in jail right now. Once you are behind bars, I'll let you scream until your throat is hoarse. Either that, or you can shut the hell up, leave quietly and stay in town until you are summoned."
Zakon tilts his head to the side as a look of concertation comes across his face much like when he is figuring out a new formulae. He looks once more at the Lieutenant.
He begins speaking in a much calmer voice, barely rising in tone or timber. "I see, sir. You must forgive my earlier outburst. It has been quite the last 24-hours, with me being skinned alive, seeing two of my rescuers perish in the fight to save my life, and I am recently come from the temple of Pharasma where I was cured of a debilitating malady.
"I am in Lepidstadt? Hah." Zakon gives a mirthless laugh. "I didn't even know that until you just told me. But you say that I committed a crime. You must forgive me. As Grine and Vork captured me, robbed me, strung me up like a beast, and then proceeded to cut my skin off while I lived they failed to properly instruct me of all the local ordinances. You really should add that to their list. Mine is only ignorance. I am just an impudent devilspawn as you say, and one can hardly overlook the deficiencies inherent in my species.
"I shall leave you to your work, as I am sure the fine minds of the Lepidstadt law enforcements investigate the case. Do I need to sign anything to file formal charges against them?
"And one last query before I leave you, as the owners of the Chymic Works are being investigated for these crimes I assume that the fine city of Lepidstadt would assume ownership. Is it possible to file paperwork for me to purchase the Chymic Works?" Zakon looks soberly at the man.
The Lieutenant seems to appreciate the change in Zakon's tone, if only as he has already vented his own frustrations in responding to the recently deaf tiefling.
"The Chymic Works will be appropriated by the town under criminal forfeiture laws should the owners have been determined to have committed crimes enough to warrant this resolution." he says in response to the last question made by Zakon. "You are free to bid on it along with anyone else, provided you are able to afford it."
"Additionally, we need you to make a formal statement to the Guard as to the extent of Vork and Grine's crimes. This should take a few hours and I will have one of my guards come down to do so. Additionally, you will need to be present in court to testify as to their crimes once the trial commences." he says, stating off basic legal fact of Lepidstadt. The night drags on.
---
Reaching into the deep night, midnight passes before Zakon and Lady Thomas are released, though they have well-documented the crimes of Vorkstag and Grine and traveled through the proper legal channels.
They come back to the inn to find the recently healed trio sounds asleep and ready to awake in five or six hours for the trial.
---
The morning rolls around and the call for breakfast goes out well before the group, tired from their battles with traps and monsters, is ready to face the day, especially Lady Thomas and Zakon.
Zakon is weary from the long day of exploring the Works, and the longer night talking to the idiots at the Lepidstadt law enforcement office.
"Well thank you for your diligence in this matter." come Zakon's honeyed words to the lieutenant. "So when and where do you post that the Works is for sale? I would hope that you don't make these proclamations and throw them in a basement somewhere before you knock a chap's house down. Have a good evening."
Zakon grabs Lady Eleanor as they exit. "What a backwards town. We need to get Andrew off the hook and get him out of here. So, what is your strategy for that? I am ready and willing to help in anyway that I can, but it doesn't seem that we helped our case much in there. If you need me, I am your man. If not, I am going to sleep until tomorrow." Zakon laughs as they make their way towards the rising sun, and the inn.
Once back at the inn, Zakon stops the weary barmaid. "Just getting in, or just leaving? Either way, I know how you feel. Half a dozen eggs, fried mind you. Meat, lots of meat. Whatever isn't too heavily salted. And something to take the edge off. Like a strong dwarven stout." he flips the serving girl a gold coin and a wink.
Back in his room, he rubs his bleary eyes. Cracking his knuckles loudly, he gets to work. All thoughts of the Works, Andrew, the town, are gone from his thoughts. Deftly, glass vials are arrayed in an orderly pattern. Tipping, grinding, bubbling, Zakon's full attention is on the task at hand. When the serving girls knocks at his door, he merely calls for her to enter and place the food down. Whether addition services were offered, he doesn't even know as he works at his makeshift lab.
Finally finished, he tucks the vail into his breast pocket, and begins to much his now cold breakfast before quaffing large amounts of beer.
Gaarm spends most of the evening resting in the local chapel as nearby wizards on call are ushered in at all manner of the night to look over his arm. He sleeps peacefully from the massive stress his body endured as he doesn't even remember the trip to the Clerics in the first place
The local clerics care and monitor his condition throughout the night as his arm is restored to normal flesh and his hearing slowly returns. In the morning he thanks them for everything and tosses them nearly 1000 gp from his pack. He slowly wobbles back to the inn as his equilibrium is still a bit off and arrives just in time to see the others leaving for the trial.
He grabs Lady Eleanor by the arm. "You know what to say today?" He takes several minutes going over all he can remember.
Lady Eleanor makes her way back to the inn with Zakon, she found the interrogation more exhausting than she anticipated. She had almost smacked Zakon on the back of the head at one point, but he seemed to come to the realization himself and honestly, she was impressed. He would make a better lawyer than the guy we have now. With this thought in mind Eleanor responds to the offer for help Zakon, you have a very analytical mind. Perhaps you could aid our current lawyer in his strategy. He unfortunately lacks the same analytical ability.
Eleanor spends a fitful hour in sleep, barely enough to stave off exhaustion before waking to prepare her spells and her defense. She places her hand on her chest and briefly pushes positive energy into her body to stave off the remaining fatigue. When Gaarm runs up as she is heading towards the trial she welcomes his advice and goes over the evidence with him.
Nizvit, finally rid of his hearing problem, rests better and warly morning he prepares the spells
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Zakon, you have a very analytical mind. Perhaps you could aid our current lawyer in his strategy. He unfortunately lacks the same analytical ability"
"Why Lady Eleanor, what a nice thing to say. Since you buttered me up so, and since I am such a nice person, I will do what I can to help. Sounds fantastic!"
Are you joking? Me?!? All I want to do is curl up with a buxom lass and sleep for a week, now I have to meet with your stuttering mess of a lawyer to get some dimwit whom I have never met off of some trumped up charge in this backwater town. Splendid.
"If you would point me in the right direction, I fear that time is not on our side." Zakon turns the knob and heads off to meet with the lawyer.
Letting himself in, he flops heavily into the chair before putting his feet up on the table. "Lawyer. I am Zakon, friend of the gender swapping Sir Thomas, here to you help that Andrew chap. So why don't you quickly tell me the plan for today, so I can correct it." Zakon leans back and braces his hands behind his head and he exhales loudly.
Lady Eleanor will accompany Zakon to the lawyer's. It would be good to get the lay of the land for the second day of the trial. Not totally impressed with the lawyer, she is still a little sad to see Zakon beratement of him and she shows just a hint of her displeasure on her face. Realizing that Zakon may be and bit cranky from his lack of sleep, she lays a hand on his shoulder removing his fatigue. It won't fix everything, but it will help.
If anything, the crowd is larger today, and is alive with talk of yesterday’s events. The clerks arrive early to prepare the courtroom, and as the time approaches 9:00 a.m., the other members of the court arrive. Today’s events whip the crowd into a frenzy. They are angered at the deaths of the children, and are even louder than yesterday. You can tell that this particular accusation is quite demonizing in the eyes of the people as it involves the brutal killing of children.
You meet up with Gustav and Zakon immediately goes onto the offensive. "W-well, you are quite th-the amicable one, aren't y-y-you?" he says, his eyes narrowing. "M-my plan is t-t-to let y-you speak. Th-that is it." he says, clearly unwilling to take abuse from supposed helpers in addition to being forced to represent the Beast, which has likely not earned him any favors around town. With that, he clacks his papers against the table twice and leaves you to wait for the start of the trial.
This time, you are free to watch the first half of the trial and it goes by quickly.
9:00 a.m.: The Trial of the Beast resumes. Chief Justice Khard asks the prosecution to outline the details of the alleged events in Hergstag.
9:15 a.m.: Witnesses for the Prosecution. The prosecution describes the events that transpired in Hergstag 7 months ago, alleging that the Beast slew six children and, when caught, was driven from the village. Otto calls three former residents of Hergstag, the sisters Garrow, Starle, and Flicht, to give their eyewitness testimony of events in the village.
The sisters' testimony seems consistent with what you heard earlier and from what you learned about the deaths of the children through the townsfolk, but seems to stand at odds with what you actually found upon investigation.
"The Prosecution rests, your honors." says Otto as he nods and takes a seat. The cage of the Beast swings slightly, creating a creaking noise.
12:30 p.m.: Witnesses for the Defense.
Gustav stands as Judge Khard invites the Defense. "I call th-th-the Adventurers to th-the stand." he says before sitting once more.
Gaarm looks to Lady Eleanor. "It should probably be you dear. You saw it all first hand as the rest of us. If we send Zakon up they may grill him on stuff he doesn't quite know. Even though we caught him up to speed. Tell them of the undead and have them question the dead children that we found." His wooden chair creaks under the weight of his armor as he clenches his fist in anger. "Make this closed minded fools see the truth for what it is."
"Listen Guatav, you know what people hate more than dimwits that murder children? Quitters. Don't quit on me now, son. Think back to your younger days, too weak to swing a sword, magic didn't come to you, girls passed you by for more popular boys. This is your chance. Who cares what this town thinks of you? You have a chance to be a hero, to write your name down in jurisprudence history along with all the famous litigators.
"To save the life of an innocent, I can think of no greater calling. Come man, help us, help you, help Andrew." Zakon leans forward and looks Guatav in the eyes.
"Why Gaarm, your clarity is impressive. Lady Eleanor is our best chance, but you won't find me slouching. Anything I can do to help, you know I will." Zakon take a seat behind Lady Eleanor, dips his head, and begins to snore quietly as he falls asleep.
At Zakon's first slight snore he finds a quick elbow jab to the ribs, whispering to Zakon, I don't think the court will take kindly to snores.
When it is time to address the crowd lady Eleanor takes the witness stand.
Our discoveries have been at odds with the account thus far on several occasions. First, the children were turned into wraith spawn. We met and slew the wraith who did it. The wraith's name was brother swarm and the children's spirits, turned to wraith spawn seemed to serve him. To become a wraith spawnone must be killed by a wraith, you can confer with the clerics of pharasma to confirm that point. It is also fairly clear that what we have before us is no wraith. Being not a wraith, had he killed the children their spirits would not have ended up as wraith spawn. This is simply a fact. At this point I will ask the cleric of Phrasma to confirm with what I have said.
From what I heard in the testimony (I assume it was the same as when we interviewed) he was never seen killing anyone. The only time he was seen with a body was when he was seen carrying Ellsa's body back into town. Turning to Andrew, Did you kill Ellsa or any of the children?
Based on his response I will bring out Ellsa and have the arranged for speak with dead cast on her.
Waking with a start, Zakon looks around, momentarily unsure of where he is. Recognition coming back to him, he rubs his bleary eyes. Standing up, the shuffles his way out of the row he is in, trying his best to move gracefully and nimbly to the aisle.
"Sorry" "Watch those toes!" "Damnit man, can you not shift an inch or two?" "Listen lady, tail is just a tail."
Finally emerging, he tries to discreetly move to the prosecution side and takes a seat with a crowd that looks like towns folks, and not the parents of the victims.
Listening to Lady Eleanor lawering gives Zakon renewed vigor. He turns to the simple man next to him, "Wow! I did not know that. Did you know that? That boy looks dumb like a pile of rocks, but he clearly isn't an undead. No way he could have killed these kids. So sad."
Gaarm's eyes go wide as Zakon begins to talk. He nudges the Tiefling in the arm with his elbow and whispers low.
"We are not allowed to speak" He nods his head as he will explain more later, fully regretting that he hadn't done so earlier.
The words of Zakon fall on deaf ears as the lawyer representing the Beast has no faith in his client in the first place and resents his appointment to the defense. Couple that with the attitude of the adventurers and he is content to do as little as possible to see the end of the trial tomorrow.
Lady Eleanor's words ring with truth as the crowd mummers amongst each other, though the Chief Justice quickly raps his gavel. "Order, order!" he yells.
When Lady Eleanor asks the Beast a direct question, the creature just quietly weeps as he tries to think in his addled brain. "I... don't... knooooow." he cries.
Once Lady Thomas is finished with her statements, the Judges have the priestess use her ability to Speak with the Dead to interrogate one of the children returned by the group.
The child's ghost confirms your story and speaks to the existence of Brother Swarm and his death at your hands. The judges seem swayed by your testimony and the crowd has a visible excitement, though it seems both positive and negative. There appear to be many who hate the Beast in the audience and no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise.
---
The trial quickly wraps up for the day once the group finishes their testimony and you find you have most of the evening to yourselves.
Zakon claps Lady Eleanor on the back. "What a fantastic job! That could not have gone any better. You have a mother? Of course you have a mother. Everyone has a mother. You should write to her and tell her of all the wonderful, selfless things you are doing to free that Andrew chap. I am sure she would be proud.
"I grew up without my mother. Whenever I did something good, something that I thought she would be proud of, I would to go the haunted cemetery where my father raped my mother, and she hung herself shortly after giving birth to me. I would tell her all the good things I did, and I told her that I hope she would be proud of me. I don't know if her spirit was there or not, but it always made me feel better.
"Sorry got some dust in my eye." Zakon wipes a bit of moisture from the corner of his eye. "Anyone hungry?"
Zakon surveys the pile of food in front of him, and begins to devour whatever he can. His table manners less than perfect, those sitting close to him occasionally get sprayed with spittle and partially chewed food. In between gaping bites and the loud smack of his chewing, he addresses his rescuers. "We have a lot to do. And I mean a lot. I have all the loot we grabbed from the Works, help yourself to whatever you want. Whatever we don't want a group of us should head to the market and sell it right away. I for one could use an equipment upgrade, though who knows what this flea ridden town has to sell. And while you are there, what not have a conversation with the locals, see how they feel about Andrew and the trial is going. If they even know or care.
"And I still have a debt to repay to Vorsk and Grine. Maybe someone has seen where they went or knows something. I find it hard to beleive that those two were able to run the Works and run an illegal trade by themselves. They had to have help. Someone knows something.
"While you are doing that, I have a personal matter to attend to. And should things go well, I will join you as quickly as possible.
"We also need to discuss tomorrow. Is there anything we need to do to prepare for trial?
"There are so many loose ends, and I am so tired. I could sleep for a week. But work needs to be done. What say you all?"
Bidding farewell to his new friends, Zakon once again makes his way to the Lepidstadt law enforcement office.
"Hallo good sirs. Not sure if you remember me from yesterday. I am sure it is not everyday you see one of my race in town. Anywho, I had filed a complaint about my torture at the hands of Vorsk and Grine from the chymic works. The fellow I spoke to yesterday said that they would investigate. I was wondering if they found my locket? No?
"Well I told them. See I was chained up by the armpits like this." Zakon pantomimes dangling by his armpits, complete with odd facial expression. "In between cutting off my skin, they ripped off the locket I had around my neck and said that they were going to put it with the other valuables in the Vorkstag's cabinet. That locket, it has sentimental value.
"See when I graduated Acadame, my mum was so proud. She said, 'Zakon, I cannot follow you into the world, but take this so I can always be with you.' and she puts the locket around my neck and I never took it off until those bastards ripped it off. I would really like it back.
"If you haven't found it, do you mind if I have a look around? I'd be happy to have a Lepidstadt law enforcement officer with me, you are such a fine force, I wouldn't want to do anything to hamper your investigation, or the hard work you all put in. What say you?" Zakon looks expectantly at the man.
"Companion did very godd. Yezzz. Nizzzvit not much help. But if magiczzz involved. Me happy to help any way I can... people no likezzz me very much. Zzzzo dont think can help with magiczzz further. Maybe the think i cheatzzz. And then they hate Nizzzvit more..."
To him there was no way he could see that he could help in the trial. If there was, and someone pointed it out. He would gladly. But the way he saw it. A kobold helping the so called beast would just cement their resentment and then there would be no way for him to help or gain favour with those of the town
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Gaarm leaves in a good mood for once. He rises from his chair and smiles at Andrew to give the giant a small amount of reassurance.
Once outside he quickly explains his actions to Zakon. "Sorry it seems the Court is very strict in their ways in there. They made it very clear that noone is to speak unless we are appointed to the stand. And speaking or form of magic will be met with severe punishment. Or so they said. i would rather not find out."
Gaarm heartily eats his fresh and hot leg of meat as it still sizzles in his hand. Seems he hasn't quite got all of his feeling back from it turning to stone and all. As the group eats Gaarm begins to go over the next days notes.
"You did great today lady Eleanor!"
"As for the Karb Isle Sanctuary Arson: We found out that Andrew couldn't have caused the fire as we found Brada's body along with a vial that cause the death and fire from Vorstag and Grine themselves. Which caused us to begin investigating their business. I think the town saw what happened at that point."
Zakon, mouth full of food responds to Gaarm. "Thanks man. I seem to get in trouble everywhere I go in this gods forsaken town. Best try to stay in their good graces, or what is left of them while I can. I promise to keep my mouth shut in court tomorrow."
Zakon listens to Gaarm recount the events of that fateful night.
Wish I was there. Wish I could have been involved and helped.
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