Herm pulls the final book out and tucks it under his arm.
"Onto the Judge and we are done, I would like to witness this beast prior to it's burning." Herm moves to the door and awaits the ladies.
Herm will poke his head out the window. "We have delivered the books, I have the ledger for the judge, once you two are done we can head out." Herm eyes the window about going out but decides that his armor and such might make it less than graceful to leave that way.
Kendra waits for a bit. "It would be courteous to say goodbye to the professor first, and see if he has an answer for you, Herm."
Jominda tries to climb back in to the workshop.
"Do we ask the guards?" Jominda asks.
"I think that would also be a good idea," Kendra answers Jominda. "Lots of things to do before we head to the judge."
"I'll go back to the Crooked Kin until you're done with your business with the judge." Jominda tells.
Herm will walk with his companions and Kendra to the Judges home or work.
"We are here to see Judge..
Judge Daramid lives in a fine townhouse surrounded by art in the center of Lepidstadt.
Herm Dulaven, Kendra Lorrimor, Amira Ravenheart, Tamara Hart and Tairan Avel visit this townhouse. They are greeted by a woman who asks what their business with Judge Daramid is. She excuses herself to check with the judge. After a few minutes she comes back. "Please follow me." She leads them into a salon where the judge waits.
Judge Daramid invites the visitors to take a seat. She is in her sixties, with gray hair pulled back into a bun.
The room has a large round mahogany table with matching chairs in a classic style. She can't already know but the visitors make it clear what's the purpose of the visit is. Approaching Kendra she asks "Miss Lorrimor, I assume your father has died?" and on confirmation adds "My sincerest condolences to your loss."
on the way to the judge's townhouse, Kendra remarks "Is it just me thinking that the big creature that was apprehended while not defending itself is not the monster of Lepidstad, and that the smaller footprints have something to do with that instead?"
"Thank you, Judge Daramid. We all feel his loss keenly."
"Yes we do." Judge Daramid replies. The others she asks "I assume you brought the books mentioned in the will of Prof. Lorrimor to Dr. Crowl already? And you have one last book for me?"
On confirmation she leaves the room to fetch the pouches with the coins promised in the last will. On receiving the locked tome she hands the pouches to the four friends of the Professor. "Please sit down. Margaret will be here soon with tea and cookies."
"It is odd that it would just give up as such, maybe it was a scapegoat?"
Herm will hand the ledger over to the Judge, "This is the final tomb ma'am, the others have been given to Dr. Cowl."
After some tea and cookies and talk about the Professor and his end Judge Daramid becomes serious again. "I have a request. I face a problem that I can't solve myself and that I can't ask anyone in Lepidstadt to help me with."
"Tomorrow starts the trial of the beast. I am one of three judges to sit in judgement over it. But with all the prejudgement I fear it will get no fair trial. They nominated Barrister Kaple as defence. That guy can't speak a straight sentence. Much less defend the beast in such a case. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the beast is innocent. But there is is a cancer in Lepidstadt, a darkness lurking behind the shadow of a scapegoat. For many years the people of Lepidstadt have laid all their ills at the door of a creature known as the Beast of Lepidstadt — murders, thefts, and terror have all been attributed to the Beast, but I know that many stories are exaggerations or simply wrong."
"I also know that some people have different stories to tell about the creature—about its kindness and humanity, of how it has rescued loved ones or helped those in distress. Now that the time has arrived for such kindness to be repaid, however, no one dares to step forward and challenge the Beast’s reputation."
"The people of Lepidstadt have blamed the Beast for too much and for too long, and they want it to pay for its crimes, whether those crimes are real or imagined. In addition, I have some concerns about the crime for which the Beast was finally apprehended — the break-in and theft at Lepidstadt University. I am convinced that the Beast’s capture at the university was not all it appeared to be, for why would a creature that is intelligent knowingly enter the university, where it was certain to be trapped?"
"But I can't voice such concerns publicly, or I'd kill my reputation in the best case. So if you'd agree to investigate the crimes the beast is accused of and find out if there is more behind it I'd pay each of you 1000gold. You can easily register as defendants of the beast at court and support Barrister Kaple. But the town won't like you for that. And we can't be seen together once you start with that. What do you say?"
Herm listens to the judge talk about the beast, "We suspected that something was wrong with the way the beast was captured and other issues at the University. Can you point us to this Barrister Kaple?" Herm remains by the door.
"You simply go to the court building and ask for him. He should be in his office there. Judge Daramid replies.
"I'm sorry ma'm. But I'm not up to such an undertaking. I'm still recovering from the last catastrophe. Your intentions are all good and worth of support, but I can't help you. Also my tries to help tend to end in making things worse anyway." Tamara declines the offer.
"Me neither. I had my share of a whole village hating me for trying to be good and helpful. I'm in no need of a repetition." Amira tells.
"I have naught better to do." Harrold says with a chuckle
"That is nice." Jominda replies to Harrold on their way to the Crooked Kin. "Would you also accompany me to that court? I would really like to take a look at that beast. And I don't want to wait until tomorrow."
"I wonder if it will be on display... I will gladly accompany you." he says.
"I am curious, what pushed you to alchemy?" He asks as they walk
"It works. You simply put the components together and get the result. Not that mumbo jumbo that mages do, pulling the effects out of thin air." Jominda replies. She admires what the mages can do. She was just frustrated that she couldn't. But she is happy with her Alchemy.
"I guess it is there." she tells pointing to the large building with the words LEPIDSTADT COURT chiselled into the facade.
"That is a good a reason as any other I have heard." Harrold says following her
Jominda climbs the stair to the large front door of the court and knocks. "What was your reason you chose your profession?" she asks Harrold.
After a moment the small door in the large door gets opened. "Yes?"
"I would like to see the beast please." Jominda tells the guard.
"The curiosity circus is over there. You can see it tomorrow at the trial." The guard replies pointing at the Crooked Kin's wagon and closes the door again.
"Was worth a try." Jominda shrugs. "So, you and what is it exactly you're doing?"
"I was a hunter when I was younger, and part of hunting is learning plants. As I grew older I was more interested in the plants than the hunting so I opened the herbalists. Since you have opened your shop people seem to prefer your remedies to mine. Except for one or two of the older folk who still cone to me for their indigestion."
"Lucky me. I guess some old geezer with his eyes bulging out because he can't go to the toilet is no pretty sight." Jominda jokes.
"Quite." Harrold says with a laugh.
"I wonder if you would be generous enough to let me look at your formulae? I wonder if we are treating ailments in the same way..."
Now Jominda gets even more curious. "What do you know about formulae, and how would that compare to your ailments?" Now Harrold is under inspection.
"When someone comes to me with a fever and chest infection I give them a tea made with white willow, meadowsweet, yarrow, peppermint, ginger and feverfew. The mixture varies depending on how much I have and what other symptoms present. That is my formula for fever. I know you treat the same and I am curious as to how." Harrold replies rattling things off the top of his head.
Kendra is still at the judge. "I think it would be best if we postpone announcing our defense for the beast as long as possible, so as not to get the crowd against us too early." she says. "But Herm is right. Everything about his apprehension at the university felt off."
She thinks for a moment and mumbles "And it would probably ruin my plans for settling in Lepidtstad."
She looks back at the judge as she says "All we've heard about the beast is that it is 'the beast'. What is it really? And do you have any suggestions on where we could start our investigation?"
"That depends. Usually I tell them to stop whining and go to bed with a wet cloth on their forehead. But in serious cases - serious meaning someone in real danger or burdened with a lot of coins - I make a potion from the red calyces of Hibiscus Sabdariffa and leaves of the Candlenut Tree in alcohol. Preferably rum."
"I'm not involved in the investigations. But Barrister Kaple knows all the witnesses names and what they will tell, has all the details and has access to the beast. You might as well start with asking the beast. But that is up to you. But it all starts with meeting Kaple." Judge Daramid answers.
"Hmmmm" Harrold says thinking.
"It should work. You are missing some symptomatic treatments, but it will get the job done." Harrold chuckles a bit before continuing "The rum is a nice touch though. Probably don't mind they might still have a sniffle depending on how much you use."
"I don't treat sniffles with potions. They can make some grog with cinnamon and citron themselves. But that has to be hot and adding it to the rest ruins the potion."
"That stuff I sell as single pieces. Though I make an onion syrup that helps with that too."
"I make some herb bags for people to take home for small colds and such as well." Harrold replies
"Harrold, you were with the friends of Professor Lorrimor inside the Harrowstone. With which combination of herbs did you plan fighting the undead there?" Jominda asks suspicious.
"Honestly I didn't plan on doing much fighting. I planned on helping the others fight. But just in case I took holy water. Beyond that it is amazing what can be extracted from plants. That candlenut tree, do you know why it is called that? The nuts have a high oil content so they burn well. You can extract the oil, the purer it is the better it burns." Harrold explains
"Oil is not bad, it has a high energy stored in it. But I prefer ingredients with higher reaction speeds. Like this glycerol with an nitrating agent." She replies holding up a vial.
"It depends on what your goal is, an explosion or combustion." Harrold says. "There are very few ways to get the required ingredients for explosions from plants." He muses
"So it is only you two who would take on this investigation?" Judge Daramid asks Herm and Kendra. "I don't think that would be wise. If I'm right, you might face worse than you can handle and I could never forgive myself if Professor Lorrimor's daughter would come to harm or worse because of me."
"We have other friends who will help they just didn't come this way with us." Herm thinks about what they Judge is saying, "You expect grave dangers involving this investigation? Would that not be enough to hold the beast till you have looked into it more?"
"I don't know what is behind it. I only know for sure that the beast can't be responsible for everything that it was blamed for in the last 10 to 20 years. But Prosecutor Otto Heiger has made his case against the beast and if noone can come up with something substancial then the beast will burn in three days. And noone will ever look into these things again." Judge Daramid explains.