"We also have to consider how the faithful who are watching the trial will react," Lorant says. "Trying to bring up a ghost for testimony would probably be considered blasphemous at best. I feel this verdict will hinge more on introducing reasonable doubt into the story they've presented about the Beast than through hard evidence, whether that's through what we've learned about the wraith and its actions or by disproving whatever assumptions they've made about the Beast himself."
Its better than nothing… we might be able to ask a few local lepidstadt experts if they have any specialised magics.
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Comparing notes with the defense and prosecution, you can determine that the girl who lived in the untouched house, named Karin, died 2 days after the beast was driven away. You also, perhaps surprisingly, find a Pharasmin cleric who is willing to cast speak with dead. I'm going to assume that you want it cast in the courtroom so that everyone can witness the responses. You may ask three questions...
Lorant takes this information in, and then asks to speak with The Beast in person.
Once he's let in, he takes a seat and places the burned book in front of The Beast.
"Did this belong to you?"
The doktor, happy to be out of the gods forsaken village, listens for the Beasts answer.
"We found it in the abandoned village of Hergstag. You stand accused of the murder of six children there. But I don't think you did it, did you?"
Dylan watches the proceeding with some interest, having taken care to make himself presentable.
When called into the witness stand to stand witness to the wraiths bested, he begins an Oration.
Aye, it is true there were wraiths. I battled the dire wraith leading them, its deadly touch and vile magiks against my steel and wroth and courage. He pauses, the continues
My Lord in Iron blessed me in this clash, and I prevailed, although narrowly.
He pauses again before intoning
May the Lady of Graves smite me for foolishness, and may the Lord in Iron crush me for perfidy if a single word of what I just said was a knowing lie.
He makes a vow, on his first 2 statements before continueing.
We fought a lesser, childlike wraith before the large one. From what I understand of such foes, while the dire ones can raise those they slay as lesser wraiths, these unfortunate souls are freed when the dire wraith who made them is crushed. Which is what I believe happened, as we saw several unusual lights after the dire wraith fell, perhaps this was the lesser wraiths being freed. He pauses once more
Some may deem me a wildman, unfit to bear witness in court, or may question my sincerity on more reasonable grounds as I am not exactly a morally upstanding citizen of great repute and sterling reputation.
Yet, as added proof, I still bear some residual damage from the negative energy of the dire wraiths touch, which can be examined by the court to give further credence. He offers additional evidence
Something vile occured there, and forces far more sinister then this so called "beast of Lepidstadt" where at hand. He ends his oration
"You're sad about what happened," Lorant says. "Why?"
Gods, Mathis says, both moved and shocked that such a creature could feel and feel attachment to another.
Sad tale indeed, he says shaking his head. And unable to contest against spirits as well.
"Ellsa...that was the name of one of the children...and you call her a friend. How did you meet her?" Lorant asks gently.
Dylan, with surprising gentleness puts one of his hans on the beasts shoulder.
I think I killed what killed her, if that helps you.
He says as he gently holds the beasts shoulder
what can you tell about your friend? So that her memory may live on.
He continues in a much softer voice
Poor sod, a threatening physique, without an ounce of aggression to back it up. Maybe I can train him in fighting when this is over, he needs to rebrand, and he needs a different posture.
Judah only sighed and shook his head. He couldn't put his feelings into words. He knew all too well how the law railroaded desperate people through show trials in order to parade verdicts to bloodthirsty masses who were more interested in seeing someone punished than actual justice. Monsters like Vorkstagg and Grime only needed to look and talk like the people around them and nobody paid attention to the awful things they did. Then as soon as someone different like Beast got noticed by the public every crime they could think of got pinned on him. It wasn't right.
"How many mass murders have they tried to pin on him now? Three?" Judah muttered darkly. "It's not like the truth was hard to find. We're not real investigators. We're just blundering through this who situation and evidence keeps falling into our laps. It seems like someone just wanted a patsy to pin all this on, and didn't expect anyone to actually look into it."
"That's the real investigation here. Who the hell set up this show trial, and why?"
"Dozens more probably, Judah," Lorant replies matter-of-factly. "He's been the County's bogeyman for over 20 years, and the number of things he's been blamed for would fill a parchment longer than my arm. The specific ones we're investigating were just selected as a sample so they wouldn't need to try every single one."
"The reason we're finding what others couldn't is simple: these people are scared of him. His legend, deserved or not, has grown to the point that no one wants to take the risk of confirming whether or not it really was him. And that probably would have continued had...whatever caused him to break into the University and then just sit there in a daze until he was caught not happened. They believed it was luck, maybe divine providence, that what they feared as an unstoppable monster could be captured so easily, and that they have a chance to write a grand finale to the legend. In essence, they didn't expect us to find anything, because they'd already made up their minds. The fact we were able to conclusively prove they were wrong once and could do so again...we're slowly dragging them and the Beast out of the legend and into reality."
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"Ellsa made friends with me but I asked her not to tell her family. They would not understand. The ghost used other children to lure Ellsa to its lair, and I followed. I tried to save her, but I could not harm the ghost. I carried her body to town, but they misunderstood and thought that I had killed her and the others. They would not listen when I tried to explain."
Lorant nods.
"I'm so sorry for your loss."
Then he turns to the others.
"Gentlemen, I believe we have our counter-story."
"Hopefully you can convince them," Judah said glumly.
"We've succeeded before, have introduced doubt into the people's minds. We pull on that thread more, and the case against the Beast will unravel."
Theyre a hard headed superstitious mob… who want blood. Don’t count on logic and deductive reasoning swinging the day. If it’s the best we have, then it’s the best we have but I’m not confident.
I think I can act as deterrence, and there is a judge, who is very much not part of the mob. Mobs can also be... not neccessarily stopped but guided against other targets.
Dylan says to the party
Perhaps I may train the so called beast later, if he wishes to learn how to fight in a controlled way. Would you like that? Also, what is your name? I dislike referring to you as "beast". If you do not have a name, have you thought of one? If not, do you wish to be named?
He addresses the beast.
At 4th level, the bloodrager learns the secrets of the sphinx’s roar. He can roar as a standard action a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. Enemies within 60 feet of the bloodrager that can hear the roar must succeed at a Will save (DC = 10 + half the bloodrager’s character level + his Charisma modifier) or become frightened for 1d6 rounds. At 10th level, the bloodrager can instead cause the targets to be panicked or stunned (bloodrager’s choice) and deafened for the duration; at 16th level, the bloodrager can instead cause the targets to be paralyzed for 1 round. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of the bloodrager’s roar again for 24 hours.
DC would be 14, which isnt super high, but it does a number for a mob.
Theyre a hard headed superstitious mob… who want blood. Don’t count on logic and deductive reasoning swinging the day. If it’s the best we have, then it’s the best we have but I’m not confident.
Lorant nods.
"It won't. Which is why we're going to tell them a story."
The doctor grins.
Then we may have a chance. These rubes would eat up a good tale.
Lorant looks at Mathus with a disappointed expression on his face.
"Your classism is showing, Dr. Kohlheim."
The doktors response to Lorants comment is a tired grin.
As far as I am concerned, Social status is only worth as long as one is willing to fight to defend it.
Dylan muses
I guess in social terms, one would conduct such defenses in a social way, although I personally view such things as threat display, not too different from dynamics in lets say a pack of large predatory cats.
"Speaking as this crew's token rube, the Doc ain't wrong," Judah shrugged. "If we can use that to help Beastie here, great."
"Sounds like we're ready then. I'll let Gustav know."
Lorant stands and leaves the room to get the barrister.
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The trial reumes apace. The prosecution explains how the Beast attacked and slew several children in the village of Hergstag. To supplement this, they produce a trio of sisters who once lived in the area, Garrow, Starle, and Flicht, to give their testimony.
The three women, all in their late forties, have lived their entire lives in Hergstag until the tragedy. The testimony of all three is pretty much the same: The village’s children vanished one by one, only to return as ghosts. Then one day the culprit was found—the Beast of Lepidstadt. It boldly walked into the village with one of the dead children, a girl named Ellsa. The witnesses all recall seeing the Beast laughing as it carried the child’s broken body. As soon as the locals saw the Beast, they set upon it with pitchforks, but try as they might they couldn’t catch it, and the Beast escaped into the swamp. The poor innocents it killed continued to haunt the village, and before long became too much for the locals, who soon abandoned the cursed village.
The prosecution rests and the Witness for the Defense is called.
Lorant takes the floor.
"Ladies, gentlemen, good folk of Lepidstadt. The events that took place in Hergstag are indeed a tragedy. And indeed, no one is more saddened by them than The Beast of Lepidstadt himself. For not only was he blamed for crimes he did not commit, but because this tragedy took from him perhaps his first and only friend."
He turns to the Bailiff.
"Bring in The Beast."
"Good sir, were you present in Hergstag during the time these murders occurred?"
"And what were you in Hergstag for?"
Lorant raises his hand to silence the crowd if the judge does not call for order with his gavel.
"But you weren't alone for long, were you? Someone discovered you. Who was it?"
Lorant nods.
"Tell us about Ellsa. The day you met her wasn't the day you brought her to the villagers, was it?"
"Tell us how you met, please."
Lorant nods.
"And she came back to see you on the following days?"
"So tell us what happened on the day Ellsa died. If you didn't kill her, who did?"
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"It was a rainy evening when she came to see me. I saw her approaching and went toward her, but before I could reach her, a ghost got to her first. She screamed and I ran to her, but it was too late. Her soul had been stolen by the ghost that walks at night.
"I carried her body back to the village and tried to explain, but they chased me away before I could get the words out, saying that I killed her."
Lorant pauses again to let the Beast's words sink in.
"Describe this ghost, please."
Dylan talks quietly to himself,
A ghost would kill very differently from the beast, if the beast killed a girl, her body would be shattered or smashed, if a ghost killed her, the body would be pale but mostly intact.
but certainly wishes to be overheard