Lorant nods.
"Thank you. No further questions."
Lorant asks that the villagers who testified against the Beast be called to the stand.
"The story you've given to the court is very different from the one my client just told. I do not believe, however, that the three of you have been dishonest in your telling. Tell me, when did the deaths of the children begin occurring in Hergstag?"
|
Garrow comes forward. "It was about seven months ago. I remember because the moon was full. The children began to disappear and return as ghosts about a week before the Beast revealed itself, carrying poor Ellsa."
Flicht speaks up. "It was then what we'd had enough when it brought her back, laughing about what it did!"
"Laughing, you say?" Lorant says. "Bring forth the Beast again," he says to the Bailiff. Once the Beast is retrieved, he looks the Beast in the eye.
"I want you to think about the day Ellsa died. Think about holding her in your arms...bringing her to the villagers...remember that moment."
He waits for the Beast to react. When he begins what he knows is weeping, he turns back to Flicht.
"Miss Flicht, is this what you heard when the Beast brought Ellsa to the villagers?"
"This isn't laughter, Miss Flicht. This is weeping. The Beast isn't joyful about what happened at Hergstag; he is mourning just as you are, perhaps even more so, having been unable to protect the only friend he'd ever had and watching her die before his own eyes. His eyes just can't produce the tears to show it."
Then he turns back to the villagers.
"Now, to the subject of the ghost the Beast describes: a red-eyed phantom, buzzing like a swarm of hornets. We encountered such a spirit in our investigations of Hergstag, seemingly bound to a scarecrow atop a hill near town, and put it to rest. What connection would such a ghost have to a scarecrow?"
Dylan touches his amulet, and mutters thrice cursed wraith, good thing I killed it, the lady of graves and the lord in iron be praised.
"That is my question to you: what is the significance of the scarecrow? How could it have become what anchored this predatory spirit to the mortal world?"
Lorant punctuates these questions with a stern gaze to the witnesses.
"What happened?"
Their community may be at further risk, while I killed the wraith, a new one may settle in if the conditions that caused the first one to raise persist. It is best to beseech specialists of the Lady of Graves in such manners, but it is of great importance that should agents know the whole truth.
Dylan opines from the stairs, seeking to make others more receptive to the idea of telling the truth. Probably in a sufficient polite and Pharasma affirming way to not draw censure from the judge.
Lorant nods.
"So you did learn after driving the Beast away that it wasn't his fault. But that doesn't answer my question. A spirit that preys on others doesn't just naturally spring up on its own. They're usually tied to the locations and circumstances of their deaths. So who died atop the hill, at the scarecrow? What could have made them so angry in death that they came back to murder your children, presumably as revenge? Your story shows the Beast was indeed not responsible for the deaths of the children, so who was?"
Judah snorted himself awake as tension and noise began to build in the courtroom. He tried to pretend he hadn't fallen asleep in his chair and hoped nobody noticed. It seemed like things were getting interesting.
Lorant's brow furrows. Without being able to prove the spirit's identity, its motive for going after Hergstag's children, all they'd done was introduce some doubt rather than conclusive proof, and while reasonable doubt WAS technically all that was needed, Ustalav's people were far from reasonable when the object of their fireside stories sat before them. He silently cursed himself for not checking previous records about the town before heading there.
"Thank you. No further questions. There is one last witness we've to call. By the grace of Our Lady of Graves and the blessing of her priests, we will call Ellsa herself from beyond death to testify."
He pauses, waiting for the chaos such a declaration would spark.
"Stuff like this makes me wonder why the Magistrate's office doesn't keep a priest or a diviner on retainer." Judah muttered quietly. "Seems like a lot of this could have been skipped that way."
"I guess the longer the trial drags on, the more the barristers and the judge get paid."
Honestly, Gorrumite courts are more fun because someone does get his s!*! kicked in at some point. Dylan remarks
But well, we could have started with that?
"What we did before was introduce doubt. This is the final proof," Lorant mutters to Dylan.
"Please summon Mother Ishanon," Lorant asks the bailiff.
|
|
The woman appears at the summons, dressed in black robes with silver trim and wearing a thin girdle that holds a tiny vial of water at her waist. The mortal remains of Ellsa are brought in, leading to gasps of horror among the assembled. The judge bangs her gavel and says, "Lady Ishanon, are you prepared?"
The Pharasman priestess nods and draws forth her holy symbol. Laying on Ellsa's chest, she intones a mystic chant. "You may ask five questions," she says to Lorant.
Lorant traces the spiral over his chest and bows respectfully to Ishanon as she arrives.
When she performs the ritual he nods somberly.
"Are you Ellsa of Hergstag?"
"Were you killed by the creature known as the Beast of Lepidstadt?"
"Were you killed by a wraith with many red eyes, buzzing like a swarm of hornets or bees?"
"Did the Beast of Lepidstadt try to save you, Ellsa?"
Hmm, does a wraiths victim know who killed the wraith? If yes it could be useful in swaying the crowd, because by Gorrums giant brass balls I killed that thing.
Dylan mumbles
Lorant tries another tack.
"Had the Beast of Lepidstadt been present, would he have tried to save you?"
"Is there anything more you would like to say before you return to Pharasma's embrace, to your family...or to your friend?"
"Thank you, Mother Ishanon," Lorant says with another bow before turning back to the assembled.
"And there you have it, ladies, gentlemen and honourables: the tragedy of Hergstag, a town preyed upon not by our client but a vengeful, wicked spirit. The Beast's only crime, if one can call it such, was being unable to save his first, and perhaps his only friend, from the true monster. Even now he weeps for her loss. And the people of Hergstag, in their grief, misunderstood his weeping for laughter, for his eye could not shed tears to match his sorrow. In their own sorrow and fear, they drove him away, before being driven away in turn by the spirits of their own children, now slaves to the wraith's malice. That wraith is now truly dead, and in doing so, the children have been freed. Freed to return and share these truths with us if only for a little while. Let us seek to follow Ellsa's example, and see The Beast for what he truly is: a lonely, gentle man who would do the same as any of us when faced with horror and tragedy."
I dont think the beast could have fought the wraith, unless it has a way to make its fists be magic. I didnt see a amulet of mighty fists, which I thankfully have and which allowed me to kill the wraith, in the list of what it had when it was taken prisoner, so if the beast had been there, likely both Elsa and the beast would have died...
Dylan tries to add to the diplomacy by spreading some actually true rumors.
|
|
A murmur passes through the courtroom. It would seem that your testimony has touched some of the spectators, though others remain unconvinced. The judge bangs her gavel, calling for the court to be adjourned for the day. After the courtroom has been emptied and the Beast has been returned to its cell, Barrister Kapel meets with you.
"My friends, your voices carry much weight, and your investigations lend credence to the Beast's innocence. I must confess that you have convinced me. I, too, was convinced of its guilt, but I begin to see a different picture."
The more interesting question is who is actually doing this s@+!.
Like, taking me captive is no small feat as that dread wraith in that village found out the hard way.
Someone with access to weird shapeshifters with a far too intense interest in vivisection, as well as access to wraiths? Maybe its several parties who decided that the beast makes the bestest scapegoat ever independently of each other...
The big man is pacing as he adresses the barrister.
Effing sleeping venom, I need to up my resistance to that.
He grumbles
"Dylan, I don't think these are connected events," Lorant says, shaking his head. "It's just that The Beast had the unfortunate luck of being in the area when they happened, and being something of a local legend, was an easy target to blame when those experiencing them had no other answers. When people are scared, they will often take whatever answer comes first and most easily, and Ustalav's people, for better or for worse, have much to fear."
Dylan fiddles with his amulet of mighty fists, which probably depicts a house sigil? A raised fist with a crown of thorns.
Once is happenstance, twice is suspicious, thrice is enemy action. I wonder if the thing which got our client arrested in the first place, supposedly a break in, has a bit of an odd story behind it as well.
He pauses
We should be on our guard. What if the beast is a target? Perhaps someone wants whatever animates the beast for his own dark designs?
He begins pacing again
Hmm, lets think like a probably necromancer a+*$#~#...
I dont know many necromancer a*#*$&*s, but I know a&#!!*&s, so
what would my cousin Cyndraed the demonsimp do if he really wanted the beast dead... Oh, rile up a mob of peseants and townspeople against it, either they kill it, or the beast kills some of them, and then has actual blood on his hands and that can be turned into a death sentence for the beast later down the line.
Hmm, on the other hand, Cousin Cyndraed is charismatic, and good with manipulating people, necromancers tend to be rather subpar in their people skills department. Maybe I am jumping at shadows, but a measure of paranoia is a survival trait.