"There is a connecting thread here." Judah said, tapping his chin in thought. "Those surgery tools we found in the swamp, where all those people were skinned. They lead us to Vorstagg and Grine, and they definitely have connections to someone else we haven't found yet."
"Mister Kappel, which crime did the Beast get accused of first?" Judah asked the Barrister.
"Hmm. Did we ever figured out what he was doing at the university in teh first place," Judah mused. "Seems like a pretty stupid place for him to go under any circumstances."
"Just to clarify, which is the accusation we're defending our client from next?"
To the university then Dylan opines
No rest for the not actually wicked, right? Although a bit of rest would be useful.
Lorant yawns.
"Compared to what we've been through recently, I'd say this next one should be easy. We can perhaps take a look at dawn...Even an insomniac like me is feeling exhausted."
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I'll go ahead and move things along to the next day. Feel free to retro any RPing that needs to be done.
Dr. Montagnie Crowl is Professor of Antiquities at the university. An eccentric but likeable man, he is prone to waving his arms about enthusiastically. He meets you in the department’s combination library and workshop. The workshop is slowly being cleaned up, but it is still a mess.
Dr. Crowl is saddened to learn of his old friend and colleague
Lorrimor’s death and accepts the bequeathed objects with sad gratitude.
"So Doc, if you have a little time, we could use some help. Professor Lorrimer's last wishes have, uh, snowballed a bit, so now we're the ones who are supposed to be investigating the Beast of Lepisdat."
Judah gestured around the messy workshop. "Do you know anyone who was here when this happened?"
----rest RP
Good Job killing the wraith D-man! The Phantom enthusiasitically perks up as she pops into real space
Since when are you complimenting me for anything?
Dylan replies with a raised eyebrow
Oh come on, the trope where the summoner and his phantom hate each others guts is.... soooooo overused dont you think?
The phantom answers
I am just gonna do some napping, you can chat with the other dudes
Dylan says as he applies the core skill of any soldier, being able to sleep anywhere
Waaaait, if you go to sleep I go back to your subconcious... His phantom vanishes.
Lorant nods at Judah's frank assessment of the Professor's last wishes.
"Would you mind if we took a closer look at the scene of the crime?"
The Professor? Lorrimor? He kind of helped me in figuring what the heck I, I mean, we, actually am/are. Owe him a favor. Thanks to him I also know what my bloodline source is, and that I should stay away from that particular one if I can, which is also really nice to know.
Dylan says before taking a breather.
"Yes, Petros. He was a good friend."
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The trail of the thief is easy to follow—the thief broke in through the back door, and then passed through the auditorium on his way to the workshop. The back door to the Antiquities Department was originally locked with a superior lock, but it is clear that the door was recently damaged. The 1-inch-thick iron door is currently locked with a makeshift padlock and only crude repairs have been made.
The simple wooden door leading from the back door foyer into the auditorium has been broken off its hinges, as has the far door leading to the workshop. Paneled in oak, the auditorium contains a sunken, 5-foot-deep central area lined with books, tribal fetishes, and curiosities. A small stage and lectern stand in the center of this area, which is edged with a low oak rail, worn smooth from the touch of years of students gazing into the Master’s lecture room below.
The high–ceilinged workshop/library is lined with mostly empty shelves, and a trio of great leaded windows looks out over the university lawn. A staggering array of books, scrolls, maps, and curios, including shrunken heads, tribal masks, and bits of pottery, lie scattered all over the floor, apparently pulled from the shelves. The room is otherwise crowded with overturned tables, desks, and cabinets.
"Curiously, only one item was taken-a strange statuette called the Seasage Effigy," Crowl informs you. "I am frankly baffled by events—the statuette was very singular, but it was hardly valuable. Though the statuette has not been recovered, I admit that I am pleased that the Beast was caught. The poor thing is clearly mad and not in control of its own actions."
Lorant looks about the auditorium, memories flooding back of the last time he'd been here, decades ago...a fresh-faced student who'd scraped together enough to make tuition, sitting here listening to Professor Lorrimor's lectures...where private conversations had revealed his dark heritage and a letter of introduction to the Crusader War College had been written...where his whole life had changed.
When Dr. Crowl speaks, however, his eyebrow rises.
"What makes you say that, Dr. Crowl?"
Not in control of its own actions...depending on what that meant, it could be a mitigating circumstance in the Beast's involvement...
Judah wandered through the mess, eyeing everything on display, and the impressive display of strength it must have taken to batter down the door.
"He was caught here? Red handed?"
The beast seemed more physically strong then me, and this is saying something, how many casulties where sustained from taking him into custody?
Dylan asks
I would have kicked it in different though, you identify where the connecting parts with the frame are, and break these. Less splinters that could fly into your eye, and a bit quieter, and much quicker.
He lift a large part of door and seemingly tries to guess the beasts strength from the position of the part, the weight of it, and the distance to the doors frame, more going by gut and experience in violence.
He uses a burst of insight to get a +4 to that.
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Lorant: "What makes you say that, Dr. Crowl?"
"I honestly don't think the Beast knew what it was doing when it broke in. It showed such care in removing the statue from its resting place, but then completely demolished the room." Indeed, the pedestal that once held the Seasage Effigy is crowded with small fetishes and delicate mother-of-pearl fish carvings that are undamaged. It is the only thing in the room left untouched by the rampage.
Judah: "He was caught here? Red-handed?"
"It was caught in the act of destroying the library. The Effigy was not on its person when it was captured."
Dylan: "The beast seemed more physically strong than me, and this is saying something, how many casualties were sustained from taking him into custody?"
"It took all four University guards, as well as six city guardsmen to capture the Beast. Strangely, there were no casualties beyond minor scratches and bruises."
It would require considerable strength to have torn the door from the hinges, and the evidence indicates that this is what happened.
"We know the Beast IS capable of gentleness, but you're right, that kind of contrast is incredibly strange. We will definitely need to question him about this, see if he remembers anything."
Lorant pauses.
"Come to think of it, our previous two investigations have been in outlying villages, places where the Beast could easily retreat to the wilderness to avoid angry mobs. What reason could the Beast have to come here, to the capital of the county, to arguably the very heart of the city to commit this crime?"
"And why would someone who can do that" Judah said, gesturing to the demolished door, "Let himself be taken in by a few guards, while taking care not to injure them, and not have the thing he supposedly stole on him?"
"Where did that effigy end up?"
I am not going to say that in court, but I am fairly certain that I would overcome 6 guardsmen and 4 university guards, the most likely outcome is 2 heavily injured or dead, and the rest running away. And I am not certain at all that I could take the beast on in a fight.
Like, I would look stronger at first, but my guess is that, after suffering some real damage from my claws, the beast would go into fight or flight mode, and then I would be dancing on the edge of Mhars prison.
A volcano, curious turn of phrase though
Not much of a spell weaver, but can someone like the "beast" be affected by mind control stuff? When I worked for Lady inquisitor "Amberly Veil", she trained me to resist such. Using a "Command" spell to force me to approach her, if I did, a kick in the balls, if I did not, 10 gold coins earned, very effective approach. Could something like that have been the case?
Judah snorted. "So you can be trained."
Only people who a) pay me good money b) have saved my live once more then I saved theirs and c) ideally are female and highly attractive get to kick me in the balls. And this is an "AND" not an "OR".
Dylan gives Judah a pretty toothy smile.
Lorant raises an eyebrow at Dylan's interjection.
"Interesting," he says. "You're both right...we definitely need to know what happened to the Effigy, and just what was going through the Beast's head, magic or otherwise, when it did this."
He turns to Mathus.
"Any thoughts, Doctor? You've been a bit quiet since Hergstag..."