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Zellara smacks Ebin across the mouth and grabs the little gnome by his arms as Adanel grabbed his legs. The little man was now completely at their mercy.
"LET ME GO! I've never enjoyed being in the center of a threeway!"
He looks at who has him grappled.
"What is this, the Whore and the Beast? Hahahaha!"
The gnome is clearly not choosing his words carefully.
Adanel would give the small gnome a grin, allowing his tusks to protrude all the further out of mouth as he pulled his lips back while doing so.
"Perhaps you would like to see how much of a beast I can be."
As he spoke, he would allow his claws to press further into the gnome's legs, threatening to break the skin.
Demaiv is finding it increasly hard to focus. First the disturbing images clouding his mind and now this. He needed his senses about him... what was that RACKET over there?
Zelladania is clearly offended by his choice of words. "I say we just drop him on his head and see if he can concentrate enough to cast any spells with a concussion. Wretched litle creature."
Adanel would raise his head and look at Zelladania, "Nah, he would be a hindrance then. It sounds like he wishes to pass on the protection I offered and thusly I think he should be allowed out the front door again. Clearly his magic is mighty enough to take on the spirits that hold us here.
Zella looks up at Adanel with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Clearly you speak with the voice of wisdom. We should escort him to the door immediately and assist him out of it."
Demaiv was a bit skeptical of such treatment of a prisoner, and attempted to gauge the others in the group to see if they also agreed.
Looking down to the gnome before back up to Zelladania, Adanel would speak, "May his wit serve him as well out there as it has in here."
His part said, Adanel would allow his claws to draw dots of blood as he tightens his grip and starts for the doorway, helping to insure that the little sneak would not escape.
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The gnome seemed to know no bounds, even though the sound of fear could be heard in his voice.
"Oh, such a strong man, picking on a guy a quarter of your size. Are you going to go kick some puppies and spit on babies after this? I'm sure it'll get this gypsy all worked up!"
There was a sudden burst of light.
"ENOUGH!"
Rekkart had pulled out his holy symbol, which was glowing quite brightly, brighter than a torch.
"I find his words distasteful, but I will no longer stand idly while you begin to torture this coward. I can stand some browbeating, but not bloodletting of the helpless! We can bind his mouth and hands so he can't cast more illusions, but put the man down! NOW!"
Demaiv could not read how the other jurors felt, except for Rekkart, who was clearly conflicted (he didn't enjoy Ebin talking, but found the manner in which he was being handled equally distasteful) and Patrissa, would was annoyed by the gnome's horrible attempts at telling insulting jokes. Actually, no one seemed to enjoy them, but she at least seemed particularly disgusted with his constantly wagging tongue.
"Oh we're not ready to gag him just yet. First I think that we would like an explanation of the words scratched underneath the table in the juror's room." Though she keeps one hand wrapped firmly around his wrist, Zella will take her other hand off of the gnomes mouth so that he may answer her question. "Well? Have you got anything to say as to why you would mock Mord? I don't think that you have offered your opinion yet on the mans innocence or guilt."
Finally able to speak without forcibly holding back bile, Demaiv moves besides Rekkart, putting a hand on Zella's shoulder. "Sir Rekkart is correct. We have very little evidence to justify holding the gnome, let alone throwing him to the spirits. He may simply be a foul-mouthed gnome with a poor sense of justice, but that doesn't damn him." Demaiv steps forward, looking the gnome in the eyes: "Ebin, if you're innocent, it would be simple enough to prove your innocence. I'm sure there's more to discover in this building. So, tell us why you wrote that message on the bottom of the jury table, and we'll release you."
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Having met resistance to his pull, Adanel would hold up and shift his eyes to Sir Rekkart, a fire burning in them.
"Is that a threat? By The Unquenchable Flame's bosom, I do not take well to those."
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Ebin rolled his eyes at Zella.
"The jigs up, I guess, so no need to keep wagging your whore tongue, skilled as it is,"
Rekkart shot Ebin a look at this, as he responded to Adanel's question, breathing out as he attempted to calm down.
"Your need to indulge in rash action continues to justify the racist thoughts of others towards your people. Do you not want to prove to Tablark here that those with Orc blood can think calmly? Please, put down the gnome,"
"Yeah big guy! Do what sissy boy says and join the fruit fairy club!"
Rekkart held out his holy symbol to Ebin, it's glow causing the gnome to look away.
"BY THE GODS! HERE I AM TRYING TO KEEP YOU FROM GETTING RIPPED IN TWO, AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS CONTINUALLY MAKE DISTASTEFUL JOKES AND INSULTS!? ANSWER THE LADY'S QUESTION EBIN, OR SO HELP ME, I'LL CUT THAT DULL TONGUE OF YOURS STRAIGHT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH AND DO MY PENANCE LATER!"
The gnome kept looking away, as he belted out his answer.
"Just shine that elsewhere and I will!"
Rekkart moved the holy symbol away. Ebin breathed out.
"Ten years ago, in a contest of wit and wiles at the District Council-man’s Birthday Feast, his mightiness the Councilman claimed “death itself was funnier than Blithoddle,”
Ebin rolls his eyes as Killian, Patrissa and Tablark stifle a laugh.
"F!%& YOU GUYS! Anyways, that LAME BRAIN called up Mord to engage in banter with me..."
Tablark laughed out loud.
"YEAH! And then the hangman was able to outwit this dullard! Oh, ye should have been thar! It was a riot!"
Rekkart looks daggers at Ebin.
"Is that why you voted to convict? IS THAT REALLY WHY?"
Ebin starts twisting about, clearly furious.
"YES! THAT'S WHY! AND WHO'S LAUGHING NOW? WHO? WHO!? ME! THAT'S WHO! HA! HA! HA! HA!"
And That's when you hear it. Behind Ebin's mad laughter, a croaking, hissing voice begins to build from all around you. It sounds like...
It sounds like laughter.
The jurors go dead silent.
Before she can respond to the gnome's insult and his revelation, Zella freezes as she hears the strange laughter coming from all around them. She releases her grip on Ebin's wrist and takes a couple steps back from him as she looks about for the source of the laughter.
Adanel would grin as Rekkart and Ebin played through there scene. While Rekkart had put on edge with his comment, he had never had any intention of throwing the gnome outside. Sometimes a simple threat would do as he believed Zelladania had caught on. A shame that Rekkart had not.
Then, as the heinous laughter started, Adanel would suddenly find himself being the sole support for the gnome. Suspiciously he would look at the gnome dangling upside down from his outstretched arms trying to discern if this was one of his tricks.
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Tablark clenches his fists around the piece of wood he held in his hands.
"Don't worry! I'm sure, together, we can take out Ole Broke-Neck Mord! I don't fear im'! He 'asn't even showed 'imself! Come on out ye bastard! Come on out and fight like a man!"
The large iron door suddenly fly open! An ominous figure, hands bound before him and his head lolling obscenely to one side on a broken neck, hovers forward. His face is obscured by a rotten death shroud, a milky eye peering through one worn hole, half its black-tooth-filled mouth visible through another rent in the fabric. A horrid rasp of air croaking out pain and misery issues from the thing’s crushed throat.
Ebin is suddenly ripped out of Adanel's grasp with a strong and invisible tug, as his claws rip up the gnome's legs. Tablark screams and begins clawing at his eyes.
"NO! I CAN NA BE! NO! NOOOOO!"
Tablark runs off, as Ebin is lifted to the creature's grasping hands. Ebin keeps protesting, crying for mercy, again and again as the ghost formerly known as Mord reaches into the gnomes mouth, and with a sickening sound, rips his tongue from the jester's mouth.
Rekkart has dropped his holy symbol in favor of his sword, and swings at the creature. It flies harmlessly through him.
Adanel's head would whip to take view of the falsely accused man before turning to take view of the suddenly flying gnome.
Demaiv snarls at the man. This wasn't justice. He wouldn't let Ebin die if he could manage it. Demaiv focuses for a moment and infuses his claws , and strikes out against the ghost.
Zella feels sick at the sight of the gnome getting his tongue ripped out. Watching Rekkart's sword pass harmlessly through the undead thing that was Mord, she wonders what she can do against it.
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Adanel and Zella suddenly found themselves elsewhere. A clack of wood on wood is followed by a whip crack of rope drawing taut. The crunch of vertebrae echoes off the walls. A man’s booted feet twitch freakishly as his last breath rasps from his ruined throat in a choking death rattle. You suddenly realize the man is you, as you look down in horror at your own twitching legs! The crowd jeers with delight and laughs as you rasp your last.
Meanwhile, the undead Mord laughs as Demaiv slashes out at him, missing completely. He quickly vanishes, floating backwards into the shadows, bringing the screaming gnome with him, trailing blood behind them.
Adanel and Zella snap out of their vision.
Rekkart roars.
"NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!"
Killian has turned pale.
"I didn't...Tablark. I can't believe it. Not Tablark,"
As her senses return to reality, Zella's shaking hands go up to her throat to reassure herself that there is no longer a hangman's noose around her neck. Then she finally notices the trail of blood and the lack of the gnome and everyone else's reactions.
Stepping over to Demaiv, Zella tries to stop her shaking as she asks him: "Mord took the gnome, didn't he? He's just going to keep taking us one by one until no one is left."
"Tablark is dead too . Dammit! My claws did nothing to him. How are we supposed to fight?" Demaiv tries to keep a cool composure to assure Zella, but to no avail. He's shaking as well, with both fear and anger. Trying to calm himself down, he looks down at Zella and smiles slightly: "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Demaiv laughs at his own joke, but there's something a little hysterical in the laugh.
Voice quivering slightly, Zella says: "I had another vision. This time I found myself in the body if a man as he was being hung. Oh Demaiv it was awful. I could hear my last gasps for air and see my feet twitching as they dangle above the ground." Zella wraps her arms around herself, trying to stop her shaking.
Demaiv's big arms wrap around Zella, pulling her close. "The vision is gone now, don't worry." Demaiv holds the hug until Zella stops shaking, also calming himself with her presence. "He may have been an innocent man in life, but as far as I'm concerned, Mord is a murderer now, and we have to bring his spirit it's final justice... somehow. As if we had a choice." When Zella finally stops shaking, Demaiv pushes her back by the shoulders enough so he can see her face. "Don't let him get to you, we'll find a way out."
Adanel would suddenly find his eyes and ears assaulted by another vision as he watched the gnome pulled away. At first he would quietly watch and worry as the vision took hold, but then his anger would rise. Hearing the glee and insults from the crowd brought on fury and with fury brought on strength.
As he came forth, he would hear the gnome off in the distance. Without a second thought, he would charge in after him. He had said he would not let this happen again and he intended to uphold that promise as well as he could.
Zella finds herself comforted by Demaiv's words and presence and manages to calm down and stop shaking. "I'm sorry. I'm not usually so easily shaken, but I've never dealt with the dead before or been given such disturbing visions."
Taking a deep breath, Zella looks up at Demaiv. "Thank you. I think I'm ok now. I guess we had better continue searching for...well, for anything that might help us figure out how to put Mord to rest."
Demaiv smiles. He was much calmer now as well, even if his stomach was still churning. "I meant what I said back when this all begin." Demaiv delivers another wink, a callback no doubt. "Let's go after Adanel." Demaiv jogs after Adanel, keeping an eye on Dani.
Zelladania follows close behind Demaiv as he turns to jog after Adanel and Rekkart and actually manages a small grin when he reminds of his earlier offer protection. Barely stopping in time to avoid bumping into him when he and the others stop at the pool of blood, she takes a small step back and looks around. "I guess it's no surprise a ghost can appear and vanish at will, but I didn't know they can make bodies vanish with them as well. I wonder where they are all going?"
Ugh, nothing I can do... Demaiv is depressed at the sight of the pool of blood, and his stomach churns again, threatening to empty once again. Trying to ignore it, Demaiv looks around the room. He's too focused and doesn't really notice Zella's question.
Adanel's hands would ball into fists as he mashed his teeth together. Only a growl would escape over the sound of his grinding teeth as he stepped outside the circle of light so he could search their surroundings with his superior darkvision.
Demaiv looks around for the other members of the jury. Had they followed them into the hall?
Demaiv sighs. He was getting tired. Too much adrenaline all at once, and more than his body was used to. Didn't help he still felt like he was going to vomit.
Soldier on though. Apsu is watching. Prove yourself worth and he will guide me to my father. At least he had the comfort of companions. "Well, what can we do? Either we wait around for Mord to pick us off one by one, or we find something in this place that can stop him. We CAN stop him." Demaiv notes as they start moving, trying to raise spirits. Demaiv moves to back behind the metal door, where the prisoners were kept, giving the water closet a wide berth. Before opening any doors, he will peer into the cells and around the main room for anything of note.
Adanel would stand his ground while Demaiv proceeded forward.
"Let me know what you find as I would prefer not to leave doors we've not opened unattended," he would say in an agitated voice.
As he spoke, he would look to the roof for any signs of their missing gnome.
Zella will follow Demaiv and help him search. "I wonder which one was Mords?
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Section 3
Several rusted iron cages take up most of the area. The barred doors are open and a few swing eerily, although no wind blows down here in the dark. In the lane stretching between these cages lies a headless skeleton, one arm folded beneath it awkwardly, the other outstretched from its side.
Haglrak shudders.
"Get feeling like someone walked over Haglrak's grave,"
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Waking Courtroom
Aeshuura sees nothing of note in the room. The last thing he can recall is passing out in the inn.
What happened...
Zelaria stirs at the sound of a voice near. Her sleep had been dreamless, which was rare, but... A fine caution quickens her pulse slightly, as she recognizes that what is beneath her is not her bed, nor are there any of the pleasant smells of food that usually accompanied waking at home.
"Who are you?" Zelaria inquires of the voice, remaining as still as possible. "Where are we?"
Standing close to Demaiv, Zella looks down upon the skeleton. "I wonder, was he one of the jailers here? Should we search the skeleton or will it get up and attack us if we disturb it?"
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"Who are you?" Zelaria inquires of the voice, remaining as still as possible. "Where are we?"
The name is Aesh... the Varisian man stands up, stretching his back as he does so, and offers a hand to the young woman, and you?
He looks for the nearest exit, after confirming that the others are asleep and not dead, and checks it to see if it is locked.
The last thing I remember is the Inn, mayhap I indulged a bit too much... but this seems odd to say the least. Let us get to the bottom of this. What do you say?
"Yes... he might attack us." Demaiv pauses here, as Haglark shudders. "Adanel is right, we shouldn't have our back to anywhere we haven't explored, ghosts or no." Demaiv turns and waits for Zella to proceed back towards Adanel and the door immediately inside this section of the building before following closely behind her. While he's walking, he glances at Killian to see if he's too drunk to provide some information about this room. If Demaiv deems he's sober, he'll ask him: "What was this room? If this is the holding area that would make this the warden's chamber?" If Killian is too drunk, Demaiv will ask Patrissa instead.
As the trio sets up to open the door, Demaiv nods to Adanel. "If you'd do the honours?"
"Can't imagine why." Demaiv thinks it unwise to try and wrest the canteen from the man, and instead shoots a pleading look at Rekkart before turning back to the door.
Angry at his failure, Adanel would step to the door without answer and fling it open. His claws and tusks ready as he searches the room for any threats.
Zella walks ahead to the door, glancing back to make sure Demaiv is still behind her. I'm really, really glad that skeleton didn't pop up and attack us. I don't think I can take too many more surprises tonight. I pray we all get safely out of here soon.
Once at the door, Zella watches Adanel as he angrily flings open the door. It's a wonder the thing didn't just fly off its hinges with the force he used.
Zella peers into the room, trying to see anything and will enter and search if Adanel and Demaiv deem it safe enough to go in.