Xerice suddenly becomes more forceful in personality as Ezechias charges the flying beast! He hits hard, nearly cracking the thing's skull as it lets out a scream of protest! Zanu's arcane missiles bombard it a moment later!
The manticore hisses at Ezechias through broken fangs, and turns and wings off into the air, clearly shaken by his mighty blow and the magic missiles and not eager to face such hits again!
You search the beast's nest and discover the body of a dwarf, killed in the last week or so. He carries a magical oil of some sort, an ointment of body balm, a silver hip flask containing brandy, a purse with 31 pp and 23 gp and a masterwork shortsword. A wand lies nearby.
"...Hmm...wasted a spell for nothing. I thought manticores were a bit more fearsome. Any other findings Caesare?"
"That hurt! Is anyone other than I hurt? Stay nearby and I will heal us."
He then casts detect magic and starts scanning the island looking for any signs of magic.
After careful examination Caesare will tell the others what he has found.
"Ezechias, can you help me haul this up?"
"Curious tools. I wonder what they are for..." Xerice says as she studies the tools with the raven symbol on them. Should she remember what they are for, she shares it with the rest.
I wonder if those are surgical tools? I remember the case of... a well maybe one of those trained in the medical arts knows more.
Helping the paladin with the rope he has a sense of foreboding what they will find.
Ezechias hauls the rope out, to discover a large sack at the end of it. The sack is actually large enough to fit one of you, and holds some rope, a gag, a rusted lantern, a trio of heavy knives, and a rusted shovel. Looking at it, you also notice several dried blood stains on the inside of the sack.
After a few moments of sniffing at the green vial you found by the fire, you ascertain it used to contain an elixir of darkvision.
After looking around, you gather the items you found and head back to the hamlet to return the boats. The hamlet is mostly quiet, with windows closed and the sounds of meals and bedtime coming from a few. The boats' owner opens the door and nods when he sees that you've brought his boats back in good order. If you offer to show him the detached face, he gasps. "Gods above! That looks like Nan Klebem, a locaa poacher! But he ain't been seen around here since the Beast started taking our peoples!"
"Sonny you are better at this than me. How long ago did this man, Nan, die? It seems that someone or something was cutting those people apart for whatever reason. Someone who is skilled and learned as a surgeon. Perhaps the raven means something?"
Caesare will unearth one of the graves.
One of the newer ones
Xerice will suggest digging up all the graves. Any might hold a clue after all.
Sonny looks at the face. "I can't really tell when he died. Sorry to disappoint you.
It would be a good idea to check all of these collapsed graves and if we find any collapsed ones those too. I'm starting to get a bad feeling here though and think I know what we will find."
Even working together it takes about an hour per grave to excavate. The first one you dig up is an undamaged grave. At the bottom you find the remarkably well preserved body of an old woman, though her grave marker states she died over a decade ago. The next one you excavate is one of the sunken ones. Here there is no body. There is, however, an empty casket.
"Why bury them all in graves..."
|
Knowledge Arcana:10 total (4 rank, 3 int, 3 class skill)
Knowledge Dungeoneering:10 total (4 rank, 3 int, 3 class skill)
Knowledge Engineering:5 total (2 rank, 3 int)
Knowledge Nature:5 total (2 rank, 3 int)
Knowledge Planes:9 total (3 rank, 3 int, 3 class skill)
Knowledge Religion:4 total (1 rank, 3 int)
Sonny nods at Ezechias, "You are right my friend but I feel it is necessary to confirm my suspicions. I think these six sunken graves have been used to make the Beast. We have confirmed I think that the unsunken ones were not disturbed. We shall rebury her with full ceremony as we investigate the other five."
Sonny takes a careful look at the body to see how it was preserved.
"I doubt anyone would make a beast in a place like this island. Rather they would create it in a large laboratory filled with arcane artifacts. Remember that they say the beast took these people, so the beast would already have existed before hand.
Let's see if we can find anything to identify the corpses with. As well as the way they died. Perhaps they also have faces or something else missing."
"Xerice, I am not sure what happened here, but I am sure there have happened some hideous crimes. The dead deserve rest, I agree, but they also deserve justice, and the better I am armed with information, the better I am able to prove at court the innocence, or guilt, of the beast.
Also, I would like to see the dead to be buried at a place worthy of them, not some unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere!"
Excavating the other five sunken graves reveals coffins, but no bodies. They are all missing. There are grave markers by each grave, denoting the person's name and age at death.
"Xerice scribbles the names of the sunken graves as well as their age at death."
You excavate the graves, discovering all six sunken graves to be empty. They also seem to be the most recently buried graves as well. When you return the boats, you casually ask the boat's owner about the dead. He confirms their recently deaths, all older folks, all of extreme old age or work-related accidents. These swampers seem to be a hale and hearty folk.
By the time you arrive back in Lepidstadt, it's 2 am. Court begins at 10 am, but any new evidence must be presented to the Clerks by 9 am, which means you have 7 hours to sleep, dress and be ready to present yourselves in court.
Preparing the evidence in an orderly fashion, Caesare will ask if someone can help him so that he can get a quick nap before he presents the evidence at court
High class surgical tools with a raven motive?
A shortsword, a campfire, with half a skin of wine,
An artisans outfit, for sure to small for the beast
a detached human face, indicating a very high level of surgical precision
A dead dwarf combined with equipment
And someone stole 5 remains of people who were likely quite well preserved.
Now could the beast be made of pieces of the missing corpses. But in any case it needs a decently high level magic-user to make a flesh golem iirc
[/ooc]
You sleep fitfully, but wake in time to tell the Clerk you have evidence to introduce. He listens, writes down the nature of the evidence and nods to you, telling you that court will begin shortly.
The courtroom lies on the second floor of the building. There are several viewers in the gallery and Gustav Kaple looks pale and tired in his white wig. A heavy-set man in black half-plate stands at the front of the court and slams a heavy polearm butt onto the ground. "Hear ye, hear ye! All rise for the Judges."
The three Judges enter. The first is a dour man in his 80's, carrying a black mallet who sits behind a nameplate that reads Chief Justice Ambrose Khard. The second is a severe man who moves with military precision and bent, who sits behind the nameplate naming him as Justice Kasp Aldaar. Judge Embreth Daramid is the last, though she betrays nothing that says she recognizes you.
They are followed by a woman in heavy grey robes, bearing the holy symbol of Pharasma as well as five pale, elderly clerks who immediately begin to scribe anything said. Lastly, from a side door, a trio of guards enter with the Beast in tow, who is lead to a large cage in the center of room, where he is shackled inside.
The chief Justice stands and announces the trial to be opened. He speaks of the rules of court: no spell casting, no interruptions. All witnesses will remain in the respective chamber of the side they are testifying for until called.
He clears his throat and speaks in a clear bass voice. "The good people of Lepidstadt have suffered many acts of terror and barbarity at the hands of the Beast of Lepidstadt for many years, and that while the Beast is doubtless responsible for numerous murders, the prosecution will focus on three recent cases to prove the Beast’s guilt during this trial: the case of Morast, the deaths of the children of Hergstag and the burning down of the Sanctuary Asylum." He sits and gestures to the prosecutor to begin.
Prosecutor Otto Heiger outlines his case. He alleges that the Beast is responsible for the murder of 10 people in the village of Morast a year ago, in addition to two other horrendous crimes that will be described as the trial continues. Barrister Gustav Kaple then makes his case for the Beast’s innocence, a halfhearted attempt full of stutters and awkward pauses, all the while being jeered and booed by the baying mob in the gallery.
Justice Khard slams the gavel down with a resounding thud. The Herald of the Court, the man dressed all in black half-plate, calls out, "Silence in the court! If you cannot hold your tongues, you will be cast out!"
The prosecutor then calls the first witnesses. Otto first brings three locals from Morast, two young women and a man, to the stand. The trio describes events as they saw them happen—that over a series of nights, the Beast came to the village and took people away; that a trap was finally laid for the Beast; that the Beast was driven into the swamp, and, they assumed, killed. Otto then calls the village elder, Lazne, who led the mob that drove the Beast off. He confirms the events related by the other three villagers. He stares hard at Ezechias as he does, as if daring him to say otherwise.
The witnesses then step down and leave the court room. Gustav Kaple looks somewhat stricken and turns to you. "It's t-t-t-time for you."
Caesare is dressed in his best clothes and is carefully groomed. Putting the evidence on a table with gloved hands he turns around, bows before the court, takes a little moment to focus and starts to speak with the conviction and dedication of a trained speaker.
"Dear court, my name is Caesare Montoya, and I am working for the defence. I am an investigator in our glorios city of caliphas and by chance I was here yesterday and got tasked to help the defender with his case. My dear court yesterday my party and I went to morast to investigate the crimes there. I will present the court evidence that will show the case in a completly new light.
I swear by father Torag to speak the truth, nothing but the truth and his hammer shall strike me down if I break this oath!
Evidence piece one: We found this coffer hidden in the island. As you can see this is a set of surgical instruments of the highest quality, with a personal crest. This is something treasured, something only a physican of the highest order with a certain amount of wealth would own.
Evidence piece two: To preserve his, for sure equisite made, regular clothes, the real murderer used a set of clothes, to do his nefarious dead. I present this clothing, and even with a lot of imagination this clothes are definetly too small for the accused.
As an added benefit to aid his evil deeds the person had a potion to give him the ability to see in the dark. My dear court, the accused is nothing born of a living person, it is a flesh golem, a guardian for a practioner of magic of at least moderate power. But something went not the way the creator had planned it. It got conciossness and a soul. I will speak more about it at the last day, but for today I will but say one thing. It can by its nature see perfectly in the dark. As can dwarves. There is no need for him use a potion.
Speaking of dwarves, we did find the corpse of a dwarf on the island, together with a campsite and some wine.
I did speak of a neferious deed. What deed you might ask. I will present another piece of evidence. I apologize in advance for its nature. This is a detached face of a human being. This poor soul got his flesh carefully cut of the skull. This speaks again that the real murderer is a studious man.
Our last evidence is, and we apologize for this deed, but we did it to bring light to this dark matter and my comrades, a paladin and a cleric took care that nothing was done to lessen the peaceful rest of the dead. The island had a special soil and i preserves the dead. There were 5 plundered graves.
Last piece of evidence. The good people of morast did tell us that the real murderer was bitten by a huge caiman. Dear judges, the beast does not show any of the gruesome wounds it should have taken.
Ladies and Gentleman this all leads me to the following conclusion, with little room of error.
A studious man, or woman, most likely a human, and here I do take a guess, is the real murderer of morast. He did use the bodies for evil experiments. If you would ask me why, I would guess, and here I use the word guess, that this person wants to make a fleshgolem.
BUT the accused is not, CAN NOT be the real murderer. It has not the education, it has not the training, and it lacks the eye-hand coordination to use those tools at all.
I do not say the beast is innocent of all crimes, but for sure it is innocent of this crime. I repeat it is innocent! I will investigate the next crimescene this afternoon. Thank you for your time and attention!"
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"Your Honor, I would like to speak up as well, if you will indulge. I am Ezechias, a sworn Paladin of Sarenrae, and I hereby testify with the Truth and nothing but the Truth, so that Her Divine Light may shine upon these murky affairs."
"As my esteemed colleague Caesare Montoya related, we travelled to Morast yesterday to investigate the facts, and had a chance to interview the villagers as you did today. However some things came up."
"Firstly the village elder, Good Man Lazne here, says the mob he gathered only defended themselves from the Beast and did not attack. Yet later in the conversation, he admitted on ambushing the Beast. Hence, we can only state that the Beast was legitimally defending itself when the villagers attacked, and did not strike the first blow. Moreover, the Beast had no wish to hurt them, so it fled. While I do not doubt the courage of the citizens of Morast, I will question their ability to successfully beat a flesh golem. Even a seasoned paladin such as me would not prevail in that fight. Why did the Beast flee, then, you may ask? The answer is simple, your Honor. It is because it has a soul, and did not wish to harm other human beings since it has been bestowed with compassion. It knew that it could easily kill the villagers, but it did not do so."
"Secondly, the village elder says that the Beast took ten people away and butchered them. However, not a single abduction was witnessed. No one actually saw the Beast take any of them."
"Finally, there's the matter of the graves. If the Beast is such a monster as the villagers describe, why would it bother burying the bodies?"
"I will recount the events as the facts suggest thy happened. A murderer - not the Beast, but someone far more clever and elusive - abducted these poor people, using the bodies to conduct vile experiments and rituals. The villagers of Morast, in their grief, blamed it on the Beast and ambushed it when it came to the village. Not wanting to hurt them, the Beast fled, hereby refusing to hurt fellow human beings. I cannot blame elder Lazne or the good citizens of Morast. They have been through dreadful times, and did what they thought was best to defend their community. Yet I think their grief altered their judgement capacity, and they just made the wrong choices. Your Honor, thank you for hearing me. I remain dedicated to bringing the Truth to this court, so help me Sarenrae."
Xerice looks on as the proceedings to along, a tad bored perhaps.
- First Check: Six of the graves in Morast’s boneyard have been robbed
- Second Check: The Beast can see in the dark, so it does not require an extract of darkvision
- Third Check: Although the Beast was clearly seen to be bitten by a blood caiman, it has no scars from such an attack. .
- Fourth Check: Displaying the removed face of the poacher Nan Klebem
Go ahead and make the Diplomacy checks one at a time and note with check you're marking as well as which you're aiding if you're not primary.
First
Second
Third
Fourth
After a slow start Caesare manages to speak with eloquence and conviction, showing his true abilities.
From the benches Xerice keeps shouting arguments that Ceasare forgot or that he would not normally say.
"Don't forget to mention the Beast on trial has the intelligence of a 5 year old.
Only certain inferior humanoids races need elixers of Darkvision to see in the dark."