Justice 'Hangman' Tully's page

Tully gingerly removed the two scrolls from the case and his eyes grew wide with surprise. He unfurled the first scroll which he examined closely before saying loudly "From Tir's grace come the laws of Phlan."

The vellum flared with incandescent light and an ethereal voice started reading the law, droning on incessantly about acts that had been abolished. After several minutes of this Tully said, "Stop." and the ethereal voice fell silent.

Tully scratched his ear before remarking, "Well that's pretty cut and dried. The only instance in which a Bill of Attainder can still be applied is to a noble house who aided and abetted treason. Regarding the former acolytes of Mask they are clearly not from a noble house although I'm sure some bright spark would try to argue otherwise due to the cult's defacto wealth and influence. The legal definition of a noble house is precise, you're either on the list or you're not and they're not. With that in mind the case against them is dismissed and in absence of any other charges I hereby order their immediate release."

He scratched something on a parchment, used a candle to pour some wax on it and made an impression of the official seal which he and the clerk countersigned. The clerk then handed this to Braccio.

"Anything else? If not I'm going back to bed... Oh and Friar Jenkins you shall have custody of these law scrolls, see that some copies are made." asked Tully.

Tully's eyes bore into Braccio and sounding tired he asks, "Braccio what's this in aid of? It better be something important..."

Justice Tully listens to you and reluctantly accepts the letter. He opens it with a fancy silver letter opener and quickly scans the document. "Hmmm" he ponders for a moment, before making a face "Politics." Glancing at Azarra he adds "The presence of Black watch members agitating the crowd has not gone unnoticed. Regarding Councilor Urslingen's request. Normally we hang thieves, but sometimes there are extenuating circumstances... Very well lets see what Urslingen can do with tenday. Court Adjourned." Bang when the gavel, and Justice Tully promptly got up and went thought the door to his private chambers.

Next your sight is drawn to the dock. There stand shackled the women you captured. Mostly they look numb and downtrodden, dumbstruck by noise and the night certainty of their fate. All that is except for Natalia who was staring at the bench with a look of unrepentant determination. Your eyes followed her gaze the judge who was presently an unhealthy beet red. BANG BANG! Went the gavel followed by "ORDER! ORDER in the court." BANG BANG BANG! "Sergeant at arms! Fetch an armored detail. If the commons cannot behave themselves then we shall clear the court." The sergeant saluted and dashed past you towards the exit.

Some how in the middle of all of this Azarra noticed you standing there. She flashed a brief if somewhat drawn smile. The noise of the chants from upstairs are defining, calling the women a litany of filthy names and promising to watch them hang.

What followed next was an undiginifed process where a platoon of watch armed with cudges in full plate armor forcibly cleared the public gallery. Many of the citizens wisely decided to leave upon their arrival but more then one had to be beaten silly before they called it a day. Suddenly relative silence decends upon the court as the last one is dragged away kicking and screaming. After a couple of minutes the court settled back into the proper decorum and one of the sushers whispered something to Judge Tully. He glanced your way and said, "I'm told you wish to make representations. Very well you may proceed."

His face darkened during Azarra's speech. He glanced at Ser Armithia and then settled upon Zane as he too spoke in favour of the women. Justice Tully sighed and checked something on a paper before replying with a deep frown, "Normally such representations could be taken into account during sentancing, however the city council has seen fit to tie my hands..." He then leveled an irritaed glare at Natalia, "In answer to your earlier question. No the bill of attainder does not prevent legal representation, but it does remove all leeway I might have had. And no that does not seem particularly fair. But for better or worse it is the law."