The half orc shakes his head and says "That is true, the verdict was unanimous. Ebin, Malgrim, Patrissa, Killian, Sir Rekkart, myself and the six who aren't here all found him guilty. Nothing sinister in that."
Malgrim speaks up at this point, "There was nothing fishy about the trial. There's no need to go digging into it."
When Volta mentions taking a whizz there is a childlike giggle heard from out in the hallway
Ianfir pulls the axe from the wall and with one raise brow, entertains his curiosity enough to peek out into the hall where the giggle came from.
Groff grunts and mutters "Just what I heard. "
Volta whirls at the sound of the giggle. He calls out, "Hi there! I'm Volta, who are you? Please come out where I can see you. I'd like to talk, wouldn't that be fun?" Volta tries to be charming in an untutored way.
Charming but unskilled.
"Well, apparently someone didn't like the verdict," Kanna says, rubbing her shoulder unconsciously.
Ianfir walks to the door and pokes his head outside and sees nothing that would have giggled. Eight enormous marble pillars fill this great hall, holding aloft grand balconies. Years of dust cover the floor, and muslin coverings are draped over the railings of baroque staircases curling like lazy serpents up to the raised landings above. A rusted chandelier above sheds the dim light of a few guttering candles. An impressive grandfather clock more than ten feet tall rests against the center of the western wall, its face decorated with guilty souls suffering Asmodeus’ torments: evisceration, force-feasting of coals, scalding blades tearing them apart, and other less savory punishments. The clock stands between a set of impressive oak doors and a lone oak door of equitable splendor, identical to another set across the hall. The largest set of doors is at the south end of this long hall. They are barred against the night.
Malgrim growls at the group "The prosecution made it's case and we convicted the murderer. If there was any more evidence then the defense would have brought it up. We've more pressing matters than a ten year old trial, we need to get out of here."
Sir Rekkart stands next to Patrissa and tries to assure the newcomers "I know that the trial was fair. I was part of it. Do you think I would have let injustice be done? Iomedae would never let me continue in her service had I done an injustice like that."
Ianfir presses the hall door to open and moves out of the courtroom, Three-Toes at the heel. Slowly and methodically Ianfir dares moving to the door that is barred to the outside to see if the bar might be lifted, but careful not to cross under the chandelier.
Finngarth looks at anything left on or around the evidence table after parts of the ceiling fell in on it.
Volta, getting no other response, sees Ianfir daringly move out to the door and joins him at the door. He's ready to dodge the next bizarre attack and looks over the door for traps or tricks and evaluates it for how to get it open with his considerable talent for unwanted entry or exit.
Volta talks to Ianfir, "Nice friend you have there, I'm Volta, let me see if there are any trouble at this door, I'm kinda good at getting out of places."
Is the door area trapped or tricked out in any way? Does Volta see a way to get the door open with his skills? Trapfinding bonus included.
Sir Rekkart turns to Seldion and says "Half of the jury is here and you can judge for yourself as to our stability, the others were about the same as us. The judge seated the jury and all was fair." His eyes then shift to Ianfir as he heads for the door and Volta follows him.
As Ianfir steps out into the hallway with Volta a little behind him, the grandfather clock goes berserk, tolling and clanging dissonantly. Everyone experiences images of strangulation, death, and murder by axe. Everyone make a will save or take:
Wisdom damage
After the clock sounds everyone hears a childlike giggle receding into the distance.
After recovering from the assault Volta examines the doors outside and finds no traps but the doors are stuck shut.
The tolling of the grandfather clock alarms Finngrath, the images of strangulation racing through his head. Fortunately, as a dwarf and a trained clergy member, he is able to fight through the images without permanent damage. With the doors stuck fast, he wonders what needs to happen to free themselves of this run-down courtroom that seems to mock Abadar's justice.
Already off kilter from someone influencing his mind, the blaring clock drives daggers into his sanity.
The clock images are disturbing but the giggling creature is even more so. Volta tries holding on to his sanity.
By the narrowest of margins Volta fails, he mind spinning from the twisted images. Volta stumbles back to the group as soon as he can.
"Aaaahrgh!" Kanna screams as the ringing of the clock digs at her sanity.
Regardless of the fairness of the trial, the spirits felt strongly about the outcome or else we wouldn't be here witnessing any of this. I just saw murders by strangulation and by the axe, though I didn't see the killer, Ianfir shares with everyone. The child's laughter just now. One or more of the children's spirits are still trapped here with us as well. If the child is one of the victims, why is the spirit trapped here at the courthouse and not somewhere else? Did the murder's take place here?
Seldion walks over to the clock and examines its case and finds that it could be opened if he wanted to do so.
When Ianfir states the spirits have a problem with the outcome of the trial Malgrim "The spirits ain't got no reason to be upset. You're just spooked because this area's abandoned. Now drop it."
Sir Rekkart snorts at the hobgoblin and turns to Ianfir "I thought you knew. Mord was the groundskeeper and hangman for this courthouse. He and his family lived here and he killed them here. His trial has the distinction of being the only trial for murder held where the murder took place."
"...and presumably, he was killed here also?" finishes Finngarth, making the assumption. "I'm sure none of that had anything to do with the hauntings we are experiencing."
He tries to remember what he learned about haunts, and cleansing places from his days in training, but the mystic arts had little interest for him then, so his memory is fuzzier than he'd like.
Volta recovers a bit from his fit, when the aggressive hobgoblin speaks dismissively. He seems a bit too obvious to be a plant, but why is he so determined to justify the verdict and divert from the seeming ghostly aspect?
-1 is due to wis damage. Is Malgrim hiding or covering something? Is there anything that points to his real motivations?
Ianfir replies to Malgrim coldly, Thank you for your opinion, but I'll drop nothing. You can't know how anyone else felt. To pretend or claim otherwise only serves to prove your ignorance on such matters. Then Ianfir moves to check the other rooms off the main hall without passing under any chandelier.
Stuck between a desire to make himself scare of his haunted place, and the compulsion to guard the lady, Groff sits and twitches.
Finngarth stands in thought for a moment but doesn't come up with any thoughts about haunts other than he is fairly sure he has seen two already.
Seldion goes over to clock to examine it and sees the chain and weight on the bottom of the case. He notices nothing out of the ordinary with the clock. As he closes the case back up there is another giggle coming from the doors opposite the ones he came in from.
Volta chews in his mind over his conclusions. Well, he knows much more than he's telling and that was something wrong with the trial, now how do I make use of that info and not have him chop my head off?
Volta strolls back to Ianfir, "Sorry about being spooked there just a bit unnerving you know, with spooks and all." When he is very close to him he whispers very quietly to him, "Take care, I'm good at reading people, that Malgrim is very confident that you and your friend are no threat to him, and he is to you. He thinks he is in charge and very confident about that too. He was involved in the trial and it was not on the up and up. He knows it and wants it buried. Be very circumspect for now and don't challenge him until you are sure of a lot of support, okay?" Volta looks very serious and concerned at Ianfir with his back to the rest of the group.
Ianfir moves to check the other rooms off the main hall without passing under any chandelier.
Volta sighs and wanders to the door ahead of him to see if it is safe to open. No one listens to me, i'm on my own, I just don't know how to deal with this much weird stuff yet. but if this doesn't kill me I'll learn.
Is the door area trapped or tricked out in any way? If not open it, if so let me know.
Volta examines the door and finds nothing amiss and opens it. These simple quarters haven’t been used in years. A plain oak desk stands near the back. Several voluminous texts on Absalom law, all gilt-edged and bound in leather, lay scattered about in the room.
Finngarth cannot determine just what is gonig on here, but he follows behind Volta as the rogue explores the place.
Groff remains guarding his mistress.
Volta looks around the boring books when a thought strikes him and he starts to look for any records on a trial 10 years old, the one that is so controversial it wakes the dead.
"Wonder if there are any records of the trial that has troubled the dead around here? Mind helping finding out?" Volta says.
If an opportunity opens to quietly and unobserved speak to the others that have come into the room he will give them the same warning that he gave to Ianfir. If he sees or has reason to believe Malgrim can hear, he will exercise sufficient discretion as to not get his throat cut.
As Volta, Ianfir, Finngarth and Seldion begin exploring the room there is a loud cackling from in the room as the books are thrown around the room.
You all have close calls as books zing by your head. Ianfir has one bounce off his armor but does no damage. As the room quiets down and the books stop flying there is one book open on the desk in the room. It seems safe to look around the room.
When the storm of books finally subsides, Finngarth enters the library and peruses the book left open on the desk, curious what it might be.
Finngarth approaches the desk and examines the book. He sees that it is called “Punish the Guilty.” It is open to a passage that reads, “We, entrusted with justice, must be above reproach. Those who fail to serve justice blindly shall reap what they sow.”
Volta rises an eyebrow at Seldion, "Pray good sir, I don't see that. So far it tells us only what we know already: that a spirit is unhappy because of that trial." Volta tries to see if there is anything of actual use near that passage in the book.
Kanna follows the others into the library, arriving just in time to witness the flying books. "Very unhappy," she nods.
Looking around the room you see books scattered all over the place. There are some still on the shelves but they look like they landed there not that they were stored there. There seems to be nothing precluding a thorough search at this time.
"By the Banker!" cries Finngarth, looking around the mess in the room. "This is not how orderly records are kept. Let see if this can be put to right."
Out of sense of organization drilled into him by hours working on records in the vaults of the Bank of Abadar, Finngarth starts the tedious process of looking through the books and trying to establish some sort of organization. If he sees anything remotely related to this case, he puts it aside for the others to comb through.
When Finngarth goes to sort the books, Volta joins him, when the chance comes to quiet communicate he whispers to him. "You don't know me but I feel I should warn you, I'm a good judge of people. Malgrim is very confident he is in charge, and no one here is a threat to him. He also is dissembling about the trial in someway. He know something and what it is is shady. I have no desire to challenge him without lots of support and I have only my good instincts to go on so far. Please be careful, a stone has been thrown into deep waters here."
Volta will also aid Finngarth in his task.