"I see," Lord Padraig answers, "I had a feeling there was some residual tension from your arduous quest.  I was only delaying the trial thinking you would rather rest first.  My apologies.  We shall have the trial right away if that will help set your minds at ease."

He nods a bow.  The guards look very relieved.  Kitau looks skeptical, but stands.

Mittens purses her lips and raises an eyebrow.  "So much for war crimes, I suppose?"

"This works out well, actually," Padraig says, "It's best they not be given the chance to coordinate a lie.  I'll be questioning them one by one.  Put a hood on each prisoner before you wake them.  Don't let any know that the others are still out cold.  We'll see how their story holds up."

He heads off to the courthouse.  The guards attend to carrying out his orders.  Mittens follows.  Kitau hesitates, then follows as well.

  Terdisas asides to Mittens, "I am from a city of merchants and contracts, expecting the most damaging twist of law used against you is somewhat bred into me."

  The sorcerer has little problem with Callie claiming leadership.  She was an adorable servant of the gods, that sort of thing looked best on leadership posters compared to the rest of them.  At least for publicity if not instilling fearing in evil... Unless you were a Care Bears villain or something.

Callie and Dido go with the others. Callie looks up at Terdisas. "It is best to expect the worst and hope for the best. If you are pessimistic, then life can only get brighter compared to expectations."

Dido doesn't say anything. He glances at Kitau, but otherwise just walks.

"And here I thought I had it bad," Mittens mutters in answer to Terdisas, "Sorry for your background.  Yeesh."

Kitau hung the whistle around her neck and stowed the toy in her pack.  She was sure to gingerly pick up the flowers before moving on, and is carefully dusting the dirt off them, occasionally bringing them close to her lips to enjoy the fragrance and soft feel.  She keeps her serious face with an occasional twinge of emotion.

The trial goes as expected.  One by one the goblins rat each other out, each telling nasty tales about the others in hopes of getting leniency for themselves.  The fat one tries to bribe the Padraig with promises of great treasure in exchange for his life, but the man isn't swayed.

"For willingly working for Kalarel, knowing that he was opening a rift to the Shadowfell with intent on unleashing an army of undead on Winterhaven and beyond, I sentence you all to death by hanging."

Kitau looks very relieved.  She closes her eyes and cries quietly.

  Terdisas has already explained the part where he had to flee his city lest he be imprisoned or worse merely for being a Sorcerer.  But of course, Legal woes are always considered more frightening and traumatic.  Especially around tax time.  As it is, Kitau was clearly winning the 'I have it worse than you' game.

  Like when the Sorcerer first met his recent friends, there had been a crying woman in need of a handkerchief.  In this case, it was one of his friends doing the crying, so of course he offered Kitau one.

  No fancy words this time, just a small gesture.

Callie wins the "I had it better than you" game in that she had a charmed, loving childhood and a nice adulthood. So far. But that being the case, she loves sharing the wealth as it were. She keeps close to Kitau and pets the gnome.

When the sentence is passed, Callie says, "I'm going to skip the hanging, guys and gals. I'll see you back at the inn."

She doesn't seem upset at the turnout. So at least Callie won't be going on Timothius on people about dead goblins. She does think it's a shame the goblins didn't have any guidance towards decency, but... yeah.

Dido says, "We'll meet you there then, Callie. I'm going to stay and bear witness. You alright?"

Callie nods and says, "I'm fine. I had hoped there was some decency in the dark, but I didn't expect it."

Dido nods back. "Alright then." he watches the hanging.

Kitau doesn't shy away from the affection, but she does stay behind to watch the hanging.

"Me go with!" Mittens says, trotting along side Callie, "Unless you want some alone time."

Once Callie's left, Kitau passes a note to Lord Padraig who looks at it and answers, "I plan to have the bodies burned on a pyre.  Why do you ask?"

Kitau writes some more and passes the note to him.  Padraig skews his lips.  "Um... sure."  He looks over at one of the guards.  "Allow her access to the bodies before they're burned."  The guard salutes.

  Terdisas opts to stick with Kitau for the moment, though he's clearly paying more attention to the Gnome than the assembly line of death.  He is full of second guesses as to the nature of Kitau's request to Padraig, but doubts he will guess accurately without hindsight.

  It could be anything from 'punch the bodies while screaming' to 'make hats out of their skinned faces' at this point.

Dido doesn't like that Kitau is being secretive. So much so, he holds his hand out to Padraig expectantly, as if asking for the notes Kitau just passed to Padraig. But to clear confusion, Dido requests, "May I see those?"

Callie heads back to the inn with Mittens. She laces her hands behind her head, having no big sword to worry about since she left it back at her room. "You know, Mittens... most people would consider what we did with the dragon to be retirement material. And this latest thing? Same story. Us? ...I get the feeling we won't get the chance to consider retiring. I feel like evil is just determined to keep us from living life."

The Lord looks to Kitau for permission who nods, so he hands the notes over to Dido.

The first reads, "What do you plan to do with the bodies of the prisoners."

The second reads, "I request access to them before they're burned."

Kitau is already busy helping the guards load the bodies onto carts to be hauled to the trash pyre outside town.

"But this IS living life!" Mittens gasps, "To it's fullest!  And I've only just begun!  I hadn't even the most distant thought of retirement.  Who wants to sit on a rocking chair watching the grass grow?  Booooring!  If I have my way, I'll not die of age, but from some planes-shattering explosion when I plunge a holy sword into the black heart of Orcus atop some burning mountain while riding on my flying warforged unicorn pegasus mount!

"But I get the feeling that's not your cup of tea.  To each their own.  If you're really that fed up with the hero business, we'll be passing through Winterhaven.  If this Sister Linora is a healer and willing to tag along, we could just drop you off when we get there.  Or we could stock up on piles of healing potions.  Or maybe there's someone in Winterhaven willing to take your place.  But I very much doubt there's anyone in this wide world or beyond that's got your level of heart.  Can't replace your love for us.  Heck, even Kitau hugged you.

"Or did I miss your point completely?"

  "I would prefer you are at least able to walk away from such an explosion if it turns up Mittens.  As for events apparently nobody else is willing to deal with, they happen constantly across the world and realms.  We are only noticing the ones nearby."

  Don't worry, the Fantabulous Four dealt with Professor Damned's mini tarrasuqe over the weekend.

  Terdisas refrains from the manual interaction with the corpses, so far just keeping an eye on the Gnome and hoping that at lest whatever happens gives more closure than can openings in the end.

Dido is calmed by Kitau's matter-of-fact attitude, but still follows her and the bodies. He's just curious now.

Callie continues her conversation with Mitts, "I... want to get married, have kids, grandkids, sit on my porch on a rocking chair watching the kids play and be happy. But damned souls in Hell want ice water. I can not turn my back on people in need, no matter how great my desire to settle down may be. But that is why I became a cleric, Mittens. I knew I would be sacrificing my future so others can live that dream of living life."

She looks over her shoulder at Terdisas who was apparently still just in hearing range. She smiles and waves. "Too true, Terdisas! We should never forget we are not alone." she looks up at Mittens again. "Heh... I really am replaceable, I suppose."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:46, Mon 02 May 2011.

Mittens cantrips the words, "ME TOO" over her head to reply to Terdisas rather than raise her voice.

"I'd sooner take a knife to my gut than have kids," she says to Callie matter-of-factly, "But I realize my preferences are not the norm for women.  For one so eager for such yourself, I'm a little surprised you haven't made any moves on Dido.  You can't say 'haven't had a chance to' because we had a several long spans of journey time already.  Ya know, maybe he's just as eager for the whole traditional 'happily ever after' romantic end to his story as you are.

"And apparently Mittens once again epic fails at trying to get a point across.  I was trying to say you're not replaceable on a friendship level.  I consider it a 'no duh' that everyone's replaceable on a functional level given that even gods can be replaced ala Raven Queen and Bane and such.  So my point is you can have your cake and eat it too.  You can have your dreams come true and be a hero.  Happens all the time in the story books."

Once outside town the bodies are piled up next to the trash heap.  Logs are being hauled here too and piled up to make for a fire hot enough to cremate the dead.  Kitau drags a body from the pile and proceeds to hack it to pieces with her axe.

"O...K..." one guard says, staring.

Kitau switches to her mace and begins pulverizing the pieces.

  The sight of Kitau hacking up the corpses to little bits with an axe, was quite simply, amazing.  "Chirp, wow.  When did she get an axe? Tweet?" The 4th wall shatters, and we take a moment to put it back together while Terdisas whaps Superbird upside the head for pointing out the trivial compromises in reality.

  Okay, so it's really the lowest end of his barely passing as morbid expectations.  But that is likely for the best.  "This is actually surprisingly practical.  The remains will burn faster, and you will have to spend less time watching the fire...  Of course, you may also have to deposit the remains onto the fire with a shovel."

Dido says, "I figured the practicality was making sure they don't come back as undead because they are in too many pieces. But then, why not just wait until they are burned into skeletal remains? Oh well... it's Kitau. She's probably just executing therapy of some kind. She'll wear herself out soon enough for as thorough as she's being."

The bodies are dead. And frankly, Dido sees goblins in the same light most people do. So seeing this isn't too disturbing when you just came back from what this group did.

Callie sighs. "I.. noticed Dido and Kitau seem to have something. At least a chance, anyway. And as wonderful as Dido is, Kitau needs him much much more than I do." she then chuckles. "Heh... if I'm the classic 'woman who winds up with a jerk for a husband', I suppose I'll just put him in his place by reminding him I stopped a zombie apocalypse by sealing a rift to the shadowfell." she says in a joking manner. "As for being irreplaceable as a friend... thanks. I guess I have a long way to go with you yet, though. Just a feeling. We'll see, right?"

Kitau nods at Dido.  The guards shrug, light the fire, and begin piling parts onto the fire.

"Hey, he's right!" one says, "This IS practical!  Here I thought this was gunna be back-breaking to have to huck those lumps of lard onto the fire.  Messy, but less effort."

---

Mittens forces a grin.  Not doing a terribly good job of it.

"I look forward to more adventures with you, Callie," she says, "How to put this in a way that doesn't sound fail...  Hmm...  First I'll start by saying romance is my least favorite topic in the world.  That said, it's important enough to you, my friend, that I will continue on said topic.

"Dido needs you more than he needs Kitau.  Heck, Kitau needs you more than she needs Dido.  You think there's some attraction between her and him?  I think that if there is any, it's so tiny that neither have any idea that it's there.  'Kill them all' isn't the usual response to flowers.  That girl's got years of healing ahead of her before she's ready to be a bride.  And after all that waiting, she falls for someone else besides Dido.  And Dido winds up with some demanding, nagging wife.  He could have had the sweetest girl in the world as a wife, but she was too busy putting herself down to give him a chance.

"You get where I'm going?  I don't think it wise to rule yourself out.  I'll ask him who he's interested in and you can ask Kitau.  Sound reasonable?"

  Terdisas is not so vulgar as to say something like 'I'd still dip it in the crazy'.  Because it's generally safer not to, no matter how hot they are.  This and never resorting to the kind of companionship you pay for occasionally makes one feel they have wasted their CHA primary.  "I swear if Kitau has started a trend of installing grinders in crematoriums, I am asking for a cut of the profits."

Dido says, "I've seen enough... I'm going to sleep." He looks at Terdisas. "Join me? Or you sticking around here for a bit?"

Meanwhile, Callie says, "Funny how fate likes to play jokes on us like that. A merciful cleric matched up with a bloodthirsty ball of rage. A cleric of love matched up with someone who hates romance. I appreciate you offering to ask for me. But I don't want to torture you."

Kitau pauses from her work and approaches Dido with a frown.  "Thanks for the flowers," she says, glancing down at where she laid them, "Please put them in some water for me."

She looks up at Terdisas. "Thank you for the whistle."

---

Mittens squirms.

"A far greater torture for me would be to know that I allowed my friend to life-alteringly bad choice such as pass up a chance at her dream come true," she says, "That said, I'll gladly drop the topic if you promise me you're going to talk to them both about the topic.  Before we leave town."

  Terdisas comments to Dido "I believe I will stick around for a short while longer, rest well Dido."  When Kitau approaches and thanks them, he nods.  "You're welcome. It felt like an insignificant gesture, but it is good to see the thought has counted."