OOC 17 (roll)

As you step into the judge's chambers, you noticed a desk made of greel wood.  It was topped with papers scattered across with no apparent order to it.  The thick, expensive carpet, had piles of books haphazardly thrown into all but one corner.  That remaining corner contained an overflowing trash receptacle along with a pile of dirty rags.  The window behind the desk had an impressive view of the city, but were smudged with fingerprints.  The deep crimson drapes framing the window were well kept, with only one of them pulled back.  Interim Chief Judge Pakyu Meni indicated that you should sit in the chairs surrounding his desk.

As everyone took their seats, Pakyu Meni started speaking.  "I wanted to let you know right away that both I and my staff will offer you our full cooperation."

"Thank you, we would greatly appreciate that," Master Tabret responded.

"However," Pakyu Meni continued, "I must warn you not to trust anything my brother tells you.  He is very smart and very clever.  And I'm sure he has no wish to die, so he will say anything to convince you he is innocent.  I assure you that your investigation will come to the same conclusion that put him in jail in the first place."

OOC: Any reaction?

Jubali was keeping her place for the moment.  She may be informal around friends and allies but on a Mission she wasn't going to speak out of turn.

"We appreciate your cooperation," Dane spoke up, "but as far as the investigation goes, we will remain neutral until we have made our own determination."

"Very well," Pakyu Meni replied simply.  He pressed a button on his desk, and his aide entered as he said "Hetch Kee will escort you to the prison where Payan Kai is being held."

There was not much fanfare as you were escorted back out to the speeders which whisked you off to the prison.

OOC: Any comments along the way?

"It's never a good sign when someone tries to influence your decision before you've even started your investigation."

"Agreed," Master Tabret admitted.  "Still, he may be right about his brother being willing to lie to us to get out of jail.  We must be wary during the interrogation," she warned.

Jubali tried hard to make sure she wasn't going into the interview with a bias.

The prison turned out to be one of the trapezoid-shaped buildings, in a slate grey color.  Hetch Kee introduced your group to the warden of the prison, who escorted you to an interrogation room.  The room was made out of transparisteel and adjoined the prisoner's holding cell.  You could see that Payan Kai was already seated at the table in the room, with two empty chairs facing him.  Two guards stood outside the door, holding blaster rifles at attention.  "In case something goes wrong," the warden explained.

Master Tabret reached for the door's access panel, but Ranger Cardosa stopped her.  "Let's let these two lead out the interrogation," he suggested, indicating Jubali and Traest.  When Traest gave him a concerned look, he added, "We'll ask any follow-up questions you don't think of."  He swept his arm forward, indicating that you two should enter first.

As the four of you entered the room, the would-be chief judge scoffed.  "Great, now they're sending Jedi to meddle in Dorin's affairs."

OOC: You are now participating in an Interrogation-style Skill Challenge.  You may describe your actions/reaction before you actually take your Skill Challenge turn, just make sure to differentiate between your RPing and your turn.

"I'm afraid we're the only ones trusted to be neutral arbitrators," Jubali replied.  "We're here to listen to both sides, look at the evidence and make a judgement.  Tell us your story."

"Well I do hope somebody can clean up this mess," Payan Kai said.  "But how do I know you can help me?"

"You don't," Jubali said, sitting and crossing her legs and arms.  "But we're your only chance...assuming your genuinely innocent.  If you are then you can be sure we'll get you off."

OOC: Make a Persuasion check.

OOC 9 (roll) + 1 (Cha modifier) = 10

"Perhaps that is what you believe, but  you are not a Kel Dor," Payan Kai replied, unconvinced.  He stood and started to pace the room.

Traest jumped in, trying a different angle.  "Well they must be treating you well, your cell is the cleanest cell I've ever seen."

"The cleanliness and organization of my cell is of my own doing," Payan Kai said with a sneer.  "I am what Humans might call, a neat freak."

"And was your campaign similarly well organized?" Traest continued.

"Of course, it was the best organized of the three; and I should have won," Payan Kai replied, some strain starting to come into his voice.

"So why didn't you?" Traest pressed.  "Was it because of your limp?"  He asked, noticing the Kel Dor's strange gait as he paced.

"My limp?"  Payan Kai asked absent-mindedly.  "Oh that.  No, that happened towards the end of my campaign tour.  I took a bad step off of a stage."


"And your brothers didn't take advantage of that?" Dane tested.

Payan Kai snorted.  "No, they're both too inept to even consider such a ploy.  Look, my brother Pahor An only won because of name recognition--our father Pahor An was the previous chief judge.  The only thing he's ever been good at is being popular.  And as for Pakyu Meni, well his body may be strong, but his mind, not so much."


You could tell your master was trying to get a bead on Payan Kai with the Force.  "But your thoughts betray you Payan Kai, you were planning a coup."

"Indeed, I was," Payan Kai admitted with a sigh. "But I was never planning on killing anyone.  I was just going to take over and exile Pahor An."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 23:14, Mon 17 Nov 2014.

"Who examined your leg," Jubali asked.

"My private physician," Payan Kai replied.  "It's just a bad sprain."

"Would you mind if we looked at it?" Jubali asked.

"I don't know what you hope to gain from that," Payan Kai said, narrowing his eyes.  "But if you wish."  He pulled up his prison trouser leg.

"Ranger Cardosa," Jubali called.  "Could you come examine this injury, please?"

"Sure," Dane said.  He looked at the Kel Dor's ankle and touched it gingerly.  "It's slightly bruised and swollen as if it was twisted several days ago and still recovering," he announced.

"There, that wasn't so painful was it?" Jubali said.  "Just a little verification goes a long way."

OOC: Make a Persuasion check.

OOC 2 (roll) + 1 (bonus) = 3  Well done Jubes.

"Maybe it goes a long way for you," Payan Kai replied disdainfully, "But all it's shown me is that you don't trust me."

"We are remaining neutral for now," Ranger Cardosa soothingly corrected, "and verifying all new information.  It would go a long way if you could tell us more."


"I suppose," Payan Kai admitted.  "I must say, I'm not even sure how anyone knew what we were planning," Payan Kai began.  "We were very careful to keep it a secret.  We hadn't even spread the word enough to carry out our plan.  But I'm telling you I couldn't have murdered my brother, I was at a meeting with my rebel group at the time it happened!"


OOC: I'll let Jubali react to this before I take Master Tabret and Traest's turns, if you want.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:43, Fri 27 Mar 2015.

"Do you have a way of proving that?" Jubali asked.  "That could clear all of this up really quickly.  Who else was there with you?"