Catching Jonah's nod,  Vadim responded with a ponderous shake of the head.  The stooped man's stomach growled, deep and long, and he frowned in irritation.  He never knew how to eat tiny food without making a mess;  he'd had no wish to be the one to get crumbs all over the judge's foreign rug, but now he regretted foregoing the delicate fare.  If its words so far were any indication then getting answers from the Beast would be like chipping away at a granite headstone, and at this rate they'd be here well past lunchtime.

"No, I am not here to make troubles worse," Karamazov muttered at the guardsman.  Grimacing, he massaged his temples before running a broad tattooed hand over his bald head.  That was, they'd miss lunch if the Captain didn't throw them out first.

"Chancellor, please," Vadim loomed up beside the senior guard officer, addressing Darcon with the only scholarly title he could think of, "The Captain has charge of the prison.  If you are using Arts he says are unlawful, I also must ask you to stop."  Thumbing open the catch on one of the pouches across his chest, he produced a pair of manacles.

"If the Captain orders you siezed or to leave the courthouse and I do as he says, there may be a struggle and there will no doubt be much, much paperwork.  Then you will not like to work with me."  He looked up at the dungeon ceiling in the direction of the courtyard and the pyre they had passed on the way.

"If I defend you and crack skulls of the Captain's guards, then Judge Daramid will put me in the big wooden man outside to burn, and there will also be much paperwork.  Then I think I will not like woorking with you."  In his restless hand, the manacle bracelets clinked together.

"Both ways we will not see Kaple's evidences today or Morast this afternoon.  Captain is a good man, we do as he says.  There are many times we will be back this week, maybe with papers.  Time for magics later, unless we are slow today and trial goes poorly tomorrow.  Then no magic will make the difference, and I think we will not get paid."

---

OOC: Convincing or not, Darcon might get some mileage out of his spell while Vadim makes his speech.

SCG nods at Vadim seeing the sense in forestalling and considering the captains objections in a respectful manner rather than leaping to obey potentially unlawful orders....

“The judge is just across the street, perhaps she could help you to better inform us of the task ahead of us.  If one of you can request her assistance.  It was her though that sent us here to obtain what information is available and she did not warn of restrictions .”
This message was last edited by the player at 17:15, Thu 14 Nov 2019.

As Darcon breaks the law in front of the guard, Garland asks questions the Beast doesn't seem to understand, Sir Constantine throws his weight around in various ways, and Vadim tries to be a backwards voice of reason, only Jonah's music and soft questions seem to bring any real reaction out of the Beast.

And the Beast is why they're here.  He seems childlike or simple, but from his massive appearance and the guards' assessment that he would get violent if one approaches, Shade didn't intend to get within reach.  He wasn't trying to get away now, but Shade truly doubted that the prison could hold the Beast if he wanted to get away.

She steps out from behind Jonah and moves to his side, dropping her questions into a lull.

"You said that adults hate you and most children do.  My sister lived at Hergstag, where those children went missing and were found dead."  'Sharla's' head goes down and her voice becomes thick and choked with sadness.  "Did those children come to see you and talk to you?  Or did you go to them?"

The guard captain continued to bluster and posture, and the rest of his guards hoovered outside the circle clustered at the entrance to the cell. The Beast seemed pacified at the moment by Jonah's music, but was still having difficulty understanding what was being asked of it.

"Do you get angry...? ...we all get angry sometimes." Jonah prompted.

The Beast didn't answer, but shook its head sharply. Perhaps in denial, perhaps in dis conformation.

"Did those children come to see you and talk to you?  Or did you go to them?" Shade asked.

The Beast grunted and gnashed its terrible teeth.

"Just little'ns. Not all. Only Eller. Just Eller."

It began to rock back and forth, its grimace widening, and a great, deep sound like hiccoughing laughter jerked its shoulders up and down. "Har, har, har, har," Each jarring exhalation was like a convulsion.

Darcon stepped up, concentrating on his magic as he asked his questions. The captain and his guard's thoughts were as apparent as the looks on their faces, they considered the Beast guilty and were only concerned that it would escape before punishment could be meted out. Kaple's mind was similarly split, he too thought that the beast was guilty but had an iron determination to carry out his duty and defend it to the best of his abilities. The creature's thoughts were hazy, difficult to codify, more instinctual than definite. It was ruled by fear and discomfort, but layered over an almost overwhelming sea of sorrow and loneliness.

"Creature, were you responsible for the murders in Morast and in Hergstag? Did you burn down the asylum on Karb Isle?" He asked.

The Beast's gaze slowly shifted to the mage.

"I didn't do it. I didn't do it! I DIDN'T DO IT! I DIDN'T DO IT!" The Beast's words began a low, wrenching denial and escalated in pitch until it was bellowing, roaring, specks of saliva spraying from stretched lips. It wrenched its body back and forth, struggling against the thick chains that held it. The iron of the chair creaked and groaned but held firm as the creature continued to rave, roaring and bellowing. Darcon could only watch in horror as the Beast's mind blackened, every thought subsumed under a roiling wave of all-consuming rage.

"That is it. The six of you, get out of here, NOW! Get everyone in here!" The guard captain shouted, first at our heroes, and then to his men. Already the sounds of booted feet came thundering down the stairs as the rest of the courthouse guards spilled into the room. The captain started barking orders and they fanned out, ready to restrain the creature should it slip its bonds.

"Oh dear, perhaps Captain Walton is right. Please, follow me." Barrister Kaple said, clearly frightened. He quickly lead the group up the stairs, the din fading behind them, and ushered them into a cramped office on the second floor of the courthouse.

SCG watches the prisoner as everyone heads up stairs.

“Well defender Kaple it seems clear that he is pleading not guilty to the charges and secondly we need to find his friend Eller.”

“What evidence and witnesses are there?”

In the confusion of the Beast's rage and the subsequent shuffling of everyone before the group is led outside, Shade resumes her own appearance.  Once away from the worst of the din, she shakes her head.

"That's a couple bits we didn't have 'afore.  Honeycakes instead of vinegar, being as I doubt the Beast has had much honey.  Leastwise we've got a name.  The name Eller show up in anything else you already know?" Shade says, directing the last question towards Kaple with a raised eyebrow.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:33, Fri 15 Nov 2019.

Garland leaves at the behest of the others though he assures the captain he will be back for further questioning at a later time. Once they get outside he takes a moment to lean back against the wall and listens to the others while thinking. Whispering the words "Eller...Eller...have I heard that name before? or something like it?" as he cocentrates on his vast knowledge of Ustalav


17:28, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 28 using 1d20+8.  knowledge local check.

It was no mean feat for a man with a hunch and wearing a neck-guard to stretch his upper vertebrae, but Vadim managed to extract a series of impressive cracks from both sides of his neck as he followed the others up the stairs. Usually his involvement in matters of law extended not much further than 'Bailiff, put up the defendant' or, occasionally, physically dragging someone before the courts.  Still, he tried to walk himself through the process as he remembered it being described.

"First, we hear about Morast," he said, mostly to himself, where he waited by an overloaded bookshelf.  "We find the reasons why they say it was this Beast.  Then we find proof that these reasons are true or not true."  At Shade's reappearance Vadim raised an eyebrow, but asked no questions.

"We do not go chasing the first name we hear like hounds after the hare."

“Nay but I believe we should hear the bits and pieces of the prosecutions case.  At least the first one, so we still have time to visit the scene of the crime and retrieve evidence.”

He offers a seat to shade and finds a wall to lean against....

“A place this size probably has more than a few usual suspects and gangs that we may also meet along the way.”

"Eller...Eller, there certainly isn't an Eller on the witness list for any of the four incidents. I'll go back through the submitted discoveries and try to find anything more." Kaple said.

His office seemed smaller than it was due to the clutter of folios and scroll cases spilling off of the shelves that lined the walls. The docket of any public defender was always busy, but all secondary concerns had been dropped in favor of the trial of the century.

"While I'm doing research on this Eller, you can begin your investigation of Morast."

He retrieved the leather folder and laid it open on his desk, carefully moving an ink blotter and a stack of parchments to make room.

"The key testimony at the discovery hearing was the head of the village council, Elder Lazne. His statement is here." Kaple pushed the parchment forward.

Upon reading the statement it was clear why Judge Daramid had called on our heroes for a more thorough investigation. The key points were there, but the testimony had very little detail.

According to the account the Beast of Lepidstadt had haunted the swamps around Morast for several weeks, abducting and murdering lone citizens. Eventually the town banded together and laid a trap for the Beast, which fled into the swamp. The townsfolk gave chase and hounded the creature until it was attacked by a blood caiman. Thinking the Beast dead, they gave up pursuit and returned to the village. Only when it was captured at the university did they learn that it had survived, and Elder Lazne had come to give his testimony.

Further details about the attacks, the nature of the trap and the pursuit, or the Beast's supposed death in the swamp were missing from the account. The prosecution had simply asked if Lazne was certain the assailant was the Beast, which he confirmed.

The file also had details on the nine murders in the weeks leading up to the chase. Each had disappeared when alone and in or near the swamp. All nine had vanished, leaving behind no body, but signs of bloody struggle had been found at several of the disappearance sites.

---

You can use Knowledge: Nobility, Profession: Bailiff, or similar skills to peruse and decipher legal documents, understand court and legal proceedings, present evidence, etc.

You can approximate these sorts of things using Knowledge: Local or in some cases Diplomacy, but with a higher DC.

Garland, you don't know of anyone named Eller connected to the case and are confident enough in your knowledge of local affairs that you would, if there were one to know. The only Eller that you know in Lepdistadt is Eller Underhill, a glassblower who owns a shop int he city.

Eller Underhill? he says a moment later as he thinks more. "That is the only name I can think of. Perhaps upon our return from Morast we should question her. I would also like to question the beast again with less distractions and better tactics. I suggest one questioner to approach him and ask open ended, non-accusatory, questions about the case. It is our role to seek the truth of this case, not to pass judgement."

“Peace friend Garland; I have dealt with monstrous humanoids enough to suspect the name may be Ellen or Ella or Ellie or a similar sounding name; the soft sound being replaced with the hard r.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:58, Fri 15 Nov 2019.

Jonah is practically out of breath with exhilaration, "Well, it's obviously true that the   The Beast has the mind of a child... in his belly..." he says with a grin at the end.

"Sorry, wrong crowd. It's just the first thing that came in my head. But that's a joke for the late night crowd at The Rusty Unicorn when this is all over."

He continues, "Seriously, the way The Beast reacted, it's one of two things. He's either being accused of something he knows he didn't do. Or, he's being accused of something he doesn't want to accept that he did. I've seen enough reactions from drunks to know that."

"And you heard him," Jonah pauses and drops his voice, making it sound like a decent performative version of how The Beast sounds, "Just little'ns. Not all. Only Eller."

"This 'Eller' is a child. Probably one who lives in Morast. Let's just hope he or she isn't on the missing list."

Shade glances sideways at Sir Constantine when he pulls out a chair for her.  She scootched it a few inches over to get a better angle, but then gave him a nod as she sat down, Nook hopping on her lap.

"Eller might not even be in Morast; I was asking the Beast about Hergstag when I put the question t' him," she points out.  She looks over the legal briefs, but that was never her expertise.  She'd actually made her living avoiding such things.  "I know that's not what we were after first, but when I heard how he was talkin' and then swayin' to Jonah's music I thought I'd ask about the children, seeing as he talks like a child hisself."

When she gets the information about the murdered townsfolk and scanty information, she shakes her head.  "If it t'were one or two, I'd wonder if some of them wanted t' run away and faked their deaths, what with no bodies and all.  Kill a rat or some beast and spray the blood around and it's, 'Oh woe, she's dead and we'll never find her bones' while instead the smart lady is off elsewhere.  But nine's a fair big conspiracy."

Darcon was still reeling from the mental chaos he had felt within the beast, and he stumbled to sit in a chair close to the others while refocusing his thoughts.

"I sensed fear and sorrow, and loneliness most of all," he said finally. "I do not believe it was the mind of a crazed killer, though the rage and darkness I felt when the beast went berserk, well that would more resemble the mind of a bloodthirsty murderer," the mage added with a wry smile.

Darcon glanced at Kaple and spoke with the barrister, "I agree, Morast must be our priority, a village mob giving it chase should mean plenty of eyewitnesses in the village for us to question. Is this Elder Lazne here to speak at the trial?"

Leaning forward Darcon added, "Another thing Barrister, do you know why the beast was at the library, of all places, and how it was captured there? We intend to investigate the library later, but this has been bothering me, it might help interpret the actions of the creature if we know what it was doing there."

"Hmph.  I thought I recognised you,"  Vadim grunted when Jonah mentioned the Unicorn, polishing a pair of battered spectacles with the cloth in which they'd been wrapped, then readjusting his coat over the bandolier of pockets.  After some fiddling about bending the arms back towards some semblance of true he put them on and took his turn, peering nearsightedly down at the folio of papers after another sidelong glance at Shade.

"So,"  sheets of parchment rustled as he flipped over each one, laboriously reading each word,  "Only blood and mess.  No bodies there or ever found.  No one sees these missing ones be harmed or taken."  Karmazov leaned close over the table, squinting and occupying a good deal of Kaple's personal space.

"This man Lazne says, 'I have come to tell you that I am sure I see, with all my friends, this Beast running away when we try to catch it.'  The Beast says, 'I did not hurt anyone.'"  Vadim turned over the last page, checking that there was nothing underneath, and began again from the top.  "Beast has no history at court and is never proved to have harmed any person before."

"You are not needing help with this, I think.  Why will any judge not throw out this case?  As easily could you or I have done these things."  This last was directed at the tall half-orc, Sir Constantine.  Vadim snorted, following the lines of script with a cracked nail, "Or Lazne and his friends, even."

The ageing labourer worked through Kaple's papers again, even more slowly.  Although Vadim had little enough experience as an active part of the prosecution or defence, he had stood by at attention in enough cases even testified as a witness on occasion.  It seemed to him that even on a good day one of the judges would likely make a junior barrister cry before tossing them out as wasting the court's time.

---

Looking for the kinds of key points which would make the prosecution's case carry water.

12:18, Today: Vadim Karamazov rolled 13 using 1d20+4.  Profession (Bailiff).
12:19, Today: Vadim Karamazov rolled 18 using 1d20+7.  Knowledge (Local).

“Fear and loneliness are perhaps the worst prison.  The fits of rage are like a barbarian so possibly he can gain control.   The other hints are people taken at the waters edge and then he is attacked by a blood camin.  Surely it stands to reason these people may have just as easily been eaten.”


“I agree the last crime likely will give us the most information as it is certain he was there.”


SCG suspects that the prisoner, was more than capable of avoiding the blood camin and had understood that the people were blaming him for the killings, and thus he lead the pursuing men to the actual culprit.  Rather than aiding him and recognizing their folly they had left him to die......this is the way the civilized races treat the monsterous and yet never see the truth....it is no wonder redeemer paladins are so rare...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:49, Sat 16 Nov 2019.

"Hmmm, I have the incident report from the break-in at the university here as well." Kaple said, handing the folio over to Darcon.

The incident at the university, much more recent and handled by the very professional city watch and university guards, was much better documented than the sparse information on the Morast affair.

Barrister Kaple shook his head sadly at Vadim's question.

"That, my friend, is the whole crux of the issue. Anyone else accused of these crimes wouldn't be held past the preliminary hearings. But the Beast has haunted the nightmares of the Lepidstadt people for nearly thirty years. Any time a horrible crime is committed people suspect the Beast, every disappearance, every unexplained phenomenon. And then, after all of that, to have the creature c-caught at last...the cry to convict is deafening.

The key to this case isn't the evidence or the circumstances. It's the fear. They would convict it just for living, if Judge Daramid had not forced this trial. No, if we are to do our duty we must counteract fear with f-facts, with evidence, with reason.

Go to Morast. Gather what evidence you can, and I pray that we can do our duty at tomorrow's hearing."

Darcon accepted the folio with a curt nod of appreciation, and immediately began to peruse it. The mage stroked his chin thoughtfully as he read the report, his cowl shrouding his features and any emotion that might have passed over them.

Finally, when Kaple finished talking Darcon looked up at his companions and said, "Yes, I believe we should head to Morast to continue the investigation, it will be a hard ride but if we leave immediately we should have time enough to make the effort worthwhile."

Inserting the report back into the folio he glanced at Karple from underneath his hood with a thin smile and remarked, "In the meantime my good barrister, perhaps you can use the time to put aside your own preconceptions about this creature and try to give it a fair trial. The beast's fate is sealed already if even its defendant in the trial thinks it to be guilty and is only going through the motions."

---

Knowledge Checks to determine anything that Darcon might recall about the missing statue.
History/Religion/Arcana: 10/21/29

Jonah eventually gets a look at the documents, "Wait a minute. The Beast, the creature we just met, burst into a library using brute strength, then casually walked through the hallways destroying nothing until it came to the antiques department, and THEN when on a rampage?"

"He might have done it, but certainly someone else told him what to destroy. Heh. He was left holding the bag, for sure! Regardless of any other crimes he might have committed."

He pauses a moment, "And not for nothing. But we should be worried about what was taken and what was destroyed. I have plenty of tales, some of them real, that began with a statue being stolen and raising the spirit of Old Ezrika Gammet, a witch who swore vengeance on the town that burned her alive." he finishes with a dramatic tone in his voice.

"It works much better in front of a fireplace or campfire. Now that Jonah has passed on, I can even do the puppet show for the kids!"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Mon 18 Nov 2019.

"How does this 'blood kaye-man' look?"  Showing no interest in the university brief, Vadim carefully re-folded his glasses and wrapped them back in the cloth.

"Perhaps we ask Beast if it has seen one of these creatures.  If it says yes, then maybe it has been to the swamp near Morast.  Maybe this part of the elder's story is true.  Maybe Beast took those people."  He tucked the spectacles away under his coat.

"If not, maybe Beast can say it does not know this creature in court, and this shows it was not the one seen by villagers."  Mountainous shoulders shrugged.

"Either way, if Beast has broken doors and items in university, then it will go to jail and have a debt to the city.  If Beast has taken and killed nine people, it will lose head.  Also, nine people are lost and never found.  That is more important.  So, yes, we go." 

Nodding respectfully to Kaple, Vadim did his best to ease out of the room without upsetting any of the piles of books, papers, or other clutter.  Best to wait outside where he had room to breathe whilst the others finished up with the barrister.

“Agreed we have no more time to wait the journey there and back again but also time to seek clues and answers.”

He shakes the barristers hand
“Can the scene at the library remain preserved in the meantime?”

"This whole things stinks like yesterday's fish," Shade opines.  "Morast has got people going missing left right and center yet still sending people out to fish and having people dragged from their homes, and the Beast breaks into the museum and doesn't touch nothing but one area.  T'first could be just people too poor to move and too hungry to stop fishing and too suspicious o'strangers to go ask for help, but the second for certain sounds like someone's holding the Beast's leash.  So does the fire.  The deaths in Morast and Hergstag... maybe someone wanted those people and kids for something.  Black magic, sacrifice, stories around here are stiff with old legends about that, well afore the Beast was ever around."

When Jonah mentions Old Ezrika Gammet, Shade smiles a little, and it's not a pleasant expression.  "Stories like Old Ezrika are good ways to scare people into doing what you want.  Good scary story, little sleight of hand, touch of magic, the right kind of lies, and you've got some who'd give you all their worldly goods just t' be free of a curse that's been made up.  Be easier if you got a genuine Beast to back up yer claims, eh?"

Shade hops out of her chair when Sir Constantine talks about the journey.  "Let's get going to t' Morast if they can do what the Sir said."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:33, Wed 20 Nov 2019.

Kaple's demeanor iced somewhat as he accepted the case file back from Darcon and tucked it back into place.

"I'm sure we'll all do our best to let reason, and not passion, rule our investigation." He said. He also assured Constantine that the library at the university was cordoned off as a crime scene, and would likely remain so until the conclusion of the trial.

---

Our heroes left the courthouse a little after noon and made their way to the edge of the city to a stable that Shade knew. It was a rather busy place, with the many visitors filling the city also filling the ques for its services. One of their more popular options was a carriage tour of historic Lepidstadt with stops at the city's various landmarks.

A coin pressed into the palm of an hostler that Shade knew moved them ahead of a disgruntled family who wanted to take a trip to see the Spiral Cromlech, and before long the group was bouncing along the road north of the city.

They traveled north and crossed the river at the small village of Helge's Ferry, doubled back along the Moutray River until they reached the sparse dirt track to Morast, and trundled down that increasingly sparse road until the village itself came into view. The ground grew softer and marshier, with small bridges and piers of rotten wooden pilings often bridging the frequent streams and bogs.

The journey took a little over an hour all told.

Morast was a small hamlet spread over three of the more solid islands in the marsh. Many of the homes were built on pilings over the water and most of the buildings were connected by a series of wooden sidewalks. It wasn't hard to see why so many disappearances had occurred 'at swamp's edge', that description could fit almost the whole landmass of the town. The insular villagers noted the arrival of the carriage with interest and the driver, a tight lipped, heavy shouldered man with the heavy brow of some orc blood, seemed content to sit atop his perch and read the Lepidstadt Gazette that had been tucked under his seat during the drive.

---

Darcon, while you feel you have an excellent grasp of artifacts like the missing statuette, the brief description in the missing inventory document isn't enough to give you much information about it. If you were able to recover and examine it you would be able to make another check.

Darcon knows quite a bit about blood caimans and can answer Vadim's questions. Caimans are closely related to alligators and crocodiles but are typically smaller. The blood caimans of Dipplemere swamp, on the other hand, can sometimes grow to twice the height of a man and are very territorial. They are shy of human habitation however, so attacks or even sightings are rare unless their territory is encroached upon. The swampers of Morast in particular are expert in hunting these beasts, the exotic hides and scales of which are a profitable export for the little town. They get their name from a crest of red scales that covers the head and runs down their backs and along their tails.

Shade also has some information about Morast itself. The village is small, comprising some sixty or seventy people, most of whom make their living as fishermen in the swamp. They are famous for their legendary constitutions, rarely taking sick and living long and healthy lives. Local rumor has it that they have mingled with strange swamp creatures or made dark bargains, leading to their health and strange appearances. Shade knows enough of local affairs to cut through the rumors--the town's well is situated over a natural mineral spring, and that coupled with a healthy diet of fish and an active lifestyle is responsible for the villager's reputation for good health.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:36, Tue 19 Nov 2019.

“When we arrived i purchased a batch of potions and not really knowing what is needed i thought right now might be a good time to share those based upon need.”

Light (2); enlarge person; feather step, grease, hide from undead; refine improvised weapon; sanctify corpse (2); sanctuary (2); touch of the sea

“Vadim do you have the ability to see in total darkness or can magically create light?”  If not i have a couple of oils of light for emergencies.”

“Darcon, Shade, Jonah I obtained some sanctuary potions that might keep you safe while we are in battle.  I also got sanctify corpse so no one killed by undead comes back as some nasty creature.”

SCG holds out potions to see who may need what....
Any takers?