Chapter 2 - The Trial of the Beast
A carnival air presided in the city of Lepidstadt. A carnival air that sat like a gaudy layer of frosting over a rotting blood pudding. A porcelain facade of joviality layered over a dark mob mentality, a hidden thirst for blood under the civilized veneer of the bustling city.
The Beast of Lepidstadt had been caught at last.
A creature of nightmare, the terror of Vieland, progenitor of a thousand tall tales, secretly blamed for every mishap and mysterious disappearance in the area for years. And now captured, in all its horror, after a savage attack on the University of Lepidstadt.
Ostensibly the crowds had gathered for the trial of the century. But everyone knew the foregone conclusion. What verdict could there be but 'Guilty'? In truth the crowds had gathered, filling the inns, for one reason: to watch the beast burn.
Already a great frame of sticks and kindling was being erected in the square outside the courthouse.
And yet, not all were convinced of the beast's guilt. For every ten tales of the beasts savagery one rumor was whispered that it had emerged from the night to save a man from an overturned cart, or return a child lost in the woods, or pull a drowner from a rushing stream. These were of course dismissed as nonsense in most minds.
But they were enough to plant the seed of doubt in one mind at least, Judge Embreth Daramid, who sat the high seat of justice in Lepidstadt and was presiding over the trial of the beast itself. Such was her love of justice that even the dreaded Beast would receive a fair trial. No mob justice would prevail in her city.
And to that end she had called to her home six souls, six adventurers, six to which she would commission an impossible task: to investigate the crimes of the beast and prove conclusively its guilt...or innocence.
The judge's home was a large townhouse in the center of Lepidstadt, several blocks from the courthouse and the jail. It was finely appointed but not ostentatious, with dark wood paneling and finely woven carpets, intricately carved trimming and spacious ceilings. The walls were a gallery of fine art, a collection that would make any museum keeper green with envy. The furnishings were masterfully crafted in the simple, austere style of the last century.
A plump maid led the last of our heroes into a small sitting room with a polite curtsy.
"The Judge will see you shortly."