Magic Shop Owners Session 9

Session Notes

Calendar Date: 12-3-569

In this session, we had the trial of Jatumal, Stinkcat and Sphonyx. Breadwig represented them as a lawyer. The group were brought before a court in the main tower of Whiterock. Judge Benson Wild ran the trial, and a Lawyer called Veridia Blackwood led the prosecution. The party was given some time to prepare their case before the trial began.

To begin with, they called Kaid, the boat race organiser, to the stand and asked if he had overheard them placing their bets with the gambling master before the race. He explained that he had heard them put a high bet on and the gambling master had offered them very high payback due to thinking they had low odds of winning, these were 10:1. He also noticed that the gambling master had packed up his stall and left before the party had gotten off of their boat. Veridia then asked about how the part won the race and if it was usual. Kaid explained that there were no rules in the race, but the group had used so unexpected tactics. They had hypnotised some of the opposition and had used a sleep spell on one before killing him.

Veridia next called Brandon Vales, a sailor who lived in Whiterock and witnessed the killings. She asked him what he saw. He explained that he saw two gambling masters running away and the crowd parting. When he looked where they had come from, he saw an elf on the shoulders of a mutant who then shot an arrow and killed one of the masters. Shortly after, Sphonyx appeared from being invisible and thrust a knife into the gut of the other gambling master. The defence then asked if Sphonyx had made a motion to stab the master, to which the man explained it happened too quickly to tell. The jury asked if this sort of thing happened often in those parts of Whiterock, and the man explained that no one was ever killed in the streets in broad daylight as far as he could remember. The defence also asked if they had seen why they were chasing the gambling masters, but he explained that he had only seen what had happened at the end of the chase.

Next, the players called the arena announcer Victor. They asked him if Stinkcat had killed anyone when they were in the arena. Victor explained how Stinkcat and their team had gone out of their way not to win the arena fights by killing people and surprisingly won every fight without killing any of their opponents, although some were badly injured. The jury asked what sort of money was normally bet on Arena fights, and the value of money from Victor. He explained that bets were the main source of income and that 3000 gp could buy you a nice seaside property in Whiterock. The jury now seemed to be understanding the weight of the money that had been stolen from the party, which should have been a sum of 10000 gp worth of winnings.

A guard who arrested the players was called up to the stand next. He was asked what happened. He explained that a peasant ran and found him, and he found Sphonyx trying to leave the scene of the crime with the money. Jatumal and Stinkcat were nearby, Jatumal with a bow in hand. Sphonyx had a bloody dagger in her hand, which she wasn't using to carry the money. Sphonyx said she didn't mean to kill him, which the guard took as a lie at first sight, but on reflection, she did seem to be shaken, and Jatumal claimed they were recovering what was stolen. The guard had to arrest them to be tried, as that was his job. Veridia asked if they acted guilty, and he said that anyone would try to defend themselves, but only guilty people tended to fight back, which they did not.

Veridia called Harald Seaworth to the stand. He was an old man who had been in the Gawping Cod when the players arrived in town. She asked him what had happened the night before the race. He explained that the party were threatening the musician when he wouldn't play the songs they requested, then strongly encouraged the crowds to party, even trying to sell them illegal mushrooms. However, he also said they did not seem to want to cause harm in the town and were friendly to everyone, apart from the musician.

Finally, the players called themselves to the stand. Sphonyx explained the events from her point of view rather anxiously, and Jatumal did a good job of explaining the events concisely, also managing to persuade the jury that he had never killed anyone before that and was only intending to maim the master and killed him by accident. Veridia asked why, if he was such a bad shot, he decided to shoot into the crowd, and he explained that it may not have been the best decision. She also asked why they didn't try to stop the masters by other methods, which they explained that they did.

Both sides made concluding statements. Veridia, claimed they could not be trusted, were a disruption to the town and would continue to cause issues if they were allowed to stay free. They had also bet on themselves, perhaps knowing that this would happen. Breadwig summarised the events, how Jatumal had claimed they were innocent and had done the town a favour.

In the end, the Jury decided that all of the players were justified in their actions and the killing of the masters was legal. They had taken a large enough sum of gold from the players that killing them was perfectly okay, but 2000 gp of the recovered gold would be kept by the town as repayment for the disruption. The other 6000 gp was returned to the players, and they were allowed to go free.

Jatumal, Sphonyx and Stinkcat tried to sneak after Veridia as she stormed away. Stinkcat was quickly spotted and walked away, but Sphonyx used her invisibility belt, and Jatumal kept to the shadows, and they were able to follow Veridia to a council meeting where she took a seat on the council of illusionists. She explained that she was unable to convict the party and that they would have to try harder to stop them if they didn't want them to continue to disrupt the order within Whiterock. People had already started questioning the illusionists since the players had been spreading different ideologies in town. They also overheard talk of the illusionists working with a mind fish who had been controlling the sea monsters to come up in the docks.

XP

2000 xp Extra gold recovered
2000/4 = 500xp each

Published Content Used

• OSE (Classic and Advanced)