Kal's trial, Kal's opening statement, Ragnar and Ally's time off
Subject The accusation
Ranthir relates his account of the events that transpired up to and including Kal's assault on the Grimlocks. As he does so he remembers the anger he felt at the time but a little to his surprise he does not feel that anger anymore. "The situation we were in was a stressful one. We had a difference of opinion regarding how to approach the rooms that we were faced with.
I do not condone Kal's rash actions, nor would I wish to see them repeated. The results matter little when dealing with this kind of moral action. The next time it could have been a room full of blind beggers that he charged into. The point is, we didn't know what we were facing and despite the nature of the creatures I would have preferred giving them the option of peace. Despite all of this, we must consider that we seem to be on the brink of facing a great evil in the land. Kal acted as he felt appropriate and while I disagree with his tactics in this situation I do feel that he has earned a second chance through his continued actions with our party. Kal is a great warrior and with a little work he will become a great man. I am prepared to serve with Kal again if he is willing to seek repentance for his acts and make a sincere attempt to reign in his anger."
From: Mark
Sujbect: The accusation
This does not really change Randy's post, but Kal would have been allowed to make an opening statement, if he wanted to. Then all of the witnesses would testify, Anglewing first, since he would set the stage for why they were where they were. After all the witnesses, Kal would be able to put on a defense/respond last.
From: Derek
Subject The accusation
Here's the link for the archives that start with that encounter, since it's been 10 months, people might not remember the specifics.
http://www.sakeriver.com/archives/kalevan/view/248
From: Porter
Subject the accusation
OOC: I just read over those archives -- that was some pretty exciting stuff!
From: Jason
Subject Ragnar's time off
ooc: This started getting a little long, so I'm sending parts out seperately. Hope you enjoy reading... if not, you probably won't miss anything important.
Ragnar accepts Lothnar's gift stolidly, but inside he is dying to try it out immediately. As the rest of the presentations continue, in his mind he is fighting a demon twice his size and lightning fast. His shield shines with divine radiance, causing the demon to shrink back, while his sword strikes again and again, leaving deep burning gashes, until finally-
He is startled back to reality when the chamber erupts in thunderous applause. Looking around, he can see that Harp and Allistair had received their gifts as well, and if Harp looks excited as a child holding his new armor, Allistair looks even more excited holding some bag and an uninteresting stone. Shrugging it off, he leaves the chamber with the rest of his companions. "How in Heironeous's name am I going to find a demon here in the middle of the largest temple to the greatest god of goodness in the world?" he wonders. Maybe he could convince one of the higher order clerics to summon one. He was certain he'd heard some of them discussing summoning beings from other planes before.
Shaking his head angrily, he berates himself. None of the clerics here was going to summon a demon, and he shouldn't even be considering asking them to. Looking for a fight! You are a cleric of Heironeous, he reminds himself. You bring goodness and hope to those who are oppressed. Of course, Heironeous being a god of war, sometimes that hope was brought through strength of arms, but that was not what he'd been considering. First things first: time to go back to his room and take off this plate mail that was apparently squeezing his brains out through his ears.
Dropping both his swords on the bed, he removes his armor slowly and places it on the stand he'd had made for that purpose. His gaze slips back to his new sword, and he admires it for a time, then glances around the rest of the room. He had been doing important work, and certainly his prowess had increased slightly during the mission, but their quest to prepare to battle the evil one had left him with little opportunity to fulfill what he'd come to think of as his primary obligation as a cleric.
Grabbing Demon Bane, he opens the cabinet and places it on a shelf underneath his small collection of books. Mund or even Harp would probably find that a more than unusual place to store it, but to Ragnar it reminded him that the sword, however powerful it was, was simply another tool he used to do the will of Heironeous, just like the books above it, with the books likely the more useful ones. The Life and Times of Valorshield catches his eye and he pulls it out, looking it over, lost in thought. Had it really been just two months since he'd left off reading it to board the ship to the Wildlands? It felt like years.
Finally getting to his feet, he drops the book at the foot of his bed and retrieves his old sword. Holding the blade out directly in front of him, he looks it over with a critical eye. He was far from an expert, yet his dwarven heritage provided him with an instinctual knowledge of what to look for, and the blade was a fine one. The cell was far too cramped to test the balance, but he knew from experience that it was excellent. It had served Heironeous well in the past. Today it would serve him again, but in a new way.
Dressed now in his cleric's robes, Ragnar makes his way out of the temple and into the city. He doesn't know exactly where he's going, so it takes him some time to find a shop specializing in blades of all types. Counting himself fortunate that there is no one in the shop at the time, he steps to the counter and places the longsword on the counter. The man behind the counter glances at it disdainfully and says "If you're looking to sell, now's a bad time for it. Things are peaceful here, and while there's always the odd merchant's guard and the like looking to buy a sword, I couldn't even consider giving you more than a few silver pieces for it."
Looking the man in the eye, Ragnar says quietly, "This blade was handmade by Glim Thunderstone, one of the finest dwarven metalsmiths alive today. It is worth more than its own weight in gold."
Giving an indelicate snort, the man says "Made by an expert dwarven smith! If I had a silver penny for every time I'd heard that one, I could afford to pay your price! Oh don't run off just yet, I suppose I could at least take a closer look at it."
Ragnar smiles inwardly and replaces the sword on the counter. The man does look it over, and then they begin to haggle in earnest.
From: Mark
Subject Ragnar's time off
Great.
Exactly what I was hoping for.
From: Porter
Subject Kal's trial
Mund walks into the council chamber, sweat still dripping off his shaggy hide from the workout he just stopped. He looks over at the panel of judges, sees that they they are all elves, and shakes his head sadly. The only time you'll ever get justice from the elves is when it's required as a spell component, Mund thinks to himself. Oh well, it's impossible for them to render justice if they don't know what happened, so he might as well get it over with and tell them.
"So, we were going through that place, and we come to a door with some folk talking behind it. Me, Alley, Salix and Kal went forward to talk to them and try to get through them without no killing. We were just suppos'ta talk, and return immediately to the group if anything went wrong, even if we just didn't trust them."
"I knocked on the door and we started chatting with them. The fellow's name was Gorn, and he had been minding his own business when some magic put him in that hellhole. Kal got it in his mind that they were orcs, which was stupid. They didn't speak orcish, and they didn't sound like orcs. I'd reckon that y'all would teach your "chosen warriors", as Kal calls himself, more about y'all's enemies. I can promise you that they know more about you that."
"Anyways, he thought they were orcs, which he thought meant we should just go in and murder 'em all We got in an argument about that. Kal was losing the argument, and must'a known that we wouldn't help him, so he charged into the room to do the murdering hisself. I tried to stop him with a tackle, but but I tripped and fell into the room with him. Alls of a sudden, the door closed and I find myself in a pitch black room surrounded by enemies who are in no mood to talk anymore. If'n the rest of our party hadn't managed to force open the door, I probably would have died there with that spoo*.
"So, that's what happened then. What happens now? What's your justice like? Are you going to be true to your image -- champions of goodness? Or are you going to act like the elves I've seen slaughter entire villages, even the women and children, for the crime of their heritage and for being outnumbered? Are we going to see real justice here? Or are you going to make a great show of how sorry you are this happened, while secretly thanking him for his diligence? After all, he thought he was murdering orcs."
*spoo: orcish insult which literally means elven prositute
From: Josh
Subject Kal's trial
Kal will make an opening statement, give me just a little bit to type it up.
From: Kevin
Subject Kal's trial
Harp takes a break from his training one afternoon to respond to the call to testify in the trial of Kal-Lar, Bladesinger. Harp was truly conflicted about what he would say. When he had first met Kal, the elf had been arrogant, condescending, rude, and about every other thing to Harp. He thinks back to the werebugbear, the trip back with Rochelle, the altercation after the quest had been set, the whole time Kal had challenged Harp intent, purpose, calling, his whole sense of being.
The room with the grimlocks had finally brought all to bear. What should have been a simple investigation had disolved into mayhem and chaos, all because Kal had thought the creatures on the other side of the door were orcs or goblins.
They hadn't been either, and that fact had almost cost them dearly. After Harp had closed Kal in the room and had their "encounter" Kal seemed to have turned the corner somewhat, not being so challenging, following the plan, even contributing a substantial amout. But, how would that weigh against what he had done. Harp was not as concerned about the dead grimlocks - they were an obstacle, they had been overcome. Harp was more concerned about the risk he had put his immediate companions, even that blowheart Mund, in. Kal may have no worry for his own skin, but at that point, it had not been his call. Laughing at his thought, Harp wonders how his own D.I's would chuckled at Harp's concern about following a plan and protecting his teammates. Harp had strayed from those principles enough times in his early training that it had almost become legend. Well, he wasn't the smartest one in the bunch, but he knew how to learn from actual experience.
When he approaches the council, Harp explains the situation up to that point, why he selected the team he had, and his instructions. He recounts seeing the tussle at the door, the two fighters rolling into the room and the call to come help. After that, it was just a matter of cleaning up the mess. His story will continue with his "meeting" with Kal in the room and his expression of his concerns with following orders and the assistance Kal had provided since that time.
OOC: He will not add any personal feelings unless asked.
From: Josh
Subject Kal's opening statement
After the meeting with Angelwing and Val-Ril Kal makes his way back to his cell. He spends the week in mixed training, working on both his magic use and his sword arm. He had learned alot in the time he spent in the training grounds.
The day before the trial, Kal makes his way to the elven temple in the city. He locates a priest and after a small conversation, the priest runs off to retrieve a robe for Kal. Thanking him, Kal gives him 100 gold as a donation to the temple, and enters the inner forest of the temple.
As he walks in, he allows himself to be filled with tranquility. He locates a large tree and sits under it to gather his thoughts. After a few hours of meditation, recalling the details of the situation and weighing his own actions, Kal rises and moves further into the forest, to where he recalls seeing a small pond the last time he was here.
He strips his clothes off and wades into the pond. He washes himself clean with the elven waters, removing the grime from that days training. His hand self conciously goes to the scars on his stomach from the battle with the trolls, accompanied by feelings of shame and regret. "I should have been more careful, I allowed my confidence to slow me down, and I nearly paid the price with my life."
He ducks under the water and washes his hair clean. After he is done, he returns to the shore and puts on the robes and shoes from the priest. He ties his hair back with a simple piece of leather,straps his sword belt around his waist, and replaces his new ring on his finger, pausing again for just a minute to admire it's workmanship. He bundles the rest of his belongings together and makes his way back to the temple of Heironeous.
He spends the night before the trial in meditation. He rises in the morning, puts on the robes, his sword belt, and his ring, and makes his way to the trial.
When asked for an opening remark, Kal will say only this:
"Elders, thank you for making this journey to see to my trial, and I appologize that my actions caused your travel.
All of my actions that are under question today were for the good of the elven nations, the good of our mission, and for the good of the party. My companions' words and my own will reveal this to be true. Thank you."
Kal then sits and listens attentively.
From: Derek
Subject Allistair's time off
Finally having some free time to study for the first time in months, Allistair asks for and gets a letter from Angelwing to take to the local mage guild. The letter apprises the guildmaster of Allistair's situation with the Order, and gives a somewhat abridged apprisal of the situation with the crown, Mesodar's descendant, etc. The guild has a close relationship with the Order, and the chief wizard is glad to hear of their success on obtaining the first gem. In the letter, Angelwing asks if Allistair may have permission to study at the guild library for the next few weeks, so that he might be able to expand his skills and be of greater assistance to his friends in the future. With Angelwing's word and reputation, the wizard is more than happy to grant Allistair full access to the library. The rest of the day is spent with Allistair being taught the means of entering the guild and pertinent areas of the library without triggering the safeguard meant to ensnare thieves or students without permission.
The next day, Allistair meets again with the chief wizard. After hearing Allistair's description of their sojourn in the pocket dimension, the chief wizard replies, "That is too bad about Lothnar's spellbooks. He was a wizard of great renown, and he helped found this very guild and library. However, I doubt that his books and other effects were simply destroyed. He was very powerful and insightful, but he was not wasteful. They will most likely be found by someone at a time and place in the future to help further the cause against the legacy of Mesodar."
Concerning Allistair's use of magic, he says, "You certainly have cultivated an ability to deal a large amount of damage in a conflict. Those fireballs and magic missles are the mainstay of a battle mage, and you use them well. However, it seems that there were many situations when less direct spells may have allowed your party to continue without any fighting at all. I think that is where you should concentrate your studies."