Surin and Ragnar testify, Rangar and Mund's day off
Subject Allistair's testimony
After Allistar's testimony, Kal turns his head and nods, as if to say thank you.
From: Porter
Subject Allistair's testimony
OOC: Minor point of fact: That ogre didn't charge us until Mund had already shot it with an arrow. We ruthless killed it without trying to parlay.
From: Porter
Subject Mund's time off
A huge, foolish grin breaks out in the large man's face as he's given the axe. He looks around at his companions, hoping to find someone to share his joy with him, but everybody else is busy admiring their own shiny new toys.
As he sees Harp, he is silently glad that he didn't insist on keeping his sword. That orc really came through this time.
Well, it was mostly Lothnar, but still. Mund feels a tinge of regret that that prick got destroyed when they left.
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After the ceremony, the party breaks up, with everybody checking out their new stuff. Mund figures that it will be like his everburning torch, which is kinda like fire, but gives off no heat. To his surprise, it's not just magic cold -- it's real cold!
None of his companions see much of him for the next few hours. They see him run to and from the kitchen several times, but other than that he spends his time closed off in his room. When he emerges, he has several bowls with goop in them and begins passing them out to everbody.
"This is what we call "iced cream". During the summer, we'd go up into the mountains and bring a load of ice packed in sawdust. With that ice, we'd make this treat. We'd have somebody on the lookout for the team of horses and wagon coming down the trail, so that all the ingredients would be ready as soon as they arrived. We'd hurry up and use the ice to make the iced cream, and then eat it immediately. Within half an hour of arriving, all the ice and iced cream would be gone. It took a tremendous amount of work for this little treat."
"But this here I made with with my new axe," Mund says with a grin. "It's suppos'ta hurt people with the cold, but I was able to make it cold without hurting nobody. Let me tell you -- this is going to change how I cook out in the wild."
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After the iced cream is gone, Mund approaches Salix. "I reckon I'll probably be heading off soon. I'm just sticking around right now so I can testify against that dirty elf Kal. But before I go, I was wondering if we could wrassle again. I've thought about how easily you whupped me last time, and I think I can give you a run for your money this time. You game?"
From: Derek
Subject Allistair's testimony
OOC: I didn't read that far back in the archives. Sorry. Slight ret-con on Allistair's testimony.
RETCON: "Of course," Allistair replies, switching back to Common. "I generally agree with the facts as presented by my peers. However, there are a few details that I would like to add. Being a wizard I must have an exacting memory, and I beleive the judges should have the most accurate facts in their possesion. We had only been in Lothar's test for a few hours, and we had no idea what types of challenges were before us. We had just previously checked out the first door, where we determined that there was a very angry ogre in the room. At Harp's judgement and order, Mund baited the ogre with an arrow, at which point it charged into a trap where we quickly dispatched it. We knew not but that we would have to kill every creature in this place for us to be able to safely leave."
From: Porter
Subject Allistair's testimony
The reason why it stuck in my mind so much was because I remember Mund being quite the hypocrite by being holier-than-thou towards Kal about killing things that don't need to be killing when he had been perfectly willing to kill the ogre without giving it a chance.
From: Ashley
Subject Surin's testimony
This is Surin's trial testimony, which Mark didn't get so I'm sending it to him and the game email to make sure:
Surin concentrates on his fingernails as he sums up the events leading up to the battle with the grimlocks as best as he could remember -- examining and listening at the door, Salix's conversation with the grimlock, and Mund and Kal's arguments leading up to Mund pushing Kal on the other side of the doorway before the grimlocks shut the door behind them. Recounting the facts helps Surin recall the emotions associated with it as well, and he breathes deeply, ready to face those listening to the proceedings and give his own input.
"From what I saw, Kal endangered himself and another member of the party, belittled an at-the-time legitimate attempt to parlay and went against Harp's authority to command all in one fell swoop. Whether or not it was right to try and storm in like he did, it wasn't his choice to make. Harp was in command of the mission, not Kal, and Harp's orders were for everyone to wait for Salix to try and solve the situation without violence, and Kal seemed to think that wasn't good enough.
"The altercation set a bad tone for the rest of the experiences at the training grounds that really didn't need to be there. It's hard enough to battle creatures every day for as long as we did when everyone gets along and tries to work together. But if there's dispute and one-upmanship and distrust, then it gets even worse, and doesn't serve any purpose but to provide a weakness for whoever wants to kill us. I'm not sayin' people in the party should never disagree, but sometimes you gotta compromise and put what's good for the group above any desire one might have to be right or do what they think is best. Kal's rash behavior stirred up a lot of bad blood that I still don't think has quite dissapated, and that sort of distraction is dangerous in places like the training grounds.
"If Kal were to admit his actions were wrong and tried to make it up to everyone involved, I'd consider justice well-enough'ed served. He's a great fighter and his skills would prove very useful in whatever we're up against in the future, and I know he's a decent sort of fellow. But if Kal can't find it in himself to do this, and to work on making sure it doesn't happen again..." Surin looks over at Kal, takes a deep breath, and continues, "well, I can't help thinking he'd be happier parting ways from us, regardless of what is decided here."
From: Josh
Subject Kal's trial
I know Kal has to speak for himself, but I expected Mark to let me know when I should get that going. I wasn't sure if the judges wanted to say something first. Did everyone else send in their testimonies?
From: Mark
Subject Kal's trial
I think all the major parties have made their comments except for Salix's, as far as I can tell. Once Salix has made his testimony, then Josh can do his defense. Then the council will make their decision.
From: Jason
Subject Ragnar's time off pt. 2
Half an hour later, Ragnar leaves the shop considerably richer than he'd gone in. He'd gotten a good price. Nearby he exchanges some of the gold for a good amount of silver, replacing the rest in the belt pouch under his robes. This time he knew where he was going, but it took some time anyways. Gorn was a big city, and the poorer parts were far removed from the resplendent temples of the gods. That had bothered him at first, until Brother Orlparl had explained to him that when the temple was first built, it had been in the poor section. Over the course of hundreds of years those with money had bought out the poorer types, and now the order simply maintained charity services in the poor sections.
During the next few days, the silver and gold disappear as he spends long hours among the poorest and most hopeless of the city. In Gorn, even those with no money were not allowed to starve of course, and serious efforts were made to protect their homes, such as they were, from criminals, but it was never enough. Over the course of 5 days, he fed hundreds of people, hired builders to renovate dilapidated buildings, healed many who were suffering from nameless diseases, restored the sight of a man who'd been blinded two years earlier in an accident, and saved the life of a man who was robbed, stabbed, and left for dead in an alleyway.
He'd spent one entire morning shaping the foundation of a small house for a widow with young children, she stone molding like clay under his hands. Late one evening as he was heading back to the temple, a young thief stumbled from a rooftop and came crashing down in a nearby alley, breaking a leg and several ribs. He'd healed that man too (after confiscating all the valuables he was carrying) and before returning home found the rightful owners and returned their property.
From: Jason
Subject Ragnar's time off pt. 3
The week passed, and the money was eventually exhausted, and the morning of Kal's trial had arrived. Ragnar awoke early, as was his custom. He didn't know that he could add anything to what his companions would say, but he was supposed to attend that afternoon and so he would go. He had several hours before that, however, and first he needed to decide how he himself felt about his elven comrade. To that end, he found a small, empty chapel and knelt before the altar. He paid his respects to Heironeous every day of course, multiple times, but it had been too long since he'd had the chance to pour out all his troubles before his god, placing them all on his altar with the faith that he would receive the help he needed. He laid out everything he knew of the elf, of his skill, of his rash personality, of the problems he had with other members of the party.
Finally his thoughts turn towards his own conduct during the mission. He was well aware that on several occasions he had allowed pride to overrule his better judgment. That had clearly been the case when battling the trolls; he *had* done well, but at the end he'd wanted to close with the last one himself, and only the fact that Ran had moved faster than him had kept him from getting in the way of the skilled warrior. That was not his calling, he realized. A memory swells to the surface of his thoughts; they were fighting the ghasts, an enemy against which his god gave him powerful blessings, and his faith had failed him. Why had it failed him? It was not that Heironeous had lacked the power, for moments later he had succeeded in calling down the divine wrath. It was because he had earlier confided in his own strength, and found that confidence shaken when his strength had not been great enough.
I will remember, he promises. Although my sword is a tool in my hand as I am a tool in thine, it is only a lesser tool as I am only one of the least of thy many servants. Thy true power is only displayed when I act only as a channel for thy will.
*That is right* says a small voice inside Ragnar's head.
Leaping to his feet, he looks around the room wildly, finding no one. He continues looking for several seconds, trembling, before kneeling carefully before the altar once again. "What is right?" he asks, a little timidly.
*The divine will cannot be displayed by you, but through you, Ragnar Stonehands. You have told what you have learned while journeying through the Wildlands. But what have you learned in this last week?*
Ragnar ponders that question for several minutes. Finally he answers, "I have learned that wherever I am, I can serve thy will. Helping the poor has been no less thy will than finding the gem from the crown of Valorshield was."
*That is right. At times it is given to you to serve in one way; at others, in another manner. There are those who will never be given the opportunity to do great and noble deeds, but they are no less instruments of the divine will then you. Though you and Harp are the only two among you sworn to the service of Heironeous, your companions also fulfill that will.*
"And what of Kal? Does he also do thy will?"
*You wish to know if the judges should allow Kal to continue to accompany you.*
"Yes."
*Do you wish for him to accompany you?*
Ragnar had not been sure, when he entered the room, but he had finally put his thoughts in order. "Yes, I do. He is rash, but have I not also acted foolishly? He is blind to the potential for good in even the evil races, yet when has he ever had the opportunity to find otherwise? Who has been his Trilug, to help him find that spark of goodness? Was I not myself able to overcome that hatred? I now travel with Allistair and Mund, two humans, and of the Wildlands no less! At one time, they would have been my hated enemies; I would have feared and despised them. Yet through thy grace, I have moved beyond that. Kal's heart is good. I hope, and believe, that he can continue to do thy will."
With a start, Ragnar realizes the voice has gone. Still trembling from head to toe, he makes his way back to his room. He had not been told, he suddenly realized, whether or not Kal should, or would, continue with them. But then, that was not what he had asked. He had wanted to know his own heart, and Heironeous had revealed that to him clearly.
Arriving in his room, he sprawls out on the bed, waiting for the trembling to subside, wondering if it ever will. He hears the voice in his mind over and over again, questioning, probing, testing. Would he be content to serve as a channel for Heironeous's will?
Suddenly he sits up. It made sense now! Grabbing his book from the top of his dresser, he pulls it open to the page he'd been reading so long ago. Of course, now it was clear. He had been reading the description of a battle long ago, Valorshield fighting side by side with one of his trusted advisors, a powerful cleric. His small bodyguard was being overrun on all sides, and they both seemed doomed to die, when suddenly the cleric said a few words and suddenly their foes were dropping all around them.
For 10 paces on all sides, his foes were on the ground, and those few that still lived were blinded, while Valorshield and his bodyguards were entirely unscathed. He had not understood how this could be; they were not undead, to be turned, and clerics did not call down fireballs or lightning, as he had seen Allistair do, and even if they could it would have engulfed them all. But this was not magic; the cleric had merely acted as a conduit for divine power, and Heironeous's horrible wrath had smitten the evil ones while leaving the good unharmed. Ragnar knew that his faith and understanding was now strong enough that he could imitate this feat, and several others that had never been clear to him before. Giving a brief prayer of thanks, he hurried from the room to attend Kal's trial.
Ragnar arrives just in time to hear the opening remarks, and waits easily through the testimonies of various witnesses. He worried for his friend somewhat, but had high hopes for the outcome of the trial. He had thought briefly how Kal would handle the accusations. He could imagine Kal leaping to his feet to shout defiance at those who accused him, but was unsurprised when he sat coolly listening throughout the testimonies. (ooc: I'm assuming he does so, since it hasn't been written up yet.) It was easy to picture Kal doing it, but he knew that Kal saved that sort of defiance for those he considered his enemies. The rashness that Ragnar had so long associated was not lack of discipline- far from it, in fact. It was simply that Kal didn't see the need to apply his impressive self-discipline in some situations his companions thought he should.
When it comes time for him to testify, Ragnar will lay out the facts that he knows (which is somewhat less than Salix, Surin or Mund would know, since he was somewhat distant from the skirmish at first.) After doing so, (if its at all appropriate in this trial setting, which it may not be,) Ragnar says "It is my hope that Kal will continue to assist us in our quest. Others have attested to his martial prowess, but all I will add is that his heart is good, and he wishes to oppose evil. I am confident that if the room had in fact been full of blind beggars, Kal would not have acted as he did. His conduct is honorable; his very presence at this trial confirms that he keeps his oaths. If he gives his word to follow the orders of our leader in the future, I for one would support giving him the chance to do so.