Marduk chuckles a lil and walks in the tavern. He gives a slight bow to his friends inside and moves to a table to one end of the tavern. He places some parchments and quills on the table along with a few other bobbles and sits down to wait for the crowd. "Fancy.... I 'm glad your here. We need to and an amendment to the laws of Jastry." Marduk rolls out several scrolls in Branwyn's handwriting. "I wish to amend the laws with the addition of attempted murder... I have been approached by several townsfolk who have stated that we need to plug this hole in the laws. " He arranges his writing implements on the table and says... "It should be just a yea or nae vote... but i would like to hear from as many of the townsfolk as possable..." then he sits back and waits for the town...
With a crash the dwarf Keg enters the tavern backwards and scratching his rear and legs vigorously. The dwarf continues across the tavern bowling over stools and tables as he does so. Stamping hard and slapping his pants the dwarf curses loudly but incoherently. The dwarf seems quite unaware of his surroundings as he sits down in the center of the tavern and begins pulling off his boots.
The boots come off easily and he stands and fiddles with his belt with some anticipation of removing his pants. Just before he tugs them down, someone in the room clears their throat, bringing the dwarf back to his senses. As he looks around he realizes that he’s in the tavern. Keg’s face turns deep red as he begins to redress himself.
“Fell asleep o’er an ant hill.” the dwarf growls. He then reaches into his pants and produces a large black ant. Flinging it behind him he sits down at the table next to the gnome.
Blisdon turns his attention from where he was seated to the judge and gives him a quizical look.
"I don't...quite understand 'ere. In this town I don't reckon a single person in town swings their blades in anger without the intention to kill. Wasn't the original charge of assault meant for those who attempt murder and fail miserably? Who in this town deliberately causes harm without the intention to finish what they start?" Blisdon scratches his head at the conundrum and helps himself to a strip of badger jerky from within his satchel to clear his thoughts.
"I mean...-chomp- -gobble- The way I see it, Either the charge of assault will become redundant or the charge of attempted murder is redundant because it -chew- -chew- falls under the... -gulp- charge of assault."
Marduk nods a greeting to the travelers entering the tavern and says... "Thank you for coming... "
He lays a lined parchment across from him on the table.
He stands and says... "This will be an open vote to amend the laws of Jastry. The amendment is to add attempted murder to the laws. This offense would hold the same punishments as murder. And would be treated as a capital offense. To include trial by jury." Marduk places a piece of charcoal near the parchment and continues to speak... "The amendment will cover the grey areas between assault and murder. Namely....
The use of a slay item on a townsperson... whether successful or not
The victim being saved from disapation by a cure or revive.
If you would like to place attempted murder amoung the laws, please write your name or your mark under the Yea column. If you do not want attempted murder added to the laws, you may write your name under the Nea column." Marduk steps back from the parchment and says...
"If you would please come forward and vote. After all, this is your town."
Shouldering the rear door of the tavern, Ripper snuck inside. Her eyes circled by rings of black that fade to a deep red. As if the effect of insomnia and bruising had a child. Within these rings however, her eyes are quite bright. She took a seat on the table where the parchment laid and leaned her weight to one arm to try and read the inverted words. As the shoulder moved, her sleeve shifted upward to reveal what seemed to be raised pink stripes crossing pale skin in random patterns. Faded, surely, if the blood that stained near them was an indicator, but they must have been deep to still remain given her undeath.
"Laws?"
It's impossible to tell if her tone is delight, amusement, or incredulousness. Dark eyes settled onto the judge with piercing curiousity.
"As a citizen of this town...might I request a look at the rest of these laws? I -was- on the previous town council afterall. I may have some pertinent illumination."
After shaking her head at the interesting entrance of the one called Keg and ignoring the other dwarf's atrocious manners, Katri listened to the gnome's words with rapt attention and rose almost immediately. She takes a few steps and stops, unsure of whether or not to leave without casting a vote she wasn't sure she had a right to cast. Knowing what had happened, she still knew that, even in the shadelands, the right thing to do was to scribble her alias under the column marked 'yea.' Though the goal there was to do it and just not get caught. She gave a breif thought to herself and Steirs and Akon, glancing toward the latter. She froze but a moment more before starting to cross the tavern towards the doors.
Right behind the dwarf enters Tregard, who is just returning from his 2 day excursion of fairy scat research. Nose in his scroll, the bard unconsciously skirts flying benches and tables. He buries his hand in his bag and brings out a large jar. He opens the jar and pull outs a colorful lump of fae poop. “ Specimen 12. Species: Pixie. Circumference: 2cm. Weight: 2oz. Color: Purple with green swirls. Smell: A light spring rain.” The bard pauses and pops the excrement in his mouth. He chews and similes “ Taste: Watermelon Blast. “ Tregard spits the sample into a square of paper and wraps it up. He pulls another sample out of his bag and begins to dictate again. “ Specimen 13. Species: Sprite. Circumference: 4 cm. Weight: 5 oz. Color: Pink with orange spots. Smell: Cinnamon. Taste:---.” Tregard is cut off as one of Keg's boots hit him in the mouth. The bard chews on the boot for a second and spits it out. “Taste: Racist, lonely dwarf.” Tregard looks up from his work and scowls at the mess Keg has made. He sets down the jar of Lincoln logs and begins to straighten up the tavern. He waves absently at the jar and says “ Fairy caca, anyone?
Nakigahara bursts into the tavern, late to the meeting as he so often was. He sits on a table, grabbing his pitcher of ice cold drink, holding a notebook tight to his chest. If one were to read them they would see his amendments to the laws, written crudely in his messy handwriting. The first few were clear:
PENALTY FOR BREAKING LAWS: DEATH
The doors to the tavern open slowly and Atasatch's dark figure stood in the door way, haggard and roughed up looking, he casts a glance at Katri, knowing she was debating on leaving. Atasatch walks into the meeting. "Sorry Im late friends I came as fast as I could but was held up." He draws his hood back and walks to an open seat and sits down and listens intently casting an occasional glance to Katri.
Taklinn walks in with his mining equipment and grabs food while listening to the conversation. After finishing his plate and downing his ale he finally puts in his two cents saying "I am afraid ye may be missin' one of yer scrolls Judge. There weren't no gray area in them laws that we discussed as to what constituted those crimes. The way it was put out in the beginnin' was that any crime that takes a revive of some type fell under the same penalty fer murder. If one of them rogues cant hit someone with a death gas cuz they have frail arms, then that is constituted as assault. I'm thinkin' that amendin' the laws is a moot point, as those were the initial laws put forth ta begin with". He shrugs and says, "But do as ye will, I am just tryin' ta keep ye from opening up a can of worms, and us havin' a bunch of soldiers try to impose their thoughts on it as I heard happened the last time while I was in the privy."
As he finishes his comments, he looks over at Keg as if he sees something, and slowly walks over to him, as if sneaking up on the dwarf. He quickly snaps his hand out and pinches Keg on his cheek, and yanks his hand back, pulling a few hairs with it. He shows Keg the few ants that he had missed squished between his fingers, and promptly puts them in his mouth and crunches them. "There ye go brother, wouldn't want em nestin' in yer beard!"
"Well...I've gotta agree,While I personally believe that it was nothing less than a murder if someone has to use a potion or salve to bring someone back to life the punishment seems to be the same either way. I believe You manage to highlight grey areas that couldn't otherwise be filled with charges of assault or murder. I suppose that this open hole should be stiched up as quickly as possible...given just how often one of our townsfolk seem to find their heads split in their cabins as they sleep...not at all unlike a ripe melon I'd say." Blisdon couldn't help but grin wickedly in katri's direction when he spoke as he stood up from his seat at the table and continued on to sign his name under the yea collumn of the parchment before going back to his seat to listen as the rest of the crowd debates the issue.
Feeling the glances that tugged at her from Atasatch and Akon, Katri sighed. Not to mention her own Uordeq honor and pride were staked on the vote she knew she had to cast. Gods, don't let Stiers send someone to kill me for this, she gumbled silently to herself, remaining outwardly calm. She turned back towards the table that held the paper for voting and went to pick up the charcoal, careful to make sure that the name she scrawled in neat script on the line read 'Tatiana' underneath the side labeled "Yea." Setting the charcoal down she slipped toward the back of the tavern and sat face hidden by hood and mask. Katri's glare was ice when Blisdon's grin flashed in her direction, but she remained silent.
Rasiri slides into the tavern from the darkness outside. He walks straight forward and put his hand on Katri's shoulder while he walks past to make his mark on the 'yea' side. Rasiri turns on his heel and walks directly up to Blisdon, "I knnnoow vat you haf done und i VILL not stand for it. Vatch your back... you and all of your frrriends." Then he turns on his heel and dissapears back into the night.
Atasatch walks over to Akon and sits next to her. Grunting in slight anguish as he sits down. "I dont like what this town has come to, darkness, treatchery...and murder. I dont like this, but I think we can do this." Atasatch gives a nod and quiet emphasis on the word we.
Nodding to all of those that came in, Keg listens intently to everyone’s arguments and nods his head at both of the dwarf’s comments.
Keg rubs his cheek and smiles at Taklin for killing the ants for him. Then he stands from the table and states, “Laws need at be easy ta understand so that silver tongued devils canna confuse honorable Judges with their meanings. Taklin be right, if’n ye needed reviv’n then ye were murdered. Anything less is simply assault. I would like at see tha rest of tha laws as well as I was not present fer the votes of the sheriff, judge, or deputies.”
Keg leans over and grabs his boot back from the scribe. He looks dismayed to see a poo outlined bite mark on the toe. He then returns to the parchment and writes Keg Ironspur under the Nea column and sits back down.
Glimmer sits quietly in the corner of the tavern listening to the arguments for the new laws. After Keg finishes speaking, she rises slowly and says "Friends, I've been absent for a bit and I do fear I shall need a copy of the laws as well. I can't vote on something if I don't know what it is I'm voting on. But I agree with Keg and Taklinn." Glimmer then turns to Taklinn and begins to grab at his sporran. She unclasps the sporran and digs deeply throughout it in a fevered attempt. She quietly mumbles "I know I put my nuts in there. Did you eat my nuts Takki Love? I simply must have them."
Branwyn hurried into The Shady Corner in the middle of Keg's speech. "Right over there..." she said, pointing to the wall between the two kitchen doors, "we put up a copy. I do suppose it's not very obvious there though. We'll need to find a better place to display it."
The paper she pointed to was titled "Punishable Offenses, Town of Jastrey" and listed off the 3 agreed upon offenses.
MURDER
- Case heard by a Judge and a Jury of 5
- Punishable by death
THEFT
- Case heard by a Judge
- 1st and 2nd offense punishable by a fine (OOG: 2 treasure draws)
- 3rd offense punishable by a fine and may have weapons impounded
ASSAULT
- Case heard by a Judge
- 1st offense punishable by a fine (OOG: 1 treasure draw)
- 2nd offense punishable by a fine and a maim
- 3rd offense punishable by a fine, maim, and may have weapons impounded.
Akon looks over to Glimer then responds quietly. " A punch leaves a bruise, something stolen doesn't grow back. Those of us actually at risk of being stolen from or assulted feel theft is the greater crime. However, I almost feel that should a murder take place, assault should be part of the charge. The punishments don't seem harsh enough to keep these brigands from going after each other. So perhaps you're right, assult should carry greater consequence."
That may be the case from yer point of view Sheriff, but I think an eye fer an eye is just, and if'n they are caught and punished, the accused is punished more harshly than the victim if they are revived." (OOG if the victim is revived and the criminal is accused, only the criminal is forced to draw from the death deck). He snorts as he reads the posting and says "We failed to identify what each crime entails, which is what is creatin' the confusion. As I said earlier any circumstance that requires a revive to heal, or if the victim has to draw counts as murder. Any action of attacking another character, or that character needin' any other type of healing other'n a revive constitutes assault. Thievin' is Thievin, although if ye attack someone and then loot their body it carries the punishment fer both in any case. And all people are entitled to the right of self defense. That was what we all agreed to a few days ago, it just weren't included in the final draft."
He looks to Glimmer and reaches into his beard and produces a few pecans "I was keepin' yer nuts safe by keepin em close to me chin love, but I think I also saw yer wee kin Blondie with some, and I may have given some to Keg on our travels as well." he smiles and glances at Keg as he says the last statement, and sits down to watch the reactions of both Glimmer and Keg with a glint of mischief in his eyes.
Glimmer's eyes light up and her cheeks turn peek and appear to puff out a bit at the hearing of Taklinn's information. She smacks a big kiss dead on his lips and squeels as she darts to Keg and begins tasking herself at attempting to pick through his beard. She looks to Keg and says "If ye' be havin' any nuts in this mess of a fur face, I suggest ye just be holdin still Keggers! It'll only be takin me a mere minute to discover what ye be holding secret in there!" Glimmer starts meticulously picking through the fluff of Keg's beard.
Blisdon heartily fistbumps tregard as he seats himself next to the dwarf and continues to scan the growing crowd.
" I can't say I rightly know, Just pick someone who sends a chill down your spine and give 'em the evil eye." Muttered Blisdon quietly as he helps himself to a fresh piece of badger meat from within his satchel. However nearly chokes on it from stifled laughter when tregard inquires about the current status of the Uordeqs testicles.
He waits to save his comments until after Glimmer successfully retrieves her nuts from Taklinn's beard and with cheerful grin he tilts his head towards to the bard beside him and says with a snicker"Do ya' ever reckon that lad ever checked to see if his nuts were in there too?"
a small green timid hand goes up just slightley
"um qestion if these are our onley laws and stilling is bad didn't the hole town steal things from the slavers win wewent under ground and weren't we killing people left and right ? i mean i onley ask cause im a bit confuesed every one keeps on talking about intent causes it to be good or bad and i relley want to be good so i can do what ever i want. but that seems to go aginst this" as his puzzeled fae rinkels
Wyndfere, having been in the otherside of the tavern for the entire time, rises and makes his way to the cluster of argueing citiizens, brushing by the back of the crowd and pushing his cape aside.
"I too agree that the penalty for theft is much too high. And as for your "precious" items. Perhaps you should invest in protection. If something is stolen on the 1st offense, just give it back. Plain and simple. And if they can't because they used it, destroyed it, or won't tell you where it is, then go ahead with the more harsh penatly [OOP: Two Treasure Pulls]. But don't forget, it never hurts to have a body guard or two which I can provide for you. Plus, if you're being assaulted, you have to right to fight back with as much force as neccacary to secure one's own safety."
Wyndfere takes another long breath and continues.
"And while we're on the subject of amendments, what about damage of property. Say, someone wasn't meaning to kill you, but mearly trying to intimidate you and the way they did it was to ruin your weapons so that you were defenseless. Or pouring out a potion on the ground. Or shredding your [oop: "guard 30"] cloak. Or putting flame under your dream silver rings to melt them back to their original state. Or tearing apart your precious little poppet without even putting it to use." Wyndfere looks in the direction of Fancy. "Things like those don't come around everyday, and I bet you'd hate to see them vanish. This damage of property is something I feel that was overlooked."
Akon matchs Windfere's eyes with a smirk. "Property damage in that case would fall under theft. Anything taken or ruined beyond repair falls under theft. A beat down falls under assault. And I believe a murder count should take punishement for both assult and and murder. And I disagree. I beileve our punishments are not harsh enough. You want to be civil with criminals? Fine, come walk with me in the middle of the night as I do my rounds through town. See how civil these people really are..." She scoffs, sitting back.
"A child learns quickly not to play with fire, but the stupid ones have to get burned first. I believe our punishments don't sting quite enough."
Wreynn looks up from across the room, suddenly appearing to be interested in the conversation of Laws, Crimes, and Punishments that had previously so bored him. Pulling back the brim of his hat he looks to the crowd and begins to speak. "Mistress Nivarian may very well be right, and while I don't feel quite as stronglyl as your vanquisher friend with the giant war pike there, perhaps a parabel that was once recited to me by an old adversary of mine has more meaning than I once gave it credit for."
Wreynn clears his throat while standing and attempts to make his best impression of a stout druid with a slightly gruff demeanor. "To paraphrase Corvax's tale, there once was and old king who posessed a golden chalice said to give good health and prosperity to any who wished to drink from it. Being a kind an noble king, he placed this chalice near the town well, where it sat unguarded and unwatched for years." He begins to lose his composure and starts to laugh as he tries to keep the demeanor of the grumpy old bear. "Right, well, long story short, they threatened to kill anyone who walked off with the cup, and even long after the king had passed away, the cup still sat on the well, and nobody ever touched it."
Absentmindedly, Wreynn rubs his left wrist as he continues, "Honestly, I'm sure I forgot something that would have made the story far more convincing and the Angori slightly less amused - but a broken wrist, having to listen to a boring story I can't quite remember, and a fine of 150 gold for stealing the last copy of the town's laws was definiately enough for me to think twice about doing it again. Maybe we should just have one of the new bards in town recite tales until we cause our criminals to submit." Wreynn grins smugly as he sits back down, propping his feet up on one of the tables.
Taking Blisdon's advice, Tregard gives Wreynn his best evil eye. As he scrunches up his face he remembers there are two fairies in the room. He bolts to his feet and grabs a sheet of paper. Tearing the paper in two, the bard approaches the fae. "Ladies, I'm gonna need a sample of yours stool. Please?"
The vampire perked at the sudden familiar voice, head rising and one could almost swear they saw her wings lift and rotate slightly like a cat's ears toward the sound. With a pouf of red smoke she vannished from the tabletop in a loud "BAMF!" and reappeared perched on the table by Wreynn's boots. She leaned forward, braced by her hands, and craned her head to one side with a grin that was not only uncommon recently...but looked like it might split her head wide open. (The word cheshire comes to mind).
"Uncle Wreynn?! Where did they dredge you up? Tell me, you've brought candy, yours was always so...particularly spiced."
"I agree with the Sheriff, a child won't learn that fire is dangerous unless they are burned-- and a criminal won't learn that breaking the law is valid unless they are strung up by their arms for a week!" The Angori rubs his chin in thought for a moment, "Then again I suppose that would require the purchasing of rope and the man power to watch the criminal to make sure they don't do something stupid like die... I suppose we could lop off their legs and leave them invalid, that would keep me from stealing... physically...": He chuckles.
Pendrad looks very amused as he looks over the town meeting from his table.
"This reminds me of a joke I heard some time ago, a Gnome, a Werebeast, a Uorodeq, and an Angori walk into a tavern to make laws. The Inquisition of Ressik bars the doors and burns the tavern down." he said with a hearty laugh.
"In all seriousness though you have a nice little town, but it's only a matter of time before some king redraws his borders over Jastrey, or some Uorodeq slave lord comes looking for his next big haul." He says as goes to fetch another ale.
"I'm findin' it awful cute that those who have engaged in lawlessness are the ones that all of the sudden want harsh laws. The laws ain't harsh enough to some, but they are too harsh fer others. Ye ain't never gonna make everyone happy, no matter how hard ye try. I warn ye that if ye keep addin' a bunch of arbitrary laws, we will end up no better'n if we were to fall under th Army's laws. (OOG I still think that the laws should be more of a deterrent than Iron clad, as if you continue to make more laws, you will nullify PvP.). Besides, if we are to fight the Army any time soon, I would rather fight alongside people with their legs and their heads Fred" he nods to Naki as he finishes.
Wyndfere nods, agreeing with the quote with the fire and the child.
Then he speaks, "Of course, you don't have give 3rd degree burns to the child at the very beginning. I could do that with a mear blast of my magic. Just a taste of what is to come if they ever do it again would be more like it."
Then Wyndfere looks at Takllin, nods in agreement, and speaks, "I agree, beardy. We won't ever make iron clad laws that'll please the lot of us. That is why we have a judge and jury. Let them decide the fate of the criminals. Not us. Let there be a limit to a punishment, a maximum punishment, then let the judge decide what would be right and just for each case. Definite laws won't make this place clean."
[OOP: Also, I agree about the PvP thing Mark talked about.]
Akon rolls her shoulder casually. "Perhaps that would be best. Having a minimum and maximum punishment and letting the judge decide what the criminal should face based on the crime, the severity, and the history of the accused. I think per-..."
Akon stops short and looks down at the cup of water between her hands, blinking as boiling bubbles roll in it from bottom to top. She then leaps up from her chair, letting the boiling hot liquid fall and splash on the table and her robes. "The hell?!" She staggers back, the metallic cup steaming, then looks up around the tavern, but her usually sharp eyes take on a glazed unfocused look. Her breath quickens, becoming more labored and as she staggers back against the tavern wall, fingers fumbling for her sword and a look of terror coming across her features. "I....w...wh....what is this....I..no..." She looks down at her hands, flexing her fingers and staring at them horrified. Akon's voice becomes more panicked and she lets out a mild scream. "No!" Glancing around the others of the tavern, her eyes don't seem to focus on any one of them. She finally manages to get her hands around her blades, and pulls them free from her sides, but releases them immediately, letting them clatter to the ground. Beads of sweat start to form along her temples and brow. She shudders, looking back to her hands, and curling over herself as her back hits the tavern wall, gritting her teeth as she stares at her fingers. "No....no...."
Nakigahara stood up after Akon's strange reaction to her cup, his immediate thought was that she might have been poisoned--which would have been good and bad... Bad because he has grown to like the Warlock in his time working with her, but good because that would mean there would be a murderer to execute. He supposed the bad outweighed the good...
"What seems to be the problem, Sheriff?"
Katri sits quietly on the outskirts of the group, listening inspite of having already cast her vote. The conversation intrigues her, not used to hearing so many varied opinions- being that the shadelands wasn't particularly the place for opinions most of the time. She spots the cup bubbling and steaming in Akon's hand and her head tilts to the side, face blank. She watches the older Uordeq drop the cup, jumping out of her seat, hearing the panic and raised quality of her voice. She didn't let the vein of concern that had opened show, only letting two questioning words leave her lips as she stood and moved a little closer, "Lady Nivarian?"
Akon gazes at each of them, eyes wide and unfocused then finally she blinks a few times...
"N...Naki? Tregard...Ka...." She stops, and swallows, looking back down to her hands again, as if looking for something. Her eyes are focused, and the red cool, until she looks up and around at everyone, feeling the now cold liquid on her robes. "Damn it all, they just -had- to kill me when I was in the Astral! Didn't they?!" Her voice raises, and her red eyes burn, lighting on Katri for a moment. She then takes a breath, calming herself, and answering the deputy. "I'm fine....halucinations and nightmares are a known side effect for being killed in the Astral, and they are all so pleasant....I appologise that you all had to witness that...." She reaches down and gathers her blades up again, replacing them at her side.
A grin comes to his face when she reveals the problems that she was dealing with. "Voices and hallucinations is all? Welcome to my world--perhaps you, me and the voices in our heads can have a conversation later!" He chuckles, but then returns to his serious "deputy face". "But I have heard symptoms like this from death in The Astral. How unfortunate for you..." He picks up one of her blades and hands it to her.
Katri bows her head slightly, not even having the strength to become perturbed that Akon had nearly called her by her true name. "Es.. Es tut mir leid," she muttered under her breath. pulling her hood farther down over her eyes. "I can say I know how voices feel, night mares..." She continued a little louder, stopping when she realized how much she had just said. She backed away again, returning to silence, and sat back down, face entirely hidden.
Akon takes the blade gently from Naki, nodding. "Thank you." She then makes her way back to her now cooled cup, picking it up off the floor and looking it over, frowning. She casts another red-eyed mild scowl towards Katri before dashing her robes behind her to sit once again, settling herself on the tavern bench once more, though not looking particularly pleased.
As the whole of Fancy's hallucination occured, Wyndfere watched in confusion. Then when she regains conciousness and hears the word 'Astral' he gets goodbumps causing his feathers to rise.
"That's madness. I've heard it's extremely difficult to get to The Astral. How did you manage to get there? And why did you even want go? To lose more of your mind?!"
Akon frowns at that, looking up to the two asking questions. "-We- went, as in the town, to get rid of that damned field marshal. We went to one of his dreams, but what happened in the end, I don't know, because someone decided it would be lovely to slide a blade in my chest while I was sleeping. So now I get to deal with the astral's side effects as well as all of the absurdity these towns folk choose to put on each other." Akon's grip on her mug tightens, her tone rising slightly and her eyes taking on a slightly redish burn, though it is still tamed.
Taklinn laughs at the tenseness of the tavern's occupants and says to Akon "Well yer harvesting the ore from the mines ye dug lass. Now ye see why I didn't want any part of public life. No ma'am, had enough o' that last year, and it caused a ruckus like ye wouldn't believe. Why I had to suffer a goblin to live in me own quarters fer a time! As fer someone stabbin' ye while ye slept, that is unfortunate, but by havin' yer position, ye should be expectin' them criminals in town to be levelin' a crossbow at yer back. I have heard that there are ways to not be caught off guard if ye wear the proper protections and wards; maybe it would be a good idea fer ye and yer deputies to look into findin' out more about it?"
Marduk, after listening to all the conversations, raises from his chair and checks the papers before facing the crowd... "First off ... I would like to thank all the town for coming to this meeting. It shows that you care for this new home of ours. " He bows to the crowd and raises again to continue... " In light of the excellent discussions, it seems the you all are telling me that the laws are proper as they are right now. In light of that, we will let the laws stand as they are until we see fit for any other changes to be put forward. " Marduk smiles at the crowd as his eyes meet one towns member after the other... "We are all here for different reasons... yet I think we are all here for the same purpose. " His smile fades a little as he leans back onto the table... "Let that purpose not be chaos.... but, by the prime, let it be unity." He bows to the crowd again. "Thank you again for your advise and contributions..." he looks behind him to his Marshal" Fancy... would you call the meeting adjourned please." he finishses his bow and turns to collects his papers....
Tregard jots down Akon loses cool in a notebook labeled The Pit. As the other townspeople mill around, he gathers his things. Random items spill out of his bulging bag. He sighs, realizing that the Fairy Poo Jar has broken and its contents have compromised his belongings. Tregard pulls his soiled duffel bag to a corner and empties it out . He snorts in laughter as he picks up a Gryphon's Digest covered in fairy shit.
As Tregard sorts, it becomes clear that most of his possessions are destroyed. Without hesitation, the man drags his belongings to tavern's fireplace. The forlorn bard casts them all in the fire. The tavern fills with sweet colorful smoke. Waves of euphoria pass through the bard's body and his heart begins to beat faster. "O snap, fairy shit is psychoactive" he whispers. His hand immediately reaches for a notebook and founds only The Pit notebook. The only thing he owns. The revelation sobers him and he sluggishly leaves the tavern.
Panic and a warm breeze hit Tregard as he exits the tavern. He tries to breathe deep and slowly, yet the drug unhinges the safeguards placed on his mind. Sneering faces and cruel voices rush through his mind. Memories of the Ressik colonel become present reality .The man stifles a cry of fear as he ambles through town.
Suddenly, as if the wall popped out of no where, a man puts his arm in front of Akon. The man isn't carrying any sort of weapon. "Fancy, it is good to see you.. I was looking for you before the meeting started.. We need to talk.. Meet me at the Warrior's Hall tomarrow.. It is important.." Zenphere looks at Stiers without moving his head, grins at him slightly, then walks out of the Tavern. As he walks, a slight gleam of gold can be seen from the ring he carries on his neck.
Akon yawns slightly, and nods, smiling tiredly at the Judge. "Aye, sounds good to me. Just tell me what you want, and I'll bring 'um in when needed. I certainly don't envy your position, Marduk." She leans up a bit, setting her empty mug back down on the tavern table, and rubbing the back of her neck. "I figured the laws would need amendment, but I think it good and well that we got at least something up and running. I have been approached several times with requests for justice. I am actually somewhat impressed. Mind you, I won't bring trial to the court without charges. If the citizens can settle it between themselves, so be it. But tell me, what are you thinkin'? I'm all ears...." She stretches her back one way, then the other, then leans back once more, resting both palms across the hilt of her blade.