S63-66: The Trial of Elder Gikandi
With little fanfare, the Mudwangs made their way to the Tower of the Archives, where the men would help Elder Gikandi in mounting a defense for himself, and by proxy, Shakan Bake. A small crowd had gathered at the tall building, where they were welcomed and observed by several different groups, including some of their friends. Rinna encouraged them with homemade signs; Syster Odiminn offered a prayer; and Throfung gave Shakan a heart well wish. After passing through the magic detectors and given a space to leave their armor and weapons, the Mudwangs spent several minutes in quiet contemplation before being ushered into the Hall of Truth.
Inside, they took in a circular, two-tiered courtroom with dappled light filtering through high, narrow windows. Opposite the lower public seating area (with accompanying balcony platforms above) stood a tall judges bench, not dissimilar from the shape of the Maur itself. With spots for 3 justices, the bench curved in a U-form, the horn-like ends pointing to a stone bench put between them. This is where much of the action of the next few days would take place. Several paces behind the witness stand were a pair of firm, heavy tables. Behind one of them, Inspector Mündur and his legal team were preparing their documents for the upcoming proceedings. Rat led the way to the other bench, where the Mudwangs made themselves comfortable and continued to mentally steady themselves.
Soon a blast of horns announced the entrance of the three justices: Elder Vinkardo Dallakas of Virtuosity, Elder Mid-Gothi Worowo of the Mystics, and finally Elder Larrius Dennith, the Younger of the Archives, and ultimate overseer of the trial. As their assistants prepared their Zone of Truth spells and the court attendants closed the doors to the outside world, Larry banged his gavel and began the proceedings with a short speech explaining the format and intent of the trial- to establish the damage and effect to Bøfkasmaur Academy from Shakan’s trip to Goldsands Harbour and the ensuing damage to it’s Library. Given Shakan’s prolonged absence following the fire, Elder Gikandi assumed responsibility and would be the one being held up for the final verdict.
Larry opened the floor for opening statements, and Inspector Mündur approached the bench. The well-dressed half-orc began ith a straightforward indictment of Elder Gikandi’s well-intentioned but ultimately maligned judgement in sending a favorite pupil unprepared into the world at large. Shakan’s irresponsible actions while pursuing a project of questionable merit and import negatively affected Gikandi’s time and standing, as well as diverted funds and attention from other more promising students. All of these factors, in addition to Shakan’s dissapearance after the fire proved not only his culpability but also the lack of character that shown exceedingly poorly on Gikandi’s judgement as an Elder. Rat took to this unusual stage but performed with aplomb, painting a picture of a young man who had gone into the world and acted with honor and integrity, perhaps not wholly owing to the Academy but certainly as a model student from it. The defense would prove that any damages incurred were a result of self-defense, rather than folly, and he had repeatedly proven himself to be a reputable individual.
Soon after the defense and the prosecution began to call forth an alternating series of witnesses, professional testimony, and interpretive performances. Mündur began by welcoming Sgt. Eracik of the Goldsands Harbour Rectory, who took in Shakan that fateful day. The gnomish officer explained how Shaken seemed intent on staying in the library, wanting to stay after hours, and ultimately it was his quarters where the great fire began. Shakan addressed these accusations by pointing out that while he did start the fire, its as in self defense. The bodies of the attackers, whom the Mudwangs suspected were agents of the Open Hand hired to kill Shakan, were unknown individuals whose names were not in the Rectory ledgers, calling Eracik’s operational effectiveness into question.
For their first address Shakan brought in Mina Dett along with her company of Virtuosity performers. With darkened lights the troupe gave a dramatic and riveting dance performance of Shakan’s journey from childhood (The spark is lit, and yearns for air,) to the separation from his mother (The flame yearns for growth, it cannot sit still,) and his growth in the Academy and mission to learn about his past (As it is fed, the fire will take in aspects of the fuel which feeds it, changing it’s nature.) While some questioned the non-traditional performative aspect of the defense’s start, it nonetheless was a thrilling show.
The prosecution followed with a pair of character witnesses, Cpl. Reinke and Ms. Viora: the former a soldier at the Oxbow Spypost in the Blacktail mountains, the latter the personal assistant to Timber magnate Mordegall Tyldum. The soldier recounted how shortly after arriving at their outpost, at least one of Shakan’s traveling companions began to attack her and others there, and afterwards a large portion of the forest was burning. The secretary shared how on the night of the Fall Harvest Festival, Mr. Tyldum’s offices were attacked and burned to the ground, with her identifying Vax on the defense bench as being in the building at the time of the incident. As it became clear Inspector Mündur was trying to build a pattern of action, the Mudwangs sought to counter these accusations as circumstantial: Shakan (and the Mudwangs) were not party to the actions of Naliq and Srroka, nor could Shakan be pinned to the tower fire having been off at the Fair festivities.
As the court proceedings continued, other events of import occurred:
- Taerus had set up a string of Alarms to track the movement of Instructor Pøl, but the difficulty of doing so while across campus bore little fruit.
- Rat was struck ill in the courtroom, retching up thick black juice. Amidst a crowd of concerned onlookers outside, Rucker was able to stabilize the bard. However, the implications over what this festering infection (previously only seen on mission with the League of Terror Vigilant) meant here at the Academy gave the goliath pause.
- Thanks to Vax’s efforts, the Mudwangs began to suspect that recent Archives upstart, Huon Hurrard, may be the individual responsible for the attack in Goldsands. Watching him throughout the trial, the heroes were unable to detect any foul play but grew to despise the haughty student’s attitude and mockery of their friend.
- Near the end of the trial, unverified accounts began to be whispered about of an active revolt occurring at Virpresque’s capital, Fort Indominus. These rumors were impossible to verify, though rumors spread rapidly as to whether Duchess Üllans had perished, whether Duke Malcant had initiated the attack, or who was currently in control of the city.
Finally, the Mudwang’s called their former foe Hallehaig to the stand. Though the Rattlesnake had agreed to assist Shakan and the Mudwangs in the testimony so long as he wasn’t embarrassed or made fun of in exchange for his Poisoned Dagger, animosity was immediately rekindled as Rucker and Taerus tried to frame Hallehaig’s true ambition as genocide. They spent much of their questions focussing on Hallehaig’s character as a murderous sociopath, which he in turn spun as indictments of the Kjollden governance and their part in it. While overall adversarial to these questions, the Rattlesnake did seem to strive to hold Shakan in a positive light. The genasi concluded the questioning, helping to recover a less than ideal witness testimony for the defense.
The prosecution faced their own challenge when Elder Gikandi was able to genially deflect and reframe Inspector Mündur’s accusations into positives. The tortle likened Shakan’s odd curiosities and proclivities to an adventurer truly seeking the unknown, rather than simply tackling easy assignments or obviously gainful courses. Though he may have been an untraditional student, Gikandi recognized Shakan’s merit and sponsored him as such because he needed it, unlike others who were more easily able to pay or pave their way forward. Shakan spent a moment afterwards to thank his mentor in front of the court, and Elder Gikandi’s again shared how proud he was of his former pupil’s growth.
With the testimonies closed, both parties gave their final statements: Mündur again called into questions Gikandi’s judgement in sending a magically gifted, though unrefined, student into the world, with a history of infernos, accidents, and damages in his wake. All of which, the Inspector reiterated, led poorly to the look and reputation of not only the defendant, but also the Academy itself, which is what the trial was seeking to determine. Supported by the Mudwangs, Shakan’s defense pointed out that his actions over the past several months were in fact a boon to the Academy: producing an expert mage who was able to defend the helpless, defuse racial tensions between the Kjollden and Wevir, and demonstrate the lessons and wisdom he gained from Bøfkasmaur to great effect. If anything, he spread the name of the Academy as a result of his great valor and honor. Before concluding the trial, Larry called upon Shakan a final time, to see whether at this final moment, he would recant any of his testimonies and/or preemptively accept a plea deal for Gikandi in exchange for becoming excommunicated from the Archives and Bøfkasmaur. Shakan would agree only on the terms that Gikandi be fully reinstated.
With the ultimate bang of the gavel, the Trial of Elder Gikandi and Shakan Bake was ended, and the courtroom dispersed. Swarmed by friends and supporters, the Mudwangs took some time to recollect themselves. Rinna offered to surveil the Justices to ensure they weren’t swayed by outside forces and sped off. Odiminn offered supportive prayers and promised that Rat would be seen to by the healer Brother Bruelder. Shakan employed an automaton to return Hallehaig’s dagger to conclude their blood deal. After a time, the men returned to Elder Gikandi’s private quarters to rest, imbibe, and reflect over the past several days.
On a hunch, Vax decided to cast the scry spell again with Gikandi’s guidance to check on Huon Hurrard. As he began to track the Archives Prefect, he saw him storming into Larry’s office, with an argument ensuing. The spell was suddenly and shockingly ended by Huon himself, who by snapping his fingers extinguished the fire in Larry’s office and severed the spell. Realizing that not only Shakan’s fate, but also the future of the Archives and the Academy itself hung in the balance, the Mudwangs hurriedly prepared to face that crepe-loving creep who'd messed with the wrong fire genasi.
