Trial and Error Part 2
The trial continues directly after Trial and Error Part 1. Will justice prevail, or will it turn a blind eye to the actions of Arundal's Murderous Mayor Edwin?
"Besides the testimony of the two Militia Officers that entered the room with me? I'm afraid not." The mouse's tone does little to hide the smirk he is desperatly trying not to show, "And of course there is the matter of my honor. Unless of course you believe that the beast who graciously stepped in to reclaim order to this village is for some reason resorting to lying?" He adds with a raised eyebrow. He never did like lawyers much, prefuring enemies that came at you head on instead of sideways.
Of course, Lordan had been expecting this argument, but he had to continue on. "Oi'm not queshtunin' yer honor zurr, but th' proccess o' court requoires proof fer claims, an' seein' as 'ow we 'ave no proof o' th' teshtimony, et carn't be conshidered." Turning to the judge, he inclines his head respectfully. "Oi harve no further queshtuns." With this, he walks off to sit at his desk, trying hard to contain his nerves.
"What would you have me do? Have him sign his own confession?" The mouse loses his patience, flailing his good arm about, "There were eight other witnesses besides my self, the sheriff and his cronies. Only two of them are my men. Even if they would lie for me I very much doubt that Rorgan or Derrin or his parents, heck even the fox arsonist would lie for me. Justice isn't about arbitrary evidence, its about fact and finding truth from the evidence you have to work on. If I stopped to consider it find evidence for each marauding warlord and bandit that I kill I would never get anything done!" The mouse begins to go on another rant when he catches Thaddius frantic hand waving across his own throat, a single to knock it off. The mouse sighs as he is dismissed by the judge. He walks off and leaves the court house. Tavis has the sinking feeling he will need to bring Vannon or Rorgan here eventually...
The mole surprisingly maintains his composure as Tavis rants, and he blows out a breath of relief as the mouse leaves. He had been prepared to take a hit from Tavis being a witness, but he could feel the tides of the case shifting slightly in the face of this rant. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to disprove the testimony of the rest of the witnesses that would be called out.
Thaddius rubs at his eyes. Why must he work with such insane people? Speaking of which, he cringes at the thought of calling his next witness...A moment later two militia officers bring in a young grey furred fox who smiles and waves at the jury with shackled paws. If his feet were not shackled too Vannon would probibly kick his feet up on the desk in front of him. "So..." Thaddius begins as he paces around the witness stand. There are so, so many ways this could go wrong, "Please, for the record, state your name and your profession." The fox nods happily, "Kydo Vannon, professional rogue, thief, and bandit."
Lordan leans foward in his chair, watching the fox intently. If he played his cards right, he could really get the upper hand by out thinking Thaddius and using the unpredictable fox to his advantage. This would most certainly be an interesting case for him indeed.
The fox begins to relate his part in this odd but complex tale. How he was recruited by Henri's Daughter in exchange for his freedom, how they hired another weasel, pressently decesed from Byron's interogation, to help them burn down the Wharehouse. "DId you know why the mayor would want to burn down the wharehouse?" Thaddius asks. In reply the fox chuckles, "I don't ask questions beyond, 'how much I am getting paid.'" Vannon then relates getting shot by that quote, 'meany no good rotten otter' and that he plans to sue him later on for police brutality even after Thaddius corrects him about not actually being an officer. "Ok Fine, Heroic Brutality."
With a resigned sigh Thaddius replies, "Please Mr. Vannon...focus. What happened on the night when you were brought to the Mayor's home?" The fox shrugs, "Nothing too exciting, the mayor tried to get the otters to say that the Bushfolk were coming to wipe out the town..." The fox relates all that happened, even making noises for the sword fight between Rorgan and Henri. Thaddius is almost relieved when he sits back down declaring, "All your's Lordan."
Standing up, the mole walks towards the fox, trying hard to keep his composure. This case is quickly turning into a one sided mountain of evidence against Edwin, and of course, the mole knew what Edwin had done, and he knew everything was true, but he figured if he could get Edwin out of this, he would be rewarded handsomely later. "Alroight, Varnnon...d'ee rememer wot Edwin said thart noight?" He was really going to have to try his best not to lose this case to Thaddius, but he was slowly loosing hope against this overwhelming wave of testimony.
The fox tilts his head back, remembering the event. "I have to admit a lot of what he said went over my head, I don't pride myself on details. All I remember is that Edwin said he hired Henri to wipe out the bushfolk so he could put mine the silver in the area. If you ask me the mayor is a bit of a j-" the fox looks up into the angry growl of the badger next to him. Holding his shackled paws up defensibly the vulpine quickly replies, "I was going to say jerk, honest!" Vannon chuckles nervously, "Oh and then Derrin tackled the guy, chaos ensued and the mayor ordered Byron to kill us all. Fun times, right?"
Great...he definitely needed the fox to say something like that. "An' did 'ee say thart, or did Henri say thart?" Lordan asks, sincerely hoping that the fox would forget this, though he knew he was taking a gamble here at this point, but honestly, what else could he do?
Thaddius can be seen in the background biting at his tail. In truth EVERYONE was taking a gamble with the fox. But with out Byron, and with out Elesi Vannon was their last Ace in the hole. And he was desperatly trying to avoid the maddness that would ensue if he called the otter that let all the prisoners escape here in the court room. The fox thinks about this, "Well...give me a second. I'm still recovering from an arrow wound here. Let's see...yes, I am fairly, reasonably sure that Edwin said he hired Henri, then he started shouting something about being punched in the face by an otter."
Lordan narrows his eyes, looking as though he is staring holes straight through the fox's head. "Yore reasonably shure? Thurr's a big diffrence 'atween certain an' fairly shure, Varnnon, an' 'ee needs t' be spercific in court."
The fox makes a while as he leans away from the mole. He's been stared down by many beasts from wild cats to badgers. Never has he felt so afraid of a mole's stare before. Thaddius comes to the rescue though, "I object your honor, are we going to continue letting Lordan..." The cat carefully avoids the term 'badgering the witness' and instead tactfully finishes with, "Lordan got his answer, if that isn't the one Lordan wanted, then too bad."
The mole simply turns, looking straight at Thaddius with those same staring, beady, black eyes. "Is thurr any problum wid makin' shure thart the witness be arbsolutely shure o' th' answer 'ee gave?" He asks, doing a rather good job of maintaining his calm demeanor.
The judge nods in agreement. "I concur, Kydo. Answer the question." The fox looks nervous for a second. In truth much of that night was a blur, even now he is still recovering from an arrow wound to the gut. But then the fox realizes one key feature about his personality that can be used to help him out of this situation. "Yes. Completely sure." he lies through his teeth.
The mole remains staring straight at the fox for several heart pounding moments before he mutters, "Oi harve no furthur queshtuns." He stalks back to his seat, inwardly seething with rage at the fox.
Even the judge looks happy to finely be rid of the annoying fox as Vannon is led away in chains by the two milita guards, "DO you have anymore witnesses Mr. Sharpclaw?" The cat thinks about this for a long moment, stroking his whiskers as he does, "No sir, I think the prosecution made its case." The badger looks over to the mole, "Do you have anything further to add Lordan?"
The seething mole slowly shakes his head, trying hard to not burst into flames from sheer rage. "No zurr, oi doann't." He forces himself to say rather evenly, making sure he doesn't appear /too/ irritated.
The judge nods, taking off his glasses he says in a loud voice, "Alright then. As per the Mayor's own laws, Arundal justice is swift." He smiles at the irony. Edwin does not. "The jury will recess for now. When they return they will have their verdict." THe judge bangs his gavel on the desk once and the jury begin to file out of the room. Thaddius leans back in his chair, a knot is begining to form in his stomach. He did all he can. Now its left in the capable hand of justice...a corrupted justice system run by a mayor who is about to convicted for mass murder. Thaddius gulps. Light help them all.
The sun is beging to set when the jury returns. Thaddius by then is almost asleep in his chair. He is awakened by the gavel of judge striking Root's desk. "Members of the jury, do you have a verdict." A lanky mouse stands up, "Your honor, we do. We, the members of the jury find the Defendent, Mayor Edwin..."
"Not Guilty."
The moment these words are spoken, Lordan's head drops straight down onto the desk in relief. "Oh boi moi muther's snout..." He mutters to himself, completely relieved that all of this had worked out in his favor. To be honest, he did not expect this outcome in the slightest, but it didn't mean he wasn't happy for it.
The gleem in the shrewish mayor's smile can be seen from miles away. He isn't going to die! Others will though. Oh yes, their deaths will be painfull, slow. First he will have that traitorous sheriff gutted and made into a hat. And then the otters are going to burried in the darkest, deepest hole he can find and... The shrew begins to drum his claws together. Thaddius just leans back into his seat, "We...lost?" The judge goes on and on but the cat doesn't hear the words. Justice has...failed? But that can't be right? The shrew is evil, EVIL! "How am I going to tell the others..."
Lordan finally stands from his seat, picking his materials off of the desk and neatly packing them into a bag, which he carries with him when he walks over to Thaddius and holds out a digging claw. "'Twas a pleashure workin' against 'ee zurr." He says. He may have been annoyed by how well the cat did, but that didn't mean he couldn't be a good sport.
Lordan finally stands from his seat, picking his materials off of the desk and neatly packing them into a bag, which he carries with him when he walks over to Thaddius and holds out a digging claw. "'Twas a pleashure workin' against 'ee zurr." He says. He may have been annoyed by how well the cat did, but that didn't mean he couldn't be a good sport.
The cat stands up. With out grabbing the moles paw he grabs his coat. "Don't worry. It's not over yet. I think its safe to assume it won't be long until Edwin does something to land him back in court." He tosses on his coat about his shoulder, "Good day." Thaddius walks out of the court doors. Things are...about to get complicated.
The ending score was 2-2...so each party rolled two six sided dice. totals determined the outcome.
- DICE 2 d 6 + 0 ROLLED by Dylan : for forces of good
- ROLLS: 3 4
- TOTAL: 7
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- DICE 2 d 6 + 0 ROLLED by Rorgan : for forces of evil
- ROLLS: 4 4
- TOTAL: 8
