INUH's D&D game

Hatter

"Which leads me to my point," Sareth drawls. His arm seems to twitch, and a long, wickedly curved blade flashes from his hip. "Whoever brought us here did so against our will, yet allowed us to keep our weapons." He sheathes the scimitar, thinking. "Which leads me back to the arcane. Our 'host' is one who does not fear mortal weaponry." 

delta534

"Who wants to bet that the ax on the table is possessed by something?" Engelin asked.

Hatter

"In any case, I doubt we'll have the chance to examine it more closely," Sareth cut in. "Jurors aren't usually allowed to tamper with evidence. And common sense dictates that a possibly possessed artifact of murder and death isn't the sort of thing you'd want to touch."

Forzare

Khorgan finally stirs, rubbing his temples absently as he opens his eyes.   A young dwarf in chainmail armor, carrying a shield with the sigil of a priest of Moradin, with a morningstar strapped to his side, he blinks, disoriented. "That was..."  He pauses.  His eyes sweep left, then right.  "...Bloody hell."

ClockworkUniverse

"Oh?" says Ebin. "Was your dream about Hell covered in blood? HAHAHAHAHA."

As several jurors glare at the annoying fool, a stern-looking human with short white hair and armor covered in holy symbols begins to stir, having been woken by the loud laughter. "Wh-what devilry is this?"

Forzare

"I'd like to know that, too."  Khorgan shifts in his chair, ignoring the fool.  "What is this place?  Which one of you brought me here?"  His voice is quiet, but there is still a bit of an accusatory tone to his voice.

Counterclock

Deeri was still in a daze when she woke up.

"Where am I?" she asks the figure closest to her.

ClockworkUniverse

The human in the armor looks at Khorgan and Deeri. "Well, to answer the question of where we are, this is the old Beldrin's Bluff Courthouse. As to how we got here...I have no idea."

A young halfling woman sits up in her chair and looks around. "Oh, you have got to be kidding."

Dynamod

Aladur finally gets off his butt and shakes the spiders off. "well, I suppose we 'ought to be doin somethin, rather than sitting on our rumps..."

The dwarf checks his person to make sure all his valuables are still there.

ClockworkUniverse

A human woman in a red silk dress begins to stir. "Well, this isn't good."

Everyone is now awake, with the exception of the wolf under Deeri's chair.

All Nines

"Time to put those words to good use? I think so." Referring to Alandur's statement, Killian hops down form the juror's box and begins walking past the pews in the room, in the hopes that someone will step in front of him so he does not have to be the presiding juror, so to speak. He spins a knife between his fingers while walking, whistling without subtlety. He is moving very slowly.

"The longer we sit around, the later it will be when we have our answers."

ClockworkUniverse

The empty courtroom does not react to Killian's movement.

"Right," says the hobgoblin, standing up and holding his spiked chain in the hand not holding his cigar.

There is a door on the Northern wall, as well as a set of double doors on the Western wall.

delta534

Engelin gets out of the jurors box and heads to the door on the northern wall, keeping his distance from the ax and looking for anything suspicious  

ClockworkUniverse

The armored man stands up.

"Wait. Should we perhaps take a moment to introduce ourselves? I'd rather be able to at least call you all by your names before we try to find a way out."

All Nines

"Hm. I hadn't thought of that. Considering the circumstances, we might be here long enough that having easy ways to refer to each other would be a necessity, though I would have been content with making my own nicknames for certain people here . . . but anyway, I am Killian. It would be a pleasure to share this strange experience with you. I hope."

delta534

"Call me Engelin, just don't expect me to remember your names that well."

ClockworkUniverse

The man in the armor smiles. "Well, I hope this experience will be pleasant myself...and ideally, brief. My name's Rekkart Cole. I'm a paladin. And I suppose you should know that I, like many here, was on the jury for the Mord trial."

He looks around the room at the other jurors. The gnome in the jester outfit is the first to speak up. "Already introduced myself, but I'm Ebin Blithoddle. Professional funnyman and member of the original jury. I think you'll all find my company tonight just delightful!"

The hobgoblin removes the cigar from his mouth. "Malgrim Hurkes. I'm" -- he jingles the spiked chain dangling from his belt -- "a lumberjack, and this ain't my first time being a juror here. Dunno who's behind all this, but I'm looking forward to having some words with them."

The dwarf, apparently not one to waste time, goes ahead and starts searching the room. "I'm Tablark Hammergrind. I'm a freelance carpenter an' stonemason, an' I'm proud to have helped send the murd'rer to justice!"

The human woman is carefully brushing dust off of her expensive-looking dress. "I'm Patrissa Vrakes. And yeah, I've been here before." She finishes removing the dust, looks up and smiles.

The halfling woman is still looking around nervously. "Um...I'm Madge Blossomheart. I'm an acrobat. I...yeah, I was on the jury."

The Half-orc just grunts and says "Halgrak."

Hatter

Sareth smiles as he clambers out of the jury box. "Quite a cross-section of the community. Jesters, lumberjacks, paladins, all of whom are quite... passionate about this case. You all found the executioner guilty of murder."

He walks over to the paladin, looks him up and down, and his smile grows a bit colder. "An irony not lost upon me."

Turning, Sareth looks at his fellow newcomers, then up at the mural of justice. "You're all here... but you aren't, are you? Enough of you are missing that we adventurers were roped into playing courthouse in your stead. But something is still missing. Someone, rather."

He looks back at the paladin. "Master Cole, where is your judge?" 

All Nines

"Ah. Good observation, Sareth," Killian says as he continues searching through pews. "With no judge to present the case, how are we jurors to assess it? Should be interesting. And without prosecutors, it falls to us to come up with evidence. Ah, situational humor.

"Anyway, I have a question for the jurors of this trial, though, if any of them can answer: what circumstances surrounded the closing down and barring up of this courthouse? My memory has become rusty, and it has been many years -- I believe someone said ten? -- since it closed. I'm now curious. Surely the easy trial of that bastard hangman would not be the cause of such an unfortunate decision . . ."

ClockworkUniverse

Sir Cole takes the question. "This courthouse served the Beldrin's Bluff district. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the area, but the district overlooks the sea from a cliff. Shortly before the trial, there was an earthquake, and a few of the closer buildings fell into the water. This naturally caused quite a panic, and a lot of people -- the court included -- wanted to put a bit of distance between themselves and the sea. And so, immediately after the Mord trial and execution, the courthouse was boarded shut and abandoned."

"I think there have been rumors of hauntings, but no more than for any other abandoned building."

All Nines

"And am I to assume that that bloody ax was merely an afterthought of the town committee? I share Sareth's sentiment that it should not be approached too carelessly." Bored of searching empty benches, Killian takes a break and sits down on one, this time juggling multiple knives.

ClockworkUniverse

Through the double doors, a clock loudly chimes the hour: 6:00.

delta534

Engelin goes up to the northern door and tries to see if he can hear anything behind it.

Hatter

Sareth walks over to the axe on the table and examines it closely, being careful not to touch it or the blood covering it.

ClockworkUniverse

Engelin hears nothing.

As Sareth approaches the table, the part of the mural in the ceiling depicting the sword of justice falls and crashes though the evidence table, embedding itself in the floor. The axe is hit on the lower end of its handle and is sent flying, where it embeds itself in the jury box. 

(Sareth needs to make a reflex save)

delta534

Engelin readies his longsword in one hand and tries to open the northern door with the other.

ClockworkUniverse

Beyond the door, Engelin sees a judge's chambers. These simple quarters haven't been used in years. A plain oak desk stands near the back. Several voluminous texts on local law, all gilt-edged and bound in leather, lay scattered around the room.

delta534

"Alright, who wants to try to open the double doors?" Engelin asked to the crowed. Engelin then puts away his weapon and searches the judges chambers for anything related to the executioners case or valuable.  

ClockworkUniverse

As Engelin approaches the desk, he hears a young voice laugh. Two booksfloat up from the clutter. One lands on the desk and falls open to a page. The quill on the desk then lifts itself and underlines a passage in the book.

More alarmingly, though, the other flies at Engelin. (16 vs. AC)

ClockworkUniverse

The axe nicks Sareth's arm on the way by. (2 damage.)