Earlier as response to Chedder

"As certain as I am of sitting by this fire talking to a cat." Tylaerys answers with a smile and a wink to Cheddar. "I suppose my mentor might not be a Harper Agent but it wouldn't make sense for her to set up such an intricate and elaborate ruse just to trick someone as insignificant as me. No, I'm quite sure she is a Harper Agent Cheddar. Being suspicious is a good trait being a Harper Agent though I suppose, not my own strongest suit I'm afraid." She finishes with a soft laugh. "What about yourself Cheddar? Where are you from and what were you doing at Noah's Mill?"

     "Ahh, now there's the rub, isn't it?" Finn says in answer to Tylaerys mentioning responsibility, then tosses her a wink.

((Finn will still deduct half the rations...  Squirrel will do in a pinch, but not for every meal.))

---

     "The sign proclaims that supporting the man brings one the same fate." Finn points out to one guard even as Tylaerys is confronting another. "By your own admission she was not supporting the man but rather looking to sever his supports... She was merely looking to cut the things supporting the man."

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

One of the militia members bristles at Finn's remarks.  "Is 'at supposed to be a joke?"

Another places a hand on his shoulder and pulls him back.  He takes a long look at Tylaerys as she questions him.  He removes his leather helmet, revealing a young man of not more than 20 years.  "No officers here....."

     "A joke?  If I had told a joke, you'd be laughing," Finn assures the militiaman who had bristled before being restrained.  "You wouldn't have understood it, what with you being you and all, but you would have laughed when everyone else did to try to cover up your lack of comprehension..."

     Finn needles the hothead in as soft a voice as possible, not wanting to disrupt Tylaerys' attempts at diplomacy.  Besides, if the hotthead does something stupid it is best if most think he did it for next to no reason at all.  If a scuffle ensues due to his temper and a prisoner escapes... Well that surely couldn't be blamed on them. 

Cheddar stretches.
"My master had dealings with the Harpers.' Cheddar says. "And a number of others. He would tell me all about them and their plots and subplots. I don't think he trusted them much. He once spoke of a Thavian wizard who infiltrated the Harpers and was trying to destroy them from within."

Cheddar pauses for a moment, then speaks.
"I am not entirely sure where I am from." he says. "I was summoned by my master to retrieve an items from a distant ruin while he tried to hold off a Beholder. Things didn't go well for either of us and I got caught in between my masters last spell and the Beholder's magic. In the end they died, both crumbled into dust and I alone remained."
Cheddar pauses.
"Well. Cicero and I." he says patting his vest pocket. "Being my own master now, I have been traveling since." 

Tylaerys listens to Cheddar while eating some roasted squirrel. "So, um, forgive me for asking but...what are you exactly Cheddar? I have never met someone quite like you before." The blonde half-elf asks with curious silvery eyes, tilting her head and smiling.

Cheddar nibbles on a ration then.
"I am not entirely sure myself." he says. "I spent years as a familiar, summoned by my master to do his bidding. After a while I seemed to take on more of a personality, or at least that is what he told me."

Cheddar pauses and stretches.
"I believe the combined magics from my masters dying spell and that of the Beholder's has made me more. Whether I am that summoned creature I was before or the combination of magic and those dying spirits, I do not know." 

"So, you're a familiar then, that accidentally transformed through magic, amazing, and truly unique most likely." Tylaerys says with big silvery eyes, drinking some water from her waterskin. "And what about you Jirel, why were you at Noah's Mill? You seemed to have been there a while. I remember you knowing your way around the place, even helping out with fixing me that tasty sandwich, Tomato and Goat Cheese." The young blonde half-elf says, looking up at the blonde giantess beside her with a warm smile, thinking back on their first meeting at Noah's Mill. It seemed so long ago now and so much had happened, things she would never have expected, things that had changed her life, forever.

Quote from Oberon99 >>

"So, you're a familiar then, that accidentally transformed through magic, amazing, and truly unique most likely." Tylaerys says with big silvery eyes, drinking some water from her waterskin.

      Listening intently, Finn pauses in her petting of Misses Binklesworth of the Twilight Binklesworths, picks her up to look her in the eyes and sternly instructs her by telling her "Don't you be getting any ideas!  I am NOT taking on a Beholder for you!"

     Then, more quietly after the conversation has picked up again, Finn adds:  "Besides, I love you just the way you are!  Yes I do!  You're a good Misses Binklesworth, aren't you?  Yes you are!  Uh huh!  The bestest best and goodest good Misses Binklesworth ever!"

With Finn passing on some of the squirrel, Jirel takes the extra rations for herself. Listening to the others take their turns, sharing about themselves around the crackling of the fire, she had to keep her hands busy. Although plump, the squirrels were like chicken wings in size for the goliath by the time they were skinned and prepped. She’d set the tiny pelts and tails to cure. Then came her turn.

After a pause, Jirel breaks her silence. “Best I can do’s a squirrel kabob again tonight.” Taking hold of the hilt of her greataxe, she raises the blade from the hot coals she had rest it on. “Short story is,” Glowing red hot, the blonde looks over the sterilized blade. “I was exiled, gutted an’ left for dead by my clans late chieftain.” With the very blade she now uses to protect and sustain herself. Laying it flat, hovering over the red coals, Jirel tosses a couple hunks of raw protein onto the heated blade, sizzling on contact. “Lost an’ alive, I wandered an’ got to work where needed.”

After a long pause, and a deep exhale, she elaborates a bit more, since the others have. “Longer story, the Late Chieftain was my father.” She starts. “Cultural tradition, ruling responsibility’s expected to pass down to the first born, an heir.” She shakes the blade to loosen the meat on the blade before she pops it to flip them over, catching them back on the blade with another sizzle. “I was born a twin.” The goliath admits. “A runt like myself was not believed to be suitable to defend the right of Chieftain, to be the Protector of our Clan.” Honey hues focus on the task before her as if trying to distance herself from her own tale. “Many truths came to light that day...” She takes breath. “But the truth that I was first born, was a deeply kept secret.“ Jirel swallows a lump in her throat to get through her next words. “That was ‘til the last phase of my brother’s plan was set in stone.” She exhales . “At my father’s discovery of my unplanned pregnancy… He berserked. Snow ran red with rage that day,” She pauses briefly. “in the blood of the father, mine an’ me.” Her free hand grips the single quality piece of cloth that adorns the front of her gear at the base of her stomach. “an’ of the unborn child stripped of my womb.”

After a long pause filled with crackling fire and sizzling squirrel, Jirel clears her throat. ”Noah’s Mill, an’ Jill, have been generous in hospitality.” 

Tylaerys listens to Jirel as she reveals the story behind the scar on her abdomen. She had suspected some of what the blonde giantess told them as she first saw the scar when they met but now she fought desperately to hold back the tears over this tragic story, thinking back on the goliath's care for Wink and Grouse. The half-elf was still young but she always imagined having children of her own at some point and she couldn't even start to fathom what emotions Jirel had gone through since... The young blonde half-elf cautiosly lays a comforting hand on Jirel's leg, not quite sure if the blonde giantess was receptible for compassion at this point. "I'm...I'm so so sorry Jirel." She says quitely, her silvery eyes looking up at the goliath with deep compassion, then lost for words to express her feelings.

[I almost don't want to interrupt with this encounter.  But I have a daughters BDay this weekend and then we leave for Disney (...again).  Posting will be interrupted through 20 February.  I'm sure I'll get a post or two up next week but it won't be more than that.]

The guards are willing to let you question the man, but at present he is incapable of answering.  His eyes, when they open, stare blankly and his breaths are shallow.  He has been hanging here in the chill forest air for more than a day, exhausted and dehydrated.

"We have no way of knowing the truth, for certain," says the young guard.  "Either we hang a confessed murderer and his wife who unlawfully attempted to free him, or we hang a lying adulterer and his murdering wife."

"While I confess this leaves me uneasy, and I will sleep poorly now wondering if we hung a man for a murder he did not commit... the fact remains he was there, he confessed, and no one in town would believe this even if it were true."

"What would you strangers have us do?  Cut him down, walk him back to the community and say 'Guess what?  Now he might not have done it after all?'" he looks genuinely distressed.  "This is a tragedy for our town.  Leave us to it."

The woman continues to sob.  11

"You," the woman suddenly cries, looking at Jararaka, "You!  If they won't listen to the truth, you must make them listen!  My goodfather in Waterdeep is a wealthy importer.  Save my husband from this!  Save me.  He will reward you, I swear it!"

The guards just roll their eyes and continue their work, not concerned that you will be swayed by this desperate plea.

Tylaerys ponders the young guard's words and nods before speaking again. "There is no way to solve this easily, it is a true tragedy and will have no good ending either way. Would you consider leaving them both in our care to have them tried and sentenced in the city of Elturel. It is known for having a strong and robust system of good justice and might also have what is needed to truly discern the truth on thsi matter. Maybe you even want to come with us there to bear witness to what has happened here." Tylaerys suggests, fully aware that this might sound outrageous to the townsfolk, but having no other idea on how to reach true justice in this case.

Persuasion: 24 Another roll in the case help action be given: 18

     Finn had several quips and humorous comments come to mind during Jirel's telling of her past but finds herself glad she had kept her mouth shut when the details really come to light.  

     "Jirel..." she says softly from the other side of the fire.  "I..." but she has nothing to say.  All quips, all jokes are gone and at this moment there is nothing but a dark cloudy coldness inside of her, a cold compassion that leaves her speechless.  A red anger will grow later, no doubt, but for now she can think of nothing besides what is missing...

     "Anything you need," Finn is able to say in a whisper, eventually...  "An ear... a shoulder...  a pair of arms...  You can have mine or I can help you take them from others..."  She is unsure if JIrel can even hear her quiet promise over the fire but that mattered not, the promise was made.

---

     "If you are killing them because of what the people in town will think you are as stupid as this one," Finn says nodding towards the militiaman who earlier asked if she was joking.  "Go back to town and tell them the woman tried to save the man and so you hung them both by their wrists til they died if it helps you sleep and makes you look good.  You need never see either of them again.  If you in fact do the thing though, kill them both, you will never sleep well again knowing you killed at least one innocent person."

     "Go back.  Go home.  You shall never see them again once you turn your back to them here...  Tell whatever story allows your village to sleep well,"  Finn offers...

The young guard tucks his helmet under his arm and scratches his head.  "The City of Torm would know what to do about this... and it would take the matter off of our hands...".  He looks to be seriously considering the idea.

The other guards erupt into shouting.  First, the one insulted by Finn stands and gets right in her face.  Then another yells in outrage.  "Just turn our backs?  One of these two murdered a woman!  It was a bloody horror show in there.  We aren't some simple rubes to be turned around by quick wits and big words!"  The young guard drops his helmet and moves to intervene, while the remaining three start yelling as well, though in the growing din it's not clear who is calling for calm or for anger.

Tylaerys scratches her cute head and ponders if there could be even more to this than the stories presented.
Insight to realize if something is off with all this: 5

(Nevermind :-P)

Tylaerys: 

Regarding the older insight role, the woman is being strung up to hang and is wild with desperation.  You'd expect she is willing to say or do anything.  However, since she is admitting to a murder which would see her hanged anyway, it's hard to find a reason she would lie.  Unless she was so committed to her husband she wants to give her life for his.  Though in that scenario, she would have to believe he was a killer and still be willing to die for him.

     "The man says HE killed the woman," Finn points out.  "The woman says SHE skilled the woman.  The woman is dead...  But is there any proof that either of them are the ones who did the deed?"  

     As Finn remains calm and uses her words Misses Binklesworth jumps down from her lap and starts walking around the area.  The familiar isn't sure what will come next but she wants to be on the ground to act if the need arises.

     "Could it not be that both confessed to protect the other?" Finn posits. "If all you want is enough deaths to let your town sleep soundly then by all means, kill them as you will.  If you want your town to truly be safe though...  I would suggest you actually ask some questions and try to find the truth of the matter."

     Finn settles on her horse and tries to be patient and allow the words to sink in, to perhaps find purchase in the minds of at least one or two of them.  At the same time, if the stupid guard continues mouthing off then Finn will be unable to help herself and will subtly cast thaumaturgy to create the sound of a loud and juicy fart coming from the guard.

Hearing about how Cheddar came to be like this, Jararaka's eyes widens in disbelief. "Magic is wild... Hopefully freedom has been good to you. Though, I'm guessing you can't change like how Misses Binklesworth can, huh?"

"You? A runt?" Jararaka comments incredulously and continues to crunch loudly on the squirrel kebabs, bones and all, but she has to pause when Jirel, usually quiet and stoic, shares the story about her scars. The lizard woman swallows slowly and sits still as well, respecting the forlorn silence. Even if parenthood is a foreign concept, she could sympathise with the pain of having such precious things brutally torn away. "That's... Hey, thanks for telling us that." She pauses awkwardly before adding, "The body's wound has healed, but if you still want that chieftain skewered or fried or something, I could probably help with that too."

---

Jararaka looks at the woman in bewilderment, and mumbles in a small voice, "how in the nine hells did you get here in the first place if your grandfather's as you say..." As the guards all starts yelling, she clicks her tongue and claps her hands to get their attention, if one were to look closes, faint electric blue glyphs light up on the back of her hand. She looks at Tylaerys for confirmation, before saying, "hey! Calm down! We, band of unrelated travelers, are saying that we'll take these people and get them properly trialed. You get to go home in peace, having dealt with them, and we are offering to do the hard work. For some reason... How's this a bad thing for you?"

(i'm glad I have a bunch of non-combat spells prepared for traveling lol, DC13 charisma save for calm emotions, 20ft radius so I think that'd catch the guards and maybe the woman as well.)

A look of shock and disbelief crosses Cheddar's feline features.
"You want to what?" his voice raising slightly. "This is how justice is mediated in every town and village from here to..." he pauses. "Well, to everywhere. And you want to mettle in their ways? What about justice for the dead woman? Who speaks for her?" he asks.

Shaking his head, Cheddar ignores everyone and guides Gus to the doomed man. Cheddar shakes his head again.
"Yes Cicero, I agree completely." 

With that Cheddar looks to the man.
"Kevan."  he calls on the man. "It's me. Look to me."
Persuasion: 19
Cheddar casts Charm Person on the man. 

 
"I am your friend and here to help you. But you must confide in me the truth of this matter. I must know and it will be just between us." Cheddar pauses. "Who killed her?" he ask.