Dramatis Personnae
Galadin (Andrew)
Jakama (Rowan)
Lexomel (Rex)
Calista (Reni)
Fenmyar (Freddie)
High above the tower room of GLOC’s Jolly Food, Calista is perched on his fantastic flying broom. As he circles on high, he can clearly see two rats, panicking on the tower’s parapet. Thinking quickly, he uses the back of the broom to brush the vile creatures into his backpack. One rat twists and skitters off down the wall. His companion, however, drops into the waiting pack. Victorious, Calista jets away to hover about ten feet from the lip of the tower.
The second rat begins to make its way down the masonry of the tower when a pair of attacks from Lexomel, far below, arrive. The Scorching Ray spell caroms harmlessly off the tower stones to the rat’s left, but the steel tipped arrow slices through the air and sinks deep into the mortar. Instantly, the rat transmogrifies into a halfling dangling by his shirt sleeve near the top of the tower. A collective gasp rises from the crowd that is gathering in the streets below.
The halfling looks above him as the sound of pounding steps herald the arrival of Fenmyar, who has left his apprentice Maartin to see how he can assist at the tower’s ramparts. There are no rats in evidence, but Fenmyar has a plan involving Calista’s wondrous broom. He carefully reckons the distance between himself and the shaft of the broom. He can clearly see Calista’s backpack balanced behind him on the brush of the broom. Fenmyar gambles, casting a Misty Step spell that moves him the thirty feet to just behind Calista on the flying broom. Fenmyar settles in, reaching behind Calista astride the handle, and begins to reach behind himself to the backpack when the broom abruptly tumbles from the sky. The extra weight has caused it to plunge to the ground below. Oops!
The friends and the rat pack tumble with the broom, landing painfully on the cobbled street. By now a crowd of Trollskull Alley residents have gathered to watch the excitement. Galiden and Lexomel help their friends up. While a concerned Calista checks his broom for damage, a sheepish Fenmyar rolls off to the side. From high above, the dangling halfling shouts, “Where’s yer lad, wizard?” Startled, Fenmyar bolts back into GLOC’s to check on Maartin.
Meanwhile, the sharp-eyed Galadin spots a wriggling backpack that has tumbled from the sky with the pair of heroes. Galadin strikes it with the flat of his sword and hears a pitiful squeal from within. A blood slowly begins to spread across the canvas. A collective gasp rises from the crowd as a pair of ominously still halfling legs emerge from the stained pack.
From the throng, a shrill cry of “murder,” rises. To a person, the multitude backs away from Galadin. In the distance, the whistling signals the approach of the City Watch, who push their way through to the inert body of the halfling, laying partially inside the backpack. A piercing wail rises above the muttering, and a second halfling, weeping, rushes to hug the still body.
“Brother!! That’s my brother,” the distraught halfling wails. From the north, a pair of uniformed guards push through the crowd. Several fingers point at Galadin, who says, “I didn’t know he was in the bag!” Confused, the guards try to make sense of the multiple tellings of recent events as Galadin sputters his own explanation, and the other friends spin various parts of the tale of the wererats simultaneously.
“Out o’ the way,” rumbles a deep voice, and Emmek Frewn shoves his way to the center of the action. People are knocked over like tenpins to either side of his massive frame as he elbows his way to the sad tableau. Frewn lays one meaty hand on the tiny back of the weeping halfling, and scoops up the limp body of her newly deceased brother in his other. “Dearie, let Emmek do right by yer poor brother! Come with me!”
“See? The halflings are working with him!” Calista, still angry about Fenmyar causing his crash, sputters and points at Emmek who holds the weeping halfling in one arm and the small, limp body of her brother in the other.
“He’s a wererat!! I SWEAR I didn’t know he was in the bag,” exclaims the exasperated Galadin.
“Being a wererat isn’t a crime, but murder is. You can tell your tale to the judge,” the guard says gruffly as he claps iron manacles on Galadin’s wrists. Then the City Watch lead him away. As the heroes make to follow, Fenmyar emerges from GLOC’s and stops them, letting them know that Maartin is nowhere to be found. The friends will follow Galadin to the court later. For now, they need to search tavern top to bottom for the boy.
He is nowhere they look. However, a drop of blood is discovered near Maartin’s bed. This is frightening news. Frantically they make their way to the jail to inform the guards, who are dismissive. Maartin had run away before from the orphanage. No doubt he has done so again. Fenmyar and the rest of the friends are convinced Maartin’s disappearance is related to the incident with the wererats and Emmek Frewn. Grrr!!
But Galadin’s trial tales place that afternoon. Jakama offers to represent him in court, and, from his cell, the accused gratefully accepts.
Lexomel, Fenmyar and Calista take the first bench, each waiting their turn to testify on behalf of their friend, Galadin, and to describe the previous night’s dreadful events.The trail starts under the baleful eye of Judge Frederick Invicta. Across the aisle, the friends can clearly see the surviving halfling wererats, all now in human guise, as well as Emmek Frewn, comforting the sister of the deceased man. Yagra, who is seated behind the heroes, points out a hooded woman who sits with the villains. “That’s Baritha Twang,” Yagra says quietly, “and she’s a nasty piece of business.” The friends look away as Frewn turns their direction and smirks, drawing one finger across his neck in a threatening manner.
The court is intimidating: a pair of bailiffs bring in Galadin, whose wrists and ankles are chained. He is made to sit in a gated enclosure near the defense table, where Jakama sits, shifting through papers. Across the court, the robed figure of Koyer the Lawyer prepares his own materials. A dozen stern-faced people are led into the jury box. One is familiar….Jakama is relieved to see the friendly face of Dandelus Rench, purveyor of the Xoblob Shoppe, has been chosen to hear the case. At least one person on the jury knows that Galadin isn’t the cold-blooded killer he stands accused of being. At last, the bailiff bangs a staff and calls “All rise,” and the trial of Galadin begins.
Jakama argues ably, calling first Fenmyar, then Callista, then Lexomel. All testify about the events of the night before. Over and over, Jakama draws cogent testimony from his friends on behalf of a very nervous Galadin. Frustrated, Koyer the Lawyer is unable to find fault with their descriptions of events. To a man, each links the threats of Emmek Frewn to events with the wererats on the fateful night.
Looking down his nose through incredibly thick glasses, Judge Invicta rumbles “This is all hearsay unless we Mr. Frewn is called to testify. What says the prosecution?” Koyer, nervously stutters, “I call Emmek Frewn!”
Striding self-importantly up the aisle, Frewn places his meaty hand in the air and promises “To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. After all,” he says smoothly, “I never lie.”
Frewn settles his massive frame in the witness box, and begins a tale quite unlike the carefully described scene presented by Jakama’s witnesses. Frewn tells of bringing an armload of flowers and an invite of tea and welcoming the new tavern owners to Trollskull Alley. Frewn’s quavering voice describes watching Galadin, clearly a ruffian, push around the tiny halfling patrons who had come to drink milkshakes at GLOC’s Jolly Foods. With a wet honk into a handkerchief, Emmick Frewn dabs at his moist eyes.
From their place in the gallery, the friends mutter among themselves. This causes Judge Invicta to look up sharply, glaring around the courtroom as he bangs the gavel for silence. Emmik Frewn peers over his hanky to covertly assess his effect on the jury, and continues to paint a picture of the friends as ruffians and braggarts. Frewn sadly shakes his head and dabs at his eyes. Koyer, his own voice breaking, seats himself and calls to Jakama, “Your witness.”
Jakama stands to cross-examine Frewn and on approaching, discovers him to be perfectly dry-eyed. From behind his twisted handkerchief, only Jakama can see Frewn smirking. At the mention of flowers, Jakama objects, and after the testimony, he calls Joe the rat to provide testimony that Frewn is lying. A court-appointed animal translator questions Joe the rat, who squeaks out a scenario much different than the one presented by Frewn, who sits glowering in the gallery.
Meanwhile, Calista spots Baritha Twang quietly exiting the courtroom. Calista follows covertly at a distance, and ends up in a part of town quite close to the Skewered Dragon. In a rundown alley, Baritha pulls a key from her cloak at the same time that Calista’s foot dislodges an empty bottle. The noise alerts Baritha, who calls to him, “I see you, adventurer! What do you want?”
Calista demands to know Baritha’s connection to the wererats and Emmek Frewn. Baritha sneers, “Everyone in Waterdeep knows Emmek, and the city is full of wererats!” She turns the key and slips inside the ironbound door of the building. It closes solidly behind her, and Calista, frustrated, is left standing amid the trash. Thinking quickly, he drags some crates to allow him to climb up and peek through one of the high, dusty windows. Calista sees and hears two figures in the darkened room: one an adult woman and the other appears to be a boy about the age of Maartin. From his perch, Calista hears:
“You’ll go home when Frewn says it’s time! Make any noise and you’ll REALLY have something to cry about! I’m moving you to another safe house…one of those meddling adventurers followed me here.”
Calista waits. Eventually, he hears a door at the other side of the building open. He stealthily climbs down and surprises Baritha. Startled, she thrusts Maartin at him and squeaks, “Look who I found for you!” She flees back down the alley, and Maartin hugs Calista, happy to be safe once more. The two return to the court in time to see the jury being dismissed for the day. With bail granted, Galiden may spend the evening with his friends at GLOK’s. The case will continue in the morning.
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