Forest Accords
Before us stand accused of
* murder most vile,
* impersonation of a civil official,
* unlawful assumption of civil duties,
* unlawful signing of official documents :
Leomaris, Acidum and Qam Hadithan.
These 3 mercenaries were hired to escort our most noble diplomat Theodorus Victorianus Magnus III (aka Theo) to the forest, where he would work out the final details of the settlement between the Forest creatures and the Town. Ambushed along the way by very nimble goblins that were quickly defeated (at least they disappeared in a puff of shadowy smoke). However in the fight our heroes choice to ignore the apparent to all magical influence put upon our noble diplomat and the dagger given to him by a villain disguised as wood-creature.
Upon arrival at the arranged meeting location and exchange of pleasantries, the magical suggestion triggered and the diplomat stabbed and poisoned the wood-creature nicknamed “Groot”. Without regard of the situation, based upon their own personal biased impression of our diplomat, and no chance of explanation, the heroes immediately slew the diplomat within seconds via diabolic magic. The poor diplomat lasts words were expressing regrets of his action and indicating he had not acted out of free will, yet had regained said free will. As such the slaying of the poor diplomat cannot be explained as self-defense, nor as in defense of others as the magical influence had worn off. While our diplomat would have to explain his actions had he survived, certainly the council would have forgiven him the vile deed, as he was not under his own free will. And even if guilty, it is always up to the council to decide which punishment a member of our town deserves and not unsanctioned citizens. Adventures already have much lee way in the defense of the town and we are in understanding of the difficult choices they sometimes have to make, but killing an innocent, defenseless honored member of our town can only be classified as murder most foul.
Normally we would demand the most harsh possible sentence for such vile acts, but in their defense they managed to rescue the wood-creature leader from death by much applied healing magic and potions.
However they then illegally imitated and assumed the official role of diplomat and worked out the details of the forest accords, without knowing the intentions of the City Council. Their signing of these accords on behalf of the city endangers our possible alliance with these wood-creatures. While most likely not done out of personal greed or search for personal honour, it should be known and made clear that ”adventurers” cannot take the place of official sanctioned town-officers.
As such while their intentions can not be proven to have been truely evil and out of personal gain, and are perhaps only not thought through, in the end their actions were unlawful and require punishment as per the letter of the law.
As such, admitting their previous duties to the Town and the mitigating circumstances in this case, I the Commissioner Of Public Safety, request not the death penalty for their actions, but eternal banishment and the forfeit of all their goods, both material and immaterial.
In my hands I have here their own written and signed confession to the murder and usurpation of diplomatic power, and where they even dare to ask for money for their deeds:
Honored Dunes and Dragons representative,
In light of recent events I wish to make my argument about why we should be rewarded for our last quest even though we failed the written assignment.
Our assignment was to guide and protect Theo the politician, sent to the woodland creatures during its assignment to negotiate with said creatures. We had protected the politician during our travels from a goblin ambush. They were clearly ready for our arrival seeing as how they sabotaged the bridge with illusory magic. We had protected the politician during this scuffle and he walked away unharmed. Though the politician did try and speak with one of the woodland creatures not much of a conversation happened with a creature that does not speak. After ensuring the safety of the politician, we continued our path towards the meeting with a creature we have given the name of “Groot”. Leomaris, Qam and myself greeted Groot since we have had multiple kind interactions on previous quests for the guild. A small consort of wood-like beings and a small fox were also present. Theo, however, was quick to step up to Groot and out of nowhere drew a knife covered in poison. Realizing our so called negotiator was in the process of assassinating the leader of the woodland creatures we tried to act quickly and stop him. I dashed forward, but before I could grab his hand Theo had already sunk the dagger into Groot’s leg. At that same moment Qam shot a blast of magic, hoping to stop this shameless attempt of murder our “Negotiator” was enacting. Unfortunately our attempts failed in stopping the poisoned dagger, but resulted in a fatal blow to the politician turned assassin. Not able to stop the attack we then quickly resorted to a new goal, rescuing the leader of the woodland creatures. Hoping to rescue our bonds with the woodland creatures and avoiding a possible all out war between them and the guild. I tried to make clear we wanted to help Groot and make sure to help him survive the damage already done. Qam was kind enough to offer an elixir of health to Groot as to nullify the poisons wreaking havoc on his body, and to avoid his demise. The fox however leaped for the elixir and the scuffle resulted in the elixir being broken, scattering the contents all over the ground. Realizing the assassination attempt was being aided by this scheming fox we now knew who our real enemy was. While Qam luckily was well prepared he was still able to Save Groot from the poison with a second elixir of health, Leomaris and I quickly started chasing the fox hoping to catch it. Unfortunately the only reasonable outcome was to kill the creature before it could be held accountable for it’s actions. I say reasonable since the fox has a clear hatred towards humanoids and would never agree to work with the guild, preferring the shedding of humanoid blood over negotiations. But also the fact he clearly wants to usurp the current leader of the forest who has been both kind to us as well as forthcoming towards the wants and needs of the guild. If we had not stepped in when we did we would have broken every bit of goodwill we have with the woodland creatures, we would have a less than understanding new leader of the forest and the guild would have been directly responsible for sending an assassin towards their current leader under the guise of peacefull negotiation. I took on the role of diplomat for the sake of the guild. I agree that our written assignment has failed. But the overall reason we had traveled to the forest to begin with has been saved only because we decided our mission was not important in the bigger picture of the guild’s relations and needs within the forest.
If you want to take the, in my opinion, dishonorable stance that we should have protected an assassination attempt, while destroying every positive relationship within the woods then don’t reward our efforts.
But if you agree the success of the negotiations were ultimately more important than our written assignment I implore you to consider the following rewards: We receive the 500gp reward for our original quest. Qam will be refunded for the two Elixirs used to save Groot and as such our relations with the forest, You will reward us with an additional 600gp, split three ways, for going above and beyond our written assignment and me stepping up as negotiator seeing as restoring an assassin for this role would have been disastrous for the guild’s image.
My best regards,
Acidum Uvelucal Chaun
I repeat as the Commissioner Of Public Safety, that such unlawful actions should be punished, irrespective of intent, by eternal banishment and the forfeit of all their goods, both material and immaterial.
How do you plead?
Does thee wish to say anything in thee defense, knowing that all will be checked and verified by both arcane and divine magic?
Are there any of thou peers that would speak up on thou behalf?
“Objection…”
Two female Tieflings, clearly twins, approach.
“Dear Council, we are Dee Law and Zee Law of the Wolfram&Hart firm and we are hired by the Adventure Guild to represent these clients.
Concerning the allegations against our clients, they should be dismissed, and instead a parade should be given for them.
Concerning the accusation of murder: The clients acted in their best and official capacity of Adventurer to prevent a crime from happening and save a life.
The fact was that an Ally of the Council was under attack, however regrettable by a magical influenced person, lives were in danger and action was required. The only action possible to prevent further harm was to take out the perpetrator. Having no non-lethal action available, lethal action was taken to make sure the perpetrator could not harm more people, as is the right of every person.
My clients were unaware the actions taken by the perpetrator were performed under magical compulsion. This is regrettable, but not punishable, as we cannot require by law that an Adventurer must be all-knowable.
As such their actions were justified, in defense of our allies and indeed saved the life of our Ally.
Concerning the accusation of impersonation of a civil official: I would like to remind the council that in these new and undiscovered lands each adventurer has the right, if not obligation, to make first contact and represent the Town in the best light he can, in whatever capacity. None of these adventures ever claimed to be an official, they only represented civilization and the Town as best they could. Which is exactly what these brave adventures did. They prevented a potential disastrous situation and preserved an Alliance with the wood-creatures for which they should be rewarded.
Concerning the accusation of unlawful assumption of civil duties: These preliminary negotiations for future friendships and alliances are the duty of every adventurer, similar to a ships Captain.
Concerning the unlawful signing of official documents: While documents were signed, as always these must the ratified by the Council and are thus not official before ratification. Hence no official Council documents were signed, only personal declarations of intent which every man and woman is free to do. And in doing so saved the Council much embarrassment and effort.
Should these clients be convicted, it is clear that all Adventurers must fear every action they take. This will cause hesitation in dangerous situation and result in the deaths of many heroes. The Adventure Guild does not want to be responsible for this and therefor the Adventure Guild will leave Town in case of conviction.
As such I demand all charges against my clients are dropped.“
Somewhat later the heroes walk out as free men, being cheered on by several other adventurers and even some citizens, though a few angry officials stare in the distance. Clearly some new enemies have been made..
[Later the heroes receive a note from their Adventure Guild Leader with their promised reward with a 50% bonus ‘for their trouble’.]
