The Underdark Primeval [IC]

Silentspace's PbP

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Our heroes are relaxing in a small tavern in Eartheart...

Suddenly, a detachment of Steel Shields enters the tavern. This looks like an elite squad, better armed and equipped then the regular squads who patrol the city. They move with purpose. They are here for a reason.

As they enter the tavern they spread out in a way that you see is designed to prevent anyone from dashing out. The squadron leader steps forward, and you see him make eye contact with the rock gnome bartender. In a subtle, practiced way which you just barely notice, the rock gnome nods slightly in Rogoth's direction, then taps his finger on the bar twice, the first time pointing at Denasa, the second time pointing at Solli, sitting next to her.

Before anyone can react, the Steel Shields have moved.

"You there! You're under arrest! By the order of Karam Stronghammer! Lay down your weapons and come with us!"

There are eleven dwarves in the squad, including the leader. Four surround Rogoth, and seven, including the leader, surround Denasa and Solli, with axes ready. Three of the dwarves produce manacles, one for each prisoner.

The squad leader glares at the silent grimlock, svirfneblin, and gloaming, waiting for a reply. He is growing frustrated.

A Steel Shield next to him speaks up. "Sir, maybe they don't speak Common!?"

The squad leader slaps his helmet jovially. "Yer right! Of course! Some of these Underdark creatures don't even speak a civilized language!" Switching to Undercommon, the squad leader repeats, slowly and loudly, "I SAID YOU THREE ARE UNDER ARREST, BY THE ORDER OF KARAM STRONGHAMMER! SLOWLY LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS. YOU'RE COMING WITH US, IN THESE MANACLES!" He gestures at the manacles, as if trying to explain something to children.

Denasa, female gloaming sorcerer

*Denasa stands up, affronted by this terrible treatment.*

"How dare you arrest me!" she declares in perfect Common, in a voice of outraged innocence. "I have broken not a single law, nor have I caused any ruckus or grief. Who has complained of me?"

*Legs, her hairy spider familiar, raises himself up from his position on her wing and shows an impressive amount of fang, reflecting the mood of his mistress.*

Putting his ale mug down upn the table, Rogoth looks right at the Dwarf, though no eyes show forth from under his lank hair.<Common> 'I speak several languages, many of them civilized, as you say. I do not, however, speak Dwarven...I have heard no reason to put on those chains, I have done nothing to earn them...'

The dwarf is taken aback by Denasa and Rogoth's speech, and seems a bit startled as he notices the spider familiar for the first time.

"Oh, err, you speak! Alright then, you're under arrest, the both of you, and your svirf friend too. Under arrest for tomb robbery! The complaint is by none other than Deep Lord Karam Stronghammer himself! And I don't care how much you act innocent, it don't matter to me! If you really want to claim yer innocent, you can do so to the judge. But we wouldn't have been ordered ta arrest you if the authorities didn't have evidence, now would we? Of course not! We've got laws here! This is Eartheart! You're not in the Deepwild anymore, or wherever you came from! We don't look too kindly on criminals here! Alright boys, cuff 'em and take 'em away!"

Three dwarves step forward and reach for your wrists to cuff them. The remaining dwarves are standing by, gripping their axes, watching to see if you'll resist. Meanwhile the squad leader takes a step back and grabs the whistle hanging around his neck, bringing it to his lips, ready to raise an alarm.

*Denasa purses her lips and gives the dwarf putting the manacles on her a death glare, but submits to his authority. Legs runs down her arm to her elbow, fast enough to startle, though not to attack.*

"Legs! Be polite to our friendly captors now," she says in tones of saccarine sarcasm. "I will assure you I have stolen not a single thing, and I will attest that to the judge."

*She raises her head and tries to project outraged innocence as much as she can on her walk to the judge.*

Solli was a little taken aback by the interruption. Afterall, he "should" have been fine with the law of late - he hadn't actually broken any law since he "procured" that statuette from a minor Dwarven Cleric three weeks ago. His sources had told him he was off the hook, it seemed that - Hold on! I haven't taken any blinkin' bodies, nor anythin' that they'd want to take with them to the afterlife! His thoughts turned to figuring out his immediate surroundings, positioning of the dwarven guards and where the Rock Gnome's own guards were. His first concern was to get to a safe place so he could load his dart thruster. As for Rogoth, well, he knew the Grimlock'd be okay, this was a situation where his companion thrived.

Just as Solli was about to make a darting leap between the watch members and activate his Cloak of the Arachnia tp clime to the safety of the ceiling, the Gloaming girl stepped forward and held out her wrists to be manacled. The Deep Gnome swore inwardly and looked to Rogoth to see what he would make of this situation. One thing was sure, Solli was less than happy about the prospect of being taken in by the authorities, and Rogoth knew it.

With a disgruntled sigh, Rogoth submits to the Law of these Dwarves.
Offering his weapons with the warning 'Whosoever steals Rogoth's Axe will die by Rogoth's teeth.Rogoth know Dwarves honerable warriors who will keep Verdretck <Dwarf:Spiderbite> safe, but Rogoth expect his Axe back when mistake cleared up...'
Offering his hands for the manacles, the Grimlock awaited whatever these Dwarves had in store for him.

The dwarves roughly manacle Solli, Denasa and Rogoth, and confiscate their weapons. Patting the prisoners down, the dwarves discover Denasi's spell component pouch, which is also confiscated. Legs is captured in a sack.

Without much further ado, you are herded into a closed iron carriage and transported through the tunnels of Earthheart for several minutes. After being removed from the carriage, you are led past a heavily guarded steel door and into a very solid-looking tunnel system, where you are marched down long, busy halls filled with Steel Shields and other Gold Dwarves. You pass several others in manacles as well.

You are brought into a judge's chambers. The room is at least eighty by eighty feet, with the ceiling vaulting forty feet above. It's filled with a wide assortment of characters, obviously under arrest, several of them injured very badly and bandaged. There are even a couple corpses arrayed here as well, suffering from what looks like fresh axe wounds.

The judge is a middle-aged male dwarf, with a shiny breastplate visible under his judicial robes. His thick beard, once dark brown but now greying, is neatly trimmed. He looks tired and uninterested, barely bothering to look up as the Steel Shields line up prisoners one after the other, and state their cases. A pair of svirfneblin jewel thieves. A dwarf murderer. A half-drow rapist. The prisoners uniformly plead guilty.

Two bloody, bandaged half-orcs, with two dead half-orc corpses, are next. They are accused of fraud. The half-orcs plead guilty. Then, realizing the corpses are dead, the judge groans and calls out for the Dead Inquisitor. A few minutes later a thin, dour-looking dwarf appears, and after a few moments of manipulating the weave, the corpses speak. They also plead guilty.

You learn that people rarely plead innocent. If you plead innocent, but are found guilty, you have to pay the costs for the court Truthfinders as well. This must be paid for with hard labor (there is no other option), and usually results in decades being added to a sentence. You are unable to discover what will happen to you if you are found guilty. Your Steel Shield keepers don't know.

Finally it's your turn.

"Your honor, we have three Underdarkers accused of robbing the old Stronghammer family tomb. Complaint brought by Deep Lord Karam Stronghammer."

The judge looks up, suddenly interested. His grey eyes study you carefully, before turning back to the Steel Shield. "Stronghammer's tomb? I hope you took all the necessary safety precautions in arresting them, you've got to be pretty powerful or pretty stupid to break into a Deep Lord's tomb!"

"Aye, well, we got 'em in here, your honor."

"That you did." Losing interest, the Judge looks back down at whatever paperwork he was looking at, and says "How do you plead?"