Adventure:-- LPNN (Manzanita Judging)

[Manzanita]

Krafia is speechless at the indignity and perilous situation he finds himself in. He sputters and looks around searchingly for help. Finally Hallidor comes huffing up. "You killed her, didn't you! Couldn't stand to see her marry Sindri!"

"No! I didn't! Don't let the dwarf kill me! I just wanted to give myself a chance. To let her see how much I loved her, how well I would care for her! Hallidor, old friend. I am so sorry!" Krafia begins to cry.

He agrees to accompany Hallidor and Razh back to Hallidor's house. They walk back to the market and smooth things over with the authorities, at least to some extent. The hiring of outside merceneries to settle local problems doesn't seem to sit well with most people. Nor does Hallidora seem to have been very popular.

Back at the house, Krafia tells his tale.

"I loved Hallidora. She never gave me a chance. And a chance is all I needed. I know I could have convinced her to marry me. So i visited Kopasker."

"Kopasker! You're braver than I thought!" interjects Hallidor.

"Yes! The alchemist was my only chance. I had him mix me up a love potion. Love Potion Number Nine it was. Then I sneaked into her room and slipped it into her drink while she was changing. But then she died! I don't understand!"

 

[Bront]

"Do you have any of the potion left? Perhaps it was poisoned." Juliana says, somewhat calously.

OOC: LOL

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Obviously it was either poisoned or...What did they do to her body afterwards?" Zaeryl asks, "We have heard a tale of a love potion that places its victim in a deathlike state..."

 

[Bront]

"Deathlike? Sounds like some male device to dominate women." Juliana says in disgust.

 

[Rystil Arden]

"In the story, a woman's clan had a blood feud with the man's, so she could not place the marriage wreath before him in fear that her bride's maids would tear him apart at the wedding ceremony...so she drank the potion to pretend to be dead, and then they left her body to the sands, where her chosen man picked her up and took her with his clan, where she was adopted as the near-sister of the chief's daughter."

 

[Xael]

Almayce starts to wonder if there's a single sane person in the town. He figures he'll probably hate half of the town before the case is over. "Right, so there's at least three possibilities of what's going on.", Almayce says.

"One is that Krafia here poisoned Hallidora and is lying to us." *Though he's probably too dump for that.*

"Second is that somebody else wanted Hallidora dead, and used Krafia as a scapegoat." *Rat-men certainly would explain this.*

"Third is some larger, ridiculously complicated scenery of scheming, love and general stupidity." *I hope not, this case doesn't need any more ridiculousness.*

Almayce takes a deep breath and continues. "Because of the interruption of our trip to here by certain somebodys being a bit too coincidental, I would be ready to believe that case number one is false for the moment.", he says while glaring at Krafia. "Can you write? I would like to get what you said in black and white. Just in case you decide to change your mind." *Or if our furry friends decide to kill you while we're investigating elsewhere, since I wouldn't count on anybody trusting our word around here.*

"But who is this Alchemist Kopasker, and where can we find him?", Almayce asks Hallidor. "I figure he just made it to the top of our priority list."

OOC: We should just have shot him. Manzanita, could you bother to roll a Sense Motive check for Almayce at +3 bonus. I doubt the fool is lying but anyways.

 

[rln]

Ogrin is the last one to the scene and only hears the later half of Krafias confession.

"Let me guess: you thought more of the elixir would make Hallidora love you more, didn't you? Despicable creature...

Alchemists! Ogrin thinks to himself. They're almost as bad as wizards!

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

When Razh sees Krafia break down in tears, something in his dwarven heart softens. He lowers his fists and his shoulders slump a bit. He glances sidelong at nothing as he says, "Ah... er... well eh... Sorry bou' chasin' ye down an' all that, mate. It's jus', there's a girl, an' Ah kin see ye loved 'er an' all, we jus' need t'get the facts, ye know? So eh... le's head on back then, eh?" With that, the dwarf puts a heavy hand on Krafia's shoulder and walks him back to town, looking everywhere but the crying man's face.

When they get back and the truth comes out about the LPNN, Razh's face turns red with rage. He seems to quiver with anger, his eyes popping out of their sockets, his fists clenched, he seems to be trying very hard to hold in his anger. After a few short huffs, he speaks tightly, "So! Ye... ye loved 'er... so ye drugged 'er? Ye drugged 'er? Love's a... a pow'rful emotion... mate... but if ye need t'drug 'er, that isn' love. Tha's... Ergh!" He exhales loudly and gets up to pace the room, muttering, "Men... love... don' know nothin'.."

 

[Manzanita]

Krafia

"No, I have none left. Kopasker gave me explicit instructions, & just the right amount. She was buried. Maybe it was poison." He pauses to cry some more. The harsh words of his interrigators clearly cut deeply. "But why would Kopasker give me poison? Do you think he's a fraud? He didn't even know who I wanted to give it to? Or did he?"

Hallidor crosses his arms and scowls. "This alchemist lives a ways out of town. He's a recluse. And not to be trusted. Only the desperate go to him. People have been known to disapear on the way to his house."

 

[Bront]

"It figures he's not to be trusted if he makes this sort of filth," Juliana says. "We should have a word with him. I wonder if anyone had the same bright idea."

Juliana laughs coldly, "Just think, if several men who loved her managing to kill her by all dosing her with the potion. If it weren't for the unfortunate woman's death, it would serve them right to loose the object of their affections."