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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 6685230" data-attributes="member: 6787503">Here's the scenario: The current BBEG in my campaign is an evil priest whose MO is pretending to be a good priest so he can keep tabs on the good guys. You know the old shtick. He's recently run into some legal trouble because one of the adventurers found out his secret. Basically, the priest was seen using an unholy symbol by the adventurer, which he identified as such after consulting with a real good priest, who succeeded on a Religion check, identifying the evil cult the symbol belonged to. Instead of dealing with the evil priest himself, however, the adventurer went to the local authorities and accused the priest of practicing "dark magic" which happens to be a big no-no in this community. His testimony is based on his identification of the priest's symbol. The priest was apprehended and his quarters were searched, but no symbol was found because the priest keeps it hidden in a different location when he's in disguise.So now it's the priest's word against the adventurer's, with the other priest offering an expert opinion but having witnessed nothing. The evil priest was taken into custody because of the seriousness of the charge, but because witchcraft falls outside the local magistrate's jurisdiction, an inquisitor NPC has been sent for under the authority of the king, modeled after the Witchfinder General. This corrupt inquisitor is put in charge of the proceedings, interrogates the witnesses, and begins a general witch-hunt in the local community, the goal of which is to increase his own power and wealth.So my question is how to run this trial in a way that's interesting and fun for the players. The probable outcome I'm forseeing is that the evil priest bribes the inquisitor to get him off, all the while deceiving him into thinking he's not really aligned with the dark forces. Important NPCs or members of the party itself are accused of witchcraft and possibly interrogated themselves. The magistrate is good and presides over all but is also deceived and will generally defer to the recommendations of the witchfinder. The PCs essentially end up in a very sticky situation that they have to deal with while the bad guy gets away. At the same time I want the players to have a lot of agency.I don't have much experience running this type of interaction, so I was wondering if there were any good ideas for a court trial floating around out there in the minds of EN World.</blockquote>

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