NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2684853" data-attributes="member: 5808">Wow.  This is awesome. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />  Well, here's what the Ebisite Justicar had to say about the matter.Part the One-Hundred Sixty-EighthIn which: judgment is rendered.It takes three days for the Ebisite military Justicar to arrive.  In the interim, Reyu informs the party that she will not return to the village, but instead makes camp in the no-man’s land between the elves and the humans.  Lira and Eva both decide to join her.  To pass the time, Reyu starts to teach Eva Elven.  On the first night, while sitting watch together, Lira finally summons the courage to ask Reyu about a matter that has been weighing on her mind.“I uh… really appreciate you saving my ear,” she begins, rather awkwardly.For her part, Reyu appears to have regained her typical calm.  “It is hardly fitting for me to lecture young Zili about the folly of her pride if I am not willing to relinquish my own.”Lira nods and pokes their fire a bit.  “So…  Are you going to tell the others that I haven’t been using my real name?”“Would you rather I not?”“I’d appreciate it.”A pause.  “Why?” Reyu asks.Lira lets out a long breath before she answers.  “I left my family rather abruptly.  I don’t know if any of them care enough to come looking for me or not, but I’d rather not be found.”  “Because?”“Like I’ve said, they’ve tended to take my being a sorcerer… badly.”“In that case, why would they seek you?”Another shrug from Lira.  “I don’t know that they are.  I haven’t seen any signs of it.  But it’s all the more reason to make a clean break.  I’m not just somebody’s daughter anymore.”That, Reyu readily concedes.  Even in the relatively short time she has known Lira, the young human has grown much.  “I will keep your secret if that is your desire.  Perhaps, you will someday find a name better suited to who you have become.”###Thatch and Anvil spend their days helping to fortify the village’s defenses in case the elves do not keep to their word, or are unsatisfied with the Justicar’s judgment.  On the second afternoon of work, while rooting around in storage, Thatch finds two-dozen seedlings, roots tied in sacks and leaning in rows against the wall of a shed.  He signals to the soldier from the village who was asking for the party’s help earlier.“Where should these be planted?” he asks.“Out in the groves,” the man replies.  Adding, “But it’s not safe to go out there anymore.  The elves have destroyed everything.  Those were just about to be transplanted when the siege hit.”Thatch checks his sword and shoulders a shovel.  “We should get them in the ground then.”The two men go out to the cleared area around the village and plant the spindly sticks.  (Thatch waters them all in liberally with the decanter.)  He can’t help but think that, despite all of his years on his family farm, he has never found planting something so satisfying.  He just hopes they aren’t all going to be burned down in three days time.###At last, the Justicar arrives.  He carries the rank of Captain in the Ebisite army, and Lt. Katib reports and briefs him on the situation.  The Justicar then takes a day to speak to the other parties involved in the case.  He interviews Jamaladeen the merchant, the prisoners, the War Hand, and finally, comes to speak to Anvil.“You have had much interaction with the parties of this case.  What would your judgment be?”Anvil, while not one to hold back when asked to expound upon matters of Justice, chooses his words carefully.  “It is not my place to decide Justice in this matter,” he begins, “but if the judgment were with me, I would rule that the children should be beaten, not enslaved, and then returned to their people.”“And if it were Dar Pykos which was besieged by the Shesher, if you were forced to make your ruling with a knife to your throat, what would you say then?”Anvil gives the question proper consideration.  Finally he says, “I would do as I must, that Kettenek’s Justice might be served another day.”###Just before dark, the Justicar finally summons the disputing parties, along with the adventurers, to a hill in the center of no-man’s land and dispenses his ruling: “It has been laid upon me to dispense the Justice of Kettenek in the matter of these Shesher and the merchant Jamaladeen.  It is my finding that for the crime of assaulting and mutilating Jamaladeen and his wife, the four children will be publicly flogged.  In addition, the Shesher nation will pay restitution to Jamaladeen to compensate him for expenses incurred for the regeneration of his person, and that of his wife.  If the Shesher cannot afford to do so, they will recompense him by allowing his caravans to travel safely through the desert without being charged the customary payments for protection.”  The Justicar pauses.  All present remain silent, as it is clear he has not yet finished his judgment.“Furthermore, so that it be clearly understood by all, in the strongest possible terms, that the practice of counting coup against human caravans by assaulting humans traveling along the Sea Road is completely unacceptable, the four Shesher children, before being returned to their people, shall each have one of their ears severed.“This is my judgment, and the Judgment of Kettenek.”He pounds his staff into the ground four times, and his words are sealed.Naturally, Jamaladeen is very vocal in his displeasure about the ruling, but with the word of an Ebisite Justicar on the record, Lieutenant Katib is now under little obligation to humor him.The party is mostly concerned with the reaction of the elves.  The ruling causes much discussion among the Shesher delegation, but at last, the War Hand comes forward.“We will abide by this judgment.”  She then turns to Reyu… and presents her with a bead.  “When you have your new braid, let your first deed be known as ‘baby saver’.”  Reyu takes the gift, clutching it tightly in one hand.One by one, the parties leave the hill, until the adventurers and the Ebisite Justicar are left standing alone in no-man’s land.Anvil turns to him.  “Thank you.”The Justicar sighs.  “Thank you.  I would not have thought that more bloodshed over this matter could have been avoided.  Is there anything I can do to thank you for your assistance?”Lira nudges Anvil, mouthing “passports.”Anvil nods.  “There is.  We have had some difficulties of our own while traversing the desert.  We have found ourselves far off of our intended course, and are now making towards Nayarii.  However, you are the first Ebisite official we have met for some time, and we have no papers for travel to that city.”The Justicar studies Anvil and the party for a few moments, probably guessing that there is more to this story than they are saying.  However, he also decides to let it pass.  “Of course.  Before I return tomorrow to meet my division, I will have my clerk draw up the proper documents for you.”Eva does her best not to let her relief show.“Thank you again then,” Anvil intones.“Kettenek’s Justice be upon you.”“And upon you.”###(At this point, Fajitas turns to us and says, “Anything else you want to do while you’re here?”  To which the quick and unanimous reply was, “Not let the door hit us on our way out.” Pfew!)</blockquote>

Verification