DIDx14

TL;DR

Here are the highlights of this session:

• The group met the survivors of the attack in Panebrenthen Crevice at the inn and convinced them to testify about their story to the Speaker.
• The group snuck into Debin's office and liberated financial records from his study which detailed some suspicious payments coinciding with the Delver attacks.
• A priest from the Temple of Umos came through after Zero's request for aid and delivered to Zero a journal -- Pasha's own detailed operational log.
• After disposing of the corrupt Marshals and telling Arbiter Vitra about everything, a tribunal was called and Debin was arrested. After a length trial, he was convicted and executed.
• After being publicly commended for their service, the Delvers and city pooled their resources to provide relief to the Deepfolk, helping them to rebuild their village. Afterwards, the party had a meal with Nylin and Junyall in Dolenna and got to know each other better, deciding what the future held for all of them.

Full Summary

The group arrived back at the Deep Dive Inn, hoping to rendezvous with the others, and saw Zero at a table pretending to drink, while periodically pouring some out on the floor. Joining them at the table, Zero seemed sour about being left alone and recounted what they had done on their own, with Rainer telling Zero about going to Speaker Athissa and the Marshals' attempted assassination. Rainer told Zero about the deal with Speaker Athissa and asked if they could bring the evidence with them to Speaker Athissa so that they could convince her. As they got up to go back to Speaker Athissa, Rainer walked past a table and noticed some familiar faces sitting there -- Pera, Ravi, and Athira, the three amateur Delvers they had rescued from Holis Ditani in Panebrenthen Crevice. Rainer stepped aside to speak with them and Scarf took Zero outside to "teach him to be sneaky", which consisted of "hugging the wall", with Zero interpreting that literally and bear hugging the side of the inn, drawing stares from confused citizens. Inside, Rainer spoke to the survivors about their experience and they made the connection between them and the wanted posters, with Rainer explaining everything that had happened before asking if they would be willing to testify their experience for them. The survivors agreed, and Rainer asked that if they knew anyone who was sympathetic to the Deepfolk, to try to spread the word. In the meantime, he asked them to accompany him to see Speaker Athissa, asking them to meet him there in half an hour. Getting up to leave, Rainer bid them luck before gathering the buffoons outside and heading back towards Athissa's office. They found Athissa where they had left her, stressed, having gagged the living Marshal, who was struggling against his bonds. She said that she couldn't leave him there long or someone was bound to notice the Marshals were not guarding the outside of her door. Shein and Toban took the armor off of the two dead Marshals and donned it in order to stand guard outside to keep eyes off of the office.

Rainer took out the Sending Stone they had liberated from Pasha's body and showed it, saying that the matching one belonged to Debin, and that they had heard his voice through it asking for updates on the attack on Rikhevlovir. He then showed her the orders they had taken off of Captain Tysha in Panebrenthen Crevice detailing the attack on the surviving Delvers. Athissa seemed to be coming around to their side, but said that this was insufficient as evidence because there was no way to prove it was actually written by him, and not simply forged, saying that they would need some sort of witness testimony in order to sway a tribunal in their favor. With perfect timing, the survivors arrived and Rainer escorted them in, telling Athissa that they were the survivors of the attack detailed on the orders, and asked them to tell their story. They recounted the ambush and their subsequent setting of a trap for the Holis Ditani reinforcements, and Athissa seemed to think this would at the very least convince a tribunal that the attacks were not committed by the Deepfolk or the party, but would not prove Debin's involvement. Zero brought up the bomb Pasha had planted in Rikhevlovir and asked if it would be sufficient to find financial records indicating Debin purchasing this or other incriminating materials, and Athissa confirmed that this would certainly do the job, but hardly believed he would have purchased them himself, suggesting the mercenaries must have done the purchasing. They asked for suggestions of what evidence they could find to help their case, and Speaker Athissa suggested that having the survivors testify would be a big help, but they would need to find something like financial records or witnesses of Debin personally doing something incriminating. With that, Zero asked if Speaker Athissa could do something to delay the march on Rikhevlovir, and she confirmed that she would pull some strings to try to delay it long enough for a tribunal. With this, Zero decided to move the bodies so that Speaker Athissa could not be implicated in their murder or bring any suspicion upon herself. Zero took out the remaining Run'mera talisman given to them by Jadrann Nylin and brought the two dead Marshals and the living one out back behind Speaker Athissa's office, using it to create a pit of liquid earth before tossing in the three, including the living Marshal, who struggled and screamed through his gag as Zero knocked him out and dispelled the talisman, sealing him within solid ground.

The party decided to head to Debin's office to locate some sort of evidence, and Scarf stealthily made her way to the roof of the office and picked the lock to the trap door on top as Toban disabled a crude trap. Descending the ladder down into a storage room, they opened a door to find the kitchen, and Scarf peeked through the windows and saw the Marshal in back pacing back and forth. She telepathically messaged Rainer and Zero, telling them of the Marshal around back, and communicating his movements so they could sneak past. However, as Zero attempted to hop through the window into the kitchen, the Marshal turned around and witnessed them, calling out and asking Zero's business. Zero attempted to bluff saying that they were cleaning the windows and needed the money, but the Marshal was hardly an idiot, noticing no glass on the windows. As it seemed he was about to attempt to arrest them or call for backup, Zero cast Command, telling him to "quiesce", causing him to go still. At that, Scarf grabbed the man and dragged him through the window into the kitchen, where Shein savagely stabbed him to death. Shaking off the blunder, they began to search the office, and found Debin's study where they began to search his desk and shelves. After some time, Scarf located a journal underneath the desk and handed it to Rainer, who began to read it and discovered that it was full of financial records, a ledger of transactions. Inspecting each one, Rainer noticed a repeating payment to a client named "Panen Curdith", which seemed to be clever wordplay meaning "deep hunters", and whose dates coincided with the attacks on the Delvers. Pocketing the ledger, they decided to get out of there, figuring this would be sufficient evidence. On their way out, they attempted to hide the Marshal's body, crudely shoving him under a tablecloth, before fleeing through the window and back to the street. As they made their way back to Speaker Athissa's office yet again, they were stopped when a hand clasped Zero's shoulder, and they saw a man with dark hair and blue eyes who Zero recognized as Telphanist Mithudan, a priest of the Temple of Umos. He handed Zero a journal of some kind before vanishing. Zero read the journal on the way to Athissa's office and realized it was a detailed operational log maintained by none other than Pasha, not using Debin's name explicitly, but referring to him in code. Thanking Umos for this boon, they reached Athissa's office and showed her the new evidence, where she agreed this was enough and they should speak to Arbiter Vitra immediately. She also informed them that she had put out a call summoning The Legion. The party wondered if it was possible that Arbiter Vitra could be involved, but Speaker Athissa found it highly unlikely given her station, and they head to second street with Athissa and met with the Arbiter. They recounted all of their evidence, deeply concerning the Arbiter, but with enough convincing, she agreed to hold a tribunal the following morning, and suggested they prepare their case as succinctly as possible and go to the courthouse the following morning. The group spent the night putting together their case at the inn, and the following morning after breakfast, made their way to the courthouse.

Outside, they could feel the tension in the air as the Delvers prepared to march on Rikhevlovir and the townsfolk whispered rumors about the fact that Debin Tyrell had been arrested that very morning. The group made their way through the crowd to the courthouse, where they came face to face with the man responsible for all the terrible events of the last few weeks. The courthouse was filled with Legionnaires and Marshals, and a number of unknown people sitting behind Debin. As the group sat, Arbiter Vitra opened the tribunal by asking the party to present their story about how they came across the information about Debin's involvement, and the party began recounting the story of Holis Ditani's attacks, the auction in Obscurus, thwarting the mercenaries in Panebrenthen Crevice, and preventing the attack on Rikhevlovir. Arbiter Vitra then opened the floor to the defense, asking Debin's advocate, a man named Nolan, to offer their counter to these claims. Nolan dismissed the claims flippantly and called three witnesses to the stand to testify. The first witness was a woman familiar to the group, a woman named Rava whom had claimed to be attacked by the Deepfolk in the grotto outside its entrance days ago, whom they had taken their first Sending Stone from. The second witness was none other than Vada, the corrupt Delver's Guild Warden whom had posted the bogus contracts. She spun a story about having witnessed the players drop off a stack of contracts with Siran to file, but that when she went to check on them that night, they were gone. Scarf had an outburst, calling her a liar, and Arbiter Vitra told her to be silent. Finally, Nolan called to witness a man only familiar to Scarf, the one who had sold her the information about how to get to The Maw. He told Arbiter Vitra about Scarf seeking information about how to access the grotto while it was off-limits. The defense concluded that they had gone there to intercept the Marshals, including Ansell, to stop them from "negotiating" with the Deepfolk for a ceasefire. Arbiter Vitra didn't seem convinced, but asked the party for their response to these developments. The party presented their evidence, including the testimony of the three survivors from Panebrenthen Crevice, and watched as Debin began to sweat, especially when they presented Pasha's operational log. Arbiter Vitra concluded that she had heard enough, and convicted Debin of treason and conspiracy, and sentenced him to death, telling him that he would hang until dead the following day. She ordered he be remanded into the custody of The Legion, but before they could, he drew a dagger, enraged and said that he would not be executed by a miserable wench like her, and charged at her. However, before he could reach her, one of the Legionnaires slide kicked his leg out from under him and wrestled him to the ground and disarmed him, tying him up with some rope. The Legionnaire, a woman named Lyla, held him down while Arbiter Vitra said that in light of Debin's outburst and attempted murder, she was advancing his sentence, not wanting to take the chance that he could escape justice or cause any more trouble. As Lyla dragged him off kicking and screaming towards the gallows, Arbiter Vitra thanked the group for their service, and as they moved to leave the courthouse, Speaker Athissa caught up with them and commended them for their service.

After the tribunal, word spread quickly of Debin's execution. The march on Rikhevlovir was immediately halted, and the Delvers were outraged about the deception. Speaker Athissa held a public ceremony commending the party for their actions, and all eyes were on them for a moment. With the truth revealed, the city and its many Delvers pooled their resources to bring supplies to the Deepfolk and to help them rebuild as an apology for the events of the last month. Afterwards, Nylin and Junyall came to Dolenna for the first time, dealing with the harsh sun on their eyes to join the group for a meal, where they shared stories and got to know each other better. Zero seemed interested in constructing a new chassis out of the Muteniten that Nylin had gifted them, while Shein and Scarf wished to continue delving. However, Rainer decided he just wanted to go home.