51: The Sixfold Trials of Larazod

[Ebiris]

[14:12] <@Ebiris> A week of rehearsals pass in a blur, sometimes humiliating when people forget their lines or make mistakes - the harsh words of the director coupled with the mocking reactions of the audiences who fill in every day to watch rehearsals soon work together to drill into everyone both an affinity for their characters and a good grasp of how to improvise and go with the flow, skills that will surely be vital in the much more deadly opening night.
[14:12] <@Ebiris> When the day comes, all the actors find themselves in the green room of the Nightshade theatre, plenty of food and drink (sadly no alcoholic ones) available to enjoy while waiting for their curtain calls. Thesing hangs apart from everyone else, indifferent and smug in his safe role, while the almost safe but still at some risk Calseinica sticks close to Tobin, no doubt hoping he'll keep her safe during the performance. There's no sign of the visbaronetess, though the sounds of an orchestra and her singing voice are heard dimly through the walls, providing some entertainment as the audience filters in.
[14:12] <@Ebiris> Everyone is in costume and made up, ready to go. And as for those costumes?
[14:12] <@Ebiris> Tobin's armour has been burnished to a dark charcoal shade and festooned with macabre and gothic ornamentation to better show Larazod's station as a servant of Hades. His shield, rather than showing its customary Jade Raven, now has a large purple symbol that looks like a P and an L merged together. Having been suitably assured that his armour won't be like this permanently, he seems pretty happy with it.
[14:12] <@Ebiris> For Lucie's part as Dentris, she's been given a set of stereotypical and shapeless wizard's robes in midnight blue, festooned with various silvery decorations of stars and moons in various phases, a tall conical hat completing her ensemble. Her mace has been slightly elongated at the haft to give the illusion of making it slimmer, while a starburst pattern has been made around its head with silver flanges - the costumers have warned that the ornamentation won't stand up to much trauma if she uses it to hit things.
[14:12] <@Ebiris> Rudy, playing Tybain, has seen his leather armour painted a shining blue-silver colour, evocative of mithral or some other fantastic metal, a golden laurel wreath placed around the neck. From the back hangs a short yellow cape, enough to flutter expressively without being long enough to catch on anything troublesome. His crossbow looks more or less unchanged.
[14:12] <@Ebiris> Playing the repentant torturer Drovalid, Henrietta's costume is without a doubt the most revealing, everything in tight, strappy black leather. A corset and short but wide leather skirt are worn with thigh-high boots, and a skull-cap helmet that covers only the top half of her head without concealing all of her long red hair. Her trusty flail has had its chains painted black, and a few extra smaller chains have been added with lighter cutting implements placed amidst them - they're likely to get tangled up amidst the real chains rather than adding to the damage inflicted, but do look quite fearsome.
[14:14] <Rudy> "They did a good job with these things," remarks Rudy, picking at the edge of his cape. "I was doubtful before, but you know what? I'm ready. Let's become stars. Posthumously or not!"
[14:16] <Lucie> "How about just 'or not," Lucie says, finding this entire affair almost worth it to see Henrietta in such an outfit. Before they're called out on stage, she takes a moment to call her familiar aura of stars into being, just in case. It should last her the whole show.
[14:17] <@Ebiris> "I'm sure we'll be perfectly fine!" Calseinica smiles winsomely at Rudy, wearing dark makeup and a sultry revealing red gown. Wearing an elaborate black robe and powdered white wig, Thesing merely snorts.
[14:19] <@Henrietta> Henrietta has had time to get used to her costume, although she still feels the need to seek out a reflective surface once every few minutes to ensure her helmet is perfectly centered atop her head. "Yes, we should be fine," Henrietta agrees. And part of her confidence is derived from the defensive spells she has woven about herself! Mage Armor to make her leather as protective as a true suit
[14:19] <@Henrietta> of armor, Barkskin to further accentuate her skin's tone beneath all those straps and False Life to ensure that her real one won't be ended on stage.
[14:20] <Rudy> "Hey, I'm sure too, but a little morbidity never hurt anyone," replies Rudy, grinning. "But hey, people get into adventuring for the fame and glory, right? Having a real stage to strut that stuff on ain't disagreeable."
[14:21] <@Henrietta> roll 1d10+5
[14:21] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d10+5 and gets 14." [1d10=9]
[14:22] <@Henrietta> "Acting badly before all that audience is the scarier possibility," Henrietta quietly agrees. "Certainly more so than death by props."
[14:23] <@Ebiris> After a few more minutes of chatting, eating, or waiting, the door opens and Robahl steps in. He looks a bit pale and nervous now that the day is upon him, only saying, "It's time, people. Everyone ready to show Thanellar their best?" this gets a generally agreeable chorus from Tobin and the two professional actors.
[14:24] <Rudy> "As ready as I am to see the best from Thanellar!"
[14:24] <Lucie> "Right. If you're gonna die in vain, may as well look nice doing it?" Lucie says to Henri. "Let's do this."
[14:24] <@Henrietta> "Carrying yourself in style is very important, in adventuring and in everything else," Henrietta agrees with a firm nod.
[14:28] <@Ebiris> Coming out towards the stage, Robahl leads everyone, the curtain down and the music outside approaching a climax. A high backed obsidian bench stands to the rear and right of the stage, where Thesing goes to climb up above it. Stagehands appear to place shackles upon Rudy, Tobin, and Lucie, while Ilsandra goes to lean against the bench, adopting an amused and sultry expression. A dozen extras in similar impressive dress stand flanking the bench - this is the opening scene, where Larazod and his companions face their accusers, before the trials themselves begin. No one should die here, at least... "Places, now, quickly!" Robahl insists, hanging off to the side. Henrietta doesn't have a role in this scene, only appearing once the trials begin, and the three shackled figures should stand before the bench ready to face their condemnation.
[14:30] <Rudy> Rudy trudges into place at a sombre pace, but his head is not downcast; his eyes are flickering about, head turning from side to side in apparent paranoia.
[14:30] * Lucie adopts an expression of resilience and iron determination--shackles won't hold Dentris forever, no sir, and anyone glancing at her should know it instantly from the grimly stern look on her face!
[14:31] * @Henrietta grips the handle of her flail anxiously, awaiting her turn.
[14:37] <@Ebiris> Tobin goes to stand flanked by Rudy and Lucie, adopting his own sternly defiant expression, ready for things to begin. With everyone ready, the voice of the visbaronetess is heard to announce; "Act the first. Condemnation." The curtain rises to applause from the audience, showing hundreds of well dressed and excited watchers sitting in the cavernous theatre, all eyes upon the stage. Lavinia herself is visible in one of the boxes, along with the other Jade Ravens and Trucy, all watching with various degrees of trepidation and confidence.
[14:37] <@Ebiris> One of the extras dressed more sombrely than the rest announces, "Order in the Tribunal. The Court of His Honor Paraduke Montigny Haanderthan, Black Tongue of Hades, Magistrate Maleficarum, now holds session. All rise." The extras dutifully stand before Thesing clears his throat.
[14:37] <@Ebiris> "Be seated, members of the Court. Today this court seeks truth, or at least shadows thereof, from one Larazod Rilsane, honored veteran of the Shadestar War, member of a once gloried house, of recent fallen in Hades' regard. The accused stands before us on counts of conspiracy most foul, evidenced by our own Seeker, Drovalid Vorclune! For the evidence points to nothing less than inflicting grievous harm to this most august institution, consorting with wretches and creatures most foul. How answer you, Larazod? Speak! And I know that lies are my closest friends - they'll betray you before I! Speak the truth or do worse than die!" he proclaims shrilly down from his high perch, now the time for Larazod's allies to leap to his defence!
[14:38] * Quits: Willim (~Yuthirin@c-71-57-26-119.hsd1.il.comcast.net) (Quit: )
[14:46] <Rudy> Tybain's head snaps up, fury and fear mingling to produce a high-pitched, furious sound!
[14:46] <Rudy> "Apollo weeps as this travesty, this court which claims to hand down Justice! My arse produces more righteousness in the mornings than the judge has paid his whole life! Aye, Larazod consorts with a fiend here- the one which dragged him here in chains and now dares to strike down his glorious deeds! His tounge is of honeyed lies! Treachery surrounds us who are pure!"
[14:47] <Lucie> A nod in agreement with the her fellow prisoner. "Do you hear something, Larazod?" Lucie/Dentris says in a bored tone. "The buzzing of a greedy fly, mayhaps. I think I see one, flitting about the shadows." Lucie casts a lazy hand vaguely in Thesing's direction. "How such a creature presumes to pass judgement on us is quite beyond me. One prays for a great boot to stamp down from the heavens and
[14:47] <Lucie> remind it of its rightful place."
[14:57] <@Ebiris> Tobin draws himself up after the support of his friends, and speaks clearly. "Larazod knows no lies, great magistrate, and no slanderer's tongue caresses my dignity. The accusations you speak are as true as Hades' brand. They cleave clean through. Let the witnesses suffer no more lash. To burn their innards with pokers and steal their eyes is simply to waste precious toil better spent in Hades' service. There is but one point misaligned in this dark constellation - I seek not your death, though the secrets you harbor in your feeble heart deserve a gruesome demise."
[14:57] <@Ebiris> "To end you I need only know you, and to cast you in an honest shade. I pierce your 'shadows of truth' and show you for what I know - a false knave, a demon-supping wag-tail, a pus-leaking cataract in the eye of Hades' justice, and traitor to our great Dark Lord!"
[14:57] <@Ebiris> Such an impassioned speech clearly intrigues Ilsandra, for Calseinica looks at Tobin with smoky eyes and comments on how aroused his fire makes her. However, the Magistrate is offended, but then drawn into the argument with the heroes that steadily undermines his position, until he and Ilsandra strike a dark bargain. Larazod and his allies will suffer the Sixfold Trials, and if he should fail then the Magistrate is cleared and gains the service of Ilsandra to satisfy his unwholesome lusts for a month, but if Larazod succeeds, then the Magistrate will be undone before Hades.
[14:57] <@Ebiris> The curtain drops and backstage becomes a flurry of activity while music plays to entertain the crowd. "Now comes the trial by torture!" he presses a whip into Henrietta's hands while stage hands quickly help Tobin out of his armour, leaving him in his underclothes. "Remember, ten strikes, and they must be true! Say your lines inbetween each as you torture the accused!" A rack is brought in and the three heroes are tied up before the magistrate... of course after Larazod fails to break from this torture, that is what prompts Drovalid's change of heart and joining of the heroes in their subsequent trials.
[14:57] <@Ebiris> OOC: 11 minutes passed for spell durations when the next act starts
[15:01] <Rudy> "Don't worry, Henri. If it's you hitting me, I don't mind."
[15:01] * @Henrietta stetches the whip in her hands to test its elacity, and then coils it right back. "I will do my best to aim for you," she promises to Rudy.
[15:02] <Lucie> "No complaints with this plan," Lucie says from her position in the line.
[15:03] <@Ebiris> "No complaints here!" Tobin adds gamely to that, everyone getting into position before the narrator is heard to say, "Act the second. The Trial by Torture." And the curtain raises on the Magistrate and Ilsandra watching with interest as Drovalid enters to carry out her dark duty...
[15:09] <@Henrietta> Henrietta stalks onto the stage, her coiled whip slapping lightly against her thigh as she walks. "Larazod and friends," she says, taking the whip by the handle and slowly unrolling it with a flick of her to allow its length to pool on the ground beside her. "Are you sure this is not the Trial by Pleasure?" And before Tobin could respond, Henrietta sends the whip towards his unprotected back--
[15:09] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[15:09] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 14." [1d20=8]
[15:10] <@Henrietta> --for a very satisfying lashing that resounds through the hall!
[15:10] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3
[15:10] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3 and gets 3." [1d3=3]
[15:12] <@Henrietta> OOC: 7 total
[15:15] <@Ebiris> Drovalid's whip cracks and cuts through Tobin's vest, tearing a rent in it and exposing a now glowing red welt across his back! "Nnng... truly, your caresses are the most blissful, fair tool of the court," Tobin gets out, earning a throaty chuckle from Ilsandra.
[15:15] <@Ebiris> "I wonder if the lovely torturer might be available for entertainment at my estate later, dear magistrate?" she teases, to a scowl from Thesing.
[15:15] <@Ebiris> "Wring the truth from their sinful mouths, Drovalid!" he calls down irately.
[15:16] <Lucie> "The sting of a lash will be as blessed a relief as cool water if it means a moment's respite from the magistrate's prattling," Lucie announces. "Bring on the crack of the whip if you must, drown the fool's bleating for us all!"
[15:17] <@Ebiris> The crowd seems to be enjoying the mockery and banter on the stage more than the violence, if the relieved chuckles rippling through the theatre are any indication.
[15:17] <@Henrietta> "You pretend to be strong," Henrietta says, slowly drawing her whip back. "Perhaps you are. But will you be saying the same when those you dragged down with you have to suffer?" The whip seeks out Rudy next--
[15:17] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[15:17] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 19." [1d20=13]
[15:18] <@Henrietta> --where it leaves a nice welt over his butt, just past the armor's meager protections.
[15:18] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3+4
[15:18] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3+4 and gets 5." [1d3=1]
[15:18] <Rudy> "Aye, torturer, no matter what you try, I'll not squeeze out any goodness for your sake!" squeals Rudy, clenching his jaw and closing his eyes! "Take your whip to the true fiend here when you've slaked your lusts on us!"
[15:20] <@Ebiris> "I've no fear of my friends' strength and loyalty, but if you must perform your foul task then use my body as your canvas!" Tobin insists after Rudy is struck!
[15:22] <@Henrietta> "We might be here a long time indeed," Henrietta muses, pacing before the bound prisoners slowly as her whip follows her obediently across the ground like a charmed snake. "The loudmouthed Dentris, then? Will she confess her crimes, I wonder? The only thing certain is that she is long overdue a lashing!"
[15:23] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6 Lucie
[15:23] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 Lucie and gets 11." [1d20=5]
[15:24] * Lucie laughs aloud. Her former career well-prepared her in the art of casual mockery and it's a cruel laugh indeed. "What was that? Have we begun yet? Are we to be treated to sensual massage instead?"
[15:27] <@Ebiris> There is much ooohing from the crowd at Drovalid's failure to harm Dentris!
[15:28] * @Henrietta colors in apparent rage, and sends her whip after Lucie once more. "How about now? Is the massage to your liking? Should I focus on you, my dear? Make you my special project? Is that your fondest wish, your desire? Because that could be arranged!"
[15:28] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[15:28] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 9." [1d20=3]
[15:31] <Lucie> A lock of Lucie's hair is whipped aside by the lash, but nothing more than that. Her minor flinch will surely go unnoticed by the audience! "Oh yes, I could continue this all day long, dear Drovalid. Really, your technique is such as would cause even a feeble invalid to wonder in mild curiosity about the light breeze in the air."
[15:31] <Rudy> "Aye, Dentris gives out a lashing more fierce with his tounge day by day! Your flaccid tool is nothing compared to what she can do!"
[15:31] <Rudy> *her tounge
[15:32] <@Ebiris> "Leave off the wizard!" the magistrate commands, "Her dweomers protect her, but her alone. Let her hear the screams of her fellow conspirators!"
[15:34] <@Henrietta> Henrietta strides up to Lucie and seizes her chin, forcing her head to turn back while she leans in just over her shoulder. "I see how it is, now. It is your magic, is it? A crutch you must rely on for everything. What are you without it, I wonder? How long will you last with me, just the two of us, when its protections leave you at last?" Letting up, Henrietta retreats and then resumes her
[15:34] <@Henrietta> assault on Tobin without another word!
[15:34] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[15:34] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 21." [1d20=15]
[15:34] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3+4
[15:34] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3+4 and gets 7." [1d3=3]
[15:35] <@Henrietta> "Yes, scream for me," she says huskily. "Scream and confess your sins!"
[15:38] <@Ebiris> Tobin merely grunts before looking up at the magistrate. "I will not scream, nor do I lie. Recant, magistrate, for the only torture I cannot endure is your continued lies, you, the true traitor!" as Ilsandra rubs her thighs together.
[15:38] <@Ebiris> "Such a sweet voice, I long to hear his screams more... ah, to elicit them myself! This torture is most stimulating, but I hope the tormentor does not mar the knight's choicest parts. Leave off those! They belong to me alone!"
[15:40] <@Henrietta> "As you will it," Henrietta agrees, bowing to Ilsandra. She draws herself back up, and then the whip lashes out high, just near Tobin's head--
[15:40] <Rudy> "Aye, for no man would lie with you willing, harlot! The only partners you could have are bound by the chains of eviiiiillllll!"
[15:40] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[15:40] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 16." [1d20=10]
[15:41] <@Henrietta> --to leave a welt running across his neck.
[15:41] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3+4
[15:41] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3+4 and gets 6." [1d3=2]
[15:42] <@Ebiris> Larazod's head flinches to the side, his handsome face marred by a vicious red welt! Still he endures, "Even an ocean of agony canot turn the truth to lies!"
[15:43] <@Henrietta> "And what was that?" Henrietta asks, placing an open palm next to her ear. "You volunteered yourself, my foolish Tybain? Far be it for me to refuse you such delights of the flesh!"
[15:43] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[15:43] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 13." [1d20=7]
[15:43] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3+4
[15:43] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3+4 and gets 5." [1d3=1]
[15:47] <Lucie> "Oh, Drovalid," Lucie drawls. "You yet spare me your attentions? And I so ache with loneliness! What, fear you to embarass yourself before your master by missing again?"
[15:50] * Tiny_Ko_Army is now known as Kotono
[15:53] <Rudy> Rudy screams! It is a scream that is choked off a moment later, as he grits his teeth and tries to turn it into a muted chuckle. "Oh- oh! Drovalid! Your caress is softer than a baby's cheeks! Again, again!"
[15:55] <@Henrietta> "Well, since you asked so nicely," Henrietta murmurs, rubbing her once more coiled whip against her cheek tenderly. "Though perhaps the Magistrate shall allow me to test the wizard's arcane might once more? To have it pit against my own?" She raises hopeful eyes towards said man, batting her eyelashes coquettishly. "Surely, her dweomers cannot protect her forever. Not if there is any justice in
[15:55] <@Henrietta> the world."
[15:55] <@Ebiris> "I tire of her prattle," Thesing replies boredly, resting his chin on his palm. "Screams would sound far more seemly from those lips."
[15:56] <@Henrietta> Emboldened, Henrietta attempts to lash at Lucie twice--
[15:56] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[15:56] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 22." [1d20=16]
[15:56] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[15:56] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 16." [1d20=10]
[15:58] <@Henrietta> --while aiming at her posterior, just with Tybain. And just as with the fool, each lash strikes true while Henrietta lets out a satisfied, throaty laugh!
[15:58] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3+4
[15:58] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3+4 and gets 5." [1d3=1]
[15:58] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3+4
[15:58] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3+4 and gets 6." [1d3=2]
[15:59] <@Ebiris> The whip rends through Lucie's robe just as it did Tobin's vest, shredding cloth to reveal some of her bottom and the accompanying dark red welts created!
[16:00] * Lucie does scream, having grown accustomed to Henri missing by a mile, but it's quickly turned into a throaty laugh. "Oh Drovalid, I see what you desire now. When the two of us retire later, shall you find better uses for my lips after all?"
[16:03] <@Henrietta> Her own laughter is cut off by the remark, and Henrietta begins stalking behind the prisoners. "You lot, you are strong, in your own way. But you will break. Everyone breaks, Larazod. Everyone. It may take a while, but you, and you, and you--" she gestures at all three in turn, "--will be confessing before long. But who will be the first, hmm? Who indeed...."
[16:03] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3
[16:03] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3 and gets 1." [1d3=1]
[16:03] * @Henrietta smiles nastily, then, and lashes out at Tobin's back!
[16:03] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[16:03] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 24." [1d20=18]
[16:03] <@Henrietta> roll 1d3+4
[16:03] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d3+4 and gets 5." [1d3=1]
[16:04] <@Ebiris> "Never!" Tobin cries desperately as he's lashed, vest hanging on by scraps from his mauled and well muscled back. "Lash every inch of skin from me! Leave me only a bloody ruin, that wreck of a man will still gurgle only truth and never recant!"
[16:05] <Rudy> "'tis true, the man cannot tell lies if his life depends on it!"
[16:06] * @Henrietta glares at Tobin's back, before looking up at the magistrate once more. "Allow me to focus on just one of them," she pleads. "All my expertise, all my attention, truly focused. We will get that confession, then! Their sins, laid bare!"
[16:09] <@Ebiris> The magistrate smiles darkly down at Drovalid. "Yes, burrow deeper, probe his soul's painful lies and show them before the court!"
[16:09] <Lucie> "All you've laid bare is your own incompetence!" Lucie challenges. "All this effort to please your master, like a grovelling dog you are. Pitiful it is to serve a man so unwilling to sully his own hands!"
[16:19] <@Henrietta> "My master? My only master is the truth!" Henrietta lashes out. It only takes a few steps to close the distance once more, and she seizes Tobin by his hair. "Every inch of skin, you say? Leave you only a bloody ruin of a man? That can be arranged. To you, to your friends." She gestures at them wildly with her whip. "Is that what you wish to see, just to keep defending your lies? Confess, and
[16:19] <@Henrietta> your punishment will be lighter, for what could compare to this?"
[16:20] <Rudy> "We are sure to be dead men no matter what we speak!" cries Tybain. "If that is so, let us die speaking the truth!"
[16:20] <@Ebiris> "Any punishment you contrive is as light as a feather before the agony of the magistrate's lies!" Tobin retorts. "Before Hades I will speak only the truth, and never bear a false confession no matter how wretched your attentions leave me!"
[16:21] <Lucie> "I confess to naught but contempt for this court jester parading in torturer's garb! Send her away, we'll never break to such feeble efforts."
[16:28] <@Henrietta> Henrietta lets go of Tobin and takes a step back. The whip is raised in her hand, ready to be used, and she glances at it in dismay. "They will say anything, Magistrate," she finally speaks, raising her eyes towards the man once more. "Anything and everything, but confess to their sins. Not under threat of pain, not under threat of death. I--" She lets go of the whip, lowering her eyes anew to
[16:28] <@Henrietta> watch it drop to the ground. "I must be nothing but a court gester indeed, for I am entertaining doubt over their guilt for the first time."
[16:30] <@Ebiris> "What?!" Haanderthan glares down at Drovalid, rising out of his seat in fury. "Fool! Continue the trial! You've yet to probe deep enough into their black hearts!"
[16:33] <Rudy> "The gods will forgive you if you speak the truth you have seen within our hearts. You know well the judge you serve- the truth is locked away within you, as well!"
[16:33] <@Henrietta> "Ten more lashes or a hundred, it would make no difference," Henrietta states, slowly shaking her head. She gestures towards the bound trio. "You heard them throughout the trial, Magistrate. How would the guilty keep light in the face of the lashing? As their friends are being whipped alongside them? To remain as such must be a sign of truth, ridiculous though it is to accept at first. We will
[16:33] <@Henrietta> hear no confessions out of them."
[16:35] <@Ebiris> "Take the traitor's side, would you?" the magistrate leans down, looming over the torturer. "Mind your place, tormentor, you speak blasphemy in this hallowed court! Beware your words, for they endanger your very soul - take this traitor's path and then you would join him on his trials. Don't be a fool!"
[16:37] <Lucie> "Your master bleats for you to continue the vile work he'll not dirty his own hands with, Drovalid," Lucie mocks. "Will you lick his arse forever or show some courage at last?"
[16:39] <@Henrietta> "Were I to deny my master, to turn my back on the truth... that is the act that would endanger my soul, Magistrate," Henrietta responds, standing unbowed. She quirks her lips at Lucie's words, and then nudges the whip with her foot in the magistrate's direction. "And there is more truth in this, Magistrate, however foul the mouth that said it. If you want to continue with this-- with what I see
[16:39] <@Henrietta> now as a farce, you must do so yourself."
[16:41] <@Ebiris> Drawing himself up atop his obsidian throne, the magistrate looks darkly upon the accused. "So be it, traitor. Your rending death, and his, shall be my vindication. Bring on the second trial!" And with that towering proclamation from Thesing, the curtain drops to herald the end of the second act and first trial both!