PART 1. TONIGHT'S ADVENTURE
Last night we had Chinese from Chitty Wok: i.e., chitty chicken, chitty, beef, and chitty vegetable. (The joke never gets old.)
Player list is in Part B at the bottom.
++++ START OF SESSION ++++
Players are back from the Summer, so we decided to launch with the proceedings of Elefus' divorce court.
Since the characters were back from the last adventure and now in shul to level-up, the only character actually in Play was Elefus. (This is not counting Snizzlephish who is off on his own.) So NPC assignments were given out to a Player each. One person played the Plaintiff's lawyer (for Elefus' estranged wife), one played the Defense lawyer (from the law offices of Weasel, Inc.), and the remaining player was the court Bailiff and Private Dick.
An objection by the Defense to the procedure were first offered:
The first objection was that Elefus' is a Skandaharian Viking and since Vikings have no divorce law, the Blackmoor royal court had no jurisdiction. OVERRULED since Elefus was awarded the Title of Knighthood in the realm, (due to an earlier adventure) and any wife is subject to her husband's rights and the privileges thereof.
Preliminary negotiations were offered by both sides of the conflict:
The Plaintiff demanded 50% of Elefus' valuation and child support (the wife was pregnant). The Defense offered fourteen thousand in Gold Pieces and Elefus' manor in Boggy Bottom. Neither side budged.
Both sides agreed to postpone the proceedings for one month after Elefus' wife giving birth to determine the gender of Elefus' heir and firstborn.
We fast forward the timeline several months at this point. Party anniversaries were passed, Snizzlephish started his 2nd year with the party, Mysery & Weasel started 3rd year, Huang, Honda & D'Vine, started their 4th year.
Elefus' estranged wife have birth to a daughter, Xena. (His wife still has no character name.)
One month later, "Oyez! oyez! oyez! The Royal Blackmoor court is now is session!"
Arguments are presented before the King:
First Elefus's wife charges Elefus with infidelity upon the discovery in Elefus' luggage of a drawing of Elefus and Gerri fornicating "in flagrante delicto". The net result she became suspicious of Elefus frequent travel on these so-called "Adventures" to save the Kingdom and the world. The drawing is placed in evidence.
Second: Elefus' wife charges Elefus of marriage neglect. Treating her only as a "pit stop" (as it were) between adventuring.
Third: She charges Elefus' made a shady land deal with an evil gawd.
Fourth: Elefus' wife charges Elefus with character neglect. i.e. She hasn't even been given a character name, nor rolled up her stats!
Next: Witnesses were called to testify.
Plaintiff's First Witness: Sticky Fingers (currently held prisoner without charges by the party after capture in battle with her and Rahl). As the wife of the party's arch-enemy Rahl, (also beknighted of Blackmoor, she would be wife of Sir Rahl, or thus, "Lady" Fingers to the court). She was asked if she "knew or knows of someone who knows who put this drawing in Elefus luggage?". "YES was the answer, my husband Rahl would know." Since Rahl was unavailable and otherwise hostile to the party and the Kingdom, she was asked if she knew of anyone else who knew. "Yes" was the answer. "The one-armed Red Dragon".
Sticky Fingers leaves the stand. (After leaving the courtroom, she makes from the party using her skills, but no one notices. She is a 7th level Thief after all.)
Plaintiff's Second Witness: The one-armed Red Dragon is summoned to the stand. (Due to the size of the courtroom, the dragon has assumed human form.) And was asked, "Do you know who put the drawing in Elefus' luggage"? "Indeed" said the Dragon, "it was Snizzlephish who placed the drawing." Next he was asked, "Do you know of any shady land deals Elefus has made?", "Yes, Elefus obtained title to land in the North with Vaprak the Destroyer." (Gawd of the Trolls.)
Snizzlephish is summoned (It is assumed Snizzlephish survived his yet to-be-run solo adventure months earlier.)
At this point, the Defense asks to meet with the King "in Chambers". There they asked the King if he will allow the "Ring of Truth" to be used on Snizzlephish, and it was agreed to.
Plaintiff's Third Witness: Snizzlephish is asked, "Did you draw this picture?" "No" was the answer, due to the Ring of Truth, Snizzlephish could not have lied and he was dismissed.
(Reader's take note of the subtle difference in the question. It was NOT the same question asked of Lady Fingers or the Dragon. For the record, Snizzlephish did not draw the picture, but contracted it out to someone with drawing skill. But that point is moot since he is off the stand and that form of the question was not asked.)
Technical note: The Player answered the court's questions via phone text, and was not physically present.
The Plaintiff's lawyer now says: "I summon my next witness, I summon the evil gawd Vaprak the Destroyer to the stand!"
POOF (with smoke), Vaprak appears.
"Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help YOURSELF?"
"I do", says the gawd.
The Plaintiff's laywer asks, "Did you, or did you not, conclude a land deal with Elefus in the far North, where he has now his Stronghold?"
"I did, and here is a notarized copy of the Title Deed, including the pink slip. My time as a gawd is precious however, so I gotta go!". (POOF! again) Vaprak is gone, and the hastily bostitched document slowly wafted onto the floor.
At this point the Defense lawyer asked the Plaintiff's lawyer to settle and made another offer. After a whisper between the Plaintiff's lawyer and Elefus' wife, she asked for a day to consider the offer.
(In retrospect, I should have had GERRY swooning in the courtroom to be pointed out by Elefus' wife as "the other woman".)
++++ NEXT DAY ++++
There was an interlude where Elefus' loyalty to the King was called into question due to the Vaprak land deal, however Elefus' answered the King's inquiries to the His Royal Highness' satisfaction and the court resumed. Elefus' religious stronghold was outside the Kingdom anyway, so he couldn't be held accountable and fell out of jurisdiction. At best it was bad publicity for Elefus due to it coming out in court proceedings.
The court resumes session albeit with the absence of Elefus' wife. The Plaintiff's lawyer accepts the Defense's offer. The divorce is granted and the amount was settled out of court for 300,000 gold pieces.
Shortly afterward, the Party went out seeking Elefus' ex-wife to impart the news. What they found in her hotel room, was a crying baby and Elefus ex-wife dead with her skill bashed in from the back. She was also face down on the floor one arm is holding a large hammer.
The first suggestion was that she committed suicide by banging herself on the back of the head.
In order to solve the puzzle, Elefus's decides to cast a "Raise Dead" spell on her. She passed her Resurrection Survival roll, for which we had to create a CONstitution number for her (since she was never given stats). She was also given the name "Helga". Upon awakening she was asked, "Who-done-it"? And says, "I don't know, I was hit on the back of my head!". "Oh, by the way," she holds up a piece of paper and declares, "the restraining order is still in effect, get out of here!"
Elefus teleports out.
++++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR ++++
BT
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PART 2. CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
(Some characters removed due to close of last adventure may come back later.)
PLAYERS:
Elefus, Human Male Deacon (CL12)
BELOW CHARACTERS NOT-IN-USE TODAY'S ADVENTURE
Weasel, Human Male, Guild Soldier (T14), Enchanter (MU7), & Myrmidon (F6). (Multi-class. How'd a human get that way? Don't ask.)
Snizzlephish, Gnome Male, Visionist (Illu6) & Footpad (T2) (Multi-class.)
Numrendir, Human Male Coercer. (Conj6).
Fundisha - Swordsman/Creep (F3/Infiltrator3)
Junkbot Jackson - Tracker/Adept (RGR5/CL5)
Huang - Monk Master (Monk8)
Honda - Samurai Bushi (S7)
Slim - (new) 1st Level MU/Thief
NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS:
Gerry Castagere, a Fingersmith (T7), daughter to the ship's navigator who has fallen in love with Elefus.
Dost Suwat, a 7th Level Barbarian and three 2nd level Barbarian buddies.
INACTIVE CHARACTERS:
Mysery Reigns, Halfling Female Killer (Rogue6). (On maternity leave, just gave birth to twins, Halfling Half-Orcs.)
D'Vine_Justice, Elf Female Initiate of the 5th Circle (D7). (Semi-Retired)
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_________________ Tracy Johnson BT
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