Part V: The Trial of the Beast

We started our journey north to Lepidstadt. It was about a hundred miles to travel, so it took us several days. A few days into our journey, we encountered The Crooked Kin - a travelling circus and freak show. They seemed to be having problems, so when we asked if we could help, they said one of their number had wandered away several hours ago and not come back. So, we followed the woman's trail into a nearby swamp. Unfortunately, we found her body, and her killer - a huge phase spider that appeared and attacked us. It was no match for us, though, and we soon killed it.We returned to the Crooked Kin with their fallen comrade. they were very sad, but thanked us for retrieving her body. They then let us travel with them to Lepidstatdt.

We arrived in the city amid great celebration. The Beast of Vieland - a notorious monster who had killed hundreds of people over the past twenty years - had been captured as was to be put on trial and then burned at the stake.

We delivered the books we needed to deliver to Lepidstadt University, and then visited Miss Daramid to give her the last book. Miss Daramid was actually Judge Daramid, an elderly woman who was about to preside over the trial of The Beast. She told us that something wasn't right about the trial, and she had an inkling that the Beast was innocent. She asked us to help the Defence and find out more about the crimes the Beast was reported to have commited.

We met up with Barrister Kaple, the attorney for the defence. He was a thin man, prone to stuttering. He told us that although the Beast had commited hundreds of crimes, the trial was going to focus on his three most recent ones. We were to hurry if we were to find any evidence for the defence, as the trial was starting the following morning.

Before we started our investigations, we had to meet the Beast. He was a monstrous construct, stitched together from bits of man and animal. Although he appeared terrifying, there was something gentle and childlike about him. He seemed to be sad.Our first crime scene was the hamlet of Morast, where the Beast had reportedly slain ten inhabitants. The locals there told us the Beast had been seen carrying dead bodies, but was driven away by the locals and supposedly eaten by a crocodile. We discovered that there were not simple killings here. It seemed as if someone had been body snatching. We found, among other things, a set of surgeons tools hidden in the swamp with a peculiar emblem on them.

The following day, Ichabod and Ferdibrand joined the defence in the court, bringing out the evidence to prove that the Beast was not responsible for the killings. The rest of us tracked down the owners of the surgeons tools. It lead us on a merry chase, but we found that they were bought by a man called Grine, from Vorkstag and Grine's Chymic Works.

However, we had no time to investigate this, as we had to find more evidence for the next crime. In the village of Hergstag, the Beast was accused of killing six children. He was even seen carrying one of the dead children and laughing. Investigation of the village discovered that the children were in fact slain by a wraith-like creature, and the Beast, who had become friends with one of the children, was returning the body to her family.

The court was in shock that day, as Bazak brought in one of the dead children and used Speak With Dead on him. The boy's spirit told the court everything, and how the Beast was innocent.

A few hours after the trial adjourned for the night, a mob stormed the courthouse, demanding that the Beast be brought out and burned. We tried desperately to disperse the mob before they got too violent, but it was the appearance of The Crooked Kin on our side that calmed the mob down.

We had no time to waste. The final crime scene was a mental hospital called Sanctuary that the Beast was accused of burning down. While there we found more evidence connecting Vorkstag and Grine to all of this.

It was time to confront the two alchemists. We broke into their factory at night, and managed to capture Grine - a pale gnome. He was very uncooperative though. However, when we found Vorkstag, we had better luck. He was an evil fey creature called a Skin Stealer. We found a whole wardrobe filled with stolen skins and faces that the creature would wear and duplicate other people. And among the grisly collection we found a huge skin of a monster that could have been mistaken for the Beast.


So, on the last day, we submitted our last pieces of evidence. Vorkstag and Grine were body snatching, and using the Beast as a scapegoat for their crimes. The judges found the Beast innocent and he was free to go.

The townsfolk were furious. They were forming a mob to go after the creature. We had to save him. Before he left, the Beast told us he was going home to see "his father" who lived in Schloss Caromac, a nearby castle.

Could we reach the castle before the mob did and save our new found friend...?