Sea Grave Banishment

The Deep-Sea Witch was screaming and struggling as the Shore Guard and the Witches held her body and her arms. What came out of her mouth weren't words of Black Speech anymore. It were the sounds of panic and pleading. I knew what they were going to do. The banishment...

"Sea grave banishment" is an old and well-documented method of execution performed in places located near or at the shore. Until recently, there was no known case of someone surviving it.

The sentence

[...]The Librarian stood before her, saying words I couldn't understand even with the help of my farlens. But even without understanding, I knew what happened there. They read her sentence.

The banishment starts with the appointed executioner reading out all of the known offenses committed by the punished one. This part is pretty short, although there were some cases where it took over half an hour.

The shackles

[...]Next, they took off her old shackles, revealing bruises they have left. And then they clasped a new pair in the same place. In less than seconds, the Deep-Sea Witch started to look exhausted.

The arms of the punished one are straightened, either by the guards holding them or by shackles. A pair of Sea Shackles is put on their forearms.

The depths

[...]At this point, she could barely blink and her breath was shallow. The shackles worked. Her lips moved, but the voice didn't come out. It wasn't the Black Speech. She tried to speak the normal way! I wrote down the thing I thought she said. And as soon as I did it and looked at her again, they dropped her arms. They dropped and pulled her into the water in less than a second. Before she could even react...

Shortly after putting shackles on them, the arms of the punished one are released and immediately get pulled down by the weight of the shackles. They get pulled under the surface of the water in less than a few seconds. Thanks to the Blue Color of the seawater, they can be seen way farther than it would be with normal water. In waters that are shallower, it is sometimes possible to see the moment when they hit the Blackness of the depths, and disappear within it.

[...]After witnessing it all, I was left to wonder. Why were the Witches so hostile to her? What did she do to deserve the banishment? And apparently the second one? Are there other Witches stuck down there? I also had to check the thing the Deep-Sea Witch spoke about. At least, if I understood it correctly.

— Chronicler of Golvageth, end of entry 632