Episode L013: The Trial Of Hasdraek Deepbrand

General Summary

In the cells below the Council Hall of the town of Beargrove, Hasdraek is incarcerated. Dolora Hillmore tells him he is under arrest for the murder of a guardsman and of the unlawful release of the Orkhüd Gänger from these very cells. She tells him his belonging are now confiscated but they may be returned to him pending the outcome of the trial.
For four days, Hasdraek wallows in the cell, watching the guardsmen come and go wordlessly. Then on the fourth day new guardsmen enter the jailblock - men he doesn't recognize, though they wear the garb of the Beargrove Town Guard. There are more of them too. One of them, he does recognize. He'd seen him in Ram Rock before. That man studiously ignores Hasdraek. The original guardsmen are upset at the presence of these new guards, whispering about them.
On the fifth day, Captain Hillmore arrives with a contingent of four new guards and one old one, and tells Hasdraek the time has come. She opens the cell door, and one burly guard reaches in and roughly pulls Hasdraek out of the cell. Hillmore turns on the guard telling him not to mistreat the prisoner. The guard ignores her and the group escorts Hasdraek up the stairs and into the Council Hall.
M'Kilip Valtar and Laurent Kabar are standing behind a large wooden table. With haughty self importance, they try to intimidate Hasdraek into confessing his guilt over the jailbreak of the Orkhüd Gänger, only to be flustered by his refusal to play along.
Finally, a cowled form enters the room, and in an unctuous voice, greets the two functionaries. In slightly annoyed and slightly frightened voices, they return the salute, but return to sputtering about privilege and ownership of the council hall with the cowled figure bids them leave. However they vacated the room, as do Captain Hillmore and the other guards.
Hasdraek recognizes the figure as Famath BenGuiliam and initially acts beligerntly toward him. Taking the lead, Hasdraek peppers Famath with questions, which he endeavours to answer to the best of his ability, his smooth and unctuous voice beginning to win Hasdraek over. Then Famath takes his turn asking questions, he wants to know what happened with Hasdraek's observation of Ridger Haverstraw, but Hasdraek is overwhelmed with anger about being potentially set up by the Black Ram and by his former teacher Grigg.
At this Grigg enters the room, with two other lean warriors in tow. Famath greets them and introduces them as Naltica and her son Strellik. Hasdraek sends a few sharp barbs in Grigg's direction and Grigg smoulders with rage.
Famath invites Hasdraek to tell his side of the story and Hasdraek unburdens himself of all his frustration at his former teacher. Grigg's rage erupts in angry contradictions, while Naltica and Strellik look on, snickering occasionally at Grigg's expense, sending the latter into more expressive fits of rage. Famath and Naltica are both surprised at the revelation that Redcaps were seen so far from the Lorella Canyon. Naltica's surprise is mingled with dismay and worry, Famath's with excitement.
Finally when Hasdraek describes Ridger Haverstraw as an ordinary and unremarkable boy, Famath contradicts him, motioning in the direction of a man, whom Hasdraek had not noticed earlier. As the man enters the circle of candlelight, Hasdraek recognizes him as Morn, the caretaker of this new hideout. Morn bows reverently to Famath and tells him he saw the boy doing magic during the Redcap attack.
Famath finally delivers his verdict, calling Hasdraek too unpredictable for his services to be useful, and remanding him into the custody of Grigg, to deliver him to the Tower. Then Famath BenGuiliam disappears into the shadows.
Hasdraek watches as Naltica draws a knife and cuts her arm, spilling her blood into a vial. Then she draws blood from Grigg and her son. Incanting words of power, she raises the vial above her head and then poors it down Hasdraek's throat. At first a faint tingling sensation comes upon Hasdraek, but soon the tingling turns to burning which in turn leads to raging agony. Hasdraek falls to his knees, crying out in pain, as Grigg looks on, laughing.
Hasdraek spends the next two weeks in back in the cell, in a delirium brought on by his imbibing of the lycan blood. He is in an endless dark void of absolute pain. He feels his fur growing upon his arms, his nose painfully elongating into a snout, claws ripping through his fingers, monstrous fangs protruding from his jaws. He smells darkness, hears the darkness. He runs. He thirsts for blood. And yet the Lorella call to him, "Blood Hunter, attend".
For two weeks, Hasdraek exists in a feverish nightmare of rending flesh and breaking bones, waking ocasionally in the cell below the Council Hall. He ranges far and wide in his mind, but always in a bubble of pain, complete and unshakable pain. On one occasion, following what seemed like a hallucination of tearing a prey limb from limb, he awakens to find a gory mess in his cell. Body parts lie pell mell on the blood soaked stone floor. Morn's decapitated head a look of terror on its face, stares up at him.
The effects of the lycanthropic conversion process begin to lessen and Hasdraek slowly returns to himself. One day Grigg, Naltica, Strellik and a Black Ram guard open his cell door and take him through the sewers and out of town. Entering a clearing they behold a flight of three Hippogriffs, and their handlers. Hasdraek is placed on one, along with Grigg, and Naltica and Strellik board the other two, and the set off in the late afternoon light for the town of Gimblestone.
Alighting in the center of the village, Hasdraek is pushed off the back of the protesting Hippogriff with a curse from Grigg. The three do not dismount. As Hasdraek looks around, he sees the villagers beginning to crowd around them. These are not normal villagers, however. Their arms lie limply at their sides, and all life is gone from their faces. The observe Hasdraek from behind vacant expressions. The three hippogriff riders take to the sky, leaving Hasdraek in the village square, surrounded by... by what exactly?

Report Date

27 Aug 2019