Trial of the Century

## Going on the Offensive

* The party meets at Franz's mansion and interrogate Rengad, who confirms that the Court is going to bomb the Senate and also to assassinate Rengad.
* Franz contacts Vigilance to update him on everything that they've learned and also to hand over Rengad. Sarovar asks to meet Vigilance and Franz makes an introduction. While Sarovar is observing Vigilance's agents hard at work decoding Delphine's black book, he slips a Court of Owls device into the pocket of one of the agents so that the Court can trace Vigilance's base of operations.
* Eli easily breaks into the Senate and plants the flash bombs.
* The party uses Potions of Water Breathing and the Court's navigational device to locate the underwater base. There, they find two Court mages and an unconscious Barnabus.
	+ After Barnabus was kidnapped, the Court inked an Etherium tattoo onto his arm. Once the party wakes him up, he joins the fight against the mages.

* The party defeats the mages and discover some magic items and a key that immediately transports a group of people to the surface. They also find the Court of Owls's notes on the party and on their plans to assassinate Shahd.
	+ They have convinced Shahd to meet Damien Roark in the church where they plan to lock the doors and kill him and everyone else inside
* Additionally, the party finds a small cave connected to the base. It is filled with cobwebs and looks like a giant spider's den. Lying on a floating table in the middle of the cave is Eldon. She is unconscious and there is an Etherium bomb inside of her. There is a giant spider which the party fights off.
* Aelis and Tolbo stay behind to defuse the bomb and save Eldon while Eli, Sarovar, Franz, Jaque, and Barnabus go to stop the Shad assassination.

## Race Against the Clock

### The Assassination Prevention Team

* Eli, Sarovar, Franz, and Barnabus are transported to an abandoned church building. They take a ferry to where Shahd is supposed to meet Damien Roark and manage to get in by putting the outside guards to sleep. Just as they enter the church, the doors slam shut and are magically locked. No one on either side can open them.
* Shahd is standing at the front of the building with Vigilance next to him. Damien Roark and Ivan are standing across from him. Two other guards are nearby. When the team enters, Vigilance turns into the Doppleganger and stabs Shahd with a dagger.
* The team fights Damien, Ivan, and the Doppleganger while simultaneously trying to revive Shahd and get him to safety. Eli and Barnabus are downed, but revived soon after.
* Shahd manages to get to the back of the church but cannot get out. He's hit by Damien's fireball attack and is downed. Sarovar runs over to give Shahd medical attention but is unable to save him and Shahd dies.
	+ Sarovar is actually a Tarrin spy on a mission to retrieve the Orb of Planar Melding for the Tarrin government. He did not actually try to heal Shahd, but used his knife to kill him.
* Damien teleports himself, Ivan, and the Doppleganger away. After he disappears, the doors finally open and the guards rush in to arrest everyone in the building and attend to Shahd.

### The Bomb Squad

* Tolbo and Aelis manage to reach the table that Eldon is lying on, but are unable to successfully defuse and remove the bomb.
* Out of options, Tolbo sacrifices himself by putting the Etherium bomb into himself and running deeper into the Court's base. Aelis grabs an unconscious Eldon and rushes them out of the canals and back above in the city streets.
* The bomb explodes within Tolbo, "killing" him.

## Trial of the Century

* Because Shahd has been killed, General Kursk is appointed interim chancellor. Opal Mallor is preparing to run for re-election as a Sirex mayor. She is quite unpopular since she has failed to stop the increasing numbers of violent attacks on the city and its political institutions. Horace Chestington is one of the candidates running against her.
* Eli, Franz, Barnabus, Sarovar, and Jaque are detained in jail awaiting trial; Aelis was not arrested and remains unconnected to the assassination and the party. They are being charged of assassination of Shahd and conspiracy against the city and the Protectorate. Raymond Sterchio is the prosecutor for Sirex, while Pridova Minners is a Free Peoples of Rayon lawyer that is representing the party pro bono.
* Currently, the case is being tried in Sirex courts with a judge and jury. The party's goal is for the Protectorate to take over jurisdiction of the case, because then they can prove their innocence using Zone of Truth.
* Kysona Abrekiir attempts to break into the prison to speak with the party members. He does not succeed, but escapes undetected. He proceeds to instead watch the trial through Aria

### The Prosecutor's Case

* Sterchio argues that the party are a part of the Court of Owls and working under Damien Roark to undermine the Sirex government and the Protectorate. His case relies on discrediting the character of each member of the party.
	+ **Barnabus** - Barnabus divorced his first husband after learning that he was involved with the BMD atrocities, and his current husband is part of the Court of Owls. Barnabus's unfortunate relationship history is not a coincidence, but occurred because Barnabus is actively involved in BMD/Court of Owls.
	+ **Eli** - Eli's behavior in the past few months (quitting her job at the Sirex Herald, claiming that a group called the Court of Owls is causing terror attacks) parallels that of her ex-mentor Inazorwyn (forced out of the paper in disgrace, widely regarded as a delusional conspiracy theorist). Eli is mentally unwell and is spiraling in a manner similar to Ina.
	+ **Franz** - The Von Falkenhyn's social standing and wealth deteriorated after Oddleifus was ousted, and his career was stalled after the BMD was disbanded. Franz is attempting to take revenge against the Shahd for his and his family's fall from grace.
	+ **Jaque** - Jaque is a Nymerian citizen who has served time in prison for his involvement with the Tyger Claws, a Nymerian terrorist group. Therefore he has no problem joining the Court of Owls after moving to Sirex.
	+ **Sarovar** - Sarovar is a Tarrin citizen. Given Sirex-Tarrin relations, Sarovar is probably trying to undermine Sirex and the Shadh government in favor of Tarrin.

### The Party's Defense

* The party is not a part of the Court of Owls, and in fact was investigating and working against the Court. Upon learning of the Court's plan to kill Shahd and bomb the city, they rushed to stop both plans. They failed the former and succeeded the later.
* The prosecutions arguments assume that a group of strangers with wildly different backgrounds and motivations just happen to meet and decide to work together. Even if we accept these character portrayals, it is too much of a coincidence for all of this planning and coordination to occur in only a few months.
* The party is working with the Protectorate military intelligence and the SCE to stop the Court of Owls, and thus case should be moved to the military courts.

### Witnesses and Evidence

* Prosecution
	+ **Sofia Lawson** - One of Shahd's guards who survived the assassination attempt. She testifies that she saw the party working with Damien to kill Shahd
	+ **Nadia Gil's partner** - He helped Nadia investigate the party before she died and links Eli and Sarovar to wanted criminal Ivan Kalnychevsky via the botched border crossing.
	+ **Rengad** - Rengad admits to being a member of the Court of Owls, and claims that he was working with the party in order to take down Shahd. It's revealed that Rengad actually killed his mother.
	+ An autopsy of Shahd's body shows that he died of a knife wound, and not burns like the party claims.
	+ Vigilance's corpse was found in Franz's mansion, suggesting that Franz killed him. The claim is undermined by the fact that his butler Bertram was also found dead in the mansion
	+ Franz and Eli were arrested with known terrorist Yazmin Vaughns after the warehouse bombing. The three of them were likely working together on that attack and others that occurred in the city.

* Defense
	+ **Eldon Lafalas** - When asked about her involvement in the events, Eldon (begrudgingly) says that the information is classified. This supports the party's claim that they were working with the Protectorate military.
	+ **Commodore Norrington** - Franz blackmails him into vouching for the party
	+ **Lianne Thorpe** - The party demands that someone from the SCE testify. Sigil refuses at first, but are politically pressured into sending Lianne. Lianne refuses to say anything until Sterchio brings in what is left of Tolbo after he tanked the Etherium bomb and Tolbo magically comes back to life. Lianne orders Tolbo to stop talking and return to the SCE, but Tolbo realizes that he has free will and no longer has to listen to orders. At this point, the Sirex government puts Tolbo to sleep and takes him away.
		- It's clear from Lianne's reaction that Sigil and the SCE were working with the party and is somehow involved in this mess.
	+ **Horace Chestington** - Horace is interrogated over why he claimed Sarovar as his nephew and hired Jaque. Horace claims that he was doing his patriotic duty to protect Sirex from foreign (particularly Sigil) influence.

### Verdict

The Protectorate decides to move the case to the military courts, and the party is transferred to Protectorate cells. Sarovar does not want to be put in a Zone of Truth as it would reveal that he is a Tarrin spy who did actually kill Shahd, so he kills himself in his jail cell. He leaves behind a suicide note citing mistreatment and anti-Tarrin prejudice as reasons for his suicide.

The party proves their innocence via the Zone of Truth and are acquitted of all charges.

## Zero to Hero

* The party go from being known as alleged terrorists to "Heroes of the Protectorate". As reward for their actions, each member of the party is given 2,500 gold pieces.
	+ Eli spends 2,000 to buy a controlling share of the Sirex Herald
	+ Barnabus sets up a college fund for Relia that she will be able to access when she turns 18. He also buys an expensive suit and a two-way Sigil communicator for him and Rellia to stay in touch
	+ Franz spends his money on refurbishing his mansion.
* Commodore Norrington is charged with helping Yazmin escape from police custody and disgraced.

### Political Aftermath

* The ball is rolling on a no-confidence vote for Mallor. The senate has opened investigations into her conduct and actions. The New Labour Party (Shadh's party) is running a compelling narrative that Mallor turned her back on Syndicate corruption and when it blew up in her face in the form of a gang war, she tried to distract the public with a hasty, biased trial so she could publicly execute the convicted. They're also calling out her policing practices and detention facilities (fueled by Saravor's letter). The National Action party (Mallor's party) is turning on her quick. They can sense the direction of the wind and if enough of them flip, the senate can likely vote her out (needs 2/3). The Protectorate Council is also mulling an official condemnation of Mallor as well.
* Rumor is Chestington will leapfrog the speaker position, and go directly for Sirex Governor as the New Labour Party (Shadh's) candidate once the no-confidence vote of Mallor is more assured. The party's success in the Protectorate Council has sent his popularity skyrocketing. Public consensus is he basically ran a secret operation that saved the entire senate and nearly saved Shadh, propelled by his political instinct and radical action. The National Action party will probably run Hedor Bluntshaper (their current first speaker).
* There used to be 3 strong contenders: Sirex Governor Mallor, General/interim-Chancellor Kursk, and Tarrin Governor Olivia Hawkins. With Mallor basically out of the running it will likely come down to Kursk and Hawkins. Previously, Sirex politicians were more behind Mallor as she is a fellow politician and they were wary of supporting a military man (even a Sirex one). But with Mallor's popularity plummeting, they're rallying behind Kursk.
	+ Sirex-Tarrin relations nosedive as Tarrin protests Sarovar's treatment during the party's imprisonment and the anti-Tarrin prejudices that Sarovar cited in his suicide note.
* Sigil's political standing has taken a massive hit, but the thing about Sigil is their goods are basically perfectly price inelastic. They have an extensive monopoly over advanced magical devices that are entrenched in every aspect of modern society. So Sirex and the Protectorate can hate them all they want, but at the end of the day, they are dependent on Sigil
* Damien Roark is an internationally wanted criminal. Everyone now knows that he is the leader of the Court of Owls.