At the council table the magi who aren’t travelling to Kolberg are sitting and eating breakfast. The table is set with a number of foodstuffs as long as they can produced by relative simple means. As the assembled magi has got caught in a rather interesting discussion on the finer points of magic theory the captain of the guard hurries into the chamber. [color=red]Masters there is a urgent matter for you to deal with, one of the covenfolk was murdered this morning and we have apprehended the villain. The captain is a little bit to exited as he speaks to the magi and forgets to pay the usual respect of bowing to his master and asking for permission to speak.
[color=red]Calm yourself, captain, and show proper respect before you interupt our conversation, will you?
Now, if you'd be so polite as to salute ourselves before telling us more of this affair?
[color=red]Most sorry madam, the captain bows forward nearly tipping over. [color=red]We hold a woman captive down at the temporary town hall, she has murdered a man and we where told that our master would hold the trials in such cases. The captain looks a bit nervous.
[color=red]Thank you Captain , you have done the right thing. We will accompany you to the Town hall and you can fill us in on the details of the events.
Mariella rises to her feet and puts on her cloak before heading outside
The captain awaits any magi that wishes to join. Justus is most interested in joining and get ready to follow the young captain. Those magi who want to go with the captain are led down to the an building in the near by community. It is the temporary town hall, next to the wooden structure there is a foundation for an other rather large building. The magi are escorted into a make-shift council hall and in the chamber is Horst the Covenfolk leader and two militiamen who are guarding a young woman who is sitting on the floor. The young woman is covered with burses and has a split lip. She has a well worn dress and long red hair but there is something that strikes every magi, she shoes sings of the blatant gift. Next to her the two guards stand with a stern look upon their face and each of them holding a large wooden club. Horst is dressed in a rather elegant clothing and seems welcoming to the magi as he notices the magi he bows and greets them welcome to the town hall.
[color=red]Thank you. I, too, will follow you.
As we arrive to the town hall, and Horst welcomes us:
[color=red]Thank you, horst. It appears you have done things well. Tell me, who is this woman exactly, and what has she done exactly?
[color=red]She was arrested in her cabin at the far edge of the town. Townspeople heard screams and the militia where alerted. She was covered in blood on her front and there was a man laying in a pool of blood in front of her. On the floor there where a bloody dagger and she was covered in burses and as you can see her lip where split. The man where a townsman of good standing. As Horst speaks to the magi he looks at the woman with contempt in her eyes. One doesn’t need to be a mind reader to know that Horst would think that a fair trial for this young woman should be to take her to the nearest tree and hang her.
[color=red]Thank you. Justus I beleive you have the most ability with Intellego Mentam spells of any of the magi present, Perhaps you could interrogate this lady while I and Ardeth go to examine the crime scene and see if we can see any signs of anything unnusual
[color=red]First of all I think it is best to start asking the young woman what happened and then resort to magic. Justus turns to the injured woman and asks her in German. [color=red]I am Justus Felix one of the lords of this manor, may I enquire about your name?
[color=green]My name is Margarete and I am a swine herder in your service. The woman looks at Justus with fear in her eyes.
Justus continues; [color=red]Tell me my good woman about what happened during the night.
She sobs and speaks with a almost silent voice, [color=green]He came to my house and demanded his marital rights and as I refused he attacked me.
Justus replies, [color=red]you mean that you where married to this man? Have you slain your husband?
Margarete continues, [color=green]I am married to him but I ran away from our home and came here is search of a new life. My husband hade beaten me several times and I couldn’t stand it any more that’s why I ran away. Margarete draws up one of her sleeves and reveals horrid scar tissue, it must be the result of severe abuse.
[color=red]I see, replies Justus, [color=red]did you murder you husband?
[color=green]Yes I have, replies Margarete and starts crying even more heavily.
The investigation of the crime scene reveals a large blood stain and a bloody dagger. The cabin and the property there in is the property of someone who is dirt poor.
[color=red]Thank you. We'll need to deliberate now.
Checking two things
- The dead man was not a resident at ou covenant?
2.Does the women appear to be gifted ?
Checking two things
- The dead man was not a resident at ou covenant?
2.Does the women appear to be gifted ?
The dead man where a resident of the covenant but moved in later.
She is gifted with the blatant gift.
The covenfolk show the magi an adjoining room. When the magi are alone Justus turns to them and ask, What do you think about this particular situation?
[color=red]An interesting problem I suspect that under the customery law of the land the lady is guilty and should be punished. However in her circumstances I would have killed or maimed the man and shown far less remorse than her. Further I suspect that her Blatant gift has contributed greatly to the failure of her marriage and similar problems and I am naturally sympathetic to those with the problems of the gift but without the power to prevent abuse.
We should also consider that it is likely that one with such a powerful gift has other magical abilities whichmay be useful to us.
It will cause us some problems with the other locals but I favour a token punishment , determining if she can be useful to us and if she cannot seeing if we can persuade another covenant to take her in . We could also point out that anyone in the covenant who wishes to have a try at being a rapist can take an appointment with me and I'll maim him for life
Justus looks worried and states the following, [color=red]If I remember correctly the law of the land probably regard the lady as a vicious killer. Whether she had any circumstances that could have forced her hand is not interesting in the eyes of the law. It is the consequences that matter, thus a mans death is what she is held accountable for. There is probable a fine to be paid to the mans family and then giving her freedom, but I can’t expect her to afford it. If she can’t afford it she will probably hang in the nearest tree. Regarding the rape attempt I don’t think that anyone will regard it as anything but a husband attempting to use his marital rights as his wife is his property. I most certainly think that his act where horrid but there is sometimes a difference between law and justice. I think that it would be most interesting to take this young woman as an apprentice but how does we do that without the villagers protesting against us?
I must say my feelings are with Mariella on most points, although this mustn't happen again. We'll have to make known that rape is forbidden here, and that rapist will be punished, but also that WE render justice here. But this is a point for another time.
Now, we have a more pressing problem. On the one hand, I clearly sympathise with this woman, and woulda done the same thing. On the other hand, as justus said, she IS guilty of murder, and, if we do nothing, there'll be grave repercussions among the covenfolk and villagers, especially with the girl's blatant gift agravating things: As he pointed out, the man's attitude will be seen as somewhat excessive, but that's all.
Let me think... By killing this man, she deprived us, her lords and mistresses, of a valuable ressource. Thus, she must pay. The man's family is inconsequential before this.
So, here's my proposition: Slavery 
This man would have served us for at least what? 15 years? So, she owes us fifteen years of her life. She'll live in the crudest conditions, at least in the beginning, as it will appease the covenfolk to see her suffer. And she'll serve us and repay us what she owes us. She'll work in the covenant, and, later, assist us in the lab, and she'll have not a single spare moment until she's paid us back everything she owes us. And then, she'll be free to go, having paid us back.
As per the family, well, we are good and generous lords, aren't we? And we take care of our beloved subjects. So I say we pay them a compensation and help them a little until this little episode is somewhat forgotten by the villagers.
However, I'd like to point out that this may be a somewhat previsible tentative of infiltration from our foes, so we should use magic to ascertain the girl's intentions.
What is this ado in the covenant?
A women killed somebody?
[color=red]Ardath I agree that justice must be our responsibility however it appears that in this case there was no oppertunity. There is a problem with your suggested punishment in that it is illegal to enslave a Christian so unless she is a pagan that solution is unavailable to us. It is however a sound approach to the problem . I beleive many Germanic laws recognise a blood price which she cannot afford to pay we could pay that on her behalf and then she would be indentured to us until that is paid back.
We should also endeavor to discover if she has any ties to the local magical groups as such could indicate that she is a spy
Mariella turns to Manius
[color=red]So it would appear , I suspect that will not be an unnusual event around here although the women in question is a suprise
Does this mean she was forced to kill her victim by magic or mundane means?