[color=red]Yes, mundane investigation is our sole ressource here.
We should also be wary for any suspicious behaviour.
What people did this man frequent? Were there times he was angrier? Did his feelings increase after seeing or talking to someone?
If he was visited in his dreams, maybe there's a recurring element in them, one he didn't perceive at first: Maybe the demon, or another feature, was present in these.
[color=red]Heinrich, you will want to talk with the head woodsman Franz. Ask him where you can find Gotwin, Conrad and Adolf - those were co-workers and close friends of Daniel. (I assume Yannick asked the man for his name...)
[color=red]And do not talk of punishement to anybody for now. We cannot decide anything until we know all the facts. And us magicians will have some lengthy debates about this, I am pretty sure. 
Please leave us alone now.
Yannick waits until Heinrich has left the room, then speaks again:
[color=red]I will, of course, get Daniel out of my sanctum for your inquieries, Justus. But to be honest, I was hoping to provoke a direct attack by our opponent by keeping the man in my sanctum.
The quaesitor found proof that the man was influenced and i is rather likely this was done by our magical opponent. So far he or she showed a preference for indirect attacks. I'm pretty damn sure we were supposed to all run after Daniel, just to find the covenant burnt down afterwards. Forget about demons. There were none at work. 
And as long as none of you finds proof of the opposite, Daniel is NOT guilty. We can't let him go of course, the mob would kill him instantly -- and so far, he is our only lead.
A sidenote: painless death and spectacular death are mutually exclusive. This is about punishement after all, and punishement should be at least as painful as the crime. Unless you want people laughing at us 
Yannick needs a moment to relax again. He exhales slowly...
[color=red]By the way, it was me that invited father Gerald to come here. And I have done so because I know he is just the man we need here. As long as you leave him alone, he will leave us alone.
[color=red]If I may correct you Yannick. The Quasitor specifically said that he coudl find no trace of magical tampering with the murderer. His description of the emotional changes is suggestive of tampering but not conclusive. I assume that a Quasitor of more mature years than ourselves is competent to tell us if there where signs of magical investigation. This leads us to the conclusion that none magical effects where used for any influence which leaves us with the conclusion that any inteference was by a demon or diabolist as their techniques are hard to spot.
We must be careful about fixating on a single problem I do not believe this incident was linked to our earlier trouble, if it had been a diversion then it drew away sufficient magi for an intrusion to succeed , as far as we can tell there was no such intrusion nor an ambush of the magi outside the covenant therefore I doubt a link.
On that subject if this where an attempt to lure one of us into an ambush you would be dead. I told you to allow me to accompany you on your pursuit by ignoring that you seperated us and exposed us both to ambush. Your skills in magical combat are not as good as mine so youleft yourself exposed and vulnerable. I respectfully request that in a potential combat situation you listen to my counsel I am after all a Flambeau trained in the arts of war since I was a child and you are barely an ameteur in such fields. All of you should consider this , I am a professional in killing and fighting in such matters I expect to be listened to.
[color=red]I agree with mariella on magical traces and the current problem. Moreso, it seems that our ennemy's sigil is absent here, while it was always easily perceptible.
While it is still possible that this is related to previous problems, I really fear demonic interference here.
I'd moderate her later claims, however. Our opponent has proven clever and powerful enough that none of us should face him alone: I fear he, or she, is powerfull enough to dispatch any one of us easily, as he did with justus. Thus, none of us should wander alone.
[color=red]Drug him, BoaF him.
Painless death, spectacular death.
[color=red]The quaesitor had enough doubt to go fetch a specialist. That's proof enough for me. There's no need to see demons everywhere.
But the discussion is usedless. We need facts first. With a little luck, Justus can provide us with some. I'll be fetching Daniel.
Besides, I'm the one to be unharmed up to now and apparently, my handling of werewolves is pretty good. The battlefield may be your playground, but the forrest is mine. Your magic is as useless against our opponent as mine is. But I can at least bite his throat if need be. Or arrange for a couple of wolves to do so, if we finally get a lead on him.
I got Daniel in a shape suitable for questionning and the covenant was safe. No if's, no maybe's. It worked and no one got hurt, and I'll keep it that way. I'll be taking advice when I need it.
[color=blue](OOC: Sorry for that Andrew! But I feel I should create some tensions between Mariella and Yannick. I'll get too confused playing the barber if I don't...)
My appropoach would be different: Let the dogs hunt him. If he can reach the church and father Gerald grants him asylum, so be it. If he can't they'll tear him to peaces. Let god have option in this, if you expect demons at work 
But still, we do not yet have all the information we need. The punishement is not yet due.
[color=red]Yes, Yannick he went to fetch a specilist as such is required to detect the presence of the infernal . He did not need a specialist to conclusively rule out magical inteference, perhaps with your someahat patchy magical trainign you missed the distinction.
Your shapeshifting is no match for a mage, you are no Bjornear and without the protection of the heartbeast you cannot strike through a Parma, corpus spells will fell you with ease. Your parma and penetration abilities are poor and your tactical sense is lacking. I mean no offense by this your skills in the wood exceed mine but I am a Milite of house Flambeau and none of you here can match me in battle. I do not pretend to be a master of diplomacy or woodcraft or such but what I do is Fight and Kill.
[color=red]Enough bickering amongst you two, we are magi of the Order of Hermes and we have a possible daemonic intrusion. Both of you, Yannick, Meriella, back down. There is no need for fighting amongst each other. Justus seems to have gone considerably more authoritarian and has a harsh voice.
[color=blue]Now what questions does the magi have for the woodmen once they are found. Justus doesn’t manage to discover anything interesting in his investigations.
Heinrich will pursue a general round of questioning for head woodsman Franz and Gotwin, Conrad and Adolf :
[color=red]
How long have you known Daniel?
What kind of friend/worker has he been?
Had you seen any significant changes or differences in his life?
Who and how do they know his wife and/or alleged lover?
During interrogations, I'm interested in casting:
IN/Me Frosty Breath of Spoken Lie - lvl 20
IN/Me Perception of Conflicting Motives - lvl 15
[color=red]While he may not have been in control of his faculties at the time, he was ultimately responsible for the crime he committed. Plus, according to our quaesitor, that he actually committed the crime is not in doubt. If there is a way we can prevent him dying and a good reason for doing it, I’ll embrace it. From what I see, he looks guilty as sin.
[color=red]Indeed. Magic can do it, or I know of a few mundane plants that will make a man far too distracted to feel pain, at least for a while. A painless but spectacular death is not difficult, and having him hunted by dogs is needlessly cruel. If we believe he is guilty, we’re responsible for his execution. If he is guilty, he will suffer more than enough in the Hereafter.
[color=blue](Heinrich seems to have covered the bases for what I wanted to know, nothing to add)
[color=red]There is no real doubt of his guilt from what we know , the influence drove him to an extreme but the heart of his crime was there all the time.
I agree with Krispin that a punishment should not be needlessly cruel. Having someone hunted with dogs is barbaric and I will not tolerate such things.
[color=red]We seem to all agree on this, then.
I'd add that if we leave him be on the pretext that he was possessed, we may bring about some panic about a wandering demon.
Just remember that, some time ago, we sentenced to death a woman for having killed her husband. If we were more lenient for a more heinous crime, we could destroy faith in our justice.
Answers from the woodsmen:
How long have you known Daniel?
What kind of friend/worker has he been?
-Friendly and hardworking though not a particular brave soul.
Had you seen any significant changes or differences in his life?
Who and how do they know his wife and/or alleged lover?
[color=red]You say strange items? Any stranger-than-typically-strange plants? Items, in general? Any strange things besides plants? Where exactly did you find this "lot?" Tell me what you found while we're on the way to your showing me. Thank you, good people, your time is appreciated. Heinrich if led to plants or other will stay alert for harmful or otherwise strange effects being a little edgy with all the news of assaults, invasions and mayhem. He'll stay ready with aforementioned spells. Perhaps an intellego vim (esp. IN/Vi Invisible Eye Revealed - lvl 15 on anything shown and a spont to detect anything at all - vis, aura, strong magic) on plants/items shown. This being my first round of "tests" and task for the covenant - and being young and vivacious - , Heinrich'll be glad to take time to be extra thorough.
Heinrich when done reports back accurately on the report of Daniel's friends and fellow workmen and inquires - [color=red] The woodsmen report -[color=green]the last few months he began to become more and more angry. At the little things. It where when we where working at that recently abandoned houses in the forest. We where in that region making coal for the village and picking those strange plants that our master wishes us to collect. You know we have a standing order to collect strange items that we find in the forest and this time we found a lot.
[color=red] What are these abandoned houses? It piques my interest to go back with a group of us and do some scrying. They also speak of finding a larger amount of strange items - strange, as in what they seek when seeking vis, but perhaps there is more to it.
[color=blue]ooc-Is scrying an accurate enough term?
[color=red]We pretended to kill her...
Which we could do now as well, that would leave us the subject for closer examination. Did I get it right, that Bartolomaeus did want to come back? He may be angered if the man he wants to question further is already dead?
That being said, i don't like the idea of punishementless punishement. But I repeat myself...
[color=red]I volunteer. I just need to pack a couple of things.
[color=red]Of course. But then, the case is different.
The objection on bartholomaeus is a good one. We should wait for his return, and, at the very least, keep the man alive until we're sure we know everything there is to know from him.
I shall go as well. My "eyes for vis" spell may be useful, and 3 are better than 2 if we aren't protected by the Aegis and the covenant's guardsmen.
More clues form the woodsmen:
The woodsmen produces a lot of odd shaped branches that are sickly pale in comparison to other branches of the same sort some of them seems to contain herbam vis at a closes inspection. The hermbam vis are located in thorns that shouldn’t be on such an piece of wood. They offer to guide you to the place of their collection. It is most apparent in these men’s eyes that they are looking forward to some bonus.
[color=red]A-ha! This is what you were talking of eh? Yes, yes, you will be remunerated. All in good time. Just do as you normally would do and tell them you've turned over the current crop directly to myself. Let me know if you have trouble and need a bill or receipt of ladling or some such thing.
Great work, though! Please show us the area where these are to be found. And are these, I presume, the same area as the abandoned houses? Oh, and have any of you been feeling or noticed others feeling out-of-sorts, lately?
To Ardath, indicating the sickly plants [color=red]Would you share some tea with me? Sooo, it's a good thing Krispin adds his herbal expertise, eh.
If Krispin isn't with us, we share info on the strange branches when we reconvene.
[color=blue]Good work, men. You shall be rewarded for this. Lead us to the place, then.
[color=red]Maybe later. As you say, Krispin should be best able to use these to make us a great tea ^^
On the way to the place, I use my [color=blue]Eyes for vis - enhanced vision to the maximum. Maybe I'll spot more than they saw.
And I'd certainly be curious if more men had strange feelings after handling these or going to the place...
Oups! 
[quote="Ardath"]
[color=blue]Good work, men. You shall be rewarded for this. Lead us to the place, then.
This, of course, should be in red, not blue