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Post by Father on Dec 17, 2018 9:09:50 GMT 1
Tally of working the crowd:
Pro-Abelar 14 or 23 Anti-Abelar 31
-1VP
Alena 3 Delia 4 Malyk 4 Mikel 2 Addam 4 Eoric 5
Alekyne, Roland: -2 disposition from Eldon Merryweather. Alena, Delia, Malyk, Mikel, Addam, Eoric: +1 disposition from Eldon Merryweather.
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Post by Septon Abelar on Dec 19, 2018 0:12:00 GMT 1
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Post by Septon Abelar on Dec 21, 2018 5:21:38 GMT 1
Abelar sits through the trial, listening to each of the people speaking for and against him. He nods in gratitude to Lord Yelshire and Ser Roland, but allows himself no reaction when the others speak. When all have had their say and it is his time to speak, he stands from his chair and strides to the center of the hall. His face is bruised and his white robes hang off of him like the skin of a starving vulture. They've returned him his belt of the woven rainbow, faded and scuffed. He begins by acknowledging the high lords and functionaries present. "Septon Janos. Lord Blackbriar. Lord Arryn. Lord Lannister. Lord Tully. Ser Daemon. Lord Butterwell. Lord Hayford. Lord Commander. Prince Maekar. Prince Baelor. Lord Tyrell.""I stand before you a humbled man. Humbled by sorrow and loss. Loss of many good people. Modest folk of Gardenton and Highgarden. Stout knights, including Ser Donnel Blackbriar, a man that I loved as a brother." He turns as he speaks, allowing his dark eyes to pass over the assembled lords and ladies, never lingering yet never fleeing. "A man whose children I helped raise to manhood. A man whom I never intended to see come to harm." A few heartbeats pass. "He died because I told a great number of people that Lord Eldon Merryweather is no true lord, and that he should be cast down. Ser Donnel died at another's hand, but it was only because of my words that he found himself in violent confrontation. He died and his brave son Ser Titus barely clings to life." He swallows emotion and rubs his mouth. "Yesterday, I spoke words that I should not have. The things I said lit a fire in the heart of the smallfolk present, and they immediately set hands to purpose. Their target was Merryweather, but they brought a storm." His gaze falls to the flagstones beneath his feet. "A wiser man would have saved those words for a time when heads had cooled. A patient man," he intones as he begins to slowly pace forward, "would have waited for the right moment to speak." He shakes his head at himself. "Maybe there's a Wise, Patient Man somewhere, waiting for the right moment to rise from his throne, or maybe lift his scepter, and set things to rights." Let Tyrell think I speak of the Crown . . . and let the Crown think that I speak of Tyrell."I stand accused of breaking the King's peace. With my words. But the truth is that the King's peace was broken by Lord Eldon Merryweather six days ago." He breaks off as murmurs erupt in the hall. He continues, striving to keep the punch of his meaning for the end of each sentences. "And he did not break the peace with words. He used his hands."
Abelar points at Lord Eldon's swollen fists. "Those hands." This time, there are are more cries than murmurs, largely from the Merryweather section. Allow them to sputter, but do not wait for them to come to their senses. Abelar cuts them off when he senses the moment to be ripe. "Six days ago, Lord Eldon raped a maiden from Lady Lysette Starling's own bedchamber. I was very angry, but I was also a little bit like the Wise, Patient Man, and so I moved slowly." He begins to pace again. "Five days ago, I watched knights duel each other over the foul lord's crime. But when it was all over, they dusted themselves off and he rested easy. Four days ago, all the lords of the Reach gathered together, but it was only for a mummer show, not justice. Three days ago, the only one who dared challenge Lord Merryweather was the court fool." Abelar turns his back to Butterbumps as he says this, wisely blinding himself to the loathsome fool's reaction. "Two days ago, Ser Owen and Lady Marianne took my audience and I implored them to help set aside their lord as witnesses against him. They refused to shift, as if they stood on rotten ice that stretched for miles." He comes to a stop before the most densely packed part of the galleries. "The union of septon and lord can be harmonious indeed." He makes eye contact with Lord Yelshire, then Lord Durwell, briefly. "But in the days following the crime, I found only discord there.""And one day ago, I ran out of Wisdom and Patience.""In my anger, I remembered of the days of old, where the people would take power into their own hands and render judgment. The Storming of the Dragonpit. The casting down of the heretic Murmison. A thousand smaller triumphs of justice that occur every year in the backwoods and countryside, when justice cannot wait for a lord who comes once a year. I thought of all this, then I thought, 'the time for wisdom and patience is over; this moment demands action.'" His jaw sets and he turns back towards Lord Tyrell, allowing the light from the window to fall across the unblemished left side of his face. The bruised side falls to shadow. "Standing before a crowd of hundreds upon hundreds, I called for the raper-lord to be stuck like a pig. I cried this out and more, my eyes full of fire and wroth in my heart. I cried out for all the maidens he has taken before and all the ones he might take again. My soul could not withstand another day of his escape from justice.""No lord ordered me to take this action. Nor any member of House Blackbriar or any person anywhere. It was my choice alone.""In the depths of my rage, I did not foresee that so many innocents would die; that passing knights would charge into the mayhem with steel in hand. In this, I succumbed to folly. Deadly folly that I intend to answer for." His mouth twists into a grimace. "I hated the wicked too much, it is true. Punish me as you will." He takes a breath. "I only ask that my hatred of the wicked be chastised no more than Lord Merryweather's hatred of the maidenly innocent!" He looks Eldon Merryweather in the eyes. "Lay to us the same sentence and see it done."
Success on the drawback rolls means no all-caps this time. [D11 Unquenchable Flame] Assert Authority: 6d6k5 19 v. TN 21 (non-critical failure; 0 VP earned)[D11 Unquenchable Flame] Speech Persuasion (Convince): 7d6k5 21 v. TN 15 (reduced from 18) (2 DOS; 2 VP earned)Mulling DP options now, message me with ideas if you're interested. I think this means I'm at 1 VP total, so avoidance of execution, but facing exile and so forth. EDIT: Also, I can demand trial by combat, so if you have ideas about that, I'm all ears. Sweet, sweet exoneration is within reach and Rennifer Waters is still comatose.
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Post by Father on Dec 30, 2018 3:38:41 GMT 1
Lord Leo listens to the testimonies given, to Lord Eldon's demands, to Abelar's fiery speech. And Lord Leo is insecure. Should he hang this septon and appease Lord Eldon and other nobles who have lost their loved ones? Does he exonerate him, and feel their wrath instead? Does he hang him, and make him a martyr for more men like him to raise their voices and cause another uprising of the Faith? He is right of course, Lord Eldon is a piece of shit deserving of at least a dozen geldings. But he is also one of the richest and most powerful lords of the realm. So Lord Tyrell does as he usually does when faced with a difficult choice. He dithers, he wavers, he chooses the path of least resistance. The path that makes it the easiest for him to sleep at night. Septon Janos mentioned the possibility of writing to Starry Sept. Septon Roswyn as the head of the Tribunal of the Seven Stars would surely have no taste for an unrepentant inflexible zealot on the loose, stripped of his right to speak for The Faith and likely exiled to some septry far away from anyone to end his days reading old tomes and writing books that would collect dust. The problem would go away and everyone would eventually be happy again. What is it not to like? A great deal, according to the silence that follows Lord Leo's decision of merely decreeing him an exile, giving Abelar a fortnight to leave his domains, as he was guilty. Most of the court thinking that if he was guilty he should hang. Half the court thinks him guilty and is affronted that he does not pay the full price of his deeds. The other half have been swayed by the words of a man clearly touched by The Seven, and how can Lord Tyrell even presume to judge such a man? To Banish a true voice of The Faith? Lord Tyrell could only ever satisfy half the room, but in the end, almost everyone left more distressed and displeased than they arrived.
House Blackbriar: -2 Influence (they expel Abelar from their lands). Abelar will have to face down a tribunal in the off-season.
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Post by Septon Abelar on Dec 31, 2018 6:21:20 GMT 1
Abelar accepts Lord Tyrell's judgment gracefully, and if given the opportunity, announces his departure from Blackbriar before he can be officially expelled.
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