Mountains of paperwork aside the groups time at the Temple was relatively pleasant. The night passed quietly and so did most of the next day. Only most as around sunset a couple of explosions could be heard from their room. Nothing came of it and they weren’t informed of what happened. Though it was easy to guess that the papa wolf got a bit of cash together for an attempt on them. Even the meals were better than usual even when ordered from the same place the group usual ate at. Apparently having someone from a major church order your food for you gets better service than a trio of new adventurers.

Finally the day of the trial dawned. The actual event was scheduled to happen at midday so about an hour before everyone was preparing to head out. Teleporting wasn’t an option as the local Empire had spent quite a bit to have the system make such places teleport free. This necessitates a bit more work on the Churches part. Besides the group and the angel they would also be accompanied by a full raid group. The lead party of the group was even made entirely of people stuck at the fourth bottleneck.

“It seems that there is a bit of history between the Church of Truth and this wolfkin ambassador. Getting together a team like that isn’t easy to do in a backwater town like this. Not that I am complaining. They aren’t expecting us to pay for it and personally not dying appeals to me.” Rosha and James can only nod to this as the group starts off.

They aren’t exactly far from the court but it could take them a bit to get there. It seems that news of who was going on trial got out and everyone wants to take a look. The wolfkin group had caused all kinds of troubles around the area. Acting like some sort of spoiled prince. As they travel all kinds of rumors about the group is flying around. It seems everyone in the town had been bitten by their mischief at some point. From unpaid for meals to vandalizing property they seem to have done it all. The crowd only gets louder and louder until suddenly silence.

Of course this silence didn’t come from nowhere. Just moments before 9 crossbow bolts from 3 different directions fly towards the team. Luckily this was planned for as they all crash into what was an invisible barrier. The only one besides the raid leader who was able to even spot them was Jason. Though only because in his previous life such methods had been particularly popular for taking out the weak.

Now with the barrier revealed the group picks up the speed. The snipers had already cleared out of their hiding places by the time anyone got to them. This likely wouldn’t be the only attempt and next time they would know to come at it with barrier busting bolts. Not that the barrier was their only trump card but it would be better to not have to reveal anything more.

They wind through the streets getting ever closer to the courthouse. There isn’t far from the building when another set of bolts fly. This time the first bolt is glowing fiercely. Someone tries to block it with a shield but the bolt swerves around the shield and slams into the barrier. With the sound of shattering glass both the bolt and barrier are reduced to glowing sparkles in the air. While the guards didn’t manage to block that bolt by necessity had to go first and it gave them enough time to activate their shields. Whereas before the bolt avoided them the follow up bolts got drawn to the now glowing shields.

Another flight of bolts are fired but this one is clearly just a distraction. The main guards had now gotten our party to the ground and covered them. A couple of shadows seem to brighten as if something has left them. Whatever follow up attack was planned appears to have been called off. Though at this point the raid group is taking no chances. Despite James’ protests all three of them got physically picked up and rushed to the court. It isn’t until they get to the court that they find out what the rush was about. Apparently the enemy had spent a bit more on this than expected. Those shadows where one of the few signs of a high level shadow assassin skill being canceled. It seems that if it wasn’t for the group being literally dog piled, they wouldn’t have survived. Even the smallest gap could have left them open.

Luckily once they reach the court things calm down. Apparently they had problems in the past. If a person arrives to give a statement but is killed before giving it the court will accept a previously given statement. After that ruling, cases of people dying while literally on the witness stand declined drastically in the Empire.

The group upon learning this finally relax a bit and take in the surrounding. It actually looks quite a bit like the temple. However instead of white stones everything is in some shade of gray. Everything seems to just scream neutrality. Even the various officials are gray though that has more to do with another fancy enchantment. Anyone in the building who is in charge of some decision making have a similar effect to the people from the Church of Truth except less mind bending. Instead of hiding everything about them this only removes all distinguishing features and turns them completely gray.

Having let the group gawk enough one of the officials approaches them. “Hello there, I am in charge of getting you to where you need to be today. Hopefully you won't need to stay long but we can only wait for the actual trial to know for sure. Please follow me this way.” and the gray man guides them to a side area. The place actually looks shockingly similar to a modern waiting room. There are even magazines and little info pamphlets. See this the group can only shrug and wait till the trial. Rosha even manages to find an info packet about cases like theirs.

Akhier

Things I wanted to mention but didn’t:

Not all Empires have teleport free jails and courts. In fact any System based protections are bought by whoever is in control of the area. This could be the Emperor as is the case with this case or for instance a God could buy protection for their temples. In fact the Church of Truth’s God actually purchased a conditional System effect for their temples. This effect is that when one of their priests in a temple directly states something is the truth the System will not allow them to say something false. It is so limited because doing more would have cost too much even for a God (forcing everyone in their temple to always tell the truth would have cost more then everyone in the game together could afford).