Despite what Norman had said, he was sad to see Pedro go. Norman was sure the man could have been another pillar of Ashvale like Grobert and Eugene if it wasn’t for the man’s disruptive form of magic. But Norman couldn’t dwell on losing a possible friend, he had more pressing matters to worry about.
“How many of our people broke the rules I set in place?” Norman was upset.
Eugene had come to him, letting him know some of the greykin, that had accompanied him on this attack, had broken the rules. Now if Norman had laid out an entire rule book to follow, he could see a few people breaking those, but he only had three very simple rules to follow. But for some that appeared to be too much.
“We have three men in custody that were caught in violation of your rules. Some offenders are worse than others.”
Norman’s hand clenched the arm of the wooden throne that had recently belonged to Noorani. The wood cracked under his grip, surprising him and making him relax. When he pulled his hand away, he found no damage to his armor, but the wood beneath was splintered. Norman knew he wasn’t strong enough to crush wood with his bare hands. Was this a new aspect of his armor or was it something it always had, but he had never realized? He put those thoughts aside for later as he focused back on Eugene.
After all the work Norman and everyone had put into defeating the Brotherhood, these three idiots could undo any goodwill he earned from the city. Norman sat up straight and prepared himself, then he nodded to Eugene. “Bring in the first accused.”
A human greykin was dragged into the room by two of the death knights and thrown onto the floor in front of Norman. Once free, the man leaped to his feet and cursed the knights out before turning toward the chair Norman occupied.
The man held his hands out for support, his shackles clinking as he moved. “Lord, there was a misunderstanding. I was only ensuring the people of this city understood never to mess with you agai-” Norman held his hand up, silencing the man.
“Eugene, what is this man’s crime?”
Eugene stepped up next to the man, making the chained man flinch away. “He is being accused of murder and pillaging.”
“I woul-” Eugene glared at the man, silencing him again.
There hadn’t been time to create a comprehensive set of laws for Ashvale due to the attacks. So this guy could forget any due process or a fair trial. Did that make Norman a bit of a dick? Yes, but Norman trusted Eugene’s judgment in this matter. Once they got back home, Norman was going to make setting up laws and a justice system a priority. He didn’t want people accusing him of making up laws only to suit himself.
Norman suppressed a sigh. He didn’t want to deal with shit like this after their victory, but it was necessary if he wanted to maintain order. “Are there any witnesses to these murders?”
“No… Sir.”
It was weird hearing Eugene address him as anything other than boss and Norman wanted to chuckle at Eugene’s discomfort, but now was not the time for jokes.
The accused man barely suppressed a smirk at hearing that there were no witnesses, making Norman immediately dislike the guy.
“And the bodies?”
Eugene tossed three spell anchors on the floor between them, and three mutilated bodies appeared.
The accused man’s smirk immediately vanished when he realized what was about to happen.
As Norman stood, the man tried to bolt for the door but Eugene had been ready for that and wrapped a meaty hand around the man’s neck, jerking him back into place to watch. Norman could only shake his head at the man’s incompetence. Even if Eugene had been sleeping, the man wouldn’t have gotten far in his chains. Norman ignored the man’s pleas as he approached the bodies.
While Norman was the law, that didn’t mean he was going to unjustly try someone. Unlike most murders, Norman could simply ask the victim what happened. The best part, the dead had no reason to lie in this case.
Norman retrieved a drop of blood from each corpse and drew out the Soul Communion spells. Norman questioned the three victims and all gave the same story. They were hiding in their home with the door barricaded when a man burst in and cut them down. Each of the ghosts pointed directly at the man Eugene was holding, making him go even paler with each accusation. Thankfully all of the dead were adults so Norman promised to restore them to life as soon as he got time. As for the accused, Norman sat back in the chair and looked at the man who now refused to meet his eyes.
“Eugene, what were my rules?”
“Only attack Brotherhood soldiers and any civilians that fight back. The others had to do with the Priestess and Pedro.”
While the rule didn’t explicitly mention people hiding out, it was close enough for anyone with common sense to understand that assaulting them was against the spirit of the rule. “Do you consider three people huddled inside their home with their door barricaded to be combatants?”
“No,” the man growled.
Norman heard the accused man’s neck creak under Eugene’s grip. Norman nodded, tapping his hand on the good arm of the chair.
“As this man was a member of a military action under your direct jurisdiction, I release him to you for whatever punishment you feel fits the crime.”
“Thank you, Lord, for your mer-” Eugene’s grip tightened until the man’s head separated from his neck. Black blood pooled from the body and splashed against the white marble floor.
The man obviously didn’t know Eugene like Norman did. If people thought Norman was harsh, well, they were mistaken.
“The only punishment for disobeying a direct order during combat is death.”
Norman nodded. “Burn the body, we will not be resurrecting him.”
Two death knights dragged the corpse away as two more brought in another criminal. Instead of a human, it was a jorik this time. Norman recognized the man’s face but couldn’t remember his name. Unlike the first man, this jorik seemed unapologetic to have been caught.
His crimes were much the same. He went out of his way to terrorize and chase fleeing civilians.
“Do you have anything to say about your actions?” Norman asked.
The man shrugged. “I simply did what any of my people would have done in the situation. I have no reason to apologize, so just get it over with.”
With a nod from Norman, Eugene sliced the man’s head off and two death knights dragged the remains away before another set brought in the last remaining man.
The third criminal was not accused of murder, but he had been accused of looting and pillaging. Norman could see the man was terrified and shaking, having probably witnessed the other two bodies being dragged away. It annoyed Norman that two out of the three criminals were former humans. It only made humans look bad and helped reinforce the stereotypes that the gron had for hums in general. He would have liked to simply take the easy route and execute this man as well but he couldn’t.
He hadn’t specifically said there could be no looting and pillaging and Norman had heard about others doing similar actions but none of those people were here. That meant that this man must have done something flagrant enough to get Eugene’s attention. It would be so simple to just have one punishment but if Norman executed everyone that even slightly broke a law, he would run into people willing to die before being arrested. That would lead to complete chaos. It would also make Norman look like a tyrant. And Norman didn’t want that.
Norman tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair as he listened to the charges levied against the man. It became clear why Eugene had brought him in over the other looters. While he hadn’t killed anyone, he had assaulted three families while he broke into their homes and looted them.
Unfortunately, Norman couldn’t hear any of the accounts from the families' sides as they had fled the city when the fighting came to an end. In fact, a lot of people had fled the city, leaving it almost a ghost town. The few that remained were ensconced in their homes and refused to come out. Norman couldn’t blame them. He would have fled or hidden too if he were in their shoes and an unknown enemy attacked his city.
Silence fell over the hall as Norman continued tapping away at the arm of the chair while he pondered on this man’s punishment. Eventually, he came up with a punishment that would fit the man’s crime and actually punished him.
“Eugene, please bring one of those zitha, you know the snake horses, here. I need it alive,” Norman added before Eugene left the room.
As soon as Eugene left, Norman stood from the chair and located a clear section of floor. There he drew a familiar magical diagram. Once it was complete he motioned for the death knights to put the man inside one of the circles.
The man struggled, but he didn’t have a calling and was unable to resist. As soon as the man was dumped into the circle, Norman powered that portion, trapping him inside.
A few minutes later, Eugene returned with the zitha. Norman motioned for him to move the creature to the other circle, then he turned back to the accused man.
“For your crimes against Ashvale and the Kingdom of Normenia, your sentence is life. You will be banished from our lands for no less than fifty years. If you survive that long, you may return and once again live among the greykin. Stepping foot in our zone will be considered a direct attack against me.” Norman added that last part after learning more about how blood oaths could be used from Grobert.
The oath was much more versatile than Norman had originally thought. Norman had modified his original blood oath but never had a reason to use it until now. He removed the component that reflected damage and replaced it with something Grobert called ‘command inheritance’. It let Norman pick and choose an oath to force upon a person but it was limited.
For example, if you stipulated something as a direct attack, you could completely prevent the person from attempting that action or they would die. If Norman wanted to, he could stipulate the man’s breathing as a direct attack against him, but it likely wouldn’t work as it had to be a conscious decision against the oath holder, which in this case was Norman. Not that Norman would be so cruel as to create an oath like that. The oath could also only cover one action. If Norman wanted to layer multiple oaths on a person, he would have to repeat the spell for each condition. At least according to Grobert.
Norman ignored the man’s pleading sobs as he activated the rest of the spell. He watched with dispassion as the man was stripped of his gift of undeath and returned to the land of the living. When the spell was completed, Norman saw a slightly out-of-shape man of middle age, who was already showing signs of grey hair, inside the spell circle. Norman doubted he would ever see this man again due to his age but the punishment was fair and just. It was more than the man deserved.
The death knights dragged the semi-lucid man away and Norman tiredly plopped into the chair.
Only Eugene and Grobert remained in the room after the trials, allowing Norman to relax his composure. “Here I thought that taking the city was going to be the hard part.”
“That is because there is usually no time during a battle to hesitate and think of a better solution. It is often everything before and after a battle that requires a calm and reasoned mind to determine the best outcome,” Grobert responded.
Norman sighed. “How long do you think we will be stuck here, cleaning up the mess left behind by the Brotherhood?”
Grobert shrugged. “That is entirely up to how you want to handle it. We could leave right now if you wished… but that would leave the city with no leadership and who knows if the eventual successor to the Brotherhood would see us in a warm light.”
He had figured as much, but hearing Grobert confirm those thoughts didn’t make Norman feel any better. “Suggestions?”
“Gather up the people remaining in the city and let them know why you attacked. Let them know they are safe. And give them agency to decide on how they want to act going forward,” Eugene stated.
“Won’t we just run into the same possible issue of an unfriendly force taking over?”
“I doubt you are going to find anyone, not a little upset after what we did. But at least this way, the possible enemies can see us, and we aren’t some vague threat that someone can try rallying people behind. Once people see we are willing to help them, there will be less quiet whispering and more jockeying for position. Perhaps you can also sweeten the deal by offering them something after death?”
The thought did appeal to Norman, but it was bordering on the whole worship thing. He hadn’t bothered offering it as a trade commodity to Grothlosburg because they simply didn’t care about dying. But the people of the wasteland were more in line with how humans thought. It also fixed an issue Norman was going to run into for Normenia. How to grow his population now that Grothlosburg was beyond his reach?
With no other good ideas, Norman tasked Eugene to gather up the surviving citizens and bring them to the front of the temple where there was a large open square.
***
Norman looked over the terrified crowd of people in the square. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have had his death knights be the ones to gather people up. The poor people probably thought he was going to execute them or something.
He sighed. It was too late to fix the mistake now. Norman nodded to Grobert who yelled loud enough to get everyone's attention. The worried muttering quieted as everyone glanced toward Norman standing on the steps of the temple. He clearly stood out in his white armor.
Norman spoke as loudly as he could without yelling. “I’m sure you are all wondering why I have asked you to gather. I will make this quick so you can all go about your lives with as little disruption as possible.” Hopefully, everyone heard him, if not, he was sure word would get around to those who didn’t.
“Our purpose here was to eliminate the Brotherhood for their transgressions against us. We have no issue with the citizens of this fair city, nor do we wish to occupy your city or manage it. That will be up to you to decide. We will only remain to keep the peace until this transition has been completed.” Norman’s words seemed to relax a few people, but most still looked on with worry and concern so he continued.
“We will work with this new government to come up with acceptable terms for future cohabitation and possibly even trade. There is no reason for neighbors to be enemies when it benefits everyone far more for us to be allies.” As Norman surveyed the crowd, he could see a few people that looked more interested in Norman’s words than the rest.
He suspected these people were the most likely to become the leader or leaders depending on what sort of government these people chose. So long as they realized the power dynamic at play Norman didn’t care who was chosen to lead this city.
“Feel free to discuss this amongst yourselves to decide what type of government you want. When you have an idea of how you want to proceed, please speak to my advisor,” Norman gestured to Grobert who thankfully had removed his Bone Armor to look less intimidating. After the speech, Norman walked back into the temple to wait. He hoped this transition was over quickly, he wanted to get back home where he could work on his magic.
Despite what Norman had said, he was sad to see Pedro go. Norman was sure the man could have been another pillar of Ashvale like Grobert and Eugene if it wasn’t for the man’s disruptive form of magic. But Norman couldn’t dwell on losing a possible friend, he had more pressing matters to worry about.
“How many of our people broke the rules I set in place?” Norman was upset.
Eugene had come to him, letting him know some of the greykin, that had accompanied him on this attack, had broken the rules. Now if Norman had laid out an entire rule book to follow, he could see a few people breaking those, but he only had three very simple rules to follow. But for some that appeared to be too much.
“We have three men in custody that were caught in violation of your rules. Some offenders are worse than others.”
Norman’s hand clenched the arm of the wooden throne that had recently belonged to Noorani. The wood cracked under his grip, surprising him and making him relax. When he pulled his hand away, he found no damage to his armor, but the wood beneath was splintered. Norman knew he wasn’t strong enough to crush wood with his bare hands. Was this a new aspect of his armor or was it something it always had, but he had never realized? He put those thoughts aside for later as he focused back on Eugene.
After all the work Norman and everyone had put into defeating the Brotherhood, these three idiots could undo any goodwill he earned from the city. Norman sat up straight and prepared himself, then he nodded to Eugene. “Bring in the first accused.”
A human greykin was dragged into the room by two of the death knights and thrown onto the floor in front of Norman. Once free, the man leaped to his feet and cursed the knights out before turning toward the chair Norman occupied.
The man held his hands out for support, his shackles clinking as he moved. “Lord, there was a misunderstanding. I was only ensuring the people of this city understood never to mess with you agai-” Norman held his hand up, silencing the man.
“Eugene, what is this man’s crime?”
Eugene stepped up next to the man, making the chained man flinch away. “He is being accused of murder and pillaging.”
“I woul-” Eugene glared at the man, silencing him again.
There hadn’t been time to create a comprehensive set of laws for Ashvale due to the attacks. So this guy could forget any due process or a fair trial. Did that make Norman a bit of a dick? Yes, but Norman trusted Eugene’s judgment in this matter. Once they got back home, Norman was going to make setting up laws and a justice system a priority. He didn’t want people accusing him of making up laws only to suit himself.
Norman suppressed a sigh. He didn’t want to deal with shit like this after their victory, but it was necessary if he wanted to maintain order. “Are there any witnesses to these murders?”
“No… Sir.”
It was weird hearing Eugene address him as anything other than boss and Norman wanted to chuckle at Eugene’s discomfort, but now was not the time for jokes.
The accused man barely suppressed a smirk at hearing that there were no witnesses, making Norman immediately dislike the guy.
“And the bodies?”
Eugene tossed three spell anchors on the floor between them, and three mutilated bodies appeared.
The accused man’s smirk immediately vanished when he realized what was about to happen.
As Norman stood, the man tried to bolt for the door but Eugene had been ready for that and wrapped a meaty hand around the man’s neck, jerking him back into place to watch. Norman could only shake his head at the man’s incompetence. Even if Eugene had been sleeping, the man wouldn’t have gotten far in his chains. Norman ignored the man’s pleas as he approached the bodies.
While Norman was the law, that didn’t mean he was going to unjustly try someone. Unlike most murders, Norman could simply ask the victim what happened. The best part, the dead had no reason to lie in this case.
Norman retrieved a drop of blood from each corpse and drew out the Soul Communion spells. Norman questioned the three victims and all gave the same story. They were hiding in their home with the door barricaded when a man burst in and cut them down. Each of the ghosts pointed directly at the man Eugene was holding, making him go even paler with each accusation. Thankfully all of the dead were adults so Norman promised to restore them to life as soon as he got time. As for the accused, Norman sat back in the chair and looked at the man who now refused to meet his eyes.
“Eugene, what were my rules?”
“Only attack Brotherhood soldiers and any civilians that fight back. The others had to do with the Priestess and Pedro.”
While the rule didn’t explicitly mention people hiding out, it was close enough for anyone with common sense to understand that assaulting them was against the spirit of the rule. “Do you consider three people huddled inside their home with their door barricaded to be combatants?”
“No,” the man growled.
Norman heard the accused man’s neck creak under Eugene’s grip. Norman nodded, tapping his hand on the good arm of the chair.
“As this man was a member of a military action under your direct jurisdiction, I release him to you for whatever punishment you feel fits the crime.”
“Thank you, Lord, for your mer-” Eugene’s grip tightened until the man’s head separated from his neck. Black blood pooled from the body and splashed against the white marble floor.
The man obviously didn’t know Eugene like Norman did. If people thought Norman was harsh, well, they were mistaken.
“The only punishment for disobeying a direct order during combat is death.”
Norman nodded. “Burn the body, we will not be resurrecting him.”
Two death knights dragged the corpse away as two more brought in another criminal. Instead of a human, it was a jorik this time. Norman recognized the man’s face but couldn’t remember his name. Unlike the first man, this jorik seemed unapologetic to have been caught.
His crimes were much the same. He went out of his way to terrorize and chase fleeing civilians.
“Do you have anything to say about your actions?” Norman asked.
The man shrugged. “I simply did what any of my people would have done in the situation. I have no reason to apologize, so just get it over with.”
With a nod from Norman, Eugene sliced the man’s head off and two death knights dragged the remains away before another set brought in the last remaining man.
The third criminal was not accused of murder, but he had been accused of looting and pillaging. Norman could see the man was terrified and shaking, having probably witnessed the other two bodies being dragged away. It annoyed Norman that two out of the three criminals were former humans. It only made humans look bad and helped reinforce the stereotypes that the gron had for hums in general. He would have liked to simply take the easy route and execute this man as well but he couldn’t.
He hadn’t specifically said there could be no looting and pillaging and Norman had heard about others doing similar actions but none of those people were here. That meant that this man must have done something flagrant enough to get Eugene’s attention. It would be so simple to just have one punishment but if Norman executed everyone that even slightly broke a law, he would run into people willing to die before being arrested. That would lead to complete chaos. It would also make Norman look like a tyrant. And Norman didn’t want that.
Norman tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair as he listened to the charges levied against the man. It became clear why Eugene had brought him in over the other looters. While he hadn’t killed anyone, he had assaulted three families while he broke into their homes and looted them.
Unfortunately, Norman couldn’t hear any of the accounts from the families' sides as they had fled the city when the fighting came to an end. In fact, a lot of people had fled the city, leaving it almost a ghost town. The few that remained were ensconced in their homes and refused to come out. Norman couldn’t blame them. He would have fled or hidden too if he were in their shoes and an unknown enemy attacked his city.
Silence fell over the hall as Norman continued tapping away at the arm of the chair while he pondered on this man’s punishment. Eventually, he came up with a punishment that would fit the man’s crime and actually punished him.
“Eugene, please bring one of those zitha, you know the snake horses, here. I need it alive,” Norman added before Eugene left the room.
As soon as Eugene left, Norman stood from the chair and located a clear section of floor. There he drew a familiar magical diagram. Once it was complete he motioned for the death knights to put the man inside one of the circles.
The man struggled, but he didn’t have a calling and was unable to resist. As soon as the man was dumped into the circle, Norman powered that portion, trapping him inside.
A few minutes later, Eugene returned with the zitha. Norman motioned for him to move the creature to the other circle, then he turned back to the accused man.
“For your crimes against Ashvale and the Kingdom of Normenia, your sentence is life. You will be banished from our lands for no less than fifty years. If you survive that long, you may return and once again live among the greykin. Stepping foot in our zone will be considered a direct attack against me.” Norman added that last part after learning more about how blood oaths could be used from Grobert.
The oath was much more versatile than Norman had originally thought. Norman had modified his original blood oath but never had a reason to use it until now. He removed the component that reflected damage and replaced it with something Grobert called ‘command inheritance’. It let Norman pick and choose an oath to force upon a person but it was limited.
For example, if you stipulated something as a direct attack, you could completely prevent the person from attempting that action or they would die. If Norman wanted to, he could stipulate the man’s breathing as a direct attack against him, but it likely wouldn’t work as it had to be a conscious decision against the oath holder, which in this case was Norman. Not that Norman would be so cruel as to create an oath like that. The oath could also only cover one action. If Norman wanted to layer multiple oaths on a person, he would have to repeat the spell for each condition. At least according to Grobert.
Norman ignored the man’s pleading sobs as he activated the rest of the spell. He watched with dispassion as the man was stripped of his gift of undeath and returned to the land of the living. When the spell was completed, Norman saw a slightly out-of-shape man of middle age, who was already showing signs of grey hair, inside the spell circle. Norman doubted he would ever see this man again due to his age but the punishment was fair and just. It was more than the man deserved.
The death knights dragged the semi-lucid man away and Norman tiredly plopped into the chair.
Only Eugene and Grobert remained in the room after the trials, allowing Norman to relax his composure. “Here I thought that taking the city was going to be the hard part.”
“That is because there is usually no time during a battle to hesitate and think of a better solution. It is often everything before and after a battle that requires a calm and reasoned mind to determine the best outcome,” Grobert responded.
Norman sighed. “How long do you think we will be stuck here, cleaning up the mess left behind by the Brotherhood?”
Grobert shrugged. “That is entirely up to how you want to handle it. We could leave right now if you wished… but that would leave the city with no leadership and who knows if the eventual successor to the Brotherhood would see us in a warm light.”
He had figured as much, but hearing Grobert confirm those thoughts didn’t make Norman feel any better. “Suggestions?”
“Gather up the people remaining in the city and let them know why you attacked. Let them know they are safe. And give them agency to decide on how they want to act going forward,” Eugene stated.
“Won’t we just run into the same possible issue of an unfriendly force taking over?”
“I doubt you are going to find anyone, not a little upset after what we did. But at least this way, the possible enemies can see us, and we aren’t some vague threat that someone can try rallying people behind. Once people see we are willing to help them, there will be less quiet whispering and more jockeying for position. Perhaps you can also sweeten the deal by offering them something after death?”
The thought did appeal to Norman, but it was bordering on the whole worship thing. He hadn’t bothered offering it as a trade commodity to Grothlosburg because they simply didn’t care about dying. But the people of the wasteland were more in line with how humans thought. It also fixed an issue Norman was going to run into for Normenia. How to grow his population now that Grothlosburg was beyond his reach?
With no other good ideas, Norman tasked Eugene to gather up the surviving citizens and bring them to the front of the temple where there was a large open square.
***
Norman looked over the terrified crowd of people in the square. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have had his death knights be the ones to gather people up. The poor people probably thought he was going to execute them or something.
He sighed. It was too late to fix the mistake now. Norman nodded to Grobert who yelled loud enough to get everyone's attention. The worried muttering quieted as everyone glanced toward Norman standing on the steps of the temple. He clearly stood out in his white armor.
Norman spoke as loudly as he could without yelling. “I’m sure you are all wondering why I have asked you to gather. I will make this quick so you can all go about your lives with as little disruption as possible.” Hopefully, everyone heard him, if not, he was sure word would get around to those who didn’t.
“Our purpose here was to eliminate the Brotherhood for their transgressions against us. We have no issue with the citizens of this fair city, nor do we wish to occupy your city or manage it. That will be up to you to decide. We will only remain to keep the peace until this transition has been completed.” Norman’s words seemed to relax a few people, but most still looked on with worry and concern so he continued.
“We will work with this new government to come up with acceptable terms for future cohabitation and possibly even trade. There is no reason for neighbors to be enemies when it benefits everyone far more for us to be allies.” As Norman surveyed the crowd, he could see a few people that looked more interested in Norman’s words than the rest.
He suspected these people were the most likely to become the leader or leaders depending on what sort of government these people chose. So long as they realized the power dynamic at play Norman didn’t care who was chosen to lead this city.
“Feel free to discuss this amongst yourselves to decide what type of government you want. When you have an idea of how you want to proceed, please speak to my advisor,” Norman gestured to Grobert who thankfully had removed his Bone Armor to look less intimidating. After the speech, Norman walked back into the temple to wait. He hoped this transition was over quickly, he wanted to get back home where he could work on his magic.
