Saving the world on a Sunday afternoon
Statement for the Defence
I am writing to you about the alleged Grievous Bodily Harming that Guardian Raphael claims he suffered in the Labyrinth. It is true that I ripped his arm off, however, I hope to prove that this bodily harm was not grievous, but was in fact entirely necessary for the good of the Barony patrol and the success of our mission, and consequently for the stable running of the material plane, which the rest of those on the patrol we were trying to fix at the time.
So here’s what I thought happened.
We went to the Labyrinth it’s an amazing place made largely of Labyrinth. Like most of the people and creatures and things inside are actually manifestations of her (Labyrinth is female). For this reason, taking objects from the labyrinth is clearly impossible, unless she wants you to. People and objects from outside can be moved around, but the labyrinth is capable of taking any of them at any time, and invariably did so when a challenge was completed or when she felt like it. This was generally known at the time of that the Alleged Grievous Bodily Harming took place. Once an individual had completed a challenge, return was impossible, even if colleagues had been left behind an were in danger.
The Labyrinth manifested herself as a serious of rooms and challenges to us. The one where the alleged Grievous Bodily Harming took place was called “Greed” and had been stated to be especially hazardous, and that we should not look at the valuables which would be on display. I reiterate my earlier point about moving things around the Labyrinth being impossible. Combined with the alleged hazard of “Greed”, it is clear that only exceptional stupidity could cause a person to decide to try and steal something from the wealth heap up in this place.
Given that the challenge’s name, I was especially alert to the possibility of mind-control and possession as a way that Labyrinth may have used to overcome the challenge’s shortcomings. Which I already mentioned.
We entered the room and there were a few kings’ ransoms in jewels and magic weapons and armour and things lying about the place, as well as some expensive-looking golems. Despite their value on the open market, these things were, as I have stated, worthless due to their location and the impossibility of removal, and the fact that they were all manifestations of a sentient demi-plane with a warped sense of humour.
We walked through. Once a few of the party had completed the challenge, thinning out the party’s strength, and the rest of us had reached a place where we were surrounded by artefacts, Guardian Raphael made the magic objects present silently attack us. Fortunately, I stumbled on a pile of bullion at about the same time, and the noise made people look around, which made me look round, which meant that I saw him carrying one of the spears from the horde.
Then I was being attacked by flying swords and things, so I ran away. Having defeated the magic weapons which Guardian Raphael had motivated to chase me, I returned, to see Guardian Raphael watching the magic objects he had activated fight the rest of the party.
I had run away a fair distance and had some time to think while I approached the combat. It occurred to me that Guardian Raphael is a member of the temple of balance, and thus can not take with offering the price; theft is a blasphemy to him, as well as being very, very stupid and pointless in this particular circumstance, as I pointed out earlier. He was clearly possessed or mind controlled.
I’ve dealt with possessed party members before, and the trick is to incapacitate quickly and without killing. The worst are priests with access to healing, such as Guardian Raphael, because if you do too little damage, they fix themselves and you haven’t achieved anything. Ideally, I would have broken his arm, but I made an error of judgement concerning his resilience and it came right off instead. I incapacitated his off hand, leaving him still capable of minor miracles to ensure that he could still be useful after his possession or mind control was dealt with. Then I dealt with the last of the flying magical weapons that Guardian Raphael had caused to attack us.
After this, Guardian Raphael screamed at me for a bit, first astonishing me with claims that he was not possessed! This was the first evidence that I had that the attack on the barony patrol had been a result of a wilful act. This information horrified me, as it had been clear in my head from the beginning of the challenge that taking one of the artefacts would trigger the trap; I did some screaming in his face for a bit at this point.
After the alleged Grievous Bodily Harm took place, Marshal Liana asked me if I could replace the limb and I said that I could, but would only do so if someone could put forward a reason that it was in the best interests of the barony patrol to re-arm Guardian Raphael, given that last time he had a hand he had caused so much injury to the patrol. None of Liana, Blain (I believe he was present for these discussions) nor Guardian Raphael could do so; Liana put forward the idea that it my be useful to have him capable of casting his more powerful spells, but Guardian Raphael stated that he was still capable of minor miracles. Although not stated, the strong implication of this statement was that he is not to be trusted with major miracles.
In summary Guardian Raphael caused an assault on a Barony Patrol with a verity of sharp and blunt implements, some of which flew and some of which were golems, whilst in full possession of his faculties. In addition he either broke the laws of his guild or offered the blood of the barony patrol as the price for a spear that he found in the Labyrinth’s treasury. I incapacitated him by removing his arm, and after the violence he had unleashed had ceased, offered to make good on the damage he had suffered if anyone put forward an argument that it was to the patrol’s benefit, and Guardian Raphael himself worked to convince people that this was not the case.