While Seloniel returns to the fair for a pair of stone-headed maces, Janick remains at the inn to recover from her hangover, on the opposite side of the room relative to the securely fastened bandit. Who, in Janick's absence, was spoon-fed soup.
As soon as Seloniel returns to the inn to collect the two, it appears that they need to get to the nearest outhouse to get their needs done, prior to getting back home. Where, hopefully, the archer bandit will stand trial for his crimes against travelers, committed across demesne borders.
Speaking of bandit, for the voyage home, he is detached from the bed, but once he is no longer bound to the bed, his shackles are back together. On the carpet, both Janick and the bandit lie flat on it when they return home.
I hope there will be enough money to buy ourselves the good things if the electricity-stealing dragon dies: clothes, beds, armor, weapons, barrels and so on, Janick ruminates about what she plans to do with the money she earned at the fair after the expenses of this quest are accounted for. And maybe even marriage!
Upon arriving at their lord's castle, the pair arrives with the shackled bandit in tow, and the bandit's seized equipment on the carpet, to be stored safely in the vault.
"We arrested this bandit in an aerial battle. Throw him in a cell while he awaits trial!" Janick orders the castle guards to deal with the shackled archer bandit.
Once the bandit is held under the custody, Janick, for some reason, feels healthy enough to cast a rubbing alcohol spell on Seloniel's hands, feeling like that spell would help her comrade-in-arms hands heal. And yet, since the amount of alcohol conjured is minimal, so is its impact on Janick's BC.
Because the criminal is accused of banditry, the guards bring in the electricity wizard for questioning. The questioning takes place inside the cell the guards assign to the prisoner.
"First question: what, if anything, did you steal from travelers on the highway?" the electricity wizards faces the bandit, ready to cast electricity spells on the shackles.
"Nothing! The people who stole from the travelers died in battle!" the bandit refers to the wind wizard and the other wizard who flew the carpet in the battle that led to his capture.
Unsatisfied by the bandit's answers, the electricity wizard casts his first electricity spell on the shackles binding the bandit's legs. Unfazed, he renews his questioning.
"It appears that you and your band stole from hapless travelers on the highway, and you're telling me the brigands who stole from travelers died trying to steal from other people?" an angry electricity wizard keeps questioning. "I don't buy it! The seized booty includes a recurve greatbow, as well as a flying carpet!" The electricity wizard shows him the greatbow first, but the carpet has yet to arrive to the cell.
"As I said, the greatbow was stolen by people who died in battle! These people carried the rest of the booty on their persons!" the bandit retorts, thinking only of the people who died on the carpet.
The greatbow was massive; it was a little clumsy for me to wield in battle. A bit too big for me, but I could still fire it nonetheless, the archer bandit realizes that maybe he should get a bow more suited for his size if he's found innocent. Or if he is made to fight the electricity-stealing dragon by the judge. I hold this greatbow responsible for my capture!
Apparently unsatisfied with the answers provided, the electricity wizard casts another electricity spell at a higher power level than the previous one, but the archer bandit still lives. And it remains within what's legally considered an ordinary question, which must not exceed a certain level of pain or injury.
Yet, he makes no attempt to pry the locations of the two wizard bandits' bodies out of the archer bandit. Only more information about his involvement in banditry and his victims as a bandit. But before he could zap him any further, and hence go from ordinary to extraordinary question, which is about inflicting higher levels of pain and injuries. So high there is a risk for the executioner to accidentally kill a suspect, or to handicap one.
The carpet is brought into the cell by the guards for both men to see, initially rolled, but the electricity wizard unfurls it.
"This carpet was found on the site of your arrest, and it appears this carpet was used to commit the crimes you're suspected of. What did you do on the carpet?" the electricity wizard screams at the bandit.
"Because of the turbulent conditions of carpet flying, firing arrows from a flying carpet is impractical at best, and worse than doing so from horseback!" the archer bandit gives a somewhat more satisfactory answer. "All I did, as an archer on the flying carpet, was shoot at birds and other hunting prey!"
And yet the bandit keeps denying any other involvement in banditry than hunting food with a greatbow he found inadequate for him. The electricity wizard decides not to proceed any further, believing that the use of electricity magic at extraordinary question levels would be more likely to kill the bandit before he could stand trial than to get useful information.
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When the trial begins, at the town hall, the following day, the crowd bets on whether the bandit will be zapped to death publicly, sent off to fight the electricity-stealing dragon, hanged or simply decapitated. Because banditry as charged could carry the death penalty.
"We caught him attacking travelers, or more specifically, us, on our way to a fair, and his band of bandits made us fight. I'd say the most effective punishment is to have him fight the electricity-stealing dragon, since it would be more likely to accomplish something positive for the region than other execution methods available to us, but if he survives the fight against it, what will happen then?" Janick asks the judge.
"As with previous criminals who were sentenced to fight the electricity-stealing dragon, he will be pardoned if he survives. However..."
"All I did was to be a servant, almost a slave, to the people committing the real crimes! The people who committed the real crimes I stand accused of today died fighting the accusers!" the bandit pleads, implicitly admitting guilt to a lesser charge, but still criminally guilty of something.
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"You shot arrows at us; even if in all other instances of bandit attacks, you did nothing more than do the menial work assigned to you by the wind wizard, you showed open hostility!" Seloniel offers her testimony.
The archer bandit goes on to detail his life as a servant to the wind wizard the pair fought, such as maintaining the carpet, carrying and accounting for the loot, and hunt for food in the wilderness. And also details the deaths of the other two bandits, who both fell off the carpet to their deaths under the effects of an alcohol spell.
"It appears the defendant is guilty of the lesser charge of assistance to banditry, so he will be sent off to fight the electricity-stealing dragon, under the command of the lord or any other officer designated by our lord" the judge renders his verdict. "Also, what is your name?"
"Ucry" the bandit archer reluctantly answers the judge.
"Well, Ucry, it appears that you shot arrows at the accusers in an attempt to resist arrest, so you're hereby ordered to serve our lord as an archer!" the judge finalizes the judgment.
I hope that I will be able to get a more appropriate bow because the greatbow I used as a bandit is too large for me to wield properly, Ucry starts thinking about what he wants out of service to the Lord.
But since the lord entrusted command of the entire operation of fighting the electricity-stealing dragon to Janick, this means Ucry will be under Janick's command until either he dies or the dragon dies.
Later that day, another criminal is sentenced to the same punishment, but for a vastly different crime: extortion.
"Sulivac is hereby declared guilty of extortion and is condemned to fight the electricity-stealing dragon to the death!" the judge renders the second verdict of the day. "Under the command of the lord or any other officer designated by our lord"
I guess I now have an idea of who else I will have on hand to fight the electricity-stealing dragon. While Ucry is an archer, I might want to know if Sulivac has any battle experience, Janick starts thinking about how they are going to fight the electricity-stealing dragon as well as how to equip them. And maybe even armor if they don't already have any.
"We will need a gambeson for Ucry, as well as some arrows. However, I wonder who would put the dragon to sleep" Janick points out. "You take care of equipping Ucry, I take care of equipping Sulivac"
"Two quivers of twenty-four arrows each" Seloniel thinks about which fletcher to get for that number of arrows, and their prices. "It's standard issue for this kind of mission, and some sort of sidearm, an axe perhaps"
"A double-bit one if possible" Ucry voices his wishes.
Seloniel then goes to the tailor with Ucry, while Janick goes into the back alley with Sulivac, questioning him about his combat experience.
"If you're going to be a conscript sent on a dangerous mission, as the officer responsible for this operation of killing the electricity-stealing dragon, I would like to know what experience you have of battle, and, if applicable, with which weapons" Janick asks him.
"I was throwing javelins when I last fought, then a spear and a shield when I was out of javelins" Sulivac answers her.
"You will be expected to fight at closer ranges than an archer, but we don't have time for more than a gambeson, a halberd and a few javelins. You can even wield my halberd for this operation, but keep in mind that it's a loan, you shouldn't throw it, and it's likely that the toll station will still have weapons and armor laying around from people who died in previous attempts to kill the electricity-stealing dragon" Janick explains to him while going to the marketplace to buy a gambeson.
If we had more time, I would have had heavier armors than a gambeson outfitted to him, as well as Ucry. However, Seloniel would be able to make spearheads just as she would arrowheads, Janick muses while she looks around for a tailor willing to make a gambeson in a few days' time. And a wooden shield, too. In fact, wooden shields can be made from barrel lids.
Speaking of wooden barrel lid, she buys a lid of the size that can fit her puncheon for the sale of magical wine without hesitation. She just needs to add some straps on one side before she can give it to Sulivac. But then she comes across Seloniel at the tailor shop.
"All right, we have two men of roughly equal size to commission gambesons for" Janick tells the tailor on duty, with both Ucry and Sulivac in tow. "I will be paying for both"
Janick then turns to Seloniel, whom she can tell has one big obstacle left: buying another bow that Ucry can feel comfortable firing. That, knowing that he doesn't feel comfortable firing the greatbow he was using while riding the carpet.
"We will need three javelins; I already secured a shield. I trust you can make spearheads with your fire magic; they're mostly bigger arrowheads" Janick tells the other ASW what's next for her.
"But why trouble ourselves with equipping these guys? These guys are essentially pawns in the legal system's hands!" Seloniel retorts.
"They are condemned to fight a battle for a riverside toll station. The electricity-stealing dragon is blocking a river trade route, so retaking the toll station will reopen it. We want the best chance of success, so we need everyone to be adequately equipped to tramp the woods around the station" Janick finally explains the strategic importance of killing the electricity-stealing dragon and retaking its lair.
"So why was this information kept a secret from us?" Sulivac asks the two witches. "The judge condemned us to fight it, but he never told us why!"
"Several lords made attempts to kill the dragon, our last attempt was led by sir Chumzurk, the neighboring lord even sent a ballista against it" the tailor explains to them while cutting some pieces of wool.
"All the more important for us to put the dragon to sleep before the fight begins!" Janick stresses what she feels is crucial.
"Do you have any idea how much alcohol it takes to put the electricity-stealing dragon to sleep?" Seloniel asks Janick, doubting that she can cast alcohol magic powerful enough to put the electricity-stealing dragon to sleep. "While you seem to imply that even dragons have their drinking limits, they're much bigger creatures than we are, and these limits must be scaled accordingly!"
"Just how massive is the electricity-stealing dragon anyway? Then I will have an idea of the answer" Janick responds back.
If someone the size of either criminal can drink a third of a gallon of wine before blacking out, at most, then a five-ton dragon might be able to drink twenty gallons of the same, Janick runs mental calculations of the required spell power to rely only on alcohol magic to put the dragon asleep for the other three to kill in its sleep. With her trusty puncheon of magical wine as a baseline: she knows how much mana conjuring one costs, as well as its cost in blood content increase.
"Enough to require an entire watchtower floor just to sleep, and the tower is about the size of a corner tower of our lord's castle" Seloniel answers her commander.
"Thank you. I think this quest can begin in about two or three days, give or take" Janick tells the foursome. Rendezvous here three days from now, and we'll go over the plan before we set out on our journey.
Oh boy, the electricity-stealing dragon is not going to be a very fast beast, and, since I think I might have one, maybe two chances to hit the dragon with an alcohol spell and be able to keep flying, Janick realizes that the spell power requirements would make her BC increase so much she would essentially treat an attack run as do-or-die. But then she makes a down payment to the tailor for the two gambesons.
Once the down payment for the prisoners' armor is made, Seloniel takes Ucry to a shop of used equipment, hoping to find a more fitting bow before the quest proper begins. Recurve bows are of particular interest to him since he believes these bows aren't as clumsy as would otherwise be the case.
Janick, on the other hand, looks for a battle axe Ucry could wield as a sidearm and therefore one-handed. She does so, knowing Seloniel can make the head good as new before the quest begins.