Prove Togan's Innocence in the General Store Murder

Summary

A beloved shopkeep in Mossgrove has been murdered, and Togan is the prime suspect! 

Synopsis (Part 1)

Upon Jagal and Lucya's arrival to Mossgrove, their plans to deliver a basket to Lucya's father are swiftly put on the backburner when Lucya's brothers reveal that a murder has taken place in their very own circle. A Mr. Pearce is dead, and Togan has been put in the stocks for it. Lucya secretly indicates to Jagal that the victim was definitely not the Haunt they had seen, but she doesn't know who they actually were, either...

Less secretly, Lucya staunchly claims Togan couldn't possibly hurt a soul. Brajan agrees, but he hasn't been allowed to investigate in any way that could help him prove it. He attempts to rally the travelers to lend their aid, but Lucya needs no convincing and Jagal is more concerned about completing his last vow than seeing justice done. Jagal nonetheless consents to leaving Shrek's basket at the house with the brothers as he and Lucya leave for the town square. On the way, Lucya reveals that her certainty of Togan's innocence is rooted in their history together—in fact, he was her fiancé. Jagal is unimpressed by this revelation.

They head to the village square and find Togan sitting forlornly in the stocks. Lucya runs to him while Jagal hangs back to disparage the facilities, but both listen to Togan's story. Togan doesn't know much—only that he was getting groceries at the general store when a loud noise scared him away. He didn't know at the time anyone was dead, but the victim's wife nonetheless saw him fleeing the scene. Togan doesn't know who's running the investigation, nor has he seen his parents since Veren locked him up. Despite Lucya apparently not getting along with her, he requests they make sure his mother is okay at the smithy. At the revelation that Togan's family are the blacksmiths, Jagal immediately switches from sardonic disinterest to promising he'll help with the situation. Togan is a bit confused but sees them off with a thanks.

Lucya and Jagal leave the stocks for the smithy, but they don't make it beyond the village square before Keela, the late Pearce's wife, speaks up. She seems vaguely hostile or at least unnervingly blank but answers a few of their questions, sort of: Pearce died by a shelf crushing him, said shelf was far too heavy to move accidentally (or even purposefully, for most people), and she didn't witness the moment of its falling, but Togan was the only other person at the store. She confirms Togan would have had some kind of motive, but neither elaborates on that nor clearly gives them permission to go to the store. Not wanting to upset the widow any more than necessary, Lucya bids farewell and asks Jagal where he'd like to go next—but of course, he's not about to get sidetracked from the possibility of black iron at the smithy.

The travelers head that way, arriving at the smithy and house-in-progress without further interruption. Lucya hesitates at the door before knocking in her usual fashion, which is immediately recognized by someone inside. Opening the door in a rage shortly thereafter is Togan's mother Miga, who briefly mistakes Jagal for Lucya's paramour, which is denied immediately by both parties. Miga is still far too infuriated with Lucya to let her in, despite a silent protest(?) from her husband Bevan. Upon Jagal openly admitting he's just interested in clearing Togan's name for the reward, Miga decides an outsider may be a decent choice for the matter at hand and invites him inside, leaving Lucya with little option but to check back in on Togan by herself.

In the smithy household, Miga and Jagal discuss the situation without mincing words. Jagal claims it should be easy enough to find some other poor sap to blame, and Miga confirms she can access some black iron for payment, but she explains that the situation won't be resolved so easily. She swears Jagal to secrecy before explaining that they aren't terribly popular in Mossgrove, in some large part because she won't talk about her past—which was apparently with the Black Ridge clan of raiders. The earring she wears (which Jagal seems oddly distracted by) contains the arrowhead that ended her run with them and made settling down somewhere a necessity. She'd very much like for that to be in Mossgrove, but ever since Lucya apparently broke off the engagement, Miga has been receiving threats. An unknown party somehow found out about her past and is blackmailing her into providing some as-yet unspecified goods, which Miga saw Pearce selling... But the threats continued after his death. Fearful for her family's wellbeing, she reaffirms her offer of black iron in exchange for Jagal formally vowing to help Togan without getting the lot of them run out of town. Her husband Bevan—and, eventually, Miga herself—say their thanks and send Jagal off.

Back at the stocks, Lucya makes her own iron vow to prove Togan's innocence in front of Togan himself. He's rather concerned, saying that something seems wrong about more than just the murder, but Lucya promises to be careful. From there, she moves on to the general store, where Veren answers the door. He tells her they're trying to preserve the scene on Adda's orders, and that he doubts he ought to let Lucya in. Lucya apologizes for the intrusion and decides to talk to Adda herself, quickly locating her on the usual bench near the tavern. Lucya asks what happened in hopes that she herself can help. Adda laments that just about everything she's found points back to Togan. She wouldn't mind help, but she can't see her employer (Duncan) leaping at the chance to have his daughter looking into it. Adda at least shows her one piece of evidence—a copy of the store's log from the day of the murder. After expressing some bemusement at the expensive purchase by someone named Baerli (an occasional visitor who Adda says moved along some time before the murder), Lucya thanks Adda for her help and sets off to talk to Freida at the tavern.

Upon entering the tavern, Lucya does indeed find Freida—who's being hit on by none other than Jagal. Lucya quickly puts a stop to that, and Freida greets her, providing her with a lethal-looking mug of clear liquid. After Jagal informs Lucya she'll be footing his own tab (and getting a hard shoulder flick in response), the three settle in to discuss investigations and rumors. Freida is sure something serious—she has no idea what—must have scared Miga away from visiting her boy at the stocks, but Jagal only confirms this in vague terms. That aside, Freida thinks the murder has something to do with underhanded sales of the drug yrr. She's smelled it in the general store, and certainly around Baerli. Lucya mentions Baerli's suspicious purchase, but when Jagal starts to theorize that could be a motive, Freida tells them Baerli was wasted at the tavern before noon and wouldn't have been in condition to execute a murder. At the time, he said something about it seeming early for repairs, apparently referring to the general store. The trio then get a bit sidetracked with Freida mentioning Jagal's on his fourth round of an extremely potent drink. Lucya aggressively confiscates it only to find he was still sober enough to sleight-of-hand her an empty mug without issue. He and Lucya set out to find Duncan for investigation permissions, and she clarifies that her father is the mayor.

They don't have much trouble finding him, since he's right outside talking to Adda. Lucya cuts in, and father and daughter embrace. She confirms she's all right and introduces him to Jagal. She mentions their vow to deliver Shrek's basket, and Duncan gets a moment of levity talking about the ups and downs of monthly snayments (snail payments) before returning to the situation at hand. He does allow them to investigate, but not without warning Lucya that proving Togan's innocence will be difficult for her in particular. Upon questioning, he says Pearce's body should still be aboveground at that family's home, and that Miga and Bevan haven't been seen since the incident. Jagal confirms he's already talked to them, much to Duncan's surprise and relief. Adda writes up a note of permission for them to give to Veren, but before they can move on, a new challenger approaches. Lucya quickly identifies Granny, who greets them warmly (semiwarmly in Jagal's case). Duncan says he'll let her know soon if she's selected for tomorrow's jury, while Lucya approaches her for a very familiar hug. Lucya tells Jagal she's helped with Granny's orchard a good many times but lets Granny know they ought to get going... to do some "errands."

Upon seeing Adda's note, Veren admits Lucya to the general store. Hidden behind her, Jagal slips into a blind spot inside the shop for quiet observation. Lucya loudly notes his absence but assumes he left altogether. Veren is confused by the whole ordeal but accompanies her as she examines the crime scene, particularly the charcoal outline and the fallen shelf. She notices an odd brown scrap on the side of the shelf, but Veren tells her Pearce's clothing was perfectly intact. Starting to take the scrap for herself, she stops and says she doesn't want to mess with any evidence before Jagal gets there... At which point Jagal reveals himself, startling her and concerning Veren somewhat. She explains that this is the person she's traveling with, and the investigation continues. Upon questioning, Veren says the shelf typically holds small farming tools while Jagal inspects the back of the shelf. He points out some furniture anchors and immediately proceeds to climb up the front of another shelf to gauge how stable these things ought to be. Lucya quickly tags along to catch whatever falls, but the shelf stays stable despite Jagal's best efforts. Lucya still catches him when he goes off the edge, but neither of them acknowledges this before moving along. Lucya voices her doubts that Togan could have pulled one of these over, even if she's sure she could.

Lucya finds the original store register, and Veren confirms that the record of Togan's purchase is in Keela's handwriting. He also tells them Baerli had been outside waiting for the store to open that morning. Lucya takes the clothing scrap, and Jagal, who definitely didn't get bored and steal something from a grieving family's store for no good reason, follows her out. Once they're outside, Lucya says the scrap is the right color for Togan's usual clothing and hints at something not being right about it—surely Keela or Adda would have mentioned it earlier. Jagal doesn't quite get what she's driving at but eventually says if the cloth was planted, he can think of several ways a criminal could make that happen. Lucya decides to keep the scrap secret until they have more information, and Jagal approves enough to vaguely imply a compliment to her intelligence, which she's quite happy about in the moment. The two decide to head for Keela's house next so they can talk to her and examine the body.

Keela lets them inside without much convincing, though she's warier about sending Jagal to her husband's body alone. She asks if Lucya will vouch for him, and Lucya affirms that he wouldn't do anything to the body... but it's not the worst idea to keep an eye on him, either. Jagal attempts to hide his amusement and leaves for the bedroom where Pearce's body lies. Back in the foyer, Lucya asks Keela for more details of what happened at the store. Keela says she noticed nothing particularly strange earlier in the day, though she usually works in the back. She was arranging a firewood display out front when she heard the thud and saw Togan exit. She went inside to check, assuming a specific display was the cause, but instead noticed the unfinished store register and Togan's payment. After dealing with that, she finally found her husband. She fetched Veren from the back of the store to try to move the shelf, but Pearce was already dead. Keela eventually exited the store, leaving Veren behind there. Lucya voices her suspicion that something seems amiss but changes the subject to Togan's alleged motive. Keela reveals that Pearce knew something dangerous about Togan's family, though she herself doesn't know exactly what. Lucya thanks her, and Keela excuses herself temporarily, commissioning Lucya to keep an eye on Jagal in the meantime.

By the time Lucya enters the bedroom, Jagal is busy dissociating, though it's unclear if the mangled corpse is really what's gotten to him. Lucya gently touches Jagal's shoulder, which startles him out of it but doesn't make him draw weapons this time. Once he settles down (and completely fails to register her suggestion that he take a break), she asks about his findings. He retrieves a small piece of paper from a box of things that came with the body and hands it over. Lucya reads the message on it, which just seems like some kind of odd poetry... but the handwriting isn't Pearce's or Keela's. Jagal moves on to his report of the body proper and says that some injuries can be matched up to the tools from the shelf. But there's also a mark on the forehead that he claims should have come from some kind of pole, and the spacing of the shelf-edge marks seems off somehow, too. Lucya supposes that some of the items from the shelf are missing, possibly at the hands of the evidence-planter. Jagal says that'd make sense, if the items in question could jeopardize the frame-job (or were simply worth too much money to leave behind). Lucya then relays what she learned from Keela. Jagal implies he already knew about the family's secret and asks if Veren might be the culprit, but Lucya doesn't get much time to express her doubts before Keela appears. The travelers hastily thank her for her time and excuse themselves.

Lucya and Jagal head back towards the town square from here, discussing the secret—which Jagal won't confirm he knows but still vaguely offers to spill for an extra charge—and Lucya decides she's better off trying to find out from the sources. They approach Togan, who's thrilled to see Lucya but a little less thrilled with the general situation. Lucya confirms Togan is still wearing the same thing he had on during the crime and retrieves the clothing scrap. He finds a piece missing from the bottom of his pants leg and maintains his innocence in a panic, starting to worry he may have somehow forgotten what really happened until Lucya dismisses the idea. She compares the scrap and the pants leg to find it's a perfect match but immediately declares it's proof he couldn't have gotten the scrap torn off during the crime. Ripping a Freida-made handkerchief in half for demonstration, she shows the edges of the scrap are far too cleanly cut. Jagal assists(?) by slashing the remaining half in half and possibly aggravating his injury in the process. Putting that aside for now, Lucya asks who's been on watch, and Togan says it's been Veren, Rhoddri, and Duncan taking shifts. As a last note, she asks Togan about the family secret, but he decides it isn't his to tell, especially if it could get Lucya in trouble. 

They part ways from there, with Lucya and Jagal stopping by Adda's bench to show her the cloth scrap. Adda, surprised, accepts it into the court record and tells them the trial will start at 10:00 tomorrow in the town square. Lucya and Jagal continue on, with Jagal claiming it's about time he got to his stakeout. But he quickly recants when Lucya offers dinner first—apparently Ada's even expecting him—and the two head for the Mossgrove Estate. Once they're there, Brajan immediately asks how things went, and Jagal and Lucya confirm that Togan seems to have been set up. With Ada left behind to monitor the soup, Brajan expresses his mixed relief that Togan is indeed innocent, to which Jagal responds that being set up doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't Togan in the first place. While Brajan claims he can stomach the murder details, Jagal seems unconvinced, and Lucya concedes that her pa had decent reason to keep Brajan from investigating. The travelers clarify why the murder weapon left quite a mark on the victim, but they agree with Brajan that pulling down a shelf is an awfully strange murder method. They discuss the planted scrap as well, and Brajan concludes that they definitely have a case to make here. They're a little shaky on motives and suspects, though, despite the conversation continuing into the night.

Before the family (and Jagal) dinner, Duncan mentions Rhoddri being on Togan watch tonight, but no other new information is exchanged. Just as the meal is wrapping up, though, a howl is heard outside. Jagal figures it's a wolf, much to his lack of concern, but Lucya immediately volunteers to investigate. Duncan warns them Edda (not Adda or his lovely Ada) had seen a very large wolf on the edge of town a month ago. Lucya is undeterred and recruits Jagal to her cause, which he grates at on principle but agrees to out of curiosity. The rest of the family safely secures itself inside as the travelers head out into the dark.

Jagal locates some oddly sized wolf prints, and Lucya finds some boot prints near them. The two follow the trails until a large wolf appears suddenly, startling Lucya and biting her arm. Jagal injures the wolf, and its form shifts momentarily, the eyes seeming human enough to make Lucya back away. She offers to leave the wolf(?) alone if it won't come after her family. Jagal needs a second to get caught up with the reality of things before throwing in a threat should the wolf(?) stay. It flees into the woods, but only a few moments later, Veren comes crashing through the trees in some kind of pursuit. The travelers stay hidden, and he mentions a "she" before taking off again. Jagal pursues, leaving Lucya to wait on him a short while before she leaves, sure he'll come back to the estate by morning. He does not, but Lucya proceeds to the Sunflower Inn to check on Togan before the trial. Freida offers coffee before Rhoddri brings Togan to them. The four have some fleeting conversation before Jagal, inexplicably already seated there with coffee, joins in. This gives Togan a good fright, much to Jagal and Freida's amusement despite the others' objections, before conversation moves on to who's on the jury. Rhoddri leads Togan away when the time comes, and when Jagal confesses he's not sure if he had breakfast, Lucya lets him know there's probably some leftovers back home. He takes off for that before she can ask him how his investigation went last night.

The trial begins in the town square, with darn near everyone in the circle attending. Duncan calls the trial to order with his "gavel" (axe), and prompts the jury of six to swear they'll fairly seek the truth to this case. The prosecution and defense assert their readiness, which serves to startle Togan a bit when he realizes Brajan is actually his attorney. Keela delivers the opening statement, claiming only Togan had the motive, means, and opportunity to kill Pearce. The defense counters that Togan may have been framed. Adda is called to give the first testimony, an overview of the events around the time of the murder. The defense questions her about the shelf and argues it couldn't have fallen as proposed, but despite their evidence Adda holds that it clearly fell onto the victim somehow, so the fact it's hard to believe doesn't actually change things. Jagal changes the subject to the certainty Togan was alone in the store, proposing Keela could have possibly missed someone and supporting his claim by somehow pilfering her trial documents from right in front of her. While the jury (especially Otylia) is impressed, the defense and judge alike don't take too kindly to his thievery and badgering of Keela, and he's dismissed-slashed-dragged back to the defense's bench.

Brajan introduces the next piece of evidence, which Lucya presents once Jagal "finds" it for her. Despite misgivings on Togan's and Miga's parts both, Lucya demonstrates that the scrap of fabric at the scene matches perfectly to Togan's pants leg. Most of the jury sees it as immediately condemning before Lucya explains it isn't natural for a snagged bit of cloth to tear so cleanly. The prosecution counters that a sharp tool from the shelf in question could've done the trick, but the defense argues that that's also hard to believe and less likely than someone planting the evidence, since it was only found after Adda's initial sweep of the scene. Keela entertains the possibility by immediately accusing Lucya of the forgery. Veren doesn't corroborate Lucya's legitimate discovery, and the jury gets to muttering about how they're not too sure about the lass. Brajan (and Duncan) attempt to get the trial back on track, only for Miga to speak up, claiming she wants to testify after all. She informs the defense that Veren's voice was the one that had threatened her into silence. Jagal argues that it may not quite be the right time to declare that, and Brajan agrees.

Brajan has Adda testify about the state of the body and directs Jagal to (maybe more politely) share his conflicting findings. He focuses on Adda's claim that the injuries match the tools found at the scene, and in a moment of surprising coherence explains that nothing at the scene could have caused the victim's forehead bruising. While he doesn't seem sure what Columb's on about calling it "central sparing," he accepts the simple tobacco farmer's wary "compliment" on knowing his stuff. Lucya launches into an accusation before Brajan entirely approves, but the two claim that Veren had the chance to both plant and hide evidence at the scene. Keela isn't pleased with this, and Brajan calls Miga to the stand, but with both women's moods to account for, Duncan calls a brief recess first. The defense team quickly assembles by Miga, who confirms the blackmailer's voice belonged to Veren. The group discusses Veren's lack of murder motive while Miga and Jagal lament how much cleaner this all would've been as a good old-fashioned duel. Lucya is sure others were being blackmailed as well, which would give them a motive, if only the team could draw them out...

Brajan pulls Miga aside so she can tell him a bit more about being blackmailed. In turn, Jagal and Lucya are approached by Columb, asking for a light. Jagal complies, and Columb briefly compliments their work before Lucya expresses concern about talking to the jurors. Columb claims it ought to be fine if they don't talk about the case, and that he just really feels out of the loop, what with all the long-time locals knowing everything about the place already. Jagal can't exactly comment, but Lucya introduces herself and some key relations, and the boys share their names and occupations (vaguely implied in Jagal's case but amply demonstrated with a fistful of tobacco leaves in Columb's) as well. Columb expresses disapproval for how they've been talking about Lucya around here and says he's from Ellay, due east of Highwatch. Jagal seems to vaguely recognize the latter circle's name before deciding it must not have been that important. Lucya comments that she'd love to see the ocean, but Columb has to excuse himself now that the recess is ending.

Brajan is a bit frazzled going into the next session but confirms with Rhoddri and Duncan that Togan's parents never visited him or even left their home since the arrest despite being a close-knit family. Miga then takes the stand and testifies that she's been blackmailed for Yrr for months, but only last night was there any clue to the party responsible—someone's voice. Freida confirms she's caught whiffs of the drug, while the other townspeople are troubled to hear it's so close to home. Lucya argues that this gives reason for Veren to have taken things from the crime scene, and Jagal adds that the yrr business could've made Pearce a lot of enemies. Keela maintains that her family has nothing to do with the drug, and Miga's testimony is insufficient to pin it on them. 

Lucya suggests that, in that case, they should get additional testimony from a customer. Brajan recovers enough from her whole interruption to request Adda read off the store register from the morning of the murder. This time, they clarify the prices—while Brajan traded in some eggs and milk, Baerli paid five old rubles, an amount that shocks Freida and Duncan and immediately has Jagal wondering how he could get his hands it. Lucya and Brajan press Veren for a proper itemization of the purchase, but Keela states that only Pearce would have known the details. Jagal asks where they keep the shop money, with the justification that it could also be something to kill Pearce over, but Keela doesn't bite. Duncan reminds them that Baerli has already left town, and he questions if the traveler's testimony is really necessary. Before Brajan can answer, Freida eagerly volunteers her own testimony on that subject. The defense formally invites her to the stand with Keela's begrudging approval.

Freida testifies that Baerli is a regular customer, as far as travelers go, and on the morning of the murder, he said he "thought it was an odd time for repairs" but "came back later and it was fine." He also smelled of yrr, but upon Keela's objection to the soundness of his testimony, Freida clarifies he hadn't partaken of any at that point. Freida prompts Keela to consider that something underhanded was going on, but Keela moves straight on to stating no repairs were done at the shop that morning. Lucya asks if that means there was a break-in, but according to Keela, there was no sign of any such thing. Jagal immediately argues otherwise, stating that there were signs the rather flimsy lock had been picked, and when Keela seems dubious, he proceeds to take the lock out of his pocket to explain. The rest of the defense has a little outcry over this, and Veren isn't happy about the shop apparently being left unlocked, but Jagal waves the concerns aside, since this is important evidence and there shouldn't be many people outside of the square left to steal anything, anyway.

Before Duncan can question the thief's behavior, Brajan hurriedly cuts back in to say the trial can't rightly be continued without Baerli's testimony. As Jagal returns the lock to Keela upon her request, Duncan agrees they must find Baerli, and Freida says the fella was headed for Lostmoor. Dread building, Lucya is sure they should have crossed paths and asks what he looked like, though Jagal doesn't see how that should matter. Freida and Duncan don't manage to provide a description, so Ada sets to work on sketching Baerli herself. More foreboding airs pass through the square, and when Ada finally reveals the result, Lucya lets out a mighty "AUHH" and clarifies that she'd seen his ghost earlier, to which the jury reacts with various shades of concern or disbelief. 

Upon the third drop of his name (since the appearance of the sketch, at least), Baerli's ghost appears suddenly before the jury. Duncan calls for quietly taking cover, but the square has already devolved into chaos. A young woman in ponytails frantically makes her way over to Granny's side. Lucya loudly swings her axe at the apparition with the same amount of success as last time until Duncan calls for her to remember what her grampa taught her. She promptly lowers to axe to punch the haunt instead, but it flickers out of her range too quickly. Near Baerli now, Otylia cries out for help, hoping for a certain someone to save her, but Jagal is busy cowering under the defense bench. She manages to punch the ghost herself and send it flying (though she continues to call for help), and it seems helpless to redirect its path again. As it arcs away, it reaches out one arm to point at someone in the crowd. Delkaph identifies the subject as himself (incorrectly), then Pendry (presumably more correctly), the ponytailed girl. Pendry, busy squeezing Granny's hand, doesn't seem to know what to make of it, and then the haunt vanishes.

With the ghost out of the way, Duncan does his best to adjourn the trial until tomorrow. Veren immediately skedaddles, and Jagal takes off in pursuit. Lucya runs to her father instead to make sure he's all right, and he clarifies that the grampa advice he'd referenced was supposed to be about the rite that would lead to the haunt's corpse. Lucya declares she can find the body herself, but Duncan requests she stay with her family awhile after such a terrifying debacle. Unable to argue (and tipped off by Columbo that Jagal had vanished off somewhere else), she begrudgingly agrees to do so.

Transcripts (Part 1)

010: Wee Boys

011: Togan and the Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Day

012: Party Split

013: Meet the Mayor

014: CSI: Ironlands

015: Just One More Thing

016: Kids and Moms

017: Tall Tales About Short Men

018: Soups Basket

019: Full Moon

020: Defendant Lobby No. 1

021: Trial, Day 1 - Part 1

022: Trial, Day 1 - Part 2