3. The Murder of Opal Darringwey

The Murder of Opal Darringwey


  • Roughly 10 years befor Raazi's arrival in Narfell..

    A guard leads two down a spiraling staircase deep into the lower cells of a dungeon and hands them a scroll. "So you're the ones that are going to Geas that woman? I heard she wasn't guilty. The counselors have stopped coming so frequently. She's healed fine from her surgery. She wont fight back, she never does. If she's talking, she's just sleeping. Don't worry, it's all nonsense. Anyway, her cell is down there. I'll lock you in when you're ready." the guard points. The priest replies while acolyte accepts the scroll, "We're still going to read this to make sure it's within our powers and morals to do so. Leave us down here at this table and we'll get to work, might be a few hours."

    The scroll is a legal document they pour over carefully trying to understand what fully happened.

    Case Name: The Murder of Opal Darringwey

    File Identifier: ODR3

    Subject 1: "Sweet" Rosie -Last Name Unknown-
    Appearance: Brown Eyes, Long Length Brown Hair, 5' 9'', Fair in Appearance
    Age: 22

    Subject 1: Dessa -Last Name Unknown-
    Appearance: Green Eyes, Short Length Black Hair, 5'6'', Fair in Appearance
    Age: 21

    Subject 3: Opal Darringwey
    Appearance: Brown Eyes, Medium Length Sandy Blonde Hair, 5'5'', Fair in Appearance
    Age: 25

    Arrest Report: Dessa and Rosie were apprehended in an abandoned house, allegedly Rosie's familie's old home. It reeked like a slaughter house. Receptacles of blood in various states were lined up like a winding noodle all across the premises. In their alibi they claimed it was their own blood. Under scrutiny this was found to be true. The blood of their victim however was all over the living room and continued out the house and led down an alleyway where we found Opal barely alive. The victim said she was "stabbed by snake worshipers" and died shortly after in our care. When we busted in the door, Rosie was nursing a gut wound on the left side of her abdomen and did not resist. Dessa however, resisted till she ran out of energy and was brought into custody. Both Dessa and Rosie had about a dozen still healing marks of self mutilation. They both claimed they only experimented to try to enhance their lively hood and well being.

    Crime Scene: The murder weapon [a basic dagger] was found not far from the pool of the victims blood, which covered some sort of attempt of a magic circle. It was determined to be useless, but inspired by summoning circles. Deeper in the living room from the doorway, was a picture of a Marilith drawn onto the wall with red and black ink. There were piles of stolen clothing on a bed, stolen food in a chest, and a book comprised of torn out pages from other books, doodles, drawings and notes all in the room they slept in. A series of wicker baskets contained vipers, adders, kraits, and constrictors

    Confiscated Evidence: A dagger. The blood soaked dress with a hole in the dress of Rosie. The blood soaked dress of Dessa. A makeshift book comprised of torn out pages from other books, drawings and hand written notes. A silver and gold chalice of Rosie's dried blood. A gold and silver chalice of Dessa's dried blood.

    Investigation: Our investigators were able to pin multiple thefts on the Dessa and Rosie. Through undercover work in the district they normally relaxed in, the two were apparently extremely drunk and high all the time. They wore tattered, expensive looking black dresses unfit for the streets they commonly walked on. It wasn't unheard of for them to panhandle and bargain with passers by and in recent years, engage in prostitution. A deck of divination cards were shared between them. None of their peers knew where they got the clothing from, but they were certain that Dessa and Rosie regularly stole food from somewhere up in the more prestigious layers of the city on the crater wall. It was discovered that these thefts were committed in their prior workplaces as maids and servants. They proclaimed themselves as ''The Party'' and occasionally were charitable to those in need, but were otherwise unapproachable. Multiple sources described the two as inseparable and affectionate lovers.

    Alibi 1: Dessa claims they lured Opal into their house after convincing them to buy them many rounds of drinks till she was intoxicated to the point of needing to be brought back to their place because they didn't know where Opal lived. Dessa claims that they continued getting inebriated off the drug tekkil and got to talking about taking things to the next step and that it was Rosie's idea to attempt to sacrifice an innocent person to gain favor with a malevolent entity. Rosie stabbed the drunk Opal twice, failing to get through the ribcage and succeeding after a second time. Rosie left the dagger stuck in the wound, and staggered back in shock. Opal managed to pull the dagger out and stabbed Rosie who was standing in the way of the exit and ran outside. Dessa claims she was begging Rosie not to, trying to reason it would be worse if they did.

    Alibi 2: Rosie claims they lured Opal into their house after convincing her to buy them many rounds of drinks till she was intoxicated to the point of needing to be brought back to their place because they didn't know where Opal lived. Rosie claims that they continued getting inebriated off the drug tekkil and got to talking about ''taking things to the next step'' and that it was Dessa's idea to attempt to sacrifice an innocent person to gain favor with a malevolent entity. Rosie claims she didn't want to, and then Dessa stabbed the drunk Opal twice, failing to get through the ribcage the first time and succeeding the second attempt. Dessa stabbed Rosie for her protest, not trusting her to not go to the guards and doubling down on her act of evil. Dessa then went into shock and wept for what she'd done as Rosie pulled her guts back in and Opal escaped out the door.

    Witness 1: Dessa and Rosie were seen outside a tavern talking to Opal.
    Witness 2: Dessa and Rosie were drunk and laughing with Opal all the way down to the docks and talked for an hour.
    Witness 3: Dessa and Rosie walked Opal to their own house located in the lower slums.
    Witness 4: Opal ran out the door screaming and bled down the street to an alleyway. There was crying from the house till the front door slammed shut and muffled it.

    Verdict 1: Dessa is found guilty of squatting, petty thievery, snake gathering, cultism, unpaid land/business tax, false prophecy, blasphemy, heresy, conspiracy of murder, demon worship, attempts to misuse magic with an egregious and dangerous motive, false prophecy, public indecency, misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit crimes, false prophecy, cultism and thievery', furniture-cide, premeditated murder, breaking contracts of servitude, demon worship and murder by a jury of citizens of Tashluta and was sentenced to death by trebuchet launching.

    Verdict 2: Rosie is found guilty of squatting, petty thievery snake gathering, cultism, unpaid land/business tax, false prophecy, blasphemy, heresy, conspiracy of murder, demon worship, attempts to misuse magic with an egregious and dangerous motive, false prophecy, public indecency, misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit crimes, false prophecy, cultism and thievery', furniture-cide, premeditated murder, breaking contracts of servitude, and demon worship by a jury of citizens of Tashluta and sentenced to be rehabilitated till socially correct, and not a danger to herself and others. It was recommended she be Geased and sterilized to further guarantee to not be a menace to society.

    The priest closes the scroll while attempting to keep a composed face, but is visibly somber and crosses their arms while they to the acolyte outside Raazi's cell under magical light. "This report stinks. Could they make them more vague? sigh You'll get used to that.. I don't think anyone should be sentenced to death even if they are guilty. Why wasn't Opal not resurrected? Did they try and her soul refused? Regardless, this woman... Rosie, got mixed up in a bad way. We can help her out of it, or at the very least sway her through our divine patron so that she might not indeed harm herself or others again. This is the kind of thing that changes a person forever, but is necessary sometimes on misguided, lost souls as a last resort. Sometimes though, people resist to their bitter end and lose their lives in the process. It's entirely possible for you to regret this and I need you to learn from this and be strong. It is our duty after all to ferry people into better paths when they are in moments of weakness. After we pray, we'll proceed with no delay. Are you ready?"


  • An article from around 10 years before Raazi arrived in Narfell..

    EXECUTION DAY HIGHLIGHTS AND FINAL WORDS

    A wonderful day for justice has unfolded at sunset down at the docks over looking the beautiful bay of our crater city, Tashluta! A large crowd has gathered for these events, and the line for the victims' families are long as per usual. The convicts shall be anchored to the ground by their ankles and arms, and then have to face the participating victim's loved ones. After that, their final words are recorded and off they go! For those that have never been, vendors line the dockways offering discounted goods for the comfort of the spectators. Artisans, poets and civilians all join together post event for a large celebration that all should attend at least once in their lifetime even if they aren't local! Flowers are spilled across the street, bards play music, elderly bring their chairs and gossip, adults place bets, and children get hooked on specialty snacks all together in one day! However, the convicts will have their heads attached to one of the cities defenses: a trebuchet with a modified launcher designed to decapitate and launch heads into the sea! Dinghies wait in anticipation to catch the heads in the harbor. Special buoys are set up to guide ships around the typical splashdown zones, we don't want another incident like last month!
    __
    It seems the other articles about convicts were purposely torn out..
    .........
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    The final convict, a murderer known as Dessa, stands before the two members of Opel Darringwey's family brave enough to face the heartless killer. Her husband, Dezlie Darringwey, approaches the leg bound Dessa with his 1 year old son Beryl. His only words were with his fist, straight into the convicts gut which made her vomit up her final meal- squid! It took some time for Dessa to recover, but she did retort with quite the conviction directed at her jailed partner in crime. "Rosie! You farking shitelord! I swear by all the hell's devils and demons, Godesses and Gods, and by all these witnesses here today! I WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU! YOU LIEING BIT-" and as is tradition when the convicts monologue with tasteless slurs, we cut them short and commence the execution! We were treated to an extravagant display as Dessa's body ripped away from her feet and wrists instead of her head like expected, leaving behind just two feet and clenched fists on the ground where she once stood! Her body did a full swing with the trebuchet, and as it snapped back from the artillery finishing its long pendulous launch, her head finally plopped off and unceremoniously fell into the water only yards into the sea! But that wasn't the end yet! The head was returned ashore and launched into the sea properly and everyone cheered!

    As the sun went down on the harbor, festivities picked up and the party lasted till sunrise the next day. I'll see you all at the next spectacle!

    -Adla Mispdell