Xanth's Trial Defense

Alright, since people don't get it...RULE NUMBER ONE: TELL AS LITTLE OF THE TRUTH AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT TELLING ANY LIES. THIS IS THE FIRST RULE OF TALKING TO COPS, JUDGES, LAWYERS, AND ANYONE IN POWER ASKING YOU QUESTIONS.

Part of that means no admitting to other fucking crimes to get out of this one, holy shit guys.



The basic outline of events, all true:

Yes, Loric was an acquaintance of ours. We met him during the hunt exam under less-than-ideal circumstances, and we ended up spending some time together since he agreed to teach us Sith so we could speak with Taral. The morning that they disappeared, we went out early to our spot outside the academy. There was an interruption getting there, but once we arrived we just trained with our friends. We split up with Loric after training was done, and have no idea happened to him afterwards while we just came back to the Academy.

Those invite a couple specific questions. If relevant, mention:

-How did we meet, which lets us launch into that story and generally deflect attention. Depending on how things go, we should slip in the conspiracy. Ideally, we also reveal that Tharon was conspiring with Rodrick in the desert.
-What the interruption was, which lets us very truthfully say that Tharon was shadowing us. Combined with the conspiracy, it nicely deflects attention.
--The bullying can be mentioned at this point too if appropriate/they follow up on that. Don't be hasty in volunteering it though - we don't want to make Loric look excessively weak, just communicate that there was bad blood present. The shadowing should get that across just fine.
-Who we were training with. It should be obvious, but time spent asking us that is time they don't spend asking other things.
If they demand to see our training spot, we take them to our new one. If they somehow know this wasn't our original spot, then the shit has truly hit the fucking fan...but maintain the masquerade if possible. Say we were worried about the safety of our original spot after we caught Tharon following us (true), so we changed spots to somewhere we wouldn't be interrupted (also true). The lie would only be in the implication that we changed that morning and not afterwards.

Things to avoid mentioning at all cost:

-Any sort of friction between us and Loric. If asked, say we got along fine - that is accurate in the past tense, we *did* get along fine until he turned out to be a plant.
-The fight, please god don't mention the fight. We don't know what happened to Loric after we split up - also very true. Is he rotting? Are tunneling scavengers eating him? Who knows! He was perfectly fine when we split up (since the "split up" happened the moment we saw his true colors and he was definitely alive then).



In general, we want to maintain the narrative that Loric was our ally. He was useful to us, which everyone knew. Did Tharon see our group as a threat to his furtherance in the academy and decide to pick off the newest member? We don't know. We don't know anything about Tharon at all, nor what he or Roderick were up to.



The Judges

Darth Languish: Loric's Mother, and a member of the Dark Council. Responsible for the Sphere of Biotic Science. Her impression of us is unclear and her relationship between her and Loric is unknown, though we know she had "high expectations" for him. Depending on how cutthroat she is, this can work for or against us. She officially has no influence on the results of the trial, but being a member of the Dark Council means her mood will probably decide the outcome.

Master Jorrak: The Sith Master whom We, Rodrik, and Nivah are directly under. Favors Xanth, but is probably gonna be unable to give him special treatment - at the very least he will counter act Master Vessa though, as he has displayed some disgust directed towards her.

Master Vessa: The Sith Master who tutors Loric and Tharon. She has hated us since we threw her rules-lawyering back in her face after the hunt. This trial was instigated at her behest, and she is gonna try to get us offed.

Master Korr: Very little is known about Master Korr, outside of his being a traditional, Pureblood Sith. Although he is intimidating to approach, he was mildly impressed by our appeal to give Taral shelter because we were communicating in Sith. His status as a conservative may act in our favor, as the sort of bloody warfare that gets students offed without directly implicating the murdered is in fact a traditional Sith value...but at the same time, he is harsh and can't have maintained his current position without playing politics. Much depends on how much influence Darth Languish can actually bring to bear. As the headmaster, the final decision might actually be his alone.