*Mutters, too quietly for anyone else to hear* You only had to run away.
*YG is a little irritated by the retaliation, mild though it was. But then, that was the risk he took by trying to second-guess Leytan. Brandishing his club, he begins a slow-motion pursuit of the pair. Eventually, the guards take action and dash off themselves. Some are following Midnight and Leytan directly, others are rushing down side streets, taking short cuts in the hope of reaching the town walls before the fugitives. The two of them will have their work cut out in their attempt to escape Warlock, but YG suspects that Leytan prefers it that way.*
YG stops his advance, and walks back toward the gallows. The area around it is deserted now. Leytan's noose lies on the ground: YG decides to leave it there for a townsperson to take. He already has the optimal souvenir of this notable day: first-hand experiences. He imagines the Crazed Heifer filling with people eager to hear his account of what happened. Not that YG is much of an orator, but it will give him a way to make sense of this day. Perhaps Owen will upgrade his job description - from security guard to 'security bard'.
Then Judge Thompson-Smyth, still hanging upside down on the gallows, comes round. He sees Young Grimwold, and shrieks.*
Judge: Aagh, an ogre! Stay back, I say!
*How rude. YG is rather frustrated by everything that's happened, but at the same time, his confidence has been buoyed. He decides to approach the situation in an uncharacteristic manner.*
Where? Oh, you mean me! He means me.
*The judge begins shaking himself, like a trout on the end of a fishing line. Blood has rushed to his face, making his complexion even ruddier than usual.*
Judge: Ah, you speak English. Now, don't hurt me. GUARDS!
I wouldn't lay a finger upon you, Judge.
Judge: Being co-operative, jolly good. It must have just eaten. *The Judge realises that none of the guards is around. He has also noticed Malstorm's corpse hanging close by, and is most perturbed.* Be a good ogre and get me down, would you?
*YG climbs the steps of the scaffold, and investigates. It speaks volumes that the Judge would take the unprecedented step of ordering the construction of a four-person gallows.*
I do eat, Judge. Like you, I enjoy it. But I prefer to read, and to learn things. For instance, did you know that 'Warlock' is from the Old English word 'waerloga', meaning a lying traitor?
Judge: Well I never. Now get me down!
Alas, I have no blade to cut the rope.
Judge: Never mind that! Just get me down!
I read something else that might be of interest. It was in a book shown to me by a monk. 'Judge not -'
*YG draws back his club. Thompson-Smyth's eyes widen in terror.*
'- lest ye be judged.'
*YG's club hits the crossbeam of the gallows. It cracks. Another hit, and it breaks in two. Judge Thompson-Smyth plummets head-first through the trapdoor below him, meeting the ground with a thud. YG takes another swing, and another and another, until the wooden struts have all collapsed, and the gallows is in pieces.
YG surveys the town square for a moment. Then, he leaves the scaffold and wanders down one of the nearby alleys that leads off the square. Finding a well, he cleans some of the tomato innards and mud off his clothes, before heading off to meet with Owen and the Bodkin Brothers.*
[OOC: That is YG 'signing off' from this thread.
He and Owen will be back in Wolfenden in due course.]