A letter to Shadgard Council

General discussion of in-game events.
Post Reply
Lamia
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue May 10, 2022 4:06 am

A letter to Shadgard Council

Post by Lamia »

Sent to mailbox number 4171 is a sealed letter, the contents of which, if received and perused, would read as follows:


Citisday, the eleventh day of Markum of the year 1223

To the Council of Shadgard, Greetings.


I write to you with regard to a matter of the Awakened Infested, on the small possibility that Captain Zakalwe was unable to report to you before his now rather worrisome and lengthy disappearance.

I am aware that he was commissioned by you to search for the Tse Gaiyan representative, Banam. I stumbled into this business entirely by accident as I was skulking through the tunnels beneath Dusklamp. While doing so I came upon the small group led by Zakalwe, who had just about finished digging their way through a pile of rubble and stone from a past cave-in of some sort. On the other side of this was a wall and closed gate, with light showing through from the other side.

After some "Who goes there! Friend or Foe!"-ing for a bit, turned out Banam was within and recognized Zakalwe, and so we were allowed in. Inside we witnessed - a very peculiar mix of Awakened Infested beings, mostly human, some, I am not so sure, busy as much as possible given the state of privation they were living in. Elira was there, having organized an "inn" in order to deal with the logistics of feeding and caring for this crowd. Banam took us to meet with a militia captain - it was Lyra, although there was nothing about her to single her out in any manner. Sensible, really, since it seems that Matlal and the force he is amassing is ALSO holed up in these caverns beneath the Keep in Dusklamp. Lyra and her people have barricaded the refugee section off from him, aided by the fact that he has apparently lost some of his interest in her, believing the refugees to be securely contained in their small area. He's the one sealed them in behind the cave-in, apparently.

Lyra and her people have been rescuing folk from Matlal as best they can, which is how Elira and Banam ended up there, as well as the scholar Cadfael. Lyra's pretty much confirmed suspicion is that Banam allowed himself to be captured by Matlal in the first place, in order to finally connect with her. It seems that there are now at least three Awakened infested with the ability to influence others of their kind - Lyra, who can clear their minds back to lucidity, Elira, who can direct and employ people usefully and effectively, and Matlal - who cannot awaken them as Lyra does, but can somehow attach the loyalty and support of some - many - of them, and manipulate them into following him and doing his bidding.

The upshot of this now is, of course, that we committed ourselves to attempting to aid and supply Lyra's refugees and fighters, who were and are impossibly short of everything - armour, weapons, clothing, blankets and bedding, medicines, bandages, food...everything. Captain Zakalwe supplied an initial drop of weapons and clothing to them, using the agreed-upon drop spot of the old watchtower a little south of Dusklamp. Since his disappearance, which again, I repeat, seems to me to be a source of concern, a young person by the name of Yves has been attempting to carry out the same sort of assistance to the refugees. House Taliaferro has undertaken to provide food and basic supplies as best we may, managing to come up with blankets, medicines, food and various things for their comfort, delivering several consignments to the drop point in the time since. These drops appeared to have been collected initially, with no evidence of trouble, but then suddenly stopped. Unless something has changed in the last day or so, the last deliveries made by both our household and Yves' efforts have not been collected.

Up until now, everyone involved has attempted, at the suggestion of one of Captain Zakalwe's original party and with the agreement of Banam and Lyra, to keep this entire matter fairly quiet, in order to discourage any possible unwelcome notice being drawn to the refugee group. Given recent events here in Shadgard, the continuing absence of Captain Zakalwe, the absence of any further word from Lyra's people and the worrying cessation of pickups at the supply drop spot, Council may wish to take some more overt action.

Forgive this extremely lengthy account - I send it only because we have no way of knowing if you received a report from Captain Zakalwe making you aware of the situation. We do not know if Matlal became aware of our efforts to aid Lyra's resistance, and if so, if that has some connection with his recent interest in Shadgard. The gated entrance under Dusklamp leading to the refugee camp appeared undisturbed at last check, with no signs of attack or further attempts to block it off, but also with no sign or sound from the occupants.

We believe it may be time to make known more widely the existence of Lyra and her Awakened followers. You may, of course, have more knowledge of this matter than we do - we have merely been attempting to aid them as promised in that one meeting. In the absence of any direction from them, we turn first to the Council.


With respect,

Pigeon, Chamberlain of House Taliaferro
You say, "Well, they probably use goblets, but better table manners are still no reason to join a bloodcult."
Post Reply