THE DUST HAS SETTLED; A TREE GROWS IN BARDEN
The "Mus Dust" plague seems to be over. It was reported tonight
by Earl
Mus, and confirmed by Ashram of the Mages' Tower, that a spell was
cast transforming the remaining dust into "something benign." For
what-
ever reason, the dust took the form of oak trees that sprung up wherever
the dust had formerly been. In areas of large concentration, such
as the
ruins of Saint Tyrell Temple in Bardin, an entire grove of mighty oaks
can now be seen. Elsewhere, such as in the secure chambers of
Sir Aeric, a sapling has grown where he had once kept a small sample of
the dust.
THE MUS ISSUE IS A DOUBLE-SIZED ANNUAL. 48 PAGES! NO ADS!
Ashram of the Mages' Tower also confirmed the report that a group of
ex-
students were responsible for the destruction of Kel Corice.
He also
informed the Court that there were now three factions within the Mages'
Tower--those who felt that Mus was insane and should be banished from
this world, those who were loyal to His Eminence no matter what, and
those who chose to remain neutral in the conflict. All of the
mages
reported that they could no longer sense Earl Mus as an existing entity;
an interesting notion considering that the wizard Vivek had said the
exact same thing about Gylemantis after he appeared at Pages' Feaste.
Those who felt that Mus was insane sent a message to the Court via
Ashram: "solve the problem or we'll solve it for you." Already
these mages have created a great number of Anti-Mus Talismans and distributed
them throughout the lands at a very cheap price; Duke Lorath managed to
aquire a significant amount of the talismans for only two marques.
The
Mages' Tower itself is also warded, and Earl Mus cannot enter it anymore.
In a related story, the voodoo priest that Earl Mus had reported dealings
with since his departure from his body came to Court tonight.
He was
there to turn himself in, claiming that he had controlled Mus' spirit,
causing it to spread the plague to both the Mages' Tower and to a certain
village in Barden. He also claimed not to have any particular reason
or excuse for doing so. Sir Aeric placed the priest under arrest
and had him escorted to the dungeons under heavy guard by both mundane
and magical guards.
"CRAZY" CATALYN QUITS CAERNA, DUMPS DRAGONSBANE
Lord Dragonsbane, the owner of Arkham Bedlam Asylum in Lankmahr, provided
the queen with an official report on the mental status of Marquessa Catalyn.
He reported that nothing could be found to be wrong with her, mental or
magical, although she was adamantly opposed to letting the mind-mages into
certain areas of her memories. Later, the Marquessa appeared in Court,
announcing that she was declanning from both Clan Caerna and Clan Dragonsbane.
NIGHT AURELIA FLIPS OUT...AGAIN
The mercenary Thomas Moore was visiting the Court last night, telling
a
tale of battling bandits in the Wilderland, when suddenly Night Aurelia
exploded in anger, grabbing the sell-sword roughly by the lapels and
shaking him, demanding to know why he had to kill those men.
This was
the second time that she had behaved thus, the first time being last
Court, in response to what she perceived as a lie on the part of Sirrah
Vox. She came to her senses moments later, and was escorted out of
the room by Duke Lorath, who reportedly took her to Arkham for examination.
OPERATION DRAGON DOODIE
Sir Marduk returned to Court for the first time in a couple of weeks,
reporting on his successful infiltration of HARQ. Apparently
he has
gained the trust of their leaders and has arranged to be the courier
for
the last bit of "dragon extract" oil that remains to the group.
A sting
operation is currently being worked out between Sir Marduk, Sirrah
Valric, and Sirrah Adder, and Sir Aeric has supplied his guards to
help
where they can. Sir Marduk also stated that he would kill one
if not
both of the remaining HARQ leaders if the opportunity presented itself.
PUTTING THE GUILE IN GYLEMANTIS...OR NOT
A "messenger" from Gylemantis appeared in Court this e'en, only to
be
quickly revealed as Gylemantis himself. He managed, in his dysfunctional
way, to say something about abducting the Warwickian peasants again
before he was escorted from the room by Sir Aeric.
"HEADMASTER, HEADSMAN. HEADSMAN, HEADMASTER...."
The Headmaster of the Wilderland School of Martial Arts was brought
into Court in chains this week. He had been arrested last week for
defying a direct order from Her Majesty the Queen and threatening violence
against the sheriff should he try and remove the Headmaster from the Courtroom.
Queen Flidais offered the Headmaster a choice of punishments: execution
or exile from the Eleven Lands. The Headmaster chose exile, and was
escorted out of the room and (presumably) to the border of Warwick.
ENDER, WE HARDLY KNOW YE
The queen announced tonight that Sir Ender has once again left the
Eleven
Lands on some errand of personal importance. Until his return,
the bruiser, Marquessa Catalyn, will remain in charge of the melee field. |