Xorus (prime)/Letters/Letter to the Barony of Bourth - 04-13-5122
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INIQUITY
Subject: Letter sealed with wax sent to the Barony of Bourth on 04/13/2022 07:35 AM EDT
Category: Cities, Towns, and Outposts
Topic: Wehnimer's Landing
Post: 15334
Addressed to the Chamberlain of the Barony of Bourth In Care of Lord Breshon Caulfield, Concerning His Sister Lady Larsya Caulfield From the Imperial Protectorate of Wehnimer's Landing With respect to the ruling family of Bourth and its court attendants, When Lady Larsya Caulfield was poisoned through a perverse agent of the witch Raznel, Lord Brieson Cassle of the Hall of Mages was able to stabilize her condition with a salve related to the poison itself. What is known as "epoch toxin" or "epochxin." Two years later the Baron's daughter was cured with advanced and exotic alchemy. I write to you now as the one who mostly devised this cure, and advised Lord Breshon on all matters related to it. I wish this letter to reach the Lord himself as it concerns delicate matters best kept hidden under the veils of discretion. I intended on speaking to him. It is our understanding in the northern protectorate that Lord Breshon was recently briefly present to recall his sister; and, having refused, a Regent is to be sent to the Hendoran Outpost. Lord Breshon was most likely not present long enough to witness an aberration in his sister's condition. I have kept watch for some time since her treatment, and this is the first manifestation of unusual magic. ~ It is not my intent to cause alarm. The witch's curse was most likely eradicated in its entirety by our intervention. But this is a more subtle matter. It was necessary in the devising of Lady Larsya's cure to understand her blood, and as the Lord well remembers, he was solicited with offers of aid by the criminal blood mage Grishom Stone. Grishom Stone's interest in her blood was apparently more about its lineage than the poison inside her. This was made plain when Grishom Stone used the Gale Stone to rip blood from elves all over the continent to break his way into the Wyrdeep forest. For even the Gale Stone, by itself, was insufficient for gaining him entry through the druidic wards on our forest known as the Deadfall. For this he required blood descended from elves who dwelled in the Deep. I do not believe it is necessary to elaborate in writing how those matters are related. That said, I wish to advise Lord Breshon that his sister is beginning to exhibit what may be latent druidic powers, which are outside the realm of my expertise. She had some sort of instinctive tic to touch the ground, and chanted a bird-like trill, first noticed last night after you left. With this her fingernails briefly flashed in a tinge of green. She shook her head when asked if something like this had happened before, but I caught her saying "not this again." It is unclear how long this has been happening. While the cyclic repetition of this cantrip was disconcertingly familiar, I have no reason at this time to believe it is related to the epochxin venom. Nor can I rule it out. When the quest for curing his sister was underway, Lord Breshon imported an esteemed alchemist from Estoria named Praxopius Fortney. In the end and much to the ire of Lord Breshon, Fortney made only minor adjustments to my own restorative formula, having spent most of those several months studying ways to weaponize the poison in Lady Larsya's blood. The most significant change was the addition of soil from the Bleaklands, which introduced a wildcard outside the tight logic of the process I invented. In truth I am not even absolutely certain he truly added it to the solution. It could just as well have been a ruse to gather materials for his weapons research. Fortney was also experimenting on a distant cousin of this blood curse, a human who the witch turned into an orc, and --- while Fortney believed the restorative potion he left us with would cure what he did to this man --- in practice it left residual complications that were likely unforeseen. This is so much to say I will maintain my observational vigil. Related to this issue, Lord Breshon may not have been informed by the chivalric orders at the time, but his sister "snuck out" to the Valley of Gold summit three years ago. She swore those around her to secrecy over this as harmless mischief. However, while present at the summit she was handing out bleakstones to the crowd, which she claimed to have acquired from a bleakstone merchant named Cayde. Bleakstone is a substance begat from the cursed wastelands of Talador. Quite probably descended from transmuted blood marble and the "black blood blight" that afflicted hathlyn. But "Cayde" would later deliver the bleakstone statue resembling my wife --- Lady Lylia Rashere, who at that time was Mayor of Wehnimer's Landing --- which was responsible for causing what the Hall of Mages calls "the Blight" in this region. It was learned that the true Cayde had been dead for months, and so it was apparently the witch Raznel herself who gave those bleakstones to Lady Larsya. Once again, I have no reason to think Lady Larsya was hexed in this way by the witch. Though dispersing those stones throughout the region very likely was a vehicle for spreading the Blight. It was more likely the witch's cruel sense of humor and irony to make use of Lady Larsya in her grand design for expanding the Bleaklands, as she was in essence used as a pawn in the conspiracy to bring about the desolation of Talador. Regardless, the witch is dead. But this brush with her should be remembered out of an abundance of caution, and to underscore the dangers of this region. ~ More pressingly, Lord Breshon is presumably aware of the presence of a krolvin fleet in and out of Darkstone Bay, which I imagine was the immediate issue regarding Lady Larsya's continued presence in the Hendoran Outpost. Lord Breshon himself noted at the time the transience of what Praxopius Fortney was attempting, predicting that in a short span of years the krolvin would return in vengeance. But this poses a very serious threat to Lady Larsya herself, personally, in two distinct ways owing to her history. The last krolvin warlord --- the Czag Dubra, Kragnack --- was assassinated with a poison derived from studying her cursed blood. I witnessed the death of Kragnack --- as well as a local criminal, who stylized himself "Rysus" --- and attest to its obvious roots in epochxin. Praxopius Fortney claimed it was a contagion that would afflict blood relations of Kragnack, of which many might be expected to exist on Glaoveln, and eventually kill him even if he was not directly hit with it during the assault. There is a non-zero chance the poison daggers used to kill Kragnack were not the same as those used on the shores of Glaoveln. But either way, this contagion spread, and the krolvin call it "Lalk Morgil" or "Blue Suffer." The new warlord of Glaoveln --- the Czag Pritz, Tyrrax --- is nominally on a quest to destroy the poison formula. But he has far more dangerous ambitions. The warlord learned to come to this protectorate seeking the formula from having raided warehouses of Praxopius Fortney in Idolone, which apparently had maps and indications the formula was to be sent to Wehnimer's Landing. This makes little sense for multiple reasons --- not least of which because Fortney devised it here, and then died here without returning to Idolone. Lord Breshon may have been informed that at the time, Fortney claimed he would be sending the formula for this poison contagion to myself, with the hope that I would one day be able to adapt it into a weapon that would eradicate the whole krolvin race. He claimed this in public, in front of a large crowd, and promised to send it on a two year delay. Of course, it was never delivered to me, and this is obviously contrary to common sense. He was habitually disposed to subterfuge and deception, and naming me in this way was likely a misdirection, as other past associates of his have since moved into this region. The point at hand is that the krolvin may eventually figure out that it was studying Lady Larsya's blood that led to the creation of the Lalk Morgil. This may lead them to raiding the imperial outpost seeking research notes related to her, possibly even seeking her with the misapprehension that her blood is useful in this way. Grand Magister Octaven has talents. But this warlord has many of Fortney's magical devices, and Lady Larsya could be kidnapped through a portal very abruptly, without warning. But that is not the only concern. They have a legitimate reason for seeking her blood. I have attempted to draw the attention of the krolvin warlord onto myself, trying to make him think I hold the secrets for moving against Grishom Stone as well. I had anticipated that what the warlord ultimately desires will be the Star of Khar'ta --- what the krolvin call the Gale Stone --- which is now held by Stone in the Deadfall forest behind the great barrier containing it. It is a matter of religious prophecy in the uniting of the krolvin race under one ruler. We have since acquired confirmation from a captured scholar, who the warlord is using as a transcriptionist, that he is indeed seeking to take this dreadful artifact from "the blood heretic" Grishom Stone. This is the grave danger posed to Lady Larsya. For even if the warlord has the sense to understand that her blood is irrelevant to the Lalk Morgil, he may eventually discover that Stone attempted to take her blood in order to break through the druidic wards on the Deadfall. They will have no way of going after the Gale Stone without blood of the Wyrdeep. With the precedent of Grishom Stone seeking her blood for this reason, and these latent druidic powers, she is perhaps the only key for the warlord to seek his imagined destiny. If the Lady Larsya Caulfield cannot be compelled to remove herself from this region during the time of this threat, Bourthian soldiers and the Hall of Mages must be ready to extract her for her own safety. The krolvin warlord until recently was in the possession of a halfling mentalist slave, by the name of Kharusa, but whether he reacquires his mind reader or resorts to more conventional torture, there is a high risk he will eventually learn that his quest will require invading the Hendoran Outpost. Indeed. He would have whole other sets of reasons to try to capture Grand Magister Octaven. By my hand, Lord Xorus Kul'shin 13th Olaesta, 5122 Modern Era (IC Status: Private)
(OOC Note: It was confirmed by GM Kenstrom that the "not this again..." statement by Larsya was actually about the egg throwing duel competition she was holding at the moment. People kept catching the eggs, instead of hitting each other, across many rounds. She just happened to say it right after the symptom first began appearing. The symptom is just the Ranger messaging for the verb CHANT. But Larsya was doing it involuntarily and did not understand why. Xorus is characterizing that as "latent druidic" magic ability. Xorus states at one point that he does not know if Praxopius actually added in bleaksoil. What he means is Prax was seen adding from a vial labeled "Bleak", but this hinges on Praxopius' honesty. Praxopius also prepared the actual potion, which could have deviated in unstated ways. Xorus is being disingenuous in various ways. On the point of the bleaksoil, Praxopius was convinced the curse originated somehow in the Wizardwaste, and the cure needed something of similar nature. Epochxin comes from the Southron Wastes. Xorus believes Prax was inferring with the witch's own blood. He is also being coy at various points. He knows Larsya was to be recalled because their father is dying, for example, and he knows that it was Breshon himself who informed everyone Cayde had been missing "several months", only two months after the Valley of Gold summit. Another subtle point Xorus neglected to mention is that there is a "freely given" aspect in blood magic. Stone needed Breshon to agree to give Larsya's blood, and failing that, he extorted Briarstorm into giving up his blood. Larsya would likely need to choose to cooperate with the krolvin.)