1-10-1266 TGR
Phillipe - official accounting notes on treasury spending
Phillipe - To the Queen
Your Highness. I am happy to report that the Ambassador has taken up residence. She has quickly chosen a new residence and her companions over the course of two weeks did a thorough renovation of the residence. They chose the old Palace as the residence. I feel this shows the strength of the Kingdom in a declarative manner. I had thought that her companions were adventurers who would jump at any chance for excitement but they ignored an incursion of orcs from the Blumm Wood. I will observe if this behavior continues. The Ambassador is continuing her meetings with city leaders this month.
Miranda - to Widow Washburn
"I miss you and your hospitality already. I am sure most of us do but some are so busy. It is like a whole new world, a civilized adventure for sure. Hoffman sends his love and wanted to make sure you know if Brother Foto or Qui Fon eventually stop by to make sure you tel them they are more than welcome to come join us. They should check in with the Queen's people so as not to travel alone but to be safe either way. I hope you stay well. Miranda.
Hoffman - to Brother Foto (scribed by Miranda)
"Brother Foto, I hope your time at home has been good for you. I regret I did not have the time to come see you before we left, it was a whirlwind of getting ready and while I thought of you I may not have considered your ability to choose your own path. There is much that is diffrent now, too much to say here but know you always have a place next to me. if you can make your way to DryAds Lair, I would love to we you again. Miranda says hi too.-"
Branwyn to Queen Wilamina Mosskin
Your Majesty,
This shall be the first of many missives. There is so much to do and so many people to meet that I feel that I have only begun to scratch the surface of all there is to learn here. We have all settled in quite nicely in a home that suitably fits our number. I think that our large entourage has made quite impression already.
I shall begin with the murder of Ambassador Waverlyn. Nothing is clear at all on this subject, but I shall continue to try to discover what really happened. I have been told that Mistress Waverlyn was poisoned, stabbed and set on fire, as unbelievable as that sounds, with the house set on fire as well, thus removing all evidence. There are no specific suspects in particular however; I have been told that she had enemies all around her. My working theory at this time is that her murder was not an act against Drillian and more of an act against her and the things she was doing here in Terraguard. I will let you know what else I discover.
This does bring up the question of how the former Ambassador was operating diplomatically here. It does not please me that when people speak of Mistress Waverlyn, I do not hear much warmth. Prince Loplin upon our meeting actually spoke about having the need to keep one’s enemies close and that he hoped that he and I could maintain a comfortable distance. The comment struck me only because I had previously been told that the Prince had kept Mistress Wavelyn at his table at Kayugan feasts and he intimated that he used to play chess with her. It does not bode well for me that the Ambassador was viewed as an enemy by the Prince. I shall be doing my best to repair any feelings of mistrust in Drillian that she may have caused.
I like Prince Loplin so far and he appears to be a good man. He loves his adopted son very much and wants to keep him safe. He does not have his eye on the Crown and wants no part of any political games. When he speaks I understand his meanings and it does seem that he wants an ally and not an enemy of me. He is throwing a ball to welcome me and I shall write more of the events and people then. But given that Prince Loplin is removed from the politics of state and is more of a guardian of Dryads Lair, I know that I shall have to travel to Terraguard and meet the King and take the temperature of the political situation where the true seat of power lies.
Give my love to your father. I miss you all. I shall write again soon.
Your faithful servant,
Marquessa Branwyn the Mysterious
Branwyn to Medoro
Dear Medoro,
I cannot tell you how much I miss you and your expert running of a household. The staff we have here is well meaning but infuriating in comparison to you. I have been caught off guard on numerous occasions because my attaché has not thought to tell me things. Little things, he thinks. Like our house used to be owned by the Prince, which I found out right after we finished removing all of the family crypts. We also found out that the house is reportedly haunted and that one of staff is some sort of magic user while the former Ambassador was most likely murdered through the use of magic. It is terribly frustrating. He does very well with proper etiquette and managing my appointments. It will take some time before he shall earn my trust since everywhere I go I seem to be caught unawares of pertinent details of my household.
But in any event, I write asking for a favour. There shall be a party renting Old Man Miller’s Tavern for a week. I have sent a messenger to alert Miller and pay him accordingly, but I am not certain of the dates of this event. By the time you receive this letter, I am sure that this party has come and gone. What I would like you to do is to go to Miller and find out as much as you can about this meeting. I would like to know who the participants were and what details you can tell me of their plans. All I know is that the group is called the Order of Purity and they wish a private meeting in the Mist so that no one can cast any divinations. The meeting was proposed to me by an extremely prominent noble family here, the Silvers. I thought it would be wiser to accommodate him and try to learn more by cooperating, rather than to reject him, lose a possible ally, and learn nothing.
I look forward to hearing anything you find out and hope you will tell me how everyone is doing back at home. Give my regards to all at the Keep. All but Regor, but you know what I wish him.
Yours,
Branwyn
Branwyn to Captain Miltor of the Iron Guard at the Vilmar Citadel
Dear Captain Miltor,
I do hope this letter finds you well. My letter will no doubt come as a surprise after all this time. I do think of you often, but it is difficult to put pen to paper when the thoughts of our time together are but pleasant memories and the odds of our seeing each other again soon are unfortunately slim due to your duty to Count Vilmar and my duty to our Queen.
For myself, I am now in Dryads Lair serving as the Queen’s Ambassador of all things. I am terribly far from home and surrounded by people who think that Drillian is some poor backwater place to be pitied for its unfortunate Mist. But I smile and try to remain cheerful, hoping that my efforts will do some good for Drillian by doing so.
While here I have heard some disturbing news concerning Vilmar and was hoping you could put my fears to rest. A high priest at the Grand Celestry tells us he requested that my Spiritual Advisor, Patron Tristan Elaire, escort a Father Wanlorf to run the Temple to Cahus at the Citadel. This was a ways back. It must have been a year or two ago. The only reason that this is an issue now is that when we met this high priest, we had no idea of this Father Wanlorf or the mission to escort him to Vilmar.
I realize this all sounds confusing. I am not sure what to make of this myself and we are desperately trying to make sense out of all of this and are worried for Father Wanlorf’s safety and whereabouts. So, my questions are: Has a new priest of Cahus come to the temple in the last few years and if so, what were the circumstances of his arrival and what is his name? Do you know a Father Wanlorf at all or where he may be?
There are insinuations that someone might have plotted to prevent a new priest of power from coming to the Citadel. It does seem a silly notion at first thought. I am told that the Count had a son in the Arm of Cahus and it would be only fitting for that temple to be strong there. Everyone at the Citadel should support that. When asked who would want to stop such a thing from happening, I must admit that the only one that came to my mind was Brother Stephanie. That is one angry woman trapped in a man’s body and she did seem to enjoy whatever power she could obtain. Do you think she could do something such as this?
Everything we know so far is purely speculation and so I did not want to disturb the Count until we knew something more definitive. You believed in me about Queen Wilamina and have helped me before and so I feel I can trust you with this matter now and hope that you may help me once again. Please bring this to the Count's attention if you feel the situation warrants it.
But I cannot believe that here I am writing you and I have almost forgotten to tell you that I have a catapult of my own now! My aiming is terrible and I have inadvertently terrorized quite a few farm folk with my practice sessions. But though my skills are lacking, I do enjoy it nonetheless. It reminds me of our walks and days together atop the fortress walls. I enjoyed that time very much and you made me feel like a guest and welcome rather than in the protective custody that I really was. I wish I could have spent more time with you. That I would have known our time would have been so short before we would have had to leave. Wishing doesn't do much now though, does it?
I do hope that you can clear up some of these puzzles surrounding the Temple of Cahus and priests at the Citadel. It all makes little sense at the moment. I also hope that you are happy and doing well, for I wish you the best always.
Yours,
Branwyn
Branwyn to Queen Wilamina Mosskin Your Majesty,
It has only been a few weeks since the last time I have written, but much has happened that I wish to share.
The Prince’s ball was a success. I believe that we made a good impression and I had the opportunity to meet with the leaders of the city as well as further good relations with Prince Loplin and his son. The City Council seems to be a most contentious group. I shall attend a meeting with Lord Hightower since I am assured that they can be of use to us, and will try to stay pleasant with them all without getting tied down to any of their factions.
But of more importance are the further discoveries we have made regarding Mistress Waverlyn and the Kayugan Church here. I wish I could say that I was closer to discovering her assassin or assassins, but that is almost beside the point in light of these new revelations.
We must talk first of the Spiritual Advisor you named for me, Uncle Tristan Elaire. Yes, he has received a much deserved higher rank in his priesthood. I speak of him so formally to begin because it is this title that you bestowed upon him; it is this position in Drillian and his position in all our lives of which I must speak. When Tristan first came to us, it was because he had received a letter with orders to come to the Jistelle Estates to the Church of the Defending Mage, as well as to survey the land to see if we were prepared to launch a crusade to take back lands taken from the Kayugan Church. The latter part of these orders I was not aware of until most recently. We accepted and embraced Tristan into our group and he has been both an invaluable asset and a trusted friend to us all. However, we have discovered that Mistress Waverlyn had intercepted Tristan’s true orders from Father Mortin and replaced them with her own – the ones sending him to Jistelle.
The key part of all this is the idea of a religious crusade. It seems that Mistress Waverlyn was attempting to use her influence to launch a Kayugan crusade against the Greeks and thereby misdirecting any plans Terraguard may have had militarily against Drillian. This is all well and good, but I have seen no evidence thus far that Terraguard has any plans to attack Drillian so I am not sure why she had gone to such extreme efforts.
We have information that Mistress Waverlyn received an inordinate amount of meetings with priests and messengers at her home in her final days and was known to send scrolls to unknown destination using the local pirates as messengers. Unless she had trapped or otherwise secured these missives, she certainly did not use a trustworthy messenger system. There is no way of telling what was in those missives or if they had fallen into the wrong hands at the right price. The more I hear of the former Ambassador, the more disappointed I am in her choices if you will allow me to say so.
I also have reports that Father Wilkhorn who is currently in Jistelle at the Church of the Defending mage is corrupt. He is a gambler and has broken his vows of chastity. In so doing he has lost his powers of casting. While to me this seems punishment enough, it does affect the integrity of the local church and I do not know to whom he may be beholden to. In my opinion, he cannot be trusted to serve the community in such a state. I hope that by telling you this, you may decide the best course of action there at home.
All of this has become known at the Grand Celestry and by a Father Mortin, the man who sent Tristan on his original mission and head of the Cahus faction at the Celestry. Unfortunately and unavoidably through this path of discovery, he is now aware of Mistress Waverlyn’s crusade plans. He is not in favor of such a thing and so I doubt such a plan shall ever come to fruition at this point.
So where was Tristan supposed to be sent by the Grand Celestry? Father Mortin had sent him to serve at the Vilmar Citadel and prepare for Father Mortin’s personal crusade to defeat the Mist of Drillian. It would seem logical that Mistress Waverlyn knew of this scheme and this was her reasoning for the crusade. To me, this does not seem the answer. If a Kayugan crusade was called, the faithful would be called to fight not only in Terraguard but in Drillian. I do not see battling another faith across our kingdoms is a proper solution to this fanatical priest. If this Father Mortin wants to take a few priests into the swamps, I’d be more than happy to pay his travelling expenses and wish him good luck with it. At this point, however, I do not know the extent of his plans or if he has allies in this quest in Terraguard or Drillian.
I shall keep you informed on what I find out about this as I learn more. But you can surely see why the process of discovering the former Ambassador’s murderer is more complicated with each new revelation about her. As far as Tristan is concerned, he has been an innocent pawn in all of these maneuvers and I trust him with my life. He has said he wishes to stay here and continue to serve Drillian’s interests as well as uncover the plots that surround him. I support that and am relieved and happy to have him here with us. I do apologize for the amount of detail in this letter. I told myself that I would try to not bury you in minutia, but in this instance want you to be fully informed on these matters.
The Kayugan Feast of Broodhoy is coming in the next few days. We shall see if these festivities will bring more knowledge than what the brewers of Dryads Lair have been up to of late.
Your faithful servant,
Marquessa Branwyn the Mysterious
Letter written in Hin by Indigo
To Bolger Family
Village of Crickhollow
Gold Hills
Mother and Father,
Hello! I haven’t written in a while, well, I haven’t. I’m sorry for that but lots of things have happened since I left and sometimes it’s hard to write when you’re in a swamp. Not that I’m always in a swamp. Like now, I’m in a villa that used to be a palace.
And well, I wasn’t sure if you wanted to hear from me since I went running off and didn’t stay to help with the farm. So if you are angry at me maybe you don’t want a letter from me. I’m sorry for that and hope that you don’t mind me writing.
I went off to RiversBend and then ended up at the Jistelle Estates and I met Branwyn and a lot of friends and I joined the DragonSlayers. We were all working for this family called the Mosskins and then Lord Mosskin’s daughter became Queen of Drillian and we were her friends too. We saved her from werewolves and a Count who wanted to be a vampire but really was helping her so he could become a vampire. Anyway, we saved her and then she officially became the Queen and she made me a knight. And then later we found the shield of Chandler Cowles and she made Branwyn the Ambassador of Drillian to Dryads Lair. She made me Captain of the Royal Marines. So I am now Sir Captain Indigo of the Royal Marines of Drillian. Can you believe that? I can’t really myself even. So I like it best when people just call me Indigo or Sir Indigo. I think sometimes names can be too long. But when Branwyn became the Ambassador we all moved to Dryads Lair and I am closer to home than I’ve been in a really long time.
I have to tell you that I’m worried about you and everyone back home. I met Jondar who is the Ambassador from Gold Hills to Dryads Lair and he says that there’s a troll invasion at home. Please write and tell me how bad it is and if you need me to come home and kill the trolls for you. I could ask my friends if they want to come and we can make sure you all are safe. Jondar is supposed to be trying to get help but it seems like he is having trouble getting people to listen to him. He didn’t tell me where the trolls were though so I don’t know if they are close to you or not. I hope they are far away, but it would make me feel better if you could tell me that.
I want you to be proud of me and not angry. I try really hard to be good and think I am most of the time. Sometimes I get in trouble but not as much as I used to I don’t think. Hope to hear from you soon that everything is well.
Your son,
Indigo
Branwyn to Queen Wilamina Mosskin
Your Majesty,
In my last letter I said I would report on our first Kayugan feast day event, but unfortunately this event provided nothing of use other than for show. After following Jennevive’s recommendations and paying what I considered to be a ridiculous amount of gold, we attended the Feast of Broodhoy. Jennevive assures me that the Church was impressed and approved of both my donation and performance at the event. I do hope that Jennevive is correct and that this will help me win favor with the Church if only to lessen any desire to send a crusade against the Mist. We are hosting two religious feasts at the house next month. Since I shall not be acting as a tavern maid at those, I hope that they shall be a little more productive.
Your faithful servant,
Marquessa Branwyn the Mysterious
