Legate Argent Argyris the Dragon

[Hierophant]

Legate Argent,

It seems you've recanted your words but you must know that they have sprung a wounded mind into action. Have you seen the propaganda? You best pray that your accusations were or are true, because I surmise you have set in motion a storm that will not be so easily dismissed with political savvy and gravitas.

Now, I despise politics. I watched my father dabble in it as a boy for ere long and it is like some preposterous game played by fools but you have never truly been one for half-hearted words, so it struck me as odd that you would play with fire so.

Allow me to elate you on why I care. My father was among the few remaining 'true knights' that fought atop the walls of Ephia's Well, capturing it from the hands of the Orentid remnants. He perished, and though I tell others it was an Orentid spear, I only tell myself that to feel better. The truth is, I don't know how he died, only that many of them did.

And so a deal had to be struck. A deal that allowed whatever remained of the Cinquefoil Alliance to prosper and regrow. The Banda Rossa are mercenaries and I like to call them the devil I know. Do you know what I call the Sibylline Sisterhood in mine head? The devil I do not know.

Their secrecy, their honeyed words, this 'Drink' that circulates even around my fellow students. I saw a friend, Bruno, wracked with pain and unable to move but a muscle, and he asked me, 'What do you know of the Drink?'

I avoided the conversation, ignorant then. But I feel as if I am beginning to unravel what is happening here. They say it is a Drink to remember, but what is it, truly? Have you partaken?

Understandably you have recanted your words out of politics, but doubtless those accusations ring in your head. I wish to hear of them. Tell me what you know, be candid with me, and I shall join your League of Gold and hide my ill-perceived fallacies better than Aeronwy Caddick ever could.

Nothing shall stop me from pursuing the ranks of the Balladeers. I would even join La Banda Rossa, if it meant a finer chance at reforming this sickness that reaps through the cause my father died for. Whatever the cost. It is as you say, Dragon, total victory? At any cost.

Regards,
Alaric Gildecrown

[big metal rod]

Mr. Gildecrown,

I have drank of their wine and I have spoken with them and been privy to their designs.  I am a man who has worn many masks, in my time in the Well.

You are among the first to express his misgivings so.

If you wish to learn what I know, then I will teach you.

What you do then is up to you.

-Argent,
Legate,
DRAGON