Letter to Lyrist Aubrey Domergue

[I love cats]

Dear Lyirst Aubrey

I write to you to reveal to you of more of Aurelio's foolishness. I do not claim to understand the inner workings of you Balladeers. However Aurelio has engaged in some questionable behavior that I have been informed you have objected to in the past. We have an alcoholic in our establishment one Sul. He was deep into his cups and had disturbing behavior like brandishing his axe we were calming him down and then Aurelio took it upon himself to give this drunk a different kind of beverage your drink. Yes the red drink of the sisters. I have been told you banned even students from partaking in this drink I imagine you did not approve of him sharing it with the general public. Also out of a basic sense of having some fucking morals taking advantage of drunk people is just wrong and evil. Surely even you can see that taking advantage of a person in a drunken state is wrong? The question of would he drink that sober? Is a question that needs to be asked. Sul has now taken to the Bellows openly asking the priory for more of this beverage. This triggered an angry reaction from Dante with Aurelio then opting to threaten and pick a fight with a Legate. Fortunately it did not come to blows however I have to emphasize that spilling the blood of a former legate in their toga alerts the terrace and the legion and would bring the attention of the consulate to the Krak.


I believe if we continue to have tact and continue to make political gains and the legion continue to be failures and disgrace their midget overlords by doing things such as trying to back out of treaties they sign or continue to be blatantly incompetent at their job it will only be a matter of time before the Grandmaster is given the Well the Sultan originally promised her. Simply put if your men want to kill Apothars, Legates, ranking jannisaries, former legates, and so forth tell them to take off their rose cloaks and do it on their own. Explain to your men some simple facts and to not be moronic. I confess I have tried to do similar to my comrades equal in rank when they tried banning the entirety of the 4th legion.

1: Qtolip is a midget overlord and may as well be an arch mage with his level of control over our lives he can peel back the shade and we all die so we can't murder his apothars or attack them. Until we figure out some alternative to his damn magic we can't kill his Apothars even if you are sure they are evil brookers or necromancers.

2: The Sultan, and his daughters are midget overlords and have some fucking Ogres who my Condoiterro have informed me are "badass." He has a grand total of 13 legions and the capability to destroy our Krak De Roses. Until his forces are bled out, we gain more men or the backing of a much powerful city state the Cinquefoil Rose simply does not have the men to contest him or commit open treason. It would be the epitome of house Velstra trying to wage a war against Orza on their own except with much worse odds. In addition they have some worthy killers known as the Consulate. Screwing with their legates is a great way to invite their attention. If their fodder the 4th legion has gotten their attention before I imagine a legate or former legate would generate more. After we have just gotten the Krak to be a sovereign territory with these new laws lets not press our luck.



-Balestiere Donisthrope

[Pandip]

Balestriere,

Your concerns are not unreasonable.

Should you witness any member of the College of the Lost Hearth imbibing the Drink in the future - or, worse, handing it out to the public - I would appreciate a report.

The Cinquefoil Rose has no intentions to wage a rebellion against the Sultan or Baz'eel; pray dispel any of those thoughts and notions.

Thank you for your eyes and thoughts. We shall speak in person soon.

    -- Aubrey Domergue
       Lyrist of the Lost Hearth
       

[I love cats]

Here is a report of the raid against the Brass Brawlers. Particularly this was the orc clan where these magics were encountered. The well can expect to face more undead in the future. None of your Balladeers were present for this and it is known your college posses a number of oathsworn. While I find their double oaths to be of questionable loyalty and their knowledge of true warfare to be lacking it cannot be denied that they are damn good at killing the living dead. I must comment Aurelio who knows absolutely nothing of siege engines is spewing this bullshit claim the artillery operator is responsible for the mistakes of the spotter and the infantry who has run into flares a mistake I nearly made once.

-Balestiere Donisthrope


[

I called a raid against a clan known as the Brass Brawlers lead by Zulgha the Rock Crusher. I attempted a very daring raid with 3 others. I wished to test some key strategies such as the feasibility of sending a single spotter in that wasn't that good at placing flares to see the effectiveness. The gold and glory of destroying an orc fortress with so few was also an appeal. Some of the flares were good some were terrible the mixed results were what I was looking for I decided to go in alone to place flares and have Nadiri V fire them. Overall I found great success in decimating their units. The initial moat was cleared a number of dispelations from there a priest and a single whisperer did almost see me felled. I fell back to the camp after the initial attack succeeded. The whisperer then came to the command post and slew some legionaries and torched some of our tents. I held firm to defending the artillery. The Balistiere at the command said he could defend the camp from him and we decided to take the daring initiative of a raid.

Myself Cordelia Ward, a member of the wild brothers, and Nadiri V as a group of 4 decided to strike this Orc Fortress. While scaling the walls an elf named Raven joined us and Cort did briefly however we were bombarded by fireballs. We took to using ranged weaponry. Unfortunately our healer and arcane support was wounded and Cort opted to take him back to the camp. Me Coredelia and the wild brother then began clearing the battlements massacring Iakmes's forces. We descended the ladder and continued our fighting. The ice on our weapons wore out and we pressed on encountering the dreaded Mupps. Lacking the necessary magics I decided we needed to hold our position in the fort and gather reinforcements. We sent the elf out to gather reinforcements. While doing this I decided to hold our position by barricading a door of the fort and holding our position for reinforcements to continue the forge. The air became thick and very hard to breathe so I moved us to the roof. We then heard some kind of singing and saw orcan undead begin to rise. We moved back to secure our position killing the Orcs we noticed a strange haze and peculiar singing a sad song in a language we did not recognize. We decided to hold the room again. Finally reinforcements arrived and we attempted to make a push. We then began getting overran a huge Ogre began tossing dispelations and Ward was wounded yet again. I advised we not yield more ground in the fort and await either additional reinforcements or send a runner back to the camp to give the artillery operators our goggles that we had with us. The majority of the well instead of holding our place in the siege as I advised wished to wait in the war camp and yield our gains. Since I would have been the sole man there I went with them. I would like to note that Coredelia of the fourth legion was wounded an uncountable number of times during this raid I had her reserved a prism and I commend her for her bravery. I later heard from her that her officers called her foolish.

The necromancy continued and the war camp was assailed by undead zombies not just of Orcs but our own men as well. I saw legionnaire, Balestiere, and even Nadiri casting spells raised as undead servants. These undead were very vulnerable to artillery and we were able to hold our own against them. Finally after much deliberating a push was made into the keep. We massacred the undead forces who were sent to occupy the ground we yielded and to my surprise the warlord of the keep was not some powerful singer or mage but one of their molten champions fitting of his name as a rock crusher. We returned to the war camp and I met with Argent and the golden vivor of Khaesh and informed them of what occurred. That was when the golden one called for a number of mages and warlocks to assemble at the war camp to inspect the scene of the incident astronomers and others came. Acolyte Narwen of the sisterhood then sung the song that sounded exactly what we heard. It was an ancient language none could recognize They did their further examination and it was concluded the mist was sent from far away by Iakmes's general Nkrak? I do not even know if I am spelling this damn Orc's name correctly. The opinion of the golden one is that Iakmes considered such magics and methods beneath him and that this dark magic is an act of desperation that is a sign of his sure defeat. He claimed this orc mage to be very powerful and that he knew almost as much as he himself did. A warning was issued for us to expect more undead and vile magics until his general is dead.


-Balestiere Donisthrope

[Pandip]

Balestriere,

My thanks for this timely report.

Of all Aurelio's flaws, his heroism and dedication to this war effort are not among them. While he is mayhap neither a strategist nor an engineer, there are few who can say that they have been as involved in the sorties and campaigns against the Thousand Clans than Aurelio. I would bid you to have a measure of patience with him; he and his would-be squires are frequently setting out to engage Iakmes' forces during those strange early hours characteristic of ashfolk.

In the evenings, it is my understanding that Katya has never shied away from the challenge of the orcs and their hordes.

I confess that my duties as a lyrist have largely kept me from the new front -- a matter I am hoping to rectify in the near future. But, alas, Balladeer Aeronwy has resolutely claimed that battling the orcs is gravely beneath her own self-proclaimed purpose and stature. She believes such dangerous missions are best left in the hands of the Banda Rossa rather than herself.

If you take umbrage with her assessment, however, I would not blame you for addressing the matter with her personally.

The song, however, greatly interests me. Are you certain the thing that Narwen and the Sisterhood were singing was the same song being bellowed by the Thousand Clans?

    -- Aubrey Domergue
       Lyrist of the Lost Hearth
       

[I love cats]

Narwen's thoughts on this song. Although with your recent stance in regards to the sisterhood there is something I am quite curious about. Can a Lyrist order that everyone under her command quits drinking a certain popular beverage? You seem to have made it a point to name the sisters your foe yet your men are clearly addicted to their drugs. It is not a good position for a commander to be in. Trust me when I say there is a reason the Capitana does not let us partake and her example is quite a good example to follow. I believe you would desire your men to be less subservient to them?

-Balestiere Donisthrope

Thank you, Magistrate-Balestiere Donisthrope.

I too am confounded as to why this is being discussed in this way.

I have made a written report to the Divan.

The scholars present made their notations on the music that I was able to draw out of the miasma's memory.

I purposely did not chant the words aloud at that time, for their purpose was dark and wicked and forbidden. They drifted through the periphery of my awareness like a predator and I was filled with the knowledge that to look too acutely at this predator would be to bare my neck to it. Thus I only have a tenuous awareness of the vocal contents of the chant.

I will not reproduce the spoken chant beyond the syllabic melody. Nor will I put them to parchment. The chant and the miasma are joined together as one. To invoke one is to invite the other and so this matter must be handled with great care.


In humble service as the Seat of Lore,
Acolyte Narwen Alendiel

[Pandip]

Balestriere,

Thank you for this report.

Students are barred from partaking the drink without my express permission. The Sisters have begrudgingly agreed to cease any further Sacraments without my say so as well.

The Drink is not the problem, my friend. It is the temptation of a dream not dreamed by your own mind, but by another with unknown intent.


    -- Aubrey Domergue
       Lyrist of the Lost Hearth