To Grand Master Blackstone:
As ordered, I have dispatched twenty of my knights to Seres in pursuit of the fiendish witch referred to as Annette Skye. I shamefully admit to my skepticism that it was necessary to send so many and am humbled to report that of the twenty men and women I have sent, only one has returned. There is solace in the report of the lone templar to return from this mission, which is that not all of them were killed in the attempt to apprehend their foe. It seems that the many months of practice we have allowed the Robber in Robes have caused her power to grow to the point of corrupting even some of the most devout men under my command. Per your instructions, I hereby relay the report of the knight, Sir Reginald Hawke, who shall be commended for his exemplary work in the Gods' names in accordance with the Southriver Charter.
The company reached Seres little over an hour past the dawn of the second day which followed their dispatch. Their leader, Knight-Commander Gerald Marle ordered a stay of our customary purge protocol out of misguided concern for innocent civilians. There was some disagreement from another Knight-Commander in the unit, one Elizabeth Winstrom. She felt compelled to remind her colleague of the dangers of dark magic as well as the very necessity of the purge protocol. For the record, I must express that the ensuing discord was quite understandable for it is unclear which idea is more entrenched in our order: the sanctity of Crane's holy city or the absolute prejudice with which we must handle dark magic. An accord was reached on the premise that to purge a holy city required acknowledging that the gods could not protect their most favored settlements, which would be a stain on the honor of us all. However, this dispute was all that was needed to alert the witch to their presence; a sad punishment for their sin of imprudence near the seat of Crane.
Sir Hawke was the knight who was dispatched to gather information on Madam Skye's whereabouts. It was only through this miracle of happenstance that he happened to be separated from the group when the Robber in Robes saw fit to ambush them. Upon returning with knowledge of the heretic's location, he arrived just in time to witness what transpired. Before Hawke could intervene, the witch used her dark magic to corrupt Knight-Commander Marle with an uncontrollable lust for her, which she exploited to manipulate him into turning his blade on his own men. Sirs Ronald and Bartholomew Whitetree, Sebas Gold, and Lady Martha Desmond were all felled in the initial attack. In the heat of the moment, Knight-Commander Winstrom struck down Marle before he could harm anyone else. Unfortunately, it was she who was selected as the next victim of the witch's magic. She was afflicted with a powerful rage and unable to stop herself from striking Sirs Harold Midas, Grant Harret and Ladies Reina Midas, Victoria Whitetree, and Gloria Desmond with this unnatural wrath. It took the combined efforts of Sir Matthew Blackstone and Lady Pomona Clark to defeat the second Knight-Commander, but they both sustained mortal wounds in the process. In a fit of desperation, Lady Rosaline Gold tried to finish off the witch only for the latter to afflict all five of those who remained in the room at once with an unholy tide of magic.
Screaming her disappointment at this embarrassing failure on their part, she left each of them groveling pitifully for the touch of her flesh. This included Sirs Anthony Winstrom, Red Desmond, Wendell Clark, and Ladies Clara Gold, and Emily Clark. Sir Hawke, who remained unseen up to this point managed to strike the witch down unawares with a blow to the back of her head with his mace. He then rushed to check on the survivors, but their corruption was sadly so complete that they could do little more than flee at the sight of him. He enlisted the help of the Town Guard to apprehend these corrupted templars and deliver them into the Grand Temple of Crane where they are currently being treated. The body of the witch was also taken by the clerics of the temple, citing a desire to study any trace of residual dark magic in hopes of developing an effective countermeasure into the future.
The only thing that troubles me more than the tragic loss of fourteen of my greatest knights is the result of Hawke's search of the witch's home. There he found a second set of bedding, but no clue in regards to who had previously used it. I have dispatched more men to watch the house in secret in hopes of spotting this potential accomplice, but no one has been seen going in or out all week. While we do not intend to leave Seres without a templar presence in the near future until we discover who was staying with Madam Skye, the fact remains that the Robber in Robes is no more. Thus, I am happy to declare the Gods' will has been carried out on this twelfth day of Serda in the thirty-first year of the post-war age.
With Both Pride and Regret,
General-Commander
William Skye
No comments:
Post a Comment