2 Reports Filed as Landing Faces Threats from Hall of Mages

Two reports get filed about the threat the Landing faced lately. Sir Cryheart writes to Earl Jovery: http://bit.ly/2jckfuV and Professor Xorus writes his novelette of a report in advisement to Mayor Crux:

http://bit.ly/2BJ2Cui

Category: Towns
Topic: Wehnimer’s Landing

Date: 12/03/2017 11:50 PM CST

From: INIQUITY

Subj: Advisor Report to the Mayor Regarding Impending Assaults

The following report is left as open parchment on the mayor’s desk, with apparent indifference to the urgency of the matter or its secrecy.

“Advisor Report to the Mayor Regarding Impending Assaults”

To the office of the Mayor of Wehnimer’s Landing:

I was most impressed the other night as I walked the streets admiring the fine works of Grand Magister Octaven. The bursts of black flames upon the ballistas darkening the night sky and explosions all along the watch towers were executed with tactical precision. I wondered with some amusement if she might truly be Magister Svala displaced from some distant future, perhaps slipped through the dim recesses of time, finally venting her vengeful frustrations upon the town and the Kestrels.

It is quite fortunate that our militia baubles were so utterly destroyed. One might have expected it to be wiser to merely tell Octaven what she wished to hear and made coordinated preparations with Dennet in the interim. It was far more cunning to invite destruction upon the town with an inconsequential cursory assault revealing the worthlessness of our defenses. “Fixed fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity”, as one of the great generals of history once quipped. My compliments.

Now, there can be no question of the necessity of more drastic methods, and they will be unforeseen under the illusion of false advantage. Unfortunately, we have no such provisions, as the town was fortified against krolvin warfarers rather than imperial mages. I cannot ward it without extraordinary means under this time constraint.

The townsfolk in their haste were short-sighted enough to put out the fires rather than allowing those stick buildings to burn and be more fully studied. It would have been still better to have kept one of the immolated knights burning long enough to be put into a bane coffin. I was able to burn some things in town with balefire as a point of contrast in the moment, but their black fire lacked the characteristic green tinges of it. The best I can offer for speculation is flames of nether, which may attest something to the pure darkness. This may well have involved opening portals to the elemental planes within the town walls. The Illistim once almost burned down their city in a similar fashion.

In this event there are known measures that may be taken. I would require the assistance of a Tehir Spiritcaller, such as Akhash or Teuriz or possibly Quinshon, to summon the spirit of Estrion from Darkstone Castle to once again make a warding pact preventing such portals from forming. If this method had been employed with the Ithzir invasion last year under the prior administration, as I advised at the time, the plinite would never have been stolen from their rogue faction and none of this would have happened.

The wards that were previously erected were removed by the bone pillars, which as you well know are still broken. Without the aid of Grishom Stone or perhaps the Talon and Quinshon with the Shadow Realm, I do not imagine they could be converted into a useful weapon prior to the arrival of Octaven. It would be extraordinarily dangerous with our given state of knowledge. It might well be the case that she was instead using some artifact to saturate the essence in town from far away, which would only be countered with the use of the Talon. In this respect it might be more “dark catalyst” than mawfire or elemental. There were quite distinct signatures of focused power. I trust Dennet has had the foresight to take whatever precautions he must to prevent control of the golems from being wrested from him. It would be best for them to destroy each other.

In terms of what might be done on a less effective scale, the archmage Pherantyr might be asked if he could provide more crystal obelisks. These were neutralized with magical ice by the Star of Khar’ta at the time and would surely only prove a temporary deterrent, but they would be unexpected and may provide some delay before failing. When the town is burned to the ground again in the future, I suggest it not be reconstructed with wood. The walls are themselves a hazard with the present enemy.

Needless to say, the only thing of value within town is Rodnay, and he should be removed from it. I would advise taking him off-world, where he cannot be found. He may dislike the ideal realm I have in mind, but Goblyn would be useful in this respect and I trust her mind will be too difficult to raid. I might remind that I recommended months ago that we move the town population to Lich’s Landing and leave the worthless parts up top as a decoy. With the reduced population this will now be much easier.

Lord Xorus Kul’shin
Council of Advisors to the Mayor of Wehnimer’s Landing
Advisor of History, Occult Lore, and Magic
3rd Eorgaen, 5117 Modern Era

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Mhorigan says, “As to whether Dark Elves are the first of their race, you may have more of a point there than you intended.” (1998)