"when we finish here, you must each swear a loyalty oath to Cormyr and an oath of secrecy, and you will each receive a writ stating that you are on crowns business and are not to be delayed. You should enjoy that, the free food and all. The writs are only good for a month, but I doubt that you'll need them for that long"
"There are a few things the crown would like you to keep in mind, of course as you go your merry way. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but you are not to interfere with the Purple Dragons at the .... Black Crater. I'm never going to get used to saying that. My third cousin lived there before the disaster. I think she's dead now." Lord Hawklin is silent a moment staring at the flower garden.
"As I was saying, we are counting on you not to have to request the assistance of the Purple Dragons as they have their own mission, watching over the Black Crater and assisting other forces in the area. You are to report to Captain Dunman when you arrive-ah, I forgot to say that you'll be travelling by magic to Tilverton, as we don't have time for you to walk or ride there - and you should report the results of your mission to Captain Dunman when your work is done. A verbal report is all that is necessary, although you may have to go into some detail for her. You will give a similar report when you return here, to me, and please give me all the details you gave the good captain, if not more."
"In addition...." Lord Hawklin pauses again, his expression hard to read
"In addition, you are not to discuss your mission with anyone other than myself, Captain Dunman, or a higher representative of the crown. You are not to talk about anything unusual you see at Tilverton with anyone in the city anywhere else. The kingdom does not need a thousand new panicky rumours flying about what happened there; we have rumours enough already. We spent a lot of time and trouble rerouting the Moonsea Ride around the Black Crater so that travellers would have the worst possible view of it. We might soon have to build a wall around it to keep the heroes out of it as well. What you see of the Black Crater must stay with you alone."
"Further you are not to approach the Black Crater under any circumstances. The soldiers and War Wizards are under strict orders to kill anyone who tries to get to the crater without authorisation. Your writs do not authorise any business with it. You might not want to draw near the crater anyway, as we have good suspicions that those who enter the pit are slain, and there souls are lost forever. No one who ever went into the pit has come out, and we have been unsuccessful in recovering them or even divining their fate. They are simply gone. Just do your job and let everyone else there do theirs."
"There is another matter." Lord Hawklin sighs and shakes his head, a faint smile coming to his face.
"You might actually see this as good news, I suppose. The Brigands in the area appear to be using some ruins as their hideout. We have reason to believe that the ruins quite old, possibly Netherese in origin. You are to explore these ruins and see what they contain in the way of threats to the kingdom, remove these threats, and report back on them. That assumes that any threat exists of course, which might not be the case as the ruins have been quiet for over a thousand years. If you do have any find anything there that would be of assistance to out realm or of interest to the crown, we would be pleased to know of it, of course. Otherwise, you can keep what you find, as always. Just mop up the brigands.
"That's about it. Enjoy your and lets rest for a short while longer and enjoy a bit of beauty and peace. Then you can get your writs, take your oaths and be on your way before nightfall."
Background Knowledge[sblock]
For those of you unfamiliar with FR or Cormyr;
Tilverton:
Tilverton was a city in the northern part of the country that disappeared all that remains is a crater fulled with black shadows.
Netheril:
Netheril was a human empire of might wizards which was destroyed about 2000 years ago, Karsus a mighty Netherese Arch Wizard cast a mighty spell (12th level) to steal the power of Mystryl (former Goddess of Magic, who was reborn as Mystra), the spell was successful but Karsus was unable to control the influx of power this cause havoc to the weave, and Mystryl sacrificed herself to save the weave on Faerun, this caused the remaining Netherese magical floating cities to crash into the desert. Since that time the Gods have forbidden mortals to be able to cast such power magic (i.e spells of 10th level or higher).
Also Netheril was also destroyed due to the fact they were waging a war against the Phaerimm.
For more FR history check out
this link.[/sblock]
