RangerWickett
Legend
Daask Strikes SIS, Ravages Sharn
By Clementine Lardi, Senior Recap Correspondent
8 Rhaan 998
FIRELIGHT -- Officers of the Sharn Watch responded in force to an attack on the Flaming Ogre, a massage parlor in the Firelight, Lower Menthis. The location was quickly sealed from onlookers, but one survivor of the attack who wished to remain anonymous says, "I heard the breaking glass first, then the screams, and then blood sprayed across me. I hid under the bed, and heard heavy feet and screaming voices. I know one of the things, whatever they were, looked in my room and sniffed, but the Host blessed me and I was spared."
What were the attackers?
"Trolls," said Cameron Daff, a member of the Sharn Watch's magically-minded Blackened Book. "They're organized, which trolls almost never are. That means one thing: Daask."
Daask, the monstrous crime syndicate whose leaders are rumored to include fierce ogres, the savagest of gnolls, and beings so hideous their gaze turns men to stone, has never struck so boldly, but in recent weeks as we prepared to go to print again, we have collected stories that seem related to this force of fear in our fair city. Many of these tales involve the Sharn Interjurisdictional Specialists (SIS), who rose to fame last month for bringing down Gehn d'Orien, scion of the dragonmarked house of Passage.
(For more on Gehn's high-profile conspiracy trial -- including the assassination of town hero Trace Noren, the Sovereign Tower terrorist attack, the murder seventeen Watch officers in the aftermath of said attack, and the near-destruction of the House Jorasco enclave in Upper Dura -- look for our special report next week. --Ed.)
An hour after midnight, five trolls rampaged through the establishment, killing at lowest count twelve and possibly many more. Then they fled into the depths of the city. Tragically, several citizens and resident adventurers attempted to thwart their escape, and received grievous wounds. The scene of carnage overtaxed the local Jorasco healing houses, and victims have been transferred across Sharn for proper treatment.
Among the injured is the establishment's owner, one Nilsmam Marx, who was abducted by the trolls and carried into the sewers. The six-member SIS team arrived on scene less than a half hour after the attack and followed the trolls' trail. Three officers from the Blackened Book accompanied. The expedition returned before dawn, having rescued Miss Marx, but at the cost of one yet unidentified Blackened Book officer's life. SIS newcomer Xerxes Marx, son of the abductee, was seen at his mother's bedside at the Jorasco house.
Once again Daask has directly targeted a relative of the SIS (see 'Daask Assassination…' in our 25 Lharvion 998 issue), sending a message that the Watch needs to back off, or else. The Watch's official reaction is yet unknown.
The attack on the Ogre was not the only assault of the evening. We are collecting reports from around the city of Daask attacks on private businesses and citizens, some of whom are suspected to have connection to halfling criminal syndicate Boromar, which has been engaged in a quiet protracted battle with Daask these past months. As noted above, the SIS have been involved with several of these incidents, often acting almost directly in Boromar's favor.
Daask seems to have been increasingly targeting those close to the SIS. Kalashtar officer Shadoa was supposed to attend the funeral for one Aziz Elakan, a prominent and respected pillar in his neighborhood who was allegedly murdered by Daask's gnoll enforcers; and half-orc officer Nickolai "Ugly Nick" Obsidian was reportedly targeted tonight in his home, and only avoided death because he was pulling an extra late shift. Whether these attacks are in retaliation for the SIS's rumored buddying-up with Boromar and how the recent violence will influence tomorrow's elections is unclear.
"The Watch's official stance," said SIS commander Captain Belew Yorgan, interviewed yesterday, "is that of course the supposed Boromar mafia is a threat, but I think the people of this city want us to be fighting the monsters, not the halflings."
We will report more on this Daask-Boromar conflict and the SIS involvement in the coming weeks. Look for our special reports on:
(c) 998, The Sharn Inquisitive
Tales in Blood
By an unknown contributor
(More than anything else, it was the public's hunger for the next installment of this mysterious narrative that kept us up until our everglowing lanterns ran out so we could get the Sharn Inquisitive back into publication. That, and the death threat sent by its anonymous author if we didn't release the next chapter in what he referred to as his 'manifesto.' -- Ed.)
Part Four
The teeth of Shaarat tick and grind with pleasure at the offering, and it begs the master of ravens, go on. Volcanic heat waits, like a wave set to break, miles of sulfurous eyes and seismic breaths bound in a forge of unearned civilization, yearning to burn free.
The hanging arbiter cries for mercy. But horror too, is part of life. No forbearance is granted, gold drinks blood, and so the sacrifice of shattered rings is complete. Child and elder bleed together, the Vesican cycle completed, and the dead heart of the dagger beats once, beats a cataclysm.
By Clementine Lardi, Senior Recap Correspondent
8 Rhaan 998
FIRELIGHT -- Officers of the Sharn Watch responded in force to an attack on the Flaming Ogre, a massage parlor in the Firelight, Lower Menthis. The location was quickly sealed from onlookers, but one survivor of the attack who wished to remain anonymous says, "I heard the breaking glass first, then the screams, and then blood sprayed across me. I hid under the bed, and heard heavy feet and screaming voices. I know one of the things, whatever they were, looked in my room and sniffed, but the Host blessed me and I was spared."
What were the attackers?
Daask, the monstrous crime syndicate whose leaders are rumored to include fierce ogres, the savagest of gnolls, and beings so hideous their gaze turns men to stone, has never struck so boldly, but in recent weeks as we prepared to go to print again, we have collected stories that seem related to this force of fear in our fair city. Many of these tales involve the Sharn Interjurisdictional Specialists (SIS), who rose to fame last month for bringing down Gehn d'Orien, scion of the dragonmarked house of Passage.
(For more on Gehn's high-profile conspiracy trial -- including the assassination of town hero Trace Noren, the Sovereign Tower terrorist attack, the murder seventeen Watch officers in the aftermath of said attack, and the near-destruction of the House Jorasco enclave in Upper Dura -- look for our special report next week. --Ed.)
An hour after midnight, five trolls rampaged through the establishment, killing at lowest count twelve and possibly many more. Then they fled into the depths of the city. Tragically, several citizens and resident adventurers attempted to thwart their escape, and received grievous wounds. The scene of carnage overtaxed the local Jorasco healing houses, and victims have been transferred across Sharn for proper treatment.
Among the injured is the establishment's owner, one Nilsmam Marx, who was abducted by the trolls and carried into the sewers. The six-member SIS team arrived on scene less than a half hour after the attack and followed the trolls' trail. Three officers from the Blackened Book accompanied. The expedition returned before dawn, having rescued Miss Marx, but at the cost of one yet unidentified Blackened Book officer's life. SIS newcomer Xerxes Marx, son of the abductee, was seen at his mother's bedside at the Jorasco house.
Once again Daask has directly targeted a relative of the SIS (see 'Daask Assassination…' in our 25 Lharvion 998 issue), sending a message that the Watch needs to back off, or else. The Watch's official reaction is yet unknown.
Daask seems to have been increasingly targeting those close to the SIS. Kalashtar officer Shadoa was supposed to attend the funeral for one Aziz Elakan, a prominent and respected pillar in his neighborhood who was allegedly murdered by Daask's gnoll enforcers; and half-orc officer Nickolai "Ugly Nick" Obsidian was reportedly targeted tonight in his home, and only avoided death because he was pulling an extra late shift. Whether these attacks are in retaliation for the SIS's rumored buddying-up with Boromar and how the recent violence will influence tomorrow's elections is unclear.
"The Watch's official stance," said SIS commander Captain Belew Yorgan, interviewed yesterday, "is that of course the supposed Boromar mafia is a threat, but I think the people of this city want us to be fighting the monsters, not the halflings."
We will report more on this Daask-Boromar conflict and the SIS involvement in the coming weeks. Look for our special reports on:
- Rumors that Councilwoman d'Jorasco (TRA -- Little Plains) was murdered by Daask for her connection to Daask, and how the SIS faced undead horrors in the Cogs to recover her body.
- Reports of corpses being smuggled into the city via the docks of the Hubris Tower slum in Cliffside.
- Efforts by the SIS to apprehend several lieutenants of Daask.
- Victor Saint-Demain's cunning victory over a coven of gnoll necromancers in the graveyard towers of Halden's Tomb.
(c) 998, The Sharn Inquisitive
Tales in Blood
By an unknown contributor
(More than anything else, it was the public's hunger for the next installment of this mysterious narrative that kept us up until our everglowing lanterns ran out so we could get the Sharn Inquisitive back into publication. That, and the death threat sent by its anonymous author if we didn't release the next chapter in what he referred to as his 'manifesto.' -- Ed.)
Part Four
The teeth of Shaarat tick and grind with pleasure at the offering, and it begs the master of ravens, go on. Volcanic heat waits, like a wave set to break, miles of sulfurous eyes and seismic breaths bound in a forge of unearned civilization, yearning to burn free.
The hanging arbiter cries for mercy. But horror too, is part of life. No forbearance is granted, gold drinks blood, and so the sacrifice of shattered rings is complete. Child and elder bleed together, the Vesican cycle completed, and the dead heart of the dagger beats once, beats a cataclysm.
-Quoth the Raven
(illustration by Stephan Martinere)Attachments
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