First Passage of the Dry Moon

You’ve probably noticed that there are more berries on the bushes this year. Wild plums, berries of all kinds, and even peasant crops are experiencing a bountiful year.

"Like Moraithe, we just got lucky this year," said Matthew, a peasant who runs a stand selling jams and jellies in the River District. "The weather was just right, and bushes and trees are simply dripping with fruit."

Which means that prices for fruit, as well as fruit preserves and juices, are at record lows.

While Moraithe has also experienced a great year, giving many people the chance to taste their first Moraithian fruits as import prices dropped, other provinces haven’t been so lucky.

"Lantrielle has been dry this year," Matthew informed us, "and their grape harvest suffered due to insects. The New World was hit with storms, and many fields around Rilhaven flooded out – but with the new partnership with Maelmuire, this shouldn’t necessarily be the killing blow that it otherwise might have been to that troubled city. Jedda had a great year, but Mymé’s fields just didn’t produce – the war earlier in the year took peasants away from their fields, and they just never caught back up."

Matthew advises people to stock up on fruit products. "It will probably never be this cheap again," he said.

Tania

The strange beast terrorizing the Masallan countryside still has not been slain, and the lycanthropy scare has reached into the cities.

"I’ve moved to the Old World to be safe," said Malan, who just arrived from Mina’s Quay. "People are going crazy."

He told me that the guards are killing dogs, that high-born people are accusing other high-born people of being werewolves in order to exact revenge for past grievances, and that the common person must take care of his every move, for guards are watching for ‘suspicious behavior’.

While hundreds of people have reportedly been killed as lycanthropes, sages have only confirmed eighteen of these cases as genuine. Still, it is proof enough that the disease is spreading.

The guards of various cities are also just as busy looking for groups which have self-appointed themselves as the saviors of Masalla as they are for the real lycanthropes. Many of these groups, Malan told me, are utilizing this as a cover to terrorize the countryside, pillaging and raping as they go.

"Most of them are nothing but the worst sort of bandits," Malan said.

We will keep you informed as events develop.

Lord Kieran

In what is probably the oddest theft in Aranor’s short history, thieves made off with the entire contents of a Lantrielle import shoppe in the Merchant District.

"The shoppe was having some difficulty holding employees," said Tanner, a guard working on the case, "and was closed for the day. The thieves obviously knew about this, and arrived near noon with three large carriages. Anyone who inquired was told that the shoppe was moving to the River District. Apparently, the thieves then emptied the contents of the shoppe into the carriages, took the carriages down to the docks, and loaded them onto a ship. They then set sail for an unknown location.

"We have a lot of clues, but it’s unlikely that we’re going to solve this one," said Tanner. "We think we know the culprit – a former employee of the shoppe – but the thieves have left the city, and many feel that they are taking the loot to one of the hidden pirate cities scattered throughout the Known Lands."

Tirian

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