The Oracle
Second Passage of the Summer Moon
Pirate Gets Wealthy on Gwynned
The mystery of Gwynned’s ‘Kassim’ is deepening. The rakish pirate is beginning to make a name for himself, having successfully plundered eight ships along the Gwynnen shore.
“This is a particularly ripe time for pirating and banditry in Gwynned,” said Araden Kalaan, who is Master of the High Guard for the province of René. “There is so much movement of resources right now that almost any ship or caravan is destined to have riches aboard.”
The old-fashioned ship, who some say is the vessel of the long-dead pirate hero Kassim, has been sighted along all the inlets and bays of the isle of Gwynned. “The shoreline makes finding such a vessel incredibly difficult,” said Araden, who has sworn to bring the pirate to justice.
The plunder from the eight ships amounts to over three million silver’s worth of treasure, including coinage, gems, clothing, furs, foodstuffs, weaponry, and myriad other goods. Most of this treasure has probably been hidden along Gwynned’s shorelines, which is luring adventurers to the isle. There has also been a single kidnapping – the daughter of the self-proclaimed Baron of Furs, Geraad Javré.
Oddly enough, two pirate ships have also reportedly been sunk in Gwynnen waters by 'Kassim'-- both lead by notoriously violent captains. Along with the mysterious captain’s good looks and penchant for swashbuckling honor, Araden Kalaan is going to have to fight a second battle – Kassim’s growing reputation as a folk hero.
We will tell more as it occurs.
Tania
Cowan Faol’s Village Attracts Scoundrels
Scoundrels, twylahs, and thieves. These are the people making up a large part of a small village just south of Shara Brae. It is called Aralaan.
The Archmage Cowan Faol, famous for helping Queen Lillian in the War for Aranor, has created a place where people can ‘start over’. The prospect of being able to create a new life has attracted people from the Old and New Worlds, and rumors abound that ships are now coming from Moraithe, as well.
Lord Faol is making good on his reputation of helping those who have suffered hard times, providing gold to fund new ventures. And he’s doing it with style, having created a village which is swiftly becoming a holiday destination for some of Aranor’s elite.
Some, however, suggest that such beneficence is doomed to failure.
“The prospect is fruitless,” says Lord Karin Evret, one of the nobility who lost his lands after Queen Lillian came to power. “Such people are ruined in their core, and will soon enough turn opportunity to greed.”
While there will no doubt be some who will take unfair advantage of the village’s offerings, it seems that for now all is going well. Indeed, if Lord Faol is encountering one problem, it is this – his village is running out of room.
Lord Kieran
Magical Mirror Makes Stir in Aranor
If one had a magical mirror, she’d probably hope for an enchantment a bit more romantic than this one, for the mirror I speak of shows how you will look thirty years hence.
Residing in a curiosity shoppe in Aranor, the name of which the owner has asked me not to divulge since he is suffering from ‘unruly crowds’, the mirror is an ancient artifact, and is currently not for sale. The owner is charging ten silver for people to take a look.
“I didn’t want this attention,” he says. “I was going to sell the mirror for a few thousand silver, since it’s an antique which belonged to the first of the Avorine line, but once I saw how it mesmerized people, I decided not to sell it. Really, I can’t understand why anyone would want to look in it – it shows you aged, and sometimes it doesn’t show anything at all, suggesting that you’ll be dead!”
When I asked if he had taken a look, he reluctantly admitted that he had. I took a look myself, and was pleasantly surprised to see that I will be quite a dashing man at age fifty-three.
The owner says that he is getting ‘hundreds’ of people a day coming to his shoppe, and has lost ‘thousands’ of silver's worth of merchandise to thieves. “I simply can’t keep a watch over it all,” he complains.
Insisting that the mirror is more bane than boon, he still intends to keep it, though he says that he will consider auctioning it off ‘once the fever dies down’.
For now, however, the un-named curiosity shoppe can be found by looking for a tiny shoppe with a huge line.
Tirian
To the Oracle Collection-- Third Year