The Bereny Bugle

There has been a further spate of alleged sightings of missing nobleman Baron Darrack de'Torfane, with a claim that he has been seen recently in Icehaunt.

This follows a sighting earlier this year when a number of witnesses claimed that a individual called Mazikeen seen playing a guitar during a concert by a popular beat combo in a tavern in Lux was Darrack, and before that, that he was running a fried sausage stall in the courtyard of the Mines of Miasma.

The eldest son of the powerful de'Torfane family, who hold an estate in Moonward, he was, by his own description, a “rogue, swindler, lover, gambler, thief and occasional hero of the kingdom.” Although his father Guygaxe de'Torfane disowned him and left him nothing in his will, he rose to become the First Royal Adventurer and married into the family of the de'Torfane’s neighbours and long-time political rivals the d’Agrillacs, when he wed Lady Farissa d’Agrillac. His main claim to fame lies however in his heroism during the mission sent by King Mark III to Dead-End Drop to find a cure for the Ghorst plague.

But Lord Darrack disappeared suddenly three years ago following rumours and allegations that it was he who had struck the blow that caused King Mark, recently returned from the Land of the Dead, to return once more to the ranks of the deceased. Although no official allegations were ever made, a cloud of suspicion followed Darrack everywhere.

A wide range of conspiracy theories surround the reasons for the errant nobleman’s disappearance. One rumour has it that he was involved as a go-between in secret negotiations between the Kingdom of Bereny and the Ra’is of the Kyrian city of Rasaiad, and vanished suddenly after being targeted by notorious Kyr-based assassin cult the Hyusarik because the Kyrian Imperial Court were displeased over the negotiations.

Another is that he absconded with a large sum of money from the trading company owned by his brother Garrick, which collapsed shortly afterwards.

The favourite among conspiracy theorists however is that he was part of a plot to assassinate King Mark to clear the path to the throne for King Dirk, and was either killed by his fellow conspirators to silence him, or fled to avoid this fate.

A high profile sighting in 516 involved a bearded man bearing a striking resemblance to Darrack living in a shack in Bordertown in Frontier and calling himself Dinsdale. Like Darrack he was a keen gambler and the sighting proved potentially credible. However the Darrack look-alike turned out to be Desmond Twerppsicorde, a former Crusader of Merl who had vanished in 512 shortly after paying a visit to collect taxes from Lichtenstein Abbey.

“Lord Darrack is alive,” conspiracy theory expert Dorkwell Eecke told the Bugle. “It is my firm belief that he is living in either Derwent or Kyr, or possibly the Frontier, or maybe on the Moon. He was secretly spirited out of the Kingdom from Torlia by arrangement with his father-in-law Uryen d’Agrillac, with the connivance of the Regent. And the reason - he was secretly the leader of the Red Scarf! Ha, see? It all makes complete sense now!”

Someone who hasn’t been offering such an opinion is Lord Darrack’s wife Baroness Farissa de’Torfane. The couple are rumoured to have been estranged even before the Baron’s disappearance. Baroness Farissa, some believe, was not convinced of Darrack’s innocence over the death of King Mark. Or maybe she grew tired of the his alleged philandering. Yet another theory to account for his abrupt disappearance is that she had him murdered, although it must be stressed that there is absolutely no evidence to believe such an allegation to be true. Just as there is no evidence to support the allegation that Darrack murdered King Mark.

So will the mysterious Darrack look-alike in Icehaunt turn out to be the man himself? On the track record of previous reports, the Bugle suspects not.