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CAN THE KING
‘SAVE THE WORLD’?
Dateline: 03-
The Royal expedition has ascended a ‘Ladder into the Sky’
Amid continuing reports of deterioration in the 'magical weave' said to be required to support the very fabric of existence, and continuing dire predictions as to the fate of the world itself, King Dirk's mission to 'Save the World' is proceeding. Some however are starting to wonder if it really knows where it is going.
The most obvious manifestation of the deterioration of the weave is the continuing ban on the use of teleportation magic. There are reports that some of those who have chosen to flout this Royal Edict have never arrived at their destination. There are however other more subtle manifestations, among them a claim that all attempts to divine the future are ending in failure (which has lead some soothsayers to conclude that this is because there is no future).
The Bugle can reveal that it was Duke Raven of Poldoon who was, at a royal banquet in Crownheart two years ago, the first to bring the danger of Total Weave Failure to the attention of the King, and it was on the advice of the Raven and of Lady Fea, the Royal Mage, that the King ventured into the extradimentional space of Safe Haven to find the Godstone. It is therefore especially worrying that one of those who have mysteriously disappeared recently is the Raven. This is despite the fact that even before the Royal Edict, he had noticeably eschewed the use of teleportation and had reverted to travelling by coach.
Since the King's return from Safe Haven, the focus of events has shifted to south western Bereny, where there have been reports (which the Bugle cannot at this time confirm) that whole areas of countryside have been periodically fading in and out of existence. Here the King and his entourage ascended a ladder into the sky.
A source close to the mission described to the Bugle what happened next. "The mission
tromped across four islands in the sky connected by Fae Portals, though the first
Fae Portal was trapped and everyone had to traverse a perilously narrow sky bridge
which did some funny right angled turns to get to the next sky island." It is believed
that it was at this point that Baroness Glaze Fierien, Bereny's most famous adventurer,
fell off the walkway and plunged to the ground far below -
"On the fourth and final sky island the group faced two mighty Summer Dragons," our source continued, "although with some of Bereny's greatest warriors there they didn't last long. And then they ran into an Ultimate Animate."
Ultimate Animates have only been encountered once before, as the Guardians of the Godstone in Safe Haven. It is speculated that their appearance is because they are pursuing King Dirk to reclaim the power that he stole from the Godstone. They are said to be nearly indestructible, and none had ever before been defeated; even in Safe Haven the King's group had to rely on evasion and retreat to escape them. However winged centaur Chaldan Ironhoof exploited his flying abilities to succeed in destroying one, and at least one other fell over the side of the sky island (unfortunately Baroness Glaze reported that it too survived its fall and is now roaming the Berenian countryside).
The mission has also had to contend with internal divisions, as the Vampire Council insisted on sending a contingent, lead by Count Hellstrom, to the presence of which many on the mission, particularly Glaze and those associated with the White Tower, vehemently objected. The argument became so heated that the King felt compelled to expressly forbid harm coming to any Vampire on the mission, for the whole duration of the mission.
Even more contentious has been the presence of a priestess called Mother Mary who
is seemingly in charge of six cloned vampires and is rumoured to be offering her
neck to all six to keep them fed. Although the King has officially dismissed the
rumours as to their origin as '"highly unlikely", for the anti-
It also seems that the mission is a lot less populous that when it first started out. "When the 'Saving the World' mission first started it was like a 'Who's Who' of Bereny," our source told us. "ALL the top adventurers appeared. But now? I think less than half of the original numbers have stayed the course." Some of this has been a result of casualties sustained, but others appear to have left to respond to emergencies elsewhere in the Kingdom, and others have just dropped out (literally in the case of Baroness Glaze).
There is also the question of exactly how the King is supposed to use the power taken from the Godstone to repair the weave, and a growing suspicion that even the King himself doesn't know the answer. "The godlike power of the Godstone is apparently sitting in Dirk's backpack incubating ..... and waiting," our source told us, "but no one still has any idea what you do with it. Dirk is hoping to speak to the Raven and find out what the hell he is meant to do with the damn thing."
So the objective of the mission may actually be at this time to find the Raven of Poldoon. It is perhaps significant that Baroness Glaze, the Raven's wife, has chosen to be here, rather than scouring the sewers of Poldoon for her missing husband.
When asked be the Bugle to comment as to progress of the King towards saving the World, his spokesman Lord Isander Whiteflame replied “No comment.”
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