The Bereny Bugle

Headlines || Archive Index || Letters || Funny Page || Horoscope || Quiz || About the Bugle || Search || Madhouse

ARCHIVE INDEX

- YEAR 515

FOR LATEST NEWS SEE HEADLINES.

The
Archive

Next Archive Page

Previous Archive Page

VETERAN BUGLE REPORTER KILLED NEAR HELL’S DEEP

Dateline: 25-6-517

A veteran journalist working for the Bereny Bugle has been murdered while investigating the current whereabouts of Uryen d'Agrillac, the notorious outlaw baron.

Journalist Bob Woodward was investigating claims that forces loyal to Uryen were threatening traffic on the road running from Torlia to Red Mountain Keep, and while travelling on the road just to the west of Hell's Deep he was accosted by six men describing themselves as militia. Despite clearly identifying himself as a member of the press and offering no threat to them, they attacked and killed him.

An organisation calling itself ‘The Popular Front for the Liberation of Bereny’ claimed responsibility for the murder, describing Woodward as a “lackey, class traitor, and mouthpiece of the usurper Dirk Steadfast”. The PFLB is believed to be the latest incarnation of Uryen’s rebel army, and in recent communications Uryen has adopted titles such as ‘Leader of the Free Berenian Peoples Movement’.

The Crown appears to agree and the King personally called on his ‘loyal adventurers’ to bring Uryen to justice, repeating his offer of a bounty of 5,000gp from his own purse for Uryen's head. This is in addition to a reward of 25,000gp offered by the White Tower.

According to the PFLB statement, they will only allow passage on the the road in return for a fee of 50gp and an oath of allegiance to ‘Free Bereny’. The King described this as “a clear threat to travel and trade”.

However Uryen recently boasted that his forces had ambushed and destroyed a unit of Royal Rangers in the area, so far from having been decisively put down by the Crown, the d'Agrillac rebellion appears to have simply moved to another part of Bereny.

Interestingly, although the language being used by the PFLB is very reminiscent of that used by the Red Scarf, that organisation has publicly distanced itself from Uryen and his followers, rejecting their overtures of alliance.

“We of the Red Scarf don't and won’t ally ourselves with no rebel nobles”, said a statement from its leader ‘Brother Alfie’, although his reasons seemed to be more because he didn’t trust Uryen to keep any bargain than out of any fundamental objection to the overthrow of the Kingdom.

Bob Woodward was one of the Bugle's longest-serving journalists and was a familiar sight in the Torlia area. He had previously reported on the Derwentian refugee camps, and for his coverage of the Falcone Insurrection he won Queen Juliette's Award for Journalism, the prestigious ‘Julitzer’ prize.