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The Bereny Bugle
‘Blowing our horn for the People of Bereny’

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REFORMED GUILD STEPS

OUT OF THE SHADOWS

Dateline: 28-01-519

The organisation sometimes known as the Guild of Shadows, which many believed to have ceased to exist or at least to have disintegrated into a number of mutually hostile factions, seems to have returned into the mainstream of Berenian life. Notices have appeared in public places in all the Kingdom’s major cities and outside the doors of the Guild’s premises in dungeon courtyards announcing that the Guild is back in business and asking all members to report in.

Officially, the organisation is a guild of traders, working to further the needs of commerce and business in the Kingdom (specialising in insurance and commercial protection). Unofficially, it has long been known that it is an organisation of professional rogues and assassins. Its existence, and its status as a Crown-sanctioned guild, has been not only tolerated by the authorities but discretely encouraged as a bulwark against the infiltration of the rival Kyrian 'Hyuserik' assassin sect, around which all sorts of dark rumours relating to demon worship and evil powers have gathered.

Therefore when rumours surfaced a few years ago of a murderous war going on between rival factions within the guild, it caused some concern, exacerbated when one of the factions appeared to have formed a splinter organisation, which is believed to have been responsible for a series of murders and attempted murders of prominent nobles. Although no-one in official circles will admit it, the Bugle believes that the emergence of a strong new official leadership within the Guild must have had the support of the Crown authorities.

“The traitors are dead,” a gangland source told the Bugle. “The keys to the safe house are reclaimed. The Guild of Shadows is back in business.”

Which may not however have resulted in an end to the conflict between the official leadership and the so-called ‘splinters’. A recent upsurge in unsolved murders among those involved in commerce and trade in eastern Homeward has been attributed by our source to an attempt by the breakaway faction to create their own commercial power base. The Crown has privately told the Guild of Shadows that they will not tolerate this murderous spree and that the Guild needs to put their house in order, or the Crown will do it for them. According to our source, the Guild has mobilised its members to snuff out the ‘splinters’ for good.

More worryingly, our source has told us of rumours that what the Crown has always feared may have happened - the ‘splinters’ may have been infiltrated by the Hyuserik. Which means that this has become much more than a conflict between rival gangs of low-life thugs. It has implications for the security of the Kingdom.