Sharn Inquisitive

News for Rhaan 22nd, 998

Cliffside Lift Operators Warned to Return to Work

“If you don’t get back to work tomorrow, you’ll learn a painful lesson about your own selfishness,” Koonrick said on Sar afternoon. “We will not have Sharn’s sea commerce held captive by agitators who aren’t satisfied with an honest wage for hard work.”

Koonrick’s comments follow a march and demonstration on Far by hundreds of lift and crane operators through the Grayflood and northern Ship’s Towers districts.

The operators are demanding higher wages from their employers. Many of the lift operators are city workers, while the operators of the massive cranes are employed by a cartel of stevedore companies with links to Houses Orien and Lyrandar.

Lower Dura councilor Ilyra Boromar said he’d hear grievances from the lift operators but said returning to work was a necessary precondition for talks. Koonrick struck a more strident tone, saying the stevedore cartels would take “whatever actions are necessary” to get the cranes running again.

“Let’s not kid ourselves: People are going to start going hungry in Sharn because these fools won’t unload ships full of food,” he said. “With their greed and selfishness, the crane operators are going to turn the whole city against them.”

The crane and lift operators vowed another march tomorrow and said lift operators across the city will walk off the job in solidarity.

“What kind of ham-handed threat is this?” said crane operator Breen Wallak. “The city is behind us—we’ve been under the thumb of the profiteers for too long.”

The cheering crowds during Far’s march are proof that “the ordinary working citizen of Sharn stands behind us,” he said.

While Grayflood’s cranes have remained still for two days, ships are still being loaded and unloaded in southern Ship’s Towers. Most of House Lyrandar’s elemental galleons have been docking there for the last month, a shift one Lyrandar captain said was unrelated to the current dispute.

News for Rhaan 22nd, 998

Dream Serpent Hides Become Fashion for Caravan Dancers

The green and silver capes have swept across masquerade balls and formal dances across southern Khorvaire, with some exclusive events barring entry to dancers garbed in mere silk, satin or starweave.

“There’s just something about the way the silver flashes during a double-swirl—it makes the entire dance more elegant,” said Lahana ir’Yeshri, a noted caravan dancer. “And during the more vigorous parts of the dance, the green scales on the cape take on a luminous quality.”

The dream serpent capes first became popular when explorers returning from Xen’drik sold a large quantity of hides to Chandri Thomm, a Korranberg seamstress.

Acquiring more dream serpent hides has proven difficult, however, because the poisonous creatures are exceedingly dangerous and because the drow elves native to Xen’drik regard explorers from Khorvaire as poachers. Existing Thomm-labeled capes have fetched soaring prices as they’re passed from noble to noble.

Several Zilargan clothiers plan expeditions to Xen’drik in the coming weeks to capture enough dream serpents to bring back to Khorvaire for breeding.

News for Barrakas 8th, 998

Forward Sora Kell Petition to Thronehold, Karrnathi Ambassador Says

“With each passing year, conditions improve in Droaam,” she said. “While the nation of Karrnath continues to have important differences with the Daughters of Sora Kell, it’s increasingly apparent that they have de facto control of the region.”

Within the last month, capitals across Khorvaire have received missives bearing the seal of Sora Katra, one of the trio of hags that rules Droaam.

The exact contents of each letter aren’t known, but those received by Breland and Aundair sought advantageous trade terms and a dramatic reduction in standing armies in western Khorvaire.

The Karrnathi crown also received a communiqué from the Sora Katra, ir’Hauptroch said. Its contents are still under consideration and remain under royal seal.

But based on the Breland and Aundair letters, court watchers believe that Droaam is asking for terms that would functionally make it a Treaty of Thronehold nation, subject to all the treaty’s rights and strictures.

In 993, the Daughters of Sora Kell unsuccessfully petitioned to be part of the talks that eventually led to the Treaty of Thronehold. At the time, Karrnath objected that the hags weren’t truly ruling a nation-state. Other nations had their own reasons for denying the Sora Kell petitions; Brelish soldiers were fighting Droaam’s gnoll and giant armies at the time, so Breland never even acknowledged the hags’ diplomatic effort.

Droaam’s current efforts are being viewed more favorably, although ir’Hauptroch was clear to point out that the Karrnathi crown hasn’t advanced an opinion on closer relations with Droaam—merely that the recent missives deserve careful consideration. The diplomatic corps in Thrane and Breland are said to remain suspicious of Droaam’s overtures.

Actually adding Droaam to the Treaty of Thronehold would require the presence of existing signatories’ ambassadors on the island of Thronehold. No such summit has been scheduled, ir’Hauptroch said.

Hannuri d’Tharashk, a dragonshard prospector whose livelihood often takes him to southern Droaam, said there may be another reason for the diplomatic overtures: famine.

“A lot of the population relies on livestock as a food source, but this spring a lot of animals were born weakened and lame,” he said. “The gnolls call it urrakhnoon—the purple spots. The animals develop these bruises that make it too painful to stand.”

With its livestock herds thus depleted, Droaam may be seeking imports from the breadbaskets of Breland and Aundair, he said.

News for Barrakas 8th, 998

Feathered Serpents Seen Writhing Above Sharn

Eyewitnesses saw the creatures shortly afternoon in the vicinity of Zellek’s Spire, the long-abandoned home of a former court wizard who entered the Mournland shortly after the Day of Mourning in search of his daughter. Neither has been seen since.

With their brilliant wing plumage, the two couatls quickly attracted a crowd. Over the course of the next three hours, they flew above the Clifftop streets, sometimes too fast for the eye to follow, sometimes hovering in midair.

“It made me wish I had wings,” said Looran Prallovek, a fruit cart vendor on Kuresh Street. “I just couldn’t take my eyes off them—it was if the air was solid like the ground.”

Morgrave University professor of xenoanthropology Guriam Jenn said that the couatls were likely undertaking the Ritual of Gav-Hauranazh, a complex social ritual that confers elder status on a particularly noteworthy couatl. While Jenn was not a witness to the display on Zol, he saw a Ritual of Gav-Hauranazh performed in Qbarra that matches eyewitness descriptions.

But noted Xen’drik explorer Mallan Yorna, a witness to the couatls, offered a different explanation. “A social ritual? Maybe,” he said. “But what I saw had a recreational component to it, if you catch my drift.”

News for Barrakas 8th, 998

Aundair Army Captures Rebel Leader

Amleerin, a member of the mysterious Ashbound sect, has been wanted by Aundair’s border patrols for eight months following a series of raids across the Wynarn River northeast of Lake Galifar.

Throughout the spring and summer, villages have been reduced to smoldering ruins with a distinctive glowing sigil inscribed in the trunk of a nearby tree.

The attacks reached their apex in Nymm, when the village of Jarran in the hills south of Windshire was burned to the ground, killing more than 200 residents. Authorities were unable to determine why none of the residents fled from the flames. All were found in their residences, as if they succumbed in their sleep.

Amleerin was captured after a pitched battle on the banks of the Wynarn River. An Aundair border patrol unit cordoned off the area after independent scouts working for the Aundair military reported contact with Amleerin and a small band of marauders.

“These brave soldiers slowly drew the cordon closer, fighting back escape efforts from the arsonists and murderers,” an army staff proclamation read. “In the end, Amleerin had no choice but to stand on the banks of the River Wynarn and surrender to the justice of Aundair.”

Unconfirmed reports from the Eldeen Reaches suggest that the Wardens of the Wood were also hunting down Amleerin for attacks on hamlets on the western side of the Wynarn River.

Amleerin will transported under heavy guard to Fairhaven, where he’ll be tried for multiple counts of arson, murder, and related crimes.

When I first spoke to the Morgrave board, I hid the details I share with you now. I did this not from malice, nor even from fear that I would be ridiculed, but rather because I could not bear to revisit the horrors I had seen beneath the merciless Menechtarun sands. I force myself to revisit them now only in the hopes that in so doing, I can prevent any fools from following in our footsteps and sharing the fate of my fallen friends.

We’d made camp in the upper floor of the tower, for thousands of years of shifting sand had left that as the easiest point of entry. We were surrounded by cyclopean bones, and I found myself facing the empty gaze of a skull taller than I was. Melanora questioned how these grim remnants could linger for so long, but I dismissed it as the remarkable effect of the exceptionally dry climate. If only I had given more thought to this matter, Melanora might still be with us today. Instead she lies lost beneath the basalt towers, trapped in hideous service to the ancient powers that dwell in the darkness.

For the full text of Professor Talbridge’s terrifying account, pick up the latest issue of the Sharn Inquisitive!

News for Lharvion 22nd, 998

Tornadoes Emerge From Mournland

The tornadoes appeared during sunny, cloudless weather, heading west toward Sterngate and through the hills south of New Cyre. Unlike weather-related tornadoes, these Mournland tornadoes often remain stationary for hours at a time, then lurch forward without warning. They move only during the daytime.

Thus far, they’ve only menaced some farms and small thorps. But all of Eastern Breland worries that the tornadoes will continue to move east and threaten more heavily populated areas.

“We’re used to all sorts of strange things coming out of the Mournland,” said Sterngate-area farmer Nezberro Lallick. “But we’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve got riders that watch the borders for monsters and the like, but these cyclones aren’t like zombies or whatever crawls out of the Mournland.”

“How can you fight off a tornado? It turned my barn into kindling,” he said.

A proclamation from Prince Oargev ir’Wynarn reported the dispatch of New Cyran cavalry to the vicinity of the cyclones. Sages are being consulted for further countermeasures, the proclamation said.

News for Lharvion 22nd, 998

Thrane Promises Return of Minnarek Friezes

The twelve friezes, which depict in bas-relief torch-bearing men on horseback, are considered some of the best examples of pre-Galifaran sculpture. Nearly 2,000 years old, they were originally created by the blind sculptor Minnarek as a tribute to Karrn the Conquerer and decorated a shrine in Hatheril that commemorated Karrn’s victory in the Battle of Brey.

In 959, Thrane soldiers removed the friezes from the Hatheril shrine because their subject matter included torch flames. The friezes were taken to Flamekeep, where they remained on display until the signing of the Treaty of Thronehold two years ago.

“All of Thrane hopes that the restoration of these friezes can mark a new stage in our relations with Breland,” ir’Laisha said. “Now that the war is over, a lot of these artistic treasures, swept up in the winds of war, can be returned to their rightful owners.”

Thrane is eager to establish a commission with artists and historians from all of the Thronehold signatories to establish procedures for the return of national treasures, she said.

“We’ve made our views on artistic heritage well known, and now that Khorvaire is at peace, we’ll push more strongly for all nations to return objects of artistic and cultural relevance. Karrnath’s continued custody of the Gorith Handmaiden Tryptych, for example, continues to sadden the hearts of art lovers everywhere,” she said.

News for Lharvion 22nd, 998

Karrnathi Laborers Make Grisly Find

Each skull found over the course of the last two weeks has had a three-inch circular hole carved in the center of the forehead. The rest of the skeletons had no unusual markings.

Nearly one-third of the 400 laborers have walked off the job, said foreman Jerrit Alpach.

“It’s a bit better now that we’re working further north, but for a while last week you would find one of these skeletons every ten minutes or so,” he said. You’d turn over a spadeful of earth, and there’d be a three-eyed skull staring up at you.”

Preliminary divination magic performed on the site indicated that the skulls were buried there shortly before the start of the Last War. Priests of the Blood of Vol have taken custody of the skulls for further study.

Nearby residents recall no unusual disappearances or murders during the time when the skulls would have been buried.

The cliffs south of Vurgenslye have long been locally known for their frequent, treacherous mudslides. The regrade effort is a massive undertaking to turn the cliffs into a gentle, farmable slope leading down to Scions Sound.

News for Lharvion 22nd, 998

Council Aspirant Says Midnight Battery Was ‘No Doubt’ Politically Motivated

SHARN—Gandrall Nurri, campaigning to replace Thurik Davandi as the Upper Menthis represenative on the Sharn Council, said on Sar that there was “no doubt” that his severe beating in front of an upscale Menthis restaurant last week was politically.

“Sharn politics is what it is, and I’ve been around long enough to not be surprised that my political enemies would resort to thuggery,” he said from the balcony of his Platinate home. “But I also know that you only use violence when you’re losing the battle of ideas. And that’s what I’m waging: a campaign of ideas.”

Nurri hopes to be named councilor for Upper Menthis on the 9th of Rhaan, and he’s been speaking publicly in the district nearly every day for the last month. Crowd reaction to his “Clean Up Sharn” platform has been mixed.

Three dark-garbed assailants attacked Nurri last Zor as he was departing Galdin’s Garden, a popular restaurant in the Seventh Tower district of Upper Menthis. Nurri was thrown from a nearby bridge, but managed to cling to a buttress until passersby rescued him. Nurri’s attackers are still at large.

Davandi denied any connection with the attack on Nurri.

“Ultimately, it’s for Upper Menthis to decide whether I’m an effective voice for their interests,” he said. “I think if you look at what we’ve done lately—new bridges in Den’iyas, stronger City Watch patrols in Platinate and Seventh Tower, and steady funding for Morgrave University—I think it’s clear that Upper Menthis is in good hands.”

News for Lharvion 22nd, 998

"War Widow" Land Grant Lottery Set for 28th of Barrakas

FAIRHAVEN—Queen Aurala has set a date for the long-anticipated land-grant lottery: the 28th of Barrakas.

A court decree on Far set a date and drawing procedure for the lottery, set to take place at noon in Fairhold’s Vermillion Pavilion. But the decree noted that some eligibility requirements for specific land parcels are still under review, leaving unclear who’ll be able to place lots for some of the more sought-after properties.

Although it’s widely referred to as the “war widow” lottery, only some parcels are designated specifically for widows of soldiers who fell in Aundair’s service during the Last War. Preliminary drafts of the lottery parcel list have shown a wide array of eligibility requirements. Many parcels will be given to those with relatives lost in the Last War, while others are set aside for Aundair’s veterans. Most of the prime parcels have additional requirements of noble title, sometimes of specific families living nearby.

While the crown decree takes pains to point out the Queen’s generosity in giving away large tracts of land, the land-grant lottery is expected to fill Aundair’s coffers in the long-term. Many of the parcels in the lottery are crumbling, vacant castles with significant upkeep costs and no arable land nearby. Once removed from the crown’s rolls, the land parcels become taxable property once again. Thus the crown is both spared upkeep and may garner revenue from the land-grant lottery.

The land-grant lottery was originally scheduled for last month, but has been twice delayed as Aundairian courts adjudicated claims from distant relatives and other parties seeking to keep specific parcels out of the lottery. In many cases, ownership of a parcel fell to the crown when its owner died in the war and no inheritor was available. But once a parcel appears on the list for the lottery, “second cousins, secret wives, and every con artist in Aundair have come out of the woodwork” to make an ownership claim, said one magistrate speaking on condition of anonymity.

News for Nymm 8th, 998

Key Advisor to Crown Retires

WROAT—Count Narvian ir’Turlendess, a trusted advisor to King Boranel on diplomatic and military matters, has retired to his family estate in southern Breland, the court announced on Zul.

Narvian was among the Breland court’s strongest inclusionist voices, arguing that even Breland’s enemies should be signatories to the Treaty of Thronehold and various side agreements.

Inclusionists often quote his “Marra Won’t Come Home” speech before the Breland Parliament in 995. Throughout the speech, ir’Turlendess spoke movingly of his daughter Marra, captured and executed by Sora Kell forces in 987. But despite his loss, ir’Turlendess said, Droaam should be included in Thronehold negotiations. Barring negotiations with other nations, “no matter how repulsive,” would be counterproductive and won’t bring his daughter back. Though his arguments failed to persuade the crown, ir’Turlendess remained an influential figure at court throughout the Thronehold negotiations.

“Narvian’s voice was always clear and wise, and his eyes were always focused on what was best for Breland,” said King Boranel in a crown decree that accompanied the announcement. “It is with great sadness that I watch him depart Wroat, and I’ll miss his honest, well-reasoned advice.”

Narvian ir’Turlendess learned statecraft as a regional representative to the Ministry of the Exchequer in 960, charged with advocating for southwest Breland’s landowners on taxation issues. In 971 he received his first major appointment within the ministry and spent most of the 980s as the crown’s chief advisor on military funding issues. His role expanded to include diplomatic responsibilities near the Last War’s end; he was Breland’s representative to the Thronehold working group tasked with gradually drawing down the armies of the signatory nations.

Since the end of the Last War, ir’Turlendess acted as an unofficial ambassador to parts of Khorvaire that the Treaty of Thronehold didn’t grant nation-state status to, such as Droaam and the Cyran refugees.

The crown is widely expected to confer a significant honorary title upon Narvian ir’Turlendess during its month-end proclamation.

News for Nymm 8th, 998

Last Starwind Sailor Dies at 184

STORMHOME—Corvin d’Lyrandar, the last surviving member of the famed Starwind airship voyage, died on Zor surrounded by family at his residence in Stormhome. He was 184.

One of the fourteen crew members that returned with the battered airship in 814 YK, d’Lyrandar later served his house throughout the Last War, eventually captaining the Countess Karlia, an elemental galleon that plied the Bitter Sea. He retired from the seas when the Last War ended, family members said.

But his fame was set when the badly listing Starwind reappeared over the skies of Sharn in 841. The Starwind was believed lost at sea after a hurricane struck the western coast of Khorvaire in 839.

But Captain Tessian d’Lyrandar told a wondrous tale of his airship being sucked into a vortex leading to strange lands beyond Eberron. Fictionalized versions of Tessian’s logbook started turning up shortly after the Starwind’s return, becoming something of a literary genre unto themselves in the mid-850s.

The actual logbooks remain under lock and key with House Lyrandar, but public statements from Tessian indicate that the Starwind visited multiple lands of “surpassing strangeness” and also visited each of Eberron’s known continents, if only briefly.

Captain Tessian d’Lyrandar died in battle with pirates in 880. His will included extensive provisions for splitting the “recovered booty of the Starwind voyage.” Responding to hundreds of inquiries from treasure-seekers, House Lyrandar elders said that the Starwind’s hold was empty when it returned. Furthermore, the airship’s logs gave no indication of a discovered treasure.

Asked about Tessian’s will last year, Corvin d’Lyrandar dismissed it as “Just a joke. There’s no ‘treasure of Starwind,’ that’s for sure. We saw a lot of strange things, but nothing that would make us rich. In any case, the House would get the treasure, not us.”

With no direct descendants, Corvin d’Lyrandar’s estate will be auctioned within the House next month.

News for Nymm 8th, 998

Rivals ir’Tannak and ir’Lann Join Forces for Attainder Bill

WROAT—An unlikely alliance between bitter political foes Kurlo ir’Tannak and Hansa ir’Lann means that the Silver Lake Attainder Decree is likely to pass Parliament by month’s end.

“Never let it be said that the Tannak family will put personality before what’s good for Breland,” ir’Tannak said. “The merits of this decree are beyond question, and I’ll be proud to cast my vote for it.

“Let the past stay where it is,” said ir’Lann in a rare speech before Parliament. “Bury the past with all the honor that you bury the bravest soldier, but then march onward and carry the day for Breland.”

While their speeches on Wir sounded common themes, the pair have oratorical styles as opposite as their previous positions. Kurlo ir’Tannak’s speech alternated between fiery rhetoric against “enemies of Breland, foreign and domestic” and folksy appeals for support from his “lords and brothers.” Hansa ir’Lann’s quavering voice could barely be heard in the upper galleries—a reason why most of his legislative work is done behind the scenes.

If ir’Tannak and ir’Lann both vote in favor of the attainder decree, it will mark the first time they’ve ever cast their votes together, excepting strictly ceremonial decrees. As recently as last year, ir’Tannak accused ir’Lann of treason and ir’Lann called ir’Tannak “an unrepentant drunkard” in the wake of the controversial High Seas Accords.

Their rivalry predates their postwar service in Parliament. It’s widely believed that ir’Tannak and ir’Lann engaged in fisticuffs in the middle of the Battle of Red Creek in 979, when both were colonels under legendary General Bollandar, separately sent to seize a key bridge. Records of the incident remain sealed, and given the folkloric quality of the tale, its veracity remains unknown.

If passed by Parliament and signed by King Boranel, the attainder decree would mandate the forfeiture of property belonging to 14 family estates along the southern shore of Silver Lake. Those families, citing Thrane advances along the northern front, refused to send manor guards to break a Droaamite siege of Six Kings in 988.

Ownership of the estates would pass to the crown.

News for Nymm 8th, 998

'Dragonslayer' Sniper Claims Sixth Victim

SHARN—The mysterious crossbow sniper known to the City Watch as the “Dragonslayer” shot and killed a high-ranking member of House Kundarak on Far night, then posted handbills taunting the inability of the authorities to stop the sniper attacks.

The attack, made at dusk as the victim left a restaurant on Bruneau Street in Korranath, bore the hallmarks of previous attacks: a single magic crossbow bolt shot from a great distance and a corona of fire around the victim that scorches the ground, leaving a black outline around the corpse.

The name of the victim, an elderly male dwarf, was unavailable at press time.

Watch Commander Belew Yorgan expressed confidence that the Dragonslayer would soon be brought to justice, either by the city watch or by House Deneith’s Sentinel Marshals.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the sensational details of these crimes and miss the important point: That this guy is a cold-blooded murderer too cowardly to face his victims,” he said. “We have a number of promising leads, and I think the next handbill you read will be the one announcing his execution date.”

The Dragonslayer has been touting his prowess with handbills and pamphlets that appear after each murder. Last night was no exception; handbills scattered across the Tradefair district criticized House Kundarak lending practices and taunted authorities.

“I am around every corner and atop every roof,” said one handbill acquired by the Sharn Inquisitive. “Neither the jackboot stooges of Sharn’s corpulent councilors nor the brutes-for-coin in the pay of the incestuous dragontainted houses will ever catch me.”

Harrina Thandalask, a sergeant in the watch’s Blackened Book division, said that the handbills are being posted along crowded thoroughfares by someone using an unseen servant spell. Such magic makes it difficult to apprehend whomever’s distributing the handbills, she said.

“People don’t notice the handbills going up right away, and when someone gets curious, the so-called Dragonslayer or a confederate just drops the spell and slips away,” she said.

The Dragonslayer’s victims have been spread across the city. They include:

• Ilya d’Cannith, killed Nymm 2 in Ashblack.
• Endari d’Tharashk, killed Dravago 20 in the Clifftop district.
• Lasca d’Ghallanda, killed Dravago 17 in the North Market district.
• Chenni d’Jorasco, killed Dravago 11 in Seventh Tower.
• Torlak d’Sivis, killed Dravago 4 in the Callestan district. While the crime scene bore many similarities to subsequent Dragonslayer attacks, no handbills have ever appeared claiming responsibility for the attack.