They found her body just after third bell, when she failed to appear for the second round of grievance hearings. At first they assumed that the sorceress was sleeping, or meditating, and that disturbing her rest would bring down terrible wrath, but one of the more venturesome servants noticed that the blood staining her seat was not coming from a sacrifice she had made but rather from the small hole drilled neatly into her head. That servant died when he tried to examine the wound, frothing and drooling on the floor. Some said it was because of some lingering enchantment that had not yet failed with her death, but other, darker rumors whispered of the assassins of the Craftsmen's Guild in far-off Lomar, and spoke of resurrection darts and five-step poison in grim and hushed tones. No one knew who had done it, and thanks to the servant's death--either by the poison lingering on a killing arrow or by lingering ward--no one wanted to try their hand at figuring out how.
Welcome to Sav Altulas, once the capitol city of great and fabled Talidor, one of the three kingdoms that made up the Shattered Lands before the Zancharian Empire came and went, more than a thousand years ago. The city has gone through some rough stages since then, lying in ruin for a time before being found and rebuilt into the pit of refugees and decadent, bandit-bred nobility that it is today. It was, until very recently, ruled by Burgravet Desoui, a sorceress that everyone thought was immortal. They were, very recently, proven wrong. Desoui is dead, murdered by gods alone know who, and the power-hungry people of this ancient city are showing their true colors once again. For the first time in a hundred years, the natural-born conspirators of Sav Altulas are not held in check by the fear of magical wrath, and when the dust settles only one will rise above the nest of vipers to claim the now-empty throne.
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Turn 1 Begins
Events:
Death of the Sorceress.
Rumors:
The warlord Agia Lonecutter has posted a bounty of [2 WEL] for the head of Skeeve Redeye, infamous serial killer currently at large in the Shattered Lands, for what he did to her father and brothers.
The Illarym Empire has posted a bounty of [4 WEL] for the head of Skeeve Redeye, also known as the Dollmaker, the Poisoner and the Bloody Eye, for the crimes of murder, arson, black magic and criminal depravity.
Rumors persist of revolution in the Imperial South; they say that the Lead Prophet has been seen once again, stirring the people into a frenzy with his words.
Open war has broken out between the warlords Cord Witchbrother and Maximilian Greeves.
It is said that the wizard Logos the Dreamer has joined the court of the warlord Sakel-Doge.
Two men who disappeared in the Frostcap neighborhood several weeks ago were found in Old Jack's Run with all of the blood drained out of them and splashed about the alleyway they were discovered in.
Various gangs, cults and secret societies are stirring, eager to seize what they can from the chaos that they believe will follow the death of Burgravet Desoui.
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A new day dawns over the old city. Wake up, my friends; there is much to do.