-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

TABLE OF CONTENTS

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

QUIET MYLYWYTH GOES OUT IN A CLATTER OF HOOVES

As it seems to be the case that Mylywyth goes in Fits and Spurts, with one Yeare exhibiting a veritable Panoply of Spooks, Ghouls, Demonic Entities, and other nightmarish supernatural Beasties, and the next bringing little more than a desultory Trickle of Zombies lackadaisically shambling about the Trade-routes, it may come as no great Surprize that, after last Yeare's grand parade of invisible Ghost-children, grotesque patchwork Wubwuv-constructs, and gargantuan Pumpkin-monsters, this present Yeare's Mylywyth should be a relative Sanctum of Peace and Harmony.

While it is true that the usual zombified Beasts did as expected haul their rotting Corpses from whatever mouldering road-side Ditch whence they customarily appear, and that Creatures struck Dead during this time produced the same sorts of vengeful hungering Spectres which adventurers are well accustomed to their doing, and that indeed a small Army of raggle-taggle Revenants even saw fit to shamble forth from the Graveyards to harass hapless Travelers west of Kemstead Village, and in general to defy all previous months' measures of keeping said hapless Travelers safe from unwonted Peril on their Journeys, still these are no more than the commoner sorts of hum-drum Horrors that one comes to accept as a usual part of the yearly Round of Kessian life, if not in fact a cherished Kolbre Tradition.

Another such cherished Tradition of the Season, though it took such a time for them to arrive that Mylywyth itself had but a Daye remaining to it when their long awaited Waggons at last rumbled into Never, was the annual assembling of the great Faire, which is always eagerly anticipated even by the most jaded of Mylywyth Veterans. And in fact it was no lazy Laggardness on the part of the Faire-workers that was responsible for their arrival so much later in the Month than usual, for Hear-say around the Faire told that they had found themselves Harried all along their way by some manner of supernatural Terror typical for the Season in its Harrowing and violent Character, but unusual for the Persistence of its Efforts against these poor Men and Women. While it sadly proved impossible to obtain further Detail of these Harassments from the Faire-workers themselves, it seems not unlikely that such were of the same nature as some most peculiar Hauntings that were later witnessed on the night of Vos'Siddix itself, a short time after that dark daye itself had actually ended, and the month of Plade was but a few Minutes old.

As might be expected, a small Crowd had gathered at the Faire-grounds of Never on this night of the 31st of Kolbre, as the tents and Waggons of the Faire had not even been up for the whole of that daye, and all were eager to see what marvelous Wares might be offered for Sale there this yeare. However, there were additional Considerations besides the usual Lure of exotic goods and shiny Trinkets that caused some Persons to congregate in this spot, these being the strange Rumors mentioned above concerning some unknown additional Oddity besides those usual to the Season, and this being drawn somehow to the Faire itself. It was largely on Account of these troubling Tales that such Conscientious individuals as Sir Ashinara De'Alera had stationed themselves in the Vicinity, its being speculated that, if anything very Horrific were to take place as usual this Vos'Siddix, this would occur in Never-Upon-Vinre rather than in Kaezar, which must be noted is quite a departure from the usual state of Affairs since in all the ten Yeares that this Reporter has witnessed, Vos'Siddix has ever seemed to be a plague designed specifically to torment the Denizens of the Capital city of this Kingdom.

But despite all such Precautions the entire Daye seemed poised to pass off in complete Peace, and Mylywyth to exit quietly from the Scene for the Yeare, when all of a sudden some few minutes past Midnight there came a strange Noise rustling through the Faire-grounds, sounding something like the Gusting of the Wind through a multitude of dried and shivering Leaves. This noise, while it might have been quite unremarkable when heard in the middle of a leaf-strewn Woode, seemed strangely ominous in the midst of a busy Faire-ground quite devoid of Trees or Shrubbery of any variety, and it was upon becoming aware of this Sound that one's attention was drawn also to a hollow clopping of Hooves, though no Beasts appeared that might produce it. As the eerie wind rose nearly to a Gale and then as abruptly died away again to utter Stillness, there then floated onto the Scene the extraordinary Spectre pictured below:

[ Captured in the stark edge between shadow and moonlight, the eerie spectre in this woodblock print appears to hover over the crushed shell road that leads past a stately turreted mansion in the background. Humpbacked and curvetting beneath a tattered shroud of once fine embroidery that glints with mismatched bits of metal, a disembodied horse's skull seems to float, jutting from beneath the edge of a deeply cowled hood. Its jaw hinged with massive silver rivets, the skull is a strange shiny-looking black, and its sockets burn with odd pomegranate-like orbs housing bulging eyes resembling faceted seeds. The hem of the shroud appears to drift lazily, never quite touching the ground beneath, and affords a glimpse of iron-shod skeletal hooves.

The caption to the illustration describes the subject as "The Mysterious Horse-Spectre of the Mylywyth Faire". ]

The bystanders had time to do little more than Gape at the strange Entity as it drifted past in eerie Silence, and vanished off down the street, and upon recovering they were unable to rediscover the Creature's whereabouts for some time. In the course of their searching they instead encountered a number of mischievous Pumpkin-jacks, those most peculiar vegetative Villains that accompanied last Mylywyth's giant Pumpkin-Monstrosity, and which are more typically to be found haunting the corn-fields south of Kaezar. These particular Pumpkin-jacks, however, were like last year's Minions possessed of significantly greater Strength than the usual Farmstead variety, though still the courageous Defenders of Never were not hard-pressed to reduce them to a heap of vines and Pulp.

[ Providing backdrop for a tall podium that has been draped with a fringed silk scarf is a garishly painted wagon that sits near the center of this print from a camera obscura. Oddly-shaped bottles share space with all types of unusual items on a low table that has been set up in front of the dais. Well-lit from the interior, a canvas tent shines like a bright beacon in this section of the bazaar, lending a cheerful contrast to the small-scale skirmish being waged in the foreground of the scene. Grouped around a leering pumpkin jack and positively bristling with impressive weaponry are Sir Ashinara, Defender Miraklin, Mareschal Marian of the Kessian Medical Society, and Rollo, while the vendor Leesev stands by offering what must surely be immensely encouraging moral support from the safety of the space behind his table.

A caption set beneath the print descends swiftly into wanton alliteration as it labels the scene "Never's Protectors Put Paid to Pesky Pumpkins." ]

After some time of weeding Pumpkin-monsters from the general vicinity of the Faire, and the completion of several fruitless Circuits about the town in which nothing else Untoward was discovered, the brave defenders of Never finally succeeded in once again stumbling upon the bizarre Horse-spook as it wafted its way about the neighborhood of Upson Downs. Though a conscientious attempt was made to address the Spectre in quite civil Tones inquiring into its Nature and Purpose in this place, the taciturn creature seemed very determined to ignore all of them and float its way Heedlessly onward, until Sir De'Alera made a sudden attempt to detain it by grabbing at the Hem of its shroud, at which point the Spirit, evidently Vexed by such familiarity with its Person, promptly began flinging balls of greenish Essence at all those who had endeavored with such uncharacteristic Peaceableness to avoid any unnecessary Hostilities with it.

It was a pitched Battle that followed, but indeed none so Dire as had been engaged in during many a Vos'Siddix past, or indeed on other of innumerable Occasions on which the long-suffering Residents of Kessia have been thrown into Mortal combat with some variety of strange supernatural Menace whose continual Manifestation makes up part of the shared Experience of life in our fair Kingdom. This being the case, it seemed the group of brave Adventurers were poised to bring the Spectre down like so many before it, and vanquish it utterly, when, in all Defiance of previous Mylywyth hauntings, which have possessed the Decency and Self-respect to see through what they have started and fight onward even to their inevitable Demise, this Horse-spectre proved itself a quite different sort of Creature, and of a sudden turned and fled precipitately off into the Faire, whence it once again vanished and no amount of Searching could discover it.

In light of this unprecedented outcome there was much Speculation in the hours and Dayes following, not only regarding the nature and Identity of the strange Spook, but also whether it might return to trouble the Faire again at some later time, and if it had in fact been the Entity responsible for harrying the Faire-workers so sorely on their long Journey. However, regarding this point it has proven impossible to prize any additional Details free from the close-mouthed people of the Faire, who seem so reluctant to speak of their recent Troubles, and so the populace of Kessia is left again, as so often, simply to wait and wonder.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

KING DEPARTS KESSIA TO WAGE ORCISH CAMPAIGN

It was on the 24th Daye of Dien that His Majesty King Vek called an Audience to address the subjects of his Realm concerning certain weighty Topics that he felt must necessarily be of deep Interest to them in the coming Weeks and Months. A substantial Crowd of curious Citizens gathering at Eight Bells past Noon in the Throne-room of Malcomb Castle to hear their Sovereign speak, they found their interest and anxiety Piqued to no small degree by the announcement that, the Talone armies having borne quite heavily upon Wessumbria in months past, to the point where two whole Cities in that Kingdom had been sacked by the vicious Orcish forces, members of both the Royal and Noble families of Kessia had themselves been called upon to fight in the service of the Imperium in defense of its threatened Borders.

It was reported to those assembled at the Castle that His Majesty King Ulraig of Wessumbria, being so hard pressed by the Talone as described, had begged aid of the Emperor, Anthemian himself, who in turn had resolved to call upon such Forces as he could summon from throughout the Imperium, and from thence direct them to whatever place their Service was deemed most essential. His Majesty King Vek properly noting that it is the Duty of all Men of noble Blood to serve, "from petty Lords to Kings alike," he then announced his plans to go forth to the Imperial Capital of Penthras in response to the Emperor's Summons, where all those who had answered the call to Duty would lay the plans for a Crusade against the vile Talone.

Moreover, this departure was to take place but two dayes hence, that being the 26th Daye of Dien, when the King and all his chosen Entourage would set forth in all Haste for Penthras. King Vek reassured those present that providing for the defense and Security of his Kingdom during his imminent Absence was a matter uppermost in his Mind, and advised them that the continued Safety of the Realm would be seen to by those Knights whose job it was to safeguard the land and its People at all times, the newest among these, the former Captain of the Royal Guard Ashinara De'Alera, having only just been raised to this esteemed Post earlier this very night. To carry out the responsible Supervision of the State and its many Functions, His Majesty did appoint as Regent of Kessia for the duration of his Absence, his Cousin Lord Corvin McVahl, son of the late Lord Benton McVahl whose sad Death shocked everyone a Yeare ago.

However, it has now been some Months since His Majesty made his departure for the Wessumbrian Front, and so far as this Publication is aware, no official Word has been received concerning the general Progress of the Campaign, the disposition of the Royal and Imperial Forces, or the sanctity of His Majesty's Person. While it has been speculated optimistically that No News is Good News, yet one in this Profession may never be expected to Subscribe to such an Opinion, and surely it would be as much a thing of Interest to the denizens of Kessia as it would be a source of Relief to hear even of some broad Details of the Campaign that should dispel imagined Worries or, if some measure of rational Anxiety should perhaps be called for, to be given the opportunity to channel such feelings into the devising and carrying out of such Measures as may prove useful in the future for the defense of Home and Kingdom.

Nevertheless, there being at present no definite Cause greatly to fear for any thing, the Eye encourages its Readers simply to remain Alert as ever for any of the usual Signs of imminent Peril, as Earthquakes, portentous Celestial phenomena, the coming to Light of peculiar Ancient or mechanickal Artifacts, the appearance of strange Persons in shadowy Cloaks, &c., and feels confident that in the meantime they shall manage to go about their Lives with the same unflappable good Cheer with which they have weathered innumerable Perils past.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

WORLD SAVED IN NICK OF TIME FROM RECLUSIVE ELEMENTAL, UNKNOWN DANGERS STILL THREATEN

Carhadras Castle has long stood Vacant along the Stormstone Pike, stoic and silent Witness to what scenes of Valor and Violence, Skirmish and Siege, as the imagination alone may now furnish, countless Yeares having passed since its last Occupancy. However, a recent Discovery has shown the Castle to be abandoned to the Elements in a far more literal Sense than is generally supposed, for events of this past Ghust revealed that beyond the grim Exterior of its crumbling Battlements, concealed from the sight of passers-by for some unknowable number of Yeares, there in fact resides a mighty and mysterious Elemental of the Earth.

Of course, it is common Knowledge that for some time the Mountains of this area have been frequented by numbers of peculiar Golems constructed entirely of Rock, and that but five Yeares have passed since they began inexplicably to congregate about the Castle itself, but given the number of other unusual creatures in Kessia, and the likewise Impenetrable mysteries of their equally odd Behavior and Origins, little thought had ever been given as to why these Golems might choose to inhabit the area, nor by what Circumstances their relocation was inspired, or whence they might continue to arise. Indeed, the Tenacious loyalty now exhibited by the Golems towards this particular spot, and their ability to regenerate their Numbers indefinitely in the face of all Persecutions by pugnacious passers-by, were in character so representative of all Kessia's other oddest Creatures, that nothing out of the Ordinary was ever perceived in the Situation that would have set one's Mind upon deeper courses of Inquiry, and so the Castle and its entourage of Golems continued on as they always had, free from the too intense Regard of outsiders.

On the 6th Daye of Ghust, however, this sensation of pleasant Indifference was shattered by reports from one Mister Guillaumo LaFever of strange Noises coming from inside the supposedly vacant Castle, these consisting of a cacophonous Crashing from within the Walls, and the sound of loud Pounding against the Inside of the fortress gates. This being at once the Word on the Streets, and on the Lips of everyone given to loiter about them in Puddle-strewn locales, the entire Populace was suddenly fired with new-found Enthusiasm for locations hitherto happily consigned to the care of Residents of back-water Hamlets, who clearly had been lax in their duties of Guardianship by allowing the infiltration of Dread Creatures of unknown Disposition into abandoned Citadels at such a moderate Remove from Kaezar itself. And so a small group of the usual adventuring Enthusiasts, suffused once more with the Joy of reckless Endangerment, traipsed off to subject the Castle to such painstaking investigations as it was possible for any such band to do on a quarter-hour's Notice.

On arriving at Carhadras, the investigative Party subjected the great decaying Pile to every sort of Test and Inquiry in their Arsenal, which is to say, that they walked a Circuit about the Castle a conscientious half-dozen times, and punctuated each Revolution about the Walls with judicious Rappings and Knockings and the occasional precisely-placed Kick against various portions of the Castle's gates and Battlements. Though nothing definite could be concluded in spite of such meticulous Inspections, their Efforts were rewarded and redoubled by the witnessing of the very unusual-looking Occurrence of one of those Rock Golems with which the area is plentifully supplied, in fact emerging straight from the stone Walls of the Castle itself, which, though after some Debate none could conclude whether this had not in fact been happening for Yeares, was certainly a highly intriguing Circumstance, and worthy of further Circuits and Wall-rappings. But alas, such Dedication to investigation uncovered nothing further, neither the source of the odd Noises, nor any means of entry to the Castle, and after an even more intriguing Small Earthquake Incident of the most Sinister and Suggestive Sort, eventually the little Party was forced to disband in Mystification.

Happily if not in fact Miraculously, these persons were not destined to be left in the Dark forever regarding every odd Circumstance surrounding Carhadras, despite the Castle's jealous safeguarding of its many Secrets these past severall Yeares. Another intrepid party, loath to leave the Fortress to its solitary Brooding, or to resign its Noises to the Realm of the eternally inexplicable in which so many other Kessian phenomena dwell, returned once more to the Castle in the Dayes following, and were by extremely Serendipitous Circumstance able to gain Entry to its long-barred Fastnesses at last. How exactly one might come to search for the Passage-way to this Castle by proceeding out to the far end of the nearby Pier, pitching oneself headlong into the icy waters of the Lake, and then sinking far down into the ink-black Depths until the currents floated their Persons to the mouth of an underwater Tunnel is not for this Reporter to ask, and in fact it is always best not to inquire too deeply as to the lengths to which Despair may drive Explorers who are hitherto unsuccessful in all their Endeavors.

Whatever their immediate Motive in hurling themselves Bodily into the chill lake-waters, they were greatly rewarded for it by what they discovered at the end of the Passage, for, winding back into the bank upon which the mighty Citadel hulked, it finally terminated at a Grate, and passing through that Grate, there they discovered the Inner Sanctum itself. This was not in itself, perhaps, a thing to be much amazed by, consisting as it did of nothing but an open Field of Rubble, strewn all about with pulverized Stone from the walls and such buildings as may have once existed within the Castle. However, such barren Desolation was of no moment to the Explorers, as, occupying the very midst of the decaying space, there loomed the aweful Form of a great and puissant Earth-elemental, the present-day Lord and Master of Carhadras Castle.

[ The text here is punctuated by a masterfully executed woodcut, its detail clearly reproduced from a photograph, and evidently illustrating said Lord and Master itself. With an asymmetrical body comprised of massive, oddly shaped boulders bound together end-to-end by some sort of invisible force, Ogremoch, the primal earth elemental towers over nearly everything around it. The boulders have been frozen by the camera's lens in the course of spinning and rotating in their places, their motion looking as if it must constantly change the creature's silhouette, while small stones picked up from its surroundings float around it in irregular orbits. Despite having no facial features or other humanoid traits recognizable in the stone, its awareness is almost tangible in its intensity, even in a small monotone print. ]

This news broke upon Kaezar with even more Hubbub than that sparked by strange Sounds in the Walls, as everyone was all in Amaze to hear that such a Being of immense Power should all this time have been living in the Castle without attracting any kind of Notice, and now finding themselves suddenly in a Welter of Uncertainty as to what it might choose to do at any given Moment, being as it had lurked there in such sinister Silence for one knew not how many Yeares, and was located at such a vanishingly short Distance from Kaezar, nearly in its very back-yard, and for that matter also occupying a spot more than halfway in distance from Kaezar to the Imperial Capital of Penthras as well. Such being the case, it was deemed imperative to the defense of these cities that an Assault be mounted upon the deeply Ominous being as soon as sufficient Force could be gathered, and so it was that on the 14th Daye of Ghust, around the hour of Nine Bells in the Evening, a small War-party ventured forth to Carhadras to prevent any plans for unprovoked Violence which the dread Elemental might conceivably be plotting from within the formerly uninterrupted Solitude of its Fortress.

The march to Carhadras was carried out without Incident or Casualty, the War-party having evidently had the good Fortune to launch their Assault before the Elemental could manage to set into motion its Plans for the destruction of Kaezar, or of the equally immediate Vicinity of Penthras. Perhaps taken off-guard by the unexpected Discovery of its once-inviolate Retreat, the malign Being had not even strengthened the rather dubious Defenses offered by its terrible Rock-golem Minions, which only stood by in their usual irresponsibly Placid way as the Party strode past, bent though it was on the Destruction of the Golems' terrible Master, and the upset of his even more terrible Schemes.

Everyone having bravely hurtled themselves into the lacustrine Depths of the Stormstone, armor and all, and assembled damp but Undaunted in the secret passageway, the Party prepared themselves with magic and Tactics and, fortified by the sure knowledge of the great Deed they were about to do, advanced through the Grate and onto the field of Battle, at the head of which stood the great Elemental itself. True to the typically aggressive Nature of such creatures, which allows for no such Niceties of civilized warfare as Parlaying or even announcing one's immediate intent to beat the other into Dust before the actual Beating commences, the Elemental gave these intruders upon his Domain no chance to speak even a word to it, but began flinging Boulders with as much reckless Abandon as the War-party began flinging magicks and laying about them with their various Arms.

[ A wide, rubble-strewn yard, surrounded by lofty stone walls topped with decaying parapets, is all that remains of the mighty keep shown in this print from a camera obscura. The walls, while intact, have been scored deeply by something powerful, and any interior buildings have long since been smashed into splinters of wood and broken stones. Piles of debris punctuate the vegetation-free grounds, which have been repeatedly churned and compressed by some enormous force, and a shimmering glyph and a broken pine chest in face look to be the only things in the vicinity not composed of rubble. The gates on either side of the yard have both been irrevocably sealed by broken stone slabs, which appear to have once been components of the gatehouses, fallen to ruin.

Ranged in a valiant corps about the yard are persons identifiable as Dame Elli, Captain Merow of the Imperial Guard, Sir Ashinara, Archempath Anolisse, Guardsman Kedeamos of the Imperial Guard, Mareschal Marian of the Kessian Medical Society, Defender Miraklin, Apprentice Mage Guillaumo, Firebrand Aurorah (very noticeably the only person lying down), Malo, an animated silver-edged teacup, Sir Martaigne, Alexandr, High Magus Astolpho of Duvan, Chirurgeon Consiller Aldan of the Kessian Medical Society, Medic Preldin of the Kessian Medical Society, and, the center of the scene and the focus of all eyes, magic, and weaponry, Ogremoch, the primal earth elemental.

The print is labelled with rousing drama as "Civilization Versus the Elements!" ]

The battle for the preservation of Kessia was a fierce and Frenzied one, the Stones flying thick and the ground soon spattered by Blood as much as it was strewn about with stone Shards, though the War-party possessed a distinct Advantage in having Empaths on their side to restore the former to their battered Bodies, while the Earth-elemental had incomprehensibly lacked the Foresight to keep on Hand a corps of Rock-empaths to restore its own vital Substance, which shows what Folly and dearth of basic Planning the greatest Warlord may exhibit even as it plots the downfall of Kingdoms. And so it was hardly any time at all before the vicious Elemental had been reduced in fact to nothing more than Fragments and Dust, which settled upon the ground indistinguishably among the previously existing Fragments and Dust.

However, it was just as the valorous Combatants were congratulating themselves on having rid the World of one more magically monstrous Menace, and thus reduced the sum total of such threats to Kessia by some minuscule Fraction, that those same Fragments and Dust began to tumble about on the Ground, desultorily at first, and then in a steadily quickening widdershins Whirl. As they continued onward in their mad circling Dance, each bit of Debris began to collide with and collect others in small Clumps, which in turn came together to form larger Clumps, which in turn came together to form a very large Being very closely and suspiciously resembling the Elemental whose inevitable Demise had just been brought about. And yet as it loomed arrogantly before them the selfish Creature still exhibited no inclination towards discussion or diplomatic Terms in spite of its handy Defeat of mere Moments before, being evidently so obsessed with its violent desires for Destruction and Revenge that it once again left the War-party no time for the soft Words of civilized Men; and they, being compelled to take up Arms once more, made it pay the Price for its intransigent incommunicativeness, as it was for a another time swiftly reduced to Rubble for its Trouble.

Following this second great Victory and some small time of puzzled Discussion it was concluded that, the Elemental being evidently somehow bound to the Place, and destined to recreate itself howsoever many times as it might be Pulverized, by some peculiar Process that none could now hope to understand within the next half an Hour, the War-party concluded that their Efforts were sufficient for the night, and made their return to Kaezar until a new Plan could be devised to finally bring about the menacing Entity's ultimate Destruction. And so it is that the Elemental is once again undisputed Master of his airy Hall, where he plots so secretly that most unwary Citizens have once again forgotten his Presence, while he nurses his terrible Vengeance in quiet Solitude until such time as his violent Schemes of incipient Doom may be laid to rest by heroic Adventurers, once and for all.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

CHA'TYEKA OBSERVATIONS FEATURE LECTURES, DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE MAGICKAL ARTS

Mister Mandel has indeed been a busy Gentleman these last severall Weeks, as it was hardly a Month after his latest Success in the Summoning of a Spark-elemental, described further on in these Pages, that he could be found hosting a gathering in Observation of Duvan's own Holy-daye, Cha'Tyeka, this being in the words of Mister Mandel, a Celebration of the Magical Arts as made possible by Duvan's dedicated encouragement of the Preservation and Expansion of Knowledge. Though but Sparsely attended, so many of the great Minds of Kessia evidently being otherwise too pressingly engaged in deepest Cogitations on the most profound subjects on this night to put in an Appearance, the evening spent at Kemstead Abbey was nevertheless an interesting and Pleasant one, as Mister Mandel had furnished such Company as his Reputation could gather together along with the usual array of fine foods and Gifts, even so far as to finally include the Coffee that had proven so Elusive to him at all such Gatherings prior.

The evening's educational Diversion was attended by Mister Malo Haithcock and this reporter herself, who along with Mister Mandel made up the portion of Attendees active in the Study and experimental Practice of the various Magickal Arts. Arriving with a Curiosity to learn more about these Arts and view such novel Demonstrations as might be offered, or perhaps with an interest in helping to Quell any equally interesting Difficulties that might result as a direct Consequence of such Demonstrations, Dame Elli Sojourner and Mister Celthric Galavaul were also in attendance. After some conversation among these Guests over pastries, Coffee, and similar Refreshments, Mister Mandel held forth in a brief explanatory Lecture introducing his Audience in simple Terms to the art of summoning persons through the Void. This was well-received, and stimulated a number of questions from the Audience on this and other related Topics.

Following this, there being no other person among the group vouching an interest in producing either a Lecture concerning the Principles of Magick, nor any further Demonstration of the Application of the Art, this reporter took it upon herself to showcase some novel principles of Bardic Magick but recently devised. These included, firstly, a demonstration of the effects of Sound-waves existing beyond the range of Hearing of the furless Races, the idea of which may be dimly recalled by the Readers as appearing in the very first Installation of the Travels in Laurdia, and involving certain ill-advised and mildly regrettable Incidents with Wargs. However, these principles were showcased much more harmlessly on this Occasion, as this time only the very lowest Pitches were demonstrated, whose Vibrations only can be dimly sensed and not in fact Heard by the sentient Races, and which only brought to light a small portion of that wondrous hidden Metropolis of many-legged crawling Creatures invariably resident in any structure, but which one so seldom has the pleasure of viewing so readily.

On the conclusion of this initial Demonstration, which the writer must concede strikes one most readily as being something on the level of mere Party-trick, in spite of many possible interesting Applications in the field of Natural Science, this reporter then proceeded to a more serious Display, consisting of an object infused with Magic by means of a newly-devised System of Bardic Enchanting. This object, a Ring of pure Sildok, had been engraved with lines of a novel series of Runes representing the various Components of Music, and each Rune then filled with a tiny quantity of magical Ink, as devised using principles from the Vas Thespis circle of Bardic magicks. Acting together in Harmony, runes, ink, and the substance of the Ring itself could then be used to reproduce the effects of a certain Spell-song, which could be invoked by and applied to even the Persons of those possessing no talent in any School of Magick.

The demonstrations of the night thus concluded, and those in attendance having made those expressions of polite uninterest requisitely given to all Magicks producing neither Explosions nor bizarre Entities from beyond the Veil, the Guests tendered their thanks to Mister Mandel for a pleasant Evening and withdrew for the night, bringing the year's Cha'Tyeka celebrations to a close.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

NEWS IN BRIEFE

Pursuing indefatigably his Dedication to the Advancement of the Astral Arts, on the 20th Daye of Ghust Mister Astolpho Mandel, Emissary of Duvan, once more gathered together a number of curious Persons to observe the next in his impressive Line of summoning Experiments, which have previously brought forth such interesting Fruit as the first Contact with those unusual Beings of vast mental Acuity, the Malvaunts. In this latest Experiment it was Mister Mandel's purposed intent to summon a different kind of Entity than any he had called forth on prior Occasions, as he intended to try his Hand at drawing in a Being similar to a Malvaunt in regards to its largely benign Character, but possessed of power of a much lesser Magnitude. And indeed his Efforts were once again met with great Success, as a quite interesting little Being composed entirely of electrical Sparks was brought forth, and subsequently was given to converse with the Audience on diverse Topics, demonstrated a unique Ability to convey itself across the Wards of the chalk-circle that initially contained it, and expressed a strong and perfectly understandable Disdain for the steady rain that fell all through the evening.

For all those who find their curiosity Piqued by the notion of such Beings and the possible Applications of this interesting Summon, we encourage the Reader to learn more about the experiment by turning to Mister Mandel's own account of it further on in these Pages.

[ A woodblock print imperfectly captures the likeness of a strange little being as it stands poised in the middle of a chalk circle. Sparks leap out from it in random directions and take on prismatic hues that appear to scintillate brightly, forming a vaguely humanoid silhouette. Variegating from a deeper translucent shade along its extremities, the spark mephit turns into an intense bright white at its core. The eyes and mouth are vacuous holes, and no other features are clearly visible. The image of this unusual entity has a distinctly blurred quality to it, suggesting a not entirely successful effort to capture a form in constant motion. ]

~ * ~

In addition to announcing the start of the Empire's new Crusade on the marauding Orcs of the Wessumbrian borderlands, His Majesty King Vek also used the occasion of his Audience of the 24th Daye of Dien to raise Ashinara De'Alera to the proud rank of Knight of the Realm, in full and Appreciative view of the Citizens that this longtime resident of Kessia has served so faithfully over the Yeares. On this occasion His Majesty did give the following Speech, which expresses the Sentiments of the Occasion in as Perfect terms as any:

"Captain De'Alera, we solemnly commend you for many years of faithful, tireless Service to the Crown. Very few cases of such Loyalty have been witnessed by our time upon the Throne. You display all of the attributes valued by the Crown and by Jakob: Honor, Integrity, Loyalty, Justice. This does not come remotely close to the Value of your service. Ashinara De'Alera, you are no longer to be called Captain. You are hereby relieved from duty as a Royal Guard. However, your service will continue to the Crown in a slightly different Capacity. For your exemplary service to the Crown, I hereby dub thee Sir Ashinara De'Alera."

To learn more about the long Service and colorful History of Sir De'Alera in Kessia, we refer the Reader to the Interview Section below.

~ * ~

The Reklar Insane Asylum, which seems as if it has seen nearly as much turn-over in Personnel as this very Publication, has but recently hired on a new Assistant Keeper. The latest Person to fill this Post is Mister Dalanoth Ithiel, formerly of Ziguran, and now known to the Citizenry of Kaezar as a Practitioner of those Astral Magicks pertaining to Souls, Spirits, and other aspects of the Channeling arts. According to Mister Ithiel, his Hire was recommended in large part due to this very Expertise of his, being taken on to assist in handling what he described as "Special Cases," this referring to those Situations related to "external Entities, Possession, and Hauntings" of divers Sorts.

Despite the fact that past Experience would suggest that anyone in such a position, at such an Establishment, might be kept busy all Hours of the Day and Night, to the point of being run Ragged with Exhaustion, and practically ready to move from the Ranks of the institution's Keepers to its Charges, Mister Ithiel reported that in fact the work was very Quiet thus far and afforded him significant peaceful Enjoyment.

~ * ~

The past few Months have seen the introduction of Moorstag Markets, a mercantile Endeavour begun by none other than the strangely Industrious Mister Astolpho Mandel. The first Moorsday Market took place on the 1st Daye of Thistle, and was considered sufficiently well-attended for another to be held the following Month, when Mister Mandel once again set out a number of Chests and Tables filled with the interesting and sometimes Mysterious goods from the vast dragyn's Hoard that he must have secreted in some out-of-the-way Locale, including fine Apparel, skillfully crafted metal Bowls, fishing Apparatus of excellent quality, and rare and precious Gems, to name but a small sampling of his multifarious Wares. He was joined in his marketing Aspirations by representatives of the Kessian Medical Society, who set up a booth of their own at which to sell healing Elixirs of special Quality, made by members of that Society.

Mister Mandel has expressed a desire to make such regular gatherings of amateur Merchants a regular event, and hopes to continue them in the coming Yeare. Scheduled to take place on the first Moorstag of each Month, Moorsday Markets are to be held on the Town Green of Kaezar in the vicinity of the Bazaar, and any Person having in his Possession various interesting goods which he is interested in making available for sale to the general Populace is encourage to set up a table at the Event.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

AN INTERVIEW WITH SIR ASHINARA DE'ALERA

In this Edition the Kaezarian Eye speaks with Sir Ashinara De'Alera, former Wizard, longtime resident and Defender of the Kingdom of Kessia, and now a newly-raised Knight of the Realm. Sir De'Alera is respected for his long Service with first the Eighth Regiment of the Imperial Guards, and later for his still more Distinguished service to the Crown as a dedicated member of King Vek's own Royal Guard. He has also been closely involved with many of the most Interesting events of Kessia's history during these last ten Yeares, with the result being that this Interview swiftly assumed a length where it became clear that necessity must break it into two Parts, the first of which appears below, with the second to be published in the next Edition of the Eye.

This first portion of the Interview took place on the 27th Daye of Kolbre in the Manager's Office of the Kaezarian Eye.

~ * ~

[ A photograph set into the text captures a portrait likeness of a male sylvan of Muir lineage, presumably Ashinara De'Alera himself. Deep shadows lurking offset his mischievous almond-shaped eyes and beneath his sculpted nose, he has an attractive mouth framed by an angular jaw. His extremely long pale hair is worn free-flowing and his ears are delicately pointed. In his early thirties, he is very tall with graceful limbs, a sinewy physique and snow white skin. ]

~ * ~

The Kaezarian Eye: I really do appreciate your taking the time to be interviewed. I imagine you keep rather busy these days.
Ashinara De'Alera: Anytime. I don't mind at all.
Eye: You've been a fixture in Kaezar for ten years now, you know.
De'Alera: I didn't realize it had been quite that long, but I suppose it has been.
Eye: Quick, which day did I first stumble across you in Kemstead!
De'Alera: Um, I don't remember the exact day, but I know it was the first day I left my home to search for the proper accoutrements of a wizard. I couldn't find a proper wizard staff.
Eye: No one ever remembers. Even when I tell them a half-dozen times. It was the seventh of Kolbre. But when did you first decide that you wanted to be a wizard?
De'Alera: Well, you know I've always been a bit on the scrawny side. Growing up I was never as strong or fit as most who grow up in the country. But I seemed to have a knack with the arcane. It was something I was pretty good at even back then. I guess it was just my way of being able to make something out of myself back then.
Eye: You grew up right around Kemstead itself, didn't you?
De'Alera: Aye, right around there. We lived not far off from the town. I've lived around Kem or Kaezar pretty much my entire life.
Eye: Did you have much experience of Kaezar itself before ten years ago, or did you mostly stick to the countryside and village?
De'Alera: No, none at all, I was pretty much a country bumpkin until I was old enough to properly enter the Lyceum. My family didn't want me going into the city, or really anywhere. Kemstead was probably the biggest city I was allowed to visit from time to time until then.
Eye: So how was it that you finally did end up leaving Kemstead ten years ago? What changed?
De'Alera: Well, I had found an old book on Glas magick. I'd been studying it for a few years and was even able to cast a spell or two from it. I knew I wanted to join the Lyceum from the day I was able to actually cast my first spell. I was tired of being useless. And it was something that I thought I could do. I couldn't really go any further than where I was by myself.
Eye: Did you choose to study Glas magicks mostly because of that book, or did you feel a special affinity for them?
De'Alera: A bit of both I think. I'm a Muir and it seemed to resonate with me. I won't lie, I think I was fascinated with becoming one of the great wizards I had read about from my race. And I was good with it. I tried to learn how to throw fireballs; who wouldn't? But I seemed better in touch with the subtle spells of Via Glas. Besides, I got in enough trouble for freezing things around the house. I think I probably would have been completely restricted had I started catching things on fire.
Eye: Yes, that probably wouldn't have made the idea of magic quite so popular even in the most supportive of families.
Eye: Do you remember what happened ten years ago yesterday?

[ The interviewee here appeared entirely stymied by this simple question. ]

Eye: Well, of course you don't. You probably can't even guess.
De'Alera: Hold on, at least give me a chance. Ten years to the day.... Was that our first ghost encounter?
Eye: No. Guess again.
De'Alera: Staff?
Eye: No. That was the night we first met. This had nothing to do with me, though it certainly charted your course for a while.
De'Alera: Oh, well, I probably was causing some sort of trouble then.
Eye: Well, I thought it was liable to be trouble, though most other people probably took it the exact opposite way.
De'Alera: Was it when I joined the Imperials?
Eye: Yes! Or at least you went to your first meeting about it that night.
De'Alera: Aye. I had some advice from a friend.
Eye: Oh? Which friend?
De'Alera: It would have been after I traveled to Koje to learn from Sareena-san. I still didn't know what path I should take at the time. I wanted to learn more about my past, and someone suggested I go talk to her and learn about Muir and magick from her. It was there that she suggested I talk to Kaelgalf, another Muir who had been in the Imperials. It was due to them that I became an Imperial in all honesty. Odd as it may sound, trying to live off of being just a wizard alone was rather difficult. And I wanted to help people.
Eye: That was always what you said, right from the start.
De'Alera: It was true.
Eye: So how did you like the Guard once you joined them? Did you feel as if you were able to help people as you wanted to?
De'Alera: It wasn't quite what I expected.
Eye: In what way?
De'Alera: People mostly. It was in the Imperials that I learned that no matter how much you want to help people, sometimes they just don't want you to. They get frightened by those with more power, or influence, and there's not much you can do if you're following the rules and they refuse to bring any formal charges against someone.
Eye: That's certainly true. And their ideas of help may not necessarily be your own.
De'Alera: Yes. I learned a lot from those times. But I think I was pretty good at it. The only thing I regret is not catching the Crix de la Vel.
Eye: What was your most memorable experience with the Imperials, or your greatest success?
De'Alera: I would have to say catching the Kaezarian Slicer.
Eye: Aha. Tell me more about that case. That was one of the more sensational ones.
De'Alera: It's also unfortunately one of the ones I am the most embarrassed by.
Eye: Oh, readers appreciate that even more, you know.
De'Alera: The first murder occurred during a faire. A young lad had been killed by stabbing.
Eye: Do you remember which faire that was? The bards' faire [of Ghust 641], or a Mylywyth one?
De'Alera: The bards' faire. He had a scrap of cloth in his hand that led us to think that it was part of a dress. When I was doing my initial investigation that night I found a man with a bit of blood on his sword, although at the time he was vouched for and seemed to honestly be a decent sort. I actually confronted him anyway and since I had no proof that it was him let him go. We followed the lead that we had of the scrap of cloth.
Eye: And where did that take you?
De'Alera: Not very far. We couldn't find anything for a while that matched the scrap the boy had had. Then there were several other murders, including that of a Lightbringer. His armor and accoutrements were found in my room at the Plum.
Eye: You really -have- had a time with that room, haven't you.
De'Alera: There's a reason I don't stay there often.
Eye: Many reasons, it sounds like... But we can continue with the tragic tale of your inn room later. What happened after that?
De'Alera: I was removed from duty and nearly arrested for that. Thankfully in the end we found enough evidence to lead us to Lucian's room in Kem where we found the murder weapons. When we caught the fellow he was all but insane, yelling and going on about a dragyn being reborn.
Eye: What did he mean by that?
De'Alera: We never found out; he was executed shortly after for his crimes. He just kept going on about how the dragyn would be reborn.
Eye: For that matter, who exactly was Lucian himself, and what was his motive for committing those very brutal crimes?
De'Alera: From what I recall he was until that point just a common everyday person. He worked at a stable from what I recall, although I'd have to go through all of my notes at the time to say with any degree of certainty. As for his motive.. He said he was performing some ritual. That there had to be seven deaths, seven murders to complete. And that when it was done the dragyn would be reborn. We caught him after the sixth, although even as he was beheaded he claimed that his would be the seventh to complete the ritual.
Eye: It must not have worked out as he hoped, then. Or else it's just taking a very, very long time.
De'Alera: Anything in Kaezar is possible, although I don't think we have anything to worry about on that front.
Eye: With all your successes with the Imperials, and the fact that you consider it to have been a positive experience overall, why did you eventually choose to leave their service?
De'Alera: That is a bit more complicated. You are aware that I left the Imperials after the wrathe wars.
Eye: Yes.
De'Alera: During that time I was possessed. I did a great many things that I'm not proud of. That included betraying my oath, my friends, and those that trusted me. Captain Litmann offered me the opportunity to stay; however I could not in good conscience ask those that I had hurt to put their trust in me after they had just spent a year with me under the zu'wrathe's control. In the Imperials you have to trust those that work with you. I think if I had stayed it would have caused a rift between those in the Eighth Regiment and I did not want that. Plus, at the time, I was pretty angry. I was hurt badly. Physically and emotionally. I'm not sure even if I had stayed that I would have been able to do a good job at helping and protecting people.
Eye: I suppose that's understandable. But you didn't just quit the Imperials. You went on to the Royals soon after, didn't you?
De'Alera: I had the offer directly after I left to join the Royals, but I had declined for some time as well.
Eye: For the same reasons that you left the Imperials?
De'Alera: Yes. It's hard to trust someone who did the things I did. Quite a few people wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt, but I think I was harsher on myself than anyone else was. I could barely move about without pain, I was scarred badly, my face in tatters, and I was angry at myself for what I had been forced to do.
Eye: Is there anything you would like to say about your time under the control of the wrathe? I realize I should probably be prodding mercilessly at you to reveal all.
De'Alera: No, it's quite all right now, I've come to terms with it since. I have nothing to hide. It was a difficult time really. Most people don't understand what it is like, and I find that a thing to be grateful for as it meant those who were not under its influence remained so.
Eye: How did the wrathe's hold over you come to be in the first place?
De'Alera: I was saving a friend. The arrow that took my life and resulted in a piece of my soul being removed was meant for a friend.
Eye: Who was that?
De'Alera: I jumped in front of an arrow meant for Lady Melissandra. When I fell instead of her, the wrathe used that opportunity to gain his control over me.
Eye: What exactly did he do to you? Did you know from the start that you were possessed?
De'Alera: Everyone knew that once he took your heart, he took a part of your soul with it. At first, it wasn't so bad. I resisted for a very long time. At first he could only physically make you do what he wanted when he was around. But that was the lesser of his abilities. When someone became possessed by him, they had him in their head.
Eye: Yes. I remember being told that he was inescapable.
De'Alera: I went three years under his power. The first year I did okay at keeping him out. But he used everything against us.
Eye: Like what?
De'Alera: Each person affected was different, but for me it was my first fiance Jynx. She had been killed by Rene, a Mourner, a long time ago.
Eye: Not so long ago then, though. Not enough for it to not still be painful, I imagine.
De'Alera: The zu'wrathe used her voice, and while it may seem like a little thing, it wasn't. Daily he was in my head begging me to give in, blaming me for being deployed while she was killed. And just about any other thought a loved one in torment would give you. It was probably the worst time in my life. After three years of this, I had nearly come unhinged. If it were not for the king, I probably would not be here today.
Eye: When did you finally give in to the wrathe? And how did that change things for you?
De'Alera: You ask when I finally gave in, and to that, I will say that I never did. I fought him tooth and nail every step of the way. But a mortal's mind is a frail thing. I will say that I was at my worst probably after two years. Things began to blur and didn't make sense.
Eye: What happened during that worst period?
De'Alera: I found myself listening to it despite not wanting to. I hurt several friends, sowed distrust and hatred among those seeking a way to end the zu'wrathe's reign, and pitted friends against friends. I abused my power as a Imperial and arrested those actively working on finding a way to stop it.
Eye: Yes, I have distinct recollections of the arresting bit...
De'Alera: It wasn't until near the end that I was able to reclaim a portion of my senses.
Eye: How did that happen?
De'Alera: What a lot of people never knew is that I was sent to assassinate the king.
Eye: Were you really? How was that supposed to be done?
De'Alera: I teleported to the castle, and found him sitting on a bench alone. I was pretty close to doing it, but when he looked up at me with his golden eyes I was struck with something deep in my chest. I knew I didn't want to do it, but everything I was at the time was tearing me apart to do it. I fell to my knees sobbing and apologizing for what I was there to do. He just sat his hand on my head and forgave me. Something happened then. I wasn't cured, but everything that had happened up to that point was released and I was able to gather a bit more of who I really was back that day. And instead of having me arrested and executed, he just forgave me, and had me escorted from the grounds. After that, I turned myself in, and had my court martial.
Eye: Were you only freed from the wrathe when he was finally defeated?
De'Alera: Yes. It was still there, but not as omnipotent. I spent the rest of my time at the Temple during that war. There I was able to keep a portion of my sanity enough to fight off what the zu'wrathe wanted me to do.
Eye: How did you feel when it was all over at last? What did you decide to do with yourself, beyond leaving the Imperial Guard?
De'Alera: Honestly? I wanted to disappear. How do you forgive someone who did the things I did? I was pretty bad after. Not in the evil way. I was just done with life. I had lost my will to go on.
Eye: But life wasn't done with you, it seems.
De'Alera: No, I met a fellow named Alquillio. He had been examining some of us who were affected.
Eye: Ah yes, healer Alquillo, the miracle doctor.
De'Alera: And while it may sound like an excuse, I can honestly say that it's not. Some of us that were under its affect for such a prolonged period of time had become tainted with the zu'wrathe. In my case, I was already dying. I didn't know it, but I only had a few months left to live after we had destroyed the zu'wrathe. It had deeply affected my psyche and my body was failing.
Eye: So what did Alquillio do?
De'Alera: That's a very good question. I wish I could answer it, but in truth, I don't know what he did exactly any more than anyone else.
Eye: What did it feel like when he was working on you?
De'Alera: I was placed into a state of deep sleep. All I can remember from it is walking. It seemed like I was walking forever. I remember my feet starting to bleed, and I wanted to stop, but a voice kept calling out to keep going. Just through total darkness. After what seemed like a year, a light appeared. I kept walking to it, and when I finally arrived the only experience that I can liken it to is being scoured alive. As though my very soul were being rent and burnt away. When I woke up, I was weaker than ever, but my scars had all been healed, and it was as though a great weight had been lifted off of me.
Eye: And you felt you could go on with life again?
De'Alera: I wouldn't put it that simply. I was still pretty bad. But I could process what had happened without the complete debilitating effect of wanting to just die.
Eye: Always helpful, I suppose.
De'Alera: I never wanted to hurt anyone, you know. I just wanted to help people and what I did then was.. bad. I never wanted to be like that. It wasn't long after that that Nicholi approached me again.
Eye: And you accepted his offer this time?
De'Alera: No. But it made me think.
Eye: About what?
De'Alera: I was still at a point that I wasn't sure that I could be useful to anyone, much less protecting someone as important as the king. After all I had just failed rather badly at being a Imperial. But he told me that even during the darkest time of my life, I had not even raised a hand against the king when I was in the worst position in my life.
Eye: And so you started working things over in your mind, and the next time he asked..?
De'Alera: After that I started thinking about the offer seriously, and maybe less than a month later, I accepted Elli's invitation to join. At this point, I would have done anything for the king. If it wasn't for him, I think things would have turned out much differently for me.
Eye: Well, I still have a million things to ask you, and we've only gotten through one half of your life here. I don't want to rush the rest. So we may as well just get together again later and delve into the next half.
De'Alera: Sure.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN LAURDIA AND THE TALLONEAN EMPIRE

~*~ Being an Account of the Journey to the Hostile Frontier of Civilized Lands,
~*~ And Beyond it into the Very Heart of Orcish Savagery;
~*~ Describing Also the Extraordinary Sights, Remarkable Creatures,
~*~ And Unusual Encounters Had Therein.

Part the Sixth: An Unexpected Bit of Fun -- Hindsight Requires No Spectacles -- A Heroic Last Stand -- When Air and Earth Come Together -- The Art of Making Swift Decisions -- The Myriad Discomforts of a Small Dome -- A Window in the Sky

It is not, as one may sympathetically imagine, an entirely pleasant thing to have the ground fall unexpectedly away from beneath one's feet, and it is indisputably even less so when that very space that once was thought to contain the ground is seen actually to contain a very large number of hostile orcs instead. If the reader may imagine this, then he may also imagine the frisson of, let us not say terror, but at least distress, that coursed electrifyingly through my veins at this exact instant in time that I found myself, with such cruel abruptness, suspended above the semblance of my imminent doom. Given the curse I could hear some ways above my head as I hung there with the side of my face scraped up against the crumbling dirt of the so recently discovered embankment, it seemed probable that Mister Haithcock had some strong feelings of his own in the matter, though perhaps fortified by a greater sense of anger than anxiety, which was doubtless in part fostered by his great good fortune of still possessing a stand on solid ground.

The orcs below, it must be said, were perhaps even more startled than we were, though in their case the shock was significantly less touched by horror, and rather more by vicious glee. As I had had occasion to learn only the night previously in an incident unrecounted in these pages, an orc does not consider an enemy chancely discovered in an unexpected locale to be a source of alarm, but rather views this as a providentially furnished opportunity for testing the edge of one's axe blades and showing off to one's comrades what a wonderfully savage fellow one is, and nothing at all like those degenerately effeminate sorts of orcs that might consider the slaughter of two solitary individuals in the middle of nowhere a waste of time. And indeed even as I was precipitately hauled back up onto level ground by Mister Haithcock, and the offending sight of my soles removed from their view, there was clearly to be no thought in the orcs' minds of leaving two such sentient beings as ourselves free to go about our own business, relatively harmless as we must be on our own, and in the midst of a hostile orcish wasteland. Rather, a consensus was evidently achieved among them with a swiftness and degree of concord that would normally be quite astonishing to observe in orcs, and this consensus seemed to be that it would be great good fun to leave off whatever maneuvers they were in the process of performing and make time for the ever amusing pastime of rending dauns into tiny pieces.

Meantime, my companion and I were confronted with something of a predicament which did not lend itself to such easy resolution as the orcs' decision to kill or not to kill. Two individuals armed with little more than magic and fists may be a quite tolerable match for even a half-dozen hostile orcs, or perhaps a fair number more when those orcs are of the ill-trained and poorly organized variety that one most commonly finds within the borders of Kessia. Two such individuals set against an entire army of Talone, battle-hardened, bored, and eager for sport, not to mention armed to the teeth, is something a bit different. As if this were not sufficient cause for dismay, the difficulties presented by such poor odds were only compounded by the perfectly open nature of our surroundings for miles around, in which there existed no possibility of refuge save perhaps in another ravine such as the one that had so disagreeably ambushed us, and which seemed as likely to conspire to hide more orcs as it might the two of us.

As I say, the entire situation in which we had suddenly found ourselves was, on the whole, noticeably less than ideal, and indeed the only saving grace that I could see was the fact of the orcs being all arrayed down in the depths of the great ravine we had literally stumbled upon, whose precipitous sides prevented their speedily exiting it at any point of their choosing. However, this did not stop the archers among them from loosing their arrows nor the shamans from invoking any of the potent curses that sprang so readily to their snarling lips, nor the most agile and enterprising individuals among the foot-soldiers' number from making attempts to scale the sides heedless of practicalities, though in this case the crumbling and insubstantial nature of the soil made itself felt as our ally rather than our enemy, as only a small proportion of those who made the attempt were successful in it.

On the other hand, a small proportion of the whole still tallied up to far more orcs than anyone would strictly desire to see charging after them with upraised axes and swords and crying for their blood, particularly given the aforementioned lack of places to run to, or hide in, or take defensive cover behind, and the similarly lamentable fact of there being only two people against the outflung runners of what at least felt right then be an entire army, and one of these two people being on the whole woefully inadequate in any kind of intense combative situation. And I confess that in this very moment in which I stood unsteadily back on my feet, the vicious cries of the orcs penetrating through the drifts of grit fallen into my ears, and the first of any number of determined orcs already scrabbling their way determinedly onto the plain, I felt some small qualms that the journey of a pair of thinly equipped persons into the heart of a savage orcish empire, lacking any knowledge of the terrain, or of the disposition of hostile forces, and in general devoid of any hope whatsoever of salvation should anything go awry, was perhaps not the most sensible plan I had ever hit upon in my life.

My companion and I were struck here with a sudden indecision regarding the best course of action to follow given our newly desperate circumstances, which seemed to offer no resolution that would be very satisfactory to ourselves rather than the orcs. In an attempt to outdistance ourselves at the very least from the zealously launched spells and arrows from the orcs still in the ravine, we took flight for some small distance in the direction of a small rise in the barren ground, a plan which, it must be noted, was my own idea and thus no reflection on the dashingly reckless heroism of Mister Haithcock. However, all my attempts at engaging in the better part of valor came at the last to very little, as we were but a short ways from attaining the ridge when brought to a sudden halt by the appearance before us of yet another gully, or perhaps even a different branch of the first one, too broad to leap and at least as deep and steeply-sided as the first.

Thus we were left with no other choice but to stand our ground in this unpromising spot, an outcome which I dare say suited Mister Haithcock well enough, but I had had my share of valiant impulses during my flight from the wargs some days prior and so had already reached my own quite different conclusions regarding my preference for undignified flight versus reckless heroism, which in my case at least would almost certainly be followed by a death at least as undignified as the flight. But seeing that there were no choices remaining, I steeled myself to put up as much of a fight as stubbornness and sheer spite could supply, and with Mister Haithcock at my back I comforted myself both with the certainty that I possessed the most steadfast and sturdy defense I was ever likely to have, and also with the notion that if I were killed in a particularly embarrassing manner it would go unwitnessed on account of his facing the other way. All that came after this thought was something of a blur even as little pieces of the fray came to me in flashes of strange sharp-edged clarity -- the acrid greasy tang of unsettled dirt, the bright spurt of blood and brains and skull fragments from an orc's sonically riven skull, the swift fluttering wing of a wayward bird -- until a clubbing blow from an unexpected angle took me straight in the ribs, and I was bowled over onto my back. It was at this fortuitous interval, with the late-afternoon heavens gleaming above me past the leering visages of orcs, that I noticed the sky had turned purple.

Now it is a matter of course that in the deserts of Ziguran, where there lie great expanses of sand and open dusty plains, and where the wind rarely ceases to blow in some degree, that from time to time the air shall stir itself up to much greater acts of violence, and roar down across the barrens with an immense quantity of sand and dust borne inexorably along in its grip, and everyone lives, if not in fear, then at least in great wariness of the smothering and scouring violence that these unpredictable winds may bring. It is simply accepted there that one keeps at all times a wary eye on the horizon, especially on those days where a certain vibration in the air speaks of a change in the weather and thus in the winds, and as far as these go, one can never know for certain what strange acts of aggression they may embark on at a whim. For this reason I was briefly startled, somewhat chilled, but not at all mystified by the appearance along the strangely empurpled horizon of a sudden dark cloud that was surely not rain, but a more sinister threat entirely.

However, surprised as I was by the rapidly advancing cloud, my reaction was as nothing compared to that of the orcs, as a ripple of confusion, if not quite panic, ran suddenly through all the straggling ranks of orcs that had been up until this point hurling themselves towards us with great single-mindedness uninterrupted by anything so trivial as sky-gazing. And though I would certainly have ranked the onset of an unexpected sandstorm in an unsheltered spot fairly high on any list of perils to one's continued existence, still the sudden turmoil of the orcs was unsettling, and then escalated from unsettling to acutely anxiety-inducing, as some number of them abruptly made a break for the nearby ravine, flinging themselves down into it with only the meagrest attempt to look for a path, others seeming to judge even the ravine insufficient for their purposes and running back the way they had come, while still others more fortunate fumbled for some kind of talisman worn around their necks, and rubbing it, vanished. And as the cloud loomed higher and higher, and I became aware of an ominous seething look to it, as if it been set into a cold boil, and the air became suddenly so heavily charged that it began to crackle around us and snap in small lightnings over our heads, then it came as an interesting thought that this was not perhaps even the sort of sandstorm to which I was accustomed, but something of another magnitude entirely, and it suddenly assumed an air of the most immediate importance to not be found standing here, in the vast unprotected openness of the plain, when it fully arrived.

All of this flashed through my mind with the sort of lightning speed at which normally only ill-advised ideas and the decision to carry them out are allowed to travel, but giving myself no time to meditate upon whether this might be similarly the case now, I leapt to my feet, grabbed at Mister Haithcock's hand with more desperation than decorum, and in accordance with the former of these, pitched the both of us straight over the nearest edge of the ravine. I would like to say that I had been either so fortunate or so clever as to have thrown us over the edge right above the point at which there was a deep pool of water, or a cushioning pile of sand, or some agreeably springy shrub to break one's fall, but as the disappointments of reality would have it, there turned out to be nothing more than a hard and empty span of baked earth that seemed to contain the entire plain's share of little knobbly pebbles, as seemingly collected from all across Laurdia and deposited here in this one spot. But it was in the shelter of this place, out of the direct line of the ominous cloud and the wind that bore it, that I used the very last bit of my strength and will to groan out the words of "Via Vas Thespis Res Esu," and around the two of us there sloshed into being a tall-sided dome, made entirely of paint in what I have to say was a particularly striking shade of azure.

Mister Haithcock was, I dare say, somewhat bemused by this turn of events, and perhaps something other than bemused by the fact of having just now obtained what turned out to be a broken leg, but his feelings in this moment must remain largely in the realm of conjecture as I confess my attention to my traveling partner's comfort was somewhat less perfect than usual. The unkind embrace of the ground, along with this last great exertion of will and magic, and combined ultimately with the fact that I had not put up quite such an effective defense against the onslaught of orcs as Mister Haithcock had, all conspired to reduce me to what I have to concede was a state of less than peak physical fitness. In fact, all I could claim to be much aware of at the time was a sharp iron tang that seemed to be spreading in a thick dark tide from somewhere at the back of my throat to the front of my skull, such that even though my eyes were open it was a curious fact that I seemed to see the knobbly ground in front of me less and less, until every sight had bled into a sort of blotched darkening greyness through which all my thoughts bled likewise into obscurity, until very suddenly the darkness itself was exploded to bits by an intense sourness that was more like a blow than a taste, and I came back to myself in the unenviable position of being gripped by the hair while Mister Haithcock held my head back and attempted to drown me in the remains of our healing elixirs.

Following this there was little to do but sit and wait out the storm, which I can assure the reader is an uncomfortable occupation within the confines of a smallish bubble of dried paint where the air is getting progressively more stuffy, and from which you can hear the outer surface being continuously peppered by the unstinting artillery of blown dust, and in which your traveling companion is peppering you still more vigorously with inquiries on such diverse topics as what happened to the original sufficient quantity of healing elixirs, and why you never happened to mention any such thing as nocturnal orc attacks that might have required the use of such elixirs in the aftermath, and what you were thinking in getting your companion to drink some of that same elixir before actually healing all your own injuries, and so on, the while you are perpetually wondering how long you have until the sheltering walls around you get entirely sanded away, and whether it would not in fact be better for this to happen sooner rather than later.

Finally, though, all recriminations and arguments trailed away, leaving nothing but the sound of our breathing in the close dimness, and the muffled and strangely removed noise of the wind without. Indeed the wind itself could hardly be distinguished now, overwhelmed as it was by an eerie hollow resonance that coursed in a painful moan through the walls of the dome itself, whose substance seemed to have achieved some sort of disharmonious vibration with that of the dust cloud, as if the particles of paint and soil embraced one another and became one in their shared misery. This dispiriting noise seem to fill up the whole space of the dome and then, having availed itself of all that meagre space, then of the inside of my head as well, until it was hardly possible to separate my self from the noise -- though perhaps this was also the residual effect of shock and loss of blood. Whatever the case, my head swam through a sea of melancholy resonance and time was felt not to drag, but rather to remain motionless, and I found myself drifted into a sort of macabrely dreamy reverie that fancied Mister Haithcock and myself banished together to some novel incarnation of the Void, caught eternally at some distance beyond telling from the world we once knew, to the point where Thrael itself seemed like the dream, and this stifling dome-lidded Void all the reality that had ever existed, or ever could exist.

But at long, long last, after what seemed yet another eternity in a land that even in our limited experience with it seemed characterized by all kinds of unpleasant infinities, the low groan of the shuddering dust slowed and mellowed until the sound it gave off was nothing more than a soft swish of sand against the uppermost surface of the dome, and the wind could make itself heard once more. Uncurling myself rather stiffly I set myself to pound at the walls of the dome to bring them down, when the directionality of the residual sound of the dust managed to impinge itself on my equally stiffened consciousness, along with the recollection of the usual aftermath of a storm of such ferocity as this one. And so it was that rather than dealing the usual solid blow against the sides to dissolve the entire structure, I stretched up on my toes, extended a hand, and gave the arc of sky-colored paint a cautious rap.

Even taking such precautionary measures, the immediate result of this gesture was a sudden cascade of sand straight into my face, for, as I had surmised after managing laboriously to regain sufficient presence of mind to reflect upon past experience, the ashy soil had been blown into the ravine and heaped up against the side of the dome in such a great drift, that all but the topmost portions of the dome even remained uncovered. As I blinked the grit from my eyes, however, and both head and vision cleared with the air, I found myself looking through a small ragged-edged hole in the top of the dome, like a window through the sky itself, and out onto a dim and blasted world, heaped high with drifts of dust and utterly still, under a silent green sky.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

SCIENTIFIC TRANSACTIONS

Accounts of Research Undertaken
For the Advancement of Knowledge in Kessia

~ * ~

On the Summoning Experiment of Ghust 20, 650 Age of Dreams
An Account Provided by Astolpho Mandel, Emissary of Duvan

At 9 bells after noon, I, Astolpho Mandel, undertook an experiment to summon a creature of benign or benevolent nature from beyond the veil, in a similar manner to the Malvaunt summoned some years ago, but of a decreased order of power. Towards this end, I modified the original spell to include the Kenzian Min in reference to the creature and Vas in reference to the circle and summoning. Thus it was intended that a creature of minor power, and benign nature would be pulled forth from beyond the veil.

Dame Elli Sojourner, Mr. & Mrs. Malo Haithcock, and a middle aged Daun whose name I do not recall were all present for the attempt.

The spell itself went as follows:

"Via Vas Crix Min Sabu Kel Animus"

This was cast upon a circle of ten points, with Sabu Onyr symbolism worked into the markings in comparison to the Kel Nivir imagery more commonly used. Upon completion of the spell, sparks began to swirl about the circle, leaping about with frightening intensity. Some of the larger sparks leapt outwards towards individuals, but causing no lasting damage. A creature later identified as a mephit appeared within the circle's bounds.

The Mephit appeared to be composed of sparks, with no solid being, just a brighter intensity towards the middle. A mouth and eyes were discernable as a less intense part of the overall creature. It is possible this is merely for appearance and does not directly serve the purposes of sight and speech as we are most familiar. It bounced and swirled about the bounds of the circle, demonstrating great speed, quickness and boundless amounts of energy. The creature was capable of speech, but spoke with an edge to its voice, a side effect of being composed of sparks, I suspect. The creature expressed concern over the dampness, and had a fear of water. It had rained recently, and the ground was still a bit wet with droplets occasionally falling. This should be remembered in the case of any conflicts with such creatures in the future.

The creature was capable of transferring itself through items to other locations. It did this once via an umbrella, and a second time through a tree. It is worth noting that the umbrella's holder suffered no ill effects from having the mephit transfer in this manner, which might suggest an ability to control who suffers harm from its nature.

The creature spoke of pales, referencing one of water, and one of earth directly, but expanded that there were more than it could tell us about.

Further inquiries into the nature of the creature and where it had come from were directed to "the big one," which seems to be the large earth elemental currently residing within the remains of Carhadras Castle. When it was pointed out that this creature had refused to speak with us, the mephit said that the earth ones were stupid. The creature further indicated that beings such as itself and the earth elemental were not mortal in nature. It can be concluded that destroying the earth elemental will take more than ruining its physical form.

Further information may be made available through speaking with those noted as present.

Future lines of study:

Can a particular element be called forth by incorporating Kenzian symbols and terms related to that element into the spell? Flam for fire, or Jus for electrical or air, so on and so forth.

How large do these creatures get?

Can we, as mortals and non-natives of their pale, survive there?

Can the creature within Carhadras be communicated with through a vedic link?

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Letters, Essayes, and Opynion

~ Heard About Town ~

AD: I am forming a group to investigate and deal with divine and demonic entities. The group will be dedicated to fighting the Onu whenever they crop up, and will be one that does so because it's right, not because of monetary gains.

AT: We're just firming up some wedding plans. It will be so nice to have a proper ceremony, without the whole skin-sloughing-off business.

DI: I do believe the Mechanists are out to take over Kaezar. They wish to install a "Clockwork King" or some such.

AM: I got a half decent glass of ale at Breen's. I suppose that counts as news. Guess he hadn't washed his socks in it yet.

ST: Oh, honestly I don't mind scandal much at all. People will think what they will of me anyway.
SH: That is exactly what everyone says, until they wind up in the gossip pages.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

FOR THE PUBLIC NOTICE:

-<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>-
|                                                      |
|           AMSHA ELORAH ARANTHI                       |
|                    &                                 |
|               ALDAN TALVIR                           |
|                                                      |
|    Hereby announce their intent to                   |
|    Sanctify their vows of MATRIMONY                  |
|    Before family and friends                         |
|    And their own Gods                                |
|                                                      |
|    On SONSTAG the 16th of PLADE 650                  |
|    At Nine bells past Noon                           |
|    In the Chapel of Lord Benton Memorial Hospital    |
|    With a reception immediately to follow            |
|    In the Hospital's Knot Garden.                    |
|                                                      |
|    "For as long as we share this path,               |
|    I am yours and you are mine."                     |
|                                                      |
-<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>--<<O>>-

~ * ~

The Eye would like to inform its Reading Public that in addition to the regular positions advertised in the Classifyed Section of each Edition of this Newspaper, the offices of this Publication also offer the opportunity for Apprenticeships to those who are deeply intrigued by the Possibilities of Journalism, but are yet Uncertain as to where their greatest Interests or Talents may lie.

An apprenticeship shall afford the willing Individual the Opportunity to work directly under the Supervision of the Acting Manager and Head Reporter, who shall set Assignments for each Edition, while guiding the Apprentice ultimately towards a Specialty of his or her own and assumption of progressive Responsibility and creative Freedom. Benefits to the Apprentice include a small monthly Stipend, the chance to become acquainted with some of Kessia's most interesting Personalities while on assignment, and the excitement of learning a useful new Trade from experienced Practitioners in that field.

All interested Individuals should apply to Siovanhe Haithcock at the offices of the Kaezarian Eye in order to schedule an Interview.

~ * ~

The Eye also wishes to announce, with rather more Regret if not with any Surprise whatsoever, that, knowledge of the Future being evidently too much for the strength of his tender Psyche to bear, the previous writer of Horoscopes took swiftly to Drink before vanishing forevermore into the dim alcoholic Aether, and this being the case, the position of ASTROLOGER with the Eye is once again open.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

EYE ON KESSIA

Views of Our Fair Province
Through the Lens of a Camera-Obscura

[ Sitting in the shadow of the clock tower to the east, a large stone building occupies the entire side of the block shown in this full-page woodcut print, the scene dimly illumined under a darkly clouded sky. A wooden placard is fixed to the wall in a prominent position above a bench near the building's lantern-lit door. Pockmarked with holes and loose stones from the carts and wagons that traffic to the northern, eastern, western and southern sections of Kaezar City, the cobbled road is riddled with mud and deep puddles. A baked gingerbread cookie, soaked in some substance of a disturbingly dark shade, lies on the rutted ground just before the feet of a gory bloodbeast, who stands looking down at it as if it had just done something mildly surprising. Sharing some kind of unusual fashion statement with the oddly placid bloodbeast, persons recognizable as Sorcerer Dalanoth and Orrien sport circlets of autumn leaves that charmingly crown their brows, while Keeper Vivien of Reklar Asylum, Malo, and an animated silver-edged teacup stand by, barren of all seasonal ornamentation. Catching the eye in the background is the limp shadowed lump of a forlorn waterskin, whose relation to the rest of the scene, if any at all exists, is uncertain.

The caption explains the scene succinctly if perhaps unedifyingly as "Kaezarians Observe the High Holy Day of Gingerbreadandcookiestag, 7th Kolbre 650 AoD." ]

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

NEWS OF THE WORLDE
By Minerva Sartchilde, Owner and Chief Editor

Thee predicted increas in graine prices due to thee ongoing hostilities along the Laurdian Front combyned with the Blyght suffered thys past Spring in Indrejan hath alas come to passe. Local authorites had consydered reducing the Taryff on Vashan graine, tho curiusly, due to thee ongoing unrest, little hope appeares to be forthe-coming from thys Quarter as well.

More newes from the Islande of Vash doth continue to provoke Interest, with thys Reporter learning that those most wanted of criminals, the Wakou Sekishu and Kanshou Hitosara narrowly escaped capture on thee islande of Koje during a night of Debaucherie and Tea. Adding to the Empire's woes, it is rumored the northern cityes of Nakayuro and Dori haf both fallen under rebel controlle, whyle the Governers of Kai'gan and Asahai haf both declared Independence and begun marshalling their own Forces.

Taekota itself is belyved to be beseiged, tho' still in Imperial Hands, by forces belongyng to thee Lady Gohime, and it is rumored that thee Divine Emperor Tenma Genki hath relocated to Xianghou, leaving his Shogun in Taekota wyth thee supreme confydence in his ability to Quell the Unrest.

When asked for comment, Ambassador Suwa made Light of these Rumors, saying his Divine Grace is simply consolidatyng his forces, and will wype thys blight from Nagosan shores come Springtyme.

We haf layte-breaking news from Wessumbria regarding thee Laurdian Front, where our own deare King Vek MacVahl hath departed so many weeks ago to joyne the Emperor Anthemian and the other Peregornian Rulers in a concerted effort to push back thee Orcish Incursion. It is wyth Great Regrette that we report thee Nellwynian capital of Noogee hath been sacked and razed by a large Tallonean contyngent. Queen Victaea of Nellwyn hath not been seene nor heard from synce, and thus farre there hath been no worde from thee Tallonean hoste regarding hostages.

Thys stryke tooke place soone after Wessumbrian forces departed the border to joine with Anthemian's hoste in an attempt to re-take the citie of Kesmuth after its own recent sacking. It haf been told to thys Reporter that a combyned army of Wessumbrian landsknechts, Mennailecht's Shatter Keg Lancers druim bear cavalrye, Kessian pykemen and knights, and thee Duan Marbhaidh Kitz reivers successfullye broke thee Tallonean line at Kesmuth and tooke the citie back wyth Minimal Losses. King Vek Himself led the effort, rallyeing the troops and stryking down thee Tallonean commanding offycer with his own blayde.

Rumor hath it that Emperor Anthemian is now eyeing King Vek as a Potential Suitor to his daughter, Amelianne.

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

AS EYE SEE IT
By Aunty Anony

Hello Hello Hello - Hafe you hearde!

So much to Tell!

Aunty is thrilled to report these past monthes have been a whirlwind of engagements and nuptials! Not content with a hasty marriage in the plague ward of the newely erected Hospital, the lovely Mrs. Amsha Aranthi Talvir and Chirurgeon Consiller Aldan Talvir held a second wedding, much to Aunty's delight - even Aunty's little birdies didn't dare enter the ward for the first one, and weddings are always more delectable when the couple still have all of their skin.

Speaking of her little birdies, Aunty is overjoyed to confirm the tantalizing rumor she heard when our last edition went to print! Our very own Head Reporter and Acting Manager Siovanhe Starsong is now going by Mrs. Haithcock, and Aunty couldn't be happier for it - we would never have known about the marriage if she hadn't taken Malo Haithcock's name. No need to be so mum, dearies!

Aunty must confess her envy of the Firebrand Aurorah Moonsong - we hear her most recent husband-to-be Dalanoth Ithiel is blessed with a package that would make a horse blush, although Aunty wonders if he knows it was a topic of interest Miss Moonsong shared with her "daddy" Marian Quinnley, known horse enthusiast, in the middle of towne. But the stoic Mr. Ithiel stood by as Miss Moonsong agreed to another "pristine" painting session, this time with ex-beau Vladimir Shadowlight and his latest bed-warmer Miss Constance De'farlargos, so Aunty is reassured that Mr. Ithiel has the patience to match his generous "endowment". Keep those flames fanned, darling! Aunty's heart will break if she has to add Mr. Ithiel to Miss Moonsong's list of broken engagements so soon (and she's running out of parchment!).

Finally Aunty is pleased to see a guard presence in towne again after Captain Ghurak's departure, but wonders why only Never-Upon-Vinre is being patrolled. The recently collected back payments should be more than enough recompense for keeping the lawlessness of Kaezar in check, and Aunty is dying to know in particular what's going on between Uda the beergarden wench and that mysterious monkey that frequents the patio behind Breen's - is it an illicit affaire, or is the buzz we hear of her indecently fondling the creature wicked slander?

Until next issue, Aunty sees all and tells moste!

-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

CLASSIFYEDS

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@@@@@ WANTED @@@@@ - Men and Women of the Empire in good standing with the law who are interested in serving their fellow Citizenry by joining the ranks of the Imperial Guard. All applicants must be at least 16 years of age, not have any major crimes on the record within the last two years, and be willing to swear their allegiance to His Imperial Majesty.
Duties entail:
- policing the cities and kingdoms of the Empire and upholding its Laws and Ordinances
- defending its Officials, and
- defending its Lands and Holdings against all enemies, both Foreign and Domestic.
A 5000 Sovereign signing bonus is authorized, and a generous monthly stipend included. All applicants should either leave notice at the Imperial Keep, or contact one of the 8th Regiment's officers directly.

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SEEKING -- A master Luthier, preferably with some experience or knowledge of the Zigurandi Oud, to be employed for a special project requiring no small measure of Expertise and Finesse. Must be willing to work closely with the patron concerning details of the instrument's Design and Materials. All special Materials to be provided at no cost to the Luthier. Final fee negotiable but generous, to be paid upon Satisfactory completion of the instrument, with a small advance to be paid out for the obtaining of additional supplies or other Expenses. Contact Siovanhe Haithcock at the Crossroads Inn of Kaezar, or via Bhond's Delivery Service.

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Locks opened fer cheep! Approved by the Society fer prevention of Cruelty ta Veckles! Ratsi's Lock Shop, Greys Ramble, City of Kaezar

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Magrel the Tailor is offering great deals on sturdy clothing for the gentlemen. Located in Paran Alley 2 blocks west of Harrow Road.

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Against all Odds and in the face of utter implacable Indifference on all sides, the Kaezarian Eye is still seeking talented, inquisitive, and DEDICATED writers! The Eye currently has Openings for General Reporters, as well as positions of a more Specialized nature, most particularly Interviewer, Special Events Reporter, and, once again open due to the malign Machinations of the Stars, Astrologer. Any Person hired by the Eye must be willing and able to produce at least one Article per Edition, and will receive a generous Salary from the timely completion of their Duties. All Persons interested in Applying for these positions, or having ideas for other Topics on which they might wish to write, are encouraged to speak with Siovanhe Haithcock, acting manager, or to write her at her offices with the Eye.

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-----------====================THE KAEZARIAN EYE====================-----------
Plade Edition, Age Of Dreams, 650

NOTE FROM THE EDITORS:

Thanke you for purchasing, or Otherwyse obtaining, our newspaper.

Until the Streets of Kaezar are paved in Seige Gold, May the Publick Be Wary.

Minerva Sartchilde, Owner and Chief Editor.

Siovanhe Haithcock, Head Reporter and Acting Manager.