My Lord,
It is my duty to inform you of the fact that I have unveiled one of the most evil masterminds and one of the great threats to our realm. Maybe even the source of all of our current sorrows. The fact that all of our enemies are mobilizing at the same time and that a band of great heroes throw away their lives in a quest none saw coming, thereby giving up one of the best chances of peace in our time, is no accidental occurence.
I have pieced together several bits of information from various sources. All though the shadowspawn witch is too crafty to leave any direct evidence, circumstancial evidence and her 'accidental' presence nearby some of the most important recent events reveal her plot.
The spawn known as Niobhe Alamie come from an unwholesome union of Nathanael Alamie and Siobhan Siannodenel. She is known to have magical powers of enchantment and thus bend a mans will or whisper strange suggestions in a mans ear.
The first obvious trace happens when Niobhe arrives in the Capital of Anuire to 'visit' her grandfather, Lord Thalion Alamie, A trusted advisor to the then still living Emperor. Shortly after her arrival, we assume that she wasted no time in bringing lord Thalion under dark influence. Lord Thalion, a man of great standing, decides to, shortly after her arrival, instead of giving his lands to his son, a true human, suddenly offers the half-elven enchantress all of his lands for the taking. All set in motion according to her plans, the Emperor dies soon after.
Before I forget. After arriving in the city, she was seen discussing with a devout preacher of Haelyn around the time the emperor died. Obviously the witch was offended by words spoken by a true believer of the gods. Shortly later the preacher was found dead in a holy temple.
During her stay in Anuire, her presence is linked to the deaths of several upstanding citizens that frequent inns that she has been to, after they had tried helping her on the street. Their corpses were found in the streets. We believe these to have been sacrificed to her dark patrons. She was obviously cavorting with people of illrepute. These citizens thought she needed saving. For the error, they paid with their lives. Two victims maybe lived to tell the tale. During the sacrifices, the cityguard arrived on the scene. Niobhe tried to pass it off as if the citizens had tried to rob her, and attempted to get the two survivors hung by the guard.
Whether they lived or if the witch succeeded in her plans is unclear.
After the funeral, an initial meeting with the Emperor, made it clear to the Emperor that already Lord Thalion had changed from being a fully loyal subject upon whom a ruler could depend, to something else...
Cloaked figures known as skulks were connected with the disappearances of several people. Niobhe and here compatriots were reported hanging around the handout. Apparently the two shady groups had a falling out, as the skulks were soon found dead. Evil altar was found soon after, obviously used for human sacrifices. While in this regard, the Witch is probably not directly reponsible. The fact that she eliminated these, points to the fact that she dislikes competition and is evil to the core.
When the Emperor in his wisdom made the declarations of the truths that any upright man knows, that the Elves are the spawn of Azrai, the witch felt threatened.
We know that she somehow gained access to the Patriarch. A day before that the renowned artist Romero disappeared, as did his apprentices. We assume that she killed the Artist and then gained information that would allow her access to the Patriarch, a known sponsor of the renowned Artist.
Lord Thalion and the Patriarch had a private meeting, supposedly to talk about mitigating the latest edicts. Probably aimed to excluding the Elves from the edicts so that the witch could continue weaving a web.
During a certain court session, Lord Thalion, under Niobhe evil influence, called upon the emperor to change the edicts. Whether this was a charade, masquerading the enchantment upon the Patriarch, or something else we do not know.
We assume that the Holy man found a loophole in the sorcerous commands on his minds. The Patriarch was kept from speaking out against the witch, but he could still denounce her most important puppet, Lord Thalion as a traitor to the empire.
The Witch's plans foiled, she slew several guards in retaliation. The Emperor's daughters were able to chase the half-elf and her minion/victims away.
The Lord Thalion was confined to the dungeons, his mind broken by the magics of the Enchantress.
According to second hand reports, we guess that she returned to the evil temple in the underground sewers to maybe report upon her failures to her dark masters.
in the weeks that follow she escapes the capital, to the city of endier. Several loyal soldiers of the Emperor die. The corpse of an Imperial Herald are also found, his seal stolen. She would go on to steal this, using it to cause chaos and spread lies, twisting the imperial truth. Making the Emperor seem as if gone mad with power.
In Lofton, she meets with and starts the tragic doom of Lord Anphelan, Grandmaster of the Order of the Phoenix. Soon she has the poor man confused in web of lies and deceit, confusing a man that embodied loyalty, twisting that virtuous man to her own ends.
The Emperor's daughter Fauve Avan Roele arrived in Tuornen before any enchantments could be cast upon those rulers. The Princess is forced to sentence several people to death for fear of them being under the fey enchantress' power.
Unfortunately the half-elf escapes the princess, known that she left Lord Anpheland in charge and that he would be executed for treason. But not before ensnaring one of the Empire's finest in her webs with her wiles, Sir Riegon.
Princess Fauve is forced to execute whole groups of people fallen under the sway of elven magics, showing them the final light of Haelyn.
A magical portal created from the great northern realms was made manifest in Alamie. A local baroness by the name of Lady Argenta was kidnapped by Niobhe, but luckily rescued by the bodyguard and a few passing adventurers. Niobhe was still able to escape the lands of the Empire by the prearrranged portal to the North.
Shortly after she takes the portal, the magic dissappates, proving that the deaths and starvation of locals came only secondary to the Witch. Even when arranging magical transportation, her cruel and malicious elven blood shows true.
What happened to her trail after that is hazy. We know that some kind of change of the power structure in the lands of the White Witch happened, a party logically in league with Niobhe as both are spawns from Azrai.
Thus began the fall of the Giantdowns, a valued ally of the Empire, and the surrounding lands.
Soon after arriving in the Giantdowns she begins casting her web. Seeking to propagate her infernal line, she is seeking victims to form an unholy union with. Like her mother was able to snare the Hero of the Empire, so for a while she set her sights on Ansen Teaghan, but fails at this point.
The Witch wanted lands of her own and thus makes dark whispers of conquest in the ears of King Hrothwulf.
Two decades of peace, gone the moment Niobhe steps foot in the Kingdom and starts meddling with politics.
Seeking more victims for her plots, Niobhe visits the Baroness Fhiele of Dhoesone. The Baroness was cursed with Elven blood. However unlike this villain, she was a devout follower of Haelyn, citizen of the Empire and had not embraced her Elven blood.
However the Inquisitor was not privy to the information that Niobhe was a wicked enchantress. Empty promises were made. Although no military support was gained, they did manage to make the Baroness an accomplice in the deaths of thousands of Rjurik in sacrifice to the Niobhe's ambition.
Against the advice of all of his Jarls, King Hrothwulf made the witch the one in charge of the conquest of the Orog lands. She fought the Orogs with armies of innocent men. In a battle against Orogs, the Half-elf proved to be the bigger monster.
During a meeting of the King with his Jarls, one of the loyal Rjurik manages to make the half-elf squirm with uncomfortable truths. Why is the war taking so long? Instead of assaulting the Orog leader, lives are wasted in useless battles.
Words are overheard, that the Hero of the Empire tried to arrange a marriage with someone that could save Niobhe's soul. The enchantress was outraged that someone dared to dictate her, the great manipulator, into something that did not fit into her plans.
Suddenly King Hrothwulf unveils plans to assault the nemesis of humanity and healyn, the Gorgon. In that same periode, Niobhe tries to get one of her minions, the bastard son of the king nominated as true heir. Luckily, this failed.
In the meanwhile the lands of Alamie and Tuornen had broken out in open rebellion. If one remembers, this are lands already influenced by the witch.
Her father and Lord Tieghan receive letters from the Emperor, asking them to renew their oaths of loyalty as is common in a change of rulers, and to peacefully resolve this situation.
Her father and Lord Tieghan, father of the man she intended to use to continue her line with, also accompanied the King on the suicide mission, shortly after this call. Only the greatest fool considers this to be coincidence. With the death of the Lord Alamie and Tieghan died any hope of peace.
In the following year, her plans come to fruition. She performs the ritual of bloodtheft several times in dark ceremonies, gathering the dark blood of azrai from the Orogs she conquers. Aided in this, she uses a feared artifact, a tighmaevril spear. The Orogs are conquered.Her father, Lord Tieghan, King Hrothwulf and others succesfully die.
We assume that she merely is hiding the Orog armies in dark tunnels inher newly conquered territories. Ofcourse she gains lands close to the Realm of the White Witch a valued ally.
Shortly before the conquest of the Orog lands was complete, things developed in the lands of Dhoesone. Things are sometimes hard to date, but we know that Niobhe was sighted in Dhoesene alone a few times, and not accompanying her minions' armies.
The Baroness had fallen too deep in the clutches of the wicked enchantress, the curse of the elven making her a perfect victim. The local inquisitor was forced to consign her to the afterlife and show her the light and flame of Haelyn. Niobhe's charms were effective indeed, managing to ensare both brothers who had actually both been courting the baroness. One died in defence of the Baroness. Niobhe ensared the last remaining brother of the wizardly duo with her body, gaining the loyalty of a broken man grieving for a woman destroyed by the very half-elf that 'comforted' him.
Next Niobhe met with the Elven ruler south of Dhoesone, laying the groundwork of greater disasters in the future, arranging contacts between the Elven spawn of Azrai and the Wizard she recently ensared.
Right as the conquest of the Orog lands is complete, and King Hrothwulf leaves with the giantdowns finest, a man comes from the North. The true heir to the Giantdowns, bearing magic arms themed with cold. Clearly this man was an ally of the White Witch and thus an ally of Niobhe ready to take up the throne when the King would finally succumb to Niobhe's schemes.
Through the sacrifice of many brave heroes, Niobhe's plans are complete. No longer needing the Tighmaevril spear, she gifts it to the Gorgon as she no longer needs it. Thus she buys peace for the Giantdowns. We assume that the sacrifice of so many good men of the Gorgon's doorstep was done to placate the unholy beast's hunger for victims.
Things accelerated rapidly after that. Niobhe started consolidating her powerbase in what used to be the Orog lands. She evacuated lands that had belonged to the Rjurik people of humans and told them to settle cold lands months away, claiming safety. Thus she emptied the lands for her Elven masters. Niobhe is reported to have visited the Queen of elven spawn in one of the northern forests. The Elves after centuries of staying quiet in the forests, happened the threaten with violence just as Niobhe's were starting to unfold?
Niobhe claimed to 'brokered a truce by trading away a valuable magical item'. We can only imagine what sort of unwholesome details were involved in that deal. I think that she secreted away one of the few items that could pose a plan to her dark plans.
The anuireans in the giantdowns had been tasked with keeping the lands of the ally of the Empire safe from the Gorgon. Having succesfully ensnared their lords and brokered a deal with the Gorgon, Niobhe moved these people south to help the rebellion she had incited in the lands of the empire.
The Elves she had visited south of Dhoesone assaulted Dhoesene, quickly assaulted the forested provinces, claimed that any forest belonged to the Elves. A thin veneer of legitimacy at best. The Elves merely used it as an excuse to reinstate their Wild Hunt and Niobhe had whispered tales of refound glories in their leaders' minds.
The Imperial lands under assault and in war, the Imperial army was forced to ignore the rebellion and focus on a genuine threat. Niobhe knew that an army of elves would be too tempting to for the Empire to ignore, favouring to save the souls of innocent citizens over fighting misguided and enchanted nobles.
The rebellion reinforced by the anuireans from the giantdowns, started to siege the capital. Niobhe hopes to reclaim lord thalion so she can finish her schemes in the Empire.
Even now she is travelling south.
Lord Ansen Tieghan is now vulnerable, having recently lost his father. Even though he once rejected the half-elven enchantress, he is now vulnerable to the wiles of Niobhe. This would bring a large part of the Empire under direct control of the witch.
A few of her minions have also made for Brecht land, the implications or schemes she has going on there still need to be revealed. Although already word of a deposed lord, a heiress though dead returning from the Giantdowns and a bloodily interrupted noblewedding are reaching our ears. Other rumors concern the tyrannical nature of taxing in the Giantdowns. The death of a rightful ruler of Hogunmark, and the marriage of the White Witch with the new one.
Preparations for war are starting in the Giantdowns. The remaining part of Dhoesone is vulnerable. We know that a jarl in Stjordvik, who is aware of the oathbreakers in the newly named Jentilak, recently survived a murder attempt. Right around the time an alliance between Stjordvik and the Giantdowns started. Correspondence has been intercepted that the rulers of the two nations are already dividing up the remains of the Imperial province of Dhoesone.
This concludes the spread and knowledge of Niobhe's machinations. If one looks into the histories of her companions/victims/minions, one becomes further unsettled. Atleast 3 are known descendants of Answeg or carry the thick bloodlines of Azrai. Most have also engaged in the use of the bloodtheft with the tighmaevril spear.
I hope that this encourages further measures to stop this threat to the Empire, humanity and the Gods of Cerilia.
Your humble servant,
Parniele Suivere, spymaster of the Holy Inquisition
Seriously guys..
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