In the news: places/Thorhofn City, npcs/King Stroth, npcs/Rex Sauvage, places/Ezaso City, Gorthak, npcs/Dr. Boom, the-gang, places/Kingdom of Squiyles
MORE HELLFIRE
A third dragons joins the furious dragon attacks!
It was a hard day for the people of Thorhofn today. Tadmenroe Cathedral was set ablaze by three dragons in the early hours of the morning. The cathedral had been under renovations, and therefore no one was injured in the attack.
Witnesses claim to have seen the red blue and green dragon’s responsible for the attack flying east out of the city shortly thereafter.
“So much vibrant history lost” Says head cleric Morin Claust. “These vile beasts desecrate our places of worship!” “May the gods cut their wings and spill their blood!”
It was truly a hard sight to see. The 700 year old church had been an iconic holy place for many followers from all different races and walks of life. Many people would take pilgrimages to this holy place. In hopes to get closer to the heavens.
Caption: (photograph of a cathedral spire burning, a dragon overhead)
ROYAL ARMY CALLS FOR DRAFT
For the first time in 90 years a royal draft begins
PREPARE FOR WAR
King Stroth of Squiyles has declared a military draft today. This marks the first time a draft has been instituted since his grandfather ruled 90 years ago, which took place during the war of the falling moon.
Punishments for those attempting to dodge the draft are rumored to be severe. Weapons and armor manufacturing labor camps have been reported under construction. Many are concerned of the economic and political ramifications this will have on the kingdom as it gears up to support a larger military force.
BY ROYAL DECREE
April 12, 4885 a draft is hereby declared by King Stroth of Squiyles
Every able-bodied male citizen of the kingdom shall report to local city council or active military command wherein a judgement for royal draft eligibility will be assessed. Failure to report will be a punishable offence
FIELD REPORT
From the journal of the dashing Rex Sauvage!
ENCHANTED EYE
I was en route in one of my many formal garments to the Hawkthorne Royal Gala. Only the most influential individuals of our time attend these sorts of gatherings. on my way there I noticed the driver of my carriage seemed out of place.
The man quickly turned on me! halting the carriage and attempting to wrestle his way into the back with me. He wore an eye patch and lifted it to reveal an enchanted glass eye! He looked right into my soul and being with it and it took every ounce of my energy to resist the magic from within it. I could tell he was attempting to take control of me with it! My will was too strong for him and I snapped out of it.
With a flurry of well placed attacks I resolved the threat. I tied him up for the local guard to take care of, Back on my way to rub elbows with the elite.
Just another evening with…
…Rex Sauvage
CHILDREN SLAIN IN MARKET
“Howled until blood spilled from the ears of children”
MURDER IN THE STREETS
Normally street urchins getting cut down in the streets isn’t exactly news-worthy. What makes this story so interesting is the manner in which it happened. An Orcish man 6’ tall with blue tinted skin wearing a brutal wooden mask with horrid images carved into it reportedly “Vomited swarms of spiders” and “Howled until blood spilled from the ears of children”
Not kidding folks. Some very strange stuff is going on in Ezaso.
Could This be a member of Gorthok’s Army? Something even more sinister?? Either way, If you have any information regarding this individual report it to the Royal Guards of Squiyles. According to officials as he is also a suspect in another case.
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FIELD JOURNALIST SUBMISSION
Submitted by Dr. Boom
CHAOS FOLLOWS
It was this time about two years ago that I faced the biggest bloodshed of my life. You understand that you’re signing up for bloodshed when you join the military. Not loss, though. Friends lost in battle bear heavy weight even as memories of bloodshed fade.
I went to Rickety Squibs to see good friend’s family. The war was “over” (hah!) and us soldiers had to waltz right back into daily life, so before I got on the first boat that’d pay me, I wanted to share my grief for a moment.
It was in Squibs where this whole situation started. I got on a boat along with some druid searching for a lost dinosaur, small fry “merchant” boat with a good professional captain (he was a cat and didn’t make much fuss about me being a rat) and a decent crew.
We were on our way to make a shipment when some rookie-ass pirates attempted to board our ship. Once they realized our… explosive… potential, I asked them consider whether it would be best if they drop their arms and hand over their ship, they thought that sounded like a reasonable exchange for their lives. They, as well as their two prisoners joined our crew and we set off to finish what they started but got distracted away from: delivering a drug shipment to a pirate town.
At this point, one of you dear readers will realize: “Oh shit, that’s the crew who stole my boat and my shipment.” To which I say: “You’re the one who made the mistake of hiring a shit crew to do a basic task. Get over it and do better next time.”
We converted our new-found drugs found in our new-found boat into cold hard gold, over at that one pirate town with the tree. Everything was going pretty swimmingly at the time, in terms of how I would imagine my career would go: I’ve gotten surprisingly far so fast in the last two weeks. From deckhand to counting gold by weight is not bad.
It turns out chaos has other plans for me besides gold and fortune, however. For example, it turns out the two prisoners we freed from the pirates may have had good reason to be locked up. I won’t go into details, but one is the true embodiment of chaos and the other has rapidly plunged into evil acts. Frankly, they’re not even my main concern right now, for reasons I will go into at a later time. Until then, I’ll leave you with a human spiritual song:
(The submission closes with several verses of the spiritual “Sinner Man” — “So I run to the Lord…” / “Ran to the devil, he was waiting…” — not reproduced here; see the page image.)
RUGBY’S GAZETTE PAYS FOR ARTICLES
We are always looking for article submissions from in the field journalists here at Rugby’s ◆ investigative ◆ action-packed field reports ◆ entertainment ◆ interviews with the famous
Mail articles to Rugby’s Gazette, Conopimalis, Erepec, Kingdom of Squiyles
Canon facts
- This issue is dated APRIL 12 4885 (in-world) and was published in Conopimalis, Erepec, Kingdom of Squiyles (the 2019-04-01 issue said Kingdom of Binneth).
- Three dragons — red, blue and green — burned Tadmenroe Cathedral in Thorhofn in the early morning; no one was injured because it was under renovation. The dragons flew east afterwards. “A third dragon joins” the attacks (cf. the blue dragon at Torta, 2019-04-01).
- Tadmenroe Cathedral was a 700-year-old pilgrimage church; its head cleric is Morin Claust.
- King Stroth of Squiyles declared a royal military draft on April 12, 4885 — the first in 90 years, since his grandfather’s reign during the War of the Falling Moon. Every able-bodied male citizen must report; draft-dodging is punishable. Rumoured weapons and armor labor camps are being built.
- Rex Sauvage, on the way to the Hawkthorne Royal Gala, was attacked by his carriage driver, who used an enchanted glass eye (under an eye patch) to try to dominate him; Rex resisted and handed him to the local guard.
- In Ezaso, street children were killed in a market by a 6-foot orcish man with blue-tinted skin and a carved wooden mask, who reportedly vomited swarms of spiders and howled until children’s ears bled. Speculation (rumour): a member of Gorthok’s Army. He is wanted by the Royal Guards of Squiyles and is a suspect in another case.
- Ads: “Shoot and Lute” (family-owned since 4867) and “Daniels Extra-Dimensional Delights” (custom extra-dimensional spaces), both in the Wares District of Thorhofn City, Kingdom of Binneth.
- Reader submission by “Dr. Boom”, a rat and a war veteran (“about two years ago”): after visiting Rickety Squibs, he joined a small merchant boat with a cat captain and a druid searching for a lost dinosaur; they captured a pirate ship (taking on its crew and two prisoners), and sold a stolen drug shipment for gold at “that one pirate town with the tree”. One freed prisoner is “the true embodiment of chaos”, the other “has rapidly plunged into evil acts”. This reads as an in-world account of the party’s own early adventures.
- The Gazette pays for article submissions from field journalists; mail goes to Conopimalis, Erepec, Kingdom of Squiyles.