Increasing Danger of Northern Settlements

Late events suggest that the smaller settlements in the Northern regions are under ever greater threats from attack and isolation.

Recently returned traders and patrols travelling the Mirsvr – Zhikav route bring reports of terrible events at the town of Smatvr, a remote settlement of a few dozen souls lying off a tributary of the main trading corridor. Discovered by a Temari patrol vessel responding to accounts of distressed messages received by regional freetraders, this outlying town was recently utterly demolished by an assault of unknown beasts.

Investigation by the officers of the vessel – the Aspire – determined a likely course of events, as follows:

While a freetrader was stopped at Smatvr, presumably on routine business, the attack began. At least three creatures emerged from the thick forest to the west of the town – the west being the direction with the least clearance between the town’s walls and the treeline. Several citizens managed to retreat within the walls – those who did not were quickly killed by the assaulting creatures.

Despite the full defenses being raised against the attack, the creatures quickly destroyed part of the fortifications and gained entry to the town proper. Those townsfolk who had not sought shelter underground were crushed in their attempt to fight against the invasion. Several attempted to flee aboard the freetrader’s vessel, which turned its batteries upon the attackers. The vessel was quickly brought down, and crashed into several buildings, starting a fire.

The remaining townsfolk, hiding in their own cellars or in the vault below the central warehouse, were not spared. Those that did not perish in the fire were killed by the creatures digging into their refuges and brutally killing every citizen of Smatvr.

The determination of the officers of the Aspire, based on their observations of the site, the spoor of the beasts, and the apparent intelligence and cruelty demonstrated in their assault, was that this attack was carried out by at least three Arvix. Arvix have never before been known to venture so far south, nor to seek out human settlements outside their native ranges. The freetrader was named as Captain Felin Krastba, an itinerant merchant of the vessel Sweet Fog, a veteran visitor to the towns of this region and well-known and well-loved in those parts.

Should this be a portent of future assaults by the violent creatures of the deep interior, the lives and the trades of Abhesk people are in grave danger. Between increased attacks, harsher climates, and the subversion of our trade and morals by other nations, life in the hinterlands is becoming more precarious. The cities cannot sustain themselves without the labours of the outlying towns, and it is apparent the lesser towns may no longer be able to sustain themselves simply on their own industry. To preserve the security of Abheski, whether on the frontiers or in the Spires, the routes plied by freetraders should be bought by the Companies, who can leverage their greater resources and expertise to better secure both life and cargo.

Mirsvr Broadsheet Company