Servus Venandi
Magistrate
See also:
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Trials of Ariana
Blood Beast of the Shale
by Servus Venandi
Copyright © Servus Venandi. You can re-post this work as long as you don't do any of the following: 1) change it, 2) make money with it, 3) lie about who created it, or 4) display it in an illegal manner. I would also appreciate you linking to my DeviantArt page if you choose to post anything of mine elsewhere. Please attribute my work to "Servus Venandi.”
For Her Eminence, Sovereign Raga Baardsden of the Exalted Republics.
I, Representative Haag Bjornsen, in Her Eminence’s service on behalf of the Exalted House of Commons and High Command Regiment West 9, do humbly submit this abbreviated report and analysis on Incident SF-47.
The so-called Blood Beast was first reported near the Conflagration Zone where the Exalted Republics, Borra Empire, Ethereal Wilds and Shale Forest all share an amorphous border. Word of early sightings first reached our forward outpost in the region by way of hysterical accounts from rural peasants and barbarians, but subsequent investigations soon turned up a series of gruesome scenes. I have included Colonel Demetrius Dahl’s field and post-action reports in the attachments, should you require the horrid details, but the commonalities across all sites are 1) dismemberment and scattered entrails, and 2) a notable lack of victim consumption. This is not to say 100% of every victim was recovered, but the perpetrator seemed motivated by sheer blood lust rather than carnivorous appetite.
Tovus Parns, an eccentric Shale shaman in the hard-hit village of Poindexter, reported to Dahl’s forces on 21 Winterdawn that the beast was unnatural. When asked to elaborate, Parns failed to do so to Dahl’s satisfaction and was consequently taken into custody. Following a few hours of interrogation, the shaman confessed that the extreme violence on display bore hallmarks of Shale magic. The bladedancer Ariana of Dourheim had been hired to address the problem weeks prior, and managed to implicate a rival shaman (one Yanna Blume) in the village of Akton before falling out of contact.
I must pause here, Your Eminence, to mention the extreme distaste with which Colonel Dahl regards the Order of Bladedancers, as well as individuals within that order. He has gone on record many times, referring to them as “witches” and “arcane terrorists.” As recent as last season, he wrote in a formal letter to the House that, if the Exalted Republics were to adopt a single policy from our southern neighbors in Borra, it should be to burn witches in the manner prescribed by the fundamentalist elements of the Malus’rett faith. I note this neither in support nor condemnation of the man’s opinion, but only because it provides context for things to come.
Upon learning of a bladedancer’s involvement, Dahl dispatched his foremost arcane commando unit—Company Ash—to track her down. This proved no small feat, as no one had received any word from or about her since she’d surfaced briefly to ask about Blume. As Blood Beast attacks continued in the meantime, many feared she had been slain on the job.
On 25 Winterdawn, in the village of Akton, Company Ash followed their only lead to Yanna Blume, who scoffed at Parns’s accusations and, perhaps unsurprisingly, accused him in turn.
Reports on what happened thereafter in Akton are largely based on the accounts of captured villagers who survived, but most threads point to Company Ash attempting to arrest Blume. She resisted, first with words and then with magic. When the highly trained Exalted commandos rebuffed this paltry nonsense, the village as a whole turned on them.
It appeared as a classic pitchfork rebellion, dangerous but well within the capabilities of the unit. They had subdued most of the village within the hour, and nearly the entire adult population was chained in a coffle, to be driven by whip to the Exalted outpost for a summary hearing and, most likely, execution.
The Blood Beast appeared at this point, storming out of the forest and slaughtering Company Ash to a man. Chained villagers were likewise helpless against the fiend, and only a handful of children and noncombatants ultimately escaped.
Dahl responded in force a day later, personally taking command, but his large expeditionary team found little more than another abandoned killing ground. With such fresh evidence, however, scouts managed to track the beast’s path through the woods, a path which terminated at the Ghost Falls of the Milyra River. After a bit of treacherous climbing, commandos slipped behind the falls and found an assortment of black candles, a bloodstained summoning circle, and a drugged, barely-conscious female with slit wrists. Reports suggest that a substantial population vacated the cave mere hours before Dahl’s arrival, with only the lone woman left behind.
Troops took her into custody and treated her injuries. When a search of the cave turned up bladedancer weapons and equipment, Dahl surmised that the prisoner was Ariana of Dourheim. He ordered her stripped and bound to a makeshift crucifix at the Exalted riverside camp, reasoning that her involvement in the Blood Beast phenomenon was obvious.
Trials of Ariana: The Princess And The Witch
There are several Trials of Ariana stories to date, and this was the first. I considered keeping all of them in one thread, but they're 10,000 to 15,000 words each, and I fear that would get messy in a hurry. I hope having a thread for each story is all right. The cover art was created some...
www.cruxforums.com
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Trials of Ariana
Blood Beast of the Shale
by Servus Venandi
Copyright © Servus Venandi. You can re-post this work as long as you don't do any of the following: 1) change it, 2) make money with it, 3) lie about who created it, or 4) display it in an illegal manner. I would also appreciate you linking to my DeviantArt page if you choose to post anything of mine elsewhere. Please attribute my work to "Servus Venandi.”
1.
For Her Eminence, Sovereign Raga Baardsden of the Exalted Republics.
I, Representative Haag Bjornsen, in Her Eminence’s service on behalf of the Exalted House of Commons and High Command Regiment West 9, do humbly submit this abbreviated report and analysis on Incident SF-47.
The so-called Blood Beast was first reported near the Conflagration Zone where the Exalted Republics, Borra Empire, Ethereal Wilds and Shale Forest all share an amorphous border. Word of early sightings first reached our forward outpost in the region by way of hysterical accounts from rural peasants and barbarians, but subsequent investigations soon turned up a series of gruesome scenes. I have included Colonel Demetrius Dahl’s field and post-action reports in the attachments, should you require the horrid details, but the commonalities across all sites are 1) dismemberment and scattered entrails, and 2) a notable lack of victim consumption. This is not to say 100% of every victim was recovered, but the perpetrator seemed motivated by sheer blood lust rather than carnivorous appetite.
Tovus Parns, an eccentric Shale shaman in the hard-hit village of Poindexter, reported to Dahl’s forces on 21 Winterdawn that the beast was unnatural. When asked to elaborate, Parns failed to do so to Dahl’s satisfaction and was consequently taken into custody. Following a few hours of interrogation, the shaman confessed that the extreme violence on display bore hallmarks of Shale magic. The bladedancer Ariana of Dourheim had been hired to address the problem weeks prior, and managed to implicate a rival shaman (one Yanna Blume) in the village of Akton before falling out of contact.
I must pause here, Your Eminence, to mention the extreme distaste with which Colonel Dahl regards the Order of Bladedancers, as well as individuals within that order. He has gone on record many times, referring to them as “witches” and “arcane terrorists.” As recent as last season, he wrote in a formal letter to the House that, if the Exalted Republics were to adopt a single policy from our southern neighbors in Borra, it should be to burn witches in the manner prescribed by the fundamentalist elements of the Malus’rett faith. I note this neither in support nor condemnation of the man’s opinion, but only because it provides context for things to come.
Upon learning of a bladedancer’s involvement, Dahl dispatched his foremost arcane commando unit—Company Ash—to track her down. This proved no small feat, as no one had received any word from or about her since she’d surfaced briefly to ask about Blume. As Blood Beast attacks continued in the meantime, many feared she had been slain on the job.
On 25 Winterdawn, in the village of Akton, Company Ash followed their only lead to Yanna Blume, who scoffed at Parns’s accusations and, perhaps unsurprisingly, accused him in turn.
Reports on what happened thereafter in Akton are largely based on the accounts of captured villagers who survived, but most threads point to Company Ash attempting to arrest Blume. She resisted, first with words and then with magic. When the highly trained Exalted commandos rebuffed this paltry nonsense, the village as a whole turned on them.
It appeared as a classic pitchfork rebellion, dangerous but well within the capabilities of the unit. They had subdued most of the village within the hour, and nearly the entire adult population was chained in a coffle, to be driven by whip to the Exalted outpost for a summary hearing and, most likely, execution.
The Blood Beast appeared at this point, storming out of the forest and slaughtering Company Ash to a man. Chained villagers were likewise helpless against the fiend, and only a handful of children and noncombatants ultimately escaped.
Dahl responded in force a day later, personally taking command, but his large expeditionary team found little more than another abandoned killing ground. With such fresh evidence, however, scouts managed to track the beast’s path through the woods, a path which terminated at the Ghost Falls of the Milyra River. After a bit of treacherous climbing, commandos slipped behind the falls and found an assortment of black candles, a bloodstained summoning circle, and a drugged, barely-conscious female with slit wrists. Reports suggest that a substantial population vacated the cave mere hours before Dahl’s arrival, with only the lone woman left behind.
Troops took her into custody and treated her injuries. When a search of the cave turned up bladedancer weapons and equipment, Dahl surmised that the prisoner was Ariana of Dourheim. He ordered her stripped and bound to a makeshift crucifix at the Exalted riverside camp, reasoning that her involvement in the Blood Beast phenomenon was obvious.
***
(to be continued)
(to be continued)