Love Letter 2: Brashk Actions

My dearest Beshaba,

Hail thee, my beauteous love, Lady Doom, bringer of ill omen and sovereign of goblins gobblin’ ominous ramen.

It seems my first letter has flown through to void between planes to Your very doorstep. I felt the blessed beauty of your averted gaze often during our venture south, my darling. Thank You for banishing the clouds of love that held the fates of those poor farmers so close to Your heart. Soon, I will be the one who holds them near my heart instead!

The beacon of light, the *guiding star* You gave to me, shone brightly over the decrepit village of Hope for our full journey, safely guiding us home and helping us to understand our surroundings. It is with great precision that I can confidently state our **exact location** for our entire journey!

Our first venture lead us twelve miles due south of Hope to the farm that the dastardly lizardfolk attacked. The farm was abandoned, with a pack of wild **scaleshrikes** attacking us before we could investigate. With Your eyes elsewhere, we made short work of the creatures, though **Aidan** was briefly paralyzed by their poisonous talons. Good thing **Pixli** was there to ensure that those long-starved pigs in the pig coop ate the corpse of the scaleshrike instead of Aidan's living body!

When they were finished, we harvested them for rations under **Elaria**’s helpful instruction, and explored the wrecked farm.

Inside was evidence of great struggle! There were blood spatters throughout the homestead, with a decapitated lizardman body in the home itself, and tracks that indicated that not just farmers, but oxen and horses as well were stolen from the homestead.

We attempted to follow the tracks from the camp to wherever the lizardmen were hiding the farmers, but unfortunately got very lost and ended up at a **doom-ridden cave amidst some muddy hillocks** 24 miles south of Hope. I could feel you nearby, my dear, from the moment I set eyes upon it. Between your clear love for the area and **Aragorn’s** previous experiences there, I had to protect the others by guiding them away.

I am so sorry to have shirked you; I know that all you want is to see my visage. It must be hard to look away from me for much time at all. Was that why you sent the lizardmen to our camp in the swamp?

But what would you have me do, my queen? I must protect those around me. I can’t let them flounder without my help. Though I suppose I can’t blame You for sending the rain our way. After all, the blessing of sending us the knowledge I sought in the form of a lizardfolk prisoner could not come without difficulty. Balance in everything as You always say!

The party of six almost captured us all, of course, especially after **Plank** was poisoned and knocked unconscious… but with my newfound strength, my new sanctuary powers that You gave me, I bolstered the six of us out of oblivion.  That and, of course, Your sweet soft lullaby that rocked two of the lizardfolk to sleep

(You tease me with these continued encounters out of my armor. It’s like You are so desperate to see me in the flesh that you're *trying* to kill me! Alas, You will have to wait a little longer, my love, as I purchased some studded leather pajarmor for sleep when I returned to town.)

I jest. Your blessings are so graceful and gorgeous, my dearest Beshaba. Not only were we able to protect ourselves, but we captured one of the lizardmen! **Brashk** the lizardman told us everything in exchange for keeping him alive. In case You missed a word of it, I will share what he said below:

* The lizardmen have swayed from their normal ways due to the arrival of **Throstulgrael the Black Dragon**, who has demanded offerings from the local tribes in exchange for declaring one of the lizardfolk king
* The Muckmarsh, Dusk Dusk, and Rootwater lizardfolk tribes have joined the dragon’s allegiance, but the Blackscale and Sunscale have stayed away thusfar
* The fate of the human and livestock offerings remains unknown, but he told us they were being held at **Ringcurrent Island**
* Throstulgrael and **Ragemaw**, the red dragon who attacked Hope, do not seem to know of each other’s existences

As I’m sure You saw, my darling, Brashk led us to Ringcurrent Island the next morning. Located **exactly 36 miles south-southeast of Hope**, the series of islands was surrounded in the swamp by a flow of water swimming a circle around the tiny archipelago.

As expected, this is exactly where we found the farmers, now made slaves to be offered to Throstulgrael, in pens and cages next to each of the three tribes’ encampments in the village at the center of the largest island. There were a dozen lizardfolk near each set of cages, and the dragon could be seen in flight above the village from miles away.

We returned to town, Brashk in tow, in case other questions came up before we head back to the lizardfolk to interrupt their festival and save the enslaved farmers.

My thanks to You, my dear. Without Your love and mercy, we would have been hopeless against the onslaught of terror. Now, we can bring justice and safety to those who so unfairly monopolized Your divine attention for so long.

With undying affection,

Always and forever Yours,

Your devotee

Knock