Hillmarch Incident
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So I met with Olga Ovedottier after the attack to get her eye witness account to what happened with the attack on Hillmarch. She said devil creatures came running out of the mine, with weapons drawn. They were swinging their weapons at what seemed to be nothing, or maybe something invisible. They got frustrated and started attacking the villagers. Olga rushed many of them inside a building, but not all made it before they had to bar the door. The Bounty hunter said he saw a man in Precept clothing, which was Treth. After they hid away for awhile, sounds of fighting and shouting started up again. A man and woman's shouts mixed in with the grunt of those creatures. Magic shook the ground, then after awhile all went quiet again. When they went outside, all the corpses had been burnt and appeared to be boiled in acid. When they came out the man and woman were gone. They were unable to hear the argument and what was being said.
Jace and I entered the mines and it is quiet for now. But it should be monitored as it appears the planar activity in the mines is getting stronger.
This incident will end up being Treth's word against Pelagia's mostly. But we can take their stories and line them up with this eyewitness account. I have instructed Treth to write a letter to the council to explain what he saw, and sent a letter to Pelagia to do the same.
-Jenny
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Pelagia seems to think she can ignore the Councils requests and put up moronic posters instead of providing a statement
https://nodebb.cityofarabel.com/topic/57495/events-of-hillmarch
She is to be fined the maximum of 5000 coins for evasion of a peace official and brought in to be questioned and give a proper statement.
Sir Pierre
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Here is the letter that Treth send to us,
Councillor Whitlock.
The following is my statement of events in Hillsmarch. Please do not hesitate to contact me to clarify any points.
I was within the Sanctum of the Precept when a call was heard from Dourhand, the Grey Dwarf currently under our protection. A new tunnel had been found in Hillsmarch Mines and within it a battle was raging. Hoping to learn more I called for assitance.
After my call for assistance went unanswered I made haste to Hillsmarch alone, save for the flames I summon. I found the new tunnel and entered with care, uncertain of what I would find. At first, there was little difference to my previous trips within those mines. A horde of imps quickly dispatched, some celestial motes likewise felled.
Upon rounding one corner I heard fighting and came upon Celestial and Infernal Soldiers, unlike any I had encountered before. All were armed and armoured, waging their planar battle within our realm. Before I could withdraw I came under fire by arrows that burst into Fireballs (please refer to the examples of such weapons I was able to recover and give to Councillor Whitlock) and was forced to counter attack. Still fresh, both sides fell quickly to my elementals and other talents.
The magnitude of this new threat was not lost on me, so I progressed deeper, seeking to gather more information. I stopped several times to investigate nodes of a strange mineral, what I believe to be a raw form of Green Steel. Even enhanced, my gem chisel could not chip any samples away in a timely manner, simply collecting chippings of crystals littering the ground.
Soon after I was beset by more groups, each dispatched with relative ease. This was until, finally, I came upon a larger body of infernal troops. In danger of being overwhelmed, I abandoned my elementals to a stalling action and withdrew under invisibility and a hastening. My talents were taxed to the fullest and I needed to report what I had seen.
The fiends chased me regardless, some had gotten ahead of me that I was forced to evade, my concealment barely hindering their fiendish senses. Thinking I had eluded pursuit, I raced from the mines to once again seek aid, rushing through Hillsmarch and headed for the Sanctum.
That is when the screams began. It is also when I came upon the Water Cultist Pelagia. She rushed off to Hillsmarch invisible, despite a warning she would not succeed alone, only to run back a moment later after seeing six of the shock troops within the village. As she cast aspersions at me, a Tannarukk came from the road to the woods, where I had met Pelagia and attacked. This was the first sign of Abyssals I had seen but my last surviving elemental leapt to my defence. As has happened previously Pelagia stood back untill it came close to her.
Reluctantly and in hindsight, foolishly, I charged Pelagia with aiding me to save Hillsmarch. We entered the village and slew the six infernal troops, the battle fierce. My gifts are not subtle and it required great effort to avoid hitting Pelagia with my spells, scouring the land and the corpses of the fallen, along with the Infernals.
I described the scene before me as truly unfortunate but that it was good we halted the Planar's incursion and saved some lives. At this, she began to rant, calling me "filth", "an infernalist", shouting "I was always right". She summoned a Scorpion and launched spell after spell at me. My gifts were all but depleted, I fell back, launching counter attacks as best I could before I was forced to run for my life. As I collapsed back into the common room of the Precept, unable to even mount the stairs to my own chamber when her slanderous sendings began and you summoned me to the Palace.
As an aside;
This woman Pelagia is deranged. She worships an Elelmntal Primordial that has little interest in anything mortal. She has attempted to have me killed before by Celestial Cultists, who were halted with the aid of Sir Cambrian, Miss Whitlock and my family. She has sought to subvert the Precept for her Cults own ends, ingratiating herself in an attempt to gain access to our Genesai brethren. Repeatedly attempting to seduce Trueblood Caul, despite repeatedly being told no. Pelagia took advantage of a tragic moment to remove what she sees as the biggest obstacle to her gaining a foothold within the Precept and my Sisters bedchambers. She is bitter, this much is obvious from a recent note sent to us. Now it seems she is vengeful and murderous.
Trueblood Treth
Precept Arcanum
Clover DistrictI doubt I need to post letters for Pelagia's side, since she posted it all over.
-Jenny
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Here is Pelagia's posting from earlier.
Dear citizens of Arabel
By now you have all likely heard of the slaughter in Hillmarch. The Council of Twelve has ask me to send a 'private report' about the matter so they can judge events. However I believe the Twelves judgement in this matter will be biased by personal and political alliances, so I thought it better for events to be known to the people so justice can be done in the light.
First lets set the context.
Hillmarch mine has been infested by fiends for a while, but the Council of Twelve set up a ward to keep them in and and bared any from interfering with them.
Treth is a tiefling sorcerer of devilish blood that specialises in conjuration, fire and acid magic. His aptitude with magic to do with summoning is high and he is well trained in battle magic.
Treth has showed a pathological hated towards my religious sect , The Pure Waters of Istishia the Lord of Waters. My sects only real foes are the other elemental gods and fiendish and false powers. I though Treth a man of Kossuth, but I have talked with followers of Kossuth and he does not call them brothers of faith... thus I have reasonable grounds to suspect that he worships some being of the Lower Planes.
Treth has showed himself off great violence on little excuse. Throwing powerful spells at me for playfully calling him “Trethy” while delivering a powerful and difficult to make stave for his brother to the Precepts. I let this grave insult go only because his sister asked me nicely, but it seemed incredibly rude and unreasonable at the time and badly damaged my trust in the Precept ability to judge there own fairly.
With the Hillmarch there is a dwarven sorcerer from the underdark with fiendish blood in his veins. The Precepts has deemed him under there ward and argued against the bounty placed on him by the Palace. I am unsure what has taken place in secret, but I know the dwarf has been mining and working on something in the mines the Precepts won't talk about. I also suspect he was involved in the whys of this, even if I did not directly see him.
Now onto events.
I heard a sending that the Precepts were going to the Hillmarch while deep in the mountains fighting giants with members of the Lower House. As the sender was Treth and I trust him not, so I decided not to go said sending.
On my return I decided to see how things had gone in Hillmarch and heard the screams of innocent, I quickly ran past Treth who was standing around and saying “it's only a few mundanes” to find the last of the villagers barricaded inside a house with fiendish solders of a unknown and humanoid sort laying siege to them. There were also numerous bodies of villages with fire and acid burns around the area.
I quickly made battle with the filth and Treth kept “accidentally” hitting me with his spells. On there defeat I ask him what in the nine hells was going off, and he replied “Precept business and thus none of your concern water cultist” before kicking one of the dead villages corpses.
Enraged and disgusted at his complete lack of regard for the dead innocents and deeply suspicious of his hand in what had transpired, I decided to try and arrest him on grounds of infernalism. There was then a running battle that went on for some time, but eventually he fled the scene with hiss tail between his legs.
I will let the people decided on the truth of the matter and what Treths fate should be. But at the very least he is his guilty of reckless of endangerment and at the worse is a foul cultist sacrificing innocent people for his own gain.
I am also suspicious how fair a ruling the Council of Twelve can truly pass when one of its members is his sister who will always put her family first and two others are close allies with a pact of alliance with him.
Water Oracle Pelagia Thalassa of the Pure Waters of Istishia the Water Lord
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All active Councilors have a mandatory duty to comment and review the reported events. Do not delay, and do not assume duties which have not been officially assigned to Councilors.
Dame Drakebane
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It seems to me that Treth got in over his head here.
He made a sending for aid with a task from Dourhand and by his testimony no one attended so he went alone and eventually had to flee likely being chased by infernal forces.
Some of the town got to safety but due to Pelagia attacking Treth others died.
Treth should be charged with reckless endangerment and made to make amends but the situation was made worse by Pelagia trying to kill him instead of fighting the infernal forces attacking the town and the responsibility for the deaths is on her
Sir Pierre
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Reading the events of what happened and speaking to those who survived the attack in Hillmarch, I agree that Treth got in over his head and by running out endangered the lives of the villagers in Hillmarch. However, Treth mentions that a Tanarook followed Pelagia into Hillmarch, yet she doesn't mention this in her report. Olga said because of them rushing into the building, the fight between Treth and Pelagia wasn't seen by the villagers. So basically, it's his word against hers.
I will note that Treth was quick to respond when I requested both of them to come to the Palace, and even stayed for questions after I took a look around Hillmarch. Pelagia did not show up. She made a sending that she was going to tend to her wounds, then I sent her a letter requesting she send a letter to the Council, on how she viewed the events going down, but instead she posted posters all over about what she viewed happened. Most of it was just defaming Treth. Which doesn't look good for her. Plus, she is part of a criminal group, and a group of liars. So, I'm not sure how truthful her report is, compared to his and the eyewitness account.
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I am more inclined to believe Treth here.
She has threatened other tieflings before such as Atonement and harbours a grudge against Treth for banning her from the Sanctum for threats to himself and harrasinng Izereth.
Sir Pierre
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I asked Pelagia about the Tanarook which she says was an oversight on her not mentioning it on her poster. She claims that she killed it upon entry to Hillmarch. She said she fought against the fiends actively and attacked Treth afterwards. Again this is becoming a he said, she said. She also mentioned that she thinks the Council will be biased towards her, and is afraid we are out to get her. Not sure if Dame Drakebane can be a final decision maker in this or how we handle this with only 5 active councilors on the panel currently.
-Jenny
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I find this extremely interesting given a recent discussion the council had about the law.
@prettysmitten said in Angered spirit on the mountains:
I was under the understanding that we deal with threats in the realms, not enforce the laws of Arabel. Was I misinformed? Should we be out patrolling the streets and doling punishments out to those who break the laws?
So, what is it? do we enforce the laws, hold trials, or not?
For reference, I am absolutely for us enforcing the laws- but all of the laws, evenly and fairly, no matter who the perpetrators or victims may be.
If the council intends to begin enforcing the laws with this case, then moving forward, we should announce that we will be doing so in all cases.
Or, the council must write up a meticulous list of which laws we enforce, and which we do not, otherwise, it is complete chaos.
As for my views on the matter in hand, see below.
-Izereth
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Dourhand (currently under Precept guidance) warned the city of a threat.
Treth of the Precept responded.
The threat was too great for him to handle alone. He did what he could, enlisting someone he dislikes to work for the betterment of the Kingdom.
Pelagia got involved to try to help as well, working with someone she dislikes.
There were unfortunate casualties.
The two fought each other, as has been inevitavble for some time now.
-Izereth.
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I did be hearing the call for aid from this one Dourhand, but I being unable at the time to help, for I was being far from the place of Hillmarch. I did be reading both stories here.
It is being duty of Council to be fighting these planars, but as I am reading it is not being the duty of Council to be law-makers or law-takers. If they be breaking a law, it is not being our place to punish them, even if punishing do indeed be what they are both needing.
I do be saying to both Treth and Pelagia that they should be fighting each other and getting this hatred out of their blood. It is seeming that they did so but at a very bad time to be doing it.
Even if I am not agreeing with all that the Precept be doing, I am finding that the summary being given by Izereth do seem to be the short-word of truth.
Ursula -
A letter is forwarded to the Higher Council.
While exploring the mine, Ravens Donie and Jenny, Mossmere retainer Jace, and Sharruk came across a mage in there with a half fiend. This mage tried to do a ritual that would use human sacrifices. The two wizards, sorcerer, and I fought hard, and they wore themselves out with magic. Finally, we defeated the mage. The Half fiend was sent where he came from. However, the war in the mines will only get worse. For the safety of Hillmarch, until we can find a more permanent solution, I recommend closing off the mine completely. No one can come in or out without permission from the council. The veil is getting thinner, and I don't want to see another attack happen on Hillmarch unnecessarily.
-Jenny
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Discuss among one another how you desire to move forward, if there are disagreements persuade the other side and compromise. If the Precept and Wildwalkers are capable of coming to a mutual understanding then so can this Council.
We require an united front. The planar threat is far greater than petty squabbling.
Dame Drakebane
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There needs to be justice for the people of Hillmarch.
Brushing this under the rug as it were would turn them against the city and no doubt let the Lower House get a foothold in the town with the Gondegal faith the upper council as well as most of the prominent churches in the region wish eradicating.
It seems this incident is mostly the fault of Pelagia for trying to kill Treth in the village and letting the fiends rampage.
As the lawbook has a provision for murder caused due to getting people killed by carelessness I would say such is fitting.
This will let the Precept keep their noses clean as it were and deal with a strong supporter of the lower house in Pelagia.
Sir Pierre
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I don't think that charge will hold up from the evidence we have.
We can try it... but I think the higher council will need more than we have.
Feel free to list what we would send to them to petition them for a trial/bounty/fine/punishment. I would be happy to be proven wrong.I do have an alternative to get the woman punished, and I would like to speak with you privately about this Sir Pierre.
-Izereth
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A brief update, since there has been recent activity on this matter!
- The Hillmarch Mines are no longer infested with planar beings, but there are still foul rituals and strange murals in the area
- Past the mines, is a landscape known as the Easter Marshes. Here powerful planar beings roams, with historical references to House Goldfeather
- At the heart of the conflict, lies a tower which is heavily warded. So far the ward has not been fully understood, but it is very deadly and keeps everyone out
- Celestial messages warning against trespassing fills all areas, if you venture past the warnings the Celestials show no mercy
- Demons, devils, and celestials battle one another across the areas
- There are strange ruins in the area, with shimmering motes, huge dragon statues, and strange references to the royal house
- Closer to the tower, are abyssal and infernal rituals, all foreboding in their appearance and nature
- Magical runes are scattered across the area, some inflicting negative energy, others divine
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Have any learned if the ward is of arcane magics or divine magics? Knowing this would aid in deciding how to undo them, if that is what is later needed. I fear that what the ward keeps in may be worse than what it keeps out.
Ursula -
That is my fear too Ursula, but apparently everyone feels that removing this ward and risking letting something out that could possibly terrorize the realm is important. As far as I am aware, no one has figured anything out about this ward. Let's just hope when this ward is removed a Balor isn't waiting on the other side, waiting to be let loose.
-Jenny
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Moved from Plot Faction: Council of Twelve Peers by
Puffy -
Moved from File Archives by Puffy
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Moved from Plot Faction: Council of Twelve Peers by Puffy
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As per Clerk Pinwell's approval, the Precept Arcanum are in charge of this issue. With True Blood Treth given rights of research. Attached is the letter with Clerk Pinwell's statements.
Mrs Dawn
