1865-02-13: From Mother to Son
From Mother to Son
Summary: Laurna Tarris relays what information she can in the aftermath of the Sack of Griffon Point.
Date: Fevrier 13, 1865
Related: http://eternalcrusade.wikidot.com/memoir:1866-02-14:the-sack-of-griffon-point
NPCs: {$npc}
Players:
Laurna  Gauvain  

An IC message relayed via messenger, written in cipher, arriving on 2/14 1866 IE:

My Son,

I do not know if my first message reached you (OOC: It didn't), but rest assured that whatever you hear in the coming days, I am alive and unharmed, at least physically speaking. The same cannot be said for Griffon Point. I will not dance around it: Your uncle Alphard lives. I saw him and heard him with my own eyes and ears. There is no mistake. He would have slain me but for Sir Albrecht, who perished in my defense along with his poor, loyal squire. I have little time to grieve over it, as the city is heavily damaged.

He knew precisely where to strike. He knew the secret paths to reach beyond the Heart Wall. The One curse whichever of your ancestors could not do without having some way to smuggle his mistress in and out of the castle. Several of the guardsmen, perhaps as many as a dozen, turned against their fellows at the Inner and Outer gates, seeing them opened so Alphard and his men in Grey could move freely in the city. Most had been hiding in plain sight for much of the winter, staying right here in Griffon Point disguised as merchants and itinerant workers using letters of passage forged with your or my signature and seal to move freely in our lands. Alphard has been planning this for some time, it seems.

I will not speculate further as to the hows or whys until we have had time to investigate more fully. Instead know that our food supplies here in the city are now critically low, and most of our armories have been stripped nearly bare. The Guards left behind in the city are reduced to less than half their original number. Several buildings have been burned beyond just the granaries and storehouses, and the mechanisms for opening and closing the gates of all three walls have been thoroughly sabotaged, leaving the city open to attackers short of barricading ourselves in entirely, at least until those mechanisms can be replaced. Additionally, much of our heavy siege equipment within the city has likewise been rendered useless, with the exception of our heavy cannons, but unfortunately our black powder stores were thoroughly plundered.

I have recalled the forces from outside the city which you had been holding in reserve to take up our defense, as there is little else that I could do to try to bolster us, and we needed the extra hands to finish putting out the fires and start with what repairs we could manage. I dared not pursue Alphard while the city still burned, but he and his forces were last seen traveling northwest at a fast pace. I should note that there was another with Alphard…someone bearing the Romante crest on their grey tabard, and who seemed extremely resilient in battle. I can only presume this is the rumored "Grey Prince."

The Keep itself is undamaged, and most of our servants unharmed, though our poor Castellan was among the first casualties, and several of the other servants bravely attempted to fight off the invaders. Alphard didn't seem to possess any heavy siege equipment, and made no attempt to breach the Keep itself. He was more focused on his looting and damaging the city itself. Many of our people have perished and many more still are wounded…we are still tallying the dead. I will write again when I have more information, but until then…be careful my son. With Alphard leading this insurgency, the situation has proven far more dire than any have realized.

With Love,

Your Mother

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