The lawn near the entrance of the caravan park is stained with blood, which someone attempted to wash away using collected rainwater, but the scent still lingers. The usually open Curiosity Shop has been boarded up, and no one answers when the door is knocked.

[!] A poster of sorts would be pinned to the notice board... [!]

Calling all merchants and business owners of the Spire and Alberns! I wish to host an event and am in need of your assistance. Please write to me if you wish to aid for a great cause. I would need your name, business name, what goods you sell, and your favorite drink and food!

✧

Respectfully,

Nia Belot

[!] A poster is pinned with a very simplistic drawing of a Greatling woman with curled ram horns and a scarf on their arm, and a half Arsa Sidhe man with a pretty sweet mustache and sideburns. Information written between the two images [!]

Hello, Nergui and Kai here. 

Please do NOT read aloud any messages from crows, a recent one delivered to us had cursesmithy magic attached to it. Be careful around Myrtle Lake (The lake between Spire and Flower Valley). Avoid crying voices deep within. Thank you. 

If you have been delivered a letter from a mysterious crow, please inform Nergui and/or Kai so we might figure out their origin. 

Thank you and stay safe!

[[OOC note: Feel free to DM on discord PotatoLion or Roadkilered if you wish to share!]]

⋆︎˚｡⋆ A Missing Jester. ⋆｡˚︎⋆
[!]

For those who oft frequent the fighting pit, they'd notice perhaps the most common face--or mask--around the squared circle having turned up mysteriously absent from his usual escapades. Thalios, Caleb, whatever he is known to you as: is not there to provide his typical commentary; not even a single appearance to spar or glimpse to be found in the tavern.

His last appearance would be leaving his home in the dead of night, four days ago... Armor donned, he would not speak to anyone as he passed. He could be heard jingling out towards the Flower Valley to parlay with a certain Dark-Clad Knight; the two men would depart on horseback not soon after: the blind man taking charge... Though not many would have witnessed this, it only flies a distant rumor on the winds. To most: the Jester has just vanished. 

[OOC Note: Just a flavor explanation for an event that had some travel time in it - feel free to panic scream at him IC for his absence, but Dean ain't going anywhere!]

[!] Violence at the Bookstore! [!]

Late in the night, sounds of fighting can be heard at the Woglet Scholar Archive. Come morning, a trail of blood leads from the streets past busted doors to the shop floor where books and papers lay scattered amongst spilt blood and splintered shelves...

[OOC note: Message Mysteryvan or r1nnie on discord if you wish to investigate]

Second Battle of the Striped Pass

Two days after the Muster Order was posted, the hastily assembled Spire Militia arrived at its destination in the Striped Pass—the main route between the Southern Reach and the Faded Steppe. Three or four dozen militiamen, exhausted from the forced march and running on only a few hours of sleep, stood and blocked the passage of nearly a hundred raiders and mercenaries seeking entry to the Southern Reach. After hours of grueling battle under the sweltering summer sun, just one group remained in the pass.

By nightfall, the victorious but battered Spire Militia returned to Sanshi encampment. Only the crows were left to pick apart at the fallen in the blood-soaked canyon.

The flap of silver wings has fallen silent within the Spire, a scale-clad warrior no longer visible. One of the Dragon's Chosen has gone missing.

Elijah hasn't been seen in a day or so. Attempts to check his usual haunts- the shrine, the harrytree, and the pit- are met with no sign of him. The flowers at the vampires tree are no longer being refreshed.