News Arrives Slowly...

[Carnath-Emory]

... even in the largely-literate Myrken Wood. News arrives particularly slowly when originating from the northern point of the land, historically a point of some contention between Myrken and its neighbour New Dauntless. Were it not for North Passage Down, one of Trae Kelsa's finer highways, word of mouth may not have come within miles of reaching the junction point of Dauntine and Mavour roads... and thus Myrkentown itself.

But fortune favours the beleagured, this once; even the torrential rains of these last months have scarcely touched the highway, and merchants and mercenaries alike form a regular traffic upon it still. In time, word had reached them of disaster, and they'd carried it with them, from campsite fires to Inn booze-ups. In these strange times, everyone enjoys a story of misfortune, so long as it's not their own.

And oh, what misfortune! Earthquake, some say, others contending that it was actually a flood, for hadn't the Posehabnak River been filled to overflowing these last months? The pious deem it a judgement called down by the Inquisition, and still others attribute the disaster to magical tamperings (these few souls are largely condemned as fools), but on this much, all are agreed: that the damage done to the small town of Geilston is absolute, that hardly a man could have survived it, and that aside from debating its cause, no-one much gives a damn.