Dear RQ brothers and sisters,

Some very distressing news has come my way, and I'm passing it on to all of
you!

Today, ToriAnn informed me that poor Zwei is dead! I'd seen her around,
looking less than her lovely self, but thought it a temporary side effect of
a trip to the Undine. Now ToriAnn tells me that Lorian killed her, and that
Zwei confirms that it was indeed Lorian who is responsible! When I pressed
ToriAnn for details, she added that Lorian seems to be up to her old tricks.
She also said something about a dagger with a moon and two stars!

I am admittedly a zo of limited understanding, and much of this confuses me.
What is NOT confusing is that our sister Zwei is in desperate need of help,
and that Red Quill needs to be informed so that we can take whatever action
is necessary to help her!

Yours in Fellowship,

Bocephus

Feh, what happen? I tell you what happen. Is 'cause of wound Zwei gots
when she help Astrid 'n Althea remove myscitkally thingy frum Lorian's arm.
During opp'ration Lorian goerz berzerk and she take dat funny Dagger wif moon
'n stars she carry alla th' time wif her and she slash Zwei' han' wif it.

Eh, is big issue... Zwei take Dagger.. and is big fight overez it fer
weeks... I not know why Lorian carry Dagger at allatall, considerin' Council
of Knight's say she no allowed to carry weapons no more. But.. I guess she
gits it back .. I not rilly sure...

So.. is big fight... Zwei and Lorian no speak, Zwei very mad at Lorian...
Wound in her hand nebber heal.. Lorian try to make peace wif Zwei.. so I
hearz, and she try to heal hand.. but.. is sumthin' wrong.. Zwei go inna
some kinda shock, I not rilly unnerstan' is apokylepetikale 'er sumthin'..
so.. she go into shock.. and she die....

She died....



I not care what Lorian werz TRYIN' to do.. what she dun werz KILL Zwei..
no matter WHAT Lorian try or do... murder 'n death 'n injury 'n sufferin'
follows her.. no matter WHAT. Alwayz nicey-nicey dis Lorian! Alwayz is death
followin' her. Ebben she be warned she doin wrong.. she no listen, she
arrogant as well as dangerous..... She a pariah! Rumor of her passin' a stain
on th' sweetness of our lives!


Dis frum ghost of Zwei herself... and NO other voice I trust onna matter.

Lorian th' Barron's Horse, she good steed fer him.. she destroy uncounted
Sylban folks fer him.. now mebbe.. she turnin' on us...

Grimly,
Chitra



From: Lunaria of Redwood

Zwei appeared before me today...in undine form. She is looking mostly
ghastly, skin crawling with maggots.

Her paw is now all charred... wrapped with the remains of the bandage she
has been wearing since the night Althea, Astrid and Zwei hauled Lorian's
hinder out of yet another huge problem she'd gotten herself into.

Zwei dumped out a bloody bag in front of me... inside were the charred
and dirt covered remains of, judging from their size and weight of bone,
sylvan children. She drew in the dirt the symbol of a crescent moon and
two stars. When I asked if these children died at the hands of Lorian,
she nodded.

She then reached inside her bloody torso and pulled out a gore covered
dagger... she wiped away the blood and gore to reveal the crescent moon
and stars... Lorian's dagger.

It was unclear whether this was the actual dagger, or a vision she was
giving to me... She did indicate it was the actual one.

I tried in vain to ascertain how we might restore Ser Zwei to her mortal
form... but she withdrew, weeping tears of blood, before I could find an
answer.

She did whisper the following to me... which I scribbled down.

"Ilsar'rin il kiera ilnia sulitin."

"E'manos, Lorian et Lilit, slaek e'gor Ilsardin."

"E'manos, Lorian et Lilit, slaek e'gor Pyrdin."

"Hin man kar. Hin anaila-tei."

"Lorian, man manos, Zwei-ka anaila-shah."

"Il ton-ilshin. Il ton-tei. Il ton-shah et astril. Il ton-Ilsardin."


I do not know the translation. But there may be valuable information in
these words. Can anyone translate?

As a Knight, 'tis my duty to uphold justice. As a Knight, 'tis my duty to
protect the weak. Thus say my vows.

I have tried at all times to do right by Lorian. I have trusted her and
protected her when I deemed necessary. It now appears that my trust was
misplaced, and that I have made a great mistake in so placing my trust.
Justice must be served, and exiles of all walks of life must be protected
from the evil that Lorian represents.

Justice cannot afford to be weak, and neither is it always a pretty thing
to see.

Thus do I call upon all Knights, and all other Exiles, to place the Sylvan
Lorian under arrest so that her crimes may be discovered and a suitable
punishment found. I do not hesitate to say that, if it be found that
Lorian be indeed guilty of the death of ser Zwei, I will call for that
punishment to be extended to her very life.

sir Sleipnir Na Gralam, Knight of the Rose

Hello.

To add my voice to what Bocephus said, I was with Polgara-ToriAnn when a
lost soul contacted her in town, telling her it (she?) was Zwei.
Toriann seemed sure that this soul was Zwei (still today, I can't be certain
it was the case), but her message was clear: Lorian killed her, and her
corpse is lying in a place full of Sylvan corpses (she showed us many sylvan
skulls she brought with her). It seems she had been killed by the dagger
mentioned by Bocephus ("dagger with a moon and two stars"), probably during
a ritual including fire, tears and yells.
Zwei's soul formally accused Lorian, with no ambiguity, of being responsible
for her death. But she was not able to tell us where that happened, except
that mention to a huge Sylvan carnage. She mentioned Lilit too in a very
obscure sentence she yelled to us, but we failed to have more precision
about that (please remember that each word she was pronouncing was a real
spititual pain for her).
Here is he end of my witnessing (ooc: I'm sure that word does not exist!)
Zwei told us we have to hurry to be able to save her, since she thought she
was not able to maintain her out-of-body status longer, and that she may not
be able to do it again. I don't know what to do, but she looked like
thinking that the RQs may be able to locate her. Please keep me informed of
any plan concerning that terrible situation.

Yours,
Colombe.

Greetings to the Assembly,

As neither letters nor language are her strong point, Chitra has taken the
liberty of showing me the text delivered to her by post, from Lunaria. I
shall make my best effort to shed some light on it's clouded meaning.

The note, for one could hardly call it "text" given it's brevity, would
seem to be in a slightly unusual form of Illsarindish. The gramatical
construction bears some resemblance to the Fen'neko making translation
puzzling in some places.

The first line, "Ilsar'rin il kiera ilnia sulitin." taken literally, would
mean something like "For the Forest! speak I this prayer." Forest being a
rather general term in Illsarindish, often used to refer to the collective
peoples there of. To address the context, the first line might more properly
be read as "For the Nation," or perhaps even as "For all" for the purpose of
our translation, I think "For all," is the most appropriete, thus "For all I
speak this prayer!"

The second and third lines are quite similar. The first term translates as
"The Evil Ones" we need have little doubt as to the subject of this phrase,
as the names of Lorian and Lilit follow immediatly after. Given that the
possesive is used, there is some little question as to whether the sentence
means "The Evil Ones HAVE Lorian and Lilit," or "The Evil Ones, Lorian and
Lilit." Given the purported source of this note... and what I know of recent
events, I tend to favor the latter meaning. The phrases that follow, "slaek
e'gor Ilsardin." and "slaek e'gor Pyrdin." translated literally come out as
"drink the blood of the Forest, and "drink the blood of pride." In this case
I think it is safe to assume that "Forest" refers to the Sylvan people, and
"Pride" refers to the Fen'neko so.. the second and third lines become...

"The Evil Ones, Lorian and Lilit, slake their awful thirsts with the blood of
the Sylvan and Fen'neko peoples."

The fourth line: "Hin man kar. Hin anaila-tei." is one of the most
confusing, taken literally again, it would seem to mean "She (Her) hand (is
dark), She killed day." Several possible meanings can be derived.... the
first, rather simplely could be "Her dark has killed day." I think however
that this is too simple given the context and would more likely translate it
as "With her (or perhaps: their) hands, stained by the darkness of evil, she
has killed this day."

The fifth line is: "Lorian, man manos, Zwei-ka anaila-shah." Again we see
mention of Lorian, who can be none other the Lorian we all know, in my
opinion. Next we see "hand" again, followed by "evil." Thus the phrase,
"Lorian, evil hands." Next we see the name of Zwei, followed by the suffix
meaning "gentle." "Anaila-shah" translates as "The death of the soul" Thus I
translate the entire line as: "The Evil Lorian, by her own hand, has sucked
out the soul of the gentle Zwei." There is however an alternate meaning which
I present, in the event it be a useful clue, that would be: "Lorian, has
killed Zwei's soul by the evil she visited upon poor Zwei's hand." This
latter possibility might seem to indicate that it was through the earlier
injury that Zwei received that the destruction of her soul was accomplished.
It might also be possible to read this as "Lorian has sucked out the Gentle
Zwei's soul through the evil visited upon her (Zwei's) hand." I think we must
use the greatest caution with this line..... its' meaning is the most
troubling.

The sixth and final line: "Il ton-ilshin. Il ton-tei. Il ton-shah et
astril. Il ton-Ilsardin." is again a bit more simple, with the first phrase
being the most difficult. "Il ton-ilshin," it translates as: I speak for her
(possive) I would read this as "I speak for her that is I," or perhaps "I
speak for myself" Next we have "Il ton-shah et Astril." which is fairly
simple, I speak for the Spirit and the Stars, and lastly, "Il ton-ilsardin"
which is "I speak for the forest" as I mentioned earlier, this is perhaps
best read as "I speak for the peoples of the forest." This leaves us a final
line of" "I speak for myself, I speak for the Spirit and the Stars, and I
speak for all the peoples of the forest."

All in all, this is a most troubling note, I would question its origin
closely, not to mention as many of the principals involved as possible.

With all due respect to the Assembly of Scholars,
I have the honor to remain,
yours most sincerely,

Astrid sin Khar'del Ilshin
(Astrid of the Burned Forest)