Dire Tidings

[Zen]

My friends, people of Waterdeep, I come to you now with dire tidings, a warning and to enlist your aide. For a time now, I have lived among you, worked beside you, and endeavored to render whatever aide I can to my fellow man. I know you, my fellow citizens, and I am known to you. I was not born among you, but let no man make issue of my heritage. In a city such as this, Calimshite, Baldurian, and Cormyrian are welcome, and I have found a home among you for the greater part of my life. I am a man, and I am a friend.

In this great city of ours, events have been outpacing even our bustling and busy lives. You may have heard rumors of this or that, but what I say to you now is no rumor. In this great city of ours, justice resides in one place, in one man. In this great city of ours, one man, no matter if he is right or wrong, bears the burden of that justice. The tidings I bring to you are most grievous: this justice, in the form of this one man, has been made a puppet. This one man, Lord Piergeiron, and his good sense and judgment stand now a mockery. Our Lord Piergeiron is bewitched, and his good senses forced from him for a puppet's strings.

In this great city of ours, we are not fools. Many of my fellow citizens will ask, on what proof do we speak so of the great Lord Piergeiron? Does not one man accused now rail at the city fountain? Yes, one man accused does rail so now, but the proofs of this robbery of justice are these: Lord Piergeiron has been presented with false evidence against innocent men. You ask, what of it? Our noble Lord faces such lies daily, and delves into the truth to deliver true justice. Would that were the case, my friends, but at the hearing of the accused, Lord Piergeiron echoed the words of a stranger, one captain Allsup. He did not deliver justice nor speak truly of the matter, but rather deferred to this captain. Who is this captain I ask you? When have we seen him take his station at our gates? He is a stranger from nowhere to us? What has he done among us that he should speak so for our noble Lord Piergeiron? Further the false evidence given to our noble lord was a glass of magical scrying, but when the accused requested that Lord Blackstaff be brought into the matter to examine the glass, this Captain Allsup objected and would not allow our Lord Piergeiron to inquire further. It is also the case that when the accused asked the Lord to send the captain out of the room, it was the captain and not Lord Piergeiron who issued the refusal.

From this evidence, it can only be concluded that Lord Piergeiron is beneath the thumb of a force unknown, and that Allsup is the mouthpiece of this bewitchment. I warn you, my fellow citizens, that until we are able to free our own dear Lord Piergeiron from his enchantment and deliver him once more to the truth and justice we have so enjoyed in this great city of ours, we must all be wary.

I stand at this very moment, accused falsely, along with others of an act that did not happen as has been told Lord Piergeiron. He would not listen to the tale, nor call into question the origins of his evidence. He would not summon his trusted advisor, Khelben Blackstaff, to examine the scrying glass. This is not the Lord Piergeiron whom we know. This is not how our noble Lord acts. Five days from now I must face the justice of our Lord Piergeiron, but I do not fear for myself. I fear for our city and our futures. If justice resides in Waterdeep, it resides in one man. That man is Lord Piergeiron, and if he has been removed of his senses, then justice has indeed left our great city. I beseech you to aid, not myself, but Lord Piergeiron. Help me to find the source of this bewitchment and remove it, and then we will have justice.

-Lorgan Blackmane
Loremaster of Twilight Raven

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The Lord of the Iron Wastes holds his hammer high in the air, shouting a torment... 'Weak fools!'