Visions of Middlesea

Vidan

Accidentally unread for a year

A message from Minister Das

“Father Vidan. You are not in the Bureaucracy. You are not required to take my advice. I am not required to examine actions you propose to undertake.”

She smiles wryly. “But I am in the Bureaucracy, and responsible if I do not follow my own advice, even if I do not see the purpose of it. So I have some things to tell you.

“First, you should know that the outcome of this Conclave is less clear than anything I have previously encountered. In my experience, this lack of clarity implies the exercise of a great deal of Divine power in the immediate future of the Conclave. I expect you have more experience with that than I.

“Second, you have no doubt heard of the increase in the probability that the Sword that was Lost may be found, and the line of the Orcslayer returned to the throne. That is not a good thing.

“There are currently three possible candidates to sit the throne of the Empire. The first would merely be a bad king - damaging, but survivable. The second would be Terrible - there would be civil war and parts of the Empire would fall back into the Broken Lands. The third would be… Catastrophic. If you do not find at least one of the first or the second by tomorrow, they will be dead by the day after, and either the third will take the Throne, or the throne and the empire will be destroyed. Understand that is better than the third taking the Throne.

“I do not understand how, but there is in fact a strong possibility you will find one or both of the first two by tomorrow. Perhaps your Goddess can provide assistance that the Twins have not provided to the Bureaucracy. I believe if you find the second, you will not choose to put him on the throne, but you must know you need to protect him until the third is dealt with. If you find the first… I urge you not to place him on the throne, and simply to ensure that the bloodline continues for another day, but recognize that your Goddess may disagree with that determination.

“Third, you should know there is a traitor among the Ministers here. The fourth ranked ones. If you can identify the traitor before tomorrow, tomorrow will go better than it would otherwise. That is less pressing than the preservation of the line, but not insignificant.”