[R&S 2.5] Letters from King Spline II

To King Wikk of Mistrya,

Good tidings to you on this day of utmost honor!

I am delighted to receive such an illustrious invitation to your wedding, and shall immediately make all necessary arrangements. I require accommodations for myself, fifteen guests, fifty knights, fifty five squires, eighty horses, twenty footmen, twenty handmaids, and thirty slaves. We shall overnight in Thaebin on the sixth day of the first month of Summer, arrive in the capital the following day, depart one week hence, and overnight in Thaebin on the morrow.

As you well know, our land has been plagued with horrors and the whole of Arcadia is in desperate need of a joyous occasion. I can think of no better reason for celebration than the wedding of Arcadia’s greatest son to whom we owe so much! This shall be a turning point for our land, an occasion of great celebration, and the social event of the century. While your invitation specifically stated that you would be providing gifts for your guests, I cannot help but hope to honor you with a gift of my own. I pray that its modesty does not offend.

I feel quite assured that under your watchful eye, whatever lapses in security created the tragedy of the Continental Council shall not be repeated. Had that congress been conceived, designed, and arranged by yourself, there is no doubt in my mind that my mother, Queen Spline I, would yet live. I daresay the negligence you have spoken of is in all likelihood a proximal cause to her death, the death of our great empress, and the death of the beloved golden dragon who, I might add, personally saved my life when she intervened in the battle of Highcastle.

Lastly, I must say with some regretfulness that the bureaucracy of Eridon is a messy place and in need of great reforms. As it stands, we can only acknowledge a single name with a single rank in formal documentation. While nothing about this shall prevent me, my court, or my people from calling you by your truthful name “King Wikk”, for the purposes of legal agreements, treaties, and record keeping, we must have a method of differentiating between yourself and the Husband of your cousin who is already recorded as “King Wikk”. I trust you understand that Eridon is in a precarious place and we must be exceedingly considerate to not slight the Empress’s husband by altering or demoting his name or rank. Only divorce, dismissal, abdication, usurpation, or death can, by law, change his name in our records. Should any of those events occur, we shall immediately change our records to reflect your rightful name. After considerable deliberation, my councilors feel that “King McWikk” is the best way to honor your position, rank, heritage, and legacy in formal documentation. As a fellow man of law, I pray you understand the necessities of bureaucracy. I assure you in all ways other than legal texts, the name you are heralded as shall reflect the truths we feel in our hearts - you are the savior of Arcadia, the greatest hero of the war, and rightful bearer of the Wikk family name.

With deepest and most heartfelt congratulations,Long live King Wikk

King Spline II of Eridon

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To King Wikk of Drekkis

Salutations, I bring ill tidings.

I have received an invitation from King McGarry to his wedding on the 11th day of Summer, the rising of Womaator. Undoubtedly you are already informed of such an event and my message to you is redundant, but I believe after our last meeting in the capital that I must convey to you what I have learned despite the risks of interception.

The invitation contained within it the following excerpt toward its end:

Weddings are times of great change, and my wedding shall bring with it great change for not just for me, but for Mistrya, and for all Arcadia. It shall be the marker of a new era.

Upon wedding, my wife and I shall assume leadership for the safety and wellbeing of the land. We shall join our houses under a new name, my true name, the name of my mother’s house. I am the son of Queen Wikk.

It was never my aspiration to rise in fame, fortune, or power. I suppressed my family name because it was not my place to lead. Because I strove to honor the will of my mother. Because I strove to be deferential. I am only here today because it was asked of me. I was asked to serve my queen, and so I did. She asked me to risk my life, and so I did. She asked me to bloody my hands, and so I did. My brother abdicated his throne and so I was asked to be King, and I did that too.

But now the Empress is dead, and the throne has been inherited by one negligent in her duties, who has abdicated her responsibility to an outsider, and it is time for change. Leadership is not assigned, it is assumed.

The prose is somewhat scattered, as if written in haste or without second consideration. It is clear that king of Mistrya is not making a claim upon the empire or making any form of aggression, but is beginning to take steps in that direction. I have acquiesced to the creature’s new naming and provided sufficient flattery that my comprehension of its true state shall not be detected.

While I was at first skeptical of attending an event where all the heads of kingdoms and houses are concentrated, for obvious reasons, I was reassured by the passage above. The author clearly wishes to be seen and revered with the name “Wikk”, and so will make every effort to keep its guests safe. Of course, I shall bring with me my greatest warriors, my high cleric, and my archmage. Further, I bring poison tasters and have arraigned for the appropriate divine and arcane protections. I shall instruct my men, who do not know what I know, to make merry throughout the city, befriend the locals, and learn as much about the goings on in Mistrya as they can. A formal debriefing shall commence as soon as we arrive home, and I will relay all findings, even ones of minor interest, to you in a similar way as this message has reached you.

I understand the dangers in sending such a direct and transparent message, but it shall have been magically encrypted for the length of its journey, I shall be placing it immediately and directly into a bag of holding, which shall also be immediately and directly placed into the hands of one I trust with my life, who will take a small and private craft directly to Bon’ Theris.

May the gods guide us through this,

King Spline II of Eridon