Letters Between Aric & Orin

[Orin Evans]

Aric,

I hope you and my sister are well and that your journey through the ocean has been a safe one.

As promised, I am writing to you with the information I have received from Eoin and the prisoner we captured. I am uncertain of one thing, however, and I am hoping Alexandria might know something regarding this. If not, we may have a bigger issue at hand.
Both Eoin and the prisoner made mention that Saelis, (who is now led by a man that goes by Lord Boudreau) is looking for a weapon of sorts that Aralore supposedly has.  The strange thing about this, is that no one seems to know what this weapon is, only that they are after something.
I do not understand nor know of any kind of weapon that would make a kingdom go to war for something unknown like this?  If this is the case, has the previous war, and now this thread, been for nothing? 

Their plan was to assassinate Alexandria to weaken Aralore without a ruler, to sweep in and take over, claiming they had right to the throne.  Their hope was to do this without a war, hence why killing Alexandria would have been ideal for them, and a lot less work.  They are waiting for the assailants to arrive back to Saelis with the news the queen is dead.  Had they succeeded, this gives you another two weeks from the date of this letter, before they would have arrived back with the news.  Regardless, they will not be returning and they will probably wait another week after, before coming to the realization that they had failed in their attempt. 

The only shred of good news I have for you (if you wish to see it that way at all), is that Saelis will not set sail for war in the winter months.  This buys us at the very least 3 more months, maybe four...depending on how harsh the winter is.  However, Their army consists of eight to nine thousand men.  I do not know if we would ever be able to match those numbers-- but I already have Nemeris reaching out to the allies and seeking resources.  If you could find out what Tresteria could offer in assistance, and let me know, I can start to organize the troops and strategies. 

This is all the information I was able to get for now.  Please let me know if there is anything else I can try to do, try to find out... Anything I can assist with. 

Take care,

Orin

[Aric Demarais]

Orin,

Thank you for handling this. It's a little unnerving to know how long they have been planning this and that it is not yet over, as we all very well knew. Even with the hope of Saelis waiting until spring to sail, we still have very little time. And against those numbers? We need to be strategic and pray our allies are willing to come to our aide. This, I know, is already asking for a lot.

As far as this weapon is concerned, I do not know. I will discuss with your sister to see if she is possibly aware of anything. If this weapon is great enough to spark such violence, then perhaps we should be seeking it as well. Find it before they do.

I will do what I can to speed things up here...and maybe, for once, pray for a harsher winter if only to delay the inevitable. There is someone I might be able to request help from, but it's a matter of figuring out how to contact him that remains a mystery. Yet, if he's willing, we might be able to get a ship closer to enemy territory to ensure they are not planning to brave the wintry waters.

Once we reach Tresteria, I will keep you informed. Until then, do whatever you can to fortify the shores (as I'm sure you're already doing), and let me know if anything else arises.

Stay safe, brother. We will be back soon.

Aric

[Aric Demarais]

Orin,

I hope you have been managing well, and I wanted to thank you once again for everything you have taken on. Despite the reasons for having to leave Aralore, your sister seems to be doing well and enjoying herself as much as possible. Still, she misses home, of course, and I've been avidly working on trying to get her back as soon as possible. So, we will be leaving in just a couple of days, and if the winds are in our sails, we will be back in Aralore in no more than a month's time.

Most importantly, I have spoken with my cousin, Sevrin. He is a commander with the Brotherhood fleet and he has agreed to do me a quick, yet dangerous favor. Since his ships are unmarked and they hold no allegiance to any kingdom, he will sail his ship passed the Saelisian harbor, as close as they can possibly risk in order to give us a better ship count or any other important information. And that is all. He was told not to engage or cause grief, but I pray this will at least help give us a better idea as to what we might be dealing with.

Time is of the essence now. We need to be prepared.

See you again very soon.

- Aric