DEVASTATION IN ITS WAKE
Marketplace, 28 Barrakas. An artifact of the Last War caused a mass magical sleep that resonated along the Lightning Rail line, causing widespread havoc and death as far away as Sharn, Flamekeep, Korranberg, and Passage.
At North Umbeo Manor north of Marketplace, living statues, mindlessly following orders from during the Last War, unearthed an eldritch machine, long lying dormant on the grounds. The machine, inquisitives say, was designed to merely put people in its vicinity to sleep, but the magic —whether by chance or design— found a resonance in the Khyber shards used by House Orien to power the Lightning Rails. The result: hundreds of citizens onto near the trains fell unconscious all along the line for several hours before Citadel agents were able to brace the affected area and ensure the effect was not ongoing. Agents then had to wake hundreds of people, not a speedy process in the least.
Luckily, only one train was moving at the time of the incident, or the loss of life that followed could have been much worse. Still, not a huge consolation to riders of that train and their loved ones. With at least eight dead and over six dozen injured, this is a terrible tragedy. Among the dead were the rail engine operator, Horis Verrinn, who struck his head on the console and died before anyone could unlock the engine compartment to get to his aid. Also, among the dead was Brian Berry, Sr. whose car was somehow decoupled in the chaos, sending it crashing into the forest by the tracks. He and the rest of the car’s riders were pronounced dead at the scene.
In the midst of the horror, a ghost was seen attacking those laid low by the eldritch machine’s insidious lullaby. Luckily, no one was killed by the creature’s attacks, but those affected report feeling weak upon waking, as if their life forced had been pulled out through their nightmares. The ghost itself was chased away by Citadel Agents, and was last seen fleeing into the woods near Starilaskur in eastern Breland.
Baron Kwanti d’Orien, head of House Orien, says his heart goes out to all those affected by this tragedy and has reached out to each affected family to offer his assistance in their time of loss. Further, he assures rail riders that this was not a repeatable tragedy, as the eldritch machine has been destroyed, but that he would still personally be overseeing a push to improve Rail Security. In addition to warding engine operators against a wider variety of spells, House Orien will immediately start research into altering conductor stones (or their placement) to prevent this kind of cascade in the future.
BERRY SIX FEET DEEP
Passage, 28 Barrakas. Brian Berry, Sr., the head of the Berry dynasty, was found murdered in his sleep aboard a Lightning Rail train heading to Sharn, along with his bodyguards.
The crash was part of a larger magical disaster caused by a rogue eldritch machine that put everyone aon board the train into a magically-induced sleep. At first, inquisitives had assumed Berry and his bodyguards had died during the crash like several other passengers in the car, but upon further inspection of the bodies, impact marks showed signs that they had been pummeled to death prior to the car’s decoupling. Inquisitives say they were lucky that Berry’s corpse had been so close to his bed during the crash, as the blankets and pillows cushioned the impact and preserved some crucial evidence of the crime.
Inquisitives are looking into several possible suspects, but they say this seems less like the work of a brawler and more like that of a martial artist. They ask that anyone with information that might help apprehend the killer please contact Master Inquisitive Nicholas Hawkins in Passage.