Outlaws, out of control ?

When I returned to my office just yesterday I found this note on the mat in front of me. It was fortunate I was looking down at the time or I may well have missed it. It must have been pushed under the door while I was out. I print it here as I received it. I hope the Lords and Ladies of the lands, before whom as always I humble myself, will not mind this inclusion. I post it merely as an example of the kind of thoughts that circulate in the village. Of course if I were aware of the writer I would not hesitate in offering up their name. As to the Hero spoken of in the piece, I can only imagine the writer is speaking of one from the ranks of our illustrious Rulers, may their names echo down the aeons .


There is violence in our streets, in our surrounding forests, and now within the shelter of our homes and houses of business. While the townsfolk have become accustomed to the regular visitation of Arisen Officials marching through the land and monitoring the residents, we’ve now a new problem which has caused much strife to our villagers.

The new wave of rebellion by the outlaws has not gone unnoticed by the Lordship, and the fact that the vigilantes have chosen our humble village of Wytchaven as their battleground was with no consideration to the innocents who keep their heads down to avoid problems with the Arisen. Bands of brigands rush from shadowed alleys to assault the nobles with aggression and threats, shedding blood on our walkways without discretion. They claim their intent is to make our village safe once more, but their efforts seem to have caused more of a backlash onto the villagers than anything.

Since this new tide of the uprising against our ruling aristocrats, their soldiers have been patrolling more frequently and accosting anyone within their path to weed out the troublemakers with little consideration to those who have proven themselves lawful citizens abiding by their laws. They come at day or night now, sometimes even capturing villagers and taking them in for questioning because of the conduct of the outlaws, torturing the innocent for names and information. While we suffered in oppression before, this butchering has only escalated matters in a most heinous way and now we all suffer because of those who call themselves our champions.

Who are these outlaws, and why are we, the good citizens of Wytchaven, paying penalty for their mishaps and villainy? These are dark hours, my friend, and while we may be in dire need of heroes, a hero would be there to protect us, not to provoke circumstances which earn our mistreatment and deaths.