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[Thrax]

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*a masked courier delivers a letter and a package to Lilyth Noir and hastily departs. The letter is addressed to her and reads:*

"Greetings Fair Lady,

I hope this missive finds you and your family in good health and prospering. I am certain you can speak with assurance concerning your family's well-being save for one, your husband, Duke Kotare, of whom I know you know, is missing.

It is of him and his welfare that I write to you.

I have him. He is imprisoned in a location entirely inaccessible to anyone save those utterly loyal to me. He is well-guarded, and death will not be a means for him to escape me. It is not important to relate how this was accomplished, simply believe that it was.

Fret not, m'lady. It is not my wish that he die. I have not even tortured him, as some no doubt will tell you I do to all prisoners. You can either listen to their lies, and grieve needlessly, or you can believe me and rest in the knowledge that he is well-treated and as comfortable as I can make it for him. I do this in the hope you will listen to reason.

His life is in your hands. I have every reason to detain him until he dies, and could, if desired, even keep his shade bound here forever. Do not doubt me. I have the power to do this. However, I will bargain with you, for your life and his, together... for the many happy years you will otherwise lose with him in pleasant company should you stubbornly and foolishly refuse to deal with me.

I will gladly grant his freedom on the following conditions:

I. Your signature on a treaty granting me full control, access, lordship and dominion, in perpetuity, of the area of land I have marked on maps of Yew Felucca I have recently posted throughout the realm. It is the territory bordered in red and includes the town of Yew itself. It is the territory I discovered that belongs to the orcs; their ancestral homeland. I am sending a copy of the map to you.

II. Absolution of any and all crimes of which I have been charged by your government, including any you, or he, or any of your allies, may wish to charge against me, or any of my aides, for his arrest and imprisonment. In effect, no action shall be taken against me by your government and you will not, by proxy, influence or collaborate with any other government to act against me or mine, subversively, militarily, or through trade sanctions.

I do not care what you choose to call this... blackmail, extortion... those words mean nothing to me. It is my brand of justice: his life and freedom for land that belongs neither to him, you, or me, but the orcs, that he and you have taken from them by force. I will maintain stewardship of it till such a time as they can govern it by themselves, and will judge when that time shall be. You will acknowledge my rule officially, publicly, and invoke the name of your gods and the virtues to uphold the treaty forever. If you should ever renounce it, and break faith with me, you will be cursed, and shall never be cleansed of the guilt of innocent blood that shall flow freely in the streets of Yew daily as a result. I hope your obligations in this are perfectly clear to you.

I will give you a short time to contemplate this and when that is done, I will send my factor, an envoy having diplomatic immunity, to submit the treaty to you and obtain your signature. If the envoy is detained or harmed in any way by you or the Duke's warriors, or anyone at all, I promise you the next item I will send to you will be something of your husband's that you would wish to have remained attached. I can tell you most assuredly, it will not grow back.

The package bears proof of my words, and are the only things you will ever see of him again, should you decline my fair and generous offer.

In Sincerity,
Lord Thrax
Priest of Oggaroth
Patron of the Orcs of Yew

*wrapped in the package is a map of Yew, a wedding ring bristling with diamonds, and a lock of neatly-cut black hair bound with a red string*