Rumors after the storm

[Pankoki]

[INDENT]Off the coast of Krandor, more than a month after the night that fire  and lightning were seen far out at sea where no land existed, a shark is  spotted like no other. In Krelin's Inn, a fisherman claims that the  shark's fin stood as tall as a full grown man, and that it was the Shark  Lord himself, come to feast on the dead that were washed into the ocean  ... but considering how far down in his cups the man was at the time,  few give credence to the rumor.

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A bard coming from Tavish, a tiny, devastated village set along the  southernmost parts of the Trelanian coast, brings a strange tale with  him. A sailor there claims that he was out at sea the last night of the  storm, and he saw the ocean catch fire in the distance and begin to  burn. The winds of fire wrecked his boat and the waves carried him to  the shore on a piece of the wreckage, where he languished for weeks,  barely surviving off his canteens and rations, sure that death was  coming for him. The sailor claims an angel rose out of the ocean and  stole the very pain from his wounds before guiding him home. The bard is  not sure what to make of the tale, and wonders if something happened to  the water supply in the town, since a woman there also claimed the  angel told her of her future.

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Looting in the villages along Trelania's coast seems to be declining  with the heat as summer turns to fall. Not only do the coastal villages  surge with new hope, it seems something has given the looters and  fear-mongers a reason to look for easier hunting grounds. Some whisper  of a sea witch who walks barefoot in tattered rags with seaweed in her  hair. They say she bears a wicked looking weapon, a spiked ball on a  long chain, and shows no mercy to those she deems her enemies.

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There are rumors that a strange healer passed through Karst in the early  weeks of fall. The healer stayed for three days, they say, in a little  hut by the edge of the sea, and refused to see any but those who were  believed to be beyond helping: the mad, the disturbed, those who had  succumbed to despair, and those who had lost their minds in grief. The  healer refused to let any watch, but terrible screams came from the  shack. Even so, when the healer had gone, those who had gone into the  shack had come out again with their minds healed and their wits intact  ... though not one could say what had happened.

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In the temple in Leringard in mid-autumn, priestesses whisper at the  Temple of Gales that something or someone long lost has finally been  found and returned home. Some say it is an artifact of Lady Doom that  was found after millenia, while others believe that the Lady of Storms  has sent down a prophetess to whisper of Change to her faithful. Even at  the temple, there is much confusion and distrust. Only the Tempest  seems to have found the calm in the storm, and waits patiently for  things to reveal themselves. Most agree though: something is coming that  has stirred much of the temple into unease.

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