Dreadful Revelations (Valerie Briade)
((A copy of this letter reached every member's mailbox, except for Valerie's one. It's written in an expensive paper and it was closed with a white wax seal, without any distinguishing marks.))
"Dear members of the Stormwind University,
Few are those who both dwell in Stormwind and have not heard the name of you reknowned institution. You all have brought the Alliance the knowledge that we desesperately needed. The proud history of the Stormwind University is clear evidence to its trasparency and will to do what is right. Also, the virtuous Deans have always guided the university with wise and justs decisions, taking as their main goal the safety and well being of the community. You should all know that the Alliance, as a whole, feels proud to have people like you as part of it.
But, as a grim shadow slowly covers Azeroth, the darkness reaches even the university. The Light has always guided your paths, but now the faculties are plagued with masked pawns of the Legion. The dark energies that these warlocks control are tainting everyone's mind around the campus, and are, almost certainly, what has brought all this dark events you have been experiencing lately.
Gladly for me, I do not know much about most of these Legion slaves, but I do know quite well one of them: you know her as 'Lady Valerie Briade'. When I first heard about her, several years ago, she went by the name Sarah Vasull and she was a murderous mercenary. She exchanged the life of her victims for mere gold, and was well known in the underworld for her seduction abilities. But this whore sent by the demons to cause havoc in our beloved city changed her identity and entered your renowned institution.
I do not blame you for being seduced by her apparent passion and her succubu's smile; many have before you. I just wanted to send you this letter so you all know what truly exists behind that mask, and so you all have the knowledge to return the university's path back the the way of the Light.
If there are still doubts about what I say, I want you to ask yourselfs these questions: Have you heard about the supposedly renowned family name 'Briade' from a different source? How can you be sure that working in your institution isn't just another one of her mercenary jobs for her? In her supposed kidnapping, some time ago, didn't she walked with the stranger that came asking for her willingly? How can you be sure that this wasn't just a facade so she would be able to speak with one of her mercenary friends and, also, having an excuse to keep her staff always by her side?
Return the Stormwind University to its former glory, guided always by the pure and wise path pointed by the Light. Purge from your campus and from our city those who plan to corrupt the Alliance from within!
May the Ligh shine upon you. I'll keep in touch.
((I was planning this posts from quite some time, but I wanted to wait for the Fel Arts Class to be accepted first, for dramatic purposes. Remember, Valerie doesn't recieve the letters so, if no onw mentions it, she would not know about this. This is giving a lot of information about Valerie as a warlock, and about her history. I hope you all like it! :) ))
((Oh wow. I started reading this and my jaw literally dropped. This is an ominous twist, and one I never suspected, IC or OOC. Just wow! Not sure how Mags will react to this; I'll think it over tonight. Most likely she won't entertain malicious rumours from strangers regarding a colleague she highly respects. :)
And Valerie? You totally rock! ;) ))
(( I'm thoroughly awestricken and amazed by this writing. Very well done! OOCly, I'm already questioning Valerie and recontextualizing many of the things she's told Alandi. This will definitely make for some incredibly interesting RP!
On a side note, this makes me want to introduce Valerie to my Alteraci character even more! They have to meet sometime.))
((An excellent and highly thought-provoking post, Valerie! :D I DID NOT see this coming, at all!
Now as I'd revealed on the night of the *successful* Proposal Defense, the conclusion of the event was absolutely not the end! I'd already had other plans in motion for the University, Amara, Valerie and the entire premise surrounding Stormwind University's days-old official acceptance of Fel Arts instruction.
This is an amazing addition to Valerie's backstory and her shrouded past! (Especially if all of the content of this letter IS in fact true!) Valerie and Amara have always been close since her induction, particularly in proposing the Fel Arts program to begin with! Val has revealed secrets to Amara in private, so this certainly ICly becomes a major point of trust where our Dean Crowelley is concerned, upon her reading of this letter.
I, too, will need to think on this now, both ICly and OOCly! :D But my immediate RP impulses tell me that not ONE... not TWO... but THREE of my characters may become involved in this scenario, and from entirely different and separate directions! ;)
Time and organic RP will tell, however! But also, we may need to do a little OOC planning sometime, to keep us all on the same page and not muddying the waters with five different RP directions and possibilities! xD For all our time and efforts' sake, I do like to dovetail interests and keep things relatively tied together for all involved! :)
I look very much forward to seeing Valerie ICly once again! Particularly since Amara hasn't even had the chance to directly ICly congratulate her on this astounding victory for her University! ))
((Given a second read and some additional thought, I do have a very slight... "issue" however, that I feel bears addressing.
You mentioned the IC kidnapping in this letter, Valerie.
Just to be clear, among those of us in the know, that was just using an IC detail for creativity and turning a negative into a positive, right? (If so, I applaud you for it!) But I mention this because I personally handled that situation for both you and the guild OOCly that day; The agreement was that said persons are to stay away from you and our University members and are not to ICly (or OOCly, with the intent to RP) approach anyone without my express knowledge first.
Having said that, I don't want any surprises at the IC University Main Office again someday from unwanted and uninvited "guests", like last time. So long as none of that will be the case, I'm in full support of exploring this venture and have no other outstanding issues with pursuing the entirety of this new IC mystery surrounding Valerie's past. :D ))
((I am so happy all of you liked it! :) It was, as I mentioned, something that I was planning for quite some time. I have in plan vrious more of this letters. I was thinking of this as a influence for organic and not-planned RP, so no worry in that point (but, if any of you feel an event would be necessary, please do :) ). Also, don't worry about the kidnap thing, Amara, I just used for dramatic purposes. :) I'll add some more info latter. ))
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<![endif]-->((As before, a copy of this letter reached every member's mailbox, except for Valerie's one. Same type of paper, same wax seal.))
“Dear members of the Stormwind University,
My last letter had one important flaw: its lack of facts. This must not be surprising when you are trying to find evidence of the doings of mercenary such as your ‘Lady Briade’. Believe me when I say that she did a really good job at hiding everything that would have incriminated her… but I am also very good at tracking witches such as her.
I went to where she used to live, a big house in the Old Town. The place was empty, and it seemed it was cleaned just before she moved away. I could feel the dark energies that still lingered in the place. I kept on looking for something that would help my case against her. The Light guided my eyes towards a small pile of ashes in a corner of the basement. In that moment, I felt that the papers that were turned into this pile of ash were the key that I was looking for unveil this wretched and corrupted servant of the Legion… I was right.
I carefully picked up the ashes and took them to a friend of mine at the Mage Quarter. This proud member of the Kirin Tor is one of the finest mages this city has to offer. I wouldn’t trust a matter of this importance to any other than him. It took him a whole week of hard work, but he finally presented to me the original papers. These notebook papers, with text written in cheap ink, seem to have the information that I need to show everyone the true nature of this evil warlock.
I am still in the process of reading the notes that made up this diary of her, as I write this letter. I will just give you all a hint of what is coming in the next letters: Your, now, teacher of Fel Arts, Valerie Briade, has an abnormal relationship with the demons she summons, and the evidence is in this diary.
May the Light shine upon you. I’ll keep in touch.
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<![endif]-->((Well, here is the next letter. Thanks everyone for your appreciations, it’s really a pleasure to be able to make something fun for all of you. :) I hope you are all intrigued, and having fun with this little character’s development. I’m planning a, somehow, long project through this cards, and I’m trying to deliver them through short bits of information each week, to slowly build up the tension, to make it easier to read or catch up, and so the RP comes in a very realistic manner. Hope you are enjoying so far, and hope to RP with all of you soon. :) ))
((The second installment to this "series" of letters, and I have to admit I've been hooked since the first one! :D Especially after we'd had an IC encounter about it a couple nights ago. That RP was exciting, deeply engaging and had me wanting more again very soon!
I have to admit, the tone of these letters make me really wonder as to the identity of this dreadful author. ICly I'd have to say that Amara's beginning to wonder if this "witch-hunter" could possibly be the same one that's been hunting and harassing Zeviah! Or if not the selfsame one, perhaps it's another of their Order! (I do enjoy dovetailing interests when it comes to RP plots and storylines, although not ALL the time! :D )
I'm being properly inspired by all of these wonderful and insightful journals everyone's been writing overall! In this particular case though, I've immediately begun to envision a cross-involvement situation with a few of my characters! We'll see though, perhaps I'll post some journal entries and/or letters of my own very soon!
Keep up the great work, Valerie!))
Sangnoir crumpled the second letter into a ball and threw it across the room. It hit the wall above the trash basket and bounced into it. Sangnoir had been getting a lot of practice lately.
Amazing, the kind of crap that piles up in faculty mailboxes. This really crowns it though. I knew Briade was going to get targeted when she started talking up her proposal, but this is ugly, even by Scarlet standards. Are these bastards planning to actually write a whole fake journal? And why not publish it in a newspaper, for gods' sake? There's enough punters out there who would pay well to read about the 'secret evils perpetrated by warlocks in Stormwind'. They can't actually believe we'll fall for this shit, can they?
Sangnoir shuddered. They know we'll read the damned diary though. That's a problem right there.
(( I didn't expected that, but I loved it! Thanks for the addition, it helps a lot by giving diversity to the whole story, that and the casual rp meetings. :) I'm trying to think on how Arstan would react to the next letters. I'm so eager to know! I'll post the next one soon... XD ))
Dear members of the Stormwind University,
I have finished reading the warlock's diary, and I have enough evidence to throw her in jail until death claims her or make the House of Nobles take away every piece of gold they give the University, currently. But, this is not what I want. I want to see her suffer, but the previous options wouldn't make her suffer enough.
What I really want is that you, those close to her and the community that made her feel normal, to realize the true darkness of her heart, and realize that the only solution would be to kick her out of her out of your institution. I want her to feel alone and rejected again, because that is all a being like her deserves. I know the Light will guide you to make the right choice.
Now, with no further ado, I present to you this witch's diary...
"It's currently the year 630 by the King's Calendar. I am writing this diary so the memory of the relationship I have with my demons does not die with me. I know that if I would openly share the way I interact with them, I would probably be killed by anyone that would think that that meant that I have a pact with the Burning Legion. This diary will be revealed when my life ends... it's my hope, at least.
I have seen how most warlocks just used their demons as tools for killing but, although I respect and understand the reasoning behind it, I prefer to interact with them in very different ways. This doesn't make me an agent of the Legion... I know the line I must not cross, I know it very well...
I will start with my first steps into the warlock's path:
I was eight years old. I already lived in Strahnbrad at the moment. I remember that I felt sad... all the time. I missed my parents, and I felt very lonely. I had left Alterac five or six months before. I was getting used to see Syndicate members visit my uncle, although I didn't really understood who they were and what they wanted. The mayor difficulties for me were the lack of food and how uncomfortable the place was. Moving from a mansion in Alterac to a poor cottage at the outskirts of a small town like Strahnbrad was too much for a little girl to handle on her own. Also, my uncle always seemed busy, but now that I think about it, he probably didn't know how to speak to me. He never had kids, and had always lived on his own.
One rainy night, he returned home covered in blood, and he seemed very frightened. He wasn't hurt; the blood wasn't his. That night he decided that he had to teach me how to become a warlock. Some years after that he told me what happened that night: He was in a meeting with some high ranks of the Syndicate in a hideout when three SI:7 assassins broke in. They would have surely killed everyone if it wasn't for my uncle. He quickly summoned his wrathguard, who not just killed the assassins, but he destroyed their bodies, saving most of the present ones.
He returned home knowing that if the assassins would have entered his home instead of the hideout while he was away, I would have been killed without any resistance. So, although it didn't made him happy, he felt that the only way I was going to survive was by learning how to defend myself with the help of the warlock's powers. From that day on, he started teaching me all he knew about demons, fel magic, and how to control them both. We studied every single second we could. I had to read numerous tomes and notes every week; it was tough, but I enjoyed it. After so much boredom and so much sadness, learning how to become a warlock felt like the most entertaining thing I had done. Apart from that, it also helped me to get over the death of my parents, and to create a real bond with my uncle.
A good memory about that time: I didn't understood what a demon was at first. My uncle, making an effort to speak with words a nine-year-old could understand, said something that I never ever forgot: 'Demons are like friends you'll be able to call whenever you need them and they will protect you from the bad people that would want to hurt you.' These words, for better or for worst, never left my mind."
May the Light shine upon you. I'll keep in touch.
((Next one! :) I used italics and green to make a clear difference between what the writer of the letter is writing, what Valerie is telling at the time she is writting the diary and what she is telling about her past (in green). Oh, also, the year 630 on the King's Calendar is roughly 3 or 4 years ago. Enjoy! ))
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<![endif]-->((Val-- I love you, babe! This story keeps getting better & better! Thank you for keeping us wondering, worrying-- it's awesome! *Hugsies* Now I am going to take a cue from Arstan and pen a note from Mags to Val in regards to these letters. :) ))
To: Professor Valerie Briade, Stormwind University
From: Professor Mhorighan Meadows of Stormwind University, sent via special post from Lunarfall, Shadowmoon Valley, Alternate Draenor.
Valerie dear!
Just a quick note to tell you I received yet another of those vile letters via the special post from a university courier. I wanted to let you know I still don't buy it-- the idea that you are what they imply is-- excuse my language-- pure unadulterated shite. I don't believe a word of it, no matter what this anonymous coward says, and will continue to stand by you.
I do want to offer one service if I might; you are under no obligation to accept this offer. My... mentor, if you will, is quite learned in such matters as we share and is also quite well-connected throughout Azeroth. I can make inquiries with him and see if he can uncover the filthy cur who seems fel-bent on destroying your good reputation. I will not proceed on this without your leave as this mentor of mine is, well, a bit... I have no words. Let’s just say that I believe* I* can trust him, but cannot guarantee that *you* can. That said, he seems to have mostly good, albeit selfish motives but he isn't malicious, merely self-serving and manipulative. I assure you if do chose to have this option explored, I will implore him to treat you with due respect and with an eye to protecting your privacy. Let me know via the next courier, if you wish.
All is well here in AD; am learning much but have never faced so much confusion, torment and hard work—and that’s not even in assisting in fighting the iron horde! I jest, but my continued training is very taxing, and though I have this short leave from the university, I do wish I could run back to just forget, turn back time… I guess this is the price we pay, right?
Anyway, enough whinging. I’ll send this off to you and get back to work. I eagerly await your instruction and remain ever your faithful colleague--
Maggie