Althea is back! Well, sort of. She appeared in town today and apparently
has appeared before, threatening revenge. I fear that she may be under the
control of Alazan.

Here is a bit of background for those who may not know: Alazan is the head
of the Daszbank Core, a (formerly secret) independent group of elite
spiritualists working under the hand of the Emperor. This group had captured
me after destroying the grove where I grew up. They are experts in Darshak
mind control, and had used a shard for me, but those are rare. How a
contingent of Mobius' might acquired Darshak technology is still a mystery.
But, under the influence of mind control, they exploit the abilities of
their captives to accomplish their ends. In my case, that meant using a
powerful dagger (which was NOT intended for evil) to attempt genocide
against my own race. DarqMax had rescued me from this terror, and after
trying to make a new life with him and failing, my memory was wiped and I
was exiled. But the blade was sent to me, and its presence stirred memories,
and after a time, I remembered everything. I also started (mis) using the
blade again, and because I didn't know what it was doing with it, it broke.
However, Sendorian and Alazan , heard the wave of power coming from the
blade again, and Sendorian followed that wave here.

At that time I was tried for my past crimes and sentenced. But during those
days, a number of kidnappings occurred. Sendorian kidnapped first Vagile,
then Yazza, and then Althea, and took them to an isle where Alazan and
others had set up a temporary operation. That's where Vagile became addicted
to her lizards, and also what prompted Yazza to seek out Koriel. (Those are
now separate topics.) I went on my pilgrimage to absolve myself of my guilt
in the affair, and was gone for three months.

Althea went willingly with Alazan back to the mainland after having a
consumption beetle placed in her ear. This beetle also conveys mind
control, and it cannot be removed without great risk to the victim, as well
as proper instruction. It is not as effective as a shard because it affects
the mental accuity and emotional disposition of the victim. But it is
effective enough to be used frequently by The Core.

I do not know what Althea has been doing on the mainland, but it's probably
not good. And from what I can tell, Alazan is using her as a messenger to
threaten Puddleby for exposing The Core and their actions through Lorian. We
must be on guard: Alazan and The Core has the power to carry out his
threats. This has been demonstrated repeatedly.

During Althea's most recent visit, in her agressive mind-controlled state,
she threatened a **Rising Claw clanmate -- Rifkin -- and he duped her into
going to the Arena. He called the rest of his clan. Well, it soon became a
lynching as her clan attempted to grab control of her. No one could slay
Althea and she was killing their healers repeatedly. They finally called
Cutlas who slayed her and she departed, cursing them. She came back to the
arena -- why I don't know -- and was surrounded and chained. Heccacia
approached with a potion, they pinned her down and two drops were put in her
ear. She screamed and struggled, calling out Alazan's name.

All of a sudden she was spirited away into the ground, seemingly. She was
found minutes later by Perkusi in a terrible state, hissing and growling,
moaning and muttering, lapsing in and out of consciousness in Husus' house
in an inner room, with Husus's whereabouts unknown.

Now, Heccacia was called to remove the beetle and help Althea recover. She
used this same unknown potion again and removed the beetle. Althea screamed
terribly, fainted again and disappeared.

I do not know Heccacia's motives - I have always known her to be honorable.
I imagine she did her best. At least I hope she did. But I fear that our
dear Althea may be at worst dead and at best sequestered by the hand of
Alazan back into his dominion, beetle-less. He obviously has some way of
yanking her body around, and in any case, she is gone, and I fear, none the
better for our efforts.

Only time will tell. Please pray that she may be returned to us safely,
someday, or that her spirit will be at peace if she is in fact gone. And for
Heccacia, that her spirit may be absolved of wrongdoing in the demise of my
friend and soon-to-be-sister-in-law Althea.


In Service and Love,

Lorian