Letter to the Keepers and ArchMage

[Goldglo]

The following letter was delivered by hand to the Keeper Towers, personalized for each Keeper. As Matt could not access the Citadel of the Stars, Gloria's letter, along with a second letter addressing her as Baron of Old Temple, was delivered to the church serving as the Baronial Manor of Old Temple.

Dear <Keeper>,

After the events of Diamond Quest 99, Jewell, Kheldar and I have been working tirelessly to determine the root cause of what transpired. Since that time, many of you have directly or indirectly experienced additional incidents (Gren’s odd behavior, strange dreams, etc.) that we believe are attributed to the Opals.

Although Jewell has already been in touch with you directly to discuss these occurrences, we now formally request your presence in the Outback for the entirety of Diamond Quest 100 – either as participant (if eligible) or spectator – in case the capabilities granted or enhanced by your relationship with your Tower are needed, should another incident occur.

Although we have no specific reason to believe anything unfortunate will transpire during the Diamond Quest, we are making this request as a precautionary measure. We ask that you do not share it with the general public and hope that you are able to join us for this landmark celebration and milestone event.

Thank you,
Matt, Kheldar, Jewell

[Andrea Anderson]

A letter is sent back to the Outback staff and also posted publicly on the cork.

I've talked to Jewell privately about this and, now that I've been asked a second time, I'll repeat it here. I've held all titles in the Outback, and many of them multiple times (humble brag), and while having done so it became obvious that the Opals themselves are sentient beings. They either want to offer something to you in their quest to learn and grow, or they want to be rid of you. I'm going to more than assume that whatever has been happening is a clear sign that the Opals no longer wish to be held in the bondage of servitude to title holders and are doing what is right by them for once.

The Tower of Earth declines the Outbacks request.

- Andrea Anderson

[Gloria Blaze]

A copy of the response placed here.

[Phil Goshawke]

The letter delivered to the Outback’s staff smelled faintly of smoke and appeared to have bits of burnt feathers loosely clinging to the bottom. Someone with looping cursive handwriting wrote the note, a quick clue that Phil himself had not written it even before one studied the actual text.

Dear Outback Staff,

I have been asked to write this letter to you on behalf of the Tower of Fire’s current Keeper, Phil Goshawke. Unfortunately, he will be unable to attend or assist you in person as you requested. Given the fact that he has been busy recently assisting in Mallory Maeda’s recovery from a serious illness, on top of his already busy work schedule for Horace Daniels Amalgamated Magitek & Thaumaturgy, he simply will not be able to take the time to attend the Diamond Quest on January 18.

In his place, I have agreed to attend this event to serve as a contingency as you mentioned. I may not possess the powers of the Tower of Fire, but I am a phoenix and I trust you all know what that means.

I look forward to seeing and meeting you all in the Outback.

Sincerely,

Avrie, The Flame Reborn

[Eregor]

The following letter was sent back to the Outback.

Dear Outback Staff,

When Jewell asked, I agreed to offer any assistance I could to stave off trouble that might be caused by the Opals. After reading the message posted by Andrea on the corkboard, however, I am concerned with the notion of forcing sentient entities into servitude. As such, I will act only to prevent harm to others, and will not work to further restrain the wills of the Opals.

I will see you at the Diamond Quest, barring unforeseen difficulties.

Eregor Túr Gairdín
Keeper of Water


There was also a hand-written note scrawled beneath Andrea's response on the corks.

Wait, what?! They're alive? ~ E