Shroudwolf Clan Exposed!

[GloryRhodes]

by Spahro Llorn

 

 

As many readers might not be aware, I, Spahro Llorn, am a Moon Keeper who was raised away from The Shroud.  I have always held a place in my heart for the traditions of my people, and have sought them out in order to better understand my roots.  I was not aware that my good faith and desire to be closer to my kin could prove so nearly fatal.

 

Several moons ago I approached the Shroudwolf Clan, who I had met through a mutual acquaintance and was on good relations with, and I explained my desire to get closer to my cultural heritage.  I offered them my services as a journalist in exchange, and they readilly took me up on my offer.

 

Miah Polaali of the Morbolvine Clan held an intense hatred for the Shroudwolves, and Kiht Jakkya, matriarch of the Shroudwolf, asked me to gather information on her.  She'd been making legitimate threats, and they wanted to know how dangerous the woman was.  I agreed, knowing that if the stories being told by the Shroudwolves were true I would be putting myself at considerable risk were I to be found out.

 

I approached the Morbolvine and, over the course of a moon, became friends with Miah Polaali.  While the picture the Shroudwolves painted was not entirely inaccurate, she seemed unconcerned with them.  She was a polite, friendly woman with a kind demeanor, a welcoming home and while she had a few secrets, none seemed to fit the image of the evil sorceress painted by the paranoia of the Shroudwolves.

 

I told Kiht and Sanja this when next I saw her.  I told them that I was safe, and had not been discovered, and that they had nothing to fear.  While Miah seemed an exceedingly dangerous woman who held grudges, she was targeting them at others instead of herself.  The Shroudwolves were safe.

 

In return for my service, I asked only for the honor of being named a huntress for putting myself on the line as an undercover operative, and a single bowl of stew.  With a smile these were granted to me by Kiht.

 

In a ceremony before the entire clan I was presented with a dagger, a token of their trust in me and their thankfulness for the duty I had served at risk to my own life.

 

A few weeks later Senna Polaali, a Shroudwolf member, dragged me outside and beat me for daring to touch another of their members.  I had taken her hand to give her a dancing lesson.

 

Kiht, of course, disapproved of this, and of Senna's agitation of a mentally unstable member of their clan, Nauta.  She promised to look into this and assured me that I was still welcome, though perhaps I should give it a few weeks to let tensions calm.

 

I did that.  I present here, a full transcription of the events leading to my attempted murder by Senna Polaali and Nauta.

 

I entered the Shroudwolf estate where several guests were in attendance in order to speak to Kiht about some business.  I was immediately rushed by Senna.

 

Senna: "You!"

 

Spahro: "Me?"

 

Senna: "You!"

 

Nauta: "I'm going to murder her!"

 

Senna: "I'm dragging you outside, and then I'm going to-"

 

Spahro: "Wait!"

 

Then, fearing that were I to go outside I would be set upon and beaten again, I fled to an inner room of the home and hid.  I was quickly found by Sanja, Senna and Nauta.  

 

Nauta then stabbed me with her spear.

 

I am not a fighter.  I have never done violence upon another person in my life.  I am unarmed and unable to defend myself from trained combatants.  Still, for no reason I could discern, I was stabbed with two feet of sharpened steel at the end of a pole.

 

I fell, bleeding, to the floor as Sanja disarmed Nauta while Senna continued to make threats.  Sanja treated my wounds, Nauta assaulted me yet again, this time as I was defenseless, strangling me.  Senna, for her part, attempted to take my outside again, I assume to finish the job and not mess up the floors, as those were her exact words, but she did so by dragging me, wounded, by the throat.

 

I had, to my knowledge, done the Shroudwolf no wrong.  It was my understanding that I had in fact done a service and was, in Kiht's own words, "Always welcome."  I was mistaken.

 

I posed no threat to anyone.  I was unarmed.  I was not given the option to leave.  No duel was called, no grudge explained.

 

Senna Polaali and Nauta Lyehga attempted to murder me.

 

It was only through the intervention of Shroudwolf matriarchs that I survived.

 

The Shroudwolf is currently under investigation by the Wood Wailers regarding this incident, but I would like to stress to all citizens of Eorzea that it was Senna Polaali and Nauta Lyehga that, with no provocation, tried to take my life.  Whatever else you may here regarding this incident in the future, those are the facts.

[111]

R'elend has to put the paper down, his laughter having grown so fierce. 

 

"My my Furs, and here I thought you were a woman of honor? Instead I find you leading such a  rancorous bunch." 

 

He shakes his head and continues reading, "I suppose it was good cover though, aye? After all, it almost fooled me."

 

The Miqo'te keeps chuckling, "Our dinner is going to be very interesting indeed."

[Boo the Hamster]

He put down the paper with a soft sigh, rubbing his brows as he looked into his late night readings.

 

"Seems she is in trouble again.  We'll have to speak sooner than anticipated, but perhaps it's time I began to meddle in affairs.  Seems her timing couldn't be better.  Hopefully I do not have to choose who I must aid and who cannot receive it, but..."

 

He shook his head, thinking back to the advice he gave Kiht with a soft sigh.  He would have kicked the two out long before this happened if he was in charge, but this was one side of a story, from a source that should never have come up in the first place.  He looked at the familiar pearl, deciding to interfere a second time.

[Askier]

Ki was smoking as he read the paper. A tied up prisoner wiggled against his binds to no avail. Ki knew knots and he had been paid to much to bring the outlaw in alive.

 

Ki's eyes saw the name of Khit's group. Quickly he flipped over to the page, eager to hear about his friend's clan.

 

The article started off positive enough but, by the end, Ki was chewing through his cigarette.

 

The burning end fell of as the male bit down and he exhale smoke from his nose as he chuckled and shook his head.

 

"They're Keepers. They get feral. Welcome to being a miqo'te. Guess some people don't have what it takes to be a huntress."

 

Ki turned the page and began reading an ad about Bronco Grease.

 

"Probably should check in with her though."

[Gegenji]

Chachanji flipped away from the latest Bronco Grease ad, since seeing his pseudo-adopted older sister wearing something skimpy was kind of... weird. The name Shroudwolf caught his eye, though, and he found himself perusing the entirety of the article. Once he was done, he set it down on his kotatsu and scratched at his ever-floofy mass of snow-kissed jade.

 

On the one hand, this was Spahro of all people, so there could've been a litany of things left unsaid or things spun to paint her in a better light. She wasn't overly terrible, though, from what the little Lalafell could tell from his few interactions with her. He still had vague memories of being upset at her long ago for something, but more recent meetings were... more ambivalent. Certainly nothing bad enough to see her run through with a spear or strangled, if such things actually happened.

 

Ultimately, though, Chachan's worries were of a more personal note. Ms. Nira had just recently invited him to come visit her at the Shroudwolf's abode. To have this sort of article drop not even a sun afterward was quite the foreboding omen. Still, they wouldn't harm a good-natured popoto like him, right?

 

... Right?

 

"M-maybe I should jus' keep me hammer handy... jus' in case..."

[Leanne]

Leanne quietly perused the contents of the last Lantern. Normally, she were to stay more than a yalm away from its sensationalist material, and yet she bought it, for sake of a friend, nonetheless.

 

Read one time. Read two times...What happened? Why it happened? How it happened?

 

Leanne groans and rolls the journal, throwing it back into the bag she carried. "...The things you do for the sake of your friends." Leanne utters before glancing at a little bird jumping from their nest before flying away; they became an adult. Mimicking the bird, she jumps away from the branch she was sitting on, gracefully landing onto the road.

 

"No fighting, she said...I do pray there's no fighting..."

 

She holds to her hat, and walks down the road, leading herself back to Gridania.

[Anstarra]

A cafe in Ul'dah, early morning. The day after the events.

 

Anstarra, clothes a little rumpled from not having slept at home, in point of fact from having stayed at the estate where these things had transpired, stared at the words on the sheet. A small, cool part of her was amused at how she could have missed the commotion entirely, preoccupied as she'd been with one of the sweetest, kindest women she knew, who just happened to be a prominent Shroud Wolf.

 

The rest of her was seething with absolute fury.

 

"That stupid, pig-brained, thoughtless, talentless, unIMAGINABLE bitch."

 

Her fingers slowly destroyed the copy of the lantern, pulled it apart, then rent it into shreds mote by mote, working methodically, an exercise in control and concentration that was wholly designed to keep her from picking up her table and smashing it on something, or perhaps everything.

 

"How dare she. How DARE she slander them. All of them. That fucking worthless little cunt. How DARE she take it out on all of them. On Kiht. On NIHKA. This is THEIR Clan, how COULD she..!"

 

Anstarra spent several minutes thoroughly destroying the paper, until even the shreds were unrecognizable. Then she flung the mess into the wind, slapped coins on the table, and stalked out. No one got in her way. Thankfully.

 

She needed to kill something.

[Zelmanov]

Orrin had not a habit of reading the papers that circulated outside of Ishgard. In the past, no vitriol nor bile was spared in the state's direction when they abstained from the battle of Cartenau. How quickly people seemed to forget what they had done for them in the Autumn War while still fending off the ruthless horde. But the headline was too close to home this time.

 

He sneers somewhat at the author of the title, Spahro Llorn, remembering the Miqo'te that prodded him about the incident involving heretic trinkets in the Ul'Dahn markets. Why'd he agree to speak with her at all would remain one of those unanswered questions for the ages.

 

He skims through, double backing on some lines with some incredulity. He had heard about the shroud moon keepers had some tendencies that bordered on feral at times, and Kiht was more than curt with him last time they had spoken, but this seemed like too much. He sets the paper down and stands, hoisting his lance upon his back, leaving some gil upon the table as he strolled out of the carline canopy "Best not to show up unannounced then." he stares at the gate into the shroud and shudders, muttering something about blasted living plants, tight-lipped conjurers and confoundingly capricious elementals.

[SessionZero]

It was very unlike Reilan to give a care to anything that happened outside of Ishgard. The Dragonsong War held his full attention, and as Templar of the Vanguard, so did the bumbling (in his mind) soldiers under his command. However, he chanced upon a copy of the newspaper while in Limsa Lominsa on unrelated business, and while flipping through it (pausing with interest at the Bronco ads), he skimmed the latest sensationalist material to grace the pages. As he read down his face grew steadily more incredulous, until at the end a soft chuckle escaped his lips. 

 

"So she lies to one Keeper clan, falls from grace with another, then writes this dreck outing herself to both? She must have an unfathomable death wish." He carelessly tossed the paper in the nearest refuse bin and turned with a swish of his armored coat towards the aetheryte to return to Coerthas.

[Afghan Vet 2009]

Takes a light breath before placing the paper down and rubbing her chin with her index finger in her right hand with a look o f deep thought. 

 

Mutters to herself "This  Spahro, made a fool of me and then fate deals her a heavy hand. Perhaps now she will heed my words." Miah then pushes herself up from her chair with a small grin on her face and reaches out for her jacket before leaning over a crib to place a gentle kiss on the forehead of a sleeping infant boy. "... Mommy will be back soon Miah'a... she has business to take care of." 

[Conor]

A trip to Gridania in the early morning had yielded a hearty bounty of eggs, fresh bread, and coffee to add to the solitary Keeper's planned breakfast of antelope tenderloin. Having picked up a paper as well, Lali'to reclined into the old, worn chair at the table in his isolated home in the Shroud and flipped through advertisements and headlines while he sipped at a chipped mug of black coffee.

 

Stopping at a page that looked juicy, he scanned the article while picking a piece of meat from between his teeth. "Huh... met one of them Shroudwolf folks one time I think..." He was, of course, speaking to the gangly puppy at his feet. "Tried to get me to come back with 'er... weird shit. Don't need none'a that, huh Pebble?" The pup's ears perked, her head tilting in interest at the mention of her name.

 

The article confirmed to the hermit that his decision to avoid the other Keepers of the Shroud was a good one. After another moment of reading, he flipped to another page.

[LiveVoltage]

Sarnai had taken to reading the newspaper in her off time when she was not working. It helped keep her informed on things, however, after reading the article of someone being mercilessly attacked and assaulted for no reason at all, she could feel her own rancor and blood lust rising in herself. Her darkside was calling. It Demanded vengeance or blood.

 

She was sitting in an inn room at the Forgotten Knight when her dark side re-appeared next to her, the look of extreme anger plastered on her face.

 

"Sister! These fool's assaulted someone for no reason and have not been punished for it. The code demand's they pay in blood!" she said, growling under her voice as she commanded the good Sarnai to do something.

 

Good Sarnai just smiled to her darker self as she folded the paper and quietly placed it on the table.   "Patience sister. If we run in there now attempting to take vengeance on an entire clan then we would only end up dead in a ditch somewhere." She said with a warm smile.

 

"GOD'S DAMMIT SARNAI! These people blatantly hurt someone for no reason and your not going to do anything about it?!" Her darkside shouted, with much anger in her tone.

 

Good Sarnai sighed deeply, shaking her head as she crossed her arms. "I never said we should not do anything. If we are to exact vengeance, then it will be on one person. Too kill more than one would call attention on us. Killing itself will call attention on us."

 

Her darkside look like it was about to say something but resigned herself to grumbling and growling. "Fine. But we better kill one soon. I feel like feeding on the blood of someone wretched." She said, growling at good Sarnai.

 

"We will soon do so sister." Good Sarnai said with a warm smile and a kind tone of voice.

[PhantasticPanda]

The Lalafell sat by the hearth in the home of none other than the Shroudwolves themselves. As his eyes read over each word, he lets out a deep and heavy sigh before casting the paper aside. He took a moment to silently ponder, shaking his head.

 

"They don't deserve this... None of them do..." He paused, furrowing his brow, "Senna, I hope you hold any degree of good reason for this... After all... You are to be a mentor..."

 

He couldn't help but hold a heavy heart as the day continues on. The clan that had offered him a home when he was but a stranger, was now under scrutiny.

[PkThunda]

Z'zhumii, in all of her morning finery with a cup of tea in hand, looked over the paper with lazy, sleepy eyes.

The author wasn't exactly a friend, more like a loose acquaintance who had bestowed an unusual title upon the courtesan. None the less, her thick brows arched in surprise as she took a sip of the spiced-tea.

 

"Tribals. Moonkeeper tribals." She sighed, lolling her head to the side to look over her room.

Silks, tasseled pillows, and delicate mosaics set into the walls.

 

"I'll never see the appeal." Another pause. "I'll send her a get well package."

[Aya]

The breeze blew with a cool shroud chill across the quietly humming outdoor porch of the Gridanian forest cafe.  The tall Hyur blonde carefully lowered her teacup back to the surface of the table; freshly manicured fingers remained gently wrapped around the cup for the measure of warmth it offered.  Carmined-red lips offered a soft smile: everything seemed to be conspiring to rewind her of the Shroud she knew. 

 

With a little rustle she unfolded the morning flyer.  If she was going to be away from home she may as well follow the news!  Lips pursed as she read the headline.  "Oh Kiht Kat will just love this..." she thought.  With another sip of tea she began to read the article in earnest, finding the trip suddenly a little more interesting!

[Manari]

Manari had never read a newspaper in all her time spent inside a city state, but laying on a table, open-faced was the words "Shroudwolf Clan" written on one. She couldn't help but read the article and slowly develop and confused expression on her face. She certainly didn't see any of this happen, nor had she ever heard of or seen such a woman in the Clan House. She reached up to scratch at one of her ears as she looked over the name of the person who wrote the article. "Spahro... who? Ohhh, is this one of those fiction stories?"

 

Having no knowledge of journalists, the traditional Keeper girl was forced to assume it was just a story. Besides, no one could be foolish enough to actually infiltrate one group, anger the group they were hired by, then publicly post it all for both to see, right? She had hope that one sun she might be featured in an action packed story of her own. She tossed the newspaper back on the table before getting what she came for in Gridania and leaving as soon as possible to return to the Twelveswood and away from the crowded city state.

[Shea Aveline]

The audible crack of a facepalm filled the small Doman dojo.

 

The miqo'te male looked up from his meditation, "Sensei...?"

 

The hyur woman smiled down at him, eyes almost soothing, "It's alright, J'lito-san. I apologize."

 

She flashes another smile before looking back to the paper, thinking to herself.

 

You betray a Clan for another Clan whom supposedly now tries to kill you. And instead of tending to your own safety you run off, commit slander and out yourself to all of Eorzea? Foolish...

 

 

Her concentration is broken as the sound of footsteps enter the dojo.

 

"Hayashi-sama," the new voice called.

 

The Sensei looked up from the paper, only to see the woman approaching closer, "Senna-san."

 

"Sensei, I need your help."

[Winters Knight]

Riordyn had been passing through Gridania, seeking to gather a few bits of gossip and some herbs before heading back to the den. Passing a chatting group who seemed consumed in their papers, he browsed the article, laughed, and shook his head. "Ah, to judge an entity by the actions of a mere few. Whiny, ignorant, and dramatic to a fault. Well, I guess that is what sells papers," he mused quietly.