This is my first attempt at fiction, which is why it is so plodding and slow. But I beg you, do modify it, change sentences, suggest what comes next, enrich it if you're interested.
I picture the (yet nameless) main character as a young rokari monk of the Inquisition, who comes to investigate a faraway village. He suspiciously looks like Johnny Depp in "Sleepy Hollow". Here goes...
Reverend and Learned Father,
I have arrived at the hamlet of Woippy three days ago. It is a community of about forty hearths located a few leagues only from the eastern edge of the accursed Kanthor forest, where beasts dwell.
The local dronari immediately recognized my exalted status as a Wizard of Rokar and offered proper respect and hospitality. I was given shelter in bailiff Hatto’s house where he keeps a squad (I think it is proper horali term) of soldiers to fight off beasts from the accursed forest. While crude, it proved proper accommodation, but kept me separate from the local community you had sent me to investigate for heresy.
How often have I wished that the teachings of Rokar would allow us to disguise ourselves before the prying eyes of heretics, so we could observe what they seek to hide from the Inquisition’s Justice. But Rokar’s Message is clear and we must show our exalted caste before all. Because of the emergency of your request, I had no time to send some of our dronari agents ahead of me and had to lead my inquiries through questioning of the locals.
I had their headsman, one Bartram the Yeoman, gather them at the Church, which state of neglect should have warned me about what was to come. Bartram began the liturgy then gave me the chair, and I read how Malkion instructed Dronar about his duties. Then, by the Grace of the Book, I extended my Sight has you taught me. At first glance, nothing was amiss – the flock of Essences was pure and untainted by pagan corruption. But many of the men seemed to struggle to remember their Prayers, and the “Victory over the Ice” Chant was weak and mangled. But before Confession could begin, Hatto burst into the church and shouted an alarm. It seemed like beastmen had been spotted close by and he quickly gathered a third of the men and left in haste, even though there was only one hour of day left.
Left by my devices, I wandered around the village alone and could feel the eyes of the local women following me. Rokar’s Teachings tells us Wizards not to risk corruption by talking to a female and I abstained, despite my suspicions. I noticed a crone walking away from the village towards the west, led by a young girl not ten winters old – again just before dusk. When I tried to follow, a weakness overcame me and I fell to my knees, shaking. I had to stagger back to my quarters to recover, and prepare to invoke the Powers of Inquisition to discover what evil lurked in this village…
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