HOW MUCH I HATE THE COMPLACENT [GOLDLIGHT'S DEMANDS TO GLOOMLIGHT]

[GSM]

x
A missive suddenly finds its way upon the doorstep of the Gloomlight Grove, from the hands of the Knight-Commander. It's written in parchment, penned with an inked quill, and stamped with the sigil of the Goldlight Order.
Its contents are worrying. Within it, demands. A hand has been tested, over and over again.
And now, that hand has become a fist.

x

---

"There was a time that I fought for, and served, Aphros. It was twenty-five or so years ago, and it felt like yesterday. How I nearly ended up dying because of my own bravery, to charge at, of all people, Lora'ene.
Aphros as a city fell to the martyr's song of an Imperfect, at the hands of the strongest single god-scorned being we've ever known.
What I'm seeing now are the actions and empty words of vultures.
x
You did not wait until the man was buried to desecrate his grave.
x
Your people have continuously harbored witches. I now know of at least two by name (Nilaneris, AKA Endurance, and Sabine Viditia, are who I am aware of. Feel free to FUCKING correct me), and know there are potentially more. One of them being harbored for the simple sake of expanding a fucking HAREM isn't helping your favors.

x
Your people overreach into mine's business and dealings, as everyone else does on this gods-damned continent.
Garret, in all of his kindness, wanted nothing but the best, even if it meant attempting to purify and redeem a Nethradin under Pylae's light, only to watch it fucking explode on him.
Garret didn't want it to come to war when Prospera needed to go, yet it required a setting to the torch-- and you were the ones who meddled in affairs for long enough that the fuck-coven could escape into the night, completely unharmed.
x
Your inaction, your complacency, your unwillingness to do what needs to be done--
It fucking sickens me, frankly, that this is what rose from the Aphros of old.
x
You have until Geist, the first month, of 2115AC.
I want all of your witches' and warlocks' heads dangling from ropes, disembodied from their necks, or something of progress to be done of actually making sure these living sacks of shit are being cut free from their ties with their Marquis or Demon Lord or what-ever-the-fuck.
x
I am not Garret, nor will I ever be.
And you'll find my patience is FAR less flexible than his ever was."

---

x
A formal cessation of all alliance between Martyrs' Vigil and the Gloomlight Grove has been pressed, a denouncement of the new ways of the Oracle enacted.
If the deadline is not reached, as per the word of the Knight-Commander Shevaun Maroth, then there is only one outcome.
War looms as an existential threat, with far more willingness than one could ever anticipate.

[GSM]

The previous message is rescinded.
For what purpose this is done is more than readily apparent by the shadowflame-and-crystal-pocked Aether-crater in the middle of the Martyrs' Vigil square, but a pace or two away from the Keep.
Though no blood was shed, a consensus was made, and the two conflicting parties-- Oracle and Knight-Commander each-- were seen briefly shaking each others' hands.

If it's for pleasantries or a genuine effort is still to be discerned.

---

"I still have yet to see progress, but my intel was faulty, and our mutual communication was dogshit.
Happens. Sucks, but it happens.

I still want to see progress, and I want to be kept in the loop.
Witches and warlocks are walking information hazards to even keep around, let alone collar for later scrutiny.
But, you did kill Lucky Luciano. You did kill Ybiet. And we've got a ways to go to fix this mess we made for each other.

Business is business. Just know that I'm not the man that built this place, or half of him, really.
Nowhere near as flawless as he was. That's more than damn apparent.

Consider my last statements null and void. This one's what the people should see.
I'm leaving the last one up for posterity, so people know what a bad reaction looks like.

Just know that I'm still watching."

---

After tensions flare, it appears that the impending threat of war if demands were not met has been averted almost as quickly as they manifested.
The alliance still lays uncertain, and things may never be the same, but at least some understanding is had amidst the chaos.