Rumors in Danigau

Wulf Danig, champion of Brenna lives, but is stricken by the Awnshegh called the Spiritwraith. He has trapped the mind-possessing fiend in his body and lies chained in a cell deep below Blackgate.
It is the secret fate of the greatest Counts of Danigau that they travel to the cell when they feel death?s hand upon their shoulder and aid their ancestor to do battle against the fiend, once daughter of the Gorgon and now almost mad from her long imprisonment within Wulf?s body.
Wulf Danig refuses to release the Spiritwraith to this day, he is Danigau, defender of the Brecht, and he will fight for eternity if need be to protect them from the Gorgon?s daughter, she who once promised her father to bring all Brechtür under his domination.
The marble hall of Wulf is guarded by more than just thick walls, the cold air tingles with magical wards; and an ancient stone golem stands guard over the chamber (which can be ordered aside only by those who know the correct password).
The hall itself is dimly lit by the glowing mists that swirl around the chained Wulf, these mists are the remnants of past Counts that tore pieces of the Wraith?s soul from Wulf?s mind. Several of the spirits battle yet with fragments of the Spiritwraith, these appear as two entwined mists darting around within the borders of the silver circles painstakingly drawn on the floor.
The secret of Wulf?s existence has been handed down from Count to Count over the years with only one other trusted soul permitted to know, typically the baron of Blackstone but more recently Markus Stein the seneschal.
If the Spiritwraith could be defeated it would be a huge boost to Danigau and Brechtür to have so great a champion as Wulf Danig back amongst them, although with his body warped by the Spiritwraith into a monstrosity it would be hard for him to be accepted by his people unless he could somehow be cured ? the vengeful awnshegh has turned Wulf into a huge man-beast complete with fur and fangs.
But Markus has more urgent news, one of the spirits of a count of Danig no longer battles a fragment of the Spiritwraith, did the count win? Or has a fragment of the awnshegh escaped? If so its destruction must be a priority as the Spiritwraith was said to rival the Lost as a necromancer of the black arts and she will no doubt seek to conquer the realm and give it to her father she would remember only as the dynast he once was.

Caebstrech has always been plagued by goblins, but the noted huntsman Siegfried ?Fido? Donnerssohn recently claimed that the goblins that raided a farm not far from Caebstadt came from Kantswach not the Urga-Zai lands to the west.
His claim is obviously foolish, any goblins in Kantswach are isolated bands at most and the farm raid involved the theft of 3 carts and two dozen cattle ? the work of a large organized band.
Further, Urga-Zai is known to have raided recently and several hundred goblins are currently holed up in the hills in the north, clearly this was the work of a band that split off before being forced back to the hills by General Johann. Siegfried is dogged in his determination however and insists that the old mines in Kantswach are searched, even to the point of ignoring his clear duty to support the general in the north.

Urga-Zai continually presses Danigau, far wealthier than the Rjurik realms that are the goblin?s easiest prey; Danigau is the goblins favored target as the Dwarves of Khurin-Azur are even tougher warriors and the elves of Lluabraight are viewed with abject fear, the gheallie sidhe still rages in the western parts of the goblins realm and the goblins would like nothing more than to get well away from the wild sidhe.
Urga-Zai sends troops east at least once a decade, but small bands raid constantly. Sometimes the goblins have captured land, but the Counts have always driven the goblins back from Danigau lands.

The Pirates of Grabentod have recently begun targeting Danigau?s merchant ships, The Zweilunds never stopped, an example must be made to ensure that shipping is safe and profitable once more. Both guild-masters support action against the pirates, although they would prefer to offer a reward for success they might be persuaded to fund a small expedition against the pirates if certain that sufficient mayhem would ensue.
But a greater question is why have the Grabentod pirates suddenly started targeting Danigau ships? The royal fleets of Danigau and Müden have long been ?off-limits? by order of the imprisoned King Albrecht. Is the piracy the result of renegades, has Albrecht changed his orders, or has a new king arisen in the pirate kingdom?

The guilds of Danigau fight incessantly draining both of their resources in constant arguments over rights to trade routes and who is responsible for various elements of the realms trade, their schemes also cause trouble for the Count with the pointless bickering of the guild leaders turning to violence among their hard-handed guildsmen, sabotage of goods, the constant attempts to blame the other, etc. The root cause of this enmity is said to be the death of Ilse Redbedtehr?s first love, Pieter Vulfheim, a laughing giant who made his name battling goblins in Kantswach.
Pieter was engaged to be married to Ilse when he vanished in a freak sailing accident caused either by his drunkenness (Volse?s story) or a failing of his ship (Ilse?s view). The siblings have not spoken on civil terms since, Ilse briefly enjoyed an affair with Count Erik which ended after Volse discovered it, the sharp tongued Ilse has not taken a lover or husband since and is becoming bitter in her loneliness.
So what to make of the rumors that part of the hull of Mountainsdottar, the ship in which he died, has surfaced in a bay in Kantswach with a hull marked by great teeth? Did some fell beast,
an offspring of the dreaded kraken perhaps, drag the ship to a watery grave a decade past? And if Pieter was proven to have died fighting the beast, with neither Pieter nor Volse at fault could the two guilders be reconciled?
Of course there are those who want the guilders to continue to fight, the temple of Kriestal for one, while the Copper and Coke miners of Wierech also have a vested interest in weak competition. There are also many who would want to make sure that both Volse and Pieter are ?cleared? regardless of evidence to the contrary, and both sides could be willing to use force to make sure their aims were met.

The ?sausage-wars? of Starkhundt and Talhundt are a source of great pride to the natives of the two provinces and vast amusement to others.
Normally the Count travels to the Erntenirfest at Tallenhaven (in even numbered years) or Clearwater (in odd numbered years) and enjoys the festival which centres around the sampling of exotic sausages, the prodigious consumption of alcohol (mostly ales but also spirits ?in honor of the dwarves?) and extremely exuberant drunken singing (Clearwater) or the performance of new plays and musical pieces (Tallenhaven).
The festival is often attended by the ?great and good? of Brechtür, certainly the festival is famed across the Bay spawning imitations, while many ?young stags? of Müden and Berhagen plan to enjoy the month long festivities at some point before they become too mature to truly enjoy it.
This years Erntenirfest has however taken a potentially grim turn for the proud of Talhundt, wurstmeister Adler of Talhundt has vanished and the absence of the meister (and his special goats-meat and thyme wurst) has left Starkhundtsmen certain of victory, for the jovial singing wurstmeister Todd Friseur and his spiced pork sausages are sure to win the coveted Count?s Seal of Approval.
It is rumored further that certain young Talhundtsmen are trying to find the secret blending of herbs used by Todd which causes the as yet unidentified exotic flavour of his wurst, so that they can destroy the herbs and prevent the meister delivering his wurst to the Count?s plate.

To the surprise of most that have seen it, a strange figure rides the mists of Evershruden. This knight in ancient bronze armor rides out of the mist at the dead of knight and demands that the ?false Count? is brought before him; the knight has been seen by too many to simply be the imaginings of drunks and if some mystical shadow can only be dealt with by the Count. Of course if this is simply a mad-man or brigand he can be readily slaughtered, but who would dare ride into the mountains to find out?

It has long been said that men of stone dwell in the mountains of Kantswach but until recently this was confined to the stories of the delirious and lonely prospectors who had spent long month?s way from civilization.
Emma Kant, likely the next Baroness of Kantswach heard the odd singing that occasionally echoes from the mountains while searching for her father who had gone hunting ogres and not been seen for two weeks (he later rode into town hale and well albeit mystified as to why his female relatives had seemed worried simply because he forgot to leave a note).
Emma insists that she saw a stone man ? easily eight feet tall ? in mortal combat with an ogre. Struck by the stone-man?s noble features she loosed a crossbow quarrel at the ogre, impaling the best in the spine and ending the fight. When she called to the stone man however it ran ? but not before bowing to her.
If the stone men do exist then their intentions and numbers should be verified by the Count, if they do not then to recognize Emma as the next baroness could cause problems for those who cannot tell dreams from reality are rarely able administrators.

An itinerant miner recently staggered into Blackgate carrying a ring which glowed with an eldritch light. He has offered the prize to the highest bidder and the sale of a rare magical artifact has the city abuzz, but what does the ring actually do? The miner is tight-lipped, unsurprisingly so, but rumors say that the ring can drink the life of those it touches and use this life to create magical effects. Whatever the truth of the matter the city is rapidly filling with undesirables eager to lay their hands on such a prize by means fair or foul.