Search for Missing Royal Aide Continues
By Dorius Del Davandi
SHARN — On Sar, family members of royal aide Shauranna Rokesko expressed hope that she might still be found, despite two days of fruitless searching throughout the breadth and height of Sharn.
"Shauranna must know that we're out there looking for her. If we have to search every room in every tower, we'll find her and bring her home," said her father, Kal Rokesko.
This morning, City Watch commanders reported that they were doubling the number of searchers across the city and assigning the case to inquisitives in every precinct. Commander Banath Hururik said anyone with information about the Rokesko case should contact the nearest City Watch official immediately.
Rokesko, an aide to Royal Minister Yarik Freul, disappeared from her room at the Sovereign Towers Inn on Far evening. Watch captains told the Sharn Inquisitive that the room showed fire damage and signs of a struggle, although Watch commanders refuse to discuss the investigative details of the case.
Freul, a crown liaison to the Sovereign Host, came to Sharn with his staff for an annual meeting with Onatar priests. He returned to Wroat on Sar to petition that the crown assign the case to the King's Citadel.
"I have every confidence in Sharn's City Watch," Freul said in a scribed statement on Sar. "But because I and my staff deal with sensitive matters of state, it seems prudent to involve those with expertise in such matters. Shauranna is no ordinary girl, and this is no ordinary disappearance."
The reward for Shauranna's safe return now stands at more than 1,000 gold coins. House Kundarak officials responsible for administration of the fund said that concerned citizens are still donating, so the reward is likely to grow.
Earthquakes Raise Eruption Concerns
FROSTMANTLE—Five minor earthquakes over the course of the last week have raised fears that the Fist of Onatar in southern Mror Holds may erupt at any time.
A plume of purple-black smoke has emerged from the top of the mountain, rising straight into the sky. Dwarven communities in the south have started buttressing their underground structures in anticipation of an earthquake or volcanic eruption, said Jallech Bantrell, the Sharn Inquisitive’s Mror Holds correspondent.
Merchants and other travelers are heading north away from the mountain, slowing travel on roads through the Mirror Lake valley, Bantrell said. Most of the southern dwarf clans are remaining in their homes, however, he said.
Four of the tremors have been mild and lasting less than two minutes. They could be felt faintly in Frostmantle, more than a hundred miles from the Fist of Onatar. The fifth tremor, which occurred shortly after midnight last Far, was strong enough to knock down wooden surface structures throughout the valley and was felt as far north as Krona Peak.
The Fist of Onatar volcano, one of the largest mountains in the Ironroot Range, is sacred to followers of Onatar. The dwarves of Mroranonhold don’t allow visitors to approach closer than a few miles of the mountain, and they frequently apprehend freelance prospectors seeking dragonshards in the caves and lava tubes in the lower reaches of the mountain.
Occasional tremors from the Fist of Onatar are commonplace, but the presence of the plume and the frequency of the quakes suggest that the volcano may be rumbling to life.
