Report on Patrols over the Sunset Shore
Seventh Day of the Third Month 294 AC
The installation of serpentstone projectors on Wyverns to better capture intelligence directly from the scene was not as straightforward as our engineers* might have hoped. The projectors are delicate enough to crack from the pressures of fast turns and high acceleration prompting the creation of a protective casings. Though the experimentation did not come without a cost, we are certain the developments will serve us in good stead even in the strangest of skies.
Lost 8000 IM
As for the flights themselves, the reaction of the local populace and other observers varied widely. On the coast of the Stromlands near the Parchments, we were greeted with wailing, the sound of horns calling men to muster, and even sept bells ringing sanctuary. On the Coast of Blackwater Bay and within the estuary of the Blackwater, our presence seems to have alerted the local mages because by the third day of operations there was evidence of sporadic arcane attacks with the equivalent of light weaponry used in the War of Three Spheres.
While such emplacements could theoretically strike and damage a Wyvern, their operators were anything but skilled in their use. It is clear they had been translocated, possibly based on divinations, in the hope of ambushing our wings, but the House of Mirrors warned us in turn, allowing us to show just enough to make the enemy seem even more ineffective than they truly would have been under normal engagement conditions. Images of the event were of course captured for analyses and morale boosting purposes.
The Fingers, the Bay of Crabs, and White Harbor presented no particular hurdles or events, though the same could not be said about the Neck, where for the first five days of scouting mists lay heavy enough on the land to make a Braavosi stare. It cleared up on the sixth day when one of the King's wards, a Wisdom Reva, said we should take a green priest of the Old Gods to quiet some kind of local spirits or fey. After ensuring that no harm would come of the king's ward** and dragon rider, she was taken up to deal with the matter. The mist cleared soon after to reveal much of what we had been expecting to see, a swamp, albeit one with far more people and traffic moving to and fro than we had been lead to believe the area supported.
In the Reach we faced nothing worse than storms blowing off the Sunset Sea and near the Arbor one low altitude flight was briefly cheered by the populace in what seemed to be a spontaneous gesture of support, though it might also have been the work of supporters of the King among the local lords of whose existence I am not privy to. If they could divine our coming to try to take potshots in the Crownlands, then they should have been able to do so there as well, the better for the 'smallfolk' to cheer us in the Reach.
Smarter than half the courtiers that flock like starlings around court if they did plan it.
*Note: Here referring to Tinker fey attached to the Wyvern Wings. Though they have an unusual knack for arcane mechanisms, they are not given the same control as true mage-smiths who perform the monthly inspections due to their frequent desire to weaponize unusual aspects of the craft.
**Note: Higher Divinations calling upon the Vessel of the Serpent God were invoked.
Captain Lucerys of the First Air Wing
***
You set down the report with a smile. You suspect you were supposed to get a copy without the author's personal thoughts on courtiers, but the adjutants here at the keep have long since learned that you enjoy reports with a bit of a personal touch, the better to see the people behind the seals and signatures. Your realm had long ago grown too large to know all of them, but that only means you enjoy these brief glimpses all the more.
What next?
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OOC: I hope the format works. I wanted to give the update a bit more personality than just a simple report. Not yet edited.