#30 The Conversion of Sawl
The Lady Beauvoir, to Her Majesty Neferata, Queen of Mysteries.
Humble greetings.
Here follows my latest intelligence report regarding the being formerly known as The False Apostle.
As you know, I sent Lord Voltaire away to discover what caused The Paladin to leave the Order of the Blood Drenched Rose and come here to Glymmsforge to found the Society of the Sanguine Rose. However, in his absence, I was actually able to answer those questions myself through careful study of documents found in Barfunweltz Manse. To summarise: while fighting an abhorrent arch-regent named Sawl Gizzardspittle of the Blisterskin he was somehow partially infected with the flesh-eater curse. By strength of will he was able to subdue its effects for a time, but eventually he withdrew to Barfunweltz where the combination of Soulblight and Abhorrent natures granted him the extraordinary powers which enabled him to fabricate and propagate his creed, 'The Way of the Rose'.
This begs the question why he was uniquely thus affected by the flesh-eater curse? Soulblight and Abhorrents have long been in enmity and thousands have fought; why (to our knowledge) have others not been thus affected? There is clearly something truly exceptional about our subject. I am beginning to wonder if his battle with Sawl was not in fact the origin of his peculiar nature, and whether I need somehow to delve even further into his past.
But I digress. The main purpose of this missive is to report to you an unfortunate consequence of Lord Voltaire's quest. In a foolish and utterly misguided move, he decided (on his own initiative) to bring Sawl Gizzardspittle (now much diminished from his former glory, but still a dangerous ghoul king) back to Barfunweltz! Apparently, Voltaire thought the one-time arch-regent would seek revenge upon the False Messiah, attack him and thus weaken the Raptured Court.
However, Voltaire had completely underestimated the strength of the Sanguine Rose. My agent Anya reports that the Baby-Eating Bishop was informed of the flesh-eaters' approach and sent the False Messiah himself out of Barfunweltz to meet Sawl on the road to Glymmsforge. He appeared to him with such a dramatic manifestation of his delusion that Gizzardspittle immediately succumbed. Sawl is now known as 'The Convert' and his own mordants have swelled the ranks of the Raptured Court. It now numbers a great many ghouls and crypt flayers and is perhaps the outwardly dominant force in Barfunweltz.
Meanwhile, I have instigated a plan to bring these flesh-eaters to heel. I believe I have succeeded in weaving my own fiction into their delusion, namely that I myself will bring to them another messianic figure. This is of course reliant on my success in reviving the Soulblight portion of the False Messiah which still resides in the Empty Hearse. However, I am confident in this and even now I have tasked Anya Liedl to put in action another scheme by which I might deceive the Archbishop of Barfunweltz into believing that we too are working to promulgate the 'Way of the Rose'.
As you can imagine, I am severely displeased with the fool Voltaire but I have yet to decide how to deal with him. For his part, his notions of 'chivalry' mean he presents no threat to me; indeed I believe his mistake renders him even more under my control so perhaps I can yet make use of his artlessness.
Further reports will follow.
May blood flow forever in your honour.
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