To the ever-faithful Battlemage Beausace:
I trust this letter finds you in a continuance of good fortune. Please excuse my brevity; I am attending to a rather pesky Drow specimen as I write. After having some words with my dear wife concerning him, I suspect demonic possession of some sort.
I shall unfold to you the purpose for my request, so that you may lend me some of your wit. I have in my possession a Dragonborn male who, if left to his own devices, might find himself little better than that old and haggard thing that your contact in Daerlun has described to you. The name that I loaned you was one of the few bits of information that I could pry from his lips, but to hear that the Daerlun creature that knows of whom my Dragonborn specimen speaks is little better than he is quite interesting indeed. The Dragonborn is called Aleksei Petrovich Voyonov; he will not give me his clan name, for some reason. So soon as I have pressed it from him, you shall have it.
I send to you with this missive a malleable creature by the name of Rafael Unessmus. He no longer has any family of note, and shall not be missed by anyone should our plot twist awry. Forward him to your sergeant in Daerlun with a writ of your own, preferably one that closes this issue in his mind. Most guards and soldiers that I know do not know how to let more highly minded folk be about their studies in peace; therefore, I wish him to be out of our way. Though I know you will miss her greatly, send with Rafael your maid, Karri, and let her twist herself into his graces. This done, she must prevail upon him to remain in Daerlun. It is his wish to learn some menial trade; what the trade is matters little to him. Therefore, if she is as persuasive as you have made her seem, she shall have an easy time of convincing him to break faith with me. Be warned that he is lately freed of a disagreeable woman, and may seek to comfort himself with Karri rather quickly. If she is too afraid or virtuous to give in to his advances, being minded of her sons who are left behind with you, find among your house staff some other loose woman who might, and let Unessmus go with her instead. While by day, Karri or whatever woman you choose may find any little winding use for the man, let him by night be released to the tavern where Hai Shui may be found. If it is possible, let them board there, that our experiment may be more completely immersed. Be not afraid for your woman; like Voyonov himself, Unessmus is wholly sold to the notion of honor, and would step in the path of any danger on its way to her.
Our shared specimen is a swordsman of acceptable talent. His balance is somewhat better than others', as is his ability to sustain poisoning- although most of it is, at this time, self-induced. Farther than these matters, however, he is unremarkable. Let your woman periodically write to you about the state of things, and if there be any damage or danger, have her return to you- citing your fury concerning her "escape" from you- to send the man to me. Unessmus is, according to the writ of the presiding officer here in Suzail, only a free man by my leave. I shall then turn him over again to the Dragons, who will exact his proper penance from him in time and blood. Be prepared at all times to kill him. He is not so precious to my scheme as to prevent his demise if he becomes a problem.
May we be favored by Tymora.
Blessings to you and all your house.
Battlemage Terezio Ranclyffe, Ret.
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