Archive
Headlines || Archive Index || Letters || Funny Page || Horoscope || Quiz || About the Bugle || Search || Madhouse
A BIG STINK IN MERRYWELL
Dateline: 16-
The citizens of the city of Merrywell have had to cope recently with a breakdown of the normally smooth operation of the city’s sewers. And attempts by the city authorities to deal with the problem have proved to have had unexpectedly fatal consequences.
Starting at the end of last year the people of Merrywell began to notice a terrible stench emanating from the rusting grates that cover the city’s ancient sewer system. Rather than diminishing over winter as sewer smells normally do, it seemed to get gradually worse, and with the arrival of spring it has rapidly worsened to the point that it has become unbearable. Even Merrywell’s famed agricultural produce market has had to be suspended until the problem can be resolved.
Merrywell’s sewers are seldom visited, but that is precisely because they normally
work as intended. For one of Bereny’s smaller and less built-
Since sewers can be dangerous places, attracting various scavenging creatures, the
city authorities employed a group of adventurers to enter the sewers and look for
potential problems or blockages. However the adventurers had not ventured far into
the sewers when they were attacked by a huge pack of ravenous rats. Only a few shocked
and badly-
Now really worried, the authorities have organised a second mission, which is slightly better equipped thanks to the contributions of various charitable benefactors. The Bugle believes that the Walkers on the Edge may be among these, as one of the leaders of the new mission is a kinsman of WOTE leader Baron Marcus D’Alembert. Also, a mysterious individual called the Ratcatcher has appeared in the city. He is, according to his own estimation, a master of the trade of dealing with rat infestations, and is willing to teach others the skills required to make it past of rats in the sewers (though for a price).
Meanwhile the city authorities are having to cope with what amounts, in this usually
peaceful and genial city, to a crime wave. Merrywell’s famously welcoming taverns
are now the scene of almost nightly brawls. This is being attributed to normally
peaceful and law-
“It’s not just the sudden outbreaks of random violence,” one Merrywell citizen told us. “Milk sours mere hours from the goat. Swords blunt overnight, even if the air is dry, if not exactly fresh. Bards find that their instruments will not stay in tune. It is like the city has become a different place entirely.”
Also of concern is that Merrywell’s cat population seems to have completely disappeared recently.