Letter To Forest Gnomes
Hi, I'm Clootie McToot. You may remember me from such events as; being abandoned in your care by a rouge band of McToot's and putting on wrestling shows for a bunch of cows.
Since leaving you guys I have been on some adventures! Even becoming a Lady of Neverwinter, who'd ah thunk it eh? I have never forgotten your kindness in taking me into your care when many would have nothing to do with McToot's. I am writing to you now to thank you and ask you for some help.
The town of Phandalin was attacked by evil forces called the Nethronris, and then the city of Neverwinter tae. You should know that we have heard of them operating in the Mountains. We have many refugees and are looking to establish a new town in Thundertree. We hope to make this place a melting pot of cultures, a place of hope and acceptance for all and are reaching out to seek any aid you can offer. I know that you are skilled craftsmen in making homes from trees and I would love to be able to showcase the culture of the forest Gnomes here in Thundertree.
Unfortunately as I said we are still suffering from the attack, Neverwinter too, so I cannot offer you much in payment. We lack in coin and supplies, but not in hope or spirit. What we can offer you is a new start, to be part of something bigger and spread some light in the world as it grows ever darker.
Anyone who can come, any aid you can send, the people of Thundertree will be truly grateful.
Thank you fir yer time,
Clootie McToot. (Aka Lady McToot of Neverwinter, deek the sigil)
Out of character
Clootie's handwriting is usually chicken scratch but you can tell she has taken her time and tried her best to make it readable, hopefully with no spelling mistakes. She puts a wax seal on the bottom with her sigil ring, all official like. Sends it to the mayor of the Forest Gnome town/community she grew up in.
Ok. So when exactly did you send this? I assume you sent it before you left to check out the Dymiter, so that would place it on the 2nd of Eleach from Thundertree, or possibly 3rd Eleach from Neverwinter?
Also - what method did you use to send it? Did you send a courier? Or something else?
Yeah sent before we got on the ship in Neverwinter and yes I assumed there was like a post office type thing in the big city lol.
So - if your looking for options, you could leverage your connections as the Baroness of a Neverwinter Barony to arrange for a courier from the City Guards if the message is deemed critical and/or confidential; alternatively, you could approach the Coopmaster and send a pigeon to Rakheen. From there the Rakheen Coopmaster would arrange a courier to relay the message.
Bear in mind that the development of a centralised postal service has always been a fairly significant achievement for any civilisation. Across the Empire, long distance communication is either achieved through directly employed couriers, or by contracting with a Coopmaster in the town. Most towns will have a single private Coopmaster who has been awarded the contract by the local government. Although sometimes in a particularly large town or city, there may be a handful of competitive organisations.
The Coopmasters will regularly distribute birds from their own aviary, via couriers or vessels, to other towns/cities to enable messages to be returned quickly. Simultaneously, Coopmasters in other settlements will have some of their birds delivered to enable the local Coopmaster to send messages to them. Across the Empire this forms a reasonably dense communication network. Not every Coopmaster will have birds from every other town, but usually a message can be relayed through a number of different locations to reach its final destination
Would have gone for the pigeon!