Hear ye! Hear ye! Political upheaval of the decade in the City of Greyhawk!

Anton Palmerian’s untimely retirement (rumored assassination) has caused a power vacuum in the council. A stunning decision has been made to open up the selection of his replacement on the Directing Council to a public vote!

If anyone knows why this landmark decision was made, rather than following the procedure of filling it with a remaining Oligarchy member, they’re not talking. Sources say it stems from Jallarzi Sallavarian.

Citizen Jallarzi, Celestial Warlock and newest member of Mordenkainen’s Circle of Eight has yet to be linked to the repudiated rumors that the Circle was responsible for Anton Palmerian’s “retirement,” but time will tell. Her plan to recruit adventurers visiting the city to shepherd the elections and ensure a fair result, was approved by dubious margins.

After breaking into small, roving gangs, these adventurers picked an established candidate to follow, campaign for, and protect. If you haven’t drowned in campaign literature from previous issues, here were the contenders:

• Shaygala Mayuz, a merchant looking to improve the Free City’s economy.
• Jerez Veiland, a philanthropist claiming to want to make life better for all the Free City’s inhabitants.
• Xanthilles Keyte, a retired warrior and a veteran of the battle of Emridy Meadows lobbying to improve the city’s security.

In a stunning upset, some rogue adventure operators broke off to discover a previously unidentified candidate that they believed may be better suited for the office!

New Candidate : Thornley Rust, accountant for the Temple of the Radiant Sun, worshipper of Pholtus, and proponent of vigorous law enforcement and investment in education.

Some believe the added chaos of the adventurer’s addition helped keep the city safe, even with a rogue Peryton being released. However, by hook or by crook, the intrepid heroes managed to maneuver votes around the city.

Rumors abounded about the candidates, some with maybe a grain of truth as secrets were dragged into the light, and some complete fiction. A tug of war of truth means that a rumor of Xanthilles’ birthmark in the shape of the Elder Elemental Eye moved via mass suggestive hallucination to the rather prominent place of Thornley’s forehead. When questioned why we didn’t see it as we interviewed them across town, there was vague shrugging and a strangled “Vote for Xanthilles!” before they ran off to complete their next electoral interference.

These vocal frustrations were shared by the town crier, who found the magical interference of wild spells thrown by our fellow brave-hearts overpowered their Thaumaturgy, causing the chaos to reign unchecked. Corralling the rowdy crowd was only successful late in the afternoon when Mayor Nerof Gasgal provided an update on the standings.

Xanthilles well in the lead, despite rumours of their involvement with the deadly Peryton incident.
Surprisingly, Thornley was runner up. A clear deficit, but not insurmountable
Shaygala, though far behind, was the clear choice for many a merchant.
Jerez, dead last with a huge mountain to climb if he wanted to reach the top.

The crier’s speech was interrupted by chants for Xanthilles, but as the Mayor regained control, –Lo! Raining out the sky were shadowy discs of violence on a stunned populace!

Jerez responded heroically to try and “Save our new and precious democratic process!” and spearheaded the charge with the fellow candidates and adventurers to repel the assault. This reporter was unable to make it close to the strange ritual to see what was occurring, as my senior reporter had gripped me by the back of my coat and dragged me out of the arena.

What I can say is that whatever arcane ritual was completed was successful in repelling the attack. At the shouts of victory, it started breaking apart the black discs of doom. As the discs disintegrated, so did the enemies disperse and, later, the crowds. Voting was suspended as Greyhawk activated its oft-used catastrophe protocols to clean up the aftermath of death and destruction.

Voting resumed in the morning. The reading of the results began with a heartfelt speech that referenced and acknowledged the grief felt by all, and thanked the adventurers for their presence, as without them, it would have been much worse.

But now for the moment you’ve been waiting for. At the bottom, we have Shaygala. In a surprising upset, Jerez made an enormous jump in the standings to tie with Thornley, but the winner and new member of the Directing Oligarchy of the Free City of Greyhawk is Xanthilles! All hail the new Oligarch!

– Kat Wynne, Staff reporter: Greyhawk Gazette