Here are some details about how this mission came into being:
"In the Dawn Age, Anatolia was colonised by Azrael worshippers. When Anatole I, a Necropolitan by birth, created his empire, he naturally made the Azraeli pantheon the state religion. All this ended with the catastrophes at the end of the Dawn Age. Anatolia returned to wilderness to be recolonised by barbarians in the Moon Age, save for the Lowlands, which ceded to the nearest source of succour - Drakenberg - and prospered throughout the Moon Age with demographics inherited from its Anatolian past - a Typhonian nobility ruling Matari peasantry."
"At the start of the Moon Age, Drakenberg remained a city dominated by the Death pantheon. Azrael held dominance with Matar and Poseidon strongly influential. Three wars shaped the modern political geography. The first was against Stannary for the Lowlands. Drakenberg did poorly initially, the Dragonewts remaining aloof. Stannary fielded dwarf troops and mercenaries financed by Necropolitan money. It was the intervention of Heliopolis that gave Drakenberg the edge and secured Drakenberg's sovereign title to the Lowlands in the Treaty of Chalcedon."
"That war led indirectly to the second. Heliopolis had supported Drakenberg on the understanding that Drakenberg would instigate certain reforms favouring the Lightbringers. Drakenberg resisted implementing the agreed reforms until Heliopolis initiated war against our city, out of exasperation. Heliopolitan naval power secured a crucial advantage from the start. Again, the Drakenberg council was surprised by the Dragonqueen's refusal to become involved in human politics. After a siege lasting almost a year, Drakenberg capitulated and enacted all the agreed reforms. Drakenberg has been a Rhadamanthus policed city ever since and the present cosmopolitan population is an indirect result."
"Towards the end of the Moon Age, Drakenberg fought the third war with Godsport over trade rights to the Sea of Fortune. Drakenberg viewed the Sea as it's own private pond while Godsport sought to open trading to for its more numerous and powerful fleet. The war was notable for the Godsport use of Troll mercenaries. The Godsport navy landed Troll regiments to the south and west while the main force marched along the coast. Once more, the Dragonewts stayed neutral and Drakenberg again came under siege."
"Doubtless, the city would have fallen again but for the impatience of several Zorak Zoran war gangs. They stormed the lower walls of the Obsidian City and sought entry to the human sector from the rear. Over 2000 Dark and Great Trolls vanished into the Obsidian buildings, never to be seen again. The direct assault on the Obsidian City roused the Dragonewts from their neutrality and the rest of the Godsport army found itself attacked from one side by charioteers and spearmen, from the other by Dragonewt warriors. I believe Troll mothers still tell their children 'the Dragonqueen will get you' when they misbehave."
"This last victory secured Drakenberg sole proprietary rights to trade between the Sea of Fortune and the Aegean. Consequently, the city's wealth has grown awesomely during the Third Age. One side effect of this success is the decline of the Lowlands. With the opening of the north shore of the Sea of Fortune and the promise of wide open spaces with much Chaos fighting and away from Draconian taxation, the Typhonian nobility drifted away, often taking their peasantry with them. As the population declined, the remaining inhabitants felt an increasing tax burden, adding a further incentive to move to the city or just away."
"As revenue fell, so the Council's interest in the Lowlands fell. A few well-meaning presidents lowered the taxes but always by too little and too late. By the early years of this century, the population was perhaps less than a fifth of that in the Moon Age."
"Then came the Timestop of 580, just a decade ago. I don't need to remind any of you of the horrors of that time. For the subjective equivalent of perhaps 3 years, it remained darkest night. Although the city survived and civilisation as a whole was victorious, the Lowlands suffered almost total depopulation; many peasants dying in the refugee camps on this side of the Dragonwater."
"During this period, the Honeycomb Curtain, the cliffs that mark the eastern and southern limit of the Lowlands, somehow became infested with Broo. The Timestop hit them hard but Broo breed fast and they've doubtless been expanding their numbers to the point of posing a real threat. There are also reports of other Chaos creatures; darker, more fearful things."
"The Dragonqueen, as usual, remains unconcerned with human politics. The Council is obsessed with moving into the vacuum left by the abrupt decline of Godsport and is more worried about Stromburg and Dogtooth's Patch than the Lowlands, which now returns practically no taxes at all. Faced with inaction on the part of Drakenberg, there is a growing feeling among the remaining villages that Stannary or Necropolis would give better governance. Already the Pharaoh of Necropolis has made formal representation to the President of Drakenberg that the Lowlands belongs to Necropolis by right descended from the Anatolian Empire, which acknowledged the religious suzerainty of the Archpriest of Necropolis. The President refutes the claim, citing the Treaty of Chalcedon. But continued inaction by the Council will eventually mean that Stannary and Necropolis will seize the Lowlands by default."
"I had just started the Seaseason 590 run at the Queen's Theatre of Drakenberg when disturbing news arrived from the healer in my home village of Farflung. It seems Broo raided the village on Freezenight, Disorder Week. The villagers fought bravely to defend their homes but in the confusion about a dozen were taken prisoner before the vile creatures retired into the night. It was only in the morning that my father and mother were discovered to be among those missing. It was almost as if kidnapping were the point of the raid."
"Desperately worried, I immediately left for Farflung, arriving on Waterday, Harmony Week. There, I found that individuals had done some desultory scouting but without my parent's leadership, the people seemed listless. I led a small band of volunteers on a reconnaissance, (a handful of tyro teenagers leavened with a couple of retired Mithras soldiers, long past their prime). After just a day, we were forced to turn back because the men were afraid of marshy Chaos creatures but not before we ascertained that the Broo led their captives toward the waterfalls of the Honeycomb Curtain."
"Chaos activity in this area has been increasing in recent years; according to my parents, in their youth there were no marshes this side of the River Wallburn."
"At the end of the week, there was a meeting of the heads of all the local villages in Eastbridge to discuss what to do about this unprecedented raid. A significant element felt that the Lowlands should cede from Drakenberg and ask Stannary or Necropolis, (which legend says originally held suzerainty over the area), to save them from the Chaos perversions. However, most, including me, voted to petition Drakenberg to clean up the area. As I live in Drakenberg, I was chosen to head the delegation."
"We arrived in Drakenberg, and I and the other half-a-dozen representatives found the city bureaucracy obstructive. We appealed to our own councillor for help. She's a human Argan Argar merchant called Candida Blackblood, Councillor for Gallowstree Ward. She arranged an interview with the council."
"On Godsday, Deathweek, we came before the 24 councillors and the President. The President seemed sympathetic but the overall tone of the meeting was that our request was ridiculous and the Lowlands were of little importance. 'Dogtooth's Patch is a much more serious threat.' "
"We left the hearing bitterly disappointed and angry at their refusal to even consider action but I was slightly cheered when I got a note from Miles Grocerman, Councillor for Old Tannery Ward, asking to meet me the following day."
"The next evening, Miles introduced me to Councillor Harriet of Temple Ward. Like President Victoria, she's a Madonna cultist and she was unofficially representing the President. Also present were a couple of other councillors, both Mercer worshippers like Miles, and a small, grave man who Miles introduced as Gonzo da Vittorio, a diplomat from Luneport."
"It seemed that all were concerned both with the situation in the Lowlands and the Council's lack of response. Gonzo told me that he lost a childhood sweetheart to a vampire raid in Luneport and so he felt for me personally. Miles' family came from the Lowlands a few generations back. The other two Mercers just felt that the Lowland's decline was a cause of waning of Mercer influence in Drakenberg, too."
"Miles suggested that if a team of heroes did a reconnaissance of the Honeycomb Curtain, then perhaps they would uncover hard evidence of a chaos threat that the Council just cannot ignore. With the support of the President, it would then be possible to get the funds to hire troops for a cleansing action. Harriet said that the President couldn't be seen to support such an action openly and so could not release city funds for the operation. This was a problem because heroes cost a lot but Miles and Gonzo both said they have money and will put up a small sum. As we broke up, Miles told me that he would keep me posted but that it would be a few weeks before the group could be brought together."