By Chester Seaton, News

8/1/282-The Academic Alliance of Alchemists and Alliterators has always been a thorn in the side of the residents of Oeil de Fleur. After a string of recent incidents, however, including the recent burning down of their academy and a ‘prank’ gone horribly wrong, a local business man thinks he might finally have the ammunition he needs to get the Academy shut down once and for all.

Reynard Houlcombe, owner and proprietor of Big Bessie’s Barroom, Billiards and Burlesque, claims that he has had to move his business three times in order to stave off loss of income due to the patronage of Academy members. After the Academy was made to move again last year, Houlcombe was afraid he’d have to relocate a fourth time.

“It started to look pretty dire,” Houlcombe told us. “A week after the Academy opened, I already had a group of the lecherous filth coming in every night, heckling my performers and disturbing my patrons. I don’t even know why they keeping coming! They like the name, I guess. A few regulars even walked out on a comeback performance by Bessie herself, the scum proved so raucous. If you’ve ever met her fans, you’d know how big a deal that is.

“I’d already started looking around for a location on the other side of town, when I decided that no, this wasn’t going to happen for a fourth time. So, with a little bit of finesse, and money slinging, I managed to put together a coalition of local business owners and residents that will testify to the overall quality of their lives being dampened by the presence of these farcical ‘purveyors of the arcane sciences’ or whatever they bill themselves as.”

Houlcombe faces staunch opposition, however, as the Academy is a fixture in the political community of Oeil de Fleur. They also have a very powerful fan in the Empress herself. Houlcombe remains steadfast, however.

“I’m hoping that her own brush with the Academy will help sway Her Imperial Majesty’s opinion on the matter,” Houlcombe said. “She gave them refuge after they burned down their last headquarters, and word has it that she had to evict them in a less than civil manner. I’ve got people looking into their time at the palace, searching for evidence and rumors of any strange goings on, and they tell me they have a few leads.

“I only hope that we can shut the Academy down for good, end this nightmare, and move on, before those charlatans wind up obliterating the entire city.”