9/23/03 (Real world)

<Note: All text, except the heading, is written in a coded form of Draconic. Treasure and experience points are highlighted. Anything in brackets is out of character.>

IF THIS JOURNAL IS FOUND, THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL REWARD FOR ITS RETURN TO NEFNR, THE MEMORY ARTIST, IN THE CITY OF GAHANIS

To: Hanrel Tannison
Order of the Erdaenos Collectors
Library of Erdaenos
City of Erdaenos

From: Dain Lonair
An Evenings Rest Inn
City of Gahanis

Re: Mission Report

Date: 10 Fifthmonth 1757

I have arrived in Gahanis safely, and found temporary residence at The Ale House Inn, a local establishment specializing in Giantish patrons. I am beginning to pick up the language of the large folk, in order to better perform my duties as emissary on behalf of the Order. The language is not difficult, and already I have memorized several key phrases used in typical social environs. I anticipate further study by attending to a nearby drinking establishment frequented by Giants and other guests called The Ale House. The Ale House is said to serve a particular drink called the Flaming Lip. From what I an determine from rumors concerning this beverage, it has magical properties which enhance spellcasting abilities. Time permitting, I intend to obtain a sample of this liquid to determine its alchemical properties and report on all discoveries made. This is not a priority right now, however.

As remembered, this is a sleepy little town specializing in beef products and metallic mining operations. The official government is composed of a Giant Steward named Ne-Chardath. I have not seen the Steward, but have picked up no rumors so far concerning his abilities or likeability on way or the other. The Town Council is run by a human speaker named Neril Sann. Like Ne-Chardath I have neither seen nor heard much about the man, and no heated political events seem to be stirring in the town beyond the issue of the bandits.

The unofficial political powers of the city appear to hold fairly strong influence over the cities' destiny, like most places I have encountered. The mining guild, controlled by the Sibeccai, has great sway over all matters relating to the removal, processing, storage, shipping, and transport over all metals pulled from the local environs. Similarly the Jaren Trade Guild appears to have significant influence over the trade routes and imports and exports for this city. I would not be surprised if the Town Council is backed by these two guilds in some manner, though I have no evidence to support that theory beyond intuition.

The races appear to be peacefully cohabitating in this town, through unofficial segregation. Faen of all types congregate within small glades that surround the town, and living there appears to be rather communal. A number of Littorans are also present, though their number within the residents appears to be substantially lower than the number visiting town. Sibeccai, with their influence over the Mining Guild, appear in great numbers, as do their Giant benefactors. This far south, it is not surprising to also see a number of Verrick in town, and they appear to be well accepted despite the curse.

I have made brief contact with Nefenr, and witnessed first hand his use of the memory art talents he is so famed for. The talent is truly a wonder to behold, and given the chance I would love to explore this art further. Nefenr, though acknowledging our common allegiance to the Order, did not indicate any issues to be discussed. He is aware of the mission, and of where I am temporarily residing. I have directed that this journal be returned to him, should I fall to an undesirable fate.

On the subject of Nefenr, I have also met a person claiming to be one of Nefenr's apprentices, Howorand Sala, a human artist who claims to have been commissioned by the city to create a model of the fortress. At first he was distracted and gruff, but came around with a bit of friendly banter. He had a memory stone with which he was studying and recording the exterior of the fortress when I met him, and claimed the stone belonged to Nefenr On giving him the handshake, he did not acknowledge membership in the order. I assume he is what he says he is, an unaffiliated student of Nefenr However, he readily handed over the stone to our group once encountered, and requested that we record the interior of the Fortress for him, should we decided to enter said fortress, and return the stone to him as a favor. Such behavior seemed rather suspicious, given the value of such a stone and his supposed lack of knowledge of our past. I plan on investigating this Howorand further.

Strange serendipity has brought me to the perfect excuse to investigate the Battlehome fortress and its underground tunnels. A young human female messenger by the name of Kirsten, who claims to deliver most messages within town, delivered to me a message from the Jaren Trade Guild. I signed for the message as Saul, my usual pseudonym. It directed me, by name, to meet at one hour past twilight in front of the Guild Hall for a mission concerning banditry along the local trade routes. The messenger had a detailed description of me, and my proper name, indicating that the Jaren Guild had been observing my whereabouts at least since I entered town.

Endeavoring to gather further information prior to attending this curious meeting, I loosened some lips in the friendliest of manners in the local taverns. Therein I discovered that banditry was on the minds of many a town resident. The bandits had been attacking the local trade routes for well over a year, though such attacks have become more serious in the last year. Two bandits were recently uncovered by name - Merol Yannis and Den Ruteger. Both were residents of this town, prior to their discovery by unknown means,
and are currently believed to be spies for the bandit group. At least one
individual believed that these spies instead hailed from a nearby village of Lothis. I further learned, during my meeting with the Jaren Guild, that Yannis is known to be a snake totem warrior, and Ruteger a scribe who was caught forging documents of some unidentified kind.

The meeting with the Guild was most peculiar, as that sort tends to be. It seemed that several other individuals were similarly summoned. I met there the following folks:

Iryianna, a female faen carrying a staff, presumably a magister of some sort. She seemed a bit confused. She claimed to have been summoned in a dream, rather than by messenger. She talked as if she were new to the location, and yet also claimed to have been through many parts of the nearby countryside. I queried her further, and she also claimed to have been to the floating forest and seen Ebonring Keep, though was a bit sketchy on the details of that famed locality. During her meeting with Nefenr, she claimed to have a pet dragon, of a peculiarly small sort, who was a very rare creature that she had been aware of for some time. She also claimed the pet dragon, who was not really a pet, had been lost fairly recently. I found such claims astonishing, of course, though could detect no lie in her words or body language. I will have to speak with this Iyrianna further during my travels. It could just be that this is a wanderer from the east. Or, she could be insane.

Roshka, a male Littoran archer, who seemed like a friendly sort. He was in town to negotiate a trade of some goods of some sort for a local tribe, though did not seem to be in a particular hurry to accomplish said goal and return home. Indeed, I sensed a taste for adventure from this one.

Gür Thuranin, a male giant mercenary. He claimed to have recently left a mercenary job that left a bad taste in his mouth, and was trying to investigate the matter further by responding to the messenger. I did not get a sense for how long this man had been in town, or what his true goals might be. However, his massive strength and fighting prowess might well come in handy during this expedition.

Sniktari, a male sibeccai This man was quite dour, keeping much to himself. I could not determine his goals, and felt it best that he learn to trust me before prying any further. He has a dangerous look to his eye. I will have to keep an eye on this one.

I introduced myself to these folk as Dain. I mentioned little of my own goals, beyond the desire to examine the old Battlehome fortress and the Ebonring keep, and that I am particularly fond of collecting objects of wonderment. I do not know if they are aware I am an Akashic, though they have already seen my abilities to a certain extent, and astute members of this group will likely have already picked up on this fact.

The meeting with the Jaren Guild, as I mentioned, was unusual. Our host appeared to be an actual Jaren, at least from his mask and purple roads. Seeing an actual Jaren is quite a rare event in itself, so I knew right away something of great import was occurring here. The Jaren, who gave no name, explained that a battle had occurred less than a fortnight ago, and that two bandits had been identified during the battle. These two bandits were the above-mentioned Yannis and Ruteger. It was believed the bandits had fled to the Battlehome fortress, nearby to the south of town. They offered 400 gold pieces (total) for the retrieval of the two bandits, alive, and delivery of said bandits back to the trade guild. In addition, they offered 300 gold pieces (total) for the retrieval and delivery of a certain book lost during the raid, one "Inmagis Libellum". They claimed the book was rare, perhaps unique, and that they required information stored within it's pages. They demanded discretion, and further explained that the town itself was offering 200 gold pieces for the capture, alive, of any bandit who was delivered to the town authorities, or 100 gold pieces for each one delivered dead. The guild member explained that he might be able to give us back Yannis and Ruteger, if delivered to him alive, for further delivery to the town authorities. However, he could not promise that either man would still be alive, should he give them back to us. The potential gold total would be 1100 gold pieces for the retrieval, alive, of the two bandits and the book, delivery to the Guild, and further delivery of the two bandits, alive, to the town authorities. This is, of course, a substantial sum. A share of this would be rather useful in furthering my pursuits, and I will endeavor to encourage the others to keep these two bandits alive, and discover for myself why they are so important to the Jaren.

I attempted to access information in the collective regarding the Inmagis Libellum. I recalled the name and, from the description given by the Jaren and my own memories, was able to determine that the book had a red cover, was a simple text, and concerned history. I could not determine anything magical concerning the book, though my retrieved information was far from total, nor were the Jaren particularly forthcoming in information. Should I be able to obtain the book, I will be certain to commit to memory every page of the text for further report. Anything this important to the Jaren is almost certainly of interest to the Order, and may well be a key to that which is hidden within the caverns below Battlehome. What happy coincidence that this Jaren mission matches so closely with my own mission for the Order.

The Jaren were well guarded, with two able men outside, and several inside, along with private dark rooms and locked chambers. A raid on the building would be most costly, and might yield nothing, given the Jaren's tendency for secrecy and nomadic movement. I truly hope aggression will never become necessary in this situation.

Our group accepted the Jaren mission, and set off for the fortress the next day. Discretion being paramount, we neglected to obtain an entry permit, and intend to claim that we would seek such a permit on a retroactive basis after the mission, should we ever face questioning on the subject.

On the road, as mentioned, we encountered Howorand. Once out of his sight, I buried the memory stone near the fortress entrance, beneath a fist-sized rock off the side of the main road bearing the carved runic symbol of the Faen god of small crystals. It should not be difficult to retrieve later. We intend to investigate the fortress and retrieve the stone later for recording of interior places within the fortress in a manner which would not reveal our mission for the Jaren. I do not know if this will work, but I think it certainly is a better option than recording everything for prying eyes to see, given the secrecy the Jaren stressed.

The fortress appears to be about 400 years old. It is mammoth in proportions, built to defend against flying attackers as well as ground forces. The main frontage is steep and sheer, rising about 300 feet up. About 100 feet up is a stone latticework, that might be used for entry. Nearby there are four known cave entrances that are likely difficult to reach and possibly blocked for entry. The main entrance is 20 feet by 20 feet, and looks quite locked and unused. Wide towers, about 30 feet across, stand to either side of this main entryway. We decided to enter through the eastern town, which contains a locked 10 by 12 iron gate, chained and secured with a town warning label. It was a rather simple matter to pick the entry lock and gain entrance for the group. I rigged the chain to look like it might still be locked, when viewed from a distance. Hopefully such a rigging will not tip any guards or passersby to our illegal entry. The chain and lock itself may come in handy later for capturing one of the bandits, given that all we have is rope to capture them right now.

We are about to enter the fortress. Planning should occur soon, since presently we do not have any anticipated course of action, should we encounter the bandits. I hope I can trust this group.

In the name, the word, and the symbol of the Order of the Erdaenos Collectors,

Dain Lonair, apprentice to the Order of the Erdaenos Collectors

<200 XP each party member>
<50 XP for Dain>