March 2nd, 2007

2nd of Suntide, 1978 FG

As of this morning, our escort duty was over and we were back in Tristen. Reena chattered most of the way back so I did my best to make something of the situation. I encouraged her to speak to me in Sylwith so I could focus on her grammar and vocabulary rather than actually listen to what she was talking about. It worked quite nicely. She seemed pretty happy about the arrangement, too. I was probably the first person she talked to that didn’t completely tune her out.

Contrary to expectations, the group that tried to capture Reena didn’t come after us again. I kept my eyes alert all the way home as I attempted to expand my Sylwith. After the two we captured had escaped, I was sure they would try something. Maybe they decided to wait until we were no longer her escort. We’ve established quite the amount of respect in the short time we’ve been an official mercenary group.

I wonder what it was that brought them to defy the empire. I didn’t know any of the people we faced personally but I remember seeing several of them as regulars of the military.

On the way back to Tristen, Kess and Mort were consistently discussing how our group should invest in some horses. I remember Kess kept saying something about how real soldiers should be mounted. Mort would talk about how nice it would be to load all of his gear onto one. While it would definitely have its perks, I doubt Mort would have bulked up so much had he a horse from the beginning of our travels together.

After returning Reena, I set out to help my two friends choose some good mounts. I dealt with several horses during my military days and was hoping I could be of some assistance to them. Of course, it helped that I spent so much time with Bluet and Timothy when I was younger.

Kess picked out a young black cavalry horse that he later called “Brigand” and Mort chose an older one named “Ash.” Both horses were good choices for the prices they paid. I considered purchasing a horse but decided against it. I didn’t have enough money to get a good young horse nor would I make good use of it if I were to get one. A riding horse would be great for speed but a horrible limitation when tracking and avoiding being tracked.

Aside from adding the horses to our little mercenary group, we also hired a couple of helpers to take care of the more trivial tasks the rest of us didn’t want to deal with. One was hired to act as the “steward” of our gear as we traveled and the other was supposed to be extra help for maintaining camp. The names of our new helpers escape me.

Much of the remainder of the day was spent investigating a problem that Crespin and Mort were having. Apparently, there was some blue-robed guy asking personal questions about Crespin and his family. Those two seem to be pretty famous in this town. It’s almost as if some higher being is constantly tying them into a greater purpose.

The process of trying to ascertain the identity of Crespin and Mort’s new friend led us from bar to bar and eventually to Mort’s place. There, we found burning fields and his father hiding in a tower. According to Mort’s father and another farmer, Ned, a bunch of Suul sprang up out of nowhere and started setting the place aflame. How pleasant, we get to deal with Suul. What is such filth doing in Tristen?! For that matter, what would they be asking about Crespin and Mort for?!

I did some scouting around and found that these soldiers did just what they said; appeared out of nowhere. I’m certain that magic was involved. After our discovery, Crespin understandably became very worried for his family and rushed off to make sure they were safe. Kess went with him while Mort and I did our best to return order to the farm. It was the first time I ever did anything on a farm; definitely not the life for me.

In the evening, Stitch’s little buddy, Willy, found us and said that Stitch had managed to infiltrate this group. Per Stitch’s request, I was to gather as much information as I could from scouting the general area around Stitch’s location. Darby was to come with us, as well. While it seemed like a good idea, our investigation turned out to be somewhat disastrous. Speaking of Darby, maybe we should have made him the mole that infiltrated the bandits rather than Stitch. I think he would have fit the profile just a bit better.

Willy led me much closer to the bandits than I had originally planned to go. I was planning to get a general idea of the area and then report back to our group but, between Willy’s encouragement and my curiosity, I couldn’t help but get close to the large run-down tower that was suspected to be housing the brigands.

From out of nowhere, I was suddenly being attacked by arrows. The tower seemed to be silent with no signs of life, demonstrating that the shooter couldn’t be firing from it, but my recent experiences led me to believe that magic was, yet again, involved.

Darby vanished and I took off as fast as I could, only to be greeted by a few Suul soldiers standing in my path. I might have actually engaged them had I not also heard the approaching cavalry from behind. At that point, I was certain I was going to be trampled or captured. I could outrun the men on foot but there was no way I’d be able to evade the horsemen. Fortunately, Willy proved to have a few of his own tricks up his sleeve… or whatever… thing… he has equivalent to a sleeve.

I suddenly felt as if I could float, albeit very slow. Regardless, it was enough to get me high enough off the ground so the horsemen couldn’t reach me by time they were close enough to attack. Being that I was obviously facing mages, my sense of victory was quickly replaced with a sick feeling in my stomach when I saw the footmen also begin to fly. To make matters worse, they were moving much faster than I was.

As if in slow motion, I barely evaded the few arrows they sent flying my way. Yet again feeling as if my only alternatives were death or capture, I began to debate over whether I could trust throwing my life over to these Suul. No, I wouldn’t allow myself to be taken by such filth. I would certainly face the same fate as Ethbar were I to surrender. I decided I might as well fight to the death. In Suul, I called to my closest opponent, insisting that he would soon die. He didn’t seem to believe me and smiled wickedly, demanding that I surrender in his tongue. Suul sure can be ugly when they smile.

Rather than being forced to fight to the bitter end, Stitch appeared with a pop and teleported us out of there. Needless to say, I’m glad he’s a “Grate Wizzard.”

Vance’s Monologue - Return

3rd of Suntide, 1978 FG

I departed, leaving my accomplices with almost no word. I planned to explain my reasons with my friends but thoughts of the encounter with the demon this morning and Stitch kept crossing my mind. He was so foolish! I just didn’t want to be around anyone! I had to get away. I had to set my mind on something else.

Kess approached me before leaving today. He wanted me to help him find Slaine, a friend of his. I didn’t care. I just wanted to get away. Why does everyone come to me like I’m some sort of dog? Oh never mind. Stitch is such a fool.

I was all business traveling with Marcus and his men today. Aside from me, he hired four others; three swords and a mage. They were all trying to be friendly with one another but I wasn’t interested in another friend at the moment. We’re walking into a den of goblins. Who knows if these people will make it out alive or not?

As the day went on, I slowly became more and more relaxed. Traveling the outdoors calmed my mind and put me at ease. It also helped that I was hard at work, looking for the best route to travel back to the cave. Looking back on the day, I was being very irrational and selfish. Tomorrow will be different.

4th of Suntide, 1978 FG

I decided to learn the names of my current companions today. The mage, an older and refined man, is Riley. He’s somewhat of an illusion and material mage, one who focuses on using his magic for art and such. Marcus brought him to help with recording the visuals of anything we might discover.

The three others are Jed, Lee and Tom. They seem like decent guys, each having some experience as freelance mercenaries. Jed and Lee were farmers, actually being neighbors, but the undead raids led by the wraiths put an end to that way of life. Tom, the most experienced of the three, has been on little missions like this for several years all over the Celestine Empire. All three of them are probably in their early to mid thirties.

Considering my previous company, one would expect me to be happy to be among so many older fellows. However, I find them to be very boring. Even more, they talk as if life isn’t worth living. They’ve decided their lives are meaningless and refuse to do anything to move forward.

Thinking about how I was acting yesterday, I wasn’t much different. For a moment, I lost hope. I lost sight of my dreams. I forgot about all the mysteries that Mathis and I want to unravel. I forgot about Bluet and what friendship really means. I felt defeated and just wanted to get away from it all, allowing the world to make a meaningless life out of me.

I won’t have my life be meaningless. These men may have lost vision but I will not. I’m choosing to become something great. I’m choosing to become the best that I can.

5th of Suntide, 1978 FG

This journey is taking much longer than it did before. Of course, we don’t have Belen pushing us to our limits. Instead, I find myself filling that role. I’m accustomed to the energy and passion of my former group, feeling it natural to pick a quick pace. Marcus and Riley, although older, were interested in keeping the pace but the other three seemed bothered by it. They were somewhat lazy, thinking I was taking my job too seriously.

I wasn’t going nearly as fast as Belen had us move but I decided to slow down anyway. Maybe tomorrow I’ll introduce them to some of Stitch’s famous faerie peaches.

6th of Suntide, 1978 FG

I resisted the temptation of taking my new friends to the faerie peaches. However, we did reach the cave entrance. It was pretty late when we got there. I warned them of the possible encounters and recommended that we be very careful. I related to them the encounter that my previous company and I had in here with the goblins. Everyone save Marcus thought I was either playing with them or fabricating lies. Regardless, they were willing to set up watches for our expedition tomorrow morning.

7th of Suntide, 1978 FG

First thing in the morning, I took Marcus and Riley to the tomb where I had first learned about the Snow Witch. The other three stayed behind to look after the camp. Marcus was like a child who was just given candy. Maybe a better example would be Crespin getting action. Anyway, he was excited. He immediately began copying the poem down and asking Riley to record the findings.

After a few moments, the ghostly figure I faced before appeared. I had mentioned to Marcus that it would appear but he was still a bit startled. I sat back and watched as Marcus had a similar conversation to the one I participated in with Crespin, Mort and Stitch several months ago.

Once that was done, we left the sanctuary to meet back with the other three. We gathered our belongings and ventured down the other cavern, the one where the goblins lived. We found a couple every here and there but there weren’t nearly as many as before. They didn’t last very long. Our three hired swords were extremely surprised to actually find that these goblins were real. Marcus was only excited by it, interested in carrying specimens back to Tristen. I find that a bit disgusting.

Eventually, we came to the well. I explained what had happened before, how the goblins had leapt inside in order to avoid us. He put his hand on his chin and started stroking his beard, something I’ve learned to be a sign of him working up to ask someone to do something. A few moments later, he asked me to hop in.

I pulled a rope from my backpack, tied it around my chest and threw the end to Tom. I began walking down the side of the well, wondering what I would face. Part of me was apprehensive but most of me was extremely curious. What mysteries might I uncover?

After a few steps, I was suddenly transported to another place. It was dark, but not so much that I couldn’t see. Not far from my position were four goblins. One of them noticed me and started to scream out to the others. I thought about trying to pull myself back up but, instead, I pulled my knife and cut the rope. There was no way I’d be able to pull myself back up in time and I wasn’t going to hang there and wait for the goblins to slaughter me.

I drew my sword and moved to a defensive posture. These goblins were small, by the looks them, runts. Still, I was aware of what they could do and wasn’t going to underestimate their abilities. I distinctly remember one of these creatures impaling me with a spear back when I first faced them. On the other hand, I couldn’t exactly wait for their friends to arrive.

The creatures began to move to flank me. Fortunately, Lee came sliding down the rope from the well, torch in hand, and startled the goblins. I took this opportunity to engage them while they dropped their guard. Lee realized what was happening and moved to help me. After dropping two, the other two ran off down a corridor. That was the beginning of something we should have left alone.

The others eventually joined us after we were able to inform them of the conditions we had found. We hadn’t met much resistance as of yet so Marcus overestimated our chances of survival, ordering us to move deeper. That decision got nearly all of us killed. We moved deeper into the caverns, winding about like a random maze, and were eventually swarmed with goblins. We got eager and walked right into a trap. They had prepared an ambush around one of the corners. It probably wasn’t hard for them, given the use of our torches. Fortunately, I managed to notice them long before they wanted us to.

Most of the goblins were like the runts we had found before, but there were a few larger in stature. There were also a couple toward the back barking orders and casting spells. Realizing the severity of the situation, we quickly fell back and made our way to the well. Tom was the first up, followed by Marcus. When I managed to pull myself up, I was greeted with another battle above the well. Apparently, some of the goblins had been waiting for us.

It was a bloody battle but we managed to overcome them. There were only four of us left, Marcus, Tom, Riley and me. Riley came out of the well right behind us and Tom, not wanting to risk his life for the others, cut the rope behind him. He left Jed and Lee to their deaths. I was enraged and, after dispatching the goblins, lifted him up, slamming him against the wall. I caught him totally off guard so it wasn’t all that difficult.

Almost immediately after pushing Tom against the wall, a few goblins began to emerge from the well. Marcus managed to calm me down, due to the pressing situation, and I let him go. The four of us fled from the goblins, dashing through and out of the caverns as fast as we could.

I hate Tom. He’s a horrible mercenary. Looking back on it, I should have thrown the fool into the well. None of my former companions would have ever left anyone from the group behind! This man is scum.

8th of Suntide, 1978 FG

After the mess yesterday, we began heading back for Tristen. On our way back, I made a slight detour and picked a peach. I was careful not to touch it directly, so as not to be infected by it. I wanted Tom to eat it. Being their guide, it wouldn’t be that hard to arrange for him to eat it. As I walked ahead, I left it in a place where Tom would be sure to spot it as he walked by. He did and, as planned, took a big bite out of it. Even more satisfying was seeing him scratching himself later in the day.

9th of Suntide, 1978 FG

Tom is going crazy! I played along, asking him if he had allergies or if he had gotten close to any unusual plants. He mentioned the peach. I related to him the story of Chivalry, only the good parts, and said he probably had the same thing. He asked if Chivalry ever got better, to which I shrugged and said we parted ways. The look on his face was priceless.

Riley turned out to have some magic in healing, something we actually discovered the other day, and purged him of his parasites. My fun was over. Too bad, I was hoping he’d die from it.

10th of Suntide, 1978 FG

A mostly uneventful day, we arrived in Tristen late in the night. I’m exhausted and need sleep. Maybe I’ll check out the Merchant’s Last tomorrow to see what my friends have been up to.

11th of Suntide, 1978 FG

Marcus awoke me this afternoon. I allowed myself to sleep late due to us arriving in town so late. He wanted me to take some of his material to Pangoria. With the material would be a letter to a fellow scholar. Apparently, he and that scholar have been researching the Snow Witch together. He wanted that scholar, Vincente Genteel to have his latest findings.

Why he chose me as his delivery boy, I’m not sure. However, I wondered if I would find Bluet there studying magic. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her. I agreed to take his letter. As a bonus, he gave me a horse to ride for this journey. That’s quite a bonus!

Days Later:

That jolt, Tom, followed me! He and some of his buddies tried to ambush me on the road. Fortunately for me, he was horrible in setting it up. He and his friends were trying to hide in some bushes near the road. Realizing what was happening, I told them to come out. Eventually, Tom stepped out and demanded that I turn over everything I have. He followed me all this way just to mug me? What a dolt. Maybe he knew I was responsible for the peaches.

I can’t say I react well to threats, so I raised my bow and launched an arrow into his liver. I’ll be honest, though. I was aiming for his heart.

Hoping to outrun his accomplices, I moved my horse as fast as I could get it to go. Unfortunately, they had bows as well. Needless to say, I lost my new horse.

After falling from my mount, I pulled myself up and darted off down the road. For a few good seconds, I thought I was in the clear. I knew that wasn’t true when I heard the sounds of hooves slowly becoming louder behind me. It reminded me of my last night with Stitch.

I moved off the road and into the nearby trees, hoping to make their pursuit a bit more difficult. After several seconds of running, I nearly tripped over a small latch discreetly protruding from the ground. I looked back towards the road. No one was following. They must have thought I was still running down the road! Just how fast of a runner do they think I am?

Crouching down, I tugged at the latch. It opened up to a small hole with a rope ladder hanging from the side. Thinking my chances better down there, I descended into the hole and pulled the latch down.

I slipped down the ladder and found myself in a small bedroom lined with wooden walls, a wooden floor and a wooden ceiling. In the room were a small cot and a desk with a lit lantern lying on top of it. Next to the lantern was pile of papers with a pouch of lock picks lying on top. I moved to the door and found that is was locked.

Now, I’ve never worked with lock picks but there didn’t appear to be a key anywhere in the room and I didn’t want to go back through the latch anytime soon. I picked up the picks and worked away at the door. I must have spent an hour trying to open that stupid lock. I broke nearly every lock pick trying to open it, too. I had two left and I finally managed to unlock it.

Almost as soon as I pulled the door open, someone was about to open it from the other side. He had a key in his hand and, startled, dropped it on the floor. The man had a sword at his side and was dressed very similar to those who were chasing me above. Deciding he was likely affiliated with those chasing me above, I drew my sword and clubbed him over the head. He fell unconscious.

I peaked out of the bedroom and found a large warehouse decorated with what I was betting were stolen goods. I dragged the man into the room, locked the door behind me and took my chances with the latch. I wasn’t exactly interested in getting involved with the local thugs.

I went back up through the latch and darted off as fast as I could. At this point, the thugs appeared to be long gone.