[geloooo]

Journal Entry Number Thirty-one

My goals are simple and systematic, the first two steps in my grand scheme involved leaving the utopian society of Eilndar and the Deep, while the second involved laying my foundations on the surface. I’ve come across many a mage and swashbuckler, growing tired of the mindless rabble of individuals that come and go, offering their services to the highest bidder or just wasting their talents for that matter, having no allegiances or ties to anyone or anything, I sought to bring order to such chaos. Mercenaries and thugs roam the streets wreaking havoc for petty change, wizards and sorcerers wasting their powers to the brink of decrepitude. These people must be educated or better yet, controlled, if they will not see the light of my transcendent mercenary organization, then I will make them see it.

Using my resources and contacts, I set up a meeting with three individuals willing to aid me in establishing my guild and securing our place within the underground world of Mistone. Three individuals that command numerous of followers under their wing and could prove to be potential allies, and each of them offered me a chance to prove my worth and that of my servitors. A detailed list of the individuals will follow, along with further information for future reference:

Employer: Zenoir Elvi
Race: Dark Elven
Size of Force: Undetermined
Notes: Zenoir Elvi, a servant of Corath with a penchant for darkweaving, not only does she use it on others, but she also use such magic on herself, thus reaching near-undeath. She commands the local underground sect of Corathite darkweavers near Fort Wayfare and the surrounding environs.

Target: Torag the Terrible
Size of Force: Minimal – 30 to 50 (Rough Estimate)
Notes: A local Orc warmonger that continues to harass the trade routes between Fort Wayfare and the backwater town of Frolic. The target has been known to harass local caravans for raw materials, food, and weapons for a lengthy period.
Parameters: Eliminate the target by any means necessary
Compensation: 25,000 Trues
Status: COMPLETED

Employer: Bluntnose
Race: Orc
Size of Force: Undetermined
Notes: Survivors of the Blackwater massacre, a paltry group of mercenaries trained in a lifestyle that requires a certain degree of discipline.
Target: None
Parameters: Secure the caravan to Katherian and destroy all hostile threats
Compensation: 10,000 Trues
STATUS: DENIED

Employer: Jardin
Race: Gnome
Size of Force: Minimal – 20 to 40 (Rough Estimate)
Notes: Leader of a mercenary group bent on a wide array of business ventures. The employer has recently found and unearthed derelict ruins dedicated to Toran, and has found it problematic to quell the local populace of paladins and priests that dwell therein. The paladins and priests show heightened aggression and hostility towards outsiders and each other as well. The main proponent for such a phenomenon could be the malevolent artifacts that lay hidden inside the ruins. Everything found will be gathered and split on a ratio wherein my party will take a third of the true and relics found, apparently equivalent exchange does not exist in the world of this annoying Gnome.
Target: Ruins
Parameters: Secure the ruins and destroy all hostile threats
Compensation: 5,000 Trues
Status: DENIED

Summation:

Zenoir Elvi’s offer yielded the most profit, and it also meant dealing with a self-delusional brute; it seems that one can never get something for nothing nowadays. Regardless of this brute’s title, Torag the Terrible was dispatched appropriately on the field of combat, and his forces were slaughtered within seconds. Although he was far more resilient than his underlings, he easily fell nonetheless. He received a fitting end, but it is a far too noble death for such a decrepit and inferior creature. Sadly, it was a far too easy task, but that is irrelevant, what mattered most is that we were paid 25,000 Trues in exchange for our services, and hopefully this Zenoir Elvi would acknowledge the supremacy of my little cabal. It is sufficient to say that she could have been a potential ally had she not been tainted by the Mad God; nonetheless, I will allow her to exist so long as she does not get in my way.

Considering my insufficient numbers to accommodate all three, I would have wanted to complete all three offers, but time is a resource that these surface races seem to value most so I was faced with the decision to veto an offer. The Orc named Bluntnose required additional forces to escort a caravan from Fort Wayfare to Katherian and to undertake such a task for such a minimal fee would be time-consuming. I chose the offers that were close to Fort Wayfare for convenience, and with that I would have an eye on the local mercenary groups that dwell within the vicinity, these two bands were only a few of those that I intend to dominate, it’s either they acknowledge my cabal’s existence or they crawl six feet under the earth.

Having already completed one task, I subtly agreed to accommodate Jardin regardless of his lack of transactional ethics, seeing as how equivalent exchange was non-existent to him, I would take everything from him to serve as a lesson in ethics and humility; it is somewhat mildly amusing how he acknowledged my half-hearted visage. His underlings were stationed on the outskirts of Fort Wayfare, guarding their newly acquired tomb of relics, and they numbered rather substantially with an assortment of Humans and Gnomes but they all fell easily enough. The fallen clergymen of Toran within the tomb proved far more difficult to dispatch due to the nature of their magic, but in the end I was able to secure what the Gnome wanted for himself – a massive depository of old scrolls, and along with them, one such scroll of notable magical proportions. To think that one must be subject to a choice when dealing with such offers is ludicrous, why bother with dealing with petulant contractors when you can simply take what they have, it’s much like quelling a local infestation and finding a gold mine at the same time.