Journal of Phyress Sylphide

[Lily]

*With a slight smile Phyress opens her journal after years again and flips through the old, darkened pages. Every here and then she reads a section. Sometimes she looks rather amused and stifles giggles, sometimes she sighs about what she reads in her old notes. Finally she takes out her same old quill and fresh ink again and starts writing another entry into her journal.*

-Mulnari, Junar 23, 1448-

First off, no, I am not dead. I still feel very alive and can still kick the one or other around in the arena or on a battlefield somewhere on Layonara. I really wanted to write down my thoughts right after I came back from Alo’rion’s hideout. Unfortunately I got more or less busy and a lot of things happened worth being written down as well. Some of them are thrilling, some worrisome, some just nice and sometimes even screwed up, as typical for my life. Let me start though from where I stopped writing into my note last time. And well, no pages are smeared with blood. I still live.

Anyway, we all gathered and planned the final assault on Del Alo’rion’s isle. The mad wizard thought he was safe on it, but nonetheless gathered all his troops of natives. While we were preparing and planning the upcoming battle, Sophia revealed some notes, similar to mine which Ni translated for G’ork and me. The journal pretty much dealt about the research on the crystal which was hidden somewhere on Del’s little island, in a cave, heavily guarded by his men. The journal also mentions that it was also guarded as some natives tried to destroy the crystal several times, seeing it did them no good after what Del did to them for his research, may it have been an accident or not. What he did was unforgiveable. His silly experiments with the crystal caused all women on the isle go infertile. However, the Dark Elves at the tower were trying to focus their shard into some form of weapon. There were positive and negative crystals and they were researching the negative one which caused one to drain life. From what I got they were trying to expand the spell so a huge area was affected and not a single victim. Seeing we killed them when we got the shard, I doubt they will go on with their researches. Not that it was really important anymore, but the journal also revealed some information about the crystal on Del’s little island. The note more or less said that Del Alo’rion managed to bind its powers to him and became almost immortal that way. Wounds heal within seconds and one does not age at all. Explains why Del was still hot looking and Ebon looking like my granddad. If one bound the powers to another person, then Del was going to be bound to it anymore and vulnerable again, although the crystal itself will probably warded against the Al’Noth. The native woman we freed the other day although told us that it will be breakable to physical attacks, like if a dwarf swings his or her axe. Just we needed to get to it first. But well, that’s why we all were gathered. Plan was to land on the island with reinforcement from the bilkanese force and Ebon. While the others hold the line and try to make their way to the center of the isle, it was on us to seek the cave and the crystal within. If we got time we were free to find possible slaves as well and free them. It might give us a little backup and a resistance moving against Del and his men. Oh and then of course to get rid of Del himself, silly me.

We then set sails and sailed to his island. As soon as we got on the island, we were already attacked by some of his troops. We only had to push through their lines and let our allies deal with the rest. Our task was simply to head in, regroup at the center of the isle, at the settlement, find the cave, destroy the crystal by any means and defeat Del Alo’rion. We were not all too many good fighters, but G’ork and I did just fine in the front. G’ork held most of them, but it gave me time to sneak up behind them and take advantage of their less armored spots, like their armpits or knees. We made good progress and I was more or less in charge of our small band. I did not trust some of us, like Balthazar, Sophia’s pet and of course Sophia as well. Galathea might be wise, but sometimes I don’t really agree with her and she loves to rush ahead from time to time. Well, not to mention some don’t want to step up and bear the responsibility about life and death of one’s comrades. I don’t mind though. I can live with it.

At the horizon we saw the tower which was located in the settlement and built upon the cave, but there was also a small path, leading into the mountains and we had to decide which way to take; either straight ahead or trying to find a way around. Well, Del was already expecting us and would have sensed us anyway, but I decided we should head into the mountains first. In the mountains we had to defeat more of his men, but then we spotted a little camp with some imprisoned natives, looking miserable. We charged ahead and defeated their guards. Free of Del’s men, I sent some of the natives, who were going to form a resistance against Del back to the ships with the women. Some were going to join us on our way to the settlement.

I am going to skip all the battles as they are not worth mentioning. We defeated his troops on our way to the settlement and headed into the cave, which was pretty guarded as well and made our way to the crystal. The hall with the crystal was huge, interesting, and deadly. After we killed the guards, the mages started to study the crystal. It clearly was the crystal; even I was able to feel its powers. What made it more or less deadly was the fact that golems were summoned into the hall, constantly. I am just glad we had some time to patch up between the fights. They were rather tough and hard to get through their skin, but leaping at them did the trick. I also managed to kill the one or other with just one single strike.  I have to admit, I really grew stronger with my blade and especially with leaping into my opponent. However, while Galathea and Fleur were trying to take care of the wards that prevented us from destroying the crystal, Sophia had her own business in mind and I bluntly asked her what she was doing as she was clearly not working together with us and she told me she was going to bind the crystal to someone else, namely her pet. I told her we were going to destroy the crystal and not binding it to anyone. Well, I did not tell her that I didn’t like to see her pet bound to the stone. She more or less controlled Balthazar and probably would have done anything she wanted him to do. I have to admit I thought about what it would feel like to be almost immortal, but shrugged the thought off again. I don’t know, but it is somehow missing the thrill. Maybe it is because I am slightly addicted to dangerous situations and love when I had a hard battle and stand there almost dead but still alive, my opponent defeated. Not to mention the journal said it would kill someone if the binding went wrong. I pretty much ignored Sophia and focused on protecting those who were going to lift the wards. As soon as we got rid of the wards, we started smashing it to pieces and as far as I noticed, Sophia managed to bind Balthazar to the crystal before we lifted the wards. Every time we hit the crystal, I heard Balthazar whimpering. Not that I really cared about him. He submitted himself to Sophia and has to live with his consequences. No one asked him to be bound to it. I think he also cried when we finally broke the crystal.

However, once the crystal was broken, Del was without its protection and vulnerable again, after all those years of his almost-immortality. We did not have to wait long for him, once we got out and had to face him. He showed up and clearly was not in his best mood. Well go figure, we just destroyed his essence of life and we now had to expect a tough battle. Del was never weak and knew a lot of spells. While the others surrounded him and attacked, I backed off a little and got ready to leap into him, concentrating to kill him with a single attack. I leaped though the air and hit him bad. I hit him really bad! It was like my best attack I ever made but no, Mister Del Alo’rion did not think about dying yet! I only managed to wound him badly. Seeing he was almost dead I wanted the others to stop the insanity and knock him down and tie him up. In the end he was killed though, even though I wanted to spare his life. I don’t really know why I wanted it though, as I felt no sympathy for him. Maybe I simply wanted to see all the natives dancing around him and making funny faces at him. I bet that would really tick him off. However, G’ork landed the final strike on him and he was dead. The battle was over and as soon as his men saw him dead they stopped fighting as well and either retreated or surrendered.

Together with Ebon we made sure he was really dead and started to discuss about what would happen to the island now. After Del was dead chaos might break out and we yet had to find a new leader and I thought about one of the resistance movement, like the woman we freed. She was nice enough and probably made a good leader. Well, not that it really mattered as a native showed up and told us their elder wanted to see us. It turned out they had their leader for the whole time, just hiding on some cliff top, well hidden within a small grove in the mountains. He wanted to know what we were going to do with the island, now where we freed the isle. He was afraid we were going to claim it as ours and first did not believe us we were going to leave the island and leave all their affairs to themselves. Del Alo’rion was dead and my job was done here. As amusing as it sounds, I don’t want a bunch of natives worshipping me as their all great leader. I am not that bad. Before we departed though, the elder handed each of us a shard of the crystal and told us it still had a little of its original powers left and might aid us on our further travels across Layonara. I thankfully accepted the shard and after a few more moments of saying farewell we sailed back to Bilkan. It did not surprise me Sophia kept herself silent after we were out of the cave again and did not really say a single word. After all her little plan with Balthazar failed. Only the gods know what she was after and I somehow doubt we’d have benefited from her goals. I only know I cannot trust Sophia. I did not before, but now I mistrust her even more. However, I am just glad I can close the chapter about Del Alo’rion now. I would have loved to find a little more out about him, but it is too late now and not really that important. I really have more urgent things to worry about.

Well, just a little later I already found myself in another adventure, yet again. This time it was at least a little warmer, as it dealt in the desert on Mistone, the Spirit Dunes. It all started in Spellgard, where I had to do some errands and met some other adventurers as well. Apparently the Aragenites sent someone to Spellgard to recruits some brave adventurers to retrieve a book for them. It was somewhere hidden in the desert and some archeologists were already trying to recover it and made camp for some excavations. After we all agreed on a little payment for our services, those who were willing to come along, headed out into the desert with me. I had the map so I was in charge again. I cannot help it, but some other adventurers don’t mind me leading or being in charge and chose me over others. Well, maybe not those Road Wardens and I am glad I did not see them around in ages. Anyway, after an exhausting trip we finally made it to their camp and were introduced to the archeologists. They found two interesting places and we were shown around. The first one was rather odd. It was a chamber with some strange portal of some sorts, or better say barrier. We did not know what it did, but it felt strange and we were told not to touch it. Well, someone tried to throw something into it and it exploded above our heads.

The other place they wanted to show us was not accessible yet. It was after an hour though and together with the archeologists we entered into this chamber as well. In it we had to take care some rats and right before the final chamber we had to defeat a tough bug. As far as I got to know they are called scarabs. All I can say is they hit hard and it is hard to pierce though their shell. The best way to defeat those is to parry its blows while your comrades try hitting it in the meantime. I am just glad I had exceptional training in parrying incoming blows so I was most suited for the task. But well, don’t listen to me. I told them about the dangers and they still did not let that bug focus on me. If they love pain then sure, let them all try to hit it. Those things are fierce and not to be taken easily. We got to a sarcophagus and we got to know Pen’Phall was buried here. Perfect, the one who had the book we were after somewhere with him. Just too bad all the things were locked and trapped and they did not want us to touch it. Speaking of not touching anything. They told us not to touch anything before they did not take a look at it first. And no, this was not about traps or locks, but about what was inside. We were the first in this chambers since they were sealed and therefore the archeologists wanted to document everything. Still did not stop some, like Galathea, to open the one or other sarcophagus and take what they found. I honestly expected them to be cursed by doing so, but sadly nothing happened and she got pretty much upset about me telling her not to open anything, as we were told so. The archeologists hired us and we have to meet their conditions. They could have simply dismissed Galathea or so, really. I don’t know, but lately she behaves more or less y and I don’t get all too good together with her these days. I have no idea why though. I did not change, but she did. But well, if she loves digging around in the rotten remains of others I won’t stop her. It just does not make a good leader or a honorable mercenary. Yeah I know, a honorable mercenary is like saying a shaved dwarf is the only real dwarf around, but they exist, like Richelle, Lydia and Arngrim.

Anyway, we decided not to open his sarcophagus for now and rest first. In the morning we were going to find out more. Something did not feel right about the archeologists though, or some of them and Caerwyn and I were discussing things while the others rested. We came to the conclusion we had to find out more about them and their intentions. Therefore I had to talk Raz into making out with the woman who contracted us and was in the camp as well. I only had to flirt a little with him and he was all ears. I only had to promise him a date and a real kiss. Well I don’t think I will keep my word. As nice as he is, I am not interested in someone who is hitting on almost every woman, although I have to admit he got a cute behind. It did not take him long and he came back to Caerwyn and me. Seems like the girl had no clue about anything. While we three were still talking about their motives something happened and we all could feel the shift in the air and it was like a sandstorm was about to start forming. Everyone was at the camp, except for Costello. Having a bad feeling about this we headed into Pen’Phall’s chamber and to our surprise we had to face some mummies and other undead creatures. We pressed on and soon found Costello flat on the ground, dead. And you wonder what caused this? Well, he felt like freeing Pen’Phall who showed up as well and we clearly now knew what to do. Somehow we had to put him back to rest. I don’t know where we found it, or who or how, but we had a special necklace he seemed to be interested in. We found that out later but I don’t really recall every single detail. All I knew is we had to get out of here and destroy what Costello set free before anyone was going to suffer of it. The thing was though, he was not destroyable. When he was killed he turned to sand, just to form somewhere else again.

An idea was to lure him into the barrier. Well it was Galathea’s idea, more or less. I was not too keen on the idea and was all for destroying the necklace as he seemed to be in dire need for it. Just toss it in into the portal and then go after him. I bet you he was somehow bound to it. However, Pen showed up in the chamber and Galathea tossed me a rope. Not telling us any plan but simply commanding me to pull the rope if she says so. I told her I simply won’t do it, which ticked her a little off again. I don’t mind obeying, but please involve me into a plan, right? If someone asks you to jump off a cliff you ask 'what for?’ as well, right? If you don’t, well then it is your own fault if you find yourself dead a few moments after you actually jump down the cliff into your doom. Obviously her plan failed as no one wanted to pull it without knowing what she was going to do. It turned out she wanted to grab Pen’Phall behind the barrier, then we had to pull the robe so they both would get into the barrier. I still think it was a bad and not well thought of plan. As soon as the rope would have touched the barrier it would have faded. How to pull anything without a rope? Besides I think Pen probably set it up himself and was kind of immune to its effects. He was undead after all. We only tried objects, no undead or living things. I think for the rest of the adventure I more or less ignored Galathea and her silly plans. My plans work at least. At least they usually do. No one complained so far.

Long story short, we all finally agreed on destroying the amulet and oh wonder, it worked wonders and could have saved us a lot of trouble. This all happened after we chased Pen through a whole crypt with masses of undead which we killed on the way and with every passed moment Pen’Phall grew stronger. Once out we destroyed the necklace and we all saw a nice, but huge dark cloud forming somewhere over the desert. It was an easy guess Pen was hiding there and gathering his forces. So we headed there and defeated anyone who wanted to mess with us and gladly they were now listening to my tactics. Well, most times and I screwed up one time as well, I have to admit. All of a sudden there were two constructs in front of us and I leapt into the first one, killing it in one strike. After I landed on its head I aimed straight for the second one. Sadly Raz moved right into my way as I already had my blade aimed at the construct and pierced right through his very heart. The moment I saw my blade covered with his blood he was dead and I felt miserable. It was all too quick and no one really noticed he fell to my blade. He did not even realize he fell to my very own blade which should have killed the construct. Razeriem fell three times on the exploration. The first was to some undead in the chamber. The second was my fault and shortly after he fell to one of those tricky scarabs I all warned them about. With the right tactic one can defeat them more or less easily, but if you are not good at dodging or blocking their blows, well then you are dead already and Raz has an affinity to die fast. After the third time he did not come back and we had to move on without him and I still felt sorry for him.

But in the end we had to face Pen’Phall and some of his minions who were going to suffer. Raz already suffered enough and now it was time to stop a mad mummy who was probably going to reanimate his legions to rule and conquer the world. While I took care it focused on me, the others hit it with fire and whatever came in handy. In the end Pen’Phall fell and did not turn to dust, just everything around us was to collapse and we had to make our way of this place again, as fast as possible. At least we managed to retrieve the book and were got our reward handed out. As much as I like Galathea, she was really ticking me off on this exploration. It almost felt like she thought she was better than all us together and we needed her. We might have needed her, but not her silly plans. At least that’s how I think about it. She just needs to think a little more from time to time before acting or at least involve others to her plans.

This leads my directly to a rather unpleasant event. Out of curiosity I headed to Audira on Dregar and I was curious about the Mercy Seat. Well, or let’s say the prisoner had a last plea but no one took care about it and I and some others went to listen to him. Whether the story he told us was true or not is not really that much of a matter here. He did several crimes Audira and was finally caught and was going to die on the Mercy Seat. It is pretty simple. One gets tied up on a seat made of stone and thrown into the water from a boat. A nice, drowning death and good for the masses. It was like market day over in Audira. Everyone around wanted to witness this act, as the Mercy Seat was reserved for only the most wanted and most evil bandits, such as the man who was going to die now. And well, such a thing does not happen all too often.

Seems like not everyone wanted to see him dead though, as an impact shocked everyone around. And it only just started. There was going to be a series of impacts, like five or six and we only just got to know about them. The things looked like gems, get hot and then explode and leave a real mess. Actually some of us received notes and had the opportunity to prevent those impacts. And yes, I say we had and we’d have managed better if people stopped trying to play hero and get down and share their information with us. We’d have been way more effective that way but no, they wanted to have it their way and then I was also accused of being a killer. A mercenary called 'Steel’ called G’ork, Ni and me killers. Really, how nice is that? He does not know a thing about me and calls me a killer? Really, I thought better of him. Maybe it is just those evil Toranites or Rofireinites spreading false rumors about me and he actually believed them. I am just a mercenary after all and no killer at all. What’s next? Me being accused of impacts or murder on citizens? Really. Well what to say? Because they all felt better like us not so well known adventurers we failed. We were only able to prevent half of the impacts and the condemned one managed to escape in the chaos, just as I and some others assumed right after the first impact but no, don’t listen to us. Really.

At least the other expedition I went to went better. I was just standing around at Corax Lake with some other adventurers, planning on where to head next as two citizens showed up. Apparently they hailed from Thorn. Well not really Thorn as that was taken by giants, but they used to live there. I can tell as I was there when we were not able to hold the town against all those furious giants a few years ago because some of the citizens murdered some giant offspring. Being there I knew what it all was about and rubbed that fact in a little just to let them know I was very aware about what dangers we’d have to face if we agreed on their conditions. They did not offer us much True but in fact the remaining citizens lost almost everything when they had to flee. I don’t know why but I agreed on helping them out, yet again. Seeing I knew where Thorn was located and was very well aware about its history and the giants itself I once already had to fight back in Thorn, I was more or less on charge of the group. I rather take the opportunity and lead a group and following senseless commands of a wannabe-commander who leads his troops to certain death. Well, we made good progress and found ourselves soon deep within the Forest of Fogs and close to Thorn itself, when we saw a ranger guarding the woods. He told us to be careful and also gave us some insight about how it looked around Thorn right now. Apparently there were two tribes and more or less hostile to each other. The one moved into the town itself while the other one lived in a grove close to Thorn. We now only had to face one tribe, but two. The thing was, even so they were not at the best terms, according to the ranger, they’d still aid each other in case of an assault on one of them, all being giants after all. So the trick was how to make sure they don’t attack us if we attack them let them do all the work. While some of us already rushed into town, a few of us remained and discussed how to proceed. We came to an agreement that one of us has to go to the giants in the grove, accept a major beat down and then try to bargain with them so they won’t attack us, or even help us. Even though I’d have liked to head there on my own, I sent Essa. I trusted her enough and I know I could count on her. And I wanted her to face them alone. There more we were the more we were considered as a threat and that would be counter-productive.

However, I left Essa after wishing her luck and joined the others to launch an attack at the town while she kept the other tribe busy. The town was really invested with giants and it took us some time to get through their lines. I focused on the archers and leaped into them, taking them down as fast as possible. We then fought our way to the center where we faced more and more powerful giants and we all of a sudden heard a loud roar echoing through the whole town. It was about time their leader showed up. To my disappointment it was a rather short fight and their shaman went down within a few seconds. Maybe due to the fact that I successfully leaped into it and caused a serious cut. As soon as the other giants were away we defeated their leader they disbanded again and left to the forest. In all the chaos we met Essa again who was going to collect the head of the leader and hand it over to the other tribe. It was the right decision to send her in, She surely did a great job and I still doubt we were able to stand two tribes attacking us at the same time. We therefore left towards Corax Lake again to meet the couple from Thorn again who first did not believe us Thorn was now a giant-free-zone again. We got paid and disbanded again.

I am just glad that I managed to survive all these trips and did not screw up my life even more. I know I used to do it a lot more often in the past and I still do from time to time, but I somehow improved. I still miss Snagnor badly and I think I want him back. He still owes me a date after all. The last time I met him around Port Hempstead though, he was more or less ignoring me. Maybe I hurt him as much as he hurt me, I wouldn’t know.

However, I know got my very own apprentice. At first I had my doubts about him and even more him being my apprentice in the arts of the rapier, but he managed to surprise me a little. I was merely sitting at the Crossroads between Port Hempstead and Fort Vehl when a cloaked man showed up and asked me if I would be the Phyress he heard about from a friend. Apparently his friend was impressed by my skill with the blade and recommended me to him. I never heard the name of his friend but well, I think there are several rumors about me anyway. He asked me if I’d agree on teaching him the way of a duelist and I accepted. I do this for various reasons. He is a Tiefling and therefore I might have some contacts to some more dubious people through him. Not that I’d make any use of it just yet, but it is always good to know the right people when you are in trouble and I won’t beg to any Toranite to help me out of a screwed up situation. The other thing is he pays me in pies and what he does not know yet; he is going to owe me a favor. Besides that I feel proud of someone recommending me as a mentor due to my skill with the blade. I still have to keep an eye out on him though. As I did not know if I could trust him, I told him we will start our training another time. He nodded and left again after saying farewell.

We soon met again in the arena where I first wanted to see what he was already able to do with his blade and asked for a fight with him. Just him against me and I chose my Silver Foil for this battle. The duel began and he threw a darkness spell after me, as predicted. He was a thief and knew his way around. Most Tieflings earn their True as rogues as they are stealthy and very agile on their feet. However, my senses are still very keen and don’t have to rely on my eyes when I am blinded. I trained hard enough to be able to even fight blindfolded and he clearly was not aware of it. The darkness did him no good but me. I was able to sense where he was, which way he was going to take to get into my back so I patiently waited till he was right behind me. I spun around and knocked him down. He got up to his feet again and ran. But it was too late. I already had my blade in his spine and he flat on the ground. I know how to fight in the darkness and use ones weaknesses as my advantage. Lydia showed me around and I learned a lot from her when I was still young and naïve.

Well, after a little rest to recover and reflect the duel we started our first lesson. It was more or less about showing him what a duelist is going to be capable of, given he or she spends a lot of effort, sweat and blood into training. It is not an easy way; at least it was never to me. I let him fight on a dummy and while he did not do badly, he clearly did not fight as a duelist. His movements were too slow and did not pay attention on counter moves and to dodge any incoming blows. A fight is like a dance to me. It is elegant and one has to be nimble. If I don’t make graceful movements everyone will laugh about me and I could trip! Do I want that? I somehow doubt it. Do I want to get beaten down in a battle? I doubt it either so go figure.

While I was still showing him the basics of what it meant to become a duelist when a man showed up in the arena and was looking for some trouble. He asked the hostess if there were some fighter around and she pointed to me. I stood at the entrance to the dueling arena, hip cocked. He simply laughed at me and let us know woman were only good at keeping the fire going and cooking while fighting was reserved to the man of his tribe. He looked rather brutish and wielded a greataxe. I told him that if he did not want to fight me, he could still fight my apprentice and Nimo was about to faint. Nimo was just starting to become a fighter and now I tossed him to a tough fighter with a big axe. Well it gave me at least some time to study his movements and reactions when he had to dodge his swings. The fight did not last long though and Nimo did not land a single hit on him. I have to mention he managed to dodge the one or other blow though, even though he still fell in the end. The man clearly blamed it all on me and I told him he should fight against me then and he simply laughed at me again. I provoked him a little by calling him chicken and he was afraid of facing a woman as he could not beat one in a duel and finally he agreed on having a nice little duel with me. Having studied him before I knew he was skilled with his axe and if he hit me it would cause quite some wounds. To prevent it I focused on parrying his incoming blows and performing riposte attacks. It was a thrilling battle and I felt adrenaline rushing me. It was the best duel in ages and he managed to hit me a few times when he got through my defense. While he worked on an offensive tactic, I worked passive and let him show me his weak spots, where I then aimed for. In the end I took him down with just some minor scratches and a cut on my left flank.

First he did not realize what happened when I stood above him, my rapier at his throat. He learned his lesson though. Women are not only good for cooking, but fighting as well. While we are not that strong, at least I am not and I am thankful for that, we are usually nimble on our feet and know our ways around. A little later Ni showed up as well and I still promised him to test his golem. It was a thrilling fight as the golem was too fast for me and I was hardly able to pierce through its armor. A rapier just does not work that good against constructs. Point taken. However, Nimo and I agreed to meet son again for his second lesson. Oddly though, he did not send word to me about another session yet though.

I also had time for my own training during all these years and managed to improve my acrobatic attack. As I wrote earlier I was never able to know them down and my attacks were never really that precise. Well, I do better now, even though I don’t cut as deep with a single hit than before. But now I can knock them down more effectively if I successfully leap at an opponent and it is very potent as they have to try to get out of my way and not holding up against my attack which is lovely. A good fighter has a good discipline and is hard to knock down, but they are not very quick on their feet and therefore there reflexes to evade something more or less miserable. I use this as an advantage when leaping into them. I perform such an acrobatic attack faster now and therefore harder to hit, although I am still an easy target as I cannot dodge any incoming blows in midair, still. As a sidenote, my own reflexes improved much and now can evade almost anything. At least this goes for most elemental spells. I still cannot dodge a blizzard but I never saw anyone managing it. I used to travel a lot around on Belinara, fighting giants, kobolds, and some humans in Sharawood. All in all I did fine and improved my skill with the blade. I am getting better and better. No way I can face such opponents on my own, but I have friends who I accompany every here and there, like when I headed with Sein to Sadinia. We worked great together and made our way through the lines of some orcs while we explored a cave we never saw before. To be honest, it was the first time for me on elven territory and it looked lovely. Maybe I should retire there when I am old and grumpy.

Well, I finally settled down for names for two of my blades. My usual blade is now called 'Wrath of the Maiden’ and my Silver Foil now bears the name 'Maiden’s Favor’. I really love my blades and given them a blade only shows how much I really love them. I mean really, would you give your favorite dress a name? The names suit them just fine and I like them.

What I liked too was the prank Jaelle and I pulled on Maran. Maran was eager to show me those firegiants up in the mountains around Fort Gorge on Belinara. In Fort Gorge we met Jaelle who warned us about the giants as they’d be very strong and hard to take down. I did not see Jaelle in ages and apparently we had a lot to talk about and Maran headed back to Miritrix already. Jaelle and I talked about Trouble, my old wound and news in general. Somehow she and Maran don’t get along all too well for whatever reason. I think Maran told me about it but I am afraid I already forgot about it again. I think it was a minor thing anyway and not of importance. However, Jaelle had the idea to act like she and I were a couple and show it off in front of Maran. I have to admit I loved the idea. Before we headed back to Fort Miritrix she asked me how much I was going to endure. If it was just saying, hugging or even kissing. Acting so was not really a problem. Hugging? Well I hug Richelle and Lywn as well so that was no problem at all but kissing? I never kissed another woman before and I first had my doubts I would be able to make it but without showing affection by kissing Maran probably would have called the whole thing a fake. In fact it was. Well, back in Fort Miritrix we had to kiss in front of Maran and Fleur. All I can say is Jaelle is a great kisser and to my surprise I enjoyed it. Jaelle is an adorable person and I get along with her just fine and no, I am still not interested in woman, even though there were rumors about it shortly after and Maran teasing me about it. All in all it was great fun and a good laugh, now where I think about it. I just wonder what Alatriel now thinks about me. She seems not to be all too keen on Jaelle but that’s something between them and none of my business at all.

I earlier already mentioned some see me as a leader of some sorts. Well, the other day I was sitting around the memorial in Port Hempstead when the Bird Lord of Katia, Plenarius, sat down next to me. Apparently he was waiting for some Halfling to show up and while he waited the two of us chatted a little and yes, he still remembered my name from the one meeting in Haven where all these brave adventurers discussed the upcoming war. Plenarius and I talked about many things and a lot of them were around the past and Layonara itself and I also asked him some questions about godhood, seeing Katia once was walking the lands, as well as some others did, apparently. He surely knows a lot and we also talked about more ancient lore, like the To’eflor and the Lumbral. I only heard rumors about them but Plenarius enlightened me a little about them.

As much as enjoying all this talking with Plenarius was, we soon got to talk about the upcoming war and it won’t be easy. Right now it seems they are waiting for some sort of sign on the night sky, much like a certain constellation but he was not too sure about it. It could be anything, really. We also got to know about leadership during the upcoming war and it seems like they are still lacking some people to command their troops and well, he asked me if I was interested. As lovely as such an offer might sound; one has to think about it as you hold a lot of responsibility and then life of others depends on your decisions. It is tough but I think I can do it and said yes. If I get to know more about the war I will have to tell him. Thinking about it, he never sent me word again about the leadership. I wonder if the offer still stands or if he got doubts about me leading troops in the upcoming war. My reputation can’t be that bad and he said it himself; he heard I was a good leader! So right now I have no idea about the whole leadership. I talked to Maran about it and he told me he wouldn’t do it. Well, he wouldn’t aid in this war, unless they reach the woods but then he is going to help me as good as he can. He does not want me to fail either. If Plenarius still wants to see me as a leader in the war, then I will head his call and kick some behinds around. I really think, no, I know I can do it.

The other day I was organizing a little exploration up in the mountains close to Fort Vehl. I always forget the name as I don’t travel there all too often. Together with Storold and Amanda I was heading to the giant fortress very up in said mountains. As the trip was very exhausting we stopped by in Lyn where we also met some other adventurers, like Caerwyn and Ni. There were more but I already forgot their names. Some of them were pretty young and I wonder how they made their way up to Lyn as it can be dangerous with the ogres. Their shamans know some deadly spells. While we were warming up a person hurried into the inn and was babbling something about a murder in Lyn and we promised that person to look at it. The scene was really a mess and I don’t really want to get into details here. All I can say is that a wolf was involved and some others were still missing. While we performed our researches we found a body and a head, I know, not a nice sight either and it seemed like a werecreature, such as a werewolf, was involved in this. Caerwyn and I found out about the whereabouts of a possible suspect who was interested in one of the kidnapped or dead girls and went there together with the others. I stayed outside of the house though. To be more precise, I climbed up on the roof of the house and guarded the frontdoor, in case anything went wrong and that wolf came out of the house about to kill us all. I am nimble and know some tricks. It’d have been an easy one to fall into its back and knock it down so the others could tie it up. I did not have to though. All of a sudden there were shouts and sounds of a battle coming out of the house and were soon gone. The suspect was really the creature and was responsible for all those murders around Lyn. The problems around Lyn were solved, but the main problem still remains. He got infected somewhere and that creature is probably still running around happily. Not that it really matters to me. My job in Lyn was done and I have no interest in chasing after another creature, not to mention try to track it down, find its hideout and the like. I leave that to others. If Caerwyn or someone else is going to need my help, I will happily tag along and help as good as I can. I get along with Caerwyn just fine and we cover each other’s back in critical moments. I am really looking forward to work with him together, yet again.

However, I think this pretty much sums up the most important things which occurred to me in the past three years and I am really curious about what will still happen. I never thought my life was going to be that busy, really. Anyway, we’ll see. Only time can tell.

*With a smile on her lips Phyress closes her very own journal and leans back on her chair, taking a sip of wine, before she stands up and puts her journal back into her bag and leaves her room at the inn.*

[Lily]

*With a slight smile on her lips Phyress opens her journal yet again and starts writing a new entry on a yet blank page. From time to time the takes a sip from her wine, while she sits at her old room in her parent’s house. Her rapier and a strange looking cloak lying on her bed.*

-Mulnari, Seplar 2, 1448-

It is quite odd. Every time I head to Nel something bad happens around me or those I know. Well, at least I can now spend a few days in Nel with my parents and don’t worry about anything, for now. Soon I will have to head back to Mistone and will probably be involved in the one or other trouble, yet again. But why am I back in Nel now? Well, long story...

I was merely standing around in Mariner’s Hold with Caerwyn, Fleur and Galathea, catching up on old times as some of us did not see each other for some time, as I received a note, letting me know I have to move my cute behind as soon as possible over to Nel. Apparently there was something going on that required my attendance. Luckily they all wanted to spend me some company on my way to Nel, and so we headed for it. On the way I was guessing around what might be wrong and why they need me. I only knew if the Purple Worm Trading Company requires my presence as fast as possible, then something bad must be going on in town.

And naturally it was that way, lucky me. We entered Nel and seems like a guard awaited me already, letting me know he is sorry for what happened to Jerred. I did not know the guard personally but after I handed Sashka over into their custody and set Tyrith free again, I was more or less known to at least a few of them, plus someone of the Purple Worms could have given them my physical description. However, it seems like Jerred was kidnapped right out of town but he also told me I should head straight to their inn and get briefed about what is going on. It did not stop me from asking a cute merchant lady in town about rumors about Jerred. She could not tell me all too much, but made me good offers for bolts, nails and other wares and I told her I’d recommend her as I was in no need of such things at the moment. I had more important things to do, like getting to know what in the pits was going on here.

Jazza, then innkeeper already awaited me and I introduced him to my friends. As rumors already stated, Jerred was kidnapped right out of town by two men who jumped on him and threw him on a horseback, retreating quickly. At least some guard, Trask, and the farmer Giles saw the kidnapping itself. At least we had some eyewitnesses we were going to ask some questions. Every single detail might be important and we had to hurry. Jerred also told us that the terms of his release were Sashka’s release within a week. The thing was, it took me some time to get here and therefore we only had four days left till they’d kill him! Lovely! The other thing was that no place for an exchange was mentioned. So it was just us releasing Sashka, toss her out of town and hope they will let Jerred free unharmed. But, would they? With Sashka I wouldn’t be too sure on that.

Anyway, we had to hurry. Only four days left and we yet had to think about a plan and get Jerred free, somehow. We therefore left the inn and found Duncan near by it, muttering something about the kidnapping. Duncan was responsible for the ore trades of the guilds and really wanted him back. If Jerred was dead the whole town would suffer from his loss. Their guild is pretty well established in town and without him no one was able to lead the guild and without a leader less trade and without less trade less True and with less True, well, unpleasant citizens and Jerred was well loved by them. And his life depended on us. No one really dared to mess with Sashka’s friends and I thought her safe in jail. And this also emerges another question. Why wasn’t she transported to Fort Homestead yet? Something seemed to be really wrong here. Bribery? Blackmailing? I had no idea.

From Duncan we also got to know where to find the farmer who saw the kidnapping. Or better say he told us that if someone knows where he is, we should ask Amolette, a halfling woman. We found her not too far away from the inn, resting in a field of flowers. She was quite nice and somehow reminded me of a little child. One had to be very carefully about what was said else she felt threatened and suspected we were after something. Well, it was on me to talk to her as Caerwyn more or less made her scared of him. Some soothing words and some pie did the trick and she told us where to find him. We found Giles on a pasture, taking care of his cows and got to know what happened. From what he said the guard, Trask, seemed suspicious as he was all of a sudden there when the kidnapping took place. However, one of the kidnappers had a very dark skin and was tall and bulky and was on a horse. The other one kept himself to the tree-line and rode northwards out of town.

Right, we know had at least the physical appearance of one of the kidnappers. We hurried back to town and asked around whether one saw the man in town or not. Apparently the merchant lady did. He bought some things from her and Duncan. We also got his name, Alan. Unfortunately no one knew where he came from, or what he bought all that stuff for. He did not tell the lady, or Duncan, and they did not ask what he needed it for. So we were kind of stuck here. Seeing the guard would likely tell us the same than Giles I decided to have a little chat with Sashka. Not that she’d really share any information with me. It was rather nice to chat with her though, if you ignore the fact that she wants to see me dead and wanted to rip my head off at least once while I visited her. She seemed to be more than pleased that her men were about to bail her out and Jerred going to be killed. One thing she told me though: “Whilst I breathe life into their friends, no walls or doors will keep me away for long.” And yet I had no idea what she meant and I suspected bribery. Frustrated I left the prison again and Caerwyn, along with Fleur were about to try their luck after we had a little chat with Trask who we did not trust at all and seemed suspicious. We did not really get to know anything knew from him and let him be for now. At least Caerwyn and Fleur did better with Sashka. Fleur somehow dazed him and they got some answers out of her. Obviously she did not know all too much though. I later found out that once she is bailed out she has to pick up a stone and that someone called Thark is behind this all. Probably one of her men I think.

Now we knew what was going on but we only had one day left and still no progress at all. The guards did not want to see Sashka free. Like I like to see her free? Really, but they did not want to cooperate and set her free and someone on her tail to bail her in, once they freed Jerred again. And we couldn’t do an exchange as they never mentioned a place for it. It was free Sashka and they will do the rest. We still did not know if one of the guards was with their men, like Trask so we ignored his attempts to help us out. He could have just tested us and let them know what we know. And we were almost out of time. So while Caerwyn thought that there is not too much sense in what Giles, Amolette and Trask told us, he, Fleur and Galathea decided to ask Amolette a little more about it. There had to be some details missing. I told them I’d stick to prison and arrange something. My idea? Well I wanted to dress up as Sashka, wear a hood and let the guards toss me out of town. They might buy I was Sashka and let Jerred free. It was risky as they could have called it a trap and avoided me. Especially as I had no idea where to head. Where was their hideout? It couldn’t be their old one as it seems Richelle moved in there. At least she was seen buying a lot of things, like furniture in Nel. So while I ordered Trask to bring me Sashka’s armor, the others hurried back with great news. Giles and Amolette are lovers of some sorts. Don’t ask me how intense it is and I did not dare to ask Caerwyn about it, but she saw some constructs in the woods and was kind enough to draw a map for us, which Caerwyn handed over to me. I donned her armor and accompanied by some guards we headed out of town and the guards back to town. We now had a very good hint and followed it.

Deep within the woods we saw some hounds and a trapdoor. After the wolves were silenced we descended into the hideout. A strange place. I looked around and was surrounded by constructs and other things, amidst was a gnome. Probably a slave who had to build this all for Sashka and her oh so nice friends. The constructs did not seem working though and once the gnome spotted me he went back to work. Apparently Sashka did not treat him well. We moved in and soon found a guard who recognized me as Sashka and asked questions. I tried to fake her voice and coughed a lot, like I caught a cold but in the end it did not go all too well. He gave me time to remove my hood and reveal myself. In the meantime Galathea slipped behind him and together we took him out. Now where we had no cover anymore we could at least hurry a bit and don’t bother with the guards but kill them. Well, either they or we and I am not really keen on being dead or fail to rescue Jerred. He had to be here! The guards were quite tough and it took us some effort to defeat them, but we had to and together we were a good team. Galathea and I were up front, while Caerwyn hauled his arrows and Fleur her spells. That way we finally reached another room and someone was cursing something about their hideout being spotted and one of them teleported himself out. No way we were able to stop him in time, but he was nice enough to leave us some company in form of more guards which we quickly took care of as well. I scanned the room and in one corner I spotted Jerred, laying flat on the ground. Gods, we were too late. They never cared to exchange him. They probably killed him as soon as they tossed him into their hideout. Reminds me I yet have to ask him about what really happened or what he got to know when he was locked up in their hideout. And yes, I can still ask him as Galathea was able to resurrect him from the dead. I helped him getting out as he was pretty weak and unstable. He could have passed out any time. On the way back to Nel I told him about the stone. I got to know that only Sashka can use the stone to activate the constructs.

But well, we finally got back to Nel and handed Jerred over who was very thankful for his rescue, as was Nel and most of its citizens. Together with Jerred I took care that Sashka was going to be handed over to some other place than Nel and the citizens also demanded it. Where she is going to be transported? I have no idea. If Jerred knows he will probably tell me, but as for now, there is no need to. Nel is temporarily safe again. I somehow have the feeling that I will have to face Sashka again one day. And maybe this Thark as well. I am pretty sure they try to get in contact somehow. One question still remains: Where is the stone Sashka hid in the woods? As long as the stone is out there, she and her men still remain as a threat. She’s after something, but what? As soon as something is going to happen around Nel, Jerred will contact me. And we yet have to sit down and have a talk in private, just him and me.

But for now I am going to take some days off and enjoy my time here with my family. The good thing is, I am more or less known in Nel now. At least to some, like the Purple Worm Trading Company and to some of the authorities and guards. And I hear rumors about the White Lily helping to end the kidnapping around town. I have to admit, I like it.

*Phyress leans back on her chair and stretches with a smile on her lips. She takes another sip of wine before she stuffs her journal back into her bag and leaves to see her mother.*

[Lily]

*Phyress slumps down under a tree in North Point, looking pretty exhausted and drained. She sighs slightly and starts writing a new entry into her journal.*

-Tunar, Jenra 3, 1450-

Well what can I say? Life has been busy, yet again and it is absolutely my own fault this time. Maybe not only this time as I am pretty independent and make my own decisions. So I did this time as well. Ages ago I started to make some crystal rods; Maran could enchant for me or use them for some resistances. I never really mastered it and I have to admit, I very fast got bored of digging sand up in the desert and chop coal in order to make them. It takes ages to gather all the sand, smelt it to glass and then make some rods out of them with coal. Coal was more or less easy to get as I only had to face some earth elementals in a cave in the Wolfswood Forest and sand typically in the desert. But as I already mentioned, I got bored of it pretty fast and I only made very slow progress and did not really become any better. Therefore I gave it up a very long time ago. But I now got some new rapiers and I am also lacking some resistances and what do I need to get them done? Either a lot of True, or some rods and ore for Maran. I just have to supply him the rods and maybe the one or other haul of platinum to get them done. Even though I already spent months into smelting and tinkering, I still have a long way to go to eventually be able to easily make rods of the third or fourth tier, but this is a long term goal. But at least this keeps me busy when no one else is around to head out exploring.

I have to admit, I got to know a lot about ore these days and almost feel like a dwarf sometimes. I already worked with copper, bronze, iron, gold, and silver, platinum and soon I am going to work on adamantium and cobalt. Actually I started straight with iron. Surprisingly I have quite a hand with it and did not have to go the whole way with copper and bronze. Too bad it was rather hard to get a hold on iron though. There are very few places where known veins run through. One of them is deep in Haven Mines. I descend there, sure. But it takes me quite some time and effort and then I can only fight my way to one vein. The other one is too deep within and too well protected by those gnolls. I hate fighting them as they are hard to knock down and they are quite fierce and tough. But at least I got some help from Maran and Ni and was able to mine some iron up in the Iron Hills or Troll Central.

For a nugget of gold I need two nuggets, but it is way easier to gather than iron. I found a cave with a lot of veins somewhere on Alindor. I don’t know what the area itself is called, but Kenkus roam up in the hills. These birdmen are quite nimble and sneaky. Once they see you they turn themselves invisible and try to sneak up on you. But well, my senses are quite keen and I don’t give them a chance to use this as an advantage when they attack me and their invisibility fades. I don’t know how much gold I mined in total, but it was quite an amount over the year and I am glad I moved on and now focus on other materials which I cannot get all too easily. As good as gold was for smelting, I was more or less stuck with it as I cannot make any arrowheads out of it, and even if, no one would buy them, hence the gold. It is too soft and heavy to make a decent arrowhead after all. Therefore I asked Maran if he was interested in some gold and he was in need of some for his ring making. I wasn’t interested in any True, but was interested in some trade. At his house I found some useful things, such as a new rapier and a new belt. The rapier is no good for fencing at all, but it looks nice and if I wield it I feel like I have more knowledge about things and makes it easier for me to say what something unidentified is. Not that I don’t know anything about any lore. I know even more than some wizards which makes me wonder from time to time. They have plenty of time to study the essence of things, don’t they? However, the thing about the belt is that it helps me to resist spells. It is not all too strong but surely is helpful against lesser spells, or even those which are casted on me where I can find some veins of platinum which I needed for arrowheads. I gathered Sallaron was in need of a box of platinum arrowheads and therefore I made him a full box. Getting all the arrowheads together took me quite some effort though as a trip into the Battlehelm Moors is still risky for me due to their shamans. I hate if they throw a Hammer of Gods after me and I stand still, stunned and unable to act. The new belt helps me a little with resisting that spell. It does not always work, but the chance not to get stunned increased a little that way. For a full box of arrowheads I got myself a crystal rod of the fourth tier as I am not able to make them on my own, yet. I will in near future though. I just need to keep on making arrowheads or try myself on some traps. But for traps I need a lot of tin and it is not really worth going after tin and I am not really keen on hiring someone to get it for me. For cold traps I also need sapphire dust, but Ni and Maran already agreed on handing it me over as they have no use for it when they work with their jewelry.

On a recent trip to Firesteep on the Molten Island I managed to mine some cobalt and adamantium together with Fleur, Oma and Maran. The trip was very interesting and I haven’t been before there just yet. To my surprise a lot of trees grow there, like pecans and apples and from what I heard apples from Firesteep are the best ones on Layonara. Maran explained to me that due to the volcanic activities the soil is great around here. You just need to find some soil, that’s all it takes. I did not pick some though as I was too busy fighting off masses of kobolds. Well, I am rather glad I did not have to fight all of them as they have some kind of aura that causes some burns. Not lethal itself, but when you are surrounded by, let’s say 25 kobolds? All trying to rip you to shreds? Not a good idea, really. I am already thinking about trading my crystal rod for a fire resistance which should do me well up in Firesteep when it comes to facing kobolds again. We also had to face some elementals which Fleur named Freddy. Odd choice of a name, really. But well, to Maran and Fleur they are “Freddies” now. I keep on calling them elementals, really. Close to the mining grounds is a house, well secured by a wall and a gate which is trapped and locked. All I can say is that it is a hell of a lock and I was not able to pick it, not even with my tools. Luckily Oma and Fleur both had a pixie so it was an easy one to pick it and disable the trap. I did not even see the trap! I really should focus more on traps and locks after I master the techniques I still study to improve my way as a duelist. I am not too sure, but I am sure I now could face my old mentor, Lydia. Gods, I did not see her in ages. I hope she is still alright. She’s always been strong and even with her bad leg, I am sure she could still kick some behinds around for good. However, Lydia wasn’t with us up on the Molten Island and fighting our way through kobolds and other minions of Fisterion who is rumored to live up there, somewhere.

All these kobolds were nothing compared to what we faced at a sheer. Maran led us the way and told us to be very careful. No wonder, we saw a fierce demon close to the sheer, guarding the way over it. It looked scary, powerful, had wings and a tail. That’s all I can say besides a shudder went down my spine and wanted me to turn around and run, but then I love the thrill and the three of us agreed on facing it. Well, Oma was probably already drunk with the dwarf who lives at the mine. She wanted to ask him about some ale and other drinks after all and was not with us anymore. However, we prepared all our wards and got ready to launch an attack on it. Maran luckily sent a summoned elemental with us into the battle which I was thankful for. I wanted to perform an acrobatic attack to knock it down. I know demons are quite tough when it comes to knocking them down and defeating them but maybe I could surprise it and knock it down. I therefore dodged a blow, hurried behind it while it was facing Maran and his elemental and got ready to leap into it. It turned around in midair and glared furiously at me. No way, it saw me and something in me told me to stop the attack and turn around. Something else in me told me to continue the attack and hit it bad. And so I did. Even though it was now more or less expecting my attack struck my rapier through it and knocked it down. I turned around and continued attacking it while it lay flat on the ground. I did not think hitting it could be that hard, really. First off, my attack almost did nothing except from knocking it down. Secondly, it was hard to hit, even when knocked down. While we had our problems to even scratch us, it wildly through fire at us. While I managed to dodge its attacks most effectively and did not get burned by it, I saw Fleur and the elemental badly wounded and burnt though. Time for a retreat! That thing was way too much for us. No way could we have defeated it. While another elemental was keeping it busy we ran for to get some distance between us, then covered ourselves with invisibility and escaped back to the house to take an extended rest.
Well, after the rest we headed back to Willows Weep where we split what we found on our exploration and departed. Personally I moved over to North Point where I am going to smelt all this cobalt and adamantium and hopefully into many ingots without a lot of failures. Once they are ingots it is rather easy to make arrowheads out of them, I hope. I think I will save to cobalt for now though until I got more experience with smelting. I don’t want to ruin most of my attempts due to bad luck, yet again. But before I am going to smelt them I will take a rest as I am still very exhausted and drained from the adventure up in Firesteep. The demon was quite strong and it made me felt oh-so-weak in comparison. Even though my skill with the blade slightly improved, I still have a lot to improve. My aim got a little better over the last year but that’s pretty much about it, besides being even more nimble these days. But still, when I faced that demon I was nothing. Even if I was able to hit it a few times, it simply laughed about what might have hurt other creatures and I bet you it could eat my blade if it wanted to, just to annoy me. This is surely an opponent I am eager to face again with some more training. What is essentially when facing it is not getting hit. If it hits me I am history. For my future training I have to focus on foreseeing ones movements even more and dodge right under it. Of course I need to have good sight on my opponent so even if I eventually figure it out after a long and exhausting training, it won’t do me any good when knocked down, being flanked or attacked from behind. But as long as I have it up front, I should be all fine. I should also invest more time with performing acrobatic attacks. I know there is still a lot to learn but I know that at some point I will manage these techniques and laugh about my stupidity why I did not figure it out earlier.

Talking about my acrobatic attack also reminds me of an exploration in the Deep with some other adventurers. Apparently someone found an entrance to the Deep somewhere up in the mountains close to Miritrix where the giants roam. I have to admit, the Deep is a very interesting place, yet deadly how I had to find out the hard way. As we descended everything went smoothly and not much was able to stop us, until we had to faces odd creatures: Half dark elf, half spider. All I can say is they had hawk-like eyes and spotted us miles away already and shot deadly arrows at us and we had to cover from their hails and let them come after us. Else it was suicide. However, we managed to defeat them though and at some point we had to turn around as things got really nasty and some of us wanted to see the surface again as soon as possible. Therefore we headed up again and this time we did not have that much problems with these odd creatures. What caused us more problems were those spiders though and it was also where I met my death and naturally, the Soul Mother and I really hate her! Somehow I was prevented from performing any acrobatic attack where we faced that one strong spider and left me flatfooted and I realized it too late all the time, well three times to be exact as it only took the spider three hits to take me down. I was pretty ed after that, you bet. Not only that I died to a silly spider, but also the Soul Mother spent me a visit and I tell you, it was not a pleasant one! I swear. I am so going to improve my skill with the rapier and pierce it right through such a spider and get my revenge.

At least it gave me some satisfaction when I defeated some friend of Eslar. Oddly Eslar showed up again in Port Hempstead and was poking me about some kind of date. Like I ever agreed on going out fishing with him. He always claims he loves his wife and would never betray her, but personally he was getting too close in the past and was hitting too much on me and I bet if I did not really ignore him when I had to see him again the other day he would have started all over about it again. In no way I am going out on a date with him, even though he claims it a platonically one. Doesn’t his wife go out on dates with him? Not that I really care about him, but I cannot help it; I have a curious nature. But seeing Maran now had business to talk with one of his friend, I was all alone with him and his friend who seemed to be a fighter and we agreed on having a duel in the arena and therefore headed over to Fort Vehl. The fight was rather long and it took me quite some effort to defeat him, but eventually he fell and I was breathing heavily. He did not give me enough room to perform an acrobatic attack on him and he was fighting in a defensive stance, too. Therefore I had a hard one to get through his defense and land a good hit, while he had it slightly easier to hit me and all of my attempts to knock him down missed too. Gladly all of his missed, too. Well, I look forward to dueling with him again as he will improve his way of battle and I have to come forward with another technique by then.

I simply love it when a team does not work as a team at all. There were two other adventurers in the arena as well and after their unspectacular duel we decided on fighting two versus three. So him, his friend and Eslar’s friend against Eslar and me. Eslar said he’d screw up the balance no matter in what team he was. I think he think too much about himself. A pierce right through him with a blade and he will pretty much fall down dead. Well, might do him good for one. I did not even need him in this fight, really. One of them used darkness on themselves and therefore were shrouded in darkness and blinded. Stupidity! Their archer ran out of it and right into an acrobatic attack and fell dead to ground. I think I killed the one who caused the darkness with a single attack as well. Then there was only one still running about and that was Eslar’s friend. I think I don’t have to mention he was still blinded by the darkness and helplessly fell to my blade. Without his defense I knocked him down and aimed for his weak spots. He was dead within seconds and probably before he realized what was even going on. Well, not my fault at all.

The last thing I am going to mention is about a trip into the Spirit Dunes, the big desert on Mistone. Ni mentioned something about a Halfling settlement and together with Caerwyn we headed there. We explored the area and I wonder why we did not see it before already. Especially the canyon. However, it took us quite some time to find a way over a chasm and I finally found it, well hidden and we moved to the other side where our real adventure started. It was very thrilling. We soon had to face snakes and ghosts and also some big whirling winds. I think those were some kind of elementals as well. However, Caerwyn had to leave again and therefore we soon had to make our way back to the Halflings again, promising to see each other again and explore this canyon even more. We were not far in anyway.

It did not take long and I found myself back in the canyon again. I met with Fleur, Maran, Jil and Markus another day and they were clueless about where to head and I still wanted to explore the canyon and therefore decided to head there for a change. It did not take us long and we got to the point where Caerwyn, Ni and I had to turn around and head back. It was us women who led the way as Maran and Markus had some problems to climb their way around all those cliffs and chasms. I did not see Jil fighting yet, but she is hell of an archer! She shoots faster than I can swing my blade and for one snake she needed like 4 arrows, while I needed like 7 swings for one at least. I am pretty impressed by her skill with the bow and got reminded about Jacchri hitting me years ago on Belinara. These archers can be one of your worst enemies if you don’t reach them in time and knock them down. I better don’t mess with them. I rather have them covering my back than shooting my front. I would be ugly. I like piercing holes in my opponents but hate seeing things piercing right through me.

However, we soon found an entrance leading us to some ruins, by the look of it dwarves once lived in this place and I am sure a woman back in the Halfling camp mentioned something about dwarves. Anyway, the place was haunted by more ghosts who we were able to defeat easily, as long as our minds were protected. To my advantage I was able to knock them down which made things easier for us. Especially for Jil when the ghosts decided to chase after her. As good as she is with her bow, her defense is rather weak and she had to run a lot to get out of their reach. I knocking them down saved her quite some potions. All was going to be rather smoothly, until we got into one chamber which was also filled with more ghosts. But there was something else lurking in there. Something made like out of stone, yet living. It looked like a statue of a dwarf, a life-size statue of it though, so not all too big and it looked rather angry. Figures, we were intruders and this was their place. It aimed for Markus and it hit hard from what I was able to see and it was hard to damage it. I had no choice but leap into it and hope for the best. With enough force I might be able to knock it down. I leaped. And hit. It fell to the ground and I started to attack it together with the others. With joint force we were able to defeat it easily, but this was just one. When we descended even further into the ruins, we soon found ourselves in a huge hall with four bridges. On the other side we spotted a huge statue of a gigantic, weeping dragon statue. It looked all interesting and I so wanted to head over there, but there was a slight problem in form of a small army of those dwarven statues. Luckily they did not stand close to each other, more like two guarding each bridge on the other side and we could fight them on the bridge without being surrounded by them. It’d have been our certain death. Every one of us had to give his or her best as no one of us wanted to die in these ruins beneath the sands. I did my very best to keep them knocked down on the ground and I tell you, it was a hard, rough, long, thrilling but exhausting fight. I had several scratches and some deep wounds, as the others. I had slight problems to even leap into their direction as the bridge was small and under us was nothing but deep darkness. No way I wanted to fall down here. And then it was done, they were finally defeated and we went over to explore the area. Besides the statue there was nothing all too spectacular but I am still all curious about the story of this place. Due to my time with Lydia and Arngrim I learned a lot about the lore of some places we went and also learned to respect it. I will find out the story of these ruins sooner or later, or take a look at the Great Library or do some researches in an Aragenite Library.

However, we had to leave this interesting place again for our own safety. Once we were out I also spotted another entrance into the canyon. Maybe that place will lead us to a conclusion about the history of this place, but unfortunately Jil had some errands to do and therefore we all left this place. We left it for now. I know I will come back in time and try to find out if the other opening is leading somewhere or if it is a dead end. But then I promised to head here again with Ni and Caerwyn so eventually I’ll get my chance to explore this place even more. But I am in no big hurry.

And I wonder what Sashka is up to...

*Phyress taps her lower lip thoughtfully and her thoughts drift off to Sashka, her parents and Nel. She sighs slightly, stuffs her belongings back into her back and heads to the craft hall.*

[Lily]

*With a heavy sigh Phyress sits down at the docks in Arnax, takes out her journal and starts writing a new entry into her journal.*

-Wedlar, Jenra 11, 1450-

Sometimes things just don’t go as planned. Today I was sitting in Port Hempstead with Razeriem and Oma, when I received a letter from Maran. Apparently he was about to visit the one place with the untamable Al’Noth again, up on Corsain. For this he gathered quite a group. Those who were willing to head down with us were Beli, Chakar, Razeriem, Oma, Maran himself and of course me. Maran and I already were there twice but we never really made it deep into that cave so it was still a whole new place which we could explore. A place full of adventures, thrilling battles, and well, death.

It all started very smoothly back at the surface where we had to face some of those outlaw monks. They were easily defeated and we got ready to head down into the wild Al’Noth territory again. I think Storold once mentioned it was unnatural. But maybe it was this way before Lucinda came up and “tamed” it? Anyway, once we descended we had to face masses of giants again. And if I say masses then I really mean masses. They showed up in groups of like twelve and all shooting at us. I am just glad I did not run in first, else my whole body would have been pierced. Actually I was more worried about the traps. These were no normal traps at all. Even if you manage to avoid them, you still suffer from their effects and I pretty much learned it the hard way. I did not die though, but it took me quite some skill to bandage me up properly again as I was bleeding everywhere. Along facing the giants we had to face those moss covered things again. I rather face two giants than one of those things. Somehow they are quite resistant to my bladework and don’t really do them any noticeable damage. However, everything went more or less smoothly and we soon found an exit and a way back to the surface again.

But where were we? Not where we started, that’s for sure. We were surrounded by trees and really looked like we were in a forest of some sorts. Just that we saw some odd creatures and Chakar called them Pit Dwellers. They did not seem very strong though. At least not as strong as the two or three spiders we had to face as well. Knocking them down helped me a lot to aim for their weak spots though. We moved on and soon had to face some more guards, protecting some entrance to somewhere. Also here it was useful that I was able to knock them down and therefore were also defeated easily. After we took care of every creature that blocked our way we decided to descend into the ruins they were guarding.

The place smelled of death and we soon found us surrounded by vampires. Those vampires were strong, powerful and in no way comparable to those I have fought on Mistone and Dregar. Not that they even had priests who casted spells like Cloudkill on us, we also triggered darkness upon us when we hit them with our blades and had to fight in complete darkness.  Alright, it did not have that much of a problem with it as I am used to fight in complete darkness and can rely on a low vision and on my other keen senses. It was good we were well warded and our casters knew some spells as well which were very effective against these undeads. While their fighters were kind of capable with their blades, I was more worried about their casters though as our resistance from any spells wasn’t as good as to block all of their spells and Cloudkill can be a killer.

All went fine and we pushed deep forward into the heart of these ruins, or crypts. Whatever it was we were into. But then things really screwed up. Chakar pushed on and soon found himself surrounded by vampires while some of us were still descending. It was a hard, rough and exhausting battle and it seemed like vampires were coming to us from all sides, swarming around and likely were about to kill us if we did not stop them before they got a chance to do so. Well I mean either us or them. During the battle I fell to their blades and spells as well, but I luckily stabilized and was able to be healed. Every help was too late for Chakar though who fell in this madness. With saddened hearts we decided to move on and soon found ourselves in a large hall with dozens of vampires, all prepared to wipe us out. There were like six casters I think and all threw Cloudkills on Maran who ran into them to cast a Sunburst like he did on other vampires before. Sadly that many spells were too much for him to take and he fell during the battle as well. I was heavily breathing when the fight was over and we decided to get the hell out of here as fast as possible. No one of us wanted to die down here.

Weakened and left without Maran’s and Chakar’s protections we made our way up again by covering ourselves invisible. It would have worked, but like all vampires were able to pierce through it. I managed to survive the first battle, but not the second encounter with those vampires on our way up. I had no choice; I was stunned by one of their spells and killed by more Cloudkills. Luckily the Soul Mother did not care to visit me though and I found myself back in Arnax, where I write this entry into my journal. As good as I might have been with my blade on this exploration; I still fell easily to their spells. I just hope the others made it out alive, especially Razeriem. It’s funny to tease around with him and he still has to go out with me, shopping. It will be very amusing; I have no doubt about it.

*Phyress smiles faintly as she closes her journal and looks around, eyeing her surroundings before she takes a boat and sails back to Lor on Dregar.*

[Lily]

*With a heavy sigh Phyress lies down on her bed, reflection the past days in Nel before she grabs her journal, quill and ink and starts writing a new entry into it.*

-Threas, Seplar 19, 1450-

Sometimes things come fast, especially the latest event and no, I did not screw it up, at least not completely. I know I did something wrong but then I had to do it. I just don’t know whether things will improve now or become worse. But well, let me start in the beginning of this crisis.

It all started back in Mariner’s Hold, when I was requested in Nel as fast as possible as Sashka was causing some trouble and her men kidnapped a friend and leader of the Purple Worm Trading Company, Jerred. As I already mentioned in another entry, I managed to rescue Jerred right in time and let Sashka rot in a cell still in Nel. Together with Jerred I requested Sashka to me moved over to another location as it was not safe with her around any longer. As long as her men know where she’s rotting in a cell, they will try anything to set her free again and trust me, they don’t care walking about corpses to bail her out. She’s the only one who knows about the Heartstone and they need it to activate all the remaining constructs. What for? I did not know up to this time, but I yet had to find it out; naturally the hard way.

However, I was requested at the court in Nel for an interview. The mayor and some others had some questions about what happened and therefore I headed to the courthouse together with Caerwyn and Fleur. We were already expected and were escorted by a guard. The mayor himself seemed kind enough and I also saw Jerred standing a little farther away. After some small talk I had to explain what really happened and what I found out on my task to save Jerred from certain death. From time to time Jerred added something every here and there as he could eavesdrop them when he was imprisoned. I told the mayor about the factory and that there were more and that Sashka was obviously a key to their success. What made me curious from Jerred’s report was that they were working for someone else. Someone they only entitled as “him”, or “he” for that matter and they also spoke of him in fear. Jerred also mentioned they were about to take Nel and retrieve something which is supposed to be in Nel, somewhere and he cannot go there, or get it himself. First I thought it might be Thark. Nonsense. He’s human and could have got it while we did not know about his league with Sashka. Well, I did a little investigation while I had to wait for my report. It seems like Thark and Sashka were working together so figures why she told me that Thark is in charge when I questioned her. It also explains why Sashka was not moved over to Fort Homestead as Thark was in charge of the prison or so over in Homestead. He was at least in a position to say Sashka was too dangerous to be imprisoned there and therefore she stayed in Nel and caused all the problems with the kidnapping and threat to kill Jerred if she was not released.

The mayor was clearly concerned when I mentioned the factories, constructs and Sashka’s connection to Thark. Well he knew about the connection as I had to ask the authorities in Nel after someone called Thark and they knew him. To make things even more complicated and worse I got word that Sashka was moved over to Hlint and escaped from there when the transport was attacked and caused quite some trouble in Hlint. So Sashka was on the loose again. Anyway, soon a guard rushed in and told the mayor that Nel was under attack. Constructs, and lots of them. Clearly someone was happy Sashka was released and on her way to pick up the stone she hid somewhere in the woods. The mayor did not know what to do. He probably never was in charge under these conditions and was too afraid to do anything. Swell, someone had to do something. And because no one else spoke up I gave orders to the guard who brought the message to us. There were two gates: One in the north and one in the south. I gave orders to sent guard to both gates and told them to let them attack and use the advantage of Nel’s fortifications and to use iron tipped arrows as they proved worth the struggle to make them in the past. Also I was hoping for some help of the White Lily. Lywn, Tyrith and Richelle had to be somewhere in or around town. And knowing Tyrith she’d smell the upcoming battle miles away. Also they had to take care of any scouts as they were still after something in Nel. Something was here that “he” could not lay his hands on personally. Something was keeping him from it and therefore he sent his men to take Nel. This way they could easily look for whatever he is after and retrieve it. This was not my main concern right now though. I had to coordinate the little troops we had to hold Nel and not let them take it. His men could be already in town and look after it or might already found it and just waiting for the doors to open for them again.

Once most things were settled, and hey, the mayor gave me the responsibility for Nel’s defense; more or less. When I gave commands to the one guard who brought these great news to us he looked a little irritated over to the mayor but he simply nodded like I was in charge now. Together with Caerwyn and Fleur I hurried over to the north gate to help with the defenses. The three of us are well trained and fighting a few constructs won’t be all too hard, or so I thought. These constructs were tough and not easily defeated. I was glad that Tyrith and Lywn were with me. Oddly I mostly only see them when things are totally screwed up. Do I seek trouble or does it seek me? However, Richelle was not seen in Nel and she was probably in our hideout, still decorating. The thing was though; Sashka most likely hid the Heartstone in her old hideout which was now the base of the White Lily, or going to be at last. Richelle was in dire danger. So while I was still discussing things with Lywn, a messenger hurried over and gave me to know that adventurers arrived at the southern gate and helped defending it against those masses of constructs. Even though I knew my place was here I had to save Richelle. Without Richelle I wouldn’t be who I am these days and I really owe her a lot. Besides I still had to settle something with Sashka. I therefore ordered the messenger to send some of the guards from the south gate over to the north and told Lywn that she was in charge now. I knew the guards were not as strong as Lywn, Tyrith and the others, but screw it. Richelle was important and I had to stop Sashka anyway. I knew Lywn could hold the gate together with the others. She’s a good woman and knows what she wants. I grabbed Caerwyn and together we ran to Sashka’s old hideout. When we got there we found the interior all destroyed and naturally, also some constructs were left as guards. Swell. Richelle’s life depended on me as I knew Sashka would kill her just to tick me off so we had to make pace.

Caerwyn and I fought the constructs as best as we could, not to mention some more of Sashka’s men. I knew I had to stop her to stop this madness. My blade tasted a lot of blood and I was bathed in it. There were a lot of guards and we sometimes had a hard time to defeat them all. Luckily Caerwyn is well trained with his bow and I had some exquisite training already, thanks to Lydia and to Richelle. I dodged their blows, moved quickly behind them and aimed for their less protected areas. We pressed on and we soon got to the main hall where we were heavily attacked and I was breathing heavily, not to mention all my wounds and bruised. It was hard to say if it was my blood or from my enemies I already killed on my way to get here. The fight was long and exhausting but we finally made it. Sashka had to be here somewhere and Richelle, too. I so hoped she was still alive.

It was quiet and I was catching my breath, as was Caerwyn. The former battles certainly took its toll. I called her name while I slowly headed inside the hall. She had to be here. I called her name several times and then I spotted her, eyeing my mockingly. She really loved me as much as I loved her. So after some chit-chat we talked business. She wanted me to let her pass and don’t bother about it anymore. It’d be the healthiest thing for me right now. I told her to screw it. No way she’d walk past me. I told her to drop it as she was just a tool for him as well and she was worthless without the stone. He’d drop her once he got what he wanted. Somehow she knew, or at least I got the impression of it. She gave me to know I should be afraid of him and don’t continue making jokes about him. Well, I told her he was probably a small brat and guess; she did not really like me calling him such names. She ordered me once more to let her pass and I shot back that I won’t pass her while I am still alive. It had to come to an end and she did not want to hand me the stone over either. We both cursed and went for a duel. Winner takes all. Well it means the winner takes the other one’s life, along with the stone.

Sashka charged in and opened the duel. I calmly waited for her to come in range of my rapier. I waited and got ready, trying to get a good balance on my blade. I struck, aiming for her mid. She fell, knocked down. I had advantage of the duel, leaped behind her and launched attack after attack, not letting her any time to get up again. A shot in the back while I was back dueling her and she fell down. Breathing flatly while blood flooded out of her body and coughed up some  more blood. With her last breath she cursed me. It was over. Sashka was no more. I am just a little annoyed she fell to Caerwyn’s arrow and not to a precise strike with my rapier. I searched her body and picked the Heartstone from her. But well, and thus the story ends, or so I thought.

I searched around for Richelle but did not spot her on sight. And then the earth started rumbling and I had to hold my balance. I turned around and saw something appearing right in front of us and close to Sashka. It looked terrifying, like something right out of the pits. Something I did not want to face at all. It was big and had black smoking wings. Its skin was blood-red and its eyes glowing evilly. It just stared at us, doing nothing. Caerwyn tried to shroud us but it kept staring right through it, eyeing every single motion of us. It did not attack which I was glad for. I somehow got the feeling that that thing was “him”. And it was probably watching the whole time. Well, according to Sashka it could hear me mocking the whole time, even when I called it names. I felt so little all of a sudden. I knew I could face quite some opponents, but such a creature? No way! To my surprise it just continued to stare at us before it picked up the lifeless Sashka and vanished again. Why it picked up her? I have no idea. I may have defeated Sashka, but I also summoned a way bigger threat and probably ed it off royally, too. Sometimes I just love how I screw up my life.

When we were on our way to head back out, Richelle showed up, all healthy. Richelle hid herself somewhere in the hideout and waiting for its end. I am glad she survived and together the three of us headed back to Nel, where the fights just came to an end and I got a report from Lywn. Many fell due to our absence but I could not help it, I had to save Richelle from certain death and I knew they would not take the town while some members of the White Lily were still defending it. Naturally I feel bad for everyone who fell under my command, but Plenarius already told me that this is the burden of a leader in a war. But at least the battle was over for now and the mayor shocked about the losses. I offered him to help with recruiting more, but he wanted to celebrate our victory with all those who participated in Nel. So the authorities, the adventurers who took care of the southern gate, the guards, and the White Lily. It was nice to see many faces again but I was elsewhere with my thoughts. I was already reflecting the fights, Sashka, the Heartstone and the fiend. I have no idea what is going to happen, but we have to be well prepared. “He” is still after something which is well hidden somewhere here in Nel and it simply won’t give up. I only wonder why he cannot get to it himself.

What a day. Nel was attacked by hundreds of constructs. I abandoned the defenses and went after Sashka to Lywn’s dislike, killed Sashka, saved Richelle, retrieved the Heartstone which is now in my little pouch together with the strange ring the shady mage handed me over for retrieving something out of the Haven mines, summoned an even bigger threat, might as well ed it off already, lost a lot of good guards in Nel and our hideout is now ruined and needs a lot of effort to repair the mess Sashka produced. But on the bright side I got free wine.

Oh well, let’s see how this is going to end...

*Phyress sighs again and puts everything aside before she falls into deep slumber.*

[Lily]

*With a slight smile Phyress takes a sip from her red wine before she sits down on her bed. She only sits there shortly, enjoying the one or other sip of wine before she stands up, paces around and finally settles down cross-legged on her bed, her journal in her lap.*

-Sunra, Junar 1, 1453-

I know I did not write for quite some time for. Checking my last entry I see I was deep in trouble with the recent happenings around Nel but at least nothing happened, yet so I was able to focus on other things, luckily. I really had to take some time off and so I did. Well I did not stay at home for the whole time, but it was nice enough not to think about “him” again. A lot of things happened in the past three years and I probably forgot most of the details already. I know a lot of things happened but I am trying to focus on the most important things.

Where do I start? I best start with the easy parts which include the one or other adventure. Actually there are two trips quite worth mentioning. Maran and I have been planning for quite some time to reach the emeralds deposit which run somewhere deep within the Deep. All I can say is, well, we failed two times and only got them when we headed there a third time. The trip was very interesting and I have seen a lot of strange creatures. I am just glad we had an excellent party with us, like Maran, Fleur, G’ork, Chakar, Oma and Galathea. All went smoothly and way better than the first two times and we naturally learned from our mistakes we did at the final area where, according to Maran’s map, the veins should run. I tell you, I rather fight vampires than one of these bone yards we had to face and were the reason we had to turn around the first time. It looks like a huge golem made out of bones and it was pretty darn tough. I had no chance to hurt it with my rapier. I know it is a piercing weapon but even then I can kill skeletons. But for this one I had to try an old mace I found at some point and Oma enchanted it for me. Hitting was not the problem but it seemed like I could not really harm it with a blunt weapon either. As I always tell everyone: I am not strong and fragile. And well, I really am. I don’t have a lot of strength, but I take advantage of my opponent’s weaknesses and I am quite agile and trained with light finesse weapons, especially my beloved rapiers. However, with G’ork and Maran it was no problem at all. They killed a few bone yards while I just examined the situation and paid attention to the ongoing battle. Unfortunately I was not able to spot any weak points. Hard to as they don’t feel any pain, being animated and all. We pressed on and soon found ourselves close to the veins and now we had to be extremely careful and we hopeful learned from the mistakes we did last time. This time we stuck together and attacked them one by one and it was almost too easy, you bet. Even though all of the vampires and elementals fell to our blades and magic, the vampires know how to fight with the rapier and I fear I would not survive a duel against one. They are very quick on their feet and know to aim for ones weak and less armored parts. I only survived as we all fought them off as an unit, as it should be. Once they were all defeated we went for the deposits and mined as much emeralds as we were able to find. Once we chiseled all we were able to spot we made our way back out without any problems. We finally did it and in the end every one of us got two raw emeralds!

The other expedition worth being mentioned was rather spontaneous. One day I went to the Crossroads in the Thunderpeaks where I found some adventures who were just preparing for an expedition to the Spikes. I did not know what to expect but when I was asked to join them I could not deny the offer and besides I was looking for an adventure anyway. I recognized some of the areas as we walked towards our set destination. We had to make our way through the cave filled with Werewolves or wolves in general. I don’t really know. All I know is that they once killed me already when I headed this way together with G’ork and Shamur. This time we were more adventurers and I also learned from my mistakes and knew when to engage or when to fall back. Also I was doing better with my rapier than before, hence my training during all these years. Once we defeated all the wolves we left the cave again and found ourselves back on the mountains where we had to face some spiders to make our way past them. Compared to the wolves the spiders were a rather easy kill. I leaped into them and knocked them down easily, not to mention I was immune to their poison. And finally I got to see Arcs. I heard a lot about the Arcs and still wanted to see them with my own eyes and even wanted to test my blade on them. It is said they are quite tough and fierce. They are as tall as the ones I used to face in the Great Forest, but those are nothing compared to the Arcs. We had to be very careful. One alone still gave us a hell of a fight but we worked well together as a team and we manages to take out some guards and make it into their fortress, apparently where it is said their King Essrantor reigns. Well we were smart enough and not storm into his throne room. Even though I like the thrill, I prefer to survive a deadly encounter and I was not all too keen on facing a king of giants just yet. Not to mention that he will only be gone for some time and then return. From what I heard it has to do with some pillars. As long as they exist and are not destroyed he will continue on living. Oddly this reminds me somehow of Del Alo’rion, just that he had some crystal and not some pillars on his island. Well, Del Alo’rion is long gone by now and I still have a shiver of it on me I don’t dare to use. Anyway, as we all were not all too keen on facing Essrantor and his guards we went out again and G’ork continued to lead us deep into the mountains and we soon found ourselves in the mountains again.

This time it looked like some ancient dwarfish ruins. It was breathtaking. Runes were everywhere and sometimes I was not able to see the ground under me as they mined that deep! But the whole thing was a bloody maze! Can’t they build straight bridges? Sometimes I felt like I was running in circles and sometimes I did not know if I was here already or not. Finding the way through the maze was one thing, facing the remains of the dwarfish culture which once resided here was a whole different thing. We mostly met some of their spirits, elementals, odd dwarves who seemed to burn and naturally, oh wonder, constructs. Really, I have seen enough constructs on the defense of Nel already. I don’t need to fight them anymore, really! I was glad there were enough others around to keep me alive. I must have been a real burden to them as I got hit several times. The problem was that I leaped into the dwarves and other odd creatures several times and naturally end up being surrounded by them. Anyway, at some point we finally found the way and soon found ourselves in a huge hall, written all over with runes. The view was lovely if you did not mind the company we got there. Somehow the hall was filled with guards, mostly constructs and only there to prevent adventurers like us to intrude. I soon found out why: Mithril veins run through this hall, among titanium ones. But there was just one slight problem. The mithril was on one side and we were on the other and in between all these guards we had to face to reach the veins. As I did not do a good job on harming those golems which is a result of me using a rapier and no hammer, I focused on knocking them down which worked wonders. So while they damaged those things I helped by knocking them down. Was good for our health and we finally made it to the veins, whereas we mined it quickly as we did not really want to face the guards again. So once we finished our work we hurried out again. Well, we wanted to as there were already guards coming from anywhere. They could have simply asked us to leave but instead they attacked and chaos broke out and things went crazy. Chakar and G’ork gave us all instructions to not rush through the door and out of the hall. Seems two were not able to listen well. At some point they were simply gone but I had to focus on the battle anyway and helped with knocking them down so the others could defeat the guards. Once we finished them off we found the remains of the two who tried to flee. They were dead. Really it was their own fault and they played with our lives, too. I did not really know them anyway so it did not really matter to me. It is quite odd what all this killing can do to one. You almost kill someone or something on your daily basis and don’t even arch a brow. A comrade you hardly know gets killed and you don’t really care but if someone close to you is in danger or dies hell breaks loose and you give everything to save or avenge one. However, even without the two the rest of us made it out alive and we divided what we found and mined and I managed to get a hold of two mithril nuggets on my own. I just need more nuggets so I can get a new set of reinforced clothing made out of it. I rather invest it into some clothing than a blade. An ingot takes 4 nuggets and for a rapier one needs around four or five ingots after all. And try to get to such an amount if everyone wants a share of mithril as well. So I rather head there another day and try to get three more nuggets for my clothing. Well, I still got some time left anyway as one needs to be rather skilled to make use of such lovely clothing and I am afraid I am not that good, yet. I just need to keep up my training, even though I only make slow progress. Right now it is rather hard to focus on it but I want to improve my acrobatic attack. That’s why I use it often these days, like back in the dwarfish ruins.

Lately I have been hanging around with Caerwyn a lot. I don’t know, but we get quite well together and everyone respects the other. He certainly did not have an easy time with all this love affairs and I am rather glad I am not really interested in starting anything after Snagnor pulled that stunt on me and betrayed and almost killed me. While our friendship grew stronger I got to know that he once was engaged with Amanda. Somehow Razeriem interfered and they broke up or something. I did not really ask about the reasons and I don’t think I want to know about it at all. It is something between them after all. All I know is he cannot stand Razeriem for that reason but is still in good terms with Amanda who is now Storold’s wife. I also got to know he once was Jaelle’s love-toy, just like Trouble. It seems like every male adventurer had something going on with her already. Could be my sources are wrong on it though, but I had some experience with her as well and all I will say is she has soft lips and knows how to kiss. And I am so not into her! Even though most men only know how to hurt my feeling I won’t turn all homosexual. That would not be me. On that note I notice many female adventurers are not straight and you only see that trend with female ones. The men are always looking for women and most women are looking after women, too. Adventurers can be quite an odd bunch. However, the other day Caerwyn and I moved as close to the realm of Milara as possible. Even though the contract between Milara and Plenarius is no longer valid the border still gives me creeps and I don’t really want to know what I would find on his land. Bet you he still got some remaining troops of Blood’s forces and after my encounter back at the White Lily’s hideout I am trying to avoid them. I don’t feel all warm and fuzzy with one on my tail already. Maybe at some point I will try to enter his territory just to see what he is up to. No one really knows what he is about to do and everyone is still afraid he will strike at us one day. Besides that I helped Caerwyn with coal for his crystal rods. Somehow he cannot face the elementals in the Wolfswood which guard the coal on his own. I also had to swing the pick with brute force as he is not that strong as I imagined. He is a great and skilled archer, but if he has to swing a pick, he loses. But well, then he got me to help, didn’t he?

Something also happened that made cheer and cry at the same time. Trouble returned. No, not trouble in general, but Trouble Tempest! The one I once loved and I thought I did not love him anymore and in no way I liked the way he showed himself up when I met him at Castle Mask. First he did not want to be recognized by me, then he was trying to avoid me and then he was trying to stun me with his magic. Well, just to check if it was not a ghost or illusion I kicked him where it really hurts; between his thighs. Well, not to mention I was pretty ed by him trying to stun me. The way he screamed and curled up on the ground though left no doubts it was really him and you bet, he felt it for days. I took care of it. Days later I met him in the tavern in Lor and a rather pleasant talk turned into us shouting at each other. To be blunt here, I told him I once loved him and his appearance confused me slightly and some feelings stirred up again. Our fight was about that he just slept with any women and did not give love a chance at all. That’s why I did not start anything with him and clearly he did not change at all regarding that matter. Well, his choice. I am only going to give myself to someone who truly loves me. At least we now know where we stand and can talk to each other again and it cleared quite some things up: I don’t love him anymore. Thinking about it now it is probably the best for both of us. We are merely friends so we can tease and shout at each other as much as we like without risking all too much. I know I cannot pull every stunt on him but well, most he will survive and our friendship won’t break that easily.

Now to mention something way more positive. I got a new blade from Trouble! It is quite a lovely rapier and it has a special coating on it which makes fighting evil aligned opponents a lot easier. I don’t know how it works in detail but if the coating gets in contacts with such an opponent a flame starts to rise and burns my opponent. If it was not good enough, I still had my two raw emeralds and I once already traded Maran a crystal rod of the fourth tier. So I handed him one of my emeralds and also handed him some platinum as payment so he would make some enchantment for my blade. After a week we had all ingredients and he successfully made it! The original blade was called “Mercykiller” and I adopted its name, kind of. I call my blade “Maiden’s Mercy” now. I already had plenty of opportunities to test it and it is lovely. Balancing wise it is not different from my old adamantium one, just the coating adds something really special to it and I know I will benefit from it in future as well.

However, I think this entry sums up pretty much what I have been doing in the past three years and I really hope for my next entry I will find time soon enough. Trying to write down what you did during three whole years is kind of hard, even to me. I just hope I will make some progress with my training and I really hope I won’t have to face that Pit Dweller again. I know I already cannot stand “him” and what he is after. Why am I always causing trouble?

*Phyress sighs slightly as she closes her journal. She taps her lower lip, eyeing the journal in her lap and after a moment she puts it back into her bag before she leaves her room to talk to her parents.*

[Lily]

*Phyress opens the door to her room at her parent’s house, steps into her rums and slams the door behind her. In her hands she holds a pair of new bracers and a smile is seen on her face, even though it seems like something is terribly bugging her. After she carefully puts them on her desk she takes off her formal dress and throws it on her bed. After she takes on some more casual clothes, she sits down cross-legged on her bed, right next to her dress, grabs the journal from under her bed and starts writing a new entry.*

-Mulnari, Seplar 23, 1455-

You don’t see me in a formal dress all too often, although there are occasions where I put such dresses on. Naturally I own several dresses and even more clothes or armor, but then for some things you rather look formal, like I did the other night and it was a very special occasion, at least to me, Richelle, Lywn and Tyrith. But well, before I write down how my night was I should start writing up the recent events from the beginning.

It has been quite some time since I saved Nel from Sashka’s forces, saved the kidnapped Jarred and saved Nel from Sashka again. Even though she seemed to be a tool back in time, controlled by one of the Ash’Khen, I stopped the second assault on Nel as well and also saved Richelle when Sashka was after the Heartstone which she hid in her old hideout where Richelle was doing some decorating. Oh and Ash’Khen? Basically Sashka was the tool of one as for some reason they were not able to enter Nel by themselves and therefore they recruited Sashka to do their work and find whatever they were after. Luckily I was able to stop Sashka back then. A few moments later a pit fiend showed up and took her dead body with it. While doing so the fiend left a scorch mark I did not took interest in at given time. To me it just seemed like the remains of a teleportation spell of some sorts so I did not really think about it, but things changed!

In the past few months rumors were spreading about pit fiends roaming these lands, mostly on Alindor and centered in the Sun Kingdom, especially around Lake Freis and Nel, but there were also sightings of them at the Dun Lake on Belinara, the spider cave close to Miritrix, and also the one or other place over on Dregar or Mistone. Also adventurers were saying that one fiend was seen on Molten Island. According to my sources, hence my sources were also attacked by them, they appeared all of a sudden in front of them, in a haze of fire and heat which was a result of the teleportation spell I guess, asked where they were and then attacked any people nearby, like Lance and Oma. I asked around for information regarding these sightings and soon found out that they looked like the one I and Caerwyn faced in Sashka’s old hideout. As there were only single fiends seen and never in a group I assumed that it was the very same I already knew. Well I don’t know it by name but you know because it did not invite me for tea, but you get the point. Due to the circumstances and them or it attacking innocent bystanders I posted several notes around Layonara, warning everyone about the recent attacks and to avoid these and naturally to report any sightings back to me. Argali helped me a lot in my investigations as several adventurers were telling her the rumors and she also had some ideas about it. For every scorch mark that was reported we pinned it on a map of Layonara. Basically most of them were around Nel, but we could not find any clear structure behind it. It probably had to do with the assault on Nel as one of these wanted to bring down Nel and get in possession of whatever it was after.

Caerwyn was also very helpful as we both heard about a scorch mark on the way from Mariner’s Hold to Fort Homestead. He investigated into this scorch mark and could not find anything about it until he examined it for the Al’Noth. Even though he has not the most knowledge about the Al’Noth he was able to feel the magic surrounding it, but he was not able to determine anything further. I sent a letter to Ell and asked her to do some research at Aragen’s Temple. Enclosed was a sketch of the pit dweller I saw back in the hideout. As the sightings were all over Layonara I called for a meeting of adventurers to discuss the sightings and maybe even find a clue. We knew almost nothing and probably the one knew more than the other regarding a specific sighting and whatsoever. Even before we held the meeting Trouble and I spotted another scorch mark in the spider cave. Trouble did not want to believe my story at first, but then he examined the mark for me once more. All of a sudden he backed off and told me he never wanted to get anywhere close to the mark again. I asked him what the matter was and he told me I was right about the mark. He could not tell me any specific about the mark, but he told me it was terribly out of place and should not belong to this plane. Well, so much for this. We now knew that it was something rather bad and pretty much out of place. And then it was time for the meeting.

We held the meeting in Mariner’s Hold and many adventurers showed up, and to my luck many known and loved faces, like Caerwyn, Fleur, Oma, Argali and even more. There are some people I trust more and some less. And these I can really trust without them blaming me for anything. Anyway, the meeting! We exchanged information regarding the sightings of the fiends and we got to know that they showed up all over Layonara, even though most were centered on Alindor. Well, no surprise if you ask me as I still thought it was only one pit dweller who still wanted to make it into Nel to get its fingers on whatever it was after. Unfortunately Ell did not find anything about the fiend at the library and my research did not go all too well, either. While I searched through the archives about anything that could be of interest for the pit dweller, I only found a note about an ancient project simply called “Project”. I made a copy of it nonetheless but I did not really think it of being valuable information. Anyway, while we were discussing about the nature of the fiends and their intentions and the question if it was just one or many, a guard of Nel approached our group and asked for one Miss Phyress Sylphide. Well, that’s me! He reported that there was a fresh scorch mark in the outskirts of Nel and that it was very fresh. Farmers who lived there reported the sighting to the council in Nel immediately and since I am in charge of the investigations in my home town a messenger was sent to me to inform me about the most recent sighting of a fiend around Nel. Together with those who were gathered he hurried over to said location with the messenger and spotted the scorch mark. While Oma and Fleur were examining the nature of the scorch mark together with other casters, we questioned the farmers who saw this strange occurrence of a fiend being summoned right in front on their land, scaring the hell out of them just with its presence, looking around, groaning and them disappearing again, leaving nothing but a scorch mark. They did not tell us anything new so I focused on those of us who are able to bend the Al’Noth to their will.

I don’t know what they did, but they did something very, very strange and from what I understood they wanted to reach the fiend through the mark and make it summon itself to the mark again. Don’t ask me, I have no idea about these things at all. Then without any warning something reached through the mark and showed up right in front of us. The arrogant little maiden Avariel. No, she isn’t really a maiden at all, not with her attitude, but then she was something like a holy warrior from another plane, like the fiends who showed up all over Layonara recently, seemingly to be in search for something. Well all I can say about her is that her name is Avariel and that she got wings and a fair skin. Besides that she is an arrogant little thing and does not think of us human all too highly. However, she showed up as we were screwing around with her marker. Apparently the scorch marks function as some kind of markers for them. The “maidens” and the pit dwellers are in some kind of war and the fiends fled from their home plane and made it up to our world. From Avariel we know that there are nine fiends in total. She almost wanted to vanish again as we did not have any valuable information for her, besides that she thought we were not worth wasting her time anyway. This changed when I told her I knew what at least one of them was after and gestured towards the direction of Nel which for some reason they cannot enter. Avariel told me there is some kind of barrier around it but she did not really seem to care about it. She did not seem to care about us or our world at all, but then she probably did not know adventurers like us before. It may be her battle and she was sent from her plane to ours to defeat these fiends, but then it is our world and at least I dislike if others take decisions for me which might also be world-altering. Before she finally vanished she performed some kind of ritual which made us her eyes. Yeah I know it is a rather creepy thought that she can see everything I see, even in very private and intimate moments. She told us she could only see through our eyes when one of the nine were around us, sense its presence and then hurry over to defeat it. Not that such a thing is really new to me as I am already the eyes of some cult, although only if I wear the ring one of the servants gave to me for recovering some crystal for his master back in Haven when I was still young and inexperienced. Oh well, looks like next I am going to be someone’s nose or mouth, or skin or whatever. Anyway, before Avariel faded away we told her that we would do our own investigations as this was our world after all. She simply shrugged at us as we were nothing more than pesky insects to her after all and wouldn’t be of any help to her, other than being her eyes and we were not allowed to mess around with her marks again.

Now knowing the name of my “enemy” I did some researched about them again, but neither I nor Ell were successful in our researches. It was like there was no knowledge accessible about the Ash’Khen at all. We did not know any of their weaknesses, the pit they came from, nor their conflict with the “maidens”. All I knew was that at least one of them wanted to take over Nel and search for whatever it was after. That could be a place, a weapon or a powerful artifact. I thought of the latter and I now knew for sure that there was something worth looking for in Nel and that this something is probably the key for an easy solution in this affair. Knowing Nel was still in danger I had to find a way to secure the city somehow. But how? The White Lily still consisted in its three members plus me and the guards were still weakened from the last attack and could probably not stand another assault on its own. I thought about it for days and then I got a brilliant idea! Why not fight them back with their own weapons? I knew there were at least three factories where they built all those powerful constructs and I still had the Heartstone I picked up from Sashka’s body before the fiend took her with it. There had to be a way to reprogram the still inactive constructs and let them defend Nel from any attackers. I did a little research and I thought it as best to contact the Goranites about it. If it is about technique and constructs they are your best bet. Therefore I sent a letter to the Windmill Academy which is located by the Rusty River here on Alindor. Ah well, here is the copy of the letter I sent, and their response:

Dear followers of the Father Invention,

Recently there have been some strange sightings around the city of Nel and the Lake Freis within the Sun Kingdom. Also there have been more Pit Dwellers reported on Belinara and I bet even on other continents as well. The Fiends are actually not the main reason I write this letter to you. You receive this letter as I need your wisdom and experience with some constructs

A few years ago Nel has been under assault of some bandits, as well as constructs who worked for one of the Pit Dwellers which now roam around in these lands. These constructs can, from what I know, be activated with a certain device, called the Heartstone, which is currently in my possession.

I fear Nel will be under attack shortly again as the Fiend was looking for something which is located somewhere within the city walls. Just no one knows what it really is. We only know it cannot get to it itself and therefore Nel was already attacked once. As the lines of the guards are still weakened and not strong enough to hold the city once more, I am asking you to examine one still intact, yet deactivated, construct. My plan is to make them guard the city, instead of attacking it and I need your help to "re-program" them.

I know you are blessed with the knowledge about constructs and golems and I would really appreciate if you could send one of your engineers to Nel. Also I could arrange an escort if you prefer. Naturally I would donate to your academy and pay for anything you need, given you answer my call and aid me in this matter. For your help I will also make sure you receive at least one still intact construct for your academy. I don't know if they are of good quality but I bet they are fine enough for engineering and studying.

I write you this letter on behalf of the council of Nel and the White Lily.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,
Phyress Sylphide

Dear Miss Phyress,

It is with some intrigue I reply to this. We did of course hear of the recent attack by said golems and constructs, and had intended on sending a representative to investigate, however word soon reached us the attack was over swiftly.

We will be sending one of our students to you, a Brimwattle Buller, to investigate.

He will advise once he reaches Nel, and if you could please give him access to said constructs, and if possible, any remains of those also destroyed for reverse-engineering purposes, and also any tools and equipment he may need.

Reprogramming is always a possibility, although it does depend on the form of programming used and how it was inserted.
Our representative will of course endeavor to make that a possibility.

For the sparkle of invention,

The Goranite Clergy.

You bet I was very happy to receive such a reply. I therefore contacted Jerred of the Purple Worm Trading Company as he still owes me the one or other favor for first securing the trading routes around Nel and secondly saving him from certain death when he was kidnapped to force the council of Nel to release Sashka in exchange for his life. So I moved with Jerred, Richelle, Tyrith, Lywn and some others to one of the factories and together we transported one still intact and two destroyed constructs to our hideout. It was the safest place available as the citizens are not all too keen on the constructs after the attack, yet. Also very few even knew about the hideout and then it was secured by Richelle, Lywn and Tyrith. Once we finished all the preparations I sent another letter to the Goranite Clergy, stating we had everything prepared and Mister Buller could come over to Nel for his researches. A few weeks later the cute little gnome arrived and we showed him the golems and he immediately started his research. We gave him everything he needed so he was able to make good progress with his examinations about the constructs and their activation by using the Heartstone.

It took him some time but eventually he sent a messenger to me while I was in Mariner’s Hold with Caerwyn, Argali and Fleur. We were currently discussing the scorch marks when the messenger interrupted and handed me a note from Brimwattle. It seemed like he made quite some progress and told me to move over to the hideout so he could show me his results. So together with Argali, Caerwyn and Fleur I hurried over to the hideout where the gnome was pacing around, waiting for us, all eager to let me know about his results. We followed him to the room where I once defeated Sashka in our duel and in front of us we saw a huge activated constructs, seemingly alive and we took a step back when we saw it. It was the very same golem we moved over here a few weeks ago, but now it came alive! Mister Buller told us not to worry as he managed to reprogram and to activate it. He also told me we no longer need the Heartstone to activate the constructs he modified. They would listen to whoever he programmed them for. The constructs looked lovely and this one was modified to obey to his commands. He showed us it worked properly before we started talking business. As part of our deal this construct was going to be property of the Windmill Academy, along with the remains of the destroyed constructs for further studies. So while we were still in the hideout, discussing even more technical details with Brimwattle, an exhausted messenger approached and gave me to know that he had urgent news from Richelle. She was on a scouting mission when she saw something that ought to need my fullest attention. I told the messenger to move it already and together with Argali, Caerwyn and Fleur I followed the man over to Richelle’s position. Even before we saw Richelle all of us could see that there was something terribly wrong around Nel. There was an unnatural darkness covering the back of a mountain close to Nel. Usually there is nothing important about this mountain, but now the backside was shrouded by a darkness that rendered everything pitch-black. Carefully we made our way over to Richelle’s position and she told me what was going on here.

Richelle was just patrolling with some guard outside of Nel when she saw that unnatural darkness and headed for it. She told us that she saw some movements into the mountain. Inside the mountain? Well as far as I knew there was no entrance I was aware of, but then I stood corrected by Richelle. The ones who made it inside used some Hulks and dug some sort of tunnel into the mountain. We did not know why they were doing it. We only knew that on the other side of the mountain was Nel and seeing the troops were armed we were not all too positive about their intentions. Some of them were undead, too! Richelle wanted to let me know before we started taking any actions. We agreed on attacking this threat. Richelle and the guards took the right flank, Argali, Fleur, Caerwyn and I took the left. We sneaked up upon them, using the shadows and got them by surprise. It was a clean and fast battle and most of them did not realize until it was over for them. Sadly a few of our guards died, too. Their deaths should not have happened but they will be honored for their deeds, because of what they died for, and trust me, their deaths probably saved a lot of other lives. Still it should not have happened. But then we had to fight off dwarves, some undead creatures, mercenaries and some constructs as well. I am glad we had Argali with us as she was able to stand the ground easily and made it possible for me to leap attacks into the constructs that were by far the biggest threat. Once the battle was over Richelle took care of the wounded and dead guards of Nel, while my team entered the tunnel the dug into the mountain. We headed down the tunnel for what seems like days and soon found ourselves in a rather large cave-system which was also guarded by constructs and other mercenaries. The mercenaries somehow looked like Sashka’s former allies, but then she was long dead already. I am just glad I had a trained group with me so we made it easily through all the guards and pressed on. On our way deeper into the mountain we found some dead guards and also some destroyed constructs. It seemed like they either did not have their Hulks under control, or they met some sort of resistance down here as well. Not that I really cared about their fate at all.

We made our way through the different caves and soon found us in front of another tunnel again which we naturally followed down. The deeper we moved in, the creepier and more unnatural it became. The solid rock turned soon into man-made walls. This one looked like an almost forgotten realm and was pretty much out of place if you ask me. The whole place had an eerie feeling about it and it looked ancient. Naturally to sum the eerie feeling up we had to put some undead creatures back to rest who were also roaming about. Among these creatures it was like a shadow was watching us and luring us farther in. When we passed the ruins of what was once a tower of some sorts, we found a closed door which was trapped. While Argali, Caerwyn and Fleur were securing me I picked the lock with some effort and opened the door. Just when I opened it the shadow showed itself in front of the ruins! It gestured me to fully open the door and to follow the hallway behind it. It really tried to lure me in, like it wanted us to move through that door, for whatever reason and purpose. But do I trust a shadow easily? I tried to talk to it, but it only replied “Come .... Seeeee” while it gestured towards the door. Fleur slowly approached me from behind and whispered into my ear that this is not a shadow, but someone else. I nodded to her and she backed up a little again. I tried to get to know more about the shadow but it was not very talkative at all. And then it showed itself. It either dropped its illusion or Fleur caused this by dispelling the illusion. But what I now saw made me gasp. Sashka! Someone must really hate me for having me to face her again! It was Sashka in flesh! Well, more or less as she did not look all too alive any longer. As I already said, after she died one of the Ash’Khen took her lifeless body with it to wherever they are hiding and it seems like they reanimated her, not resurrected her. She looked a bit different now, but she was still the same old, blaming me for what happened to her. It seems like the Ash’Khen only have power over the dead and not the living so they were only able to bring her back as an undead creature and not as a human being as she was before. But her attitude did not change at all. She was still working for those fiends and she apparently knew a lot more about this place than all of us four knew together. She thanked me for opening the one door as in her form she was not able to do it as it was warded against undead creatures or so and she needed me to open it for her. And now it was on her to lift the second ward. Second ward? Well we followed her to the second door through the hallway and stopped in front of it. She told us to open the door and so we did. I opened the door and peeked through the opening and got almost blinded by what I saw.

In front of me I saw a huge chamber with some sort of a magical ward, enclosing the center of it in a perfect circle. A platform with some sort of a teleport was located in the middle of the chamber. To my left there also was a rather large crystal located, also inside the protected circle. Sashka told us that no one alive is able to break the circle. Only undead creatures or constructs may be able to break it and she needed us to break the first one so she could break this. She told us that once she takes a step into it the protection will fall and the Ash’Khen will show up and step through the portal. The Ash’Khen built this chamber centuries ago as some sort of an escape route and therefore is a one-way-only portal. Once they all stepped through it they would close it from the other side which would result in the destruction of Nel. Swell. From what she told us I got to know that the citizens of Nel were not all too happy with a portal set up by fiends right under their beloved city. Therefore their most powerful spellcasters set up a protecting-circle that prevented them to enter it. The portal itself draws its power from the crystal which is also enclosed by the ward. So once Sashka lets the still remaining ward fall down hell will break loose and the Ash’Khen will destroy Nel by closing the portal behind them. Lovely. I think Sashka loves to torture others and see their helpless faces when she confronts them with such news. To tease us even more she gave us an hour to think of our next steps wisely before she would finally lift the last remaining spell.

Fleur and Caerwyn started studying the nature of the spell but they could not really find out anything about it that Sashka already told us. She also seemed way too sure about our failure and was only waiting for us to make a mistake which would be our certain death and would also mean the end of Nel and all its innocent citizens. But how to proceed from here? We thought about a way to disable the portal without bringing the protection against the Ash’Khen down. We thought about a precise placed arrow on the crystal but it was deemed to fail or bring down the barrier which was a big no-no. Also we thought about bringing it down for a few seconds so we could run to the crystal, destroy it and then activate the barrier again. She had a lot of ideas but they were connected with too many risk und simply not doable. Even if we did not do anything it would put Nel into great danger as she fiends want to use this portal direly as the maidens cut their way off to leave this plane on their own. I don’t know how they did it but the portal they set up centuries ago seemed to be their only way to safety again. We were still discussing when our time was over and we heard Sashka slowly making her way towards all, snickering the whole time. She asked me if we came up with a decision, knowing we did not have a clue about what do at all. She loved to see us this way and you bet she enjoyed it. It was like the sweet essence of life to her. She was the last one I wanted to ask for assistance to strike a deal with her masters by breaking the ward for her, letting them use the portal and to leave the closing of the portal to us, but she simply laughed at my proposal and reminded us about us being Avariel’s eyes. She also was kind enough to let us know that the Ash’Khen will soon find a way to get rid of her. Not that I really like Avariel, but being her eyes rendered us more or less safe of them. They were not all too keen on facing Avariel just yet. And she also was kind enough to remind me about me being responsible for her death so she would not help me saving Nel at all. She just wanted to see me desperate, trying to find a way out.

She made some gestures and all of a sudden we were surrounded by several of her undead minions which attacked us immediately, while she slowly walked toward the barrier. I saw her grinning at me while she passed me slowly, fully aware I was busy staying alive and fighting off her minion. Luckily Argali stepped up and focused on my opponent, too, so I leaped an attack into Sashka. It was a powerful attack, but Sashka did not seem to be bothered at all and simply arched a brow at me with a mischievous grin on her lips. She still stood there, likely unharmed and not even knocked down to her behind! I knock Primals down with such an attack! But what does she do? She just kept in grinning at me, like I was no threat to her at all. And then she engaged. I fought her before, but it was nothing compared to our previous fight before! She was darn strong and I had problems to block her attacks, not to mention being able to find a weak spot in her defense and take advantage of it. I know I am not bad with my rapier, but the elegance which what she wanted to end my life, making it slow and painful though, was impressive and shocking at the same time. She gave me a hard time and slowly she wounded me more and more. When I was already bleeding heavily she just stood in front of me, grinning while I fought for my very life. No, I could not die! Not in this moment and never to her! I was her successor in the past and I would not allow her to kill me! Not now! Not her! I felt weak due to my lack of blood and with every heartbeat more of it was pouring out of my veins. There I was, kneeling in front of her more dead than alive and her over me, hardly even scratched. I was no match to her, not alone. All of a sudden I felt power surge through me, renewing my whole body and I leaped another attack into her. This time I got her by surprise and almost managed to knock her down. Caerwyn threw a potion at me and saved my life, while Fleur and Argali fought off her remaining servants and now they were focusing Sashka as well. Even with combined forces she gave us a very hard time and I did not bleed that much for a good time and to be honest, it is nothing I’d wish my worst enemies and that should mean a lot! We fought her off for what seemed like ages until we finally pierced through her. With a look of surprise and something that almost looked like peace she ended up on my blade before she turned to dust and fell to ground. I picked up some of the dust before the wind blew it away and it was creepy when her remains seemed to linger around me for a short moment before it finally got carried away. She was gone forever now.

Sashka. I will never forget her. As much as I hated her, I respected her. I know some would frown up upon this, seeing all the trouble she caused in her life, especially around Nel with her attacks on caravans, the kidnapping of Jerred, the assault on Nel and probably some more unknown deeds I don’t even want to think about. I think I don’t have to explain how much I hated her for what she did. But why do I respect her? Well I mainly respect her for who she was if you don’t look on all the crimes she did in her whole life. She was skilled with the rapier like I am and always had a set goal in mind. Unfortunately it differed from my goals so we did not go along all too well. She knew what she wanted and took every necessary step to reach it. She was ambitious like I am. She once told me we were like sisters and not all too different. Both of us know what we want and if we really want something bad, we try everything to reach it. We were much alike. Our only big difference was that she was on the one side of the blade, I am on the other. If things were different it might have ended up the other way. I wish ending her life was a pleasure for me, but in fact it was not. I felt pity for her. Being an undead creature is nothing you really want, unless you are a crazy mage and want to enter lich-hood. I am not all too certain she wished to live the life the Ash’Khen chose for her. By killing her I released her and I think she did not mind. We are much alike and I am rather dead than being a living dead. It is a horrible thought. Rest in peace, Sashka. I respected you and will never forget what trouble you caused.

Once Sashka was dead we decided on leaving this place for now. We still had no idea what to do next as without Sashka we had no connection to the Ash’Khen and at some point they would simply try to burn down Nel or send some stupid lackey to break the barrier for them. Well that unlucky person won’t survive it and the ward will rip said person apart, but it will also disable the barrier which means the Ash’Khen will set up a nice firework all over Nel. Alright, we now had some answers, but even more unanswered questions now. Oh joy. Before we departed we agreed on meeting again soon enough to discuss about how to proceed in this matter later on.

We agreed on meeting again in a week. That gave me enough time to hurry over to Nel and settle some things, as well as to sleep about some. I really had no clue about how to proceed from here. Every solution seemed to be a dead end and like all of our ideas ended up in a worst-case-scenario which means the destruction of Nel and I wanted to prevent that at any cost. One thing I took care of once I was back in Nel. As the entrance to the ancient chamber was now left without any protections it would be an easy thing for the Ash’Khen to send in a poor soul to bring down the last remaining protection that prevents the fiends to bring death over all Nel by stepping through the portal. I am glad Brimwattle managed to reprogram one of the constructs and he told me he could easily fix more for me, given the payment was alright. Furthermore it should not take him as long as last time as he now knew exactly how to proceed in reprogramming the constructs. This being said I asked Jerred for his help with the transport of two more constructs and he agreed on it. So together with the Purple Wyrm we transported two more constructs to our hideout where Brimwattle was already awaiting us with a gleam in his eyes. He probably is a devoted follower of Goran and loves to fix things for his life. I told him the constructs should only obey to Richelle, Lywn, Tyrith and me. Well naturally they should listen to him for the time being as well as I needed him to transport them over to the chamber after all. I instructed him to place one guardian at the first door and the second construct at the second door. They were also instructed to let no one dead or alive or undead for that matter walk past them and secure the place at any cost. Only members of the White Lily were allowed to pass. With these instructions I was able to sleep more easily at nights as the place was well guarded again and only a fool would try to sneak past them.

Other news about Connor also reached my ears. Rumors were going around that he was investigating in this matter as well. From what I heard he is an expert about portals and teleportation so he was a safe bet on the scorch marks. It did not take long and I received a letter from Connor to meet and exchange information about what was going on. He had some valuable information and so did I. Try to settle for a date with him though! Both of us are usually very busy so we did not find a suitable time just yet. Well fine with me as it gave me more time for further investigations and the meeting with Caerwyn, Fleur and Argali came up in a few days anyway. We send out word that we needed any help on a specific matter. We did not spread word about what we found as I did not want to have fools heading into the chamber and exploring it on their own. Well also I set up two guards of Nel in front of the entrance into the mountain. I had to prevent anyone from intruding and screwing things up big time. And then it was time for the second meeting.

Almost the same people showed up as last time and offered their help to investigate into this matter. There were a lot of questions and most of them I could answer easily about the maiden, the Ash’Khen and the portal. I also got to know that a group around Fleur managed to kill one of them so that left us with only eight Ash’Khen. From what I heard the fight was pretty touch and they only managed to defeat one single Ash’Khen with Avariel’s help. I don’t want to imagine how this group would stand against the unleashed force of eight Ash’Khen right in front of their goal, the ancient chamber. I somehow doubt Avariel would make the difference in such a battle. They would simply kill us all, reanimate one of us again, lead that someone through the barrier which causes it to fall and clear the path for the pit dwellers to use their portal to safety while hell breaks loose over Nel. A lovely thought, really. I told them they could best see it for themselves and together we made our way to the outskirts of Nel where we were stopped by two guards who were more or less paying attention and looked rather bored. Bet you behaved when I was threatening them with some combat training with Tyrith. You can say about Tyrith what you want, but you don’t want to face her in combat with her greatsword, like with Arngrim. The two would have made a cute couple and sometimes I think they are related in some kind of way. I never asked Arngrim about if he had any family or a daughter for that matter. However, they reported that Richelle came by earlier in company of a little fellow as well as two golems. According to the guards the little fellow was sitting on top of one golem and it pretty much suited Brimwattle. Lovely, so Richelle and Brimwattle fixed two golems in time and managed to position them down in the ancient halls. After Oma finished teasing the guards I eventually managed to lead the lot of us down into the caves.

I was rather glad when I saw the caves were populated by those Hulks again. It just made things harder for anyone trying to get to the ancient halls. Well alright we had to defeat them in order to descend further down but it was still good to have them secure the place, even if they were not aware of it.

Once down we saw something lurking in front of the first door with glowing eyes which pierced right through the eerie darkness surrounding this place. As we carefully moved closer to the thing I saw the outline of a huge construct. Lovely! It looked threatening and detected our presence like a hundred meter ahead of it. I told them to hold it for a moment and moved right under the massive construct. I knew it was one of our golems else I would not have moved that close to it, knowing it could tear me apart without any struggle. I ordered the construct to let only those currently present with me pass. It opened the door for us and I gestured everything to get through the door. Once they were on the other side I followed them and the construct closed the door behind us again. Bet you at least half of them were impressed by the construct and I was proud about what I reached so far. Sashka and I differ on that matter though. While she used the constructs to try to take over Nel, I use them to secure Nel. I know the guards at the entrance were not all too keen on them and after what happened a few years ago it really is understandable. However, we moved over to the second construct and I told it not to attack us and to protect the first door from the other side, so no one was able to leave or enter this hallway. This way we were able to do all the necessary researches without being be disturbed or interrupted by treasure hunters who made it past the probably sleeping guards at the entrance to the tunnel.

Once we were at the second door I told everyone not to make it past the doorwell. I did not want to risk anyone accidentally bringing down the barrier and death upon us. Well the one who brings it down won’t have to worry about it as the massive energy in the ward will rip him or her apart before he realizes what happens to him. And so the spellcasters started examining the ward and the portal itself. Long story short, we were unsuccessful and they came up with the same ideas as we had and did not find out all too many about the nature of the ward or portal either. The circle was probably set up by several mages and it was not easy to bring it down, yet doable. The trick was to bring it down long enough to destroy the portal and make it out alive. And if the Ash’Khen are aware of the destruction of the portal then death will reign over Nel anyway as they have nothing to lose and will use this plane as their fortress. What we did not notice last time though was a paining that shows the Ash’Khen forcing humans to build up the chamber for them. They have been on this plane centuries ago, but why? Did they expect the war with the maidens or have they been in conflict with them for centuries now? I honestly don’t know and I doubt Avariel will give me any hints. Besides, can she be trusted either? It seems like she is not telling the whole truth at all. There are too many things she knows and is not willing to share.

However, a few days later I was just in Nel at the Purple Wyrm Trading Company discussing the recent happenings with the fiends around Nel when the door to our room opened and a man entered who introduced himself as Connor. I think I saw him on the one or other occasion, like when Plenarius gathered those around him to the small pond above Haven to talk about the upcoming war and our preparations. Well I told him everything I found out in the past few weeks. I told him about our encounter with Avariel, but more important the hall which held the portal. Connor asked me if it was a room with four pillars, some steps to a podium and a portal on top of it. I was surprised he already knew about how the room looked like and I asked him whether he has been there or not. He told me he was, but was not at the same time. Someone try to understand mages, really. It actually made sense when he got into more details about it. Connor is an expert if it comes to portals and spells related to it and is probably the one with most knowledge about them. He told me that he was examining all those scorch marks on Layonara and that he was able to look through them. When he did so he always saw a glimpse of the room, before he was redirected elsewhere. All pointed to this one chamber and he thinks the ward I mentioned is the cause of their problems. It looks like the Ash’Khen tried to portal right into this ancient hall, but did not manage to get through the barrier that prevents them from entering it. This also explains why they always seemed lost when they showed up somewhere else on Layonara and asked where it was. It all makes sense now. They tried to make their way into the chamber by a teleportation spell, but it reflected and ended up somewhere else. Connor also asked me about my relation to Avariel and I told him I don’t really like her with her she is so almighty and us mortals being just lesser forms of life in this world. I am glad Connor thinks about her the same way as I do. He also told me she seemed to be frustrated she could not locate the place and Connor got the impression that she wanted to direly find that place. This also leads to another question. Does Avariel wish the place for themselves? Right now it seems like both sides wish the portal for themselves, just Avariel does not know about its location yet which I am glad for and the Ash’Khen already seem to know about its location, but did not find a way to get past the barrier, but keep on trying. Anyway, Connor and I agreed on doing a little more research before we head down to the chamber so he can get a full look on it and study the nature of the portal and the ward. Connor wanted to contact a few of his old friends and the Reaching. I wanted to search in the archives again for more valuable information, other than plans for working shifts and the like. Well I already did my research and I did not find anything more about its history, unfortunately. It is like no one besides the Ash’Khen know about this place. No name on the documents rang a bell either and as the project took place centuries ago I somehow doubt one of them is still alive. So all my hopes are one Connor for now. Maybe I should contact him again and ask if he found out anything about the place at all. And then we still have to settle for a date to descend into the heart of Nel and find out as much as we can about the portal. I am positive Connor is able to find out some more than the mages did last time. But alas, only time will tell.

Bet you, there is even something that happened worth being mentioned that is not related to Nel and the Ash’Khen at all! You know I love good duels and I usually have a hard time finding someone who either has time or is not afraid of me. I don’t know but some adventurers think I am like a madman, well madwoman in my case with my blade and they could not defeat me so they rather avoid being in a duel with me. So I thought it was nice to have a recurring event, like every two years or so, to meet with those interested at the arena in Fort Vehl to fight various duels. I therefore invented the Night of Duels, an event where those skilled with a blade fight duels to find out who is the best among us and announce him or her as our champion. It was rather tricky to come up with a ruleset as I know some people try to find a way to bypass these rules. Most of the rules were about forbidding any use of magic and bet you, next time I stuff everyone in a copper plate or simple clothing, hand them their favorite weapon made out of copper and then let them fight their duels and make sure they hand me all their equipment for the time being. Well I asked a little around and someone was kind enough to set up some strange device that absorbs any spells being cast so it prevents casters to cast their spells. I think some did not like the rules and therefore did not show up but hey, I don’t force people to come, I just give them a in my opinion good opportunity to test their skill with the blade. It was not a duel among mages who throw spells at each other or archers who shoot little holes in their opponent, but about bladework. To round the event up I asked Steel of the Leringard Arms & Inn for their services in catering and he agreed on supplying the Night of Duels with food and drinks. It really was a lovely event and in the end G’ork won and was announced as our champion for this Night of Duels. G’ork was without any doubt the best of those who showed up. I came right behind him and only lost my duel against G’ork. It was nice to see how different fighters use different tactics to win a duel. Duchess was always running around, trying to get her opponent on the wrong feet and take an advantage of the resulting attacks of opportunity. She pretty much kicked Tyra around in the arena who used a more defensive stance and therefore gave her a lot of opportunities to hit her as she was not mobile enough to dodge under Duchess’ blades. A few duels later Duchess was my opponent and it should be an interesting battle. Between us were like 20 meter and once the referee opened the duel she raced towards me, trying to get my back. She was probably not aware of my keen senses in a fight and I wouldn’t give her a chance to catch me flatfooted or give her any opportunity to attack me while racing past me. She quickly came closer and tightened the grip on my blade and got ready to strike her back. Just when she was about to pass me I engaged and she ran into my blade. Continuing with her run and hit tactic she ran away from me, but I cut in her way and attacked her while running. We both were quick on our feet and she dodged a lot of my attacks, but I think she was surprised that I mastered her technique and therefore made the hunter the hunted. Already wounded she ran towards the one of the pillars and hid behind it. I backed away to the wall so she could not attack me from behind. She was hiding out there somewhere and I was not able to spot her. It was just a matter of time till she attacked and I had to pay attention to any noise. The first strike was deemed to be hers, but I know I can rely on my reflexes. And then it happened. As she attacked me she lost her cover and it seemed like we were doing things simultaneously. She leaped into me while I aimed my blade at her and tried to get out of the way of her blade. Neither one of us managed to dodge the other’s attack, but I also got her by surprise and ended the duel. It was a lovely duel and we both can learn from each other. If the practices her skill with the weapon even more it will be an awesome duel! I should rather continue my training, but figuring out the techniques I am after is rather though in this moment. Anyway, it was a lovely night and all who participated are looking forward to being around for the next Night of Duels.

I think there is one more thing worth being mentioned and this one thing is related to my formal dress and me coming home late. I was just sitting around in Port Hempstead and was talking to Fleur about various things as a guard of Nel approached us and asked for my attention as he had an important message for me. I first thought the Ash’Khen tried to take over Nel again or simply destroyed it or whatever, but judging his expression it was neither of the above. He seemed to be quite cheery and in a good mood. So together with Fleur we sailed over to Alindor and escorted us to the Council Hall in Nel. There we had to wait a little longer before we were greeted by another guard who told us to follow the hallway and enter the large hall. Having no idea why I was summoned here I carefully peeked through the door and saw several citizens of Nel standing around in their lovely suits and dresses, chatting to each other while they were obviously waiting for something to happen, or for someone. I entered the room in my dress and everyone fell silent and gazed towards me. In this moment I felt so small and vulnerable. Flushing by all the attention I carefully moved on and saw Richelle, Tyrith and Lywn standing in front of the mayor and some members of the council I hardly know and gestured me over. I asked Tyrith what was going on here but she simply shrugged at me. Obviously she had no idea either. She was pouting anyway as I was the last one of them who showed up and those usually get the most attention and Tyrith wanted to be the one who was late. The mayor asked for everyone’s attention and everyone fell silent again. I could hear myself swallow. The mayor and the council thanked the White Lily for all their help over all these years, beginning with securing the trade routes around Nel again, to the recent dealings with the fiends. His speech was lovely and I found myself blushing the one or other time. To show us the gratitude of the town we all were announced as Shields of Nel. Shield of Nel is a title they don’t give to just anyone and they did not name anyone a Shield of Nel for quite some time now. Furthermore they declared this day as the White Lily day, a day which now functions as a holiday in and around Nel. Once she cheering stopped a woman of the council stepped up and removed all our bracers, before she went on to replace them with new ones. The bracers are lovely and of good quality. They are like my old bracers that improved my agility. These also make me a little smarter and strengthen my will to easier overcome my fears. And this was not everything! While the lady donned my new bracers the mayor also announced me as Advisor to the War and Defense Council of Nel. It does not happen very often you see me speechless, but this was definitely one of these rate moments! I did not know what to say at all and Richelle, Tyrith and Lywn were also stunned. We made it! We all put so many efforts into establishing Richelle’s band of merchants here in Nel and we finally made a name within the Sun Kingdom and especially Nel. After the ceremony we partied all night with the crowd and the whole night was breathtaking. It is just sad Caerwyn was not able to make it. I would have loved to dance with him in this night.

It is not over yet, though. Nel might be safe for now, but the Ash’Khen are still roaming around freely while Avariel tries to hunt them down and then there is still the portal right in the heart of Nel. Just like no one in Nel knows about it and I am glad for it. If someone spreads word about the portal and the real nature of the attacks on Nel chaos will break out which neither the guards, nor the White Lily is able to manage. Even if we enjoy a good reputation these days we don’t have numbers to be a big help to Nel or the Sun Kingdom in general. I should discuss this matter with Richelle though, as it is her band of mercenaries and she is their leader after all. But the bigger the band becomes, the more effective they will become. Right now there are three members and two constructs. It should be more. But as I already said, it is Richelle’s decision. I am just a friend who helped her out establishing the White Lily in Nel as I owed her for the time I travelled around with them and also for her showing me various techniques with my blade. If Richelle needs my help regarding the Lily, may it be about expanding it or just helping them out, well then she can count on me. My work is not quite done here after all, yet.

But well, we’ll see what happens next... [/i]

*Phyress just manages to close her journal before she curls up on her bed and falls into a deep slumber.*

[Lily]

*Phyress sits down at the small camp in Fort Gorge and warily eyes Angela and Alantha for a moment before she takes a bite off an apple and takes out her journal, ink and quill. After making sure they are busy otherwise she opens her journal, flips through it to find a blank page and starts writing a new entry.*

-Sunra, Novlar 1, 1456-

The past few months really have been rather eventful, just like the exploration into the Shadow Temple last night. I actually did not expect much to happen when I followed Trouble’s note to Fort Gorge. The note simply said meet in Fort Gorge as soon as possible and so I hurried there. Well I really had to hurry to make it in time as I was still around Prantz. Why I was in Prantz recently I am going to explain a little later. First I want to focus on my latest exploration into the Shadow Temple in the Orsgaunt Mountains. Even though I hurried I did not find anyone in Fort Gorge. I asked a little around and got to know that a group of adventurers left like a few hours before I arrived. Taking my bet on they headed farther into the mountains past all these fire giants, I waited at the campfire for their return. At least that way I was able to hear the story of their latest adventure. Oddly I only waited there for an hour before Storold, Amanda, Trouble, Ell, Alantha and Angela returned to the campfire. Sadly Amanda fell to some pit dwellers and therefore they headed back for Amanda to recover at the secure spot in Fort Gorge. Naturally Angela started teasing Trouble and me about me being his lover and whatsoever. But hey I know Angela, she is just making fun and you don’t have to take her all too serious. I don’t really take serious what she usually is babbling about as it is mostly teasing and making fun anyway, but her skill with the rapier is impressive. She is the most skilled person I ever met with a rapier and she can beat the hell out of me. I really mean it. If I listen to what people say then I am skilled in comparison to others, but if I compare myself to her then I am a wimp and the most unskilled person on whole Layonara. I know I am exaggerating, but the truth is that I see her as the most skilled person with the blade and I still have a lot to learn to ever reach such a skill with my blade. Also I am curious about what kind of rapier she uses at all. I use a blade originally called “Mercykiller”, but I call it “Maiden’s Mercy” which is also enhanced with the strongest acid enhancement around. Bet you hers is way better than mine though, but I love my blade as it is right now, especially due to its special coating. I don’t really need a rapier made out of mithril at the moment anyway, besides it is a long exhausting journey to reach it far down in the Deep anyway. But well, back to my original topic, the adventure!

While Amanda recovered from her recent death and Angela was teasing Trouble and me, Aerimor passed by as well and we teamed up, once Amanda was fully herself again. We all prepared and then headed into the Shadow Temple, once we took care of some fire giants, as well as some monks, until we reached their monastery. Is it a real monastery? I don’t know for sure, but I will call it a monastery anyway. They are monks and they usually belong to a monastery of some kind. It was not like with Trouble, Ell, Amanda and Drexia when we headed there last time. At some point we had to turn around and leave the monastery for our own sake. However, we dispatched those who tried to stop us quickly and we soon found ourselves in the lower levels of the monastery, a place I’ve never been before and I have to say it is a very interesting place and I should do some researches about its origin. Pretty much as with the one tomb down in the cave on Tilmar where the Al’Noth is all upside-down. Well, down in the monastery we had to fight strange elemental fogs. They looked like shadows of themselves and rather empty. Due to their consistence it was hard to harm them as they had no body at all and therefore I was not able to harm them physically. It was like fighting fog. You can see exactly the small particles swirling around where your blade cut through the air, but nothing else ever happens. To my luck they were not immune to elemental damage though, so I was able to defeat them with the enhancement and enchantment on my blade, luckily. I tried my very best do foresee their movements and dodge right under their attacks, but sometimes I was just too slow, even now where my anticipation improved a great deal. More about my training later though. However, if the shadows hit, then they hit hard and I fear that without all those protections casted by the mages and Ell I’d be long dead already. They seemed to try draining the life out of us. Luckily we were protected against such attempts though. The whole exploration was very interesting, yet scary with all those shadows lurking about and we also met some other sorts of elementals, along with more monks who were no thread compared to the shadows though. Without Angela and the Ravens it would have looked way different though. I don’t know if we fully explored the lower levels of the monastery, but what I saw was enough for now. It is very thrilling without doubt, but not that much suited for me, at least not yet. I will probably return there as some point though. But not for the next few months, I think. On our trip we also found a lovely book and Alantha told us it can improve one’s physical strength. Every one of us was interested but in the end Ell won it. I am sure she can put it to use though so I am not worried about it there and I don’t mind her having it. If Drachus won that book it looked very different though. Ever since he “cheated” himself to the headband that improves ones smartness he pretty much lost a lot of points of reputation if you ask me. But then I at least got a healing potion before we all departed. I also asked Alantha if she can enchant my new robe with a Shadow Shield, a very useful spell and both Amanda and Trouble told me to go for a Shadow Shield. I don’t know how the robes work, but there has to be some very strong magic going on. As far as I understood it stores a spell casted on it and the wearer can trigger the spell effect. This may be a blessing, a Stoneskin, Shadow Shield or whatever comes in handy.

I think many envy me for actually having such a robe. I think they are called Sequencer’s Robes. To my knowledge there are not many robes around and due to one can store a spell in it and use it every once a day, it is rather useful. I know G’ork has one as well, but other than that, no idea, really. Amanda, Drexia, Ell and I found it on an exploration to the Skullcrasher Cave. The cave is located in the Cloven Mountains where giants roam and caused Maran and me quite some trouble in our younger days when we were still a bit more inexperienced than we are now. The cave was full of earth genasi and more giants. Luckily Amanda knows a spell to banish them quickly. I think she said the banished them or so. Powerful magic anyway. Well, that left the rest of us to deal with the giants though which was no big threat at all, even though my anticipation was not that good back then. I evaded most of the attacks easily and leaped into the giants again and again until we defeated them all. It was a very thrilling expedition as I have never been in this cave before and it was full of giants and genasi. At the very end of the cave Amanda picked up the robes, along with some gloves. Back in Fort Miritrix Drexia got the gloves as she had a real use for them. The gloves were enhanced and very much looked like those monk gloves they use for fighting. Seeing Drexia is a monk, too, she very well deserved them and there were no objections from Amanda, Ell or me. Then we got to the robes and Amanda explained how they work. As a fighter the robe is even more interesting to me as I could store a ward on it and use it in battle, like Shadow Shield or Stoneskin, or Undeath’s Eternal Foe. As Ell passed on it and Drexia was pleased with the gloves, it was just Amanda and me. She then asked me if I was really going to make use of it and I told her she could bet on it. It would be silly not to use such a powerful armor. She then passed on it as well as her only real purpose was putting Undeath’s Eternal Foe on it and she thought I needed it more than her. How right she was and I really appreciate that she let me have the robes. A few days later Trouble casted a greater Stoneskin on it, but I somehow was not able to trigger said spell. Apparently I also need a specific spell component for some spells. Well, after Alantha stored a Shadow Shield on my robes I tried it and it works just fine. I have no idea how long the spell will last though. I will have to find it out later. I think Aerimor, Amanda and Alantha want one as well. Alantha later told me to let her know if I ever find a spare robe. She’d offer a great reward for a trade. I told her if I ever find a second one, I will let her know. Even if I had no use for mine I can’t hand it over to her as Amanda, Drexia, Ell and I agreed on that the robe is never to be sold or traded. Only the four of us were allowed to possess it. Fine with me. I have not the slightest intention to even give it away anyway. The robe is far too useful and I can make use of it. Alantha also told me not to only rely on it as it can be easily dispelled and therefore would leave me without protection.

My aunt Alantha taking care of me, it is kind of cute. Well the whole thing is rather cute. I don’t know how we got to it or who made it up, but it came out Angela is my mother and Storold my father. I think it was because someone said I bleed as much as Storold and have the skill with the blade of Angela. Well not her skill but I know how to use my blade, just like Angela. So now we make fun about Storold being my father and Angela being my mother. So Alantha asked me once we were back in Fort Gorge if I was Angela’s daughter she was related to Storold in any way and what she would be. Actually she would be my step-mother, but I think I rather call her aunt. We all know the whole thing is pretty much made up, but it is rather funny if I run to Storold and complain about something. Last time I complained about wanting to have a fine set of clothes reinforced with mithril. I did not get it though, but he told me I could buy his old cloak he does not need anymore. As far as I know it is called “Jorel’s Sheath”, but don’t ask me about who he is. I will have to do some research about this Jorel. Maybe Storold knows about him, though. However, I keep on forgetting to remind him about the cloak and therefore we actually did not settle down for a deal, yet. On the trip to the Shadow Temple Angela mentioned that it is her right to question about my new boyfriend. After all they are my “parents”, what Storold seconded. It is nice how rumors spread so I simply teased Angela about that it could be a girl as well. Not that I am into a girl but no one really knows about Caerwyn anyway, so I simply said maybe.

Not many know about Caerwyn and me and I think I only told Trouble and Ell about it, and only very few details. Caerwyn and I always respected each other and did not really care about what others are saying about someone. Well I don’t really care what rumors say about me but I know that some people don’t think highly of me. I don’t think Fehriel loves me after he was badmouthing my skill with the rapier on an expedition to the Great Rift and told me I could not harm a thing with it. Hey, no one calls my blade a knife, except Trouble and Maran. I know they just tease me with it, but Fehriel was pretty much serious about it. Then he was babbling something in elven with someone else while we were taking a breather and I asked him kindly to please talk in common as not everyone understands elven. I know I don’t understand elven. He simply barked at me to simply learn elven. How rude. Later Oma thunderclapped the group for going on in speaking elven and well, he then made the mistake to threaten Oma right next to me. No one threatens a friend of me right in front of me so I threatened him, too. Actually I was just stating that if he touches Oma, I’ll move him over to a world of pain. Oddly he left soon after that without losing any further word. After he left the group worked a lot better together and I think he now dislikes me for it. Of course we could have handled it by a duel, but I think he was afraid of being beaten down by poor innocent and fragile me. However, as I already mentioned Caerwyn and I respected each other a lot and I started to develop feeling that went past a normal friendship. At some point I met him in Vale in the Forest of Fogs as he wanted to ask me something important. It was about investigations he wanted to do about G’ork and as he knew he and I are comrades he wanted to ask for my approval first. I did not have to, yet it was cute. I mean he is free to do whatever he wants to and does not need to ask me for approval. I heard rumors about G’ork getting himself into trouble and he was searched in some parts of Dregar. Entering Lor was almost like trying to get into the city of Prantz. Anyway, before we departed again I asked him if he wanted to head to a bell together with me, which really embarrassed me. It is not like I never felt anything like that before, but after Trouble only wanted me for his fun and Snagnor betrayed me and played with the lives of our group I took some distances into relationships and thought for some time that they just use us women. Unlike with other women, like with Richelle, Tyrith and Lywn. I feel safe around them and know they would never betray me. Well after what happened in Nel and us being honored with the title of “Shields of Nel” our bond grew even stronger. Well I felt like I could trust Caerwyn and felt safe and respected around him and then I eventually asked if he liked to accompany me to a ball. He immediately asked me if I wanted to go on a date with him. Well I would not call it a date, but I guess it was more or less. He did not seem to mind going out with me.

A few weeks later we met in Port Hempstead where he asked me out to accompany him to the “Becoming the Beast” event, a ball for the wedding of Aylana and Benji. I was embarrassed he really wanted to head out there with me and soon we found ourselves making fun of possible costumes as one was supposed to show up either as an animal of the woods, or out of the myth. I did not know what costume to choose. I could have gone as a fairy, a dryad, a wolf or whatever. Honestly, I had no idea at all. A week before the ball we met in out of Prantz and decided to take a stroll in the woods. We therefore headed out to Corax Lake and then through the Forest of Fogs which was -oh wonder- filled with giants and I was not in the mood to sneak past them, even as I could easily do so, but it has been quite some time since Caerwyn and I fought back to back, trusting the other to guard ones back. We did just fine, just him and me. Once we reached Vale we washed ourselves the blood of the giants off and then continued to move deeper into the woods, the sacred wood close to Folian’s Temple which most are not aware of. It is a lovely place and peaceful. Everything seems to live in harmony. We talked a lot about what happened to us and also about our feelings and he made me blush several times. It really had been some time I enjoyed the presence of a man again. It was lovely and at some point I fell asleep and curled up under the tree at the small pond within Folian’s Wood. I think I did not sleep that good for quite some time in the open again. When I woke up Caerwyn was long gone again and being sad about his absence I left the woods again.

And just a week later the ball took place. As I was busy in Nel before I already was a little late when I left and I still had to settle for a costume! So when I finally made it over to Katherian and entered the shop, I found a note from Caerwyn, stating he picked two costumes for me already. I just had to choose one of them and pay the merchant for it. One was a dryad, the other one a cute little foxy maiden with a quiver on her back. Blond does not suit me very well so I went with foxy. The costume was lovely anyway. As fast as the costume allowed I hurried over to the wedding reception where I saw many gathered already, most of them in costumes, too. Caerwyn was unmistakably the big fox, like he said already on the note. Amanda had some butterfly wings attached, Ell had black dragon wings and I think she wore darker clothing, too. It really suits her, the darker clothing that is. Trouble said he wanted to show up as well, but I did not see him present. Maybe he had a full-body-suit as I did and therefore was not able to spot him at all. Angela and Storold were there, too. Many other people were present and I am afraid I don’t remember all of them. More important was the big fox anyway. The ceremony itself was lovely, even though Essa’s singing almost ruined the ceremony. Maybe she drank too much wine before the ceremony started. Once the ceremony was over Caerwyn and I congratulated the married couple before we left the party and headed to the Path of Elemental Balance where we had a great view down. During the ceremony we already whispered to each other and both of us blushed under our masks more than once. So while we stood there he slowly took off his mask, then mine and our lips softly touched and I melted into his arms. The warmth, the joy, the pleasure, it is indescribable. Some things just cannot be described by words and some things should never be tried to describe as it would ruin everything and the special moment. All I will say here is that it was breathtaking. It has been quite some time I kissed a man. Did I ever kiss a man? No, I don’t think so. The last one I kissed was when I was still a little brat and played a prank on someone. Well, actually I kissed Jaelle a few years back when we pulled a stunt on Maran, but then she is a woman and not a man. I am just saying as that’s the last kiss I remember. Ever since the ball we meet each other more frequently. We care for each other but it is still too early to say if this will last. But hey, I have to help him with decorating his house and there is still one room available he has no plans for just yet. For now I enjoy his warmth and his embraces and our romance. Only time will tell how this turns out. After all living with me might not be that easy. I still think I scare men away.

Not like with women like Sonya, though. I took a stroll around Dregar when I took a small rest at Corax Lake, where another woman was sitting around, probably bored as hell. Well she was quite cheery and in a good mood. I liked her from first sight, something that doesn’t happen all too often as most are just looking for others to fight and don’t even care about ones name, why one chose one weapon over the other and the whole background. As long as they fight a battle they are pleased with the world and themselves. Naturally I also don’t mind battles, but then I am not restlessly seeking battle after battle. If I fight too much and a too short period of time I become weary of it. Anyway, Sonya was looking for a comrade for a good battle, but before we started we talked about preferences in armor and weaponry. Unlike me Sonya would be a suitable student for Arngrim. Her favored weapon is a greatsword and she currently fights in a in a way too heavy half plate. I told her I could not wield either, even though I was trained with them, with emphasis on was! I did not wear heavy armors or weapons in ages and bet you I could hardly even move around with such heavy gear. I mean even light leathers decrease my nimbleness and therefore can’t dodge any incoming blows right in time. However, Sonya prefers heavy armors as well as big weapons which are absolutely her choice and no objections from my side, but naturally she started giggling about I could not harm giants with such a fragile blade as a rapier and she’d finish them off way faster. She even took a bet on it about 50 True. Needless to say I won the competition as we stormed their camp. I think the result was twenty to one or two. I am not entirely sure about it, but I pretty much won and earned her respect. It was lovely to fight along with her though as she has a lovely voice and her songs encourage me in battle. Everything went fine, but then we entered the cave close to their camp and things turned ugly. There were three giants blocking or passage further down the cave. There were two giants with axes or their fists and one archer. We held our position on a well secured spot and one of the giants spotted me, running towards us without giving commands to its fellow giants. He ran into our blades and was killed within a snatch. Knowing the archers was the bigger threat for both of us I leaped into it. Sadly the giant managed to fire two bolts at Sonya who fell within a few moments. Cursing the giants I pushed my blade into its lungs and knocked it down, focusing on the other giant who was first knocked down, then knocked out within seconds. Sadly I did not have any scrolls to help her. There were two bolts sticking out of her chest. Two bolts that should have been fired at me! I am a big girl, I can endure two bolts. Poor Sonya. I hope the next time we head out for an adventure are more pleasant for both of us. I feel somehow guilty that they focused on her and not on me.

While I am writing down my experiences in battle here right now, I should also write down about my progress with certain techniques in battle. I know Trouble always rolls his eyes when I tell him what technique I am currently trying to improve and my progress. If I did not improve my techniques and skill with the blade in the past I would be long dead already. The more I improve myself the more reliable I am in a huge battle and one should not forget that there are still the Drachs, the Dragon Stealers and the Green Dragon Cult which are all causing problems. However, the past years I focused on improving my anticipation in order to foresee their movements to dodge right under their attacks. I know I already managed the technique years ago, but there was still a lot of room for improvisations. It took me quite some time to figure it out and caused me the one or other headache, but in the end I succeeded and can dodge any incoming blows more easily. Most of it was just training though, as one has to be smart to anticipate any movements. The smarter I am, the more I benefit from this technique and their movements are easier to foresee. I know I already was able to do so years back, but I can use this technique more effectively as it is easier for me to anticipate these days. Also I focused a bit more on my attacks. I know Arngrim once told me one can use the remaining force of an attack on another opponent if you just defeated one. It takes quite some strength and coordination to perform such an attack. If I recall correctly then Arngrim called this technique Cleave. The coordination to learn this technique was rather easy. I mean I dance more or less on the battlefield, more in the air than on the ground and that already requires nimbleness and coordination as well as balance. I just had to put some more strength in the last attack when I defeat an opponent to pull the blade around and target on my next opponent. As I already say, practice is everything!

I also benefit from some new gear I got in the past few years. I got a new belt that improves my limberness even more and also grants me protection from any hold spells, like Trouble’s Stone Hold, or of those which can slow me down. Basically it does the same as the green feet spell does. Along that Maran managed to make me a ring which also enhances my grace, as well as something that helps me to resist acid. And everything out of my emeralds I gave him earlier to make those things for me. He did a lovely job and I hugged him for doing so. It is still nice to see how he flushes if I invade his personal space. But more important: I finally possess fine clothes reinforced with mithril! Tegan did a lovely job on it. I already gave her the mithril and right now I am collecting some silk for her. I have to pay it off after all and I really owe her. My new equipment works lovely, and I cannot wait to finally settle for a trade with my father to get a hold of his old cloak, too. The new equipment already helped me in the battles I fought so far, like down in the Shadow Temple or in the Forest of Fogs.

Unfortunately I did not have my new armor when Trouble, Ell and I ventured down in the one cave on Tilmar where the Al’Noth is crazy. The cave is filled with giants and normally that would not be such a problem, but it is hard to fight off like six fighters of them who all block the bridge and therefore also the way to their twenty archers, no kidding! Been there, seen that, had arrows everywhere, like every one of us three! Bet you, it was no fun at all. As our wards were gone, Trouble and Ell tried to cast spells so we had at least the most basic protections on us, like Bark- and Stoneskin. Thinking about it now it was very hilarious. Ell fireballed Trouble like twice or thrice, he turned himself to a penguin and a chicken and I was turned twice into a chicken and once into a penguin. If the giants spotted us in our attempt to renew our protections they’d have died laughing. As I already said, it was quite hilarious and in the end we eventually managed to be warded by the most basic spells. We stormed the bridge and defeated them in a long and painful fight, but in the process they blinded me and I had to rely on my other senses in battle which is easy for me as I used to fight blindfolded to sharpen my other senses in case I am not able to see an opponent, may it be because I am blinded or them invisible. Once out of the cave we found ourselves in the forest again and soon we had some company in form of some pit dwellers. I did not really see them as I was still blinded as I had to fight them, but after we defeated them we settled for a breather and Ell took take of my temporary blindness. After the rest we prepared for the way ahead of us and marched on. The spiders were no threat at all, but then we faced more pit dwellers. The first few were easily defeated, but then a larger one showed up. I ran towards it, my grip tight on the hilt of my blade. Just in the moment as I wanted to leap into it, I eyed it and all of a sudden I panicked and ran away. I cannot help it but such things and undead still give me the creeps! I really wanted to help Trouble and Ell with the fiend, but I was too scared to even move one step towards it, so I had to watch the dweller giving Trouble and Ell a hard time. It was my battle! I am the one who has to stand the ground and not run away hiding because I am scared of something. I hate it. I abandon those I want to help just because I am scared. Sometimes I am stronger, but those creepy things scare me far too often, really. Being easily scared also caused us to retreat out of the cave once we were in. It was full of skeletons and well, I am not all too keen on them and naturally you saw me running around screaming more frequently than facing them. Seeing I was needed on the front and not in the back hiding we decided it was better to just leave it be for now and return to this weird place another time, and hopefully better prepared. Well with my whole new equipment it should be easier to defeat at least all those giants. I just need to find a way not to be scared so easily.

Talking about being scared. I also had a rather strange encounter a few months ago. I was in Hlint with some other adventurers and someone was looking for some help. Well as I was around town I volunteered. Apparently a caravan found a naked old man out of town and brought them over to Ilsare’s Temple in Hlint where he was drooling at the fountain which seemed to be the only thing to calm him down. Also he was ill, but the priests at the temple had no idea what it was, even as they checked him all over several times. Nothing was known about the man, either. He just sat drooling in front of the fountain. So now our task was to move him over to the Aeridinite hospital in Krandor. One would think this as easy, but it was in no way. Once there was no water around him he kicked around himself and whatever. Jennara managed to muster a cart which the present dwarves filled with water. One druid changed into a water elemental and got his attention and the druid succeeded in getting the man in the water-filled cart where he toyed a little around in the water, apparently all pleased with himself and the world. But then we screwed up when the druid left the cart and changed back to a dwarf. Now it was time for the man to freak out and punched holes in the cart with his bare fists. Jennara tried to stop him and was thrown away quite some distance. The punch that hit her must have hurt a lot, even to Jennara. Amanda and Storold finally managed to calm him with an illusion of a waterfall or the fountain back at the temple. With some other hold-ups we eventually managed to reach the hospital where the healer was going to run some tests on him. According to Jennara and some others it could be possible that the man was walking the Path of the Claw. Well, he was. But before we got to know about it we had to find some ingredients for Argile the Aeridinite who took care about the feverish man. At some point he woke up and told us some story I already forgot about again. If you ask me it did not make any sense and therefore I forgot. Anyway, He mentioned the name “Cyn Chen” before the once feverish man casted a spell, ran out, changed into a snake and vanished into the seas. Who exactly this Cyn Chen is, we did not know. It just seems that the man apparently is a cultist and now succeeded the Path of the Claw, oh joy.

Well, months later I heard about rumors about Phal on Belinara. Apparently they pretty much closed the city and no one is allowed to enter or to leave town. There is an exception for merchants though, but apparently the guards control ever single merchant wanting to enter town. So in order to find out what was going on in town we somehow had to infiltrate it and you bet, everyone had a better idea than the other so we ended up discussing for ages, no kidding! In the end we settled for the plan we came up with in the first hour of our meeting. In the end we decided that only a few of us should try to make our way into Phal. There were two teams. The first wanted to infiltrate Phal through the gate, the other group wanted to take a ship and sail to Phal. Jaelle, Trouble, Caerwyn and Ell went into town by feet, while Argali, Fenrir and I took one of the Raven’s ships, some wares and entered the port of Phal. It was important to find the one or other good and reliable source of information without causing attention of the guards and there were many guards around. Even before we entered the docks we were controlled by some Drachs. Everything with our wares and ship was fine so we were allowed to enter port. Well, once the mooring took place Argali and I found a dock worker which we offered work as we had to move some wares so Fenrir, our Master Dwarf and merchant could sell his various goods. The worker was kind enough to show us around town. While Argali was getting information of him I headed over to the merchants who appraised their goods. While I was searching for nothing particular I heard several interesting things from the citizens and merchants. Ever since the lockdown the dragon Bastion has been missing and never been seen around anymore. The citizens are afraid something happened to him. The lookdown lasted for two weeks but even after the gates were opened again Bastion was not seen around just yet. Also I gathered that the Lord Nevsonger, who also was responsible for the military lockdown of Phal got visit by a woman recently. I did not find out anything specific about the lady, though. Later in the best inn in Phal I spotted some familiar faces, even though some of them wore a nice disguise. From what I heard Trouble and Ell were some farmers, trying to sell their potatoes. Trouble wore a pretty nice apron, too. Jaelle was a pregnant woman and Caerwyn probably the father. While Argali and I tasted the splendid ale in the tavern we also found out that the lady who visited Lord Nevsonger was said Cyn Chen. She is apparently the mistress of Tesak, also being called the “Dragon’s Fang”. Well what to make out of it, I don’t know. I only know that there are some things going on in Phal or in Khul in general that might not be all too pleasant for us at all. But well, we should meet again to discuss things. Maybe someone did some more research and found out more about the “Dragon’s Fang” Cyn Chen.

But well, the whole Path of the Claw and infiltration of Phal happened before Caerwyn and I kissed each other at the Path of Elemental Balance and I really prefer kissing Caerwyn over worrying about what is going on in Phal, yet I have to keep my eyes and ears open for any information regarding the situation. And there are also other things to do, like rescuing a little girl who was kidnapped on a story telling night.

I knew I saw some odd things already, but the kidnapping of the little girl tops at least two thirds of the odd stories and adventures I came across already. There were some carers together with like twenty children and their little camp had a horror theme and one of the carers told them a horror story about a cursed woman from the day she was born, an aberration. She was kind of bloodthirsty and also bit her father. He then found a way to ban her away or whatever. I was busy looking shyly over to Caerwyn from time to time and did not really pay attention to the whole story. I know it had something to do with his blood and apples. And then one of the girls, her name was Rosie, was missing and we offered our help. We soon found a hole in the ground and descended. Once we were able to see again we found ourselves in an odd place. It was like in a bad dream, just this one was real, at least it felt that way and the girl was really missing. On our way to rescue the child we had to fight some odd creatures which seemed to be made out of rye. At some point we found ourselves in a cave where we had to defeat a spider so a little girl could tell us where to find the girl, or the witch for that matter. Then we passed a house with a girl dressed all in red in front. She wanted us to kill her grandmother, but then she attacked us and we were forced to kill her and her wolves. Her grandmother was released to be rid of her granddaughter and showed us the entrance to a cave under water where the witch roams. After some time we found the girl and a little later a huge mirror. And then of course the witch showed up. Needless to say I was scared by her and I was mad at Jaelle. She simply casted a Thunderclap into the ongoing battle and stunned me and some others as well. If we were protected properly it did not really matter but someone forgot to cast twirly so once I was back focusing on the witch I was running away from her again, all afraid of something I cannot even recall anymore. But well, in the end everything went fine and we brought Rosie back to the camp. One of the weirdest expeditions ever!

But well, I still live and keep on living. Let’s see what happens next. Maybe I should start thinking about another Night of Duels? After all the first time was fun, even though making up the rules gave me the one or other headache. But then I want to see how I fare in duels with my new equipment now and I hope I do better against G’ork this time. I will probably dodge more of his attacks now, but I fear he will cut right through my armor and I won’t really get through his. But well, we’ll see.

*Phyress closes her journal, stuffs everything away and readies herself to leave Fort Gorge for now. For now Phyress travels back to Nel to arrange some things that are still left undone and really require her attention.*