Jetta Ravenlock - A Journal In Memories

[Nehetsrev]

*Her thoughts voice a narative as she remembers scenes from her lifetime. This set is filled with anticipation of the possibility of great things to come...*
 
 "There it was, Port Hempstead, one of the jewel's of Mistone city-wise, at least by some opinions. In my journey here I've heard rumors both good and bad about the city, but mostly about the wealth and culture it houses within it's walls. Sure, it was hit by the "Years-long Storms" when I was still a child, but they've rebuilt a great deal of it since and much of it stands in better condition than it had ever been in before, or so I'm told."
 
 "The guards let me right in, no need to stop a young lady who was too covered by road dust to be very appealing, and looked too underfed, tired, and generally worn out to be much threat with the single rusty old skinning knife tucked into her belt. Or at least, that's what I thought they were thinking about me from the bored gazes that they passed over me with. I must confess, I was a little impressed by the huge gateway and towering stone walls. I'd never been to such a big city before."
 
 "Of course, if you've been to more than one town you begin to realize they're all a lot alike once you get past differences in architecture. The "Haves" flaunt their wealth and power over the "Have-Nots" with showy, tidy, well-kept homes that look built to last and look good doing it, all laid out in beautiftil measured rows and even plots. Meanwhile the "Have-Nots" live in relative squaller by comparison. Run-down second, third, fourth or more hand homes or rickety shacks some leaning this way or that as though about to fall over with holes in the thatch that rain finds its way in through. All kept far away from the "Haves" side of town, of course. Aside from that, it's the people who make every city and town so similar at the core. The same old types and arch-types play out the same stories and wicked politics, love stories, or lust stories in more cases, pretentious do-goodiness... Aah! But I do enjoy the do-gooders, easy marks mostly, willing to give up what they've worked hard for to people who simply make an effort to appear worse off than themselves."
 
 "I was sure Port Hempstead with it's wealth would have a goodly portion of such marks, and I'd enjoy living off their good-will like a leech. Not that I wouldn't look for better ways to get my own store of wealth, mind you. The point is, I knew I could be fairly secure living off what scraps Port Hempstead might offer me, even if I could find no grand scheme or paydirt to set me up for life. Maybe I'd even become some wealthy sap's mistress, if I could find one that I could stomach."
 
 "So, there I was, walking across the open cobbles of "The Crimson Eagle Memorial" which was even painted with the image of a large eagle. Next thing I know some odd woman in brightly colored blue and red leathers carrying a banner of Ilsare walks up to me. I had the feeling she wasn't entirely brainy, if you know what I mean?  Still I figured there might be a way I could take advantage of her some time, so I acted friendly. You catch more flies with honey, right?"
 
 "Anyhow, eventually I lost her and headed in to the temple of Deliar where I'd heard there were also a merchants market and a full-service bank. With the few Trues I had scavanged on my journeys so far I bought some needed gear. This included a new set of leather-hide, a new dagger with a nicely wicked looking curvey blade, and some other essentials. I bought some stuff for writing too, but I'll have to find a tutor to teach me how to read and write before I'll get much use from it. I also bought a set of new casual, yet stylish clothes, in case I need to hob-nob with middle-class or wealthier folks. I noticed the guards at the gate gave me second glances the next time I passed by them, new clothes and all cleaned up. Let them drool, I say, as long as they don't do more than that. I don't want any trouble with the law, you know?"

[Nehetsrev]

*the narative of memory continues, moving onward a week, maybe a month past her first days in Port Hempstead and to her exploration of Fort Vehl*
 
 "Where Port Hempstead is a bustling and mostly clean city in good repair, Fort Vehl is more degenerate in appearance with older looking buildings of stonework crumbling in places.  The docks are bustling with all manner of business, legitimate and otherwise.  There's no doubt Fort Vehl supports a healthy black market and numerous 'underworld' activities."
 
 "After collecting my fee from the unpleasant man to whom I was entrusted to deliver a package, it was time to find the bank.  If not for the fact that I wouldn't get paid until I got it to the man, I'd have dumped the package as soon as I was out of sight, presuming I didn't find anything valuable in some way inside after opening it, of course."
 
 "Having found the bank easilly enough, I opted to have a more detailed look around this scum-filled port.  There might be some good opportunities here for me, since I don't mind getting my hands a bit dirty, after all.  It wasn't much surprise to me when I bumped into the short pervert outside the town's crypts who wanted an urn full of "mummy dust" as he called it, for some undisclosed purpose, likely an illegal sale on the black market.  I agreed to help get the dust since the pervert was offering to pay well, and how hard can it be really to grope through dark smelly crypts to find something like that anyway, right?"
 
 "Well, it turns out another couple of folks had taken the deal before me, and I met them just inside the entrance.  They were on the way out, and already had the prize.  Competition...  Still, I managed to sweet-talk my way into a share of the reward, so I'll not complain.  The Elven woman, Zari I think she was called, left without taking a share, so I guess I got hers.  That odd-ball Calley had turned up too, but she didn't take a share either.  So that just left it to be split between me and the Elven fellow who's name was Galiant... If that really was his name, and not a psuedonym.  So, we turned right around and stepped back out, and I didn't have to crawl through that dark, dusty hole after all.  What luck, right?"
 
 "Well, quiet as he was, Galiant decided to accept my lead, and so did Calley.  So, the three of us set off back overland to Port Hempstead.  I figured with their help I ought to be able to pull off that sewer-job a woman there had offered me, if no one else had done it by the time we got there.  As fortune smiled on us, the job still needed doing.  Down we went into the stinky sewers... geez and I'd worried about crypt dust."
 
 "It was a real mess, and a real fight.  We got down into the second level of the sewers and discovered some fish-headed things had set up shop as sabotuers.  They killed Galiant, I could've sworn they had anyhow, then they knocked me out cold.  If it weren't for Calley, I'd be dead for sure.  She must've fought like a madwoman, because when I woke up later she was still standing, and fish-heads and rats were in pieces everywhere.  I tended my own wounds, then tended hers.  I figured I better make sure she was in one piece to help me get out now that we'd done what we were there to do.  I grabbed some sort of totem from one of the dead fish-folk to prove we done the job, and then we made our way out.  It was a surprise to see Galiant was there to meet us.  I ended up having to split another reward with him.  Well, you win some and you lose some, right?  At least Calley didn't ask for a share."

[Nehetsrev]

*More memories continue Jetta's life-story narative. These few focus on her first contact with The Order of the Ram*
 
 "I'd been having more trouble than I'd thought scraping together True for the kinds of gear I'd need to further my goals, so when I saw the big man ride by on a horse I thought to myself, "People who own horses have a bit of money. So, maybe I can talk my way into a quick, profitable job." It's a good thing I only saw the man's back at first, or I might not've been so bold as to approach him like I did. It turned out to be a good choice too, at least measured by fairly immediate pay-offs anyway."
 
 "So, anyhow, I found myself complimenting the man's horse as a means to get his attention. It worked too, because he soon turned around to talk to me. I was quite prepared for his face once I saw it... well, the half that wasn't covered by bandages. Also, there was something really intense about how he looked at me with his one good eye. I tried to smoothly downplay my surprise and asked the man if he was a veteran, to which he replied, "Of a sort." I think it was probably a good thing we were standing there in the Crimson Eagle Memorial too, because something in the back of my mind told me if I'd have asked something like that at meeting him out in the wilds I'd probably have been quickly chopped to bits by the huge greatsword he had strapped to his back. In any case, he brought the subject back to his horse in a way by asking me if I liked animals. I told him I knew a bit about animals, and asked if he was looking for a groomer for his horse or something. He mentioned the horse was from Arnax, and didn't take well to grooming. Which was fine by me, I told him, I was willing to do just about anything if the price was right. It was then he mentioned there was a reward being offered for the slaying of undead out in the Gloom Woods, though he left out a bunch of details like, what exactly the reward was, and that it was for some legendary thing that lurked there called a Zamin, but I found out that stuff later."
 
 "We ventured into the Gloom Woods, and I remarked how it certainly looked like it lived up to it's name. I was also impressed that the first batched of zombies we ran into seemed completely un-phased when I tried bashing them with my copper mace. It was while we were fighting another batch of them that he told me I could keep for myself any valuables I found on them. I thought it odd, and foreboding. I mean, no one in their right mind goes through that, does most of the work, and then gives away the spoils to a complete stranger, right?"
 
 "Finally we came to a camp of sorts surrounded by log-walls. It was there I spoke with the people offering the reward, and just what would be needed to collect it. We went on deeper into the Gloom Woods from there and fought all manner of skeletons and zombies, and other things that I couldn't name. The Zamin showed it could make itself invisible, but that didn't stop the big man from slaying it and hacking off it's head for me. It seemed to be kind of an anti-climax really. I lugged the icky head back to the camp and collected the reward. It was then the big man got a bit demanding finally. He more or less ordered me to get a bow as soon as I could find one. I told him if he was going to act like my boss that I'd need his name. He told me I could call him "Jay." So, I gave him my name as "Jetta." Then we made our way out of the Gloom and back to Fort Vehl where I bought a bow and plenty of arrows, and then deposited the small fortune I'd collected on the trip into my bank account."
 
 "Jay lead me on toward the dock district to a place called "The Vault" which he stated was run by a man named Arkolio. I stopped him to ask what he was going to want in payment for all the help he'd been giving me. He said he'd let me know when the time come, but I told him I wanted to know up front, because I don't like surprises. So he said it was good enough for him to be seen in my company, which made me wonder if he were in trouble with the law or something. I certainly didn't want to be suspect just by association, that was more trouble than it was worth, you know?"
 
 "As we stepped in to "The Vault" to use the free portal there, I took a quick look around. It certainly looked like it was guarded well enough, maybe too well. I didn't linger though, and next I knew found myself stepping into Fort Wayfare through the magic portal. It was a little disorientating, but I coped with it well enough. We headed form there to Hlint, a smallish former boom-town in northern Mistone. There was a goblin problem in some caves not too far away from there, as the crow flies, and Jay and I went in to do our little part of keeping it in check. Of course, we both knew it wasn't from any ideals of doing good, but instead was for the quick profits that could be made. After we finished there, Jay left me on my own. Before he walked off down the road he handed me a piece of parchment with an advertisement for some sort of store or organization called "The Order of the Ram." I couldn't read the text on the 'card' myself back then, so it wasn't until later that I learned what it said.  I wondered how long it'd be before I found myself forced to repay this favor with more than I wanted to offer."

[Nehetsrev]

//OOC - This post references the player-run event "The Prize" run by stragen on 4 June 2010.//
 
 *Darker memories surface as her internal monologue continues...*
 
 "I'd run across rumors of some sort of opportunity as I was visiting the One-Eyed Harpy in Fort Vehl. A man gave me a red token once I tracked him down, and said to go to the secret meet at the port in the Dragon Isles if I wanted to follow up on the opportunity. I was also told I better bring a good amount of True to pay the entry fee at the meet. I was suspicious. These didn't seem clean-cut people and I wondered if they simply wouldn't rob me once I arrived. Still, my curiosity moved me there anyway, and I showed up for the meet with my red token and just over 200 True tucked away in various part of my attire, much of it in a secret pocket I'd sewn in between the lining."
 
 "A Dwarven man started talking from thin air when I approached a chest that sat open to take a peek. He slapped at my hand and shut the chest, but not before I got a glimpse of some of the things inside. Clothes, weapons, that sort of thing. Anyhow, I knew it was a Dwarf even though I couldn't see him. Who else has that kind of accent and speaks from that height, or lack of it, right? Unfortunately the lousy Dwarf told me I'd need to bring at least two others, and not to come back until I did. After paying what I had for ship passage, I was rather a bit put off by that little announcement."
 
 "I headed back to Fort Vehl and started thinking. Finally I was upset enough that I sailed back to the Dragon Isles to confront that cheat again. Probably putting more money into his pocket with each passing as I suspected he had a side deal with the ship captain for a cut from the fare. So, I got there and told that lousy bugger I didn't want to share the "Prize" and that I'd enter the event on my own. Well, then the bugger insisted I pay the cost of three entry fees to "cover his costs"... I was getting ready to storm off again when I ran into, of all creatures, a goblin stepping off the latest ship to make port. It was then I had an idea. I'd talk the goblin into giving me the 400 True I'd need to cover the extra two entry fees, and let him come along as fodder, telling him I'd let him in on a great opportunity. It wasn't even a hard sell! The goblin, Deacon he calls himself, set off to get the extra True and returned. Of course, that lousy Dwarf chose that moment to open his lousy mouth and spoil my little scheme. Deacon took it well though, getting a little mad at me before he decided he liked that I was tricky, and agreed to cover the extra 100 Trues it'd cost me to pay the third entry fee, provided I pay him back of course."
 
 "Well, the Dwarf gave his name as "Rock", likely not his real name of course, and explained that we'd be working for Rock and the Dragon to earn our prize. All we had to do was follow some simple instructions that consisted of traveling to Katherian, getting a 'package' from a woman there at the docks, and taking the package outside the gates to turn it over to a 'man' who would pay us with one diamond. Easy, right?"
 
 "Easy til you realise that we'd have to avoid being taken as slaves ourselves on the way to Katherian, and that there were two sets of docks in the city and we had to search both before we found the woman with the 'package'. Of course the woman was a slaver, and the 'package' was a sweet little brown-eyed girl with a fresh slave-tattoo on her face. Easy till I had to drag the child in her crate over rough cobblestone on the way to the closest of two outer gates which we hoped was the right one. Easy until the girl's mother confronted us with her sob-story of having to sell the child into slavery because she needed the money. Any mother worth her salt would've found any other way to pay the debt, or avoid paying it and still kept her child, in my opinion. In any case, I talked the mother into coming with to meet our contact outside the city and to deal with him instead, since she wanted to trade herself for the child now. Easy until another woman, who seemed to want the child for herself stepped in to offer a measly 1,000 True. That was an offer that was easy to refuse, and refuse it we did, causing the mysterious woman to threaten revenge on us. Likely all bluff, but I wouldn't be going back to Katherian any time soon just in case. Easy still, until I had to drag the child-filled crate over tangled roots and through six inches of thick muck to traverse the swamp to meet the 'man' who turned out to look more Orc if you ask my opinion."
 
 "Still, we had made it. We turned over the child to the contact and got our diamond in payment just as instructed. The mother approached to try to plead herself in trade for the child as we walked off, and the Orcish fellow knocked her out cold. I assumed the Trolls he worked for would devour her just as well as the child they'd bought for their 'soup'. A quicker end for both of them to their grief is what I tell myself. Better than years of abuse as a slave as would likely be the case for the girl if sold to other masters, and better than years of sorrow for the mother, assuming she was really capable of it and that it wasn't just a show to try to cheat the harsh system she'd bargained herself into. As the child's screams died away farther and farther behind us, that's what I told myself. I had the diamond in my pocket as instructed, and that was what mattered, right?"
 
 "So, Deacon and I made our way back toward our final destination on this business trip. Near the Lake of Glass, a white stag decided to charge me and Deacon fired off a spell that stunned both the stag and myself. I immediately thought he'd turned treacherous, until I felt the diamond still in my pocket after recovering from the daze, and he still standing there appologizing profusely. We had a bit more trouble as we passed through the Wolfswood Ranger camp and the rangers made to start filling Deacon with arrows, til I pretended to chase him myself to save his goblin hide."
 
 "Finally we got back to Rock at the Dragon Isles and turned in the diamond to him. He verified it was the real deal, and let us each choose a single reward from the chest. Deacon picked a scarlet and blue floating stone of some sort. I picked out a really wonderful set of leather hide that I'll be able to use later, once I can get it tailored to my specifications. I could tell right off it had a bit of a magic quality to it that would make it more durable than any set I'd seen before, so I wasn't about to pass up something that nice. Meanwhile, Rock made notes of what we accepted as payment and took down our names, saying he'd be in direct contact with us for more jobs later. He also asked us to find 'like-minded people' to spread the word to, that the Dragon was looking for more employees too."
 
 "After returning to the mainland and vaulting my new set of hide, I decided it was time for me to get a better set of tools. So, I went looking at Fort Wayfare to the adventuring shop there, but it wasn't open. I ended up instead buying a few things from the Angel's guild in Port Hempstead."
 
 "It really was the best end for the woman and child... quick, not prolonged. Anyway, not following our instructions would've been bad business, and then our hides would've been in deep trouble. I'm right about that, right?"

[Nehetsrev]

*More memories surface to the fore of Jetta's days living....*
 
 "I had found someone to teach me the skill of reading and writing.  The hardest part was overcoming my shyness in revealing my need, and asking for help.  It was as I walked with Gel', an Elven man I'd met once or twice previously, that I finally asked someone.  I was doubtful that he might know how to read and write himself, seeming a woodsman as he does.  Fortunately, my misconception of him was false, and he surprised me by answering that he could, and further that he would teach me as time permitted him to do."
 
 "He scrawled out the letters of the alphabet onto a piece of parchment, that felt like a golden treasure as he placed it into my hand.  I marveled again, as I always have, at the wonder of how many more opportunities the new knowledge would open up to me once mastered.  Admittedly, I had no clue what he'd written on the parchment as I stared slightly dumbfounded at the rows of letters, so I asked what it said.  Gel' explained that the markings were the entirety of the alphabet, and proceeded to name them for me."
 
 "The first lessons continued as we made our way to travel to Krashin.  Admittedly I had some difficulty grasping some of the concepts at first, such as that though each letter had a name, their sounds when used in words were not always the same as the name, and that some letters could even have more than one sound.  He tought me that there were two basic ways we made sounds when we spoke, with "an open channel of air from our mouths" to make vowels, and "by altering the set of our jaws and lips to form the consonent sounds".  I wasn't sure what he meant by vowels and consonents then, but I began to understand a little more as he kept explaining, and answering my silly questions.  At one point I asked which letters were the vowels and Gel' explained it was the letters A, E, I, O, and U, then asked me if I could identify them on the parchment.  At first I stared at the alphabet as my eyes moved over it, and after a moment I knew I could recognize the vowels.  I was puzzled that the vowels were all spread out seemingly at random and mixed in with the consonents, so I asked Gel' why the vowels weren't grouped together because it didn't make sense to me.  Gel' didn't know why either, it turned out.  So, maybe I'm smarter than the people who invented the letters.  I think so anyway."
 
 "As the lessons continued during our trip, I learned what letters spelled my name.  I was confused why my name couldn't be spelled with a 'G' instead of a 'J' since the 'G' can also make the 'juh' sound sometimes.  Gel' said it had something to do with the traditions passed down through generations and regions and how they each used the alphabet a little differently from culture to culture."
 
 "As our time together drew to a close, I realized there was still a lot for me to learn, but I was delighted to have begun the basics.  I was thankful too that Gel' seemed a patient teacher, despite all my annoying interruptions with the silly questions of my somewhat ignorant mind.  I didn't say it right out, but I made it known to him that in exchange for his teaching me I would offer my body to him, if he desired it.  I don't think I'll be lucky enough to pay this debt so cheaply though, as Gel' didn't seem all that interested.  Yet, maybe as his mind considers the idea more an more he'll decide to accept some sack-time as payment.  Men can often be bought like that.  Still, he's Elven, and he's already got an Elven woman named Zari to fill his need, so it's more likely he'll find some other kind of favor for me to accomplish as payment.  Hopefully whatever his choice, it won't cost me too much."

[Nehetsrev]

*The narative of memories continues...*
 
 "Okay, so I tracked down Andrew Reid, litterally.  I found him and some old looking tower in the Dapplegreen not terribly far from Fort Vehl.  When I knocked on the door to the ramshackle place, he tried disguising his voice as he answered the door, but I still knew it was him.  Of course the attempt only increased my curiosity, which is what made me track him in the first place."
 
 "He opened the door and slipped out, without giving me an opportunity to see much beyond himself to the inside of the tower.  This made me even more curious.  What was this place, and what was he doing here that he needed to be so secretive, so nervous?  I decided I'd try to find out and began appyling a bit of womanly persuasion.  He turned my advances down, which was a surprise because I'd figured him for a different sort of man.  For a moment he'd gotten downright jumpy about something while he smoked a cigar, and acted like he was listening for someone sneaking about nearby in the wood.  I looked around carefully but couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary at all."
 
 "Eventually I did manage to talk him into going inside.  There wasn't much to see.  It seemed he and his other lady-friend had the place in a state of ongoing repair and remodelling.  Maybe it'll be worth it to come back at some future date, once they've had a chance to furnish it properly and are properly moved in.  In any case he lead me to what looked like a storage area with some rugs ont he floors and we sat down and talked for a while.  Aparently something about his cigar smoke had reminded him of a nightmare he'd had, and that's what had made him so jumpy outside.  Maybe.  It's what he told me anyhow.  I still had the feeling he wasn't telling me everything."
 
 "We talked for a while and he went on about how Ilsare saved him from addiction to strong drink, and forgave him all the time.  I don't think the gods care enough about any of us to even give us a second thought, and I told him so.  Growing up mostly in a locked closet gives me a different perspective than he has, I guess.  Still, the wolves did give me my freedom...  Maybe there was some divine influence there, but I don't choose to believe it.  He pointed out I've never known love in my life.  That's true enough, but I wonder if it's only because love is a fiction, it doesn't really exist, does it?  Everyone has motives, mostly for their own gratification.  That's the world we live in, right?"

[Nehetsrev]

*The memories still go on...*
 
 "It wasn't too much longer after that first visit in the Dapplegreen tower that I was approached by a man in that very same area.  He was asking about Andrew Reid, and more specificly about a Darkelf that had assaulted Andrew in the fairly recent past of those days.  While I told the man, who introduced himself as Hardragh, that I didn't have the information he was looking for, I did offer to try to find out for him what it was he wanted to know, since he promised a reward of value.  When the man asked my own name, I sold him an alias instead for 50 Trues, so he knew me as Sally Sootlocks instead.  I may reveal my real name to him later, but I wanted to be careful with this stranger before I entrusted it to him."
 
 "Now I needed to figure out how to coax the information Hardragh was looking for out of Andrew.  An idea began to form in my mnd, but it would likely be some time before I got the chance to try it."

[Nehetsrev]

"My plan to coax information out of Andrew was rather simple.  I knew he'd been attacked by a Darkelf, but I didn't know some other important facts, such as the gender of the assailent.  So, I tailored my story to suit, being careful when I approached Andrew to reference the Darkelf as 'it'.  I know I'm not nescessarilly the best actress, but playing my story right I wouldn't need to be since Andrew would be too shocked, and distracted.  It helped that Darkelves are generally thought of with the utmost of paranoid suspicion regarding their dealings with surface races."
 
 "Okay, so I told Andrew that a Darkelf had threatened my life, and said it had a message for me to deliver to him.  I added that the Darkelf said he'd know who it was because it was the one that had made an attempt on his life before.  The fabricated message from the Darkelf was vague, but fit my story, I was to tell Andrew that he would be sent instructions at some point in the future and that if he didn't execute those instructions the Darkelf would take my own life.  Men do so like to play the protector, don't they?  Well, good men do at any rate."
 
 "As I'd predicted, Andrew was shocked at this 'phantom' Darkelf's 'return' from his past, and he also wanted to protect me if he could.  So, I asked him who the Darkelf was firstly, to which he responded that he never knew it's name.  Next I asked what it wanted with him in the first place, and his answers were rather vague and evasive, but I did find out that Andrew had been investigating something or someone belonging to the Darkelf, and that that is what prompted the Darkelf to reveal itself to him.  It had threatened to kill his family if he didn't stop his investigations, so Andrew sacrificed himself to protect them, and made a deal to stop his poking around so that the Darkelf wouldn't ever harm his family.  Also, it seemed whatever it was he'd been investigating was most likely a slave or servant of the Darkelf, guessing from Andrews references.  In order to find out more, I tried asking Andrew if he'd start investigating the Darkelf's property again, now that my life had been threatened, suggesting that if he did it might draw the Darkelf out again.  He replied that if he did that then his family would no longer be safe, and that it was bad enough my life had been threatened as a sort of 'loophole' to the deal between them."
 
 "Of course, when I felt I wasn't going to learn any more from Andrew about this Darkelf that had attacked him, I returned to my client and reported my findings.  I was rewarded with a very ample sum of 5,000 Trues for my work, which had exceeded my client's expectations.  I further suggested to my client that in order to learn more about the Darkelf, it might work to send Andrew a 'message from the Darkelf' telling him to assassinate the being he'd been investigating in the first place.  We could then follow Andrew to that being, and his pressence again in the person's life might draw out the Darkelf.  I also added that I wasn't too keen on executing that plan, as it would again put Andrews family into danger since it would nullify Andrew's original deal with the Darkelf, but that I would do so if the pay was right.  My client stated he would have to discuss things with the others he worked with before further action of any sort would be taken.  The client also made it known to me that he already knew who the Darkelf was, but that it uses many aliases."
 
 "In my own mind, I was struggling with the ideas of having lied to Andrew, and of putting he or his family in more danger.  I was beginning to like the man I'd begun to know, and it was affecting my business mindset.  I resolved that being a business woman, I would act against him if paid enough, but that the price would have to be much higher, since Andrew had become a more valuable asset to me in furthering my own goals of profit."
 
 "Meanwhile, in other events that happened during this timeframe, I'd met a Darkelf woman who was a rather extraordinary archer and mage.  I didn't learn her name, but it is aparent she knows Andrew, as she stuck up for him when Gel' began to speak badly of him.  If it would be more profitable, I may turn this Darkelf woman's head in for a reward some day, but for now I'll enjoy her aparent generosity.  She claims to be an ex-Az'zattan, who was excommunicated from the order for attempting to save (presumeably through bloodshed) several Az'zattan clergy from Corathites intent on killing them.  It would appear as well that she, known to me now as Archer, has also a past involvement with Gel', since she railed against him for supporting the lynching of a confessed killer who was captured and bound, rather than turning the man over to fair trial.  It seems Gel's girlfriend, Zari' was one of the chief supporters of the lynching too, while the well re-knowned Jennara Creekskipper and Archer herself were among those that opposed the lynching in favor of a fair, lawful trial first.  At least the Dwarf, Yurax, seemed to agree with me that there were more important and profitable things we could all be doing with our time.  It may be I'll work with Yurax again in the future too as his mindset seems to compliment my own."
 
 "I had also run into that young woman, Calley, again.  She helped me dig up a few bodies for a man named Marent in Fort Vehl.  I didn't think she fully realized what we were doing, but so long as she didn't squeal to the law about it, I didn't much care.  I remember thinking that she could be a handy tool for me to use on some occasions, but on the other hand, she could turn out to be a liability.  I decided I'd have to be more careful of what sorts of tasks I involved her in going on from there."

[Nehetsrev]

"I recall at one particular point I had thought I'd lost the trust afforded me by Andrew.  He, myself and some others had sit down to have a picnic of sorts otuside the walls of Port Hempstead.  As I recall, it was about the same week as those unnatural storms of chaos began to rage across northern Mistone, not that they concerned me much, but to fix this memory in a certain frame of time."
 
 "In any case, there we sat 'round a campfire sharing tea and stories.  At first conversation centered around the uprising of Trolls that we had taken part in defending Lan's Port against not too long a time before this particular meeting.  As it came up that more archers would have been most useful, and would be again when we were to go on the offensive to attempt elimination of the Troll leaders, I commented that I had met an Elven lady, who's name remained unknown to me at the time, but whose skill with bow and Al'Noth together were formidable.  Andrew became more curious as I explained she seemed to know him, for she had stood up to defend his good name when Gel' had begun to slander it.  I went on to relate the tale in full of how she and I had been on a business trip within the Red Light caves and on our way out encountered Gel' and Yurax.  We were at first going to accompany them for further profiteering, but it became aparent that Archer, as she called herself, knew Gel' from previous encounters and they each despised the morale values of the other.  Their verbal feud ranged over topics including Andrew, and a murderer who'd been lynched without trial at Gel's girlfriend's urging and against Archer's own council."
 
 "Needless to say, as life tends to bring us surprises neither wanted nor pleasant, the sister of Gel's girlfriend happened to wander by as I was relating the tale.  She caught just enough of the conversation to hear of Gel's involvement, and immediately began verbally accosting Andrew for slandering Gel' when he hadn't at all.  Everything negative that had been mentioned had come from my mouth, except for Andrew stating that Gel' did not like himself and with justification.  Something to do with Andrews past involvement in some way with Gel's girlfriend, I suppose.  A bit peeved by the interuption, and that 'Zira was bringing her ire to bear on the wrong person, I stood up to defend Andrew myself, and called her "Miss Snooty".  The name still fits in my opinion, but I'll not bring it up aloud again if only to preserve Andrews good will with myself."
 
 "The Elf of course threw a tantrum at being called snooty, and vowed never to help me should I be in need of divine aid in future.  Only proving my perception of her character, really.  However, the strife put Andrew in a foul temper himself, and he rode off to the tower in the Dapplegreen.  His last words were a string of ladies names, including my own, with a conation of frustration with us all.  I didn't fathom what I'd done wrong, and still don't really.  However, it was suggested to me by those others present that I should apologize to 'Zira and go after Andrew to apologize to him as well."
 
 "Frankly, I set off with intent only to regain Andrew's favor, and not at all with intent to appease the snooty Elf.  As chance would have it though I ran into 'Zira and her fellow at the Stormcrest Shack.  I decided that I would make the effort to apologize, after all not only might it smooth things over with Andrew if I could legitimately claim to have tried, but I figured it'd be good to have the powers divine on my side should something happen and the snooty Elf was the only one around who could interceed on my behalf.  She called my apology "sucky" but at least seemed to accept it.  I think telling her that it was my first apology ever helped, though of course that was a lie.  I'd apologized insincerely for a multitude of transgressions in my life.  Most of the transgressions were real, but enough were also the work of others who were too trusted or favored to be blamed for their own handiwork, and I was the nearest suspect character so, of course blame fell on me."
 
 "When I finally arrived at the tower to which Andrew had fled, my knocking at the door gained me no response.  I reasoned perhaps he was still too upset with me, or perhaps he simply didn't hear my knocking and calling for him."
 
 "Thankfully, I ran across Andrew at the Stormcrest Shack again while he was conducting some business with a lady named Jil'.  I kept my distance and kept to myself until they noticed me and called me over.  Even then, I tried to remain distanced conversationally.  It wouldn't do to make it obvious how much I valued Andrews approval of myself.  It was bad enough that I did value that in secret.  No one had treated me as nicely as Andrew had in all my travels, it felt good, and he had resources and contacts that might bring me opportunities.. not to mention I'd somewhat committed to stick near him in relation to the job about the Darkelf that had once assaulted him."
 
 "Well as we conversed, eventually Jil' announced she must leave, and about that same time Tyra showed up.  Tyra and Andrew seemed to have something private they wished to discuss together, so I took my leave to give them their chance.  As I made my way to the road from the campfire, Andrew called out behind me that I should feel free to use the room he'd let me stay in at the Twin Dragons once before, proclaiming he was now renting the second room officially himself.  I wanted to smile, but instead I tried to keep my manner cool.  I wouldn't have wanted him to know that his invitation had brought me relief from the worries I had disappointed him beyond reconciliation with the incident involving 'Zira.  It felt good to know I was back in his good graces though."
 
 "I returned again to the Stormcrest a short time later to discover Andrew and Tyra still there at the campfire, and now joined as well by Andrew's sister, Aya.  Seeing her there I concluded that private time was finished and it would be okay for me to join them as well.  We chatted among ourselves for a while, distracted at one point by the arrival of a ferrit.  While Aya tried to shoo the creature away, I calmed it and fed it from my hand, and it left grateful for the encounter.  Conversation drifted too to some axioms made by some mercenary that Tyra evidently regards highly, by name of Cole Norseman.  I'd never heard the name before, but aparently he was famous, especially around Leringard and the Leringard Arms Inn & Tavern there.  She never got around to speaking the actual axioms though, but Andrew said he'd discuss them with me later, understanding that I didn't wish others to know I couldn't yet read, when Tyra had pushed a text at me urging me to read the axioms for myself.  I was grateful for his incite to handling that potentially embarassing situation."
 
 "It's funny how I could have such a verbose vocabulary, and not know how to spell or read a single word of it.  That would change some day of course, with the help I'd receive from Gel' and Andrew, and perhaps a handful of others."
 
 "The evening came to an end when I decided I was growing tired and left to seek out a place to slumber in relative security.  However, before I left Aya complimented me on the styling of my leathers, and Andrew went further to comment on how much he liked my boots.  There was innuendo in the way he said it, and we all picked up on that, so I teasingly added some innuendo of my own about swapping boots with him some time.  Then, having gotten him in deep with the other two, I chose to saunter off and leave him to suffer their jibes or chastisements.  Cruel maybe, but delightful at the same time.  How could a twisted smile not stretch my lips after that, right?"

[Nehetsrev]

*her thoughts go on, narating these broken bits from her past*
 
 "It wasn't too long after that things began to truly fall apart in the matters concerning Andrew.  As I headed for the Twin Dragons, I turned my head to look for the sign from Hardragh, and as I saw the curtains on the 2nd floor window were open, I knew it was time to meet with my client again.  He presented me with a scroll to be delivered to Andrew, supposedly from the Darkelf in effort to arange a meeting.  The details of where or when I wasn't told by Hardragh, and since I could not read, I wouldn't know until Andrew told me later."
 
 "I should never have let my heart speak to my mind.  There was something in the way that Andrew treated me that I had grown fond of, and it affected my resolve to do the job properly.  As if I actually wanted him to catch me in my lie in order that I would not have to lie to him anymore.  Crazy, yes?"
 
 "So I tried to track Andrew down as I was to deliver the message to him as soon as I could, then notify Hardragh that it had been delivered.  I headed first to the tower in the Dapplegreen, encountering 'Leaf on the way at the Stormcrest Shack.  I realized I must play the part of someone tense, nervous and afraid, as I should be if I had really been threatened by Andrew's Darkelf.  'Leaf's witness and belief of such behavior would help reinforce the believability if Andrew ever questioned him about my behavior during that span of time.  As it turned, Andrew wasn't at the tower in the Dapplegreen, and I returned to Leringard to look for him at the Twin Dragons in the case he had returned during my absence."
 
 "I continued my feigned nervousness for witnesses I passed to see as I went to the door of Andrew's room.  Knocking on his door, a moment later he let me in.  I gave him the scroll, he read it, and I continued to try to act frightened as I should be, and he was so alarmed by the message he hopped up and rushed around the room packing and talking to himself about hiding his family and friends.  My ruse almost worked... it was as I made way to the door to leave that I must have over-acted and Andrew saw through the lie at last.  He called me on it.  I tried for a few moments to continue the lie, but I knew there was no way he'd believe me... and I gave in and began to tell him the truth.  He was angry, but at the same time it seemed he was forgiving.  Hope rose in my chest.  Hope that perhaps I would not lose his favor, hope for love I knew deep down could never truly happen, because real love is a myth, isn't it?  Yet hope I did.  So I told him everything I knew.  How mister Hardragh had contacted me, and how I'd chosen to invent the story of the Darkelf coming after me myself, because it seemed the best way to gain the information I was asked to get.  I told him that I thought mister Hardragh and those allied with him whose names and identities I didn't know were trying to catch a Darkelf that had assaulted Andrew... which incidently may not be the same one I had gleaned information from Andrew about, because he revealed to me that in fact there had been three seperate Darkelves that had assaulted him on different occasions in the past.  Andrew decided to go along with the ruse and continue it, to find out what mister Hardragh and his allies wanted in truth."
 
 "From there it was talk of feelings of regret in efforts to restore Andrew's faith in me.  For some reason I still wanted him to respect me.  In my mind I told myself it was for the advantages he could provide me, that there really wasn't any hope for love and romance.  I would play along now to keep those advantages, to learn to read and write, to infiltrate the trust of his friends and acquaintences for the profits I might find through them as well.  My heart screamed treason at my mind, but when ever did I listen to my heart, right?  That only left me broken and cast out in the past.  Less than trash.  Trust is foolishness."

[Nehetsrev]

*more memories are narated by Jetta's internal dialogue with herself*
 
 "So, I helped save Andrew's horse, Sonata. She's a fine mare, and I wouldn't have minded coming into ownership of a foal of hers if Andrew could find a suitable stallion to breed her with that she'd accept. In any event, helping with Andrew's horse seemed to have garnered me a bit more trust and respect in his eyes. This would be useful to me later."
 
 "Some time after that, I noticed mister Hardragh had the curtains on the second story window open again. It was our signal to meet for business. So, I paid him a visit to find out what more he wanted of my services. It was a little surprising to me that he didn't want more to do with Andrew, but instead he pressented me with a sketch of a staircase. His request was that I find the staircase, which he could only state was not on Mistone. He did say I could show the sketch to anyone I knew was well traveled enough to have possibly encountered the stairs in their journeys, including possibly Andrew. It was an odd request, but since he gave no time-limit, and offered a "high reward" I figured it couldn't hurt me to keep my eyes open for a place resembling the stairs whenever I left Mistone to travel on other business."
 
 "So, just when I thought Andrew may have decided I wasn't worth his efforts, because he was always with one of his other ladies and indicating I wasn't quite welcome because they needed private time, it happened that he tracked me down at the Twin Dragons. Okay, to be honest, I sort of tracked him down there and made it seem he stumbled onto me. At least he didn't put me off again, and seemed interested in me. I danced with my fan a bit for him, at his urging, and he was obviously aroused by my display. After that I talked him into a reading and writing lesson. It went pretty well, and I learned some new things that Gel' hadn't taught me previously. I even wrote something that ressembled a sentance that Andrew was able to read and understand."
 
 "A few days later I found a reading and writing primer that Andrew authored just for me. I dug into that book with eagerness, and began unlocking some of the mysteries of some sounds that it takes combinations of letters to make. My education really began to take off with this new tool, it was almost as good as having a teacher with me whenever I wanted to have a lesson."
 
 "A few days later, I picked up a couple more odd jobs. Jil' asked for another box-full of spider silk at her usual level of compensation. Also, the blue-skinned fellow named Steel asked me to design two sets of garments in sizes fitting for an Elven lady. One set was to be designed to embody the raw power of the storm and lightning. The other was to be done in shades of green, and have the feel or design of a poison-dripping spider fang. Since he was offering 1,000 Trues up front and up to another 1,000 Trues upon completion if he liked my designs I figured it was a lucrative enough opportunity not to pass up. Besides, I'd recently begun teaching myself tailoring skills, so it could only help my progression in that field."
 
 "It came to pass that Andrew stumbled onto me while I was in the workshop making the alterations to the set that would symbolize the storm and lightning. He surprised me with a gift of blue suede boots of quality make. I had thought maybe my efforts to earn his trust were paying off, and gladly accepted the useful pair of boots, though it was aparent I'd have to have them re-sized to fit my feet by an expert cobbler."
 
 "I reasoned that if I wanted Andrew to truly think I was turning over a new leaf I should probably find some gift to give to him in return that he wouldn't expect. Thinking over resources I could acquire with little effort or cost to myself that Andrew might appreciate, I remembered where I'd seen hazelnuts growing wild that were in season, so I collected almost a box-full of them for him. I even took pains to shell them for him. Picking and shelling hazelnuts can be a rather painful experience for someone who doesn't realize the fine 'hairs' on the skins of the nuts are actually tiny slivers that easilly work their way into your skin and cause it to itch and become raw, almost as if they're burnt or skalded badly. Fortunately I was wise to that thanks to a previous experience with hazelnuts, and this time I had my gloves to protect my skin. End of the story is that I surprised Andrew with the hazelnuts, a bit apprehensive that he may not appreciate them. Fortunately for me it turned out he was nuts about them and I scored another notch of reputability with him I thought."
 
 "He kissed my hand goodnight before leaving to spend time with Ty, his adopted son, but I could tell that his anticipation of kissing more than just my hand was building. I thought to myself that maybe at our next reading and writing lesson I'd let him have a taste of my lips, or I might not. It wouldn't do to give myself up too easilly too soon. There was still plenty of advantage to leverage from him, and he'd value me more if he believed me a woman of more virtue I believed. The thrill is in the chase, they say, and while I was chasing him for what advantages I could get from him, he was chasing me for the pleasure he could get from my conquest. I was sure of it. Why else would he have so many other ladies in his life, right?"

[Nehetsrev]

"So, I was also trying to learn some new crafts at that time, and began delving into the art of tailoring even more. At first I began with different variations of basic robes and other simple clothing. At that time the pinacle of my achievement came to fruition in the creation of a set of leather armor made from deer skins. I reasoned if I could make a good set from deerskin as I had, I should also be able to make a better set out of some other type of skins as my skill progressed. I turned my focus onto trying to make a set out of cougar leather next."
 
 "Meanwhile, my reading and writing knowledge continued to expand, and I found I was getting close to understanding almost any simple sign or trade request I found posted in the markets. I dared not try writing any of my own up yet, I feared exposing myself as someone still just learning. I did write a practice letter to Andrew as he'd instructed though, and it turned out pretty good, though still required some corrections."
 
 "Still, while my education in various fields of knowledge was expanding daily, at night I had restless dreams. Nightmares of being dicovered in a lie by Andrew, or about that little girl with the brown eyes that I helped deliver to those trolls. Horrid visions of dying at the hands of bears, or other creatures. Impressions of cogs and gears turning and clicking in unison to unleash death from traps on guilded chests... or locks that wouldn't open to my manipulations as demons came at me from an endless hallway behind, never quite catching me, but always growing closer as I franticly picked at the lock. These dreams only served to push me further in attaining more skill. I would conquer them and set them to rest."
 
 "An opportunity I was not expecting arose from a chance meeting with 'Leaf, Slinky's sweetheart. He was looking into mastering the crafting of traps, a field I also held interest in, and wanted a partner to learn and collaborate with. Since mining for me was a real pain, I easilly agreed to pursue that opportunity as long as it was open to me. What good is an open door if you don't step through it, after all?"

[Nehetsrev]

*Jetta continues her narative of memories, skipping ahead some years as details of daily life for a while were dull, and there was a period during which she had to go into hiding*
 
 "Not many things of interest happened for a while after that.  The collaborative efforts of trap-making with 'Leaf never came to fruition.  I never found the mysterious staircase Hardragh had hired me to look for, and things with Andrew sort of reached a plateau as he became more serious with Elohanna."
 
 "It didn't help that for a few years I went into hiding because I feared some repercussions in regards to a deal that fell through with some scum-lord from a backwater town in Brelin.  That worked out though, because while I was away I found a good cover-job working as a scribe's assistant, and it was in his employ that I came to really master my reading and writing.  It wasn't a bad life, all in all, until he started thinking he wanted me as his mistress too.  I wouldn't have minded so much, but the cheap-skate wasn't even offering to pay me anything extra for the service.  So it was that my time laying low came to an end and I returned to Mistone and the adventuring community."
 
 "I remember vaguely on my return meeting up with Andrew, Elohanna, Hardragh, and many other adventurers who's names I can't all recall now.  A man in Leringard had called for people to handle a fued between two rival inns in a discreet manner.  As it turned out, the son of one of the inn-keeps was in love with the daughter of the other inn-keep, which proved helpful in uncovering the real truth of what was going on to cause the divide between the two inns.  They both served different sorts of clientelle, so there was no business reason they should've had to be in such a rage with eachother.  Yet each business was suffering from sabotage, believed to be caused by the other.  We came to find out, however, that it was the man who'd hired us who was the real cause behind the warring of the inns.  His scheme was to make two different businesses in the same line of work believe each-other to be stealing customers or whatnot to start these fueds.  When both sides had exhuasted their own resources, he's step in to loan them money to continue, and they'd look to him as a hero.  In the end, when they were inescapeably in debt to him, and could no longer continue to fued and their businesses were failed, he'd step in and buy the businesses for much less than they had originally been worth.  Heck, he stole their businesses right out from under them.  Nice con really, til we caught him.  One of his henchmen took the daughter of one of the inn-keeps hostage and demanded a high ransom the man could never have paid.  So, we went to confront the henchman and rescue the girl.  While the others kept him distracted, I snuck up the stairs he was standing near, and ham-strung him before he knew what hit him.  Not a bad way to return to Mistone, right?  The inn-keepers hailed me, and the others, as heroes.  That should give me a little clout in Leringard if I ever need it, or at least a safehouse to stay at if that need should arise."

[Nehetsrev]

"Andrew, it turned out, must have struck it rich or something, because now he was the owner and operator of a first-class inn & tavern called the Silverbuckle located in Mariner's Hold.  He and Elohanna had set up playing house together there, and he'd even given her an area to use as a clinic for treating the ill and such.  Admittedly, at first I was really quite jealous of Elohanna landing Andrew like that.  I mean, he doted on her and they had that fancy place together, and I felt like it should've been me he'd chosen instead.  I guess that's what happens when you're out of the picture for a few years though, you miss out on opportunities, right?"
 
 "Anyway, Elohanna came to me and asked me to do a job for her.  She said up front that she didn't even have any means to pay me for it.  Maybe at first I took the job with the thought that I'd turn her over to the Pyretechonite she'd asked me to snoop on and see if he'd offer me some payment, while at the same time I could get back at her for stealing Andrew from me.  Yeah, I know... very petty and spiteful of me.  But after I agreed to the job my business sense kicked back in.  It wouldn't be good for my business reputation to turn on a customer, and when dealing with a murderous Pyretechonite, there's not a single degree of any kind of certainty of getting them to pay you for anything.  Simple fact is, you're more likely to get burned by them than anything else.  So, I found myself stuck with having promised to do the job for Elly pro-bono, and it looked like it'd be a pretty dangerous job too.  Elly had told me this Sebian fellow was not only a dangerous murderer, but a high-powered mage as well.  So, it wouldn't be an easy task to sneak in to the target area and poke around to verify if the target was indeed still operating there.  I decided I'd need magical back-up of my own, so I started asking around."
 
 "The first person I spoke to of it was Breanna.  I knew she could sneak a bit, and she had skill with magic, which would have been ideal if only her skill had been a bit more.  She admitted she couldn't pull off the job, but refered me to Protector Storold instead.  Well, if anyone could handle the magic side of things, I'm guessing Protector Storold would be at the top of the list of folks who could, right?  So I told him some of the details of what I expected would need to be done, and tried to keep the specifics as vague as I could, since Elohanna had asked me to handle the job with the utmost secrecy and discretion.  Storold was intrigued enough that he agreed to help, and asked if an associate of his named Clover could also come along.  After clearing it with Elly I was able to tell him that Clover could, but that she'd have to be kept as ignorant of the details as possible without endangering any of us.  Then I put things on the back-burner for a little while as I tried to think of the best way to go about the scouting mission without ending up detected and dead."
 
 "As it happened, Orcs began raiding a trading Center that was at the hub of the continent of Mistone, called Center.  I took to looting the Orcish bodies as they piled up, and eventually played a rather large role in turning the Orcs away, at least temporarilly.  Wave after wave of the brutes poured at the trading post almost daily.  Eventually a group of us adventurers formed to push them back.  It wasn't going too well once the Orcish sharp-shooters moved into position and began dropping our people with arrows.  So, out I went to scout deep into the Orcish ranks to try and find their leaders.  Following the sound of their drumming, after realizing this was how they were communicating orders to their troops, I found the leaders clustered together.  So did another of our party, only he got spotted and chased back to our line as I was reporting my findings to Andrew.  Unfortunately, his being spotted tipped the Orcs off that we knew where to find their leaders, so the whole force began retreating back into the montains to regroup and come back with reinforcements.  We followed them to a cave.  There we dispatched the guards at the cave entrance and then collapsed it in on them with one of my firebombs, some of my alchemist's fire, some of my acid flasks, and some exploding arrows and thunderous notes from a couple of the others in the group.  This stopped the seige of Center at least for a while.  And, happilly, I went to the bank a few True richer... well, if you dont' count the cost of all the resources I used up.  If you count those, I'd say I took a loss on that job.  Those are the breaks sometimes though, right?"
 
 "Somewhere around that same time I'd received a letter from Andrew requesting my expertise be put on the job of tracking a Mistite who was on the move.  So, I headed to Leringard to start my investigations into that matter.  After all, Andrew was offering some pretty decent compensation along with an expense account to cover my costs while I was on the job..."

[Nehetsrev]

"...Well, it turned out that Andrew wasn't the employer behind the job after all.  It was instead my old 'friend' Hardragh, a Voice of Mist who'd hired me previously to get information on a darkelf that had attacked Andrew.  I guess the two had become something of friends over the years while I'd been away.  In any case the Mistite I'd been hired to track, Dougal, had left port in his own ship, the Dark Skies, only two days prior to my own arrival in Leringard."
 
 "Having met up with Andrew, Hardragh, and others of his hired help in the Leringard Arms, Steel and a woman named Rose stayed there to try scrying on Dougal, while the rest of us went to a library in the Temple of Mist there in Leringard.  Mistites with a library, who would've guessed, right?  Anyway, Hardragh spoke with an old man there whom I percieved to be the head librarian or something, and tried to find out what kind of information Dougal had sacked the place looking for before he left.  Aparently, Dougal had also nabbed a woman from the library named Liere, whom Hardragh had been working with.  From what I heard of the conversation Hardragh had with the librarian, it sounded like Dougal was looking for an ancient relic, a sword once owned by a famous Mistite pirate captain hundreds of years ago, and for information about how to break or form magical bonds of control involving dragons."
 
 "After tidying up the library a bit while Hardragh interrogated the librarian, we ended up heading back to the Leringard Arms to check on the progress of Steel and Rose.  As we returned they were just beginning the actual scrying.  Aparently it takes a good deal of preparation to do that sort of magic.  Rose and Steel found that Dougal was out at sea, and heading north toward the Krashin isles, as we already knew, but they were able to get a glimpse of his maps and charts as he plotted his course.  Though they suspected he might've plotted a false course because he'd realized he was being srcied upon.  So, after the scrying we all (excepting Steel) boarded a ship that Arkolio had secured for us.  The goal was to give chase, and hopefully to catch-up or pass Dougal, and other Mistite Voices operating in that area.  Steel was sent to the Aragenite temple in Alindor to check on what Liere had been researching there to see if it might provide more clues.  Hardragh had the idea it would be great for him, and consequently us all, if we could find a way to turn them against eachother."

[Nehetsrev]

"...Upon landfall in Raven's Watch our troubles were just beginning.  We were ambushed by a group that if I recall was loyal to Yashilla, one of the Tides of Mist.  It wasn't a pleasant experience for me.  I'd no sooner shouted warning to my business partners than I was face down in a spreading pool of my own blood in the snow.  I died.  My business partners brought me back with some truly soul-wrenching magic, and it took some time for me to recover.  In the mean time, we set out with a 'guide' to catch up to Dougal's group.  However, the 'guide' turned out to be duplicitous.  I suspect he was working for Yashilla or Dougal himself.  He attempted to kill the seer, Rose, but we thwarted him, barely.  Steel and I gave chase through the snowy woods, lit from above by the light of the moons.  This resulted in yet another death to add to my tally of personal fatalities.  It was not enjoyable.  I don't know how the man knew I was even there, but he must have heard me or seen me somehow.  In any case, Steel fell victim to the man also.  Some time later, I guess, our bodies were found by hunters from one of the local tribes, the Wolf Tribe."
 
"Here again was another unpleasant experience, worse than dying I think.  The shaman of the Wolf tribe, or witch if you prefer, had us sit in for some vision-quest or some such.  I saw with my own eyes huge wolf-spirits...  I don't think I've ever been that terrified before in my life... it must have been a supernaturally induced fear, for I have faced wolves before without being anywhere near so unnerved.  In any case, after all that we set again, this time heading up into the territories of the Sky Demon Tribe.  This tribe worships dragons and drakes, and of course considers itself superior to all the low-land tribes.  At least, however, they were willing to let us live after we explained we were enemies of Dougal, who aparently had started posing as some sort of prophet to the Seal Tribe.  Eventually we talked them into allowing us passage into their holy-grounds, a possible entrance into the Deep, with passages to the extreme northern isles where the dragon Snowtooth makes it's lair."
 
"Meeting Snowtooth was... interesting.  Hardragh explained that the Tempest of Mist had issued a decree or challenge that a dragon's egg was to be acquired, and whoever did so would obtain immense reward.  He also explained that Dougal and Yashilla were certainly seeking to storm Snowtooth's own lair in an attempt to get one of his eggs, and that we had heard of another dragon's egg already procured by yet another Mistite from somewhere on Dregar, in the many deserts there.  Needless to say, Snowtooth wasn't happy to learn of this plot to steal dragon eggs, and he flew out and promptly sank both Dougal's and Yashilla's ships, and aparently made a snack of Dougal or something, if stories I heard later can be believed.  Then Snowtooth charged us all with recovering the stolen egg of the dragon from Dregar, saying he knew her.  He also agreed to tell us of another dragon's egg we might steal from one of his rivals if we returned the first egg to him safely."
 
"You guessed it.  After a free ride by Snowtooth's subserviant drakes to the nearest port, we set out to recover the egg.  Fortunately, Steel and Hardragh had contacts with a group of pirates who headed off the other ship and sank it before it could reach Leringard.  We hooked up with the pirates on an island not far from where the ship had been sunk and interrogated the Mistite who'd lead that group.  She turned out to be very cooperative, not that she had much choice, and told right where to find the egg.  It was sunk with the ship.  So while Andrew and I remained on the isle to guard the prisoners (for their own safety from the pirates), the others did a bit of diving and recovered the egg.  Unfortunately, the egg was in poor shape.  It was intact, but cold.  I'm not sure whether Snowtooth was able to save it or not after he took possesion of it.  Regardless, true to his word, he showed Hardragh the location his rival's lair and we set out to see about securing an egg from there."
 
"Everything had been going well enough as we made our way deeper into the dragon's lair, until we came to a chamber with several large drakes guarding an egg in it's center.  Andrew had chosen not to come along for this "egg-knapping" mission, for reasons of conscience.  Probably a wiser choice than he knows, because at that point, as you can well imagine, the fires of all hell broke loose.  ...and I died yet again.  Burning to a crisp is not a way I'd recommend to go if one has a choice.  Someone raised me with a magic scroll amid all the chaos, and we made our retreat.  Another person had nabbed the egg from the middle of the chamber and Hardragh clutched it securely as we made our retreat with angry drakes on our heels.  We were too busy running for our lives to notice the small army of Dark-Elven dragon servants barring our path until we were practicly in their midst.  I was certainly not going to let myself be killed again, so I made ready to escape.  I tried to make innuendo to Hardragh to hand me the egg, but he didn't notice, so I wasted no more time before using my Stardust of Beryl upon myself and slipping away."
 
"Later we all met up again.  The egg we'd stolen turned out to be a decoy.  Still, our efforts weren't a total failure.  Through his actions in brokering a peace between the dragons (mainly Snowtooth) and the church of Mist, Hardragh was given the reward of being named a Tide of Mist himself.  You can be sure there were quite a few Mistites who weren't pleased at all that he'd received the title ahead of themselves.  I have the feeling that could complicate my life later, since I'm sure they'll consider me linked to Hardragh enough that they'll think of me as their enemy too.  I ask, "why can't the world see it was just business?"  I'll work for anyone who can pay enough."
 
*pauses here to collect her thoughts some more*

[Nehetsrev]

*the narative continues*
 
"Let's see, not long after the job in Hardragh's employ, I found myself being asked by Breanna to help her throw off the tyrany of a Dark-Elf who'd managed to somehow enslave, or at least indenture her.  Breanna's plan was to change her whole persona and go into hiding, more or less.  Needless to say, I offered to simply kill the Dark Elf if she could pay me, but Breanna didn't want any more blood shed.  She also couldn't or wouldn't offer to pay me for my help.  I tried to offer her the opportunity to find something to barter for my services with, even making an exception and offering to help her 'on credit'.  Still, she refused, so I walked out."
 
"Determined to find some way to profit from the situation, I thought maybe I could follow her to her new hideout and sell the information to her Dutchess.  So, I waited outside in the shadows and followed her and Andrew to the residence of an older Gnomish wizardess.  I perched outside, below the open window and listened.  Here I found out that Breanna was asking this Yawa Ekat to train her in the arts of magicly disguising herself through transmutation and illusion.  I listened further and after Yawa gave Breanna a list of spells to practice and perfect, she set an appointment for the next lesson.  I resolved to return at the time of that next appointment and think of ways I could profit from it.  Blackmail might work, except Breanna didn't have anything of worth to me that I could blackmail her for.  Still, I might learn some information I could sell, like I'd planned in the first place."
 
"Upon her return, Yawa tested Breanna's ability with the spells she'd charged her to learn.  She told Breanna to go practice a bit more and return again in a few hours.  I stayed hidden and watched for Breanna and Andrew to come back to Yawa's.  This time, when they came back, I slipped inside behind them unnoticed.  I thought, maybe I'd case the house and walk off with something magical and valuable while Andrew and Breanna held Yawa's attention.  It wasn't to be, however."
 
"I listened and heard the gasps of surprise and shock when Breanna and Andrew found Yawa stabbed and bleeding in her bedroom.  I continued to listen long enough to hear that Yawa knew the man who'd stabbed her.  His name was Titogi, and she even gave a reasonably good description of him, and informed the two that he'd taken her magic amulet, which she valued highly and would pay Breanna back her tuition fees for upon it's return.  Since I'd heard them hammer out the deal during the first visit, I knew the tuition value was 10,000 True.  It seemed worthwhile enough to try and get to this Titogi fellow first, and recover the amulet myself and return it for the reward.  It's not like I'd have been breaking any laws, right?  So, I set out quickly, pausing just long enough to scribble out what I hoped would be a misleading clue sending Bre' and Andrew off to Fort Vehl while I got a lead on them tracking down the real route this Titogi had gone.  I left the crumpled parchment scrap on the ground just outside the door of Yawa's home."
 
"Titogi proved to be fairly easy to track.  I asked around, giving his description, and found he'd left Spellgard via the portal to North Point.  Naturally, I coughed up the 300 True to follow him there.  What's 300 next to the 10,000 I stood to gain, right?  Once in North Point I continued my enquiries and learned he'd headed into the forests, and that this Titogi was likely tied to a group of bandits that had been operating in the area for some time.  It wasn't long before I picked up his trail.  In time, I tracked him to the entrance to a cave in some old ruins.  I wasn't about to head into a possible deathtrap, so I staked out the cave entrance and waited and watched.  Near dusk, my target came out, but not alone.  Two huge metal constructs, which I suspect were made of mithril, came thumping out with him to stand watchful over him like body-guards."
 
"This was a complication a bit different than I'd been expecting.  Given time, I'd have set up a trap involving some large boulders up-hill from the cave entry and triggered them to roll down and crush the constructs.  Only problem was that I didn't know how far behind me Breana and Andrew might be, and I reasoned I needed to recover that amulet and be gone before they ever knew I was there.  So, I thought to try sniping this Titogi the next time he came out with his metal friends, hoping to disable him enough with my first shot that he'd not get out a command to them."
 
"Needless to say, my plan didn't work.  I hit him, but he was spelled-up already, and my shot bounced off harmlessly.  Had he been expecting my attack, or was he just paranoid enough to always be prepared when he stuck his head out of the cave?  In any case, the two metal menaces chased after me, and at first I tried to fight them, but it turned out I was right in my initial assesment of their construction.  They were made of mithril and my weapons couldn't so much as scratch them.  I retreated, using the terrain to my advantage, which was working fine, until a pixie spotted me and started spelling me near to death.  Eventually the little blighter was satisfied that I didn't look like I'd be getting back up and left me for dead.  I snuck back to North Point to lick my wounds."
 
"As chance had it, Andrew and Breanna arrived there about that point.  The knight Daniel Benjamin Poetre was with them too.  Breanna was in disguise, and at first I didn't realize it, but after some time I worked it out.  She wasn't good at hiding her idiosynchrosies yet.  I told them I was in the area because I'd heard there was a bounty for the bandit leader, Titogi, worth 10,000 True.  I also told them I'd lead them to the lair I'd tracked him to, if they'd pay me 5,000 True.  Surprisingly, they agreed to pay and got my money for me right then and there.  I banked it, and we set out."
 
"I took them back to the cave, and at first I wasn't going to go in with them, but my curiosity got the better of me.  In we went.  In the very first chamber, round the bend in the hallway, we encountered a horde of minotaurs.  It was unexpected.  They were quick to react and squished Andrew to jelly with some dark spell.  We drug his remains outside and raised him to life again with a scroll.  I was fortunate in that the minotaurs hadn't seen me."
 
"To her credit, Breanna wasn't ready to give up.  So, she contrived a plan.  She morphed herself into the form of a minotaur and went back into the cave alone.  She came back out hours later with the amulet.  I guess her plan to snatch it from Titogi had worked.  So much for me getting the 10,000 True I'd set out for, but at least I'd gotten 5,000 True, so I was satisfied enough."

[Nehetsrev]

"After my job with Hardragh, and my other stint 'helping' Breana, I found myself in the employ of the Silverbuckle still, and things were just beginning to get interesting there and in Mariner's Hold in general.
 
 Andrew signed on a band called the Wayward Wildside Trio, which consisted of a Satyr named Dancing Hooves Harvey as the lead vocalist, a Bugbear named Torgo as the drummer, and a Kenku named Quark on guitar.  There were also Crockett & Stubbs, performing as a accoustic comedy duo.  In any case, the public in Mariner's Hold were incited to riot against the Silverbuckle and the monster-band.  You can imagine the hell that was to deal with... and it only got worse when the Bugbears invaded the city.  During the action the band-members scattered and fled, and a little girl went missing.  We tracked the bugbears back to Bear Island and their lair in the ruined temple there, believing correctly that htey had been responsible for the girl's disappearance.  When we got down to the bottom level of the ruins, the others went on to save the girl, but my eye caught sight of a crumpled heap in one dark corner.  Approaching I found it to be the drummer, Togro, beaten and near death.  I tended his wounds and stabilized him until the others returned, the child safely in tow.  She testified that Torgo had been beaten so in his defense of herself against the other Bugbears.  He really was the gentle being he claimed to be, an outcast of his own tribe, beaten within inches of death by his own father, the chief of the tribe (well... he had been the chief.  He died in the fighting to rescue the girl).  We returned to Mariner's Hold, but Torgo went his own way, leaving behind the Bugbears who'd cast him out, and wise enough to know if he'd returned to Mariner's Hold just then he'd have been killed, or worse, jailed.
 
 Edna Blackwater, or Alice Straum we would later discover, confronted our return to the town, and we realized she and her minion, Barrister Herschell had been behind the riot... and the mysterious abandonment of the guard-posts that had lead to the Bugbear's being able to storm into the city.
 
 The next few days became a race.  We knew Edna's forces were after Quark, who was still missing, and to make matters worse, a black Kenku had been witnessed killing people in the area.  We knew Quark couldn't be the killer, he was partial to seed, not flesh.  We tracked the mysterious black Kenku back to a cave, encountering and defeating several waves of bandits along the way.  On one of them I found letters, signed by Barrister Herschell, detailing how he'd hired them to deal with Quark by using an imposter, and outlining orders to have our friend Finneas Mulrooney murdered because he was getting too close to the truth.  We found the imposter Kenku in a cave and had by then worked out that he was in fact a young Kenku who'd been brainwashed to respond to different bird-calls as triggers to different behaviors.  One for killing, one for calming, one for returning home.  Later, at the trial of Arelius Witherspoon, the councilmember who'd supported and authorized the Wayward Wildside Trio to play in town, we would find out that Quark and the imposter were actually siblings.
 
 There at the trial, also, I pressented the damning evidence and others provided testimonies incriminating Barrister Herschell... and then, when Herschell himself was about to testify against Edna Blackwater, a courier rushed in and delivered a letter to him, which turned out to be a firebomb that killed him, and nearly killed the head councilman and some of the other council-members too.
 
 After the trial, with Edna locked away for her crimes to serve several consecutive life sentances without possibility of parole, our next task was to try to fulfill a promise made to Councilman Arelius Witherspoon, to cure his wife and free them both from their curse, or rather blessing that turned out to be less appealing in the long run.  You see, when Arelius married Clarise a Dryad blessed them both to age at the same rate so that they would live and die together, neither having to suffer the loss of the other.  Unfortunately, Alice Straum, who would later become Edna Blackwater, was jealous and poisoned Clarise.  She would have died, except for the quick action of the Witherspoons faithful friend and servant, Skeebo the Gnome, who brewed a potion that held Clarise in stasis.  An unintended effect of Clarise being in stasis due to the Dryad's previous blessing was that Arelius also stopped aging, and was forced to live, his wife whom he loved ever in slumber, and he becomming a broken man devoted to finding a cure for her for over 40 years.
 
 Well, as fortune would have it, we gathered together friends and allies of the Silverbuckle, and putting our minds together we set about devising the ingredients of the original poison so that we could manufacture an antidote.  We quickly deciphered what all the ingredients were save one final ingredient on which we became stumped.  It was decided we would visit Edna in her cell and try to interrogate her to find out the final ingredient, though we were nearly certain that it must be either nutmeg or cinnamon.  While others tried to interrogate the insanely mad woman, I stood outside the cell, thinking and talking with Head Councilman Grue.   Suddenly it came to me that if the final ingredient was either nutmeg or cinnamon, then Arelius would already know the answer, because he was there and would have smelled the cinnamon if it were in the poisoned wine.  So, we left Edna to rot in the darkness of her cell and went back to Arelius at the Silverbuckle's clinic.  There, we had him try two different cups of wine of the same vintage.  One spiced with nutmeg, and one with cinnamon.  It was enough to spark his memory and he recalled with a certainty, as I'd known he would, that the wine with the poison in it had tasted of cinnamon.  Quickly we set to manufacturing the antidote, and when at last it was ready, Skeebo administered it and Clarise was saved.  However, tiem caught up with the Witherspoons then, and both aged to their middle 70's.  Arelius, weary from his years without his wife's company, announced he would retire from the council.  This meant that now not one, but two seats on the Mariner's Hold council were now up for grabs.  I began thinking, perhaps I'd try my hand at filling one myself, and at the very least help Andrew fill one.
 
 Yet, things weren't over, for we knew also that Edna's evil son, Duncan Blackwater, had fled the city, and was involved in some organization using a boar's head as their emblem.  Andrew and I recalled how we'd encountered another agent of the Boar's Head in Leringard, who'd been playing two rival Inns against eachother to later swoop in and buy them both out when they were financially weakened.  He'd done the same to many other businesses in Leringard as well.  After being exposed, the Gnome disappeared.  So, he and Duncan both are still out there, and Edna's ravings confirmed that this Boar's Head organization was watching Andrew, and by association, likely the rest of us at the Silverbuckle as well.  I also recalled the time in Haven, when I had adventured with Andrew's son, that I'd seen the Boar's Head emblem and heard the Blackwater name spoken in relation to the dissappearance of a barmaid and her father, though nothing had been proven and we found ourselves too busy fighting off undead in an unnatural fog to follow up more closely on that lead, which at the time I hadn't made the connection to Leringard about.
 
 It was also in the time right after Witherspoons trial that I befriended three buffoons that Barrister Herschell had hired to prevent us from reaching the trial.  Their names were Arthur, Winston, and "I have a pitchfork" Greg.  Not in any degree the brightest candles in the night, but still possibly useful to me in some way, I had hoped at the time.
 
 Oh, I recall too, that the night that we cured Clarise, the Silverbuckle's big yellow mouser had given birth to a litter of kittens.  A white one was named Griff, after a Dwarven fellow Andrew knew, because he had been discovered already with a mouse-tail in his mouth.  The other three kittens were given away. One went to Melody, a Gnomish lass and long-time resident and employee of the Silverbuckle.  And another to Katelyn, also a resident of the Silverbuckle.  I was tempted to take one of the kittens myself, but I think Piceous, my own panther-friend, would have probably eaten it or something."

[Nehetsrev]

So much went on after that, it all seems a blur of jumbled memories now.  After Edna's trial, Head Councilman Grue sought our aid further, to ferrit out the corruption in the guard force of Mariner's Hold.  We did a good job of it too, exposing several corrupt guardsmen and uncovering a slaving operation that was kidknapping children and homeless people off the streets of the Hold.  The slave ring was lead by none other than Duncan Blackheart, the bastard son of Arelious Witherspoon and Edna Blackheart.  We set sail to track his vessel, the Chumrunner, to a pirates moot near Hurm.  Along the way we stumbled on an island under the control of some sort of beholder and illithid crossbreed.  I still get the occassional nightmare inspired by that bit of business to this day.  We confronted the thing which called itself "Captain Pike" and destroyed it, freeing the native pygmies of the island from its tyrany and bringing some peace to our pirate guide who'd lost his wife at the isle years prior.  He took us next to the pirate's moot, where we set ourselves to confronting Duncan and his minions.  They'd booby-trapped many of the children they were holding as slaves in one building, and set two guards outside the doors with deadmen's switches to trigger the bombs in the building.  Charlie and I tried to hit the guards before they could trigger their switches, but to no avail.  Many of the children were killed.  Surprisingly, Andrew still thought I'd done a good job, though I'm not as sure.  I think if there'd been more time to plan Charlie and could've pulled it off without any of the hostages getting hurt, but the others in the group were putting a lot of time pressure on us.  Still, many slaves were saved that day, and in the end we were able to convince Duncan to come with us willingly... sort of.  The bastard tried biting my fingers off on more than one occasion while I was seeing that he was properly secured, and managed to get two of my fingernails.
 
We dropped off the slaves we'd freed from the moot and next set ourselves to freeing the slaves of a mining operation being run by Deep Dwarves in connection with the Razorback Syndicate.  It seemed the Syndicate was supplying children and small-folk such as Gnomes, and Halflings to the Deep Dwarves to be used to mine precious gems and metals of all kinds.  The Deep Dwarves used a system of exploding collars that could be triggered with a thought if you had a special slave-gem for the collar.  The method was aparently derived from illithid magic.  We infiltrated the operation and set about destroying the control towers that I'm presuming increased the range of the collars while at the same time allowing for ultimate control through a master-gem.  Upon killing the Deep Dwarven general who'd had once been working with Rael, I managed to get my hands on that master-gem and set all the remaining slaves free at once.  We loaded them all onto the ship and made our way back to the nearest port.  Everyone was starving by the time we got there, but we made it.
 
Among the evidence uncovered at the slave-mines, we found notes from Lucien Krale to the general about a plot to do something to the water in Mariner's Hold.  It seemed they meant to free Edna and take revenge upon Grue.  When we got there, while we were still trying to get our newly acquired batch fo refugees settled into the Silverbuckle, Razorback ninja's attempted to free Duncan and blow up the 'Buckle with a bomb in a clock.  We found the bomb and I was able to disable it's mechanisms enough to delay it's blast long enough for Gunther to carry the whole thing out into the harbor, where it detonated.  The Half-giant came crashing back down through the Silverbuckle's roof, creating a temporary skylight in the shape of his sillouette.  His impact also left a sizeable dent in the floorboards amidst the tables out front of the stage.
 
Thinking the danger over, we took Duncan to Grue's Sanitarium, looking to turn him in for justice.  It was a trap.  Edna had already been freed and had taken over the entire facility.  We fought our way through Razorbacks and former inmates, eventually finding Grue and the resident Loremaster and a few other prisoners.  It became aparent we needed to fin Edna to end the chaos, so we went next to the Surgery wing where we had heard she had last been seen.  Instead, we found an illithid and several beholders, along with several men in stocks.  They were performing some sort of surgery on the men in stocks, which was explained to be how more illithid were made by introducing larval illithid slugs into the brains of living hosts.  The slugs would over time mesh themselves into the victim's brain and start changing their physiology into that of an adult illithid.  Elohanna went to work removing the slugs from the men in stocks, one at a time, opening up their skulls to do so.  It was while she worked that I thought to check Duncan for similar scars and discovered he too had been implanted at some point.  It explained much of his behavior during the time we had held him captive.  Elohanna, by some miracle of her adept skill in healing practices, was able to remove Duncan's slug too, and he became a changed man.  He told us that Lucien Krale himself was the Hogfather who ran the Razorback Syndicate, and that Krale who had already been a very clever individual, made a deal with the Illithid to have himself implanted and his mind further enhanced.  Duncan believed this made him perhaps the most intelligent mind in the world.  In any case, Duncan healed, we tracked down the crazed Toymaker and Edna Blackheart after that.  We were too late, Edna activated some sort of self-destruct that had been rigged into the sanitarium, and the whole facility began to flood.  It was almost surprising to note that everything Edna had done, all she had become, she did willingly, of her own accord, including implanting Duncan with a slug, though she herself was not implanted.  Her own son.  She killed him right in front of us, and we were forced to slay her.  There was nothing to be done.  Duncan aparently wasn't stonebound, and couldn't or wouldn't be ressurected.  We rushed out through the emergency exit portal, taking grue and the others we'd rescued along the way with us.  I also grabbed up a load of books and scrolls Edna had been studying in hopes that among them would be more clues to how to bring about the fall of Lucien Krale and his Syndicate.  Grue went insane at the loss of his sanitarium, and Aesther had him arrested and taken into custody for crimes against nature or some such.