Journal of a travelling poet

[Meizter]

I have not seen much of Ayla recently. Well I have been travelling a lot, going here and there to seek adventure and help where it is needed. I think she is saddened by this, but what can I do, when so many places are in need of aid. I cannot just sit back and let others deal with it, it would not be right. I hope soon we shall have more time together but for now we must settle for meeting once in a while in the passing. I hope she understands but I am not sure. It’ll al be better soon I’m sure.

[Meizter]

The lighthouse in Port Hampshire has grown dimmer. I saw it just a while back as I met with others who were investigating it. They told that the crystals beneath the lighthouse had to be changed, so we sought out the gnome who built it, but alas he was mad beyond any reasoning. Still we did get some clues as to where we might find suitable gems for the lighthouse. We need four pieces one of each element… fire, water, earth and air. It was a nice little poem written in Halfling that led us to this.

Four island cave all scattered around
Four elemental guardians to be bound
Four elemental crystal shards to be found
Four positions chosen for light abound

It was four caves on four islands it turned out. We decided it had to be earth gems on the Dragon Isles, Fire on Firesteep, air in Talimar and finally water on Krashin.

We have done them in order so far, earth, fire and air, so only Krashin remains. Until now we have been successful, even though the odds have been against us. Elementals and genasi we have fought without end seemingly. Some fell but still we stood victorious at the end and were able to convince them to give us a shard of an elemental gem. So with only one gem remaining we must make haste as the light is fading fast, but we will make it I’m sure.

[Meizter]

What odd happenings we have witnessed. Some of us were travelling near Velensk when suddenly what must have been a werewolf attacked. It wounded Abi and then it’s howling led us through Dire Woods, to a place where an old fisherman lived. I still to this day wonder who he was, I don’t know, but he must have held great power. He spoke of the odd people of Blackmouth, and as we travelled there things did indeed seem odd. I cannot truly describe the feeling of dread that hit us as we discovered how the inhabitants in reality were fishlike creatures, who would feast on our flesh had they caught us. As we battled in town it was frantic, monsters showing up everywhere, almost overwhelming us at time, but we made an escape.

The next morning we heard a loud noise, but too late we saw that the sea had come to wash Blackmouth away, a mighty wave rose and cleansed the land. As I then recalled this event was perhaps 250 years old, how we could have seen it, I do not know. Perhaps the fog in the Dire Wood the werewolf led us through took us back in time, perhaps we did hallucinate. I guess I’ll never know the answer, but it was real, my hair is still white from when I danced and sang that pirate jig during our travel to Blackmouth. It was a ghostly song and as I started to sing my friends fell in fear and horror washed over them, as colour drained from my hair. I should never have sung that song I guess, some things are better left alone after all.

[Meizter]

Today we hunted a Halfling. He is called Taislin Woolhands, and he has defiled the temple of Mist in Leilon. Rolf asked me to come along for the hunting and both Abi and Jacc were there as well even though they are not mistites. Poor lad never stood a chance in avoiding capture but he should have known better than to defile a temple. Punishment served him right; such things should be dealt with hard and swiftly.

It was nice to be at the temple, the sound of the water and the rain on my face. I spent quite some time talking with a priest there called Muireann. We spoke of respect and worship, and of the sea and the islands. She is an islander herself so she understood how I felt for Krashin. I feel how almost every day I am more and more drawn towards how I was as a child, sitting on the cliffs at home watching the sea, dreaming of these lands across the ocean. Today I have seen the lands, and I stand on them, have made a life here, and so I long for the shores of home. Or perhaps it is as Muireann said to me; it is not the lands across but the sea itself I seek. Here I go again speaking of the sea, I should write it as it is, I speak of Mist I must admit to myself. She is held in such respect on Krashin but I have shunned all that was home for far too long.

[Meizter]

I’ll see Mith dead before my time comes. That cursed necromancer elf should be flayed and hung on the city wall to scare off any of his ilk. He was in the group I travelled with today when we sought the Witch of the Black Isles in her prison with the Druids of the Higher Path. It is a dimensional prison located on a secret island, where those that upset the balance are kept by the druids.

We did encounter many a strange puzzle before we were let into the prison to find those we sought. Mechidil the Demi-Lich was one of them, and as we defeated him I found a book of his. Mith took it but would not deliver it back. Such things should not be in the hands of one like him, his soul is as dark as a moonless night only evil can be in such place, and he should be punished appropriately. I’ll not travel with him again.

We did find the Witch though, and we decided to set her free, so we may battle her on our plane and thus condemn her to death once and for all. In that prison she would have risen again later on, it would not be revenge as it should be. She still had Erik, I do believe Skarp was happy to see his son again, well who can blame him really.

[Meizter]

I have dined with the king of the Ulgrid dwarves. What honour bestowed on a human. A group of us brought the cure made by clan Stonebrow to the Ulgrids. It was a dangerous trek, hunted by golems as we approached the Ulgrid Fortress, but we were successful in the end. We even met and spoke with the general of the Voraxian Council, also a great honour.

[Meizter]

We got the final gem for the lighthouse on Krashin and we made it work. To make the ancient machinery function was tricky but with a collected effort the lighthouse of Hampshire shone again its light ever so bright. I’m glad we made it, but it was at the latest time we could possibly have done it. But as long as we did it before any ships hit the reefs it is all good.

[Meizter]

Now of all places to be dumped the Rift has to be the most out of the ordinary. Ayla gave me the ring I gave her back saying I cared not for her anymore. I do care, but even though she fell how could I weep over that, she’d be raised or returned to a bindstone, and life would go on. I feel we have grown much apart over the last time, and it is a shame, but I don’t know what to do really. Perhaps I am being cynical and cold, so be it, it is a way to get by in the world as it is now. I threw the ring in the sea at North Point. Why should I keep it, it would remind me of something that is no more and probably never will be, it was a fine ring though, and perhaps many would think me stupid for doing it, but alas done is done and I cannot change it. I’ll miss Ayla even though we were not together much at the end.

But what drama we had down there in the Rift. Suddenly a Halfling appeared amongst us, some seeing him as a demon of the hells. It reminded me of a story I once heard about a Halfling who lives of fear, he thrives on peoples fears. Odd thing really, and I do feel this will need some looking into. I heard from Ozy as we met up at North Point that apparently someone had messed at the gates of Pandemonium and set him free.

[Meizter]

I have spoken at length with Rolf about how I feel about Mist and the sea and so on. For him it was quite obvious that it is not the sea that lures me but the Lady Doom herself. Even as a child I was drawn but I did not understand then, and only now do I really see what it all means. I have always felt drawn and so I have been wandering in darkness, for a time seeking refuge in the teachings of Aeridin, but finding them flawed. Mist preaches that we must stand up for ourselves, that is how the world is, no one does anything for you. You have to act and do, and not let people push you around, like standing and facing the storm. It is odd, but while writing this, I do feel a calm within me, as if I have come to terms with who I am, what I have always been. I have come full circle so to speak, I am a Krashinite, perhaps different than most up there but still one of them. I will travel back to Krashin I think, to see the snow and the sea again.

[Meizter]

Hlint. It has been years since I was last here, sitting in the trade company writing this brings back a flood of memories. It has been ages since I last wrote in this book. So much has happened that I doubt all shall be told within these pages now; still I shall do my best to recount what has passed. Ayla is gone, she was taken by the Soul Mother once again years back, it was then I lost my final faith in Aeridin. I could no longer live what I could not see thruth in, so I turned to Mist, the Lady of the Sea or Lady Doom as she is called by many. I know Kobal did not find this a pleasant surprise, but we have agreed to not discuss the matter to keep our friendship. Sometimes we must go beyond the relations of the gods I think and look to what people are and how they act.

Rolf and Skarp are still back on Krashin though, we all left for our homeland a long time ago, leaving Raven Trade to the others to take care of. They have done well it seems, business is good and looking over the trading hall I see few others who can supply the amount of things we can.

Blood is gone; he was defeated while I was on Krashin. It is the battle that caused the winter we’re seeing now. Snow falls heavily at home lying deeper than anyone can recall it having ever lied. Even in Leilon the snow is falling now something I think I have never seen before, or at least not in such extent.

But with one threat gone a new emerges it seems. Dragons have ravaged Hurm and a plague holds the city in its grip. Angela was there, hunting the dragon but she seems to think Ael somehow ratted them out. I don’t know what to make of that and I think one should hear both sides of this before making any decisions.

It has been good to see my friends again, they did not forget me even though I have been gone so long, something that warms my heart. Still there are so many new faces in Hlint that I feel like a stranger, but perhaps in time that will change. But it is a new world, and perhaps a world for a new breed of adventurers. I don’t know, but the thought is one that comes to mind, the world ever changing. Like I told Storold when we were on Firesteep, the world is like the ocean in a way, it changes and never stays the same but it is still the same ocean. I don’t know if he thought it made sense.