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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 489010" data-attributes="member: 5675">Jared Blackspawn’s JournalPart 7----------------------------------Eleasis 20th - We set off early, having rented a wagon and horses to take our chests and the prisoners to Dagger Falls in. Before we left town I spent 40 gold, and invested in a couple of minor healing potions from Chauntea's temple, I have a feeling I might need them. We are accompanied by Sheriff Marley, who needs to be present at the trials of the prisoners as a witness for the prosecution. I say save the trouble and just string them up; we know they are guilty, a lot less waste of time and effort involved. Marley was not interested in my opinion however. Eleint 21st - Nothing much really happened today, we continued heading north towards Dagger Falls without incident. Eleint 22nd - Not long after setting off this morning we were ambushed by a hungry pair of Ankhegs who grievously injured Taeghan, him then riding off and the other attacked me, clamping its mandibles into my right leg and dragging me underground. I would have died if not for Stedd diving into the tunnel after me and rescuing me, killing the Ankheg with his bare fists underground and forcing one of my new bought healing potions down my throat to restore me to health. I knew they would come in useful, glad I invested in them. So much for the usefulness of this protection amulet, I nearly got killed while wearing it. Taeghan repaired some more of my wounds, a good nights sleep should see me back to health. Eleint 23rd - This morning while Taeghan was on third watch, the camp came under attack as a vial of incendiary fire was hurled at him setting him alight. I came round from my sleep to the sound of him screaming and the sight of him ablaze. Not a sight I'll soon forget, more mornings should start with elves being torched. His fires were soon put out with only minor harm having been done to him (though all of his hair burnt off, leaving him looking rather odd to say the least). While Taeghan and Stedd headed off into the woods to hunt down our attacker, the rest of us came under attack by ravenous wolves. We handily defeated them and Taeghan rejoined us, followed a short while later by Stedd who had run into a werewolf. Looking around I found that Marley had been knocked out with a rock, and our prisoners have escaped, no doubt the doing of the werewolf, or (and this is what I fear) other werewolves. I managed to follow their tracks to the nearby road (we had pulled off it to make camp last night), but after that it became impossible to determine which direction they had gone in. Taeghan rode south back towards Clearwater for a few miles, while we carried on north. He rejoined us after an hour or so, neither group having spotted any sign of our escapees. The day went without further incident, yet as we travelled we saw lupine forms in the trees to either side of the road, stalking us. We made camp but our rest was disturbed early on by a burly humanoid figure who shot an arrow into the camp missing us by a mile. Rand took off after him, closely followed by Stedd as I moved to guard Braddoc while he put his armour on. Taeghan then hearing the sounds of battle, cast a spell on one of my blades imbuing it temporarily with magical strength and the ability to deal lasting wounds to lycanthropes as he deduced that this is what was attacking Stedd and Rand. Rand had already succumbed to some sort of attack, as blood was pouring from a gash in his side. I charged through the forest undergrowth to help my comrades who had indeed been ambushed by werewolves, a trio of them no less, the leader of which I saw before he transformed. It was the hobgoblin chieftain who had escaped death at my hands on the road at the overturned taxman's wagon all those tendays ago. He escaped again with severe wounds, curse him, but his two allies had no such luck as they fell to my blades, I moving like death incarnate amongst them, beheading the first in one stroke, and then eviscerating the other with a backslash, nearly cutting the spine from him. I have got to get me a proper magical sword soon, I was unstoppable. Praise be to Vhaeruan for delivering me this glorious victory. We looted the bodies of some coin and jewels, tied a bandage around Rand's wounds (he confidently stated that the gash was from a sword-slash, and that there was no need for concern) and headed back to the wagon, where Braddoc was still not yet in his armour. For once his star does not shine brightest after a fight, the glory today is all mine! Eleint 24th - Again a quiet day, with nothing much happening. Passed a few other wagons and entourages of people, and that's about it really. Still after the lycanthropic high jinks of yesterday and especially last night, a peaceful day was a welcome respite. Eleint 25th - We finally arrived at Dagger Falls in the late afternoon. Dagger Falls is a stone built town, walled and dirty. For many years it was little more than a fortified caravan stop for the Zhentarim, the first and last stop for caravans crossing Anauroch, the great desert that lies to the west, beyond the mountains. The town is experiencing a boom under Randal Morn's renewed lordship; this man fought the Zhents for better than two decades in a fierce guerrilla war, not a man to be underestimated. Before entering the town I used the makeup in my disguise kit to alter my appearance to that of a normal half-elf, dying my hair blonde rather than its usual silvery colour. While I despise having to make myself look other than what I am, I feel it is best to take no chances in a town known for its rough and ready reputation, it is no secret that the folk of Dagger Falls openly carry weapons, and most know how to use them. I have no interest in being torn to pieces by a crowd of peasants fearful of a "drow". Rand headed off to get his ancient family seal renewed it having been lost during the Zhent occupation as his family were driven from their lands and influence, mostly by the actions of the Van Cei who were allies of the Zhentarim. Quite why they continue to exist in Daggerdale now that it is run by Morn, who despises the Zhents and their lackeys troubles me. could it be that the Van Cei have enough influence to make purging them from the province more trouble than it is worth? The rest of us settled into an Inn by the name of The Teshford Arms and waited for him to get back to us. He failed, it turns out that the Zhent's did a grand job of burning the past when they left, spitefully destroying as many records as they could. Perhaps this explains the continued presence of the Van Cei, without any of the old records, there is no proof to incriminate them, merely the word of discredited families like Rand's, and wild accusations are no basis for justice. Intriguing, this bears further investigation. We are now left with three choices when it comes to getting our silver stamped, they are: - The Van Cei family. Not really an option. - The nearby dwarfholds. Possible, Braddoc is going to investigate this option for us. - Lord Randal Morn himself. Naturally we favour the dwarfholds as our best bet, so Braddoc is going to do his best to make some contacts and see what he can do about this. Needless to say this will involve him getting roaring drunk, I'm sure he'll enjoy himself. There is much to see and learn about here, including a Red Wizard enclave no less. Once I have my share of the silver I shall have to investigate the enclave and see what they have for sale, I doubt my companions will join me in this shopping excursion though, they seemed quite shocked to learn of the Thayan's presence here. Marley got back from reporting to his superiors and shocked us all by saying that we are well known in these parts as the Clearwater Crusaders (not the name I would have picked, but it does have a certain ring to it), and also that having learned of our presence in his town, Lord Randal Morn has invited us to a dinner in our honour tomorrow night. As we were discussing this a salesman dressed like a wizard stepped up to our table and offered to sell us a magical longsword. None of us were interested though. He had made the approach after hearing Stedd blurt out that we had silver... in the Inn's common room! Now we have to assign one of our number to guard the chests at all times, so I have volunteered to take that duty tomorrow night, formal dinners are not really my scene anyway, and I doubt my disguise would be that effective under the scrutiny of a Lord's court. A shame as I would have liked a chance to meet Randal Morn in person. We hauled the chests up to our rooms and went to sleep for the night.</blockquote>

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