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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 779345" data-attributes="member: 5675">Miles' JournalPart 8-------------Nightal 24th - Spent the day in Dagger Falls. We divided up the various treasures our group had accumulated of late, and flush with coin, some of us took a trip to the Thayan enclave to see what could be had for our money. After much consideration I invested in a ring that should help me to avoid being hit as often as I have been of late, cost me a tidy sum though, two thousand gold coins, nearly wiped me out, sure hope it is as effective as it was made out to be. Having heard that we were back in town, Lord Morn invited the Crusaders to his mansion for a dinner this evening. While I serve Lord Morn, I am less than impressed with the man himself, age has caught up with him, and the man is far past his prime, mumbling his words almost to the point of incoherency at times, plus he drools. I think he is bordering on senility, and I imagine that much of the actual governing of Daggerdale is done without his direct involvement. I care not how my country is ruled, so long as the ruler answers to no foreign power, especially the Zhents, and that the people of Daggerdale do not suffer. I had to endure a very long-winded conversation between Rand and Lord Morn. It seems he was unaware of the vampiric infestation in Clearwater, and news of this rightly alarmed him. We learned that while we were away, Gran'rath tried to attack Dagger Falls in a continuation of his attacks on places that we frequented, probably trying to provoke us into coming out of hiding (as the dragon had no way of knowing where we had gone via the portal I guess). He was beaten off however by none other than Elminster of Shadowdale in a prolonged duel that resulted in the dragon sustaining several injuries and eventually fleeing to rest in his lair. This would tally with what the dragon-man thing that attacked me a few days back said, that his master was sleeping. Then everything went dark as a spell went off, and we were suddenly under attack by a group of well-armed and equipped assassins. I have to assume that they came for Lord Morn as they were certainly no match for us, Khondar in particular massacred his way through four of their number, I managed to finish one off and was advancing on two others that had beset Yvgeny, when they fled, teleporting away somehow. We later found out that they had looted the mansions vaults while we fought some of them, taking all the silver that was being stored down there in an effort to control the economy, several tonnes of it in all. Interestingly the raiders weapons and armour were made of the same blue-grey metal that this group were investigating when I joined them. What was really odd about them though, was that throughout the fight with us, one of them issued orders in my voice, no doubt to sow confusion amongst our ranks. The ploy was achieved through some form of magic I presume, but did not work owing to the fact that I am not known for shouting out commands in the heat of battle, so my companions immediately recognised this copycat voice as being that of an impostor. Quite who these raiders were is a mystery, yet another foe to add to our depressing array of those who want us dead, that or an old foe with a lot of new minions. They were well equipped and backed by magic. The obvious suspects are of course the Van Cei family, which to my mind rules them out, this is too blatant for them. Unfortunately the number of groups with the capacity to pull off such an audacious heist is fairly long, and there are powerful names amongst their number, such as the Red Wizards, Zhentarim, the Red Plumes of Hillsfar, even the Shades. Finding out who did this is an unlikely event I fear. Nightal 25th - We sold off the equipment we looted from the raiders corpses last night for a good sum, and divided up the profits amongst our number. I am glad of the coins as my share did much to replenish my finances after the expense of buying that ring. Still I was struck but twice in the whole battle last night, so perhaps my investment was a sound one. Nightal 26th - After the group bought supplies (and were rejoined by Pharaxes who has been quite absent these past few days, his first time in Dagger Falls I gather), we set out to return to Clearwater, with the aim of wiping out the vampire population. I am uneasy at the thought of facing these creatures as I have no desire to again be possessed by the lady ghost who accompanies the vampire lord and who has stolen control of my body from me twice before. I feel it important that I list the party as it is now composed. The Clearwater Crusaders are as follows: Rand Stormseeker - Sorceror supreme of the group, commands an impressive amount of magical force, which is often dispensed in the form of electrical orbs and lightning bolts. A survivor, he also has a goodly array of magics to aid in his defence and escape. Stedd of the Old Order - My usual fighting partner, we work well as a team to get around into creatures blind spots. He keeps a foe occupied with his flashy combat skills, while I get into a position to do the most harm with a well-placed strike. Quiet, except in the face of danger where he has a surprisingly strong fatalistic streak to his personality, seemingly always convinced that he (and everyone else) is going to die, and yet he fights till he can fight no more to try and avert this doom. Khondar Axewielder - Now heir to the Rudenheim throne (assuming he can get the clanhold back from the ogres that occupy it), this dwarf warrior is horribly lethal, by horribly I refer to the splatter-zone that surrounds him as he fights, his axes sending blood and entrails flying in all directions. A stalwart companion, just one I try to avoid being near in any battle. Pharaxes - A strange one this, he appeared from nowhere, never talks about where he came from other than to say it was Chessenta, and does his level best to avoid sleeping if at all possible. He seems to be perpetually on edge, as though expecting an attack at any moment. I think he considers himself to be hunted. He commands a reasonable amount of sorcerous skill, but is by far Rand's inferior, plus all his magics seem concerned with nothing beyond his own self-preservation. He spends as much time as possible invisible and is rarely talkative on any subject. Definitely an oddity. Yvgeny - A priest of Ilmater, and one who turned up at exactly the moment we were needing a priest, so my suspicions are raised and I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Still, he promises healing without preaching. I grew very tired of Taeghan's sermons; I'm not an elf, so quite why he kept trying to get me to say prayers to his pointy-eared god I don't know. When I'm injured I need healing, not redemption. Myself (Miles Killian O'Kayne) - Appointed by the government of Daggerdale to keep an eye on this group and steer it in the direction of threats to the realm, something I've found to be considerably harder than it sounded. In the past I've always worked alone, so trying to work with this group can be difficult at times. Still I have learned a lot in their company, and when the time does come to return to my solo work, I will be all the better trained as a result of the time spent with these people. Of late I have picked up some small magical skill, and I continue to hone my skills with my twin swords. I believe I make a significant contribution to the groups success, time will tell if I continue to do so though. The day passed without any incident of any kind, the road south was quiet again, seems every time we clear this road of danger, something else happens to make it dangerous again, first werewolves, now vampires.</blockquote>

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