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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nydia" data-source="post: 1490052" data-attributes="member: 18593">30th of Flamerule, 1376 D.R.Over the past couple weeks, Nym and I went back outside the monastery to find Mithras. At first, we couldn’t, but eventually he reappeared, but he never showed any further desire for mirth, as he had on the 6th.When Nym tried to engage him in play, he’d react in a highly surly manner and wander off. We still don’t know where Katar is. We haven’t seen him since the day we arrived here, and while Mithras says that he is safe, we don’t really know. None of us has heard from him. We haven’t heard from Mattathias either, though there is a chance we may see him at the festivities tomorrow.Tomorrow is Midsummer and the monks are planning some sort of celebration. I suppose even worshippers of the god of suffering have to have fun sometime. I wonder if there will be dancing. I’m going to assume that it’s too much to ask for to hope there will be some handsome young men there, men who don’t whip themselves, burn themselves, or ride remorhaz.It would be nice to have someone to dance with, I haven’t been in so long. I haven’t been dancing since Samostil, almost 3 years ago? He was a really good dancer too, and handsome too. I can still remember those gorgeous blue eyes and that gorgeous round...eheh. Oh well…I’m pretty sure I won’t be seeing any of that here.Damn. I’d best stop thinking about it, it won’t get me anything but frustrated.Midsummer, 1376 D.R.Today was a lovely day, even though we are still high in the mountains and it is still extremely cold. The celebration went splendidly! I think it’s still going on in certain areas, in fact.There was music, singing, revelry, feats of strength and endurance, acrobatic displays, there was even dancing! The dances were all very simple, of course. Apparently the monks here aren’t very big on dancing.There were some young men, some of them might have been handsome were it not for the self-imposed suffering, and the not-so self-imposed suffering and all of that. Still, it was a fun party.Mattathias never made an appearance, but Mithras, amazingly, did come up. He glowered and kept near one of the walls the whole time he was there. If the monks had held an “I’m the biggest Party-Pooper” contest, he would have won! I know he can dance, I’ve seen him wiggle those narrow hips on occasion.Pooper.When the feast was over, many of the monks went out to ride a remorhaz. I wonder how many of them will come back? Normally I’d feel bad, but I don’t know what to make of these people sometimes. To think that Mattathias wishes to become one of them, I wonder if he’ll be able to pull it off.Nym asked if he could go watch the monks ride that creature, and they very politely told him “no.”  I could see that Nym was disappointed. Maybe Mattathias will let him watch if he ever decides to go try. I know I won’t be watching, ugh!The smell of it must be horrendous! I would have to borrow Mithras’s nose plugs, as nasty as that would be! Ugh, to borrow noseplugs after an Elf, hahahaha! I wonder what mother and father would say to that? Nothing good I’ll wager. It’s so late now and I can still hear music playing. At least you can’t say that Ilmater’s flock doesn’t party hard. I saw a few of them playing a drinking game earlier, or at least I think it was a drinking game. It involved a bed of flaming coals, one person standing in them, and the others pouring him a drink for every 10 seconds or so he stood there among the coals. Apparently this isn’t commonly accepted behavior, as I saw some of the older monks frowning in the direction of this small group.One of them, a nice old man I have seen about a few times, explained that they were on holiday. The bottoms of their feet looked so ghastly horrible, I thought I would vomit.All I know is, if I was granted a 10-day reprieve each year from suffering, I wouldn’t spend those 10 days making myself suffer more. But, at least they get a reprieve of some sort.Tyrrans have to spend everyday of every year being stodgy and grim. Oh what a joy it must be to be a worshipper of Lliira, Oghma, or Sune!I think I can hear some of the monks laughing, probably scalding their buttocks or something of that sort. I can only imagine what kind of dreams I’m going to have tonight.10th of Eleasias, 1376 D.R.We’re still here in the monastery, and while I’m making great progress on my translation of Razsamar’s scroll, I’m also beginning to wonder just how long our stay here will be. It has been over 2 months since we arrived, and we haven’t seen hide or hair of Mattathias or Katar in all this time.To our complete surprise, Mithras is still out there in the mountains waiting when Nym and I venture outside the monastery walls. I surely would have died from boredom by now if our situations were reversed. Mithras tells us that Katar is doing well. Apparently, Katar drops by and visits with him on occasion, though Nym and I seem to completely miss the centaur.The monastery is a lovely place, and it’s nice to finally be able to sit down and pore over my research like I have been doing, but every now and then I get the feeling that I’m just spinning my wagon wheels, not really getting anything done at all. I tell myself that I’m making progress just by getting this scroll translated, but then another voice inside of me asks how I can be sure that this scroll has anything at all to do with what I’m seeking? For all I know, this scroll could be some Netherese Archwizard’s grocery list.Actually, I know it isn’t a list, I’ve determined that it is a letter in fact (I’ve gotten that far at least), though an interesting shift in viewpoints occurs just a short ways into it, and some of the words are still entirely alien to me. What exactly is a Sipas?I’ve been able to decipher some of the names, and I believe much of the words are directions. Where the directions lead, I do not know. I only hope the rest of the scroll will tell me.I’m still making absolutely no progress whatsoever on the other text at the bottom of the scroll. It’s like no language I have ever seen before, and I’ve seen a great number of languages, even if I don’t exactly know them.I saw myself in a mirror today and I looked so tired, maybe I’ve been working too hard on the scroll. Perhaps I should take some time off. There are still plenty of interesting books in the library. Maybe a week spent reading something else wouldn’t hurt. I’ve a feeling we’re not leaving here any time soon.21st of Eleasias, 1376 D.R.I did, indeed, decide to leave the scroll to sit for a week, as I had written in my last journal entry. The following day, I had ventured into the library to select another piece of reading, one not quite so time consuming as Elminster’s tomes. The last few times that I had been in the library, I had noticed that the robes of the library’s keepers were different from those of the monks here. I managed to find out why.The keepers of the monastery’s library aren’t Ilmatari, they are followers of Deneir. Followers of the god of glyphs and wards are scattered throughout Faerun with few temples or churches of their own, so many tend libraries in this place or that. Interesting.The book I selected was Half a Life: A Halfbreed’s Journeys among the Elves, written in 993 DR. by Hural Artseeker of Rawlinswood. It took me about a week, and while it was interesting, I don’t believe I absorbed it fully. Much of the accounting was written in Espruar, and I, unfortunately, do not know Espruar. Oh well.It was a welcome diversion, and it made me wonder if mother wasn’t right about elves, to some degree. I remember what father said about them…"Arrogance without conviction?" was that it? No, I believe it was…"Even the most spineless of fools can be arrogant when not called upon to act." That sounds more like it. Father never did like elves, neither did mother for that matter, but that was for another reason altogether.So tiring it was trying convince her that she was basing her hatred on something irrational, on a personal emotional bias, and then Amecia had to go and prove her right. Damn Amecia.She partly redeemed herself by allowing mother and father to raise Ryes, though she hated that the money for his upbringing came out of her own personal allowance. Serves her right. Ryes deserves a better home than she would have given him.I miss him, I miss all of them.I want to go home...3rd of Eleint, 1376 DR.I haven’t written in a while, I’ve been so busy with the scroll again. All I’ve done for the past eleven days is wrack my brain over it, and I’m so tired of it all. It’s Eleint already, we’ve been at this monastery since early Kythorn. Summer has past us by while we’ve cooped ourselves up inside these thick walls. Autumn is now upon us, and still I see no promise of leaving here any time soon.I understand that this is very important to Mattathias, but I think of all the time I’ve wasted being here, and it makes me want to cry. I could have made it all to Waterdeep in the time I’ve spent here. Well, maybe not Waterdeep, but Cormyr at least!If I had kept up digging in Phlan, I might have found something by now. Maybe that hole where the Paladin’s Mount was could have been drained, and I could have excavated there... DAMMIT!Tonight is a full moon, and I went outside to admire it. It reminded me of all those nights years ago, and I really wanted to pray. To ask that I decipher this scroll soon and that we can leave this place, but who do I ask for that What do I say? How do I do without sounding like I’m whining?Argh! I just want to get OUT of here!!I’m going to go outside of the monastery for a while, take a long walk, maybe it will clear my head, maybe it will keep my from just finding my horse and riding away from here forever.4th of Eleint, 1376 D.R.I took that walk, and it did clear my head. I went out a little before sunrise, and I got to watch as the sun rose. It looked so beautiful, the whole mountainside was dark and cold, but then, in a flash it became so radiant and white as the sun crested. The light was blinding for those first few moments, and I actually knelt down and greeted the sun, as I had everyday when I was child and father had bade us do.It felt good to do that, it was very comforting. It was so much like being at home. I’m sure Horus is aware that I’m not that good a Mulhorandi, in so far as the religion goes, well, so far as liking his policies go, but I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to greet the sun every now and then.The sun was so warm, and it made me feel so alive to see it rise out of the darkness like that. When I had finished my prayers, I pulled my uncle’s mizmar out of my cloak and played it as the sun climbed higher and higher into the sky, casting its light farther and farther.I just sat there on a cold stone and played every song I knew until the sun was almost completely overhead, and I didn’t have the breath to play anymore. I didn’t have any water to sooth my dry throat, so I cupped the snow in my hand and drank of the chill water.Refreshed, I commenced with my walk. I walked to where Nym and I had built our snow-elf a month earlier and found that another snow-elf had been built right beside it. It was better than our snow-elf. Whoever made it had gone through the trouble of actually sculpting it into a recognizably elf-like creature. It even had clothing etched into it, fine clothing. It was probably Mithras’s creation, though I didn’t see any evidence of the tall elf around.I walked to the spot in the forest where we had had our snowball fight. The snow had long since reclaimed the place, you would never even have guessed someone had once been there. I continued on, making my way through the forest, breathing in the cold air and remembering why I had come in the first place. I didn’t venture far, not wanting to encounter a yeti or something big with a taste for human sorceresses.Besides, every now and then I’d get the feeling that I was being watched. I had a feeling it was either a monk or Mithras, but you never know. He, she, or it never came out into the open, and I never asked it to, I tried to ignore it as best I could.I ate some bread from the monastery’s kitchen, and stayed outside until the sun set. Being outside of the monastery helped me to remember why it was that I came here and solidified what it is that I need to do. I need to finish translating that scroll, and I need to do whatever it takes to find a way to finish this and set to rights what I’ve done. That, above anything else, is my purpose here, and that I what I must bend all of my energy towards making happen. Everything else is secondary.When the sun set I played my mizmar again for Horus Re, and then I climbed those stairs again and returned to the monastery. I’ll begin anew with the scroll tomorrow morning. I’ll finish it soon, no more complaining, and no more stalling for time. I’ve wasted too much time already.17th of Eleint, 1376 D.R.Another full moon tonight. I’ve spent every day since the 4th poring over the scroll. It’s amazing how much progress I’ve made since that day outside. I believe the scroll to be a Netherese translation from Roushoum, the dialect of the long-lost Imaskari.If my beliefs hold true, then likely the language at the bottom of the scroll itself is Roushoum. Whether those writings are the original language that the Lorass translation is derived from, or something completely different is still a mystery to me. Either way, I may never know what it says.I don’t think there’s anyone in the realms who knows how to read Roushoum, and that’s including the Chosen of Mystra. Well, if father’s theories are correct, there’s one person who knows, but I’m not sure I want to go that route. If I have to, I’ll try, but...I’ll go out into the courtyard and stare up at the moon tonight, it’ll be good to go outside again. I always did like Autumn. Saed always thought that Spring was the most romantic of the seasons, but I always believed that it was Autumn. There was always something about it that spoke of longing and love lost...I can’t say that I ever enjoyed Winter though. It’s pretty enough, particularly in the Silver Marches, but I never really fell in love with it. Maybe it’s because my parents viewed the snow and cold as something to be avoided. It’s understandable, neither of them grew up in very cold places, so they made sure we didn’t have to either.I wonder how Saed is faring...Highharvestide, 1376 D.R.Today is Highharvestide, and the monks aren’t celebrating in any traditional sense. Many of them are leaving tomorrow though. A few of the people here who aren’t monks are leaving tomorrow too, eager to make some headway on their journeys before the icy claw of Winter sets in. We won’t be among them, as Mattathias is still being initiated into the monastery.To some degree, it feels already as if Winter has already set in. The days are growing shorter, the skies darker, and the air colder. It’s happening little by little. The monks say that by the end of Marpenoth it will feel as Winter does around the Moonshae region. It will get colder from then, they say, warming again around the month of Ches. By the gods, I hope we aren’t still here when Ches comes around. I don’t want to spend my 20th birthday here.5th of Marpenoth, 1376 D.R.We have now been at the Monastery of the Yellow Rose for five months, and still no end is in sight. I know that it is still Autumn, but, just as the monks had said only five days ago, it already feels like Winter.The snow has ceased falling, but it isn’t melting either, and some of it has frozen into forbidding ice drifts. Only the hardiest and most determined of Ilmater’s followers would dare make the trek up here beyond this point, which means we’ll only be seeing monks coming and going from here on in.It is nearing the date that started my whole quest to begin with, and I estimate that by the end of this month I may have the scroll fully translated. It is indeed a Lorass translation of a letter written in Roushoum in the time of the Imaskari empire. There are indeed directions, though some of the names still elude me. Some of them I do recognize, however.I believe the letter was sent from somewhere around the Moonsea, I can’t be sure though as I still don’t have the details translated fully. I had no idea the Imaskari empire spanned such a distance. Even if this scroll doesn’t lead directly to what I need, it should no doubt be interesting to see just where it does lead. The Imaskari were an empire mighty in magic, just maybe I can find something worthwhile.17th of Marpenoth, 1376 D.R.My translation of the scroll is nearly complete, and I believe my grasp of Lorass is sufficient that I will be able to translate further writings should I encounter them. I believe it is the Roushoum words that are still eluding me.Today was my mother’s birthday, and the date that I, the date that made all of this necessary. If I had only listened to Saed, if I hadn’t gone out of my way to defy him, and if I hadn’t been so horribly horribly wrong. None of this would ever have needed to happen…I should have just swallowed my pride, my mother’s life was worth far much more than a stroke of my ego, or true acceptance from father. I know that’s the real reason I developed that spell in the first place. Unlike the others, I never made him proud, ever... I think.I can’t blame him though, I knew better even as I was doing it. It was all my fault... all mine. I wonder if any of them can ever forgive me. I wonder if mother can forgive me, wherever her soul may be.Often I’ve considered just going to visit her, but honestly I don’t know what I would do if I encountered her here. She wouldn’t even know she was my mother. How would she react if she ever found out? How would father react? It’s better that I stayed away. Better for all of us.No word yet on Mattathias or Katar. Mithras is being grouchy as usual, when he decides to interact with Nym and myself. Nym has been spending his days practicing his acrobatics and tumbling in the monastery training halls. He seems to be really enjoying himself. I can understand, I haven’t seen many other places that he can practice without drawing the ire of someone.Mother had a really great gymnasium, Nym would really like it. He’d be better at it than I was, certainly. I couldn’t even scale that 12 foot wall, some cat burglar I would have been! Still, I should be honored that she took the time to teach me.I think I was the only one of us who received any of that type of instruction.I remember how I used to think that Amecia was her favorite child, she spent the most time with Amecia, indulged Amecia the most. That’s why I was so shocked when she confided in me that she really thought I was the most like her.I was nothing like her, I said. I could never be like she was, so beautiful, assured, calculating... I remember that she said that I was most like how she could have been, had she had the chance.I’m certain she didn’t mean that she could have been a complete and utter arcane failure, which is what I ended up being. I only hope I can right things. I have to. If I don’t, then I truly am nothing to be proud of.30th of Marpenoth, 1376 D.R.Today is Raza’il’s birthday, though I’m not sure if I should celebrate it. Can someone have a birthday if they haven’t been born? I suppose not. Still, I shouldn’t forget, I already forgot Ghalib’s birthday back in Flamerule.I wonder how Raza is faring? Is he still trying to tame the madness that is Unther for the favor of his Pharoah and god? I know that he is simply doing what a holy knight should do, but still, I hadn’t thought our family name had become so tarnished that the only way to revive it is to seek glory subjugating other people.He never understood why I thought so little of his duty, he couldn’t understand why I hated what Mulhorand was doing. If by restoring blessed order to Unther and bringing the Untherites into the worship of the “true” pantheon means virtually enslaving that entire realm, then Mulhorand be damned!I do worry for Raza though, if he continues on, then word of him will reach Thay, and then what will become of him? The bastard Red Wizards have already proven that if they can’t destroy mother or father, then they will certainly settle for murdering their children. To think of what they would do to Raza’il...Maybe they’ve already done it, I don’t know. Hopefully Horus Re will protect the one who serves him so faithfully, even though he hasn’t protected so many others from the same fate. But enough of this line of thinking, it’s only making me depressed, and I need to stay focused.My translation of the scroll is nearing completion. In fact, I should be done in the next day or two. When it is finished, I’ll scribe a copy of it into this journal, in case it should become separated from me. Well, off to bed, and sweet dream, if fortune smiles upon me.3rd of Uktar, 1376 D.R.Mattathias has finally completed his training! He was initiated into the Monastery of the Yellow Rose as a full-fledged monk. I have other good news too. I have finally finished with the scroll!It is written as follows:Grand Seal of the Chever LyceumVariations ArcanumOpus EnclaveSecond of the Roushoum TabletsTranscribed and Translated in 2672 by Ielo Jerland of the First AgeFor the inspection of High Planer Gharj Manaal from Lord Apprehender Sipas Kusis. I hope this correspondence finds you in high mind for renewal after the disaster that has befallen the Grand Planers. Thankfully, our research outpost has been able to find a renewable and easily accessible food supply the southern and eastern supply routes. Seems that our isolation has given us a reprieve from the eastern chaos.I have sent a shipment of twenty quats to your outpost since our own supplies are plentiful. Along with that, I have sent the journals of Inango, 100 drams of diamond dust, 50 bars of silver, and Illeyana’s doll. I’m sure she has been sorely missed.Be certain to be cautious when using native water supplies. We ourselves have come across several parasitic problems. It is likely due to the poisons that seep into the river from the northern mountains, though we have found the water from the Dragon Sea to be quite safe. Regardless, the silver should alleviate any water problems you might have.Lastly, have you heard news from the Goldenblood Mountains outpost? I suspect they have none of the water issues we have has since the Great Glacier as at their doorstep. I plan to travel there within the year so that I might stand on the Mountain of the Eagle once more before we leave our past behind. Last I heard from them, Hilo’s research had moved along rapidly and he writes of a new way that might allow us to journey faster than any of us had expected. Though I fear it might not be soon enough if the last three outposts are to survive. So many of the others that fled into hiding are gone. It seems like only a matter of time...Lord Apprehender Sipas KusisThe rest of the scroll is unintelligible writing, presumably Roushoum.I can only assume that the Opus Enclave that this letter is addressed from is on the Moonsea somewhere, and that the Goldenblood Mountains outpost must be somewhere near to here. I know that an enormous glacier used to cover this entire area at some point, but I don’t know precisely how long ago that was. A good place to start looking for the Goldenblood Mountains outpost would be to find this Mountain of the Eagle. Perhaps the monks here will know.I am determined to find this location, but convincing the others to accompany me may prove a little tricky. We should be leaving soon, and I’m hoping that because we’ve been here for so long, the others will be hungry for a little adventure. Tomorrow I’m going to pitch this little excursion to them. With any luck, they won’t be too much against this.4th of Uktar, 1376 D.R.We’re leaving to go find the Goldenblood Mountains outpost tomorrow! We learned from a group of the monks that the Mountain of the Eagle lies near here, in the Glacier of the White Worm. They each claim that it’s a different amount of time away, so I’m not sure how long it will take us to get there.  Hopefully, it won’t be too long.After going over my atlas, I’m certain that it will take at least a day, possibly two. We will be accompanied by one of the monks, a fellow named Dmitri, who has been there more than a few times. We will meet up with him tomorrow morning to begin our journey.We’ve already gathered our supplies. It’s hard to contain my excitement! I hope we can find this outpost and that its still in good condition. If luck smiles down on me, it will be completely untouched. If not, maybe I will still be able to find something interesting. At the very least, maybe there will be a magic item worth enough for me to gain access to Candlekeep, or valuable enough for me to sell to fund some research, or trade for some time with a sage.I’m going to need some wine just to get to sleep tonight! Actually, I wonder if they have some brandy...5th of Uktar, 1376 D.R.We started out this morning, just as planned. It is far colder than I thought it would be. It’s hard to believe that it’s still only Autumn! We began our journey early, with Dmitri leading the way down out of the monastery and into the mountains all around it. We headed west, thankfully descending the mountain the entire way.Currently we are camped beneath an outcropping of thick mountain rock, huddled around our small fire and keeping a wary eye on the darkness. The creatures are more likely to find us with the fire going, but the chance of that happening is less than the chance of our freezing with no fire at all.The others claim to have seen a large creature mining the rock, but I must have missed it. Nym says that it was large and blue and stood on two legs, and it scowled at us, watching us go by. I wonder what it was. That’s the only sighting I know of. The only thing that I’ve seen are rocks and snow.This place still isn’t as dismal as Thar, however. I’ll never forget how wretched that place was. No, I imagine that the Earthspur Mountains may at least be pretty at some point in the year, I don’t think that could ever be said of Thar.The others are deciding which watches to take, and Mithras is climbing onto the top of the outcropping. I’ve volunteered for the first watch, Mithras has taken second, and Mattathias has volunteered for third.I hope we’ll be out of this whole region by Winter. Autumn is bad enough, I don’t relish the idea of weathering out a Winter on the Moonsea or in the Bloodstone lands. I can still remember this past Alturiak...I suppose I should put this down and actually keep watch. Wouldn’t want anything creeping up on us. Funny how the Elves snicker at us humans not being able to see at night, but then they expect us to keep watch. Oh well. Maybe Mithras will fall off of the outcropping and land in the fire, or at least get a hot cinder down his pants. At the very least, some animal should bite him. That would teach him.Actually, it probably wouldn’t, but it would at least be funny. Funnier than watching everybody else snooze. I wonder if Nym knows that he twitches in his sleep, or if Mattathias knows that he snores. I hope I don’t snore, it’s entirely unattractive.Uncle Mirt snored, wow did he snore! Isis even snores a little, though she’d deny it. I tend to drool a little when I sleep, and that’s bad enough! When Grandma Lureene snored too, what was it that Saed said? "When Grandma Lureene snores it sounds like titans breaking wind in her mouth…?" Smelled like it too...I suppose I shouldn’t speak too badly of her. She was nice enough, if a little addle-brained, besides, it’s bad luck to speak ill of the dead. We all made little jokes about her, but we did feel bad when she died. We weren’t surprised though, not with the life she led, the continued drinking and partying that she did didn’t help matters either.I should know not to keep depressing myself like this. I’m going to put this journal away now and do my job. It’s bitterly cold, I think I’ll add some more of this scrub wood to the fire. Damn this stuff stinks...*Below is an image Arravis made of the Imaskari scroll. If you look the top text is actually in english, just in a difficult to read font. Made translating it a real-world task <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />*</blockquote>

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