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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mantreus" data-source="post: 1181632" data-attributes="member: 8669">From the Journal of GnorricWell, we are on the road to Mellin and are resting for the night. We’ve found a nice spot near a brook with a clearing and some deadfall we can use for a fire. It’s amazing how these handy little places pop up on the side of the road. I sometimes wonder if the gods aren’t playing with our heads.Kull seems a lot more cheerful of late. I actually think he’s excited by the prospect of war to the north. I think the mystery of the marsh holds greater interest for me. The crystal ball we found had some very faint magic about it, but I have a feeling that its magic has faded over hundreds or possibly thou…______Well that was a bit of excitement for the evening! We were just interrupted by a rather surly visitor. And I’ve wasted a perfectly good armouring spell on the encounter. I refuse to waste it, so I’m sitting here writing in my journal with a glowing field of force around me. I think the new dwarven fellow thinks me a bit strange.The feeling is mutual; our initial encounter wasn’t that pleasant.Will heard someone approaching and slipped into the woods to check it out. I cast my armouring spell and asked Wee Bat to fly above and let me know who it was. I informed Kull that it was a stout fellow in spiked plate much like his own. Will circled around and had an arrow trained on him. The dwarf announced himself though and introduced himself as Dargrim Ironshield (how typically dwarven of him.) He has been sent by the Hextorian church to “help” Kull, whatever that means. He’s a very rude and gruff fellow. When I introduced myself, he broke wind, grunted, spat, sat down and started munching on some sort of trail rations.Strangely, Kull seemed quite pleased to have him. I thought I saw him smile, but it was probably just a trick of the light.______Arrived in Mellin and have found a place to stay. Thankfully it’s no where near my old neighbourhood, I don’t think they’d be too receptive to a homecoming quite yet, they were quite irate when I left.I’m about to go for a walk to the Temple of Wee Jas to talk to the High Priestess there. I’m quite looking forward to it! Kull has already left with Dargrim to investigate hiring a sheriff to fill in while we go north.Speaking of going north, we saw a lot of troops moving north on our way here. Something about “greenskins” attacking some fort or pass or something. So our investigations have apparently become more urgent, and we are heading north as soon we return to Saltmarsh and train whoever Kull decides to hire.Will has gone on what he calls a “tithing run”. He feels that if he gives a little bit to each temple, he’s keeping all the gods happy and will have good luck. A nice theory I guess, but I think he’s spreading his faith a bit thin. Speaking of faith, I’m off to pay my respects to Wee Jas!______Well, the priestess of Wee Jas was a wonderful woman! She was in agreement with me on a number of things and supports me with my ideas for using undead as unpaid labour. We spoke for a couple of hours about death, magic and how they work together. Overall it was a fascinating time and I was sad to go. I must update my notes regarding commanding the undead, it has given me some ideas…I also went to see the local merchant of arcane wares and have bought a couple of scrolls that I might add to my spell book. I bought a scroll of flying, which should be fun! I can swoop about the place with Wee Bat. He’s looking forward to seeing me fly as well.______The trip back from Mellin went uneventfully and we have arrived back in Saltmarsh. Kull hired an earnest young man called Elijah. He appears to be doing well in the military exercises that Kull is putting him and the militia though. The poor fellows, Kull is a horrendous task master and expects the world from these poor villagers. Will tries to take the edge off Kull in his role as deputy (Wee Jas knows why!) so it isn’t all bad. It’s a good thing I’m useless with a sword, I don’t think I could stand the training Kull is dishing out.Aramil dropped in for supplies for a little while today. The poor dear is looking for another companion after the loss of his crocodile. It appears to be going none to well though and is taking him some time. Therefore he won’t be joining us on our little trip north to investigate the invasion, which is a pity. He’s a very useful fellow to have about. I informed Kull that he wouldn’t be joining us and he said “The Druid? Pah!” and that was that!Anyway, enough avoiding work. I have new spells to scribe!______We’ve found another one of those fabulous little campsites on the side of the road. It’s obviously been used by a few people as there are obvious signs of a fire and so forth…Will just found something interesting, it appears to be human teeth still attached to the gum? Fresh too. It’s fascinating how the gum envelopes the root of the tooth so well making it very difficult to remove them but still leaving room for growth. I wonder if I could improve the appearance of zombies for the mass market by providing them with some sort of denture or similar so they have a nice smile? I must make a note of that…_____Oh dear. We just found the provider of the human remains. It was an awful owlbear creature. He came bursting out of the forest and basically walked directly into Dargrim, Will and Kull who battered it into the ground in a matter of moments. Still, it’s interesting how these creatures have evolved. I got Will and Dargrim to help me drag it away from the road so I might perform an autopsy on the return trip.Speaking of Dargrim, he seems to be hanging around especially closely of late. He has this habit of just sitting and staring at me as I write. Like he is now, which is most unnerving.We followed its “tracks” (more like a swath of destruction through the forest!) back to its cave and found a foul smelling liquid, a fair amount of gold and some awful boots. The boots felt wrong somehow, but they are not magical. I have placed them into my magical bag of holding for later inspection.Kull has been a bit more chatty this trip. I think it’s the prospect of some real military action or something. He has been discussing tactics with me. I am to stick close to Dargrim in any sort of fight and fire spells over his head appropriately. I don’t know why he seems to think me an idiot, but at least it’s conversation!______We have stopped to see if we can get anymore news about the conflict to the north at a roadhouse just outside a place called Torlynn. Nothing much new being reported. Rumours of giants is about it. Oh, a young man just arrived looking for Kull…</blockquote>

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