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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeremy" data-source="post: 257018" data-attributes="member: 4036">The Journal of Collin Alyssar8th day of Chillwind    Ah, come morning and the sweet smell of victory.*  It didn’t help that such a sweet smell was nearly overpowered by the stench of the soil outside my second-floor window.**  But knowing that Taviel’s death had been avenged had brought me the calmest sleep I’ve known since visiting the Circle of Oaks.    The others had gotten off to an early start, especially the night elves.  Insidion was still trying to keep Insurion from setting fire to the dead things around town, which included the uninhabited buildings.***  Fredrick was overseeing the training of the crew, alongside the one of the town’s only remaining lawman.  A solemn chap, but good with the blade.  I’ll have to catch his name again later.  I lost track of Tylette for most of the morning.    Down in the common room, a note had arrived for Borindra via Two Moons’s carrier bird.  It would seem that the allies he had written to have met with some kind of tragedy of their own, and will not come to lend aid.  Something far to the north, apparently, that is beyond our help.  Vithas was very adamant about that.  She said that if their allies couldn’t handle it, my friends and I stood absolutely no chance.****    As I began to lay out my books (I have nearly finished the tatters of the first book I acquired at Taviel’s, Treatise on Ardoneth, Volume 6: The Southern Expanse), Insurion entered from outside.  He wore a thoughtful look and sat down across from me.  As we began to talk, the others in our group arrived (save Insidion, who it would seem lacked the stomach to breech the news).  The night elf told us that he and his brother felt they had accomplished the task they were brought to perform.  I’m still not sure if their task was to keep my friends and I from giving up after the loss of Fredrick, or to observe the battle with the vampire, but I didn’t bring it up.  Insurion admitted that they would join us if we deeply wished them to.  Yet it came to pass that the brothers were left to make the decision without our bias, and they chose to stay in New Galdomond.  I will deeply miss them both.  I know that were it not for them, I might be back in Galearon with Praelesian, living out comfortable days and passionate nights….what is so wrong with this, you say?  Well, while I may be comfortable for a time, Tiztserak will surely catch up to me eventually and I will not be doing the duty to which my matron has called me.  It is my hope that the Firestar brothers’ goddess will see fit to drop them (gently of course) back at their true home.^  I wonder if such miracles are common among all Matrons.    Now numbering only three, I was very worried about the daunting task of delving into Terraj’s Breath.  Fewer numbers might make us harder to find, but I feel confident that Tiztserak is not the only dweller of the caves.  We would need far more leverage against such a legendary mage.      My fears would be allayed not a few hours later with the arrival to town of Zerin, quite simply one of the most formidable beasts I’ve ever laid eyes on.  I eyed his great wings and stout, armored frame from afar as I approached the Inn where he stood, arguing with a defiant Tylette who leaned from a second story window.  Perhaps she did not appreciate the reptilian creature’s long limbs, or notice his wings, for she may not have been so uppity if she’d known how easily he could have removed her from her perch.  The conversation was becoming heated, I could tell, for as I walked around him (allotting a wide berth, of course), I could see the agitation in his face, and hear it in his booming voice.    I did my best to calm the creature while Sheeji, ever there when I need her, informed me that she could see into his heart, and that it was true and noble.^^  I breathed a sincere sigh of relief at that.  Standing on the Inn’s raised deck, I still fell short of meeting Zerin’s eyes, and he was uncomfortably close.  Using the opportunity to size him up, I quickly came to the conclusion that he would make an excellent replacement for Khuuld.  Unfortunately, he seemed to share the dour man’s personality.  Zerin made it clear he was sent by his master far to the north to help restore the balance here, (whether we liked it or not), but that he would not assume any leadership.  That made me feel a good deal better and I welcomed him into the Inn.  We needed help, and the gods saw fit to send us this behemoth.  I wasn’t about spit in their faces.    That still left us short of our original number: five.  If we were to face Tiztserak at last, we would still need more power.  Zerin was a great stride toward that.  Unfortunately, after asking around, I found not a single other person in New Galdomond willing to make the trek.  As I sat back down at my table and stared blankly at my books, I meditated the way Tylette has shown me and was struck with the idea of sailing to Crescent Lake.  There was a mage there of some power, as memory served.    Zerin wished to leave immediately, and I was eager to rid myself of the stench of New Galdomond.  With little fanfare, we made for the ship, the dragon-man flying high above us.  I laugh even now when I think of his first experience with the ship. (I have privately come to call her The Sarah Arden, but that’s just between you and me, Journal.)  Fredrick tells me Zerin was in a corner using one hand to cover a porthole with his shield and the other hand to keep himself from retching.^^^      We arrived off the coast of Crescent Lake only a few hours later, the sun setting below the mountains to our west.  According to my map, the secluded fishing town wasn’t too far northwest, but I dared not risk the forest.  It was then that eyed Zerin’s wings, and another idea hatched in my head.  I felt it an excellent opportunity to use the newest magicks I had uncovered.  Pulling creatures from another plane is fascinating enough, but pulling forth raw materials and crafting them with my will was equally exciting.  But I digress.  My intention was to form some sort of carrying device for all of us to use, but it ended up being scarcely more than a jumbled net.      Crescent Lake was just as I remembered it -an island of civilization in the middle of nowhere, wholly uninspiring.  After speaking at length with her, the lady mage says she cannot help us, nor could she tell us more about the objects we found at the Temple of Elemental Justice.  She recommended that we try some of the northern cities to find such magic. I thought that a grand idea, as I have yet to see any of these cities.  A whole new continent to explore!  Never in my wild dreams did I….but I say that a lot don’t I Journal?  We have purchased rooms here at their quaint Inn, much nicer than the one in New Galdomond.  My writing is interrupted by the odd sounds that make their way across the lake from the forest beyond.  Still, the shutters should keep the sound out.  It will be a restful sleep, free at last of any stench (save maybe the fish I had for supper).*Another well deserved victory of the party involved them and indeed, most of the able-bodied adventurers of the city slaying the monstrosity that originally attacked the town.**Unfortunately, as they had already discovered, the creature was not what was causing the rotting of the earth and subsequent stench that permeated the land.***Insidion and Insurion Firestar worshipped Luminai.  The elven goddess of the Sun, Fire, and Rebirth.****Vithas, Borindra, and Two Moons consist of most of one of the surviving adventuring companies.  They have reason to dislike our protagonists.^Insidion and Insurion's entrance was rather unique.^^Collin's bonded familiar is a pixie by the name of Sheeji.  That has lead to a few interesting developments.^^^Oh good gracious.  I am not about to explain this in a foot note.  Perhaps one of the other players would be so kind as to explain what they have done to their "ship".  I'm still not completely happy about that little bit of genius.</blockquote>

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