Ran into a group of thugs harassing a strange trio; a goblin, a witch and a mage from Ordo Magica. I chased the thugs off. Turns out the group is heading across the Titans, and they accepted when I asked if I could join them. Apparently they're moving some kind of artifact. Let's hope it doesn't bring us any trouble.
Walking. Walking, walking, walking and then some walking. At least the Titans draw closer. My companions have turned out to be very useful. They can magically keep the temperature up at camp, and Nar - that's the Goblin, has the eyes of a hawk.
We arrived at some improvised camp at the feet of the Titans. It's huge. I don't know how many groups of merchants, all waiting for the right time to move. Not sure what's delaying them - winter is approaching and it's not going to get any easier, is it?
We spoke a bit with a few other travelers that weren't strictly part of any merchant's staff.
There's two fellows named Belun & Ludo, who seem... overqualified, for lack of better word, for this kind of work. They pose as pathfinders, but I wonder if they're highwaymen that will turn on their clients out in the wilderness.
There's also Keler and Telk, who would look more at home in the slums of Yndaros. Or so I believe. Not sure what to make of them.
And Lestra, who may be a Black Cloak. Grandpa said I should be careful with the sword around those. Apparently they might decide to try to take it away from me. Or worse, take me away!
Apparently there's a merchant named Argasto, who is preparing to cross the Titans. We went to ask if we could travel with them, and the oaf had the nerve to force me to duel some of his his guards for the privilege. I almost wanted to teach him a lesson - cut his belt so his breeches would fall or something - but Grandma told me to try to stay out of trouble. So, I dueled the guards. That was quick business at least. They moved slower than sleeping cows. I hope we won't have to rely on their protection in the mountains.
First day of traveling with Argasto's group. There's six big wagons, and all the previously mentioned people, and two or three guards that were part of Argasto's employ from earlier. Belun and Ludo act as guides. Keler and Telk are guards, just like us. I don't know what Lestra is, except annoying.
We're on guard duty a few hours tonight.
Night passed without incident, which is more than can be said about the day. After a couple of hours, we caught up with a Belun and Ludo, that had stopped to stare at a corpse! A dead body. My first thought was that they'd killed the poor man, but after some investigation Eia and Nar decided that he had been... bitten to death. By a human! Or more likely, an undead! We found tracks heading northwest, but decided against following them. We buried the body and continued traveling north with the caravan. Argasto is not pleased at all by this.
At least today was calm. The wagons almost got stuck a few times, but all in all everything went OK. It seems as if Belun and Ludo are actually quite competently leading us around some obstacles we might have encountered without them. Perhaps they're here to help after all?
Guard duty tonight as well.
Bartolom was murdered. In the middle of our camp, while people were sleeping. And the murderer took the artifact - a Sun Stone - and fled into the night. It seems that Nar can spot anything, though. She picked up the tracks, and deftly led us into the forest. Eventually, we found an old water mill (millers in the mountains?), and that's when the real trouble started. Nar, for once not quite so observant, managed to get her leg stuck in a bear trap! And a beast of a trap it was! I had to drag her back into the forest while Keler - yes, it was Keler that murdered Bartolom - rained down crossbow bolts on us! After what felt like hours we managed to get Nar's leg free and, Bless the Queen, the injury turned out to be just a minor flesh wound. The trap was strong enough to snap a bear's leg in half, I'm sure, so there must be some quality armor that she's wearing.
Anyway, while I was rushing towards the water mill, Nar and Eia managed to shoot Keler down with their bows. He had the Sun Stone, but what's more curious is that he had a note signed Mal-Rogan! The note said "The Sun Stone is on the move, get it to me." What blasphemer would use the name of the late Rogan Gorinder and set up a band of brigands? I'll run him through when I find him, that's for sure! In Keler's water mill, we also found evidence that up to five other people were using it as a camp. We destroyed their equipment and took their food. Let's see them hide up here with no food or warmth in the night.
We decided to not tell anybody about Keler and the Sun Stone. I'm not sure that's wise, but the Sun Stone is Nar's and Eia's business, not mine. Argasto wanted to turn back, since he relied on the Sun Stone to keep the camp warm at night. Eia convinced him we could continue though, since she possesses some Barbarian magic of similar quality.
But this dramatic day didn't stop at murder and a battle with a thief! In the evening we were attacked by wolves! Or at least, so we believed at first. When Belun and Ludo were collecting firewood, they found themselves chased back into camp by wolves. It was a pack of five, led by one huge beast. The big one slipped past me, and I got held up with one of the smaller ones - a jakaar, I think. They were incredibly quick, and couldn't land a single blow on it. Very embarrassing!
Apparently Nar had no such difficulties. Using her bow, she managed to fell the big one, and it turned out to be an elf that had shape shifted into a wolf! At this point, the jakaars - who I suppose were actually jakaars, and not more elves, decided to retreat into the forest. The elf was, if I understood Eia correctly, a representative of the Iron Pact. Or perhaps she was just carrying their symbol. I'm not sure what that means, exactly, but someone (Nar?) was quick to grab the symbol, because it might be valuable.
I have no idea why we were attacked by an elf. This trip is far more interesting than I could ever have expected. And the bulk of the mountains still lay ahead of us!
Shortly after breaking camp, we were approached by two more elves! These ones didn't attack on sight, but they were clearly hostile. They demanded that we'd give up Belun and Ludo, for some transgression they had allegedly committed against the elves. The elves presented themselves as "early and late summer", or something like that. I believe it's supposedly a reference to their age, but I don't know what it implies? That they're a hundred years old? A thousand?
In either case, I decided that we were not giving anybody up to these people. They were apparently very hostile, and showed every intent of wanting to murder Belun and Ludo if they got hold of them. I hadn't cared much for those two earlier, but handing them over to murderers was out of the question.
The discussion was cut short by the most horrifying thing I have ever experienced. Belun turned into an abomination - or so I believe - right in front of my eyes! It was as if an abomination was living inside of him, and suddenly decided to crawl out! There was a brief fight, and even if it was outnumbered seven or eight to one, it managed to kill one, and fatally injure one guard before we could stop it. It was only with Eia's help the injured guard survived.
This cast new light on the discussion, and I'm not at all sure what we should do with Ludo. Is there another abomination hiding inside him? He carries the same strange sores as Belun did. Are they significant? Even Eia couldn't tell, but they didn't look like normal wounds, or any disease I have ever seen.
After some discussion, we decided that we cannot let Ludo continue traveling with the caravan. We equipped him with gear and several days' worth of food, and sent him off. I'm ashamed to say that he didn't make it far. The elves were waiting for him, and I believe they killed him shortly after he left the camp. Sending him off was my idea, and it got him killed. I'm not sure how I'm going to come to terms with that.
The following night I committed yet another mistake, that resulted in the loss of life. While standing guard, I spotted two strange lights in the forest. Frostligths, I was told later. Being nervous and careless, I stepped outside Eia's magic circle, and thus I broke the magic that might otherwise have kept us hidden. There was a battle, which we won, but not after losing yet another guard. So now the protection of the caravan comes down to us.
After the battle with the Frostlights, we have had several days of traveling without major incidents. Thankfully.
Lestra left the caravan. I believe she is heading for the Twilight Monastery, which seems to be a place of horror. If I understand Eia correctly, the Twilight Friars take corrupted people there. For what, exactly, I don't know. But nothing pleasant, that's for sure.
I'm glad to be rid of her. I don't think she was a bad person, exactly, but I'm also not sure what she would have done to me had she discovered Renegade. That's one less thing to worry about - for the moment.
Another day passed without incident. Argasto tells us that tomorrow we'll reach our goal. Finally this trip will be over and, if Argasto is good to his word, I'll be a considerably wealthier woman than I am today.
Prios Pass! A sprawl of tents and caravans, overlooked by three watch towers. Then there's a bridge leading out to the city - or perhaps village - proper. I tried to enter the village, assuming that would be where I'd find Dardared, but the guards sent me off to the eastern side of the sprawl.
Unfortunately, we didn't get far until all hell broke loose again. Alarm sounded from the eastern watch tower, and when we ran there, we saw that the camp was under attack from three abominations! During the battle, one of them slashed me bad with its claws. Eia, to her credit, managed to patch me up while I was still fighting, and in the end we won. It is, however, the worst wound I have ever suffered.
When it was over, all I wanted to do was to sit down - but of course I had no such luck. A pavilion some distance south was on fire! We rushed there, and while people nearby had doused the fire, we discovered two dead bodies when we peeked inside. And they had been murdered, not perished in the fire! While searching the pavilion for clues, one Egusta, captain of the guard, showed up. She is apparently a busy woman, because that encounter left me in charge of the murder investigation. So, Inspector Aela, if you please!
The corpses - one man and one woman - were apparently nobles of some sort, or at least quite rich folk, because they were both wearing expensive concealed armor. Eia found a pair of shackles which had been magically enhanced, and I spotted a medallion with what later turned out to be the symbol of the Church of Dead Prios, and a piece of chain mail.
There were tracks leading both west and north, and we decided to follow the west leading tracks first. Eventually we found three templars of the Church of Dead Prios, who had apparently been involved in the fight at the tent, and who practically admitted to the murders! They claim, however, that the people in the pavilion are only disguised as craftsmen (weavers), but are in reality in league with or transporting some... witch or abomination.
After having interrogated the templars, we followed the tracks leading north, and discovered that someone had been poisoning the food handed out in camp with Krusean Berries, something Eia claims can turn people into abominations! The berries were put in the food by two goblins - Boa and Tott - who claim it was a prank and they had been ordered to do so by a "bearded man wearing a belt buckle with squiggly decorations."
We brought the goblins with us, and tried to locate the bearded man. During this search, I found to my horror that Dardered perished in the first abomination attack. I searched his tent, though, and found a very peculiar section in his journal:
"It is as I feared; the Master Weaver and his apprentices in the wagon behind Ilva’s are lying. They are guards, escorting a prisoner. A woman. Old and hunched. Pale as sugar. And she saw me. She pierced me with her bloodshot eyes. Just for a second, like the stab of a knife. Or a cut. An intense expression, but what it meant I do not know. Perhaps it was hatred. Perhaps a warning, a threat. For a moment I thought she wanted to eat me. Or maybe it was a cry for help.
I will not get involved. Not tell anyone. Keep my distance. I do not want to know what her eyes were really saying. Death. That is the prevailing feeling: death."
I do not know what this means, but we believe he is speaking about the people we saw murdered in the tent. The question is what happened to the pale woman.
We decided to go see Captain Egusta, and tell her our findings. They let us cross the bridge this time, and while we briefed the Captain she did not have much to say in return. She merely asked us to keep investigating, but at least she let Eia and Narl refill their quivers.
When we left the guard house, we were approached by a fellow who introduced himself as Brother Huberdo. He told us he had information for us, and asked us to join him at the Golden Swan Inn.