25th Moonstone, 706
After travelling for more than a day north, I take a break to swim in the estuaries where a great river meets the Sea of Blades. After some relaxation, I have come to a new conclusion; I am capable of ridding the world of great evils. The gods will not, the lords and kings will not, but I can, so I will. The traveled monks claim bandits and monsters roam all the world, so I clearly cannot run and hide. I will fight. But I must become stronger. I will hunt, I will fight toe-to-toe with the beasts of the wood, and then I will kill.
26th Moonstone, 706
I spent the entire day wandering the woods, killing every animal I came across. Eventually, I noticed shapes in a valley before me; a standoff between a hammerman and a night creature, eyes locked, both apparently unwilling to make the first move. Instead, I do. The battle is fierce, I grow tired from parrying blows, but eventually I shatter its ankle and slash its arm assunder, causing it to drop its knife and fall over. From there it is only a few dodged swipes and unsuccessful strikes at its torso before I manage to decapitate it.
The hammerman has fled by this point.
26th Moonstone, 706
After returning to Speechrags, I explain the situation to the lady Iddim Kupekwur. She advises me that there is also a giant in the cave of Mouthscar the Strangled Riddle. On my way I encounter two men in the woods. They attack me, and after some dirty fighting, I manage impale one through the heart and decapitate the other despite lying beneath him. I encounter, am attacked by, and kill a third and fourth traveling south from the monastery of Showgrand. Obviously this is a major bandit hideout, so they must be killed.
After storming the dormatories and dismembering the crossbowman and pikeman on guard, and three more wrestlers, I finally chase down the last bandit in the woods not far outside. The master which one of them claimed to serve, Belza Ritespoons, doesn't seem to be present. Perhaps he's out on an erand.
Continuing eastward I again encounter another bandit wandering the woods, and slay him after learning he serves a different leader; the commander Ori Facewill. Some dingoes also harass me, but at this point I just don't care enough to chase them all down.
28th Moonstone, 706
Early in the morning, I manage to stumble into the camp of Ori Facewill, called veilthimble, and his band of brigands, The Dimpled Heavens. There are two guards, only one of whom puts up a fight, while Ori and a lasher sleep. The gang is dead. Nearby is the castle of Sensedstopped, home of the Captain Borik Greenveiled, who seems a nice enough fellow, if a bit hairy.
The place is littered with books. I feel compelled to read them all, but I dare not steal from the greatest collection of knowledge I've ever imagined. However, Borik tells me there may be an even greater hoard far to the north: Boltspumpkin, where a "museum" is organized. Something that stores historical knowledge, I guess. I told the story of my slaying of Faci, and explaining my intent to slay the giant in the nearby cave, he graciously loans me two of his best men; Slenshi the swordswoman, and Amsir the spearman.
As I leave I notice a dead man lying by a tower; Senshi informs me this was Gast. She doesn't know how he died, but this puts into persepective why there was some tension among a couple soldiers in the keep. The cave entrance is literally around the back of the keep, and after a short trip into the depths, chopping up some large rats, and admiring the junk lying around, we encounter the giant.
Senshi got the last blow, so takes the title of giant slayer, but I once again got a lucky strike on the giants' throat. Even if the fight had gone badly for us, the world would have been a little bit safer. The giant carries three important relics:
Below this chamber is a network of bizarre caverns. What may have once been a gentle slope descending into them has become unnavigable thanks to a tree of unnatural wood with yellow bark. It has no leaves, but pustules in the bark release little puffs of brown dust when the branches are disturbed. I must climb to reach the floor of the tunnels, which is covered in strange moss and tiny mushrooms. There is even a giant mushroom, pure white, pressing up against the walls of the surrounding rock pillars. I become trapped in an enormous spider web, and suddenly remember, I have no idea what this place is, it must be inhabited by enormous spiders, probably other horrible things. Ignoring a faint glow from some of the fungi on the walls it's pitch black and even with a torch I can see almost nothing. I return to the tree, climb back up, and together with the others return to the surface.
Back in the castle, I report the events to Borik, and leave him some trinkets I recovered, inlcuding the shoe. The soldiers agree to continue travelling with me, and we head north to a road connecting the towns of Scarletbronze and Streammartyred, and head west towards Scarletbronze.
1st Opal, 706
Scarletbronze is enormous. There are no taverns, though, and almost every shop is a general goods or clothing imports store. I instead head to the keep, where I stumble upon a great party of royalty and religious figures. I tell them the story of my slaying of the dragon, and after a brief discussion, they award me the title Doñas Silenttowers the Ominous Hoary Zenith. I am honored, officially a Knight of the lands of The Realm of Silver, and my tale transcribed into legend. I could ask for little else besides title to land, but I do not know where I want to live. And I still want to visit this Boltspumpkin.
We wander the town a bit, and I stop by a shrine to seek the gods' wisdom once more. They bless me with a week's good fortune. But in one of the adjacent shops I hear fighting, and inside I witness two merchants apparently having a domestic dispute? There's nothing I can do about that short of murder, so we leave for a nearby Monastery, where a Captain Mim Couragestoke tells me about some manner of evil going on in the fort of Tressedgarnish a day's travel east. As we're about to leave, one of the soldiers says some inappropriate things to Slenshi, which prompts her and Amsir to murder the man in a short fight. I of course take the initiative to leave.
We stumble into a lair a short walk north, and inside we encounter another shadow creature, like the one I slew last week. Slenshi whispers its name to me; a great title
Nula (Bury) Umbragrave the Night of Tunnels, a known killer of many men. The beast hears this, or perhaps senses its name being intoned. It turns and rushes down the narrow corridor in which we stand towards us and immediately assaults Senshi's face, tearing a nasty gash in her lips and left cheek, and knocking out many of her upper teeth before I can slash its ankle and finally decapitate it. Slenshi is in terrible pain. I helped stitch up her cheek and lip, hopefully it won't become infected.
2nd Opal, 706
Spent the night outside the lair, rather uneventfully. We set out east again towards the suspect fort, but before we arrive we encounter a bandit camp. We slaughter them all without mercy, and besides Amsir taking a nasty wack to the ankle and a bad bruise on my shoulder, we are unharmed. At the fort, though, we find nothing particularly interesting. The "Overlord" as he calls himself hosts a large cadre of soldiers as well as some service staff such as butlers and chefs, but there's nothing unusual about this lot that can't be said of any other. What they could possibly be doing that is so abhorrent.
We travelled south into the city of Streammartyred, another bustling center of trade. There are local goods shops here and even a tavern. I also saw a goblin. There unfortunately was little reason to remain there aside from having a drink. We kept moving until we arrived at the hamlet of Rushpelts around dusk, and encountered a group of brigands surrounding the town well. I chose to kill them all. We spoke to the lord of the town, Thur Gorgedroplet, and after telling the host of our collective exploits, I asked if we would be candidates for hearthperson-hood, purely out of curiosity. Thur immediately declared me his hearthperson. Not what I meant, so after spending the night we walk out before anyone else awakes.
3rd Opal, 706
We visited the town of swordgleams. We immediately approached a small group of people. Suddenly one transformed into a hideous beast! And then well over a hundred warriors emerged from the snow surrounding us! And they started killing each other!
I used the confusion to flee from the ring of warriors, and ran towards a building, only for the door to swing open revealing it to be chock full of warriors as well!
Every building was full of bandits!
The men that ambushed us chased us through the streets. We escaped, and I've decided we're never going to Swordgleamed ever again.
From sites and pops;
69: Thillecit, "Swordgleamed", town
Owner: The Feed of Style, humans
3062 humans - all bandits!?
2 goblins - bandits
2 human visitors - BANDIT SPIES
73 human outcasts - bandits
75 goblin outcasts - bandits
5th Opal, 706
We encountered some bandit gangs in various hamlets and killed them all. Not everyone appreciated this, but nonetheless the world is a safer place. We also visited a fort, Martyrmurdered, where we arrived just in time to stop the rampage of a weremoose that found its way into the keep.
This was the last we'd see of the civilized world before we crossed the Tundra of Heroes, necessary to reach Boltspumpkin. The tundra is incredibly flat, one can see for many, many of miles whilst it is clear. The only thing which can be seen is a strange structure to our north-west
Slenshi tells me this must be the fabled Combinedsight, a place rumored to be home to a great evil. If that is true, it is our duty to remove it from this plane. As we approach, we see there are many disconnected towers of various builds, but one stands out. We approach from the east, nearest this greater structure. Kobolds come pouring out of neighboring towers. They are in various states of decay, clearly undead. This is the lair of the dreaded necromancer! Inside the greater tower are other hideous monsters.
I decided it may be smart to talk to them first, and indeed this creature, however monstrous, is intelligent, and informs me it is in fact a soldier of the captain Aba Fondledred. His name is Olongö Vileravens. I speak to several of the other necromancers, and discuss our journeys and exploits thus far. I read several of the books here, most are about the tower or the necromancers, but one of them,
Mysteries of Bereavement, stands out. It reveals to me the greatest secrets of our time; how to attain immortality! I am both shocked and amazed. But I know, in the back of my mind, the stories of rampaging zombie hordes must be true, if the necromacers, too, exist. I suppose I must admit, now I understand how life and death really work, I am truly, I'm not sure how to put it, more contented with my place in the world? Alas, I don't know if I would be capable of slaughtering these people either.
We decide to leave, Slenshi's shield hand had been badly cut by one of the undead kobolds, but I take the book with me. Slenshi and Amsir cannot read, and I cannot put into spoken words, somehow, what the book contains, so they will have to suffer their mortality for now. We will continue the journey northward, perhaps the museum has use of this. We camp in the tundra again and although I take first watch, I forget entirely about sleeping. I also realize I did not eat supper, nor am I particularly thirsty, although I indulge in some of the wine I brought regardless. One of the necromancers mentioned the nearby fort of Stockadeoutrage, built recently by surviving dwarves!? I cannot pass up the opportunity to meet the fabled, supposedly extinct race? What wonders could they teach us?
7th Opal, 706
I admit we spent another day in the tundra hunting polar bears for sport, but when we arrived at Stockadeoutrage we find it destroyed! Several dead Soldiers of Aba lie on the ground, we encounter an undead muskox, and finally, a necromancer. They attacked and destroyed the settlement and slaughtered its people. This cannot be forgiven, and although the necromancer attempts to flee, I strike him down. Near the nearby peak we spot a walled structure, this must be where the dwarves lived. I am amazed to find one of the dwarves alive! Her name is Beri Alron Moss pickvessels, and she is captain of the guard of this fortress. I explain to her our accomplishments, and express my desire to become one of the guardians of this place. She accepts! I am overjoyed, now, to be among such venerable people. The dwarf is indeed very short, wide, more muscular and fatter than a human would normally be. She has a deep voice, long pale taupe hair in a braid, raw umber eyes, and pale chestnut skin.
The fort appears surrounded by a moat of lava from the nearby volcano! It would be impenetrable, if only the walls on the hillside had been completed. Inside, I find the ruins littered with corpses. There are various goods lying around, what seem to be farm plots just inside the mountain, where a large room is carved out. It leads through a series of bizare passages to workshops, storage rooms, some sort of dining area? Most every surface is smoothed out, not rough stone. Then in one room I find what may have been a mural of some sort, but the subject matter seems to have been erased. A very well-designed inscription of the piece's title and author's name survives, but little else.
Below is what must be some sort of metal smithy, fueled by lava? The downward passage nearby is a dead end, not even fully smoothed. Here must be where work stopped. Back in the dining hall, I enter a brewery, but am confronted here by a strange creature:
It's easy enough to dispatch, but spits molten lava! I show it to Beri, and she gives it a name; ònuldesgir, which means Mirrorgoad, responsible for one Imishi Kudust Paddleticks' death. Alas, Beri is alone here, but takes her duty seriously. She implores me to go north, find someone, and inform them of the dwarven races' desperate need for aide. I must continue onward. Sadly, while I believed I had the power, it appears I cannot resurrect these fallen. And so this place will remain their tomb. I record some of this place's history in the only way I have any real skill in; bone figurines, which I'll deliver to the museum in time.
A cougar attacked us in the night while the others slept, so it only felt appropriate that I use her bones, and cook her flesh for breakfast.
9th Opal
Today We encountered a goblin pikeman, a bandit, in the woods. Since he attacked us first, we slew him. We also encountered a sasquatch, one of those freakish beasts that resembles a giant human covered in dense fur, and slew it as well.
11th Opal
As we camped in the woods last night, we were attacked by dingoes. I awoke the others just in time to join battle, and thankfully none of us were hurt. There's a shrine nearby I'd like to investigate.
This journal was delivered to the museum by one Slenshi Saviormutes, giant slayer. With it she delivers the news that Doñas Silenttowers the Ominous Hoary Zenith is dead, burnt alive after slaying the deadly taiga titan Ozob Noxron Umstosslexsmul. Although he threw his backpack and other goods across the shrine, she did not think to recover them, and took only the journal as he ordered her to proceed to the museum.