Category Archives: Journal Entries

Remi Letter to Julia: Aug 2020

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Julia,

Fate once again brought me face 2 face with Viralane on opposite sides but at the last minute she surrendered to the group and was knocked out before I could even hit her once. Apparently the others felt that she was more valuable alive then dead and I admit that even though I wanted to hurt her it would have been wrong to kill her once she had surrendered. I was a bit too rough when searching her unconscious body and that was wrong of me. Somehow I thought that it would make me feel better but it had the opposite effect and that is not a feeling that I ever wish to experience again.

We were able to learn more about the group chasing us so some good has come from keeping Viralane alive. I have learned that Viralane is not very bright, she is cursed and instead of trying to get it removed she falls for the cult that convinces her this is a very hard curse to get rid of but if she helps them then they will find a way to get the curse removed. She is such a putz.

I have also learned a lot about her ability and it is clear that she has enjoyed a life full of manipulating people with her magic to get what she wants. Apparently being selfish and self-centered doesn’t make one evil.

With her being close to death I felt obligated to watch over her, even when some of the others suggested that we leave her tied up while we continue to search. It’s not that I really wanted to protect and guard her from danger but there is no way I could just leave her helpless.

Maybe just maybe she will turn her life around, that is if going back to performing and being intimate with married men can be considered turning her life around.

I am a little confused about the intent of Shasa in regards to helping Viralane with her curse. I am not sure if she plans to work to remove the curse or find another way that will allow her to perform on stage. I admit my sense of anger towards her brought to my mind a cruel way to allow her to go back to performing on stage without removing the curse.

This is one of those times when I really want to go surfing through her memories to determine if a second chance is justified. Regardless Viralane is getting her second chance and I just hope she doesn’t ruin it.

Captain Sursha was very happy to see the return of Viralane so that she can finally pay for her crimes. I now realize that the situation with Viralane is outside of my control and my part at least for the moment is done. As long as she follows the commands of Sursha and the crew I have to accept that there is nothing further for me to do. Hearing the determination in Sursha’s voice put me at ease and I can’t in good conscience do anything further to Viralane, although it would have been nice to be able to stab her at least once before she surrendered.

After dinner and some more time with Captain Sursha I can finally let go and I no longer have the urge to punch Viralane in the face. I accept that Desna led me to the closure that I needed rather than the one I was searching for.

I still don’t know about helping Viralane with her curse. In time Desna will provide me guidance if it is her will for me to help Viralane. For me I feel that it is too early to tell which version of Viralane we will see in the future. With her magic abilities to manipulate people’s minds I suspect that she might be able to get out of her current legal situation. She is also attractive so I don’t put it past her to use sexual favors along with mind affecting abilities to earn her freedom.

My new at least temporary roommate is Shimsa and she is enjoyable to be around. She seems a little self-conscious about not being human, I never even thought about it until I spent some time with her.  I have to assume there have been some very cruel people in her past but hopefully it has been very obvious that to me we should relish and celebrate our differences along with all of the ways we are the same. I will have to say that she is a lot neater than you are, I haven’t tripped over her clothes even once.

For now it is clear that the will of Desna is for me to travel with this group of people. It looks as if all of us have been chosen by the gods to follow this path. Something big is happening and we must do our part to make sure evil does not corrupt the world.

Even though part of me wishes you were here I feel that you are already following the right path for you.

Vlad’s Tale

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First, I suppose I should apologize, especially given what happened. I didn’t intend to be away until so late in the morning—I didn’t even expect to be gone all night—but, I actually found what I was looking for. Or rather, who. And along with that came a mystery, though in the end…well. I am getting ahead of myself.

I only lived here for about four or five years, but it felt more like home than anywhere else, and it was probably the only real family I have had. My parents…let’s just say that some people should not have children. I know that sounds strange coming from me, but it’s true.

Anyway, I ran away from Korvosa—I just can’t think of that city as home even though I spent most of my life there—when it got really bad. I am sure you heard the stories. It took me nearly a year to get to Magnimar. And it turns out I wasn’t the only one who had that idea. If you look close enough, this city is littered with runaways. Most are Varisian but there are all ethnicities and races here. There’s something about this city. Teens flock to it. Maybe because it’s safer than the alternatives.

Most live on the streets. If you’re lucky, you find a way to get by in Ordellia or Dockway. If not…you end up in the Underbridge. Or worse, in Rag’s End, which is like if your slums have slums. I spent some time there, and it was enough to have me longing for the safety and security of the Shingles. And I knew I had to get out or…well…let’s just say you don’t want to know what happens to teens who get stuck there.

I didn’t just get lucky. I got really lucky. Though Chadali would say that you make your own luck, or rather that it’s not luck at all, but the ability to see opportunity when it shows itself. I found a home of sorts for runaways more or less like myself, run by runaways. Kids who had banded together to keep each other safe.

Calling it a “home” might be generous. It was an abandoned building on Kyver’s island. Maybe “condemned” would be a better word. But it was a roof and walls, which is more than most find. They called it Tineri House, which is a Varisian word. Put together, it roughly translates to “youth hostel”. They only had three rules for anyone who lived there: you helped cook and clean, there was no violence, and there were no drugs.

When the Isle of Xin rose four years later, the building collapsed and a lot of kids died. It could have been worse; the earthquake struck mid-day so not everyone was home, but still…

I left Magnimar shortly after that. It was just too hard to stay. But, I always wondered whether Tineri House—the idea of it—had lived on. So when we came here yesterday…I just had to find out.

You can spot runaways from a mile away if you know what to look for, and of course i know what to look for. But I’m no longer in that world, so I couldn’t just walk up to one and essentially interrogate them. There’s not a lot of trust for the outside world. Most of the youth who end up here? They are here because of it. Still, Chadali had led me there once before, and I trusted her to do it again.

It took a while. A few cautious inquiries here and there, and a lot of patience, and I found that  Tineri House had not merely survived in spirit: it had risen from the ashes, and it have been given the same name.

What I was not expecting were the circumstances. The original Tineri House, the one I lived in, was not much different from organized squatting. When I think about it now, I am amazed it survived as long as it had. Youth are not known for their discipline and discretion. But I think we were more or less tolerated, as the people in Ordellia knew the alternatives, too. It helped that we kept a low profile, and the rules were designed to keep it that way.

But the new Tineri House…it has a benefactor. Oh, it’s still an abandoned building, but someone bought it at auction for that purpose. And that’s why I was gone for so long. I needed to know who, and why.

Why did I need to know? Well, the original Tineri House…it was just a stone’s throw from the Seven’s Sawmill. And so is the new one.

Of course, I didn’t know that was significant back then. None of us did. But Droste has Takkad’s Journal, and it’s at the very beginning that he talks about the malfeasance that took place there. And then Audrahni told us her story that involved, of all people, Justice Ironbriar. And I got scared. Because nothing is free in life, not honestly anyway, and I had to know if they were under someone’s thumb.

So I did some digging. Because I needed to know.

Turns out there was nothing to know. The owner…they had lived in the original Tineri House. They were a little before my time so I didn’t recognize them, but I asked and their story checked out. They had managed to do well for themselves over the years, and they had some money, and some connections, and when the opportunity came along to buy an abandoned building for coppers on the gold piece? They acted.

So as I said, in the end, it was nothing. But I am still glad that I looked.

Captain’s Log, 6th Erastus 4718

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A captain’s nightmare. Sailing up to Rivenrake—already a “cursed” destination according to many of the more superstitious among us. Sending out a longboat to take six passengers ashore for a little sightseeing. Fair enough—it’s their coin paying for the little side trip, and many are curious to see the island that is the source of so many rumors and ghost stories. But as the crew watched in horror, the passengers murdered the crew who rowed them ashore, leaving their bodies as they disappeared inland. Knowing that a mutiny would ensue if more crew were sent to that beach, the captain abandoned their bodies and the longboat to return to port in Magnimar.

That was the tale I was told by the captain of the Lordim Racer. As much as I wish that were just a tall tale told around a campfire, it actually happened. And here I am, at the scene of the crime. This time I have brought my friends to this place. On the trail, whether intentionally or not, of those killers. They have faced worse, from all their stories. But still, I will worry until they are back safely aboard Tyalee’s Whim. Who knows what dangers lurk in that cursed mountain? Just looking up at that giant face carved into its peak is disconcerting.

Oh, Tyalee, my dearest, my love.

At times like this I wonder where you have gone, what you’re up to… if you’re safe…

Every time I sail over mother’s grave these thoughts hit me, but now, as I sit at anchor within sight of Hollow Mountain, my new friends risking life and limb for their mission, my mind is dwelling on these morbid thoughts.

And I miss your carefree, unpredictable nature, your love for life. Perhaps Ashava can guide my mind back to still waters. How ironic that the Elf maiden who introduced me to the worship of the True Spark, who helped me overcome my despair as our love dashed on the rocks and we went our separate paths, couldn’t overcome her own pain and sadness about her own past?

Until last week, at least. I am happy for her newfound joy and peace, as much as every time I think of you, my Tyalee, full of hope that somewhere you are flitting from island to island out there exulting in every random moment of your life. I know I had to choose… couldn’t follow you on the path you had to take. But I still scan every dock of every port on the chance that perhaps you are there too. Straining to see your familiar form standing in the sunlight, your hair blowing in the breeze.

But alas, I need to keep my mind here on the present situation. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll send a crew to collect the longboat abandoned by the Racer. I hope they are not too afraid of any kind of taint of cursing on it for being at the scene of the murders or even just for being on the Old Man’s Launch which they say is haunted.

Captain’s Log, 29th Sarenith 4718

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Tyalee’s Whim is docked at last in her familiar berth in the Ordellia district. This has certainly been a more eventful voyage than I thought it would be at first. Storms are always a risk every captain understands will strike where they may, and this trip was no exception. We were hit at midnight mid-journey with a bad one. At one point or two we surely would have had lost a crew member overboard if not for the quick actions of our daring and capable passengers. They certainly more than paid for their passage with their assistance in times of need such as that.

But as fate would have it, they were on hand to prevent an even worse catastrophe. Another of the passengers, the alchemist Beckwood Roos, had snuck a dangerous creature aboard under the pretense it was a crate of equipment. It broke out during the voyage and doubtless would have eaten the cargo of cattle and as many of the crew as it could have before we’d have stopped it. As I have learned, it apparently grows larger as it feeds, so that would be a problem that would make itself worse the longer it goes on. Due to the quick work on the part of this adventuring party, however, it was dispatched without much incident.

The other big trouble came from another pair of the passengers. I had been quite pleased to be carrying the renowned Viralane Barvisai. She was pleasant, personable, and while I thought her doting halfling assistant Corla was a little too devoted which to be honest I found somewhat cringeworthy, nothing seemed to me to be amiss about them. Imagine my shock and dismay to find that as we neared our destination at Magnimar, Viralane assaulted one of my passengers, Remi, and attempted to steal from her. While thankfully no one was seriously injured, the party subdued the pair although Viralane managed to escape through magical means.

I have now turned over Corla and Roos to a pair of Hellknights who had paused their patrol to watch as we discussed the prisoners with the harbormaster’s agent. They stepped up and promised to deliver the pair to justice, which visibly drained the blood from the faces of both of them. I have always regarded these “peacekeeping forces” with mixed feelings at best. I couldn’t honestly say if they meant they would deliver them into the hands of the city guard, magistrates, or to mete out justice themselves as they saw fit. I might care more to intervene except for the ways each of them endangered my crew and passengers. And for that I feel little need to show them extra mercy. No one messes with my people, not on my ship or off of it.

My crew has offloaded the cows and begun a thorough cleaning of the hold and lower deck. I know my new friends are expecting to continue on to Rivenrake Island so they can carry out some mission they have with the mountain there. I will wait until I hear back from them before agreeing to take on any other passengers or cargo. I owe them at least that much, I think. But on that point, I have heard enough other sailors in port talk about recent interest in Rivenrake to make me think there is more going on there than one party’s lone trip there for a secret mission. I should see what else I can discover that will be useful for them to know going in there.

As I was getting ready for dinner tonight, I got a visit from Audrahni. I have never seen my old friend so calm and at peace as long as I’ve known her. She told me about what happened earlier and the peace she found after putting Ilsynor’s spirit to rest. From what she said about his involvement with the Skinsaw Cult before she killed him, I don’t blame her at all for the murder, however much it tortured her for years after. But sending him to his final rest has allowed her the peace I see in her now, and perhaps will eventually be reconciled with Ashava. I would love to see her restored as a full cleric again at last. I know that would make her happiest.

For now, I will oversee the refits and final repairs we didn’t have time for in Sandpoint and ready Tyalee’s Whim for another voyage soon.