5th Sarenith, 4718 AR

Oh, hell, no. Roderic’s Cove is not going to devolve into chaos. Not on my watch, and if I know Covers, not on anyone’s watch. Any town that can be under the thumb of Riddleport and go about fiercely telling themselves they determine their own fate, their own future damn you all isn’t going to fall apart due to a few ruffians from the woods, discontented Covers, or a ghost here or there.

And yet in the last several days all of those things have conspired to test our limits more than in recent memory. There is trouble in the Cove and by all the gods I’ll see it settle down to business as usual before our friends to the northwest take notice and decide to “help” me “maintain the order” here.

Yesterday we reached an unheard-of level of new problems when reports came in of some misshapen humanoid forms that attacked Svaci in the north woods. We still don’t know if they were once men that were melted or corrupted somehow, or human-shaped abominations someone pieced together from hunks of flesh. I’m told the scholars up at Peacock Manor are investigating. I hope they find some answers soon, in case any more of those things are around. I said as much aloud in earshot of the gravedigger, which earned me a derisive snort from her. Whatever, I don’t have time for that. I need answers.

Julit’s adding a patrol to the north just in case more of those things show up again. A shame about the guards she sent to investigate the disappearance of Galdsbredtha’s teamsters as they were driving here with a shipment from the Iron Peaks. Poor Lyndwyn was beside herself when she came pleading for help searching the Churlwood for them. We suspected Road Keepers immediately, of course, but they swore over and over that it was goblins of all things, that waylaid them, forcing them to abandon their wagon and stumble into town on foot. A small crew went back and retrieved the wagon (which was astonishingly intact, so the Keepers must not have found it yet themselves and the goblins were otherwise occupied), but there was no sign of the goblins. Now we have learned that the goblin lair was some distance away, so they abducted the dwarves and made haste to get away with their captives and didn’t bother to come back that far out again later.

Sadly, the guards sent to rescue the dwarves returned back to the Cove posthumously. We have arranged, for yet more troubling reasons (as if we needed more now), to have them buried today before sundown. That news, the bodies of the fallen, and the rescued dwarves, come courtesy of a few locals who seem to have banded together to help the Cove in our time of … whatever the hell this is that’s happening right now. They recently visited The Wreck after the ghost of Sir Roderic appeared. They say they have some kind of answers that will lead them to him finding his final rest, the poor bastard. Let us hope and pray they succeed. So far, they defeated the flesh-things, saved Svaci’s life, rescued the dwarves, and if their tale is true, rid us of the problem of living next to a forest infested with goblins.

The dwarves look like they didn’t suffer any permanent damage from their captivity, so with the goblins gone, I have asked Julit to focus on finding out what seems to have triggered this confrontation between the Keepers and the Fangs and put a stop to it before we have to bury more Covers.

I must stop for now. There is much left to be done today, and I need to go unlock the map cabinet for the—I’m not sure what to call them… heroes?—to look for some of Roderic’s old maps they are curious about.