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Neil's
Journal
I am the fifth son in the Kim family; Li Mariko-san, third consort of Naga-Kim. Naga-Kim is the head of the Kim family and leader of the Sword-hand yakuza. I am a patient man with great anticipations and disgraces. My disgraces occur at home though: first of which is falling in love with a woman of high rank. This girl also had another who loved her. She, I feel, loved us both, but I am not sure. This other, also of high rank despised me and my family. Later my family had a job to wreck havoc and score big against this other man, which I volunteered for to do away with my opponent, my second mistake. The third, I was spotted and identified to the authorities while completing the job. I hid from the authorities and endured the heat. My last and most fatal mistake though was to see the woman I love during this time. One afternoon in her garden my opponent, who lived through my attack, came into the garden and discovered me. He challenged me to regain his honor and to win this woman's hand. After naming a place and time, he left to get ready. My love asked me not to fight, for she could not live with the blood of one of us on her hands. I then left her with a kiss and never looked back. My father was furious with me and ordered me out of his presence that evening so he could think. My love's request was at that moment followed through. I packed a few things and left forever. Who knows, someday I might be asked to come back to my father's family, or my love may, or I might even return on my own. Right now, my ambitions are to build anew. Start my own business, with better goals, management, and care. Make new friends and business partners. This business will be better, because honor and loyalty will be number one priority and favor, friendship will not cost that much. My patience will prevail and shine through. Justice, loyalty, fame, and honor will make me survive. I am Ki-Kim, desperado, vigilante, and professional yakuza of the first rank. My name and family will be renowned and patience will be my victory. Ride 2, Day 4 of Mirtul Dear Dad, When I left Kirin, I left for a new home and family. To save my "love's" heart and to save my father's grief and honor, and to keep my shame forever. I traveled to a few other towns in Shou, but didn't stay. Finally, I bought my own pass to the west along the Silk Road. During my travels I discovered many new and exciting things. I witnessed that great expanse where the Mongul war was held and saw many legions and battles. I also met new people and races and found new friends. The travel taught me not to hide my compassion and to help others in need (causing great gifts to shower me). Finally my travels brought me to Raven's Bluff where I am now. This too is very interesting to me and I have discovered new magic, new races , and a very uncivilized culture. The mess in these towns is almost unbearable, but I have learned to accept it and to build from it (also a part of my cleansing shame). Tonight I am going to meet one of my new contacts in this town. A very dirty and disgusting man, but he has a lot of information. I will write more later. Ride 2, Day 6 of Mirtul Dear Dad, They left me alone, completely, which didn't seem right (very unprofessional). They asked if I wanted to tag along for my "own safety" (little do they know). They checked me for weapons and since I didn't have any they thought I couldn't defend myself and assumed my innocence (true, but stupid, don't they know I can kill with my hands?). So, I followed them around that evening and kept out of their way. You won't believe how proficient I became that evening with the town and contacts. We traveled to the Harbor Area and talked to a man called Master Draco Aless, the customs officer on the wharf. Two weird bits of knowledge acquired there: first, he seems to always know the weather and can predict it for the next few days. Also, he has a young boy with dark skin, white hair, and weird eyes, who he was teaching how to fight. When we got close he sent him inside immediately and told us he was a servant. I don't believe him completely, but more check up is needed. Later I came upon a great opportunity, a gentleman, named Nelson Landscaper, came upon a great sum of money and decided to move to the country. Well, the opportunity came when he decided to give away the bar that he owned since he didn't need it anymore. Well, the captain of the guard I am with wanted this bar as a place to set up shop and camp. I saw a great option to get my own hands in the beer, by helping this captain. Roland gets the bar and putting myself in his highest rank and position (his trustee per say). Anyway, since he was a city guardsman, it was easy for me to help him into this position without my own identity entering into the situation. I then got on the good side of Roland and part-own the bar (10%) along with the other people within Roland's company (The Greased Ferrets). I then decided to stay with this company for the rest of the evening to see if I can happen upon anything else. Later on the watch that evening, we came upon a guy being dragged away by two others. The group took off after the other two while I helped out the third. The third's name is Urban Hereley, a merchant of about twenty. This Urban came around just fine and I just happened with his two silver rings. The rest of the group lost the other two, but then another group of sailors jumped them. After the scuffle broke up and all of the sailors either were knocked-out or surrendered. We sent the sailors back to their ship when the captain showed up. These sailors were from the Ill Wind and probably be on our black-list from now on. The next step taken was to bring Urban to the "Inn of No Hope" for treatment. The Priest Bulclutha was there to treat Urban. The priest seems to be person of knowledge for the "down on luck" type, but no others, and seems to be very helpful and kind. Two acolytes took Urban for curing. After a little treatment he was fine. I then returned his rings and told him that the thieves must have dropped them in the scuffle. He then thanked me and now owes me a favor. Somehow that evening we acquired a cat that was injured and a cart driver. They both received help at this "Inn of No Hope" and then brought the cat back to its owner since it seemed to be a "familiar" or pet to some magic user. The cat directed us to an alchemist's shop with a dreadful smell wafting from the door. The door was then opened to let this fog of blue smoke to exit. A student to this alchemist, named Desinora, was unconscious but recovered a short moment later. What happened was this student was working on a "sleeping gas" and had an accident. The gas knocked her out and her cat ran into the street for help and was in an accident with the carriage driver. Anyway, Desinora owes me a favor also and gave the group the other three potions of sleeping gas. We then got a tip, that the Lady Nadeaux is a good source of information. This Lady Nadeaux has work at the Silver Lily, which is establishment for the captains and "proper" folk with big bucks. She seems to part of the "Willow world" or a "Lily-lady". The group talked with her, but I feel I left a good impression and will follow up. On our way to look over the last part of town we ran into fourteen thugs, posing as Night Watch heisting and inn owned by Harron. The group broke this very quickly and myself and Captain Roland brought the leader aside for questioning. The leader is part of a huge "family" called the Thug's Guild which we saw as dangerous to cross. We let him go, but kept the money he heisted from the business, and set a meeting for the next day. One of the party members saw this occur and was not happy (some people have no clue how a city runs). This man's name is Laertes and brought the house down by telling the rest. The group split into two different factions. After great sorting I think the group might properly function again, but we will see. We then brought the thirteen others in to the station for an arrest. I, myself, disappeared for the rest of the night to catch them later. What a great escort they were, ah? Ride 2, Day 7 of Mirtul Dear Dad, This day I went about business for myself and others. First was the return to the Lady Nadeaux. It seems that she acquires all of her information from the ship captains that visit her. I also seem to have proven a little worth towards her and with this may gain her loyalty of passing the information we both love back and forth. Second was the complete set up and readiness of the bar and hiring of workers. The name of this place is called The Burrow. The money taken back from the Thugs Guild was returned causing a few more favors. I then made a few inquires, first was about the Ill Wind which has already left port. Second was the formation of a job for this company of ours. We needed to supply a few horses for ourselves to journey on to a killing of orcs that raided a band of merchants. I did a bit of bartering with locals to purchase a beautiful nightsteed for Kenjii. A few arguments of leadership have come forward with this company which seems to cause time problems and frustration problems for everyone. Captain Roland has assumed leadership of this group. He is the eldest of the company and claims past experience with an army or something. Yet has not proven a lot of confidence in the group or to myself. Wisdom has not been granted to him yet. Well in two days time we shall go through an elf gate of some sort. It seems to be some kind of magical transportation. I will write more later. Ride 2, Day 8 of Mirtul Dear Dad, Also we ran into one of my contacts, Adam, again. It seems to me that there is a lot more to him than I could guess. More research for that answer. Anyway, we were given silver rings as gifts from him and I found out more about his life. It seems to be that this bum is also a lord of some kind (Demetrius I guess, from the city). A good piece of info I bet. More later, we will be traveling soon. Ride 2, Day 10 of Mirtul Dear Dad, Anyway, through the gate we found ourselves on a ship, nowhere near a forest to hunt orcs. We found ourselves sitting in the cabin and named the Anderson Company. This company was hired to do a job in Maztica to find some renegade priestess from Helm. This country is much like our own land and has very friendly native type people, seeming to be slowly taken over by these humans claiming to be Helm providers to these backward barbarians. We then took the job and acquired a native guide, named Cakl. Acquired a few goods. Then finally, after a couple days started traveling by ship up the coast, called Wayfarer. The days travel by the ship dropped us off at another small city and into the jungle the next day. Oh yeah, about the ship. It flew by day and lay in harbor, per se, by night. This ship does seem to be powered by light. Weird! Not too sure about this. Cakl is another strange one. He has learned common, and is a good guide. Yet he calls himself an Eagle Knight and is wearing feathers on most of his body for garments. More later with time. Ride 3, Day 8 of Mirtul Dear Dad, The next day we set off for Maju (another village). The jungle is not much different from home, but I still am a city boy. I stayed close to the fire and kept alert for anything. Seven days into the jungle we were startled awake by a shuffling through Lathanyl's backpack. Laertes opened the bag to find a pungent smell of skunks reaching for the woods. We kept Laertes and Lathanyl down wind from then on. I have smelled skunks and all but never had seen one before. A very amusing day, even if my nose didn't agree. The next day (Ride 3, day 8), 2 days from Maju, a flash of light causes us to be outside Raven's Bluff again. Don't like magic at all, can't be trusted. We figure that the rings are the cause and Captain Roland and Maeli go to town to figure them out. We stay near the gate for their return. More later. Ride 1, Days 5 & 6 Kythorn Dear Dad, Well, after we all sunk to our knees in disgrace, Captain Roland announces we will be here for ten days until the teleportation effect wears off. I really hate magic, especially wizard type. This place, which we later discovered as Anauroch, was windy, sunny, and even with the vest of cooling of feathers was damn hot. We started looking for shelter and discovered a rock formation in the distance. After four hours of walking we reached the formation and found a crevice on one side that could be used as a shelter if some pretty ugly snakes were not using it first. A bit of coaxing from Laertes relieved our shelter. Once the snakes were moved, three unusual items were found and retrieved from within. A bullhorn, a wide bladed dagger with a slight curve, and large bladder water skin with an old, musty water smell. To finish out the day we checked our supplies and discovered that food and water supplies of Lathanyl and Jondolar and my water skin was empty. This is another weird situation. Thanks to Lathanyl though, he has produced quite a bit of food and water especially by his spellwork. I'm really starting to like this guy. Just before sundown, we climbed to the top of the rock to see what we could see. To the west a tower with battlements was spotted. While we were discussing our next move, a black square that reflected the stars moved rapidly across the sands with a swishing sound that crushed and devoured rabbits and cacti. That made our decision tougher. Yet the decision was to travel to the tower and then work from there. That same evening we started out across the desert. About halfway there I thought I heard a black square coming up behind. I turned and readied but all that came down the hill of the dune was a skeleton of a mouse and a glimpse of black crossing the tops of the dune hills. On the top of the next dune, we spotted another party of obvious soldiers who readied themselves for battle quickly. Yet they seemed as surprised as we were to find anyone about. The other group (who we discovered later as Zhentarim) positioned themselves on top of the hill with bows while fighters ran around to surround and hit from behind. Our group jumped back behind the dune except for myself, who leapt forward for better attack advantage. Two light sticks flew over the dune and landed near me. I though moved right to overtake in a side angle around a different dune, Jondolar joined me. The two of us took out three fighters with the same idea. In this pretty basic knockout though, Jondolar commanded a sword in the opponent's hand to drop. Unbelievable! After those three we rounded the corner to see the last of the fighters and mages go down to Maeli's spell, Kenjii's naginata, and Nick's sword. The only one left standing was a priest of Cyric who made things very interesting. Lathanyl was caught in a whirlwind, Laertes and Roland were paralyzed, Nick and Kenjii finished off some skeletons to attack the priest, and I who started to work on him all of a sudden fell asleep. When I woke and got over my embarrassment I learned that my sleeping problem came from Maeli and one of her spells. Damn her, obviously magic is a nasty problem and unpredictable. I will get even. Anyway, the priest had a glowing sword that hummed, a shield of Cyric, and black glossy with purple highlights armor. We also acquired an amulet with a mouth and tongue hanging out, and a scroll and dark iron ball in a pouch. We then made our way to the tower without further incident. One of the soldiers we fought though, came with as a helper and spat on the Zhentarim views. Hopefully he won't become a problem. The tower was a pentagon shape with windows on four sides and an archway on one. A symbol was on the top of the archway looking like this. A snake was in the center of the room, which was dispatched in short order with a karate chop in the back of the neck. After the disposal of the snake we crossed to the stairwell to the right which progressed to a trap door to the second level. Well, we checked to make sure it was secure then slept through the day. The next morning we moved up to the second level. We found a secret compartment with a trapped box. The trap was sprung by Roland without being hit (a poisoned needle). I took the needle and placed it on the end of the stick with the continual light on it from the previous night's fight. Inside the box was a purple bag with ivory plaques in it. The box was replaced, but we kept the bag and plaques for identification. We then discovered another magical trap of a fake wall where you can move one way, but not the other. Maeli caused yet more trouble by going through the wall and causing trouble with a few orcs on the other side, then finally after causing the trouble returning back to our side. Javelins, crates, and a few scimitars were then exchanged by being thrown back and forth. Finally we went through the wall a while later to see three men in kilts (dresses for men in plaid) with very large swords that have just killed the orcs in another tower in a new country called Rasheman. The three kiltsmen seemed to be good warriors and one was "gifted", which seemed to be more of a berserking ability than anything. They claimed that they came to rescue us to go to yet another tower that a magic-user of Thay owns and to destroy the guards and claim the treasures within. Well, I don't know about all this running around, and save the world bit, but the adventure is definitely here. Anyway, we boarded a boat away from the tower. The tower was the same design except that the symbol was above this archway. The boat was a "witch-ship" that had a naked sexless sentinel form running or overseeing the ship to cross the Lake Ashane (Lake of Fallen Tears). Once again Maeli is causing trouble (not quite sure she is on our side). This time she was trying to talk to the "gifted" kinsman. He was very close to killing her. Dumb! Other than that the trip was uneventful and I slept through to the next day (what a great break). When we landed on the other side of the lake the next day, we landed in a hardwood forest of oaks and maples (large, tall, fan-type trees). In a clearing with a few stone fences around it, was a round tower with two ballista on top. We needed to storm this place with just thirteen men. Our archers used the stone fences for cover while shooting the orcs on top to keep the ballista off the rest of our backs while we storm. They did well. I was the first to the door and helped Nick and Roland open the door. The two of them did well while I scored a hit on an orc by throwing and sticking the light stick with needle into an orc who then fell back illuminating the entire inner room. Roland dropped an ogre and many orcs as well as Kenjii, Jondolar, and Nick. The witch on the boat thought we did very well and said to spend our well-earned rest here in the tower for the next seven days. Well, we should blink out of here in two days. Nothing new or significant has happened so far. As soon as I get the chance I will write more.
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