20th of Donard, Solesh 608 AR

To help me with my…condition, my priest has directed me to an expert on dragons and dragonblight at Ceryl University. When informed of my problem, the scholar became very excited, and was eager to help, though for reasons of academic curiosity rather than humanitarian motive. Still, I’ll take what I can get. To conduct his work, he needs samples from creatures blighted by Toruk and Everblight, and we agreed to collect such monsters for him. He also required a sample of blood from me, which I readily gave him.
In our conversation with him, the topic of Morrowan religion came up, whereupon the scholar expressed a negative opinion of the Church’s policy of withholding the Enkheiridion from common worshipers, and he gave me a copy of the sacred text translated into Cygnaran when I expressed my curiosity of its holy contents. I promptly took to reading and copying it.
Though I was quite reluctant to, I contacted Anaxi to seek her aid in acquiring these beasts, and she agreed, for a price. She wished to have our aid in raiding a Sul-Menite port, and we saw no problem with this. The Sul-Menites are after all, enemies of Cygnar.
Traveling on her ship, we had some initial difficulties with her crew, particularly in that a number of them were stealing from Brogg’s meat palette, a measure he had taken to avoid eating people, and Krin was extremely distraught to be in such close proximity to the satyxis. After talking with Anaxi, she got the crew to cease stealing from Brogg, at the cost of her educating me on satyxis culture. She seems to want to “take me under her wing” as it were, for it seems I have some resemblance to her dead daughter.
Our itinerary was first to go to the Protectorate of Menoth, then Cryx, then Khador, and then finally return to Ceryl. Following our plan, we headed to the Protectorate.
Anaxi’s stratagem was for her ship to wreak general havoc on the port with indiscriminate cannonfire, while two strike teams, our adventuring company and her crew’s best, would raid valuable targets. We were to destroy a steamjack factory, and were deposited on a pier connecting to it. We were assaulted by a mob of Menite fanatics, a high priest, and warjacks armed with mortars, but they were no match for our crack team, though much of the pier was reduced to rubble. A Menite soldier fell in the water, and I retrieved him, disarmed him, and let him flee back into the port rather than let him drown.
Though we had cleared the defenders outside the factory, we believed that there were more inside, so we sent Krin to scout it out. He crawled up the factory’s wall and slipped in through a high window, discovered there were indeed more soldiers inside, setting an ambush for us. He spied a target of opportunity, a massive pile of explosives, tossed a grenade into it and leapt out of the factory. The resulting explosive leveled the building, and we hastily returned to Anaxi’s vessel.
After dealing with our business in the Protectorate of Menoth, we set course for Cryx. The journey would take a week to complete, and along the way, Anaxi invited to witness satyxis rituals. While I rather would not, I accepted her offer for the sake of maintaining my cover once we get to Cryx, for the more I know about satyxis the better I will be able to blend in. Brogg and Krin are from Cryx, so they should not have any trouble. Syra on the hand, was a different matter. For her, I created a detailed satyxis disguise, and was satisfied with its quality when neither Brogg nor Anaxi could recognize her.
Anaxi also gave me a book she’d recovered from the port’s Menite temple, filled with information on troop movements, Cygnaran nobles that the Protectorate had blackmail for, and other valuable information, in exchange for a promise to serve some time on her ship in the future. While I was reluctant to accept the deal, if our endeavor to cure the blight failed it could buy my acceptance by Cygnaran authority.
The ship moored in Blackwater, and our company, accompanied by a tracker from Anaxi’s crew, Stiggan, headed inland to a location that we had heard were an abundance of blighted creatures, though it was dangerously close to a lich lord’s estate. After a day of us following the trail of a monster, we were ambushed by an assortment of various blighted animals in the night, bears, birds, and more, strangely organized. Stiggan was injured, but we collected a good number of specimens.
We gave chase to a fleeing scaled monstrosity we saw in the distance, and as we got close is became clear it was one of Everblight’s creations, an odd turn of good fortune. It put up a fight as well, but we killed it and gathered its remains too. Back in the city we learned the lich lord whose lands we were near had taken a special interest in Everblight’s creations, and had been collecting them from the mainland. So, it is likely that the thing we encountered had broken out of his estate or was otherwise related.
With all of our needed samples gathered, we set course return to Ceryl. After another week of travel, presented our finds to the academic. He was ecstatic with what we had found, and began to work immediately. Also, I returned his copy of the Enkheiridion.
However, I had little hope he would actually cure the blight at this point, for he told me that the likely was not high and magical divination, one of the rituals I had taken part in, pointed to only partial success. So while the scholar worked I went to visit my sister to inform her of what I have become. She took well and has not rejected me, so that is fortunate. We agreed not to tell mother or father though.
As predicated, the scholar’s final product was not a cure for dragonblight. However, it was still useful, for he had created an elixir that could make me appear human again. That is workable.
Falling onto my back-up plan, I took the stolen Sul-Menite tome to the Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service, and offered it to them in exchange for the privilege of not being shot inside Cygnaran borders, which is the standard policy for dealing with Satyxis. I told them my entire insane story, and they did a lot of digging to confirm it, while holding me in their facility, and agreed to my terms, with some modification. They wish for me to work as one of their spies, for apparently a satyxis loyal to the crown is a unique and valuable asset. As they have no love for Kerghon and were plotting to bring him already, for they believe him to be working with Cygnar’s enemies, they were delighted to learn of my infiltration of his organization and my likeminded plans. So before I am to spy on Cryx, they wish for me to finish dealing with Kerghon.

25th of Gorim, Rowen 608 AR

I can’t believe it. I’ve become one of those damned satyxis. This is almost as bad as Pin dying. Damned dragonblood soak through my backpack and got on me. After I got back from the Orgoth ruins I started getting these terrible frontal headaches, and I saw my priest about them. But his healings only made it worse. He tried more powerful medicines, and taking these I passed out for two days, and awoke transformed into the… thing that I am now. Then that dumbass Brogg mentions that he noticed the dragonblood had soaked through my pack. I could have just throttled the trollkin abomination.
My priest did also have a job to offer our company though. Apparently, word through the Church was that a village up north required some sort of assistance, and he felt that we are suitable for the problem’s resolution. Delaying only to deal with my new issue, we left as soon as possible. Traveling to the village took only a week.
We arrived to find a village under siege. It seems that villagers had been turning up dead with strange wounds, and after more than a week of this those still alive had taken refuge in the local church of Morrow. After talking with the local priest, we discovered that shortly before the killings began a group from the Fraternal Brotherhood had arrived to conduct research in a ruin just outside the village, and that nothing had been heard of them since. Sensing a connection, we went to this ruin to investigate.
Entering the ruin we passed into an entry way, portcullises slammed shut on either side, and we found ourselves assaulted by an incorporeal assassin bursting out of the wall. It was not a ghost nor specter but an Infernal. After dealing with this otherworldly fiend, I noticed that its weapon was a match for the wounds on the dead villagers, indicating that we were on the right track.
Proceeding deeper into the ruin we encountered several tentacled statues that moved to attack us. None of us knew what they were, and though they were as durable as warjacks we destroyed them all the same. Further within, we found the Fraternal Brotherhood arcanists. They were all dead, gathered around a broken ritual circle. And they had with them the copy of Orgoth book I had given to Kerghon. Idiots, what in Urcaen were they thinking working Orgoth black magic? Their souls are now likely the foodstuff of Infernals and a dozens of villagers have died for their foolishness.
After finding the arcanists, we entered the chamber deepest within the ruins, and found a woman, twisted into a fiendish form, accompanied with several large worm-like Infernals. In the back of the room was an Orgoth soulcage filled with captured souls, likely those of the villagers. She attempted to parley with us, but we have none of it, and so combat was joined. She fought us with black magic, using the captured souls to fuel her dark powers and the summon more Infernals to fight at her command, but all her efforts were futile, though so intense was the fight that Brogg, the trollkin who had shrugged off cannon shots, nearly died. But we slew her regardless.
After the fight, I had an angry outburst directed at Brogg concerning my satyxis situation, and I scared him so such he used his unarmed prowess to render me unconscious. I came to a bit later, and apologized, for while my predicament had greatly upset me, he was not the cause of it.
So then we returned to the village, notified the priest of the events within the ruins, and he showed his satisfaction with our service in coin. Then we left back for Ceryl.

27th of Gorim, Cinten 608 AR

…By Markus, Pin is dead. The cephalyx overlord’s magic dropped him to the ground and then that explosive shell landed directly on him. Right in front of me. I watched his organs take flight and soar to the walls and floor, splattering them with red… I put them back but by Solovin he’s still dead…

9th of Malleus, Rowen 608 AR

I think I’ve had time now to collect my senses. Pin’s demise was a sad happening, but now his family’s well off on his share of the treasure. Where to start…
We set out to investigate the ruin indicated by the Gyles’ Orgoth map. It took us seven days to reach it by foot and along the way casual conversation revealed some things about our normally tightlipped elf. It seems to be the case that she’s a bit dragonblighted, but fights that influence with blind hatred. Also, she really does not like to talk about elven religion.
Additionally, we encountered a caravan of Nyss, with which Syra had a long conversation that only the elves understood, as it was spoken entirely in an elven tongue. What their topic was, I know not, but they all seemed satisfied by whatever it was, though Syra was also a bit nervous.
The ruin was right where the map indicated it should be, in the Gnarls, but unexpectedly it was underground, and all that was to be seen on the surface was a small entranceway. From that entry, we followed down a corridor three fathoms wide descending into the darkness. The floor was covered in black-enameled tiles with dark gray mortar and the walls were paved in a dark, large-crystal stone. The Orgoth display a remarkable consistency in color preference. We came down to a portion of the passageway that had caved-in, but had been recently cleared. Someone else had been here in the near past. An examination of the rubble revealed that the cave-in was old. Very old and intentional. It was probably done by the Orgoth themselves during the Scourge, since they could not have burned this place as was their usual protocol.
We came into some kind of annex chamber. Our alchemical torchlights revealed that it was decorated with cast iron statues of stripped, beaten, screaming Thurian slaves, the metal unnaturally uncorroded. When we Immorese humans put up statues, they’re normally of kings, nobles, gods or ascendants. The Orgoth sculpt screaming slaves. Also revealed by our light, a mechanized undead fusion of horse and man of Cryxian make and several twisted beings of bulging muscle, implanted machinery, and bolted-on helms of brass and glass. Cephalyx drudges. The soulhunter charged towards us and combat commenced.
We slew them all without lasting injury, for Brogg can heal with amazing speed, and we sorted out the bodies of our enemies to ascertain the nature of our foes. What we had defeated was upon examination a thrall, a soulhunter, five drudges, and one of the foul cephalyx. Cephalyx and Cryxian undead are terrible individually, and them together is worse. At least now we knew what cleared the cave-in. At least we did some good for the drudges, for I expect death is the only release for those unfortunates. To be captured, surgically altered, experimented upon, and mentally enslaved by the Cephalyx assuredly must be a worse fate.
We continued further into the complex, following the main passageway through the annex. We explored into what seemed to be a residential wing, wandering first into a communal sleeping area. We found a passage leading south from it, and found a room which was both a forge and armory, filled with the unliving, drudges, and another cephalyx. We had quite a surprise while fighting what seemed to be the chamber’s greatest threat, a mechanithrall with steam-piston driven fists when an explosive shell roared out of the room’s darkest extent. As we forced our way inside and our light revealed a bloated undead torso mounted on top of a spider-like mechanikal chassis, a bloat thrall. It and its cephalyx alike fell to our weapons. In our surveying of the room, Brogg had to be sternly reminded to not play with the Orgoth weapons, as though he couldn’t remember what had happened in Khador. Perhaps he got psi-blasted by the cephalyx a few too many times.
We headed back to the communal sleeping quarters and traveled a passage westward, which connected to a long corridor with three black-iron plated double-doors. Brogg smashed down the central pair, unveiling with our alchemical torchlights a room filled with long tables, drudges, and another bloat thrall. Brogg charged in, and another fight began. From adjacent chambers through side passages, more enemies surged, risen thralls, drudges, and a mechanithrall, a cephalyx leader lurked in the room’s recesses, and a lesser cephalyx flanked us from behind, but they all died to our grenades, firearms, and weapons regardless.
We then explored the room to the north, a large empty chamber devoid of furniture. From a door to the west Brogg and I heard female shouting or screaming, it was hard to make out, and our group went that way with haste. Again, Brogg threw down the doors, and we found a room filled with slave cages, drudges, a soulhunter, a bloat thrall, and a cephalyx leader. In the back of the chamber, stuffed into a cage, was a satyxis in warcaster armor. While Brogg, Syra, and Pin preoccupied the drudges and soulhunter, I dashed to the satyxis’s cage, effortlessly evading the enemies’ attempts to stop me, and set her free. The warcaster, glad to be out of the cage, joined the fray on our side. With the added assistance of her war magic, we brought down our foes. Then we turned to her, for she had many questions to answer.
We thought the Cephalyx were working with Cryx, and this turned out to be partially correct, as Anaxi, the satyxis revealed. These cephalyx had had many past dealings with Cryx, but this had recently changed. Anaxi had been sent to the mainland with two missions, first to trade with this group of cephalyx, and then to head to this ruin, and retrieve a vial of dragonblood that was believed to be here. Unfortunately for Anaxi, the cephalyx had known about the dragonblood for some time, had coveted it for their experiments, and had somehow known that she had information on its whereabouts. So they had captured her, made drudges of her escorts, dragged her here this ruin and tried compelling her to reveal the vial’s location. But she did not tell, despite their interrogations.
After her explanation, she then asked for our help in retrieving the vial. It was a hard sell on her part, but she was able to make a convincing case. Apparently, due to his animosity with his offspring, Toruk does not want other dragon’s blight corrupting people into their influence, as that would make his aims more difficult. Finding that it too was our opinion that dragonblight is not best out in the world corrupting people, and finding an extra hand helpful in clearing this complex, we agreed to help her deliver the dragonblood to someone who had no interest in it blighting anyone.
Then Anaxi tried to flirt with me, her “brave rescuing hero.” I flatly turned away that damned satyxis, for I am not interested in other women, much less blighted monsters. Then Brogg started to court her, and I wisely stopped paying attention.
After that uncomfortable conversation, we explored the rest of the residential wing, discovering a communal bathing room, filled with a drudge, three lesser cephalyx, and a larger mechanithrall, a kitchen, and a food storage room, occupied by a half dozen drudges and a risen thrall. That one thrall was almost frighteningly amusing, for Brogg had to beat it down four times with his axe before it stayed dead.
Being done with this section of the complex, we returned to the main corridor and discovered a wing that we believe was devoted to alchemical research. In various rooms we found healing balms, and grenades both corrosive and explosive. We also stumbled into a chamber that was a combination library, store room, and alchemical workshop, inhabited by another one of those larger mechanithralls, a thrall warrior, two lesser cephalyx, and four drudges, but like all that we had encountered before, these too quickly fell before us. Once we got to search the room, Pin was in a state of quivering excitement, looting all the alchemical supplies he could lay his small gobber fingers on. The books of the library were mostly outdated Immorese alchemical texts from the Orgoth Occupation, but some were apparently Orgoth alchemical treatises.
Exploring further down the main corridor of the complex, we discovered that it ended in a set of heavy doors, and Anaxi became excited by a section of the corridor’s wall with strange Orgoth markings. She fiddled with the wall, and it slid away revealing a hidden passageway. Gesturing towards it, she explained that by the information she had, the dragonblood waited for us down it. We debated retrieving the dragonblood now or exploring what lay beyond the main corridor’s end, and in the end decided to clear out whatever was behind those heavy doors lest whatever may be lurking there ambush us from behind. And in those chambers Pin perished.
Brogg beat down the doors and charged in, unveiling a four way intersection and a dark Orgoth chapel, in which we could see the overlord of this group of cephalyx, guarded by a line of drudges that Brogg met with the force of a charging trollkin. While Brogg was tied down by the four drudges, thrall warriors, more drudges, and a lesser cephalyx emerged from the intersection’s shadowed side passages and completely enveloped Pin, Syra, Anaxi and I. And Bloat thrall took its position next to the overlord. The fighting was fierce, and many undead and drudges fell to our weapons while the bloat thrall bombarded us and its allies indiscriminately with explosive shells and the overlord unleashed psi-blast after psi-blast onto Pin and Brogg, an Orgoth occult circle beneath its floating form flaring with light each time, somehow amplifying its power. Then Pin collapsed, and his form was scattered by an explosive shell’s direct hit. Furious, Brogg broke through the drudge line and we in the back carved a path forward, and we surrounded the cephalyx overlord. Syra immobilized it with her ice sorcery, freezing it solid, and Brogg cleaved it twain with his ax. After that, Anaxi destroyed the bloat thrall, for it was the only enemy left, and I uselessly tried to put Pin back together.
After I performed last rites for Pin, we went to retrieve the dragonblood. Walking down the long hidden corridor, we came to a bridge over a deep chasm, shrouded in corrosive mist and too large for us to see the far side shrouded in the oppressive darkness. We tossed Pin’s alchemical torchlight was far as we could, and with its far-flung illumination we could discern the bridge’s end. If Pin were still living the alchemist could surely have devised a means to counteract the corrosive mist, but he was dead. Instead, Brogg ran across the bridge, suffering harm as his skin was dissolved by the mist but he made it across alive, and found a control that did away with the mist.
Now that it was safe, we crossed. On the other side we found a room full of alchemical equipment and another chamber which held the dragonblood. Anaxi snatched it up, and then opened the container and tried to splash some of the foul liquid onto me. She missed, for I was able to dodge out of the way, and Brogg took the vial from her. In the face of our outrage, she explained that as she had approached the dragonblood she could sense that it was of the dragon Shazkz, the dragon whose blight had twisted human women into the first satyxis, and that she was trying to show her gratitude to me by “elevating me to a superior form.” I emphatically told her I wished to remain human, but this was evidently not persuasive for after being released she swiped up some of the spilt fluid and tried to wipe it on me, again failing. She said that while I was angry with her now, I would thank her later if I let her transform me into a satyxis. I again refused, and had Brogg take her away, and told her we would give her the dragonblood in the morning when she left. And to make sure she couldn’t use it, I cleaned up the spilt dragonblood with Pin’s alchemical tools, Syra didn’t want to be anywhere near it, and stuffed the soaked rags into one of Pin’s alchemical containers. The next morning we sent her off with the dragonblood, an event at which I was purposefully not present.
After that, we travelled to a nearby village a day and a half away, gathered some wagons, and looted everything valuable from the ruin, and made the week long trek back to Ceryl. I gave the dragonblood soaked rag to the Order of the Golden Crucible, because those alchemical experts will know what to do with it.

11th of Malleus, Cinten 608AR

And so my plan moves into motion…
13 days ago, I tracked down a watchman in Kerghon’s pocket, Renard, intending to work my way up the hierarchical ladder to Kerghon himself. I wrote a fake request from Kerghon, asking for him to come to a dead-of-night meeting in Ceryl Park, and had Pin stealthily slip it into his mailbox. When he came to the park that night he found only our trap.
Renard came with a contingent of six other corrupt guards, and was surprised to see me, and was apparently aware of Brogg by reputation. He did not know who Syra was, and did not even see Pin, who was hidden in a bush behind his position. Brogg and I attempted to frighten the desired information out of him, the identity and meeting place of his criminal handler, but when he proved too reluctant I gave to signal to attack. Before his cronies could react, my dual hand cannon had slain one Renard’s insults to the Watch, Syra’s sorcery and claymore had claimed two more, and a second pair dropped dead with Pin’s axes in their backs. Brogg ran up to Renard and savaged him with his axe. They tried to fight back, Renard disarmed Brogg and one of the false-guards futilely flailed at Pin, but Syra’s spell killed the last of the cronies and Brogg’s fist rendered Renard unconscious.
We bound Renard and I woke him. So sorely beaten, he was now far more cooperative. I was going to pay for his passage to Five Finger’s beyond the reach of Kerghon’s vengeance, but both Syra and Brogg pointed out that if he would so readily betray Kerghon’s trust we couldn’t trust him to maintain silence on our regard. Though Pin objected, I allowed Brogg to tear him limb from limb. We then cleaned up the scene and left a rose in a glass of water next to Renard’s bloody carcass, the calling card of the Riverose Syndicate, so as to keep suspicion off of us and direct Kerghon’s attention onto the rival organization. We dumped the cronies into the Ceryl Bay, where they will never be found.
Following Renard’s information, we went to the Boomstick Inn to meet with an ex-trencher named Tenath a few days later. As the Boomstick Inn had a no-weapons policy, Pin hid just outside with our weaponry in case events went awry. Brogg went in first, followed some minutes later by Syra, and finally I came in. Brogg had already drawn a crowd to himself, and Syra typically sulked in a dark corner. I made my way to Tenath, and with some charm arranged a meeting with Kerghon, though that veteran is terrible in bed. In his room I found a book of ciphers, military grade. It seems Kerghon is thorough in keeping his communications discrete.
Three days following that, I received a package from that bumbling scholar. It was the Orgoth book. Apparently, he had been visited by mages from the Fraternal Brotherhood looking for the book and had sent it to me for safekeeping. In case others came seeking it from me, I immediately began to copy it, though I understood not a word of its contents. A few more days following that, I received word of the scholar’s death. He was murdered and his home had been ransacked.
A week after receiving the book, I had been given instructions to meet with Kerghon, Pier 20 at night. He brought us onto a ship, had us place of all our weapons in a chest, and took the ship out to sea. Then he began to speak to us. He was surprised that I would seek an audience to him, and I told him the lie that I had become far more criminally inclined during my time spent in Five Fingers, and presented him with the copy of the Orgoth book as a sign of good faith, noting how valuable the item had suddenly become. It had the intended pleasing effect. I then offered to help him with his recent Riverose Syndicate problem, seeing as how in the past few weeks a fierce criminal war of escalating retaliation had started between Kerghon’s organization and them, sparked by the Syndicate’s unprovoked butchering of Kerghon’s Watch insider, Renard. Kerghon was inclined to this proposal, and told me he would arrange for us to become his new insiders in the Ceryl Watch so that he might use the Watch as a bludgeon against the Syndicate, and he gave me a codebook and my first payment.
I later compared that codebook to my copied version of Tenath’s and found them to be different. That’s clever of Kerghon, centralizing control to himself and his inner circle and keeping his operations separate and compartmentalized. He doesn’t quite trust me and I have yet to work my way into his inner circle, but I will get there, conveniently weakening the Riverose Syndicate’s operations in the city while doing so. Then I will take out him and his inner circle, leaving his organization decapitated without the Syndicate being in a position to take advantage. And then, I’ll be able to finally clean the corruption out of the Ceryl City Watch and bring this city’s crime to a manageable level.

17th of Donard, Tempen 608 AR

Today our mercenary band was hired by an Alderman Gyles. After summoning us and giving an incomprehensible rant about the difference between justice and revenge, he asked us to neutralize a pirate band called the “River Wolves” and unearth any evidence we could of a link between them and another noble, Alderman Elsrin. Apparently this Elsrin and Gyles have an animosity with each other, with Gyles claiming that Elsrin is corrupt and self-centered. Gyles told us that in his politicking, he tried to expose Elsrin’s lack of integrity and in response Elsrin ruined Gyles’s standing by exposing an embarrassing secret of Gyles. Noticeably, Gyles failed to mention what this secret was. Politics is a stinking mess I’d rather not put my foot in, but pay is pay. Though Gyles did pay us in an unconventional manner, giving us an old Orgoth map instead of coin.
After meeting Gyles, we were confronted by Elsrin, who mocked us and called us “boring” all while flipping a swan. I can see why Gyles dislikes him. I felt the urge to punch the smug, contemptuous expression off his face and I am surprised that Brogg did not, for he does not have nearly the same level of restraint I do. I suspect that the only reason he didn’t was the presence of Elsrin’s ten bodyguards.
Once we had rid ourselves of Elsrin’s presence, we began our work in earnest. I tracked down a fence that the pirates likely sold their ill-gotten goods to, and though he was initially reluctant to share any information, he became more talkative once Brogg began to insinuate violence. He then directed us to pier 14, telling us that the River Wolves’ steamship was moored there.
We found the pirates, and they were not inclined to peacefully cooperate to our ends. Syra killed their elven mechanik before he could give their armed laborjack any commands, and their trollkin captain landed an explosive grenade at Pin’s feet. By the end of the fight, Pin was injured quite severely, for he had been shot thrice and bore the brunt of two explosive grenades, one from the pirates and one that he misthrew. The steamjack shot Brogg with a cannon at point-blank range, but amazingly Brogg was unharmed. However, he was harmed by the ‘jack’s far less impressive punching spike. Ironic. Despite our casualties, the pirates fared worse, but we were able to take one alive.
With the help of Brogg’s persuasive abilities, he disclosed that these pirates did have dealings with Elsrin. Elsrin would pay them to attack mercantile enterprises that were competitors of firms with which he had a financial stake. As an aside, apparently Elsrin told the pirates that they too are “boring.” I ponder what that man considers to be interesting. All our fighting and perhaps the cannonfire attracted the attention of the city guard, and I explained to them what had occurred, and how by Article 21 of the Mercenary Charter of the Corvis Treaties and the precedent set by the Malonov decision in 534 AR, this pirate was legally our prisoner of war and his ship and its contents our rightful spoils of war. This seemed to placate them somewhat, especially after we proved to them that these pirates we had fought were the infamous River Wolves. After compelling the pirate to reveal to the guards what he had told us concerning Elsrin, we turned over him to the guards’ custody.
After the guards left, a search of the ship uncovered a chest filled with nearly seven pounds of crowns, which we split amongst ourselves. Following that, we returned to Gyles and updated him upon events, and he being pleased with our quick work rewarded us with the promised map.

7th of Vendarl, Tempen 608 AR

I just returned home from a most bizarre and long adventure. It was also cold. Far too cold. What madness could possess Khadorans to live in such frigid places escapes me. Where to begin…
We were hired by a scholar out of Ceryl University, though it is a wonder how such a scatterbrain manages to survive in that infamously grueling institution, to travel with him to the northern reaches of Khador to excavate an Orgoth ruin. We were to be his escorts, providing him protection in the foreign frontier and also overseeing the other mercenaries he hired, the twenty of which are clearly former grunts from the Cygnaran military. He had chartered a ship to take us discretely to the Khadoran port of Ohk, and from there we would head to the site of the ruins. Unfortunately as I would later discover, he had neglected to plan a way back.
The ship brought us there in three weeks, hugging the coast the whole way so as to avoid the southward current. We came ashore in the dead of night, but were as must be the case considering following events, seen. I contacted the local underground using my investigator’s knowledge of the criminal sphere, and was able to find a hidden lodging for our lot to stay in for the night. The scholar and I headed to the local and seldom used library to peruse their records for useful information. The scholar, demonstrating a frightening lack of expertise, found little of use but I was able to find something. My efforts were able to find the precise location of the ruins, and a backwater village conveniently close by for us to stay in whilst we investigate them.
Additionally, in our…lodging we encountered a strange trollkin named Brogg, a warrior and as much a foreigner to Khador as us. He wished to join our company and I, seeing that his abilities added to the company and that he was competent, granted his request. Though considering his bearing since, I’ve had some regret concerning that decision. Despite his personal failings, Sergeant Brogg is useful in a fight, and has shown himself to be an asset.
The next day we set out, disguised in Khadoran winter coats provided by our underground associate, and traveled for two days to a minor village on the way to our destination. We rented rooms at the village inn for the night, but while most of us were sleeping, there was a commotion downstairs. I went to investigate, and discovered that Khadoran soldiers were interrogating the innkeeper, looking for us, the “Cygnaran spies.” I woke the rest of our company and got them preparing for a hasty withdrawal, and went back down stairs to create a diversion that would facilitate our escape. I found a servant boy, and convinced him that we were covert Khadoran operatives, and that the officers leading the Khadoran troops outside were really Cygnaran spies seeking to foil our mission, which of course was for the good of the motherland. Not the most creative lie, but it worked. I sent the boy to accuse the Khadorans while our company snuck out the back. Unfortunately, the Khadorans had all the exits covered, so there were Khadoran soldiers there. However, Brogg simply scared them into submission and they let us pass without harassment or alarm.
Knowing that we were being pursued, we left the main road and traveled the remaining distance cross-country. We reached our destination a week later. The villagers there were a strange sort, but appeared harmless, though that initial assessment later turned out to be wildly inaccurate. They seemed willing to allow us to use their village as a base, as long as we left some soldiers there to guard it, and we agreed to those terms.
We set out for the ruins the next day, taking the rest of our men with us. We encountered a bizarre war band on course for the ruin; they were human, but not Khadoran military and wielded not a single firearm, but outdated crossbows instead. These green-clad warriors were no match for us and our soldiers, though their presence was strange occurrence out in that frigid locale.
We found the Orgoth ruin easily and quickly began to excavate. We uncovered what seemed to be some sort of occult sacrificial pit, with a dark alter, soulcages, and a pile of weapons with actively writhing, screaming faces on them. Some momentary stupidity compelled three of our men to pick up the largest of the Orgoth weapons, and they were immediately overcome by an unnatural bloodlust. Propelled by black magic to inhuman speed, they slew half of the other soldiers before anyone could react. We had to kill the three of them before they hacked apart anyone else. Damn the Orgoth and their dark magic.
We also found a collection of Orgoth documents, which greatly excited our employer, for little of their writings survived the Scourge. He seemed to be satisfied with these records alone, and the rest of us deemed it intelligent to leave the cursed Orgoth weapons behind. So having collected all we wished, we left for the village. We did not receive a warm welcome upon our return, because nothing in Khador can ever be warm.
We came back to the village to find that our soldiers had been slaughtered by the villagers in some sort of Devourer Wurm cult sacrifice. And the villagers were now clad in the same green garments as that war band we earlier encountered. After a tense and short discussion with the villagers, Brogg began to provoke them, shouting praises to Menoth and insults to the Devourer Wurm, which the villagers to promptly attack us without further speech.
The battle began with a crushing advance into their village, with our side crushing their formation. Most of them were dead when two monstrous wolf-men of superhuman strength emerged from the buildings to assault our formation’s rear, severely wounding our employer, and four others appeared to accost Brogg, Syra, and Pin. I quickly bandaged the scholar’s wounds, likely saving his life, and held the two rear-assaulting wolf-men in an alleyway between two houses with nothing more than my flail, keeping them away from our riflemen while they put round after round into the beasts. Once all but two of the wolf-men and two of villagers were slain, they threw down their arms and conceded defeat. Brogg wanted to murder the remaining survivors, but I forbid him from that act. The Thurian Irregulars will not kill enemy combatants who willing surrendered, for I will see to that for we are not monsters, even if our enemies may sometimes be.
Bizarrely once the villagers were to talking with us again instead of trying to kill us, they offered to hire us in the future, for as they told us, we were clearly capable fighters worth the coin. We made it clear to them that we were unwilling to work for Devourer Wurm cultists, but then they informed us that they were not and rather are part of something called Circle Orboros, which tries to maintain the balance between Menoth and the Devourer Wurm. I told them that we were fine with fighting worshipers of the Devourer Wurm, but we would not burn villages to control civilization’s influence, and that seemed acceptable to them. They also informed us that Khadoran troops were looking for our group and that they would be willing to conceal us if we would wait to speak with the villagers’ superior, who was not present then.
So two weeks of hiding in the chilly cold frigid freezing forests of northern Khador later, we meet this person, an adolescent spellcaster of some sort. After a bit of discussion we agreed that the Thurian Irregulars would be willing to work them for the purpose of curbing Devourer Wurm cults’ power and that they would send us quickly back to Ceryl by magical means if we dealt with a small local problem. This “small local problem” turned out to be a batch of dragonblighted nyss and other blighted monsters, and though Syra seemed perturbed by the experience we dealt with them soundly, losing no one in the fight. This surprised the young girl, for apparently she did not expect us to survive, much less crush the blighted monsters. She held out on her arrangement though, and led us to a circle of carved stones. There she enacted some magic, there was a flash of light, and when the blinding effect of the light wore off we saw we were in Ceryl Park.

23rd of Gorim, Glaceus 608 AR

Thamarites crop up in the strangest and most disturbing ways. But that’s a complicated story. Our mercenary company was hired by a representative of Alderman Dence, who is of the village of Woodrow, out by the Gnarls, to deal with a dregg problem. The subterranean monsters had apparently conducted a series of nighttime raids and had kidnapped six of the village’s citizens. Our job was to find the monster’s lair, slay them, and rescue or at least return the bodies of the missing villagers.
Travelling to Woodrow we encountered a pair of bandits, Khadoran deserters. The imperial military of Khador did not lose much with the loss of these two; they were vanquished without effort. Pin, our official treasurer, looted their corpses and we continued to Woodrow without delay.
At Woodrow, we met with the good Alderman himself, who informed us that his strained coffers could not reward our efforts with coin, but he could arrange for our lodgings in the town to be free. He also introduced us to a woodsman guide who could lead us to where this dregg had been sighted. Could being the operative word, for he was too scared at first to go out into the forest at night. Fortunately with some coaxing, his cowardice fled him and he agreed to help us help his town. Some people…
Traveling into the thick of the Gnarls in the dead of night, we uncovered a small cave mouth guarded by a lone dregg. It was quickly dispatched and we continued within. We found a few more chambers, filled with hostile dregg of various sorts, and the whole of them fought harder when injured, for they seemed to derive some kind of perverse pleasure from it. Unlike Pin, who was harmed in the skirmishing, but not severely. We had reached the deepest-most cave chamber, illuminated by a solitary fire, and had not found the missing villagers. And disturbingly, these dregg seemed to have runeplates bolted into their bodies. Black magic is never a good sign. But we did stumble unto a most curious sight, a passageway leaking diffused candlelight and leading to a paved room… filled with thralls.
So moved to fight them. The thralls, six in number…same as the missing villagers, were controlled by a Thamarite necromancer, who seemed to have a living area and workshop attached to the dregg’s caverns. Pin brought low most of the thralls and the necromancer with a well thrown grenade, and from then on the fight was effortless. Searching the Thamarite’s quarters, we found evidence that he had used some sort of runeplate mesmerism to control the dregg, and through them had kidnapped villagers for his necromantic experiments. Additionally, we found a fair bit of coin, which was split amongst us.
Seeing that the three of us could not realistically carry six bodies back to Woodrow, we choose instead to inform the Alderman of their location, which he found satisfactory. We plan to head back to Ceryl tomorrow.

11th of Malleus, Glaceus 608 AR

Today we, the Thurian Irregulars, were hired on short notice for our second job. Apparently because of a dwindling supply of volunteers to fight for our nation, it was necessary for an officer named Valiar to hire us to supplement a supply train’s guard on the same day that train was to leave for Ceryl. After negotiating up his absurdly low offered pay, we, being Pin, Syra, and I, conducted some last minute shopping before boarding the train.
All was going well until I noticed in the car behind ours people in dark cloaks had emerged from its carried boxes and were in the process of detaching it. Seeing that I could not stop them in time, I notified Valiar and began checking our car’s crates to make sure we didn’t have any stowaways. Fortunately, we did not, and the train’s engineer reversed the course of the train so that we may catch up with the detached cars. Speeding down the slope towards the cars, I separated our guard contingent of long gunners and trenchers in half and placed one group of them at the proper rear, but now mobile front, of the train and held the latter half back at the proper front of the train in case of an ambush from that direction.
Then in a horrendous collision of wood and steel, our proper back collided with the immobile detached cars, throwing one car, ours, clean off the rails and derailing two others. I was thrown off the car, most of the good guards on the car were killed in the collision, though three, including one who hung from his tree embedded helmet, survived. Syra as was I was thrown from the train but we, despite her broken leg, were uninjured, and Pin, also uninjured, was left dangling from a rope that he had hastily tied to the top of the car. Most of the thieves in the detached car perished.
Standing up from the wreckage, I helped stabilize the incapacitated but surviving guards and made an intimidating boast at the remaining thieves, who I am informed are a former mercenary outfit called the “Talons,” to convince to them to cease their looting and flee the scene. It was something along the lines of “Look how crazy I am, I hit you with a train! You don’t want to mess with me!” This attempt was successful, as they scattered in a bolt. Unfortunately, they commanded one laborjack to run off with a crate and sent another to delay us.
By Pin’s axes, by my repeating pistol, and by Syra’s immobilizing ice sorcery, we brought down the ‘jack . The other laborjack, not being the fastest biped on the field, was easily chased down by us and disabled in a running gunfight in which its simple mind made no effort to fight back. We retrieved its pilfered crate, apparently full of cortexes, and returned them to Valiar. And then unforeseen charges detonated beneath the two detached cars, wrecking them further.
Seemingly during our engagement with the steamjacks, another group of ruffians, believed to be deserters, ambushed the other cars but were fought off by the guards that I had left there.
Despite the collateral damage, this mission was considered a success by our employer, for none of the cargo was lost to the enemy, and after loading the surviving cortexes into the remaining cars, continued on our way to Ceryl, at which I am now writing. It’s good to be home, though it is my regret that good soldiers died in the journey.

1st of Vendarl, Glaceus 608 AR

Today I had a most… interesting adventure. I was called before the captain of the Corvis Watch, and there was offered a mercenary charter in exchange for resolving a new criminal matter that the Watch had found itself unable to solve. I was not alone in being offered this arrangement, for the captain had also drawn two convicts from his holding cells. In addition to the mercenary writ, they were offered pardon for their transactions. Though I detest working with law-breakers, I found the captain’s deal acceptable for two reasons: if I am to take on Kerghon, I will need allies and these two, the gobber Pin and nyss Syra, are a start, and for the public service of dismantling a crime ring, I’d have done it for a fraction the price offered.
This operation was selling some alchemical contraband to the poorer denizens of Corvis, an off-white powder derived from a Zu plant, that has a sort of intoxicating and highly addictive effect on those that take it. Since being introduced, it has been the cause of a crime wave, for mundane citizens have taken to crime to gain the money needed for feed their cravings. The Watch has attempted to crack down on this concoction, but the Thamar-worshiping criminals distributing it have proved elusive to law enforcement; it is believed that they know all the watchmen tasked with investigating the issue and subsequently avoid them. So to solve this problem the captain wished to hire a group of unknown mercenaries that would not be easily evaded, namely us.
So our new mercenary company set out to perform our task. Pin, the alchemist gobber, suggested that we may seek to meet with the criminal salesmen under the guise of purchasing some of the contraband, though as for where we would seek them out the best he could offer was “the shady part of town.” So there we went blatantly asking locals where we could find some of this alchemist dust, and for our inquiries we received our desired information and many looks of exasperated consternation.
Having tracked them down, we met with a dealer and his guardian enforcer, who greeted us with a sarcastic remark about our decidedly unsubtle pursuit of them. After a demonstration of my swordsmanship he took us far more seriously. Our more subtle attempts to fish out information as to the whereabouts of the ringleader devolved into violence, and after the resulting fight the enforcer was slain and the dealer was beaten unconscious on the ground. After tending to his wounds so he would not die and rousing him to consciousness, I was able to interrogate our sought after intelligence from him. Apparently his boss, known by the alias “Duster,” dwelled in an excavated lair attached to the Corvis sewers.
After turning over the dealer to the Watch, we headed into the underground network to find this “Duster,” however she was not all we encountered down there. Negotiating those claustrophobic rank passageways we stumbled into a subterranean thrullg. The battle was fierce as we fought on the narrow walkways avoiding contact with the caustic sludge below as we assaulted the monster with flail and axe. Syra attempted to blast the thrullg with her sorcery, but the beast consumed her spell’s energy to heal itself and siphoned life from her. Sensing an appetizing target I believe, it closed to attack her directly and shattered the sorcerer’s leg. Despite this setback, Pin and I were able to slay the creature. With the thrullg dead, Pin extracted fluids from its corpse for his alchemy and I set Syra’s leg before we continued to Duster’s hideout.
Approaching the ringleader’s lair, we passed over a series of warding runes, alerting her to our presence and alerting to us that we were dealing with one of the Gifted. Knowing what to look for, we gained entrance to the criminal’s hideout without difficulty, and I foiled her attempt to ambush us, spotting her hiding behind a pile of crates. Apparently a gunmage, she attempted to harm us with runeshot, but missed. After Syra warded me with some kind of frost magic, I drove Duster from her cover and backed her into a corner, where Pin and I were able to subdue her before she could hurt us with her gunmagic. Unfortunately, she perished from her injuries despite our attempts to stabilize her, so the Watch will be unable to interrogate any useful information from her.
After dealing with Duster, we returned to the Watch captain and informed him of the hideout. He gave us our pay, seventy-five crowns each, thanked us for our service, and assured us that he would have the hideout’s store of contraband destroyed. Pin, as I understand it, is going to supplement our reward by pawning the gear of the gunmage, the dealer, and the enforcer.
We three have decided to stick together for now working as a fledgling mercenary company, the “Thurian Irregulars.” I am to be the captain, Syra the lieutenant, and Pin the treasurer, a position he has already taken well too. Pin and Syra are competent combatants, this much has been demonstrated today, but I am not quite sure I can fully trust them as of yet. I think I’ll need to work with them more and learn more about them before I can do that, but these may be the people I need to face Kerghon.