Stilicho looked at everyone in the room, with a stern look upon his face. “What I am about to say does not leave this room. “ His voice was deep as he nodded toward Grimlock. “We believe that Vridich is being tracked through magic. This is due to a lot of unusual astral activity that has been going on around him since his arrival at the Reach. We believe not only is this how the Therans knew right where you all were as you left Kaer Derin Kuyu, but it’s also how the Therans aboard the Vedette that attacked the Reach, knew that Vridich was in this very building at the time of their attack.” He motioned toward the door again, this time gesturing lower toward the Theran blood stains on the floor, now barely visible in the cracks of the stonework.
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Everyone could hear the wind pick up outside, as the cold rain came down a bit harder. Stilicho unrolled a map upon the table, and set a knife down upon one corner, and the corner of his mug upon the other, to help hold it open. He then began addressing everyone.
“As we speak, our ship is being prepared for the trip, and the elders are talking to those who may volunteer to be part of our crew. Our ship is being recaulked, and prepared for the journey. The sails are being dyed navy blue, in part to hide the ship’s origins, and also to give our ship an identity. The hope is that we can disguise our ship as one of my homeland, Konigsberg, to help facilitate our passage through the region. Omasu, the Obsidiman merchant who originally owned this ship, has sails that are a red and yellow checkered pattern on all of his ships, which are well known in this region. So disguising the ship will help keep us from running into any difficulties. We will fly the banner on Konigsberg on one mast, and the Stoneclaw banner of passage, used by ships with permission to pass through Stoneclaw territory, on the other.” He motioned to the remaining pile of captured gear on the table. “I would also, if nobody objects, like to have all of these cloaks died the same color so our crew colors match our ship. This way, we will appear to be a merchant vessel from the Konigsberg area.”
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One afternoon when we were done doing our daily air sailing drills I collect Stolod and went to see the local honey collector. We walk to a well-kept long house out about a mile from the village that was spared the fire cannons in the attack. There was a small hanging sign in the shape of a bee hive hanging from a pole at the gate. There were several flower gardens out in the field. Large orange and red flowers spread out across the valley below the house. I did notice that there were no flowers around the house. There was a troll size pair of chairs and a round table under a tree about 50 feet from the door of the house. We went up to the massive dark colored wood door and knocked.
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It was after the first day of air sailor training, Stilicho had just finished going over the day’s events. He turned to his second officer and said, “Skram I believe you had something to say.” Skram stood and walked to the center of the crew formed into half circle in front of him and said, “As the newly appointed second officer I have been placed in charge of helping the boat to make money to help pay the crew labor cost and upkeep of the boat. One of the first Ideas is to move goods, basically to become a merchant ship. This will also help give us a cover story. The boat and all the crew members will be given an option to buy in to shares at their rank. The boat will get a 35% buy in at 175 silver. The officers and the unchained will cover the next 30%. Each will cover a 5 % cost buying in at 25 sp each. This will add 150 silver. The crew will cover the last 35%. Each crew member will have an option to buy in at 12.5 silver giving them a 2.5% share. This will give us a starting cash pool of 500 silver pieces. I plan to buy a large about of honey for here at the reach for cheap. We will transport it to Throal and sell it there for hopefully three times what we paid for it. If all goes well we will have the money to pay the crew back their investment back in a week. When we make sales we will split a 3rd off what we made and pay the crew it’s percentage of that and hold two thirds for buying new product.”
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The day’s air was cool, but the water on the lake was still as glass. The catch was going well, we were pulling the nets in early. A large shadow passed quickly over the boat. We looked up expecting to see a large bird or a fast moving cloud. We were wrong. There was a Theran Vedette loaded with fire cannons passing over the lake. The three of us just stood there with our mouths open.
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The morning following the ceremony where all of the Unchained were made into full members of the clan, Stilicho’s squire, Wheeler, delivered a letter to all the heroes around dawn. The message was a handwritten letter, with the wax seal of the Konigsberg wolf. It was an invitation to join Stilicho in dividing the spoils won during the Unchained’s part of the battle against the Therans in The Reach. It told that the clan elders put him in charge of distributing the spoils among the group who killed the Therans that died in front of the Steelskull family home during the attack, and that the spoils would be divided up at the Steelskull family great hall later that day.
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It was a long, cold day in the mountains. Honus, and I had been out on mounted patrol since before dawn along with about a dozen other adepts, mostly trolls. We were on our way back to the Reach, when one of our men spotted a very faint plume of smoke in the distance. The plume was coming from the direction of a small Steelskull clan village of mostly non-troll name-givers, who lived on the outskirts of Steelskull territory. We milled around for a moment or two, every man clenching his teeth in anger and in anticipation of the war that was sure to come. We wondered, who had made this attack? An enemy moot? Ork from Cara Fahd? It mattered little, the aggressor will suffer for this attack. After a few moments, it was decided we would return to the Reach with haste, lest the attackers make their way there. We wheeled about, and rode hard for home, the biting cold wind whipping through our helmets. The anger in our blood kept us warm.
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With Rorik Steelskull and his crew headed out for the site of the burning village, Dremnin turned back to offer his assistance in defending the Reach in the unlikely event it was to be attack. He first checked on Hannah at the Widow Runa’s, and told her what had happened, He then told her to stay put and follow the widow’s orders, as she was there to protect the children.
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In order to make the most of Thorin’s invitation to take what they wanted from the Kaer’s Armory, Dremnin and Hannah walked through the passages of the ancient Kaer with the Tail Dancer Skram, until the little group came to the room they had been unable to access when they had first arrived. It seemed as though it has been eons ago in time, yet it had only been a matter of a few days. This was in fact a welcome break from the celebrating for the devotees of Floranuus, and would serve a worthwhile purpose in the inevitable event that they would face melee combat at some point after they left the Kaer.
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I’ve started this log to practice my writing skills, and to keep a written record of my life.
Whether the trolls can and will appreciate my candor remains to be seen. If this happens to be found and read by those to whom it does not belong, may you live in interesting times.
Where to start? At the beginning, at the end? Or just with what’s on my mind as of late…
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