This water damaged book was recovered from the wreak of The Rage and is the diary of Voldrick Alteresine III, who was a trader based in Sasserine. Much of the book is illegible, and other pages are tedious accounts of cargo manifests and shipping routes, but a number of surviving entries are of interest.

Studying the diary gives a +2 Knowledge (Geography) to any navigation checks to discover safe harbours in the Vohoun Ocean.

I learned today that Denan Draven has passed away, there are tall tails of a ghost ship called the Horizon’s End had something to do with his demise, but I put little faith in them.

I remember when I first met Denan he was working as a bodyguard for my father, on board the Merry Widow. He wasn’t that much older than me and he treated me like a younger brother. It was on the Merry Widow that he met Marisha, I recall fondly the rivalry we had for her affections, but in truth, I knew she only ever had eyes for Denan, besides with her not being of noble blood nothing could ever come of a relationship with her.

I was disappointed when he left our company to set up on his own, but he had learned all he could about trading from my father, and when he made a hansom offer for the ownership of the Merry Widow, which I believed he renamed after his son. I do hope Marisha and the young lad are well.

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I met with Marisha today, she has fallen on hard times, and is desperate for money to meet the various debts she has. She is a proud woman and would not except my charity, so in the end I offered to buy Trantil’s Turn, the old Merry Widow back off her for a hansom price. The ship is in a sorry state of repair, listing badly to port, but she doesn’t have the funds to even meet the mooring fees let alone repair it.

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I heard that Marisha died two weeks ago, I looked for her son in hopes of offering him an apprenticeship on one of my vessels but with no luck. I hope he is well. The ship I bought off her has been repaired I’ve decided to keep it’s named Trantil’s Turn in honour of Denan and Marisha’s memory. I intend to use it to forge a new trade route round the south of the continent, and have had permission from my father to set sail with two other ships The Rage and The Angry Goat.

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We are several weeks out from Fort Greenrock where we resupplied, and traded rather successfully. Our next stop is the isle of Renkrue where I know the natives are friendly, they also craft very collectable jewellery from the pearls found in the local waters so hopefully we can barter for some. I intend to continue around the coast to establish new trade routes with the tribes that inhabit the coastal regions south of the Sea of Dust, then hopefully south to the island nation of Nippon in the Sea of the Dragon Kings.

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The coastline of the Sea of Dust lives us to it’s name, just endless sands, no sign of life at all, occasionally we see what we think are signs of settlement, but on closer investigation they are ancient ruins half buried in sand and clearly not lived in for centuries. The crew are getting restless thinking we are on a fools errand, there is talk of joining the Pearl current to take us back to the Renkrue before our supplies run dry. Still there is signs of a mist approaching and with it hopefully rain, we should be able to rig the sails to gather water.

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(the text here is in a hurried scrawl, very unlike the skillful hand used earlier in the journal)
There is something in the mist, a ship but it moves like no other, it sails are limp even though it moves with the wind, as if the air itself fears to touch it. While I can’t bring myself to believe it I think it is the Horizon’s End, the crew are so scared I have given into their demands to flee but still it closes. We have the wind but gains on us with each hour, it will be on us by dawn I suspect. That is if dawn ever comes, in this mist you lose all sense of time and direction.

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I have come up with a plan, most of the crew have transferred to The Rage and The Angry Goat, both ships are merchant vessels and ill-suited for combat. It was a hazardous operation involving a rope line between the ships, while still moving at speed, we lost Fredricks to the sea, I’m afraid. A few volunteers (mainly those without families, or late in years) have remained with me and we intend to engage this ‘ghost ship’ that dogs our every move.

I feel guilty that I might have given the crew a false sense that victory can be achieved, after all Trantil’s Turn has ballista and Greek fire in case we met pirates. In truth I hope we can at least delay the ship long enough for our allies to reach the Pearl Current that should let them make their escape.

The other two ships have doused their lamps, and altered their course to turn south for the Pearl Current we have turn North as if to flee to land, we hope the ship will follow our lead.

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The plan is working, just minute ago we caught sight of the ghostly wreck through the mists, it is closer than I expected but turning north means we have lost the advantage of the wind, still The Rage and The Angry Goat should be well away by now.

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In a matter of hours the ship will be upon us. My battleplan is two fold, we will use ballista and Greek fire in an attempt to destroy their vessel before it closes, if this is unsuccessful we fight with hard steel. If all appears lost then I am keeping a portion of the Alchemist Fire below decks, my 1st mate and I intend to fire the ship. I am going to stow this journal in the bilge in hopes it will not be incinerated down there.