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Journal - The Crown of Intelligence
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==The Price of Information== The city wall wasn't a regular shape, as if added some time after the city had grown, but it was in good condition. It rose about thirty feet high in most places, but with manned guard towers and a fortified gate facing our way, so roughly southeast. We kept to the forest and found a spot to meet again once I had (hopefully) made contact with the resistance. This seemed like a good time to reveal to my friends that I had learned how to take the shape of some animals and birds I had encountered, and my plan to change into a bird and fly into the city. It saved them from having to help me over the wall, and reduced the chance I would bump into any Black Hand patrols significantly. Falcor didn't seem impressed, though, muttering something about how I could have flown here on my own and saved them the walk. Typical teenager! I took the form of a thrush and flew above the city. It was stone-built for the most part, with narrow streets within the outer walls. The exception was in the centre wher a flat-topped hill stood; the buildings there were much finer, almost like a palace or other place of importance. I could see the docks on one side, looking significantly more shabby. Next to the walls was an open area - a place to exercise or a defensive killing zone depending on your perspective. I wasted no time and headed straight towards the docks, finding the "Sailor's Delight" where I was to meet our contact in what was clearly the shittiest part of the docks, which itself seemed to be the shittiest part of the city. A poor residential area indicated the type of clientele I would likely meet inside, so I would need to be wary. There was a narrow alley next to the tavern, so I found a place out of sight to change back to my normal form. I moved around the front and ducked inside as quickly as I could, getting some looks from those inside. Unfortunately there were three Black Hand Saloroc that wanted to pick a fight. I tried to avoid it, but the barmaid tipped me off that they wouldn't let me off that easily, but that she wouldn't be too bothered if they ended up dead. After I cut open the first two a lady appeared looking slightly amused and said "don't mind me"; her appearance seemed to terrify the last Black Hand who begged for mercy, but I couldn't let him go and I knew that I would be judged by the resistance on my actions so I just tried to make sure he died quickly. The lady had me drag the bodies to dump in the sea using a well concealed door in the back of the tavern, stripping them of anything useful first. She was indeed my contact, and unsurprisingly from what I had heard of her seemed to know quite a bit about us, including Falcor and Arad. As I expected, she wanted us to do something for her before agreeing to help us, and asked that we fetch a powerful artifact for her from the "swamp people", one that granted the ability to exert control over reptiles. She offered in return to put us in contact with one who had been touched by dark magic and was most likely to have the information we sought. I agreed, seeing little choice at this point, and then returned to my friends by swimming out of the harbour in otter form and then making my way to the forest as a squirrel. Falcor was still invisible, so I couldn't chitter in his ear when I got there. Instead I used our mental link to check that they were still in the meeting place and then relayed the result of my meeting to them. I remained as a squirrel as we started the journey south into the forest, where my contact had indicated we could find the swamp we had to enter. After five miles or so there was a colder feeling in the air, and the wind had shifted to behind us giving a chill on the back of our necks (I was grateful for my fur at this point). The sky seemed to have darkened as well, more so than the time of day alone could explain. The trees had become draped in vines and fungi sprouted from them, under foot the ground became increasingly soggy, and we could make out scurrying noises from things unseen in the gloom. I decided to turn back into my normal form, more worried at that point about being eaten as a squirrel than I was about being seen! The darkness increased, and we knew that night was approaching so we decided that we would have to rest despite the oppressive surroundings. Arad took first watch and after a couple of hours he noticed snakes slithering down the tree we were resting against towards us! Three tried to strike at Arad, and he "yelled" mentally; this yell somehow penetrated my dream and I woke to realise the shout was real and we were in danger. Falcor, though, slept on. Arad had snakes on him, which spurred me into action, although he was throwing one off as I looked. I called on Karmana to protect us from serpents, which was good timing as out of the darkness from all sides came some serpent creatures with legs, at least human sized, advancing on us. I put a circle of protection around the tree, not knowing exactly where Falcor was, and one of the creatures dropped dead as it tried to reach us - three others were clearly in pain. Arad handled the snakes well, grabbing them and bashing them against the tree. I asked him not to wake Falcor, aware that the protection I used might anger him, and to stay close to the tree. Thankfully he heeded my advice and the last three creatures died trying to get through Karmana's barrier. We thought we could hear some chanting in the air from somewhere off in the distance, but it was impossible to say exactly where in the dark. We stayed on a defensive watch for about half an hour, but nothing else could be heard. Arad finally settled down to get some rest and I remained on watch, the time passing peacefully despite the unsettling sounds in the swamp around us. I handed over the watch to Falcor, reassuring him that the bodies around us were nothing to worry about but to be wary of trouble. It was nearly morning, but still quite dark, when Falcor heard noises around us that seemed more purposeful than usual. He moved out from the tree a little way and saw some snake-headed humanoid warriors. He shouted a warning and closed with one, activating a staff that seemed to have no effect. He also summoned magic missiles, though, which struck true. Neither of us woke at his shout, though, having had a rough night! Falcor was attacked, but his armour returned just in time to protect him from the blow. Part of the tree above us transformed into snakes and dropped onto Arad and me! I was bitten, which definitely did wake me up, but thankfully its venom didn't affect me. I sank into the earth beneath me, dragging one snake with me and leaving it there, then emerged a little to the side free of the snakes for the time being. Arad had been bitten, and he used the power of his crown to purge the venom from him, then managed to kill a snake by bashing it against the tree. The snakes were not the only things to worry about, though, and the snake warriors advanced on us. Falcor conjured a lightning bolt, the shock killing one of them. Arad killed a snake or two, but had to defend himself with his sword against the new threat. Falcor struck one, but being farther out had been surrounded by four of them. Thankfully his skill and armour kept him in good shape, only suffering a glancing blow. He called on everything he had to defend himself, and an ice bolt struck one of his attackers, turning its flesh black where it was struck, and it keeled over dead. I landed a series of stabs and cuts to kill one that had attacked me, and I saw Falcor fell one with a powerful blow. Perhaps the odds were about to even out a bit? Yeah, shouldn't have thought that. We heard the voice in the air again, like last time, and as I moved to help Arad the ground suddenly erupted with spiders! I was bitten again, but managed to resist whatever venom they might have injected. Arad was killing another snake, but now he also had spiders all over him! I did manage to finish my attack and kill the snake warrior, but it seemed more of a distraction now that we were being swarmed with spiders! I dived into the soil again, emerging away from the spiders, as Arad stoically ignored them and instead strode over to aid Falcor, striking with both his weapons. Falcor cleaved the other attacker down, so there was only one now. I called on Karmana to create water and dumped a load on top of the spiders nearest me. I would have done it on Arad, but he had moved away. I'm still not sure if he would have thanked me or not, though. I then ran to help the others, finishing off the last of the snake warriors that Arad had injured. Arad was able to squash the last of the spiders; I checked with him about bites and any potential venom, but he seemed happy that he had it under control. We took a moment to check our equipment, finding that Arad and I had lost a potion each due to the glass cracking during the transfer through the tapestry. Also, having slept on it and now with a moment to reflect, I discussed with Falcor my concerns about the implications of handing this artifact we sought over to a third party if we did find it. I was concerned that it might affect the Elvradrak, and if it did what it might be used for. As we were speaking and looking at our equipment Falcor cooked up some snake for breakfast, which was delicious. As I used Karmana's power to dry the wood, however, I felt a presence that noticed me and was contesting for Karmana's power - I suspected that it was this that was drawing on the land. Arad took time to bless one of Falcor's swords for use against Sullinassauri, offering to do the same for me at some point before we reached our goal. We continued our journey, and we knew that we were well into the morning by now but it was still dark and murky. After an hour or so I heard something slightly unnatural up ahead, so I warned the others and offered to sneak forward to investigate. With Falcor's blessing I pulled up the hood of my cloak and sneaked forward. There were definitely sounds of things moving on the other side of a pool of swamp water, but it was too murky to see what without getting closer. I heard some snippets of the language of the lizard folk as well. I closed, skirting the pool, until I saw four of the first lizard things we had encountered. They noticed me, by sound I guessed, and came sprinting at me fast. I dove into the earth at my feet and moved away for several minutes before resurfacing and just staying still to watch. They were sniffing and scratching around the area where I had been, but then a sharper voice called them back, still in the lizard tongue. I returned to the others to report what I had seen and discuss what we wanted to do. Arad had a plan to influence the lizards' minds and potentially make them allies, so we advanced confidently together. Sure enough they reacted in the same way, charging at speed towards us. The rapid movement took Falcor by surprise, and he instinctively lashed out with his mind rather than wait for Arad's prayer. All of the creatures suddenly crumpled and collapsed to the floor within a few steps, their simple minds unable to withstand the assault. They seemed harmless after that, and we checked that they were still alive and able to breathe before proceeding. As we approached, I started to notice the shape of the trees forming the start of a circle, and I was reminded for some reason of Borarla. A dread filled me, as we knew so little about this land, that we might be intruding on a sacred grove. I tried calling out in the secret tongue of druids that my Saloroc mentor had taught me, and my stomach tightened as I immediately received a response in kind. We should not be here! I asked if this was a sacred place, and he responded that it was "...beyond your imagining" and told us to leave and never return. Interestingly he made a point of saying that Falcor was not welcome, and knew that he was Elvradrak. I offered my apologies, saying that we did not mean to invade such a sacred place, or to harm his people without knowing that they were of Karmana / Korman. The response, though, was that "Korman is no friend of ours and nor is her Guardian. Leave now." I ventured to ask, saying that we would leave, who his guardian spirit was if not Korman? He said that it was "The Queen of the Damned", and in her name he wanted to banish us from this place. I asked if this was Sullinassauri, but he practically spat how I dared to speak that name as it was his Queen's jailor! I apologised again, saying that we sought to destroy this jailor and our ignorance had brought us into unnecessary conflict. I probed as to where we could find the jailor, and he said we could find them in the Tower of Sins beside the City of Shadows. I told the others that we were in a sacred place and that we should leave immediately, but that I had information for them on the location of the Sarn. Falcor was reluctant to believe some snake creature that we had just met, but I insisted that he was a keeper of the land and we should respect this place. Now we had the information we needed we should leave, I said, and we started to walk away discussing it. Arad, though, had stayed behind and tried to use his staff to influence the reaction of whatever creatures were within the trees. Whether it was because he had not withdrawn or as a response to his actions, Arad was attacked from behind by more lizard creatures and shouted in alarm. Arad entangled two of his attackers, and I called on Karmana to form a wall of vegetation between us and the grove, catching the other two of Arad's attackers in the corner. I shouted that we needed to leave, we had the information we wanted so there was no reason to fight, but Arad was a stubborn fool sometimes and kept lashing out at any perceived threat. We finally convinced him to come back to where we were and then headed west for a couple of hours, just to move away from the druid's sanctuary. We were sure that we were being followed, but we were not attacked again. We did not know exactly where the City of Shadows could be found, although it was likely to be in the southern half of the island. Falcor suggested that I use the sense of force drawing from the land that I had felt before to guide us in the right direction. I reached out to touch a tree and spoke with it for a moment, but that only gave me the sense that Karmana and holiness was below, with poison and bad air above. Thanks, tree. Instead I tried a small prayer to purify some of the water from the swamp, but then was overwhelmed by a mocking presence filling my senses. I did get a good sense of direction just before I passed out, though, which was definitely south west of us. I was revived by Arad using his crown, feeling a great surge as my body and mind were filled with Karmana's energy. I was glad for the help, and felt better than ever, and I placed my crown on as well since something probably knew where we were by now anyway.
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