Moon Market

26/08/3022
 
We managed to leave the vault and head out to where Storm had previously discover the message about a rebel camp nearby. it didn't take long and we arrvied in the evening. At first they seemed unsure of us, makes sense given the circumstances but then a black dragonborn by the name of Thorne appeared and apparently knew Storm from his past in the group.
 
The camp is in the process of packing up and moving out, turns out they were here for the slave train in aims to obstruct it and free the slaves, guess the blue prick put a wrench in that plan but maybe death is better than what Cythisis had in plans for them if they arrvied at his palace. Ciri got a letter, not sure how that works but it seemed to be from her brother, turns out the less than favourable brother got fired from his position for losing Ciri and our group and as such is seeking out revenge against us, woohoo....
 
Mis Fancy is going to be at the Conclave as well, and although she seems to have put out trackers for us we seem to have dodged them, peronally I'm not sure if that's by skill or just sheer luck. Also news on Sousaphon, apparently he has been visiting Mis fancy more often and there are rumours spreading that she is tryig to woo him.
 
Ciri went into the tent we were provided for some rest, some time later Axel came out of no where and asked me to store the crown in my bag of holding (I had thought it was already in there but it seems Ciri or Axel took it ?) then there was a shrill shreak and she began shouting about something missing, Ciri came out to exclaim that the crown was missing, without missing a beat Axel informed her that he had taken it, this went down like a lead balloon at first, something about Ciri needing the crown, needing to protect it, that it was her job her duty, and some thing about old soveren ?
 
Axel was able to calm Ciri though for now at least, it seems with recent events and such there's been a lot of stress on Ciri and she thanked Axel. They whispered together for a bit before going back to the tent. Not wanting to disturb them myself and Storm stayed outside with the fire.
 
27/08/3022
 
We woke up early and were given some food for breakfast, quite nice I must say. Thorne came to check on us and discuss R's movements, apparenty he also plans to show at the Conclave as a guest of one of the Dragonborn, Storm asks if that happened to be Mis Fancy and with a sharp glance we were all aksed to move to his tent so he could talk in secrecy. after going over what we've encountered in the past Thorne seems to somewhat understand. Storm and Axel then went on to aks if they could help Thorne, wanting to repay the kindness that he had shown us I guess.
 
Thorne seemed to be in thought for a while but then asked us if we could head a little place called the Moon Market, it is one of the bread baskets of Distel's territory, apparently one of Thorne's men has gone quite, it's been weeks since his last report and Thorne is worried. The task we have is to locate, ascertain his status, then leave a message at a dead drop for a later pickup. Thorne went on to discuss that the last message he had received from his contact, a Stout Halfling by the name "Merry Buckleweather", had mentioned murmurs of a cult to the myst, although Thorne seems reselute in his stance that myst influence is bollocks and that even when Axel showed him the sktech of our stalker the "bendy neck bastard" he did not seem to care, citing that they were all just nonsense stories told to scare little dragonborn.
 
Our current plan is to head to the grave of Axel's boy Gary then head to this moon market place, I don't know how bad it will be but hopefully not too bad. Before heading out as the group packed up and prepared the horses for transport, I looked around the group, we had met with some of the members and they had chatted to Storm and us. With a little persuading and some money I was able to get one of the more scholarly of them to cast comprehend language on me, this has allowed me to read the text of the blueprint which was so... handily provided to me from the cat demon.
 
Arriving at the grave we found nothing, or so we thought, second later Gary jumped Axel. seems the guy is still alive, I don't know how that works given I saw is pulp of a corpse but I don't know everything I guess? we then moved on and are now heading to Moon Market, the travel time is 2 days so we should make it by the 29th if we don't encounter anything on our travels.
 
28/08/3022
 
Not much to report, still traveling. One day left till we get to this Moon market place, I don't know how bad or good this place will be but knowing our luck the bendy nech bastard or one of his suborninates or another creature of the myst is allready there.
 
I managed to use the map in the light of the moon at the camp we had set up to rest at just off the path somewhere safe. although there are no real landmarks I can make out with some rough estimates where we are and it seems as we travel to Moon Market that there is a "forgotten treasure" nearby (whatever that means).
 
01/09/3022
 
We have made it to the village, it seems quite nice from what I can seem from a distance, fields of corn flourishing, no doubt due to the dragonlords affect on his land.
 
01/09/3022
 
Things are worse then I had thought they would be, what I thought would be a simple check up, dead drop and update on myst movements has changed, firstly our target is not only out of town but also seems to be very friendly with the new head harvesters (a friendship that was also quite sudden in it's happening if what we've been told is true). This is what we know so far as of arriving at Moon Market.
 
- Attacks done by the cult are being covered to look like or rumour milled to be that of bandits. Masked Wolves?
- The village has been meeting crop quota for the past 3 years but it's been 12 years since the new managers Silas and his wife Mira joined the village.
- The Elder seems to be aware something is going on but is not sure, thus the curfue he has in place to protect those that need it or that aren't yet converted.
- The centre monument is of some importance in this, villagers have been witnessed approaching it and whispering "Sleep tight little sovereign soon you will be the eternal king". Likely this is linked in someway to the Nowhere King.
- The corn has been corrupted in some form, upon opening one a black treacle like ooze fill it, not all corn is like this but it's safe to assume a majority of it is unsalvageable and that considering Distel's territory is the bread basket for the country a lot of it has been transported far and wide. (There is also the my speculation that seeing as there has not been any movement from the myst in some time and the laxness of the dragonlord means more villages could be corrupted).
- Upon examination of the corn it appears to evoke apethy in those that consume it over a certain period of time, with a posability for audio and visual halucinations for those who consume it for longer periods of time.
- The maze on the outskirts of the village is a point of interest but unsure what is going on within it.
 
Hopefully the night is quiet, I want to leave hear as soon as possible, I do not know how active the cult or myst has been of late but our arrival and interferance has likely not gone without consequences, whether their schedule has moved forward or not only time will tell.
 
02/09/3022
 
Last night did not go quietly, out movements did indeed set a light to their heels. During our watch as we thought it better we stick together we encountered the "bendy neck bastard". It is in no short measure that I reacted with with all intention and forethought when getting Arkrhyst and his sone involved in the situation, regardless of how I may have doomed both that village and all villages in the surrounding area, as with any infection it kindness cannot be applied in these situations espetially in situations regarding the myst and the many unknown factors that brings with it.
 
With what I saw that night and how the myst assassin interacts with it's prey it's of import that I make notes of what I can. There does indeed to be some sort of cult attached to the myst, cloaked firgures seem cliche but it is hat it is. Secondly close interaction with this creature has a strong effect on people, I'm not sure how it starts off and what triggers may be involved, fear most likely being one of them given the bar keeps expersion at the time but I did not expect the look of ecstasy from her daughter. It also seems the creatures powers of perception are far greater than my skills in stealth even with the aid of magic.
 
Leading on from what I saw it seems those linked to the myst may preceive it in an altered way as those who are not, assuming for the moment that the Nowhere crown truly is linked to the Nowhre King and the Myst (which I fully support this link), Ciri's hearing of a beautiful tune at that night when she jumped from the window adds weight to that possible trait, and another weakness for them to pull at in our group.
 
Althought it took some effort we were able to deal with the cult and rescue Ciri, managing to also kill the Wife Mira but letting both the "Bendy Neck Bastard" get away as well as Silas. We did however find out more information about the myst if only scraps.
 
- The myst corrupts a persons body, I'm not sure how badly long term corruption would look like but given how Merry looks I can assume it is not a pretty site.
- Ciri is pregnant, how? I do not know, well I know the biology of it but this seems very fast considering we've only known each other for a month.
- The cultists made reference to Ciri as "The Mother", and spoke of some connection to a "Prince of Kings" and "Akesh" ?
- The myst has mind altering affects on people, although we knew they could erase people we now know from Ciri's input that they can put you into a certain state of consciousness, this would explain CIri not knowing how she got to the maze.
- Ciri's connection to the crown is seemingly that of a protector/nanny, she was apparently visited in a dream by an eyeless crone who made mention of the resurrection of the prince and the need to fullfill it's wishes.
 
We got back to the village, it seems there was a fight there too between cultists and villagers, there does not seem to be an apparent winner between the groups though. We informed the survivors (The elder Marlow and the Blacksmith Robin) that the Dragonlords knew of tonights events, Robin fled cursing our names and Elder Marlow requested our aid with escorting him to Distel to give an explaination of events, which was unneeded given the events that then followed.
 
We found Merry and Storm left an update at the drop off location, on Merry however were a few items of interest.
- 3 letters, for with the initials M.U, one with Thorne's name, and the last with Silas' name. The letter with addressed to Thorne seems to be written in a code of sorts, I assume Storm can read it.
- M.U - Information about a forces movment, current targets assume Merry to be converted/indoctrinated, materials left at dead drop, incidetns in the bread basket causing villagers to be more inclinedto listen (to the rebelion?)
- Thorne - Cult gaining traction, riling Distel and Arkrhyst, possible genocides inbound. There is a bounty for myst touched items a hefty one at that. rumblings on the merc front someones throwing around a lotta cash. Increase seismic activity in London, the tyrant might be stirring ?
- Silas - Fertalizer has been made and distributed to multiple villages (which ones ? how many ?). Costs going up both in production and transportation, money is required.
 
- A vial of black smoke/liquid, which for the time being is being stored in a safe location. (they managed to capture the myst ?)
 
It seems talks did not take long as Arkrhyst arrived prompty with his son as well as Distel who casually sauntered in, we informed him of what we learned which turned his ire to the Elder of the village, it seems the response of "Opps did I do that" fell upon deaf ears as Arkrhyst crushed his head.
 
It seemed like Distel might not take the news seriously but his deminor changed when we informed him of the situation, at this point Arkrhyst left to deal with the cleansing of the village and those within 3km of it. In this time we got to speak with Distel we end up informing him of the situation in greater detail and show him the corn that he has been spreading throughout the country, this news seems to have made him snap, where once was annoyance at having to clean and replace this and perhaps multiple villages worth of people and a potential drop in output gave in to anger, his form breaking, acid dripping from his mouth as he saw his food tainted by the mysts. Hearing the story of the Elder he made quick work of what remained of his body before leaving us.
 
Before he left however he eyed us over, it seems he can smell the connection Ciri has but that to the protection of the boy we were able to avoid any conflict, at least for now. Knowing how his farther might react the boy strongly suggested we leave and gave us some work to do which could be used to explain our abbsence/leaving. we chose to go north and aid Gonorndral, who apparently wants to make a push into Edingborough, and they promised to send him some aid. Before leaving we discussed the crown with him and then left it in his possesion.
 
By best estimates with travel time our best descision is to head south to Rugby then take the rail up to Gonorndral. It will also bring us by the forgotten treasure that's marked on this map, I do not know what it will be but it will be interesting to see. Given the recent events in Rugby I can only assume things have calmed down and that security has been improved or strenghened to assure that events like that do not happen again.