Watcher

(5/25/25, 6/8/25)   2 Tarsahk, 2210   We met in the morning with a captain named Nikita who ferried us to Taunport. It was the first time I could not see the land. It unsettled me. I was not afraid of the water because I know I can walk beneath it with no trouble, but there are things in the water that do make me nervous. I'd hate to face any of them alone with only a sword and all that weight on me, in their territory. Agnicoatl was mildly distressed that the journey took longer than it would have had he flown. In the late afternoon, we docked in Taunport.   *** Before we even docked, we were told that our ship would not be allowed to leave. All ships were being held. The captain of our ship seemed only mildly annoyed. We were greeted by guards who demanded to search the ship and did not tell us what for. Ric and I talked with some of the offshoot cult members and found out that Andrell has been here, two weeks ago, directly before the mail stopped moving. He pointed us to the dock supervisor. A tabaxi woman named Lunette introduced herself to us as help sent by Saltorian. She helped us speak to Akira, the docks supervisor, who directed us to get a work permit in order to help the search. She promised a brief once we returned. Lunette's letter from Saltorian got us through the town hall and got us permits. We took a side trip to the Three Stars inn to speak to Reese, a gossiping bartender. We found an entire crew of pirates and a kid bard that Lunette recognized. The bartender barely had time to breathe and said we could talk with them if we clear the bar out at 3 am tonight. The others drank and then we left to go back to work at the docks. On the way out, a very densely built man offered to help us clear the bar because he is also looking for information.

(4/20/25, 4/27/25, 5/25/25)   1 Tarsahk I got arrested again. I was passing out bread near the guard's table. Got two new recruits to go to the union's table to sign up and passed out a lot of bread to the line. One of them tripped over me on purpose. Christos Magellen was there. His buddy ordered my arrest. Too bad I didn't get to see much of the festival, but there will be others. They escorted me to the jail and now I am waiting to see if I will be charged with anything.   ***   I met a nice flaming gentleman at the guard house. He convinced the guard to let me out for an hour while we waited for the guard captain after they kept us both waiting for over four hours. He said he eats spices and very rare meats.   ***   When I returned to the jail with my new friend, I met a wonderful little halfling that helped me recruit one of the guards to the cult for 75 of the 295 gold that he convinced the guard to give each of us. I paid the 150 gold fine, because Captain Presley of the city guard and the knight commander were there with their whole entourage and clearly more was happening. I gave 110 to Agnicoatl (he has high food expenses) and kept 10. Unusual luck to make so many friends in such a situation, and a profit too. I, Agnicoatl, Timjam, and a druid called Agaricus were taken to the second level of the Xoriats' old tower, above the top of the public gardens tiers. All they said was “it will be worth your time.” From there I could see fires and lights all around the city. The festival was beautiful. From there, we were summoned to the third level, which was a sort of meeting space and living quarters. There was a conversation pit, with Tesker Saltorian in it and Altierius Vector III pacing behind it. Saltorian seemed more put together and invited us all to sit before beginning to insult us, although I'm not sure he realized he was insulting us. Vector was too anxious to sit still. They wanted us to do covert work disconnected from their names. They agreed to give the cult a building near the governing center of Waycarres, and for Vector to meet with our leadership to discuss the expansion of our activities to his factories. So I heard them out. I thought they must be desperate to come to me, when the Cult of Osha is the reason they fled the city in the first place. I can't speak for the others. I was right. The other two Xoriats have been ignoring them, and they are panicked at losing their power. Magnus Escherfield lives in Azivine and Sylvestor Andrell lives in Illiarus, according to Saltorian. They met three months prior to their last scheduled biannual meeting, and then did not see them at the meeting. They have not been able to contact them since, or even confirm their whereabouts. He gave six potential starting places:   * The Xoriats' tower in Waycarres * Taunport, where there are problems with the docks, particularly mail and trade delays * Kuhri, where rumors of dark magic and curses swirl around the factories * The Barrowdowns, where within the past six months, both Escherfield and Andrell went for at least two weeks together * The oceanic mines of The Andrellian Isles, where there have been dramatically increased disappearances of workers and reported dragon sightings (Saltorian believes these sightings are caused by illusion magic) * Thundragar (although Vector objected strongly), where something mysterious is happening with their closed-off city culture. Escherfield went their recently for undisclosed reasons. Vector was adamant that this would be a waste of time as he said there is not and has never been anything of value here   They offered 1000 gold and transport by ship to Taunport and suggested we start there. The two of them will be in Taunport when we return, according to Saltorian. Saltorian gave us a pigeon to contact them with if needed. He seems to be clever and confident in his work (the pigeon. Saltorian seems much too easily put off-center by the other Xoriats) and is called Bojan. For some reason, I was handed the money. I divided it among the four of us. I will spend the night at home. I have explained the situation to Atlas and the others. Atlas will take over my job and I will take pamphlets in case anyone is interested. I think only the beginner pamphlet will be worth it in a new city where we are only known as dangerous rioters.

Today was baking day. We have some slightly bruised fruits left over from the Greengrass festival. Samael said we should put it in the bread we're giving away. It smelled a lot sweeter that way, but all the people that eat said that's a good thing. We have three carts full.   Tomorrow begins le Danse des Lunes. I look forward to this festival. Like all festivals, it smells amazing, but I mostly enjoy the lights. I plan to set up the table for the cult early in the day and then spend the rest of the light hours watching where everyone else sets up. I want to know where the guards are going to be recruiting so we can offer alternatives. We were supposed to be with the rest of the recruitment tables, but so it goes. They can stick our table in an alley, but that won't stop us from walking through the crowd with the bread.