Watcher

(10/13/25) We rested two nights with no incident. The first night was cool, and we spent it in a field. Agni interrogated Lunette about a personal matter of hers. She was very forthcoming, talking extensively about her mentor. I asked more or less how much we could trust her (I have hesitations about assassins, which feels reasonable enough) and she assured us that it was more beneficial for her to leave us alive. Timjam, on the other hand, admitted to killing people accidentally with toxic plants. I kept an eye on him during my long rest. I woke Lunette first on the morning of the 4th. She seemed like she wanted to talk. She had questions about Osha and my relationship to him. I did not go into great detail, but only because it didn't seem the time for a deeply emotional revelation. We passed through another day of fields and sparse woods and arrived near the city of Kuhri in the evening. The city appears to have outgrown its bones, sprawling off beyond the walls and bursting at the seams with people of all kinds. It was as crowded as the festivals in Waycarres, but all business. The air was dark and gray, blurring the edges of things and settling as dust on every surface. The people had a lined, worn look to them. They swayed as they walked and showed years beyond their time, the way people do when they work too much and get far too little food and sleep. I felt at once that the Osha Collective could do substantial good here. We approached a gate into the city where guards stopped us and demanded papers. Agni convinced them that he would explode in the coal dust filling the air unless he was allowed to ascend, and passed. I stated that myself and Timjam were religious, and were here to offer assistance to those in need. The others, I explained, were our staff. We were allowed to pass, although this will not work again, I expect. We were also scolded and told to get our papers in line. Agni had wandered off to a bar, where we found him.

(8/24/25, 8/31/25, 9/14/25, 9/28/25) Though I did not rest, it became the next day. Ric was moderately drunk, but still functional. Lunette spoke with Reese, describing the missing ship and asking if anyone had been acting suspicious. Reese said that Aeolus herself seemed the most suspicious, and that she was staying in the fourth room on the left upstairs in the Last Barrel. We met back up with the strange large gentleman from earlier. He was looking for the same information as us. Ric and Tim seemed to really enjoy talking with him. We shared some information in exchange for his help acquiring the ship in a bottle. We decided that Ric would sneak in as a bug to see if she actually has it. If she did, we planned to simply ask if she would give it to us after we explained why it was needed.   ***   We assembled at our places around the inn. Lunette snuck in and the rest of us waited outside the window to see if Ric signaled as a lightning bug: 1 for yes, 2 for no, 3 for “distraction needed,” and 4+ for “immediate help required.” Ric ascended, Lunette got into place, and the rest of us waited. I could hear commotion in the room above us after a minute, so I smashed the window with a rock. As soon as I did, Lunette leaped from the broken window. I caught her, set her down, and we ran. She led the pirates away from the rest of us, who scattered. I dodged between houses and took narrow side-alleys to keep their line of sight broken until I lost them in the wooded part of town. Now I must meet with the others at the Union House at dawn.   ***   All of us met at the Union house within an hour. Ric found me along the way. We all rested in the hall and awoke at noon. We waited for Vector and Saltorian in the city hall and showed them the ship. On closer inspection, it matches the description of a non-guild affiliated ship that disappeared between 8-10 years ago. In it were enough miniature humanoid bones to man the ship, scattered and loose. It was as if the ship had been shrunk down, and the crew left to die in the bottle. We were given 200 gold to split. We did not include Hadrix in the split. Agni then flew it down to the dock authority. We convened at the docks with Hadrix and found that his anonymous employer gave him a similar (if less detailed) list of stops to investigate. It was the same as ours, except in a different order and not including Thundragar. I still think it's worth investigating. We set out for Khuri on horseback (Agni flew, Tim rode a pony) along the trade route. Hadrix joined us as he seems large and useful and needs to go the same places. We rode uneventfully a while until we came upon a twisted, old tree with three fleshy corpses hanging from it.   *** It was in a misty field with patches of forest. The area made me miss Smokes – she would like it here. Hadrix warned us to be on our guard as we rounded a corner and the wood fell quiet. I sensed great necromantic energy coming from the tree ahead of us. Hadrix approached. Lunette slipped to the shadows and... Changed. It's quite private, I shouldn't write much of it. I joined Hadrix and approached the tree with him, wary, and then it struck. It was a tree cursed by the hanging of men in it, hunting. Agaricus fought as a bear, and was lifted by a rope, until Lunette shot him down from her hiding spot. We damaged it greatly, and Lunette finished it off quite spectacularly by scaling it and stabbing into its neck. She is an impressive mind as herself, and an impressive fighter Changed. I took some sort of magical rope, about 60 feet, from the remains of the tree. I will have to identify it after my next rest. We, having fought and traveled a full day, decided to rest.

(5/25/25, 6/8/25, 7/??/25, 8/10/25)   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.   ***   After we left the Last Barrel Inn, Akira told us that the following three things were stolen from the Xoriats:   1) A ship in a bottle with a siren figurehead and gold rigging, stolen from one of Andrell's grain ships and traced to Taunport 2) An amber sphere, 1.5 in diameter, containing a curved tooth and bound in gold to a necklace chain 3) A deck of cards in a purple silk bag, which was on a fishing ship   Lunette was given a bag with instructions to keep it closed. It would make a humming noise if close to these items, louder the closer we get to them. Akira pointed out the ships of two known pirate crews, including the ship of the crew we met last night. We took a lap around the stuff from the one ship with the bag. They did have leather and grain, the things the raided ship was going. Agni found that the bag could not be opened. We did not find anything near the ship that Lunette thought was Corellian's Wake. We boarded and the bag remained quiet. The ship looked to be a Guild ship of the Xoriats that had been... reappropriated. It may be the ship that was stolen several years ago. Agni and I descended to the lower decks, just to make sure the searchers didn't miss any smugglers' hatches. We found nothing of note. The three of us went into the caves and found a box of tangled jewelry which contained the amber tooth necklace. Lunette took it to Akira while Agni and I remained searching. I found the bag of cards at the bottom of a cask of wine that I searched manually. After finding the two hidden items, we left to return to the Last Barrel inn, where we left the strange large gentleman who offered to help us with the pirates earlier in the day.   ***   We spoke with Aeolus at the inn and convinced the pirates to go somewhere else if we were able to find that place for them. There were 67 crewmates we needed to find rooms for. On Tim's advice, we sought an inn on the upper level of the town, where the farms are, to ask a drunk person where an abandoned barn might be found. We spoke with an old lady who was very short - probably a gnome, halfling, or dwarf. She called Lunette a foreigner for her accent and charged us 100 gold for her barn for the night for the “tired, travel-weary freelance merchants” we told her we would bring. I gave her 10 extra in the hopes it would make her less likely to do anything nasty and magical to the pirates when they inevitably start making a racket. Agni and Lunette took us to a magical goods store that the Cult sells to. They bought various magical goods. I paid my respects at the Cult, asked their leadership if they needed anything, and then returned with the group to the Last Barrel. Aeolus's right-hand crewmate is a Warforged name Tavia, who was happy to make my acquaintance and to assist us in relocating the sleepier of the pirates. As we left, however, Timjam attempted to steal a wagon and was caught. He converted the postal worker that caught him to Hypnos and got away with the wagon. Most impressive. I carried two small humans and lead a couple other pirates, Tavia carried two as well, and Tim wheeled a sleeping Dwarf. We continued carrying, wheeling, and leading various pirates to the barn until it was closing time and Aeolus was left with a dozen or so others. I asked Tavia to escort them upstairs, which she did. Aeolus was carrying a strange bag. It was about the right size for a ship in a bottle and she seemed very anxious about keeping a hand on it at all times. Lunette saw half an opportunity to seize the bag while Aeolus was nodding off, but felt it too risky with all of the others around, and Tavia sober. Once the pirates were out, we cleared the rest of the guests by way of banging my sword on my shield and shouting at them to go home. A group of Elves gave us some trouble but were convinced to leave when they remembered that other bars somewhere might be open still. Having cleared the bar of customers, we settled in to talk to Reese.

(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.