Lambert's Diary: Wednesday, June 1271

[The ink from the pages is smudged over the paper. Some pages, particularly the first quarter, seem a bit damp. A few contain brief notes of a few mundane monster hunts, and a couple are torn and missing. Only the last significant entry, still smudged a little, is legible] “15th November, 1271   I'm home. Again. Vesemir's here as always. Eskel too. From what I hear Geralt's off raising yet another fucking shit-storm in Vizima. At least he's alive. Hopefully. It's a different feeling every time you climb those stairs come winter. You see the cracks in the walls getting a little bigger. Another plank of wood splintered after falling down. And sometimes, hell, most times, there's one less Witcher in there than you want. Well... at least that last part isn't true this time. Again: hopefully.   As expected, Vesemir asked both of us about the Order of Witchers' manuscript again. Every winter, like clockwork. I tell him I look for it just so he can get off my ass, and while that's partially true... it's Vesemir. I can't refuse him. The most promising lead I managed to find is maybe some elves in the ruins of Eiselcross managed to get their hands on it... at the end of the first Human-Elven war, over 200 years ago. It's probably degraded to nothing by now. He's smart enough to know that but he just nodded. Why Vesemir wants to find that damn book, I'll never know. But I can tell from his face it was important to him. Hell, knowing the old man, he probably just wanted to finish Kaer Morhen's library. Old men tend to do that, don't they?   I swear it'll be my last winter here if Vesemir keeps hammering planks in the dead of night like there's no tomorrow."