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Entry 1 The Journal of Kai Aynsthil
28th Day of Midsomner, 166A.S. (After Starfall)
My name is Kai Aynsthil, formerly Captain of the 73rd Light Infantry and Special Tactics Regiment. I served proudly as a LISTR during the Nine Years war in the country of my birth, Endaria, a smaller kingdom to the south of the Great Peninsula. This service finally culminated at the Battle of Bludrayne's Gorge where many of my countrymen lay buried...
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Your hands start to shake, you can see the battle before you again, the shouting and screaming echo in your mind. You stare wide-eyed at the scene before you, the mud, the thunder of magic, the overwhelming struggle...
You shake your head vigorously to rid yourself of the vision, tossing your journal to one side and your ink-infused quill to the other. They said writing was supposed to help! You fume angrily to yourself, still shaking a little. You take a deep breath to calm down and pick yourself up, stowing away your journal you see your friend, Allyn, by the old campfire. He has managed to bring it back to life and now has a kettle on to boil. You sit by the warmth.
"Big day?" He greets you, you nod and smile, "Well, take it from your doctor, don't spend too long in that smog down there. The magics they work with are unrefined and unstable..." Allyn has been your friend for as long as you can remember, you schooled together, you enlisted together, you fought together. Maybe he wasn't a natural soldier, but he had a knack for channeling small amounts of magic - a skill only a handful in a thousand possess - which made him invaluable as your company medic.
"Well, today is a new day... The start of a new life." Your voice has a bittersweet edge to it, "After all we've been through, a little smoke isn't going to knock us down!" You try to smile, but the thought of those who would never have the chance at a second life weigh on your mind. Allyn pours hot broth from the kettle into a tin mug and hands it to you.
"Well, may as well keep our strength up, you never know what's going to happen in a city that big." Allyn pours himself a mug and lays back against the old oak while you both chat about the day ahead. Once you're finished, you get back up and don your travel gear.
You fasten your Augor-hide armor over your padded underclothes, it fits snug and you feel protected. While armor made out of this common cattle-hide provides little protection from blades and projectiles, it has been known for some time that it possesses magic-diffusing properties which make it an ideal piece of protection from attacks you can't run or hide from. You strap your hand-and-a-half sword to your waist and throw on your hooded cloak. Allyn puts out the fire and you are on your way.
It is not long before you are at the gates of Old Town, you can smell it before you see it. Crowds of workers, travelers and traders mill in and out at the gate, thousands of them. You've never been to a city like this before, Endaria had no such hubs of industry as it was mostly an agricultural center, trading the best grain and produce across all of the kingdoms. Endaria also lacked the diversity of its larger, industrialized neighbors as Lassarya proves by being host to many of the continent's 'Conscious-Races'. Among the pale and tanned flesh of the humans in the crowd, you can also make out scales, fur, horns and tails.
Many of these races are quite new to the continent as their appearance has widely been attributed to 'The Starfall' which is believed to have been the catalyst for bringing magic to your world. Since that time, the beast races have slowly built their own communities and cultures, however their integration into human society has been less than smooth. The beastmen are often found in the lowest rungs of society as there is little to no opportunity for them to rise in a human social hierarchy.
You and Allyn make your way through the crowded, dirty streets of Old Town, sometimes having to push past a wall of market-goers that form around the veritable shanty-town of stalls. You feel someone push into you and you instinctively reach for your coin pouch, but what you grab instead is a thin, scaly wrist. Pulling the creature's hand away from your silver and copper, you lift the surprisingly light beast up to your face.
Staring back at you is a juvenile Skaldring, its eyes are wide with fear and you can see its slitted-pupils and large green irises darting around looking for an escape. It's definitely a young one, you know they grow to be about four-and-a-half feet and this little guy is barely over three. Looking at its wiry frame, you can't help but see how malnourished it is. Where they are exposed, you can see its ribs through its scaly hide, its claws are dull and broken and its face looks sunken and hollow. You pity the little lizard beast and reach into your pocket.
You set the creature down on the ground and slip a gold coin into its hand and send it on its way. You can hear it churr happily as it looks back at you, its tail moving back and forth happily before it bounds back into the streets. "Well, that was nice of you," Allyn comes up from behind and gives you a good-natured slap on the back, "Be careful, though, can't be giving these creatures a reason to keep coming back otherwise we wont have enough coin to fund our expedition!"
You nod, "Yeah, well, it looked like it needed the coin and it didn't feel right to let the kid starve..." You hear Allyn chuckle at your side, "What's up with you?" You shoot over to your mirthful comrade.
"Heh, ah nothing... Just, no one would ever take you for having a soft-spot for anything!" He continues to smile at the thought and you smile along. You know the war years have been a little hard on your mug, while you only have one distinct scar across your left cheek, you've seen how hard your visage has become since you enlisted. No one can mistake the appearance of a veteran warrior.
"Hmph, you say that like I'm the only who's made decisions that have had consequences on his face! You should find a mirror sometime," You nudge Allyn with your elbow. Both of you chuckle at this little back-and-forth. Looking up, you see you've finally made it to your destination.
A large, stone trading-house looms before you, your employer is to meet with you to discuss the terms of your contract and the location of the items you are to be retrieving. It'll be a proper retrieval mission based on the preliminary agreement and should be quite lucrative for you and your companion. You see two Qathwindi standing guard by the door, clad in custom made armor to fit their large, feline forms, the crest of House Sologuard proudly displayed upon their cuirasses. The seven-foot tall cat-men eye you suspiciously.
"Purrrpose." The one to the right demands of you in his deep rumbling voice, both of them crossing their halberds across the doorway. You look up at their intimidating forms, never breaking eye-contact.
"Lord Sologuard has requested our presence to finalize the contract we had agreed upon, we are here to hunt his relics." You state your business as promptly as possible and you see the felines move out of your way.
"Prrroceed." You enter the building through the gaudy front doors. You find yourself in a well appointed foyer with vaulted ceilings and gold-inlaid furniture. Many rooms branch off the sides of the hall and into separate chambers, curiosity makes you wonder what could be behind those doors. Beyond that lies a grand staircase that leads up to the offices where you will be meeting the lord of the house, the steps are flanked by glass display cases containing rather ancient looking items in varying degrees of condition.
It appears you are a little early, you could take a look around the house to pass the time, but that might be frowned upon, you could also look at the displays in the grand hallway or you could behave yourself and wait for the gentleman...