Mid-Night, 2nd Pharast, 4711 AR

I am so very tired, but if I don't get this down, I have no guarantees I will remember it properly...
Well, today started with a blunder & didn't finish much better. I should have actually read that stupid letter first...

Facts, Yamyra, facts.

Having received a letter from 'Venture Captain' Heidmarch yesterday...
No, it's two days ago now...
I arrived at Heidmarch Manor, also known as Pathfinder Lodge #263, Varisia, on the morning of the first of Pharast. Fancy was with me, of course. At the time I...
assumed the letter was a request for the return of the Lodge's copy of Ipswick's 'On Thassilonian Architecture & Common Dweomers Thereof', which weighs at least a third as much as I do, so it was either Fancy come with & carry the enormous great thing, or hire a porter & I'm not made of coin thank you very much...

Facts, Yamyra, facts...

Not long after my arrival, Miss Carmina Scarnetti, a very nice, though a trifle...
Well, simple young lady, also a Pathfinder, arrived, having also received a letter. Since 'Venture Captain' Heidmarch had requested in the past that I aid miss Scarnetti in acclimating herself to those areas & social strata of the city with which she was unaccustomed, to my mind very nearly all of it...
Well, I concluded that the Venture Captain had an endeavor she wanted an agent for, probably one involving ancient Thassillon, since I hadn't been expecting the Lodge to require the return of the tome in question for a month or more...
Oh wait, before Carmina arrived there was another, one Koriah Azmeren, a full-fledged Pathfinder with several articles in a number of separate Journals under her belt. However immediately upon her arrival the Venture Captain & she secluded themselves in Sh-
In the Venture Captain's private chambers. Which is why I didn't remember that she arrived before Carmina.
Oh I do hope this will be enough to jog my memory in the morning...

Morning, 2nd Pharast, 4711 AR

Much better. I can actually think now
Returning to my previous narrative. Not long after Venture Captain Heidmarch & Pathfinder Azmeren retired to the Venture Captain's private office to discus Pathfinder Azmeren's latest exploits, three new Pathfinders arrived fresh from the Grand Lodge in Absalom.
In no particular order: Horven Gaveltoes, a cu-
Halfling whose talents seem to fit the most common stereotype of our people; Ganer Jitesh, an odd cat-fellow from Jalmeray I believe. He seems to follow the words of the God of Magic.
Finally, Gared Naught, a Dwarf !archer! & follower of Deadeye from the sounds of it. I shall have to show him to the Lodge soon, he will likely find it more comfortable than much of the rest of Magnimar.
As the three gentlemen kicked their heels waiting on the Venture Captain, Ganer began giving Fancy a bit of 'what-for', well, it seemed that way at the time... So, of course I wound up rounding into him. Turned out to be a bit of mis-communication all round...
Not long after that was resolved, Venture Captain Heidmarch & Pathfinder Azmeren came to enough of a pause to come out & show off a Thasillonian relic Pathfinder Azmeren acquired during her most recent foray into the Darklands below the Fogscar Mountains. A magical puzzle box neither had yet had opportunity to open. Sh-
Venture Captain Heidmarch chose to make this an impromptu assessment of the new Pathfinder's capabilities, challenging them to determine the locking mechanism while she & Pathfinder Azmeren finished their discussion.
As it was on display in the Library, Fancy & I accompanied all of them so that we could return the Ipswick before returning to my previous endeavor, assisting Andel in cataloging & indexing our notes regarding the 'monuments of Magnimar', including as accurate an assessment of their affects upon observers as possible.
In retrospect, both Sh-
Venture Captain Heidmarch & I should have known better than to leave a potentially dangerous relic in the !Library! of all places. What if it had exploded or something even worse?! Andel would never have forgiven me if I was somehow involved in such a catastrophe...
Fortunately, it wasn't that bad...
I'm sure a competent carpenter can address the gouges in the table & most importantly, none of the books suffered any lasting harm. Of course, I'm still not convinced it wasn't just some particularly elaborate & propagandistic children's toy...
Beware the gifts of Shalast or some-such...

Having successfully opened the box & dealt with the consequences, the boys & Carmina seemed to meet Venture Captain Heidmarch's criteria for agents to pursue another task. It seems a member of the Sczarni gang the 'Tower Girls' had contacted the Venture Captain regarding an impressive Thasillonian relic she, the young woman, not the Venture Captain, had discovered somewhere nearby. Natalya Vancaskerkin, a Chelish name, not Varisian, odd that, had seemingly disappeared after her last missive indicating she would be bringing the relic to Heidmarch Manor. The Venture Captain wished to know if miss Vancaskerkin's 'disappearance' was misfortune, miss-communication or mis-adventure & she wanted the !?five?! of !us! to get the answer for her. Seems I'm to be a field agent after all...
The remainder of the day consisted of chasing down one rumor after another, having my most reasonable suggestions disregarded by the others, staying awake far too late into the evening, engaging in the kind of violence one would normally associate with the Sczarni, and finally being proven correct when we acquired our most solid lead regarding miss Vancaskerkin's, or at least her 'gang's' whereabouts than anything we had previous. From the Watch, whom I had been recommending we speak with from the beginning.
That much accomplished & it being the small hours of the late night, we retired to Heidmarch Manor in hopes of making our report to the Venture Captain on the morning.
Which I still have not done yet because I am having to write down these notes!..

Morning, 3rd Pharast, 4711 AR

Note to self: I really need to review those interviews re: Riddleport, the Skinsaw murders & related phenomena, the recent civil unrest in Korvosa...
Alas, not likely any time soon.

Having made our morning report to Venture Captain Heidmarch, Carmina, Gared, Ganer, Horven & myself toddled our way down to Shadow to make inquiries of one 'Fenster the blight', the 'gentleman' in question truly lived up to his sobriquet, a thoroughly revolting man. Unfortunately, miss Scarnetti's impetuousness did our efforts little benefit by simply barging in to his place of...
Whatever it was a place of. He became sufficiently agitated that we were forced to subdue & bind him in order to procure any information of value from him.
Fortunately, we were able to learn the location of miz Vancaskerkin's 'bolthole'. Which happened to be no more than a block or so away.
Unfortunately, I still need to develop certain of my more esoteric capabilities, that rat was not particularly helpful...
Ah well, miz Vancaskerkin's 'hideout' was a seemingly abandoned warehouse, one of many down in Shadow. She had apparently gathered a number of ruffians, both human & otherwise, to aid her in whatever her plans were.
This is getting ahead of myself somewhat, but that...
item, truly did seem to have a very deleterious effect on her psyche...
I only hope Venture-Captain Heidmarch is correct in her assertion that the stone placed within will continue to counter that malady, I question Carmina's ability to forestall such an affliction for long otherwise. To be honest, I question any of our ability to forestall such an affliction for long otherwise, but I am getting ahead of myself.
Miz Vancaskerkin had sequestered herself well within the warehouse with a number of minions, granted, they weren't very capable minions, otherwise this document might not be continued at all! She had also, rather cleverly hidden herself up in the rafters. Well, it would have been rather clever if her minions hadn't inadvertently lead us up there to flush her out. Even so, she was quite 'slippery'...
If it weren't for the same magical compulsion which seems to have lead her to betray both her companions within the Sczarni & Venture-Captain Heidmarch, a compulsion which drove her to the most ludicrous heights of Megalomania we might very well not have captured her at all.
Oh! Right. Once we determined she was under some manner of 'Power-Madness' we were able to trick her into believing we had switched sides to become her underlings, from that point, well it wasn't easy to disarm & subdue her, but it did become possible.
Unfortunately, Our difficulties still weren't over. As it happened, a member of the Sczarni gang she had betrayed, one ?Terisha Sicloni? I believe miz Vancaskerkin called her...
I shall have to re-review my notes, this Terisha had apparently been either trailing us, or observing the warehouse. Because immediately as we were leaving, Natalya in tow, Terisha & a handful of common thugs set upon us in an attempt to kill or at least waylay Natalya & likely make off with the item which started this entire mess. As should be obvious, they were unsuccessful, though we only managed to drive them off, not apprehend them for the Watch. Natalya has since informed us that Terisha may be the chief Lieutenant of the Tower Girls Leader...
Now what was her name? Where are those notes?
Fortunately, once we returned here to the Lodge, the Venture-Captain had apparently made discoveries of which I was previously unaware, as she recognized the affliction for what it was & more importantly how to counter it. She also recognized the item for what it was...

Reader note: At this point, the writer switches to some manner of cipher using the Halfling 'kant' as a base.

Een fragment van een krachtige relikwie van het oude Thassilon.

Wat ze nu wil dat we om te proberen en te herstellen van de andere bits. Desna over ons waken.
Vreemd genoeg, zijn we geholpen in dit streven door een aantal vreemde sympathieke kracht. Door sympathiek, verwijs ik naar de geheimzinnige stelling van 'Sympathy & antipathie' ...
Eigenlijk, nu ik erover nadenk, dat is niet juist, het is niet de krachten van sympathie, het is de kracht van Contagion ',' dat wat eens was een, wil nog eens als een '...
Het belangrijkste is dat om een ​​of andere reden, het bezit van een van de fragmenten een voorziet van een bewustzijn van een ander, in sommige mysterieuze 'sequentie' Ik heb niet de kennis om te ontgrendelen ...
Tenminste nog niet.
Deze 'sequence' in feite heeft geleid tot de conclusie dat er een ander fragment hier in Magnimar, dieper in het stapelen bekend als 'de Kraai'.
Ik heb een slecht gevoel zullen we dat lood worden onderzocht eventueel morgen.