Gjeda's Journal

<b>3 Préauton 2830</> New orders came down from Daerin today – we’re to be sent to the Living Lands. The diplomatic corps has established an embassy in the port city of Paradis, and they need support cataloging the unusual ruins there. No doubt it will take months, perhaps a year or two, at the very least. I had promised Rudwin I'd be in Highcrown to celebrate Inestu with him and the children, especially since it'll be Myri's coming of age, but... how often are you given the opportunity to lay the foundation of study for a previously undiscovered ancient culture? I'm sure he'll understand. And Myri- well. I think my daughter will be glad I'm gone. It's not like the gods are making new continents. The world is getting smaller every day. <b>17 Préïvèrno 2830</> It always seems as though the moment I finally get my sea legs, we're pulling into harbor. And a charming harbor it is, despite what Daerin told me, and not nearly so dangerous as the clerks in Highcrown warned. I swear on the Queen, half my countrymen resent any city that isn't the emperor's purely on principle. There was a letter waiting for me when I arrived at the embassy. I suppose Rudwin sent it before I left. The coward's filed for dissolution of our marriage, but he couldn't muster the stones to tell me to my face. Let him assume it never arrived, for I certainly won't dignify it with a reply. This whole episode has given me a blinding headache, a horrible pinching sensation right behind the eyes. <b>21 Préïvèrno 2830</> We've had a few days to settle into life at the embassy while the powers that be argue about how to best to make use of us. While I was resting, the ambassador's clerk took the scouts to some dreadful little swill house in a rough part of town. Naturally, a couple of the younger lads poisoned themselves with alcohol. The mother in me wants to be furious, but I can hardly muster the energy. As long as Ofryc's voiding his stomach in the canals and instead of the bunkhouse, it's not my business, after all. I think I'll take the team to Fort Northreach, see if we can't help their archivist identify the purpose of the "Godless" ruins there. <b>1 Tarivèrno 2831</> Blessed new year! The team acquitted themselves well at the fort. With Caedmon's help, I was able to get down into the basement of the ruins there and take a good look at the construction. Naturally, I left the notes I took at the fort - I feel like I can hardly even <i>think</> these days - but I believe I remember enough of what I learned to write a satisfactory report for the ambassador. Could those ruins have been the site of a fertility temple? I mean, goodness, look at the shape of their buildings! The Steel Garrote inquisitor attached to the embassy has uncovered rumor of a holy relic in a cave here in Dawnshore, and she's suggested we might want to investigate. I know I should be eager to get down there to explore, but I've hardly been able to get out of my bedroll since we've returned to Paradis. I'll bet there's a curse tablet with my name on it that Rudwin's installed at the Temple of Skaen back in Highcrown. Nothing else could explain the hideous nightmares I've been having. Mushrooms erupting from my skin, my eyes replaced by quivering stalks, Myri turning into a tree, Rudwin splitting in half and opening like a flower... No matter what drug I take or to which god I pray, they refuse to go away.