Day 260, Year 437
On a misguided fancy, I decided to enter the northern deserts to escape the restless Empire. Though I know not why, they seem to be growing ever more restless. Probably are growing tired of sparing innocent villages or some such brutal nonsense.
To put it bluntly, I outright underestimated the harsh elements of these deserts. I had heard rumors of the blistering heat from many towns, but never did I expect it be so terrible. I suppose the timing of my excursion did not help...
In any case, after a tensday of wandering, I found myself near exhaustion. My fate may have been sealed had it not been for the help of a stranger and a camp I stumbled upon. Along with the rumors of the desert, it was said that long ago, there were fire shapers that lived on the outer bounds of the Empire. The Empire feared them -- like they do all those that are different -- and drove them from their lands into the deserts. Though this information came from some questionable sources (drunk townsmen in run-down pubs), I suppose I journeyed out to this forsaken land to confirm the rumors. I'm no closer to my revenge on the Empire... so, I suppose this was merely a journey of boredom.
The camp I came across actually happened to be that of the Solammand'Ra Tribe -- the rumored fire shapers. This information was rather freely given up by one Aidyn Tormod, a son of Solammand'Ra. With his help, I was able to procure rations and water to replace my exhausted supply. Looking at the harsh living conditions and shoddy tents of the Solammand'Ra Tribe, I guess it hit me how spartan desert life was. So when Aidyn announced he was returning to the lands of the Empire, I decided to join him. After all, he seemed to share my dislike of the Empire and he had a rather unique quest (that he also freely told me).
It seems he's looking for some kind of item of importance to the Solammand'Ra that the Empire stole long ago. Whether or not this item is of any value or power remains to be seen, but at the very least, it's worth looking into. After all, I don't seem to have any other leads on taking down the Empire.
Day 261 - 267, Year 437
So the journey back through the desert was uneventful and in a matter of a few days, we were back in temperate lands. The journey through the desert was a lot easier with a native in tow; Aidyn seemed to have better luck finding things to eat and drink in this wasteland. Our 'boring' journey took a turn though when we encountered some lunatic mage that ran up to us and started blabbering about destiny and whatnot.
However, I wasn't fooled by his act. Back some 10 years ago, I chanced upon an injured man in the middle of a road. He turned out to be a bandit following some routine where a traveler checks upon him and then his buddies jump out from the forest and start mugging the victim. I played the poor fool in this act, but I quickly dispatched the pathetic thieves. Thus, I warned Aidyn to be careful, and sure enough, as the crazy mage started walking towards us, a Manticore appeared from the skies.
Evidently the mage had mistreated his Manticore minion as it impaled him on his spines as soon as it was within range. One of the spines hit Aidyn too and I had to take the beast on myself. My years of skill paid off; I critically injured the monster and it had no choice but to flee. I ran off in pursuit, and Aidyn, through Mind Touch, learned the creature was not a minion of the mage. It seemed he was just a crazy after all. In any case, I slew the monster after what seemed like an hour of pursuit.
The mage then -insisted- on coming with us. We learned his name was Adrek and he was from Aerlon, the realm that had just recently blinked from existence. He claimed that other towns were at risk and that we -had- to let him join us. After about an hour of his nonsense, we simply let him come along... at our swords' points. Our next destination, according to Aidyn, was a rock formation that I had seen back when I first crossed into the desert. It had two arrow-like spires and a cave nested between them. I thought it an interesting phenomenon and noted it... seems like that knowledge came in handy. The item that the Empire stole from the Solammand'Ra was apparently taken there... whatever it was.
Day 268-269, Year 437
So we made the two day journey west to the cave. On the night of the first, we were attacked by a scorpion creature on -- surprise, surprise -- the mage's watch. When I woke up, he was standing RIGHT over me. I thought the traitorous whelp had decided to finish me off, but it appears he was simply cowering in fear behind a sleeping man. I don't know how that works. The scorpion proved to be no match and ran off before we could properly dispatch it.
At midday, we reached the cave, although it had a boulder blocking the entrance. Fortunately, Adrek's normally useless earth powers finally came in handy. He was able to depress the earth and allowed the boulder to roll away. Just as we were about to enter it, this crazy human (not Adrek) comes running up to us and blabbers about magical tigers. Aidyn seemed to think we could use him as a meat shield, so we let him come with us. For some absurd reason, he thought a magical tiger was in the cave and he had been trying to get in for days.
The cave itself was pretty bland. It was dank and looked natural enough. We encountered some writings in a strange language none of us had seen before, and it seemed like a pretty uneventful trip until this bloody Flesh Golem appeared behind me. It got in a good hit before I could respond and I was stunned pretty badly. The thing looked tougher than it was and we quickly dispatched it, however. The crazy human -- Kevkul he said his name was -- did indeed come in handy. With the golem out of the way, we explored the rest of the cave and came across this gigantic pile of bones. Normal skeletons along with slightly smaller human ones were present and two distinct sword styles were split between them. It seems two armies had done battle here long ago. I was about to suggest we leave when that idiot mage and the tiger-obsessed idiot decided to climb to the top of the skeleton pit. That, of course, was a horrible mistake.
Both Kevkul and Adrek fell many, many feet into the skeleton pit. How deep it was, I can't even begin to fathom. Aidyn dived in after them and I pulled him and the other two out with a rope after many attempts. These kids really need to go on a damn diet.
After that idiotic escapade, we finally exited the cave. Of course that wouldn't be the end of this useless excursion; a ghost appeared suddenly in front of Aidyn. It seemed to put him in a sort of trance and the two talked in some ancient language that the three of us couldn't understand. Though the ghost was nothing but a wispy figure, Aidyn said he clearly saw a slender female figure with a build similar to the smaller skeletons we saw in the cave. She had long hair and long ears much like mine. She put Aidyn in some sort of trance and left us. Luckily, he woke up afterwards, though he didn't seem to know much about the ghost's odd motives.
In any case, we took a rubbing of the inscription in the cave and made camp for the night. Our next destination seemed to be Mercran, a small hamlet in the northwest of the Empire. Kevkul seemed to be impressed with our strength, and though I think it is a mistake to involve others in Aidyn's quest, we seem to be taking him along. The mage... well, we can't seem to get rid of him no matter what we do, so I suppose we'll have to take him along too. This will be an interesting journey indeed.