23rd Calistril
Praise the Dawnflower! With her blessing I have been chosen to explore the area known as the Greenbelt, along with my new comrades Maria Zenata, Chahana Surtova, and Zander Aldori. Kahn Mahn will not be joining us, as he proved to be a most unsavory character.
La, but I have omitted the other events that occurred prior to the selection gala. On the morn of the 21st of Calistril, we were visited by yet another person attempting to recruit us, this time a half-elf woman who sought to persuade us to go to the Azlanti Isles on behalf of something named the Bountiful Venture Company of Andoran. While I should like to see what remains of Azlant, I am not willing to abandon the selection process in favor of that task.
I did not experience this myself, but I later learned that Chahana and Maria were approached by a local gentleman who sought companions to accompany his niece and nephew to the Golden Winter Ball that evening. Chahana and Maria agreed to this request and attended the ball in company with a young man and woman.
I had thought perhaps to avoid the ball, but when I learned that the members of the Dreadnaughts would attend I thought I should like to have another opportunity to speak of Sarenrae with Sol Covenant. Such opportunity did not present itself during the event, for Sol Covenant is a man who enjoys conversing with many people and was much engaged in that capacity when he was not enjoying the repast provided by the ball's hosts. This ball was held in a chancellor's mansion on the outskirts of the town, to which we were transported in carriages. Though it had been implied by the Advocate that we might find useful converse with the nobles in attendance, in truth they had little interest in those of us who had come for the charter selection.
On the day of the 22nd of Calistril, yet more folk came offering other opportunities for labor. I was suprised to find that folk had come all the way from Tian Xia to invite participation in a fighting competition there. The reward for the winner of said contest was proclaimed to be treasures from the vault of the Ruby Phoenix, a sorceress of great repute who has purportedly died and been resurrected many times.
Those of us who wished it were taken on a boar hunting expedition. The person who was meant to be the huntmaster declined to participate, proclaiming he had spent the previous night searching for someone who had got lost. Once it was settled that another would serve as huntmaster, we set off, only Kahn electing not to join us. I thought that combatting the corrupt minions of Treerazer was dangerous, but hunting wild boar is quite a challenge. Chahana suffered a serious injury. I had the good fortune, or the Dawnflower's blessing, to avoid harm and strike the final blow. For that I was awarded a fine quality boar spear.
When we rejoined the second group of hunters we noticed that they appeared uneasy and seemed to be avoiding one of their company, a dwarf named Landon who seems to have no interest in personal hygeine. But they would not say why they were so uncomfortable with him other than to indicate it was not due to his lack of personal care.
One of the other candidates, an individual known by the name of Sparky, had healed Chahana of some of her injury after the boar gored her, but I was not disappointed that he was not chosen to join our group in the selection. He had stated that he would only use his healing ability for a person who was near death, which I feel is not in agreement with the tenets of Sarenrae. I can comprehend that if healing magic is in short supply perhaps it is best to conserve such magic until it is most needed, but Sparky's argument did not seem to me to be stating such wisdom.
After Chahana was fully healed by the priests of Pharasma, we arranged to participate in a contest of arms with members of one of the dueling societies. First we each sparred with a single opponent, all at once but fighting our foes separately. In this our party won the contest. Afterward some obstacles were placed in the fighting circle and we competed as a group with the duellists. Here too we were victorious, in a more dramatic conflict which saw Zander leaping onto a table. Kahn joined us for this, for at this time we had not yet learned of his duplicity.
That evening the second ball took place, this hosted by a wealthy noble family of the name Lucchio. I chose not to attend this ball, as did Zander and Kahn. Maria and Chahana told me later that the most interesting event of this ball was the appearance of King Castruccio Irovetti of Pitax. He appeared to be in an impatient or angry mood, but Chehana and Maria took the chance to introduce themselves, hoping to allay any fears the king might have that the explorers chartered by Restov intend to encroach upon his kingdom. The king did not appear to be much interested in their assurances. They later learned that he was attempting to negotiate rights to a copper mine.
King Castruccio Irovetti
As I had the evening free to do as I pleased, I sought out one of the other of my kindred who are here for the selection. This was Reislin Aleglossa, a mage who is somewhat more mature than any of the other candidates with perhaps the exception of Tamorjen. We had a pleasant few hours conversing until it was time to retire for the evening.
At breakfast our group was approached by a local man who sought someone to enter an abandoned tavern in Absalom to recover a tankard that had once been used by Caiden Caillean himself. I am uncertain whether any who heard him took his tale seriously. We were also visited by a local man, Vikel Benzen, who formerly had dwelt in the Greenbelt and desired that someone slay an aged boar called Tuskgutter and bring him its head, for it had taken one of his legs at some point in the past. As reward for successfully slaying the beast he would present the slayer with six enchanted arrows. As this request will not require us to travel to another nation or across the sea, we may pursue it should we encounter Tuskgutter.
At midday we returned to the Citadel for the selection announcement. This had been described as a gala, but was a much less formal affair than the winter ball. The event did not begin at the appointed hour, part because the Advocate was not present. We also observed that Kahn Mahn was missing and none had seen him since the previous day. Rumors began to abound to explain the Advocate's absence: that she had been bribed or magically charmed, or had fallen ill or been injured. All these were dispelled when she arrived. Before the selection announcement was made, the Advocate explained to us that the rough person we had seen in the Silver Dagger on the first evening, a man called Holk, had first been ejected from the competition for killing someone and then had been expelled from Brevoy entirely. Then she took us by surprise by saying that Kahn had attempted to interfere in the selection process in addition to other crimes and was now in the custody of the judiciary of Restov!
While we were still taken aback by this news, the Advocate read out the names of those who had been extended charters. As I have said, I am to remain with Chehana, Maria, and Zander, and much to my surprise and pleasure we are to be joined by Reislin. We will also be accompanied by Simon Holcroft, who joined us on the boar hunt and demonstrated a knack for dealing with animals. The territory we are all to explore has been separated into four quarters; the Dreadnaughts will go to the land nearest to Pitax, while the region known as the Noman Heights where centaurs live has been assigned to Maegar Varn and his Varnling mercenaries, and another group will travel to the area of the Hooktongue Slough and the town of Drelev.
Simon Holcroft (NPC)
When all of this had been read out I heard the door leading out of the Citadel open and caught a glimpse of Temorjan stalking out before the door slammed shut after him. His name had not been called.
Be it know that the bearer of this charter has been charged by the Swordlords of Restov, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Regent of the Dragonscale Throne, then granted the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known as the Greenbelt. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and west and sixty miles south of Oleg's Trading Post. The carrier of this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry shall remain, as always, execution by sword or rope. So witness this 23rd day of Calistril, under the watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of the Dragonscale Throne.
Next: Session 1, Into the Greenbelt
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