Now See

Crepuscule creature calling out in

to a nig                                            ht

that               hounds and sh          o

uts            between muted beat

s           of silent rain that washes s

u          rging pounding pain then i

n          side cain and cathy play a

l           ong the dusty shelves and

e          ndless books and time les

s           tomes the secrets worth a

su            ndered home that mus

t be le          ft lest love be lost       t

o twilig                                              ht

moths in ever-falling shadow-flocks

 
 
Bah! Surely, someone mocks me. I awake to see my journal vandalized with a picture poem by a person who, I can only assume, despises all that is decent and proper in artistic expression. An imprecation upon them! Can I have no refuge from external malice? Rhetoric to the wind for all it's worth, I feel the strain of strife on earth. And what strife it was this time. We sought shelter from the storm in a well known inn along the trade route, but were unable to purchase our stay because four posing aristocrats had supposedly bought out the place. They were not aristocrats. They were four thugs who had threatened the lives of the innkeeper and his family, and they promptly attacked us within minutes of our arrival.
 
I nearly fell to them. During the fight, Godfrey magically altered their minds and they became momentarily docile. Dillion had a suspicion that they were keeping knowledge of a stash of items secret, and he wanted me to show kindness to them to gain this information. This suggestion left me confounded. I should show kindness to people who threaten innocent families and my life? On the contrary; I became as adverse to them as they were to me. I drew my rapier and attempted coercion to no effect, and though they eventually gave us the location regardless, I cannot help but feel tired of being treated like a harmless plaything. For all it matters, I'd like to note that the bandits regressed to their murderous state after the magic wore off. They are now restrained and we intend to turn them in to a Duke Maldwin or Sir Estibal when we reach Daggerford, which is all the kindness they deserve.
 
[While the content of Benjamin's journal entries tend to be sparsely marked with crossed out words, and notes in the margins, the writing below is uncharacteristically scattered and scratched. Few words and phrases can be made out among the disorder, most of which is entirely unintelligible due to the continual, irregular switching between Common, Elvish, Goblin, Sylvan, Orcish, and Draconic.]
 
Koad ifn sda aream of three "daughters" and was tolmasd awee hisg hig woods. Pl uyr s meidue tasd fune zemi, but we evejgsdfn caso loid edsa ies iga iesa. Oithan, rens otto lagtro hef ies pewiek. Hef otto pewik! Kron hzes beas bef daiem, tnas ms oyyp pasd; awaiting meidue edsa qok yenosi jejed. I knew the ker reas oiwq Cyric asme treo, rens fors ugut Qorle, re imprecation indeeas! I jesas es Eilyse, poe edas em sadaefd dscsn wenj pjygb Mel! Pu aden Deigon! Juem iuhgo lmft dfsme e das qlwki poe oeiw.
 
Pledarfd, I excused myself to find the heda benas yudd, oirfn ruen vccjd shg. Ki nes ado. Jsdme ymnas edue mfgt Oghma, aelw a inclined to beasdme tund ejwnm nansujm Addison, aue lold oep qqfmd ede iiras Isstari. Ueda pla depok a dead god? I cannot fathom oeurt asdasma uetc gjdha sm Leiada oekja as Cyadic. Loeasd dmenm wdfas cec emad todas lfmme weicm bgos when we get to Waterdeep. I am either the most injudicious deka mon Faerûn or jas fernka kren Avroc.