Jack Hawkins
Jack (a.k.a. Diamond Jack)
Jack's story is a simple one. He's a northern sailor who missed his ship and was left to find a path in the strange world of southern Faerun. Rather than seek passage on a ship back north, he decided to stay in this realm of strange creatures putting his talents on the water to other uses, primarily smuggling.
Alignment
Neutral Good
Age
29
Date of Birth
1426
Birthplace
Daggerford
Children
Gender
Male
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Lake Lhesper and the talking Seadog!
1456 Date Unknown...
We made good time sailing down the underground river to Lake Lhesper. The strong currents of the river made for a bit of a nerve racking trip making sure the ship didn't get stuck on the sides of the tunnel. If we had gotten stuck the water would have washed over the bow and sunk us. I've sailed on Lake Lhesper before, trading and smuggling. The winds can pick up something fierce with it being such a large body of water. We're heading straight across the lake to some town, must be new or unimportant as it's not on the map, but Bombastus has provided a heading so on we go. Ilemahg has been quiet, I think this is possibly his first time aboard a boat and the swaying of the bow doesn't agree with him it seems. He's been at the rail chucking over all morning. That blink dog of his has behaved so far, still locked in that cage. Ilemahg must of bought it from that dealer at the Pet and Pawn. The beast doesn't show much affection for Ilemahg though, every time he goes near the dog it growls or turns away. Albert has yet to rise from below, still asleep no doubt.
The crew thus far have behaved, I was worried after taking the ship back for a second time that their allegiance wouldn't be so easily swayed but it seems it lies with the highest bidder, which at the moment is myself. I may have to look to hire new more loyal crew that isn't swayed by a purse full of coin, if i can find a port where such a crew may exist. The crossing across the lake was going swiftly until Mr Morgan on top watch started screaming. Something about a flying shark heading straight for him. By the time I looked up his chest was covered with blood, though not his back strangely enough. I climbed the rigging and steadied the man, the blood pouring from his wounds. He stumbled for a moment, looking somewhat confused before realising and admitting he may have inflicted the wounds himself. Hearing this I lost my temper somewhat and pushed him from the top watch straight over into the water below. Realising my judgement may have been in haste I called Man Over Board! and Mr Merry threw a line to retrieve the drenched and wounded deckhand. He was hauled back aboard and his wounds treated.
As Mr Morgan was brought back on board, Ilemahg spotted a small shadow dash below deck through the hatch. He seemed to think it was a rat, but I worried it was worse. Carefully heading down into the hold I saw Albert asleep in a hammock, below him was an open cage which previously held the pixie. It was free aboard the ship as I had worried. I called out to the pixie, telling it that we mean it no harm, and if it wants it's freedom that we will not impede it. Hearing quiet giggles and squeaks I remembered we can only speak to it using the book Albert had. I pushed him out the hammock, he hit the floor with a thud but did not wake and kept snoring away. I set about searching his person for the book, as I was rummaging about I decided to punish him for letting the pixie loose in such a drunken state. I took his magical bag and also Ilemahgs hat. As i was searching, that little mechanical servant of his approached. I thought for a moment that it was a sentry, but it just stood there meekly. I set Ilemahgs had upon it's metal brow, as i did a rat ran out and along the outstretched arm of the construct. In a flash it caught the rat and held it dangling by it's tail.
I opened the book and began searching for the pixie again. Speaking out to it again, stating we mean it no harm and if it wants to leave or punish Albert it's more than welcome to. As I searched the hold, the ship ground to a halt. Thinking we'd beached or hit a reef I ran topside. The pixie had summoned vines and wrapped them round the ships keel and rudder. It hovered no more than 20ft of the starboard bow giggling and laughing to itself. I pleaded with it to release the ship and leave. Upon a sudden a cannonball sailed through the air and landed at my feet. A message on the cannonball read "Is this a bad time?". A yell from Mr Anderson, "seadog off the port bow" and no sooner another cannonball flew hitting the mast. The damage was minimal, it seemed more to get our attention that an intended attack. I headed to the rail and was surprised to see a seal talking at us, yelling about some ocean going circus. It seems he was attempting to sell us some tickets. I was skeptical at first, but when I saw the pixie was enamored with the seal I decided it may be worth it to stay the pixies unpredictable magic. After some back and forth the tickets were at one platinum each. A steep price for a show, but the seal was adamant it was unlike any circus in the world.
I decided Albert should front the ticket money as penance for his poor judgement. I quickly went below deck and pilfered 10 platinum from his coin purse. Once paid we asked for a heading to the circus, the seals instruction was most strange. It said that the circus will find us and that it travels to the place where the most tickets have sold. The pixie, happy that it was invited to the circus released the ship from it's magic and promptly took seat upon my hat. I attempted to give it a job on the ship asking it to head to the top watch and keep look out. After a minute or so I noticed it had returned to my hat, it seems it's got a short attention span. So now onward to our destination and possibly a show.
JH
A Tower of Traps, and an unexpected reunion!
1456 Date Unknown...
After rousing from a deep drunken sleep, I awoke to the smell of a fine breakfast. The tables were covered in freshly baked loves, salted meats and fine cheeses. I wasted no time plating up some food and finding a comfy chair to rest in. Across the room sat the Tortle we briefly met yesterday, to be honest I wasn't sure if I'd imagined him in my drunken state. He was stroking and petting an asleep Ilemahg. He seemed a bit meek, confused and bewildered by his surroundings and the food laid out on the table. After watching him for a while I decided to approach and find out why he was here. He told me he didn't know where he was or how he got here, and made mention of a tower nearby that had appeared out of nowhere. After the rest of our motley rabble had roused and finished eating we decided to explore this tower the Tortle had spoke of.
We headed out of the inn and in the direction of the tower. Not long after spotting it I realised I'd seen this tower before, it was the one we came across in the desert on our way to Arno-Mot. Ilemahg was the first to enter, taking more caution this time. Despite his caution, he still managed to activate the traps, triggering an explosion. To make things worse the senile Tortle kept opening all the barrels in the tower, triggering spike and sword traps within. We reached the second floor and found a large glass bowl with some type of pipe attached to it. Albert determined that it was some type of sacrificial device where by an individual is boiled alive and the fumes smoked through the pipe. He then proceeded to boil his homunculus servant in the pipe and smoke the fumes. Very little seemed to happen, so Tortle took a drag of the pipe and seemed to get some type of benefit from it.
After they finished messing with the pipe, we headed to the next floor. There was inane scribblings on covering the walls and several barrels and a chest in the corner. There was also a partially covered painting on the wall. Ilemahg stepped forward once again triggering a trap, this time summoning multiple demons. During the fight with the demons I glanced at the painting on the wall, finding the design and frame to be hilarious. After we finished killing the demons we tried to open the chest. As soon as the Tortle touched it, teeth appeared and it's maw opened wide, a mimic! It latched onto the Tortle biting his arm. We cut down the mimic and set about looting the tower. We grabbed the portrait and the large glass pipe and headed back to the inn. Bombastus was very keen to purchase the items we found and we began bartering our own deals. I secured an exclusive trading contract for the next two years.
After finishing our business Bombastus informed us the ship he's hired should be at the underground river by now. We packed up the portrait and the pipe and headed to the tunnel entrance. To my shock and quickly following anger, I discovered the ship Bombastus hired was none other than The Meridian, MY OWN SHIP! That bastard Timothy Silvers had mutinied again! Declaring himself Captain! I should have finished him the first time he attempted to mutiny. He's always been sour since loosing the ship to me in that card game! Bombastus, disinterested in the munity, declared he, Albert and Ilemahg will be going to get the cargo, and suggested I settle this matter before he returns. I wasted no time boarding the ship and challenging Timothy! He went on with his usual excuse of the ship really being his, I wasted no time in attacking, drawing my rapier and slashing across his chest. He surprised me by throwing his sword at me, I thought him a fool until it moved on it's own. The skirmish barely lasted a few minutes, I easily overpowered him once I got rid of that pesky sword. The coward ran, retreating into the ship's hold. I followed, quickly noticing that he'd set up some caltrops and had downed a healing potion.
Rather than playing into his hands and trying to fight in the confined space, I decided to instead lock him in the hold. The move clearly caught him off guard as he started spluttering about burning the ship down. This was clearly a bluff as the coward isn't brave enough to risk burning alive locked in a ships hold. With Timothy secured, I next started on the crew. I had no intention to fight them on my own, instead choosing to show the wealth I'd gained in a mere week since leaving Kormul. A flash of platinum and their allegiance was changed, they're simple men after all. Now it was clear who the Captain of the ship was I had the crew set about loading the cargo whilst I inspected the ship. It was clear the ship had been involved in a battle at some point, likely piracy. Once the cargo was loaded I ordered the crew to make the ship ready to sail.
An hour or so later, Bombastus and the others returned, empty handed. Apparently Ilemahg had screwed up and lost the cargo, though I noticed he'd somehow procured a bloody blink dog and a new greatsword. We're forming a right menagerie of strange creatures, first a pixie, now a blink dog. I notified Bombastus of our captive in the hold and had him send that echo of his in to finish off Timothy. For the next 10 minutes there was scuffling and the sound of steel clashing but Timothy's fate was sealed. Once dead I headed down into the hold and searched his person. I took back the Captains spyglass and a nice hat Timothy had aquired. The crew finished loading the cargo and we set about getting ready to make sail down the river. It'll about a day to reach Lake Lhesper, hopefully it'll be a peaceful trip.
JH
A day that just kept on giving!
1456 Date Unknown...
Part 2
Upon leaving the underground of the now ruined church, we arose to find ourselves surrounded. Zombies! Must have been about 12, fully armoured and wielding crossbows, and at the centre of them a familiar looking mage. It was the one we slighted on our way to Arno-Mot. He started by demanding we surrender and apologise for the destruction of his tower. As he finished his little speech, a large boulder flew overhead and hit the ruins of the church. The mage gave a creepy chuckle and proclaimed this was a feat of his making and that if we don't surrender now, we'll be next! I can't recall if I was feeling gallant or just pissed off, but I wasted no time in charging in. I managed to scarper past most of the zombies and challenged the mage directly. Upon seeing this the others, including Bombastus surprisingly, sprung into action. As we set about the skirmish another boulder came crashing down. The zombies were slow and inaccurate with their crossbows making them easy enough for the others to deal with. Ilemahg, now a rat remember, could somehow still wield his greataxe and made short work of any zombie he faced. Albert wasted no time in setting his little flame spitting spider to work, I had to keep one eye on it to keep out of it's range, and Bombastus simply crushed any zombie he faced with his maul.
The mage was a bit more difficult to deal with. His magic spells seemed to drain the very life from me, and one of the zombies managed to grab hold of me. It was difficult to fight it off but once I got free I finished off the mage stabbing my rapier through his chest. He tried to escape using some dark amulet, but I managed to grab it and pulled it from around his neck. With his last groaning breath he cursed and collapsed dead on the floor, dropping his staff on the ground. I thought once he fell the zombies would fall also, but they stayed and carried on their assault. Whilst we finished dispatching the zombies, the boulders kept flying in from afar. The dwarf was hit by two of them, and for a moment I thought the second one had finished him off. Bombastus made no delay in trying to seize the mages staff for himself, but Ilemahg managed to pick it up first. I pocketed the amulet I'd tore from the mages neck and with that we immediately set off to find whatever device we throwing the boulders at us. We all piled in Bombastus' wagon and headed in the direction of the boulders origin. In the distance we could see a large frame with two zombies stood at it's base, a trebuchet! As we approached the zombies launched another boulder sending it straight at us, it completed obliterated the carriage. The impact threw us from the wreckage and badly hurt the dwarf, knocking him unconscious. Whilst Ilemahg tended to Albert, myself and Bombastus along with Jumbo charged the trebuchet quickly dispatching the zombies and claimed the weapon for ourselves. Albert regained consciousness and managed to cast a healing spell on himself, but he still looked on deaths door.
After attaching the trebuchet to Bombastus' elephant, we made our way back to the ruined church and began looting the dead. We removed the armor from zombies and collected up their crossbows securing it as best we could to Jumbo. For safety sake and peace of mind I drew my sabre and removed the mages head, and once we'd finished we headed into town to try and rest and sell what we could of our spoils. We headed to the inn where we'd fought the basilisk and managed to find a trader who bought all of the armor and crossbows we'd secured, totalling 300 platinum, split between myself, Albert and Ilemahg a grand reward for a hard days killing. Once we finished our business we headed outside and saw the mayor preparing to speak and townsfolk gathering round. He made a speech regarding the new tunnel and new tolls in the area. Whilst he was waffling on I noticed an odd patch of ground near to the ruins of the church, and once he'd finished we headed back there to investigate. Upon arriving two Bullywogs now guarded the area and demanded half a gold for each person who passed through the gate. If I wasn't still wounded from the days fighting, I'd have cut them both down where they stood.
As they opened the gate a frail looking tortle was stood there looking somewhat confused. He started rambling on asking where he was and how he got here, I didn't pay him much attention honestly. He did take a shining to Ilemahg though, thinking he was some sort of dog, perhaps he's gone senile with old age. We arrived at the site and now it didn't seem like anything was there, and I started to question if I'd just imagined it. Bombastus shouted out to us and I gestured him over asking if he noticed anything strange about the area. He suggested we leave it for now and call it a night. He also mentioned he'd hired out the finest accommodation in the city, which upon hearing I decided to leave it be and follow him. We found ourselves at a grand guesthouse with staff on hand, and fine food and drink. Whilst the others headed upstairs to rest, I headed to the bar. The staff notified me that Bombastus was covering all expenses and handed me a 150 year old bottle of Red Whiskey, supposedly brewed in the 9 hells! It packed a punch because I don't recall much more of the night... I only recall waking on a nearby sofa to the smell of a fine breakfast.
JH
A morning to try and forget!
Year 1456 Date Unknown...
After a successful night of fighting, gambling and boozing, Ilimahg and myself awoke in some barn near the inn. Our heads fouled with a wicked hangover, we managed to stumble back to the inn for a spot of breakfast. As we sat down at the bar where we approached by a woman, this was no common tavern wench, she was quite the beauty! However whilst she was easy on the eyes, she was hard on the ears, especially with my hangover... She was throwing slights and insults at us, blaming us for her bad fortune at the casino. She'd lost money on my fight betting against me, and then lost a further wager when Illimahg was thrown out the ring by that grung. Hah! Still makes me smile.
I thought her no more than a scorned punter, however upon Ilimahg suggesting she pay us to fight at the casino again, she cast some type of magic with her eyes and turned him to stone! I was taken aback, wondering what the hell was going on. Thanks to come quick thinking I managed to dart behind her, grabbing her face and covering her eyes before she turned her gaze on me. She screamed and struggled against my grapple trying to bite my arms, the crazy bitch! I'd had enough trying to restrain her, I went on the offensive, drew my sword and plunged it into her back. No sooner than the tussle had started did the dwarf we travelled with enter the inn. I hadn't seen him since the previous afternoon and now lady luck had happened him to my aid. He joined the affray, and he and his little mechanical minion attacked the beast.
I say beast for as soon he joined the fight she removed her circlet, throwing it to the floor. Her form writhed and twisted as she transformed back into her original state, a large green lizard! I'd heard tales of lizards that could turn their enemies to stone, Basilisks! Hanging on as best I could, I continued my attacks, stabbing at the scaled hide. The dwarfs spider manage to destroy one of her eyes and after a vital stab from my rapier the beast was done. It surprised me to be honest, the kill was easier than I'd anticipated.
No sooner than we'd finished taking what we could from the basilisk's corpse, an old man in a poke dot robe burst into the inn shouting about a statue. He set his gaze on Ilimahg's stone form, running over to him. He then started complaining saying something about it not being the right look, needed to be a rat. After he calmed his inane ramblings, we managed to come to an agreement that he could have the now statue of Ilimahg, if we could take his weapons and equipment first. The mage wasted no time and with a flick of his wrist, he turned the statue to mist. We quickly grabbed the gear before it returned to stone and promptly made our way to the market district. An eventful start to the day...
After a short walk we arrived at the market district, only to find the place completely deserted. After entering one of the blacksmiths, we discovered a bloodbath had taken place and someone it seemed had gone to go door to door killing each of the merchants. Not wanting to be next in line, we hurriedly went back to the inn and found the mage carving away at a now wooden statue of Ilimahg. Apparently, he needed to transform Ilimahg to wood so he could carve him into a rat first and then turn him back to stone. Once the mage was done carving, he flicked his hand and the statue was stone again. Thinking that we could now reverse the effect of the petrification from the basilisk, I opened the vial of basilisk saliva we took and poured as much as I could on Ilimahg. To my surprise, it did nothing other than cause the mage to laugh. With a chuckle he exclaimed we need to apply the saliva through steam in some type of hot box. I asked if there was another way to reverse the petrification and he said one of the clerics at a nearby church could do it.
The mage cast another spell lifting the statue onto a hovering disk and we set off for the church. Shortly after we arrived to find the church surrounded by toll gates and a Bullywog standing guard. After speaking his gibberish and Albert haggling with him, they settled on a toll of 3 silver and we entered the church ground. To our surprise upon our entry we heard a familiar voice. It was none other than our previous employer Bombastus, he was commanding a group of ruffians to dismantle the church. Upon our approach I greeted him and stated why we were there. He was slightly taken aback and then informed us that he and his little gang had just finished slaying the clerics moments ago. Bombastus was hesitant to try and revive any of the clerics given how difficult they were to dispatch in the first place.
After I finished explaining our predicament he caught one of his men about to slit the throat of one of the clerics that laid dying nearby, and commanded him to stop. We dragged him out of the ruined church and agreed to stabilize him enough just so he could cure Ilimahg's petrification. Bombastus agreed and pulled a familiar looking candle from his coat. He suggested we light the candle to pacify the cleric to avoid any possible fight, I agreed and Albert performed a minor healing spell and lit the candle. The cleric rose up, confused about his circumstances and surroundings. The candle made him most agreeable and he did not put up any resistance to healing Ilimahg. The cleric performed the spell needed and began a sermon spouting his nonsense. Once Ilimahg's consciousness returned I promptly dispatched the cleric running my blade through his back.
This seemed to please Bombastus, who invited us into the basement of the church to see one of his projects. Upon reaching the bottom, we found teams of dwarves mining and sculpting a large tunnel. Apparently Bombastus and the towns Mayor want to build and underground canal to the coast. The church was one of the buildings that needed to move and after the clerics refused, they were killed. It is impressive, it's certainly a massive project to build and the logistics of it can't be understated. I've no idea how they're going to flood the tunnel deep enough for ships to run through it. So, for the meantime at least it appears we're working with or for Bombastus once again. He's quite cunning and I can never figure out if he's being sincere of using us for his own designs. Time will tell...
JH
A night to try and remember!
Year 1456 Date Unknown...
After finishing our business in the marketplace, we found a large casino in the centre of town named the Eye of the Beholder. Inside it seemed a very well set up place, with fighting rings, gaming tables, the lot! There was a fencing ring there looking for challengers, and after seeing the prizes and that they had clerics on standby to heal wounds, I signed up. I did bloody good too! I managed to best both the warm up fighter and the defending champion. Won myself a very nice rapier and a large sapphire, should be worth at least 200g.
After my victory at the fencing, Ithelmag, is that his name? Anyway the Goliath tried his luck in the boxing ring. I'd have thought he'd have done well with his size and stature, but the fool didn't make it past the first round! He was fighting some stubby little frog man, heard one of the spectators call it a Grung. What happened next was amazing, really shocked some of the spectators! Somehow this tiny little frog man threw the Goliath out the ring! Funniest thing I've seen in a while! Imagine an 8ft Goliath being thrown around by a 3ft frog man, it was hilarious! The punters who backed the Goliath were furious, and the Goliath was non to happy either. After his embarrassing loss he wanted to kill the Grung and steal the prize he'd have gotten should he have won, a weird top hat that can summon vermin, some prize...
We saw the Grung running off after the fight down a corridor of dressing rooms. We found him in a room talking to a huge Loxo who turned out to be one of the fighters, The Grey Comet. After the Loxo left I managed to distract the Grung and steal the top hat. I gave it to the Goliath and we made a swift exit. After leaving the casino we headed to the nearest inn, a small place called The Cursed Anchor. After a night of heavy drinking and dining, we woke up in a barn nearby. The rest is rather blurry.
JH
Post Script - Loxo's are large elephant humanoids.
Escort to Arno-mot
Year 1456 Date Unknown...
I've been signed up to an escort mission by my supplier. Seems he's calling in the favour I owe him. The job sounds simple enough, escort some rich fella and his wears from Kormul to some town in the middle of the desert for a 5% share of the cargo. The man seems quite well set up for the trip, a slew of servants and a large carriage at his disposal. Two others have signed up for the job, a Goliath by the looks of him and a dwarf. They both seem fairly capable, but time will tell. I've never been this far into the desert, hopefully it'll be an easy trip.
JH
New Entry - Day One
Weather has been fair today as we set of from Kormul. The servants Bombastus has brought along are proving useful, when we stopped for camp the served us a cooked meal. Far better than the rations I brought. Hopefully the weather will continue to be good in the coming days. It should take around one week to get to Arno-mot.
JH
New Entry - Day Two
The road to Arno-mot was peaceful again today. Weather was very hot this afternoon. Not much else to report.
JH
New Entry - Day Three
Another peaceful days travel. Servants cooked a beef stew for supper, was one of the best meals I've had in a long time.
JH
New Entry - Day Four
It's been four days since we left Kormul, we're over halfway now, and to our luck the journey has so far been peaceful. I could see myself setting up with this Bombastus fella full time if the jobs are this easy. A crew of staff to prepare food, and a comfy carriage to sleep in, sounds ideal.
JH
New Entry - Day Five
Trouble! We came across some strange house in the middle of this nowhere desert. The whole thing looked suspicious as soon as I saw it, though not to anyone else it seems. Bombastus and the servants must have thought it some type of half-way house for travellers. No sooner that they opened the door were they set upon by undead and demons, clearly the work of a mage. The meathead barbarian charged straight in of course and to be honest, to his credit he did seem to dispatch the abominations quite quickly.
The dwarf on the other hand only added to the trouble. Whilst I stood back with Bombastus and the servants, that machine of his set fire to half the bloody building! It was a sight to behold, but the mage upstairs didn't take kindly to it. I barely caught a glimpse of him before he cast some type of earth spell beneath my feet. I managed to avoid it for the most part, but the servants and the horses caught the full blast of it and were killed. I thought it got Bombastus as well but he seemed to disappear during the chaos. He showed up shortly after, mumbling something to the dwarf.
After the dwarves flames had spread throughout the building, it began to collapse. I'm not sure if the mage fell with the building or if he escaped. Either way our group took a serious loss. No more servants, so no more lovely meals served in the evening, I guess I'll have to rely on my rations until we arrive. The loss didn't seem to phase Bombastus, I guess they were only hired help like myself, rather than personal staff. So now our journey continues with Bombastus and the barbarian taking turns pulling the carriage. With any luck that's all the excitement we'll have before reaching Arno-mot.
JH
New Entry - Day Six
More trouble! Today we ran into two gangs in the middle of nowhere. Bullywogs and Yuan-ti. They looked as if they were fixing to fight each other, but after the bullywogs saw our damaged carriage they must of thought us an easy target. They attacked without hesitation, fortunately the yuan-ti didn't join in the affray and we managed to finish the bullywogs off with relative ease. Gave me a chance to clean the rust off my sword. After the battle the Yuan-ti left and we set about collecting the spoils from the dead. Bullywogs don't carry the best of weapons, a few rusty scimitars and a halberd, still we might be able to sell for a few gold. Nearby the encounter was a large lit tent, we assumed is was some type of camp. When we got closer to the tent we saw the entrance was being guarded by a Bullywogs and a Yuan-ti, odd given they were about to fight each other. I managed to sneak round the back of the tent and take a look under. I thought it might be a meeting between gang leaders, but what I saw was a large glowing candle in the centre of the tent. As soon as it met my gaze I felt it try and influence me, fortunately I managed to resist whatever magic it emanated.
All of a sudden the candle rose up, floating. It floated towards the entrance and out of the tent. I entered the tent, walking past the guards who seemed a bit lax. Thinking my companions would be subject to whatever magic I resisted I quickly grabbed the candle, threw it to the floor and kicked sand over it to extinguish the flame. Not a second sooner that the candle was out, the Bullywog and Yuan-ti at the tent began fighting. Bombastus took this opportunity to disappear again, I managed to catch him after following the footprints in the sand. He had picked up the candle and pocketed it in his coat. Later I saw him dividing some of his coin, apparently there are toll gates at Arno-mot that we'll have to pass through. Hope that's the last trouble we have for this trip!
JH
New Entry - Day Seven
We finally made it to Arno-mot, only to be greeted with toll gate after toll gate. I think we passed through nine before we got to our destination. Turns out the poison we were escorting was for the town's Mayor. We were each paid our share, though the dwarf received a considerably larger share for some reason. It wasn't mentioned why, not did I hear of any reason before we left Kormul. Well regardless, thats the contract fullfilled and our business complete. Guess I'll have to look for passage back to Kormul. After leaving the Mayor's residence we headed to the market area and found a shop that sold magical creatures, all manner of strange beasts and sprites locked up in cages. I bought a ring, the shopkeeper claims allows you to breath underwater, we'll see. If it is magical, it was a bargain compared to prices up north.
JH.
The Devil's Playground
Year 1456 Mid Summertide
It's been over a year since I arrived in Southern Faerûn. I've had my ups and my downs since coming here but I've managed to survive. I managed to find that city after 10 days on the river. Kormul, this place really is the devil's playground. It can be a hell hole that swallows you whole or a wild adventure full of riches, you just need to know how it works, and who not to piss off. Since coming here I've managed to set up a tidy little business, cargo hauling for the big players. Turns out at the top of the river is a large in land lake where local warlords control the trade. If you've got a boat and a bit of knowhow, the job offers flood in. If you've got a boat that is, the alternative is hauling your cargo on a wagon through the Shaar desert. Well as it happens, since arriving here I've managed to secure myself a ship. She's not the biggest or fastest ship in the world, but she's mine. The Meridian. She's lovely trading sloop I won in a very lucky card game. Lucky because one, I won on the river, and two, the guy who bet her was completely hammered. I'd had a very good night and built myself a nice stack, and I was sitting pretty with three dragons. He called all in with the deed to his boat on the table, and the rest is history. As I said, she's not the fastest, but she more than makes up for it with cargo space. She's been my lifeline to surviving in this desolate and dangerous place.
The crew I kept on, mostly, they're a good lot and they know the ship well. Seemed to tiresome to hire and train new crew. I also kept on the previous captain and made him my first mate. It was a risky deal, Tim is a cunning one no doubt. I don't think he'd try anything though, I spared his life in that duel after he refused to resign his captaincy. I try and stay on the boat as much as possible, one to keep an eye on it, and two because the inner city is full of pickpockets and gangs. Dangerous to go anywhere alone, you're easy prey if your on your own. The city is crazy dangerous after dark, way more than usual. As soon as the sun sets the Yuan-ti come out, huge snake men, not a clue what they're saying. Also the Thri-kreen, large insect like humans with four arms. Apparently they can read your mind, very tricky to deal with so I try and avoid them.
JH
An unwanted task...
Year 1455 Date Unknown...
What have I signed up for?!
So much for a quick profit...That wretch at the inn made the job sound so easy, paddle up the river to Kormul and deliver the shipment. He was mum on the fact it's over 50 leagues to Kormul! Bastard! To make matters worse, the river flows through a decaying jungle full of all kinds of unimaginable danger. I thought he was the fool for paying so much for such a simple task, clearly I was the fool. The shipment is making me uneasy, only a single crate, and it's locked up so well, I wonder what's inside?
I've been on this blasted river nearly eight days now and there's no sign of a city or civilization in sight. The ship will be well on her way back North now, I should have never left the dock. The myriad of strange noices coming from the jungle on a night give me the creeps. Howling, screaming and worse, it's enough to keep a man on edge. I have been fortunate that my presence has so far gone unnoticed, I just hope my luck holds and I reach the city soon...
JH
A loud night and a quick profit?
Year 1452 Date Unknown...
Lushpool! We've made our destination and arrived at this port city. I looks a fine place to call home, sunny skies and beautiful women, far better than the gloomy North. I've got two days to enjoy this place, and it's women, before heading back and I intend to make the most of it.
JH
New entry
It's been a fine night! Women and wine, dancing a dueling. These southerners really know how to have a good time!
I met a man at the bar who was looking to employ a waterman to take a shipment up river. Sound an easy job and the pay is good, really good! I'm not sure if the man is a fool or is just really concerned about his shipment. He won't say as to it's contents, but it's no matter, for 50 gold dragons I'd sell my mother! With such coin I could live the easy life here for months. I'm to meet him tomorrow at the docks.
JH
A voyages end draws near...
1452 Date Unknown...
1455, Date Unknown...
Our destination marks the horizon, Captain says if the wind remains in our favour we should make the port city of Lushpool tomorrow. This is my first time seeing Southern Faérun. I look forward to seeing this "City of Shimmering Pools", and it's women. Six weeks or so we've been at sea with the threat of pirates and worse looking to seize our cargo, and no proper drink to calm my nerves. As soon as we hit the dock, I'm taking my pay and finding a tavern to fill by belly, forget my troubles, and rest my head.
I hope the wind keeps, the sooner we leave this "Sea of Swords" the better. We're supposed to have two days layover before heading back North, I hope they pass slowly for I'm in no hurry to return to the roughness of the seas. There have been stories and rumours amongst the crew of the myriad of strange creatures that call Southern Faérun home. Can they really be true? Men with huge snakelike bodies, intelligent beast creatures, and insects as tall as a man, surely such things are just stories?
JH
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