Written By Sorrel
March 21, 2018, 1:58 a.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
As it is, we are weighted with the news that Baron Estaban, Lucita's beloved husband, was killed in combat at sea. He is not the only one, of course, but he is the one that is most personal for us, the one that hits our company the hardest. They were still newlyweds, not even a year married. And she's expecting. The baron's heir will be posthumous.
Exhaustion overwhelms.
Written By Wash
March 21, 2018, 1:49 a.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
This time they brought reinforcements. Perhaps they found those reinforcements in the waters around Setarco, who can say? It was a mystery how they were sustained outside the Darkwaters. What happened when the storm blew away the darkwaters around Maelstrom? The enemy dispersed. Not so here.
Then the Red Serpent exploded. I have never seen something burn so quickly. It boiled the water, pushing it out over the enemy fleet like a burst of lava spewing forth from the ocean. That was not enough to end our foe, but it did provoke their master to show himself.
A shark. Armored entirely in glass. Eighty foot long. We have long believed there are monsters in the sea. The sea doesn't need monsters, there is room enough for everyday creatures to grow to such enormous size.
My first instinct was to destroy the beast. I dropped my anchor and hoped to entangle the creature, then winch it up against my hull and cut it in half with the leverage of my capstan. But the High Lord issued orders to focus on the enemy, ignore the shark. Unfortunately, he did not ignore me.
So we sailed away from it, dodging, tacking, jibing. Eventually it did catch us, no cog, not even the Bounty can match the natural grace of a shark in its element. But it caught us by the anchor, which I severed. We had one last chance to run before it. At least this way it did not devour any other ships in the meantime.
Something went wrong however. I believe Mangata must have favored us. The shark died, whatever held it's mirrored armor to its body relaxed and the glass shards scattered over the entire fleet. No one was unscathed. Then the darkwaters poured out of the shark. They must have been inside the beast all along, sustaining our enemies. They did not last long, though their parting blow was almost as painful as the glass explosion.
We will face such threats again. I hope that Mangata favors us then as well.
Written By Merek
March 21, 2018, 1:30 a.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
[The handwriting is different, as if the one writing it was emotional.]
Written By Serafine
March 21, 2018, 1:25 a.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
I want it known in the history of our people, in these pages we keep for the generations to come, that would it not further divide the Compact and stress out my family, I would marry Leta Broadbent. As I understand that political climes are not accepting of it, and my beloved cares not for such things, I care.
I care that the woman I love, though many find the fault in her birth as commoner, she shines to me more glorious than any Queen, King, Princess, or Star; that I love her, and in my heart and in my home, I call her 'wife', because she is to me in all the ways that matter.
I invoke Vellichor to keep this singular fact true, that the world will remember, that Serafine Athalie Velenosa loved Leta Broadbent until the very end of her days, with every inch of her soul.
Queen of Endings, if you could stall my turn on the Wheel to have me meet her again in the next life, that we might love again, I would be your servant.
Written By Theron
March 21, 2018, 1:24 a.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Grazia
Written By Eleyna
March 21, 2018, 1:23 a.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
Baron Estaban Saik.
Princess Serafine Velenosa.
Again, the Lyceum bleeds. Again, the Lyceum grieves.
Written By Ian
March 21, 2018, 12:29 a.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
I'm not dead.
Messengers aren't practical, so I hope this will do.
Written By Isidora
March 20, 2018, 11:32 p.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
I lay in a forest clearing
I watched the sky peek through the boughs of maple trees
The fragrance of the earth lulls me into serenity
The sounds of the forest beckon me deeper
I remain.
My heart swells with the blessing of life from the gods
while it also aches for those who have been lost to battle.
Written By Ven
March 20, 2018, 10:53 p.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
yet safely here we must stay,
listen well and hear me say,
hold fast your hope, ere come the day."
Written By Jaenelle
March 20, 2018, 10:21 p.m.(5/24/1008 AR)
As a liability anywhere but home, I will always try to understand. I will always mourn for those lost.
Written By Ianna
March 20, 2018, 8:04 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
Keep this under advisement!
Written By Ianna
March 20, 2018, 8:01 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
Knights, dukes, archlectors... no one is a match for a healer trying to get her job done. There is much power one can wield without ever touching a blade.
Written By Reigna
March 20, 2018, 8 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
I am considering hosting a luncheon. A gathering where we can discuss things that we saw, things that we feel, fears that we now carry. I do not know if this is something that might interest others. If there is any interest, please do let me know and I will attempt to coordinate a series of gatherings. Informal situations in which we can discuss things. I will also be able to offer suggestions on sleeping aids.
Please let me know.
Written By Lucita
March 20, 2018, 7:22 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
I had tried our best, hoping we had been able to keep the morale of our troops bolstered.
Silently we sipped water or wine to sooth our throats. As we stood there, darkness started
to grow over the water and we started to feel a sickening feeling that something was
coming toward the ground troops, those on the wall and in the towers.
Lord Corban Telmar stood in a position to guard Princess Sorrel Thrax. Lord Ian Kennex
kept our Thrax guards, Red with the table-smashing temper, Svenson (who was told by Ian
that we's sing about him some day) and the others in position to face whatever it was,
archers, attackers, some with shields to surround us. A lantern with the eternal flame
burned beside us and holy water nearby and Archlector Madeleine stood supportively with us,
prayers and reassurance offered. Spaced in positions to defend us stood Lord Theron
Mazetti, Shard, Adalyn Clement, Elyse, Princess Serafine Velenosa, Lady Regla Navegant,
Dame Leta Broadbent, and someone wearing a skull mask. Brave souls, one and all and ones
to whom we owe our lives.
Then it emerged from the sea, a huge monster, reaching from the ground to the top of the
tower in which we stood. It had dozens of globular whitish-grey eyes, blue-black tough
skin the color of a bruised corpse coated with algae. Scaly lips framed teeth that were
long and sharp as daggers, and tentacles, it had so many of them, this creature with a
nightmare-ish image. people had seen one like it before, just off the beach in Arx. It
gave a keening wail and attacked.
Archers tried for the eyes with some effect. Our shield wall of guards surrounded us so
only glimpses of a fierce battle were seen but that was enough to earn those brave
warriors respect and thanks for their skill, their protection as it advanced on us. We
sang to our defenders, encouraging bravery, inspiring songs and prayers for their safety.
When one of the tentacles was lopped off, it did not slow the beast that much, instead
the tentacle writhed and grew, turned into a second beast, giving not one but two to be
fought. Shard and Theron were injured but fought on. Teamwork showed in each movement we were
able to glimpse. Adalyn being the most wounded wisely withdrew to let fresher, unhurt
fighters take her place. As the first creature was killed by Lord Corban, the tentacle
beast consumed it and grew, soon as large as the first had been and as vicious. Lord Ian
remained calm, keeping the Thrax soldiers focused and together.
And another different attack began, our foe has something that wailed counterpoint to
the prayers and songs we sang for the soldiers and fear began to grow, our efforts losing
their effect until we changed the order of them and varied the wording of our prayers and
songs more, to slip past the wails. Regla took a hard blow from a tentacle. Shard wound up
with the beast trying to bite her face and jammed her cobalt blade between its teeth,
trying to fend it off, and it vomited forth a third monster amid splattered nauseating
icky stuff and smashed her in the head with a stone tablet. Lord Theron took more damage,
shouting his ribs were broken. I am not sure who killed the tentacle monster, perhaps Leta
Broadbend from what could hear, but the men holding the wall of shields around us blocked
view.
Archlector Madeleine seemed to work tirelessly to pray and encourage everyone to give
just a little more, trying to instill calm and confidence. The singers were nearing the
limit of what we could do, voices straining and weakening, growing hoarse as pain grew in
our throats. Our efforts came at a cost. Princess Tikva collapsed, unconscious and blood
seeping from her nose as exhaustion overwhelmed her just as Shard struck the fatal blow to
the third and last monster and the wailing faded away.
And there the story ends. Princess Tikva recovered and is well. There was much out of my
view, so could not mention each defender's contribution the way it deserves, but know we
would not be here today without them. Thank you.'.
Written By Tikva
March 20, 2018, 7:19 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
I owe my deepest thanks to my sisters-at-arms, Lucita and Sorrel, for we sang together against the foe. I'm still not entirely sure what happened when I was struck down, but I have it on good report that I owe my speedy recovery to Lady Ianna Greenmarch, whose tender care brought me round and helped cool my aching, aching head -- and to Lord Corban Telmar, who carried my swooning self from the tower. Thank you for the rescue, Lord Telmar. I am sure that if I had been awake, the heroism would have made me swoon all over again. Or so I'm told.
I'm out of bed again and the threat looms on the horizon like a great, hideous blackness. Lord Ian Kennex's men are reforming their shield wall to keep us safe as we remount the tower. I don't know what is to come, but as I risk all for the Compact, I am given a moment's warmth and reflection by how far and wide the unity of this moment reaches: from the Crownlands, where my home lies, to the Lyceum, where Lucita's husband, home and hearth await her, to the Mourning Isles, where Lord Ian's men and my sweet friend Sorrel hale from, to the Oathlands, where my bold rescuers and healers stand tall, to the bold North, where my husband and our troops rallied in defense of Stormwall--
We are strong because we are together, and our voices will rise today with all the force that harmony can bring to bear.
Once more, ladies, from the top . . .
Written By Archeron
March 20, 2018, 7:13 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
And still.
My cousin commands the enemy. My supposedly dead cousin. I cannot imagine the rage in her, all that time away, sitting. It was easy to hate Thrax, if that had festered, then I cannot imagine what that does to a person, to their very being. Yet. She bears the name Tyde. And House Tyde survives once more. I cannot help but feel she deserves a chance to know that perhaps there is some chance at peace for her. And that Tyde commands her obedience. A last chance for her to turn from whatever drives her.
If she will not, then I just hope she stays well clear of these walls. There are few enough Tydes, to have to kill one myself would feel like a betrayal, but a necessary one if we must.
Written By Saoirse
March 20, 2018, 6:44 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Cadenza
Written By Ann
March 20, 2018, 6:44 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Asger
Asger and I stood on the beach at Stormwall the morning after the battle and said our vows to each other knee deep in the ashes of our fallen kindred, zombies, and city.
We will rebuild. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Sharks are jerks. Our lucky number is 42.
Strangely relevant now that I look back at it.
Written By Alistair
March 20, 2018, 6:34 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
What do you do with the mad that you feel
When you feel so mad you could bite?
When the whole wide world seems oh, so wrong...
And nothing you do seems very right?
What do you do? Do you punch a bag?
Do you pound some clay or some dough?
Do you round up friends for a game of tag?
Or see how fast you go?
It's great to be able to stop
When you've planned a thing that's wrong,
And be able to do something else instead
And think this song:
I can stop when I want to
Can stop when I wish
I can stop, stop, stop any time.
And what a good feeling to feel like this
And know that the feeling is really mine.
Know that there's something deep inside
That helps us become what we can.
For a girl can be someday a woman
And a boy can be someday a man.
- Bard-Knight of Good Frederick - A Guide to Raising Little Boys and Girls, Knights, Lords and Ladies
Written By Sabella
March 20, 2018, 6:11 p.m.(5/23/1008 AR)
Today was a wonderful day! I pitched a new project to my protege and he agreed it was a worthy undertaking! I do not want to spoil too much of it, but it will require he write a number of new, short plays to be produced for a very important audience. I have every faith that he will do an amazing job! I also received a tour of Kennex Kay and an offer of swimming lessons should I ever want to learn, which I would not. What if there were an great shaking of the earth and a crack opened up and pulled me down into the ocean?! Or worse, if sharks swam up from it?! I have heard tell of fish that can tear flesh from bones in mere seconds! What if there were some of them in there!? I'm sure there probably are not, as it is a pool for recreation, but one can never know these days what will happen, so it seems safer to keep my feet quite firmly on the ground.
I am so excited for this new project! It helps to keep my mind off of the sorry state of affairs we find ourselves in with this war. I worry daily about my sisters and all my loved ones who are still not home. Know that I am doing my best here at home to keep people upbeat and hopeful. I love you all!
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.