4.2nd.1.843 A.T.E: Festival in Cogstown

Tonight was the night that Asmodean and Tom chose to break into the keep that Janice was being held in. Tonight is the Cogstown six month anniversary of freedom, held in the town square. We found that Janice was being held at the top floor of the ten story keep.

I conversed with many of the townsfolk, making many acquaintances. It was nice to experience a social gathering such as this once again. It reminded me of many of the parties that my family had joined or hosted. I saw Max flirting with a woman, and they eventually disappeared. The woman he chose didn’t seem to be the cleanest of choices; though I am sure alcohol did something to make that less obvious to him.

The party was brought to an abrupt halt as some guards rushed in from the keep, saying there had been a break in. From what I heard later, Asmodean and Tom broke into the keeps 10th floor and fought many guards. Unfortunately, these guards were not called ‘elite guards’ for nothing, and they overpowered and outnumbered the two. Asmodean and Tom had to escape out of another 10th floor window, Asmodean keeping them held back for as long as possible with beds. In effect, the raid was a complete failure.

Not only are the guards more likely to be on guard for another attack, the festival was the only chance to avoid the lesser guards as well. We have no choice but to try again in a few days. We were fortunate though, Vargas finally made his way to our location from Ragnarok this night.

5.1st.1.843 A.T.E: Wrongfully Kidnapped!

Not much had happened yesterday, other than Asmodean finding that to use the gun he had, he needed ‘gunpowder’. This ‘gunpowder’ was only available at the northern mining town of Johara. Conveniently, we were already headed to Johara because that is the location of the vampire apparently.

The day started with Tom meeting us at the tavern we were staying at. When Tom chose to meet us, I expected it was to inform us he was ready to leave, but that was not the case. Instead, Tom told us we were not able to leave because one of his contacts in the city, a woman, was kidnapped by the City’s Bishop. He was very reluctant to relinquish any information on the kidnapped victim, even though he wished for us to rescue her. Her name is apparently Janice. In a private discussion with Tom, I was able to coax out of him that Janice was his lover at one point, but they got separated because of Tom’s transfer to Ul-Chardros. We also found that there would be a celebration of the six months that Cogstown has been free in a week. Tom thinks that would be the best time to sneak in as only the elite guards will be guarding the keep.

Both Asmodean and Numa wished to perform their own investigations between now and the festival. I figure that the party would be a great time to mingle with the townsfolk, since everyone will be there.

3.1st.1.843 A.T.E: City of Invention

What a wonderful city we have arrived in today. The city is Cogstown, and it is an inventor’s haven. A few months ago, the city rebelled and managed to drive off the empires forces so that its citizens would be free to focus on their craft without fear of the draft. I feel such a place as this could easily become a home to me, though I’m not much of an inventor. Tom said we would be here for a while, which I have come to expect. At least here is much more comfortable than many of the other places we have stayed.

We wandered around the town taking in the sights. At one point, we saw a man demonstrating something called a ‘rifle’. It seemed to have quite a bit of power, but at the same time be quite volatile. I would think that sticking with my own bow would be much more reliable, and safer. Asmodean seemed quite fascinated with the thing though and discussed some stuff with the man firing the gun. While exploring, I found another interesting device, this one designed to explode. You light it and it creates a small burst of flame after the fuse runs out. I thought they seemed intriguing, so I purchased five of them to see if they were worth it.

We will rest well tonight.

1.1st.1.843 A.T.E: New Years Day

It is a new year. I had not really intended to spend this day in the middle of nowhere, but alas, it appears the gods had other plans for me. How typical. It has been quite some time since I have visited my family, or Silaqui. To visit them would bring the wrath of the empire down upon them, and I do not wish for that to happen. I hope they are doing well and enjoying this day more than myself. I must remember to write them when I get to the next town, hopefully they will have a courier.

I doubt my traveling companions even realize today’s significance. Speaking of them, a few days ago, Asmodean became very strange and started attempting to, as far as I could tell, grope Tom. I decided it was better that I not get involved, since it didn’t seem that Asmodean was actually hurting Tom, and I don’t particularly trust Tom anyway.

I wish I understood why the gods forced upon me such a strange group of allies.

3.2nd.12.842 A.T.E: Skin Monsters

Today, we hunted down the rest of the skin monsters from last night. Numa had tracked them to the town’s fountain, and while we searched it, the townsfolk looked on in interest. Max stayed behind to try and offer crowd control, but I’m not sure it helped. There ended up being a trap door in the fountain that lead to an underground cave, where we spotted one of the skin monsters. Numa commanded it, along with his two others. We made our way up some stairs we found into an abandoned shop. Within the shop, we fought 3 more of these if I remember right. I cannot remember how many there were total actually, seven I believe. One of them kept grabbing for me, but it didn’t stay attached for very long. We took down two, and Numa commanded the last one. After that, we decided it was not worth keeping these, since they might turn as the entomber had done. So, we slew them one at a time. The combat was more monotonous than anything else, it wasn’t even really good practice for more important battles.

We left after we dealt with them, traveling towards the next town above ground. The underground passages do not lead to the town from what I understood. It looks like we have another week of travel ahead of us.

2.2nd.12.942 A.T.E: Serial Killer

I managed to rest quite well last night, but it appears that there were others in town that were not so privileged. This morning, five dead bodies were found in two separate neighboring houses. The corpses of the families, man, woman, and child, had their bodies completely skinned. I’m not sure what vile fiend would do such a thing, but they should definitely be prevented from doing such an atrocious act again.

Tom suggested we visit the murder scenes and even stay the night at the houses. I asked around town about the families and their enemies, and found they likely had none. The only thing they had in common was that they were next door to one another, and friendly neighbors. I cannot imagine that the murderer would return to the same place, and the houses were very poorly maintained and reeked of many foul smells, so I chose to sleep at the inn instead of with everyone else. If the others do manage to find anything of interest, I am sure they will notify me in the morning.

A side note, today Asmodean’s legs resembled those of a goat.

Amendment: Well, I wasn’t able to rest as well tonight as last night. Tom rushed in to inform me that the houses were under attack again. I took Vadania and quickly made my way to the Eastern housing area and saw a strange sight. There were, from what I could see, human skins crawling around attacking my comrades. I can only assume they were the skins of those who died the previous night. Vadania and I focused on one, and we both fought well. Annoyingly, it managed to hit me and began an attempt to constrict around my body. It wasn't the most pleasant sensation and I hope it never happens again. We managed to get the thing off of me and kill it before it could do any real harm, I don’t particularly want to imagine the sensation of having my skin peeled off. Numa managed to control the two other skin-things that were present. He apparently saw these things come out of the water fountain in the center of town and make their way here. These were also apparently undead, though I'm not sure what else they could have been. It is surprising and irritating how often undead come across our path. I wonder if the fact we are chasing after a vampire has anything to do with that.

Tom thinks it is not worth trying to save the town from the remaining skin monsters, but I do. I don’t immediately think of just the reward for doing so, unlike Tom. Asmodean also brought up his weapon, saying that it was somehow cursed instead of enhanced with magic. I wonder if this means my weapon could have the same problem. Tom said he would fix the issue at the next town, and that we should leave immediately. Much to his displeasure, we decided that we would stay and deal with the problem tomorrow morning.

1.2nd.12.842 A.T.E: Valleyhammer

Today, we finally have left the confines of the tunnels and caves that make up the secret underground passage. We arrived in the small village of Valleyhammer. Finally we can see the sun again, how I missed its warm glow. Well, relatively warm glow, it is the middle of winter. Tom said he had to go and do some things prior to us leaving, and that we would leave tomorrow. It bothers me that he doesn’t disclose to us what exactly it is that he goes off to do. All I know is that he apparently has no contacts in this town, and was looking to make some. He did manage to find us an inn, and is staying with us this night, as opposed to the underground outpost where he slept elsewhere. I explored the town briefly to see if there was anything of interest, but found nothing of the sort. Luckily, the Empire apparently saw an equal amount of interest here, and its presence is almost non-existent. It should be a peaceful nights rest in a peaceful village.

Also, Numa’s Entomber is no longer traveling with us. The creature turned on us during our journey and when Numa cast a spell to befriend it again, he sent the Entomber off. Since it turned on Numa once during the fight at the outpost, and once again during our trip, it seemed more of a liability than an asset.