Jeth 1

[19] At the Sindian border we're asked a lot of questions, but it's only a bureaucratic formality. During the night 6 Fire Beetles attack us.

[20] This is our first day in Sind, here its really hot: about 37°C by day and 27°C by night. At present we're in the state of Nagpuri.

[21] During the night strange noises wake us up. It's a man who drives several grazing quadruped creatures with short horns and a nice goatee and an animal similar to the wolves we met some time ago, but much smaller. 2

[23] Despite being in spring 3, the temperature is about 48°C. We start sweating and my 2 friends faint.

[24] A group of Gnolls is burning an house. As always, we rush in melee and they flee. The peasants speak to us using strange nouns: Himaya, Jadugerya, Rishiya, while they talk of themselves as poor Prajaya. 4

[25] We rest today. I spend several hours with the daughter of the farmer. Her name is Jasmine and she's very nice. During the night two big lizards approach the farm, I rush toward them and switly kill the two.

[1] We reach Mahasabad without problems. In a tavern we prevent a brawl, that involved an elf speaking in a funny way. He tells us of coming from Glantri with his companions. During the night I repent of having helped him, after all a surface elf is still a surface elf.

[2] Short tour of the town sightseeing. I buy an horse, an unknown quadruped used to carry people and things. The ne fasti month of Wanderers is near (according to our calendar), so we decide to head for Palkat, where we will stop. During the night a strange big winged lizard flies above us high in the sky. 5

[3] The heat is really oppressive, but both us and our mounts feel ok.

[4] We're in sight of our little town of abou 4000 dwellers. In the area there are several pushy guards. We're at the desert border.

[5] 1 Wanderers. We stop in town to decide what to do. I settle myself in the nearby cloister training for the following days.

Sawan

[4] We leave for Sayr Ulan, the capital.

[6] We're in the capital, there is an heavy rain- and sand-storm. We arrived too late in the evening and the city doors are already closed, so we search a lodging in the Ejnebi Taleti (the adventurer's district). We find a beautiful inn called Lotus Flower, but it's too expensive, so we go to the Traveller's Relax, that is managed by a halfling.

[7] There are several ads in the inn: a mission from here to Glantri, an escort till the nearby swamp and a ghoul hunt to get their tongues. We try to do them all. Strolling in the city we notice the Marajadhiraja's Flying Barge.

[8] We head for Karganj by the Swamp escorting a merchant with a camel.

[10] By sunset we arrive in Karganj. Tomorrow we'll enter the swamp.

[11] The swamp is a treacherous area, several times we retrace our steps. That means that we got lost.

[12] Still wandering aimlessly. I'm already tired of this zone and I hope to get out of here soon.

[13] In the evening why descry 3 Trolls, but we succeed in evading them.

[14] During our exploration we find a ruined building. While we get closer we're attacked by a carnivorous plant. I'm almost dead and my friends aren't in a better shape so we decide to flee. Till now the booty of our wandering consists only in some silver buttons and some jar's potsherd. In the evening we're attacked by some Trolls, probably the same of yesterday. After exchanging some blow we try to flee. For a while I lose contact with my friends but soon we're toghether again.

[15] We meet a guy, who decide to come with us. If we'll some Ghoul we'll keep the tongue and give the rest to him.

[16] We go back to the town to supply with food. Tired of wandering in such a unhealthy place we give up our hunt.

[17] We leave for Sayr Ulan escorting a trader. During the journey we encounter 3 Tuatara Lizards who prove again to be tough. Unfortunately Ciclosporel dies while fighting.

[18] We carry on our journey to the capital bringing with us the corpse of our friend hoping to resurrect him.

[19] We meet a follower of Sinbad, who preaches the glory of his immortal and seeks personal fame.

[21] We reach the city gates, while heading for a temple the corpse of Ciclosporel suddenly becomes lively. 6 At sunset we stop again by the Traveller's Relax.

[22] We go to the Glantrian embassy to take some crates that we shall bring to Graez, in the Principalities of Glantri. We buy a small cart and some food.

[23] We start our long journey, the sky is partially clouded, but the road is in good state.

[25] Just before reaching Palkat we're attacked by 6 Tiger Beetles. A new sad event upsets us: Ciclosporel dies again under the blow of those creatures but in the evening he is again alive.

[26] We head for Gawan flanking the hills.

Bhadon

[1] We're in Baratkand, state of 40000 people on about 32500 square miles. The area is renowned for its coloured flowers which grow all the year round. I wonder where do they grow in this desertic land ?

[2] Today is terribly hot, this climate seems hostile to us.

[3] Finally it rains, freshening the day.

[6] We enter the desert near Gunga Keep. We meet a group of mounted soldiers who warn us against attacks by humanoids, especially Gnolls. To ease our trip they'll escort us for a while.

[7] Today is Ciclosporel's birthday (11 Food).

[8] We leave the desert entering Kadesh. Despite the good weather the trail is rather muddy. This region is well known for its proud warriors, and this is surely the reason of the considerable autonomy of this state.

[9] We reach Gawan, little village of about 400 dwellers. There is a riot wich turns into a murder. A Darokinian dies practically in our arms giving us a misterious letter. We don't advise the police to avoid being involved.

[10] Using read languages we unravel the mistery: the letter is addressed to the Headmaster of Mauntea House and it impeaches a group of merchants who sell weapons to Kadesh. According to the letter the organizers of this trade are members of Franich House. We decide to go back to Baratpur to deliver this letter.

[11] This day is ne fasti, it's 16 Food: the anniversary of the disastrous surface expedition of Shadowelf. A group of 30 Orcs attacks us and we, full of rage and hatred, reply in a ruthless and systematic way.

[14] We reach Gunga Keep, it's a fortress against the continous humanoid raids. We leave here our cart and ride nimbler toward Baratpur. In a tavern we meet some merchants who ask us strange questions about our letter. We sell it for 2 topaz and 1 garnet, but first we copy it, suspecting unlawful.

[15] In the morning we see the 2 guys heading for Gawan, this confirms our suspicions. Thanks to fast horses we reach Baratpur by sunset. Here we meet Thurio Mauntea, nephew of the famous Mauntea, who tanks us for the info we gave him. As reward we get a chessboard 7 and 3 bottles of prized wine.

[17] We go back to Gunga Keep, where we arrive at dusk.

[18] We head for Glantri. During the night strange things happens: there are lights dancing all around me, them I find a rucksack full of golden pieces.

[19] I'm very pleased because the objects of the previous night look solid and real.

[20] We leave the desert, regretfully I notice the lack of the golden pieces. As a meagre solace there is still the sack, maybe as a warning to my greed.

[26] We clamber on the slopes of Khurish Massif and we're assailed by a ferocious Troll. Having learned from previous experiences we succeed in killing him quickly.

[28] We reach Latehar, capital of Kadesh. It's a town of about 6000 inhabitants. We notice a remarkable difference between the various classes and, with much regret, we feel a certain suspicion and arrogance toward us. We decide to camp outside the town and, as an answer to our choice, we're attacked by 2 Trolls, but they aren't much of a problem

Asin

[1] First day of Fall. At about midday a fierce storm breaks out, but it ends in the afternoon. At sunset we see the transit of a caravan carrying someone important.

[2] The trail is muddy and the bad weather slows our journey. We pass by Peshimr capital, the city of Karakandar.

[3] While traveling we descry mount Urapurda, of about 18000 feet, from which rises some smoke.

[5] We reach Jalbad, bordering village between Sind and Adri Varma Plateau. Killing some Fire Beetles, we get 12 glowing glands that we'll try to sell.

[6] We left Sind. Now we're in an uncivilized and dangerous place, as if all had run smoothly till now...

[7] As first contact with the local dwellers, we see a cyclops charging us threateningly. He is about 6 meters tall, however we succeed in killing him, but it wasn't easy. 8

[8] We keep climbing the Plateau, heading for Fort Sablestone, on the Glantrian soil. 9

[9] We encounter strange humanoid creatures that look like a crossbreed between a man and a cat. 10 They're hunting some wolf-men. We're astonished by the variety of creatures who dwells on the surface world.

Footnotes:

1: In the following part of the diary I'll use the Sindian months.

2: They're, respectively, goats and dogs. Completely harmless, according to the man.

3: In the surface world the year is divided into 4 seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. Normally the hottest period is the second one.

4: Terms used to mean respectively: warriors, magic users, clerics and peasants.

5: It is a Dragon. It seems that Dragons are mighty and feared creatures. We cannot verify the veracity of that statement.

6: From a later account it seems that Ciclosporel found himself in a weird dimension inhabited by strange creatures with even stranger customs. From his confused memories it seems that in the end he stepped trough a gate and found himself in our world as a soul before rejoining with his body.

7: It is a common game among upper classes, it requires a good deal of cunning and intelligence.

8: In combat I realized how good is the combination: Protection From Evil and Mirror Image.

9: In Glantri it's utterly forbidden to worship any immortal, but Rad, moreover clerics aren't welcome, save for particular areas and under strict rules. It's better for Ciclosporel not too pray loud in the following days.

10: They're Rakastas.

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Diary written by Igor Betti and translated by 'Brizio.