The Journal of the Pride of Boeruine.

This is the Journal of an exploration vessel sent out from Boeruine by the Boeruine Trading Guild. It mission was to chart the eastern coast of Aduria, and return with its findings. The ship was a roundship, the pride of the guilds fleet. It carried 2 units of troops and was escorted by another guild vessel, a caravel. The Roundship is commanded by Captain Gaelin Harold, while Captain Malik runs the Caravel.
 

Keltier 1:
The ships set out from Seasedge in early winter, although this is not the best time to travel we have been assured that the weather south of Mieres will be fine for the journey. We are carrying with us enough food to last for two months and a cargo load of trade goods in case we find anyone to sell to on the way. Guildmaster Arien Borthein has also loaned us the use of some of his troops, over three hundred in all. Although we hope not to encounter any dangers they will be welcome on the journey.

Keltier 7:
After nearly a weeks travelling through some rough weather we have arrived in Seaward province, Mieres. We will only be here for a couple of days to do some refitting and gather some new supplies. Next we leave Anuire and set out down the southern shore of Aduria. Soon after we arrived in Seaward we were approached by a member of the temple of Eloele who warned us not to travel south or we would be killed by the evil southerners. The priestess refused to say how she knew this though, and would not tell us about what to expect south of the colony. While in port we also picked up a new crew member, Arien the magician. Hopefully he will turn out to be useful, although I have always been wary of spell casters. As soon as finish loading the new goods I want to be out of this port, too many pirates from my liking.

Keltier 11:
We have encountered a new land, know as Suakien after it's capital city. To our surprise the small empire is run by the priestesses of Eloele, the same priestesses that warned us not to travel southwards. This is the first I have heard of people living south of Mieres so they must have been keeping the place fairly quiet. The people speak Anuirean as well as another language which I have been told is Adurian. I am arranging to hire a translator for the trip south.

Keltier 12:
Despite the warning we received in Mieres the people of Suakien seem friendly enough. I have now discovered how the priestesses of Eloele came to rule the land. It seems that they sent an expedition south from Mieres over a decade ago and conquered the land by force. From what I have heard their influence extends from the southern border of Mieres and a much as a hundred miles south of here. I have also heard talk of another kingdom south of here, known as Bir-Warqa.
I have sold the few trade goods we had with us and purchased some barrels of a local wine, which I have been assured is very popular in the south.

Keltier 13:
My men and I have now had a chance to look around the city a bit more. It is dominated by a large temple and palace to Eloele near the harbour. It seems though that the people worship Eloele as goddess of the night, rather than as goddess of thieves as she in known in Anuire. The night is now a very special time for these people and magical lights are used to light up the city all night long. We have hired a guide, a well dress merchant known as Augustus. He speaks both Anuirean and Adurian so will be able to translate for us. I certainly hope he is worth the price we are paying him. We will be leaving port tomorrow and journeying further south.

Keltier 16:
We have encountered our first hostile Adurians. Off the coast of a kingdom known as Bir-Warqa we encountered a small fleet of large galleys. They appeared to be some sort of large warship and were each armed with several heavy catapults. Fortunately for our vessels the wind was blowing strongly today and we were able to avoid the galleys with engaging them. They did give chase for a while but our superior speed eventually enabled us to pull away from their vessels, which appeared to rely on oars for movement. Our guide has advised that we set sail for the city of Lindos where we will receive a better reception than that of the pirates of Bir-Warqa.

Keltier 20:
We have arrived at the large trading city of Lindos, the capital of the principality of the same name. It appears to be a large port with many vessels of all kinds, although I was shocked to see a serpent galley tied up at the dock. After asking around after landing I learned that the Serpent Isle regularly sends ships to Lindos where they off load goods for transport inland. It is not known where these goods are taken, although I have heard some speak of a tribe of serpent people who live somewhere in the wastelands towards the centre of Aduria.

Keltier 21:
We have had to rely on our guide, Augustus for much of the translation here, as the people of Lindos all speak Adurian. Some of the crew have started to pick up a little of the language, myself included, but our skills are basic at best. It appears to be a very complex language, much more so than our own and the Adurian seem to have several names for everything. Hopefully we will learn more as we continue on this journey. I have sent captain Malik, who commands the Caravel that is accompanying us ashore with Augustus and some of the crew. Hopefully they will learn something about the city. The rest of the crew is going to busy for the next two days doing some minor repairs to the Pride.

Keltier 22:
We have sold much of the cargo we purchased in Suakien, for a very good price too. I have put the money in a safe aboard ship in case it is needed later on our journey. Captain Malik has reported what he can about the city. Apparently it is the shipping port for many of the farms and mines further inland to transport their goods south to a large city that is said to be in that direction. Most of the ships in the harbour are owned by southern merchants who have travelled north to buy Lindos's goods. Wine and grain seem to be the main exports although this kingdom also appears to sell its people as slaves also. Augustus has assured us that this is most common in the south and all free citizens have the right to keep slaves. He did not seem to understand our northern ideas about freedom for all the people of a land. As there is little to be discovered here in Lindos we have decided to set sail once more for the south. Augustus tells us that there are another two nations south of us before we reach Aduria, although he also warns that it has been many years since he has travelled south of Lindos.

Keltier 26:
Our vessels have arrived in a magical land, known as Kiskum. Everywhere we look we see beautiful building and happy people. Everything appears to have been made of the finest materials and crafted to the highest quality. Arien the magician does not seem to have taken well to the city though and is sick aboard ship. The rest of the crew and myself are going ashore tonight to meet with the leaders of this nation. The only thing I do not understand so far is the lack of other vessels in the harbour. When we arrived it appeared that we where the only vessel, this is despite the excellent city docks and the extremely cheap prices of all goods here. I have today traded in only a small portion of my gold for two chests full of gems. One of the local merchants explained that wealth means little in this kingdom.

Keltier 27:
The people of this land seem most friendly and not at all put off by our strange dress of lack of language skills. Everywhere we go we are treated well and invited into their homes for a meal and games. I am facing a small problem though, several of my crew seem to have liked this land so much that they have deserted. If I could bring myself to leave such luxury I would leave now, but something keeps bringing me back to the shore.

Keltier 28:
Arien has freed us from these illusions that were cloaking our minds and with what crew we have left we have fled the city. Arien has told me that apparently the whole city is nothing more than an illusion. The beautiful building are in fact nothing more than crumbling shacks and the gems I bought just rocks. We do not known what is causing these illusions but they are very powerful. Only Arien among us was able to see through them and was able to free us from their grip. We are now sailing as fast as we can away from the land. Should we make it back and another expedition follow us I would advise against visiting this land.

Keltier 30:
Arien has told me a little more about what he saw in Kiskum. It seems that the people are enchanted into believing the illusions created all around them and that the grip they have over you grows stronger each day. Had we stayed for many more days we would have been unable to ever leave. As it was we lost nearly thirty crew members to the city. There did appear to be one building that was what it appeared though, a giant fortress in the centre of the city. It looked as though it was made of solid metal, it appeared to be silver, although that may have just been another illusion. Arien says that the source of the illusions is inside that building. I had no wish however to risk the rest of this mission and investigate it further.

Faniele 7:
We are sailing south this week towards the empire of Aduria. Two days ago we where to put in at the Grand Empire of Solontara, but the sight of burning buildings and fighting in the streets forced us to avoid this land. From what we could tell from our position the capital, Solon is under attack by the Adurian empire. Thousands of soldiers from both sides were fighting a bloody house to house battle when we arrived and the sight of several units of well equipped infantry on the wharves also did not encourage us to land. Instead we have avoid the entire empire and turned towards the south-east instead, bound for a city called Udine which is said to lie at the northern tip of the Adurian empire.

Faniele 15:
Our small fleet has finally reached the empire of Aduria, six weeks after we left Boeruine. Early this morning we arrived at the massive port city of Udine, which appears to be at least twice the size of the Imperial City. We had surprisingly little trouble entering the harbour, although our vessels were watched closely by the crews of five large galleys just outside the walled harbour. There are no docking taxes, something which surprised us greatly, and we have docked in the west of the harbour among a group of large merchant galleys which seem to be entering or leaving the harbour at all times. Our vessels have attracted quite a bit of attention from the captains of these merchants ships and several could be seen over the past few hours making notes about and drawing our vessels. Hopefully we will be gone before they learn too much. It appears that our ships may be the most advanced in the harbour, so these Adurians are not a great seafaring race.

Faniele 16:
We have spent the first day in Udine wandering the markets. I have restricted the shore party to myself, Captain Malik, our guide, and our magician Arien. The people of Aduria seem similar to us in some way, although they have darker hair and are generally shorter in height. It is much hotter here than Cerilia and their dress reflects this. Most wear only light cloth clothing or a strange wrapping they call a toga. The Adurian race seems to dominate the city, although the numerous slaves seem to be from other races. I have not seen any Dwarves, Elves or Halflings yet, so these races may not exist here.
The markets of Udine are very large, with many different goods for sale. Wine and fresh fruits and vegetables are common in the north of the market, while the southern end is dominated by the slaves market. Here slaves from a wide variety or races are sold to the rich as servants. The slave markets are the busiest part of the city that we saw and several thousand people were crowding the square. It was very noisy so we decided to head back to our ships. We have purchased several items of interest from the market that we will be taking back with us.

Faniele 17:
The owner of several merchant vessels in the harbour has invited me to a dinner at his villa tonight. I have decided to accept, and will be taking Arien and Augustus with me. I spent the rest of the day looking around the city and have learned much about Aduria.
It seems that the Adurian empire is very large, much bigger than all of Anuire and is divided into seven districts. Udine is one of these, and controls many provinces south, west and east of the city. The city and the entire district is ruled over by a military governor who is appointed by the Adurian Emperor. The city of Aduria itself lies far to the south, much further than our supplies or money will enable us to travel. Hopefully we can return one day to travel to this far off city as the stories I have heard speak of it being the greatest city in the entire world. Given the size of Udine I can easily believe these claims.
A large number of troops, perhaps as many as ten thousand are stationed in the city and seem very disciplined, much more so than Anuirean soldiers. They marched everywhere in tight groups of one or two hundred and the people are expected to get out of their way when they are travelling along the roads. The city is patrolled by the soldiers and seemed very safe, with no sign of crime so far during our stay. The city was very clean, slaves swept the streets every day and the streets were pathed with stone instead of being dirt like in Anuire. Gutters down the sides of the street channel waste water away so it does not lie on the street and cause disease.

Faniele 18:
I have decided to spend today recovering from my meal last night. Dining in Aduria is something I would have to get used to. I arrived at the merchant, Clavius Grapintus's home shortly after nightfall and was immediately surprised by the luxury I found. The villa I was told about looked more to me like a small palace. Unlike our northern palaces however it was made up so several smaller building gathered around a central courtyard. The whole building was surrounded by a short wall which was decorated with carvings and flower beds.
As soon as we arrived we were shown into the buildings bathhouse where we met the merchant Clavius. It seems that it is custom in Aduria to bathe before meals, in fact they seem to bathe several times a day, a custom that I do not think will catch on in the north. Several other merchants were also present, and an important general from the army. We were treated like honour guest and they all wanted to know the origin of our ships. I tried not to give too much away about our home, saying instead that we have travelled from Suakien. No-one here seemed to have heard of that land though, although I think they believed our story.
After the bath we were shown into the dining hall where we were served a massive meal. It consisted of ten courses, and the whole table held more food than my crew has eaten on the whole journey. We were served by young slaves, and I have since learned that much of the work in Clavius's villa is done by his slave workforce. In fact much of the labour throughout Aduria is done by slave, who have few rights and are not treated as well as the free citizens. The meal lasted for three hours, with Clavius insisting that I try each course. Wine was also common at the table, and I found it a little unusual, used to the ales and mead's of Cerilia. After saying goodnight to our hosts we staggered back to our ships.

Faniele 19: Before today we though that Udine was without any temples, however we have discovered in the far east of the city a massive temple, dedicated to the dead god of shadow, Azari. The people here do not seem to know that their god is dead, and continue to worship him as though he were alive. The priests at first seem to have little control over the people, but now that I have spent sometime in Udine I see their influence everywhere. The second day, at the slave markets the priest of Azari were in charge there, collecting a toll of anyone who sold goods and policing the whole market. In fact the priests and the army seem to be the only law in the city. There is not a city watch like back home, but on-one seems to commit crimes. I did not go inside the temple itself as I feared being caught out by the priests. Augustus has told me that the priests of Azari have great powers and can see into the minds of any who enter their temples. I did not think it was worth the risk to try and enter so left the temple alone.
I did see several of the priests walking in the city. They dress in black robes, and wear the skulls of goats and other more exotic creatures on their heads. They all carry the same weapon, a huge black spiked mace. How they manage to lift such a heavy looking weapon I do not know, it must be lighter than it looks.

Faniele 19:
The people of Aduria have a passion for games and even the poor go to a massive arena in the centre of the city where each three days a kind of festival is held. In the arena they bring in monstrous cats and other strange creatures which they throw slaves to. I could not watch this slaughter for long and left quite sickened. The people of Udine seem to think it was quite normal though and tens of thousands of them packed the arena to watch the spectacle. I have been told that they all have other arenas though out the city were various games are held, including chariot races and the like. I have decided to leave the city tonight as our ships are starting to draw too much notice from the local authorities and I think it would be best to leave before they impound our vessels for study or something like that.

Faniele 25:
We have left Udine and set out along the coast to the east. All the land south of us now belongs to the Adurian empire according to Augustus and it stretches much, much further to the south. Much of the land south looked fertile and occasionally your crews could see buildings and villas near the beaches.
Several small coastal towns have been passed along the way, although none large enough to make it worth stopping.

Faniele 27:
Finally we have reached another large city, this time known as Bari. We are having some trouble entering the harbour though and may be forced to sail away without visiting this city. The guards on the galleys outside the harbour are refusing us entry because they do not recognize our vessels or our port of origin. I am just going now to attempt to talk them around again. They do not seem hostile yet and that is good.

Faniele 28:
We were force to abandon our visit to Bari after the guards continues to refuse us entry. We have instead headed further east along the coast with the hope of coming across more land. Our guide has confessed that he knows little of the land east of Udine so apart from the translations he will not be of much use to us.
The weather here is becoming very warm, and although it is winter back home it is still quite hot here.

Faniele 32:
It is nearly night and we are fleeing north as fast as we can. This morning we encountered a large fleet of at least thirty Adurian warships. They gave chase and with the wind against us we have only just managed to keep ahead of them. Captain Malik ship suffered some damage when it was hit by a catapult from one the pursuing vessels. Our sails seem to have kept us ahead of their oars though and their rowers are now starting to tire. I would not like to encounter such vessels again though. If Arien had not spotted them early on they would have caught us. They nearly did anyway closing the distance between us very quickly. Their rowers must be tiring by now and with night falling we should be able to outdistance them. Their ships seem mainly suited to the calmer coastal waters, and I noticed one of the galleys was almost swamped by the heavy swell once we left the protection of the coast. Each ship was also carrying at least five hundred soldiers as well so had they caught us we would have been lost. I have decided that we have now seen enough and will be heading back home soon.

Pasiphiel 12:
We have left Aduria behind us and are travelling north at full speed. The weather ahead does not look good though and it seems that we are heading into a storm.

Pasiphiel 23:
We have arrived in Ilien and have contacted an agent of the Boeruine People's Guild who works in the city. He has arranged for repairs and extra supplies to be made available for us. Tomorrow we will be on our way back to Boeruine.

Pasiphiel 31:
Finally after three months of sailing we are back home. I now look forward to a good rest and hope my master does not send me south again soon. Everyone seemed surprised to see us back alive, and to tell the true so am I, there were certainly some close calls in those last few days in Aduria. I think what I have learned is as good a reason as any not to go their again.