The Journal of Arien Borthein: Part II

Ship: Borthien's Folly
Owner: Arien Borthien
Captain: Blaede Liemien
1st Mate: Crael Arlien
Magician: Caern
Priest: Eldried Houstien

Arien Borthien's Journal:

Sarimiere 23: Repairs are proceeding slowly, but it is likely that our mast will be replaced within the next few days. Then all we need to do is finish some minor repairs to the rest of the ship and drag it back into the sea. The crew has been quite happy to spend time ashore, after our recent problems with storms and angry natives. I have ordered that the entire ship be completely repaired before we set out again as I know little about what to expect and don't want it falling apart in our next encounter.

Talienir 12: Repairs have finally been completed and we are setting out once more on our journey. We hope our next encounter with the people of Aduria will be a little more friendly that the last one. The ship has been refloated and now sits an anchor off the island. We are reloading the supplies that were removed during our stay here, and Captain Liemien has also order several more trees felled and added to our cargo in case future repair are needed. We have also resupplied our food stock with vegetables and fruit from the island, and restocked our fresh water supplies. If all goes well then we should be.

Talienir 15: We have now finished the loading of the ship and have set out towards the east in hope of reaching the Adurian mainland south of the lands where we were attacked. With any luck the natives in this region will be a lot more friendly.

Talienir 16: Our vessel has reached the Adurian coastline and we have seen no sign so far of the peoples that attacked up last time we were here. The captain has told me that we are nearly fifty miles south of where we were attacked so with any luck we are outside their reach.

Talienir 17: Our lookout has noticed a large number of soldiers on the shore. I appears that they have a large camp set up on the coastline. There dress matches the ones that attacked us two months ago. Captain Liemien has order us further out to see and out of missile range just to make sure. The coastline here appears very rocky, with only a few beaches. So far I have not noticed anything in the way of coastal villages or signs of fishing fleets so it may be that the people of this land do not sail the sea at all. Certainly at the city where we were attacked there was little sign of large scale water born activity so it may be that the people fear the water for some reason.

Talienir 19: The captain has thought it safe enough to venture close to the shore once more. The winds from the south have slowed our passage dramatically and we are forced to tack heavily to make any progress at all. We are searching for more signs of people living on the shore of this land, although so far we have encountered little.

Talienir 21: We have encountered more soldiers, although these appear to be of a different empire than the others we were attacked by further north. These soldiers watched our vessel as we passed, a large group of them gathering on the cliff top to watch us sail by. The lookout, using the wonderful telescope that I purchased before we left has reported that a large fort is built on the cliff top, giving it a commanding view over the lands around it. Also there are signs of a village or town below the fortress, although the view of this was blocked by the cliffs. The lookout has reported a road running south along the coast and we will be following that in hopes of reaching a large coastal town or harbor where we can make anchor.

Talienir 25: Despite the continuing poor winds we are making progress along the coast. Although we have encountered no other large vessels we have seen several small fishing vessels in close to the shore so these people obviously fish the seas as well as farm the land. This has led me to believe that perhaps we have encountered a different kingdom or even a different race from those we encountered earlier.

Talienir 26: The land we are following has changed much in recent hours. We are now seeing a large forest beginning to develop further inland. Although we are still following the coastal road, much of the rest of the land is now forested, where before it was grassland and rolling hills.

Talienir 27: We have arrived at a small coastal village, the first that we have encountered since we left Anuire. The villagers who small sailing vessels were in the sea fled at our approach, perhaps they think of us as a dangerous enemy or something like that. As it is rather late we intend to make Anchor here before rowing a small party to shore tomorrow. The first mate Crael Arlien will be leading the party, taking with him a small group of six sailors and two guards.

Talienir 28: Crael went ashore with a small group and has made contact with the locals. He has just returned and reported that the people appear fairly similar to Anuirean's, although they are generally shorter in stature. Although he was unable to understand their language fully some work appear similar to ancient Brecht so some things were understood. We have now learned that there is a large city not far to the south and that it has a working harbor were we can sail our vessel to. The people of this land appear friendly enough, although there was some initial suspicion. Perhaps they thought that we had come from the northern land that attacked us, as it appears that the two empires are at war. Little else could be learned from these commoners though, and we now intend on sailing south in the hope that we can reach this city soon.

Roelir 8: We have arrived at the city mentioned in my last entry. Over the past week or so we have been sailing slowly down the coast of this land, which we have now learned is called Aral. There are many small villages and towns along the coast here while further inland are large forests. So far we have not encountered any more soldiers, so it appears that most may be along the northern border facing the northern realm that attacked us. Perhaps the northern realm is an enemy of these people and they attacked us because they though we came from Aral.
The city who harbor we now sit in is quite large, at least as large as Ilien, and perhaps even larger. We have been allowed to dock at the wharves without any question, although an inspector was most surprised that we did not speak the local language. That did not stop him taking our gold though. I suspect that he overcharged us on the docking fees but that is to be expected I guess. Our priest Eldried Houstien has said that he will pray to Haelyn for a spell that will enable us to understand the local language, at least for a while. With any luck that will enable us to find out much more about the local lands.

Roelir 9: We have set out to explore the city that we find ourselves in. It appears to be unfortified in any way, with even the palace of the local ruler being lightly defended. Obviously these people do not experience warfare as often as we do in Anuire. The city we have learned is named after the kingdom and is called Aral as well. It ruler is a man by the name of Prince Corean, apparently some sort of war hero. Aral appears to be part of a much larger nation that stretches all along this coast, known as the Nehalim Empire. The people as I have mentioned appear similar to us, with light skin and dark hair. The city appears very well developed and I noticed several things that I have not seen even in my journeys to the Imperial City. One of these things was the almost total lack of guards. Everywhere we walked we were allowed to do so, and with the acceptation of the palace in the center of town I have seen remarkably few soldiers. The second thing is the amount of stone building in this city. Compared to Anuire where many houses are constructed of wood this city appears to be almost entirely stone, with tiles of some kind for roofing, rather that the thatch that is common on Anuirean dwellings. There is a large market where all manner of goods are traded. I have noticed few weapons shops and the like though so suspect that few of the people are armed.

Roelir 10: Another large vessel has arrived at the harbor. It appears to be a large three hulled vessel with a platform spread over the three hulls. It has a single mast that supports two large sails. I would assume that this is some sort of trading vessel as it is busy offloading goods and crates of cargo. It flies a simple flag of silver and when I got Eldried to ask about he learned that this is the flag of a city called Halwan that lies to the south. I suspect that his spell may have failed him as the dockside worker he asked said that Halwan city contains more than a million people living within its borders. I suspect that perhaps the people of Aduria count numbers a little different than us, or maybe the dock worker was wrong.

Roelir 11: The Halwan vessel has now left port, taking with it a large cargo of logs, probably from the forests we saw as we traveled down the coast. The logs were carried to the docks on the back of massive carriages and then loaded by means of a large pulley system and several massive monsters that according the a local are called Elephants. These creatures appear to be very strong and able to pull very heavy loads. The also look very dangerous with large tusks that could do a lot of damage. Although the people of this city appear to use little wood themselves their trading partners do seem to have a use for wood, a lot of wood too judging by the number of logs loaded on the Halwan vessel.

Roelir 13: Our priest Eldried has begun to learn some of the local language and hopes that within time he will have mastered it so will not have to rely on short lived magic to talk to the people of this land. We have now explored most of the city, and for the most part have attracted little attention from the locals. Our ship attracts a small group of onlookers each day, mostly sailor curious about the design, but apart from them there has been little interest. I have order the crew not to mention our origins just in case and so far all appears to be going well.
I, with Eldried's help have learned more about the other kingdoms around Aral. It appears that the people we encounter to the north are in fact from the same racial stock as those in Aral, but are some sort of rebel state. I have not exactly worked out all the details yet, but it appears that all the lands along this coastline are in fact part of the Nehalim Empire, which lies somewhere to the south. The northern kingdom, known as Ornasis has rebelled against that rule and is attempting to declare themselves as an independent state. Aral is now attempting to retake the northern lands for this larger southern empire and this would explain the soldiers we saw while we traveled south.
There are also two other realms south of Aral that are also part of this empire. They, I have learned, are called Tarbul and Dara. I hope to visit both of these in the coming weeks. South of Dara is the city of Halwan which appears to be separate from the empire, and may even be an enemy of these land, although they appear to trade between them. Halwan has been described as a massive city with hundreds of thousands of people living in it. There is also talk of strange magic, flying ships and other wonders coming from Halwan so it looks like a place to be approached with caution.

Roelir 15: There appears little more to discover in this city, and after trading from some more supplies we intend on setting out once more on our journey, hoping to make the kingdom of Tarbul, which lies south of Aral by the end of the month at the latest. I wanted to speak to the local government, but they appear to be involved in some sort of crisis, probably involving the realm of Ornasis, and no-one was free to speak to me.

Roelir 16: The Elephants I mention earlier also appear to be used as weapons of war. Today we saw a group of these creatures marching by us in a strict military formation. We were in the north of the city near the road that runs along the coast towards Ornasis. There we had found what appears to be the main military barracks for the city. It is probably the only fortified structure that we have so far found and it was there that these war Elephants appeared. There was around thirty of them all with a little box on their backs. Each of these boxes held three soldiers, one who appeared to be in control of the beast, and the other two armed with short bows. The War Elephants were headed north so perhaps there is fighting of some sort going on there.

Roelir 17: We hoped to be leaving the city today, but our departure has been prevented by the city authorities. They have said something about a sea monster prowling along the coast, attacking ships, and have asked all vessels to remain in port until the monster has left. The people of Aral do not appear to have any navy at all, so they must not have any way with dealing with this monster. Caern, our magician, has speculated that it could be the Seadrake prowling along the coast, as we are close enough to Anuire for it to still be within range, especially seeing that in the past the Seadrake has been seen as far east as Ilien, which is a similar distance from Baeghos Island as Aral. Perhaps the activity of the Seadrake in this region is why other vessels sent south in the past have vanished, usually without a trace.

Roelir 24: We have finally been allowed to leave Aral after the port authorities declared that the sea monster has now left their water, travelling north and it is now safe to sail. I wonder if in fact there was any monster at all, especially since the docks tax continued to be applied to our ship. I hope other nations are less expensive or I will find my self out of fund very soon. I have taken steps to remedy the situation though, taking on board a cargo that I hope to sell in the south for a good profit. I must admit to knowing if it is worth the price I was paying for it, but as I was only exchanging the goods we bought with us from Anuire then nothing is really lost. I still have some valuable cargo left in my cabin, that I can sell if needed.

Roelir 27: We have sailed south along the coast of Aral. The land here appears more settled than it was in the north, and several times we have passed large coastal farming towns and smaller fishing villages. I have decided not to stop until I reach the nation of Tarbul to make up for the town we have lost over recent month. According to a map we purchased in Aral we should be the Tarbul capital Talat in a few days. I intend to explore the northern province of Tarbul first though, in case we encounter anything interesting there. I will not be spending too long there though.