Nature's Allies and I

Hello Journal!
 
Had some time to collect and note my thoughts since my last entry and the events of the past weeks, been on the go again preforming more tasks for the Prince. He's a nice bloke, been paying us for our work! I've never had a wage before as well... I didn't really have the rights to one before the Treaty of Thronehold, any confiscated gold, silver or copper had to be handed to a superior so I didn't keep any I found for long so it was nice to have some of my own funds I earned. I had no idea what to buy with it though felt like I had to? I got my answer pretty soon as the Prince called on us again to help the settlement, He tasked us with finding the means for New Cyre to produce its own metal goods to arm the militia Terfel is thinking of forming and objects of trade would help things improve here so I'm all for it.
 
First port of call is a reliable source of raw materials to work with, specifically ores. There are mountains nearby where ore could be found but without a marked House Tharashk it would be like looking for a sword in a swamp and we'd be priced out pretty quickly using their services so we need an alternative. Checking with the settlements resident metallurgy proficient artificers of which there are two! The one I haven't met is Beezlebop Mit Divandi, He's a gnome from Zilargo, his family is apparently well known there though I haven't had the pleasure of meeting anyone else of his line. He sells something that is a bit of a staple of his home in clockworks, fascinating devices that can be used to measure the passage of time, set against a large clock located in Korranberg I believe, though my intel might be a tad dated. He seems to be struggling for sales however as I suppose the refugees don't have much need or money for expensive novelties like watches at the moment which is a shame, can't help but feel for the bloke so Kalshana and I went ahead and got some from him, he was quite pleased. Unfortunately, in terms of getting supplies, he has an ongoing arrangement with the Oraen caravans which would be far too expensive the whole settlement to be supplied, back to the drawing board.
 
Siebold is in much of a similar situation getting what small amounts of what he can and he brought up the lack of general supplies with Oargev. He reiterates the Houses and the mine idea and this got me thinking, Surely the Mournland's outskirts have plenty of inorganic supplies (those that are already kinda property of Cyre) just waiting to be collected? When I bring this up with the squad they are quick to point out the danger inherent with the idea, Terfel, who has actually visited there before, is all too familiar with the kinds of creatures that live near and beyond the mists so we unanimously decided this would be a last resort.
 
The last person we check with is the local general merchant, goes by Honest Harold, must be an ironic nickname as the first thing he does is to extort us. However, this is a solid line of inquiry as he tells us of an old forge in Vathirond, A city to the east on the edge of the Mists, to which he has a key and an address... Awful convenient if you ask me, does make me wonder where he finds this stuff out, not to say he's untrustworthy just he seems well connected for a simple merchant and I like to be in the know.
 
Anywho, this leads us to journey by horse and cart, although lacking a horse Terfel's connection to the prince allowed us to use a horse for our and he himself had a wagon of his own! expensive resources, not something a simple solider could have gained, definitely exceeding well connected at one time, to speculate a little: Possible member of a noble house?
Didn't get much chance to talk to our equine companion this time as I felt it necessary to save my energies for something a tad more useful and these roads are rife with dangers I've yet to see. Evidenced about halfway to our destination where a griffon, a half feline, half Avian animal as big as our horse, and believing said horse to be an easy meal attacked. Quickly we attempted to scare the beast off, good as I really dislike hurting animals and it was only looking for food, after all, pure instinct. This is when something strange happened journal, as these thoughts went thoughts my mind, about instinct and a connection to the flora and fauna around me... it answered me, some of the nearby soil and shrubs coalesced to form that of one of the wolves I had seen roaming the reaches one night and remembered Azug mention that they can make loyal companions if treated right. I stared in disbelief in what I saw for a moment as it looked for me for instruction I gave a whistle as I had seen people do dogs before and thought about getting it to try and scare the griffon away with is and it listened! I've never felt so in touch with the land before I wonder what other abilities with manifest when I continue my practice of Druidry. Unfortunate as it is, the creature was killed by Dax, I didn't see this as necessary as it was on the run, though skilled as she is with the hunt perhaps she saw something I did not I still found it to be quite a downer. Lucky her talents allowed for the beast to have not died in vain as she made weapons and arrows from its bones and feathers as well as gathering enough meat to keep those that need it fed. Resourceful.
 
We arrived in Vathirond with no further issues though this town has seen some of the worst of the war for sure, half of it appears lost to the Mournland long before the wall of mist and a ragtag militia keeps order and monsters at bay, though it is clear how much they struggle. One thing I can be certain of is its leadership is top-notch, I've found the first of my former Squad! The one in charge around here is non-other than Sgt. Meritamen, I couldn't believe my optics when I saw her, alas I may have been a bit foolish as I instantly fell back into my military habits, addressing her as Sergeant and saluting the in the traditional Audarian manner. She was taken aback and quickly corrected me, saying she nor I were no longer soldiers and she's certainly not an Audarian commander. She and I caught up, explained that the General responsible for the repeated raids on the Eldeen Reaches has been sent to prison for War crimes. Now I try to give respect to my superiors whenever possible but having my freedom and spent time amongst the people of The Reaches and Shadow Marches, but he was a Wanker and his disregard for the soldiers under his command cost many lives and almost my own, Good riddance. She was unable to tell me the whereabouts of our other squadmates but wished me to pass on her best if I was to find them, may not be my C.O anymore but I shall treat this request as if it were an order. I feel for the plight of these people as I do for those that live in New Cyre so I'm glad they have a trustworthy representative.
After our catch up she is able to tell me the street we are after but is quick to disclose that this area has been overrun with monsters of the Mournland and should be explored with the utmost care, not wishing to see any more animals harmed on this venture and needing a way to get the supplies home we decided it best to leave our horse behind in the safer part of town for this. This presented the issue of getting the cart through the streets. Though many of our squad display impressive physicality, Terfel and, surprisingly Kalshana are the standouts, they could not be expected to carry it all the way to town this is when inspiration struck again, like an instinct I never knew I had; I could become a horse.
Yes, journal, you heard an actual living, breathing, blood pumping horse! I felt it in the Core of my being, that connection to the ground, like my mind, laid fingers through the earth as when I cast spells but this time I thought about our need for a steed and I knew I could do it. They looked at me in confusion at first, like I had fully lost my senses but for lack of a better option they agreed we try it, I sat down and began to focus on these thoughts, the shape of the animal, how it acted how it felt and I activated my optics, no, my eyes I had eyes! organic eyes! my field of view was very disorienting and my form felt warm, warm from the inside? it was so bizarre! I could hardly contain my excitement, in fact, I got a tad distracted, thankfully Kalshana was able to get focus out of me as she could hear my thoughts... yep, kept that little tidbit hidden from the lot of us, her people are telepathic it seems, Incredible and invaluable, I knew I liked her. Yes... well when I got used to the sound of internal functions it proved quite effective at getting about though I'm sure the process of shapechanging like this made Terfel quite visually uncomfortable. I doubt any of my squad had seen anything like this before, I certainly didn't know it was possible, none of the Druids I've met we're capable of such but I'd heard tell of such abilities, its truly exciting though I must say.
 
unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy it for long, as some of the Mournland's Monstrosities made their appearance. The first that violently removed me from my horse form was some kind of amalgamation of a bear and an owl with twice as aggressive as both, It may not have seen us if I wasn't horsing around. To be honest, journal, we were lucky in a way the other creature came along and caused it to flee. This being was like nothing I had seen... and believe me when I say I've seen some pretty disturbing things, but this 40 ft tall monster, thin as a rake with two mawed cones for faces was truly horrifying. It made disturbing siren noises and kept repeating the same few phrases about being the "Cyran Emergency Broadcast system" a magical device used to send messages quickly across a large area like a city though as far as the Aundairian ones I had seen, they didn't really move or hunt as this creature appeared to be doing. We all wisely hid as it inspected our cart and soon headed in pursuit of the Owlbear. Truly awful what this place can spawn, causes me to fear this Morning may have had something to do with the Daelkyr and their twisted experiments, I dread to think of this being true. Once we composed ourselves we made it to the workshop, leaving the cart behind for later collection, this place was not the shop of any ordinary blacksmith, it was a Cannith manufactory! Must have been enough resources to supply 10 forges in here nevermind just New Cyre, I was even able to gather myself a set of tools for tinkering, a skill I picked up as part of my House training, I didn't think one set would go amiss as there were plenty to go around. Terfel didn't like the idea of taking from one of the Dragonmarked Houses and I understand his apprehension, the Houses dislike being messed with and they made me so I suppose I owe them a little for that. However, they rarely treated forged as equals and upon reflection, I decided you can respect them with obeying or fearing them besides, it seems that if Harold knew about this place House Cannith surely would too and if they haven't sent anyone to collect it yet then it's lost to them. So we began gathering what we needed, Terfel and Kalshana went to fetch the cart, whilst Dax kept an eye on that creature as it loped around the district spouting nonsense, loaded up I changed into a horse again, less surprised/excited this time and we began the long ride back.
 
Lucky for us, the creature had become rather disinterested in us, and we were able to avoid it, collect our horse and return to town. Along the way, we met up with Meritamen who took interest in our filled wagon as any wise commander would, we explained about the forge and the supplies we needed and hence gathered and this piqued her interest further. She asked us if there were more as the people here could use them just as New Cyre does. Here Journal, at this moment I know I made a good choice to head this way like the ebb and flow of my personal river had driven me to this point was right, without much hesitation my squad and I told her of the remaining supplies, of which there were many and of the present dangers. I wanted to do some good here and this is it, these supplies will help these people get back on their feet, ready for if that creature or its fellows decides to make moves here. It wasn't much but its a good start and we made it happen. I feel content for now.
 
Meritamen did feel the need to sweeten the deal with gold, however, very kind of her and her people but unnecessary. I'm pretty sure Kalshana just gives it to the needy, awfully kind of her but a tad Illogical when money = food and shelter for Organics things needed for basic survival. Anyway, after a days respite, we began the long ride back home and I promised Meritamen that I would write if I found any more of our former squad.
it was a largely uneventful journey, no griffons to speak of until the last few days from New Cyre. Another caravan sat off the road ahead of us with a dwarven figure at the reigns, Kalshana and I approached cautiously and I instinctively summoned my companion which could be interpreted as an overly aggressive action upon reflection. This didn't hold us back thankfully as the man at the reigns, that goes by Klemens Fuchs, was just a merchant from the east looking for somewhere to unload his salvage. He works for Ikar's Salvage, one of the many companies created post-war to gather as much usable salvage from the Mournland as possible. Noble if not exceedingly dangerous as our short excursion proved. He said that the Nobles of Breland tend to get the first pick of the items he has but it didn't take much to convince him those materials would be better suited in New Cyre and we made our way there together and I joined Klemens on his wagon, regaling him of our exploits the whole way!
 
All in all, this has been quite the successful mission, I hope we are able to keep such a momentum going in the coming days, a few hours out of New Cyre Journal so I'll sign off here.
keep you posted in the adventures of our little band of do-gooders,
 
Signed Warden - WX4445
 
 
Addendum: if all Zilargoans are like the ones I've met its certainly a place I'd like to visit, used to travel with another Gnome during the war, Wolfgang Gummen, not a true artificer but familiar with the process, think he wanted to train further, I hope he got that chance and I get to ask him myself. 1 down 7 to go.