You're Marked!

Hello Journal,
 
thought it time to update you on the recent goings-on my life. We have arrived back in Sharn after parting ways with the prince a few days ago, since then we've had a chance to have a see a lot more of this quite frankly humungous city there was a time I'd have found such a place fascinating, however, these days I find the lack of nature disturbing. It can be found of course, but only in pockets and cracks in the pavement, and it is such a shame, I must ask a native how they feel about such things when I get the chance.
 
Once arrived we head to a district called High Walls, Where many displaced Cyran's can be found, including Terfels former squad from the war. finding them wasn't difficult, High Walls is little more than a slum, another tent city, where they have to contend with darkness and damp as well. Despite these odds, the Cyrans general demeanour is pleasant and welcoming, in fact, the acting mayor of the district and a former advisor to the Queen of Cyre herself, Teral ir'Soras invited us to dinner so he could interface with us I suspect. Clearly he is a people person although there was something off about him to me. During the dinner, I absentmindedly touched Azhug's Gatekeeper Stones and were freezing cold. This immediately set me on edge after the dinner was concluded, I periodically checked the stones and the aberrant signals fluctuated frequently, this doesn't confirm anything yet, It could have something to do with Mourning exposure but as I don't receive such signals in New Cyre so I think my concern is well-founded.
 
Although we all have concerns about this, we must figure out what is causing people to go missing and as city living goes, we require a more regular source of income to pay for the stay and eventual return to New Cyre. Where better for us wanderers than an Adventuring Guild, We headed to one we heard of in the higher district called the Clifftop Adventures guild, the handler Lhara gives us the in's and out of the day to day operations would be if we were to join. The terms seemed reasonable at the time and we accepted, and then she requested we leap from a building. This wasn't some form of long-winded assassination but a competitive game of chicken leaping from one of the highest towers against representatives of the opposing guild the Deathsgate Explorers club, least they were kind enough to give us all Feather tokens. It was an eventful fall, I believe I got a face full of bedsheet and glass. However, Terfel and I won the day for our new guild. Lhara was quite impressed with us all and offered two contracts for us to pursue: a bounty hunt for another of Dax's kind from Q'barra and a collection and delivery from Blackbones in the lower city, we acquire both.

As we fell, however, it was impossible not to notice a blinding light and the sound of running and screaming in the Dura district as we fell, so of course, we had to investigate, and on one of the bridges, we find a woman surrounded by three guards and a crowd that seemed most agitated. That is when we saw it, the Aberrant Dragonmark on her forearm still pulsing with magical energy. I admit that my experience with Dragonmarks is somewhat limited, being only that of the House Cannith Artificers that made me and my people. Most marked are revered members of the Houses, but I believe the same can't be said for the Aberrant marks, and those that possess them are considered extremely dangerous. However, in this instance, no destruction or injury is present as far as it can be perceived so perhaps this woman doesn't need to die this day. It was Terfel who stepped up first to the defence of the accused and his impressive way with words meant he was able to quickly defuse the situation causing the crowd to disperse.
The accused in question goes by the name Valerya and is a scholar of the local Morgrave university, a place for advanced learning so I believe. Specify she studies ornithology, the academic study of birds, furthermore she has a keen interest in the Black Herons Kal and I have seen in the Shadow marches and now beyond in Sharn, seems my river is one to flow in the right direction rather frequently. I gave her some of my cloth belts to cover her mark and insisted she leaves the city as soon as possible to continue her research in the Marches and find what she can learn about these birds and why they are here, hopefully, she will keep us informed of any discoveries, only time will tell.
 
This led my allies and me to discuss the nature of Dragonmarks and the Houses as a whole, half of us stating a negative outlook on them it seems, Dax's people are in constant conflict with House Tharask because of their Dragonshard mining operations and Terfel seems to dislike the uneven power dynamic the Houses present, although I and Kalshana have a differing perspective, remarkably Dragonmarks not manifesting among the populace of Sarlona means that Kalshana has little to no experience with them and is confused by the whole thing and myself well, If not for the marked artificers of House Cannithe I don't believe I would be here to discuss this. This doesn't mean I trust them at all however, I'm aware that a few higher-ups within Cannithe take Warforged independence bitterly.
It's tricky, Many of the people here have strong reasons to loathe the Houses or even those who are marked but life is life, one does not need to be killed simply for the ebb and flow of the universe at large.

Well I must ponder this a while Journal, I'll tell you of the conclusion of our missions, hope they go well, till next time
Signed,
Warden