Cassius Sanderson

A monastic follower of the traditions and values of Irema. A pacifist; he never will deal the killing blow preferring instead to incapacitate or otherwise circumvent threats.

Character Location

Warcester

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Children

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Edge Of The Dynasty
Fireday 31st Orius 604 TA

This town being close to the border is more prosperous than those I have seen before. While under the rule of the Sorovan Dynasty it sees the likes of traders and foreigners to this land wishing to do business. While not allowed to pass the border itself, there appears to be a seemingly neutral hub where those from within and outside the town can mingle under the watchful eye of the town guard. I was able to replenish my provisions and send another raven home. Letters from Doturim where also waiting for me here, my monastery must have sent them ahead of me to here knowing that I would come through. It appears all of my letters did make it back home thankfully, Ayleth responded to each one. She identified the feather that I sent home, it belongs to an rare eagle that temporarily migrates to the forests of the Dynasty. They are seldom found and finding them is considered good luck, even better though is if you give them to someone you care about it is an assurance that you will stand by them. I should give one to Ayleth properly next time I see them in person, the other two I will keep if I find anyone else on my journey. They may not know the symbolism behind the gesture initially but it would be my hope they might find out through my actions. Otherwise I did receive a letter from Master Klembor detailing how the mood of Doturim has shifted, the guard are more alert than usual and security around the gates has increased. He and the other Masters are not sure what this means exactly yet and they are trying to work out what from their sources, he will keep me updated if he can. It is my hope that this is just a problem local to Doturim, there are many town guards here at the border and these ones look elite and armed to the teeth who check over everyone who enters or leaves. I notice that only soldiers and diplomats seem to be moving through, everyone else is seemingly turned away. I am not sure I will pass as easily as I left home,I must be careful. I would like to get through this quickly but that may look suspicious and I certainly wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of the guards. Tomorrow I will attempt to continue onto my next leg of the journey and leave the Sorovan Dynasty, if successful I will make my way to the free cities. If not, well I shall cross that bridge when I come to it. GNMBYSEXAM TIYACBLVHG BOOQSRCLXE ZDJYKVHWTZ KUFDFDGISP ERSOAZEJLA BNNVURTYGE WKPOXJDMCQ 43

Sated
Oathday 30th Orius 604 TA

I stumbled into the border town in the afternoon. I immediately went to the nearest inn and had the largest plate of food I have ever seen. The plate was devoured within minutes after which I ordered seconds. For anyone who did not know my situation prior to this I must have appeared a glutton. With a full belly I got a room and slept off my full belly. By the time I awoke it had become nighttime, I feel very disconcerted after these past few days and I do not think I will be fit for travel immediately. I will stay another night in this town to fully rest and recuperate.

...
Wealday 29th Orius 604 TA

So hungry...

Clearing Skies
Toilday 28th Orius 604 TA

The blizzard is now starting to clear leaving me in thick, knee-deep snow. Just over the horizon I can see the gap in the mountains that I know to be the mountain pass at the border however I am food and still at least a couple of days from it. I can feel my strength waning, fasting nothing new to a monk but adding travel and the cold I am struggling and yet I must pick up the pace. I have resorted to eating snow but the handful every so often, this does nothing for me but make my growling stomach a little less of a barrier as I push forward. This is becoming less effective as I push forward though but despite that I must push forward. I have not come so far but to freeze to death out here.

Wrong Way
Sunday 26th Orius 604 TA

I was definitely not headed in the right direction. It was hard to see in the blizzard but I am headed straight back to another forest, not the mountains as I am suppose to be. It is hard to keep bearings but this means I must have taken a wrong turn some ten miles away or so. I have probably added a day to my travel, possibly more if this blizzard keeps getting worse. I am down to my last ration as well, I rely on a great deal of luck to see me through now.

Heavily Obscured
Starday 25th Orius 604 TA

The weather is getting worse, what I took for the storm dying down this morning was just an intermission between the last one and a much heavier one that took off a couple of hours later. Now my progress has slowed to a crawl as I have had to put back on my heavier layers again and the wind seems intent on resisting me no matter which direction I go. I worry that my provisions are getting scarcer and that I may run out before I reach the border, I need to pick up the pace if I can. It is hard to see the way ahead of me though and much faster than I am going now I risk heading in the wrong direction.

The Twin Cities
Oathday 23rd of Orius 604TA

It has been a week since I have departed. Where I am I can barely see Voturim and just beyond it Voturiss, the top spires just barely poking out over the horizon. Out of the forest, the landscape is barren and a clear road up to the border. It will require some time trekking through barren, cold land before I make it to the the mountain range. I am usually fast, if I do say so myself, but a storm is has begun to billow. These unforgiving conditions make for slower travel than usual; I fear it may take many more days than I first envisioned to leave the Dynasty. I best dig in for the night and trek through in the morning in hopes that it clears up by then.

A Good Omen
Wealday 22nd Orius 604 TA

The forest begins yet again and I have many more days before I am out of the Sorovan Dynasty. I climbed another tree and found a bird's nest concealed within the branches. I found three feather, these ones are ornate with gold detail on them. I cannot remember the name of the bird these belong to though I believe they are very rare. I will send one back to Ayleth to determine what it is exactly. The days get warmer as I go south and I can finally shed some of the heavier layers I am wearing. The woods thin as I push forward and I think most of my journey through the woodlands is behind me.

Rustic Hospitality
Toilday 21st Orius 604 TA

I made it to the town! This one does not have an inn but a local family has taken me in for the night. Unlike other townsfolk, these ones greeted me when I came and where very hospitable. They seldom get visitors here and are eager to hear tales of life in the city. Like the other town, this one has an aviary and I was able to send another raven home. It is a shame that I will not be able to hear any reply for a while. I will have no way of knowing what messages reach back. Tomorrow, I continue my travels south towards the wildlands. EVUIZOOCX RMAMFEQTA ERYVUITJL KWBSDWCAH URKGVNZFQ BLGPOUSJS PRYKXHNVD 23

Far From Home
Moonday 20th of Orius 604 TA

I entered the clearing in the afternoon, only climbed three more trees today. I have left the forest now and I can see in the distance another town just before where the clearing ends and the forest begins again. I shan't make it there by the end of the day so tonight I again make my bed under the stars. Doturim is now completely obscured by the woods behind me. I am very far from home.

Long Time Coming
Sunday 19th Orius 604 TA

I have entered the forest, as soon as I did I felt a childish desire that I could not shake. I climbed the nearest tree I could. These are large trees, much bigger than the saplings we occasionally have planted in Doturim and almost matching the great tree in the sacred garden, though it was strictly forbidden to climb that one. I climbed it with some difficulty but I had done it. This was an entire forest and before I regained my senses, I had wasted half a day climbing taller trees. By late afternoon I had climbed over twenty such trees but fortunately I soon discovered that I had climbed the tallest one in at least this part of the forest. My appetite for this endeavor has at least for the time being been sated. I will sleep tonight in the canopy above the road, it seems safer with a vantage point to sleep. I can see the forest ends several miles down the path into the clearing. If I keep my pace up I should make it past the clearing and even further tomorrow.

The Town By The Forest
Starday 18th Orius 604 TA

I arrived in the town soon after midday. This town has a single tavern, clearly they are not used to travellers coming through. Indeed everyone was watching me and when I bought a room at the tavern the keeper served me with a degree of caution. Nevertheless I appear the be in good enough company, the food is hot and the mead is cold. The town also has an aviary they let me pay to use so I can send a letter to Ayleth. It has only been a few days since I have departed but I do find myself homesick. Communication with my relatives back home should help alleviate this somewhat and this shall have to do, there is too much at stake to get hung up on trivial matters. QIWXNKHRC FDAEHUGZJ TBOJAERNS OYSVIEUBA FCDKPIDFX KLBTVHMAG 61

After The First Night
Fireday 17th Orius 604 TA

In the morning light, the snow melted making glistening dew on the grass. On the path ahead stands a forest and before that a small town. I shall not make it there before the night is done so tonight I make my camp under the stars. In the distance I can still see the towering shadow of Doturim. It is strange to have such an obscured view of the horizon, life beyond the city is... beautiful. If the Sorovan Dynasty wanted to keep this hidden from its people then we were naive to think that they had our best interests at heart.

Outside Doturim
Oathday 16th Orius 604 TA

I have set up camp for the night a few miles outside the city gates. Master Klembor was right, the guards merely say the necklace and let me pass. Indeed some just saw the way I was dressed and moved out of my way. Even if the rest of the world has forgotten about our order it is plain to see that we still command some respect here still. These roads are silent, apart from the odd carriage transporting goods or wealthy nobles. It is safe to say that I am probably among the lesser few who would ever leave the city.

Memory Lane
Oathday 16th Orius 604 TA

I took a detour from my path to pass by my old home. Even all these years later I can still remember the way back, unfortunately it seems such woulds are not easily forgotten. I did not go in, if I did I do not think it would do me any good. I have left that life behind me now and besides I now hold a greater purpose than anything there might have held for me.

My Journey Begins
Oathday 16th Orius 604 TA

I left. Ayleth took a long time to come around. Eventually I got her to begrudgingly when I said I'd write whenever I could. We spent the morning together discussing what life was like outside the monastery. I sometimes forget she never had lived outside where things are different. It's that innocence that I have always found charming about her and I'm glad I took those steps fifteen years ago to preserve it. Master Klembor took me aside before I left and gave me my blue crystal. He said that it was so "people knew where I came from," and that "I never forget where I came from." I don't truly know the wisdom behind those words did say the guards in the Sorovan Dynasty should allow me to travel freely wearing it. Now I am alone with my trusty three-section staff; my pack; my journal and my much coveted cheese chart. A silly thing really, how a monk got obsessed with cheese tasting, still baffles me to this day. I only hope despite my pressing mission I have the downtime to add to it.

Preparations
Wealday 15th Orius 604 TA

I leave tomorrow, my fate is set. I must find the man in my vision, the reason for this is not clear however this is often the case I am told with these visions. One of the masters spoke that he heard chatter of creatures matching my description of the lizards I saw. They heard about them whilst travelling past the free cities long ago. This is only a rumour but it is the only lead I have right now so I must follow it. I have the rest of the day to pack and rest. Ayleth is finding it difficult to come to terms with me leaving, she left the room and sulked when I told her. We have never been far from each other and it will be difficult her. As much as it pains me I shall have to allow her to cool down for now. I have much preparation to do and not much time.

Strange Visions
Wealday 15th Orius 604 TA

Where to begin... Last night I had my vision, Master Klembor met me at the sacred garden amongst the moonpools. Once there he instructed me to drink a red fluid from a glass vial he produced. Blood; the taste of copper was strong on my tongue. I was told to meditate by the moonpools, he would not tell me for how long, the ritual would take as long as it pleased. Many a monk has waited in the sacred garden, indeed many have waited days in meditation. Fortunately for me it did not take that long, after many hours the world around me became silent as if I was in my own demiplane. In the pool in front of me I saw the faint visage of a figure, a silhouette. As I scrutinised the image further, the figure became more detailed adding shape, colour and facial features. Blue skin; deer antlers; big nose, the face of an old man unlike anyone I have ever seen. I then saw the world around him: great plains; a blue sky and scaled creatures. These were lizards, large ones, some nimble and fast others colossal and powerful. One man living amongst beasts. The vision then took a different turn. I fell into the moonpool, at least I think I did. The water drew me deeper, far deeper than I know the pool to be. I was so deep I could no longer see the surface when I lost consciousness. When I awoke I was dry, on cobbled stones, the sky a pale orange. I was within the shell of a structure, some kind of chamber, broken statues and glass littered the floor around me. At the end of the chamber in front of me there was the statue of a dragonborn. I recognised the face, Irema, the founder of our order. I then recognised the architecture of the chamber, this was a monastery, not any I'd seen before but perhaps one of our other ones lost to time. I remember reading of our order's fall, many of our buildings abandoned and desecrated. It seems logical enough that this was one of them. Beyond the walls, I took a walk where I found several more, not just buildings but structures cut into the mountains and caves predating any of the ones I have read about. I cannot remember how many I walked through before finally waking. I was in my bed though it was not like waking from a dream. The things I saw... they were far too vivid and real to be that, no this was my epiphany for my task to complete. I shall meet with the masters soon to discuss where this puts me with my journey. This is all very fast and my mind throbs with the strain.

My 19th Birthday
Toilday 14th Orius 604 TA

Today I am nineteen. The masters agree that I have reached my potential here at the monastery and that I am ready to take my next steps in my training. Ayleth has given me this journal as a gift to record my thoughts when I get my task from the masters and while on the journey. It is my hope that I will b able to look back on these pages as an older and wiser man and reflect on my youthful and more innocent mind. Master Klembor has asked me to meet him alone in the sacred garden at midnight tonight where I shall receive the knowledge required to move forward. The process of this is not commonly known amongst those in training and I am looking forward to discover this for myself.