[Excerpts from the personal journal of Dr. Hendrick Jonaszoon, during his expedition into the Alwealdasmerc Swamplands]
23 Jul 1575: Today I had a most interesting visitor at my office at the university. Jan Wenje, who financed the carnival parade this year, marched into my office to ask me if I wanted to lead an expedition to find the source of the Madame river. Naturally I said yes and that it was a great honour, but somewhere in the back of my mind I had my doubts. Many have gone before me and few have returned and none have found the source yet. The swamplands are filled with all kinds of nasty creatures, and let stand some of the lizardfolk tribes. But when I raised these concerns Mr. Wenje simply said he "Spared no expense" and that he had us escorted by an elite group of bodyguards. He seemed pretty adamant on it so I believed him but still I think this will be a lot harder than finding the last resting place of
Ürch.
15 Aug 1575: Today I got to meet the explorers who will accompany me on my journey to the source of the Madame. While I can't say that these are the man and woman I would have chosen for the mission I must trust in Mr. Wenje's judgement. The first man I met was Dr. Allan Groods, a strongly build young man of 30, he is natural philosopher who comes along to map out more of the Alwealdasmerc Swamplands' wildlife. The next person I met was Captain Konrád Čierny, a Berokian man and the boss of our bodyguards. Then I met Ms. Guana, a slender lizardwoman who will serve as our translator to the many native tribes. Further on there was Dr. Anastasia Ogruwell, the tall geologist with her long pointy nose and curly hair, Aldritch Inkt, the arcanist who had been kicked out of every college in
Ozul-Saba for his controversial theories, and Dr. Gerard Olavson, our
Svellbjarg archaeologist. After meeting everyone we gathered into the stables to see our beasts of burden: A trio of giant lizards who will carry our supplies through the marshes.
16 Aug 1575: We left the gates of
Madamsrest with much fanfare and admiration. The streets were filled with people waving our little troupe goodbye, although I believe most of them came because they were wondering what all this commotion was about. Our expedition marched into the thicket of Alwealdasmerc, and after 8 hours travelling we made camp for tonight. The journey will be long, but we will find the source.
05 Dec 1575: Today was Saint's day, although only me, Allan, and Aldritch really celebrated, as we were the only
Madamsresters in our party. The rest was hesitant to join us, and Captain Čierny was even complaining that we were holding up the rest of the expedition. Only Ms. Guana came to celebrate with us after we pulled out the freshly caught alwealdas warbler to roast over the fire. The four of us enjoyed our meal together, and extended the courtesy to the rest of the team, but they refused. During these long months of travel it is nice to have some sense of home for once.
21 May 1576: Our supplies are starting to run low. We had planned to restock in the village of Geckdam while moving deeper into the marsh, but when we arrived today we only found a few smouldering buildings. Aldritch performed a few rituals at the site, but did not notice any disturbance in the local mana levels. So a magical cause can be excluded. Dr. Olavson then did a sweep of the ruins and presented us with a bog-iron spearhead, which he pointed out was covered in dried blood. The people of Geckdam were not known to have any enemies, so I wonder what happened to them.
30 Jun 1576: Today we had to slaughter the last of our giant lizards. Feeding the beast had become too much of a burden on us, despite its obvious benefits. Luckily Dr. Groods ensured us that the Swamplands should have amply quarry for us to feed ourselves at least. Once the deed was done we were taken aside by Captain Čierny and Dr. Olavson. They had experience adventuring in the wilderness and they showed us how to most efficiently pack our supply. I was surprised how much one can carry with them if they know how to pack, thou I do not like the weight on my poor old back.
17 Jul 1576: Ever since we left behind those smouldering ruins of Geckdamn I have had the feeling as if we are being followed by something or someone. Most of my companions say I am going crazy, but Dr. Ogruwell ensures me that I am not and that she also has been noticing strange things going on around camp at night. Yet neither of us has any proof...
25 Jul 1576: I swear I saw a pair of black bulbous eyes staring back at me from between the vegetation tonight. It was just beyond the campfire light. I approached it but by the time I got close enough to investigate the thing was gone. I can hear my companions whispering behind my back now, and I heard one of our bodyguards even suggest to leave me behind if this continues on, but I know what I saw.
01 Aug 1576: Finally proof presents itself, though now I almost wish I was crazy. Two of our bodyguards suddenly collapsed during our search for the source of the Madame. Upon closer inspection it was found that they were shot with a tiny darts in their aorta, precisely through the little space between their chest plate and helmet. Upon closer inspections it was found that these darts were of lizardfolk design and according to Aldritch contained trace amounts of poison, which Dr. Groods immediately identified as belonging to the silverback beelzebufo: a local species of frog secreting a paralysing toxin from its skin that is popular with the lizardfolk for usage in their darts.
04 Aug 1576: Less than four days after the first attack the second pair of guards has been taken down. Captain Čierny is on high alert now and has tasked Dr. Ogruwell with searching for footsteps in the soil. But she came back without any results. The remain two guards are beginning to look upon Ms. Guana with suspicion, and I would probably do the same if I didn't know her personally.
11 Aug 1576: We finally came face to face with our stalkers; a group of geckofolk. Ms. Guana tried to talk with them, explaining to them that we were no threat, but somewhere along the way things got heated. I don't remember exactly what happened, but the conversation turned to yelling from both sides and suddenly the clearing we found ourselves in was blanketed in a layer of white smoke. When the smoke cleared three geckofolk braves lay dead on their side, and our two guards and mister Konrád Čierny lay dead on our side, pierced with javelins. However there was little time to mourn as the now enraged braves turned their attention to the rest of us. I dashed into the thicket, hearing javelins and darts fly past my ears from above. So that was where they were hiding! A rather brilliant strategy I must admit in retrospective. But at the moment I could do little bit flee in fear. To my left I heard the agonising screams of Ms. Guana as the geckofolk pierced her fragile frame with their spears, and to my right I heard Anastasia Ogruwell scream as she fell into the quicksand. I never stopped to see whatever it was the drowning or braves that did her in at the end. When I finally stopped running only Aldritch, Gerard, and myself were left.
14 Sep 1576: A miracle happened today! As we were having our lunch break no other than Dr. Allan Groods just came up walking happily to the campfire, as if we didn't just lost him for over a month. After I ordered Aldritch to run a few rituals on Groods to see if he wasn't some kind of shapeshifter or demon we could rejoice in the knowledge that he really did make it out alive. While eating his first warm meal in a month he told us that he had survived by hiding away in a hollow tree. While hidden there a most miraculous sight caught his attention: A real
Drumeosaur, a creature only spoken of in lizardfolk legends, come up to his tree and sniffed it. Groods was then overtaken by his scientific instincts and decided to follow it instead of the rest of us. Over the week he wrote an extensive rapport on the drumeosaur's behaviour, which he gladly showed to us. When Dr. Olavson said that such a thing was impossible and that the drumeosaur wasn't real Allan simply pulled out a enormous egg from his backpack and asked him if this wasn't real either, after which Gerard kept his mouth shut.
26 Nov 1576: We are getting close now, I can feel it. The river has been becoming more and more malnourished as we go more and more north-east ward. The source must be nearby. When I asked Allan when that egg was going to hatch he ensure me that it could only hatch when exposed to a specific temperature and that it was in some kind of stasis until that moment. If it was anyone ells I would think the made it up, but Dr. Groods knowledge of the natural world has proven itself time and time again.
31 Feb 1577: What we found today was not what we have been looking for, but worth noting nonetheless. We found a giant abyss in the ground, at least 50 metres in diameter, into which several rivers cascade down. It was impossible to see the bottom of this hole through the darkness at the bottom, but when we listened closely we heard what seemed to strangely resemble waves and whale song. It is a shame that Dr. Anastasia Ogruwell is no longer with us, for she would have found this fascinating. Aldritch claims he felt a connection to the heaven of water coming from the hole, but such a thing is most unlikely. As we left Dr. Olavson yelled out "the
Abyss of Tears!" and when we asked him what he meant he said "That is what we should call it, the Abyss of Tears". Well since none of us had a better suggestion we decided to keep the name and we walked further upstream, away from the Abyss of Tears.
17 Jan 1578: More than two years after we left Madamsrest we have finally found the source of the Madame river! By now the river had turned into a tiny stream of water, barely strong enough to flow over our shoes. As we followed this we found a 21 metre tall obelisk, standing on top of a hill from which all water in the area seemed to flow. Aldritch did a few more tests to see if the obelisk wasn't magically protected and afterwards we all approached the black monument. We counted to three and on the count of three the four of us touched the surface of the stone. It was surprisingly damp. Olavson noticed that the surface was covered in ancient runes, older than anything he had ever seen. We had finally found it! This was the source! We agreed to call it the
Obelisk of Alwealdas, as to not give honour to any one individual and to recognise its importance to all people living in the Alwealdasmerc Swamplands.
02 Oct 1578: We finally reached the Madame estuary, and with that home. The journey home was easier than through, as our makeshift raft could gently float down streams past all the obstacles we had to face on the way through. When we entered Madamsrest we were received as heroes, with a feast and all. I was informed that sadly Jan Wenje had passed away three months earlier, unable to see his greatest project to fruition. Dr. Allan Groods spared no time to hatch his drumeosaur egg, and after showing off his live specimen he donated it to the Madam Menagerie to be displayed for the entire city's population. Aldritch Inkt was finally accepted into the college of magic, and was made a professor of divination in recognition for his work on our expedition. Gerard Olavson meanwhile was already planning out a new archaeological expedition to further study the Obelisk of Alwealdas. When he asked me to join him for another round I happily declined however. I have had my fill of adventure by now, and decided to take the money I received from Mr. Wenje's business partners to buy myself a nice apartment on the canal and to retire from adventuring all together.
[END]
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