8th of Caelia, 207AH
The cartographer in Holsterin proved to have told the truth, some maps from the age of arcanum indeed survived the eclipse. The tharchion of Priador kept them in his family crypt, of all places. Luckily, we managed to liberate the document from that dusty tomb, although I suppose the coalition won't be welcome in
Thay for the time being. Oh well, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few coffins.
We're on our way back now, but shaking the tail of that thayan galley took more out of us than expected. We'll need to resupply in a friendly port first.
15th of Caelia, 207AH
Seafoam is a nice enough town. The scaffolding is an impressive sight to be sure, and as a sailor I appreciate anybody who worked their way down a chalk cliff just to get to the water. The coalition hasn't raided this place in years (what would we even steal?), so the locals are helpful enough. We might even pick up some extra crew while we're here, I heard there was a musician around looking for adventure, and the crew could use some entertainment on the trip to Olm.
30th of Caelia, 207AH
We're going to sail past Serpent's Bay for now. Word of the map is bound to get out as soon as we anchor, so it's best not to anchor at all if I don't want a dagger in my chest by nightfall. Instead we're gonna sail straight towards the silent slither. Reminder to myself to tell Turk to give the new guys daytime duty, can't have any of them paying attention to the stars and figure out the route.
21th of Corvid, 207AH
It took weeks, but we've arrived at Olm. The sight of that jungle never ceases to amaze me, and this is my sixth passage already. We've steered clear of Port Nizaru for now, but we'll need to resupply there on the return. I want to find the landmark first though, so we're going to spend the next few days hugging the coastline. In the meantime I guess I'll teach the newcomers the ropes, if they're any good at it we can take them with us on the trip.
25th of Corvid, 207AH
We found the landmark, as well as something else. One of the natives was also investigating the statue for some reason. One of those catfolk you sometimes see in Port Nizaru. He approached us when we made landfall, but we didn't share a language. Through pictures in the sand we figured out that he was also looking for the temple for his own reasons. So I invited him along, it never hurts to have a guide. Hurts even less to have a tasty distraction if some of Olm's beasts show themselves.
There was a river leading inward as the map suggested, but due to rocks we couldn't sail the Rose in, instead we had to carry one of the dinghy's overland. I took a dozen men with me, leaving most of the crew with the ship. Not far inland we came across half a dozen corpses. They appeared to be sun empire elves, ripped apart by teeth. The cause became clear soon enough, as a bunch of small raptors attacked us from the tall grass. They were quick little buggers, but we managed to get out with only a few scrapes. The pups certainly showed their worth there, I think I'd better bring them along for the full journey.
26th of Corvid, 207AH
The river now cleared of rocks, we made good speed today in the dinghy. The river shielding us from most predators. I learned that the map is a load of rubbish though, we traveled for the better part of the day before we spotted the map's landmark. Treasure or not, would it have killed them to make the map to scale?
Or easy travel came to a halt when we came tot the spring. Sure, the exotic plants and stone-carved waterfall were a pretty sight, but was it worth the giant dawnbrood that crashed our boat and ate half the men I brought? Time will tell. For now, we'll continue to follow the map inward, here's where our new guide will prove his worth.
27th of Corvid, 207AH
Woke up in the middle of the night to a nightspawn draining the blood of one of my men. Bloody things can climb trees now too, apparently. The fight was quick and dirty, and there was no way Rivan was going to make it. At this rate there's only a few of us left, two of whom strangers to me. Not an ideal situation as we continue to trek through the dark jungle.
1st of Rym, 208AH
We found it. We bloody well found it! The temple of Aclazotz, an overgrown, hidden ruin, but our guide found it all the same. I knew my gut was on point! The catfolk offered to scout ahead into the temple, and I'm glad I let him. The place was crawling with nightspawn. Giant bats hung from the ceiling, as well as a crows-damned demon bat thrice their size. Because it couldn't be that easy now, couldn't it? Good, made things more fun.
Although that dark god had placed monstrous guards in his temple against pillagers like us, he apparently hadn't considered we'd just smoke them out. The ventilation in caves is horrid, after all. We just spend all of daylight piling up wood in front of the cave entrance. Then when dusk broke, we set it alight. Worked like a charm, the bats pretty much choked to death without a fight. The demon was another matter. Those things don't breathe, and don't fear fire much either. Still, it took it some time to break through the burning wood. Time enough to poke it full of holes. It still almost ate our guide though, luckily for the cat the dwarf can do more than play a nifty tune. Bloody thing kept screaming though, even as we finally killed it. I didn't really understand it, but the guide seemed upset about it. Apparently it was swearing vengeance or something. We cut it to pieces though, so I wonder how it was planning to do that?
Regardless, we now had the temple to ourselves. I can't lie, my blood ran cold when we didn't find anything, but the pups proved their worth once again. They found a hidden chamber under the altar, filled to the brim with gold and jewels. Jackpot.
Really, with how useful the pups were, I'd almost give them a higher share of the loot than I promised. Almost. Eh, the cat seemed more interested in the walls anyway. Even gestured us to make a charcoal rubbing of a large wheel carved onto the wall.
Hauling all this treasure back to the ship safely is gonna take some time. Probably several round-trips with the rest of the crew. Not that I mind, more to carry means more loot. Maybe it's because of the treasure, or I'm just getting old, but I'm in a charitable mood. I'll ask the pups if they want to join my crew. If they don't, I'll still give them a lift to wherever they want to go. If the cat wants to come along I'll even have Turk teach him some common. I'm rich enough now to be a little charitable. Crows, I'm rich enough to buy a mansion and retire.
Imagine that.
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