The Notebook of Kaireck Lousange

A damaged journal, missing its earlier pages:

"Samilka didn't die at sea like she wanted others to believe, but Meggido got her in the end. I'm not one to mourn our brethren, we know the dangers of the dark, but now with so few left, and this our last link to what occurred on that day, I am left with a profound sadness. Her death was noteworthy in its brutality, a memory that the children of the so-called Collegium remember well, a body torn to pieces, ripped and burned, a face frozen in endless horror. That is how a good Rui dies now, in this new world.
The 'wise men' here say it resembles bodies torn by the Red Eyed Horrors, the Shades of the New World - but I have seen their carnage, and while it is savage it does not resemble this."

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"I've spent time reconstructing her path - why she came to Meggido, who she was following, and what happened that last day. I have no answers, only more questions, the pieces of this puzzle seem drawn from a dozen different sets. She came aboard the Defieli Matre, which immediately left for Jericho - not stopping to pick up passengers or cargo, only staying long enough for Samilka and an unnamed dark-haired man to disembark. In the following days she inquired about the Lords, not surprising and probably not suspicious, and then spent several days at the Collegium, where she spoke with the Scholars and the Master of the Collegium. It seemed she was concerned about local stories of the New World, and a student reported she asked to see a particular Old World Sigil-Marked Tome, though no one else seems to recall any books of that description in the library.
My inquiries at the Collegium seemed innocent enough, but I cannot help but feel that I am now being watched."

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"I struggle to remain focused, I know the importance of our task but still I hunger to hunt our common foe, Veritas. I learned from an old contact that one of the Veritas agents currently at work in The Penitent Bay is a powerful sorcerer, a skill which that individual does not hide, and that another had a large family, lost in the wars. I hope some day this knowledge will be in better hands. Tomorrow I investigate the Lords of Meggido, perhaps some knowledge can be gained in that arena."

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"I found a lead, but not with the Lords - a man sailing between the settlements reports similar injuries as recorded to Samilka, two men found brutally killed in an inlet village of the Bay itself named Watcher's Point. Witnesses say an older woman was seen fleeing the scene, a torrent of iron and wood surrounding her and fluctuating madly, could this be the killer, an agent of Nero? Nero herself? Or am I just chasing ghosts in a land as full of them as a cemetary."

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"Everything in this city is dominated by three factions - the Collegium, the Merchants, and the Pirates. At first I thought to avoid the underworld, stretched as it is between the latter two groups, but more and more I find that their hands, as a proxy to others perhaps, are dipped into every scheme of the city. I doubt that Sapienta or the Merchant Guild knows what the stakes are here, or who their actions may be done at the behest of, but I have started to suspect that Nero has leveraged one of these groups for its purposes, to what end I still cannot know."

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"I woke up last night - my alarm tripped by some unseen hand. My shadowy pursuers draw nearer, I may have tipped my hand in my frustration at finding no progress. Which cage did I rattle, I wonder. I must be more cautious."

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"The eyes are on me, but I cannot leave without discovering more what is hidden here. My investigation into Samilka's death has gone nowhere, I visited her grave atop Pauper's Hill to find some inspiration, a vessel for my thoughts but I know I must dig deeper to find the past. A long day, and I tire of luring away my pursuers. I am going to turn the tables if at all possible, time to be more pointed with my questions."

The journal ends here

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Operating on a hunch you combed the Pauper's Graves of Meggido, finding the name of the Defieli Matre. You dug, combing up muddy and exhausted, but with a note, a cipher (added to Dulcinea's Tome), and additional clues (added to Fanatics and the Flame ).

"I hope this has reached the hands of an individual if not of right association than of noble intent, for the world, I am now sure, rests on a precipice looming above a dark from which there is no return. I will now record my encounter with what I believe was Nero, or an agent thereof - an encounter the individual undoubtedly intended to be my last.
It was the end of my third week investigating the Collegium, I now have proof that the academy's collegial front, while perhaps genuine for the majority of the teachers and students, masks several potentially conflicted schemes. The northeast tower, warded beyond my power, seems to be run by an Ashlander who seldoms interacts with the rest of the campus, but the material I see moving in and out of it is of interest to the arcane in both the old and new world. The magister of the Collegium receives letters from a variety of sources, shipments of exotic goods, and some more questionable shipments I have not been able to get my hands on.
Regardless of this, I was on my way back to the tavern where I have stashed my equipment when the eyes that I long felt upon me grew more menacing, and in a flash it was on me. Faster than any human had any right to be, stronger, and it hit me not just in my body, but in my mind - I felt myself straining even to remain conscious. Suddenly, the Ashflame I kept with me grew warm, and my wits returned to me, I loosed the packet in its entirety, barely managing to splash some at the form that still gripped me, mere seconds from ending my life. The sense of menace, the intrusion on my soul, faded almost instantly, and the form retreated, vanishing around the corner into the alleyway.
I was left almost dead, but alive - I curse my weakness that I could make no identification of the person that assaulted me, but I caught the smell of jasmine and lavender - unusual in this place.
I will continue to investigate. If I am now dead, and you continue this path, be wary - this person, this nero, is possessed of powers that will fell any but the strongest. Proceed with caution, and faith, but know that the fate of the world may rest on the strength of your actions."

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Found wrapped alongside the notebook and kept immaculately clean, Voces Diablerium