Valyan's Heirs

Kira's Journals

Journal,

There is something I have to get off my mind. I witnessed something these past few days that I think has changed me forever. It all started when I met a group of adventurers in Valyan's Legacy a number of weeks ago, though I'm not sure exactly how long ago it was now. My concept of time has simply flown out the window. That's probably because I've been stuck in a forest completely surrounded by the thickest fog I've ever seen, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Well, I know it's been a month at least. I had just wandered into Valyan's Legacy during some sort of celebration, and my new friends were at the center of it. I guess they had just beaten some not very nice monsters or something, I wasn't really paying attention, but everyone was clapping for them and giving them free stuff. So, I joined their group, which they didn't seem to mind, and we became friends just as fast as the hummingbird can fly.

We were immediately hired to find a lost caravan that a man had expected to arrive a few days before. Since he promised a reward the size of our troll friend, my group and I took the job as fast as you can say "we'll take the job." Well, to make a short story shorter, we didn't find the thieves that ransacked the caravan, but we did find a clay tablet with a map of something inside. Oh, and I also led the group to a neat sword that I instantly recognized as Valor, an ancient sword that used to belong to a dwarf, but we let Kelric have it, may he rest in peace. But I'll get to that in a minute.

So anyway, we returned to Valyan's Legacy and Banstar's teacher told us to go to Haven to have a really smart man look at the map that we found.

So, we made a very boring trip to Haven, where the smart man we were sent to see sent us on another trip to the Blood Wood to give something to the elves there, which sounded really interesting. I think he told us something about our map, but I wasn't really paying attention. For a man who knows so much, he was really boring. Besides the town was so interesting. I even heard about a place where there are lots of neat things called "horrors" in a part of the city that nobody really lives in anymore. I wanted to go see that, but we had to leave before I got the chance.

So anyway, we were on our way to the Blood Wood when some mean men attacked us and said something about being sent to stop us or something, but I wasn't really paying attention.

When we finally got to the Blood Wood, we showed the guards at the entrance a stick that the old man had given us to get in, and we met some of the elves. One of them was not very nice at all, but one was very kind to us and he sent us to find out something about a slave trader or something. I wasn't really paying attention.

Long story short, we found the slave trader's caravan and followed it to a cloud of fog with a forest inside it. There was a path through the woods that led to a city in the clouds but on the ground. It was a strange place to say the least. It was not a very happy place, either. There were people everywhere, but none of them looked like they really belonged there. It's kind of hard to explain. The city there looked like a really big kaer that hadn't been looked after for about a million years, which was strange because there were so many people around. We were captured by some guards around the kaer and imprisoned until sunset, but by the time we all got out, all of the guards were gone, but that didn't matter. We couldn't escape from the fog. Every time we tried, we just ended up at the city again.

I had the idea to fly up out of the fog, but on my way up, something caught my eye. There was a room at the very top of the kaer that I decided to investigate because there was a very bright light coming out of it's windows. I easily single-handedly took out a group of what Banstar called Shadowmants, and by the time I was done with them, the rest of the group had walked to the top of the kaer. Inside the room, we found a ghost of a lady. Banstar said she was s Spectral something-or-other. (I wasn't really paying attention.) We found out later that she was a woman who used to live in this city, whose name is Akarem.

Once we had released the ghost woman, she told us that all the people in the city were trapped in eternal life until someone released them. Unfortunately, we had to defeat one of those "horror" things in order to free the people. By this time, we had lost Kelric to a trap of some sort. I don't remember it very well because I fell asleep, I think. But we did meet a new friend among the slaves, another troll, but I didn't catch his name. I wasn't really paying attention.

Anyway, to stop my rambling, after a really close fight, we did beat the horror, and freed the people of Akarem. It was a sight I will never forget. Each person around the kaer ran up the black steps, and as they reached the top, they had the most blissful look on their faces, like a child windling who just experienced his first flight around the forest. The last person to ascend the stairs told us to spread the story of the people of Akarem, so that their souls could be at peace for eternity, and their story would never be forgotten. And that is exactly what I intend to do. I am going to tell any one who will listen about the souls of Akarem.

There. I feel better. Now that I've started this journal, I think I will keep a log of my adventures with my new friends. I have a feeling we're going to have a lot more fun like we had in Akarem. I think I might have to start paying attention.

Kira