Kira's Journals

Journal,

I don't have a lot of time to write, but I'll fill you in on what I can. We are presently in Thrak's home town, about to go and defend his older brother for murder. I'll elaborate. We arrived in Valyan's Legacy after finishing our business in Axalalail, and were met in the tavern by a friend from Thrak's home, a troll friend. This friend told Thrak that his older brother, Brik, was being charged with the murder of their mentor. Obviously Thrak was upset and very defensive about the whole thing and agreed to return to the village to properly defend his brother. The other troll was reluctant to allow the rest of us to join them, but Thrak put his foot down and told him that we were like family and he would not go without us. There wasn't much the other troll could do to argue, so he agreed to let us come.

When we finally got to the village, which is situated on the mountain side a day or two west of Valyan's Legacy, we were met with unwelcoming eyes and a lot of wary glances. We were first led to Thrak's mothers house. She was inside, obviously distraught but trying not to break down by cleaning everything in sight. If that house was any cleaner, I wouldn't have guess a troll lived there.

Anyway, after Thrak and his mother had a bit of alone time to have their hugs and hellos and console each other, we were invited in a served a bit of lunch while Thrak told his mother a brief summary of what he had done and seen since he left home. That seemed to take her mind off her other son for a bit, but you could tell she was still on the verge of breaking down.

Thrak almost didn't get to finish his story because we weren't there for even an hour before there was a knock on the door. It was a very official-looking troll, sent to retrieve "Thrak and company" to take us to the village elder. We were led to a meeting hall, where the village elder was sitting in a very official chair and wearing very official robes. Nothing about this seemed right. I always thought that small villages like this were more personal and in touch with all of the villagers. This place, well more like the people, seemed like they were trying to distance themselves from the personal and close relations.

There was one person who really didn't look like he fit. It was the man standing beside the elder. Thrak even mentioned after we left that hall that he had never seen that other troll in his life, so he was certainly someone who had come into the village seeking some sort of power to have gotten to be the elders right hand troll in less than half a year. Anyway, we were greeted coldly by the elder and introduced the troll at his side, though I forget his name. Then, Thrak was asked to tell a complete account of what he had done and seen since leaving the village six months ago. So, he did, and I let him do most of the talking, but injected a few of my own descriptions in place, because, frankly, I tell the story a lot better than him. Thrak spent the majority of the next two hours telling everything we'd done together in great detail. It was when he got to the part about fighting the horror in Kaer Akarem that the elder and his lackey shared a very displeasing look, though they waited until the end of Thrak's story to express the meaning behind that look.

Once Thrak was done waving and flailing and describing everything in detail, though a bit lack luster if you ask me, we were asked to perform acts of beauty to prove that we were not Horror tainted. So, we did, though I think all of our skills in the arts were a bit rusty. Thrak and I carved somewhat sloppy-looking runes. Gir carved something in stone, I think it was an animal. Malorrin made something in clay; I honestly couldn't tell what is was. Charye made a pile of arrows, which actually looked pretty good because she gets practice in that, seeing as she's an archer. And I really didn't see what Rayne made. She was standing behind me. But however ugly our finished products were, they were accepted and we were all ruled as not horror tainted.

Then we got the matter at hand. We were told, in brief, that Thrak's mentor was brutally murdered in his own home by someone who had to have been very skilled with a weapon and very strong to have beaten him in a fight. That was pretty much all that they said, but when Thrak asked to see his brother, he was denied. They told him that he was being watched intently for signs of "another uprising from the Horror inside him" and no one was allowed to see or talk to him.

Of course I wasn't happy with that, so Gir and I found a way around it. We spent the rest of the day at Thrak's house just resting and thinking, and waiting for nightfall. A couple hours after midnight, Gir and I went to find out the truth about Brik. Of course, we couldn't tell Thrak what we were doing because he would want to see his brother, and that would jeopardize our secrecy. Also, not telling him would protect him from questioning from the elder, and give plausible deniability.

Anyway, Gir distracted the guard while I snuck into Brik's holding room, which was actually just a shed. I quickly unlocked the door for a peek inside and found Brik huddled in a corner looking almost like a dog that had been scolded and kicked. He did, in fact, look like someone beat the life out of him. He had bruises all over and it looked like he could easily have had a broken bone or two. Looking into astral space, I didn't see anything in the area that looked even remotely corrupted. I was tempted to just break him out then and there, but that would get Thrak in trouble, and that was the last thing we needed right then.

I also made one other stop. I flew over to the meeting hall because I was very suspicious of a certain troll councilor as I think all of us were. Unfortunately, my hunch found a dead end. There was no corrupted astral space anywhere in the meeting hall or around the councilor. I flew back to Thrak's house, a bit dejected, but with a new resolution to get to the bottom of this.

That little investigation was last night, and Thrak and Gir have gone to see the elder this morning to ask to see Brik. I stayed behind, obviously to write, but also to get my thoughts in order. Something about this whole thing doesn't add up, and I'm going to find out what is going on. Oh, here come Thrak and Gir... by the looks on their faces, this doesn't look good.

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