(Writing from the road back to Drakesbridge, now that I have time to catch my breath).
Early in the day, I had one of those rare things, an audience with Lord Law. My main purpose was to understand his recent edict and get a better idea of his interpretation of vagaries of the law in Drakesbridge. There is a copy of the edict still in the Tavern and I will provide a copy in this library for anyone who cares to read it. Lord Law graciously explained certain things. After confirming that his being is one of very bright light, I am more inclined to believe that he is indeed an Order Elemental. He (at least he takes a form that looks male) confirmed that he would only step in personally for major infractions of the law, such as the recent Guild conflicts. He was unclear on one point. on what he would step in personally for. He included things which would interfere in the normal operations of his business. When I asked what that would be, he said "That is for me to know." I supposed we will find out by process of elimination, hopefully not our own. He was unhappy (if that is the correct word, perturbed may be more appropriate) with the conflict at the Gloomwood Embassy. He made it clear that if there were further disturbances to the normal functioning of any Embassy, there would be repercussions.
Soon our group made our rendez-vous with a caravan and were all on the road to Alyria. Among our traveling group were Ahmed, Moraiwe, Hiss, Masacha and Jomar. We were joined by the Baddirans Dog, Echo, Loran and the redoubtable Pendar. We met up with bandits on the road which surprised no one. What was suprising was when Dog ran up to a group of bandints screaming "your money or your life!!" There was some confusion as the bandits tried to understand being robbed themselves but soon their confusion was ended when the inevitable attack ensued. There were only a few things of note which happened on our journey to Alyria.
We encountered the ruins of a Romani caravan. Based on the undead we fought which had once been the Romani, there is some blood borne disease in this area. The symptoms are uncontrollable laughter and a rictus grin. The disease can be cured with a Purify Blood as any other. The infected undead spread the contagion to us as we fought, and I was unlucky enough to experience the effects first-hand. It caused me to laugh hard enough that I was unable to do anything but walk or run. No spells were able to be cast and I was unable to use my sword to defend myself. I hope this disease doesn't spread, or we will have troubles when we return. As it was, we encountered one other person infected by this disease. We had camped one night with another caravan who had been traveling in the opposite direction. One member of their guard awoke us all with an attack in the middle of the night. He had been infected by the laughing disease. The caravan warned us of trolls in one area of the road, which we hoped to avoid by avoiding the road but we were not entirely successful.
As we traveled through what we thought safe territory, we came upon a couple of baby trolls. There were other trolls in the distance, unsurprising as wherever there is a baby there must be a mother. Jomar played with the babies for a while, who seemed insistent that we follow. It escapes me how we came upon this idea but we followed the baby trolls and went to their cave. As Jomar entered their cave, all of our group except the Gypsy were teleported to a sealed chamber by Lord Law. We later found out that the Gypsy completed this trial as part of the competition for Captain of the Town Guard. He will not speak of what this last trial was and the encounter seems to have left a mark on him.
When we arrived in Alyria, we had the opportunity to do something much more difficult to do in Drakesbridge - we went shopping. There was quite the variety of things for sale, from scrolls to potions to weapons to fancy clothes. We were warned against some of the more shady vendors, particularly near the entrance to the city. Unfortunately, there were no formal scrolls to be had so I kept my coin for another day. Perhaps someone in Baddira will have some for sale or perhaps I can pay someone to copy one or two. It was a relaxing, lazy afternoon in which the Wild Elf Echo struck up a pleasant acquaintance with me. She suggested that since I was looking for Formal scrolls that I should ask the Duke, who after all, had pledged his support of Drakesbridge. Since the Palace was undergoing renovation, we were unable to stay there, so the Duke put us up at the Sword and Crown Inn. We left our weapons and most of our valuables there, as the rooms were secured. Also, as Sir Josian promised, Harper Beltran showed us around the city, pointing out various areas and buildings of interest, including the magnificent Alyrian Library. As evening was falling we had formal audience with Duke C'Moggan. He congratulated Jomar on his appointment as Captain of the Town Guard. Then, much to my surprise, during my audience he knighted me as a Knight of Alyrian Order of the Light in recognition for my work in Drakesbridge. I must admit to a stunned moment of silence as this sunk in. At Echo's prompting I did ask for Formal Scrolls & someone to cast a Permanent Celestial Circle. One of His Grace's advisor reminded him of something to do with being careful about apportioning of resources, meaning they didn't want to just give these away. This man must have been the Advisor of the Treasury or whatever they call that here. His other advisor, Lucius, in his black robes, seemed to be a Omayeledh, which translates as a Voice of Wisdom. Later, I was to find, he was this but of a slightly different nature than I at first thought.
After the official audience was over, we all enjoyed a feast hosted by His Grace in the dining hall. The food and wine were shared as freely as stories, laughter and conversation. Jomar broke out the doumbek, and played a merry beat. Moraiwe joined myself in dance to the lively rhythm. The beat was so enticing that even the stoic Lady Nala joined us in dance. That for me was a moment and an evening I will remember fondly for a long time to come. One last thing of note was that that Harper Beltran asked after Josian, so I told him of the man's brave defense of Drakesbridge recently and good health. After I mentioned that Josian was trying to exercise more restraint in his new knighthood, Beltran told me that Josian used to be quite the lady's man. This came as something of a surprise to me. Further, Beltran advised me to ask Josian about a mule on a table at the Dancing Donkey. When I return to Drakesbridge, I will be sure to ask dear Josian about this incident. Given later instruction I received from the Duke, one wonders where Josian got the notion that he was expected to be more restrained than he already is, but I digress.
C'Moggan seemed especially taken by Moraiwe, which is to be expected, with her being another Mystic Wood Elf who is young, thin and pretty. She was the only one whose hand the Duke kissed. He made a few comments about how nice it was to have another Mystic in town, but I'm not sure Moraiwe fully appreciated his remarks. She seemed more fascinated by the "potty". The Duke had even arranged for a cake decorated with fresh strawberries, which caused me to recall how fond Random was of those delectable fruits and why. At one point when I could get a quiet word in with Moraiwe, I advised her that if she didn't wind up in His Grace's bed I would spank her the next day, but I think I confused her. At this point I am pretty sure she has not had her Adulting Ceremony yet and revised my previous estimation of her maturity. In any case, the Duke traveled alone to his bedchambers. The rest of us enjoyed the food and each others' company until it was politely hinted at that perhaps we should return to the Sword and Crown.
As we wandered back to our rooms, we came across one of those vendors we had been warned about. He was selling something he called "chickeny pork products" which looked like revolting, greasy lumps of unidentifiable meat. A couple of my friends sampled the offering, but I could not bring myself to eat it. I expected someone's Poison Shield to pop, but the only thing anyone seemed to suffer was a slightly queasy stomach. I am glad to leave that food substitute and shady dealer behind.
Soon after breaking away from the "meat" vendor, we saw a man attacked by a Rathonian & taken down. Unfortunately our weapons were still at the Sword & Crown. Hiss saved the man by hitting the Rathonian with Sleep Gas poisons until he succumbed. We took the rescued man and the Rathonian back to our rooms and called the town guard. They vouched for the Alyrian man as a good citizen. The Rathonian tried to kill himself during questioning but was stopped. He was taken away by the town guard. The Alyrian had a mission that he asked for help with but I was called away by those wanting to travel to Baddira. While I had thought that we had another week in Alyria, those traveling to Baddira insisted we needed to leave right away.
Just before this surprising revelation, there was something Jomar and I noticed about Ambassador Nala. She was acting strangely, showing some nervous emotions, which is highly unusual for a Stone Elf. Hopefully Jomar is able to find out something, as he stayed in Alyria. Unfortunately I seem to have offended him, although I am not sure why. After Lady Nala fled the Sword and Crown, I asked Jomar if there was anything I ought to know, keeping in mind that the person he is today might not be the person he used to be. It seems he had visited Alyria at some point in the past, and there was something to make him nervous. He seemed to become offended or hurt, told me he had broken "none of Alyria's precious laws," told me I wore the Knight's Belt well and stalked off. It saddens me that I leave Jomar while our friendship is in such a state. Truly, I just wanted to be prepared should any of the town authorities take issue with him, since they might rightfully call upon me to help with matters of justice. If he has done nothing illegal, I'm not sure what the problem is. Hopefully I can sort this out when he returns to Drakesbridge.
It was also disappointing that I was not able to show a proper respectful farewell to the Duke, nor meet my fellow Quentari, Cahrn Lagosi. Life is long for us, however, and so there will be future visits to the shining city of Alyria. Ambassador Nala and Sir Josian travel there with some regularity, so I will likely join them on one of their journeys in the next few months. For now, I leave off my writings until another quiet point on the road, when I shall write of our experiences in Baddira.