Journal of Lanval: Wolf-Dragon

The private journal of Lanval Auren, a recent arrival in Templehelm. These entries will span his time throughout the year of the Wolf-Dragon. There first few entries have dates scribbled in the margins, as if added as an after-thought and the main entries are recorded in cheap, poorly made ink. The rest seem more organized, and the ink gradually becomes the quality used by scribes.

=2nd Akwal of the Arcai Wolf-Dragon | 11.04.1023= It has been several days since my arrival - despite my sight, my disbelief clings to my mind like a babe at the teat. The Demon-Sea that birthed the Sword-God, a place I had always shrugged off as myth and legend, is real. Truly, I am amazed. Truly, I am lost.

I left Slael from the port of Iedis with nothing but my life and the clothes on my back. The Truejoys made sure of that. Everything I had built - all of it was taken. My men - defeated, imprisonned, or scattered. My heirs - kidnapped or killed. My city - a trophy for the victors. I had pictured that day a thousand times, the day that I, like all before, would fall from my throne. At times I thought the Carcass Legion would be our end or perhaps the warring lords from the Near East. An Orkish raiding party would have been more likely than the truth.

That man... the man who defeated me, his name is not one I will use so freely. A native come home to free his people. Not difficult to believe, but where he claimed to come from - where he claimed to travel. Well, now that I am here, I see it must be true. The land of Demons. The land of that Rhoenite upstart. The land of Endless Night, which Suinval left eons ago. The land of my ancestor and his demon-brood.

It is not at all what I expected. As of late - nothing is. I will write more soon, but for now I tire.

My place is uncertain. My future is shrouded. Today I live.

- Lanval

=2nd Netharna of the Arcai Wolf-Dragon | 14.04.1023= The people of this land are aware of the lands beyond, but they have little knowledge of them. I am told that those who drift here from beyond are not uncommon. In the taverns of New Heathrest, Oakhold, and Grastagg - supposed towns of "Emeraldites", Testificates, and natives of this land - I hear stories of all kinds. Heroes and terrors. Men that fought the Carcass Legion and lived. Even tales of great flying beasts - drakes and dragons - though I have yet to see such fantastical beasts myself.

I feel on edge in most towns. I stand out. They speak of people and places I've never heard of. They speak of histories that sound to me more like stories for children. It is too much. For now, I have journeyed West to a place called Rinom. There are strange creatures here - large green birds I'm told are called picorie, as well as strange small creatures that scurry through the grasses before they attack. Goblins too, though I've yet to know a land in which those pests are not present.

I have made camp beyond the center of Rinom, at the foot of some great hills - and an even greater structure, whose purpose eludes me. When I left Slael, I declared my pilgrimage, as is my right as an Auren. At the time, I had no other recourse, but now that I am here - now that I see this land is real - I think I will do the pilgrimage in truth. I have heard of many who have tried before me, tried to mirror Suinval in the wielding of a hundred blades. I have heard of none who have done so here, aside from Suinval himself. Perhaps I will be the second. Perhaps this land will show me what the Sword-God knew. Perhaps I too will find the strength I lack.

Tonight, I eat picorie. It is stringy and unpleasant, but it is also hot. My belly is full for the first time since I awoke in the temple ruins to the East. I have found my saisho no ken, whose true name is Honor Worn True. It has been too long since I have named a blade. Too long since I have remembered the words of my father. The will of my ancestors.

This life is mine, and it begins again. I will not make waste of it.

- Lanval

=1st Planu of the Iron Wolf-Dragon | 01.05.1023= The blades of this land are strange and plentiful. Curved and straight. Weak and strong. Sharp and dull. Like most peoples, their blades are not all swords, but that is not so in the face of an Auren. My people wield all blades. Of wood or metal. Stringed or bare. Curved, straight, and jagged. I have found and named five. Rinom is no challenge, so I have moved back East. The people of Oakhold are kind, welcoming even. They know nothing of the man I was, and I share little for them to discern my past.

One in particular - a being named Caoimhe. They are like a woman and a man in one, as well as an ork, an elf, and a man. They say a 'goblin' in more accurate, but I have never seen a goblin with such a mannish height. They hail from the lands far to the South-West, and I almost wish I could see it. Forests that stretch beyond the seas. Beasts and warriors unlike any from the North or East. Perhaps when my pilgrimage is finished, I will go there.

Caoimhe is naive, making a place to welcome and help others, but - at the very least - this dream is convenient for me. An outsider like myself, they are teaching me what they know of this land. Its powers and kings. Its gods and demons. Its dates and names and customs. There is much to learn.

I have found several places to train my steel while I stay here. Bandits camp far to the East - beyond the town of Eastlake and their Lake Prosperity. To the South and back West, there are ruins full of living dead and terrible beasts. In a place called Aulada, I even saw small dragons - Wyverns they are called. More like pests than the beasts I have heard of so far, but still - a lizard with wings isn't something I thought I'd ever see.

For now, I will make Oakhold my home. I will train my blades and find more to master. I will walk the path of Suinval, and - with luck - I may learn the truth of my blood. The truth of this land. The truth behind the blade.

Until then, I eat, I drink, I sleep. I live. Tomorrow brings fate closer still.

- Lanval