This is volume one of the military journal of Wilkins Thornfoot. I will attempt to keep a record of the six month mission as per my orders. I am journeying with a group of hired adventurers to scout out the region of Erimos. We are to gain as much intel about the people, land and the government as possible in an effort to determine if they should be brought into the Empire. If so, our intell will determine how best to proceed.

2nd day of Brogner, 485 AGU

Today I met up with the adventurers in the capital of the Northern Region of the Empire, Orimos, at the Teacup Inn. The Manconian Adventurers Guild did an adequate job finding adventures for this mission.

Lawrence Vinther, human, is an academic from the Hadebrandian University. He is relatively untested, but I’m told he is competent from some surprisingly high ranking officials.

Lance Stormshield, another human, is something of a hero in his region. He has earned several medals and by all accounts is a very competent warrior. Although he has earned a reputation to drool on about his achievements at every opportunity.

Loran is a half-orc and by all accounts an exceptional one. He has broken the stereotypes and made a name for himself as a detective. He used to be in the city watch. I think he will be a great asset on this mission.

Then there is Ulian, the syndicate turn coat. He is less than ideal. I’m sure he’s competent enough in his skills, and those skills might even be useful, but I fear he can’t be trusted. I was resistant to allow him to come on this mission, but once it was settled, I made sure I was leading it. He needs to stay alive and most importantly, we need to know where to contact him when it’s time for him to testify against his former compatriots. He does not know I’m partially here to keep an eye on him and make sure he survives. I thought it best to make sure he had no idea he had someone who knows who he really is.

23rd day of Brogner, 485 AGU

The last two weeks have gone smoothly. There is nothing to note. All of the adventurers seem to be getting along fine and I found out first hand that it is in fact true that Lance does, on occasion, tend to drool on.

Today we met up with Verges at the town of Loxhore. The furthest city any Manconian Official has ever traveled and the last decent sized town for the next week or so of travel. We plan on taking a day of rest tomorrow before traveling on.

Verges is one of the representatives from the Manconian Adventurers Guild. The organization is responsible for hiring the adventurers and for running the place of operation in Erimos. They are responsible for making sure the adventurers can best execute their job. Verges, Menas and the Majordomo, Marcade are the only other people that know why we are really going to Erimos. In total there will be 8 of us who know our true intentions. More than I like, but the best we could manage.

Verges had been waiting for us, so he could lead us the rest of the way to Erimos and to where they have bought an Inn and Tavern called The Brass Cup. They have been in Erimos for several months, setting up the base. Apparently they had enough money to start renovating the property. It sounds like it will be more luxurious than what I expected or what we need.

The 25rd day of Brogner, 485 AGU

I hoped we would travel to Erimos without any issues, but I feared that something would happen. Today it has. As we were preparing to leave Loxhore, Loran decided to inform us that he had some business in town that was not concluded. He told us to continue and that he would catch up when he was done.

6th day of Furrowbeard, 485 AGU.

Today we arrived in Erimos. The view cresting the last hill was amazing. Before us, was the ruins of a magnificent city, one that would have rivaled any city in the Empire.

The Great Upheaval hit this area hard. It looked like it used to be a port town. I say used to because what must have been a bay at one point was now filled with spiky barren islands, making it hard to traverse, and the water looked stagnant and covered in water greenery.

It also looked like a great river once flowed here. On the way to the town we walked over a bridge, at least a hundred feet long and arched high. All that remained below was a small creek and some swamp land.

We took the road around the city to the main road and entered through the main gate. We road through the ruins until we eventually arrived at the old city center. The gates were open and we were waved through. It should be noted that they have been renovating the defensive walls.

The town was full of people and for some reason a great many chickens. We went to the noble district, a gated and guarded community but with no obvious restriction to entry. Despite the name, the district is home to a variety of noble houses that have been converted to Inns and Taverns. Out destination, the Brass Cup was off the main road but not far from the district’s gate.

We were introduced to Marcade, the Majordomo, who started giving us a tour. We started with the tavern, which used to be the antechamber and main hall of the building. He introduced us to the barkeep, Brevin, a rather surly red headed dwarf. He was the former owner of the establishment.

Next we went into the kitchen and were introduced to Portia, who was cooking a stew and baking bread for lunch. From there we went to the newly renovated cellar. They must have hit some sort of shaft when renovating because as Ulian walked near a wall, it crumbled away and he fell into a secret layer under the building.

They found a goblin they named “Marshmallow” and more surprisingly a portal to a far away place. We walked through the portal and found ourselves in a large circular room with what looked like dormant portals, with the exception of the portal we walked through.

After searching the area we found no one, but the area was heavily used. Other than the portal room there was stairs leading up, but they were blocked. Then there were another 30 rooms along a hallway surrounding the circular room. In the first one there was a natural tunnel that had been widened. However there was a cave in that occurred when Ulian approached the room. I find it dubious that it was a natural occurrence. We spent the next two hours removing rocks. Eventually we broke through to the outside

Whoever was here was gone. We found a ruined hovel that had been built up against the rockside. Leading away from the rubble was a set of wagon tracks. It was heading into an outcropping of trees off in the distance.

Lawrence determined that we were probably several hundred miles away, which I concur with. There was a mountain range off in the distance that looked similar to the one I could see from Erimos.

The adventurers let “Marshmallow” go. The intent was to follow him and we did. He followed the tracks, which eventually turned onto a road. We followed the road until we came to a village…a village inhabited by goblins and orcs.

I’d never seen there like. I’ve fought goblins and orcs plenty, but I’ve never seen them live in houses like these, or wear clothes like what they wore. The green skins that I’m aware mostly live in caves and were whatever they could get. The goblins here were wearing nice, if simple clothing, mostly well taken care of. Additionally these green skins were not hostile, no did they appear to fear us.

We were confronted by the mayor, a Goblin named Kraklin. He persuaded the adventurers to take a job to dealing with some kobolds that were harassing the town. The mayor said the kobolds had killed a messenger trying to offer piece. I however find this claim to be dubious.

Kraklin put us up for the night at the local inn. Lawrence gathered some information from Olog, the male orc bartender. There seems there has been trouble with kobolds, but Olog knew nothing about any deaths.

7th day of Furrowbeard, 485 AGU.

The next morning we ate our breakfast and headed out. We visited a farmer who had been attacked by Kobolds. Through interrogating the goblin owner, who had been injured, as well as investigating the barn and Lawrence talking to a squirrel, the adventures did determine there really had been a recent attack. There were 5 kobolds. They came here, beat up the owner and stole food and seeds.

We then followed Kraklin’s directions to find the Kobolds. We went down the road till we saw a tree that looked like a giant, we turned right till we hit a brook. We follow it up stream till we found an outcropping of rocks at which point we went left and in about a mile we found some ruins.

There was one large building in the middle, with a wall around it and some old stone outbuildings. We decided to set up camp, even though it was only early afternoon, so that we could send Ulian in to scout the area when it became dark.

End of Season 1 Episode 1