Josh Voorheez
Adept
(This is a copy of the journal that was found near the end if the day, before the troop went to the cave to decide to release or not. It would have made its way around the caravan for all to read)
*You have found a very old and weather book. The pages are yellowed from age, eaten by insects, and bits of parchment crumble out as you pick the book up. You are able to read most of it, turning the pages with extra care. You figure that this book is centuries old due to the tribal names used and Haven not being open for hundreds of years. *
The first few entries describe the life of a small tribe of The Merrah of Sanguine scouting ahead as their tribe moved to Haven. As you continue reading it seems their plight is much like your own, their travels filled with folly, lost friends, and betrayal. The landmarks they recorded on their travels start sounding very similar to the ones you had encountered a few months back deep in the heart of Merrah territory. A few more pages in it starts to describe a newcomer to the tribe.
The next few pages crumble to dust as you try to turn them
*You have found a very old and weather book. The pages are yellowed from age, eaten by insects, and bits of parchment crumble out as you pick the book up. You are able to read most of it, turning the pages with extra care. You figure that this book is centuries old due to the tribal names used and Haven not being open for hundreds of years. *
The first few entries describe the life of a small tribe of The Merrah of Sanguine scouting ahead as their tribe moved to Haven. As you continue reading it seems their plight is much like your own, their travels filled with folly, lost friends, and betrayal. The landmarks they recorded on their travels start sounding very similar to the ones you had encountered a few months back deep in the heart of Merrah territory. A few more pages in it starts to describe a newcomer to the tribe.
- We found someone, wandering out by himself. He looked like he had been there for weeks, barely able to fend for himself. We set up camp for the night so we could properly care for him. It was the strangest thing, he had no tribal markings of any kind, no beads, and no memory of where he had come from. When he did speak….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)….. speak of poor guy, and it seemed like he was abandoned by whom ever he was traveling with. Hopefully he is well enough in a day or two so we can keep going. The chief wants to get to haven before the seasons change.
- Our friend has perked up over the past week. He was able to start traveling the day after we found him, and has been quite helpful aro….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)….. point us in the right direction when we get lost. Luckily, we only lost the path 3 times in the last 6 days, this land is a mess. We’ve kept more on watch at night as the beasts that hunt have driven us back to the main caravan. The scouting parties were getting over run at night on their own. Safety in numbers and all that. But more on watch mean that our numbers grow tired earlier, sometimes making mistakes. But our friend seems to know the area and is able to right our course when needed. He still doesn’t remember his name, poor guy. The chief has taken a liking to him, prob….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)….. even wearing our tribal paint. He seems to like the red and black down the eyes. He is fitting in very well. He has been very helpful with the chief’s newborn daughter, caring for her when the chief is busy.
- They told us this trek would be hard, the hardest thing we would ever have to do. But I think many underestimated it. This world is hard and unforgiving, but this journey. We’ve lost 5 more in the past few nights to sickness and animal attacks. The animals are even hungrier than we are, and more ferocious. Trapping even the sma….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)…..
The next few pages crumble to dust as you try to turn them
- How could this happen? A fire tore through the camp last night, it took so many of us, and injured even more. Life has been getting harder and harder with each passing day. The chief falling ill, us losing the path, the lack of food, deserters leaving in the night… will haven even be worth it???
- ….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)….. anymore of it. Sometimes it feels like we’ve been going in circles. The fires that claimed some of the tribe also took our maps and we’ve been going blind. The new chief has been keeping us together the best that he can, being thrown into that role with how bad these last few months have been can’t be easy. He was there at our old chief’s side, caring for him, just as we had cared for him after finding him all those months ago. Then when the sickness finally took our old chief, he was ready and willing to lead us. He’s shown us better ways of luring in the animals that have been hunting us, we weren’t using ….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)…... He even let himself be the first to be used. We were terrified at first, how could someone let themselves be put in harms way like that. But we were able to lure in a huge lizard and took it down. We ate like the kings of old for days, the first real meal some of us had had in to long. He says he is going to get us back on the right path soon! He’s even been caring for the chief’s poor daughter. She too young to understand why her father isn’t coming back…
- The bait tricks have been working better than we could have ever hoped. We were out trying to get another catch for meals, when another small caravan stopped trying to help, the chief said move on them and we did. We let them escape, but all of the things they dropped… supplies, weapons, armor, potions… we couldn’t be….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)….. says we should try it again.
- It worked again, and this time was even better! We were able to take a larger caravan this time. We got all their supplied and food. We had to kill some of them, but it was either us or them. We know how hard this land can be, Chief has said its time we start taking back!
- The scouts have returned with terrible news… Haven is sealed up. Something happened and the doors have been shut. No one inside would communicate with the scouts. Chief took the news as well as he could and has us turning back right away. ….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)….. To many people will be on this path soon, we can’t trust them at all. They will try and take what’s ours, what we won! He has somewhere we can go, that we can call our own… if we protect it fiercely enough!
- The chief found who set the fire, we couldn’t believe it was one of our own! There had been whispers for days, weeks even. Of course they tried to turn people against our chief, they knew he was going to discover what they did!! We must protect what is our own! They got what they deserved! A few ran off into the night, cowards. They were weak, they were scared. They should be scared! We made an example out of those who would betray us! We hung them in the center of camp to show what happens to ….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)…..
- Chief found more betrayers, he caught them poisoning our food supplies!! Why would they do this to their own tribe?? He found them guilty and we executed them as a tribe!
- Food has been more and more scarce. The game has been picked off by beasts or other tribes. Chief has us setting traps every couple of days, trying to lure anything in. We haven’t been successful in weeks, what wasn’t poisoned has been ….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)…..
- He did it! He got us our biggest prize yet! But no food just things. Things are good, but we are so hungry… people have been talking about not burying the dead after we liberate their things. They are saying its to much of a waste. We are so hungry…….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)…..
- We’ve found it! HOME! We’ve carved out a small piece of this forsaken land and claimed it for The Merrah! Chief has us setting up raiding parties to take out any invaders we have in our home. We even found a group of spies that used to be one of us! They had forsaken the tribe, calling themselves Sanguine… even adding more colors to their faces out of fear. FEAR OF US! We brought them to the Chief who dealt with them personally. THEN WE FEA….. (writing has been eaten away or is incomprehensible)….. He has bigger plans to find the rest of the betrayers! Other tribes have caught onto our old tricks, so we have to keep some alive to use as bait now. They always fall for it! Even the chief’s daughter is helping, he says everyone must pull their own weight. No one suspects someone that young to be any trouble. She’s taken to it like a natural!
- The Chief set up a circle! Now no one will be able to escape us if we don’t want them to! The crazy one can enslave them and force them to resurrect here, and the dryad can resurrect them… its perfect! The ….. (The rest of the book has been lost to time)…..