The long and windy road – 30 Jul. 2019 – Heret

19 Flamerule, 1396 AR
at the Gilded Mirror, Daring Heights

Recounted events in Vorsthold to L. She agrees we should reckon the costs of a trade in potions of health with the Vorstborn. L in turn relayed news of the last few days. Nothing of great import. Seems G has bought a rather drab tapestry for the wall of the factory, which L dislikes but G cannot be induced to remove. Also there are rumours of a commotion lately in the Red House. TASK: check on C.

L has word of Girelle Veluss, the famed negotiator: lately arrived in DH, he has advertised for an escort to K’ul Goran some 5 days hence. L cannot go, having commitments here, but suggested I join the party, this being a chance to see K’ul Goran and also to meet and observe GV.

Playing a little downstairs (lost 7gp) & acquainted myself with other news during my absence. Nothing of great note. Some commotion in the Three-headed Ettin having to do with Ginead and the town’s plenipotentiary to Neuyeya, and her halfling friend whose husband runs the pie-shop. Also the orphanage on Tallow Street now has its first young residents, according to Spray, who believes the whole thing connected in some sinister way to the Crimson Fist – which I give but little weight, as Spray seldom seems to leave the Mirror.

Rest of day spent going over the accounts and schedules.

22 Flamerule, 1396 AR
at the Gilded Mirror

Visited the factory. G’s new tapestry is indeed very dull! These men of the dales are rustic indeed. Otherwise all goes well. The hands have become v. quick at stacking the timber in the circle for transportation & removing it again on the Crimmor side.

Met Girelle Vellus after lunch at Four Fair Winds; there too were Igrainne, Mystigon, and 2 new faces, Emma & Gorse. GV explained PF’s Lenoir brothers have established trade with K’ul Goran, so DH Council wishes to do likewise and has hired GV to negotiate the terms. GV knew of me! A surprise. Perhaps the Venture is gaining a name across the Trackless Sea! GV insisted that we make the journey, so far as possible, by land: through the Angelbark and then east to the straits, then to the continent of K’ul Goran and its capital Zot Goran. About 12 or 13 days’s travel, then a further 2 days in Zot Goran to help GV establish himself. After a spirited negotiation, we agreed a fee of 225gp each (plus anything we find on the way), with GV to provide horses for those who need them, and accommodation in K’ul Goran. To depart tomorrow.

[Some entries omitted.]

29 Flamerule, 1396 AR
at the Kreneion, Cape Za’suul

Cape Za’suul is an astonishing place. A walled town built in tiers on a steep hillside above a spacious harbour of like size to Velen’s or Luskan’s. The citizenry being largely of minotaurs (along with air genasi and a curious cross-breed of the two, called aerotaurs), the buildings are high and wide, of pale stone. The wind blows constantly and passes through myriad expertly shaped hoops and funnels mounted on divers buildings to create a constant musical sound throughout the town. At night some streets are lit with lanterns encased in glass to prevent their extinction by the wind. The natives seem quite civilized despite their abyssal and elemental nature, and many are able to speak the common tongue.

We reached the Cape after a long and exhausting journey through winds stronger even than yesterday’s. Igr says that at some point on the road we were somehow transposed to a different place entirely. Battered as I was by the wind and aching sorely, I could scarcely notice our surroundings, but after we reached Za’suul GV confided that according to his maps we should not have come to this town at all, for it is some hundreds of miles SE of where our path should have taken us today, and moreover we could by no means have reached it at all from Daring Heights without crossing the sea, which we surely did not. Igr, who it seems has been developing some expertise in planar matters, believes we must have passed through a distortion of space something akin to a portal between planes, save that it took us not from one plane to another but between two parts of the same plane. Whatever the truth of it, there is no doubt that we are in Cape Za’suul and thus around two days closer to our goal than we expected to be at this time.

On arriving and gaining entrance to the town, we found this inn, where GV has paid for our accommodation. It will be good to sleep out of the reach of the unnatural wind.

Midsummer, 1396 AR
at Truehorn’s Tavern, Zot Goran

At last reached our destination today, late in the morning. Zot Goran is a mighty and labyrinthine city of low, broad buildings and endless twisting streets. The inhabitants seem to have no trouble finding their way, but it took us almost the whole afternoon to find our way to GV’s accommodation, even though he had arranged it in advance and knew the location. Like Cape Za’suul, most buildings here have high-mounted projections pierced to sound pleasingly as the wind whistles through them, and in the middle of the day those in the centre of the city create a beautiful song.

GV has a rented house near the middle of the city. We have taken rooms at this nearby inn. The trade negotiations are to begin tomorrow: a fitting way to mark Shieldmeet, I suppose. GV has offered us the use of what he calls a ‘stone of recall’, which he says will return anyone touching it to DH instantly. We have all agreed to stay here a few days more before returning together in that way. I look forward to investigating this remarkable place.

Gains:

• 225 gp each in payment from GV.