The Journal of Edmond Crawsly entry 183:
The next morning Merrick and I headed out on the road to adventure once again. The night before Merrick had heard from a traveler in the Compass that there was word of strange goings on in the Vallorian Jungle so we headed north on the road leading that way. The first day and night had passed peacefully, but on the second afternoon midway through the Inari Grasslands, we came across a covered wagon pulled by two massive Inari Striders with a broken wheel.
Normally… according to my books at the syndicate college… The bipedal Inari Striders stand about five feet tall and were frequently used for their succulent meat and eggs on the many farms dotting the grasslands, but these birds were easily over 7 feet tall with thick scaled legs ending in razor-sharp talons on the feet. The driver of the wagon called out to us as we approached, and explained that he was a traveling merchant who catered to the needs of the farmers of the grasslands with goods from exotic places. I inquired about his magnificent birds, and he said he hatched them from eggs supposedly acquired from the fabled Isle De Rue, but it is far more likely that the eggs had been hit with some kind of spell to make these birds so large and fearsome. Merrick and I helped the merchant by hoisting his wagon up enough for him to slide the fixed wheel onto the axle, but as we let go of the wagon we heard loud yells coming from nearby. This turned out to be a group of bandits charging towards us, and as Merrick nocked an arrow in his bow I readied a lightning bolt spell to fling at these ruffians. As we prepared to attack both Striders looked towards the bandits, and in a cloud of feathers had unhitched from their reins and were upon the bandits in a flash. My stomach turned at the sight of the giant birds ripping apart the group of thieves before slowly trotting back to the now-repaired wagon. Merrick and the Merchant let out hearty laughs at the stupidity of the bandits rushing a group with two giant birds guarding them. The Merchant explained that after that bit of excitement, the birds would be next to useless for the rest of the day so he started setting up camp and offered us a warm meal for our help Which Merrick gladly accepted. I was however too disgusted after watching the death of the bandits to eat.
The Journal of Edmond Crawsly entry 184:
After a fitful night’s sleep haunted by dreams of birds pecking me to death, morning Mercifully broke, and we left the merchant and continued on our way to the Vallorian Jungle. Soon we reached the edge of the Jungle, and I was struck by just how dense the growth was. There appeared to be almost no way through the thick wall of plants. Merrick said that the jungle opened itself up a bit on the interior and the best way to navigate in without becoming hopelessly lost was to boat down the river. Merrick pulled out a hatchet and headed for a cluster of small trees…I saw my chance to surprise this veteran ranger with a conjured boat spell, and with a few words, there was a shimmering catamaran bobbing in the water before us. Merrick gave me a hearty pat on the back as we climbed aboard and set off down the river. We drifted lazily down for several hours as I gazed at the wonders the jungle had to behold, and I now understood why the sights of the various plants and creatures of the Jungle had inspired such awe in the adventurers and poets of Jalldoon over the millennia. From the safety of the middle of the river, we saw Crystal Cats prowling the river banks looking to snack on fish, and large turtles sunned themselves on logs sitting in rays of light peeking out from the dense canopy overhead. Retelling all I saw in the jungle would take several novels worth of text, but I was sufficiently impressed by this wild place. As we floated down the river we heard a lot of sounds coming from someplace out of sight of the bank so we beached the boat. Merrick thought it best for us to keep the spell active in case we needed to make a quick getaway, and as we quietly crept through the growth towards the noise I was glad for it as we approached the edge of a clearing. At the base of a building flanked by two large towers, we saw a dozen of Baron Dracktholme’s Shocktroopers carting glowing canisters filled with green goo into a vehicle that hovered a few inches above the ground. In all our adventures so far Merrick was cool and confident, but this time was different, I had never seen him so scared before as we slowly crept away from the clearing. We made it about a hundred feet before we disturbed a few birds that flew into the sky with a loud squawk. Dropping to the ground both of us froze as two of the Shocktroopers headed our way, and Merrick motioned me to be quiet. The troopers peered into the growth for what seemed like hours but was more like thirty seconds before turning back towards their companions with robotic precision. When they had gotten far enough away we slowly got up and started creeping back to the boat…until I tripped on a branch. Merrick screamed for me to run and picked me up as he threw a small bomb in the direction of the troopers. Blaster fire tore through the vegetation as we barreled towards the river. As we neared the boat I heard a loud humming as the vehicle came into view above the trees. I grabbed Merrick’s arm and dragged him off to the left as I cast a spell that created doubles of us that continued running towards the boat as we slid under a large bush. Two huge bolts of energy struck the boat and the doubles as I canceled both spells at once. The vehicle landed as two Shocktroopers got out and looked around, and as they poked around in the crater left by the attack from the vehicle seemed confident we had died in the blast. After they flew back to the clearing Merrick and I sat in silence until we heard the vehicle lift off and slowly fade from our hearing again. As I conjured another smaller boat for us to take out of the Jungle, Merrick slapped my back again and thanked me for saving his life. On the way out of the jungle, we talked about how someone should know That Baron Dracktholme had soldiers gathering something from the Jungle so we wrote a letter with plans to give it to the next courier we saw on the road once we left this place. It would seem big things were afoot on Jalldoon, and Merrick and I were but a small part of them. Later that night as we made camp just off the road outside the Jungle I wondered what exactly that glowing gunk in the barrels was, and why the Baron needed it. Dark thoughts fill my head as I sit here writing.
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