Trajan's Journal - The Road to Polrain

Somewhat recovered from the drama of fighting Savach for my horse, we returned to our journey towards Polrain. On the way we began to notice towers. These were wooden structures in the procress of being stone clad. Not so much built for defense as for height. The locals here have a formalized signaling device that works like reflecting the sun from a mirror. They call it a heliograph. By night it operates by fire. They use it to send messages up and down the length and breadth of Verslund.

We reached the point where our sidetrack re-joined the main road from Selinica. We decided to backtrack a bit and camp in the open, so that we would be an easy target for the bandits we were trying to lure out. However we caught the attention of the local guard. We bribed them to let us camp there anyway, but, alas, too well. Through being overly concerned with our welfare, they put all their resources to bear to make sure we were safe and sound in their encampment.

This didn't help suckering out the bandits, but we did find out much more useful information. The "bandits" are, apparently, not actually brigands, but rather the nascent prelude to a civil war. Disaffected nobles, or their sons, have taken up arms and are clandestinely attacking non-disaffected nobles in the guise of bandits. They leave honest travellers alone. Since Verslund is one of the four largest kingdoms in The Settlements, I would conjecture that it is ripe for being taken down by the Kaarsteni. The fact that the king is "somewhat ill" supports this.

A lot of thinking was done about our mission. Actually capturing or killing the "bandits" would be counter productive. It would inflame passions further and accelerate the civil war and Kaarsteni interests. The larger problem involved the whole influence of Kaarsteni over The Settlements. The group discussed this and, most nobly, decided the better course of action involved trying to solve the larger problem rather than the smaller one.

With that resolution in mind we proceede directly to Polrain the next day. After a full night's sleep and a long overdue shave. The city was large with several markets. We decided to sell our perishible items (the Ettercap eggs) and mundane surplus. Cassius, Miasma, and Hendrick inquired in the Magic User's Guild for a buyer and Ilmer negotiated (and prostelized) with local merchanges. Duncan and I sought out lodgings and a replacement donkey.

I was unable to pursuade Duncan of the merits of a shave and a haircut.