This month has been a busy one. I actually can't even begin to describe it. For someone to attack a bunch of mercenaries with an army that we managed to fight off is absolutely absurd. I do not think I will ever be able to accurately describe how frustrating the entire process was. Attempting to make sure people stay alive and we don't lose positioning was the worst thing I've ever had to do currently at the Syndicate.

But enough about that nonsense. I've learned and researched many more creatures. Perhaps I'll be able to learn about most that we may come across. Fenris has the idea to write a book of it but I wouldn't feel right about writing a book without checking my sources. I will need to focus my skillset towards it more so I have less issue finding what I need.

Though I've found a steady stream of people interested in chess for whatever reason.

There was a small druid woman named Kaelen that some knew. She needed us to act as her bodyguards to enter a prison where someone escaped. The prior warden was placed into her own prison for high treason. She was accused of having an affair with the High King of the Autumn Court. She was called Lady Vesperleaf and basically created the prison and it was designed to hold one prisoner at a time. Kaelen called herself a gatekeeper. Each gate has a key to which it contains and the gatekeeper responsible. She held a staff that she identified as the key, a blue orb floating inside her staff. When she held the orb, a beam of silver light burst out and fluttered around the orb. I was able to pick out that it is some type of magic but its a mix of them all and the different schools that are coalescing together to create the effect.

We were teleported into the gate and needed to fan out to find some sort of signs in the magical. She let us know that Vesperleaf is a genius and that she had the main plan for all of these prisons. Casting magic is...strange in this place. It was as if I was forgetting the magic itself. Which isn't possible. Not for me anyways.

Spreading out, we started searching around the space. In the grass, I found a spotted fawn that was hiding in the bushes. I attempted to search around for a mother or tracks to see why this fawn was left behind and is alone. We all started searching and then it came to a point that Kaelen tried to bring back the portal we used to get here and a satyr appeared. Followed by multiple satyrs. And they stared at Mimsy, calling for Vesperleaf and that she was being summoned. We all started questioning what they were doing and they referred to all of us as Lady Vesperleaf, as if the other were not there. I cast a spell on myself but there was no Ethereal or invisible creatures making a mess of things but it caused the creatures to become hostile.

After a brief battle, we defeated them and they vanished like shadows. There's this strange residue on everything and it just makes things feel very...off. We headed out to the next area and arrived in a courtyard. Then we witnessed what seemed the High Lady and High Lord speaking to us as if we were Vesperleaf, explaining that she was being charged with high treason. Kaelen was confused, as this was not how Vesperleaf's sentencing was done. Out of the small river that came through the cracked courtyard, a golem appeared and we had to fight it off. Arlis went down and could have died but we managed to get him back up.

Kaelen then tasked us with finding Vesperleaf outside this prison. She summoned a creature that she called her Guardian and entrusted him with us to find Vesperleaf.

Learnable Creatures: Quickling, Iron Golem

Today our group was given instructions to head to Waterdeep, being given express permission for the Syndicate to pay for our teleportation there since we didn't have proper public access yet. After confirming transportation back home, we headed out into the market and made a plan or where to go.

We went to a tevern on the fancier side, the Singing Sword and after everyone ordered a significant amount of food, we spoke with a woman named Lady Gralhund, a noble of Loudwater. Bri scared her off, little tact in asking those questions. But after everyone engorged themselves, we headed out to a place Solia and Arlis knew of called the Yawning Portal.

There we met a goblin, whom Solia immediately insulted, that let us know of a teleportation circle in a crypt at the Road's End. After significant questioning, we headed to the city graveyard, where we met some guards before us but we managed to convince the guard that we were there to grieve a dead friend.

Then we headed down. Entering the crypt and walking down as we go. Arlis ended up stepping on a pressure plate of some kind and braziers lit up ahead of us on platforms and a strange ghast-like creature appeared, calling us to our deaths. Hordes of creatures appeared and they had the the most haunting screech that caused Arlis to be paralyzed in fear.

We managed to defeat the creatures and wandered down, where it went lower and lower. Getting the teleportation circle may be much harder than originally thought. We entered a room that had coffins surrounding all along the edges and the coffins just held heads inside them. A sun dial was in the middle of the room and when Arlis and Bri turned it there was a sound down the hall.

Traveling down that way, we saw a mummified corpse that was moving around, a mummy. It could speak with us and Solia was able to convince it to return to sleep in its coffin. The corpse seemed to be from an ancient tomb and was moved here instead of being from here. There was a coffin that had its name on it, Ahkatument.

Further through the tomb, there was a dilapidated teleportation circle on the ground and it was unusable but we found a bunch of items inside.

Creatures to Learn: Ghast Gravecraller, Graveyard Revenant, Mummy, Mummy Lord, Flame Skull

• Me
• Biscuit
• Ivor & Agrate
• Jax
• Azrael

A request came through for us to rescue some nobility from a green dragon and their cult I believe. We were being sent to Phlan by the Five Factions, a city that has become the green dragon's, Vorgansharax, the Maimed Virulence, lair. He is on the older side of adult dragons, nearer to ancient. We are set to rescue a Madame Freona, Lord Sage, and Sir Jhessail Greycastle. Madame Freona has been putting together a resistance while Lord Sage is a leader of the scholar district, impounded in the Mantor's Library, and Sir Greycastle former commander of the Black Fist, although some members betrayed the organization and became Tears of Vriulence. We were to be teleported directly into Phlan and spells to teleport in the city do not work.

Before heading out, we prepared and determined what we were aiming to do first and foremost. We decided to try to avoid combat as much as possible. It seems Biscuit is...apprehensive about killing others.

We were teleported away and arrived in a stone room with a teleportation circle below us. It goes out as indication that teleportation outside the city is impossible. We started our infiltration quietly, sending Agrate ahead to scout out when we heard someone calling for help. I told them to ignore it. We weren't here to be heroes. We were here for a recovery mission.

The entire town was covered in bramble bushes that made navigation hard but we managed. Avoiding tricks and getting Madame Freona and Lord Sage. Sir Greycastle was another matter as she is an idiot that has a death wish. No wonder she was betrayed if all she can think about is revenge. That's a terrible quality for a commander to have so it's much more understandable why they changed sides after speaking to her.

And ANOTHER thing. There aren't even any protections on the Syndicate to keep out hostile enemies. Anybody in the world can more than likely walk right up to the Syndicate and just curse it and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Would Thrax even care if I tried to assist in making a plan. Would anyone care about having a proper plan developed when some have egos that are shoved so far up their own asses they can't listen to anyone except themselves.

I actually can't.

Well this will be a slight bit different than my usual notes. More of a complaint than anything. But it became abundantly clear that the Syndicate is woefully unprepared to take on a large forces that may attempt to attack. You'd think a place that contracts people as mercenaries would have a better security force than the mercenaries themselves but insert shrug here.

Upon further review of the situation, some key notes I was able to pinpoint.

• No organization. The kobolds knew where battle stations were on ballistas but otherwise they had no plan for retreat or reorganizing when they started dying.
• No command. There is no active chain of command. One may think that the higher ranked members would take charge and lead the mercenaries beneath them but there was no such thing.
• Confliction. Too many attempted to lead and guide our forces, only for the orders to contradict each other.

There's far too much that happens in varying orders and this situation resulted ion much confusion and frustration from multiple parties.

Me, Arlie, Mimsy, Shev, and Yashir

The Emerald Enclave requested our assistance at a wildlife rehabilitation reserve north of the Syndicate. We headed that way and met with the Emerald Enclave representative who let us know that we are going to be responsible for watching owlbear cubs and taking them to their scheduled playtime activites. They all like shiny things, food, and games. We have to essentially beat the lady there in order to get full pay. They are skittish around magic and weapons so this may make life much harder.

We headed out on the path and I have no idea how the representative that takes care of these critters mangages to do this with all of them near everyday. They're all a bit crazy honestly. Luckily Forsythe is absolutely nothing like them. But we did eventually get them to where they needed to go, arriving before the representative just in time.

This month for me has been spent in Loudwater for most of the time. It was quiet and full of earning coin and crafting in all honesty. I don't know much of what's happened at the Syndicate in all honesty. Loudwater was full of crazy things as per usual--a carnival included. I will not be going back to any carnivals if they're all like what we experienced. Oh right. Arlie's got a not-boyfriend. He doesn't call him that but it very well may end up that way. But good for him. Solia and Yashir got together and apparently Shev and Bri broke up.

Apparently, the Syndicate is a telenova.

• Me
• Vincel
• Yashir
• Temoren
• Shev

We were taken by a portal to a ship deck of a ship called the Cutlass near a town called Thornwalk. Something about the Dark Harbor rising. We were told about a legendary serpent named Joturr that devoured ships and brought about storms so violent the Gods sunk a great city called Ithal. There's apparently a prophecy that says the sea will swallow the world one day and Joturr will return. There was a Pirate King named Uazi, leader of the Dark Tide, that ventured into the storm where Ithal used to be but Uazi returned changed. The storm that surrounds Ithal's remains is referred to as Joturr's Fury. Shev and Yashir have done some jobs for this space before.

So great on that end. I guess.

We were requested by Captain Aurora to meet with Thalia Moonshadow in a tavern called the Kelp and Kraken. Walking in to the tavern found us seeing a halfling man hunched over what looked to be an orrery and another woman, more stern looking, standing to the side. Erlan Fleetfoot is the halfling man that apparently brought the orrery here and the woman is Thalia Moonshadow. Temoren looked into the orrery and saw something, feeling something Abyssal related to it.

Erlan gave us a story of how he managed to get this orrery away from Uazi. The Dark Tide isn't human any longer, they've been transformed. Joturr seems to be talking to Uazi and promising riches but Uazi is drowning villages and killing people without reason. Erlan joined the Dark Tide with his sister in promise of riches but his sister was taken to join the Chorus. The Chorus is the transformation that the Dark Tide started going through. A thing of brine was poured down his sister's throat and that caused her transformation.

Now the Dark Tide is working on something else, something worse and Erlan stole the orrery because its the key. So the Dark Tide is on the way to take it back. The orrery that is here is ancient, living constellations. The constellations along it are near impossible to decipher with the modern stars that exist. Erlan is a cypher and his memories may be able to unlock the orrery's secrets and so its our job to keep him safe.

While discussing what they intend to do with the orrery, sea water started coming in and we started hearing attacks. We were to protect Erlan and get out of the town and out to sea. Thalia let us know that we can be led out to the Cutlass and get out, keeping them safe and getting away with the orrery. Thalia led us out and the entire town was in madness and crazed actions. Everything was steadily going under water, which tracks with what Erlan said in his story as well. But it was also dealing with a large storm that started up and is becoming a larger mess of things.

Thalia led us down a passage way and to a bridge made of bone. Out of nowhere, an assassin appeared and attacked Erlan and fish people appeared on the other side of the bone bridge and we engaged in combat. We defeated these creatures and and continued moving, coming across a family trapped in the middle of the acidic water. There were bottles in the water that were causing the acidic nature of it. Shev cast a telekinteic spell and lifted the family to safety and we were able to avoid the water by Shev lifting crates to form a bridge.

As we left the covered market space, we heard a loud voice in our heads and there was this sharp pain that pressed into my head. And then Erlan bent over in pain and the transformation started to overcome him. We worked together to help him fight it off and I may have made an error but I absorbed some of the magical transformation that was affecting him. That may be an issue for later but right now it doesn't matter.

We continued down to the docks to get Erlan to the Cutlass and Thalia let us know that the orrery needed to go to the lighthouse. We sent Yashir off to drop off Thalia and Erlan on the Cutlass and then head to the lighthouse with the orrery to resolve what we can. The rest of us took on the creatures attacking the docks and Vincel made a move towards a ship that had the transformed pirates herding villagers onto it. We engaged the other creatures and started fighting back but more kept coming.

It was wave after wave of creatures and luckily Yashir was able to distract the remaining creatures by activating the orrery in the lighthouse which basically let out a beam of light to draw attention and allow us to board the Cutlass and get away.

Learnable Creatures: Drowned Assassin, Sahuagin Warrior, Merfolk Wavebender, Sahuagin Wave Shaper, Frost Giant of Evil Water, Storm Crab, Aberrant Cultist, Sahuagin Blademaster, Skum

• Me
• Arlis
• Sylk
• Temoren

We were met by a scalier looking hobgoblin at the Syndicate that works for a dragon under the Blood of Morueme. We followed the hobgoblin along the cursed road and went by a city that looked abandoned but wards were over its walls. The hobgoblin, Horio, told us it was called Glaurachyndaar. We bypassed the city and continued walking, nearly getting caught in an avalanche again. Why do they keep sending me on these jobs, I put in that I specifically did not want to do these kinds of jobs any further.

We parted with the hobgoblin and found a ravine that we entered into and were accosted by a swarm of strange, fleshy mosquito creatues and giant scorpions. We managed to dispatch them all, taking a rest afterwards before we continued into the ravine. Further in we found a few skeletal corpses, a horse corpse and a cave entrance. We entered the cave and heard squawking and were accosted by strange dragon creatures.

We defeated them after a rough battle and took their heads for the Sky Surge.

Learnable Creature: Stirge, Giant Scorpion, Wyvern, Psuedodragon

• Me
• Vincel
• Sylk
• Tova
• Willow

We were told to go to the Ice Spire mountains for tonight's job--a bit later than normal. We met with a woman, Seer, and she let us know of the job details. There was a wounded dwarf nearby as well that let us know of military officers that must not fall to the ogres that the military has been under siege with. We were to recover the commanding officers and rescue much of the platoons. Although the most important piece was a tablet that the Lord's Alliance is highly interested in.

After preparing for cold weather, we set off and began trekking through the snow. I would prefer to not ever come back north. We got stuck in an avalanche. I have read far too many books to know what happens to people when they get caught in avalanches. Absolutely not. Never again. I should refuse any jobs to the North in the future. As we continued on, we were accosted by some strange centipede-like creatures that were quite fiery. After a moment of surprise, we defeated them before continue forwards.

The futher we walked in the snow, the harder it became. To think I even talked about how much I despise hard labor in the hall. We did come across a shield sticking up out of the ground and a hand along with it. The hand seemed like a dwarf's hand and Tova dug the body up, finding a dead man. We searched the body and found items that belonged to him, finding name tags that called him Preroll. Tova took it in order for the holy site to know what happened to the man. We proceeded forward and saw in the distance the holy site that was being beseiged by the ogres.

We attempted to climb down into the gorge and sneak past the ogres before Tova saw them doing combat against each other. It was enough to gauge that we could challenge the ogres to trial by combat to get past them. We defeated their champion and proceed into the holy site, being met with various dwarves that we had to get them out past the other ogres.

We decided to cause an avalanche.

Inside the holy site, there were various sarcophagi that we pulled down from the wall in order to ride on them on the avalanche. We got everyone on board the sarcophagi and secured ourselves with rope as we sailed off away over the snow.

Then we made a long trek back to where we started and received our reward for bringing back the two commanders and a majority of the platoon.

• Researchable Creatures: Young Remorhaz, Frost Giant

• Me
• Arlis
• Mimsy
• Sylk

We were given instructions to head to Mr. Baloo's Menagerie of Boos in Loudwater. I have no idea what to expect but walking into the space it looked like...a carnival? It seemed entirely overwhelming and the number of people around the space was large and much more than I would think. We were hired to be extra enforcement due to the amount of people and I have no idea what to expect.

There was a stand with the most obnoxiously named sweet treat called a "double-deepfried-ooey-gooey-choco-chunk puff pastry with extra powdered sugar" and that sounds like an absolute mess. It's diabetes that you can hold in your hand. Sylk stopped for some as we found Mr. Baloo, whom looked to be descendant of a werebear. He wanted us to act as "secret shoppers" to be involved in the carnvial to keep check on the clientele that take part in the carnival.

Everything seemed incredibly off with this place. The animals in cages were incredibly malnourished and didn't have any sort of enrichment or proper space for them to move around. Arlie seemed particularly inclined to release the animals--which fair. But releasing malnourished animals in a carnival full of commoners and children is not a very good idea.

We continued wandering around and eventually spotted a particularly drunk person being led behind the larger tent and we had Mimsy take a look. He started making noise and apparently the workers purposefully intoxicate people in order to put them in cages. We asked him what they were doing but rather tahn answering us, he used a whistle to what we now know was signal all the other bugbears at the carnival to begin causing havoc.

The bugbears released the malnourished animals and immediately they started attacking people, exactly what I figured would happen. We managed to take them all out, getting our pay from Mr. Baloo's pockets since he...died. But we all lived.

• Me
• Yashir
• Shev
• Bri
• Surx

Thrax asked us to meet by the river to...I think...pick up his wallet? I'm not sure anymore. We found a bag of coins on the ground but when Yashir touched them and instantly vanished.

And well...I've been through that before so I also picked up the bag and vanished back to a familiar plane of a small goblin child. Although it seemed much more well done and fine-tuned than before. I summoned a chair and popcorn to witness everyone else coming inside and being as confused as we were the first time this happened.

Another round of combats found us and everyone this time around got the gist of it quite quickly and we began summoning all sorts of items and weapons to assist us in these fights. We each fought a round of single combat before being combines into a team and once again...fought a BALOR. I didn't have the kamikaze staff this time around unfortunately so I wasn't able to explode it like last time.

But we ended up surviving this time and defeated the balor. After we finished, we were once again transported to before the goblin girl, Olive. She remembered me from last time and once again rewarded us before sending us home.

This month was slower for me. I spent much of it attempting to earn coin but I was alsy able to create an item that will assist me in combat situations. The few jobs I went on were interesting but it was less chaotic than before. Times passes by quickly and I find myself enjoying my time well enough.

• Me
• Mimsy
• Jax
• Sylk
• Mila

We headed to Shining Falls to meet with our client Ms. Warmtop asking for special ingredients that involved gathering aberrant eyes. She sent us off into the direwood to search for these creatures and kill them in order to take their eyes. We headed out to the woods and came across a few wolves that were eating on a few corpses of elves.

Mimsy and Sylk combined their illusory abilities together and created an illusion to trick the wolves away from the corpses and they completely fell for it. When we snuck around to check them out, we checked over their bodies and found various magic items on them that we ended up being able to keep. Mimsy did say "finders keepers" is the law of the land.

We continued forward, following Sylk through the woods and eventually finding a few creatures that I intend to research later. Some had eyeballs for heads, and one has tentacles with eyeballs sticking out of them. It was outright disgusting in all honesty. It shot these rays out of it and while I was able to fight off the feeling, I did not like the sudden sting I had in my head due to it.

-Salviron

(Creatures to research: Mindwitness, Choker, & Nothic)

• Me
• Assy
• Chappo
• Roteye
• Artemyeva

We were told to meet at a temple of Yindelva in order to help mitigate a reoccuring undead problem within Loudwater. We headed that way and met our client and after introducing ourselves, we headed that way and followed our client's directions. As we walked through the streets of Loudwater we were accosted by undead creatures. It was a rough time for a moment before we were able to defeat them--Chappo's goose was...pulling a lot of weight in all honesty. Some of the undead creatures ran off through the city and the goose chased after them, just...tearing them apart.

We eventually got to the graveyard and a woman was there clawing at the ground and crying her eyes out. Or at least she would have been crying if she could produce tears from her ducts. She turned and wanted us to find her husband so that she can kill him and sit in misery while dead with him. Except she did give the detail that her husband left her at the altar. Which means he isn't actually her husband. She didn't even listen to reason and attacked us.

Shadows came to life and started attacking us. This lady also did too. We were able to take her out, using radiant magic so that she no longer kept healing up. We lost Roteye but were lucky enough that our client could cast gentle repose and then revivify on him, bringing him back. Thankfully, she didn't charge us anything and still gave us our full payment.