[On the cover of a small, leather-bound book is some lettering in crooked black ink, spelling out in a child's unsteady hand: Brown Bear. It is kept securely beneath Nikoli Brown's bed, locked tightly in a small chest.]

Found this thing again. Didn't use it when I was a kid, but maybe I'm getting old. Might be able to make use of this journal later.

Gods, this feels dumb. Got things to do. Feels like I'm fecking talking to myself. Gone mad. ----

Right then, I've actually got something worth writing.

Couple of hours ago, I led a large group out to the Brewery, to break up some partying hobgoblins. Any job that involves the Crone is my kind of work- I like to protect my interests, and in this case, the booze that the Crone is supplied with is partly due to the Brewery. So of course, I was ready to go.

We had a number of bards- flighty types, but good with a bow. We had a mage- though I saw surprisingly few spells, he kept me healed up, at least. There was a thief- more trouble than he was worth. And there was another fighter-type like myself, an armored chap who pissed me off. I'm not a likeable guy, I'll be the first to admit. Worse, I'm sure that the group was made up of Uppers, and Uppers in general piss me off. But I promised their safety, and that was the most I could do, as a leader. I wasn't being quite insincere, but if one of them took a bolt for me, so much the better.

As it happened, one of the bards, a fellow name Drakuleth, ended up treading on a well-hidden trap, and bit it. The fighter only snickered and stripped him of his items before his corpse had even grown cold. I didn't like it, and I would have killed him for it, but with the goblins around, the last thing I needed was to suffer an attack from all sides. I had to be content with hoping the bastard got in too deep himself. It didn't happen, and Drak was our only casualty, though a couple of the others had some close calls.

That's the problem with Uppers. They don't look out for their own. Everybody- Spellguard, Watch, Council- turning on each other like gnolls. Not true with us. Lower's gotta unify.

A drunk in the street stopped me on the way back, looking for a brawl. Instead, I convinced him to follow me to the Crone, have a drink, talk things over. Fighting O'Flaherty- a good chap in my book. Later, we did have us a little match, and he ended up getting the best of me. Terrible business if Cyrus saw it- what kind of bouncer gets rolled by the drunk?- but I have to admit. Lad's strong. If only he wasn't perpetually drunk. But he's a key, I think.

Lower's got plenty of drunks, plenty of beggars. They're *our* Watch. There's a way to give even the chaos down here a bit of structure. Don't want to end up like Upper, and be at each other's throats. I saw a string of corpses in the middle of the street the other day, and no one gave a shit. Things have gotta change.

Told O'Flaherty to keep an eye out, look for "our type." I've got the beginnings of an idea, a plan. Lower needs a type of Council of its own- except we'll do it our way.

No, Council ain't the right word. That's not how things work down here. We ain't ones for voting, due process and what not. Maybe what I'm thinking of is more like a mob- a syndicate. You can't bring order to chaos- but you can sure as hell harness that beast and see where it takes you.

I ain't a mage, no scholar and certainly not the Spellguard, but I know how to make money. If I can wrangle up a solid group, we can make some gold, start investing in Lower. The rat fights they hold up in the gambling house ain't bad but after my little match with O'Flaherty, I got to thinking.

-Why not set up an underground fighting match? The Lower version of Arena, for Lower folk only. Have two people duke it out, no potions, no fancy spells, just fists to the finish before a crowd screaming for blood. Winner gets a cash prize, while the syndicate pulls a profit taking in entrance fees and selling tickets. No killing involved- ain't no need for it. Crowd loves a good rivalry.

-All of it ain't gotta be strictly legal. What happened to the bad old days where you weren't sure you could leave your house without losing your jink? Gotta recruit plenty of rogues, sneaky types who are able to lure a mark into a dark alleyway by any means necessary. Just close enough for three huge dwarfs to close some poor Upper sap in and rob him blind. I ain't much for killing...it'd be so much more effective to let them run back up the stairs, like a kid looking for mama. Give them a good jolt of fear.

The problem with recruiting between working jobs in Upper Sanc' is that there's no way to tell my kind from theirs. You get a citizen stone in their town hall- what's gotta be set up is some form of ID for us Lowers. Assuming everything goes as planned, we can charge people for the one-time chance to get their very own Lower Stone. Don't buy it and risk getting robbed- I like the idea of asking the mark for his Stone before deciding to rob him. And of course, there's the added benefit of knowing you got someone watching your back. Lower's always gonna feel unsafe for somebody- but it let it be Upper's monster, not mine.

If we can get up enough coin, we can start fixing shit. Those ruins near the pumphouse piss me off just looking at it. Gotta be something more useful we could build there.

Gotta save these ideas. I might need them.

Things are looking up. A fellowcontacted me today in the Crone. Was very interested in my ideas and had a proposal of his own. I was a bit skeptical, but seeing as how he has roots here in Lower, and a vested interest, I decided to listen.

Man has some good ideas. Just as important, he also has a good deal of influence and money to back it up. Though it pains me to say, I have an associate in Upper.

Now that I've got a bit of backing, I can go about my business with some confidence. Between my partner and myself, we should be able to gain a steady enough group strong enough to put both of our plans into motion, and make a tidy profit in the process. Money is power, and I need more than what I got to gain some control.

Somehow, I gotta take care of the gangs. Unifying them is good...but eliminating them is better. Whether the Watch takes care of them, or they off themselves, I don't care, as long as the rest of Lower stays safe. We're better off without them- their methods are too crude.

Didn't do a lot of recruiting the other day- at least, not really. Shabel and a decent chap named Unelor became temporary employees of the Crone yesterday. We also have that goblin yesterday who was wiping tables down. So I'd say our numbers are growing pretty quickly, in a way. They're good types, and I'm sure if I let them in on a few ideas, they'll back me.

Mal, who I was introduced to through Shabel, is more than just the average drunk who lies around the Crone. He and I traveled up north, to the Shadow Tribe grounds, in a standard protection job for two elves. One was a mage- decent enough. The other was a wiseass. I can listen to orders well enough, but Mal developed a bit of a problem halfway through and went back to Sanctuary. He had almost met his end at the jaws of a deep lizard, but he turned his back on them without a second thought.

Well, the elves weren't Lower folk- far from it. But I keep my word, and I stick to it, so I couldn't follow after him. When you have no gold, no weapon, the only thing you will always have is your word. That's a code of honor a paladin might understand, if nothing else. In the end, we didn't get to where we wanted, but I saw a lot more of the Underdark than I have before, and managed to keep myself in one piece. Of course, I had to endure the scorn of Uppers in the process.

Reminder: 'teach' the Upper folk who come to Lower some humility.

Head of security for the Crone. Carries its advantages and disadvantages.

Cons: Fucking up will run up the chain of command to me. I'm hardly an eagle eye, and if some punk halfling or fey fecker does something stealthy in the Crone, it's on my head. I can't be at the Crone all the time, so I'll need a list of employees...we seem to be getting more every day. Unelor, Shabel, Mal, Vico, Arsdel, Dugbone....Sandra? Marto? Feck. Too many to think of, and I'm probably missing some. I'll have to have a roll call.

Pros: I'm in the perfect position to start making an impact on Lower. Couldn't be sitting prettier unless I was in Cyrus' position. There's a lot of power here, and I still haven't even begun.

To-do List: Make some coin. Buy armor off of Shabel. X Get keys of Crone/ banned list for Inn. X Perhaps place a second-in-command. Dugbone seems sensible enough. Get a list of employees, and find out who we could use. Meet with LD, discuss Lower. Etc. (To be added on.)

Been an odd couple of days. Not to mention exhausting, stress-filled, testorene pumping, wildly exciting, and near-fatal.

The Crone job went relatively well. No one was killed, or even badly injured. Our group cut through the caves like nothing, all up until we returned to the surface. Turned out the Nancies wanted the goods straight from our hands, and we were surrounded by about thirty men, and threatened at knife-point. Most of us were confused and slightly high. Except for Don's friend. No idea what he was thinking, as he barely said more than three sentences. We got our pay, but I'm a bit unnerved.

Today, Glorblor the Shadow and Mal got into an arguement over who has the right to hold a weapon inside the Crone. Dumbass ogre didn't listen to reason, couldn't be persuaded, and knocked out Shabel before continuing to attack Mal. It was an even fight until I stepped in, and helped Glor KO Mal. Dumbest decision of my life. I took my new position as head of security too seriously. Mal holding a scythe isn't a threat;Glorblor waving his rapier around his. Mal took off, then Shabel, then Sandra. I caught up with Sandra and Mal, and they accepted my apology.

Shabel, far as I know it, still won't talk to me. I even allowed her to literally pound the crap out of me with her bare fists, and bore a crossbow assault. No good.

Dumbass Bear. I'd never say it, but I consider them- Mal, Shabel, Une, Sandra, Vico, Ars, Don, Dug, all them- my crew, people I'd happy to die next to, if it came to it. Pushing any one of them away would be too much to bear. Time I realized it. I guess I'll smooth things over with Shabel somehow...she's got a legendary temper.

Came across an odd goblin today. Have to ask Dug about him. Something seems off.

[Drops of alcohol stains the page in certain places. It's clear that the author was either drunk, still drinking, or about to be drinking.]

Une's dead. Got his ass chewed on by Chosen. Sandra knows more. Have to find her, ask the rest. He was one of us, through and through. The Crone will be hurting without him. We all will.

Damnit, you bastard. Why'd you have to go and something stupid like that? You always played around too much.

Quick as we lose, the quicker we gain them. Mal and Sandra left the Crone for good after some talk with Nancy members out in the street, as well as a verbal beat-down from Cyrus. Halfing feck really *does* only care about the coin- nothing and none of us matter if we hurt the Crone in some way. Heartless, I gotta say, and it was too much for Mal and Sandra to take. I know how they feel- but my allegiance is to Donovan, not to Cyrus. Far as I'm concerned, the toad can find his end on a Nancy blade.

Gangs are becoming a problem. Especially since we've been effectively muzzled by Cyrus from doing some damage. Whatever we do represents the Crone, and if it comes back to hurt the Crone, then we're fecking up. Which means the skull-cracking I want to do is on hold, at least for a while.

Decided to try and imitate Une's style, in honor of him. We'll see how it goes.

Don's dead. It was the Unseelie, which leads to the Nancies, more specifically, Annie. Man's neutrality- and his drug habit- got him killed.

Part of me hates him a little bit. You gotta. He lied to me, lied to us all, played everyone for fools- Nancies, Led-heads, and the Crone. "Ha ha, joke's on you." Now I know why when Rith and I proposed the idea to shut down the supply of Unseelie, why Don was so quick to reject it.

It's gotta go. We need to return to that spot, near the Bluefoot ogre tribe, Glorblor could give us directions. Go there, and close that cave up for good.

Half of the Nancies are caught up on that snuff. Worthless addicts and feckers...but not all. It's that minority I'm counting on. Cripple half the gang by shutting down their drug supply, as many as we can hit. Convince the other half that losing Annie is the best way to go. Set up Eddy instead, who I'm told is better off that way.

Or not. Get rid of the whole lot of them. Either way, as long as I can stick Annie's head on a pike, right in front of the Crone. Don, fool or not, lier or not, was one of us. And that's all you've got- loyalty. Cyrus won't need to know all the details- I know how he feels about that.

First thing- I need to talk to everyone. Don's contacts, my contacts, the Crone...stop planning, like Don did, and start acting. The Nancies will be first. The Baron is good...Rith is good, she's with Ledskir, our guys are good, and the new recruits...what better way to test them.

I don't plan on dying. Then again, neither did Don.