Ches 16th :: Year 153 :: 1375 DR

[On the first page]

Reader,

If you are gazing upon these words, it means I am dead; most likely at the hands of a simpering mooncalf, gloating over my lifeless body while he cleans off the bloodied, blunt rusted nail he used as a dagger, the hope of making a large fortune running through his simple mind as he paws through my possessions, at least if the Maid of Misfortune continues to favour my name. My only solace will be his disappointment, assuming my situation has not changed.

If you are not the one meant for my journal, I ask that you take this book to the Office of the Herald, where it will be given to my heir. I will have arranged for a payment to be made to the one who brings it to its rightful place.

James William Everard the Third _________________________________

Inspiration,

Whilst undergoing menial labour for Boggs this evening, I reached a moment of ephiphany as I stared lifelessly at one of his unimaginative motivational slogans. I should not be the one toiling, subjected to a fat, unenlightened man's incompetent attempts at effective management. I should not be struggling to survive while lesser men live in decadent luxury, oblivious to the metaphysical decay of the city that surrounds them, nor should my name be unknown for what it is. If I spoke of Archibald, Bresley, Ubel, Donrick or even Serena on the street, every person I approach will know of whom I speak, but were I to speak of James Everard, I would be met with blank, unknowing faces.

The conditions father and I live in have weighed on my spirit for far too long. While he claims his memories keep him in good health, I see his body deteroriate with each passing day; the thin mushroom gruel eaten night by night, and the nauseating squalor of our decrepit zurkhwood home consuming his once optimistic demeanor and damning him to an early grave. For the past few months I have been working to support him, but to little avail. I am not paid nearly enough coin for us to survive much longer under the city's crippling taxes.

While I love father dearly for his lessons and his wealth of knowledge, I cannot deny that he is responsible for further damning our House into obscurity. Despite what he says, we need gold to survive here, and paying escaped slaves for tales of their travels does not help us when we can barely afford base foods. He has always been content to live on his stories and songs, even as he starves.

I, however, am not. It has come to me to restore our name and save my city from the brinks of destruction it tetters over. Father will be informed of my intentions tonight as we sup on bluecap sporebread. I will no longer have to suffer Boggs' incessant prattle.

James William Everard

Ches 18th :: Year 153 :: 1375 DR

The dye has been cast,

I am writing this in one of the dimly lit rooms of the Last Stand that I payed for with my last few gold pieces. Father at first, took my resolution far less well than I had hoped. He became quite enraged when I told him, and kept on for a good hour about how Oghma disapproves of my plans, quoting prayers at me not even I was aware of.

I eventually managed to soothe his worries. Some embellishments are necessary, and truth is sometimes unattainable. Even with his approval, it will not be best to push him; he is a capricious man, and may change his mind if he sees me writing. I thought it best that I leave him alone for now.

I do this for him, he will see how right I am in time. It will be he who will reap the benefits of my work, he and my descendants. My city will not wither and die, and nor will my name.

Glory will be ours.

James William Everard

Indecision,

I could join the Watch if I so wanted, and follow the footsteps of my grandfather. Not only would service help me restore my name, but there would be lodging, pay and the opportunity to save my city to boot. Yet I am hesitant. Beshaba knows misfortune awaits me there, being a Watchman has never been so dangerous. Not only would I need to be consistently alert and aware, or else risk a bounty hunter's knife, but I would go through life as a subservient private.

There are other opportunites, however. I could attempt to join this Ignatiev and work from the inside to lessen the Shadow Dragon's stain on the city, perhaps earning a dragon's protection in the process, benfitting both sides. Although this could contravene with my other efforts in the city. I must remember, reputation is everything.

I think it for the best that I avoid stepping on any toes for the moment. I will need to think. James William Everard

Beauty's Curse There once was a maid with spun brown hair, A jovial smile, and curves so fair, She thought herself a delicious delight, And Sune knew, she was just right.

There once was a maid with curves so fair, Sparkling eyes, and spun brown hair, She thought her beyond wit's might And Beshaba gave, the truth of light

Misfortune's blight is misfortune's might, Misfortune's might is misfortune's blight, Let its truth, bring you right

For maids of beauty will find it only skin deep, And in the end they will only weep, The lover's call once of "so fair", Is left in his mouth, as he gasps for air.

Misfortune's blight is misfortune's might, Misfortune's might is misfortune's blight, Let its truth, bring you right

The bane of day stepped out of shadow's veil, A cruel prank, oft given to bellies with too many a meal In an ounce, the fair maid was no more. Only a porker squealing, a bloated whore

Misfortune's blight is misfortune's might, Misfortune's might is misfortune's blight, Let its truth, bring you right

There is a cow with spun brown hair, A terrible smile, curves once fair, She thought herself a delicious delight, And Beshaba brought, her folly to light

By James William Everard

The Fiendling's Toil Devil born to a devil's spawn, Her parentage unknown, A child of the profane, Wrought to be emotion's bane.

The devil born is nothing's pawn Nothing is what is known, What drives it to the same, The gift of nothing is its game.

Nothing is what nothing is Nothing cannot be

Her secrets locked in stilled heart's keep Locked away, she dare not weep, A life of pain, to fight away, To merge with nothing, one day

Nothing is what nothing is Nothing cannot be

Her sense of self, freedom, love, try to wheel Against oneself, to see the veil, Self on self, not this day, Strength for the foe, weep I say

For what is, can never, never be. Oblivion through individual, loss. A game for fools, who know not, The taste of a lover's warmth

I have thought long and hard on my role and place in Sanctuary's future. My efforts to restore my name will be for naught if I neglect my neighbours and my home. Sebastion Cloakshadow had the right of it, I will not be a Toboerski, using petty methods born entirely out of self gain, nor will I demand any title out of the people, above which is used by the factions. Bresley and Archibald carry the title of "Lord", "Hero" and "Saviour" in the name alone. I will try to follow their example, by Siamorphe's grace.

I really must start writing.

James William Everard

A grim discovery,

I travelled into the past, and saw the Spellguard Tower as it once was. I was just able to translate the archaic Svirfneblin.

I am concerned about what I saw there.

It bears the need for further investigation.

James William Everard

The more I learn, the more my thoughts are troubled. Questions keep me awake in the night, and when I do sleep, they haunt my dreams, questions that I am unable to satisfactorily answer.

The Sublime Visionairy. Was James truly enthralled? How did he die? Why were there no Spellguard thralls? Why was the tunnel network destroyed? What lies hidden in those forgotten caverns? Are the Spellguard using illithid devices to protect us, or are they slaves to them? How was the Sheriff enthralled when she would be too busy managing Sanctuary's defences to leave its walls? Was the beholder actually destroyed? I am at a lose.

I need to organise a dig. Oghma help me. James William Everard

The revelations I have uncovered lead me to the pit of speculation. Varlam Nikitovich suggested that Melinda Bresley was murdered by the illithid. What if this is only part of the answer? If the Spellguard had access to illithid technology, then it is very possible her death was nothing but an internal power coup, with Simms succeeding her and conveniently conducting the enquiry into her murder. Her death in the Seeker Hall suggests they intended to kill two bats with one stone, and frame Ivlysar for her death.

Of course, this is nothing more than speculation, and there are a range of other theories that fit just as well.

James William Everard

Tarsakh 22nd :: Year 153 :: 1375 DR DRAFT History of the Everard male line An insight into one of the lesser known founding families of Sanctuary James Everard II The Lord's Life The founder, (Lord) James Everard II was a man who would play a pivotal role in the founding and survival of Sanctuary in its early years. By reading his old records and logs, it becomes apparent that on the surface he was a reasonably influential lord, residing in the city state Mulmaster of the Moonsea. None of the records he made that can be found touch on how he entered Drow slavery and came into the Underdark, although there are several theories suggested by his descendants, ranging from the fanciful to the somber. Annah Everard Willsworth (deceased since year 71) gave a secondhand account of her father’s enslavement in her later years. She holds that James and his men whilst on a hunting trip for the fabled white hart, stumbled upon an old lair, where they found two red dragons busily fornicating. Enraged that humans had seen secret dragon love techniques, the pair of wyrms began to slaughter Everard’s men.

Shocked at seeing his closest companions, loyal retainers and friends melt before his eyes to the wyrms’ fiery breath, James escaped their wrath through a small, winding passageway, unfit for the dragon form, with the dragons hissing curses at him in the distance, eventually making it to the Underdark where he was captured by a Drow patrol. It is reputed that this curse has passed on to James’ descendants, but there is no consensus in the family of what the curse is exactly, or if it even exists at all. Generally, it could be described as a curse of “misfortune”.

William Everard dismisses Annah’s account of James’ surface life as nothing more than an old crone’s fable, worthy of the more insane “historians” of the late Ubel School, dreamed and imagined by a mind ravaged by grief and the passage of time. He theorizes James’ enslavement was much grimmer, with all of the Everard’s of Mulmaster being sold into chains after a series of scandals that culminated in the High Blade of Mulmaster’s death, the destruction of a rival house, and a great fire that ravaged a third of the city’s slums, using James’ accounts of the past, and reasonably expanding on it from there. But it is not for his life on the surface that this young man should be remembered.

From Shackles to Seeking James met the Bresleys and the other future founders of Sanctuary whilst in Drow captivity. Along with the others, he participated in the rebellion, at one point saving Charles’ life in the fierce conflict (Confirmed by his personal accounts, and the accounts of the founder John Muckleberry). When they founded Sanctuary, James was hopeful, but still desperately longed for the surface. In time however, he grew to love his home. Wary of the darkness and the horrors contained within, James still was one of the first to join the Watchers and Warders, where he showed a surprising aptitude for intelligence gathering and reconnaissance.

If his personal, at the time secret, journals are to be believed, James was firmly opposed to the Civil Defense Act of year 6, which divided the functions of the Watchers and Warders into three separate institutions. The divisions served to nurture and strengthen the different ideologies, which had caused some conflict in initial defense operations. James theorized that by creating the Seekers, the Watch and the Spellguard, the divides that were present in the Watchers and Warders would only grow worse, which could lead to civil war, duplication, and generally weaken the social fabric of Sanctuary’s forming society. Yet the act was passed and he joined the Seekers, knowing where his talents lay.

James was a member of the Seekers for forty years, and during that time he obtained a large estate, and a great deal of wealth. In his early years James was a well-respected and able scout, his experience hunting on the surface serving him well down below and arguably saving Sanctuary from destruction many times. In one instance, he was able to kill the scouts of a roaming group of orogs, so that they passed by the region without noticing Sanctuary. As the years passed, he was focused more upon discovering threats and corruption located within Sanctuary's walls, rather than scouting the Underdark.

James was still a Seeker when he disappeared on one of his few trips out into the Underdark. During his disappearance, it is assumed he was enthralled by the Sublime Visionary, Thool’oon, and died along with all his other worshipers in a joint operation between the Seekers and the Spellguard in year 46. His children, Leopold and Annah were found to be unenthralled, and they were allowed to keep the family estate, but because of James "crimes" the wealth he had accumulated was confiscated by the Watch. James never made mention of the aberrant in any of his journals, it is believed he was unwillingly enthralled and enslaved by the dread beholder. Leopold Everard Rise and fall of the Cliff's End Leopold was a man who grew deeply embittered with the Watch after his father's death; the majority of his inheritance was confiscated and used in the Sanctuary budget against his will. All that was left to him and his sister, Annah, was the Everard estate, a large, lavish building located on the side of a cliff in what is now the Residential District. Lacking for coin, Leopold, his wife Mara, and his sister transformed the estate into a large, successful inn, the Cliff's End.

This began a period of 18 years of stable wealth and prosperity for the Everards. Leopold had four children during this time, Michael, named after Michael Bresley, Julian, Abigail, and Francis. At seventeen years of age, Michael Everard joined the Watch, to the protests of his father, effectively making him a pariah of the family. In year 65, Cliff's End was destroyed, along with Leopold, Abigail, Francis, and Mara, to the Great Quake, where the looming cliff collapsed and buried the estate underneath. Julian, Annah and Michael survived. They were not in Cliff's End at the time.

Julian Everard Lost Dreams Julian had a great disdain for his brother Michael after he joined the Watch. He disliked him not because he joined, but because he went against their father's wishes, and through that besmirched his memory. An altruistic man at heart, he was greatly troubled after seeing the suffering brought about by the Great Quake, and began a political campaign to bring wealth and lodging to the most impoverished survivors. Julian's campaign seemed to hold a promising future for him, and he enrolled as a candidate for Council. Unfortunately, he disappeared mysteriously several days before the results were announced. There are as of yet, no certifiable theories as to what happened to him.

Michael Everard Helm's Hand Michael Everard lead a life of service in the ranks of the Watch, fighting and protecting Sanctuary from the grim, surrounding darkness. Despite the falling out he had with him, Michael fell into a deep melancholy at his father's death that lasted several years thereafter. Michael served for 36 years before retiring in year 101, displeased with Sheriff Dhogur's leadership. He died peacefully in year 144 with one son, William, and the grieving widow Clarisse. He was a good-natured, jocular and boisterous old man for the time James William Everard (III) knew him.

William Everard The Quiet Life Born in year 98, William Everard was a quiet, introspective child, and he grew to be a quiet, introspective man. After a chance encounter with a priest of Oghma at a young age, he thereafter was taken to a life of scholastic pursuits. Because of this, there was a divide between Michael and William, where Michael saw the necessity of violence and strength of arms, William was a pacifist and preferred to live out his life in the unrelenting pursuit of knowledge, content to fight his duels with word and wit, rather than steel and blade.

The gold Michael had made during his time of service in the Watch, was slowly depleted to taxes and living expenses, which were not replenished by William, who disliked material pursuits. At thirty two years of age, and having no son or wife, the aged Michael despaired at his son's path, which was leading to the male line's extinction. At the urgings of his father, William relented, and took the young woman, Gabrielle of Tethyr, who had only recently escaped from slavery, as his wife. This union did not last long, for Gabrielle died giving birth to their first child, James William Everard (III). ___________________________ Send queries, opinions and suggestions to me at the Last Stand ~James William Everard III

I told Lieutenant Sheps of some of my suspicions about the Spellguard.

Several moments later, Agent Symbaern entered the Watch House, looking for Alejandro, and went off to converse with him privately.

Beshaba spare me.

James William Everard

[James delivers this to the front of his father's home, before turning away]

William Everard, Senior, My father,

It has been long since I talked with you. When we last parted ways, it was on poor terms, over a trivial dispute that seems to have occurred a lifetime ago, although it has only been two months. I have grown in that short time, father.

I have seen behind the veil, seen the grim truth of our city, seen the power plays that are hidden in the unknowing depths of the minds of the historical chroniclers. I know the truth, and in the knowing, I cannot commit it to you in paper, save my motivations.

Know that the source of our family's misfortune, the source of the curse, of untimely deaths and enthrallment, has come from one main catalyst. The Spellguard. You taught me that history is oft to repeat itself, and we are in the midst of the wheel's turn. I will be facing a choice soon, that may mean my death, one way or the other.

Know that I have always loved you for your guidance, for your teachings, for gifting me with a halberd on my sixteenth nameday. Know that if I do die, I die with honour. I die doing what I never thought I would. I die for the truth, and the forgotten cause of justice. If the gods are willing, I will survive, and emerge as a saviour, if I die, I will die as a 'traitor'.

Know that I regret nothing, save two. I regret having not taken a wife and I regret not fathering a son to continue on the Everard name. If we do not see each other again, pray for me, pray that the gods are merciful. May you see the truth.

In love, Your son, James William Everard

Tarsakh 20th :: Year 153 :: 1375 DR Greatness and Defeat,

I have done everything I sought to do when I originally left my father's home, and more. I have successfully negotiated with the Great Shadow Death, saving my city from the Drow and his own mighty wrath. I have spread my good name, and am now well known for my commitment to Sanctuary, if not perhaps, a saviour of it. I have gained great treasures and magic, and learned secrets I have no right to. I have put down riots, and organised and commanded men.

And yet this is not enough, it will not be enough, it can not be enough. The greatest enemy is the one that is thought a friend. I know what they do, I know the fate of Hennet, I know the fate of Azzam, I know it. And if I am not careful, I will die for it.

Beshaba spare me,

James William Everard

[James spends much of his off-duty time, attempting to court Cell Guard Gala]

Tarsakh 22nd :: Year 153 :: 1375 DR

Trouble and doubt,

Looking over my previous works, they seem dull and poorly written in comparison to what I must compose next. I am told by Pyotr that the Great Shadow Death is hugely generous to singers and musicians who write and play songs about him in a favourable light. Not literally, of course.

I will write about his victory over the Drow Host, whether that is the victory a year and a half ago, or the victory that is soon to be, I have not yet decided.

James William Everard

Tarsakh 22nd :: Year 153 :: 1375 DR

Rising Fast,

I have been half a month in the Watch, and already I have made the rank of Sergeant, as planned. Werner Sheps has been installed as Sheriff of the Watch. It leaves me breathless to think that I am now of an equal rank to Michael, although it took him countless years to be promoted, which leaves me to wonder where I will be, come a few month's time.

Sergeant James William Everard

Prayer,

I will pray to the Great Shadow Death, and Beshaba with great fervor. Again, and again, and again.

James William Everard

Beshaba's gifts,

I have the favour of Etorix, and I have slain a dragon alone with my own blade, albeit a crippled, juvenile and chained one. What the Great Shadow Death's 'favour' entitles me to, I am not certain, yet I hope it extends to protection of some sort, against the machinations of the Spellguard.

I do not think it will, however. As S.T. said, all manner of unrelated 'accidents' can occur in my line of work. It is a shame I did not enroll as a candidate for Council, ironically a seat there would be safer than what I face currently. I need to get a woman with child, misfortune lurks around every corner.

With dread, James William Everard

Ignorance,

Fawkes was right. Sanctuary has always been a breeding outpost (For the illithid?). I do not think there is much hope left for my Sanctuary, for what I want it to be, for the old days of yore. If we win the war, we will fall to the illithid, the Drow, or some other force, and if we loose, we return to the shackles of the Spellguard, now apparent for all to see. I am beginning to think it is time for me to look upwards, time for me to search for this fabled and strange surface land that so many speak of with such fevered passion. I will wait, ponder and see.

James

Subdued Shock,

Whatever Symbaern was, she was at least a good investigator. In the end, we both knew the truth about Archibald before his announcement.

James