Title page reads in neat flowing script- Journal 44: Kepler Szul. Date begun -1372. On the second page of the book, the first journal entry begins.

Time Unknown.. 1372 (last I remember...) If you have found this journal please endeavour to return it to me. I'm about 6ft with short reddy-gold hair and facial piercings. I'll either have a glass of milk, a book, or some Tarot cards in my hand so you wont miss me. I will mostly probably be found bunking in the Rockbottom Tavern, or the Pissing Crone in the City-Town of Sanctuary located (if I believe what I have read in the book shop here) 7 miles down into the Underdark. If you are living under a Golden Sun and you are reading this... then you can find me deep underground. I suppose it is my destiny to be here.

Just a short note so I remember: I'm fairly certain I was drugged by a travelling merchant named... Vestis, (some weedy almost-human slime) who I made a deal with for the pickled head of an Illithid. Sounded too good to be true, yeah I know, and dammit I should have trusted me instincts. I was set up by my 'friends' at the time. They made some kind of deal, I can sense it. I should have slept outside among the trees, not in the tavern. Cant even remember its name now... I only barely remember being dragged along barely awake for weeks. I'm pretty sure mother sold my old journals for money, like she does... I should have burned them... Too many names and places... And here I go again risking this journal being found...

Somniis, my dear sister, if you are reading this - raze Luskan to the ground. You know what I mean by this. Don't hesitate. Burn your bridges if you haven't already. Dont give up on Mystra and the Chosen though. Seek them out. I know you wont give up this deep search. Either will I.

Well Somn, I'm 36 now.. Just turned about a month or so back. Before I was dragged away from the sun. But you know, Sis, this place is what we read about all those years ago. Remember the stories of the tunnels and towns? Some of it's true. Remember the 'mind science' you wanted us to study? Remember the teachers you wanted to consult? Forget Elminster's reputation for a moment; I've found an Illithid! Always a risk, to be sure. Maybe some complimentary training in wizardry, or sorcery, like you are attempting , Sis, (can we train in sorcery? -note- find out!) Or is it felt like an elemental force in our heart?

Sis, I'm gonna try and learn from this Illithid. I just know I'm destined to be a Psionic. Everything on my path has shown me so. You know we're gonna find it, Sis... we dont have to be born with it. We can learn it ya know. Keep reading and researching everything. I'm doing this more than ever. Still perfecting my trap making skills of course. Still slinking about towns too. Still learning to protect myself.

A man I met in Sanctuary, Casimir, lead me to a place in the deep called 'The Sleeping Pyrimo'. Its where an Illithid exile lives ... cant remember his name... bah, my mind has been so messed up. None of why I'm here makes sense, except as destiny.

Remember:

* Books on Aberrations in the Ordered Mind Foyer.

* Two Books (i think) in the rare book shop. One on Pyrimo. Buy them.

* Learn some cantrips by acquiring some simple wizard scrolls - get on the Mystran path as soon as possible!

* Meditate - Find the Gateless Gate... Visit the Pyrimo again, and check out that weird stock the dwarven thrall had.

* Meet with Dungal Toboersk. Find him through Casimir maybe? Ask why he brought his wealth and talent from the Surface? Can that be possible? That's what Casimir said anyway... I suppose its happened to me, so I'm sure there are others here by their own will.

Somn... I'm so alone... Find me please, I need to talk to you again... Mystra make it so.

The entire journal entry appears to be written in haste

Second entry

Went out on a task with a band of people I didn't know very well.. Got cornered by some troglodyte warriors and almost got beaten to a bloody pulp to save a suicidal lady in our group! Never again! I must go more slowly and cautiously, or my destiny will not be fulfilled.

I'm so confused. I've made great aquaintance with a hin called Drasha, and a gnome named Rerodoc.. Drasha said something about a Lady Paladin knowing that someone I am working with is 'tainted'.. Such gifts these Holy Knights have.. to sense things.. Fears... Dark edges of the heart... Drasha said that the Lady Paladin would not party with him.. I think she was referring to Casimir... If so, I must tread carefully in House Toboerski.. Maybe I could employ someone to assess...Du----word scribbled out here-- its doesnt matter. I trust Drasha..

Also was approached again by R---.. He seemed to make me take an oath of allegiance to an entity and a cause I am unsure of.. That Restar fellow was arrested, and is on trial.. I'm quite sure that Sanctuary politics are complicated... last word is scrawled badly, barely legible...

Third Entry Again i stayed in the Crone well past the point of reason.. Watching the streets fill fill Thugs, Smiles, Tigerseyes, and Mayhem... I decided to take the long way out past the canal to get to Upper Sanc. Walked outside the narrow Canal Gates and got thumped into the granite by a Giant Frog-like creatue! It knocked me out.. and when I came too it was sniffing the air and rummaging through my belongings... I got up and ran back through the gate - it didnt follow. I activate a magical charm in my belt to disappear for a time, and ventured back out into the no-go zone... The Frog had gone... I picked up my belongings and while hidden, i went searching for the path that i had been shown that leads to Sanctuary Gate...

I must have been blessed by Mystra this eve, for i came across encampments of gnolls and fish-men, who were feeding slimes, and some sort of gnomish folk in red garb, carrying staves, and such... I ran and ran... and ran.. an found many of them... It looked like an army camped outside Canal Gate~! In the darkest part when i was truly lost... i saw an snake-eyed woman with loathesome skin... hissing... she could sense me I'm sure.. but not see me.. I ran back to the gate to be sure... I took the other path.. on the other side of the gate.. and made it to Sanctuary without further alarm.

I spoke to citizens in the Rockbottom about this army, but they all think I'm nuts. Finally outside I ran into an elven built woman who goes by the name Amolef... I remember her name from posters around town slieighting her name... She listened to me... and without my prompting... cast a clairvoyance spell of some nature to determine what I had see. She asked for a strand of my hair to divine the matter. She saw the badly injured Giant Frog.. and told me the rest of the army I had seen was an illusion... She was very convincing.. I asked her if she was taking apprentices.. and she said I should write her a letter of application.. I think she is either a Spellguard or a Seeker... maybe both.. Master Frors thought she had been assassinated... She did claim in my presence that she was merely 'a powerful wizard'.. THAT would be the elf to learn from... Maybe my half-elven ancestry will hold me in good stead with her...

Still looking for written material about psionics.. maybe more about Illithids... and their biology and maybe some hints about their culture... might help assess what I could glean of 'psionic training' from the Pyrimo Squiddy...

Fourth Entry Note:

* Read a flyer in the Crone before I had to evacuate lower... 10,000 coin and a powerful magic item for Squeagle's head, a goblin. Amolef is paying this reward. Met him last eve, when he divined my experience running from and injured Giant Frog out at Canal Gate.

I'll write the application to Amolef soon. I don't expect he will accept me. He seems quite embroiled in Sanctaury politics to have time to devote to my studies. If I could have access to his seat of learning.. his magical source maybe I could learn all I could ever dream about Mystra and the Weave. Maybe then.. I could begin to really find scholarly works written in archaic detail about Psionic Faculties among the cultures and cities and tribes of Faerun. Of course, not all magic-users hold an avid interest in the psychokinetics of psionics.... Maybe I should be studying just straight wizardry.. forget lockpicks, forget mind science.. Just - pure - Mystran - magic...

I must study more languages in readiness for that elusive work that will fill me to the brim with this divine-source of energy.. Maybe a sorceror would be better to study with. One with natural flair for the magical and intuitive arts. Items of power too. To help raise my vibrations and awareness of the Planes. All very vague at present. Give me more time to read... Note:

* Watch Rashman, Dungal, and Casimir... Maybe they are one unit? Maybe they dont know each other? Dungal seems to be making waves among the citizens of Sanc.. Always good to feed the poor, give them shelter, and save their lives from a hidden enemy... Time will tell...Great Mystra who can I trust!...

Fifth Entry Right well, Drasha is mad about something. Tried to get herself killed to some lunatic who said he wanted to 'help' her end her life. The Human (come to think of it, I think it was Kaddaz) who was taunting Drasha, just wanted to make a public display to see what would happen if Drash was threatened. I couldnt figure it out. Bodoc obviously cares about Drash; then again he seems to be the unspoken Councillor for the hin population in Sanc. He looks after all their interests quite spectacularly. Deadly with a bow too that little one. Wouldnt wanna get on his mean side.

Casimir ran into a bunch of paladins again who refused to work with him claiming he is tainted. So be it. The man is an army unto himself. He nearly took out a whole Gnoll contingent by himself. I aint messing with him at all. Paladins can just take it easy on him, I think. The whole city might be tainted.. Actually that's not true..

I went looking for some work in Lower with a dwarf I happened upon, calling himself Glowen. Got to Lower fairly quick by his sure steps with a dark hin in tow. Found some work shooting rats. Not too hard. Lower has changed. Bunch of helmeted scum in the Crone took off ahead of us it seems, and waylaid us deep in the caeverns. The hin took off somewhere, and left Glowen and me to face five unknowns.. Four humans and another dark hin. Exacting a toll to pass from Lower to Upper! The indignity of it! I said nothing.. and let the dwarf speak. He ended up conning a lady in their company, paid some coin, and we passed them without further ado. The Cave Spider nearly ripped Glowen's spine out further down the track but I managed to cross a bridge and shoot it down. Lucky... Anyway, now the Tigerseyes are in shambles, who knows what Lower has in store for us. Gangs running their own markets! Bah! Even saw a kobold squatting in the back streets!

Which reminds me: tenday or so back, I read a message scrawled on the wall of the alley leading out to Dunwarren. Scrawled in blood, on the wall and on the floor of the alley.. It read: Ithikraszt I have no idea what it means. ooh and the dwarf Glowen told me to stay away from a red haired dreadlocked woman roaming lower... Dunno what that was about... I think the poor Watchman on Dunwarren alley was killed and his blood was use to paint the picture. Dunwarren... gah!

Last but not least.. I went looking for Pyrimo, a few days back, by meself. Ran into a swarm of bats and a cave cat of some kind.. out near the Lost Shop I had to use me last invisi pot to hide... I was damned sure that the Sleeping Pyrimo Tavern was located near that Lost Shop... Casimir took a groups of us out there ages back... Upon reading up on Pyrimo in the Sanc Book Shop, it seems that there are a number of portals around the caverns that allow access to the place. How in the Great Gods did Casimir find that portal then? Did he activate it it somehow? And the proprietor's name is Intryzz. I saw the squid from a distance when I walked into that bile-sack tavern and I KNOW I'm gonna need to train my mind and my willpower far more to be able to get near those creatures again, even just the damned thralls. I'd LOVE to do a dream-room experiment, maybe I'd open up parts of me mind hirtherto never opened before... Maybe I'll go insane and be captured by the Illithid again. Again?... two lines scribbled over, now illegible. Stupid mind games!

Somniis, sis.... I miss you now more than ever. Find me! Help me! I need your thoughts on how to approach this mind science, more carefully... Come Mystra... be my guiding light!

Sixth Entry I found some history of Sanctuary and Dunwarren texts in the general public reading section of the small libray in the foyer of the Spellguard Tower. Given my keen interest in all things magical, and my repeated comings and going from that little library over the last few weeks, and probably noticing my angst about not getting at the deeper histories of Dunwarren, I managed to convince of of the Spellguard to grants me 30 minutes guided access to the Upper Bookroom. The Spellguard, I feel, are getting desperate for help from competent researchers interested in furthering their understanding of the Animatrons and the archaic Svirfnebli philosophies and technologies in Dunwarren in general. Proabably why they let the public have open access to the Upper rooms. Everything else seems to be under tight lock and key.

So I read a work by Melinda Bresley. She claimed that Animatrons are "Beleived to be possessed of the presence of the elemental spirits closest attuned with the svirfnebli gnomes...". Another general history suggested that the entire city was designed and built like one vast machine, animatrons included. This idea suggests the svirfnebli were idealising One Mind, One Council, One God worshipped to fathom some kind of mystical scientific structure embodied in their culture... Hard to put into words.

Cornelius Archibald: He concluded that "... the great city of Dunwarren was not taken by force." He said, "Their laws [the Dunwarren svirfnebli], their customs, and technologies... are immeasurably alien to even the most learned of us." What world, what plane were the svirfneble in communion with?

Another quote about the city: ".. a tremendous unfinished machine..."

Another reading about the Founders of Sanctuary indiactes that the Seekers were popular while the Bresley family were associated with it, but a series of political murders have seen them fall into disfavour. Was Frederic Bresley murdered by his top two aides? Ubel and Ivlysar? What dis Melinda know of them?

Seems Amolef has quite a reputation for ambush, robbery, and is loathed by many. Might be advisable not to send that letter he asked for. I would become an apprentice to an assassin it would seem. Not quite what will keep me alive down here.

I will find the surface one day. My twin sister needs me. Yet I must stay and learn the deep mysteries that call me. My destiny.

Info on The Sleeping Pyrimo! Best yet: Sitting in the Blue Mushroom with Bodoc, Merien, and Jozan, resting awhile.. I managed to get onto the topic of the lcoation fo the Pyrimo. Jozan and Bodoc expressed their disgust - Jozan warned me not to deal with a place taht inherently attracts evil. I keep talking about it and Jozan opened up a little saying he knew of a gnome in the Canal District, a Bartender of the Steady Fist (?) a tavern that was blown up a few weeks back (before I arrived). Seems the gnome used to hand out keys to Pyrimo - the only way to gain access to the portal. The key that the Ordered Mind Placard claims the Society will pay for to destroy! Suitably difficult entry to an equally difficult task of cracking the mind of Intryzz the proprietor. He must hold secrets I can learn from. Probably the most dangerous thing I could do.. allow myself to enter one of the dream rooms-experiments. Chances are i will die. But If Mystra would bless me for but a moment.. I might see the potential realm of psionic gifts available to the Chosen of Mystra.. Well thats' what i believe, and dream about... DOnt knwo if it is possible or true. So finding the gnome and a key! Is imperative.. Maybe I can buy one from someone like Casimir! Possible locations of Abberations:

* Caverns west of Lower Sanctuary Gate.

* Twisted Caves of n/west Gate Road (Hook Horros and Beholderkin?)

* Must obtain a potion of Clarity for dealing with Illitihids, Intryzz and his dream rooms. He probably wont allow me to use it. Or might just let me then possess me like a vampire. I am meditating and praying, building my willpower for Mystra now as much as possible for power, clarity and blessings to take on these Illithid.. learn their secrets, combine their knowledge with Mystran Weaving Magic and then liberate Sanctuary!!! What a world that would be!

Seventh Entry Met Cannonball Ruby this eve. Lovely lass. She's the red haired dreadlocked woman I was warned about by... cant remember now. Anyway, she has a heart of gold! We got talking in the Rockbottom about where we come from and such... She's from the Isles west of the Sword Coast... Not really that far from me own hometown of Luskan...

Met Orias too. Carries a huge axe and cries out 'Tempus!' while he slashes at things. Another good soul methinks. He invited Ruby and me to help Council in clear out some vermin in Dunwarren. In a sewer section there, we found an almighty horrid smell and many still active svirfnebli traps and wards. There's a rope dangling in the heart of the place that leads up to a black dark dank stairwell leading shortly to a wall. I looked for runes of hidden doors. Nothing presented itself. Weirdest thing...Cannot fathom it. Maybe if i start making maps of Dunwarren, I might be able to get me head around what those Svirfneble were up to.. Then again I aint a city planner so dunno if I'm gonna be able to make heads of tails of any their technologies.. I'm gonna try though.. Gotta find a way out of Sanc.. gotta see if others will join me in the quest... Might be time to find a fellow Seeker as well.

Ruby and I made the trip through the caverns from Upper to Lower.. She showed me docked boat out in the Canal.. A smallish craft. She's a Seadog at heart I'm guessing by her talk of the Great Blue. Getting out onto the Dark Lake might prove useful. Though I fear we'd need to be over prepared if we another craft out there. Should maybe explore the edges of the dark lake more fully from out Blue Mushroom way. Ruby knows about the flyers pasted up in lower by a Jhaad (i think is the name). Someone trying to get together a crew of treasure hunters, as Ruby put it. She fears he may be lost completely.. fearing the worst, of course. Who knows.. maybe he's lying low after the revolution in Lower. Might be good to get to know Jhaad a little better. Never met the man. He might be a huge asset to the citizens of Sanctuary - but I cant guess where his loyalties lay. Best left til I meet him. I'll work with Ruby on that then.

Looked briefly for the gnome in the Canal. I'm lodged in the Crone for now, so I'll be seeking him out. See if he's still hanging around the place.. I might get lucky with that Pyrimo key yet. If I could find a better way to learn about Psionics first hand, I would. Mystra bless me.

I'm about to set a course of study to further these magical arts I keep talking about. I'll have to write a letter to Spellguard declaring me intentions and such. Quiet bunch them Spellguard... amazing collection of arcane texts like non I've read elsewhere... I've been dreaming of shining light coming to me. In the dream I asked 'Are you Mystra?'... No reply... THe Light makes me feel at peace though.. Who know?...

Eighth Entry Research research research... Books books books... Been indoors for longer than I care to remember, quite missed alot of the events of Sanctuary, just catching up on political things now. Ivylsar the Seeker leader is dead. Assassinated. Rock Bottom is no more. Sometimes I wonder where my head is at that i don't notice these things happening. I suppose because I am so obsessed with Mystran magic at the moment (at least that is what I call the magic that i practice and dream about)... outer things door really enter into my picture of reality.

Met a woman, whitish hair, speaks the common tongue in a jumbled way, named Oryx. She said she could get me a Pyrimo key and passage to the Pyrimo for 400 coin. I had virtually nothing on me. She said maybe later. I asked her what was her interest in the Pyrimo and she answered something like, "I don't ask you about your interest, you don't ask me about mine." Fair enough. She also said that out by the "Fishmens" there is a store where they sell Pyrimo keys. If I could figure out what the woman meant by "Fishmens" maybe i could but the Key myself. I'm gonna have to be well prepared for when I enter into that Tavern and talk with Intryzz. Is there another way to learn Psionic Mind Science without consulting an Illithid? Surely the Psionic Realm of Matter and Mind is not only the province of these unworldly Illithids. What other race or beings utilise Psionics?

Why am I obsessed with Psionic Powers? Why do I want to learn such arts? Is it possible to learn without being born of gifted with it? I'm guessing Mystra may be able ot help me with that kinda lore. Blessed be Lady Mystra, may your Weave reach the Infinite Realms and Comfort All Creation. All is One. One is All.

Basically, Psionic gifts, stealth, magic, and the odd ingenious weapon, along with well drawn maps are gonna be the tools to get people out of the Underdark. Seems like negotiations with all manner of creatures to 'buy passage' might be a good way. However, the tide of politics seem to change each Dark down here.

The more tools we can have access to that enables our safe passage to the surface... the better for us all.

Met Sol last Dark. Wonderful lady. Red hair. Mapmaker. Wants to see the Sun like I do. Doesnt trust the Seekers or the Spellguard. Seems the Seekers are mostly now concerned with reporting on potential threats to Sanctuary from Outside the Walls, instead of finding THE WAY to the surface in the Frederic Bresley tradition. Sol will help me.. I'm sure of it... More maps.

Also, must contact Merrial about joining the fledgling Library Guild. I met a woman, a potion boiler named Lys, who seems to be saving coin to buy a building in Sanc and set this place up. A public lending Library would certainly help educate all of Sanctuary. A map room to show exactly where we are... and where we can be as a town built by Seekers, Watchman, and Spellguards. A room dedicated to learning the secets of Dunwarren might be in order too. SOmething I read in the bookshop about the 'armoury' located under the 'bowels of the machine' that may empower the defenses of Sanctuary and gain the town some mighty bargaining power with the denizens of the Underdark. Might be worth acquiring an Animatron as a Body Guard for tracking, mapping and negotiations in the Underdark.

Back to the books.

Nineth Entry Yeah so I was energetically drained by an angry spirit out by the canals when I went to help someone retrieve their hastily dropped equipment, went looking for a healer to boost my energy levels, fell on the steps of the town hall, nearly got arrested for laying about, woke up in the Beacon, virtually no money, so I decided to make some money doing Tarot readings. Finally I think i got some accurate intuition working for me, and not against me.

Met with a Hin woman, Corypen Thistleblossom, I think her name was, [ooc: Merrial Stootbackle], and she agreed to my plea of being the subject of a Tarot reading. So I drew a card and identified an overly emotional friend of hers, I drew another card and identified a perceptive younger associate of hers, and drew a third card and I beleive I identifed Miss Corpypen as one who had knowledge of or access to a gate, or door that opens a way further into the Underdark. I drew a fourth card and it was the infamous Death card. She grew alarmed and I went out of my way tio inform her that this card can simply mean a radical change of circumstance, or steppting through a doorway to a totally new world of experience, and did not necessarily mean that she or her friends were about to incur liberation from their physical bodies. She gave me the full amount that the Hold asks to restore one to their full health and senses, 70 coin, and hurried off, not long before that Bedraggled Slave made that sending and announcement about having been the only survivor of an Illithid slaughter festival or some sort, something about implants... And large group of Sanctuarians rushed off into the Underdark to fink some Sandy shore and liberate more. Rushing into an Illithid conclave after a moments though is not the best course of action I beleive. I do hope they abandoned their heady task and made their way safely back to Sanctuary. Surely there are better ways to approach Illithids.

Lightning strikes - or discharges of the Old Svirfnelbli ""Machine"" depending on your philosophical vantage point - , out in the Southern Alleys of the Canal, out on the mysterious Barak Tor, out in the Dunwarren Ruins, and NOW i recently found a secret mechanical door in the Lower Sewers, not far from the not so secret trapdoor in the Crone, that lead further into the Sewers than I have ever been... and again Lightning Strikes. The enegy is not focussed and just erupts out of the air! I encountered a few vermin, nothing unusual; yet I did encounter some sentient ooze that endeavoured to devour me. I hurried back to the Crone fearing they would envelop me there and then, and no-one would be the wiser.

I do wonder at the source of these discharges and eruptions. Has someone or something set the the Svirfnebli Machine into some kind of overloaded motion? It doesnt bode well for Sanctuary if the whole amorphous 'Machine', including the Animatrons (the understood, and the misunderstood ones - note, the Animatron disgorging number sequences by the Lower Sanctuary staircase in Upper), if there is some kind of mechanical or metamagical supreme malfunction gathering steam. Are the Spellguard even investigating this? Maybe someone has found their way into the Armoury and flipped a switch?

Are the Cult or Urdlen, those dread gnomes, a last living death-knoll of a belief system that arose within the Old Svirfnebli City? I found a book about Urdlen abandoned in the Mines. It details their beliefs and that are totally nihilistic. The Underdark certainly seems to allow wayward thoughts to fester into malign magecraft and curse-ridden god structures that rots all sentient life unfortunate enough to encounter such places and creatures.

I near-well died of Corpse Blight, as the priests in the Hold finally figured out, after I told them where i had picked it up from. Outside the Deep Canal gates there is a cavern with bodies piled all over the place. I should have left immeditately but I endevoured to clean the place with fire and in so doing became afflicted. Such is my health that the flies fed on me and nearly ate me from the outside to in. The malady came on so fast and furious that I'm sure two Sanctuary citizens who simply passed by me along the concourses of Upper soon became afflicted fighting flies off with abandon. I apologised and ran away. A merchant was good enough to trade with me, seeminly quite oblivious to my desperate state, I sold a magical formula that allows a contagion spell to arise - the irony - and i was soon cured by the Hold.

Spoke with a follower of the Red Skull, one named Thelonious, about the Way of Frederic Bresley, and the symbol of his bones on an altar in their Temple and of giving up all to submit to the truth. He claims that we, all who live in Sanctuary, are already dead and must realise this. He speaks in metaphors and I must quiz him further. Some of the folk in Lower speak about the Way of Bresley like he was a God, and that he awaits the faithful in some Elysium in the Sun. Madness to be sure, considering the one i spoke claimed to have never seen the Sun.

Lady Sin Met with man today, shaved head, black beard, named Reberius. A sorceror, he calls himself. We got to talking about the goings on in Lower, and somehow we got onto the topic of muggings and such going on down there. He was quite happy to talk to me, saying that he was recently part of a group that followed someone called 'Lady Sin' - a white haired, pale skinned elven woman -, a woman he was told is quite powerful. Apparently this group follow this Lady Sin, these muggers. I wasnt sure why he was telling me all this. but it seemed like a confessional. a way to relieve his conscience, but also to elnlist my aid in finding out more depth to subject of Lady Sin and her coterie. Maybe they did not trust him, or he left them. Maybe he is setting me up, like that dwarf recently tried to by asking me to help him open some locked doors down in lower. Surely a set up for a mugging. Anyway, Reberius seemed quite in awe of this Lady Sin and said he had been taken into her presence once by the group, but that he did not believe it to be her, because she was too... friendly, benign.. i dont quite remember his phrase.

I asked Reberius if he knew whether that Orc named Vince, and the purpled robed Hin woman(who I found out is supposed to be the leader of these muggers - could be more lies and rumour, who can tell). Vince and the Hin I reported in a letter addressed to Agent Blake of the Spellguard. But that was merely about a mugging gone awry leading to the murder of a Spellguard Associate, one named Sraal. Reberius spoke of a large Orc named Tyrus who wielder a scythe, but also beleived that he and others of this gang of Lady Sin, had been killed. I don't know what to make of all this specualtion. Time will tell. I will investigate further.

And as for me finding the key to the Pyrimo, and to the dream-room experiments... Maybe I need to enlist someone to accompany me into the dream-room. Infact, maybe the Illithid are not the best way to learn Psionics from. Maybe there is another Source. A Higher Power... I must be greatly aware that i do not become an Illithid Thrall,with all this obession with Psionics, Magic, and Mind Science, - IF I am not one already as my dreams suggest. But Mystra is in my dreams too, teaching me the histories of Sanctuary, the books I read... all... .... no more for now.

Somniis, find me... Thankyou Holy Mystra. Make my paths to surface straighter and straighter with your Immense Magical Guidance.

Tenth Entry

The Pyrimo Key was given to me by my friend Sol outside the Town Hall for free! Of all places and times - here I am trying t get a job, rejected by all, everyone leaves, I'm standing around wondering what to do, and Sol walks up to me and says "Here, have this I don't want it." Unbelievable! Mystra bless you a thousand times, Sol, for your act of kindness.

Went to the Southern Alleys of the Canal Ward with Sol and a sorceror calling himself Andrik Krown. One the way to the Ward, Andrik was telling us that he had apprarently sought conversation with the Kobold Ambassador in Upper, something about his blood heritage and the Great Shadow dragon. The kobold also stood at the Town Hall raving about the coming of the Drow to take 22 prisoners and 2 gnomes and 100 000 gold coins and that it was coming soon, and that Great Shadow would save us and to chant his name. He was very convincing little fellow. Might have to talk to him myself, since I spotted that Dragon Shadow statue out by Lizard Town over the Lake.

The short of it is: we went into the old goblin quarters, got deep inside the old svirfneble complex. A nervous bolt I shot out in the dark led to us soon being swarmed by electrically charged vermin and I blacked out. When I came to Andrik and Sol claimed the same thing happened to them. Cant figure it out. We found a disused trapdoor, one recently opened that led us back to the Lower Sanc streets and we fled to the safety of the Crone.

Well Intryzz, I'm coming to meet with you soon enough methinks. And I'll find out what this business with the dream-room experiments entails. I wonder if there are prizes offer for succesfully completing the tasks on the dream-room. I suppose I could speculate all dark. Best I prepare in body mind and spirit then go meet with destiny, and find the psionic lore I was born to acquire and share. Maybe I can write a book entitled How to Become Psionic and Be In Balance. Would take lifetimes to write I imagine. Time will tell. If I contact someone in the Ordered Mind Society maybe someone there can provide me with a history of psionic aberrations or research into psionic sciences conducted by scholars of goodwill.

Somn... find me... Thankyou Mystra for the many blessings that is my life.

Eleventh Entry

My Tarot Reading services are keeping me quite busy of late. I trust that the Weave of Mystra is keeping me linked with the heart of Sanctuary, by serving its citizens with glimpses of what is to come for them, based on the decisions they make. Mystra is guidig me in a way that seems to stand outside time and space. The cards themselves seem to have grown warm in my hands and they seem to tell me things, and guide me to talk to the right people. Very much in the way Sol handed me the Pyrimo Key.

After a manifold turning of dark cycles, I finally stumbled upon the entrance to the Pyrimo. I had been looking outside the stalagmites of the Lost Shop and found nothing many times over. The trader there was no help. Finally i turned back in frustration and not far from the mushroom farm... there it was! Not since Casimir, that dark knight, took me there many cycles ago, have I been inside...

Intryzz is a piece of work letting me inspect his establishment at my leisure, or so he would have me believe... He may already know my desires, maybe so.... and the dream-room 'experiment' the illithid has designed harks back into the History of Sanctuary... What great treasure of knowledge awaits us in there... I suppose I will never know if it is a concoction of vague truths about what Sanctuary might have been like in the beginning, constructed by that malevolent psionicist... who can tell. Worth investigating , I believe.. I will need to take a travelling group with me.. At least eight willing participants who know what they are doing and why they are doing the dream-experiment. Dangerous ground to be sure. But therein may exist a weakness in the psionic structure of that submanifest dreamworld - a weak point in the illithid's mind... Turning the tables on the illithid is mad to be sure.. But what if we found a weakness, maybe their lust for untried 'brain-meat' is there weakness. Maybe my desire to learn psionic sciences is what is keeping me alive for now inside the Pyrimo and outside. The whole construction of the Pyrimo is a mystery worth delving into.

I've written a letter to Sir Roman Zaro, apparently a member of the Ordered Mind Society, in hope that he may have some inkling of knowledge about species and entities of benign nature that are adpet at psionics. If not, i'm going to have to ransack every library in the Underdark to find way to learn. If I cannot learn psionic arts through a history or a study of benign psionicists - then I know I must walk into the inner fire of Intryzz's mental labyrinthe. I pray that Mystra, accompany on such a necessarily devious and relentless journey. I will find a way!

I have met several people through my Tarot Reading offerings... the quietly spoken Ariana, Snakebite the Ju-ju Man, Citizen Joe Blogs the treasurer... others... In every citizen of Sanctuary lies a secret and sacred part of the workings toward a freed city. If i can drive people to confront their fears and overcome them... we will all be free.

Which reminds me; i did ask the Ambassadors in the Temple of the Shadow if i might be able to use their library, and they denied me because I did not pray to Great Shadow in the way they would like. A respectful and poerful prayer I must learn... so I can get at that library... The knowledge I seek could lay there as much as any library. Also, Agent Blake indicated that a vast library existed in the Spellguard Tower. She referred my request for research priviledges in their library to Officer Barkley, the Second-in-Command' as she put it, not guaranteeing me that I would be granted access. I have registered my arcane abilities with the Tower, I have the badge. Maybe this will be an asset and we can mutually benefit.

Mystra is the Light and the Way, to be sure.

Somniis, as ever, my wonderul sister,... find me.

Twelfth Entry

Much afoot in Sanctuary. Well... inside and outside the walls. One reflecting the other.

The Rescue of Malark Amblecrown, co-Founder of the Ordered Mind Society I met with a lady who calls herself Fhasaadi Huntinghawk (I think that is her name), who found me on a return trip from the Dunwarren Ruins. She insisted on speaking with me there and then, saying that she heard I was a Tarot reader. Now this surprised me, as I've only ever really given private readings. The public ones have generally been ridiculed, but I expect as much from unbelievers in the ways of the Weave and the coordinants of destiny. I suggested we talk in the nearby Chapterhouse to which she gladly obliged leading me to the logbook therein, and showing me her name entered as one of the Founders of the Society... Greatly surprised I was to meet such a personage.

However, the lady seemed desperate and rattled by what she had seen. She asked me to do a Tarot Reading to understand the fate of one Malark Amblecrown, a co-Founder of the Society. I sensed a great yearning on her part to find this lost man, a paladin, a man gone for many years by the sounds of things. My cards immediately suggested a location - I felt that Malark was surrounded by a great tempestuous wind, a 'Taking Wind' I called it. In my mind, it is like his destiny called him into this Great Wind, but I did not quite reveal that to Miss Huntinghawk, because I did not wish to hurt her feelings.

When I suggested to her that Malark was lost and wandering in a Taking Wind, the Ordinant immediately told me she had been looking for him out by the Windy Caverns, to no avail, for years. I became adamant that he could be found out there. My card readings have not let me down yet - I have a strong feeling that Malark is out there and that he has some part to play in a newfound safety for Sanctuary. From my reading, I feel that Malark has gone to great length to find something, to confront something deep inside himself, to find some artifact, some riddle to the the making or unmaking, possibly of the Illithid. This 'Taking Wind' I believe suggests far more that just a weather phenomena - Malark is consumed from within and without by this power, like he has been overpowered - in one sense he could simply have been enthralled, and thus the perfect lure for members of the Society and its friends to fall into Illithid mind traps, lies, promises, lusts, powertrips, and games such as the malign psionicists can play. Best we learn how to find him and break the enthrallment, to learn from Malark. I suspect he is now in possession of a greater first-hand knowledge of psionic power than I could ever glean from a book. Why would he willingly submit to enthrallment? Malark must have been onto something.

But the greatest thing I felt when I reached out to find Malark, was a sense of hope. It was like he was calling out from deep within his heart -"Find me. I can help you. I can help us all." Lady Huntinghawk did also ask if he was still loyal to the Crusade, the pledge of the Society, so to speak. I said that he was lost and wandering, yet he is still loyal. I 'know' this in my heart, in my own part of the Weave, as I call it. It is a Mystran notion, to be sure. Deep inside he is loyal to the Society, maybe even to a promise he made to Fhasaadi, or another member, or to himself - even if he is enthralled. The key to all this is to find Malark alive. Lady Huntinghawk said she just 'knew' he was still alive, and because she seems so close to Malark and desperate to find him.. that longing I believe creates a powerful bond and connection between two sentient beings. Thus I trust her when she says he is still alive. The thing is: he is deep inside an alien hell that he willingly has submitted himself to. Malark Amblecrown may be the start of detecting that long hoped for weakness in the dark heart of the Illithid home. Malark, what did you find out there in the Deeps? What artifact of Mind? What new training do you have for us?

As a result of my meeting with Lady Ordinant Fhasaadi Huntinghawk I have applied for membership with the Society. I maybe do not have the battlehardy crusader demeanour to be admitted, but I certainly have the willpower and resolve to find a way to empower Sanctuarians with a way to combat aberrations, such as Illithid, - purely evil sentient beings that I reckon are one of the greatest threats to the unmaking of Sanctuary. Killing them over and over is one thing, but like all species, they breed. Finding a permanent way to dissolve their power, or to further Sanctify Sancturians against subtle psionic manipulations, is the key I believe to our ongoing safety.

Mystra? The thing with Lady Fhasaadi is, she recalled a dream to me that she had had; about a Lady with Seven Stars in her hair. I was taken aback a moment, and I could have sworn I was in the direct presence of Lady Mystra herself. However, Fhasaadi's face came back to me to break the illusion I had created in my mind. Yearning can be a great driver, to be sure.

Another thing... its seems that Roman Zaro had a hard time remembering Ordinant Fhasaadi Huntinghawk as a Founder within the Society - I had not really taken much note of her name myself, until I met her. But you know, so many names and faces we encounter dark to dark can become a blur. He had a great headache last I saw of him. I do hope it is just him overworking himself. Maybe he is just paranoid like the rest of us, though he be a strong crusader.

Ordinant Iodeus, that mysterious fist and foot specialist, arrived soon after my meeting with Lady Huntinghawk, and I felt I should tell him of the Tarot Reading and Lady Huntinghawk's request to find Malark Amblecrown. Iodeus is a very driven man. He became immediately resolved to go with this initiative and set out for the Windy Caverns. He summoned a party to follow him, one Watchmember.. Larksong.. Ordinant Anver, and a straggler at the gates, one Bresk, who proved entertaining, but in my case, was very fortuitous during the turn of events.

We found the caverns... All stopped,, we found nothing but a few gnolls. I did a card reading to find a direction. "West" I said. Iodeus immediately took the course, Mystra bless him. It lead to a dead end and few more gnolls but nothing revealing. The rest of the party became skeptical of my 'cards', Sergeant Larksong in particular. I reasoned that such an apparent misdirection could have been fortuitous for it may have lead us out of the line of sight of a drow patrol, or some other fast death. There are no accidents - everything happens for a reason. Mystra has lead me to believe so.

I suggested we go over a bridge and then head west, to which all agreed.. but i soon realised that this bridge we walked had only been built recently, for other veterans of the 'Dark seemed to think it newly completed.

Deeper deeper... down down.. into sand and wind. We were soon attacked by a very strong species of Hulks; and I saw with my own eyes two Illithid. One snuck up behind us while we debated entering a very dark tunnel, and tried to threaten us before it attacked, but Iodeus literally jumped on it and tore it apart before it could finish its sentence. Iodeus is a driven man, with specialised training, to be sure.

After all that, we turned back and arrived in Sanctuary safely. I must thank Ordinant Anver for convincing me to follow him back when I thought all was lost. Deluded I can be, sometimes.

I'm sure there is more to come of all this.

Proposed research with Fern of Brandobaris I have written a letter to Fern, the priestess of Brandobaris, who greatly assisted in selling most of my unusable possessions outside Town Hall. Fern came with me on a trip out into the 'Dark, and lost her precious ring. She was livid. I tried to calm her down, but she became unstoppable trying to locate it. It appears that someone has stolen it while she was unconscious, knocked flat by a giant lizard - but I could be wrong. The gods work in subtle ways. Wherever that ring is, I'm sure it will lead her onto a deeper path. Who knows what part my friend has to play in tha grand scheme of Sanctuary's growth towards the Light? I've asked her to find out all and any information about 'the Chosen' in Sanctuary.

My idea is that Fern is such a diligent, engaging sort of personage, that she could charm the pants off a rat. Her marketing skills prooved that to me recently, what fun she is! She certainly can dish out the lark with the likes of Master Riappi, that 'Incorrigibly Great' stealther. But more importantly, she is a priestess whom I trust; and such divine affinity must give her insight, in an uncomplicated way, into what might drive these 'Chosen'. Thing is: inside Intryzz's dream-room at the Pyrimo, the hin-thrall there was selling the concept of entering into 'the History of Sanctuary... where you can find out, in a walk through the past, how the Chosen first came to Sanctuary'. What game is Intryzz up to here - the Chosen, and the History of Sanctuary? Must get a group of well trained people into that dream-room as soon as is reasonably possible. Fern's research I hope will shed further light.

Also, I'm very excited about joining this Society, fingers blessed, so that i might get to peruse their library! Finally, some greater works to explore about aberrations, psionic cultures, and such. I would like to think that such a Society would not be bereft of such important texts. If not, I shall compile works on psionics myself. If I cannot compile useful and true psionicist information from what I can study in the libraries and 'texts' of Sanctuary and its environs, I will write from firsthand experience. Though of course any experimental work in the mental sciences, is fraught with recklessness, especially when dealing with Illithid. Best I speak with Ordinant Iodeus soon about his training with this 'Githzerai' group or thing or entity, whatever that may be.

Mystra, I pray, reveal all to us, in good time.

Thirteenth Entry

Before I forget; spoke with Reberius, the Wizard again, while he was selling things outside Town Hall. We immediately got back onto the topic of Lady Sin. I told him that I had heard that a group of Watchman and Citizens of Upper had hunted down this gang of muggers and killed them all. I had learned that Cynthia the hin, was running the gang, and was also known as Lady Sin. Reberius reminded me in that Lady Sin, from his perspective, was a drow... Hmm... rumours built inside puzzles. Maybe Lady Sin is still at work.

In my travels around Lower Sanc I found a note on the wall of an alley, written in a strange tongue, one I could not decipher.. It 'may' have been written in drow, or any other unhuman language. Seemed like a proclamation of some sort.. Who knows.. But I sensed drow involvement. I don't know.. only a guess.

I have told Agent Blake at the Spellguard about this turn of events with the end of the gang as well. I did not tell her of Lady Sin. She trusts me, which is good - though I have been warned not to trust the Spellguard. They have done nothing to me that I can recall, so I am good with the Tower for now. I even registered my developing skills a spell user of the First Circle - so I have the Badge.

Mystra, as ever, guide me toward paths of Light. Your Weave be strong in me, and my friends.

Fourteenth Entry

Drilacko and Iodeus Finally I spoke with Ordinant Iodeus, and I briefly met Ordinant Drilacko Kenaut, the man Armand suggested I speak with about my interest in the arcane and mental sciences. Drilacko introduced himself by calling himself the Society's "resident arcanist and surgeon". He said that we have shared interests and that he would be happy to show me his research work on Illithids and such at some point once I become a Society member, I presume. The man himself must have undergone some kind of terrible experience, for he shakes violently, and has some kind of nervous condition, best I can tell. I witnessed Spellguard Agent Blake try to perform an examination on him in the Spellguard Tower.. to which the poor man backed away saying, "No more tests, " and ran out the door never to be found, though Agent Blake did give chase. That man, Drilacko, is another very important key to this whole psionicist research and development I am looking into. I have had a mind to apprentice myself to him.. to learn his arts deeply.

Met with Iodeus, and I think I have gained his trust enough for him to reveal a little of his past to me, guarded though he always is. There are a group of once-human warrior-monks called Githzerai that travelled from the Outer Planes to fight Illithid here in the Underdark, it seems. They go on holy crusades called a 'rrakkma' in which they fight until they have killed one more Illithid than the total number of their own fallen. It seems that Iodeus was adopted and trained by these Githzerai. From what I learned speaking with him, they discipline their mind and body to fight the Illithid exclusively, for they were once slaves to them. The ancestral leader of the Githzerai is someone called Zerthimon, whom Iodeus insisted is not a god. The Githzerai hold more secrets to their mental training to be sure.. to be able to shrug off an Illithid's mind attack.. as I have recently found out for myself. Iodeus simply said, "Never hesitate" when confronted by an aberration - kill it, he intimated; but that 'teaching' was directly in relation to the Zepheron incident to which I will refer below.

Zepheron Ordinant Armand Waters asked me in the presence of Roman Zaro to lead an investigation into disturbances in the Canal Ward, specifically a building near the Steady Hand. Armand insisted that I lead, to show my worth to the Society, and that Roman accompany me. Armand referred to cult activity in the area and wished to learn more, with a report from me.

So I gathered a large group, numerous unknowns, and basically we stormed the place, which is not exactly what I had in mind at all. It is very hard to control a large group of thrillseekers, looking for loot and to smash their way to glory. That was the feeling I had, though many in the group knew this was Society business, and often deferred to Roman with questions. The cult building was quickly located, and a woman at the door tried to disuade us from entering into her basement, she was very unco-operative and she ran off cursing us.

In the basement we found rooms and passageways, laid out with large traps, and a meeting hall of sorts with a two humans, male and female, and an Orcish man, all armed - and were found fighting Umber Hulks. The party I was with assisted to kill the Hulks, then started questioning the three. They seemed somewhat distracted, and were belligerent but not openly hostile toward us. Arrogant, would be a better term. They spoke of the beauty and bliss of 'Zepheron', and it was not long before violence broke out and the three were slain, presumed to be thralls. I am not so sure.

Moving further along we encountered two rooms locked and barred with large Ogres inside apparently as vague and distant as the three slain before them. They went down fighting, though others in the party let them out to fight, like it was sport. I was certainly not in control of the decisions being made by the group at this point, nor it seems at any point during the expedition.

Further along we encountered a large beholder, chained to the floor. It immediately attacked the group knocking several of us down, including Xavier DeMoray of House Archibald, and Ordinant Roman Zaro was turned to stone by the beholder's powers.

While the party was recovering from that madness, a little girl came dancing out of one of the side rooms among the group. It was very apparent to everyone that this was no ordinary little girl - for she has a large 'third eye' opening and closing like any other functional eye, on her forehead. Thank Mystra all were taken aback by this scene - an innocent little girl with a very strange biology. As I found out many darks later from Xavier DeMoray, that little girl was responsible for using her 'gifts' to turn Roman Zaro from stone to flesh, otherwise, as Xavier put it.. "he would still be decorating someone's office". Once Roman awoke from his rigid slumber, he seemed direly bent on killing what he saw before him - the little girl with the third eye. We asked who she was.. and she simply said "Zepheron". Ordinant Zaro told me several times to put a bolt into her to finish her, that she was an aberration, and should die. I hesitated knowing that killing a little girl, who was not hostile, who I suspected was either possessed by some other creature, or was enthralled. I even imagined she was just being her natural self and was possessed of a rare gift that was being abused by some malign force. A chained beholder, 'thralls' fighting 'hulks.. nothing was making sense, so I did not strike her down.

Zepheron then quickly turned me to stone so it seemed, for I froze. As my body stopped moving, my lips, everything wanted to stop the slaughter of this innocent little girl, this Zepheron. The entire party annihilated her. And later i watched as someone burned her remains with a fiery ball of power. There was nothing left to save or indicate what had happened in that place.

The place was looted. We left, a man died, but he was raised to life in the Hold. The loots consisted of about 50 bottles of various tinctures and enchanted waters and potions, which made me think that this 'cult' - consisting of two humans (three if we include the one that ran off at the door), an orc, two possibly enthralled and caged Ogres, a chained beholder, and a happy little girl, were preparing for something bigger? Or maybe one of them was an alchemist. I could guess forever, and never really know what we found. And I knew that Armand would not be very impressed with my hesitation to wipe out the supposed leader of the cult, this Zepheron. But my conscience in the face of the unknown, my sense that I could save this girl if we had tried to capture her, is what I let dictate my actions, and I still feel I did the right thing. An illithid is another thing - those things I would kill on sight. But this... Zepheron...

Fort Mur Well I went to see Fort Mur for myself for the first time, allowed a kobold boatman to take me there from the Blue Mushroom docks. Not a real friendly lot, as was espected when I wandered in looking for employment. I even stumbled into a room that I thought was simply a disused meeting room in the bar, and ended up being chased out by a very surly duergar and told to get out of the Fort. I'm sure I walked in on General Mur's quarters and I caught sight of a huge map he was peering over.. though I could not see the details. That would be a map to see, for sure. I will probably employ someone like Riappi to get into that room and find out what that map actually is. And get details of it. I suppose I'm, gonna either need coin to pay him, or something that he values to trade with him.

Mystra, my Prayer, and the Voice As I was leaving, I went down to the docks at Fort Mur and stared out at the vast lake in the dark. I prayed to Mystra for a vision to assist me. Lo and behold, lights appeared from everywhere and quite startled me. I tried to count the lights but soon I was standing face to face on the shoreline with the Little Girl named Zepheron that I was asked to kill in the cult lair down by the Steady Hand. (I cannot distingusih if these visions are real or in my head). Only she was scarred and burned and looking most upset. Though she did not speak, I heard a voice... "Seek you the Pyrimo, Kepler. There the Master shall teach you what you wish to know."... More lights and then the girl disappeared... I was sure it was Mystra that wanted me to go. And if it was not Mystra, then Mystra was allwoing this to all take place for some deeper reason.

So I got on the boat with the kobold again and headed back to the Blue Mushroom. I headed out looking for this entry way into the Pyrimo again knowing that I had the key to such an entrance. I stumbled around in the dark not quite knowing where to go.. but I did find it. As I approached the entrance the small white and blue stars that glow on my belt began to fade and I knew then what I must do - for I do not want Mystra to leave me alone in this dark place. It was the choice of choices to be sure.

The same Voice resounded at the entrance and I knelt down to listen it was so loud in my ears. The Voice soon became intimidating for it sensed my hesitation.. and the Master promised to show me ancient secrets if I would submit myself to the Voice's will and be bound and indebted to it! NO! I will not, though I was sorely tempted to take that fast and easy way inside.. But the promise of being a prisoner to some being... It seems obvious to me that this Master was Intryzz for the Voice spoke of the taste of my brain.. But my questions are... How could he find me and converse with me so far away at the docks of Fort Mur? How could an Illithid present such a convincing vision of of this Little Girl, know me from my personal experience, and play the part of a Saviour or God... Unless, this Illithid, is not an Illithid, is more than an Illithid - is something else entirely. I do suspect that Councillor Frum knows alot more about the goings on at the Pyrimo than most would suspect. Then again, most I meet don;t talk about entering into the Pyrimo at all, for any reason. I'm sure that Intryzz let me in recently to feed on my thoughts and emotions and see what I could do for him.

Lastly, this Voice tried every intellectual temptation to persuade me to enter the Pyrimo; then it outright threatened me saying, "If you won't come, I will come out and drag you in." Then a very large white amorphous frog-like creature appeared at the entrance and I could barely make out it saying something like .. "Yes Master'.. in its own unrealm-like dialect. I was hiding behind a boulder and it did not immediately see me. Soon enough it was chanting I believe and it said, "I can see you.." And it sent a shockwave straight at me, and I shivered from my head to my soul... and I ran. I used that Dunwarren Device I had, went invisible, and ran all the way back to Sanctuary. Never have I been so intimidated and frightened and alone in my life. And I think I passed a test far better than any Society member could conjure for me. Mystra tested me, and I passed! I am alive, survived an attempt to enthrall me. I think my parting words with that dread Voice that insisted She (my Mystra) could not hear me, and would not listen to one little person down in the underground - was "I trust you Mystra". That Voice... is powerful, but not as powerful as Mystra. I wonder if the Society are aware of how powerful Intryzz may actually be, or has become, and how a big a threat he actually is to the inhabitants of Sanctuary. If only I could trust someone inside the Society with what I have learned - for I am not so sure they entirely trust me as yet.

If Intryzz is Zepheron.. what is this new game he is playing? Maybe the true Zepheron threatens Intryzz? Maybe Zepheron is what Intryzz once was, or is to become, or will confront?... Can't be, surely the creature Intryzz was born among his own kind. But then again, look at the Pyrimo, what exactly is Intryzz? What has he become over a millenia? How long do Illithids live for?

Above all, the grace of mysteries and arcane love be with Mystra - thankyou for saving me from a most horrible fate! Thankyou for showing me Zepheron. If there is good in her, or in the whole metaphysical substance of what Zepheron is, then help me Mystra.. show me what we can do. Maybe Zepheron is the key for now.

Firteenth Entry

I passed the last test, coordinated by Ordinant Rhiannon, and have been admitted into the Society for the Ordered Mind. At last.

The Archives are an amazing wealth of knowledge. Simply reading the reports of the other Ordinants, past and present, shows me That I have a lot to live up to. The murder of Ordinant O'Shea shows me that laying low is a good idea, and that brazenly accusing and attacking people's character, especially those members in the political offices of the city, for whaever reason can be very dangerous. O'Shea's research skills and reports seem to be very revealing of others in the town, but hard to verify. This interview and research skill alone may have been why she was murdered. I must ask Drilacko more about that incident. From the report, it seems she died in his arms. I never met the woman. She sounds like a great person, working almost on her own for the Crusade and had the heart of Sanctury in mind, even when it seemed detrimental to her safety.

For now I am simply going to examine the case files and add depth to the knowledge already existant. So many of the files correspond to my life long research interests.

Thankyou Mystra, for you faith in me, and your Guiding Light. Thankyou for your trust in me.

Sixteenth Entry

I have been writing reports for the Society Archives, and doing a number of patrols with Iodeus and Drilacko - both driven men. I've been very tired of late. So many new experiences. The more I learn about aberrations, the more I must learn to protect myself.

Ideas

- Find out how to obtain aberrant implant detection and removal devices that are being used by the Spellguard. Ask Agent Blake if there can be some agreement made for a such a device to be copied or designed for use by the Society. Perhaps we can get one permanantly placed in the Basement or such.

- Write a letter to Council signed by all members of the Society that is the Anti-Aberration Bill. Get it into a Council session.

- Write a book for the New Library in Sanc about the classification of aberrations. (need to define terms of 'unclassified aberrations' - as Curator Varlam Nikitovich put it to me). I applied for a job there, but my interview did not seem to go well. Who knows what he's looking for. Doesnt matter. I'll write what I see fit to write.

- Intryzz, and that damned Pyrimo. Why was I ever obssessed with entering that place.. I'll never know. Perhaps a blessing of Mystra, a test to prove my faith. To lead me to the mouth of chaos and see how I handled it. Its like getting used to a splinter in my mind. I know Intrzz has some undefined alien power. Is it a wizard? A lich perhaps. A sorceror? All these things? And yet Iodeus wants me to turn my gaze toward Ysinode, to consider its utter destruction. A party of eight, including two Spellguard and three Ordinants, nearly got wiped out by about six minotaur thralls and only one Illithid. The creatures it summons to its aid are almost more daunting than the mind flayer itself. However, it is a single encounter outside the center of Ysinode so to speak. We nearly lost Iodeus - we had the man raised from the dead twice, I'm sure his soul is still haunted by it. I have been there once myself recently, to the white city - I nearly drowned trying to find the Pyrimo via an underwater cave - what lunacy! Mystra brought me back to the surface and to air for sure.

- I have met with the Druidess who has entered the Canal Ward, a woman with delicate aquamarine wings called Mylonae - who said to me "I am here to help you people survive in these deep caves." Who sent her? She also calles herself a benign fey? Could she be my teacher? She has brought numerous robust mushrooms with her and vines are beginning to grow in the waterways that have alwasy been so dark. Surely she is no aberration. It is like Mystra has sent her to cover the portals where the aberrations seem to have been nesting. The last gaping hole near the former Steady Hand ruins has been closed over.

- Make sure Sorrell Greyn provides us with that map detailing the location of that massive portal at the doorstep of Ysinode as Drilacko put it.

- Find information on Benign Psionicists - they must exist somewhere in the Realms. I'm sure the Universe operates on a timely balance of things. Surely for all the extreme evil that the psionic arts are used for by creatures such as the Illithid; there must be a force of extreme good 'mental sciences' to counter it. Mystra, help me find such a place.. thing. Entity. Look into this Mylonae. I could be totally wrong, but I dont know where else to look.

- Keep searching and sking for a work, a scholar, a place, a book, anything about the Githzerai - their history, their culture, their training methods of mind and body. Even if I have to rad every damned book in the Soceity Archives which could take a year of darks. The Githzerai must have a very specific way of countering malign psionic threat. Find it!

This will do for now. I have established a very pleasant friendship with Miss Soliel the wandering warrior musician. Wonderful voice, beautiful words. And I must speak further with Vanya, before she loses her cool with me. All is well for now.

Mystra, my Heart of Stars. Inspire me! Thankyou for your many gifts of knowledge, wisdom and experience. And Somniis, my symbiont sister, far above me, to be sure. Find me. Blessings.

[ Kepler's private writings, marked 'Journal 44: Kepler Szul. Date begun -1372' have been lost.

Over forty cycles ago, while on a hunt, Kepler was knocked unconscious by a powerful gnoll tribal leader wielding a double-ended mace. The gnoll tribe and its leader were eventually eliminated. Upon awakening, some of his equipment was returned to him by a very helpful halfling woman. However, over time he has been lead to believe that another member of the party carried away his two bags and a large box full of rare scrolls, documents, and equipment. One of the items among these lost possessions was his irreplaceable Journal 44. He has not given up hope in finding his book.

In future, he has decided to leave his personal journal on one of the lower bookshelves inside the Society Archives Room. Instead of carrying it around, he will add notes and pages to the manuscript when he finds the time.

He has begun another work... ]

A well worn rothe-hide leather bound tome.

On the first page is written:

Journal 45 Kepler Szul Ches 30th, 152

Ches 30th, 152 I remember the daylight. Early mornings, childhood, Luskan docks. Dreams of late. Ever since I descended with Warden Redpath to the Temple of Hoar. A paladin of the highest order. The Morninglord's Chosen, I believe, though I am sure he would have me think otherwise.

That Horrible Shroud! The damnable games and tests it had us perform. A game of philosophy and death. A game of emotional torpitude. The use of innocents to harbour the party's collective guilt. The bone golem resistant to a rogue's borrowed holy incantation. Was it animatron?

Of the five that eventually descended - the emotional blackmail. * The unavoidable death of his brother. Guilt. * Hot oil down the throat of Gam. A child's unspoken dilemma. * Who killed Ivylsar? Still at large. Seekers to the Winds. Loss of a powerful ideal. * My mother, Rhun, ilil'quessir, dismissed as unimportant. Where is my pirate father!?! * The memory of an Ordinant, wiped clean. A man hewn for revenge.

Memory! My own memory as well!

What happened to me between Vestis betraying me to the surface slavers.... the illithid slaver convoy... and me waking up not far from the gates of Sanctuary? Far too obvious and convenient. You know this Kepler, stay alert! None of them will have me again. None.

Mystra, I still trust you. May the Will of the Crusade open on the path before me. Show me how to help and protect my friends. Bless Sol on her path to find the Way. Protect her with the guile of your Weave. She is a poet from the Heart of Stars. Cormamin, Soliel. Bless Sorrell... may he see his homeland again. Temper his heart. Aa' menealle nauva' calen ar malta - Sorrell Greyn. Bring us all home, Mystra... My body aches. My will ebbs.

Somn, Dan... my sister, brother... I pray, find me!!

Second Entry 24 Kythorn, 152

Ordinant Laramie Lathae was brilliant from all I can gather. The will of a man to enter an illithid lair to save a fellow Ordinant, and then to unfortunately find himself inside the monster's mouth - Ysinode itself - swarmed by thralls and illithid. Mystra bless your courage.

Ordinant Councillor Eugene Castille - volunteered to strike a blow into the heart of Ysinode, alone. Why? What drives a sentient being to be so selfless? Or perhaps, he was so uncontrollably angry, that he acted on the seed of revenge in his heart. Incredible will and fortitude.

Ordinant Roman Zaro I witnessed take down the bodyguard of the one known as Zepheron inside the monster's laboratory. Never have I seen such incredible reflexes and drive in a duel... Kemorach, Reev and Roark would certainly find their match in Ordinant Roman. What happened to him that his sword would show up in the hands of Stoutheart traders? Mystra guide and bless him.

Of course, there is Founding Ordinant Malark Amblecrown, lost to the Taking Wind most likely in the Sandy Caverns. Perhaps if I ask Ordinant Huntinghawk again, she might give me a physical description of Malark, her friend. He may be that impaled man caged outside the Beholderkin Lair in the Sandies. Malark - a noble paladin... Lost... For the Crusade. Blessings.

Ordinant Otto gone too soon. By all accounts a fearsome warrior and channeler of divine might. The dwarves told me he has fallen. Ganail, perhaps? All these mysteries... Bless you Otto. Be at peace.

Ordinant Iodeus Zeriamau.. I once witnessed him singlehandedly tear an illithid to pieces before it had a chance to say more than three loathesome words. "Never hesitate" he said to me when I was being tested. Never. I know he wants to destroy Phandiates, the aberrant who wiped his mind before the Githzerai rescued him.

Ordinant Drilacko Kanaut By far, one of the most talented and dedicated Ordinants ever to work for the Society. Taken by the aberrant disease that he vowed to destroy. Where did he come from? Was he sent by an unknown God to wake Sanctuary up to the chaos that nests deep within the town? Mystra and Oghma bless you Drilacko. You will be sadly missed.

In reading the archives I find there is so much unfinished business. So many Ordinants cut down in their prime, (O'Shea, Callae, Kelerand, Mordriau, Durtag) fulfilling their destiny, their remarkable stories untold. Bravery and dedication to the Crusade like nothing in the Realms.

Yet the aberrants remain, embedded deeper than ever into the heart of Sanctuary. Citizens rarely notice the subtle but vile changes that take place gradually in Sanctuary politics and in the minds and hearts of free life down here.

Commander Rhiannon and Waters both have expressed concern that the Society is sorely understaffed. Will no one come and take up arms against these undeniable enemies of life and goodwill?

Am I all that is left?

Somniis, Dan, find me before my time is due. Love always to you my sister, my brother. Tenna 'ento lye ormenta. Our elven heritage will one day grow a path toward the Heart of Stars, I can feel it. I will learn the Way - here, or in the next world I am taken to.

Namaarie