Kythaelas Little Black Book

[SeerofLight]

[A small black, leather bound book, covered in ash. It isnt marked with anything signifying importance. Some pages are crossed over, it truly begins 3 pages in.]

350 A[Smudged out words.]
200 Quentin [Smudged out words.]
50 Unknown, Masked
500 [Smudged out.]
300 [Smudged out.]
500 [Smudged out.]

Minus 2000, paid out to guild hall.

It's been a long time since I could really get things in any sort of order. With the Janissaries coming down, keeping a pocket book for receipts is a good thing. The only thing im missing is dates. Putting my skills to use has been something new, ten years in the desert, I almost forgot how to write. All I had was my things from the Outrings, and even now its hard to remember what the green and grey looked like. Maybe it'll look like that again.

It still smells just like it did before, theres coded laws, but who cares? People still broke. People still suffering. We're doing good, I hope, but money is still the be all end all.

[SeerofLight]

I see it when I rest. Dreaming isn't really a thing that I do, but even in my brief bouts of reverie it comes to mind. What was it? Why was it? Why does it itch?

The map drawing has been helpful, I can hold a pen again. My hand moves on its own sometimes, now. I have to stop myself from adding it to the map. It wants to be on the map.

Shut the door. Smash the mirror. Leave them no threshold to peer.

[SeerofLight]

375 Isabella Fitzgerald

Minus 375, paid out to guild hall.
Minus 500, paid out to stonemason.
Minus 25, Ink for pen.
Minus 75, Expenses for emergency rations. (Not mine.)

The higher up we go, the less I feel I can think, right? Climbing mountain after mountain, who knew the desert had so many of them.  The discoveries are mounting on each other. Statues and enormous cups, water and walls. Now we're going to be looking into machinery? I was just trying to be a Wayfinder, helping people get out of the desert, so people didn't have to hurt like I did.

Even high up in the air, I still dont feel safe anymore. I don't carry anything reflective. I still think that it's there.

If I have to hear somebody gloating about their Voice one more

[SeerofLight]

[Within the book, a crumpled note tucked:]
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Torchbearers? Bearers of Woe!
It is said that the Well of late is rife with many dangers. No greater a danger than those who deal in foul pacts and fouler deeds, brooking with djinn and other malicious spirits for their gain, but for the misery of the good-hearted denizens of Ephia's Well!

Look no further than the Torchbearers, if we are to cast the stone of blame. I have seen it with mine own two eyes, their nefarious deeds. The malign shadows stalking our streets. The wicked deeds of the Nazaru at the First Wheel? Those are the deeds of Naelin and their band of flesh-eating elves.

One might wonder why they lay blame upon others, whispering of crypto-orentids and ill deeds? Ask yourselves, why were /they/ themselves there in the first place? It is the Torchbearers who deal with Craven Orentid and Ferric Pra'raji. It is they who sacrifice to Djinn and summon them into our well!

Guard yourselves against this virulent menace, for their coat of orange spreads like wildfire, and with it the number of brookingcultists grows. Travel with care, trust not these mapmakers and do not give in to their ill deeds, for their game of benevolence is all an act. The Wheel shall damn those who turn away from it! B'aara's mercies upon us all, live and drink.
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Strange deflections. Stranger woman. When Djinn offered me water, promises of succor to brook lies and take myself from me, to save me from the ash storms after the Ringfall, I swore them off. I learned to dig. I learned to manage. The water was there, but it was so little. When they came, with their stone, their earth, their shadow, they met a blade. I tracked them to their homes. I destroyed what I could find. I found the soulless among them. Those who would drag me down. And I saved them from their masters. Ash and blood. Live and drink. I'll always find the way.

The Ash storms couldnt stop me, neither will the comings of the Djinn, or whatever other insanity follows suit.

[SeerofLight]

150 Charity Work
33 Charity Work

Personal Account: [A number smudged out.]

Fuck the voices. I don't need to be voiced. I was born with one.

[SeerofLight]

Where is it? Where did it go? Did it herald the ash?

Is it the ash? How could it have just vanished? It wasnt there after digging.

I've never seen anything like it. My hands keep drawing. Keep writing. Keep going.

It wants to be on the map. It wants to find its way through.

Shut the door. Smash the mirror. Leave them no threshold to peer.
It cant come through. It cant come through. I need to study it more. I need books.

[SeerofLight]

+400, Richard.

Owed Amount: [Scratched out] 400

Saw it again out in the desert. We had a chat about the book, some ideas. It keeps coming back. Over, and over, even in reverie the patterns are there. I've had to scrap six maps after hours of work, because I draw it over [Smudged]

I cant give it power. Give it no threshold to peer.

Floating, ominously, the angle. It wants to be on the map.

[SeerofLight]

Paid Out:

400, Profits to Treasury.
500, Company Expenses
10, Parchment for Maps.

Income:
100, Profit
2 Vials Well Water, Light
2 Vials Well Water, Bubbling



It looks almost like a man.

[SeerofLight]

New Account Opened, Gilded Groknak:

Account Sum: 1,554 Dinar, Sol Auk, sum total to personal fund.
Paid Out: Zero

Account: Naelins Torchbearers

Income: 150 Dinar


Gainfully employed. Maybe the end of the world isnt so bad. Just so long as I'm still doing good. The path shifts and winds, and it has so, so many secrets for me to learn along the way. The paths between people, the bridges between conscious thought is fascinating.

I don't know a gods-damned thing about anything. And that's okay.

[SeerofLight]

Torchbearer Account:

500 Map, Hypatia

Total Payout: 500 Dinar

Golden Groknak Account:

Total Payout:


Every time I hear the voiced speak, I'm glad I'm not one of them. I won't even wear the badge anymore. I hope I can get a third job soon, then I wont have time to be distracted by petty politics. If they keep me employed and paid I wont think about all the alchemists fire in my bag..

[SeerofLight]

[The next page tucked in was just.. Blank.]

[SeerofLight]

I didn't think the Banda Rossa would take me. I figured they were all like that one. They arent - At least not all of them. And now I'm gonna make him suffer. Every goddamn second I'm in the Banda Rossa is like nails screeching across a chalkboard to him. I'll be as loud as possible.

I'm not. Dead. Yet.

[SeerofLight]

I can't count anymore. Sit down, and manage the coin. It comes and goes. Coin doesn't matter. Just a means to an end. If I've got one, I've got two, I've got three.

They're dead. They're all dead. It was supposed to be him, just him. A hero, a soldier, a brave warrior of renown. The dunes were kinder. The sand knew me better. I don't know them, they didn't know me either.

When you who kills me finds this note, and the beast is slain, take it from my grasp, and ensure it finds its way home.

They're watching me now. Good soldiers follow orders.

[A piece of paper was pressed into the seam of this page. It had a number of damp droplets smeared across it. It looked as though it had been wrinkled, and straightened out over an edge time and time again.]

[SeerofLight]

Whos great id    Why did  

What in the goddam

This is stressful. I thought they'd be asking me to kill people. That part was easy. I mean it wasnt easy, but it looks easy now in hindsight.

I thought that it would make me a monster. Am I a monster now? Is that what's happening? Was I always like t

Everybody wants trouble. Why'd she have t Even my own fucking "allies". Now it's coming from outside.

One small victory, though. Just one. A confession, first. And then the Astronomer. Senior Nadi Apothar. That's what she is now. I thought it was career suicide.

I should cong The Condottiero was strict. I need to be strict too, like her. I can't let anyone make me bend or cow before them.

Her hand The handshake told me everything I needed to know.

[SeerofLight]

Six is the Number. The Number is Six.

Once these were words used by religious zealots to herald fortune. I never saw it as very fortunate. But theres something about the number that spoke to me last night.
Your operational capacity is six.

He shot me six times and I didn't falter. I took my punishment. For now. Six bolts in my torso. I kept one of them. I didn't wait for the surgeon to pry it free, I pulled it out of my torso myself.

I think I'll keep it as a momento.

When it's time, maybe I'll even kill you with it. The day will come.

Six is the Number, the Number is Six.