On the Coast Way, nighttime

I...don't think I'm going to sleep well for a while. Glowing yellow eyes, spiked armor...a demonic hedgehog after a growth spell? I can hear myself giggling about that, and it sounds slightly hysterical. That, and the sharp smell of acid, and the stench of burning flesh—an ogre's, or mine? A woman cast a flame arrow at me. It still hurts, but I don't want to waste a healing potion. I can still see blood...but I don't know whose it is. Gorion made me leave. He cast a Spook spell at me, and it was like something was chasing me and I couldn't fly fast enough. Worse, I don't even know where I went, so I'm basically stuck—it's too dark to go looking for Gorion now. I'm just sitting in a yew tree, writing. Stupid...useless... I need to stop this, or I'll tear my paper. I'm so tired... Maybe things will seem better in the morning. I certainly know what Gorion was worried about now...


7 Mirtul 1368, western Coast Way

I didn't fall off during the night, and I'm feeling somewhat more functional now, so that's good. My shoulder still hurts, though.

Another piece of good news—Imoen's here, because she followed me, of all things! I don't know whether to be annoyed or happy at seeing her again, but in any case it's too late—she wouldn't be allowed back in. So I guess she's staying. She has a wand of magic missiles, too—I wonder where she stole that. I hope that none of Winthrop's guests needed that. She admitted to sneaking into Gorion's room and reading that mysterious letter, though.

Bad news as well. Horrible, in fact. The worst I could possibly get: Gorion is dead. Imoen saw the whole thing, and she says that the man in spiky armor ran him through, after Gorion took out the two ogres and put the woman to sleep. I don't know what to do now... Imoen and I are going to the site of the battle to find the letter and anything else useful. After that, I have no idea what we'll do. We can't go back to Candlekeep—they won't let us in without either a large amount of gold or a valuable book, neither of which we have. There's Gorion's friends at the Friendly Arm, though—Khalid and Jaheira. Imoen and I pooled our resources and discovered that we have 71 gold, an oil of speed, wand of missiles, 76 arrows, 54 bolts, a quarterstaff, and five healing potions. It would have been six, but Imoen made me drink one. Lovely. Now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere, no idea where to go, with basically nothing. I hope nothing attacks us...but first things first. We need to get back to those stone circles first.


Near the stone circles

It's disgusting. The crows were already picking at the corpses when we showed up. Fortunately, just the ogres'—apparently they like it well done? No, that was a horrible joke, and I need to stop right here.

Found the letter. It looks like it might be important, so I'm going to keep it and copy it in here, just in case. So, here it is:

My friend Gorion,
Please forgive the abruptness with which I now write, but time is short and there is much to be done. What we have long feared may soon come to pass, though not in the manner foretold, and certainly not in the proper time frame. As we both know, forecasting these events has proved increasingly difficult, leaving little option other than a leap of faith. We have done what we can for those in thy care, but the time nears when we must step back and let matters take what course they will. We have, perhaps, been a touch too sheltering to this point.
Despite my desire to remain neutral to this matter, I could not, in good conscience, let events proceed without some measure of warning. The other side will move very soon, and I urge thee to leave
Candlekeep this very night, if possible. The darkness may seem equally threatening, but a moving target is much harder to hit, regardless of how sparse the cover. A fighting chance is all that can be asked for at this point.
Should anything go awry, do not hesitate to seek aid from travelers along the way. I do not need to remind thee that it is a dangerous land, even without our current concerns, and a party is stronger than an individual in all respects. Should additional assistance be required, I understand that Jaheira and Khalid are currently at the Friendly Arm Inn. They know little of what has passed, but they are ever thy friends and will no doubt help however they can.
Luck be with us all.
I'm getting to old for this.
-E
...And now my hand is cramping up. I have to say, the grammar of this "E" leaves something to be desired. And a "desire to remain neutral?!" Much appreciated, E! After all, it's my life at stake, not theirs. I agree with one thing, though. I probably have been too sheltered, growing up in a library.

We also found a dagger, some gold, and a couple scrolls, bringing our gold pool up to...89. I say found, but looting bodies leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It feels just...wrong. What feels even worse is that we're about to go off and leave Gorion to the crows. There's nothing we can do, but I want to do something! At least we found a map as well. The Friendly Arm isn't far, east along the Coast Way and then north, and the map has signposts labeled. I guess we should be going, then.

I want to write something poetic and eloquent in honor of the man who took me in. But I can't. I don't have the words for it, and whatever I write feels pathetic and inadequate. It isn't enough. So I'll write something simple: I'll miss you, Gorion, and I wish that this hadn't happened. As I said—inadequate.


Ran into a group of gibberlings today. At least, I'm assuming that they were gibberlings. They were singing something. I think it went "We are the Gibberlings Three/As merry a band as you ever did see." Utter gibberish. Oddly, they didn't even attack us. No, instead we were attacked not once but twice by wolves. I tried to get them to leave us alone—at Imoen's suggestion, because "that's the ranger-y thing to do," but it didn't work. We were lucky and got in some good shots before the wolves could do any damage. And only now have I realized just how cut off from the world I've been...


Met two weirdos on the road—a crazy necromancer with tattooes all over his face and a halfling thief, Xzar and Montaron. The mage kept calling the thief "Monty," which he didn't like much. They offered us healing potions if we'd go to Nashkel with them, but... To tell the truth, they were a little unnerving. All right, more than a little. The halfling was glaring at my legs as if he wanted to hamstring me or break my kneecaps, and the necromancer kept swatting at the air like he was killing invisible flies. Then he started twitching and babbling about "the dragons with feet like rabbits" and ran off screaming. Then he bumped into a tree. I feel vaguely dirty now.


Near the stone guidepost

What is it with the Coast Way and crazy people? We met another person of dubious sanity—a mage in pinkish-red robes with a silly-looking pointy hat of the same color. He asked if we were desperate or deranged. I said "desperate," but I'd like to know how he matches up to his own standards. I really don't like the way he was looking at Imoen. Plus he had something stuck in his beard—not that I want to know what it was. We're heading north now, and should be at the Friendly Arm in a few hours. I don't think I'm cut out for this. I'm tired, my feet hurt, and I'm alternating between extreme boredom and extreme anxiety.

Imoen asked me how I was doing. I told her I was doing the best I could now. She suggested that we go do something heroic—raid a dragon's cave, perhaps? She realized that that was a little overambitious, so she suggested a xvart village. I still think that we'd have trouble. I'm glad that she cares, though. It's good to know that someone does. We also ran into a woodsman, who warned us about monsters in the area. All we've seen are gibberlings and wolves, so I suppose we've been lucky. Imoen assured the man that we were heroes capable of taking care of ourselves.


A/N: Is it just me, or are most of the mages--party joinable or not--insane? And it's not just mages, oh no. I started keeping count of those of dubious sanity--there's a LOT. Also, I think I'm going to be switching between journal view and second person.

Finally, Ildera is an avariel sorceress, physically weak but with extremely intelligent and with very high dexterity.