Journal o' the campaign!!

As we were leaving the Palace, we have all decided that we should keep a diary. Thus I begin to write here my comments on what have happened and will happen.

I will not write long this evening as our day has been quite full. Let it suffice for me to say now that, since the meeting with my new companions, Silken Phoenix, the old blind prophet, Moonlit River, the seasoned spy, and Forest Crane, the taciturn Immaculate monk, my life has been full of events : a mysterious sneaker whose death leaves us with an enigma, then the handful of small secrets - or perceived so - that seemed to surround our quest as well as the ship we are sailing in, the Foaming Drake. And now we have just met another stranger who seems prepared to join us. Who is she ? Not an Exalt, assuredly, for she does not yield enough Essence.

Whatever this odd travel to the unknown reserves to us, it promises to be interesting, for Fanged Fancy and for me. And I am sure all of us will learn a lot about themselves. What else can I say... Be it as it will !

It appears we have somewhat of a conundrum on our hands. What is our task exactly? We have some information, but it's vague. Only time will tell, i think.

So far we have had an encounter with espionage, a long journey, and now we encounter a new member. Can we trust her? My immediate instincts say yes, but you can never be sure.

Now the crate on the bow, that's intriguing; i will have to investigate. And for now we travel on, in our talented if not slightly disfunctional group. I feel confident that things are going to become a lot more interesting.

We have just arrived in Great Forks, where we are meeting some problems. I use this pause within our trip to update this diary a little : I fell it is really needed now...
As I do not have so much time, it will only be notes, small reminders of what we have done and seen from now. I will rewrite them whenever I find the time.

Our leader, the old prophet Silken Phoenix.

Name : Silken Phoenix.
Appearance : old man with long white moustache and goatee, eyes like golden orbs, movements slow and graceful, voice warm and full of confidence. Wears old yellow woollen robe, gnarled staff.
Blind, but behaves as if he was not. Impressive charisma.
First time we met him, had declared : "I am a Pillar of the Sun, a priest of the Unconquered Sun, and I spread His word".
Note : "Pillar of the Sun" means that he is of the Zenith cast.

Our guide has just left us to our fate, or so it seems. I wonder why... He says this mission is fundamental, and I do not think we are able to perform anything by ourselves yet... We do not know each other, nor what we have to do, nor where... It would be simpler to list what we know : that we are here together for something (but what ? And why ?)

This is the problem our mission aims to sort out, as Silken Phoenix presented it to us during our first meeting :

"Long time ago, in a time some called the First Age or the Golden Age, when Solars were rulers of Creation, when they were mighty and just, few threats came to the human beings. Who could possibly challenge the power of the Unconquered Sun? Yet, some threats were too real to be treated lightly.

For more than a year, an arch-enemy succeeded in endangering the Solars and their servants; fights, wars and death came upon the people. The enemy was finally contained and to avoid such things for the future, some Solars gathered and created an ultimate weapon against that threat. They never used it...

The enemy never came back, until today... But none of the original Solars survived the Usurpation, the secret weapon was lost. It is time for us to rediscover it!

You will all have a part to play in this quest, it is my belief that Moonlit River will be the one who will use the weapon, Forest Crane is here to protect us against the corrupted Realm and help us avoiding trouble and Etheral Whisper will protect us against the allies of our enemy. I am your guide.

I will be the soul of the circle, Moonlit River will be the hand, Forest Crane the voice, and Etheral Whisper the eyes".

According to my scarce knowledge, Deathlords are dead lords and they live in the Underworld.
Recently (less than 10 years ago) the great city of Thorn fell to the deathlord known as Mask of The Winters, it appears that many inhabitants died, but some still live there, the surroundings are now a Shadowland.

Everybody knows about the Fair Folk, dangerous non-human who live in Kaos (but some of them chose to stay in Creation). Every large city has an ambassy of the Fair Folk.

In response to our questions, Silken Phoenix precised :
"I don't know who the enemy is, but I can guess... The last time this threat came on Creation was thousands years ago, and there is few information left about it! But I have contacts in Yu-Shan, in Heaven, they think the enemy is either a Deathlord or a Yozi, but I think it could be a Faë as well, a member of the Fair Folk...

The little I succeed to gather about the menace was very disturbing, the enemy has many eyes in Creation, he can twist the fate and the reality, and if it ever walk this world again, the sun will disappear, hidden forever, people will suffer forever torments".

Silken Phoenix precised that the ennemy had tracked me in my dreams, changed them in nightmares and almost killed me.
Truly, those nightmares were as exhausting as they were horrible !

If the enemy comes, added Silken Phoenix, the people of Creation will all suffer an eternity of pain... The world we know will disappear!

Events in the Palace.

A strange thing happened while we were in the Palace : we were spied upon by someone.

Forest Crane ran to follow him. In the corridor, people were fleeing, a servant was lying dead with a broken neck.
Someone was aiming a hand crossbow (not a very usual weapon) at Forest Crane from the other side of the room, and retreating towards one of the Palace's beautiful gardens nearby.
Forest Crane went back to the room where we were to get his bow. When he came back, the Palace's soldiers were arriving and the man had fled away to the gardens. He followed him and killed him as the man arrived near the baths area.

The spy.

Description :
- Same uniform as many servants.
- Very strange tattoo on the inside of his left wrist : a circle divided in two, one part black the other one white, the white part like invaded by the black one.
See the tatoo : https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img299/1381/symbolecultistes3jj.th.jpg

Possessions :
- A little glass phial in his pouch containing a strange thick green liquid.
- A flyer for a cocktails bar in Great Forks, on the back of which a portrait of Silken Phoenix was drawn with great skill.
- Weapon : his strange hand crossbow, six darts in a leather pouch.
The hand crossbow is basically the size of a gun, a good weapon for an assassin (used with Archery). Speed: +0, accuracy: +0, damage: +3L, rate: 2, range: 75, cost: unknown.
None of us had ever seen one before.

How had this man entered the Palace ?
The identities of all the guests are taken in the lobby by the Intendant of the Baths. Everything is noted in a big book.
The Palace of Hundred Lotus is built on an island and covers the whole of it, so it is not very easy to reach. But at the same time, it is a huge structure with many windows, gardens and doors... So a skilled assassin could sneak in very easily.