11.20.21- To the King's

### Captain's Log:

We had all settled in for the night, but in the morning Jeff, our crew member on watch last night, informed me that Oz had gone off in the direction of where the Cyre refugees had been located after everyone else was asleep. Later in the morning, we arranged our letter to Jeston and Quili in case we disappeared under odd circumstances, and we sent the Myst Runner, with Brunhilde in charge, to fetch them and meet up with us not far from the Six Kings Monument in several days' time.

   Towards the middle of the afternoon we headed to our meeting with Captain Saj Kalaes at the King’s Citadel. We were promptly shown into the captain’s meeting chambers where he greeted us. There was a measurable amount of tension in the air until he told us that we had not been summoned because we were in trouble but because we seemed to be capable of helping the king retrieve some items of interest. While we feigned not knowing what he was talking about, he made a point of telling us that he knew we had found Ashurta’s Blade and that was how he knew we were capable of helping the king find what he was looking for. He asked us to find the parts for him so that “the savage goblin leaders” can't lay claim to rulership, but that the king has supported the Kech Volaar as allies trying to find the pieces of the crown and we would get access to his majesty’s coffers to fund any travel expenses. Captain Kalaes informed us that there are rumors going around that a second piece has been found: the crown. Apparently, it was found by an unknown hero who had no idea of what they were in possession of as they had flashed it around the marketplace and ended up six feet below the ground. We looked at each other to see how we felt about working for this man on a quest we already knew we were already embarking on. I asked, captain to captain, what would happen if we declined their invitation to work for them on this project. He made it very clear that our ship would be shunned from most ports and our reputations tarnished should we decline the king’s offer. Before we left, Captain Kalaes told us that we were to meet with their Kech Volaar contacts at Six Kings, and they had an inside man that would help us get into their good graces who was named Takalli. The leader of the group was a minorly famous dirge singer named Yeran.

   After departing, we discussed whether or not this was a good idea before finding the airship we had been given access to in the absence of our own. This took us to the town of Ardev where we had to go looking for caravan guard work in order to travel the rest of the way to Six Kings as we couldn’t find anyone willing to sell us their horses. We ended up making a deal with a man named Tyn Staff who wanted our help getting from Ardev to Greywall, but we told him we had to leave the caravan at the monument. Along the road to Greywall, we found some human thugs interrogating a goblin who appeared to be from Kech Volaar, so we beat up the thugs to free the goblin, Govan, who thanked us profusely before declining our invitation to join us on our way to the monument because he had a special mission. There was a thug with cool looking bone armor and some alchemist fire arrows, both of which I kept in order to tinker with to make it more usable for someone in our group.

   Dagii took the lead after he found some standing stones that he believed would lead us to the monument from the road. When we arrived, we found our way blocked by a war band that was definitely not part of the Kech Volaar group we were looking for as they all had blade shaped scars on their forearms. Their leader, dressed in black with two notched scimitars, ordered them to take care of us. The assault was led by the second in command, Chib Nobar, as their leader tried to run away, but we stopped all of them before they could enter the monument and steal the relic before us. After disposing of the last foe blocking our path, we were greeted by The Word Bearers, the Kech Volaar, who asked us to prove that we could be trusted to help reclaim the relics in the name of their former glory instead of taking them to be sold to the highest bidder. The leader, Yeran, demanded that we hand over Asherta’s Blade; however, Dagii refused because he said The Arkentosh’s fate is now bound to those who have already found pieces. She admires our dedication to this calling and invites us to participate in an Amalorkarr or Honor Fight to prove ourselves.