Kyris' Diary

A diary found on the dead body of Kyris, Archaeologists' Guild representative in Eastshore, on Taehia in the Trifecta.

His full name is Kyris Iefyr Oliverai.

The notebook dates back about 9 months and is about 75% full. There were probably notebooks before this that were in his house, maybe, or possibly sent back to the Guild for storage.

## Work with the Historians’ Society

Kyris has been working with the Historians’ Society in Eastshore for seemingly a year or so now. Most of the book talks about his work with them.

His main contacts at the Society are Carric Liadon (head of the Society), Ander Hornraven (Treasurer) and Miri Dumein.

The Society have been working on proving what is considered myth across Taehia: that Taehia was the birthplace of Primordial magic and the original seat of Ao the Creator and Kore the Destroyer. Ao is considered by native Taehians to be the progenitor of the universe and resides in the Upper Planes, and Kore his opposite in the Lower Planes. It is thought that Ao came to Caravel, the ruins in the centre of Taehia, and from there he built magic as we know it and spread it across the Archipelago.

Kyris has been on expeditions with the Society out to Caravel, and has recreated some of the runes from the walls there in his notebook. His notes say that Caravel was certainly a temple to Ao and Kore pre-Dark Ages, but he could not see any proof that either Ao or Kore ever walked on Taehia (though he wryly notes that he did not share this with the Society). Some of the runes are the start of a ritual to try and summon one of the primordial gods, but the runes are too eroded to complete the ritual or even see which of the gods was to be summoned using it.

Most recently, he has been working with Carric and Miri planning an expedition out into the Ibex mountains to the north, to Kosso, the volcano. Miri has uncovered a Dark Age text that says that Kosso was a sacrificial site for Taehians at that time, potentially to Kore, and he, Carric and Miri were going to go out and investigate and see if they could find a similar set of ruins to that at Caravel.

Kyris notes that more is known about Ao, and he personally had wanted to find out more about Kore, which is why he was excited about the Kosso trip, though he has been discouraged by Carric, Ander and Miri. He writes with some disdain that they are put off by “myth and urban legend” that Kore is not kind to her followers and, though he believes in her existence, does not particularly believe that Kore is as all powerful as the natives seem to believe she is.

## Artefacts

As the notebook is fairly recent, there are not too many notes about some of the historic artefacts that Kyris uncovered from the Guild. However, throughout the book, there are sketches of things he has found, presumably doodled on slow days, then annotated.

There is a sketch of a set of knitting needles, labelled ‘ISTUS NEEDLES’. A footnote says ‘must know how to knit?!’ with a frowny face.

There is also a chalice, drawn in exquisite detail, with jewels around the rim and engravings on the stem. A note says it is one of the oldest examples of this sort of chalice that has ever been found.

There is a drawing of a cornucopia-shaped horn on one page, with musical notes next to it. This has a number of notes written below it. They explain that the horn was supposed to summon warriors from Valhalla, but it had been corrupted in or prior to the Dark Ages, and now he was not sure what it would do if blown. He has theories – such as summoning demons from the Nine Hells, or aberrations, or even just summoning mortal warriors (though he thinks by the flavour of the corruption this is unlikely). He no longer has possession of this artefact and makes a note to ask Dr T how it is coming along next he writes to her.

## Correspondence with Leticia

The first reference to Leticia’s correspondence is in the notebook, about 2.5 months ago. Kyris writes that he had received a fan letter from someone who has heard of his work and he was immensely flattered and was going to write back. (You don’t have this initial letter within the pile Kunai and Blagden brought back from his flat.)

The letters from Leticia are gushing, full of praise for his ‘heroic’ deeds. One is all about a story he presumably told in a previous letter, how he fought a dragon to steal its hoard, and asking for information about the ‘horn’ he found there. It says that Leticia is a fan of music and wonders what an evil dragon could be doing with something that can create beauty. You can gather that Kyris probably told Leticia about all the relics he had sketched.

Another asks about any pre-Dark Age relics he has found, and the one following asks what exactly Kyris found at the sarcophagus he had mentioned, what about the religion, was there anything to contact the Gods there?

The recent letters talk a lot about Kyris’ work with the Society and his previous visits to Caravel and planned visit to Kosso. They ask if he has learnt anything about what happened at Caravel to make it a ruin – was it destroyed by Kore? – and what he’s hoping to find at Kosso. The penultimate letter seems worried and asks how Kyris can be certain that things will go well.

The final letter says that Kyris’ reply was interesting, and that Leticia would like to meet. It asks to meet him on the South Wall at sundown, on the day you arrived.

## Relationship with Grace

Throughout the notebook, there are occasional references to Kyris’ counterpart, Grace. Kyris seems entertained by Grace. He thinks she is funny, and notes how ‘squirrely’ she is and how this *must* be a great help when trying to get information out of people.

When Grace writes that Krieg Venusto has been spotted, Kyris writes that he hopes she is not being paranoid, though he will keep his eyes open regardless. He writes that he feels a little sorry for her, excluded as she is, and he worries that she is seeing things being as she is surrounded by thugs and thieves all the time. The next entry says he did see the Sand Dollar in port that day, though he did not see Venusto. He thought that it was a fairly standard merchant ship; apparently it travels between the Trifecta and Merchendale fairly frequently.