Bernard's Diary

Throughout the diary, multiple pages are either missing or illegible.

~~ 20 years ago:

The sense seems to originate in this marshlike swamp. The energies are strong here, and the inhabitants are well-nurtured and strong. The scouts have spotted villages, run by snakemen. Some of them delve in magics it seems. The forces in this land might be enough to locate the shard...

We have succesfully bolstered our forces through the village raids, but Hriakoff missed the timing, and the northern and western raids were too slow. The snakemen seem to have made a quick evacuation, and as such our forces are not yet strong enough to assault them directly. I have seen to it myself that those responsible were deleted. The snakemen continue to oppose and hunt us, and we have yet to secure a proper foothold.. My own forces are diminishing. I need proper blood soon.

~~13 years ago

The stalemate has come to an end! A ship came, carrying a dragonborn wizard by the name of Korrost. I managed to capture him and extract his essence. He joins us as a valuable asset, and with his aid we mean to seize the blasted watchtower soon.

...

We have taken the watchtower! Korrost will remain here and do experiments, he says. He seems to have a plan for using the numerous birds in the area to our advantage..

Scouts have also noted that the huge cliff jutting from the land may hold some of the secrets to this lands emanating energy.

~~8 years ago

We have learned of a place sacred to the Yuan-Ti. A mausoleum to their old priest-king, deep down in the south. I can feel that this is a place, I must without a doubt secure to myself, it calls to me, now that I know it is there! There is power there!

We have taken it, and yes! Yes! The King buried beneath here is a presence of a magnitude, I can barely fathom. With this power, I can not only find the shard, I will be able to unearth it in a single stroke! Malumngrado will favor me! It will be done, I can hardly believe the luck!

~~7 years ago

The efforts prove futile still.. The doors do not budge on most days, and when they do, as if to taunt us, the open up into a nothingness that has swallowed many of my soldiers. I know not this magic, nor does Korrost. It seems we will have to subdue the snakemen completely after all, and extract whatever secrets regarding this place from their very skulls.

~~5 years ago

Blasted snakes. Blasted, damned, cursed snakes and their incessant struggling!!

This whole cursed endeavour is tiring me. I need power. I need more life!

I will return to the cliff. The power that sleeps there may be enough. We will take it from them...

...

I have given up on the cliff. A small party remains there to experiment on ways to trespass, but I do not believe it possible with our current strength. What in the worlds is going on, we were so close! So gods-be-damned close to the goal!!

It's been so long now. What, hundreds of years since the Master's demise.. And yet here we still walk. Searching for the shards of his soul, where he left them hidden in Hell, that we, his closest might retrieve them. It takes a particularly mad man to be called mad by even the likes of me, I realize that, but by the Gods and devils, Old Malum was mad. And what, now even after all this time, we've only even managed to locate two of them, much less even begun to extract them.. What did he imagine, when he came up with this redundancy?

~~2 years ago.

Finally! I know their secret, foolish, idiotic snakes! Their priest broke at last, and spilled the secrets I need!

The Foci, they call them! Jewellery consecrated to their god, whom I'm starting to realize is a being of larger power than I thought. Six pieces in all, each capturing and representing one of those traits that we value most, and believe to characterize a person's worth and skill. Their most powerful spells are apparently designed to resonate with these Foci. He said that three of the six were lost long ago, but I believe I will be able to obtain the remaining three for myself and that when I bring them to the doors, they shall finally reveal the true grave!

It seems also, that a proper city i starting to take shape on the northern river banks. Perhaps it is time we go to bolster our forces once more!

A messenger arrived from Victor this morning. I have no clue as to how he knew our whereabouts. He mentions that he's found a knot in the weave to the south of here, and as such have retrieved a shard!! This is cause for much celebration! Perhaps the Old Malum wasn't so foolish after all? Victor's message also includes a rather curious piece of information however.. apparently the soul shard was found at the exact location that Malum pulled Victor's soul from hell...

~~1 year ago

Korrost has come up with a theory mad enough that he might just be right... He has pondered for quite some time, how the laws of magic allow me to walk around in this body with a soul, and the conclusion seems to be, that they actually don't. Malum, the blasted lunatic literally tore his own soul apart, not to hide it, but to compensate for this unbalance, of this unlawful extraction from the hells.. How peculiar it is, that it is now, after half a millenia, I learn that I maybe never understood the extend of hatred sleeping in that man... I will have to get to know him better, when we meet again.

~~0,5 years ago

Some times I wonder indeed if it isn't a curse to still hold a mind and soul in this undying state. In oppositon to the dredges I command, I must admit, I grow bored. Frustrated. Restless.

Korrost and I have cleverly applied the bird scouts, and we believe we know where at least two of the Foci are... in possession of the snakes' high priest and priestess. And as much as I hate to admit it, I will not be able to deal with those right now.

Not only that, but reports have started to come in, that adventurers from the city are marauding the swamplands, killing left and right. I am curious as to their purpose in coming here...

~~ 4 months ago

So the cliff is no more. The watchtower no more either. Korrost, my sole source of intellectual sparring has ceased to be. Curse these adventurers!! Damn their city to the deepest reaches of hell!! If I ever see them, I shall make sure to drain the blood from their bodies by my damn self!