Isaiah Dru's Notes

Most of Isiah Dru’s journal is comprised of record keeping about various traders and contacts across Western Hatterwol who contributed to his antiquity collecting. You find a few recent entries regarding his dealing with Captain Sigurd and Primewater in which his excitement at receiving sizeable quantities of artifacts is slightly mixed with concerns about the sources. One particular entry notes finding blood stains on some of the clothing items, and he notes that he intends to insist to Primewater that he won’t accept further shipments that could be “tainted with abuse.”

His interest in the snake-people of the Feralfens first begins to appear in the journal around mid-Dravago of last year when he purchased a lot of unspecified goods from a Barovian Trader named Dezi Voldra. The journal describes:

> *I’ve been approached by a rough looking Barovian named Dezi Voldra, who appears desperate to liquidate the contents of his family wagon. He claims that his family traded between Saogh, Etthin Pass and communities of the Drahsinwood but has fallen victim to ill fortune. His brothers never returned from a gambling junket in Saogh, and his aged mother succumbed to heartbreak on the journey East to Etthin Pass. He says he wants to leave his sorrow behind him and book passage to Burmuth and leave his homelands forever. Barovian wanderlust is legendary, but I’ve never met one this interested in boarding a ship. But his impatience may well be my reward. I can likely negotiate a beneficial price for the lot sight unseen. Hopefully, it can expand my collection of the Saogh Royal family, or even some new Blinsky’s for my installation on Barovian Toy Making…*
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After this entry you learn that he indeed purchased the Voldra family wagon, and Dru note’s the delight in his findings:

> *The Voldra clan has assembled an exquisite collection artifacts, with wonderful examples of the Jianquo and Ezshilish. The totems are clearly religious and ceremonial items, the like I’ve never seen… And I suspect they are very valuable! There are figurines of ivory and gold, and regal jewelry, brocades and even a crown made of material I must have appraised!”*
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The entries of the following months include a deepening interest in the Snake-people of the Feralfens, and Dru’s efforts to research the region through Hatterwol sages, and engaging explorers and bounty hunters across the realm. The journal is filled with theories about Ezshilish culture and history, alongside speculation about the popularity of exhibits devoted to the “Savage Serpents” as he seems prone to branding them. A second topic begins to surface in the later entries. Shortly after the purchase of Voldra’s Wagon, Dru notes:

> *I no longer believe the crown to be of Ezshilish provenance. Through careful experimentation, I’ve concluded that the visions and reverie I experience when wearing the crown are no random occurrence, but a dweomer of far more powerful magic than the serpent folk’s capacity. While wearing the crown, I am transported to a cyclopean throne room filled with angelic hosts of the most terrible power lurking just beyond the shifting veils of light. Marching in long procession between ominous columns beneath ornate arches, I have yet to reach the dais where the throne sits before succumbing to the intense magic of the crown. But upon waking I can still hear the voices of the dark choirs and the booming voice of what can only be a king or a god calling to me. I must gather my strength to try again.*
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Entries in early Zarantyr begin to mention contact with Kiala Semli through Piotr Brabant, his agent in Etthin Pass. Presenting herself as an experienced sell sword with a band of hunters experienced in the Feralfens, Dru paid a commission to her team to raid an Ezshilish temple and return the ceremonial artifacts they could carry away. His journal notes fleeting hope that the Ezshilish artifacts would shed further light on the crown, but suggest “at least it will complete a collection for display to satisfy the local fools”.
As the journal proceeds, the entries become increasingly obsessed with this crown. The writing becomes more obsessed Dru’s health and stamina to endure the magical forces unleashed by wearing the crown, though at the same time it seems he is convinced that after wearing the crown for a short time, he is left with enhanced mental prowess. Yet even through these notes, it becomes clear that the writing becomes more circuitous and contradictory. Dru’s entries began to hint at paranoia about his servants, and even the staff at his Museum back in Pfildeberg who he seems to hold in growing mistrust. Even the entries about the tribes of the Feralfens seem to taper off in the later entries, which seem to become nearly exclusively concerned with the crown, finding times of privacy to attempt to wear it, and the visions it induces. In the final entries, it seems his visions had progressed to the point where he has witnessed an actual king to the other worldly throne room:

> *Sheets of golden light gather around his feet chasing away oily shadows that writhe across the floors.  Glowing waves of yellow and amber encircle the obsidian throne and mandala’s of runic script carved into the stone ripple as if touched by an invisible brush. The impossible geometry of the intersecting shafts of light expand outward ceaselessly encircling me and the faceless supplicants with lattice of yellow light seemingly reflecting from the crown on the great king’s hooded visage that matches my own. “Speak mortal and show me your worthiness to wear my crown”. His booming voice echoes through the chamber and sending a shuddering vibration through my bones.*
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The final entries leading up to his last days have brief notes of excitement in meeting an actual Égé to help advise on his collection, along with hopes that he can cultivate the “young savage” towards an interest in running the place so that he can retire to more isolation with the crown.