Maxim's Journal

There is a comfort to be found in the deep wilderness which lies
beyond the crisp, clean air, free of the reek of shit and piss, of
rotting garbage and smoking coal. It lies beyond the sounds of the
wild, the wind rustling branches and scattering leaves, the birds
calling, deers' hooves striking the loam, the digging of badgers and
moles, the sussuration of snake's smooth scales slithering round roots
and stones. This comfort lies more in the vastness of land untamed by
man, land which itself is above the laws of civilized folk, yet bound
to its own laws of hunger, of growth, of the hunt. The deeper we fare
into the stolen lands, the more i am gripped with a curious emotion, a
sort of powerful calm, tempered with a young man's excitement when
faced with great adventure. This is the comfort that has eluded me
since the day of the fire that ended my childhood, and i name it
destiny.


My companions are a varied lot, Alexandros is a well-armored, powerful
healer bristling with weapons who worships the mad mage-god Nethys, as
does Jordan Scorch, an invoker whose eldritch abilities rival my
blades in their deadliness. As for Attila, he stands only three feet
tall in his ragged furs, yet his fearsome strength and battle fury are
beyond anything i have seen. Upon arrival at his trading post, Oleg
and his lovely wife Svetlana told us of their troubles with bandits,
and the very next morning we executed a group of them, hanging their
bodies over the palisade as a warning. The next day we found a bandit
camp and surprised them, killing the lot, including their chief, a
dangerous axe-fighter named Kressle. As she had been cruel to Oleg and
his wife, I packed Kressle's head in salt as a gift. We have also made
an alliance with two powerful fae: Tink, a magical tiny cricket-woman
and Purlevash, a faerie dragon-beast with powers of illusion and
flight. We are lucky to have them on our side, as the fae can be
terrible enemies. They tormented the bandits the night before our
attack on their camp, which made them easier to slay. Worthy allies
indeed. I thank Erastil for their friendship and for this charter...