Guardsman Zel,

The name of the town is Handelberg. I am more than willing to change it to something more memorable if you or anyone else has any suggestions.

The Mendicants have a local charter to operate within the lands of Baron Aldwin (namely, Messena), not an Imperial charter. Thepower to modify or null that charter lies in my hands and I am currently considering what actions exactly I will take. To date, the only ill actions have been taken by a single person, with an anonymous mouthing off by possibly another individual. The only thing I will say for now is that the actions of the first person seemed inconsistent with the wording of the charter as it was presented to me. I could be recalling the wording poorly, which is part of why I have taken no additional actions yet. If the rest of the Mendicants act in good faith, I see little reason to make any drastic changes. If, however, the group as a whole ends up being a cause for distress, my opinion my change quickly.

As a side note, two labs were purchased on behalf of the Mendicants. Those were gambled and lost to me in a wager. I am uncertain as to the legitimacy of them being wagered. However, as current steward of these labs, I will continue to operate them as to their intended purpose and method.... first come, first served to whoever needs it. I hold the keys and will pass them to anyone who needs them, when they ask. It would be nice if a portion of the production would go to the town's use as a donation for the appreciation of the use, as it was through the donations of the town that necessary funds were gathered by the Mendicants for their creation.

By my hand,

Margrave Hagan Stonekrag

Dear Patriarch Lizmon,

My Brother and I are working very hard to bring the Heart up to an acceptable level in Messena. With only 2 members in Heidleburg with low level membership it is very trying. I joined after said incident with the Medicants when they refused to heal anyone that helped another individual when he would not agree to the Mendicant way of thinking.

The Medicants are a blight upon the land. They care not for the Heart, the Guilds, or the Empire. They are only interested in selling their philosophy and if you do not agree then no healing. They also do not like to kill any creature and you break the Medicant Creed if you do. In my opinion the Mendicants should no Longer have a Imperial Guild Charter. They preach peace when it suits their purpose.

Any information on how to improve the Heart would be appreciated.

Defender Zel Lovec

To the Heretics (and I use that term Loosely)

I do believe that I should be at the top of your "very scary" hit list.

Justice from the unjust is not true justice.

Defender Zel Lovec

Dear ALL (From Henri):

I apologize that I am not aware who you are; but if Justice will be served it will be done by the people in charge of the LAND. Why are you attacking me personally? I was the peace-maker, not the betrayers. I follow the LEADER of the LAND, not an Individualist.

Just so you all know the following message sent to me!----

"Do you know that there are friends of Clement who are pissed that he was left out to dry? The names of his betrayers have been noted and some justice will be meted out. -----The Heretics"

People of Messena,

Warm and Clear Water to you

Patriarch Lizmorn (Dupree)

Stumpy Seeks:

Alchemical recipes

Common herbal components (prices negotiable)

Solinari,

Henri

Hmmm. Interestingly enough, there is also a new corruption in this area. It is water based, and is highly concentrated. It appears to be slowly spreading itself along the rivers at this point. It is starting to infiltrate the swamp as well. I don't know if this is connected with your problem, but it is possible. I do not have many more details about it at this point, and I'm still looking for better information about it.

Kyosti

Poisons for Sale.

Need Poison Recipes. Will pay for copying of other poison recipes in trade.

Looking for scrolls of Path of Sound. If you have any for sale, please

Mr. Lizmorn:

I myself am fairly new to the area, but if you like, I'll describe what I know of that has been happening lately. There are several local barbarian tribes here. Their tribes are aligned with specific animals (raven, coyote, bear, etc.). They are constantly fighting and bickering and playing jokes on one another. Several of our adventuring groups have become involved in their internal squabbles (usually briefly) to save individual lives. These people are friendly in general, and are always willing to trade good quality fur pelts for metal, herbals, and especially weapons. Weapons here in this area have been extremely hard to come by until just recently.

The Lizardmen also live in the swamps. They too are extremely interested in trading for weapons, and other metal items. There is some internal conflict among the Lizardmen at the moment, and they appear to be in the middle of some kind of civil war. They had been fairly peaceful until last December when a group of them ambushed us. I do not know yet which faction of the Lizardmen the attackers represented, and I'm hoping to get a group together in the next week or two to go visit the Lizardmen and find out more about what is going on with them. Guildmaster Hagan supposedly has a treaty of some kind with them, but I think the internal factions are upset about it, and are interested in making deals of their own, or just taking what they want if they have to. Most of the weapons that the Lizardmen use are wood, and they seem *most anxious* to update their weaponry.

When I first arrived in the area there were many strange spiders in the swamps. Nasty, tough, and strong spiders, including a were-spider and several other lesser, but still extremely dangerous, types. We killed all of those we encountered, and have not seen any for several months now, but I have heard from a reliable source that the evil behind the spider infestation has not been destroyed, and is in fact out in the swamps and still expanding it's area of influence. I worry about this because this unnatural force is not native to this area, and has in fact only been here a month or two longer than I have. Apparently it has affected the Lizardmen to the extreme that they will only travel in groups now for safety reasons. There are rumors that no one can survive a night in the swamp alone. These are probably true. I am hoping that during my trip to visit the Lizardmen they will be able to help us with locations of spider sightings, and general information about which areas of the swamp are now unsafe to travel.

The trade route from the mountains to Port Anfang is mostly established, but is still not safe due to the marauding giant "Rocks in head". This giant (shorter than the others I hear, and with a limp) has decided to disrupt the trade route. Most likely because the route goes through territory that he claims as his own. However, possibly not. My understanding is that his name is a good reflection of his intelligence and that he is truly quite dumb. I fear he is just being used by someone else with more intelligence.

The waterfall was at one point a problem for the trade route, but a method of moving goods up and down the fall has been worked out, and applied. However, the waterfall is also part of the area where the giant is likely to be found. In addition there is a large freshwater squid who lives under the waterfall. I've talked to the squid, and Guildmaster Hagan and I don't see a problem with it living there. As long as no one decides to go swimming around the waterfall, everything will be fine.

We have had problems with Gnolls as well. These gnolls, while not extremely well organized, were practicing "formation fighting" when we found them. It seems as though someone in this area has decided to use the gnolls as a fighting force, and is having them trained accordingly. The word we got from a captured gnoll was that the giant organized them, but I do not believe this as the giant doesn't seem intelligent enough for this. I have suspicions that the evil which is behind the spiders is the organizing force behind most all of the resistance to the trade route. I have, however, no proof to support this.

We have also had problems with goblins. These are not typical unorganized mobs. The goblins is this area also show the rudiments of formal training. At one point we ran into a group which was wearing false beards, and were mining and pretending to be gnomes. They were working for a dwarf who had shaved his head and beard, and had somehow been convinced he was a gnome. The dwarf, strangely enough, had a complete forge up in the mountains, but was using it to make small metal trinkets from what I could tell. These trinkets are not magical (at least not the ones I have), but I do not know what their purpose was if they had one. Perhaps if we hadn't found it this site would have later made weapons to support the rapidly organizing gnolls and goblins who consistently pester us. This forge has been moved down to Port Anfang, and is now in operation there.

One of the strangest things I've seen so far has been all the Golems. Most of these Golems are either clay, or stone. There are Golems equipped for farming standing out in the fields. There are Golems equipped for mining standing around in the caves. To be honest, there are Golems all over the place. Which is strange, as they are supposedly expensive to make, and as of yet, I have never seen them doing anything. It's almost as if some mage created them all long ago, and then just abandoned them. Lately we have taken to the tactic of just leaving them alone, as when you don't attack them, they don't attack you. However, the sheer numbers of them are astounding, and kind of frightening when you think about it. All of the ones I have seen so far have been designed for peaceful purposes with farm and mining implements and such for hands, but I doubt we have found all of them yet.

That's most of the big happenings right now. Port Anfang is doing quite well, and has 4 new ships now. The forts are doing ok so far (no organized attacks lately), and since the mountain passes are closed right now due to snow, the trade route has been fairly inactive and thus not a target for those who are plotting against it.

As for your question about spell and scroll labs, I don't think there are any here at the moment. One of the local residents is trying to get an hermitage established to support scroll research, but he is still saving money for his project. We have no mage guild here yet, nor do we have a heart guild yet. Unless that's what they've been working on in secret down at Port Anfang. I've heard and seen several heart members come through here, but I have not seen any of them settle down here yet. I think Guildmaster Hagan is trying to get a heart building established in Port Anfang, but I do not know the progress of this.

Now, since you seem to be willing to share knowledge, I have some questions I'd like to ask. I have heard of this "Tribe of the Moon". What exactly are they, and what are their beliefs? As for members of the "heart" organization.: do they always attack first and question those who survive (if any), or is that a misconception on my part due to the few I've seen in action here? Mind you, they have tried to keep at least one of anything that can speak plain language alive, but they run roughshod through the local wildlife for the most part.

I hope this answered some of your questions.

Kyosti (water mage)

Greetings People of Port Anfang,

My name is Patriarch Lizmorn. I am the Patriarch of the House of the Healing Heart from Dupree. I have not been traveling much the last 2 years as my duties in the Heart have required my attention here in Dupree. However, I believe that in the next several months my duties might permit me to travel more. Since I have never been to your land, I would like to travel there.

If anyone there could let me know how things are going, I would appreciate it. The more I know about events happening there, the better I can plan to possibly travel there. I am a master herbalist and a skilled potion maker. I can craft potions up to the complexity of renew from the Paths of Spirit, Time, Glamour, and Warding. I have all the common Spirit, Time, and Glamour potion formulas, plus Giant Strength, but I only have Armor and Greater armor from the Path of Warding. If I travel there I will be inquiring if anyone has access to a potion lab and if so what would it take to gain access while I am there. I will also be willing to sell potions for a reasonable price.

There have been rumors that Heart memebers have been seen coming and going to the area. I would like to know of a House, even a temporary one has been established there. If so, I would like to offer whatever assistence my House and I can provide. I know what it takes to build up a House and make it work. Any local Heart members please contact me.

I have heard rumors about a lizardman civil war. That conserns me deeply. Anyone who has more detailed information please sent it to me.

Warm and Clear Water to you,

Patriarch Lizmorn of Clan Calesh, Korvac of Family Dazar, Apprentice of the Mage's Guild

Hi there. This is Kyosti. Thought I'd mention to you that the problem with the were-spiders is apparently not quite over. I recently found out that there is a powerful "entity" in the swamp associated with those spiders, and it's still there. I believe that the Lizardmen may be helpful in pin-pointing it's location, as they live in the swamps, and have apparently been traveling in large groups to avoid this "thing". The only real information I have on it is that it is un-natural, it is relatively new to the area, and it's area of influence is spreading. This is probably something that should be taken care of quickly as even a few of those spiders were very dangerous.

Oh, and the freshwater squid that lives under the waterfall seems to be a normal animal. It has found a very good niche for an animal of it's type, and has grown quite large. Be warned, like most large animals it has a hearty appetite. Also, it is not too smart, and tends to define things as either "food", or "not food". As long as you and your friends don't decide to go swimming there, you should be fine. Or, if you do swim, you should stay close to the surface.

That's it for now. Stay wet.

Kyosti