4th day of Nardure, 1283

Four days had already passed since we arrived here at Blacksilver Valley to investigate the increasing number of incidents related to Stecars. 

We spent our day primarily pushing back the Stecars away from the dilapidated palisade that protects the town from creatures in the Red Savanna. In the evening, we mostly went to the town square to try each delicacy this town could offer. I am pretty impressed. West Etnovale looked more like a city than a town; the things we saw here were usually provided in a proper city like Elsebridge.

I would love to return to this place, perhaps after this monster hunting.

Since Stecars feared water, we decided to dig a trench and fill it with water. At first, this small trench had successfully done its purpose. The creatures looked at it through their green eye and hissed when they realized it was water. But Stecars were persistent, like most dumb creatures who think they can do everything with sheer effort alone. They threw their staves at us, hoping those pieces of wood would reach where we stood; watching them do it made us all laugh.

But what happened next was something we all didn’t expect. The second wave of Stecars brought with them a long piece of a trunk that they carried on their shoulder. And just looking at it from afar, we all knew it would reach the other side of the bank. Shit!

They put the tree trunk, cross our side of the bank and throw their pitiful stave at our equally pitiful palisade.

That shameful encounter was the kind of story you tell your fat little nephews and nieces as they sat on your frail lap, sipping their hot mint-choco as you all wait for the evening of the Winternight Festival.  

I hadn’t had time to continue my work on those dead birds and Stardust Disturbances because I felt so depleted by sunset that I thought I might pass out from exhaustion. Just what does this monster even think to repeatedly cross the borders. Stecars approach had never been a new issue for the Empire. But this repeated, and the almost tiring process was new to us.

I am writing this entry from the library located in the town center. I searched if they had some information about Stardust Disturbances, but a small local library on the outskirts of the Empire had less to offer than the Imperial Library.

Lord Mikkaelo Sarganse

***

6th day of Nardure, 1283

Commander Finn the Ever Jovial, I started calling him like that because he seemed happy and cheerful whenever I saw him. He asked us if we could cross and check what was happening there in the Red Savanna; he said all of this with a severe face and a grim tone… that was the first time that I saw nothing jovial about our Commander Finn.

It was our leader who answered for us, Lord Andrew. “Sir Finn, we cannot do it without the Magisterium’s permission. We fieldworkers just function as a scouting team or, in the army’s terms, a reconnaissance. But we already submitted a report to our headquarters asking them to send an offensive team to check what is happening in the Red Savanna.” He said something like this along the line.

Commander Finn nodded in understanding, but the man could not hide the disappointment on his face. I could not blame him. This repeated incident was becoming tiring for them, both in stamina and money. Trying to sustain a garrison this many would require many supplies, food, weapons, and Blacksilver extracts for every participating Leechers and Enhancers. And I heard rumors that the local lords were demanding results from the Commander! Screw them, whoever they are!

When a situation like this happened, all I wanted to do was to barge inside their pretty mansion and tell them that I am a Sarganse, and that if I ever heard about them demanding anything ridiculous during my stay, I would have all of their family’s fortune vanish in thin air. 

My family owns most of the small banks in rural towns, and we also have some bigger ones in most cities around the Empire. To do something like that was what others called a delusion; I am a bastard, and that thing alone would never change.

Going back, the message had been sent to the Magisterium about the report, and it was later that afternoon we received a reply; two offensive teams would be sent to cross the Red Savanna, and the two fieldworker teams will have to join them. When we saw the name of one of the team leaders, we all couldn’t help but sigh in exhaustion… I wonder how long it had been since we last met him. 

Lord Mikkaelo Sarganse

ErosFontel