The Battle of Malkan's Field

Notes on the Journals

Renderlark's attitude to journal-keeping was fairly haphazard; most of what has been recovered consists of scattered notes, and randomly entered dates next to entries often as short as a single word. In light of this, we have done our utmost to untangle his own writings, and have filled in spaces with comments and quotations taken from various conversation transcripts.

September 4th, 873AR

Dinner : Turnip.
Dessert : Washed Turnip.

Suspect the quartermaster is holding something back.

September 7th, 873AR (Date of the Battle of Malkan's Field)

Should be a good one today. Nice terrain, weather looks fine. Can't wait to sack their supplies.

September 8th, 873AR 

Getting off that battlefield was the only option. Only cowards stay and die. In the event, I guess a lot of the Crimson Swords were cowards. I guess Karistan stitched us up; decided we were more trouble than we were worth after seeing what we could do to a place like Amorantia.

The Rooks weren't cowards, they were lunatics. How fate conspired to save the three of them I shall never know. I suspect some sort of prank from the Gods. I watched them picking over the battlefield like ravens, harvesting flesh and organs from the dead along with their coin and trappings.

According to Brogi, perhaps the most... unhinged of the siblings, that Bastard Morini ran off with what's left of the takings. Not on my watch. We prepared a cart and left in hot pursuit. Should be plenty of stops along the way to get fresh horses, so not going to spare these an inch.

September 9th, 873AR

Sneaky, amoral little gits have a million uses, and their morbid japes are tolerable, so far. I have taken to stopping my ears at night, though that comes with its own dangers, as they seem eager to festoon my person with gathered carrion. They seem to consider it some kind of honour to be bestowed with these grisly trophies... they're not even intimidating; I looked like some kind of insane druid, with my helm adorned with drooping severed hands, and a bisected rabbit attached to my boots.

Should reach Izmir tomorrow; perhaps the city will offer peace and quiet where the countryside has not.

September 10th, 873AR

Arrived in Izmir.
Left Izmir.
That's all I want to say.

As a result of a childish prank involving the pelt (pelt is a kind way of putting it, 'barely hollowed-out corpse' might be more accurate) of a wolf which attacked our camp last night, I was forced to acknowledge both the resourcefulness and the sheer blind daring of my halfling companions. However, their almost whimsical lack of regard for their own safety is starting to constitute a threat to my own. Any attempt to enter the city unnoticed having shed the markings of our company was scuppered by Brogi's disastrously conspicuous entrance... He deigned to ride up to the gates naked save for a crude hat 'made' from the head of the wolf. I don't know if he was drunk, but he'd better have been. The others made a fumbling attempt to make up for his behaviour, but the guards were about to put the lot of them in the cooler.

I'd long since jumped from the cart, and was able to show up a few minutes later and explain that they were seriously mentally disturbed patients who were in my charge for transporting. This is not as far from the truth as I would have liked. Anyway, after they embarrassingly decided to further risk life and limb by attacking the guards (a welcome opportunity for some stress relief sorely missed), they were tied up and taken to a church hospital.

Plan for fresh horses didn't work out great, though I was impressed with my blagging at least; got a guy to accept a tarred and feathered old nag as a baby Pegasus. This town's pretty tight though, getting a replacement out of here not as easy as I'd hoped.

The Rooks had been trying to break out of the hospital as well, so I thought it best to skip town after that; I got them out of there with some blather about inadequate security. Still got them tied up and unconscious in the back; hope I can pick up another horse before they wake/escape. Should be easy enough on this road.