Gendin’s Journal – Conflict with the Circle of Jocelyne

a page from the journal of Gendin, son of Arissa and Temone of the dwarven Clan Gilderlo

Author’s note: Continents such as Trivana are considered “worlds” by their inhabitants, while the world is referred to simply as GeKeb. The point of view of Gendin is limited by his people’s concept of the term world, and his understanding of what GeKeb is.

Conflict with the Circle of Jocelyne

April, 1444 AWR

Recently I had an interesting and possibly disturbing conversation with Pua, the Fah’Amiga I have known for decades. She appeared at the Castle Rendelshod, where I reside when not traveling, asking about a new group that appears to have formed in the city/state of Kerr.

This group’s focus is an unthinkable horror; well the Circle of Jocelyne considers it a horror – they find and destroy enchanted items that are considered “evil”.

I digress to explain a point. From the Circle’s point of view, all enchanted items are interesting. Any objects that most sentient races would consider “evil”? These are just another object to the Circle. More dangerous than most? Probably. But just another object to study, with solid safety measures in place.

Pua has never specifically named a sequestered object, but from decades of conversation I have gleaned that the Circle has potentially thousands of minorly to very dangerous enchanted items. These are carefully hidden and protected. And studied.

From an off-hand comment she made decades ago, I suspect that studying “dangerous” objects is among the most common way for a virtually immortal Fah’Amiga to be killed. This makes me think of that old saying: Curiosity killed the cat. And possibly the Fah’Amiga.

Back to the tale: No member of the Council of Rendelshod, nor our senior staff, have any knowledge of such a group. Kerr is days travel by hippogriff to the south, so rumors are slow to propagate. There was nothing we could tell her, but I managed to elicit some information from her.

Another digression: Given that Pua has lived as a Fah’Amiga for three times my lifespan, how am I able to get her to answer questions she doesn’t want to answer?

The reasons are twofold. First, I am a very skilled interrogator. This means I not only know what questions to ask and how to ask them, I know how to piece together answers to form a solid picture from many parts.

Second, Pua has lived a long time by any standard, but she’s not worldly. She lived all of her adult life as a sheltered researcher, and while she was exposed to horrors, most of it was second or third hand. She did not grow up on the streets of Sathea and has never had to preserve her own life with quick thinking. Or a sharp blade.

I suspect she believes herself smarter than non-Fah’Amiga. And she’s probably correct. She’s certainly far more intelligent than me. But she lacks the breadth of my experience and has absolutely no “street smarts”.

A side note: while Fah’Amiga are sexless, Pua was a female of her species prior to her transformation, and continues to think of herself in those terms. She has declined to name her original species, and I suspect it was one that is unfriendly to dwarves. This does not affect our friendship.

In my youth I was The Assassin of Sathea, the premier killer of Red Owl. Those who know me as the Champion of Cieldren (now retired) are shocked should they learn of my former occupation.

Anywho … back to the main tale.

Repeating the questions I asked would be tedious. Instead I summarize my understanding that was pieced together from her answers.

• A Fah’Amiga met a group from Kerr during a battle with a Tagata’Fili, where the Tagata’Fili was destroyed. The group was instrumental in the success of that fight.
• The group’s intention was to destroy or sequester a specific item they considered “evil”. The Fah’Amiga took the item, so their mission was a failure.
• The group was allowed to leave, but the Fah’Amiga failed to determine their identity, other than that they were from Kerr.
• The battle took place in an unspecified demi-plane, so the group is capable of planar travel.
• Circle agents in Kerr were unable to learn anything definitive. However, there are rumors that more than one mission team exists for the purpose of destroying or sequestering specific enchanted items.
• This organization is secretive and has not been identified.

Since I am acquainted with Roald, the senior dwarven cleric in Kerr, I will travel to Kerr to see what he knows. If there is anything to know, he will be party to it.

What will I do with this information?

Unknown at this point. Depending on what I discover, I may or may not pass on any information to Pua. As much as I do not want to damage my friendship with her, I believe that some items are too dangerous to not destroy. If this group is successfully doing that, I’d rather encourage them to continue.

This journal entry is among the ones that will not see light of day until some period after my own death, hopefully centuries from now.