I do have to relate one intriguing detail. When I was sent to find Sir Yalinari, I found him inthe gardens with a particularly lovely maid. He was regaling her with tales from afar and she was smitten. At lest, until I walked up to him and took his arm posessively. She positively ran like a frightened rabbit. I was so clsoe to tears. Sir Yalinari wasn’t all that happy and even less happy with the Captain for setting up this mission of getting permision for interviews. On the other hand, he wasn’t exactly unhappy to talk to Dame Hayiah about it either.  In my walks with him, I found Sir Yalinari to be changing. Oh, he’s still the rapscallion, but he’s also finding a more refined edge to him. I think that the role of Protocol Officer is working well. He actually seems to be able to focus on a task. I am thinking that the Company has given him something that he has lost for a long time.

Tonight’s festivities was a banquet and ball. I won’t go into the full details of these two events, but suffice it to say that it was all one would expect of them. The Ambassador was at her finest and the Captain was his usual quiet retiring self. I did find myself in the arms of a young knight on the dance floor once. It took about half the song for me to realize that I shouldn’t be there, but my well-developed Sergeant cannot be here.  Even if he was, I doubt that he would enjoy the event nearly as much as I.  He would prefer to be playing tonk with the guys than strutting like a peacock, as he’d say.  I daresay, that I don’t have enough time with him now-a-dawys.

I won’t go into the details of the encampment itself, but suffice it to say, the excitement level surpasses that of carnival day in Greyhawk. Lots of people to see and meet. I look forward to stowing the gear and looking around. In fact, i was too busy looking around and gawking like some common farmer that I missed the instructions given to us. Luckily Shasivin filled me in. Greyhawk has been given a suite of rooms in which they can house people. This consists of two bedrooms with two beds each, plus a sitting room. The LieutenantAmbassador and I will stay in one room, while the Captain and Sir Yalinari will share the other. Our guards shall be Cust and Shasivin, Gustuv and Miles. They’ll rotate through 4-hour shifts. Our “servants” shall be Meluvia and Vanith. The rest, I’m afraid will be in the tents with Master Sergeant Drathon in charge. With that decided, we entered the castle.

Inside the 20-foot wall circle there is an inner compound (the inner bailey) maybe 50 yards long by 30 wide. This ground was punctuated with a diverse collection of tents for the visitors’ personal guards to use when they are not on duty. The standard complement of wooden buildings clings to the inner sides of the stone walls, but they are unremarkable. What truly takes the breath away is the main Keep, which has a substantial main building, topped by a series of increasingly smaller structures that collectively soar upward nearly 120 feet, the whole punctuated with an impressive array of spires and towers. The top-most tower, estimated the Captain, must sit at least 500 feet above the level of the plain. What a view one must have from up there! Alas, our rooms are only on the second floor. The more I think about it, however, the more I wonder how many steps one must climb to get to the top of the tower. I shall have to make a note to ask someone.

After a fantastic lunch where we ate on real plates sitting on a real table, the Captain, Sir Yalinari, and the LieutenantAmbassador were called in to be received by the laird. I spent the time penning these lines with a fine sherry. When they returned, I was shocked. Instead of preparing for means the Captain immediately ordered a Company Conclave and would not say another word. So shocking was the news, however, that even Sir Yalinari wouldn’t spill the beans. To his defense however, you could tell he wanted to and almost answered a question before Sir tar cast he and I a withering look that, when used before, has caused plants to immediately die. Sir Yalinari looked apologetic while we walked. The news was indeed distressing: The Laird has heard about an assassination attempt against his life and has asked the Company to assist in the investigation. However, for obvious reasons no one else should know that we are working on this. Following the meeting, we each had our own assignment. I was to join Sir Tar talking to the Castle’s scholar.

I have always wondered what an investigation looked like from the start. Everytime, I have been involved the investigation was well underway. I must say, however, Sir Tar has some odd ways of doing things that the guard in Greyhawk has never used. To whit, in addition to conducting the typical research activities he is having Tovish and Hanar surreptitiously start a pool betting that the Laird will die within two weeks and key on anyone who puts money on the actual threat day (the 16th). This seems fairly cold hearted and, well, a little creepy. I doubt that any good will come of it.

dfhkdj;hf sad;kjhf kjhf kfjh jh;kjh I have always wondered what an investigation looked like from the start. Everytime, I have been involved the investigation was well underway. I must say, however, Sir Tar has some odd ways of doing things that the guard in Greyhawk has never used. To whit, in addition to conducting the typical research activities he is having Tovish and Hanar surreptitiously start a pool betting that the Laird will die within two weeks and key on anyone who puts money on the actual threat day (the 16th). This seems fairly cold hearted and, well, a little creepy. I doubt that any good will come of it. I have always wondered what an investigation looked like from the start. Everytime, I have been involved the investigation was well underway. I must say, however, Sir Tar has some odd ways of doing things that the guard in Greyhawk has never used. To whit, in addition to conducting the typical research activities he is having Tovish and Hanar surreptitiously start a pool betting that the Laird will die within two weeks and key on anyone who puts money on the actual threat day (the 16th). This seems fairly cold hearted and, well, a little creepy. I doubt that any good will come of it.

I have decided that the actual details of the investigation (who we talked to, who we investigated, etc.) are not fit for printing in this journal. They are legal details that could come to harm some people. And so, I will pen no more about them and stick to broad stroked of what the Company did during this time.

Tonight was a lavish banquet and I must confess to being severely jealous of my three friends. They are of sufficient rank to attend the main ball and the Ambassador looked stunning in her red ball gown. I have never seen the Captain or Sir Yalinari so captivated. Sir Yalinari recovered well, but I could tell by the pink on Sir Tar’s ears that his thoughts were less than pure. (Not that Sir Yalinari’s were mind you.) The Ambassador swept from the room all but ignoring them. Like two little puppies they almost had to run to catch up with them. I couldn’t have been prouder of her.

Lest I leave the reader with any false impressions, I actually did attend a banquet. In fact, the banquet rivaled any that I’ve been to, save my coming out party and that only because of the sweetness of the day. My banquet was with the senior servants which included a few ladies of standing. I also must confess that my days on the road need to be ending. With this extended time on the road followed by such luxuriousness, I long for my apartment and the finer things in life. I’ve earned it, have I not? I wonder, though, who will be the second historian of the Company? A second thing for me to work on. It is amazing, as one sits in the window of a great castle during the silence of the morning hours what one can think of. Tomorrow is another day—and a busy one at that. Tomorrow we will start saving the life of the laird. Perhaps, when this is over I will have earned a right to retire back to Greyhawk…

What more to say? We are busy, well fed, and in clean, luxorious apartments. Life is good.

As it happened, the Company was staying in Banbish at the time, though we were incognito, and several of our more senior members were actually present at the party where the Laird fell. So, to satisfy a point of personal interest, I asked around a little and discovered that few that I spoke to actually remember that there was a foreign Company in town that day, and none realized that it had departed soon afterward. The fact is, they simply pay very little attention to strangers, assuming that they are destined for the giant wars and presumably will never be seen again. There is just no point in getting to know them. The bottom line is that they have not connected that Company from a year ago with us. In a way, I am relieved. One is never sure what assumptions people may make. It has frequently been my experience that rumors tend to create breaches so deep that no amount of truth can fill them.