While I was not exactly happy with being woken up before seven o'clock, I was grateful. I learned that my father, who I thought was dead, was actually alive.

My uncle had a small task for me to do before I left the island, but, after that, the kind priest whisked me away with a teleport spell to a place near the town of Redton. Mr. Dungeon last saw my father was near there, and I wanted to speak with him before going.

I found a guard that stopped me from proceeding to Mr. Dungeon. They said I needed a permit. Fair enough. I quickly found that Redton had it's own issues with the castle just north of it. The mayor of Redton spoke of rule by the Mongols as that of iron-fisted tyranny. I visited the castle, and found that the ruler there and the mayor are actually brothers. The general opinion there was that the rebel movement in Redton was merely a matter of brotherly jealousy.

Personally, I'm not so sure about that. I feel the mayor is slightly more genuine about his concerns for his people. While he didn't really show respect to a woman of my noble upbringing, his brother, on the other hand, seemed to show no respect at all. Calling me a peasant, of all things! The nerve!

Well, if I am to assist one side over another, it should not be over such petty details. I must learn what the people really want, and if the situation really warrants such a bold move as a full-on revolution.



The priestess in Redton provided some details on the situation. She told me about how Redton was once a fortress of peace. Then, several decades ago, the Mongols came and plundered their lands, and built the castle to oversee what was then their newly-conquered territory. They demanded a high price for their protection. Over time, the populace grew weary of giving so much of their labor away, and are now under the banner of rebellion, led by mayor Seraph.

According to my interview with the king of the castle, their only obligation to the greater Mongol empire is the aforementioned taxes. I mentioned to the mayor to attempt a more diplomatic solution. Such as negotiating, possibly through the king on the town's behalf to the greater Mongolian empire, to lower the taxes. I was told that such diplomacy was not working.

So. It seems that a rebellion is on the horizon, whether one wishes it, or no. The townsfolk obviously presume that taxes are gathered out of sheer avarice. However, what if there is some socio-economic reasoning behind these high taxes? I don't seem to be in any position to learn this, though. Thus, as I write this, I am leaning toward assisting the townsfolk.



As I wrote last entry, I agreed to assist the townsfolk. They had me drop off a rather peculiar-looking onion at the castle. I hope I will not regret this decision in the future. At any rate, I was given a pass, and the guard let me through. Mr. Dungeon took some convincing, but, he decided to assist me in finding my father. He wanted to return to Redton to speak with mayor Seraph, and we exchanged a few words before we continued with our quest.

We were surrounded by some bandits in a mountain pass. Certainly, they looked like solders, but, do soldiers ask for coin before letting you pass? I suppose they let us pass when we did show them the coin. It just felt a little wrong to me. Either way, Dungeon and I discussed our next move. Our goal is to reach Volcano Isle. If there was a working teleport in Redton, we could use it. Alas, it was destroyed a few years ago. Dungeon mentioned a cousin Ab, in Tatra, that might be able to help.



If it is not one thing, it is another! Apparently, there is a magus and witch that are in some stupid, traditional duel with each other in this area. The magus spoke of having children that have no magical ability, and seems to think that the union of two magic users would produce a successor. We spoke to the witches, and their leader wasn't exactly receptive to the magus' idea. I barely managed to convince her that she could win their war without more fighting, and even then, she still seemed to have no qualms of killing the magus if it suited her purpose.

It is unfortunate that the magus was not able to teleport us, and that we still have to rely on Ab. Still, there is a sense of accomplishment here.



Dungeon once called Tatra "Evil Town", and I understand why now. There were shady characters all over the place. We did not have to pay for the information, which might be a small miracle onto itself, but, we learned that Ab has moved up north. Ab was willing to assist us, but noted that the person that we needed to talk to pretty much hated her. It became readily apparent when we spoke to him, but, we did cut something of a deal. Before Ab retired from criminal activity, she had cut this man's fingers. Apparently, they became missing recently. We are to find out who has them, and bring them back. Uncomfortable as this task might be, we discussed possible suspects, and chatted with each of them.

We fist spoke to a stranger in the bar. A lizardfolk, actually. He said he was offered some fingers by a man in the street that smelled like fish. Our next task was to speak with said street-seller. Apparently, Ab's former underling sold his fingers to this vendor in a drunken stupor. While the seller would not tell us who he sold the fingers to, he hinted that the buyer was in the pub all the time. We spoke next to the innkeeper. He heard that we were looking for the fingers, but did not know where they were. Though, innkeeper saw fit to tell us that he suspected that the lizardman had them, and ate them. I was inclined to agree with him. However, let's go over some facts.

I'm not sure I entirely trusted how the innkeeper knew that we were searching for fingers in the first place. However, the more suspicious character is the street-dealer. His story of how he obtained the fingers was a little too far-fetched for me to believe. I felt it was more likely that he knew the lizardman enjoyed the taste of human flesh, and stole the fingers with the intent of selling them to him for an exorbitant price. However, I was inclined to believe the dealer's regret in respect to the sale. Whether it was because the price he got wasn't as high as he would have liked, or the lizardman turned around and stole the fingers from him is up for debate. However, both the dealer's and the innkeeper's account seem to suggest that the lizardmand had them, at one point. However, I am inclined to believe the lizardman when he says that he didn't have them. At least in the technical respect of having them right then and there. He probably consumed them at some point after he acquired them. Whatever the method of acquiring actually was.

While my deductions generally proved correct in the end, I will never, ever be able forget, or forgive, Ab literally tearing the poor lizardman apart and obtaining the fingers from the creature's stomach. Perhaps the lizardman was a criminal. Yet, I can only call this act "murder". Such means absolutely do not justify our ends.



We arrived in Mogchester today. So close to where Father is, yet still, so far away. Access to the dungeon where he is supposed to be is blocked off, and we'll need yet another pass. What manner of task will we have to fulfill this time, I wondered?

The ruler of this castle outright denied us access, thanks to our allegiance with the people of Redton. However, Abs seems to know a man in this town that can forge documents, and Dungeon knows another man that could provide uniforms. I just hope this goes over better than the last plan.

The man we meet didn't quite look like the father I recalled. In fact, he looked like Mr. Dungeon. He told a story of how he is trapped here, yet has great magical power. He called himself "Jailor", as if the term had some special meaning here. Perhaps it does. He then relayed that he wished to see me one more time before he passed the position onto me. The nature of his position, and this dungeon, was such that attempting to leave meant the destruction of the dungeon. It took some convincing, but, we managed to talk Father into leaving, despite the danger to all of us. The escape was threadbare, but, we managed.

Ab returned to her cottage. However, last I had heard, she had opened a museum for the arts. However, I suspect that she still has contacts, and influence, in Tatra. Dungeon retired from adventuring once again, and returned to his hermitage. I visit him every so often. As for Father, he returned home, to the island. The reunion with Mother was tear-filled, as expected. They are getting along as well as any regular couple would. So, yes, they do fight from time-to-time, but, in the end, they still love each other. It's quite endearing, actually.

I hear the magus, Kentona, is still very much alive, and that there is a successor! I'm not so certain that "Babby" is a good name for the boy, but, it's cute, in it's own way. What is uncertain is how much longer Kentona will be alive to assist in rearing the child. The witch, Shinsetta, is still very much temperamental about such things.

As for myself, I have since moved to Redton. Seraph has proved a decent enough mayor, but, I was nonetheless placed in charge of being a liaison to the Mongol Empire. It seems the mayor's late brother had no intention of speaking with the Mongols on Redton's behalf. Indeed, when I spoke of Redton's plight, they were actually rather receptive. The nation may be war-like, but even such a nation desires unity amongst it's territories, claimed by right of conquest, or otherwise.

While I may still have nightmares about Ab's actions in Tatra, I still feel this overall positive energy about this adventure. If ever I have children one day, I hope to relay this story to them.