Journal of Exordius...

[V'rass]

Time to work on a new project... one that desperately needs doing and which no one thus far has had the conviction or the stomach to do. I do not normally resort to such actions but it seems there is no alternative now, desperate times call for desperate measures...

The big question is how to go about it. There are too many options to bother listing here so i will make note of those which seem to be the best options.

First we need the mechanism.

There are several options for this... a friend has suggested using a disease or virus as the mechanism however there are major problems with that idea. The main concern is what happens if it decides to spread beyond the target area? Last thing we need is to start a pandemic by accident and there is simply no way to control it once its been unleashed. Too much risk for collateral damage. This option wont do.

Some have suggested using magic to call down some manner of curse or natural disaster. That's a nice idea and all but its probably not feasible with current time and resources.

Obviously there is the option of simply using brute force but that wont work either. It would require too many and there are not enough available. Not to mention the fact that taking the target in that manner would be a bloodbath. No something else is needed... but what?

[V'rass]

Poison... yes that should work. But it cant be any normal poison... it needs to have certain properties. It needs to be highly virulent, extremely fast acting, designed specifically for the target race, and almost impossible to cure even with magic. Combine all those traits into one noxious whole and they will drop like flies. Yes... but such a substance will not be easy to create, or cheap to produce... this could take a great deal of time.

Now that we have the mechanism we need the delivery method. Again there are several options. I will write more on it later.

[V'rass]

Finally some success... albeit with mixed results. We finally managed to ambush one of the orc/drow patrols tonight. Unfortunately it was much larger then reports had indicated... much larger. Things went well at first, managed to finally meet this orc shaman that everyone is afraid of and at sword point had a nice little chat with him. Unfortunately that was when one of our number foolishly started a fight with him that rapidly escalated into a blood bath.

Fortunately though in the end we all got away safely and since one of our number was a Lord and a vassal of the dukes they will have to act against the orc/drow alliance now. Finally shit will get done. Its about damn time but better late then never. Of course now they will probably be coming for all of us so the project needs to be accelerated. I will need to contact certain factions about creating the substance to be used...

[V'rass]

Tonight they tried the oldest trick in the book to get me... as if i would be stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trap. Received a sending from one of the drow women saying she wished to parley and that i should come to the inn in Soubar alone at night to speak with her and that *snorts* my safety was assured.

Obviously i treated that with skepticism... was about to get a few friends and take a look but then received another sending from the woman claiming i set a trap for her and she was leaving and then a sending from Ferrick who had apparently run into them and gave them that idea. Oddly they did not harm him and he says after they spent a time gloating about their evil deeds they left peacefully... this makes no sense to me given their previous behavior so perhaps they did wish to parley?

Unfortunately even if they did i doubt anything would have come of it. I have no authority to broker accords with anyone and even if i did i doubt they would accept the terms they would almost certainly be given by the people who live in the region. The orcs have made it clear that they want all the north as their kingdom and i simply don't see the people in the north or the south accepting that. Perhaps i will hear what they have to say if only for curiosity's sake but i dont see it resulting in a peace treaty anytime soon. Too much blood has been spilled...

[V'rass]

That damn necro took Dove and sold her to the drow and orcs. We gathered a group but the idiot leading us took us all over the coast when we knew where she was and when they confirmed she was in the Underdark everyone was too scared to go. I am so tired of this... so much that i decided to attempt a rescue on my own.

Things went well at first... met up with the mole i have in the drow group and learned that there was no possible way of getting to dove by force by myself nor would stealth be of any use to me. The only option was to try and buy her freedom. So i put my disguise on and adopted the alias i use when in the Underdark and pretended to be a slave trader interested in buying her and also offering (fake) information on what the people on the surface were up to.

The orc eventually showed up and seemed willing to deal but then the drow leader showed up and said there would be no deals and that now i would be a second hostage. He left and the orc offered to set me free for a bribe of all the gold i had offered for dove... well over 126k. I payed him and the bastard took the money and left me there. Fortunately i had a teleport pre cast and ready and i was able to escape.

The attempt was a failure but im sure tomorrow once a large enough group is assembled we will get her back. They will pay for this... oh but they will pay!

[V'rass]

Word i am hearing from my sources says the orc/drow alliance may be falling apart. Cant confirm this as of now but if true its great news assuming its not just a rumor. The orcs were fools to trust this spider militant group... they were never anything more then pawns to be disposed of once their usefulness had ended. Such it is for all other races no matter how evil or fanatical their devotion to chaos. The orcs will still need to be dealt with of course but one thing at a time...

[V'rass]

Seems to be an increase in necromancers these days. Just the other day we got word of some woman in the cloakwood surrounded by powerful undead and bone golems... of course by the time we arrived she was long gone but the dwarf who alerted us to her presence was unhappy that we were too late. A few days later i recieved a report of another necromancer running around, this time in the misty forest according to the ranger who had spotted her. Neither of these necro's was ever named and both were apparently wearing masks so its impossible to tell at this time if they are known to me or new players in the game.

The odds continue to increase...

[V'rass]

The project regarding the final option to the orc problem needs to be accelerated. Unfortunately i have done the parts which were doable alone but now the final steps will require outside aid. The question is who do i approach? Obviously none of the foolish good aligned groups are going to be of any use... they lack the conviction and the stomach to do what has to be done and would likely try to interfere if they knew what i was about. No i need to approach one of the more unsavory groups on the coast, groups who are willing to do whatever has to be done and are not afraid of getting their hands dirty. There are a few options...

The Zhents would definately be willing to do what is needed but given they have ties to both the orcs and the drow approaching them would be dangerous. They would likely take my proposal and sell knowledge of it to the orcs. Then i would either get ambushed on the road or simply vanish one night and never be seen again. No too big a risk.

The Ebon Blade might serve well however... not only are they willing to partake in such actions but their very existence and power-base is threatened by the orcs. People who have nothing to lose are often the most easily spurred into action. At the very least its worth a try... i will try to arrange a meeting with Lord Greil within the next few days.