Journal of the Auran Wizardess, Isra El-Gharab
"There is no word in the world that can be known before it is spoken." - My mentor Azi-Malik Al-Azuth
This journal and its contents belong to the wizardess who is in Baldur’s Gate, Isra yr-Hassan yn-Jahid yn-Irfan yn-Hawa yr-Khadija yr-Aliyah El-Gharab yi Memnon. If found, please return it to the Temple of Mystra in the Eastway District.
Eleint 21, 1359 DRIt is said that this is a Time of Troubles, and this wizardess reckons it to be true. There are plenty of troubles to go around, and those that pertain to the gods and goddesses are only some of these.
I arrived in the great and spacious city of Baldur’s gate early in the morning by caravan from Calimshan. The journey was long and although the author was tired, she did find the time and energy to visit a mercantile establishment to purchase new clothing appropriate to the climate - both in the cultural and geographic senses of the word. She also visited the public library and bookstore across the street to acquire some reading material on arcane matters and a notebook to write down the goings-on in the city and to jot down the tasks du jour.
After the needed articles had been bought, the wizardess’ intention was to set course to Candlekeep some miles walk away from the walls of the Gate (a nickname oft used by the locals). But on her way towards the monumental ‘Basilisk Gates’ that made the exit due East of the city, she stumbled upon the temple to the author’s patron deity, Mystra. A sight she had not expected to see away from her homeland. (This is, of course, not to imply that the northerners are so bereft of magical cunning that they are without minds to appreciate the Lady of Mysteries, Mother of All Magic, but rather that in this Mystran’s personal experience in dealings with northern folk, they are more practical and more this-world-aligned than her own countrymen in the South.
But there it stood, beautifully before the devotee who was already not a little homesick. And upon entering the hallowed halls of the temple, she would find that she had perhaps underestimated the northern Mystrans in her mind. The temple interior was stunning and quite awesome to behold. There were active, lasting portals that led into a small, but gorgeous library, in which the wizardess participated in her first congregational meeting. A meeting that had been a long time in the making, according to the head caretaker, Althalous Fenwick. A short, gray-haired man who despite being chronically short of breath, beamed with dignified gravitas and experience. Also present were Sirion, the lead arcanist, Tiawyn, bard for the Church of Mystra, Maevyn the Selunite, Mathilde, and Watcher Lady Wai Li.
The issue on the agenda was the ongoing anti-magic crisis in Nashkel in Amn. The mages and Mystrans there are being oppressed by the government, being hunted and forced to swear fealty to the standing rulership who are limiting magic use to a chokehold. Witches hanging from trees for healing the sick on request, Mystrans fleeing persecution.
I will not elaborate upon the details of the meeting here in this journal, as its proceedings are already outlined elsewhere, but let us merely say that the crisis was discussed, and the author was allowed the floor for a moment to propose a long-term political campaign to sway public opinion in the area. A proposal that was not considered in full due to time constraints, but which the author will bring up with temple leadership at a later time.
The meeting was adjourned sometime later in the day, and the Mystran took a short moment of the caretaker’s time to petition him for membership in the congregation. He accepted, and offered her a room of her own on temple grounds as well, which she did accept. The tenant was assured that no payment was needed.
This concludes today’s entry. Climb the ladder.