[2021] Franz Lohner's Chronicle - A Walk in the Woods

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An absent-minded man of mysteries, Franz Lohner relies on his bulging journal to keep track of occurrences, intrigues and arguments around Taal's Horn Keep. Sometimes his notes are even useful, believe it or not. The Franz Lohner Chronicles are extracts from that journal.

Franz Lohner's Chronicle - A Walk in the Woods
Well, I finally did it: I got Kerillian to open up a bit about her past. I mean, not all the way, and she had a funny look in her eye, but it’s a start, right? And it’s not as though her eyes don’t look funny all the time.

Seems Athel Loren’s a bit of a melting pot. Most bloodlines stretch back to the times before the Sundering. You know, before there was dark elves and high elves, and there was just, well, elves. Or as Kerillian puts it, ‘pure’ elves, untainted by that big old civil war the rest of the pointy-ears are always embroiled in. But over the years, the forest’s also become a refuge for outcasts from Ulthuan and Naggaroth, and though they’re sworn to leave old ties behind, for some it ain’t that easy. Leads to some … well, let’s call them ‘suspect’ choices.

Turns out, our merry lass stumbled on one of these suspect choices right as it was being made. A mage walking parts of Athel Loren no mage should be walking, if you take my meaning. And it wasn’t just him alone. Whole bunch of them there were, midway through a ritual dedicated to Hekarti.

Now, elf gods are a mixed bunch, but Hekarti definitely sits on the bleaker side of the ledger. She’s the mistress of all that’s corrupting and terrible in the Winds of Magic, so it follows that those who worship her ain’t exactly looking for the wherewithal to bring peace and solace to this world of ours.

I’ll spare you some of the details I wish Kerillian had spared me, but let’s just say this was not a nice ritual. Seems this mage – Etrian Dunderhead, though I suspect Kerillian may have editorialised his surname – was petitioning Hekarti for sorcerous mastery, and offering forest spirits as collateral. Sadly for him, it all goes to a dog’s breakfast when Kerillian makes her entrance.

To hear our lass tell it, Etrian’s accomplices scarper at first sight of her. The thing about waywatchers is you can never be sure that the one you see is the only one what can see you, and with this lot being involved in some very mucky business, they weren’t planning on waiting to discover the truth. Etrian’s made of sterner stuff, or maybe he’s more afraid of Hekarti than Kerillian’s arrows? More fool him, as it turns out. Kerillian leaves him dead among the moss and goes about her business, job done and a righteous fire burning within.

Only problem is, Etrian’s a popular chap, and his mates raise hell at the next council of kings. Accusations of murder are levelled, and our Kerillian has no witnesses to prove her side, and plenty arranged in opposition. She’s cast out, and hasn’t been home since.

So that’s her tale … but I don’t know that it’s the truth. Not sure why I doubt her. I mean, apart from the fact that it’s Kerillian, and Kerillian’s an elf. Maybe it’s the way she was watching me all the time I was speaking, as if she was using my expression for a guide as to what she should say next? Could be.

Still, I reckon there’s some truth there. Or at least a little bit.

Maybe.

I hate elves.