[2021] Franz Lohner's Chronicle - Empty Chambers

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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 - Empty Chambers
It's all gone a bit quiet around here again. I mean, that's relative of course. Between Bardin's ongoing – and not entirely successful – experiments in musicality, Saltzpyre's newfound rededication to prayer and Catrinne's complaining, it's never what you'd call tranquil. But it's definitely quieter. I put it down to the fact that Kerillian's gone on another wander.

This time she's gone back home, as I understand it. Athel Loren, realm of the asrai lords and ladies, forest spirits, and sudden, inexplicable death from the shadows. Never been, myself. Well, not inside the forest proper. You don't really hear of outsiders doing that and coming back alive.

It's peculiar, though. Last I heard, Kerillian wasn't a popular sort in Athel Loren. You remember that business with Etrian, I'm sure. You know the whole "elven mage dabbles with forbidden magic, and pins it on an innocent waywatcher" type of affair? I got the definite impression that the words "on pain of death" had been involved … though now I think on it, I don't actually recall Kerillian saying them, as such. It was more a feeling she conveyed through delivery and dead-eyed stare.

So yes, now she's headed homeward, on pain of death or otherwise. I just wish I knew why, but even after all this time she's a closed book. Half the things she says about herself bear at least a second reading, and most of them could stand a third or a fourth. That's not to say I think Kerillian distrusts us, not as such. I just think she was alone so long there are pieces of her she'll never readily share.

I've seen something like this coming for months. Kerillian's not been herself since the Night of Masks, but that doesn't mean I had the first blessed idea what to do about it. The past hangs heavy on us all, and the future? Well, I can't help feeling that there's a lot of black clouds hanging on the horizon, and Kerillian sees further ahead than I ever will. I just wish she'd talk to us. Being ruthless about it, five operatives is better than four, and we're gonna struggle without her.

Kruber's taking it hardest. "The Ubersreik Five stand together" and all that. I've asked Bardin to keep an eye on him, on account of that thing about sudden inexplicable death. There's a bit of an accord between Bretonnia and Athel Loren, but that's not the same as letting a grail knight stomp about your woods unmolested. I only hope she comes back. Won't be the same without her.