Rudal's Travel Journal

Obtained randomly from looting a Sunken Treasure Chest. Once all 8 pages are gathered, they can be combined into Rudal's Complete Travel Journal and reward Master of the Phoenix title, granting 15% climb speed and a readable book version of all entries to place inside a house.

Every ten pages must be bound together with Rudal's Travel Quires. Each quire can only bind 10 specific pages together.

Story:

Entry #1: When did it start? It's a vague memory that's haunted me my entire life. A memory of a beautiful woman, cradling me against the warmth of her bosom. The safety and love of that embrace is indescribable. Maybe those feelings drove me to find that woman my whole life... Entry #2: I had other loves, though... The sweet memory of my first love still invigorates my weary body. Shuhana... an apothecary in Hatora. When I was young, she let me sample all the new cure-alls she discovered. Some people said they didn't do anything, but I think they're why I stayed so healthy adventuring. I wonder if she still gives some lucky young man free samples...

Entry #2: I had other loves, though... The sweet memory of my first love still invigorates my weary body. Shuhana... an apothecary in Hatora. When I was young, she let me sample all the new cure-alls she discovered. Some people said they didn't do anything, but I think they're why I stayed so healthy adventuring. I wonder if she still gives some lucky young man free samples...

Entry #3: When I turned 15, I left Hatora to start my adventuring career. I didn't leave because I saw Shuhana kissing Kamas. I left because Shuhana wasn't the woman in my memory. And that was the woman I wanted to find.

Entry #4: When I set out, a spotted ostrich in Withered Fields took me by surprise. As if it had been trained, it stole my bag as it sprinted past. I'd barely left home, and was already penniless.

Entry #5: I met Kakki the apothecary at Widesleeves. Perhaps she reminded me of Shuhana. At any rate, I couldn't leave.

Entry #6: In Anvilton, I met a beautiful woman named Anna. I was smitten as soon as we dined together. She was curious about the world beyond, and listened to me attentively. If I'd paid equal attention to her, I might have ended up with more than dinner.

Entry #7:Unfortunately, she was the lover of a Shadowhawk. If I'd known, I woiuld have given her a wider berth. As it was, the criminals kidnapped me.

Entry #8:Luckily, I escaped the Shadowhawk hideout... thanks to a woman named Azna, my prison guard. But despite my escape, I still learned my lesson: I'll never touch a woman who already has a man. Especially if he can find out easily.

Entry #9:When I went to the Automaton Factory, I stepped in a steaming pile of yata manure. It's such a disgusting town.

Entry #10:I tamed a yata in the yata pasture. It's much better to ride than to walk, especially carrying a heavy load. And with a strong mount, you can offer rides to others. Especially if those others are attractive!

Entry #11: I met a young Narayana in Tigerseye. Adult Narayanas are hideously ugly, but they're so sweet and cute as youths. I don't understand how such lovely babies grow into such monstrous creatures... what a waste.

Entry #12: I met an explorer named Skajan in the Mahadevi Jungle. He said Alkaran's ruins still remain, and suggested I search a broken statue for clues. I didn't trust his smile, so I didn't listen. Later, I head that anyone who does as he suggested turns to stone. Bastard! Beware those types as an adventurer.

Entry #13: When I reached Poacher's Watch, I met Diraal. Maybe it's all because of Shuhana, but I can't resist a woman holding a medicine bottle. I wonder if my mystery love was an alchemist?

Entry #14: After lavishing coin on Diraal, I ran out of money. I got a job panning for gold--and how odd it was to see gold in water instead of the neck of a beauty! I heard that a Narayana city called Hal Hahpa is made of gold... could such a thing be true?

Entry #15: The City of Towers was the first big city I'd ever seen. There were so many people... and so many beautiful women. It was as if each one was calling out to me, telling me to stay awhile and enjoy city life with my gold-panning wages. What could I do but obey?

Entry #16: I went to a tavern to find a willing lass to pass the night with, but instead met a man named Samiad. I don't usually waste time talking to men, but he had as many interesting stories as I do, and we became friends. It was he who suggested I write a memoir of my travels!

Entry #17: I was forced to flee from the City of Towers all too soon. I'd spent a sweet night with a woman named Habina, until her husband walked in on on us. And swinging a knife at me, no less! I had hoped to hand my travel record to Samiad for publishing, but left it behind in the chaos of escape.

Entry #18: I met Hassemia at the Mahadevi Port. I vividly remember our times together, and the way she worked her voluptuous body. I longed to spend another week with her, at least, but I had to flee once again when her blacksmith father swung a hammer at my... well, swung a hammer at me. But all was well: she was not the woman in my memories anyway.

Entry #19: Later, on the coast, a wereshark attacked me! I would have died if a mischievous little wereshark named Mikki hadn't saved me. He wanted to become a real Harani by eating garlic and mugwort. I wonder if he managed it? I should visit someday; might find the little brother I always wanted.

Entry #20: I'd heard rumors about how intoxicatingly beautiful mermaids are, and I went to find some. By the gods, what disgusting, slimy creatures! The fishy smell would be easy to ignore, if not for their slithery bodies! It took all my determination just to shake one's hand.

Entry #21: Eventually, I found a caved filled with a winged race called Astras. I searched the cave top to bottom, but found only men. By the gods! A female Astra would've looked like an angel come to life. What a terrific waste!

Entry #22: Some guards at the checkpoint stopped me on my way to Austera. The overseer, Abimar, claimed I looked like a smuggler. Alas, all I smuggle are sweet memories! They were unconvinced, and I spent 5 days in interrogation. In torture. I would have thought my handsome face alone would have been enough to prove my innocence: smugglers should look nondescript!

Entry #23: When I reached Austera, I met a woman named Miyan. Though her name meant "moon" in some ancient tongue, she wasn't striking, or exotic, or voluptuous. Ordinarily I wouldn't have bothered with her, but I overheard that she was Abimar's sister. I decided to toy with her for revenge against my interrogation.

Entry #24: I'd never met a woman I couldn't charm. And surely Miyan wasn't that popular among men; I expected her to faint with joy at the sudden attention. Instead, she shattered my pride. She ignored my sweet words for weeks, then finally said she was engaged. I was stunned beyond words.

Entry #25: I decided then and there to seduce her. I would make her love me, and when she did, I would laugh and leave her. And then I would finally taste the honey of revenge. To wound my torturer, Abimar, I would wound his sister.

Entry #26: I took a job at a pub in the harbor called The Goat & Gargoyle. One of Miyan's other brothers worked there, and Miyan visited frequently. I observed her closely, watching for clues as to how to make her mine. I stole her handkerchief and memorized her scent.

Entry #27: One hundred days passed. I managed to speak to Miyan, but only in passing. She would pay me no real attention. Clearly, this was an entirely different breed of woman. And success would require entirely different measures.

Entry #28: I decided to get rid of Miyan's fiance. Not kill him, of course; I did have some morals, some limits. But get him out of the picture. Her fiance, Grimax, worked as a bodyguard for the Kalia family. At the bar, I told some Halcyona Pirates that Grimax had discovered a vast treasure. I said he kept working only to hide that fact, and that he was terrified of being kidnapped and held for ransom, losing his riches. I said only his fiance knew where he kept it.

Entry #29: Predictablly, the first thing the Halcyona Pirates did was abduct Grimax and hold him for ransom. They demanded an astronomical sum. But of course, there was no vast treasure for Miyan to surrender. But instead of simply giving up and moving on, she went to the eldest Kalia son.

Entry #30: She spent the night with him. At dawn, a carriage dropped her off at The Goat & Gargoyle, not because he'd wanted to send her home in comfort... but because she could barely walk. The Kalia son paid Grimax's ransom.

Entry #31: Miyan's eyes once shone like an oasis, but were reduced to nothing more than a wasteland. They were like the eyes of a corpse. Something had shattered inside of her. Her heart. Staring at her changed face, I finally realized why I had fought so hard for her, why I had done these terrible things: I loved her.

I loved her, but I had destroyed her.

Entry #32: Grimax returned with one arm missing. He came to The Goat & Gargoyle every night and drank until he passed out. He seemed to know what Miyan had done to save him. I spent hours staring at him, at what I'd done, and sipping the local wine. All I could taste was bitterness. All I could do was clutch Miyan's handkerchief to my heart.

Entry #33: When he would awaken and drag himself home, Grimax would beat Miyan mercilessly. I was furious. Finally, one day I followed him home and attacked him. I punched him harder and harder, and he was far too drunk to defend himself. I would have killed him, but Miyan stopped me. Her tearful eyes cut me straight to the quick.

Entry #37: I found an old box under Lutesong Hill. I was curious what was inside, but didn't have the key. What kind of precious object could fit in a box of that size?

Entry #38: I went to the busiest tavern I could find and tried to lose myself in the crowd, drinking and watching the full moon out the window. Moon. Miyan. She sprung back into my mind, the memory of her presence crashing against me like waves on a shore. I couldn't recall what she looked like. It was as if her portrait had simply been painted over.

Entry #42: Gorillas attacked me at the Shrine of Reunion. I was so surprised to see them, I ended up falling off a cliff. I lay in the brush at the bottom, enveloped in pain, and closed my eyes. "This is how you die," I thought, just before blackness overtook me.

Entry #53: A priest at a Shrine to Salphira told me that a sacred energy with divine powers dwelt in Silent Forest. I went there immediately. Surely divine powers could maintain Banya's humanity.

Entry #58: I made it to a small islet in the middle of the lake and found a wood elemental there that was willing to talk. I questioned it about the power of the gods, and it said the giant trees had been imbued with that power. When I asked what the original source of the power was, the elemental said it was at the bottom of the lake. The archeologist had been right.

Entry #63: Some said that you could win the power of the gods by winning a bet against the god Loka. So, I journeyed to Rookborne Basin, the land nicknamed "Loka's Chessboard." I wondering what kind of a gamble a mere human could win against a god.

Entry #69: As I fumed at the old Firran, one of his friends explained Nuthur was senile. My cheeks flushed with shame. I'd nearly gotten myself killed by orcs from listening to some senile old Firran. I'd need to be more careful who I trusted in the future.

Entry #75: I began to drift off to sleep; it was not an unpleasant sensation. But then, I remembered Miyan. I had not yet fully atoned for her death. Giving Banya permanent life as a human being... that would be the ultimate atonement. A sense of responsibility filled me, spreading its warmth throughout my entire body. It felt like the energy that had overtaken me in the lake.

I swung the handle of my dagger at the wall again, prying out a chunk for another foothold.

Entry #77: The air was as thin wraith's cloak, and I could barely breathe... but I barely noticed. I sat and watched the ships sailing off the coast of Villanelle, creeping across the water as if in slow-motion. Gazing down at the world through passing clouds--it was like the point-of-view of a god.

Entry #82: I managed to get myself employed in the household of a local marchesa; a royal house was the best place to gain more details about the planned expedition. I deliberately bumped into the marchesa numerous times, throwing out a witty phrase at each opportunity.

I was engaging enough that she appointed me as her personal manservant. It was somewhat rewarding to know that I still had my charms.

Entry #85: I secured a position as a worker on one of the expedition parties. The marchesa was more than happy to give me a positive reference, though she regretting seeing me leave. However, my happiness was short-lived. It quickly transformed into... utter joy. Banya had come to see me off.

We spent a few blissful weeks together. She occasionally turned into a fox, but I kept her safe. We even found a remote cabin for her to rent while I was gone, where she'd be safe from hunters and prying eyes.