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Nimue's Journal - Day 1
The town of Seyda Neen is lovely, but there's a huge contrast between those who have and those who don't. The first thing you see when you enter the town is a circle of nice homes. There are people walking about and you would think that Seyda Neen was a prosperous little place. On the other side of those buildings, however, are a few really ragged-looking little huts of the kind you'd expect to see in some remote fishing village. Even so, the place is hauntingly beautiful what with the lush vegetation, and the mournful cry of the silt strider drifting through the air. I say that pretty casually, don't I? But the thing is huge! I thought some horrible creature was attacking the town until I realized that the huge insects were coming and going on a regular basis and they weren't making a move to bother anybody. Then somebody named Vodunius Nuccius suggested that I take a silt strider to Balmora. When I looked at him blankly, he pointed to one of the huge insects. He told me that I should mention his name to the elf at the silt strider port just outside of town. I'm beginning to think that the people who say Morrowinders are unfriendly just haven't been here. So far, everybody has been most pleasant, except for that Sellus Gravius fellow. Even the guards are reasonably friendly. They might tell you to move along, but if you have questions, they are happy to talk. I finally went to Arrille's Trade House and my guess was certainly right. Fargoth must have gotten there before me. He greeted me enthusiastically and gave me prices so low that I was concerned the items might be stolen. On the other hand, beggars can't be choosers. I didn't have an awful lot of money, so I took what I could get. While I was shopping with him, he made several worthwhile suggestions about the best things to buy or the most popular spellbooks and potions. Arrille has an assistant, but it seems as though all she does is stand in the corner. When I tried to include her in the conversation, she started talking about some cousin or friend or something who had found an underwater city. This sounded really exciting, so I tried to get her to tell me where. No luck. She may even have made the whole thing up. On the other hand, it doesn't hurt to keep my eyes open. Arrille has encyclopedic knowledge about this place and he's a big gossip as well. He had something to say about many of the locals, particularly some fellow, named Hrisskar, that hangs around upstairs a lot. Seems that Hrisskar has been losing heavily at gambling and has had some trouble recouping his losses. The funny thing is he wouldn't tell me where Hrisskar has been doing his gambling. Maybe I should check out the upstairs of this place. It's pretty crowded up there. As I was making my way to the bar, I was accosted by the very Hrisskar that Arrille was talking about. He tells me that my friend Fargoth has been holding out on his payments. Hrisskar didn't make it clear what payments he was talking about, but he implied that it was taxes. "I know he's hiding it somewhere," he told me. "Maybe you could help me figure out where. I've looked in his house and it isn't there, so maybe you could keep an eye on him later. If you go to the top of the lighthouse after it gets dark, you can see most of the town. Just watch and see what he does." That didn't seem like too bad an assignment, so I agreed. By that time it was late afternoon. Since I had managed to buy myself some armor and a crude weapon, I decided to do a little bit of exploring. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area in and around Seyda Neen. I never went out of sight of the buildings, but I managed to do a little hunting. I caught myself a few crabs and some fish and made myself a small fire by the edge of the water to cook them. I am amazed at how aggressive the local animals are. As the sun began to set, I made my way over to the lighthouse. Thavere Vedrano, the lighthouse keeper, is a charming and quite friendly woman. She talked about all kinds of things, including the slave situation. She talked so much that I was afraid I'd miss seeing where Fargoth was hiding his stuff. Finally I managed to get away and climb to the top of the lighthouse. As I was going outside, I spotted a book underneath a bench and grabbed it thinking it might be rather boring outside until it gets dark enough for Fargoth to to his thing. The view from the top of the Seyda Neen lighthouse is spectacular. That's the only way I can describe it. You can see the entire village, including the silt strider port. I settled in on the very top and opened my book. I was enjoying the story so much that I suddenly realized it was too dark to see without holding the book up near the lighthouse fire. I stood up and leaned against the post at the corner of the lighthouse. It was perfectly situated for me to be able to see most of the town. I watched the guards wander around with their torches. Some of the townspeople I had met earlier in the day wandered back and forth as well, but I didn't see Fargoth anywhere. In fact, he was conspicuous by his absence. Time passes very slowly when you're waiting. It felt as though the night might be almost over. I was having a hard time staying awake after my voyage and my busy day when, suddenly, I saw Fargoth sneaking around the corner of one of the houses. I woke up in a hurry then. He was carrying a torch and clearly trying to avoid people's attention. He wandered all around the area below the lighthouse and then he walked into a small patch of swampy water. He went in up to his waist and stood there for a few minutes. I couldn't see what he was doing exactly, but I remembered finding a hollowed out log there when I was exploring earlier. I had slipped on the mud around the edge and fallen right into the middle of all that green stinky goo. As soon as he walked around the corner of the houses back into the main section of town, I hurried down the steps of the lighthouse and out into the night. Nobody was around when I got to the spot where I thought Fargoth might have hidden his stash. I stripped off my armor and waded into the swampy, mucky, stinky pond. At least it turned out that I was right. Fargoth had left about 300 gold pieces, a lock pick of some kind and his magic ring. I quickly grabbed everything and climbed back onto dry land. I rinsed myself off in the nearby water and sat on the shore to give my clothes a chance to dry before putting my armor back on. While I sat there, listening to the sounds of the frogs and other night life, I considered just keeping everything and hightailing it out of Seyda Neen on the next silt strider. My sense of honor took over, however, and I decided I'd better follow through. My own feelings aside, I have vowed to uphold law and order and I can't turn my back on that now. Hrisskar was overjoyed when I showed him what I found. He took the 300 gold and gave me 100 for my trouble. He also said I should keep whatever else I found, so I've really come out of this one ahead. I have a magic ring and 300 gold. I'll hold on to the lock pick as well. It might come in handy in some dark dungeon somewhere. Just then, I heard the town crier. It was midnight and I was suddenly exhausted. There were no rooms available at the trade house, but Hrisskar whispered that I might find a bed in the basement of the Excise Office. He was right. I also found a pen and some paper, so I decided to start keeping notes about my experiences here. I'm sure that the people back in the Imperial City will enjoy hearing of my exploits when I get back. And I surely expect to get back there someday. Maybe I'll even return as a hero if this Caius Cosades has some kind of quest in mind. I'm sure he does. I'm not going to find out about it tonight though. I've got to get some sleep. |
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