One day I received a shocking message from one of my informants in Venna. I was handed an original letter from one of Venna's leader, in which the downfall of the city had already been planned and decided.
Well, I won't wait for the city to turn to ashes, but act in good time, especially since a new reporter has recently been working in the HQ and another one in Port Kar. I'll tell you more about that later, another story.
So I boarded the ship and was looking for a new location for a GMG HQ.
in the hurry i didn't know in which direction the ship was heading and when i woke up after a restless night below deck i was surprised to find myself in the north again. The ship stopped at a small island in northern Thassa.
Whispers Island!
Is it a sign of Freya that I ended up here in the north of my origins?
I got off the ship and threw the veil into the water. Finally breathe freely again..
Thanks Freya!!!!!!!!!
So, as fate and the gods demanded of me, I decided to anchor here and open my new headquarters. Negotiations with the jarl of the island, Leonidas Carton, were quickly done to everyone's satisfaction.
Leonidas gave me a huge house for my headquarters and I chose a small house for my home. It's enough for me because it's just for rest and I have to work through most nights anyway.
After a short time, I also saw some residents of Venna, how their new home was being built here on the island, many have already fled because word got around behind closed doors about what will happen to Venna.
Some have also fled the machinations of the new administrator.
The administrator and his wife Tenka were already on the island as spies and checked who lived where or went where.
The two should rather take care of their own problem, Tenka has returned pregnant after her kidnapping and Argos has hastily taken over his ward as FC. He will raise a bastard and make that bastard his successor, a criminal's child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But let's let people live their lives as long as they let us live ours, which unfortunately isn't always the case. The controlling power of Argos and his kind is great and will destroy any city in the long run.
Only those who stand up and don't accept being manipulated by such people can be proud of themselves with their heads held high.
But now to another experience.
I have already written that GMG has finally found two very capable reporters, Lady Sasha and Sir Yuki.
It was planned to open a branch in Imperial Ar, but this was abandoned after a few days.
The Ubar Marlenus gave much power to his Kaijiae, who went about as his queens of Sheba. Their "aesthetic sense" didn't appeal to my GMG logo and they offered an open house style that was more reminiscent of a pavilion than a newspaper office building.
this building had 6 arched entrances but not a single window.
In my desperation i hung curtains on which you could close and was protected from prying eyes, but as soon as these curtains were hanging i was asked to remove them because the "aesthetic eye" of the kajira swelled.
The next day, I found all my company logos in the trash, but there was a plain sign above the door that said Gorean Moons Gazette.
Nowhere near was a my company logo and it was a very bad fake. But that was the decisive factor in closing the branch as soon as it was opened, also canceled all other contracts with this city and Lady Sasha went to Port Kar as Head of Branch.
Yes, it should be added that in the imperial Ar Lady Sasha, a free woman from the blue caste, was supposed to live in a house in the slums next to the brothel. Lady Sasha was more than outraged by this action and refused to move in there.
The oh so glorious Ar lets the high caste citizens live in the slums, congratulations, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After being on the island for a few days I wanted to... well, you know how curious I am... discover its secrets and hoped for a good story.
The whispers in the island city then told many secrets of caves and underground dungeons and passages.
At night, when everyone was asleep, I grabbed a lit torch and left my house, which is across from the new headquarters.
Nobody should see me when I was secretly exploring.
What should happen to me on a sleepy island?
I walked down Main Street to the main square, which had gate-like passageways in all directions, and took the path that led out of town into the rural part of the island. Soon I came into a forest, the darkness was getting darker and darker. but the roar of the Thassa and the throbbing of the gout indicated the nearness of the beach.
So I took this one path and then another through the forest, going in circles many times and feeling frustrated inside.
It can't be that the whispering voices of the townsfolk are lying, so I took a closer look and went deeper into the forest, even though it was very spooky.
I discovered some caves, one of them was a mine. Then the waterfall caught my attention and I started the climb. Where the waterfall first met rocks, a shallow, shallow stream flowed.
Careful not to slip, I waded through the shallow water and through the creek.
Given the steep entrance to the cave, it must be an apparently deep cave.
Darkness.......... my heart was pounding wildly in my chest, somehow I didn't feel good but I had to appease my curiosity and went down the steep path into the cave which meandered a few times and When I came down I thought my heart stopped.
I literally gasped when I saw what I'd rather not see.
I stood in the center of the cave where I was taken to interview the hooded pirate monsters.
Let's get out of here, those were my thoughts and I ran as fast as I could up the steep path out of the cave.
When I got to the top, I ran through the creek and back along the forest path. Tears ran down my cheeks and left a salty taste on my lips, or was it the salt of the Thassa whose waves were heard again.
A loud cracking of the branches and a low babble of voices stopped my run and I looked for cover and a hiding place.
There was a small ledge behind which I jumped and ducked, quickly smothering the flaming torch in the sandy soil, barely trying to breathe.
My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and I could make out figures, tall men, strong men, and in the dim light of the three moons, sabers and swords could be made out. Hats or hoods pulled low over the face, the lower half of the face covered with beards, facial features were not recognizable.
There were seven or eight men, four of them carrying a large, apparently very heavy box, and disappeared into the cave from which I had just come.
I was glad not to be spotted and stayed under cover for a while until the footsteps could no longer be heard. I didn't dare light the torch again because the sight would have given me away, so I ran back to town as if Loki really was after me. When I got home I locked my door and had to sit down because now my legs were shaking and my heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to burst.
Tired and exhausted, I lay down on the bed and tried to calm down.
Tomorrow I will have to talk to the Jarl of the island, have to confess my nightly single-handedness to him, but the fact of what I discovered and saw left me no other choice.
Where have I ended up?
Isn't the island as harmless as it seems?
Fatigue overcame me and I fell into a fitful sleep plagued by nightmares.