The Journal of Estelle Yuasa, Baroness of Tumbling Vault
This report describes the experiences of Estelle Yuasa, the Baroness of Tumbling Vault, as she explores the Shielder Mountains in the 209th year of Paraceln's Age. It is written in a straightforward fashion, but contains some surprising discoveries supported by careful research.
Possession of this tome is worth **** Research Points per session. If delivered to the Church, this tome is worth **** Prestige Point. With a year of study and **** Research Points, this tome will provide information on the topic of The Naga.
My name is Estelle Yuasa, and I am the Baroness of Tumbling Vault, a position I earned by masterminding an attack on a strange fortress in the Shielder Mountains. Since that date, I have led my family's efforts to explore the northern mountains. I do not know why I am given these orders, I simply know that the Yuasa command me, and I obey.
...
It is the summer of year 209, and I have spent the last three months scouting the mountain passes in the company of a number of Yuasa rangers and a pair of Veiled Guard advisors. The rangers are simple men who understand force. When I accepted this assignment years ago, a hairy-faced ranger named Jacques decided that his charms would be certain to win over the innocent Yuasa maiden who now gave him orders. Like many men, he felt alcohol and force made his charms irresistible. Now Jacques is a hairy-faced ex-ranger who walks with a pronounced limp.
The worst thing about this job is that there are always more Jacques.
The Veiled Guard are more interesting. Daisuke is very professional and very good at what he does. He is definitely not a Jacques. Kaori is more interesting. She's about a year younger than I am. At first, I thought she and Daisuke might be a couple. However, now that I've been with the two for several months, I no longer believe that. She's dealt with her own Jacques at least once, and Daisuke never even raised a hand to help her.
...
New orders. The Duke of Alban has arranged to send us back for a more careful investigation of some of the sites we tagged last summer. I've decided to start with the floating castle.
...
They say that before Paraceln's Vision, dozens of floating castles soared over Komaru. You see bits of them sometimes, generally where there's enough cut stone that the scavengers don't bother taking them apart. This one's never been touched by scavengers, but it still didn't take its fall well. I can't imagine living in one of these things. I don't want to imagine what it was like living in them when they came down.
...
We've been inside the castle for a week now. We've found some interesting things. There's a hallway covered in murals of serpents. I didn't much care but Adrienne, one of the rangers, seemed near to breaking. She's probably a serpent freak. My cousin is one too. I've never much gotten into the idea of mysticism, and I just find venerating poisonous reptiles funny, but he obviously cared deeply. As near as I can tell, the serpent thing is some sort of link to the Yuasa past. Whatever.
...
More serpents, more broken rock. There are signs that people have been here, but not for a long time. If this is the big threat the duke and the Veiled Guards care about, they better send a lot of people to move all this stone. I'm moving on to the monastery.
...
It's been three weeks since we moved in on the monastery, and I still have no idea how to take the place. The approaches are all watched, and even if I had a cannon, there's no good place to deploy it. People move about on the walls in heavy black robes, and at night we catch glimpses of flames, but no one comes in or out. I'd swear I was watching Veiled Guards, but Daisuke simply shakes his head now.
...
I saw a red-robed man on the walls. Just once. If there are people in there, they have enough food and water that they don't need to come out, and I don't have enough men to force my way in. It'd take an army to crack that nut. Three more days, and on to the hidden valley.
...
This is more my kind of work. We slipped in around the valley rim at night, using our rappelling gear. In their armor, I didn't figure Daisuke and Kaori could pull it off silently. But I was wrong. Daisuke had no problems, and moved like a panther. Kaori got stuck partway down a cliff. I was nearest at hand, and helped her get disentangled. It was tight work, but we worked her free. She was surprisingly appreciative, and so was I.
...
The valley hold a tiny cluster if houses around a circle of raised stones. I think there's a building, or maybe just a pit, at the core of the circle. There seem to be about a hundred and fifty souls in the valley, not counting us. Tomorrow, we will take a closer look.
...
It has been three weeks since the destruction of my team of rangers, and I am lucky to still be alive. The village rats were prepared: they took us at dawn, with amazing stealth. Individually, they were adequate fighters, but their sheer numbers defeated us. Daisuke accounted for several before he fell: they were more cautious in facing Kaori and myself, but eventually subdued us. Soon afterwards, I discovered why.
After the battle, the carnage worsened. The butchered and ate the men under my command. The women were somewhat more fortunate, at least for a time. They stripped us and caged us like wild animals, but very valuable wild animals. Despite obvious interest on the part of several of the vermin, no further liberties were taken.
For three days, our captors simply fed us and ignored us. We decided starving was better than eating the unidentified meat. It took a while to make sense of their language, but as the days passed we realized they were speaking a debased form of our language. On the third night of captivity, they hauled us all out of our cells, bathed us, and then seemed to deliberate on which of us to choose for some great honor. Adrienne's quite enticing serpent tattoo appeared to decide them. They garbed her in a great robe adorned with feathers and pale snakeskin, and escorted her out of our sight. We were returned to our cages and, except for a few screams, never heard from Adrienne again.
...
In the intervening days, Kaori and I became much closer. We realized that the ceremony, whatever it was, had taken place on the night of the full moon, and were determined to escape before they came for us again. Listening to our captors, I learned a number of things: they called themselves the Asawa, and worshipped an entity they referred to as the Naga. Apparently, the Naga had left them long, long ago, and the hoped that the scent of our pure blood would bring her back to them. They were also not entirely human. All of them were short and hunched, and more than once I saw a flash of scaly skin, a forked tongue, or a reptilian eye amidst their ranks.
...
On the night of the next full moon, they came for us, and we were ready. Suffice to say that several of them died as we made good our escape. Once we made it back to our cache of weapons, they had little chance against Kaori and I in an open fight. Bruised and wounded, we returned to my barony.
...
After recovering fully, Kaori and I chose to take a holiday together, and traveled to the estate of my cousin, the Viscountess of Lis de Mer. Cousin Lilly's library allowed me to further investigate several ideas I had while held captive. It appears that the Asawa were an ancient noble family in Komaru who once occupied Yuasa lands. Among other things, they worshipped serpents they called Naga. Our forefathers, who had come across the Eastern Furnace to escape a serpent-worshipping society of our own, drove them into the mountains, along with quite a few traitors within our own ranks. The survivors on our side became the Yuasa; the survivors on their side appear to have become the debased things we met in the north. I find this interesting in light of the fact that the Minamet refer to their enemies as "desert serpents".
...
That concludes my report. If I need to answer further questions, I can be reached at the estate of the Viscountess of Lis de Mer. Kaori and I are quite enjoying our time together by the ocean. Oh, how we wish you were here.
Estelle Yuasa
Baroness of Tumbling Vault