My investigations have proved fruitful. And vexing. They have borne vexing fruit. Aheh. Ahee hee. A hum. It seems a child has Victoria. Has a child. Victoria has a child. Not… You know. Anyway, that’s fine. Nuna my bizness. But here’s the thing. The thing is, do you want to know the little scamp’s name?

Darien.

What’s a fellow to make of that, hm? That’s practically myname. I’d remember if I’d’ve done that. How could you forget… bedding down… with someone as… beautiful… and… cruel...as…

At least we got well paid for that fiasco with the golem. I suppose we’ll see what comes of all that nonsense with the Red Star or whatever. This may be an important gap in my education… But I digress. I seems I’m still on good terms with Reg, since he not only paid us for delivering the golem: he threw in an extra 50 gold for bringing along its sword. And even better, he was able to get us five tickets to the wizard rave at the Dega House. Time to resume climbing the social ladder! I have been…

I know we've been calling ourselves The TIP, but sometimes I think we're more of a Hair-Trigger Brigade. I tried to be diplomatic with regards to the sticky ownership of Shoreline Manor. Sure, this sorceress was basically just squatting in the Manor. But that's no reason to unnecessarily make enemies. She could have been a powerful ally, even. And the place is certainly big enough for all of us. And she was quite attractive, with a dramatic sense of style. That flaming red hair and her…

Of course, retrieving the magical mines did not go as smoothly as Iskandar had promised. As the elementals began to rise out of the ground, I realized we had made a mistake in not asking for some of the money up front. Luckily, the TIP pulled together and prevailed. I'm proud of the team we are becoming.

But for some reason, this fight hit several of the party very hard. We'll have to keep an eye on one another, make sure everyone is cared for. I wouldn't want us to survive the physical wounds…

I'd say all in all, things are shaping up rather well. I thought our group was developing a bit of rapport during our time with the rangers and it seems I was right. I'm glad the group has let me find and negotiate our commissions so far. As a child of the city, I know many of them easily overmatch me in combat prowess, so it is nice to still feel useful. And admittedly, it is good to be away from Isard. I didn't fully realize until we were well away from the city how much I had been living in…