The dates show that these entries were made in several intervals.
The Elizabeth's Favor made good time along the coast. Captain Guy and his crew had made this trip countless times. While it had taken us a week to travel to Jhelom, it would only take us a few days to return from it.
We had decided to return to Paws, while Robert continued to Avalon, to investigate the situation with Matthew. From there, we would likely return to Avalon and speak with Susanna about the information we had gathered about the sword of Yeverex. After that... we would see what would happen from there.
After stopping in Paws briefly for supplies, and making arrangements for our horses, we made our way into the hills. Returning to the camp was easy enough. There was a clear path heading up the mountain, made by the passing of many feet. The state of the camp was surprising. There had been conflict here. The arrangement of the soldiers around the mouth of the odd cave left little doubt about where the danger was coming from.
Matthew himself seemed surprised to see us. He was loathe to let us explore the cave. However, after some discussion (and some ill-advised name-dropping from Marcel), we entered into a contract of employment. Though it went against what Susanna told us, allying ourselves with Matthew seemed the only (non-covert) way of entering the cavern.
While there, we made the acquaintance of Forgeborn. I had never seen so many forgeborn in one place, and was curious. We spoke briefly with one, named Arex. He seemed "normal" enough, though he seemed curious to meet perytons. I imagine that was his version of wanting to go birdwatching.
We spent the night at the camp. Before the night was over, however, there was an attack. The forgeborn had guarded the entrance of the cavern, and killed two of the odd gray creatures.
The bodies were humanoid, gray skinned, and vaguely resembled goblinkind... if a goblin's face were elongated and less cracked. That was not the most unusual part of the corpses, however. I discovered a symbol on the armor of the corpses: a hand, closed in a fist, in black and purple.
Though the discovery was startling, Valicus had no explanation for it. The emblem had been in his family for a long time, but it was apparently never explained. The question, it seemed, would not be answered without intervention from Valicus' family, alive or not.
The next morning, we were allowed to enter the cavern. The Forgeborn accompanied us. There were two tunnels. We picked one, while the Forgeborn explored the other.
I tried to take a quieter approach, but the lack of light (and my companions' lack of experience at being discreet) made that unrealistic. We found our way into a large room, full of rubble, with a large central pillar. There, we happened upon a scouting group of the goblin-like creatures.
We were discovered, and I spoke briefly with them. Their language was similar to the green-skinned, shorter goblins that I was familiar with... yet, there were some differences. They seemed to consider the other goblins to be "lesser", even if they referred to themselves, and used the same words for themselves, as the other goblins did.
They seemed to consider the Forgeborn to be "abominations" of some sort... the servants of the children of the enemy, though it was unclear who the enemy was. Or who the children of the enemy were.
I made a gamble, and mentioned the sword of Yeverex, which they seemed very interested in. We were allowed to leave, but it was unclear whether we would be safe if we decided to return. After recounting this information to Matthew, he presented us with orders to let the sword be looked at by his associates.
I am uncertain whether this is a good idea, as Susanna warned us about turning the sword over to them, as they apparently confiscate property for themselves. However, I would not turn the sword over to the high goblins either. If they were the ones who made the sword, then it was likely that it was created for the sake of using against the Forgeborn. It would be unwise to hand over a weapon that could be used against our allies.
Full of unanswered questions, we headed to Avalon.