I will have to begin over four months ago, with the circumstances that
seem to have caused this unfortunate sequence of events.

Netit Venit, the man whose body was pulled from the canal, was my
secretary, and several months ago it was learned that he was using his
position, as secretary to a Treasury official, to not only skim funds but
to involve himself with some nefarious land deals. Much of what was
learned pointed towards an interest in Montfort and its rebuilding. After
an extensive investigation it was decided that it would be preferable to
know who Netit was dealing with, particularly in Montfort since that
seemed to be the most recent of his enterprises, and so it was decided
that he would not be immediately arrested but used to implicate his
cohorts.

It was decided that my upcoming trip to Montfort would be used as a cover
to learn what Netit was about. The plan was to send him on ahead, as is
normal proceedure, to arrange for rooms and to help plan my itinerary
during the Queen of Havenwood's stay and the Bards' Festival. I was to
follow several days later, though well before my "official" arrival, and
meet him at the Dragons' Inn - I also wanted to use this trip to get a
true feel for the town, so I could give an accurate appraisal of the
taxing situation, before I became involved in official duties.  However, I
followed Netit directly into Montfort, but lost him as soon as he hit the
crowds coming into the town for the Festival.

I had taken rooms at the Dragons' Inn under an allias and had hoped to
find Netit there, since that was where we were to meet for the
"unofficial" tour of Montfort. However, I never did see him,
and at first did not connect the body from the canal with Netit's
disappearance. And all I knew was that he had been to the Inn briefly that
first night.

Questioning revealed that he had only been seen there for a short while on
his first night in town. The waitress, Sera, mentioned that she had served
a man fitting his description and that he had ordered some tidbits for a
fluffy white cat. This would have been highly unusual behavior for Netit
and so I queried her further about the cat, which she said she had seen in
the Inn before and thought it belonged to a local mage.

Over the coarse of several more days my concern grew, particularly as the
time passed by for my official arrival. But in that time I had begun to
hear rumors that it was feared that the mysterious body might have been
that of the envoy. Which, I admit, was strange to hear, but had made me
begin to wonder if it was Netit. Perhaps at this point I should have gone
to the Guard, however, in many towns corruption has entered into the local
law and I was unsure who I could trust. It was impossible to tell if
Netit's absence was due to his own desire, random foul play, or one of his
dealings gone bad. Or an attempt against a representative of the
King.

One small clue I had gained, because I knew of Netit's enjoyment of high
living, was that he had also been seen at the Golden Griffin (possibly an
hour or so after being seen at the Dragon's Inn) so I divided my time
between watching there, at the Inn, and asking questions around town.

The night of the attack against me had begun as usual, but right before I
entered the Golden Griffin a young man came up beside me and begged me to
meet him in the park. A dubious request at best, but he said that the mage
(a relation of his) was within the Griffin - it was the man who had killed
Netit but my informant feared for his life. He claimed that the mage was
powerful enough to strike at a distance and kill.

I knew such a meeting was risky and dubious at best, but I was grasping at
straws. I went into the Griffin long enough to prepare a letter and put my
personal seal to it. This letter contained all I knew up to that point and
was delivered to my room at the Inn. I assumed that if there was any foul
play that at some point my room would emptied and the letter with my story
and identity would be found. Since I have yet to return to my quarters the
letter should still be there.

I went to the park - to meet the young man by the fountain - which is
where I went but I saw no one.

Then I began to hear a rhythmic voice quietly chanting, "Wait...." and my
muscles seemed to become leaden. The only two weapons I had on me was a
bag of itching powder (which I threw - with all the desperation of my
plight) and a stiletto. The itching powder must have found its mark
because I heard someone cursing and I could run. However, I didn't get
far, because my assailant recovered themselves and suddenly vines began to
entangle my legs. I remember screaming and fighting for my life as a
hooded figure tried to stab me. My own knife had fallen from my hand.

The individual vanished as help arrived. A tall, thin man, who later gave
his name as Mr. Bran Crow and his companion, a mage who gave his name as
Sven the Magnificent, who is a stout individual. My other rescuer, had
come from dining at the Golden Griffin, and she identified herself as Miss
Batista Dyer, a local cloth merchant.

Mr. Sven offered to try and track my assailant, but soon discovered that
the person had used what he called "anti-tracking magic," and so it took a
while to break the spell. Once this was done we "teleported" after the
assailant. And while I did not want to see a lady at risk, Miss Dyer
stayed with me - I suspect she too questioned the wisdom of letting me go
alone with the two adventurers. But there was no time to lose for
arguement, because I suspected that my assailant and Netit's murderer were
one in the same. In my own mind the attack proved that Netit (whether he
was the body in the canal or not) had fallen to foul play, and I needed to
know the reasons behind these events.

This "teleport" took us near the local shanty town, which was busily
fighting a shanty fire. Mr. Crow is a man of very direct means and grabbed
hold of one of the locals, though it is possible he thought the man the
height of the assailant, but several of the firefighters intevened. We did
learn that the burning shanty belonged to a Fillip Menagrem and his lady,
Denlira, but neither were in evidence. One of the firefighers, a Yals, the
woodcarver, joined our search. And Mr. Sven managed to break a similiar
anti-tracking spell so we could again teleport.

This led us deep into the woods, and after having to break more spells we
were able to follow footprints to a small glen. There we found young
Master Lucc, who Yals and Miss Dyer identified as a local woodsman. He had
been investigating a disturbance in the forest and come upon what appeared
to be a freshly-turned grave. He too joined our search.

Mr. Sven again teleported us and we arrived in a truly desolate scene,
near a horrible set of ruins. Miss Dyer and Yals identified these as
purportedly being the ruins of a Church Citadel, destroyed (rumor said)
in a battle. And it indeed look to be the case. Mr. Sven said that the
magic was very unstable and we found we could follow the assailant's
footprints without having to break any spells.

There appeared to be fresh damage in the ruin and we were able to stumble
down a pile of rocks into the basement. A dire place and I suspect that it
was more likely the dungeon. We made torches from wood we found and clothe
and began to search. There were confused footprints in the dust for us to
follow.

At one point we heard a scream and the sound of running footprints. It
sounded like someone screaming, "I loved you...?"

Mr. Crow followed the sound, since he could move the fastest. I'm afraid
that by this point I was slowing the rest because of my age and
exhaustion.

We caught up with Mr. Crow, who was using his knife in the questioning of
the young man. This we put a stop to and tied up the boy so he could be
brought to the Tower Guard, who, I had been assured was an honest body of
men and women.

Despite their active participation in the incident Mr. Crow and Mr. Sven
declined to accompany us, fearing that a lengthy legal situation would
keep them from a profitable job that was leaving Montfort on the morrow.