The pages in this book are very smudged and hard to read. It is written in western common and you manage to slowly bridge together the missing words. The cleanest copy you can manage reads as follows.


Ferragusto 8th, 311 Dead Reckoning
          It has been over 100 years since the beast was last seen. Few even know it exists anymore. If I could only find the beast and manage to control it, this world would be mine. Gilon has no unity, no countries, just city states that trade and war with each other. With the beast to enforce my will, I will be all powerful and Gilon will be a united power. I have been researching the beast for some time now, a task which is difficult at best. Few texts even mention the beast, much less give any useful information. Luckily my “fellow followers” are quite good at finding obscure books. It amazes me how gullible people can be at times. Give a few promises about a decent afterlife and they’ll believe anything you have to tell them. The beast, if it truly exists, is a horrible power yes, but a god it most certainly is not.
          Regardless, their misguided belief is my gain. The books that they have brought to me are priceless, at least once the refuse is sorted through. I have amassed a large library of spell books. Amid them are more spells than a mortal could learn in a lifetime. I’ve picked up more than enough to keep these fools convinced that I am the chosen one.
          I have also gained several rare informative texts. I believe I am on the verge of piecing together the origin of this beast. Further study is no doubt in order.

Ferragusto 15th, 311 Dead Reckoning
          Fascinating! I have managed to piece together a bit of rather interesting information about our world. It seems the beast was sent here from another world. This world was created specifically to house this creature by an advanced race. My best translation of what this race is called is the Gax. There it was called a tarrasque. I am not sure if it is a unique creature or just a particularly powerful specimen.
          The Gax it seems were conquerors and took over several worlds. The tarrasque was one of the few creatures capable of repelling their forces. Rather than fight this beast, the Gax created Gilon and somehow moved the creature here. Luckily, the tarrasque seems to spend much of its life asleep, which is why no one has seen it beyond the scraps of written accounts I have collected.
          This tactic of shipping out undesirables worked so well for the Gax, that they began using Gilon as a prison planet. As far as I can tell, just about all life on this planet is descended from some creature or person who was deemed too powerful or otherwise dangerous to the Gax. I am not sure if this world was meant to be habitable or not. It seems to me if they wanted to ship off threats, they would create a world that would quickly kill off the life they sent. Whether plant and animal life began due to engineering or accident I have yet to determine. Given this information, Gilon may not be as old as legends might have us believe. My best guess is that this world is only about 500 to 600 years old or so. Certainly far less than the current estimate of about 30,000.

Ferragusto 24th, 311 Dead Reckoning
          I have finally found a good, first-hand account of what I believe to be the tarrasque. Within the pages of a diary by some fellow named Finrod Sorul, he mentions “Towering over the buildings and destroying everything in sight was a creature that had to have been at least fifty or sixty feet tall. It was hard to make out features at this distance, and the smoke did not help in that endeavor, but it was lifting buildings from their foundations and tossing them about as a toddler plays with building blocks.”
          While this may very well have been a dragon, I doubt that it was for several reasons. For one he mentions meeting one earlier in the diary so he would know what one looks like. For two the tactics are not those normally associated with a dragon. There was no mention of wings or a breath weapon of any kind. The disappearance of the creature after its massacre would go along with the information I have found about it having spurts of activity followed by long sleep cycles.
          My best guess is that either the battle or some magical disturbance somehow awoke the creature which then destroyed the city to sate its endless appetite. A city that large, I would hope took several weeks to destroy in the very least, unlike the day or two that the diary seems to lead one to believe. Even if taken apart by so large a creature, a city that large could not fall so quickly. It must have begun its rampage before either side knew it was awake. In a city as large as Neconilis, it would have taken days or even weeks for word to spread of the creature’s destruction. Assuming there were survivors to spread the message of course. By the time the warring armies knew there was a greater threat, it would have been too late.
          This explains what happened to that city. I long doubted the rumors that it had been destroyed by a miscast spell cast by Neconilis. Knowing what I do of magic, the amount of magical energy required to destroy a city of that size would be far more than the battle would warrant. Even if the caster was power mad, the worst a miscast would do is either nothing or affect another target. A normal sized city would be too large to be destroyed in such a case. Neconilis was far larger than a normal city.
          Since the trail of destruction never left the city limits, I can only assume that somewhere under the wastelands and rubble that used to be Neconilis, the tarrasque sleeps. It will not take much convincing to get my followers to go on a pilgrimage to find god out there. In the mean time, I will begin construction on a device that will allow me to control the beast once it is found.

Lumen 13th, 311 Dead Reckoning
          It has been some six months and construction of my device is nearly complete. The device which I have decided to call the Rod of the Chosen has come along quite beautifully. I have magically aged the wood and inscribed it with tarrasque carvings. It will be perfect as a “holy relic” once it is complete. I have attuned it to the energies that surround mages so my followers will be convinced that this item was sent to me from god and me alone. It is so easy to fool these simpletons with a little show of magic.
          I have yet to hear back from any followers on the search, but it is winter and the passes would be difficult to cross at best. I am sure I will have some word on progress come spring.

Arthis 1st, 312 Dead Reckoning
          Ah the new year is quite refreshing. The celebrations of last night were a nice break to the work I have been doing on the Rod of the Chosen. The women were especially nice. I forget sometimes how gorgeous some of the women are and how willing they all are to do anything for me. I will have to preach about such activities being a great show of life to our god. It will be nice having several women ready to show their love of life and god. I do so love the gullible.

Arthis 3rd, 312 Dead Reckoning
          I have completed the rod, though it seems to have some alternate properties which I did not initially intend. One of my followers sent a young girl of perhaps 10 or 11 to me to discipline. I spoke with her at length and then proceeded with the customary beating. I do not know how I could have been so stupid, but for some reason I decided to use the rod I have been working on for so long. It was as if there was some dark entity whispering over my shoulder to use it.
          No matter my reasons, I used the rod to strike the child and she instantly crumpled to the ground, very much dead. I swear I heard a laugh, perhaps it was only my nerves as I have been working hard on this rod. I checked the girl in hopes that something could be done and she began to rise. At first I thought she was just fine and was getting up, but something in her gaze… there was no life in it. She had become a zombie and attacked me. Luckily she was small and I had no trouble shoving her off of me. I grabbed the rod and raised it, prepared to defend myself and she stopped. I glanced at the rod, then pointed it at her and told her to sit. She instantly complied. I put the rod down for a moment and she continued sitting. I experimented a little then finally instructed her to go back to her parents and do everything they tell her to do. It is time to unveil my creation I think.

Arthis 4th, 312 Dead Reckoning
          Most strange. There must be some side effect to some spell I cast. My hands chill everything I touch. I cannot feel cold nor much of anything for that matter. When I touch a person, the flesh chills and becomes frost bitten. I have started to wear gloves to hide this and I do not think anyone has particularly noticed. I can no longer enjoy the touch of a woman as I feel nothing. This condition, whatever it is, must be fixed.

Arthis 17th, 312 Dead Reckoning
          A few have noticed there is something different about me and I have been forced to change them into zombies to keep them quiet. I feel as though someone is watching me. Scrying magics perhaps? I will have to better ward my chambers just in case.

Arthis 30th, 312 Dead Reckoning
          My condition is growing worse it seems. My breath chills in the air no matter the temperature of the room. If I blow hard, my breath chills things and encases them in a thin layer of ice.

Berrith 28th, 312 Dead Reckoning
          I have many wards up but still I get the feeling of someone watching me at all times. Perhaps it is just my followers, they are all noticing my changes. My skin has begun to change blue and I can shift the colors of myself and my possessions to be unseen. I have tried to explain that this was merely signs of my ascension so that I may better commune with god when he returns to unite the world. Some are convinced, and those that are not I will simply have to convert into zombies.

Canth 5th, 312 Dead Reckoning
          I am growing more and more sensitive to heat by the day. I have tried several spells to try to remove this condition, but nothing helps. During some meditations yesterday I dissolved into a misty fog. If this grows worse I may not be able to reform when that happens again.
          Winter is lasting oddly long this year. I would have expected spring to have started a month ago. If the people I sent out do not return soon I will have to transform everyone into zombies.

Goldun 21st, 312 Dead Reckoning
          It should be mid summer by now, but still the snows fall. We are running low on food and the few remaining followers still alive have begun to panic. The snow is getting heavy and just the other day part of this temple crushed under the weight of the falling snow. We cannot leave this place and will most likely die here if the snows do not stop soon.
          I have stopped giving sermons, they take up too much of my precious time. Now I must not only find a cure for my condition but find some way to change this weather as well.

Ferragusto 20th, 312 Dead Reckoning
          Summer is almost finished and my remaining followers keep showing up at the door demanding answers. It is a shame that I will have to silence them.


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