To Banner, Riders of the Watch From Jocelin 

So Kvothe says he's too busy to write the report—probably sharpening his wit more than his sword—but since someone has to tell you what happened, here I am. Hope you're ready for a mess of details and more than one bad smell.

We killed all the trolls. Three big ones. Smart, mean, and almost too much for us, but we managed it. Looted the room they were holed up in. The biggest one had some weird stuff:

• Brown leather boots with fur (magic, abjuration)

• A cloak made of what looked like hairless skin (gross, also magic—transmutation)

• A mithril coffer (we think), locked but not latched

• A petrified troll hand clutching a ruby (creepy)

• A vial of turquoise liquid (magic—transmutation)

• A silver ring with amethyst and thorn engraving (magic—abjuration)

Kvothe put on the boots—they made him feel warm. He also tried the cloak, which shrank to fit him. It hasn’t done anything weird yet. Rindle popped open the coffer—inside was 723 gold and some uncut gems. Not bad for troll hoarders.

We met up with Bogani again, took a long rest, then traveled for a couple more days. Crossed through some water to a little island and got jumped by fish men—kuo-toa. We killed most, but one swam off.

Bogani later explained the kuo-toa are working with the mind flayers. That’s great.

After another day and a half of travel, Bogani blindfolded us—says we’re not allowed to know how to get to Rockhome yet. Led us in, lots of guards and gates. The place is like a city carved into stone, roughly the size of Fallcrest. We met with their leader, a deep gnome priestess named Felani. She cast a spell so we could understand her—pretty handy.

Felani thinks the "womp womp" is a mind flayer experiment. She doesn’t like it. Rockhome wants to stay secret, but they’re willing to work with us. While we’re in their territory, they’ll provide a safe place and supplies. They’re also going to send someone to Broken Spire Keep to help fortify the tunnels. Apparently they’ve got builders we can hire.

She said they’d talk to their council about how much they want us knowing. Next day, we met with her again. Council agreed to an alliance, as long as we keep the location of Rockholm secret. As a gift, they gave us a magic silver bracelet—it lets us teleport back to Rockhome once, as long as we’re holding hands. One use only. If the wearer dies or takes it off, it’s gone. We also got a rough map of the Underdark with this place marked. If we’re ever captured or in serious danger, we’re supposed to destroy the map.

Felani wants us to stir things up—disrupt the mind flayers and their allies. On the way out, Bogani showed us routes toward the City of the Glass Pool. He came back with us to the keep so he can help us coordinate.

When we got back, big surprise: goblins had moved in and started cleaning the place. Twenty-five of them, clearing rubble and even fixing parts of the wall. Said they were told to help. We talked with Freya, and she didn’t argue with it. The goblins were clearly terrified of someone—but who, they wouldn’t say.

Agatha heard a voice in her head—sounded like Voren. He warned her about incursions at his tower’s wards. Said the mind flayers might be turning their attention toward us.

We rested overnight, then Boginy left. Later, the Goblin King showed up. We asked about the Spider Queen, and he’s willing to help. He’s got shamans and warriors. He also slipped up and mentioned a dragon told him to have his people fix the keep and that the dragon might help with the Spider Queen too. Doesn’t know how to reach the dragon again. Sounds like it’s the same one living under the keep, but we don’t know for sure.

We’re heading back to Fallcrest to talk with the Lord Warden—maybe get more help dealing with the Spider Queen.

Freya’s staying behind at the keep to keep an eye on things.

—Jocelin