Ohn's diary

Ohn's diary is found by searching a crate east of the High Priestess Zul-Harcinqa, after speaking to her. It is written by Ohn, and provides a backstory on how the tribe of Zul-Andra came to be. It can be stored in a POH bookcase.

5th Bennath
Another day of being lost in this terrible swamp. We can't go north again; the clans will track us down in the woods.

Mortarium and his son, little Onan, have been trying to catch some fish. They've had no luck catching anything in the sea, so now they're trying for eels in the swamp. At first I thought I'd rather starve than eat something from out of the swamp, but it's been so long since we had food... anything's got to be better than this.

How did this swamp even form? It doesn't smell natural. That old gnome woman and her children seem to know something about it, but they're not telling. The daughter let slip that they're from some kind of settlement in the eastern mountains, though I've never heard of a gnome town there.

6th Bennath
Mortarium and Onan are still having no luck catching eels. To be honest, I think we should go back up north and take our chances with the clans. Nothing can possibly live down here.

7th Bennath
A terrible night. Turns out something can live in the swamp after all.

It came in the night, some kind of colossal serpent, all fangs and lashing tail, spitting venom and breathing toxic fumes. It ate five of us before we were all properly awake. I've said we should leave this place. I'd rather face the clans than be eaten by a giant snake. But that gnome woman's got a plan.

I don't trust her. On the other hand, no-one else has any ideas.

Still, I really don't trust her.

8th Bennath
That was the most horrific thing I've ever seen. The gnome woman had a plan alright. If I'd realised what she was going to do, I'd have walked straight out on my own.

She'd made us build a big campfire by the edge of the swamp, where the snake appeared yesterday. As darkness fell, we gathered by the fire, waiting for the snake to return. Which it did.

When it rose out of the swamp, ready for another meal, there was the gnome woman holding little Rentos, her son. She shouted to get the snake's attention, and held Rentos out for it to eat.

He was screaming, but she didn't bat an eyelid. She handed him straight to the snake. One gulp later, and Rentos was gone.

Then the snake turned back to the gnome woman, and she spoke to it. I thought she'd get eaten for sure, and serve her right, but the snake listened to her.

Turned out that was her plan - feed little Rentos to the snake to get its attention, so she could offer a deal. And it worked. She promised the snake that if it let us live, and didn't wipe us all out, we would bring it regular sacrifices.

She even promised that we would worship the snake as our god, forsaking Seren, and we would be its people.

Well, it seems to have worked. The snake retreated into the swamp, and we're all still alive. Except for poor little Rentos.

9th Bennath
Mortarium's finally caught some eels! They look and smell dreadful, as expected, but everyone's so hungry that we're going to eat them anyway.

That crazy gnome woman says the eels must have been sent by the snake god. She thinks he's accepted her deal, and is letting us live on the condition that we send him sacrifices. So she thinks the snake is sending us eels to feed us, so that we in turn can feed him.

The horrible thing is that she seems to be right. The snake's kept away since she fed Rentos to it.

Her daughter doesn't seem to mind either. I don't get it. If I had a brother, and he got fed to a giant snake as part of a demented bargain, I'd scream my head off. The girl must be as crazy as her mother.

10th Bennath
It's the 3rd day since that gnome woman turned us into a food-farm for the giant snake, and every day I find more reasons to distrust her. She's taken over the whole group now, and is calling herself the High Priestess of Zulrah - Oh yes, she's decided the snake is called Zulrah. Can't imagine where she got that name from.

Now she wants us all to change our names, to honour Zulrah. So I've got to call myself Zul-Ohn.

11th Bennath
That crazy gnome woman says it's time to make another sacrifice to Zulrah. She made a big speech about what a great honour it would be for the chosen sacrifice, and how their death would form part of the contract between Zulrah and our people.

The people are believing every word of it, too. Some girl even started shouting 'I volunteer as tribute'. But the High Priestess is going to choose the sacrifice this afternoon. Well, she'd better not choose me.