JoS/Kanna/9th Journal - Twin Lamps
Frostfall, 16th, 3E 427
(By Karim)
I received summons from Caius Cosades for a special job he had for me. It surprised me, because this is the first time he's directly contacted me on this island. He also said that he's been very happy with everything I've done here so far, interviewed me for a while about any strange occurrences I've come across, but considering that I had no valuable information to give to him, we left it at that.
The actual job is regarding our fellow Blades member who's gone missing on a job, a woman who hasn't reported back to him. I first thought he was referring to Aliya since she's been out for a while, but while Caius is concerned about her whereabouts, this isn't about her.
Elone is the missing woman's name. She's a Redguard like me, a scout and an agent who alongside a Nord male named Sjorvar have been tasked in monitoring the smuggling rings and operations around the West Gash and Bitter Coast Regions. Elone's last report to Caius came a month ago regarding how one shipment of illegal goods she had been tracking had led her to a large slave-run plantation on the shores of lake Hairan, directly to the east of Pelagiad. This plantation in question is the Dren Plantation, one of the biggest centers of operation for Camonna Tong.
Caius tried to warn her to not get close to that place, but it might've fell on deaf ears. It's not like her to not report back to Caius regularly, or so he says, so she's most likely in some kind of trouble. Or she's dead. One or another. There aren't too many Caius can trust with this mission, but he says that I'm perhaps the best warrior he has at his disposal, based on what he's heard from me. That's why, he wants me to infiltrate this plantation, find out what happened to her, and save her if I can.
To get help on this mission I should first contact someone called Sterdecan, a good friend of Caius; not a member of the Blades, but rather a faction called the Twin Lamps. They're abolitionists who help slaves escape their masters on this island. A noble mission if you ask me. This dude can help me and provide me with information.
This'll without a doubt be a difficult mission, and probably a long one too. I can't risk to endanger Kanna by bringing her along with me, so she'll stay home. She's saying she wants to do some work and traveling independently. Fine I guess, as long as she doesn't do anything stupid. I know she's grown to be strong-willed and capable of defending herself if need be.
Frostfall, 17th, 3E 427
(By Karim)
Sterdecan is a Redguard man in his thirties who works under a guise of a poor farmer. He keeps a good façade with his wooden hut, small plot of arable land and a pier with an old fishing boat at the easternmost point of lake Amaya, but make no mistake about it, he's a warrior. He's dedicated his life to helping and freeing slaves from their masters with a particular interest in this region. His reasons are rather personal due to him spending his childhood in slavery.
He explained to me a lot about his work, mostly explaining to me what kind of beast we're up against. You hear about Camonna Tong a lot in these parts of Morrowind, but until you've come face to face with them you don't really know what kind of organization they really are. Sterdecan's description of them was as follows: "Take every unfair stereotype about a xenophobic Dunmer you can think, and then make it reality. Sprinkle in violent crime, slave trade and drugs, and finally, multiply it ten-fold. That's Camonna Tong in the nutshell."
That sadly doesn't even begin to describe how much of a problem they are. Nobody would worry about a band of ten or so bandits running this kind of business, but these guys are different. They have thousands of members, influence even beyond the borders of Morrowind, and they have money. Lots of it. Their kingpin himself, Orvas Dren, is a shrewd businessman, hailing from one of the richest families of this land, and he's got a lot of people on his payroll from independent businesses all the way to government-employed guards and corrupt officials. Sterdecan doesn't know exactly how far his influence goes, but he knows for the fact that Dren has members of the House Hlaalu's council in his pocket ready to do his whim against the will of the people. That is a big deal, too big of a deal for Twin Lamps to overcome alone.
Speaking of Twin Lamps, I also got to learn more about them too. As a faction they are very small with less than a hundred members, most of which are former slaves on their own right. Naturally, here in the land of the Dunmer where slavery is still legal, they have a lot of enemies, which forces them to employ tactics similar to those of other shadowy organizations, most of which operate illegally. Despite being small, they do have rich benefactors and backers to their cause, especially within the Empire. Their unofficial guild hall is actually located in the Castle Ebonheart with the Legion known to bankroll some of their missions against slave-traders.
Anyway, we're been going over our plan for a while now. Sterdecan has an insider within the plantation, who we can get information from, an Argonian by the name of Tim-Shei, more commonly known as Hums-In-Silence. If I tell him his real name, he will ask me a question about the Twin Lamps. I should reply with a code-phrase to prove to him that I'm an ally. He should tell me information about any and all recently captured slaves.
As for getting in, Sterdecan has a plan, and it should work. Always has in the past according to him. He handed me some forged papers which claim that I'm a Hlaalu Oathman sent by Nevena Ules to do some kind of routine check for… Something… Sterdecan told me to make something up. The guards aren't too bright there. Miss Ules is a member of Hlaalu Council deep in Dren's pocket, so just dropping her name should be enough for them to let me in. He just warned me to not get in contact with Orvas Dren himself, because that guy will know something's up if he sees me.
Hopefully everything will go as planned.
End of current content.