I have reached a decision: while I was earlier planning to give my comrades a
generous 10% of the world to rule over after I'd conquered it, they now get to share
a measly 5%.  Except Gohrt, however; he'll get his two percent.  If only because the
thought of him running a country promises to be too hilarious to prevent.  I can just
imagine the fairly well-developed economy spiraling into a depression after he forces
through legislation requiring every man, woman, and child to drink at least five mugs
of ale per day.  Naturally, I'll then have to confiscate that pathetic excuse for a
nation and spend the resources to bring it back to code, but some things are just
priceless enough to be worth it.

	The reason for the change of heart is that the bastards let me sleep in,
while they ran ahead with the next mission from the Ciphers.  Gohrt's exclusion from
my justifiable rage comes simply because he was too drunk to move.  He simply lay in
bed for most of the day.  Which, I must say, was quite impressive, given the noises
that were emanating just a few doors away...  But I'll get to that shortly.

	After I had finished mumbling veiled threats to myself about my companions, I
decided I might as well make some money.  So, I went down to the concierge's desk and
waited.  Soon enough, a dwarf came to the door.  It took me a moment, but I soon
recognized him as Gaine, one of the potential Spectres that had taken the tests with
our group.  I could describe him as a rather straightforward individual with little
grasp of subtlety.  I could more accurately describe him as the blithering idiot that
attempted to reach the top of a tower by bringing it to the bottom.

	In any case, Gaine first asked about the advertisements on the side of the
inn.  Silently cursing the former concierge's unjustified obsession with warlocks and
his newer, slightly more justified, obsession with ogres, I told Gaine as politely as
I could that the 'advertisements' were, quite clearly, graffiti, and therefore not
necessarily the hotel's thoughts.  The dwarf seemed to press the point of an ogre
possibility rather strongly, so, trusting my business sense, I agreed that there was,
of course, always the [i]possibility[/i] of ogres.

	When he asked for a room, I requested some ridiculous sum in the neighborhood
of one hundred platinum pieces.  Which was, admittedly, a bit much.  I 'allowed
myself' to be talked down to five gold pieces.  I then reminded him of the 'risk I
was taking for him' and pocketed another, before telling him that seven was my
favorite number and, therefore, collecting one more.  Reasonably satisfied with my
ill-gotten gains, I showed him upstairs to his room.

	Soon enough, I heard a loud banging coming from upstairs.  A banging, I might
add, that Gohrt managed to sleep through in its entirety.  Naturally concerned, I
went up to investigate.  He had locked the door, so I decided to mess with his head,
casting Message to send a gradually more insistent voice to him.  I believe it ended
with, "Hey!  Give me my money, bitch!"  At that point, he opened the door.  I told
him I had been concerned about the loud screaming from upstairs -- and certainly not
about the hammering -- and that I insisted I investigate what was going on in there.

	He grudgingly opened the door to reveal that he had taken out the floor to
construct...  I almost can't bring myself to write it... a catapault.  It was so
absurd that I actually had trouble coming up with things to say for a few moments
before finally deciding on the obvious: "Why!?"  Gaine explained that he had a thing
against ogres, but had been unable to find any.  He hoped one would appear in the
hotel and that he would be able to launch it through the roof.  He spoke as though
there was nothing the least bit idiotic about his so-called 'plan.'  Deciding I
didn't much care, I left him to it, so long as he promised to put the room back
together eventually.

	The banging continued for a while, but nobody came to the door and there were
no further developments.  For the first time in a while, I had almost a full day to
work on my studies.  I didn't turn up anything particularly 

noteworthy, but it was
nice to have some time to myself for quiet contemplation.  At least as quiet as
things can get when a dim-witted dwarf is constructing a catapault in the room above.

	All too soon, the ingrates returned to the Gilded Aspen.  Apparently, one day
without my arcane might wasn't enough to do them in.  Anyway, they mentioned
something about 'the Egg,' but I couldn't get anything more about it from them.  They
eventually explained that this was because all they knew was that 'the Egg is an item
of importance.'  They then informed me that they'd filled two carriages, the one from
last night and another they found, with weapons.  So, for the moment, I was appeased
and I hurried out to 'inspect' their hard-earned loot.  Since I doubt they'd actually
checked, I found a single, weakly enchanted dagger.  I also took a spear, and a few
dozen crossbow bolts.  I'd no idea what the dagger did, but I was certain Blue or
Shai Lippurt would be able to shed some light upon it.  Unfortunately, they
illuminated a rather disappointing object.

	Nevertheless, as I was returning inside, Gohrt was dashing out.  I imagined
he'd dive head-first into the pile of sharp, pointy things, but it seemed he had more
sense than that.  He simply snagged an extra crossbow and enough bolts to last him a
while.  I was surprised when he didn't walk away with an extra axe.  Perhaps he
thought it would make Ruby jealous.  As I was returning to the hotel, an elven member
of the Spectres, Jarves, dropped by.  Apparently, my companions had uncovered a
strange map, and Jarves had been assigned to decipher it.  So, collecting the map, he
returned to the tavern, requesting that we drop by in a few hours.

	Until then, very little worth mentioning transpired.  I believe Atari,
Barada, and Tim checked up on Gaine, observing that he'd set a trail of bread crumbs
leading to his room, and put up a sign to attract ogres.  He became quite distraught
when Tim suggested the ogres might not be able to read it.  I believe he then locked
himself in his room to rethink his strategy.  Or to cry in a corner.  I didn't care
enough to check.

	Anyway, the time eventually came and we headed back to check on Jarves's
progress.  First, however, we had to deal with Zaren, the group's leader in light of
Xavier's passing.  He had the absurd notion that we'd been responsible for the fiasco
at the embassy.  Sure.  We'd all probably have died in the gutter ages ago if not for
him, so the natural way to show our gratitude is to stab him in the back the first
chance we get.  I owe my loyalty to Xavier, not to Zaren.  For now, I'll hold my
tongue, but I do so only because of his position.

	Fortunately, several Spectres rushed to our defense, and our "leader" was
forced to back down.  Jarves then showed us the map and pointed to the Egg's
location: a spire-like structure surrounded by a lake in dwarven lands.  He'd been
unable to decipher the draconic runes near our destination, however.  Fortunately,
Tim was apparently well-versed in Draconic.  It comes in handy for such historical
matters, but I prefer more functional languages; everyone knows there hasn't been a
dragon sighted in centuries.  Still, it does raise some worries about the nature of
the Egg...  Regardless, he translated them: "Last Bastion of Kai Eleron."  Kai was a
title meaning 'Free Dragon' while 'Eleron' was likely a name.  I don't know much of
draconic history, but I believe the title was given to few dragons, and carried with
it a great distinction.

	So, once we knew the following day's activities, we decided to kill time in
our own ways.  Gohrt, predictably, began drinking.  Tim felt like simply returning to
the Gilded Aspen with the map.  The ladies and I, meanwhile, decided to undertake the
arduous task of prepping the carriages for travel in the most convenient manner
possible: selling them to the city's various merchants.  Thinking about the weapons,
of course, I decided to get the dagger I'd found examined.

	I spotted and approached Blue, find him clutching the crossbow he'd given to
Barada; she'd apparently gotten it back and returned it.  He held it up to me in
bashful joy.  'Super,' I thought, giving him the most supportive expression I could
muster.  It may or may not have come off as being incredibly sarcastic.  Anyway, I
saw Shai Lippurt a few seats away and decided he was a better option.  I asked for
his evaluation and he told me that it was a very fine dagger.  After a sufficient
length of time had passed, I surmised that any elaboration was not forthcoming.  So,
I handed it to Blue.  His diagnosis was about the same, although he added that he
believed it would be "good at stabbing," before he handed it back to me.  This was
probably not a good move on his part, because there were such precious few strands of
patience separating me from discerning its effects by plunging the weapon into him. 
Fortunately for him, as no-doubt satisfying as that action would have been, I decided
the opportunity cost was simply too high.  So, after going around in circles with the
two infuriating gnomes for a bit longer, I finally decided to let the matter drop and
trudged off to join the twins.

	They informed me that Jarves had overheard our plan and offered his aid; he
knew a great many weapons dealers in town, so he believed he could get us the best
price.  So, we went from shop to shop, selling "axes that had massacred demons" to
very religious dealers, and "bows that had been used to kill a unicorn" to what may
be the most inhumanly evil man I have ever met.  I think aiding in Jarves's
duplicitous yarns could mark the beginning of a beautiful friendship.  All told, I
believe we earned about two-hundred and forty gold pieces.  For his instrumental
assistance, we gave Jarves a quarter of this profit.  As for the rest, the girls and
I divied it up amongst ourselves and [i]said[/i] we would give fair amounts to Tim
and Gohrt.  I'm planning to give the two a pittance and claim we hadn't gotten
particularly good deals on the weapons.  Because I doubt the girls will part with
their shares easily, I'll appear to be the generous one at a minimal cost.

	When we returned to the Gilded Aspen, we found that Gohrt had stumbled back,
but Tim was nowhere to be seen.  This was because he was standing on a street corner
with an irritated look on his face.  Tracing his footsteps in the tavern's direction,
we found him and demanded to know what in the nine hells had happened.  As he was
returning to the hotel, two drow -- both of which Tim claimed he had seen being
ordered about by Mandabi while Gohrt and I were left behind -- stepped out of the
shadows, politely told him to give them the map, which he did, and then told him not
to move, which, again, he did.  Obviously, at least one of the drow is highly skilled
in the art of enchantments.  Some time soon, I'm going to begin a regimen of self
conditioning to avoid falling prey to such snares myself.

	The loss of the map is regrettable, but at least Jarves claims to have
memorized its contents well enough to navigate.  He seemed reluctant to come along,
for which I can't blame him, but we eventually persuaded him to join us.  We'll be
leaving early in the morning.  I only hope things go more smoothly than did the
embassy mission...