** 63 days total passed in this log ** 1028/05/09-1028/07/15

Observing and infiltrating the Schatten Alfen
=============================================
In nominally Schatten Alfen territory according to the limited information
Tess was given, Tess makes it to the surface without spotting any signs of 
human(oid) habitation. The exit from underground is high in the mountains.
Some peaks in the distance are snow capped, but you can't see any sign of 
the mountains ending. In the distance a scar winds it's way along the side 
of a mountain though - looks like a road.

Tess heads to the road. It appears well maintained, cut from the side of 
the mountain. There are signs there is occasional traffic, so Tess settles
down to wait. Tess doesn't have long to wait before he hears some wagons 
coming. There are 4 wagons; the teamsters are human, but the guards aren't 
- they are Schatten Alfen. Although at the rear march there are some human 
guards. The Schatten Alfen mostly ignore the teamsters. The human teamsters 
and the human guards appear to be of the same human sub-racial makeup. The 
Schatten Alfen look a bit like jawas - they are very heavily cloaked, whereas
the humans are not. As they pass, Tess hears the Schatten Alfen talk to each 
other about the road ahead, and how it's pretty hot. (It's not. Rather cool 
actually.) The humans speak to each other in a different language. 

The Schatten Alfen language sounds more like Shadow Elven than Tess 
expected - they might be mistaken for each other, if the Shadow Elves had a 
cold. It's more a matter of accent than dialect.

The humans appear to be talking about some kind of wager. Sounds like horses.
The wagons clink a bit. They are filled with giant pitchers and vases - they
sound full. They have seals on them, which Tess can't read from where he is.

Tess follows for about 10 minutes, when one of the Schatten Alfen calls for 
a rest. Everyone plonks down, the teamsters check the horses. People start to 
chat to each other. Some are keeping a reasonable eye out, but they aren't 
very paranoid. Tess sneaks in via a nearby pile of rocks if he wishes to 
inspect the wagons. The jars have seals which aren't ones Tess recognises -
they don't look Elven though. There is something liquid in the urns. Tess
backs off.

The humans and the Schatten Alfen don't really chat much. The Schatten Alfen 
watch the humans far more than anything else. The humans are a little 
discomforted by this, but only a little. The leader of the Schatten Alfen 
speaks with the leader of the teamsters, and they get ready to move out. 

They travel for a few sleeps, as Tess continues to follow them.

** four days pass **

After that time they come to a small stone dome, maybe 60' across. The wagons
stop at the edge of the dome, and a door is opened from inside by a Schatten
Alfen. The Schatten Alfen lead empty wagons out and give them to the humans.
They take the full wagons around the side, on the far side of the dome. The 
humans rest for a bit, then ride off in the wagons, back the way they came.
The full wagons are left outside, although some robed Schatten Alfen come to 
take care of the horses. One cracks a jar and pours some into a cup. They 
examine it, sniff it, and then drink some. Another one comes out and hauls 
that jar inside. The rest are left on the wagons. Tess continues watching the
dome.  

After about half an hour, a group of cloaked Schatten Alfen get the wagons 
together and leave, heading further along the road (i.e. not the same way 
the humans went). Tess follows these Schatten Alfen. They grumble for a bit 
about being stuck with this shitty duty until their leader has a sharp word.
The leader mentions that half of the wine is still available, which makes 
them happier. Some of these Schatten Alfen seem female, from their voices -
they are about evenly split between men and women. This is a good chance for 
Tess to listen to their accents, since they seem more talkative while the 
humans aren't here.  

When they stop for what appears to be their final rest for the sleep, most 
of them collect together and they have a prayer session to Atzanteotl, with 
only a few on guard. They pray that they will meet some stupid Azcan patrol 
so they can properly sacrifice them to Him. They then setup camp, and do 
fairly normal stuff. They eat something small and brown - perhaps trania.
Tess will take a break and rest the 2 hours he needs at some stage, with 
Aldara watching over him - there are birds around but none adapted to
night time like Aldara. One of them breaks out something which they seem 
pretty happy with - it's carrots.

This continues for the next three sleeps, with prayer sessions when they 
wake and then they stop.

** 3 days pass **

Tess notices after three sleeps that one Schatten Alfen in particular is 
always one of the guards at the prayer sessions and never participates. They 
seem to expect this ...  so he doesn't worship Atzanteotl apparently. Tess
sees no indications of holy symbols - but it is difficult with the heavy
cloaks.

They continue onwards, and encounter a patrol of more Schatten Alfen. They 
meet and exchange information about the road, before continuing onwards. 

In the distance looms a large dome, with windows. The first dome was 
probably a sentry post. As Tess gets closer he sees it's actually a cluster 
of smaller domes, with a high wall around it. The holes are regularly spaced,
and appear to be too narrow for windows - most likely arrow slits. One 
opening up near the top is very wide though - enough for a small dragon to 
fly in. The entire wall is about 200' arround, circular. A gate opens in the 
wall and admits the wagons. Tess spots some sentries patrolling the walls.
By the design, this isn't a town, but a fortress. It's clearly not designed 
for commerce or growing things, but defence. It would be a very tough nut to 
crack. An extended seige would be required, unless you have a reasonably 
large number of stoneshapers. It's very unlikely this is their only 
settlement, it would be way too small, with not enough traffic with the 
outside even for a xenophobic race.

Tess spends a couple of days holed up on a hillside, studying the fortress,
watching sentry changes, counting troop numbers and such. Several more wagon 
trains arrive during this time, all bigger than the one Tess followed. They 
are importing grain, liquids, and such. They appear to export nothing. All 
of the wagon trains come from the road Tess was on. All the wagons appear 
similar in design to the ones Tess saw earlier. Tess thinks he has about a
25% chance of getting into the fortress without being spotted.

** two days pass **

The road to the fortress is a carefully maintained road. The road continues 
onwards, although it's more of a trail at that point. Tess decides to follow
the trail.

After a sleep of travel, he encounters a single wagon, which is going in the
same direction and is crewed by 3 Schatten Alfen. They appear to be hauling a 
mixture of goods. The wagon is drawn by horses. After one more sleep, he 
comes to a collection of low stone mounds again, smaller than the lat set, 
and without a wall. Stone corridors run between of the mounds. Some Schatten 
Alfen will come out and welcome the Schatten Alfen traders cautiously.

** two days pass **

The Schatten Alfen shows some of the items from his wagon to the people, and 
they invite him and his people inside. They go into a door set into one of 
the mounds. Each of the mounds has at least one door. One of the mounds has a 
cupola at the top, in which stands a single Schatten Alfen, seemingly keeping 
an eye out on the terrain. The mounds are about house sized, and there are 12
in total. The village is not very defensible.

Another trail leads further onwards from this village.

It also appears as if the people here do leave the domes at times too, 
judging by the wear marks. They have some cows, but not many. Not enough to 
feed them all, if these are houses. They also seem to have some fields, but 
it's fodder for the cows. Not many fields either. They don't appear to be
particularly competent farmers - at least, the farms Tess has seen have a lot 
more stuff around than they have.

Tess observes the community for several days. Tess isn't able to observe them 
much, as they stay mostly indoors. Some people come outside to tend to the 
fields and cows though. Tess sees that merchant and his guards a few times. 
They appear to be making the rounds. This is the main time for Tess to 
observe the Schatten Alfen interacting, since his wagon is generally too big
to fit indoors, so he hauls it around from house to house selling fairly 
trivial things. Tess filches one of the heavy cloaks they wear outside from 
inside one of the houses.

** three days pass **

Tess heads back to the fortress.

** two days pass **

Tess dodges a foot patrol as he gets close to the fortress. Tess examines
the fortress for a couple of days to see if he will be able to figure out a
way in. The best bet is slipping over the walls, scaling the dome, and
entering a wider slit. The wall is 30' up, and the dome is 30' above that.
There doesn't appear to be anyone but soldiers here, which will make it
difficult for Tess to blend in.

From time to time, out of the larger opening comes a flying reptile, red
in color, ridden by Schatten Alfen. Its body is 8 feet long. They appear
to be similar to skinwings. The reptiles only occasionally go out, so Tess is
unlikely to have any problems being seen by them.

** two days pass **

Tess heads back along the main road. Tess has no idea where he is in Schatten
Alfen territory, and has not seen any of them use maps. Tess dodges the
occasional group of wagons. The wagons coming in have foodstuffs, the ones 
coming out are either empty, or have things like ingots.

Tess has a reasonable chance of passing from someone from out of town in a 
civilian environment or on the road, but decides to avoid it for the moment.

After a while Tess passes the small dome he saw earlier (3 days from the
fortress). 4 sleeps after the small dome, Tess is starting to make it out of 
the mountains.

** 7 days pass **

Tess sees human and Schatten Alfen wagon trains coming along this road, as he
saw before. In the distance is the glint of water. Tess compares his aerial 
map from Alphatia vs. what he sees. It is still unclear where he is. There is 
quite of a bit of water around the Schatten Alfen territories.

After one more sleep, you find a permanent encampment. Some humans are 
meeting Schatten Alfen there. The road stops being maintained at this point, 
and becomes a trail beyond it. It appears as if the humans arrive along the 
trail, meet the Schatten Alfen here, get escorted further in, and they 
eventually swap. So this is the border with the human kingdom. At this stage,
Tess things that the Schatten Alfen fortress is probably an entrance to
underground territories.

** 1 day passes **

The humans here are much louder than they were on the road - clapping each 
other on the back, being generally quite friendly. The Schatten Alfen stare 
at the humans like they expect them to sprout weapons and attack. The humans 
drink freely and are merry. The Schatten Alfen move silently around, being 
careful. Tess sees indications that the Schatten Alfen have hidden sentries 
in the surrounding hills, watching the humans. 

The humans are fair of skin, florid rather than pale. They are generally 
brunettes with some red heads. They wear short sword and dagger belts, all of 
them, with long tunics and cloaks. The tunics frequently have symbols of 
dragons, manticores and other beasts on them - these are decorative, and don't
seem to be part of a uniform.

Tess heads back to the fortress and on to the village of small mounds.

** 10 days pass **

Tess passes another several days at the cow village, observing them.

During those days another merchant arrives. This one has a single horse, no 
wagon. A much poorer merchant, on his own. They greet him in the same 
fashion, which will be useful to Tess. He sells trinkets and knickknacks, 
plus some luxuries - surface food. Somewhat bizarre - Tess laying down under 
a pine tree, watching a merchant sell the luxury item of carrots and apples.
They ask the merchant where he is from and such, but don't appear that 
interested in the responses.  It appears the locals don't really want to 
know, and the merchant doesn't really want to say.

Tess has some stuff to trade, but it appears both merchants were trading 
human goods, which Tess does not have.

Tess heads inside a dome to observe them up close. He finds a cosy spot near 
a back storage area that appears unsused, but close enough that you can hear 
conversations. It's slightly underground, at the end of a short passageway, 
which means he can lurk at the end of the passge and retreat if someone comes
near. Tess sees a few Schatten Alfen without their gloves and cloaks. They
are about 5' tall and have white skin. They have very pale hair - white or 
pale grey - which ey wear unbound and long. Their clothes tend to the dark 
and somber.

After Tess has been there a few hours, listening to the occasional 
conversation and otherwise just waiting, he hears someone heading towards the
passage where he is hiding. He retreats down the psaage out of sight ... but
they turn down his passage. They seem to be heading towards the storage room,
and Tess has no other exits. Tess hides. A middle-aged Schatten Alfen enters
the storage room, muttering, "Where did I put that?" He starts shifting 
through stuff, looking under sacks, along shelves, etc.

He approaches Tess' hiding spot. Tess knocks him out with a sap. Tess tries 
to set it up so it looks like something fell and hit him on the head knocking 
him out. Tess checks over the man, but finds no other items of interest. Tess 
sneaks out the back door, avoiding the other person in the dwelling.

There is a group coming in from the fields, heading towards the domes, and
they soon spot Tess as he has no cover, but Tess has enough time to use his 
Hat of Disguise to look like a Schatten Alfen. As Tess wanders away, one of 
them calls a greeting. It's the same greeting they used to the merchants - 
not the same as the greeting that they used inside to each other. If they 
were Shadow Elves, Tess would say it's a formal greeting rather than informal
one. Tess nods in response, but continues walking away. A few start to wander 
over towards Tess. They are carrying farm implements. Tess runs off. They are 
surprised by this, and don't give chase.

** 4 days pass **

Tess takes the other end of the trail from the cow rearing village and sees 
where it goes. After a bit more than one sleep he encounters another series 
of small domes, with fields. They seem similar to the other set Tess just 
came from. They have cows as well. A trail continues towards from this 
village too.

--- humans ===== sentry dome =====fortress dome ----- village1 ----- village -

** 1 day passes **

Tess observes these domes for several days. Nothing different. After having
observed the Schaten Alfen further, Tess thinks he should be able to pass as
a Schatten Alfen with little difficulty. There does not appear to be any
active communications between villages.

** 4 day passes **

Tess follows the trail along further. After some distance, the trail improves
somewhat, though it is still not a maintained road. After 2 sleeps, he sees 
in the distance a series of small and large domes - seems to be an unwalled 
town.

** 2 days pass **

There are people working outside of the town. They sometimes go in and out.
Tess observes the workers for a couple of days, and then walks in, pretending 
to be one of the workers outside. He walks up to the gate...the guards watch 
him as he walks by...then he is inside.

** 2 days pass **

** begin data for report **
It appeas to be a central point. Some Schatten Alfen head off down tunnels, 
some head into tunnels leading underground, others stop at some kind of bar 
or vendor for a drink. Everyone is taking off their cloaks and gloves with 
obvious relief. Tess can wander around and observe the Schatten Alfen. Tess
finds out where the accommodation for out of towners is, and stays there, 
trading something to stay there. Tess observes the Schatten Alfen town for a
week. The design of the places, especially as much of it is udnerground, 
reminds Tess strongly of Aengmoor City - the architecture and layout is 
nearly identical in fact, but this town is smaller. There seem to be several 
places of worship to Atzanteotl here.

Tess considers looking for work. Enlisting in the military will be difficult 
without any history.

** 7 days pass **

This is Tyradeal, one of the larger places in the Schatten Alfen territory.
The largest place is the capital, Issarthyl. The best way to get to Issarthyl
is underground. The fastest way to get there is overland. Issarthyl is about
200 miles away, as the crow flies, so not close. The population of this place
is about 10,000. 

It seems they do have compulsory miilitary service, just like the Shadow 
Elves. many of their customs are recognisable as Shadow Elves customs. They
are matrilineal, just like the Shadow Elves. They also have wanderers. They 
are expert diggers and miners - better than the Shadow Elves, probably on a 
par with dwarves. They don't seem to have priests with the facial markings 
though - although the only priests they do have are priests of Atzanteotl.
Inside they use lizards called crawlers for transport. Most people live
underground, living in the domes is too scary. It's not quite clear to Tess
why they find the domes scary - maybe because it is on the surface. They live
on trania too. The military appears to be 60% male, 40% female. They don't 
seem to revere plants like the Shadow Elves do. Many of their customs are 
recognizable as Shadow Elves customs. 

There are no maps. It's a security measure. Tess asking raises some 
suspicion.  The town doesn't seem well defended, but they seem to treat this
as a rear area (i.e. not near the frontier). They seme to have a reasonably 
large military. They seem to have enemies in other directions too. They have 
always been at war with the Neathar.

The major cultural elements that differ are that the Schaten Alfen are more 
xenophobic (!), more militaristic (!), more revenge orientated (!), and more
paranoid. It's very 1984-ish.

Fairly much everyone seems to be a faithful worshipper of Atzanteotl, 
although some seem more devout than others. Not everyone goes to the temple 
every day for example, so Tess can hide successfully. They use lights, 
although they seem to see in the dark as well as the Shadow Elves. The temple
of Atzanteotl is completely dark though and has no lights. Tess thinks from
observing Schatten Alfen praying earlier that he will be able to mumble along
and not be caught out.

Tess overhears that there is a special ceremony coming up. Tess decides to go
to a normal service first. The ceremoney is held in complete darkness. It 
starts with prayers to Atzanteotl's greatness, and then the (high?) priest 
gives a sermon. It's basically about how the humans wrecked the world, so 
it's their duty to stick it to them as much as possible, to make sure they 
don't ever do it again. Afterwards there are some more prayers on how great 
He is, and then it's over. Some of the people seem very moved. Some aren't. A 
few appeared bored. Although the bored ones don't look too obviously bored.
There are no indications of what tomorrow's special ceremony will entail, and
the people Tess overheard discussing it didn't know what it would be either.

Outside are soldiers, who are recruiting. They do ask for previous history, 
previous service records, and so forth. Tess won't be able to get into he
army very easily at all, since the records seem to be kept elsewhere.

** a day passes **

At the next day, at the start the priest will say there is a special 
ceremony later. This will have the Schatten Alfen buzzing a bit. After the 
initial prayers, they wheel up a block of stone.  They then drag up three 
humans, who appear terrified, and are looking around, trying to see. The 
Schatten Alfen appear to perk up at this, and seem interested. Tess remains 
emotionless through this, already guessing at a probable sacrifice. All three
are human males, they appear to be warriors or other manual labour types by 
their builds. They are not the same race of humans as the other ones that 
Tess saw. Two of these are darker skinned; the other has a different hair 
shade.

After a speech on how they have been very naughty for opposing the Schatten 
Alfen, they cut out the heart of the different hair-shaded one and toss it 
to the crowd. The crowd goes wild. Some Schatten Alfen actually fight over 
the chance to get to the heart first and have a bite. Tess fakes appropriate 
enthusiasm. The other two remaining humans try to be brave, but it's dark 
and someone just died horribly, close to them. The other two are sacrified 
after a speech about how they are heretics for falsely worshipping 
Atzanteotl. These hearts are not given to the crowd, but given to Atzanteotl.
Tess guesses that these humans are probably Azcans. The priest doesn't lead 
the flock in prayer this time, but lets them out outside. The recruiters are 
waiting and doing a brisk trade.

Tess catches the eye of a Schatten Alfen guy. The Schatten Alfen guy is 
smiling and appears cheery, but his eyes are sad and horrified. He is part
of a couple. Tess follows them. Once away from the crush of people, she
appears unhappy as well. They head downstairs a few levels, and enter 
what appears to be a home. 
** end data for report **

To the best of Tess' knowledge there are no Shadow Elven agents in Tyradeal.
There is an agent in the capital, and agent in the town of Phoridiel, and one
on the nothern border somewhere, probably in Fort Landroel.

Tess observes the couple for a week. They seem perfectly normal for Schatten 
Alfen.

** 7 days pass **

Tess figures out their schedule and then breaks into their home to 
investigate it carefully. He is careful to ensure there is no trace that he
has been there. Tess finds nothing unusual. Hard to say exactly what is 
completely normal, but there are no secret compartments with messages 
detailing their plans to blow up the houses of parilament or any subversive
materials.

Tess considers trying to approach them. The wife might be smarter than the
husband. It will probably easier if Tess tries to make friends with the 
husband. Neither seems more approachable than the other. Tess will use his 
merchant disguise, which has not given Tess any troubles.