Kulnovo, Thaumont 27, AC 1010

Dear old friend,

Hopefully, the little underground trip have been made swiftly and without any big troubles. I've been in the Kulnovo's vicinity for three days by now and I've been able to learn bits of information about Olgar during the last few days. I've gladly found out that the Traladaran dialect spoken in Olgar isn't so far from the one we're speaking back in Slagovich. This will surely ease my journey since I will be able to conceal my real origin under an Olgarian identity. I am now writing alone in a small room of a decrepit inn of Kulnovo the historical and administrative capital of the Olgarian protectorate. My friend the merchant from Ciudad Real bid me farewell and headed back to his place after he sold his weapons cargo to some rebels of the southern Syoutja Hills.

In fact, those rebels were my first contact with the people of Olgar. They are proud warriors animated by their faith in a Golden Age to descend upon their ravaged country. I've spent two nights with them, which I used to learn more about the country (you can find the information I've gathered in the documents annexed at the end of this letter). I also exchanged with them about my planned journey. They told me that Olgar was one of the most tightly controlled Hulean possession since there is still some territories out of the Master's control and because of the appeal of the Church of Traladara throughout the country. The situation in the northern countries of Bulzan and Antasyn is supposed to be a little less militarised since the Master and the Hagiarchy have been able to buy most of the local élites. It seems that the situation in Monzag is somewhat blurred: some people are in an open war against Hule and they are supported by their cousins of the Zdredanyan forest while others are co-operating with the Huleans.

Another thing of interest that I've learned is that the situation is evolving fast in the Northeast. One of the rebels' leaders told me that lately they received the visit of two different groups of emissaries looking for support in their fight against the Master. The first one came from the distant land of Kyurdukstan (unknown to the Olgarians before this first meeting). They were speaking on behalf of Remindan, a Sind warlord looking for a way to liberate his country from the Master's claws. The second group came from even a stranger place: the Hyborean steppes. They said that their oldest shaman saw a sign of the immortals in the sky, a sign that the Master should be destroy or else greater disasters than the Week Without Magic would fall on the world. Their leaders were supposedly trying to regroup all the Northern Nomads into a cohesive force, an exercise made difficult by the growing number of Humanoids in those northern regions. Strangely, they told me, both group were aware of the existence of the other but were somewhat opposed even if their goals are identical... I will definitely keep my ears open for more.

After spending some time with the rebels, I decided to continue on my journey and headed toward Kulnovo, hoping that I would be able to conceal my identity. Fortunately, the rebels helped me to create a more realistic identity: officially I'm a fortune-teller from Krichgrad and I'm going to some kind of festival in Yablan. That way, they told me, I wouldn't attract too much attention since many fortune-tellers are going there at this time of the year. Also, the chaotic mentality of the Olgarian fortune-tellers is seen as a good thing in the eyes of the Holy Men. Finally, by following the trail from Kulnovo to Yablan, I will avoid Irdzhygrad and it's mercy-less humanoid garrison.

In Kulnovo, I've found a desolated city. It seems that the only inhabitants were the cats and the Hulean patrols and both carefully avoided each other. There's something bizarre with the Olgarian cats. People tend to think that the cats harbour the soul of the ones who are killed wrongly or unfairly. After watching them for a while, I began to think that there might be a part of truth in this belief. I shall investigate further this question.

Big things are going on behind the curtain of lies that surrounds the Master's Empire. Maybe the Master isn't that powerful.