I don't know where to begin, but I've been told by the inn keeper that I am not alone in this sort of trouble and that I may find some peace of mind by writing down what I experienced. I suppose I will start at the beginning:
Since I've arrived, I've found it progressively harder and harder to sleep peacefully within the bowels of this horrid inn. At first it was simply the odd noise here and there in the dark, a few murmurings and whispers that were easy enough for me to disregard. I probably could have kept telling myself it was just my imagination, but it's the dreams - no - the nightmares - that have convinced me that there is something dreadfully unnatural about this place. Whatever it is, I fear that it is angry, full of anguish, sorrow, and evil intentions.
At first my dreams were pleasant enough, but soon they began to grow more dark and troublesome... I began to dream nightmares of being betrayed and having all that was dear to be taken away and corrupted into horrible mockeries of their former selves. I can't recall them to any great detail, but the nightmare I had the other night is still so vivid in my memory I still feel a twinge of fear calling it to mind just now. I will endure and write it down though!
The dream began with me standing by a serene pond encircled in stone. A pair of swans were gliding across the mirror like surface of the water. Around this pond was a great stone wall, as if this were but a courtyard for some grand estate or fortress. Around the pond stood many masterfully crafted pillared arches. Across the courtyard I could spy a gate of sorts with a man as tall as the rangers standing guard in grand armor wielding a long spear. I was in awe standing in such a place as it was like something out of the old tales I used to hear when I was a boy; However, this awe soon turned to terror as a beautiful woman arose from the pond, blood red crimson spreading from the place that she emerged. The crimson continued to spread, killing the swans and crumbling the stone work into disrepair. Soon all was red in the courtyard, including the sky. I looked to the guardian at the gate and saw that the tall man now appeared gaunt and in tatters of what was once his grand armor.
Looking back to the woman, I saw that her beauty turned to one twisted and corrupted from what it was when she first appeared. She approached me, walking on top of the water with an evil bewitching smile and said "I find your heart amusingly pure. I shall take my time in turning you." Horrified, I tried to scream but nothing would come out! I tried to run but it was as if my legs were tied in place to the ground. She reached out to touch my face and it was then that I woke up in a cold sweat with the inn keeper shaking me awake. He claimed I was screaming in my sleep and he had come into the room fearing that there was some sort of attempt on my life. I told him of my dream and he seemed familiar with the woman. He claimed that there are stories about a Red Maiden in the area, particularly told by those foolhardy enough to venture into the area known as Agamaur. Supposedly, I was not the first to have had such a dreadful dream, but that others have found ways to overcome this sort of terror such that the nightmares don't occur nearly as often.
These Lone-landers are built far stronger than I to put up with such terrors and carry on as normal. I can say with all certainty that this is not normal and that I do not want to stay here to find out what it would be like to live this way, I swear it! I can only hope that someone answers my wanted ad and brings me what remains of my goods and my cart. Otherwise I will be forced to stay here out and dwindle what little is left of my coin on this terrible room and board.
I best try to get some rest while I can and save what is left of my parchment too.
-Hurb
