Journal of Valentin Krezkov
"I do not know where to begin or why I am writing. I feel my thoughts should be kept in paper as I lay here in my small camp away from Barovia in a nation not even my home. I have left with domna Manishie to the land of Dementlieu beyond the mist. I admit the decision was rash and rush but my time in the Outskirts has left me bitter and hating my life. I was once a Garda, a father, a Barovian. Yet it is not my Barovia and not my Vallaki anymore given the rise of the outlanders and the constant leniency to them."
"There is a hatred and a rage for them yet in Manishie I have found a liking for these foreigners and freaks. My brief time in the mist camp of the vistani enlighten me to the horror they endure and yet the truth that even Outlanders do not even trust each other. What a horrible people they are with a kinship of being all lost and yet trifle with such pointless dramas as even murdering themselves. It pains me to say I hated them but they hate themselves more than I do."
"Frankly the poor here are worst than the slums of the Municipality as every man, woman, and child of Port is eager to rob you at the moment of nightfall like the rat neuri along the city of Vallaki. Yet the nobles here turn a blind eye entrance in their false fairy tales. I even went to this Belker theatre of wax and witness how they view our Count. I almost wanted to punch the actor in the face."
"Alas I can't say that I am truly bored here there is wood and game about. I know domna Manishie encouraged me to live in the city and rest at a hotel but my first impression of the cost and the unnecessary things was disgusting. I could not believe people would pay for such unnecessary fineries. For the price I could live in Bianca's rooms at the Lady's Rest for five days with the cost. And I sought this thing called an apartment to only find the place run down and riddled with Tigans about."
"So I chose to camp outside the City hidden away where none could find me preferring isolation than integration with the people just yet. Aside from the muggers that walk the roads at night and the various streets of the city I find myself uncertain but determined to get a job with domn Gray. I'll need to learn the language if I am to find work and if at all to see her...."
"Manishie reminds me of my young wife. Before the Outlander witch's vraja of acid and thunder claimed them we were happy. Her smile, her humor, her mirth reminds me so much of my wife I often am delusional thinking she is still here. How she demands me to treat all outlanders and freaks with kindness and yet I find myself trying too. Perhaps to consider my lost wife's way of life. I pray this city does Manishie no harm for I could not bare to see her smile fade for no wrath is worst than a Barovian man's heart blacken with anger."
*Eleventh Day of the 8th Month, Second day of the Week* Krezkov Valentin