About the Author ~ Joslyn Morisway

[Freydaelyn]

Joslyn Morisway

I hate wagon rides but this was the only way to begin the travels. I am glad I was able to convince Ciancia to come with me, I would have hated to be here alone....or just with family. I love them but I was hoping to find my own way here but  when they heard I was going to travel too experience the world I think they saw pounds. Well at least cousin Edmund will understand my reasoning more than my siblings.

I have read of the strange creatures that are said to walk Barovia, they fascinate me so. Father always said I have my nose too far in my fantasy books for my own good. Head full of worlds that aren't real, that there are no pounds in it. He doesn't understand that there is more to existing than the clink of coin, or the sound of a Croquet mallet hitting a ball. I don't have the heart to tell him it will never catch on. These creatures I read about, distortions of the human form, I hope I see some once I arrive. Some experience in seeing or at least learning the local folk lore could be a good adventure for my first book of the dashing tales of Gabrielle La Berche...

[Freydaelyn]

[an Elegant but simple letter is sent out from Vallaki via currier]

Dearest father,
My apologies for not writing sooner but I will admit I was quite focused on the hear and now. I will get the negative news out of the way swiftly; I have lost two fingers one on each hand while fighting off a brigand. I did end up victorious in the matter, it is a good thing I insisted on those fencing lessons for myself is it not? Additionally I will not be returning too Zherisia for the foreseeable future. I wish to study the folktales abroad more and use them as inspiration. It is without a doubt that I believe you will be worrying for my safety but Edmund and Ciancia will be staying with me for the time being at least so please try not to worry too much.

I will be finishing my first book in the coming days. The first book is "The Dashing Adventures of Gabrielle La Berche: The Fields of Folly" . I believe I will have to spend more time researching for the other books I was researching for, the trails went a bit cold of the leads I had been following. Though that is a minor setback in my plans I believe I know a way to continue my research despite the initial subjects potentially being gone. I will have to write to you more on that at a future time father. I do worry for Clementine, that cough and her tales of doctor visits have me worrying but she is a smart woman and I am sure she will be fine.

With Affection and Sincerity,
Joslyn Morisway

I lied in that letter to father....he can not learn the truth of how I lost these fingers, of my mistake in judgement....but the cone was right about a few things. I have my ideals but I am blind to the world and everything has it's cost. These lies were the cost of my freedom but I will be sure to make the most of this opportunity given to me. My next chapter starts this day, I will find someone to help guide me, it is clear trying to learn to chase these, for lack of a better term, monsters, by self training alone will end with me dead or worse. I saw an old poster in the gutters and I think it will help. The call to Adventure has came and I am ready to cross the Threshold. What is known is to be left behind as I take these steps into what is unknown.

[Freydaelyn]

I have been dragging my feet with finishing my book. How does one write of their failures and print it for the world to read? It is a lesson others should not fall for but I always envisioned the Gabrielle la Berche stories being about my grand successes. The viscous monsters I have slain, the dastardly villains I have outwitted, the beautiful women who I have wooed with my charms. I will have to find a way to sanitize this properly. That said my mind has been going to the creative side and I have a name for my play. "The Trail of Oliverio Menegi". It should be easy enough to preform as well. The cast is only three people but finding a place to hold it may be difficult. Maybe a more direct letter to the Broken bell's owner would help. That said I do have good news, I should be joining the kinship soon and my investigations have been going well and are extremely fruitful. I am becoming quite the renascence woman. I do miss Ciancia but I am sure she is safe....my dear Ciancia, I do not understand why people want to bring her harm but I know her heart is in the right place. I will protect her and the people of Vallaki.

[Freydaelyn]

It has been a while since I have written here, much has changed, much has stayed the same. I wonder what father would think if he finds out who I have been close with. Between someone from Blackchapel and the nonhumans I consider my closest friends, some of them even able to change shape. Needless to say my already tenuous alignment with the celebrants is not fairing terribly well here. I have been speaking with sister Amelia in the hospice lately of her faith. Her speaking of the goddess and her tenants resonate with me though I do not think I would ever take up the veil as it were. A cloistered life is not for me.

This is to not say there are not issues I am having. I see people willingly throwing themselves in to danger time and time again. Not willing to listen to people who know better, who can keep them safe. What scares me is where my thoughts go. Strong, charming and knowledgeable rulers ensuring the safety of all, making the choices for those who would not know any better. This is the path of the villain of so many books I have read. What makes it worse is...in my dreams....I see myself at the side of one, giving him the information he needs, being those eyes and ears for him. His black dignified outfit one my own mirrors, his cold gaze upon kneeling servants and dissenters who I watch as they are punished. Executions before my eyes, hearts removed from their bodies....What is worse is that I do not wakeup in a cold sweat from these dreams though....I wake up rested and refreshed. This terrifies me more than the fact the face of this leader is one I have met before....and he was not happy.

[Freydaelyn]

I have heard it said that "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.". I worry that perhaps I have placed myself dangerously close to testing this. I must always be cognizant of why I do what I do. The names that surround my notes, the names that I am close to poking my nose in to...what they would do to me if they saw me as a threat I do not want to think of what will be done. What I do is for the better of everyone, too many make these grand spectacles, making loud noises as they thunder across the mud and dirk that is Barovia. They will burn out before they can make any significant change. They do not know what is truly best for them, what is best for the people. I do, I realize this more and more. My methods may not be flashy or pretty but they get results. You can not fight the inevitable and that is what my hunt is. It is slow, it is plodding, the beasts think they are out of my reach but I am always there within striking distance. Their end by my blade is just what I write, inevitable. I do what is best for the people of Barovia, for them to be safe. They can not get caught in the crossfire and I hope Aine understands.

[Freydaelyn]

Corruption is a blessing in disguise? I do not know how to process this...part of me finds the entire idea abhorrent but it does sound almost correct. I am told I need to be more selfish but I can not be so. The words echo in my head even hours after they were said to me "Corruption is a blessing in disguise". What had put this thought there? Was this my fault as well? It was also this philosophy that has brought us closer though. Perhaps I am not the woman I pretend to be...do I do what I do because I genuinely want to help or because I feel I know how to keep people safe better than they do? What has Barovia done to us, what WILL it do to us further? I will save her....I have to...just, just do not say I am damned for all time. 

[Freydaelyn]

[A small poem written in Zherisian in Joslyn's personal diary]

The Sisters Morisway

What has become of the Morisway?
A family traveling lost in the dark,
But will the sisters return to the light of day?

One stalks the night, looking for monsters to slay
To the other the graveyard is her park.
What has become of the Morisway?

In Zherisia they had coin and quite a say.
But look to them now, the change is stark.
But will the sisters return to the light of day?

Her coat of gold and mind that cuts a way,
Joslyn's gambit fully missed the mark
What has become of the Morisway?

And Clementine, giving corpses their final lay
Painter's spores, a joke towards her sister's snark.
But will the sisters return to the light of day?

So Joslyn drinks contemplating her dark display,
Her sister is freed but the question remains as she begins to disembark.
What has become of the Morisway?
Will Joslyn return to the light of day?

[Freydaelyn]

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

[Freydaelyn]

How much joy does it take to forget you have ruined your life? To forget what you have given up to try and save another? I am on bottle seven but it does not seem to work. I will listen to the advice I was given, do not do anything hard but.....the pain just stays. It hurts so much. Maybe I should become like what I hunt, at least on the inside. Dead. Then it will not hurt any more, since for it to hurt I need to care. Bottle eight has no answers either. I did this for you and you betrayed me...why do I care so much? Why do I let myself hurt? How do I fix this?

[Freydaelyn]

The young Zherisian, barely slept these nights. Nightmares haunting her dreams. She promised her lover that once her play was finished they would leave but more and more it became apparent, waiting would get her killed. the time for that was gone. They need to make the arrangements now. Barovia needs to be left behind, those that hunt her be damned. She stayed up all night writing a letter to herself, as she promised the blonde elf, tucking it away in her pack.

Dearest Joslyn,
You write this letter to yourself to remind yourself why you left everything behind, why you left to Darkon with Aine, Why you put down the blade, and why you gave Zherisia. Your time in Barovia was to try and fight monsters, to protect those in need. You hunted and traveled with people of all walks of life, you even found your Aine doing so. In trying to help you put yourself at great risk; never thinking of your own safety, rather how you could aid those that these dark creatures hunted. This darkness touched you, even if you would never admit it to yourself, but it has. You did everything you could to try and save someone close to you and gave up nearly everything for it. This is why you leave now. To save the one last thing you DO have. Before the dark takes it from you, before you lose more of yourself to this dark. Never forget your love, never forget the kindheart that you do have, and forgive yourself.

With apologies for the errors of the past,
Joslyn Morisway