Amphora lore.

The people are slowly losing faith in the emperor, and there are even rumors of a plot to kill him. They believe that he is too young to be ruling our great nation in this time or war, and I’m not sure if I disagree. It troubles me just how much of his time he spends on his… project. He was always more of a magician then a leader, but as my lord and master I must have faith in him.

Our armies are the strongest in all the land, yet the emperor insists that we must stay on the defensive. This strategy has been seen as cowardice by many, and he is quickly losing- Another riot has started...

The emperor called me, and some of the other generals, to an urgent meeting earlier this morning. There was a crazed look in his eyes as he mandated an expedition into the desert. I thought that we were finally going to destroy those fools who dare stand against us, but no. The missions only objective is to find and recover some kind of amphora.

Scholars have determined the location of the artifact that we are looking for, and we are striking out later this day. My men are eager to see some action, even if its not a direct assault. The riots have also subsided for now, but they won’t be satisfied until the emperor stops tinkering with that thing and actually does something to end this war.

The desert was harsh, and the path bloody, but we're finally here. A desolate crypt, nearly buried beneath the sand. Hallways stretch out in an endless labyrinth of darkness. It may take some time for us to find what we are looking for. Some of the men claim to hear distant screaming in the walls.

So that is the amphora? A truly massive red gem, caught in a menacing storm of magic. Many of the men refuse to get closer, claiming that they hear shrieks of rage or cries of pain. A brave soul tried to remove the artifact from its pedestal. After what happened to him, I think it’s best to let the scholars study the inscriptions on the wall before anyone else tries something like that again.

The scholars are done with their translations and, in short, the text tells of a warlord named Jedinak the bloody. Supposedly he traversed the land, slaughtering everyone in his path so that he might take their riches. But then the spirits of his victims began to haunt him, and the more people he killed, the stronger his affliction became. In the end he spent all his wealth to make a container, that could trap the souls of those he had wronged. And when he failed to pay his army they turned on him, before turning on eachother.

What does the emperor want with this accursed thing? We have already lost over a dozen men simply trying to remove it! And now that it’s contained, we need to drag it with us across the desert. The men still complain of screams that are not there, and I’m getting concerned for their sanity.

Finally we have returned, and I can tell by the looks on the people's faces that things have not improved. Officially the mission was a success, but I’m ashamed to think that, in the end, I lost more men to suicides and infighting then I did to the passing enemy camps.

A burning hatred that was not my own filled my heart as I took our tainted prize to the emperor. He thanked me gratefully, whisked the amphora away, and returned to work on his machine. I wish I had stayed to ask him what he hoped to gain from all this, but am tired. There will be plenty of time to- Oh no… Now I can hear the screams as well...