: The journal writer was privy to such information as the
: dwarves telling about the attack on Stoneheim. I
: dunno, he didn't seem like way upscale, but definetly
: above average. Just like the second journal writer. A
: very well-respected member of the Legion, plain and
: simple.
Yes, but the dwarves were his fellow soldiers. All I'm saying is that if he makes a statement about the civil war which is occurring on the other side of the country, the information in which is arriving to him second- or third-hand, it should not be taken as refuting a statement made in the manual (which after all presents the "facts" as they are known to the post-TFL people of the province), especially when what he actually says--"had it out"--doesn't contain any implication as to whether or not the Head was killed. All it means is that there was a conclusive battle.
: I don't think the Head actually had more chances of
: offing the Nine than we know of. Did Murgen and Cu Roi
: go to Forest Heart because the Head told them to?
It's a good bet they needed some persuasion; it seems fairly foolhardy to take a small force (and risk not one but two of the Nine) deep into enemy territory simply to seek out one's former allies who haven't been seen for a decade and a half. But no, it never explicitly says that the Head ordered them to Forest Heart. However, we are told that the Head continuously double-crossed the Nine since it was pulled out of the ground--this suggests that it got them in trouble multiple times, starting even before it told Rabican how to defeat Shiver. While this doesn't prove the manual's statement that the Head caused the Nine's downfall, it's certainly consistent with it, and in the absence of opposing evidence I don't see why we shouldn't believe it.
--SiliconDream
