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7th Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

After we vanquished the guardian a silence fell over the basement of the High Pass keep. The rush of adrenaline subsided and I could feel my the knot in my stomach coming undone. I started trembling as I felt the pain from the shrapnel come on but I pushed it to the back of my mind as I focused on the sphere hovering in the center of the room.

I approached it carefully, observing it in detail. The surface seemed to be made of a dull ferrous material. Occasionally a ripple crossed its surface at which sent arcs of lightning licking dangerously along its edges. The whole thing was throbbing with arcane potentiality. I was in awe, not just by the sphere, but also by the animated door and by what must have happened there in order for the keep to fall to ruin.

David decided to inspect each of the alcoves in the walls and concluded that they were doors of some kind. The back wall of the alcove had a hole in them and there was clearly a space behind it. Jago inspected the pedestals found throughout the room. The pedestals seemed to line up with the doors in such a way as to not be a coincidence. The first door had one pedestal in front of it, the second door two pedestals, each lined up towards the sphere, and the third door had three pedestals. In the top of the pedestals was a hole which seemed perfectly shaped for the ankh the guardian had been holding. I remarked that the eye of the ankh once placed on the pedestal, the hole in the door, and the sphere were neatly aligned and we formed a plan to place the ankh we had in the pedestal in front of the first door.

Before that, however, David asked me to accept the Broken One’s healing touch. I declined, but I was keen for him to clean out my wounds so as not to have them fester at a later time. He did a wonderful job. It’s remarkable that a strong man like himself, with a such capacity to violence, is capable of such tender care and nourishment.

Because we were incapable of predicting what would happen when we placed the ankh on the pedestal, or what would happen once the door did open, we decided to be cautious. Jago would place the ankh and the soldiers would take their places around the door, just in case a fiend would come charging out at us. David and I decided to stand well back near the staircase leading up.

Jago placed the ankh and there was a loud crack of thunder as a lightning bolt erupted from the sphere, arced through the eye of the ankh and hit the hole in the door. Some of the others got hit by peripheral arcs of lightning, but nobody got seriously injured. A few seconds after the thunderclap subsided we heard a gentle grinding of stone upon stone, and the door slid out of the way to reveal a short, dark corridor.

At the end of the corridor, we once again found a room, slightly smaller than the original one. The room was empty except for four braziers in each of the corners, and a small alcove at the far end. Once Ser Fosco had taken the time to light the braziers we had enough light to explore the room properly. Quickly we all noticed that the room had an illusionary ceiling which showed a lifelike mirror image of the room below. There were two exceptions, in the mirror image, it showed a large, golden summoning circle on the floor which was not there in the original, and the alcove showed to hold an ankh.

I studied the pattern of the summoning circle and quickly deduced that it wasn’t an abjuration but a conjuration circle meant to conjure a tiny outsider, probably an Imp or Quasit. I started using a gold coin to scrape along the floor to follow the pattern I saw in the mirror image. Everywhere I left gold dust behind from the coin the mirror image showed the pattern disappearing. I quickly handed out all of my remaining gold coins to anyone who was willing to help and together we managed to recreate the summoning circle. To our delight, we noticed that the alcove in the back of the room opened up and revealed a second ankh, while the alcove in the mirror image closed.

We now had two ankhs, and we could move on to the next door, with the two pedestals in front of it. I retreated back to the main room while Quentyn retrieved the ankh. I was eager to solve the rest of the puzzles — too eager. Once Quentyn grabbed the ankh there was a sulfurous boom and a demon appeared. Most likely a Quasit, winged and lightning fast as it flew straight for David and started clawing at his clothing. It eventually managed to grab the bloodstone from underneath David’s clothing, just in time for Jago to grab it deftly by the neck and hold it in place. David immediately used that opportunity to snatch the bloodstone back from the demon.

The demon transformed in front of our very eyes into a large millipede with vicious mandibles and bit Jago on his arm. I shouted for him to throw the demon to the far corner of the room and as it landed not far away from one of the braziers, I unleashed the inferno of the end times. And with that, the demon was banished back to its abyssal plane.

Fireball
Ag ko faal toor do Dinoksetiid
Burn in the inferno of the end times

It turned out that both David and Jago were poisoned. Jago was worst off. He seemed sluggish and slow and his movements were clumsy and spastic. We decided to go back up to camp in the courtyard. It was getting late and we were all very worried about Jago. I made sure I cleared out my tent and made space for him and I gave him an extra blanket. I went to Gunnar and tried to convince him that Jago had many more battles to fight. It was a clumsy attempt at manipulating him, which he probably realised, but he said that if Jago would live throughout the night that he would implore Tempus to help Jago.

Of the three friends I’ve made since coming to Glister, I think I am probably the least close with Jago. He’s somewhat aloof and spends most of his time in the wilderness outside of Glister. But he also seems to be the least judgmental and the least filled with ideas of self-importance. Quentyn is all urges and ego, like all nobility, while David is filled with a sense of indignation that unmistakably marks him as part of the clergy. Jago has strong opinions, but he seems fair. He is a good friend, and I think that of the three of them he might prove to be the most likely to understand my subterfuge.

When Jago was stable and resting in my tent, I ventured back down into the keep’s basement. Quentyn followed. We were both curious at what we would find behind the second door. Using a minor conjuration, I placed both the ankhs in the pedestals in front of the second door. Both times a lightning bolt shot out and disrupted my spells, but when the second ankh slid in place the door opened with the satisfying grinding noise of dry stone.

Behind the second door was the same kind of dark corridor as behind the first. We immediately heard a multitude of whispers coming from inside the room beyond the corridor. A chill ran down my spine and I felt ill at ease. I illuminated a discarded piece of bone and tossed it into the room. For a brief moment I saw a flash of billowing cloth, like that of a curtain or a flag billowing in the wind. We were not at full strength, nor with a complete party, so we decided to go back to the courtyard and rest. We closed the second door behind us before we left by taking one of the ankhs out of the pedestal.

Light
Kun faal krein
Light of the sun

8th Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

The next morning David and I were one of the first to rise. We both have our particular morning rituals and they take roughly the same amount of time. He spends his time in prayer, communing with the Broken One, while I spend my time in study, charging my body with the arcane magic of my spells and endlessly repeating the incantations and somatic gestures needed for ignition, until execution comes without a second thought.

We had came into contact with quite a few undead creatures in the last few days and I decided to prepare one of the few necromantic spells in my repertoire. It is a spell specifically designed to disrupt and destroy the negative energy that binds those creatures to their undead nature. It is a spell of the minor circle for it allows novice wizards some protection against the undead if they ever work up the courage to explore that deranged (some say misunderstood) school.

I had rested well, despite having to sleep in the cramped confines of my tent with Jago. I hadn’t slept that closely to anyone since… well, the temple at Fulcester. It felt odd, not the least because Jago seemed to lay almost unmoving throughout most of the night. I don’t know whether that’s part of his training as a tracker, or because of his malady. Regardless, he made it through the night and seemed to be doing somewhat better when he emerged from the tent. Gunnar, as promised, came by to tend to him and Tempus’ grace fell over Jago and further alleviated his symptoms. It would take a few days, but if one evening could do that much, he was well on the path of recovery.

While we all broke our fast, I spent time divine the origin and nature of the brigandine armour the guardian had been wearing. I would not have time to go over both the armour and the club, but I was reasonably certain that considering the amount of people wielding the club since we stumbled into the guardian it wasn’t cursed or dangerous. The armour, however, was a mystery and since Quentyn lost his suit of chain mail, I thought it prudent to start there.

It turns out that the armour once belonged to a Lord Abaddon, a warrior priest in the service of Talos. Lord Abaddon had dedicated his life to the eradication and destruction of the undead under the control of the feared Zhengyi. It was a formidable suit, which offered considerable magical protection against lightning, which falls entirely in line with Lord Abaddon’s background as a servant of the Lightning Lord. Once I had shared the information with the others there was some debate about who would don the armour, David or Quentyn. Eventually the choice fell on Quentyn.

We went back inside the keep and descended into the basement. Using the same trick we had used the day before, we put the second ankh back in place, and just like before the door slid open and we heard the deranged whispers coming from the room. We all approached the room through the corridor and Quentyn was the first one to enter the room. As he crossed the threshold I noticed something. Something brief, something that I cannot put into words. The magic that surrounded this place marked him somehow and I immediately felt a sense of dread.

I tried warning Quentyn and I advised caution but he stubbornly insisted in the most astonishing way that he felt that fate had somehow drawn him to be in that room, at that time. He said he never felt so certain about anything in his entire life. I started to wonder whether he might be under the influence of an enchantment filling his already impulsive heart with more courage. He illuminated the Sword of Hope and brandished it as he went inside.

A strange wraith-like figure, cloaked in a dark, tattered robe flew around the room like a moth around a lantern, ever whispering to itself. I briefly considered casting the mindoraan tinvaak divination in order to comprehend this wraith’s speech, but I realised that whatever it was, it wasn’t here to talk to us. It was whispering to itself long before we got there and it made no effort to direct any of its rambling at us. The moment we entered the room the wraith flew at Quentyn.

We managed to defeat it but not without some effort. Quentyn got especially wounded, but not in a way that couldn’t be healed through the Broken One’s divine grace. No, the price that was paid was much higher; it seemed as if Quentyn’s carelessness and impulsiveness only grew as the wraith fed upon his life force. He grew ever more reckless and impatient after the injuries.

Another problem we faced while fighting the wraith was that it wasn’t fully present. Sometimes it seemed as if attacks would strike true when otherwise they would pass through without hurting the wraith! As if it was shifting in and out of the material plane. I tried to use the spell that I had especially prepared to fight undead, but my ineptitude at necromancy probably weighed heavily on my attempts, for I couldn’t hit the creature with the positive energy that erupted from my fingertips.

Disrupt Undead
Kren faal dill, faal brendon ahrk faal gaaf
Break the undead, the spector and the ghost

Once we defeated the wraith, we found that, much like the previous room, this room had a closed alcove in the back wall. On the far-side, near the alcove, were three holes in the ground. On the near-side, near the door, stood three statuettes in holes of their own. One of a lion, one of a bull and one of a bushel of wheat or some such fodder. David guessed that we would have to bring the statues to the far side of the room and that somehow the order in which we placed the statues was of importance. The lion ate the bull, the bull ate the fodder, he reasoned.

Quentyn, emboldened after the wraith’s attack, picked the lion up and started to transport it across the room. It took a few seconds, but when he was halfway, we all heard the ghostly sound of a bull and suddenly the shadows seem to draw together and the wraith once again returned. After another fight in which I unleashed jets of flame and managed to damage the wraith, we managed to defeat it once again. To our surprise, we saw that the lion’s statuette had returned back to its initial position at the near-side of the room.

We contemplated the puzzle once again. Jago thought the bull must be the first to be moved, since we heard the sound of one after Quentyn moved the lion. David argued that it should be the fodder, since that’s the start of the food chain. Quentyn followed David’s advice, and I wish he hadn’t; seconds after lifting the fodder, we heard the sound of a lion’s roar and the wraith once again appeared!

Once more we defeated the wraith, but not without incurring more injuries. When David wanted to move the bull he found that he could not lift the statuette. It seemed that only Quentyn, the first through the door and marked as such, was allowed to move the statuettes. He successfully placed the statuette in the socket at the far-side of the room. We decided on the lion next, which he also moved across the room and placed in its socket. While walking over to the near-side of the room, we once again heard the sound of a lion’s roar and the two statuettes shot back to their original position and the wraith appeared for a fourth time!

A fourth time we defeated the wraith. Finally, we concluded that two statuettes could not be left with one another if one of them were to eat the other. We started with the bull and moved it to the far-side of the room, leaving the lion and the fodder at the near-side. Then we moved the lion to the far-side, leaving the fodder at the near-side. Then we took the bull back to the near-side of the room, and picked up the fodder and moved it to the far-side to be with the lion. Finally we moved the bull to the far-side of the room and we were rewarded with the satisfying sound of grinding stone as the alcove opened up and yielded its ankh.

6th Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

After being attacked on three occasions while ascending up to the High Pass Keep, the last part of the path ran alongside the wall of the keep, towards the main gate, which sat in the wall at an akward angle.

The best way to describe it, is as if the wall the at encircled the keep at me cut top to bottom by a very fine edged sword, and pulled apart, one end of the cut having been moved outward, and the other having been moved inward. The gate had been placed right in between. The approach of the gate as previously stated, was along the exterior wall on our left hand side, moving through the gate would put us within the keep’s interior courtyard, this time moving along the interior wall on the right hand side.

The wall itself was very well created. The masons had taken great care in chiselling the stones so that they fit together precisely without need for any mortar. The gate was without a door or a portcullis, which made me wonder just how long the keep had been sitting empty. Had all the wood rotted from its hinges, or had the keep never bothered to close the wall off with a door at all? I decided it must be the former, since why bother having a keep if the latter was true.

When we reached the gate, we took a moment to look southward. Quentyn seemed especially moved as we could see all the way down the pass, down the Galena foothills and we could just make out the edge of the Thar. These lands were all his. His to rule. His to guard. His to keep. It was an awesome responsibility.

I decided to do a little bit of maths. We had likely travelled about 3 league a day for about eight days. That’s 24 leagues. Considering for six yards you gain in altitude, you can see about a league further in distance on a clear day, I reckoned we were at about a 144 yards (a dozen dozen!) in altitude compared to the Thar.

Jago had found more tracks at the gate, probably all belonging to the undead creatures we had fought on the hillside. It was clear that the source of the undead was definitely this keep, which confirmed the rumours that the place was haunted. Jago had spotted several collapsed buildings, probably barracks, stables, granaries, etc. at one point, and a courtyard overgrown with weeds. He had also spotted the movement of several other undead creatures.

As people were setting up defensive positions along the gate, utilising it as a natural funnel, I noticed the warmth of the bloodstone and detected an unnatural nervous energy within myself. Was the demon in the stone getting exciting at the proximity of the evil within the keep? Was this excitement affecting me in subtle ways that I had not noticed before?

With a great banging noise we made our presence known. David and I were taking up the rear as the undead emerged from the courtyard. To my horror one of the undead had scaled the wall from the inside of the courtyard and had plummeted recklessly on the path behind us.

The battle was short and brutal. There were a few minor wounds sustained on our side, but the discipline the people in our company displayed was too much for the undead to overcome. David put the power of his god on full display and turned three of them away, one of which tried to scramble back up the wall, but was pulled back down and destroyed. The other two came back after a minute or so just to get their skull caved in by the waiting soldiers.

It is good to know that when David drives these undead creatures off, it is for a short time only. It seems to be a good crowd control technique to give us some temporary breathing room when we’re being overwhelmed. I should be prepared with offensive spells in order to make full use of the panic he causes among the undead.

While the rest were regrouping, tending to wounds and getting ready to continue, I crept through the gate to take a look inside the yard. It was eerily quiet except for a low thrumming sound coming from somewhere inside the tower, sitting at the back of the yard.

The keep seemed old. Very old. At least two centuries old, judging by the decay, but judging by the style of build is is likely more like four centuries old. This realisation made me have even more respect for the artisans who created the masonry for the outer wall. Here and there you could see the discolouration of patched up stones, but the fact that the wall stood at all was a marvel.

When the others came into the yard I shared that I heard a low thrumming sound, which only Jago could hear too. I’m glad he heard it, because with the possibility of the demon influencing me I could never be entirely certain that what I saw and heard was real until another confirmed it.

I told Quentyn about how old I thought the keep was and the relatively small amount of effort it would cost to fortify and inhabit the keep again. Relatively small compared to what it would cost to build a new keep, but probably still beyond the capability of the Glister coffers to cough up.

In order to start my study of the undead, I decided to investigate the bodies of the undead creatures. I concluded that they were not a species unto themselves but rather had once been people. Most of them, perhaps all of them, had been human. I couldn’t make out other races, but there was a possibility that some of them had been half-elven, perhaps half-orc.

I asked David whether he thought the bloodstone was feeling unusually warm. I was looking for some confirmation that the demon in the stone was responding to the surroundings, but he couldn’t confirm. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something inside that stone was getting palpably excited at arriving at the keep.

We found the tower of the keep to be completely gutted with most of the organic material long decayed. The floor of what likely was the cellar of the tower was terraced and ended in the back of the keep with a large stone door. The door had the lifelike face of an older man of eastern decent set in its surface, like a decorative knocker. Above the door it read “your master” in large scripture.

Observing the magics cast in the door, it was clear that it was designed to prevent entry. There was an intelligence built into the door which was expressly designed to interact with, likely as a way to verify a person’s credentials before allowing people to go through.

David asked whether the master in question could be Zengyi the Witch-King, since he ruled over these lands long ago, so I uttered the name. The pupilless eyes of the face opened and the face said “No, you are not” before closing its eyes again. The voice was raspy and sounded as if it had not been used in a very long time.

I asked the door who its master was and it responded that its lord was Sigmar, the lord of these lands. Quentyn recognised the name as that of one of Zengyi’s lieutenants which he had heard in an scary story his wetnurse had told him once.

I spent some time talking to the door, trying to convince it that Quentyn was now lord and master of these lands and the keep, but unfortunately it would not share any more useful information nor allow us entry.

I found myself growing frustrated at my lack of helpful divination spells. I find myself jumping from one situation into the next, all of which require different spells, from different schools and different areas of specialisation. Often I find myself wanting to become a diviner, then a transmuter, then an invoker before getting fascinated by the idea of becoming a summoner. Ugh. It’s frustrating and tiring. It seems I am destined to become them all!

We decided to return to base camp. I handed the stone to David and decided I should rest properly if I was going to prepare the right spells to help us through the next day.

7th Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

The first thing I did the following morning was prepare my spells. I once again bemoaned the lack of divination spells in my repertoire, so I decided to prepare for an auxiliary combat role instead. We’d likely have to open the door using our wits, and whatever was behind it was going to be dangerous and prove hostile.

The entire camp was moved into the courtyard of the keep. It was more secure and we’d have everyone on hand should they be needed. The Glisterians went to prepare the camp while the rest of us gathered in front of the door. David was maintaining we should collapse the tower onto the door and bury whatever evil was behind it. He had first come up with that idea the day before, but I did not take him too seriously. I still didn’t take him seriously, but he seemed to consider it more in earnest than he did yesterday.

Round after round the door rebuffed our attempts to get it to open itself and I could feel the frustration in our group grow. Ser Fosco had already given up participating but stayed because his lord had asked him to be there. But it was Quentyn who really seemed to lose patience, he’d rather solve problems he could swing a sword at. I must say that I was enjoying this puzzle, much more so than fighting those undead creatures from the previous day.

In a moment of frustration Quentyn, now enraged, yelled at the door to submit to his authority and open the door, demanding the door recognise him as the lawful lord of the keep. The door in turn, in an act of defiance I found astonishing, shot back that he didn’t recognise Quentyn as its master, but rather that the door itself was his master. “I am your master,” it said, and apparently that was the trigger to unlock the door. We had meant to convince the door to say the words carved above the keystone, rather than us convincing it to accept us as its master.

A little anti-climatically, the door opened and we found a staircase running straight down for a dozen or so steps before reaching a landing and curling around on either side onto another two stairways going down again. When we went down, we made sure that everyone was carrying a torch. We quickly realised that the two staircases leading further down from the landing merged behind the initial staircase into a broad staircase leading into another room.

The thrumming sound I had heard had become quite clear to everyone since the door had opened, but now it was clear where it was coming from. In the middle of the room was a sphere of swirling blue magical energy, hovering about seven foot in the air. Next to it was another undead creature, similar to the ones we had already defeated, but with a far more patient and cunning demeanour.

It was emaciated, with white pupilless eyes, wearing a set of brigandine armour made of leather and metal or bone plates reaching until just above the knee. In its right hand it clutched a thick staff or club, and in its left hand it held a metal ankh aloft, stuck into the magical orb.

The rest of the room was relatively empty except for a bunch of debris. There were several doors that we never had the chance to investigate before all hell broke loose. You see, once we spotted what we later called “the guardian”, we had started talking to it. This ranged from attempts to ask it to identify itself and demands it lay down its arms. Nothing really seemed to garner a response, until Quentyn moved forward rather threateningly.

The first thing the guardian did was pull the ankh from the orb. Upon the release, the orb ejected a violent gust of wind, which sent the debris that had been laying around the room in every direction. I was hit with flying shrapnel rather painfully, but worst of all, the torches we held were extinguished, which plunged the entire room into darkness save for the soft glow of the magical orb.

After that initial wave of shrapnel had hit, I was too disoriented for the pain to recognise the other waves of magic that hit us. There was one that I I felt but couldn’t make out its effects, before a third and final wave of magic hit, which started to pull at ferrous objects of significant sizes so violently that they flew from us, straight for the orb only to disappear in flashes of blue-white light. I lost a dagger from my belt as it flew into the orb, and later I saw that Godric and Ser Fosco had lost their swords.

David, who had lost his wicked chain to the orb, made an excellent decision in that chaos, and called upon the power of Illmater to illuminate the room. The effect was absolute and much, much brighter than any light I was capable of producing. I was immediately able to asses the situation; several soldiers had lost their weapons, David was disarmed, and to my horror, Quentyn was struggling to keep himself from being pulled towards the orb. It seemed his chain mail armour was being pulled into the orb just like our weapons were.

Luckily, while the shields our soldiers carried were rimmed in steel bands, they were predominantly made of wood and remained in hand. Quentyn was being helped by Godric to free him from his armour. Without too much finesse the leather straps keeping the armour in place were cut and the armour shot towards to the orb, to be annihilated.

I was still at a distance and I saw our soldiers moving in on the guardian, so I wasn’t able to unleash the fiery devastation I had prepared for that morning, but I could incinerate the guardian more slowly.

Flaming Sphere
Zu’u ag hi voth aan krein do yol
I burn you with a sphere of fire

The fight was very hectic. Weapons were handed off to those who had lost theirs to the magnetic attraction of the orb. Improvised weapons were found, like Ser Fosco picking up a random femur big enough to have belonged to an ogre, in order to smash it to dust across the shoulder of the guardian. In the end, Quentyn managed to disarm the guardian who let go of its weapon. The weapon ended up in Quentyn’s hands and he used it to strike the killing blow, caving the guardian’s skull in.

8th Day, 1st Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

Waking up to the now familiar sight of my friends sitting comfortably in the keep’s kitchen in Mund’s expert care, I found that David had stayed the night. He said that he wanted to remain close to the rest for the first few nights while carrying the stone, until he was more comfortable with the charge.

I understood his reasoning, but at the same time was a little worried; the initial point of swapping duties carrying the stone was so that neither of us would be in the vicinity of the stone for too long. My proximity to the stone had now exceeded for more than a day. I reckoned this would have to do for now since we were about to embark on a journey to the High Pass, a journey which would see us in close proximity for at least several days.

Mund had already made careful preparations for our journey, gathering our food and trail rations as well as prepared us a luxurious breakfast. Our fresh food would likely run out before reaching the High Pass, so I decided to break my fast as best as my body allowed. Light fruits, warm water with ginger root, a bit of porridge with goat’s milk and small amounts of bread.

I am looking forward to next spring, when traders would arrive from Hulburg and Illinvur. I had been talking to Haëlla about preparing some mulled wine. So much cinnamon, so much nutmeg and so much honey. The amounts were very particular. Then raisins and nuts and dried berries, but absolutely no lemon; that was the rankest sort of Sembian heresy.

After breakfast I prepared for my departure by going over my things and deciding on what to take. The bigger things, like a thick blanket and my tent, I strapped to Donkey. Right when I was busy in doing that and getting together the feed that Donkey would need for such a long journey, Donkey got conscripted by the Lord in order to carry not just my own things, but other burdensome things as well! Godric, another companion on our travel, brought his own donkey, too, albeit brown instead of grey. It, too, became the focus of most of the burden.

Our group ended up consisting of the following people:

Quentyn, David, Jago and myself. Oh, and Donkey. The Glisterians Godric, Victor, Tove, Ægir and Hubert, together with Godric’s donkey. The Sembians Costas, Alphio and Adan, all three decided to travel with us a ways as they depart Glister. Why they would travel for the High Pass after being banished from Glister is beyond me. I suppose the are heading for Vaasa to pick up their trade as mercenaries. And then the Cormyrians Ser Fosco Ganivet and Yorick. The Vesperi Kusman who travelled with the settlers but originally hails from The Vast, north of the Vesperin river. Last but certainly not least was the Damaran Warpriest Gunnar. Quite the company, at six and ten, plus two donkeys let’s not forget.

We left wizard’s hill with little fanfare and the next two days we travelled into the Galena mountains to the north. Initially we followed a familiar path along the Stillwater and we came upon the falls where we had cut off the Sembians and fought the ogres and lizardfolk.

9th Day, 1st Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

As we travelled beyond the falls the elevation changed and the surrounding flora started changing too. The trees started to become higher, change from leaves to needles and as the trees grew taller, competing for sunlight, the undergrowth changed to a steady amount of ferns.

Travel was relatively smooth. Jago had guided us from the onset, since he was most familiar with the area, and at the end of the day we had reached the edge of Jago’s familiarity. He had prepared well and had plotted our course for the next couple of days.

10th Day, 1st Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

As the day progressed I heard more and more people voice some concern about the direction we were taking. After some conversations with Jago it seemed he had angled off too much to the west, leading us somewhat astray from our goal. Once we had course corrected it seemed we were about half a day behind schedule.

2nd Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

Almost five days into our journey and the terrain became even more rugged. The foothills of the Galena mountains were behind us, and now we found ourselves in mountainous terrain the likes of which I had not travelled through myself. While sailing north along the Dragonmere lake, I had spotted some mountains that rivalled some of the mountains we saw off in the distance, but travelling proved to be a challenge.

We decided to set up camp early so that we wouldn’t have to move into the mountains at the tail end of a tiring day. We decided to eat the last of our fresh food. The last chicken was brought to slaughter and the meat and marrow was used to make a perfectly serviceable broth together with foraged mushrooms. Tents were erected and everyone seemed in good spirits. Even the Sembians, who essentially were accompanying the lord and his retinue who banished them from his lands, they seemed to be in friendly spirits.

Later that evening, before watch had been decided and people had retired to their bedrolls and I had laid down in my tent, Jago returned from a scouting run in the area. He reported seeing lizardfolk around the camp. He had tried to bring it down with bow and arrow but the elusive creature escaped him. That turned the mood of our group; despite the merriment, people ended up going to sleep feeling ill at ease.

3rd Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

The bleak mood that we were left with the previous day stayed with us throughout the following day. We were getting closer to our destination and all the dangers we were like to encounter, and having spotted the lizardfolk so close to camp had reminded everyone we were likely marching towards battle at the High Pass Keep. Whatever Lord Balta’s scouts had found there had taken them and we would likely have to confront that evil.

While travelling we kept following the precursor to the Stillwater. The river was nothing more than a stream of ice cold water now, with several other source brooks and streams leading towards it. Often we could simply cross these waters, but sometimes it meant travelling upstream for a little while before finding a serviceable crossing or ford. This forced us to double back on occasion and lose some time in transit.

Some of the more perceptive members of our company had been keeping a keen eye out on the area and had spotted the lizardfolk keeping track of our progress. They never came too close to our party, our group likely being too large for them to comfortably raid. They seemed happy for us to simply pass through their territory under observation.

Later, Jago remarked that this was likely the wrong conclusion to take since the lizardfolk rarely travelled this far north, away from deep or open waters. This was not their territory so their presence baffled him.

4th Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

We finally were able to spot the high pass. Two large mountains forming a wedge shape on the horizon. Would could just make out a hill at the bottom of the pass with a tower on it. Once I saw the placement of the tower I began to understand why Lord Balta had made a move to secure it. The pass was one of two easy routes through the Galena mountains, the other being the Low Pass, and the keep was strategically placed to easily hold the pass it was in.

5th Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

When the sun began to disappear behind the mountains and we were about a day away from the keep we started to make camp. Jago came to me and asked me to take a look at some of the tracks he had found in the surroundings. He wanted to make sure we weren’t being followed by the lizardfolk, and he had stumbled on something odd.

The tracks were that of two donkeys. I don’t know why, but immediately my mind went to a bleak place, concocting a scenario in which we had been walking in a circle and we were looking at the tracks left by our own donkeys. I quickly verified that the tracks did not belong to our donkeys, which had very unique hoof prints that we could use to rule them out. No, these were different donkeys.

Jago was especially concerned with a strange, slithering track that seemed to be following the two donkeys. I concurred, judging by the tracks, it definitely looked like a large snake was stalking these two poor donkeys.

6th Day, 2nd Ride, 9th Month, 1374th Year

We were almost upon the keep. As we travelled in the shadow of the mountain range, the air was cold, but as the rays of sunlight peaked past the mountain from time to time, the entire area was awash in a glorious golden glow.

Vegetation had become sparser and the trees looked sickly and small and I was once again reminded of the influence the demon in the bloodstone once had before we imprisoned it. Arable yield had increased significantly and what had happened in Glister might be happening in the High Pass, too. Rumours had it that the keep was haunted. Perhaps the evil that held the keep also laid waste to the fertility of the surrounding lands like Nar-Narg-Naroth once had.

The terrain started to flatten out and the brooks and streams of water seem to flow through muddy gullies. Eventually it struck us all that the lands seemed to be cultivated and that perhaps the gullies were used for irrigation. We saw some old drywall fencing which likely used to be the way farmland was marked. Perhaps these lands were all part of the keep’s domain. A well garrisoned keep needed food for their soldiers after all.

We finally came upon the start of a well worn path which meandered up the round hill sitting in the path of the high pass, choking off part of the pass on one side. The tower sitting at the top of the hill was surrounded by a sturdy, well-maintained wall. David remarked that the placement of the keep meant it was sun-starved for most of the day, regardless of the season, and so it would need a lot of cultivated land, much further out from the keep than normally.

We started up the path and took several hairpin turns before stumbling upon an old campsite. We found an old campfire, five bedrolls and a host of small belongings as well as three dead bodies, horribly burnt.

It is difficult to find the words to describe the scene. Of the three bodies, one was sitting up against an old, withered tree around which the camp had been erected. Another was laying at a small distance from the tree, and the third was a ways outside of camp, laying in the bushes. Only the last one seemed to show signs of distress, having thrashed around, leaving scorch-marks upon the ground, before collapsing where we found it.

I found the scene to be utterly fascinating and started to investigate, beginning with the man (at least I think it was a man) sitting up against the tree. The burns he suffered were severe. I judged the intensity of the heat to be enormous, which made the unmoving nature of the body a double mystery.

From the smell of the body, I made out that he had been doused in lamp oil. He was also missing much of the flesh off the inside of one of his hands, which I later found sticking to the body of the second burn victim. It seemed as if the first victim had grabbed onto the second victim, which caused the second victim to catch fire.

The first victim was also clutching a small brass coin, which miraculously had survived the heat of the flames. A quick examination of the coin revealed it to be magical, which explained its survival. Gunnar, David and myself discerned the coin to be a Suntoken, items created with the express intent of vanquishing undead by priests. Another remarkable discovery was that the first victim had at one point been wearing a necklace, which was missing.

The third victim was still a complete mystery to me.

I suspected the first victim to be a priest. It would fit with him carrying the Suntoken. And it fit the lack of birds and animals, the sickly growth, the rumours of the keep being haunted. It all pointed to an undead infestation. I quickly sent out Blackwing to call back the others from investigating the keep.

We caught up with the others and shared what we had found. Ser Fosco had stayed behind with several others to set up camp and guard our findings. We ascended the path further toward the keep and found signs of fighting. Weapons, bones, etc. Jago had found a symbol of Lathandar, the Morninglord, in the bushes, probably belonging to the first victim downstairs.

Soon we found ourselves ambushed by two emaciated undead humans. After a short fight, in which Quentyn was hit several times and later reported an unnatural, icy feeling gripping him by the throat when he was hit, I started to form a scenario of what happened back at the camp.

The first victim was the priest of Lathandar. The other two were likely the same type of emaciated undead creatures that attacked us. He was left without his holy symbol and therefore next to powerless. He resorted to self-immolation, both as a method of defence and offence. It had worked, but at what price?

As we continued to ascend the path towards the keep, we kept being beset upon by these undead creatures. Even though the others were doing a very good job of defeating the rather mindless creatures, I was curious to see how my magic would affect them. As it turned out, it worked rather well.

Burning Hands
Ag voth yol nol haali
Burn with fire from my hands

After another hairpin we were beset upon by four others. David had said he wanted to use his divine power to turn the undead away. He succeeded in scaring off three of them, but I wasn’t going to let them survive:

Fireball
Ag ko faal toor do Dinoksetiid
Burn in the inferno of the end times

Finally, there was another battle. Against five undead creatures, this time. I stood back and watched them decimate the undead. David fought impressively with that wicked looking chain of his. He kept hooking the chain around the legs of the creatures and pulling them to the ground, only to break their bones with the blunt end of the chains.

I came to the realisation that I am ill equipped to use my magic in these chaotic, combat situations. I might well have the time and wherewithal to cast my offensive spells while the enemies are distracted by the swords and spiked chains of my companions, but I doubt I’ll perform very well when I’m the one they’re focusing their aggression upon. I must find a way to make myself more useful in combat. To increase my chance of survival at the very least.

Also, I’ve been so immersed in the study of different Tanar’ri that I have completely neglected my studies of the undead. I was completely incapable of identifying the emaciated creatures that attacked us. Was it a zombie? A skeletal warrior? A wraith? A wight? A banshee? I have no idea. I think I could have been of better use to my companions if I had at least been able to identify the creatures and share possible vulnerabilities.

I am so useless at fighting that I at least have to help my friends in other ways. If I can’t help them, why would they ever agree to help me when I’m in need?