Excerpts from the ciphered diary of one Pelf Demist, Merchant adventurer.

To any other players who read this: These notes and records are intended to help me create a character that does more than just hit people - I'm not a practised role-player, so I have decided to devote some of my copious spare time to this.  The diaries are for me to explore my character and keep records, and as such is pretty boring, but the early parts of this page might be of interest to you.

 Ikeria, Kalarime, Iznenia, Korrovia  Axe

Setting Notes Forum Travelling distances (by main road, in the Old Kingdom) - .XLS format! Dramatis Personae Tariel Belnoy (Vicky/Magrat) - CM - Clayr/Abhorsen - Glacier Yshriel Belnoy (Nancy/Ciriella) - CM/Rog  - Clayr/(Abhorsen?) - Glacier Derek Mahnagor (Jon/Shanibi) - Ranger - Blood of Kng -  Alendar Falls Mathias Kendall (Matt-with-2-ts/Rhuben) - CM - Wallmaker - ? Arthur Goramson (Jay/Snozgobler) - CM/Healer - Blood of the King - Garrets Field Irvin (Alban/Apocripha) - FH/Gunslinger - smuggler - Ancelstierre Ash Woodman (Mat/Ashmere)  - CM - Abhorsen - ? Pelf Demist (Peter/Kvetch) - SH/Fighter/Soldier - merchant/adventurer - Ancelstierre Sir Dulgrum (Ben/?) - paladin(Protector)

Revised Soldier Advanced class:

Evening, 1
Have reached the small village of Crosspoint near Crook, along with a disproportionately large crowd of others.  Villagers very welcoming (well, we represent a strong boost to the economy), but due to lack of space we have all been given floor space in a barn to sleep.
I've been hearing news that the RAA has sealed the wall, and is turning back anyone who tries to cross - and from the wounds that some of the people carry it seems likely. Hopefully, however, I'll be able to convince someone that I've a right to return home - I am after all, a merchant, even one without goods. It is odd - every time I leave Ancelstierre, I'm glad to leave the stifling proprieties of merchant life, but by the time I'm due to return, I cannot get back soon enough.

Afternoon 2
Rather eventful night - village torched by wild men, and all the villagers killed/captured.  By the time my fellow travellers and I woke and realised what was going on, most of the village was alight, although we reacted fast enough to protect our own domicile.  Displaying an impressive amount of martial skill, we drove off, killed or incapacitated the wild men. Unfortunately, their apparent leader, a mounted rider, escaped untouched.  Even more unfortunately, the rider seems to have some power over the undead, and summoned two zombies from the collapsing houses to attack us. While we overcame them after a struggle, some of the others were fairly badly hurt. Since, for reasons unknown except perhaps to the Clayr, there are at least four Charter Mages among our number, that isn't as bad as it could have been.
Note: The Charter-Marked water I bought last year was very effective - try and get more if possible.

After failing to get much information from the captured wild men (it was deemed inappropriate to attempt anything more than the vague implication of possible pain), we locked up the wild men in the barn - they will escape eventually, but we will be far away, and perhaps they ill think before attacking more villages. We followed the trail of the captured villagers eastwards (The black rider rode off to the N).  On the way, we were ambushed by some kind of free magic construct.  It proved hard to destroy, since it exhibited some form of teleportation ability. However, once it had attached itself to Ash's (?) face, it was easily despatched - although Ash didn't come out of the experience unscathed.
We continued following the tracks to the X, until we reached the cave home of the wild men, just as the sun was rising. The plan was to make a silent raid, but a wild man noticed the trained raven belonging to one of the charter mages, and followed it outside - and immediately spotted the large figure of Sir Dulgrum, who was standing in the middle of the undergrowth, making no attempt at hiding.  We reverted to a 'hack and kill' methodology, which worked well enough, although overconfidence led to three separate skirmishes happening at once, in different tunnels. We managed to hold the wildmen back, and avoided any sort of pincer movement - more due to luck than judgement, I must admit.
We found the women and children in a wooden cage, and discovered that they were being used as sacrifices in rituals by a corrupted charter mage - although we were too late to save the lives of several of the villagers, we ended the corruption of the mage.
It seems that the mage had been using the blood in some way to feed a monstrous being that lives in the lower caverns.  We fought a skirmish with it, and though the already weakened Ash was badly hurt, and almost eaten, we drove it off.
The consensus of opinion is that we will rest for a time, so the Charter Mages can work on healing Ash and the other wounded, then we will venture into the lower caverns to attempt to destroy the multi-headed abomination.  If we survive that, we will escort the surviving villagers to the nearest large town (or other destination they decide upon).  While I'm not too concerned about killing the monster, I know it took a chest of gold with it as it escaped down it's well, and as the treasure it left behind totals far more than my last trading run ought to gain me, I'm willing to chance a little danger.

 

Battle of Long Cliff (a tactical overview) After we were spotted by a wild man guard, we gave up secrecy, and charged in (1.). After a short skirmish in the centre of the chamber, many pursued a retreating wild man deeper in into the cave complex (4.). When it became apparent that there were wild men moving in a pincer movement (from 3. and 2.), some of us moved to block their sallies, in the hope of bottlenecking them.  We were generally successful (indeed, Sir Dulgrum and I, at 2. got such a superior position, that when the defenders at 3. started experiencing problems, I was able to hold the tunnel alone, while Sir Dulgrum reinforced the others. After we annihilated the wild men, we regrouped at 4., and started planning how to release the imprisoned villagers (6.).  When we started to hear screaming from 7., we abandoned thought, and dashed down the curving corridor.  Again, expediency (i.e. hoping to save the woman in question) overcame caution, so we became embroiled in melee with the corrupted Charter Mage (who was draining blood into urns, for nefarious purposes), and his minions.  Once the mage had expended all of his power (by draining lifeforce from Ash, lucky guy...), he and his minions were fairly easily despatched, although the captive did not survive - perhaps mercifully. Moving through to 8., we were confronted by boxes of a treasure, and a well.  As the Charter Mage had called for help into this room, we were suspicious of the well, and threw alchemical fire down it.  In advancing to throw the fire, the unlucky Ash was snatched into the air by a monstrous head, that emerged from the well. I'm particularly proud of my beheading of that head in a single blow. Naturally, the monster had spares, but to cut a long story short, we managed to drive it off. 5. is a padlocked iron gate - a target for exploration.

[later]
We explored the area beyond the iron gate (5.) - it contained four of the lesser dead, which was not fun, but we dealt with them promptly enough. There was nothing else, so we went to make an assault on the hydra thingy.
Abseiling down into a cavern with a monstrous being 10 times your size?  *NOT* a good idea.  I was lucky to get out - the rope was bitten through just I was dragged up to the upper cavern.  We decided that destroying the abomination was beyond our power, and as it seemed to be trapped down there, we left it to starve.

We then took the surviving women and children off to Crook, where we handed the over to the care of the town elders, and now we plan to sleep at the inn, before splitting up, or whatever.  Hopefully tonight we will *not* be attacked.

3
This morning, we were confronted by the mag'ii sisters telling us that they had had a prophetic dream telling them they needed to destroy a piece of armour buried with some ancient warleader to avoid an undead army arising. While I'm not to sure about their claimed power, they do have very northern accents, so they might have an amount of the fabled power of the Clayr. And this group does seem to provide a good source of income (my share of the booty comes to 152 gold coins!) and it's not as if I really have much *else* to do, with the Wall closed - so I agreed to go along.
We started our search for the burial ground of the person in the vision by visiting the nearest charter-stone, where apparently a huge number of Charter Mages fell, fighting free magic constructs, barbarian hordes and all sorts - to cut a long and complicated story short, we visited the memorial chambers, and talked with some form of imprisoned Free Magic being, that had served ???, the warleader, but for reasons unknown, turned on him in the last battle. Much of the history and byplay passed me by, but we ended heading for where we *think* the ??? is buried.  We travelled half the day, and ended up setting up camp near another Charter Stone.


Slept.  On my watch, we heard gunshots from the nearby wood (where grave is suspected to be).  Saw fleeing figures - RAA.  Scouts, driven back by a wall of wolves, and a strange mist.  Naturally the wolves and mist followed.  The mist was full of free magic, and disabled our guns, with unfortunate effects for the scouts, who were soon cut down.  The Anclestierreans, Irvin, and I did better - we kept back the wolves, and manage to destroy the free magic construct that seemed to be controlling them - giant mist wolf.  Breathed ice, and bit.  Hard.  Am very very hurt.

Rested.

4
Tracked wolves back - found spot where other scouts killed (probably), continued tracking to tomb of Caranaradon.
Tomb guard-warded to create gigantic constructs as a test of arms.  Hard fight, but got past.
In tomb, some pit traps - I fell into one.  At end of corridor, an archway with script telling Charter Mages not to pass. Also a pool of blood in front of the archway - it burnt like acid when I trod in it.  I went past this arch, but the enchantment on my axe set off the warding - animated the suits of armour down the hall - including the two that the others were wearing them at the time.
Very very tough fight, but we prevailed. Irvin ducked out of the fight (he would have been little use) in order to explore the tomb cavern - he found a recently dead Charter Mage with his mark ripped off and what turned out later to be a free magic dagger in his heart, plus a nice note saying 'I leave this [dagger] for whoever next comes along'.  No sign of the armour.

All of us badly hurt - rested

5
No disturbance during night, but on awakening, we found Irvin's dagger gone.  After questioning, we discovered that the sisters had taken it and destroyed it. While I agree that it was an evil artifact, and dangerous, I feel they do not have the right to do that - I mistrust them.  I'm travelled enough to believe in the prophetic powers of the Clayr, but they seem to be be witholding information, and they are leading us around like blinkered horses.

6
Tracked the trail leading from the tomb towards the wall. Arrived in late evening, to discover a huge rent torn into the wall - disquieting to say the least, although the wall seems to be repairing itself. We essayed a foray through the hole, and saw the entrenched RAA watching the wall (bright day on that side). We decided to set up camp, and attempt to follow the trail further tomorrow - we will think better rested, and it will be dusk on the other side of the wall.

7-8
A night's sleep, plus a mark of Healing from Ash (?) left me fully recovered from the battle at the Charter Stone, but that sleep was interrupted in the early dawn by a flock of Gore Crows that took station over the crack in the Wall. We drove them off with comparative ease, although my intuition that they signalled an assault from the other side proved incorrect. It helped that our opponents were unable to enter the wall without de-animating, so we were able to shelter and snipe at them.  For reasons known only to herself, Tariel chose this interval to go into a trance and enter Death.  What she found there was apparently frightening, but I don't really understand what the mages were talking of. However, if she continues to act in ways that will potentially endanger her travelling companions, I'm really not going to be happy.

Irvin then attempted to find a path through the trench system, so that we could bypass the blockade without getting shot or deported. 
Unfortunately (to say the very least), he attempted to steal a uniform from one of the sleeping guards - and had to kill him as he began to wake. [Actually, Irvin just slashed his throat, but I'm interpreting his story to the party this way, otherwise there is no way anyone could sustain remaining with him - and there is no way his character would tell a bunch of charter mages that he killed a defenceless man unprovoked]. Unlike the others, who condemn the act outright, I can understand his action, though I can't condone it. Irvin truly believed that he would be killed if he was found (I agreed with him there, although later events disproved this), so the murder was an act of self-defence - though I don't understand why he could not have simply rendered the poor man unconscious.
This rather put paid to our plan of sneaking past, since the murder attracted a large convoy with machine guns.  In the end, we decided to abandon the hole in the wall, and attempt to reach the nearest of the gateway, where we hoped to sneak through, and pick up the trail on the other side.  After we travelled for a long time without finding the gate way, we decided to attempt to parlay our way through the trenches.
We decided to represent the killing as an action of the people we were following, and try and get through as bounty hunters/people trying to save the Old Kingdom from an Undead warlord.
It was surprisingly easy, as the Captain who met with us had apparently had a meeting with another Clayr who had already warned him that we (or more precisely, the Clayr sisters - they do get around a heck of a lot) would be coming through, and had some how exerted enough influence to make him almost putty in our hands.  He told us of a antiquities collector called Nehmil Hunt who'd recently sent out a call for Old Kingdom artefacts, and helpfully transported to the nearest town.

9
After spending *most* of last night sleeping in a comfortable inn in Bain, I was awoken at about four by screaming from the common room.  When I got there (at roughly the same time as the others), the room was thoroughly trashed, and the only visible being was a young and very frightened child.
Naturally, it wasn't that simple - hidden in the darkest shadows of the furthest corner of room was some kind of powerful Dead. It had seemingly been bond by the Abhorsen, who had sent it to find his children. For some reason he'd thought the child we found was one of his daughters, but this was a mistake, and his real children were considerably older - as it turns out, as well as being Clayr, Yshriel and Tariel are of the blood of the Abhorsen as well. And surprisingly, Ash is as well (it seems like this was the first they knew of it was well!). The Abhorsen had come to warn his children and the rest of us (although I'm not sure how he came to know of us) that our search for the armour of Kerinaradon?? was of deadly importance.  And then he lost his control of the Dead.  We were lucky to be able to drive it away, the only fatality being an unfortunate policeman who was unlucky enough to be in the in the wrong place at the wrong place. After reporting the incident to the local authorities, and patching up the innkeeper and his wife who'd been caught in the initial blast that damaged the room, we returned to sleep for a few hours.

At breakfast this morning, Yshriel and Tariel informed us about several other visions they'd had.  Obtaining the shard is definately very important, and the focus of many of the visions, although Yshriel also had a vision of an RAA lorry full of ammunition in a hidden cavern. A green egg was also in the vision, and it was starting to hatch, accompanied by the stench of Free Magic.  Not fun...
Nehmil Hunt proved to be a pleasant, if nervous, sort.  He did indeed know of the shard, and offered to obtain it for us in exchange for our obtaining, from a group of collectors in nearby ??, a long box dug up on the Carter expedition.  We accepted the commission, judging it the best way to obtain our objective. Irvin informed us privately that group in question, who trade as Oliver Cromwell and Sons, are a front for a group of smugglers, and my tangential knowledge of them would tend to confirm this.

We reached ?? in mid afternoon, and spent the day casing the joint of OC&S - they denied owning the box, and we were unable to get beyond the front of house, so we have decided to make a night raid, in hopes of finding it in the bowels of the building.

The eventual method we chose was to use magical constructs to unbar the doors (we were lucky in the wind direction) and try and sneak into the back rooms. 

Unfortunately, we were heard, and very quickly got into a firefight.  We escaped much harm, and the unfortunate guards seem set to survive, with the exception of one poor sod who shot himself in the foot and fell off the stairs and then broke his neck. Irvin and Yshriel did not take much part in this - they were emptying the cash box, and stealing a magical dagger and amulet, respectively. Tariel also stood out the fight, as she didn't want to kill anyone (a sentiment I agreed with, although when we came under fire, I was forced to abandon my subdual intentions - but once I was able to close with the guards, I did manage to just blugeon them down).
We then moved onto trying to enter the cellar, where we believed the most valuable stock to be stored. The cellar was guarded by another, much larger, group of guards, and a free magic sorcerer.  I am unsure of how he managed to call upon his abominable powers in Ancelstierre, but call upon them he did.
His ability to turn invisible and drop grenades was a serious threat until the Charter Mages managed to tag him with glowing lights, and then set of the grenades he was carrying.  After that, he started retreating, and we were able to pin down and disable the gunmen.
While trying to escape, he called upon huge insectile abominations to attack us [Ankhegs] who proceeded to bite huge lumps out of Sir Dulgrum. Some how, Tariel was able to enter into Death itself, and pull him back to life, but neither look to well now, although Arthur assures us they'll be fine.
While this drama was playing itself out, we fought the endgame against the sorcerer. Although his last final malice of setting off a grenade as we moved against him nearly took us with him into death, we all survived. It seems that the men he had been commanding were under some form of compulsion, since the last rifleman conscious at that point immediately surrendered, and seemed truly repentant for his actions.

While ransacking the cave system for the box, we found a nest containing the eggs of the monsters, when we summarily despatched.  We also picked up various potions and powders that looked to have some alchemical interest, and what we believe to be the mage's journal (it is in some alien script) - I overrode arguments about destroying the damn thing by just taking it. We discovered the box we were searching for hidden behind a pile of crates - it turns out to be a huge sarcophagus, that took both me and Derek all our strength to lift.

We had hoped to leave the area undetected, but when we got back to the stairwell we could here a group of police officers and the proprietor of the shop in the room above us.  We disguised ourselves as RAA soldiers, and decided to bluff our way out. We posed as special operations forces, attempting to defuse a dangerous Old Kingdom artifact, and we were very successful in our acting - we put the proprietor to flight, and persuaded the police officers to both care for the wounded and send for a regular patrol to deal with the aftermath.  It is worth recording here that I do believe Yshriel could convince people that the sky is green.

We carried the sarcophagus out to a field. On the way, I heard a voice whispering in my mind - "Surely you wish to see who you've rescued, my darling..." - I nearly dropped the damn thing.  In the end, I took the experience to Mathias (Of the Charter Mages, he seems the most practical, and he has willingly shared his protections with me - and as far as I know is not hiding anything either) - he decided the best course was to share the experience with the others - it turns out Derek also heard a voice while we carried the box, although he heard only gibberish.

After more arguments about destroying the journal (Tariel and Yshriel were, predictably for destroying it as a free magic artifact, Mathias and Ii were of the opinion that while potentially dangerous, the book could hold important information that might be worth the possible danger). Mathias decided he would call upon the Charter to try and read the journal - after great struggles, he gleaned that the sarcophagus had been dug up on the Carter Expedition, then reburied under Wind Flutes - not happy news. He also gained glimpses of the Mage's fervent patriotism and hatred of foreigners - but was unable to maintain his spell longer than that. In the light of later events, after reading the book he seemed much less opposed to destroying the book. 

Tariel then attempted to pull information about the "Our Country" group from the book (although I'm not sure why she thought knowing was important - more the Clayr aren't telling? [actually, no - it just caught Vicky's interest, but why not add a little more suspicion for Pelf?]) - it seems they are an underground group, intending to shut off both access to the Old Kingdom, and immigration from other countries as well, plus general political restucturing.  They seem to be a well spread, but not *terribly* dangerous movement.  After reading from the book, Tariel almost immediately started to argue that we should keep the book - while her arguments were cognent, they were such a reversal of her previous position, that we began to suspect foul play.

On my watch, I woke Yshriel to discuss her sister's change of heart, and she convinced me that the book was really to dangerous to keep (until then I'd been considering that maybe the attraction to the book was a price worth paying for the knowledge in the book since one of us who cannot cast the Marks to read the book could keep it away from those who fell prey to the attraction), and I agreed to destroy it - I'm definately beginning to understand why she destroyed Irvin's dagger. 

When I opened my pack to get the book out, I discovered it was gone - and I'd been careful to keep my pack close to me. I covertly searched the packs of Tariel, Mathias and, I'm ashamed to say, Irvin.  It was not there either.  I've decided to confront the group with it's loss in the morning (to avoid awkward questions about why I was looking for it in the middle of the night.

10
Derek woke us on his watch, reporting that the wind was blowing from the North, and that the sarcophagus was glowing.  As we watched, the cloudy crystal on the surface of the sarcophagus cleared, and we saw the body of a middle-aged man lying inside.  Tariel told us that it was the same visage as that of her father when she saw him in a vision, encased in ice in the 4th precinct of Death. Since the voice that spoke to me was female, we suspected a trap, and took no action to try and open the sarcophagus.  When the wind moved back south, the crystal clouded over again.

After this minor crisis, I related how the book was missing, and everyone turned out their packs to prove it wasn't there - no one seemed to have it.

I persuaded Bob, the stable hand from the south of town to hire out his cart (and act as driver) for a nominal fee, so we found it easy to move the sarcophagus to Bain. While travelling, we decided that while the sarcophagus was potentially horrifically dangerous, but we need the armour shard too much to not give it over to Nehmil Hunt.  Hopefully it will become more and more quiescent away from the Wall, so handing it over may even be a good thing. The innkeep welcomed us, and offered us free accommodation.

11
12
Spent the last two days resting. Tariel has again gone slightly mad shopping - I really don't see what she sees in it.  Mathias spent the time scribbling Charter Marks - he says they will make it possible for others to use Marks they are not familiar with, but I don't really understand the technicalities. Arthur has spent almost all his time with Sir Dulgrum, whose recovery is not going well.
I had intended to spend my time investigating the possibilities of selling some of the spirits I picked up last trip to the locals, but I was mobbed by what appeared to be the entire juvenile population of Bain.  I really can't think why children like me so much...
I sent a letter to Maz and the rest of the family, telling them that I wouldn't be back for a while.  I also deposited £2000 in the bank account, so my absence shouldn't cause any problems - although I'm sure I'll get a lecture about my irresponsibility - but tomorrow is another day.
To tell the truth, I'm not sure why I am still travelling with this group, since I'm back in my own country. The financial gain they seem to create is a convincing reason to keep on with them, but something else is acting upon me.

13
Nemhil Hunt arrived at the inn at mid-morning, in a very expensive car with a number of dark suited heavies. We spent a while exchanging pleasantries, before getting down to business. Hunt tried to convince us to simply sell him the sarcophagus, but we remained resolute in requiring the shard. In the end we agreed to exchange the shard for the box and £30000 (!).
Hunt didn't seem to have realised the size of the sarcophagus - he seemed to think it was a small box, so he hadn't come prepared for the size and weight of it.
When we collected the sarcophagus from the cellar where we'd been storing it, we had a minor incident - Mathis went up to the box, and started talking to it. After a few tense moments when we thought he was possessed, we got him to admit that he had got hold of the Free Magic book, and that it had told him some more about the being in the coffin. It seems the book had appeared in his pack during the cart ride back to Bain, and he'd been unable to resist the temptation to read it - although after a time he'd recovered enough of his free will to attempt to destroy it - but blows by ordinary weapons just bounced off. Naturally, we resolved to destroy the damn thing - after we'd done the swap with Hunt.
The Northerners seemed a little non-plussed when confronted with a cheque, but I assured them it was all alright.
After confirming that just hitting the book with edged objects was useless (my arms still ache), Derek tried ripping out a few pages from the book - while he suceeded, he was also blasted with raw magic. After that salutary lesson in caution, we called upon Tariel and her magic to burn the book from a distance - which seemed to be doing a satifactory amount of damage, right up until it disappeared in a puff of Free Magic..

I took the cheque to the Bank of Bain, and cashed it through my account. They even gave us a 3% bonus for taking the money in Old Kingdom coinage, since with the closure of the wall, they are struggling to get rid of it.

14
Spent the day travelling towards the crossing point. We met with Captain Matthews who was very welcoming - he offered us an escort through the Wall, and overnight accommodation. He also told us that there had been a recent rise in the number of incursions by Hands, both of the common kind and Shadow Hands.

15
Captain Matthews got us through the Wall, and also issued us with (one use) return Visas - something of which I am incredibly glad - I would hate to have got home, and then returned to the Old Kingdom, and got stuck again.
Spent the day travelling towards Roble's Town.

16
We were attacked in the night, just before dawn.  We were assailed by a group of 14 Dead Hands, 2 Shadow Hands and a flock of Gore Crows.  We prevailed, although Irvin had much of his life-force drained from him by the Shadow Hand (but he acted with great bravery by not fleeing the accursed thing).  When I cut down the other Shadow Hand, it blasted me with it's very fabric - a horrible sensation.  Apart from that, we survived surprisingly well - the sunrise cut down the last gore crows.  We were forced to retreat, as a wall of opaque mist approached from the west, protecting a new horde of Dead from the sun.  Irvin is heavy.  We made it across a streamlet with seconds to spare - and encountered a young woman staring into a pool of frozen ice.  She had the normal Clayr coloration, although she wore blue.
It turns out that she was a Clayr who had been Seen as having only one vision - one of great woe. Naturally, she'd just had her vision, and it was of universal death.  The vision ran something like "She saw great pain, suffering beyond measure, and a cloud....a devastating, terrifying cloud that filled the sky. Before the cloud there was a great flash. So bright all who saw it were instantly blinded...and then the cloud, looming into the sky like some giant mushroom. But that is not the end of it....oh no....only the beginning of the end. From this cloud terrible devastation is unleashed. None shall escape the force within. Death, oh that would be a mercy compared to what lays in store. Rape. Torture. Plague. Suffering beyond all measure. And still it is worse. When this world is dead, destroyed, devoid of all life, the cloud will move on. Find another world. Begin anew. As it has before..."
We elicited a little more information - her name is Sariella, for example, and I learnt more about my companion's pasts, but we didn't stick around for long - the mist was too close for comfort.
Arthur did spend some time de-enervating Irvin, so he could hobble along under his own steam.  We then started moving towards the Rattelin, about 30 miles away.  As we left the small copse where we found Sariella, the Dead behind us started laying grave dirt across the streamlet.  In the end, we out-paced the mist for long enough that we managed to reach the Rattelin - where we were fortunate enough to find a boat house with an elderly boat in it.
We crossed the river, and spent the night trying to recover from our exhaustion - only Arthur and I were sensible enough to sleep on solid ground.
 

17
We decided to travel to the Long Cliffs by boat - which was fine, although the south bank of the river was entirely obscured by mist.  We encountered a problem closer to the cliffs - the undead in the mist had been busily constructing a pontoon bridge. After a hard fight, we managed to destroy it, along with a Shadow Hand, numerous Dead Hands, and some terrible Greater Dead who appeared as a scythe wielding skeleton wrapped in back mist - when it managed to board (we crashed into the bridge, allowing it to jump across, although we did manage blow some of the connecting coffins up with a grenade, so the boat survived) it's touch induced a searing agony in it's targets.
The Necromancer who seemed to be directing operations escaped back into the mist - but not before scorching us with lightning and snuffing out myriad spells.
The water falls of the cliffs meant we had to abandon our boat.

18
Night uneventful, spent day climbing cliffs by a well hidden path, at top of path, came upon Abhorsen's house. The door in the curtain wall opened for Ash, so we entered.  We were welcomed by Charter Sendings, and shown to rooms. It is nice to be clean again. Everyone was given a clean set of clothes, and a strange tabard.  Mine is brown and bears cart sigils. Irvin's is grey and emblazoned with daggers, Yshriel's is a pale blue and bears the star of the Clayr [keys?], Tariel's darker blue one bears the Star mixed with the Keys of Abhorsen. Ash's also bears the Keys interlaces with small crosses (representing what, we don't know), while both Derek and Arthur's tabards bear the Crown of the fallen kings on a red field (perhaps an interesting lineage there). For reason's unknown, Mathias has a tabard bearing Trowels, a sigil none of us recognise. 
Had a nice dinner (of excellently cooked fish) - we met the caretaker of the house, a talking cat. It is only in the Old Kingdom where people could take that in their stride.  He proved a little difficult to pin down, but we extracted some little information from him. We also explored the house. The area of most interest was the study - the books on magic excited the Mages, all who seemed to have picked up a few new tricks from them - Mathias especially, since he seems to have worked out how to place permanent marks upon our weapons - although my axe was apparently not carefully enough made to contain the magical fluxes - and while my pistol is a truely fine piece, it is too foreign an item for him to be able to cope with. On the other hand, Derek, Tariel and Ash now have swords that should strike with greater keenness against the Dead.  I didn't follow the conversation, but apparently the weapons of T and A have now been 'deathworked', allowing them to pass into death with their users. [last bit takes liberties with chronology of enchanting, but it flows]
I spent the time looking through the more mundane contents of the library - I always like to take opportunities to pick up more information about the Old Kingdom.  I copied out a map of the Kingdom, a rather old sketch of Belisaere and the last entry in the Abhorsen's Journal.
Tariel and Yshriel had more visions - one of Caranaradon bringing more Dead back into Life in some cavern somewhere, and one of a group of knights who had attacked and killed a group of people on the western bank of the Rattelin.

19
Left Abhorsen's house in morning

20-23
Travelling on foot up path of Rattelin

24
The morning passed uneventfully. About midday we passed the bridge across to Qyrre, and after a little more travel we came upon a barricade across the road.  The people manning it had been hideously slain, and as we were examining, we were ambushed by the warriors of Yshriel's vision.  They were all about 7ft tall, and wielding absolutely huge weapons. After a strenuous fight, we killed or disabled them all - although perhaps the fight would have been over a trifle quicker had I not got my axe embedded in a tree. Which then stood up and walked away. With me hanging from my axe. Still, I managed to dislodge my axe, and the tree being did not seem dangerous so we let it leave.
The warriors seem to be barbarians from the far north - their armour bears strange sigils. We tied up the survivors, and took their stuff back to Qyrre to try and sell - Davos Mahoy seems like a good choice as a buyer, since none of the others knows a more specialist merchant. We alerted the town authorities, and then set up in the Broken Sign Inn for the night.

25
This morning Yshriel and Tariel recounted yet more visions. One they chose to share only with Arthur and Sariella, while the other we all heard - It was again of Caranaradon raising Dead, but this time it was more specific - the dead were definitely Greater Dead, and we got a more accurate fixture of place - beyond the Westway, towards where the eastern branch of the Ratellin rises, about 6 days ride from here.
Arthur went with the town guardsmen to pick up any surviving captives, Matto do, we examined the Free Magic dagger, and decided to try and destroy it - My hitting it with a mace proved ineffectual, so Yshriel suggested taking it to a blacksmith to have it melted down. Pelf objected, not wanting it unwatched among people who might prove more susceptible to it's lure. Yshriel said she'd go along, but collapsed as she left the temple (once back inside she recovered quickly). Then Irvin said he'd go, and dropped as well (they both rolled incredibly poorly on Fort saves, but IC we didn't know that). One of the Charter Mages who tended the Stone offered to take it, an offer we accepted, sending Quoth along as backup [In light of later events, I should point out  Pelf wasn't to happy with the idea (=paranoid), but deferred to one with greater knowledge about Magic.  Thought I'd mention this in case it comes up in the IC thread. Mind you, I out of character thought it was a good solution, but hey, sometimes we get unlucky]

Next thing we knew Quoth was sending the emotional message 'eek' to Ash, and a few of us legged it off to the blacksmiths.  On the way, we found the dead body of the Charter Mage and the his two dying guards - Arthur saved one, but the other died before he could get there. On examining the scene, we found that the CM had been killed with a poisoned dart (with the letters MP on them), and the Templars had been hacked about - bearing wounds like that of the people in the cave (so we panicked slightly). We tracked the footsteps of one of the assailants into a bar, which didn't really like Charter Mages (Yshriel was refused a drink, Ash got slightly pissed off and smacked the barkeep over the head with a Greatsword. By saying he'd get rid of Ash, Arthur managed to parlay this into getting some useful information - We found that the attacker had probably been a memeber of theBlack Roses, an underworld gang. As the only non-Charter Mage around I was able to stay in the bar longer, and was approached by a small child (called Jack), who wanted beer. I gave him some, because I could.  I asked him about the Black Roses, and managed a high plot roll and got told that "You shouldn't got to the old fishing docks, and you shouldn't go there around midnight".

We then went Noir for a short while, which didn't got to badly - we (Pelf, Irvin, Derek, Yshriel) made contact with a guy in the Black Roses, and told him was though his associates had obtained a trinket that we had being trying to obtain, and could we buy it off them.  He said he'd make contact with us, and told us to set up in a certain in.  We weren't too convincing, because we didn't have a well thought out cover story, but we weren't knifed. As we left the docks, we saw a black ship sailing in towards the docks we'd been on.

We hired rooms in the inn, and asked that the innkeeper to take messages for us. Since the Free Magic illness was flaring up we decided we had to get back to the Charter Stone.  We were being tailed, and the moment Derek shared this with us Yshriel and Irvin disappeared off side streets - much to Jon and I's confusion (both in and out of character!) - I'm not sure what Nancy and Alban did then, but Derek and Pelf went to the pub in the hope out tail would follow us in - which he did, it proved to be the small child from earlier, so Derek and Pelf proceeded to get him blind drunk while pumping him for information (That was fun.  The kid is more hardcore than I am in RL - he got through 6 pints before collapsing.  We did the right thing and got him a room in an inn, and left him some shiny pennies). 
Most of the information wasn't really helpful, except we discovered that the boss guy of the Black Roses was called the Black Thorn, and they sent a single black rose with the head cut off and the petals strewn as a warning to people who'd ticked them off. We also got hints of a new guy turning up and muscling into the organisation. We then went back to the Charter Stone, and met up with the others.

Next morning was shopping morning - I bought lots of shiny stuff, Yshriel bought [i]Locate Object[/i] on a scroll, and Arthur did a day of research in the library (the dude in the vision was the second regent after the fall of kings, the hand and crown banner is the standard of the regents/the equivalent position held before the fall of the kings (King's Champion or something like that perhaps - Mark said there had been a position under the king that the banner was related too, but didn't specify what.). The message at the Inn was 'No such dagger known'.  But later in the day Derek dropped by, and found black roses on our pillows.  Since that approach was a dead end, we used Locate Object, and tracked the dagger to a ship - Irvin worked out it was the one we saw sailing in the other day - although it seemed to be fishing, the nets wouldn't have caught a dead mackerel.

At the end of the session, we were taking turns watching the ship, waiting for nightfall.  We have agreed to treat it as if we were all together at once for ease of conversation.
--------------------------

The later part of the day we rather action packed - we all divided up to follow up various leads - Arthur, Mathias and I visited the Charter temple to question the barbarian we captured at the caves. Tariel and Yshriel went off on their own inscrutable business, and the others stayed in the Overlook Tavern, watching the docks. Arthur, Mathias and I had a moderately successful interview - we found out the name of the necromancer (it is @) and a few other things. Arthur then gave an incredible speech to rally men to our cause (well, his cause). Meanwhile, Derek Irvin and Ash spotted a boat leaving the Black ship, the Kalboscre, and went down to investigate it's contents.  The behaved in a slightly less than courtly manner, and routed the guards on that pier.  On examination, the boat proved to have contained 3 large crates - one addressed to the tavern outside where the charter priest was killed, one addressed to me, of all people, and one labelled simply 'MP'. The tavern one contained ordinary supplies, mine contained my new axe - and about 500 snakes. Obviously the black roses thought we weren't taking the message. When Derek tried to fish the axe out of the box, he dragged out some sort of Dead horror (a Mohrg), which proceeded to do a lot of damage to him, including some form of paralysis. Irvin's report of the events following is a little confused, but the pertinent facts are that Ash and Irvin managed to cut Derek free and escape the pier - while under withering fire from the Kalboscre. At some stage the managed to open the MP box, to discover that it contained a box and a red dress, which they took. Once detached from the Dead, Derek fairly quickly recovered his ability to move, although even as I write he look unwell, and that is with the power of the Charter in him.
As it turns out, Tariel had taken it into her head to go and challenge the Necromancer in death - and nearly died. On the other hand, she added to the damage that Irvin had inflicted on him, and found a few snippets of information - he wields only the first two bells (whatever that means) and he does have the accursed dagger.  I feel I must keep an eye on Tariel - she is too self-assured, and doesn't give any warning before she does stupid things.
Eventually we regathered, and after Arthur had tended to our wounds we fell to planning. The box for 'MP' was trapped, but Yshriel managed to open it, and inside we found some sort of Free Magic artifact. Mathias said that it would provide some kind of physical protection, while slowly corrupting the wearer. Also inside the box was a note, reading "To seal the deal". From what we worked out, the dress and the brooch were intended for the leader of the Black Roses, who was entering into a partnership with the necromancer. Arthur then went off to talk to some nobles, ostensibly to get them to support his bid for the kingship, but also to try and find out about noble women with the initial MP.  While initially meeting with no luck, a twist of fate allowed him to learn of one Baron Roswald III, who is giving a ball this evening - and his wife is six feet tall with the initials MP, and it was suggested that she is the driving force between the baron's recent prosperity. Arthur then managed to obtain a set of tickets to the ball for us, so we can go and asses her capabilities, and hopefully ascertain whether she is the leader of the Black Roses, and if she can be used to regain us the dagger, so it can be finally destroyed.


Evening, 35.
Yesterday was not a good day.  We got into the ball easily enough, and I thought we'd accomplish our aims easily.  Then Tariel announced herself as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, which was nerve-wracking enough - but then Arthur proceeded to announce himself as heir to the throne. Luckily, Yshriel didn't pull any tricks like that, and we managed to blend in, while Arthur and Tariel were clustered round. It went down from their - someone asked Derek out to dance, and stabbed him with a poisoned dagger and the Necromancer appeared on the balcony around the ballroom.
Yshriel and I sneaked out the ball while most of the party gathered round the fallen Derek - we sought to pin down the necromancer somewhere where innocents wouldn't get hurt, while Arthur burnt out the poison in Derek's system, so that the others could catch up with us and destroy him.
Unfortunately, this didn't go to plan - Lady Roswell ("MP"), manoeuvred Arthur, Sariella, Tariel and Derek into an anteroom, where she and a band of Black Roses attacked them. From what I've been told about the fight, although initially overmatched, the addition of Mathias, Ash and Irvin (who had been watching from outside) quickly turned the tide of battle. For Yshriel and I, however, the fight went very differently - without the re-enforcements we'd relied upon, we were quickly cut down, although not before drawing the blood of the Necromancer and his Black Rose guards.
When we awoke, we were prisoners on the Kalboscre.  The events that passed on that ship I will not relate here, and I'd erase from my mind if I could.
Fortunately for us, the others somehow convinced the Necromancer to trade the barbarian and the Free Magic Book we'd encountered in Ancelstierre (it seems they came across it in the mansion, and this time the managed to destroy it - although the Necromancer didn't know that) for our lives and an antidote for Derek.
I don't remember much of the first part of the exchange, but I remember being walked across a grassy field, held tightly in the grip of a skeleton inhabited by some wormlike abomination (Mohrg again), and staggering across the field to Arthur, who effectively rebuilt my body with the Charter - a uniquely unpleasant experience. We then tried to exhange Yshriel for the key to the box containing the Free Magic Book, at which point the Necromancer discovered that he'd been double crossed - luckily for Yshriel, Derek and I managed to pin down the skeleton while Yshriel escaped and Arthur healed some of her more life-threatening wounds. This time, our united group proved victorious, and we annihilated both the skeleton and it's master, as well as numerous minions.
After landing the blow that destroyed the foul necromancer, I was attacked by a distraught Lady Roswell - who seemed to have have formed an attachment to the Mage, of all things.  Derek and I cut her down, and Yshriel ended her black life for ever. Arthur was angered by this, accusing Yshriel of exceeding the rule of law, and in response withheld all the healing he had to offer.  Later, I persuaded Irvin to pick up a couple copies of a book of law so that I can hopefully convince Arthur that his legal beliefs, at least, are incorrect.
Once we got back to the temple, I had a long conversation with Tariel - she is very driven, but when you speak to her she is actually a very nice person. The conversation lead to some interesting revelations, but I will not disobey my oath, even here where no once should be able to read it. ( ;-) )
 

36
When I woke in the late morning, a lot of odd things had been going - Arthur had decided he had acted wrongly, and had used his magic to patch up Yshriel, something of which I'm most glad, since I admire Arthur and his actions were less than I expected of him

I still haven't decoded all that was going on, but Irvin had persuaded the Barbarian to say he would work for us, - but Mathias used the Charter to ascertain he was lying. This escalated to the Barbarian repeating a challenge to mortal combat that apparently he'd made to Tariel yesterday. Since I didn't particularly want Tariel slaughtered by him, I stood as her champion.
When he saw that I outclassed him, he surrendered his life to my axe, gaining a death of honour.

37-39 - travelling

40 - Yshriel had a vision this morning of a damaged Paperwing landing in a clearing near the Glacier.  We reached that clearing late this evening, and investigated.  It was all rather complex, but the Paperwing was an illusion planted by people on foot, and when Ash deliberately set off the trap, a wave of mental agony overwhelmed most of us.  The Abhorsen blood, Arthur and Mathias kept their senses, and prevailed against the Undead Knight revealed when the trap triggered attacked them (It was one of the Knights Tariel saw Kerinardon raising).

41, Morning - Woken this morning by Tariel screaming.  She had had a vision of the Wall collapsing and ripping the fabric of the world apart. Yshriel's vision was not pleasant either - she say Kerinaradon in the Glacier [think this vision was earlier, actually - Tariel on day 40?], talking to (comfortably) Sariella - when he saw Yshriel, he smiled, and beheaded Sariella - who didn't even flinch. Taking this on board we have dcided to move towards the Glacier with all possible haste. 
 

41, evening - we reached the Glacier in the late afternoon to a lukewarm welcome (the standard welcome to those not of their sisterhood). We were met by Sanar and Ryelle, two very intimidating Clayr, and Mycella, their Ranger captain, and apparently also Sariella's mother.

The sisters were whipped off to the 'inner sanctum', while we were shown to the big dormitories (and asked to leave our weapons there) - although it isn't as if the visitors section isn't very nice - it is just that the Clayr's section is considerably nicer. Ho hum.
Tariel, Yshriel and Sariella rejoined us for dinner - apparently the Clayr are less than convinced of their visions. On the other hand, they are going to hold a full Watch to try and investigate the force disrupting their Sight. Perhaps that will shake them up a little.

42 mid-day - Woken early this morning by alarm bells.  We were asked join the Clayr in their council of war - it seems that the Watch did indeed shake them up - the army of Dead from Belisaere is less than a day away. The Clayr have also found that a number of Tariel and Yshriel's visions were tampered with - they managed to review the visions that have already happened - the Paperwing vision they saw as it should have been, for example.  The visons of Abhorsen and the end of the world seem un tampered, but virtually everyting else is - including the armour shard vision.
In the end, the meeting decided that Marcella would seek an escape route for us, so that we could help Tariel locate Abhorsen while the Clayr held off the army as long as they could.
I talked with Tariel afterwards, and she told me of a vision she had had, of a Sorcerer working the weather - in Derek's village, of all places. It seems the Sorcerer was another brother of the two we have already met.
I split the rest of the day between making use of the Great Library of the Clayr, and helping organise the defence of the Glacier.   The defensive emplacements we built look sturdy enough, although how they will withstand an army of Dead I'm not sure. 
While I couldn't turn up any information about barbarian prophecies for Tariel, I did glean more about the Demist family - it seems that they were the hereditary Hands of the King. In one book, I found a listing of them, and among them I found someone who I think must have been my Grandfather. It is frightening how quickly the family was decimated after the fall of the Kings.
Derek, Yshriel and Irvin spent the time scouting out possible exits from the Glacier - one that didn't lead down into the valley that will soon fill with the Dead. Mathias and Arthur went off to try and construct a Charter Stone - apparently Arthur's heritage means he can seal the enchantments with his blood to make a true Charter Source. It will take a while though.

43 [afternoon] - Am snatching time to write this - today has been exciting.
The army reached the gates in the early hours, but held off an assault until this evening - Our defences stood up to the initial test, which was an assault by a good dozen Shadow Hands.  Had it not been for the Abhorsen-kin, and the Charter Blades that our group bear, then the battle would have gone very differently - the Clayr have never seriously considered the possibility that they would be attacked, and they don't have any way of dealing with things that mortal weapons can't hurt.
In the quiet time after the assault, Some of the others (D,I,Y) noticed both Marcella and Sariella had disappeared - and went off to investigate. Being more interested in what happened beyond the Great Gates, I didn't even notice. Not that long after, Tariel received a Charter Sending telling her that Kerinaradon was in the Glacier itself, and asking for expedient reinforcements - naturally, we dashed off.
Kerinaradon was indeed in the Glacier, along with a Necromancer - who seemed to be yet another brother - a large honour guard of his Death Knights, and a Clayr - Marcella. When Kerinaradon saw Yshriel, he smiled an awful smile - and slit Marcella's throat. With that, every Clayr in the Glacier erupted into screams of agony.  It seems that every vision that had been twisted by that force returned to them - all at once.
Unfortunately, the armour seems to have had no effect - although Tariel now tells us that there is a ritual that needs invoking before the armour shard will do any good. Through sheer force of arms, the rest of us put Kerinaradon to flight, and although Irvin, Derek and Yshriel were sorely wounded, (It seems he can vanish into the air like that book). As a parting shot, he threw two Free Magic daggers, one at each of the Abhorsen-kin. Ash went down immediately, and Tariel doesn't look so good. Apparently it was meant to burn the Charter out of them.
After I'd confirmed no one was in truly mortal danger, I returned (with Tariel)  to the gates - just in time to help fend off the attack that was meant to capture the Glacier while the Clayr were disabled. A tall woman with a iron mask lead the assault - but she retreated.
The others variously pursued the remnants of Kerinaradon's strike force, and sealed off the entrance he had used. [See Montage1]

The Clayr held a ceremony, thanking us for the warning we gave, and the blood we spilt in their defence. They have bestowed upon us the freedom of the Glacier, and amulets bearing their symbol to confirm it. I am honoured. And glad.

After a few busy hours, we have gathered to discuss what to do next - many of the Clayr are still only partly recovered, half of Arthur's men fell at the gates, and we all bear wounds. Tariel is for making the fastest escape we can, in the hope we can catch up with Abhorsen's body, but Arthur wants to stay here until he completes the Charter Stone. I feel that the question is semantic - it will probably take days before we can find an escape route, and the carving of the Stone (the longest part) is progressing well, under the skillful hands of Mathias and the Master Mason. I write this in a break in the meeting - Tariel has disappeared to do something associated with the armour shard, and Mathias has sent his familiar to scout the enemy encampment - to see whether an assault is feasible.  While we wait for them both to return, each of us has gone about their separate tasks - I accompanied Arthur in visiting the quartermaster and talking to his men. Along the way, I had a long conversation with him, which puts much into a clearer light - his is obviously an honourable man, but his life has been unhappy, and he is more than a little bitter.

43 [Later]
Mathias's familiar reports that the force remaining beneath the mist is pitiful - less than a score all told.  We have formulated an attack plan - Derek, Yshriel and Irvin will attempt to infiltrate the camp, and disable the weather worker, then call in the cavalry (the rest of us) to either mop up or act as a shield wall if we are overmatched.
Tariel also tracked down a book in the Clayr's Library - it was written by "Sheruvian, Master of the Night", and in it he explains how he crafted  Kerinaradon's armour, and instilled it with certain powers - including the power of teleportation.  Hopefully Mathias and Tariel will be able to work out how to undo these enchantments so we can actually eradicate the vile being once and for all.
Also, Irvin confided that he had been having disturbing dreams for some time - most worrying.

44 [midday]
The assault went well - our strike team was detected by a flock of Gore Crows, but we managed to wipe out the camp by a frontal assault - although the lightning the weather mage called down from the sky was a twist I didn't expect.  We killed the mage, who was yet another of the brothers who wear the same face, and also the masked woman, who turns out to have been Dead - and we returned more of Kerinaradon's Death Knights to the river, along with a couple of Shadow Hands and Dead Hands - Mathias's enchantments on Egon's blade remain reliable.  I also had the disconcerting experience of becoming a giant while we fought - Arthur seems to have come up with a new enchantment, and, while it was very useful in the heat of battle, I do wish he'd warned me about it ahead of time.

Before the attack, I gave my will into the keeping of Tariel - I didn't want to to depress her further, but to dance with death unprepared is a betrayal of the first precepts Master Sendoa ever taught me - and the assault on the Glacier has reminded me how close we walk to death, and it made me remember how long it was since I rewrote my will.
We talked a while on the nature of Death, and she made me a promise that once my dance is complete, I will be able to walk away in peace.

44 [later]
While we were in the valley, something broke free of the vault where Tariel found her book - and whatever it was killed a young Clayr. Arthur examined the body, and it seems to have been completely drained of blood - Irvin seems worryingly interested in the whole process, and given what he mentioned about his dreams yesterday, I think it wise I keep an eye on him, although I will keep his confidence unless something calamitous happens.
As I write this, I am sitting in a Diamond of Protection, guarding the frozen bodies of Tariel and Ash as they seek the Clayr's spirit, to question it. Before we set up this whole convoluted set of protections and guard-walls Tariel handed me a note.  It is less than encouraging.

44 [Even later]
After about an hour standing guard over Tariel and Ash, they returned to Life - and were pursued by something like a Shadow Hand, but it seemed to be formed of choking smoke - it was a surprise, by Egon and Yshriel's light spells dealt well with it. After the fight, Tariel fainted - but, given how tough Tariel has proven, and what she said later, I suspect she simply wanted to avoid sharing all she found in Death. That whole conversation was disturbing in several ways.

45
We left the Glacier with little incidence - both Arthur and Ash held little ceremonies to celebrate the creation of the new Charter Stone and a wind flute. Tonight we are camping by the road, about halfway to the Westway.

46
Day uneventful.  Camping at the Westway crossroads again.

47 [Morning]
Arthur was attacked on his watch, by one of his mercenary captains - the one whose men Arthur basically took away from him. He got off a shot with his crossbow, and then ran away, but Derek tracked him down and captured him - we will take him to Sindle for justice to be done.
 
47 [Evening]
Day unventful. I look forward to visiting Stefan and Alena - they are both good friends and they saved my life.

48
Arrived in Sindle late afternoon. Arthur took the prisoner off to the town guard, and then went off in search of the town governor, the head mage - probably wanting to get more support for his bid for the kingdom.
Most of the others gravitated to our inn.  I went to visit Stefan and Alena, but in the few years since I visited last Stefan has died - of old age, not any malignant influence, but none the less, I mourn his loss to use, for all his dance was long. Their son Shin has taken on the business, but he is not as good as his father was, and it will be a while before he hits his stride.
When I returned to our inn, I was almost immediately disturbed by a commotion - one caused by Mathias of all people. When we got it all sorted out, it emerged that there was some free magic creature creating illusions (when that monster appeared, looming above me, my heart nearly stopped...) in order to steal Sheruvian's book. Yshriel found some kind of creature hiding in Mathias's room - it was like a pool of mobile shadow - very odd. With the help of his familiar Mathias was able to question it, although not before both Tariel and Ash rang bells directly in my face, an experience I never want to repeat.  We managed to extract from the shadow that Sheruvian himself had sent it and it's 'brothers' to steal back the book.
And then Sheruvian turned up - and rather than immediately batter it into the ground we actually parlayed with him. It was all a bit confusing, but I think we worked out that Sheruvian's spirit was controlling some free magic creature in much the way Abhorsen sent a hand to the South to contact his children - and it was that spirit that killed the Clayr.  In exchange for letting Sheruvian complete the collection of his works, he will reign in his creature's hungers and tell us how to complete the ritual that will bind Kerinaradon.
An additional twist to whole story is that Irvin seems to have picked up the ability to use magic without a Charter baptism, which spooks our Marked mages more than a little - they claim he is using Free Magic, but there was none of the associated stench. We never resolved the matter because Sheruvian turned up.

49
Tariel really pissed, Yshriel's tree vision.

50-53
Travelling towards Belisaere.

54
Morning - spot trees around Charter Stone - try to go round (re vision) - can't, go in, fight free magic trees.  Broken Stone, dead body.  Possibly the trees came from forest to SW? Slept uncomfortably close to broken stone.

55
Ride toward Belisaere. Death knights ride out to meet us. Bearing gored flag. Raise own standard in response, Tariel acts as Herald to the King (Arth.) - we are not welcome here - the king (Kerin.) has made peace in Belisaere - the Living and Dead at peace. We refuse to back down. They lower lances. Tariel answers with bells - all goes horribly wrong [Alban, most other people: IC you don't know this bit, m'kay?] - Meriwhen goes down - the fall bruising but not disabling. Move up to meet knights (On foot?! - Master Temujin(?) would despair.  The others caught up in time. Tariel and Ash dealt with knights (being attacked 1 against 2 + steeds a little intimidating!) - just has to deal with Black steeds - Free Magic, but not too unlike mortal beings.
Fortify for night - not attacked! Mathias performed Sheruvian's ritual, using A&T's blood - few problems.

56
Mogget summoned by T - his job to protect Abhorsen. 
We ride on the Gate - attempt to get in peacefully, but the guards insisted on passes from the King (K) - tried to set up a hostage situation, but that failed, and the guards released some horrific creature - the 'Guardian'. It was like some great blue dragon from a fairy-tale [Behir]. After a monumental struggle we slew it - although it did eat Derek (he survived the experience pretty well!). Spent most of the fight being swished about, but Arthur's rather nifty size Charter meant I was unswallowable, so the others took it down.
The guards had been looters, so all armed with Charter Weapons - quite a haul!
We took Arthur's men, and moved on the pumping stations for the aqueducts - we took the northernmost with little trouble, and broke down the dam - water should now be filling the aqueducts yet again. Yshriel spotted movement on the great piers below the city - left a lot of Arthur's men to hold the pumping station, and dashed for the cliffs - we met Kerinaradon and and army of the Dead upon the cliffs, and we fought. Mathias's ritual on the shard worked, and the armour reformed, and burnt away from K - greatly weakened, and unable to escape by Magic, we cut him down. Sheruvian sent a sending that thanked us, and disappeared with a mocking laugh. The Abhorsen-kin threw back the Hands, and we continued to the cliff tops, where Yshriel created a Charter of flight, and drifted us down to the pier.
We battled another of the sorcerous brothers there, as the Barge bearing Abhorsen escaped us, sped by the magic of yet a SIXTH!(?) brother. To my shame, some magic of the sorcerer threw me into the sea, while Tariel walked in death and the others fought against the sorcerer.