Day 81
A blizzard hit today. Fierce and cold. Luckily we had found decent shelter, still we had to burn twice our normal wood. Fel showed me an entry from his Uncle’s Journal – It read something like this:
My visions come and go now, but still I focus on my Plans. I see an army of dead, rising up to the mundus (the world). A sea of death… But why is my brother so near? The people call him Coger…
The rest of it is vague. The Coger, my teacher, is also Fels Uncle. Seems that Coger wanted to slow down or prevent Fel’s necromancer uncle from doing things – possibly including using me? I met the Uncle. He lured me with the words of magic “You have a well inside you lass, and I can let it out… I can show you the power you could wield!” It was a little after that, that I had met Coger – he said a similar thing. But something with his manner made me trust him more. Now I am left wondering if I was just a pawn and two ‘bishops’ were playing me. I trusted him. Loved him like a father. How could he do this? Use me just to get at his brother?
No Kalista. Believe that what he did was for you, not because of the feud with his brother – the disagreement of magical knowledge and power. One a Necromancer, the other an Animist – a nature wizard.
Sigh…
I used the Ritual Book of Fimbel Winter again. This time focused on the first book and all felt well. My sense, my vision was taken far away and I felt a bit stretched – like part of me was going there and part left behind. There I saw a source of ambient light that grew stronger. Within it I saw large buildings – stone structures. And then as I grew closer, feeling the book I felt a presence. A powerful, Holy Presence pushing back with its might – An Arc Angel of the Saint – his voice demanding, booming, dominating – “YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!”
I felt it as if a giant had punched me in the gut. He spoke to me, right at me – partly, maybe, it was the book but I did not feel so. I felt him speak to me, my heart, my soul! I felt dirty. Unclean. Unworthy. Unholy…
“The book’s at the Vatican.” I said solemnly, my skin pale, my heart and mind heavy as I thought back to Prestritrio. I could have saved him. Is that now a taint on my soul?
We decide to head to Vrim. Seven days away. While the weather was good we moved, camping out the most of a blizzard-cursed day, and moving at pace on the calmer days.
Day 87
We had left the Greywynd Forrest and this night could see signs of the city – smoke from dozens of cooking fires. Our excitement grew.
Day 88
We arrive in the city, and our excitement is overwhelming. The locals seem unsure of us and laughed off the idea that we had travelled so far in winter. Still they pointed us to the Whalers Inn, where we met Athur – the innkeeper. I made a deal, a trade. Gave him all our Seal Meat and in exchange he gave us food, and good rooms for the night.
It was good just to sit there, amongst people. Mostly human, two dwarves – sitting separately, a she dwarf and a male. The man-dwarf was called Col or Kol. Also a tall woman, Deldra Uron, a Corsif mercenary. I spoke to her for some time, and Col had a job for someone but did not want to work with the tall woman.
I managed to organise a bath for the morning and said good evening to my friends, retiring to bed and sleeping half naked in the warmest of beds I had ever known – the coals in my own fire place glowed warmly and eased me into a fairly dreamless sleep.