as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Sunday, 6 Abadius

The undead armies of Katiana were truly defeated, and the legend of the Dead Man had grown. Despite the positive outcome of all that, we were in a hurry to put some distance behind us. We are close to both coming off the high ice, and to seeing daylight return as a regular and lengthy occurrence, and those possibilities have made us eager to move forward.

2 days ago, we determined we needed to magically complete the healing of Vancour. Waiting for nature to fix it was taking too long, and we needed our party, our passengers, and our staff all to be in good shape. Coming off the ice, we rather expected to find agents of the Five Storms to again try to thwart, mislead, or kill us; it was to our advantage to be as rested and healthy as possible, under the circumstances.

And today we saw the first signs of life in a while. There was a cabin, not far off the trail, with smoke curling from its chimney. I’d have as soon moved on – after all, our strategy has been to try not to call attention to ourselves – but Qatana was insistent on dropping in for a visit, and nobody argued with her.

Although he was one of the first to the door, Sparna later insisted it was my day to watch her, but I don’t think I’ve been tracking that closely enough. Seems like it’s always my day to watch her.

Anyway, the resident there surprised us a bit by responding to our knocking by emerging from the bottom half of a split, 4 hinged door. He was short in stature, not unlike Sparna but yet very unlike Sparna. Then I realized: Gods we’ve been away from civilization a long time. He was a halfling! and although it struck me as strange to find him here, upon reflection it was strange to find anybody at all living in the wilderness. Not that we were that far from town, but who would choose the solitude over …

Oh wait. Boy that felt weird. Mr I-don’t-fit-in-with-the-elves wondering why solitude is a blessing. I guess these days I’ve formed something of a camaraderie with, well, with the whole caravan. This is a group I feel comfortable with, and I would risk my life to rescue any of them. They each bring something different to the table, and yet I feel a bond with each.

Shalelu – I thought I knew her, but I guess I knew a side of her that is different from her “adventurer” side. She was something of a mentor before, but I see she is much more rounded than that. And it seems odd, but I daresay that the student is close to surpassing the teacher in a few ways. Odder still, she seems happy to have that happen.

Ameiko – the heir, of course, though nobody dare say that out loud. Thanks to Suishen I’ve come to know her much better than I did, say, a year ago. Not because it told me anything; heaven forbid it actually be that useful. But because of the role that possessing it has forced upon me – “Guardian of the Heir to the Throne” – Ameiko and I have been forced to have some serious talks about how we interact with each other and what our duties and responsibilities are. In that sense, I almost know her better than I know Shalelu now, and while I struggle to keep her out of harm’s way, I’m impressed with her battle skills, even after their being unused for a number of years.

But the halfling – right. Kobi is his name, and he is a guide like Ulf. There seems to be a friendly rivalry between them, and Kobi mentioned several times that were it up to him, he would not have recommended the ice in the winter. He said there were mostly humans/halflings/elves in town. We offered him a bit of lunch by way of friendly thanks, and being a halfling he politely accepted.

Wealday, 9 Abadius

It was the middle of the day when we reached Ul Angorn. Sandru informed us in a low voice that we should plan on staying overnight; while provisioning and minor repairs might be something we could accomplish in an afternoon, his crew badly needed a ‘shore leave’.

And so we found ourselves pulled to The Frozen Spike, the only place to obtain food and drink in the small town.

As expected, talk eventually turned to why we were here, now, at the worst time of year. The cover story we’d agreed upon was that Koya, our family matriarch, was dying, and wanted to see Tien Sha before she passed. It explained an urgency that otherwise transcended common sense. It seemed to make Koya vaguely uncomfortable as strangers offered their condolences and spoke to her in the same ginger manner one carries an heirloom teapot – and I’m sorry to say her discomfort played beautifully.

Stories flowed freely – the waitress confided that just over a week ago, a party of 12 lost half its membership in a winter storm. Last season, another local patron offered, there was a party attacked by a dragon. We had to bite our tongues to avoid saying, “yes, oh, I wonder if that was the one we killed?” Low key, little attention. Low key, little attention.

And then Ameiko, of all people, suggests maybe she could play a little music. A little concerned, I offered to sing with her, so that I could keep close with her even on stage. Normally that would have been passable although nowhere near virtuoso, except the cold air seemed to have affected my voice and what came out was startling even by my standards. Ameiko managed to look simultaneously amused and annoyed at my effort, while she played some very nice music. The pub gradually filled over the next half hour or so and, presumably, word spread. I gave up on the singing but did sit on the edge of the stage with her, keeping time and surveying the crowd.

She ended her piece to universal applause. I noticed during her piece that I was not the only concerned one; Qatana kept close to her as she returned to the table, and I’d noticed Ivan had slipped outside, probably to pre-filter any new patrons. Kali must have gone out there too, while Radella was inside but looking inconspicuous.

A man strode over to Ameiko and complimented her on her piece. She thanked him, and he said, “I play a bit myself, and I have a new piece I’ve been working on. I’d love for you to help critique it. I’ve got it at home.”

And I did a theatrical doubletake when Ameiko said, “I’d like that.”

What? She agreed?? As protector at the very least I’d be going along to observe. Then I caught Qatana’s eyes, which had gone beyond concern. Did she know something more? Her eyes cleared for a second, she mumbled a few words, and the stranger stopped speaking in mid sentence. I realized she must have cast Hold Person on him.

Ameiko was livid. ‘I can go where I want and I do NOT require a chaperone,” she insisted. I moved to put myself between the stranger and Ameiko, saying, “We should discuss this elsewhere.” And then things went quickly from awkward to dangerous.

Ivan burst in from outside. “She’s been charmed!” he cried. I drew Suishen. Radella appeared behind the man and softly said, “you move, you die” while swiftly disarming him. The man shook his head imperceptibly as he apparently broke the Hold, and suddenly roared as he became a purple ogre. Patrons began to scatter, tripping over each other in their eagerness to avoid adventure.

Ameiko looked uncertain, and then drew her own rapier. Radella made good on her threat and cut up the oni substantially. It looked startled and tried to go to gaseous form, but Ivan dispelled it. It was, ironically, Ameiko who dealt the killing blow to the oni, and when I reminded her in a solemn low voice that she should let her protector do that sort of thing, she threw me a hard look.

A little more magic helped mend the broken chairs and clean up the blood, and one more short concert by Ameiko helped soothe the crowd. I gave the oni’s ogre-sized great sword to the proprietor as a memento (“here’s a frozen spike for ya!”). But then the night was over, and while 20 or 30 people had a story that would likely grow in the telling, it was clearly time for us to go. We took the body, because of course we were going to Speak with Dead in the morning and after all, after a bar brawl where you skewer your 8 ft competitor, and splatter blood upon all within 10 feet, it’s only good manners to take the body with you.

Oathday, 10 Abadius

We of course invoked Speak with Dead, and asked four questions. This one was less evasive then some of our previous interviewees:

Who were you working for? The Five Winds
How did you find out we were here? Was waiting to see if you’d come
How did you get here? Travelled by magic
Did you tell others we were here? Yes

There are still a few repairs to make to the wagon, so we will stay another day.

Toilday, 15 Abadius

We were attacked today by two huge (wagon-sized) spiders from either side of the trail. I put myself between Ameiko and the nearest spider and she did not complain. Their bite was extremely venomous, Sparna verified, and even I found out they had body hairs that could be thrown like little darts and cause one to be sickened and unable to defend oneself.

We did eventually defeat them, though. Sparna was gravel injured by the venom, and while the venom did not get to me directly, the hairs sickened me and hampered my efforts to protect Ameiko. I provided, at best, a physical barrier rather than a credible threat.