After months spent in Divinia's vast, humid jungle, it feels strange sitting here, in one of Sundsvalle's inns. It is as though I had forgotten the meaning of the word civilisation. It seems to me that our trip into the jungles of Divinia is what an explorer may yearn for. It is certainly an escape from the world, although not one I care to experience again.

Perhaps I should try to describe the differences. I was in a shadowy world of green and browns, and sucking, clenching, mud. Now I sit in an inn surrounded by man made objects. Through the shutters I hear the background noise that is Sundsvalle. Raised voices, laughter, anger. So different to everything that is the jungle. In the jungle, I may have been in a different world, and I would not know it. The jungle has a uniqueness all its own...

Was the jungle peaceful, I ask myself? Has it influenced me in any way? In the jungle, there was a kind of peace. The civilised world was far away, and we had virtually no outside contact. Some might say that the time spent in Divinia should be viewed as a sort of holiday. But no, I do not like the jungle.

Cities are far more pleasant. Cities are a testament to the creative abilities of man. Some might say that, in the jungle, separated from his tools, man is little more than an animal.

Now that I am back in the city, I will have a short holiday, since we have to wait for Thora, Lani, and Zim to arrive in the Falcon. Gurzurk will bury the tree, and with a little luck our wait will be peaceful.

Zim and the others arrived today. I expect that things will soon be back to business as usual.

I believe I have used the last month or so well. I now possess a functional spell, much like fireball, that only affects undead. Of course, it requires less power to channel.

I had a discussion with Thora today regarding the Rainbow Bridge. According to her knowledge, the Rainbow Bridge is a "natural" occurrence. For her, the (now lost) Horn of Resounding must be blown, and the bridge then appears, leading to Valhalla. She says that there are similar bridges for others.

As usual, we discussed what it is we should do now. Search for another piece? Research? Hunt our enemies? Find treasure? I was, and still am I suppose, in favour of the latter option: treasure. Not only do I feel that we really ought to have some form of protection against scrying, but I feel the need to pay my debts. I presently owe in excess of ten thousand gold, and the sum seems to increase monthly.

We did not reach agreement on what we should do. Instead, we asked Leo to tell us of those who actively seek us harm, and the answer was: 

        Followers of the Lady of the Noose
        Followers of Hell
        Followers of Nix
        Alphax
        Followers of Alphax
        Followers of Vermissa
        Followers of Thasmodean

For such a broad question, the answer is vague, but still helpful, although I am not comforted by the knowledge that a god personally seeks to harm us. Some of the others remarked that the list seemed much shorter than previously. They wonder if this is tied to Tessarael no longer travelling with us.

Perhaps next week we shall learn which followers of which groups actively hunt us.

A week has passed and we are ready to ask Leo another question. Some suggested learning more about our enemies, but this has its risks, since if they are in favour with their deity... So instead we ask a safe question, who can the party receive aid from? Unfortunately, the answer is of little use. No-one is listed that we are not already familiar with. I find this amusing though: Gwen Redcloud. Zim seemed embarrassed by this little revelation. I think that I may satisfy my curiosity when next in Serraine by asking of this Gwen Redcloud.

A few days ago I asked the fellow who makes magic items what it would cost for an item that warned us when we were being scryed upon, or when another divines information about us. For such an item, he quoted me 60000 gold, although if we find the difficult components ourselves, it would cost a mere 30000 gold. The components are strange, a strand of hair from a sylph, slaag teeth, and a pair of hag eyeballs.

Components are something I do not understand. Why do stranger components play a role in the casting of magic? Is this something the gods have decided, or is it natural? I think I'd prefer it to be natural, as it would be far more interesting. Why is it that, just as humans can purchase more with gold than dirt, magic seems to be able to accomplish more with more valuable items. It is so subjective. What one may consider worthless, another may consider invaluable. Under the correct circumstances, this can influence the potency of spells, of that I am convinced. A strand of hair from a Sylph? Not so hard for a sylph to get. I would enjoy placing my hands on magic spells from a completely different culture, one which has different values. If they have spells, with components they consider rare, but components I consider common, can I still cast the spell? Or must rare components be universally rare? The latter I doubt, since I can think of a number of "rare" components that some cultures would not consider rare. I wonder if, in the creation of a spell, the belief that a component is rare helps us make shortcuts that would otherwise not be obvious. Are mages taught to research spells in an inherently inefficient manner? I need to think more on this.

At any rate, the party has agreed to go to some gnomish caverns in the Northern Reaches. Apparently, there are objects there that are of great value to the gnomes in Serraine, yet mining these objects should be easy with Gurzurk and Thora. Furthermore, it is a low risk venture. It sounds like it will be a profitable holiday. We leave for Whiteheart soon.

I think I offended Thora today. We are now in Whiteheart. As we walked in, I commented that is a nice village. How was I to know that this... place, is the capital of the local Jarldom? Well, she didn't seem too offended. I wonder if she feels pride for this place? I suppose that most people have some degree of pride for where they grew up.

We rested in Whiteheart for a few days, before flying to the caverns. It is a tame place, and looks fairly peaceful, except for the corpse of a "dragon" in the entrance. Some animals had taken up residence within, and there are some mules around, ones which others in the party had left behind, after an earlier journey here.

Not unexpectedly, the place is very gnomish, at least from what I've come to expect from gnomes. I can picture them in my mind, lots of little gnomes, bustling around, experimenting. No doubt blowing things up. The others seemed to expect that there may be spirits, or ghosts here, but there are none.

There are some interesting places here. One is a field, with fruit trees, which are picked by some constructs, or "robots" as they are called. These robots are mindless creatures, automatons. They pick the fruit and place it in a storage place. Repeatedly. There's lots of rotten fruit piled there. It seems like an awful waste of time, to create automatons for such a pointless task. The gnomes must have lived in relative luxury. Then again, gnomes do seem to spend much time on frivolous activities.

Zim and Thora had a small argument about some power source. There is a room, which we are warned against entering, on pain of being electrocuted, which Thora maintains is a shrine to Thor. I'm more interested in the place itself. It clearly is strongly magical. I wonder if there is a way to drain magic from items, such that the magical energy can be used for other purposes. I know little about magic items, but I'm sure it should be possible. This room is clearly going to waste. Though I'm sure Zim would object to it being desecrated in any way.

It seems as if I will be of little use in the mining, so I get to act guard for a while. It is good that I will be making a spellbook for Zim. It will keep my mind occupied for a while.

I kept some of the bones and claws of the dragon, in case they can be used as spell components in the future.

The others have decided that we will find no other items of value. I look at what we have found, and wonder if they are of any value in the first place. Picture cubes, vacuum cleaners, a dog whistle, firelighters? Only the gnomes could place value in such things. Zim is certainly excited about much of what we have found.

Winter will be upon us shortly, so we will each be going our separate ways.

I spoke with Turia earlier today. We decided that hiding our relationship from the others is too difficult. Besides, hiding it has become taxing. I do not wish to pretend there is nothing between us, as I'd much rather be close to her as much as possible, regardless of what the others think. So the question was, how should we tell them? We decided that it would be more amusing if we put on a little show for them.

Ah, I swear I shall have a priest extract and paint the memory of the look on Safranna's face when she stepped into the extra-dimensional space at the back of the Falcon. I think she must have thought she was dreaming. "Turia and Grey? Kissing passionately? Surely not!"

It took Turia and I a few moments before we could recover ourselves and put on straight faces. So we stepped outside of the extra-dimensional space and saw... a crowd of incredulous faces. I do not feel that they are surprised so much at me than at Turia. "Turia? Turia who dislikes all, and trusts no one? Turia, in a relationship with Grey, of all people?"

Their looks spoke volumes. Immediate reactions did not show pleasure, but that simple disbelief. Although Phoraranin and Thora did not appear too surprised. I know Phoranin had suspicions earlier on about my feelings towards Turia. It would not have been much longer before she noticed that we were mutually absent fairly often. I did not think Thora had suspected anything, so I am a little surprised that she did not seem nearly as shocked as the others did. She is clearly more perceptive than I had thought, or very good at hiding her reactions.

As expected, since Al'Alin and Gurzurk have been with us for less time, they were not as nearly surprised as others. Zim... I think Zim almost spluttered. Perhaps he could never have thought of a less likely match? And Lani, she said so little. She seemed to have caught a mild case of speechlessness. Not for lack of opening and closing her mouth though.

I think that Roland may have been the most surprised. In many ways, I think Roland has a very low opinion of Turia, an opinion not helped by her flagrant use of poison. I cannot imagine what he was thinking. Maybe he never really thought of Turia as a person, but more a danger? Perhaps he will re-evaluate some of his opinions of her? Or maybe he just thinks some kind of sorcery was worked. I can say that magic is involved, but not of the type he might imagine.

And Turia. She looks so happy now. I don't think I've ever seen her happy around the others before. And there need be no more pretending. I can show her affection in public, without worrying if anyone notices. I will take full advantage of this.

I look forward to spending all of winter with her in Corunglain.

Over winter some events occurred that are worth noting. The most noteworthy news regards the war between Alphatia and Thyatis. Although it is clear at this stage that Alphatia is winning the war, in a major sea battle reportedly involving thousands of ships, Thyatis managed to hold its own against the Alphatians. This battle was near Thyatis itself.

However, Alphatia has gained a foothold in some Ylarii town on the coast. Apparently some Alphatians simply appeared and completely overwhelmed the town's defenders, not surprising given how powerful Alphatia is, and how unexpected the move was. The Alphatians are now using this town as a staging point into Thyatis. Given how close this is to Thyatis, this no doubt worries the Thyatians to no end. Supposedly the Alphatians are only using this Ylarii town temporarily, until the war is over. Either way, there is little the Ylarii people can do about it, except profit by selling much needed supplies to the Alphatians.

Other world news is relatively minor. The orcs that were invading Glantri were beaten back. The orcs then headed south to attack Corunglain, but were beaten back into the Great Crater at around the onset of winter. Turia and I joined in the fight against the orcs. Considering how little food there is there, the orcs decided to repeatedly launch hopeless attacks. I had heard the orcs are savage and brutal creatures, and my own experience confirms these reports. Given the lack of food in the crater, the orcs were happy to eat any food they could lay their hands on. Usually this involved eating other dead orcs. If food ran out, there was little choice for the orcs but to launch another attack on our forces, for which they quickly failed. But the surviving orcs had more food, in the form of more dead comrades. The orcs clearly have no respect for their dead. They are brutal, but I wonder how much that is as a result of circumstances. Among the orcs, the strong survived, and the weak did not.

The Heldannic Knights and Ostlanders had some fun, at the expense of the Ethengarians. It was revenge for the earlier raids by Ethengar.

As we have heard from a previous member of this party, one Ariah, there is plague in Ethengar, where the remnants of the Alfheim elves are travelling in order to reach Wendar. Apparently it is a tough task trying to keep the Alfheim elves free from plague, which is necessary if they are to be accepted into Wendar. Thora went to aid them. The Alfheim elves were pushed westwards into the Glantrian Alps by Ethengarian cavalry raids. Apparently, the Alfheim elves are not very good at dealing with cavalry and mounted archers in open terrain. If I had of known this earlier, I would have considered helping. It never hurts to try to acquire a few more allies.

My poor homeland is still oppressed, although Darokin has established an arms trade with those who may revolt against the Hule oppressors.

I almost cannot believe it. How have things lead to where they are now?

Turia approached me today. She said a few things, followed by, "So, do you want to... legitimise it?" She was of course referring to our relationship. "Legitimise it?", I said. What was I to think. Surely she couldn't mean...?

But maybe she did. "You know...?", Turia responded.

"Marriage?", I asked.

To which she answered, "Yes." Well, maybe it was "Yeah."

As simple as that, a marriage proposal, of sorts. What, no bending of the knee? No eloquent proclamation of love? Simply a proposal to "legitimise" our relationship. Although, of course, it was not to be taken lightly. But I still cannot get over the manner of the proposal. Ah, Turia, she has such a fresh approach to such matters. It is no doubt one of the reasons that I agreed without hesitation. Well, as soon as I'd recovered from the unexpectedness of the proposal.

And how have I reached such a point in life? I always thought that I'd end up being in an arranged marriage. I never thought that I'd end up marrying someone out of love. And Turia, of all people. A few years ago, and I would never have guessed it. I still cannot figure out how this came to be. All I know is that I first realised I was interested in Turia just after entering Mirage. But then, all that is important to me is that things have turned out this way. I am confident that they will remain so.

We will tell the others and have the ceremony after winter is over.

Marriage. I am going to be a married man...

We have finally rejoined the others, and there is news. Remus can now shapechange in the same manner as Thora. Not only that, they are getting married. So it shall be a double wedding.

I think it's going to take a while for me to get used to Remus being able to shapechange. Another of Freya's blessings, I guess. I wonder what the life expectancy of wolves is? I guess that this no longer applies to Remus. Although, he is a fully-grown human that is under ten years old. I'm sure that under normal circumstances that would leave many unresolved issues. I wonder if he eats cooked or raw meat in human form? I wonder what kind of conversations I can expect from him? Will he talk about rabbits all the time, or will he turn into some kind of wolf philosopher? This will definitely take some getting used to.

Unfortunately, Xeris will no longer be journeying with us. She has decided to stay with the Alfheim elves. I surprise myself by realising that I will miss her. Rather than owe the party money, she decided to return her cloak of protection. In an ironic twist, it is Phoranin who has decided to purchase the cloak from the party. With the leftover funds, the party has managed to pay off a few debts, including Tessarael's.

Zim successfully found some priests to fix up Rosaline and Aden, some people the others had met much earlier. Apparently some creatures damaged their minds long ago. They are recovered in the sense that they can think as adults, although there are blanks in their memory. They are off adventuring by themselves now.

In Serraine, Zim found that the Black Isle (Sahu) is where the Black King and Black Queen once lived. Sahu is where necromancer kings ruled in ages past.

Al'Alin did some research (in Alphatia) and discovered who it was that sundered the Sundered Man. The mages included Alamir (male), Inanna (female), and Werner (male). The knights included the Duke of Decimus, Alrik the Brave, and Tal-ak-bir. Apparently, before the Sundered Man was sundered, he penned a book known as the Book of Shadows. According to legend, in his cell, as he prepared to meet the hangman, he whispered the secrets he knew to his followers (fiends and shadows), so he would not lose his knowledge when reborn. Copies of the book started appearing after his death - the authorities tried to destroy it, but copies kept spreading.

After some politicking in Serraine, Zim and Lani managed to get T'saz access to the forbidden Shroudwell Collection (they made T'Saz an assistant to Eric, or some such, who also has access to the collection). Very few have access to this collection. The only volumes of any note include The Art of Necromancy (by Talib and Kazerabet), and the Book of Shadows.

The Art of Necromancy includes information on translating Kadari (the ancient language of the necromancer kings), much information pertaining to a wide variety of undead (essentially an encyclopaedia), as well as information on how to create and recharge various necromantic magic items.

The Book of Shadows, on the other hand, is nasty. It includes spells, exclusively black ones. As T'Saz puts it, all the "lovely" ones. It also includes rites on how to raise and enslave things such as evil genies, demons, and others. It also includes a few comments by the Sundered Man himself. It is worth noting that even after he was captured, he still managed to turn the king's wife insane.

Even considering how depressing some of this news should be, I can't help but feel happy. After all, I am getting married shortly...