Kaelo's Journal - Days 1 - 11

Day 1

I have arrived at the northern port today, the first step in my mission to learn what is preventing Fater Mukawa from guiding the souls of this strange land to their rest. And what a land it is! The churches have more in common with fortresses than places of worship, and the common man sees the servants of these harsh religions as something to be feared rather than supported. They even see the Reanimated as an enemy, rather than allies or well cared for tools.

Even as short a time as I've been here, I already have a lead on what is causing this land's imbalance. Some of the stones from a nearby quarry resonate with the energies of the Gate. When I first sensed them, I could have sworn that they were holy relics rather than the stones that were revealed by the man carrying them.

I have joined with the group the man carrying the stones has assembled to investigate the quarry, and we will be leaving for the quarry tomorrow. It will be a tenday journey, if all goes well, but two of the churches here have already tried following us. I hope this does not foretell trouble further in our journey...

Day 2

The more I learn of these local churches, the more concerned I become. They own a significant amount of the local marble production, enough to raise concern from local workers that they will seize any chance to take more. A church should sever the needs of its community, not seek to control the goods that it creates!

The churches have tried to stop us from leaving the city, but my new companions have managed to drive them off – at least, the first batch to try to stand against us. Hopefully this will give us enough of a lead that they will not be able to catch up with us, but I suspect there will be enough hardships along our way.

Avery – our elven diplomat – has taken to teaching me the intricacies of handling animals. It is a fascinating subject, but sadly not one for which I am particularly well suited. I have still managed to learn enough to manage our wagon myself, and will strive to improve my most meager skills in the area.

Sunshine – our errant warrior – is a rather a study in contradictions. Her bright and friendly personality hides a strong fascination with fighting and destruction that I find frankly alarming. I am certainly glad we are not enemies, but I hope that she does not end up creating more enemies than we have already.

Then there's Dr. Skullcrusher, an orc... Well, something... To be honest, I have never seen any who acts quite the way he does. Loud and brash, he is constantly spouting off his rules, but he has refused pay for this journey, stating he is fighting for peace – a bit of a contradiction, but an admirable goal.

He has formed something of a strange friendship with Xerath, a reticent scorpian man. I have yet to get to know him well, but he and the good doctor are skilled fighters both, having proved that in driving off the second batch of men that tried following us.

I have yet to get a good read on Jin and Lorelie, our final two companions in this journey. I shall have to remedy that.

Day 7

I have sensed another of those strange stones from within an inn we were passing. We all agreed that this was something worth investigating – besides, this was the last stop before the silent lumber camp foretelling our final destination. Due to these facts, though it was still early in the day, we decided it was time to call it a night.

Unknown to us, at the time, a group of orcs were waiting to set off an ambush – against whom, I fear, we will never know. Dr. Skullcrusher detected the ambush, and, in an act of extreme brashness, almost immediately started a fight with them. Something that he came to rather regret, I fear.

Meanwhile, inside the tavern, Sunshine and I found the man who was 'carrying' the new stone. While the others fought off the orc ambush that Dr. Skullcrusher set off, Sunshine and I spoke with the man. He claimed that he had been through the gate – I can only assume that Father Mukawa has decided it was not his time. He thought I was going to send him back through the gate, and thus panicked – as if I was a rogue Uba who would send anyone to Father Mukawa's embrace!

His panic did let me see where the stone was hidden, however – a sliver of it had embedded itself in his eye. Unfortunately, his panic also set off another event – a resonance within the stone caused a temporary alignment with the Gate, an even that could have been potentially devastating if not for the fact that it was only myself and Sunshine that were near enough to feel its effects, though the man certainly felt the full force of the effect, collapsing.

Of course, Sunshine would not tolerate such an assault on her person. In an act of supreme impulsiveness, she pulled her knife on the man, cutting out the eye with the stone in it. Granted, it was likely that the man would lose the eye when I went in to extract the stone shard anyways, but I would have much preferred to have the man's consent first.

It all appears to have worked out for the best, however. After channeling Mother Rai's power to heal both the man and Dr. Skullcrusher – who had been knocked unconscious in the fight he started with the other party of orcs – we revived the man. His story was quite the strange one. His story began when the miners at the quarry found a crack in one of the quarry walls. After cutting their way through, they found themselves in what he referred to as the Temple of Doors – a large cavern dominated by a large arch made of red marble in the center of the room and surrounded by several empty doorways.

While exploring this cavern, several of the miners disappeared, and many who returned were less sound of mind than when they began. It reached a head when the quarry's lead explosives expert, Lee Ming, set to destroy the red marble arch, killing himself and several other miners as well as lodging the shard in our poor miner's eye. This is most certainly something that I will need to go to investigate.

We will have to delay our investigation in this regard, however, as Jin has gone and done something quite dangerous. After discovering a band of thieves attempting to steal some of the marble from the mine, he slipped one of the stones that he had been carrying with the thieves' marble, in theory so that I could track them more easily. I suppose I cannot hold him too much to blame, as he has no idea of the dangerous potential that these stones contain. Granted, I only have the faintest glimmering myself, but I do know enough about them to have no wish to see this material in the wrong hands.

As for the orcs, it turns out that they were planning the ambush to release the reanimated being held in the waystation so they could be corralled back to the quarry and clear out the remaining workers. There is a band of orcs two miles out under the leadership of one Wanterer Grift, an orc Guru and known as a collector of the unwanted.

The orc that Aver had captured earlier caused quite a fuss before we were able to release him. He managed to break off a tooth and spit it out with quite enough force to knock Dr. Skullcrusher off of our wagon, knocking him out in the process. I would have loved to have learned where this particular gift came from, but the orc was unfortunately far too aggressive, forcing Jin to take him out before he could bring harm to any other members of the party. May Father Mukawa guide him to the rest he deserves.

Day 9

Despite our earlier delay, we have managed to catch up with the thieves at an abandoned lumber camp. After Jin and Dr. Skullcrusher had scouted out the camp, we made our way forward, with Sunshine using a magical artifact to take out the sentry watching the only path in.

What followed after this was a fast and furious combat between our crew and the thieves, dropping the three outside the building in a matter of seconds, and securing the rest shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, I was rather slow in joining the battle, but my comrades did not appear to take any mind to that.

In our interrogation of our prisoners, we learned that Travers, the most recent head of the quarry, had begun stockpiling the peculiar red marble that I have been detecting the energies of the Gate from. It has become all the more imperative that we determine what's happening at the quarry - before an even greater tragedy than this business with the reanimated befalls this land!

Day 10

It appears that in the time it took for us to track down the marble thieves, a new attack had been launched against the waystation. We arrived to fin the inn and stables ablaze, and a large number of the reanimated wandering the area.

Dr. Skullcrusher brought me one of the survivors from the attack. Upon awakening, she told us that it was the orcs that were behind the destruction – likely the same ones that Dr. Skullcrusher had crossed some days before.

As my companions entered into the fray, a stranger burst from the nearby woods. He was a wild-looking man, accompanied by a wolf, and clad in little more than needed to maintain his modesty – indeed, if I weren't so far from home, I could have sworn that he was a follower of Brother Ilam, my homeland's god of nature. There is a bit of a disagreement between his followers and my fellow Uwas. Ilamites claim that we have no right to reanimate the remains of the departed, while we maintain that it is for Mother Rai to decide if a soul is returned to this world to live in that honored position of service. Most times, they settle for releasing the souls of the Reanimated that have become feral and dangerous – a great service as such creatures can post a great threat to others if not contained.

In any case, the Reanimated here were certainly of the feral variety. They set on the others as soon as we arrived – indeed, some of them seemed to feel that even I would make a fine meal for them, as if they would be able to process the living metal of my body!

We dispatched the feral Reanimated rather quickly, pausing only long enough to hide the marble shipment and for Sunshine to mutilate the bodies so that they would not follow us once they reanimated once more.

Day 11

Thanks to our new companion, Wesley, we have managed to overtake the orcs and their Reanimated entourage, arriving at the quarry well before they did.

When we arrived, we found the quarry a flurry of activity. Along with the fragments of the Gate stone, as I have taken to calling it, we found one of the church wagons arriving ahead of us, its owners in a heated argument with the miners. As well, there were several wagons ready for shipping, many of them heading deeper into the mine.

After a brief discussion, we left for the back of the quarry, where we found a caravan leaving. We learned, with some hardship, of a railroad line from our nature-loving comrade, and decided that the best course of action would be to sabotage the rails.

On the way, Dr. Skullcrusher, Jin, and Xerath separated from us to investigate a stockade that Dr. Skullcrusher had spotted. Inside, they found the orc miners that the attack party was coming to free – a resource that we could certainly use to create chaos while we continued to sabotage the shipping operation.

After disabling a section of the rail, preventing the shipment from leaving if all else failed, we split into two groups: Dr Skullcrusher, Sunshine, Avery, and I split off to take on the guards at the stockade, while Jin, Xerath, Lorelie, and Wesley went to destroy the engine.

As my group made our way toward the stockade, Xerath split from his group in order to gain access to the engine. In doing so, he learned there was some sort of creature held within the engine - something that he decided would need to be rescued.

Meanwhile, my group arrived at the stockade, and decided that I would provide a most opportune distraction – something that I did rather well, preaching to them of the benefits of accepting Father Mukawa before their time had come.

Perhaps a touch too dramatic – particularly as I channeled Father Mukawa's power to cause fear in one of the guards that was ready to dismiss my teachings out of hand, but it served its purpose. The guards were wholely focused on me, allowing Sunshine and Dr Skullcrusher to reach the inside of the stockade unseen – at least, by the guards themselves.

Unfortunately, their followup attacks against the guards were rather less than fruitful. However, the orcs inside the camp were ready for the battle, and quickly moved into position to take out the guards inside the stockade while Avery and I worked on the guards outside of it.

While this battle was occurring, the other team moved into action, with Wesley dispatching one guard nigh instantly, allowing Jin and Lorelie reaching the train shortly afterwards.

The combat on both fronts was fast and furious, with both of our teams taking damage, but emerging victorious with Wesley being our only casualty – knocked unconscious during the melee. Dr. Skullcrusher and Sunshine, with the help of the imprisoned orcs, made short work of the guards, while Avery and I worked to take out the guards on the wall, and the reinforcements that were pulled in from the train yard when the combat started.

The orcs' aid was instrumental in destroying the rail engine, and the remaining guards broke and fled at the overwhelming numbers that they faced. And it was during this time that I had an idea.

I had seen – and felt – the connection that the Gatestone had to Father Mukawa and the Gate, and there were a great many bodies that would likely reanimate soon if nothing was done for them. So I briefly took on the role of Uba, and channeled Father Mukawa's energy through the red Gatestone that Jin had been carrying, on the idea that it would open a brief portal directly to the Gate and allowing the souls of the departed to pass on to their rest.

The plan did, indeed, work – to a degree. While the energies were able to separate the souls of the departed from the corpses that they were tied to, they did not depart immediately. Instead, they formed up a ghostly procession of red-tinged ectoplasm, and moved back into the camp.

The rest of the group gathered quickly, and followed after the shades – though Dr. Skullcrusher broke off for a time in order to aid the orcs in their bid for freedom. As I had expected, the red shades lead us to the entrance to the Temple of Doors, still blocked off from the explosion that had sealed it off some weeks prior.

I immediately set to work on clearing the rubble away, even knowing that I would be too late to see the completion of my experiment and witness the spirits crossing over to their rest, but I wanted to see the Temple for myself, to ascertain if it was connected with the problems that this land was facing.

During this time, Dr. Skullcrusher negotiated the return of the min from the orcs, securing it in exchange for three lumber camps. I do not think our employer will be much pleased by that, but I suspect that is, perhaps, the best that we could have expected.