Zim Skyfarer, played by Sophie Divliaev, has started scribbling too.

1. Part 1
2. Part 2

Zim's Diary

Note: Serraine's days of the week [according to me, from Mon to Sun (rest)] Thinking Day, Gathering Day, Making Day, Testing Day, Fixing Day, Showing Day, Resting Day.

As for months and years, until I make up months and years for Serraine, I'll use numbers or the Thyatian names.

Phoranin had managed to obtained a year-long pass to Serraine's library, Thanks to a large amount of gold and some references from myself and others.

I had managed to gain an appointment with the librarian [he's really interesting, but spooky too. What can one expect from a floating skull who's an archmage?] in order to gain access to the Shroudwell collection so I could see if there was anything that could be done about Sefrana's condition.

He said I couldn't have access, but also told me there was nothing in there on the subject. He did say, that it would probably require a wish, or divine intervention! but he had heard of one other person who managed to becoming living again, but he didn't know many details, and the person was long dead anyway.

Safrana has been seeing one of the locals, a young pegataur. He has suggested that she get some wings [how rude!] but she turned it down. I suggested to her that she tell him that she's a vampire and maybe he could come along to help. (He seems like a nice young warrior, even if he _is_ a pegataur. They're not all bad, but some have no respect for the other, smaller races. I _did_ get a better view than from the balcony, but my mind was on other things, like not dying...)

Anyway, I gather my advice didn't work. She returned crying her eyes out. I gather he didn't take it very well. She won't tell us what happened, but I assume he hurt her a lot. Hot-headed youngbloods...

We're leaving tomorrow. Perhaps Phoranin can help her. I suppose I've put my foot in it again. Oh dear....

?/07/1011

I hope Amora's axe was worth it. The micro-axial poles could do with replacing... And I wouldn't mind some real guns. If I could mount Old Bessie onto the rear gun turret! I wouldn't have to carry it around all the time. Well,... Safrana wouldn't have to carry it around all the time. It would just be a matter of reloading the ammunition cartridges. At least, that's the idea.

While in Whiteheart, Thora bought an enchanted blade from one of the locals. In turns out to be just a Continual Light spell! That's humans for you; simple-minded.

Had to leave the ship in the wilds away from Whiteheart again. Too risky to fly to Soderfjord in this land of suspicious, backward hicks.

I find it surprising that there was a mage at the auction of the Shining Axe. Obviously looking for quick cash, as the axe is surely worth more than 9,000 gp. They didn't like the mage much, but I find it somewhat hypocritical that the locals thought Lani was a demon. That's humans for you. Even if Soderfjord is a city, not like that hamlet Whiteheart. City, indeed!

?/07/1011

Thora is acting strangely. I think she did something at the temple of Freya in Soderfjord. She's quite different from Thorfinn, thank Garal, but not enough for my liking. Still, she's rather quiet at the moment and Phoranin and Or-Den aren't bad pilots for non-gnomes.

?/07/1011

Walked backed to the ship. Gnomes weren't meant to walk this far! Especially with all this equipment weighing me down. Thank Garal for Safrana so I get to ride, or load my stuff onto her. The other don't understand the importance of skyhooks, spell components, notebooks and Old Bessie. Big people!

We've had a lot of discussion about how to get to Denagoth. It's exciting but the idea of not one, but _two_ countries of human barbarians doesn't strike me as a picnic. What if we have to land? I was all for taking the long route through Rockhome, but there's the problem of frequent aerial attacks. We could go through that country called Glantri, but apparently they're a country full of mages who kill priests and dwarves on sight! Besides, I'd bet they'd be very interested in the Falcon, and I can't bear the thought of humans pulling it apart in their greed...

Anyway, we've decided to go through Ethangar Khanate, one of the barbarian countries. I don't like the idea _at all_ [they're nomadic or something] but it seems like we have no alternative. Next time, I'll hopefully have some ack-ack guns, at least the MM variety. I've saved some money towards it already. The Academy pays well.

?/07/1011

It wasn't such a bad idea to come to Ethangar. Have seen little sign of the humans, and it sounds like the place mentioned in Marlar's diary... Those blades sound interesting, but I'm not going to mention them just yet.

We have to find the pieces of the Sundered Man. We're saving the world after all, and Tessarael, Amora and Or-Den care a lot about their weapons and getting better ones. Can't afford them getting distracted when Mystara's fate rests on our shoulders.

?/07/1011

Had the most amazing past several days! We neared the Denagothian mountains, and saw a road passing through them. On the southern side is Wendar a land of humans and elves, so Phoranin says. To the north, Denagoth. The road led south towards a city, and we thought it best to avoid it. We went back across the Denagothian border and saw a speck in the distance. It followed us for hours. I tried to lose it, but it was just too fast. So much for a safe landing.

To my shock and disbelief, it turned out to be a flying war galley! [So, those humans have some knack for building, but as usual use it to conquer.] Their captain, a warrior in plate armour, signalled for us to land. We debated as to whether to try and outmaneuvre it to escape [the Falcon's better at that than their monstrosity] or to stop and parley. Thora and Lani both offered to go. I thought Lani the better as she can fly, is fast and has...other abilities. Or-Den and I were manning the spike guns, Sefrana was hiding from the sun, and the others...were praying, I guess. Didn't really have time to look.

They fired a ballista bolt across the bow as a warning shot, and before we could react Or-Den returned fire. He hit the captain square in the chest and the spike penetrated deeply. What a shot!! They were very well-armed though, and so the battle started.

Tessarael took over on the starboard gun so I could return to the bridge. We were obviously out-gunned; they had some magical cloud they fired at us. It was all I could do to dodge shot after shot. In the meantime, the for'ard guns were firing away. Thora cast some spells and set the galley deck on fire! That was a clever one. They were scurrying about, too busy to fight.

The captain demanded we surrender; Or-Den fired another spike into his chest as an answer. [I'll bet he wasn't happy. He must have been pretty tough, though.] He always was trigger-happy, be it crossbow or gun. They fired the cloud again, and this time I wasn't quick enough. The damn thing disintegrated the port wing! Sadly, it was all I could do to stop us from crashing, but I couldn't. It was a very rough landing as we were in hilly country.

Lani had flown down on her own, most of us were badly wounded, and we still had to prepare for another battle. I covered Safrana as best as I could, hid a dagger in the bridge and cautiously guarded my pride and joy. Tessarael and Or-Den left hurriedly to meet the oncoming attackers. Thora was severely wounded as she had shielded Remus from the crash, and Amora had been knocked out cold. [So much for dwarven hardiness, eh?] Phoranin stayed to help guard the ship.

Later I was told Thora had used a spell to entangle a third of the oncoming warriors. [I wonder if I could get a spell like that?] Tessarael apparently sneaked off and ambushed some others, and Or-Den used his great skill with the crossbow to stop the first attackers.

Unfortunately, the captain was among them, partially healed from what they said. Or-Den fought him bravely, having downed the others, but perished. Quite a battle apparently. I miss him already. He may have been somewhat blood- thirsty, but he was still a friend.

After a while, Thora's spell ended [she knocked herself out to cast it] and the rest of us had no choice, but to surrender. Lani escaped, however. The captain promised us a fair trial [I'm surprised he didn't slit our throats then and there for our insolence] but we knew we would pay with our lives. Still, we accepted, for what else could we do? The humans from the Soderfjord Jarldoms believe in dieing gloriously in battle so they can go to Valhalla, but we didn't. It turned out to be the best course of action.

I was loathe to leave the Falcon, but at least Safrana was still with it. I told them she was cursed never to see the light of day, and fortunately, the believed me and left her alone. They left two guards with her. I pitied them as I knew it was their last day on this world once night came...

They stripped us and put us in their brig. We slept, for we have been used to traveling at night for Safrana's sake. When we awoke, Thora prayed for a holy symbol, and I was able to obtain some sand for spell components.

We soon heard a scream, and realise that Safrana must have awakened. Thora used a spell to paralyse our guard, and we broke out, fortunate we had not been chained up. Another guard came to investigate, Thora cast another spell to subdue him, but Tessarael decided to kill him. I suspect his new form has caused him much grief, and he expresses it with quick-as-lightning violent acts.

We went from room to room. We found their armoury in the hold, along with a score or their warriors arming themselves. Thora changed into wolf form and she and Remus descended, causing chaos. I had gathered a few more components and thus was armed with three spells. I cast a Levitate on Thora and Lani summoned some bats to help keep the guards busy. The two of them continued to use what little spells they had to their advantage. Amora, despite missing her axe, was deadly.

Unfortunately, Phoranin, Tessarael and I were left on the upper floor just as the captain came to see what the commotion was! We had swords then, but we were no match for him, as he was both a skilled warrior, and a priest [as we later discovered].

We did the best we could, but I had to jump down the hatch, as it was safer than tasting the steel of his blade. Apparently, the captain took Phoranin hostage. Tessarael attempted to bargain with him, but didn't think killing the two helpless guards would hurt his chances! [I think he should see a cleric. Elf or shadow elf, he seems very unlike the rest of them.]

Thora and the others had taken care of all the warriors in the hold. The captain shouted he'd rather we all died than he let us escape and retreated into a cabin. [Are all humans suicidal? It certainly seemed that way.]

We felt the ship start to rise. Since he had lost most of his men, and he was probably eager to get to Valhalla, I guessed he was planning to take us to a great height, and then let the galley plummet, to smash on the ground below.

Thora used some hold spells or something while we tried to break down the door. We couldn't, so Lani used a Knock spell. The captain was motionless, held by Thora's spell with his hands on some kind of altar. Phoranin was lying on the floor with a nasty wound to the head.

Thora tried to stop the ship's movement by cutting off the captain's hands with one swift movement. I was somewhat shocked as it seemed a bit callous and hypocritical. Couldn't she have just moved him aside? Anyway, it was the wrong thing to do as the galley immediately began to descend, but very quickly. We were over 1000 feet above the ground, and I knew we would come to a very sudden end if we didn't do something.

We tried to take control of the ship, but nothing worked. Then Thora prayed for guidance from Freya and we learned that only a follower of Vanya could control the galley as the altar was dedicated to her. As Or-Den had perished, we raced to the remaining crew and questioned them. Thora and the others took him to the bridge while I remained above deck hoping to be able to steer the galley to a safer landing. It made little difference, and I felt myself being hoisted into the air mere moments before we crashed. It was Lani. She had grabbed me and held me aloft above the ship. I will always be grateful as I was already critically wounded and would not have survived the crash otherwise.

Lani brought me back to the dack of the now ruined galley. I found Remus just below deck, his life almost running out, and I bandaged him as best I could. I'm no priest, but thankfully, it was enough. I returned to the others and discovered the warrior had only just touched the altar when we crashed. He died instantly as he didn't have time to brace himself. Fortunately, Thora was still conscious and managed to save the rest of the party, before they too perished.

I surveyed the wreckage. The galley had survived surprisingly well, but was still unrepairable. We searched the ship, and took their remaining weapons, as well as their maps and the captain's logbook and their chest of 500 Heldannic gold.

We retreated to the Falcon and found Safrana. She was heavily burned by some fire spell of the captain's. Thora started healing the party and I started trying to fix the Falcon. I could repair most of the broken instruments as I had obtained them as payment from the temple of Ixion in Darokin. I was no carpenter though, and with a wing missing and the framework heavily damaged, I did the best I could but I knew it wouldn't be very skyworthy.

I toiled for days, and the others helped as best they could. As the galley was made of wood, there was no shortage of materials, just skill. Remus had been scouting the area during this time, and Thora said he had seen a group of men approaching. I pushed myself even harder, but I knew we wouldn't be able to leave yet, as I had to do a major overhaul of the engine.

Tessarael voluteered to meet the group and Thora joined him. Later I learned there was only six of them, but they were all armed, though not armoured. Apparently Tessarael greeted them, and proceeded to confuse them as good as any gremlin when they challenged him. Eventually he had to pick sides, so he said he was a spy for the Heldannic Knights. [The group on the galley had been some of these]. At that, they attacked. Thora used that entangling spell and Remus chased one. Tessarael kept the others busy by parrying their blows. He was fighting three to one, after all. Then he started to cut them down. I guess he was starting to tire, or perhaps the bloodlust came to him again. The others surrendered, but one died before Thora could interfere. The marched the others back to us, and we learned that they were enemies of the Knights and that they had come to aid us! Truly, an embarassing situation for us. We had a funeral for the fallen man, his brother obviously angry at Tessarael's rashness.

Not surprisingly, they then left, though one of the five stayed to help us. Thank Glitterlode he was a skilled carpenter too! We learned that the Knights killed any who did not follow Vanya, and that there was a secret rebellion in their land. Before the others left, we gave them the armour and weapons we had collected, as well as the chest of gold.

I mentioned Aegos the priest of Vanya in the Wyrmsteeth Mountains. She was not like the Knights; she disagreed with them, and she was a powerful warrior as well, having mastered a few hundred weapons! Getting to her was beyond their means, so I promised to tell her about their struggle when I next saw her. They said their leader was a priest of Vanya, a tall [even for humans] portly fellow. His name is Jeffrey of Guntaren.

Anyway, Jens [the carpenter fellow] was a godsend, of course, and we were able to repair some of the structural damage. I had a test flight, and during this, the dweomer-rusticator burned out and I had only just replaced it! It seems I didn't quite replace the bearings properly so it fizzled. Oops... Thankfully, I was able to fix the original one, and made quadruply sure before I made another test flight. It worked, and we held together, though I didn't go above 20 feet, just in case.

We decided against leaving the ship in Denagoth due to both the activity of the [so-called] Knights and the lack of foliage for concealment once landing. We returned to Wendar, but stayed well away from the keep we had seen. We landed safely, a tricky job as it was hilly on their side of the border as well, and hid the ship as best we could. I was loathe to leave it, after all, who knew how much the Knights controlled things, but we departed and cautiously approached the keep. We arrived at the end of Showing Day the 19th of Felmont. There were elves there, and they seemed like nice fellows. The elf at the gate welcomed us in like we were expected guests. We learned the keep guards Wendar against the forces of the Knights, and any other conquering intruders. They had a library there! I knew Phoranin and the others would like to find more of the tower we're looking for, and if I found something on the Land of Blossoms, even better.

Thinking Day, the 20th of Felmont, 1011 AC [midsummer]

Bengarian Hermitage, Wendar

Thank His Most Wondrousness Garal Glitterlode for helping us to finally find some civilisation! Garal knows how they survive; they're surrounded by barbarians on all sides.

Breakfast was boring - bread and gravy, so I decided to wander around and go exploring. They wouldn't let me in some of the rooms, but some of what I did see was quite interesting. They have a great library; nowhere near as big as Serraine's, of course, but still quite good.

The head of the monastery is called the Loremaster, or something. He says that lots of the people here don't follow any god! Instead of seeking religion, they seek knowledge! Sounds a bit like the nagpa back home.

Most of the others decided to rest after breakfast. [We're still used to travelling at nights and sleeping days.] Thora and Remus went outside somewhere and Lani went straight to the library. After a [short] while or exploring, I went to rest myself and met some of the party in the library after some hours.

I heard Thora talking to the Loremaster. He said there used to be some temple to the northeast in the mountains. The Denagothians stormed it and killed everyone. The high-priestess husband was away, and when he came back, he made some kind of golem that glows at night, and sent it to wander Denagoth, where it does to this day. I wonder if this is the magen Marlar mentioned...

We had to give them information in exchange of being allowed to use the library. I told them about Serraine, of course. I guess they've never heard of such a thing, so maybe they thought I was mad, but they wrote it down, all the same.

I've decided to start my own research later, after talking to the Loremaster. He said there was one other visitor here at the moment, so I went to meet them instead. Her name is Ariah; she's human, and a priestess of Morgan, the god of healing or something. She's also a pacifist - they don't hurt people if they can help it, which will be good after Or-Den and Tessarael's actions of late.

Anyway, I sepnt some time with her, and told her about our mission. She's decided to help us, which is great, because she knows lots about the local region. After the encounter with the Heldannic "Knights", we're going to need all the help we can get.

She knows many languages, so we went to the library to do some research. It was hard for me; I'm not sure they've ever had any gnomes here, let alone skygnomes, so I can't read anything so far. But they've got interpreters, so it's not too bad.

A while later, she met the rest of the party. Thora and Tesserael weren't happy about me telling her about our quest, but we need to make our own luck. After all, we've got to save the world! Besides, Ariah thinks the Heldannic "Knights" are brutes, so she must be Ok.

Gathering Day, the 21st of Felmont, 1011 AC

Couldn't find anything on Nyx or Thasmudien. Ariah and Phoranin, and I think Lani and Thora have been searching too. Nothing so far.

Food hasn't really improved. That's monks for you, all poverty and deprivation. The monastery has some nice things though... At least they speak Heldannic here, so I can talk to them. Most of them are busy doing their own thing, though.

Making Day, the 22nd of Felmont, 1011 AC

Had a look for any references to the Isle of the Necromancer Kings. Still nothing. Ariah found a few things though. In regards to Sahu, Island of Serenity [where the Necromancer Kings live], it's called serenity because they see death as eternal serenity. How boring! It would be horrible! How can you get anything done if you're dead?!

I think Remus likes it here, but it's a little too quiet for me. Nice forests, though. Maybe I should have brought the ship in closer. Oh well...

Testing Day, the 23rd of Felmont, 1011 AC

Gave up on finding information in regards to our quest. It's slow going for me because I can't read any of their languages. So I decided to do some research for myself. Couldn't find anything on the Land of Blossoms. They're pretty nice people, though to be willing to help us research.

The Loremaster told us about the tower we're think we need to go to (apparently there's two over there). He said some adventurers went there some time ago. Only half of them cam back because the guardians of the tower were eating the other half. Eeeuuurrgghh...

Ariah and Thora seem to be getting on quite well now. They spend a lot of time together talking about priestly matters. They cast some divination spells today to see which tower to go to. They received the answers:

"the one in the mountains"

"the one to the west."

The one we think it is fits both of those, so that's it unless there's a third tower... The other tower had an evil mage in it who was killed by some adventurers, but Thora said it was in the middle of Denagoth, so it couldn't be the right one.

Ariah found a picture of it. It's really big, with double doors. It's in the shape of a cross and it's had the top blown off! I wonder what did that? Maybe it was a powerful mage like Erik Helsing! Mages always seem to be fighting other mages. I wonder what Rodin is doing now?...

Fixing Day, the 24th of Felmont, 1011 AC

Still nothing on the Land of Blossoms today. We're leaving tomorrow, so we won't be able to do anymore research. But I did find a map of Wendar. One of the monks read out the words in Heldannic so i could copy it down in skygnome. Did I say they're nice people here? There's not much on the map, but I can fill it in as we go along.

Fortunately, since there's lots of villages about, and Thora and Remus can hunt, we won't have to rely on iron rations.

Oh, almost forgot. The Loremaster said the adventurers retreived something called The Elven Star. Apparently it belongs to the King of Wendar. It was stolen 30 years ago and soon after its theft, the adventurers found it in the tower and gave it back to the King. And the Loremaster says the King was once a human!!

We'll be going to the city of Wendar, then crossing over to Denagoth, so maybe I can find out more about this there.

Lots to think about...

Showing Day, the 25th of Felmont, 1011 AC

We left the hermitage today. Nice place, nice people, but I'm an explorer, and we've got a mission! Anyway, there's only one road into the City of Wendar, so we took it and headed west. We're traveling at night again because of Safrana. We had to tell Ariah about her "condition", and she took it surprisingly well, relatively speaking, for a priestess like her.

Nice forests. It'd be much faster going if we took the Falcon, but I guess we need to be subtle at the moment.

Resting Day, the 26th of Felmont, 1011 AC

It's pretty quiet. Thora and Remus have been catching rabbits. Rabbit stew is much preferable to beef jerky. I don't think Thora trusts Ariah though, she never leaves her alone if she can help it. Maybe she's jealous or something? Ariah seems an extremely proficient healer and is very knowledgable about herbs. Priests...

Thinking Day, the 27th of Felmont, 1011 AC

Tomorrow, we should reach the village of Treemettle. After the our experiences in the Northern Reaches [them thinking Lani was a demon, I was a troll! etc.] we decided to go around. As Tessarael looks like a surface elf now, we're going around tonight, and he's going to go in in the morning and ask around.

Gathering Day, the 28th of Felmont, 1011 AC

Not much. Thora is starting to relax finally. In my opinion, Ariah makes a fine addition to our group. For starters, she's quite sane, which is more than I can say for some warriors...I mean people. :) She knows a lot too, she gets on well with people, and she's very handy with spells, and herbs, and cooking, and such. She's almost as good a cook as Thora. Maybe she can give Thora some information about plants, and Thora can give her some pointers on cooking. Maybe they already have, and that's why Thora has become more normal again...

Making Day, the 1st of Fyrmont, 1011 AC [late summer]

Met up with Tessarael again. Apparently, it's like most villages; pretty quiet. The most exciting thing that's happened to them was a while ago someone's cow bore a calf with two heads! It died. How terrible...

Testing Day, the 2nd of Fyrmont, 1011 AC

This isn't real exploring! Nothing but farms and forests as far as the eye can see. OK, well some mountains too, but they're quite far away. If we were in the Falcon, we could fly past the boring bits much quicker than we could walk, especially me and Amora - the others just don't appreciate the need for skyhooks and components and books and gremlin bait and so on. Tessarael and Lani sort of understand. Lani has some nice songs, so it's not quite so boring. She reminds me of Serraine. If only I could spend a bit of time there each day, it wouldn't seem quite so tedious.

Fixing Day, the 3rd of Fyrmont, 1011 AC

This time we're approached the village of Thistle. As before, Tessarael's going to go through while we go around. Nothing of interest.

Showing Day, the 4th of Fyrmont, 1011 AC

Nothing. Not even an irritable badger or something. I wonder how much it would cost to get some mithril micro-axial poles for the Falcon. Not as much as Amora's axe, that's for sure...

Resting Day, the 5th of Fyrmont, 1011 AC

I've noticed Tessarael seems quiet, even for him. I guess seeing all these elves disturbs him. Not surprising really. I'd be horrified if I died and got reincarnated as a ground gnome! They're not too bad I suppose. The first skygnomes were really ground gnomes who decided to make, and live on, Serraine.

Thinking Day, the 6th of Fyrmont, 1011 AC

Tomorrow we arrive at the city of Wendar. I can't wait. It's getting pretty boring around here. Trees, trees and more trees. At least I get lots of time to think. I've been thinking about mounting Old Bessie onto the tail. I'd have to be on a pivot for maneuvrability, but at least I, well Safrana wouldn't have to carry it. Still, it's useful to have her around, but she's so heavy. If I could just work out Aratna's blueprints maybe I could keep Bessie on the Falcon, and make a smaller version for my own use. Bessie weighs more than my chain mail. I wonder how he managed with the ammunition cartridges....

[later]

Finally! We've arrived at the capital, also called Wendar [as I said]. Very imaginative. I expected better from elves.

We're going to stay for a couple of days to rest and gather some more information. I'll be able to sleep at night and do things at day again.

Tired.....

Gathering Day, the 7th - Making Day the 8th of Fyrmont, 1011 AC

Wendar is the largest settlement I've seen, but then it is their capital. It has several thousand people living here. Most of them are human, but there are quite a few elves. I wonder how they have managed to coexist for so long; well, long from the humans point of view, anyway. How can they stand to live only 100 years at best? That's barely enough time to grow up. You have to admire them though. They manage to shove a hell of a lot of living into their lives.

We found out some more about their King. Apparently they're chosen by popular acclaim. (Sounds more like democracy to me, but anyway...) The current King has ruled for about 500 years.

The Elven Star is a circlet with a glowing gem, possibly green. Most people here haven't seen it, only known someone's brother's cousin's cleric's dog who's seen it. :) It seems that it's some kind of heirloom.

When the current King was crowned, he was human. Over the next 5 years, he changed to a half-elf, and then became an elf. It must have been the Elven Star that did it. It sounds very powerful. It must be an artifact. The locals say the King uses it to protect them from invasion by their barbarian neighbours. That may be true, but I'm sure being surrounded by mountains with a single pass for entry doesn't hurt.

Anyway, it's good to have proper food, and sleep in a propoer bed again. Roughing it isn't as much fun, if you're not getting any excitement out of it.

Haven't found anything I can use as replacement components for the Falcon here. There's a fair few people, but they're too ordinary and placid to think about building anything grand. They don't even have a mage's guild. I wonder how the adventurers from here cope? I guess that's why they become adventurers...

Thora and Ariah have been busy. I guess they're busy trying to get converts. I'm sure Phoranin is having a good time gathering information. Hope no one realises she's a shadow elf. I think Lani has been busy singing - untried audience and all. Don't think Amora or Tessarael like it here, but that's to be expected. Safrana hasn't been doing much, since there's not much to do at night. I suspect she's trying not to think of a certain young pegataur...

Glenn Butcher / knight