Palast, 16th of Frostkolt, P.C. 943 - Tawyin's Journal

Well, yesterday was surely one of the more exciting days of my life.

It's not everyday that you meet not just one, but two gods.

Although I'm really not too impressed by the one.  Not that into bald guys.

But it was nice to see Mishakal, even if she didn't stick around for that long.

Here's what happened.

As you know we had a plan to get the Blue Crystal Staff (which by the way, is not Blue, is not made of Crystal and for an artifact is pretty unimpressive).  Well, we were able to do just that (thanks to Balla) and as we were just getting to the apothacary shop where the avatar was, Fiona started screaming.

Of course I figured there was something wrong with her, and Dal did too.  A few of us stayed while the rest rushed to see about the avatar.  Once we made sure that Fiona was not bleeding or anything, we headed to the shop as well.

And it's a good thing we did or we would have missed meeting Set (try saying that five times fast).

So, there was Set, and 6 of his minions, and Mishakal's avatar. They were doing really, really naughty things to her that I don't feel like repeating here.

But never fear, we showed up to save the day.  Except Markum seemed to not be able to hit the broad side of a barn, and ended up almost getting hit with an arrow in that portion of his anatomy which will assure the continunace of his family tree if you catch my drift...

Humans are icky.

Balla was quite impressive during the fight though, she fell and squished one of the minions, but apparently got the staff close enough to the avatar to have her use the staff to move the heck out of the way.

The fight didn't take too long, especially after Set left. I really wish he would have done that disappear in a sand whirlwind thing I've heard about, that would have been something!

So, Mishakal is back, and the former avatar is going to go straighten out her daughters. I really wish I could be a fly on the wall for that one.

But we are heading... somewhere.  There is much debate as to what we are going to do next, go to Habbakuk, go find Lunitari's stuff, investigate a sighting of Chemosh in the area. All of these are possibilites.

It seems we have forgotten all about Chislev.  I hope she doesn't get mad. Although she's neutral, so the worst that will probably happen is when she gets back she'll rain on us..... a lot.

Oh, note to self: keep an eye on Fiona.  She's starting to ask really, really odd.

Linaras, 15th Frostkolt, P.C. 943 - Taywin's Journal

So the others have a plan.

We seem fairly confident that the artifact AND the avatar are both in town.  How we lucked into this I'll never know, but I'm immensely grateful for it.  As it is we have a hammer for a god that could be anywhere and sword for a god that is still halfway across the continent.

If all of the gods could be this accomodating.

Apparently Dal through means that I would rather not comtemplate found out from one of the accolytes that all of the treasures from the temple are being held in a vault accessbile only from behind the high altar.

Wait, did I mention what was happening with the temple?

No?

Ok.

So apparently not only had the world turned upside down, but there are folks that have gone literally bat-crap crazy.

Apparently the former High Priestess of Mishakal had two daughters, two TWIN daughters who took over for her when she retired (wonder if it was before or after this whole thing started?). 

Well, it seems one daughter had a vision where a woman came to her claiming to Mishakal and told her that she had to go into hiding due to the whole foreign God thing, but if she would worship her under her NEW name, then she would give her back her spells.  Just call me Hera she said.

The other twin on the same night got almost the same dream, but the name SHE was given was Isis.

So these two did what sisters always do... they argued and decided to split the temple down the middle and decorate one for Hera and one for Isis.

Humans!

Anyway, they split the temple and redecorated.

Now we are gong to try to get down to that vault and hopefully get the Blue Crystal Staff.

I hope our ogre knows that the staff looks like a normal quarterstaff when it's not being used.

Bracha, 14th Frostkolt, P.C. 943 - Fiona's Journal

Xak Tsaroth, ancient center of worship for the goddess Mishakal, I think I might have come here with Willow at some point when I was younger.

I don't remember this city, but then again, I do.

But are these memories mine, or are they someone elses? Someone much more powerful.

I don't know.

And a part of me doesn't care, part of me likes the power, and the knowledge that I'm getting.

But another part of me is tired, so very, very tired.  I want to talk to Markum, see if there is any light he can shed on what happened to him, to see if there is something similar to what happened to him that will somehow let me know if anyone can tell me what is happening to me, and what is in store for me.

The problem is that we never seem to be alone, and now is not the time for greedy personal concerns.  The whole world is in crisis, what is one life when we all need to preserve the entire plane?

Dal and the other are out roaming around the city, trying to figure out if there is either artifact or avatar here.  Mishakal's voice is louder right now, so I think we are closer, but I still don't have a good handle on what is going on with me I'm afraid.

Hopefully soon we'll know more about what is going on.

Majetag, 10th Frostkolt, P.C. 943 - Taywin's Journal

Welcome the latest edition of Krynn has gone to the Abyss in a handbasket.

So, we found the entrance to the Sla-Mori and somehow managed to not kill each other while we were waiting for the correct moon phase to have it open and last night was that night

I'll have to admit, I really wasn't looking forward to going underground.  More Dal's sort of place than mine afterall.  But if that kept us from freezing our backsides off going over the mountains... well then I'm all about it.

So I read this book once.... it was something that I picked up in Sigil once upon a time.  The merchant swore that it was history, but I'm not sure.  All I know is that it talks about these great fighters that promissed to help some old moldy king with some fight and because they were not able to fulfill this oath they were cursed to never rest or have peace until they fulfilled their oath.  So they haunted the underground caves until some heir of this king came and had them help out to kill this huge army.

The Sla-Mori was kind of like that.  It seems that the Guardian of Kith-Kanan and all of the lesser guards have gone off their meds and a bit around the bend.

I was waiting for them to start quoting the book:

The way is shut.
It was made by those who are Dead.
And the Dead keep it.
The way is shut.

Luckily it didn't get that far (bitt that would have been COOL), but we did have to kill them all.

I promise, I have very little to do with it.  Apparently Dal and Fiona were pretty handy destroying some of the zombies and everyone basically piled on the rest....

Oh and the Dread Wraith, did I mention there was a Dread Wraith?

Anyway, we are past that and in Pax Tharkas and hopefully no one'll notice that we took something with us from the tomb, but when the rotty corpse of the King of the Qualinesti GIVES you something, it's not like it's stealing, right?

Right?

Palast, 9th Frostkolt, P.C. 943 - Taywin's Journal

I found Callisto's journal today.

It was in Fiona's pack.

Don't ask what I was doing looking in Fiona's pack.  I'll admit it right here and now, I'm worried about her and I've noticed that some days she writes in her journal still.  Something that her and her mother and grandmother before her have done their whole lives.  I wanted to know if she had any grip on what is going on.

I'm not proud of myself for doing this, but I'm glad that I did, because as I said, I found Callisto's journal.

And I'm NOT ashamed that I took it and read it.

Of course at first it was only a bunch of squiggles that danced in my eyes, but all it took was a quick spell and I could read what she had to say for herself.

Which is not a lot, I can't believe that she never once thought we would come after her.

Oh, I suppose I should explain what happened last night while we were waiting for the entrance to the Sla-Mori to open.

We were camping in Qualinesti Forest, near the border between that forest and Darken Wood (wonder where the Forestmaster was) and sometime during the third watch (or maybe it was the second watch) Callisto aparently overpowered the folks on watch, knocked them out and stole Fiona.

I'm not sure how Dal managed to track her down, but he tracked her to a Portal which lead....somewhere.  Through the portal he went and he was teleported back to us a short time later with Fiona.

So I tried to see what it could have been that happened to her, but found Callisto's journal instead.  Apparently she had been planning this all along.

I have a feeling this isn't over with she and I no matter what Dal says about her ability to get back from whatever plane she's gone to.

And when I see her again I'm going to rip her spine out.

But now, we are off to visit the Sla-Mori and the tomb of Kith-Kanan.

6th Poseideon, P.C. 943 - Callisto's Journal

Tonight is the night.

This group of rubes are heading through a dark and ancient forest, filled with mystery, blah, blah, blah.

I'm sure with all the fighting for survival against monsters that being worried about they won't notice when I slip out of here.

And take Fiona with me.

Cause really? *I* was going against Ares?  Hah!  No, I just wanted to keep an eye on her and get whatever information I could off of the rest.  Like where they are going.

And underground is not somewhere that I want to even contemplate.  Too much like Tartarus, and I don't have any obolus on me at the moment. But I do have a few denarii still and thanks to Fiona and her scary knowledge of all the portals on this backwater world, I know we aren't too far from somewhere I can get back home to, and from there.... well, I just have to get Ares's attention and hand the girl over.

Simple.

1st Frostkolt, P.C. 943 - Fiona's Journal

Daltigoth.

There was a time when I would walk the streets of this town freely, and  visit the taverns, listening to my fellow bards.

But not now.

Now I'm stuck in some inn disguised and hidden away like I was some pariah.

I guess thanks to Ares I am now and while I would never be so brash as to suggest that I try to take out the God of War, I would certainly love to give it a try.

At least Markum is back to normal.  I see how he looks at me though; he's worried about me.  Taywin and Dal too, actually even some of the newer members of this company seem to be worried about my behavior.

Even that blonde girl Callisto who is somehow connected to Ares seems to keep close to me as if she's concerned about my well being.

Maybe if we were able to return a few more artifacts things would get better...

One can only hope, but it's taken so long to for just two gods to be returned.  There are so many more to go.

We need a lucky break, some way to convince these Aspects, or Avatars, whatever they want to call themselves to come together to make it easier to return them to their realms.