Because Crespin's clothing had burnt to a crisp, I decided that I should do everybody a favor and let him borrow some of my clothes from out of my backpack. Seems like I am the only one to carry extra clothing with him. Doesn't anyone else care about how he looks?

I picked an outfit that sort of fit him. He is a good 5 inches taller than I am, but I am a lot more muscular (and handsome) than he is. Oh well, it was better than seeing his pathetic excuse for a naked body. I wonder what the Thurston twins saw in him?

As I was fussing over our mental health of having to see Crespin, Mort had been talking to the spirit of the wraith that we killed (again?). She wanted to be released to die, which he did, but she told him some interesting things. She was made a wraith by her mother, and that there was someone that lived near Phoenix that wanted to cause a war between Tristen and Phoenix.

I have heard stories about Phoenix. It is supposed to be a very powerful city. It is not someone that one would go to war with on a whim. Whoever this is that is causing the war, that is if she is even telling the truth, is quite an evil bastard. Probably for greed. Maybe Slaine is in on it. I hope so, so I have an excuse to end the world of him. I would even ask Oskar to do his Final Rest prayer so that he can never come back.

It was about the middle of the night and we were contemplating going into the cave that the man had camped in, and see this "evil" that he was talking about. That is, beyond the undead. He said that there was something else.

A green light appeared next to Schmendrick. This is nothing new, as he casts spells like others pass gas. It is kind of funny to watch him, as he sings and dances as he casts his spells. And that was the strange thing, as he didn't sing or dance and this light appeared.

It turned out that the light, that called itself a Wisp, goes by the name of Willy. He is the servant of Schmendrick, or at least he was a couple of years ago before Schmendrick left him in that keep.

With Willy as our light, we decided to search the cave. It had two caverns within it. One had the man's campsite. The other had a wall that had an illusion as part of it, and Mort went in. Behind was a statue of a demon, and the ground had several dead bodies. They seemed to be recently killed.

We all left the cave except for Oskar, who went in and did his prayer stuff. We extracted the bodies from the cave so that they would perhaps be useless to the demon statue. Hey, you never know.

After a few minutes there was a big explosion. Mort went in to investigate, and Oskar was smiling and saying that his god, Orkist, had listened. There were pieces of statue all over the place.

On the way back to Tristen we came upon a battleground. Vance looked at the tracks and told us that there were two groups of about 50 people each. One came from the North, the other came from the South. There were some bone fragments and various objects that indicated that one army was of Phoenix and the other of Tristen. All of the bodies, armor, weapons, and actual valuables were missing, however. This battle had taken place perhaps the day before.

Vance had noticed some horse tracks that head East. He followed them, and we in turn followed him. We arrived to find that he met up with his friend, Larin Farmer, who was wounded in the battle. Oskar healed him, Mort was sure to tell him his findings from the wraith, and he went back to Tristen.

We went back to Tristen, got our pay for the escorting of Jerry and his wagon. I went to work with Henrik for a few days. I like to help him, but I just can't stay around the shop like I used to.

I need to find out what happened to Shadrii and Zaras Fultano. I always wear the rings given to me by Shadrii and Zaras to always remember them. I can't forget them, as they left only a little over a half year ago. I will never forget, I will find them. I will also find my family, even though I can't remember them at all. I have seen pictures of Henrik's family, however, and I will find them, too.

I met up with the others at the usual meeting place, the Merchant's Last. Mort brought a contract that he had gotten from the city to discover the veracity of what the wraith had said. At any rate, we need to find out who is behind this brewing war. Whoever it was sent that wraith and skeletons. Ever since I saw them I have felt a hatred within me towards undead and their masters.

Schmendrick pointed out that we could get paid twice for our troubles. He found a merchant that was heading to Phoenix, which was on the way to where we were going. We hired on as a guard escort. Additionally, it gave us a valid reason to get into the city past the guards.

We arrived at Phoenix without incident. There were fields outside of the city, which is a normal sight to see outside of a city. However, these fields were being worked by zombies and skeletons, which is not a normal sight. There was a person guiding the skeletons in each case. Probably a disgusting necromancer. I hate them.

Necrophiliacs or not, the city of Phoenix was an impressive sight. The city is surrounded by a wall that has no seams. It looks like it was formed from a single block of stone. Forged by magic, no doubt. It may be beautiful, but these Phoenicians are lazy. Use magic to build and undead to labor.

Inside the city was not pleasant. There seemed to be undead everywhere. Some locations were filled with undead, other locations were of mixed living and undead, and other locations were thankfully free of undead altogether. I liked those places.

We got a decent place for the night, and planned to move on the next day. However, we decided to make the best of it and went shopping. Just about all of us spent almost all of our money. I have but 24 copper left. I sold my finely crafted bow, my magical chain shirt, and my magical chain leggings. However, I bought a finely crafted bow that was enchanted to cause my arrows to pierce armor as if they had a bodkin point, and a suit of enchanted Brigantine armor that was enchanted to be half its weight and nearly double its protection.

I talked Drock into going to an alchemist and getting a love potion to give to Crespin's mom so that she falls in love with Schmendrick. That would be so funny.

This place is filled with soldiers and magic. If they furnish their troops with even a small fraction of enchanted arms and armor, they would be quite formidable. However, I fear that they furnish them heavily in enchantments, as this place is dripping with magical items! We just bought things that we had only dreamed of getting in Tristen.

To make things worse, if Phoenix goes to war against someone, they will just add their fallen enemies to their army in the form of undead. It would be a very poor state of affairs should Phoenix and Tristen go to war. We need to avert this war!

5th of Bloomtide (April) 1977 FG

We finally left the city of Phoenix today and resumed our travel to the south west. A few of the others had some things to attend to before we finally left, and it was pretty boring to wait for them. Mort did get us all some waterskins that were filled with that special water that I mentioned in my last entry. It is good stuff, and it really works! You drink from it and you don't get thirsty for quite a while, nor does your body suffer from lack of water.

On the road again. I sure have gotten into good shape since traveling with these people. I have gotten stronger and my ability to walk for long periods of time has increased substantially since my days in the bowyer shop.

Mort had acquired a map, probably a thousand years old, and we decided to see if there was anything that we could see on the way. He is really into that Sentinel stuff, he says that he swore the oath a long time ago and that his grandfather was a Sentinel. Sounds good to me, I guess. We are all entitled to our own obsessions. Speaking of obsessions, where in the hell are my friends? I miss Zaras and Shadrii. I have not seen them since last [September]. They could be anywhere, if they are even alive anymore. And do I even have a family anymore? If I do, who are they? How did I really end up with Henrik? Is what he has told me all of my life even true? I do believe him that he is not my family, nor do I think that he is a relative at all. A family friend maybe? Maybe I will have to be more probing the next time that I talk to him. This interesting thing with Griswold's apparent family history makes me wonder about my own. For all I know, Schmendrick is my dad. That would be funny, if not overly disturbing.

We arrived in a place that Mort said had Sentinels long ago. It is now the city of Bristol. We arrived to find that it is a Celestine city (go figure, as we are in the Celestine empire) except that it has joined Phoenix, so apparently Phoenix is now a nation. A nation of two cities. What is amusing about this is that Bristol prides itself on being the "second largest city in the nation". It is like having one child and telling that child that he is your favorite son.

We went to the Apple Inn and paid for our lodging for the night. We had the choice between beds and the common room. Of course we chose beds. We are a very strange group of people, I being the most handsome of the group, and I believe that they would find Schmendrick and Crespin to not be very common at all, the freaks.

We were told that there are two places currently of interest. One is a "Ghost House", the other is some sort of strangeness at a well in the south of the city. Seeing as the "Ghost House" is probably what Mort was looking for anyway, we went there. I hate undead. Dead people suck.

We were pointed to the largest building in the city, a three-story building that was made of stone. It probably was a sort of keep in its day. It even had a gate and a wall around it. As we got nearer we were greeted by a man that offered to take us on a tour. We agreed, and he charged us 3 copper each. Kind of a rip off, but I guess that is probably a big source of income for the second largest city in the nation.

We paid him his money and he pulled out a key and unlocked the gate and opened it. He lead the way inside. I am sure that we would not have been allowed to go in any other way than by paying for a tour.

We entered to see two ghosts that were on the roof. One was male, the other female. As we were walking in, and I muttered to myself, "Gee, a couple of boring ghosts", the female jumped off the roof and crumpled onto the ground. The guide told us that the man is John, and that he always seems to be looking out for something. The suicidal woman is named Mary, and she often kills herself in various ways, sometimes hanging herself. Some women sure go to great lengths just to get attention. He also said that the ghosts rarely ever speak with anyone. Most of what the townsfolk know is from what the ghosts say to each other.

The guide then opened the front door to the keep. Mary's crumpled body was still laying there on the ground. She sure is a dramatic. It was annoying already. What can I say, I don't like undead, so they annoy me.

As soon as the door opened, two other ghosts apppeared (the other two, as there are four ghosts that live here, or rather, reside here).

And just as my mind was wondering if the ghosts here don't like Griswold with the same degree as those ghosts in the lower city part of Phoenix, my question was answered. These ghosts went straight for Griswold.

As they charged him, one lunged forward and Griswold used his magic to disappear and reappear a short distance away. The other stopped as Mort yelled "Sentinels!". The first ghost continued his path to get Griswold again. The other just stared at Mort. Crespin drew his sword and stood between the first ghost and Griswold. The other ghost went back inside when Mort told him to.

The first ghost then battled with Crespin, who cut into it with his sword that is enchanted such that it can hurt ghosts. When he first hit the ghost, there was an unearthly sound that it and Mary had made. I, along with most of the others, were unable to move it was so terrible to hear. Crespin hacked into it with some viscious attacks, and soon it disappeared. At some point Mary had disappeared as well.

We looked around, and John was still on the roof, staring out into the area away from the keep. Apparently in his great vigilant watch he saw nothing. What a good guy to have on watch. Maybe he is blind.

The tour guide told us that he had never seen something like this happen before. He asked us if we wanted to go further, hinting that we probably didn't. Of course we did, we want our money worth and besides, Mort might find something useful. Maybe Crespin can get rid of the other ghosts for us, too. As if killing something that is already dead is a bad thing.

We were given a tour inside the building itself. The contents of the building were a lot newer than the building itself, but still pretty old. I trudged along with the others in sheer boredom. I don't really care who these people were or how they lived. I only came because I know that it is important to Mort.

Mary was crying in a bedroom. She sure likes attention. As I was disgusted by her terrible acting skills, the tour guide told us that this was the first time that she had been known to show any emotions. I found this to be surprising. I figured it to just go hand in hand with all of her annoying suicide tirades.

Mort talked to her for a little while. I stopped listening as I figured that she just wanted to get his sympathy. She got upset at something Crespin had said. I wished that I had listened to that part because maybe it would have been funny. She jumped out the window and crumpled on the ground again. Oh blah :yucky: , the drama. Mort gave Crespin a dirty look, and Crespin left the room.

The others didn't seem to notice, but I saw Crespin standing downstairs on the ground next to her with his sword in hand. I decided to say something because I knew that Mort would be upset. I told him "No, don't!", but it was for Mort's benefit, not Mary's. Too bad for her, Crespin slashed her in the neck and she disappeared. Two down, two to go, good for Crespin.

The others did not think that it was good, however. The ghost that I don't know the name of, he that Mort commanded earlier, went out to Crespin as Mort went outside. He called Crespin a murderer. He wanted Crespin to suffer for his crimes of killing the two ghosts. Apparently, the ghosts don't even know that they are dead already. Stupid undead, maybe when undead come back from the hell that they come from they lose their brains? Maybe hell only gets the retards.

Mort asked the guide who was in charge in this city. He told us that it was the city mayor. Mort and Ghosty escorted Crespin to the mayor, lead by the guide. Crespin was turned over to the mayor, and Ghosty went back to the keep.

There were a lot of people that followed them, too. Apparently this is a day for a lot of "firsts". The ghosts had never left the keep before, and here Ghosty was, walking around in the streets.

The mayor discussed the Ghost House situation with us, and after a bit of boring prattle (you can't murder a ghost, after all) he talked us into checking out that well for him.

There is a cavern that nobody knew about at the well. About twelve homes had fallen into it. When we arrived there were a couple of men digging. Griswold used his magic and made that job go by a whole lot faster my digging a good tunnel. As soon as it was done, Crespin charged inside ahead of us. No armor, no weapons. What an idiot.

We got inside to a terrible smell of death. There were probably a thousand dead bodies in here. They were bloated somewhat from moisture and they appeared to be Suul. I wanted to go back and tell John that I found the army that he told us he was watching for.

Sitting on top of some of the bodies was a girl, probably around 9 years old. She was holding a teddy bear, and Crespin was on the ground, writhing.

The group entered the cave. I went to the side and got my bow ready while Mort talked to her. Mort used those special glasses and told us that she was a shapechanger. He drew his axe while talking to her. She said that she was crippled and that she has no idea how she got here. She also said that there was a snake behind her hiding somewhere among the bodies.

I aimed at her eye. Schmendrick and Griswold both cast spells, and Mort went forward. Vance seemed hesitant to draw a weapon. I didn't care what she was, I decided that I will kill her. Wrong place, wrong time, too bad for her.

I missed. What the hell? I don't know what made me miss, maybe she cast some sort of enchantment on me or my bow when she noticed me getting ready to shoot her with it. I thought about shooting her stupid teddy bear instead, just out of spite.

Schmendrick made his sword that fights on its own go to attack her teddy bear. It turned into a massive, 16' tall demon bear.

I got another arrow ready and aimed at the demon bear's eye. I would have hit it, but it dodged at the last moment while it was fighting with Morty. I then shot it in the vitals with an arrow twice. I didn't even bother to aim both of those times, I am just that good of a shot and we didn't have the time.

The bear attacked Schmendrick's sword as it has cut into the bear's rear. The sword exploded, blasting the bear and the girl with the release of the magical energy from the enchantments.

The bear hit Mort and he went down. The was revealed to be a demon woman. A naked demon woman with wings. As we wondered what she was, she was dropped by one of Vance's arrows. At about the same time, my own arrow had dropped the bear. I had shot it inside a hole that Mort had put into it, revealing its heart. I shot it right through the heart.

There really was a snake in the room, and it was going after Griswold, who used his magic to put himself in a more strategic position and got attacked by the snake. It was a quick kill, though, so nothing to worry about.

Schmendrick healed Mort. I used my little necklace rod thing and cleaned him up. We looted the demon woman. There were a few magical items, but nothing that I found particularly interesting. It turns out that most of the bodies were a duplicate of about 14 Suul. A magical illusion perhaps? And even so, why bother?

As the eight wyverns circled above, we whispered tactical plans. I am certain that I could shoot them in the eyes as they dove at us. The two questions that I was leery to find out were first, how fast can they dive, as I need to take them down as quickly as possible, and second, how likely are they to be able to dodge in time? My being able to shoot them successfully, barring their own attempts to dodge, was not the issue, even though some of the others were doubting my skill. I am certain that Mort believed that I could do it, as would Vance, were he here with us. They both know what it is like to shoot a bow, and they know what degree of skill I have developed. I sometimes wonder when people marvel at my skill if I am like one of the masters of legend.

As I was contemplating this, Schmendrick's illusory warrior flew up into the air, near the treetops. Two of the females dove down towards it. The illusion man taunted them while I took aim at one of them. While I could have shot them from about 200 yards away -- it would have been about 300 yards, but they are almost directly overhead -- the others convinced me that they would have a greater chance of noticing the arrow before it got them, so I decided to wait to fire until they got closer to the treetops, where the taunting illusion man was.

Suddenly, four of the females above flew away and the two that were diving returned to circle above with the male and another female.

Schmendrick's familiar, Willy, suddenly appeared. He had been scouting the nest of the wyverns and had been destroying their eggs with his shocking magic.

Griswold teleported back to the town. I wonder why he left. I wonder why our two veteran soldiers, Griswold and Vance, have chosen to not help us. Could it be that they are afraid?

Schmendrick then announced that the best move would be to teleport back to the nest, before they got there, and set up an ambush. Schmendrick then used some of that invisibility dust that he had gotten a couple of months ago. That would enable us to hide regardless of what the terrain was going to be like. And besides, there was still a female wyvern at the nest and it would give us a chance to ambush her right off.

I had never been teleported before but it was a strange experience. For a brief moment I was feeling dizzy, but my keen acrobatics skill helped me to maintain my balance and composure.

As soon as we appeared, Mort and I attacked. Mort threw his harpoon into her wing, snapping it. My arrow went into her eye and she went down. Mort made sure that she was dead with some savage blows with his axe.

Crespin mentioned that my shot didn't count, referring to the bet that was going on about my being able to shoot the previous wyverns in the eye or not. Maybe I should teach him to use a bow.

The nest was impressive. It was built upon a large outcropping of rock high off the ground above a valley below. There was a cave that went into the mountainside. I decided that would be a good place to set up an ambush from and we all commenced to search the nest and cave more thouroughly.

I stepped on something that felt like an unnatural indentation. I didn't get off of it, but inspected it further. It seemed to be worked stone. As I had no idea what would be better to do, I decided that to make a jump and run for it in case it was a trap was the best solution.

And I was glad that I did. A blast of blue energy erupted in the area. I managed to get out of most of it, but what little did hit me didn't make it past my armor. I am glad that I bought this suit in Phoenix. I have a feeling that I will say that many times in the future of my adventuring career.

Mort put the head of the wyvern on the plate that I had stepped on, keeping us from making that mistake again on accident. That was using his head, or, rather, hers.

There was an iron portcullis at the back of the cave near that trap. We had decided that it would be a good idea to be able to get past it should our ambush go badly, and Mort broke three of the bars so that there was a hole big enough for us to get through. At first I marveled at Mort's strength, but then I recalled that Schmendrick had used his magic to increase Mort's strength.

Crespin went through the portcullis and started to scout ahead. He fell into a pit trap but caught the ledge so he was able to pull himself back up. We decided that we had better not search further, as we had an ambush to set up. Schmednrick marked where the activation for the trap was so that we wouldn't step on that again.

We saw the eight wyverns arriving in the horizon. We got into our ambush spots. We could not see each other at this time, but we had acknowledged our initial positions so that we could try to coordinate as best as we could.

As soon as the lead female got close to another illusion of that same silly illusion man, I fired at the male. I shot him in the eye, but for some reason my arrow didn't seem to penetrate deeply at all. It stuck in his eye, or maybe his eyelid. I think that I made him mad. The cave that I was in started to hum faintly.

Schmendrick shot the lead female in the chest with his crossbow. Such an oafish weapon, as no skill is required. The humming increased in volume.

As I was about to shoot that same wyvern in the eye, I realized that I was glowing pink. PINK! What the hell? Must be that humming magic, probably from that angry red wyvern. Damn, they can see me. I would have shot her in the eye but she dodged. I was glowing so bright, no wonder she could dodge my arrows.

She then charged me and tried to skewer me with her tail. I can dodge too. As I was getting another arrow ready, she tried to take a stab at me again. And, too bad for her, I dodged again. She can't even hit a glowing pink man. I thought that wyverns were supposed to be good hunters. I shot at her again, and she dodged that. Hmmm, so we were both dodging each other. I had to do something sneaky to give me an edge, but what?

As I was considering my options, Schmendrick's sword slashed into her. That was unexpected by me as well as her. Too bad for her, though. I decided to go through the portcullis and ready another arrow back there where I wasn't a glowing beacon for the enemies. As I ran back there, Schmendrick told me to not shoot him. So, this is where he was hiding.

As I was readying my arrow again, I was almost interrupted by another tail stab. It wasn't the same wyvern, as she hadn't been slashed by the sword, but I wasn't happy to realize that I had been followed and that their tail can reach a little farther than I had realized. Still, I was paying attention enough to dodge that as well.

As soon as my arrow was ready, I shot her. It was a strange thing, as just before I shot her she sort of slumped in an idiotic stupor. Oh well, because my arrow went towards her eye anyway. Hah, dodge THAT! She didn't, and that was the last thing that went through her mind (Afterwards Schmendrick told me that he had made her stupid with his magic).

I immediately readied yet another arrow and surveyed the battle scene. There were five dead female wyverns. The male and two other females had left the scene. The cave stopped humming, and I stopped glowing. I was relieved. It was interesting to note that Mort was also glowing pink. He must have made the Red angry as well.

We searched the area, our invisibility wore off, mine lasting for maybe 15 minutes total. None of us were hurt in that battle. Let's see, that is eight dead wyverns, counting the three at the farm, and none of us have been so much as scratched.

Wait a minute! We couldn't find Crespin. We did find his swords and what was probably his blood. Apparently he charged up from his ambush point and took the Red on with his swords. But where did he go? Nobody had any ideas, so we picked up his swords and decided to move on. Nothing we could do for Crespin at that time.

Schmendrick and Mort harvested the "cool things" from the five wyverns. Mort got really good at harvesting the poison from their tails. That business is just gross, I mean, who wants to play around in all that goop and stuff? Yech, I leave it to them, I don't want to touch it. After it is cleaned up, ok, but none of that gooshy stuff.

We went in past the portcullis. Mort and Willy scouted ahead. After a while they came back for us and lead us inside. We met with a midget man, who told us that his name is Edward.

Edward didn't seem to be very smart, and he didn't have much regard for personal hygeine. He did show us what was once his master, a skeletal man in a study that was holding a magical sphere in his hands and glowing with a purple light. At least it wasn't pink.

He then showed us to another hall, this one holding a massive skeletal dragon. Mort used his axe and broke a tooth off of it. He then told us how to get out of the mountain from the valley below. He was scared to go that way, but we didn't encounter anything.

We hiked back a good 10 miles back to the farm. There was a big hole in the barn. The farmer told us that the Red had dropped something through it, and that it was going around the area and terrorizing the people. It was seen with only one other female, and Schmendrick confirmed that the other was heavily wounded from our earlier battle so she was probably recovering somewhere. He said that she was able to escape his sword by using some sort of illusion magic of her own. Probably that Red at it with his magic again.

We went back to town. There were archers on the walls, watching for the wyverns. Griswold abd Crespin greeted us. The Red had flew off from our earlier battle with Crespin in his claws, and he dropped Crespin through the roof of the old Sentinel's Keep. How he survived is a miracle, but here he was, and I gave him his swords back.

Willy scouted for the wounded female for us. He located her near a river. The other female was tending to the wounded one, and the male was perched in a tree as a guard.

Griswold and Schmendrick prepared us for battle, again using invisibility and boosting Mort's strength.

Schmendrick then teleported us again. And again, Griswold and Vance did not come with us. I am getting the hang of this teleporting thing. As soon as we appeared I shot the Red in the vitals with an arrow. The others seemed to have been disoriented while this happened, as they did nothing.

And, of course, I started glowing pink again! I hate you, Red. And he started off into the air while I readied another arrow.

Too bad that he couldn't fly off his perch faster, because Schmendrick's sword slashed into him, Mort harpooned him in the wing, crippling it, and I shot it in the vitals again. Crespin hacked into it with his swords. After finishing off Red, we killed the remaining two females.

Ten dead female wyverns, one dead male wyvern, and now we have all of their "good parts". Skins, horns, heads, and poison. And Mort has rid the area of wyverns.