It's a strange thing, losing so much so suddenly. I though losing
Jack and the others, and my memories, would be bad. It's nothing.

When I got home, there were workmen everywhere. Rebuilding the house!
I approached the foreman, and introduced myself as Joseph Goodwell.
I've never seen anyone shuffle his feet more and look as nervous since
the last time I went debt collecting.

"I'm sorry for your trouble, sir."
"Where are my family."
"Ah... ah..."
(His eyes glanced towards where my long-knives would be.)
"Ah... well sir, there was a big family gathering
or the like. Whole family there when the fire started. Must have been at
night. Um, yes."

All gone. My whole family. It's worse than losing one of your family.
Then, the rest of them are there for you. Now I have no-one.

All the Journals are gone. God, I'm going to get sick.

I wandered off towards the Arthurs' house. Down past the corner where we'd
fought Black Vigo. Past the church. Down Fishlane Street. My stomach churned.
My head spun. The sky was spinning now. Oh, not again...

        *       *       *

I blinked.

The others were there. Jack, Devon, Surefoot, Caed, Phillipe, Arno, Louis.
Was this real? It seemed real. So did Morpeth. Where was I?

Morpeth was an illusion. Yes, I'd considered that. Magic (?) and head
trauma are a confusing combination.

The others had had similar experiences. Phillipe's family had been dead.
Caed had met Le Rou, who was actually dead. That wasn't just an illusion
though - Caed had brought back a tea-cup!

Damn, why hadn't I checked my Journal when I was in Morpeth!


We were in a small room. A stone door was blocked up in fron of us. An
icon of a dwarf on a box was superimposed on the otherwise cleaned stone.
Devon chiped away at the tar around the stone. Caed found some gloves.

I asked Dev if he knew what he was doing, and what this was. He did know, I
could tell, but he didn't say anything. I was suspicious. I went to the far
end of the room and loaded my crossbow, aimed at the door.

Devon got the door open after several hours, and golden light poured out.
He walked in.

We waited.

A figure walked out. It was Devon - but he was dressed in a simple white
robe, adorned with a hammer symbol. He carried an amulet - the
Passkey Amulet.

The elves would have felt this. We needed to hurry. Devon (who now
introduced himself as Banior Knutt, Knutt's Banner) led us back through the
tunnels. The clawed pool-monster ignored us. I picked up the long-knives
I'd dropped beside the pool. We existed the complex, and boarded the Heron.


24/1/955

Explained things to Tanner. Natural storm. Wind from east. Lots of sail.
At night, sailed past Jathiere.

Morning. Banior explains that the elves had imprisioned Knutt in the
Passkey fortress. (Isn't he a 'god'?)

Jack shipped up a wind from the south, much to Tanner's amazement. At one
point he turned south and did something. Not sure what.

That night, I awoke to see Surefoot standing over a beaten elf. Noise filled
the air. There was a battle about to commence! I threw on my armor as best
I could, and ran up on deck. The ship was scorched, and several sailors lay
dead. We immediately saw the reason.

An elven ship was gliding along towards us. It looked like a ghost, pale and
half-transparent. Another bolt of fire shot towards us, but Jack did
something to block it.

And then, we were saved. The Sea-serpent roared out of the water, obscuring
the elven ship from view. I'm not sure exactly what it did to the ship.

Afterwards, the serpent's head bobed out of the water. Its huge eyes were
mesmerising... I was quite distracted by them. Appartently some of the others
heard it communicate telepathically. It told of how the elves were digging
beneath the sea for some sort of treasure. The sea-serpent was angered by
this, and wanted us to help stop the elves. Sounds like a plan.

Later Tanner explained that Alywin means "beloved of the sea".

Unfortunately, most of the crew, and the Dwarven marines, were dead.


25/1/955

We had captured an elven prisoner. Interrogation yielded some information
regarding the Altean slave-collars. She said that if we killed the Elves
in charge of a group of Alteans, only the guards would attack us - workers
without instructions to attack would wander off to a pre-designated location.

The others should have just left the questioning to me. They only got in
the way. I think they think I enjoyed frightening the elven girl. I did not.
I simply accept the bigger picture. I think a little Elven suffering is a
fair price to pay for information which (in the long run) could make a real
difference.

Maybe it's to be expected. Even the Dwarves have short memories in some ways.
They forget how dangerous the Elves really are. They forget how cruel they
really are. Knowing how those blasted collers work could help the entire
Altean people. Their enslavement must matter very little to my friends.

No, that's not fair. They simply don't see the implications of their inaction.

They then allowed her to leave using a black magic crystal. Hmmm.


26/1/955

After being taken to the coast of the Elven lands (!) by the serpent, we
disembark.

We found the elven encampment. Only 3 elves, many Alteans. We carefully and
at length came up with a plan. Basically, we used some of Jack's special
talents to sneak into the fort, behind the main building, where the Elves
sleep. Then we split up. Most of us went in and went for the Elves - we had
to stop them from reaching the Altean workers and ordering dozens of them to
attack us.

The objectives were:
-kill as many of the elves as we could
-destroy the mineshaft using the Amulet of Knutt
-get back to the ship as fast as possible

Surefoot opened a way through the outer wall, and Jack opened a way into
the main building, then ran off to distract two of the Altean guards. I went
in with Caed, after carefully removing some obstructions. We got to a door,
and heard some people on the other side. We were about to call the dwarves
in when Caed just walked right into the next room. I see they don't
learn tactics where he comes from!

Inside we ended up facing an elven monk (who fought well against Surefoot)
and an elven swordsman - and I'll admit, he was as good or better than any
swordsman I'd ever faced before. The dwarves ran through, and upstairs to the
final elf.

Meanwhile, Jack faced two Altean guards, and used a barrage of tricks to
deal with them, eventually using a fire crysal, right beside the main
building.

Devon got close to the mineshaft and used the Amulet. The ground shook.
Within moments, the mine exploded outwards, while (presumably) collapsing
further underground.

The main building began to shake and fall. The elves turned and fled; we
persued.

Once outside, they fled into the mist... out of which began pouring a horde
of elven cavalry, appearing from nowhere. They were led by the girl Enela
who we'd foolishly released earlier.

We fled. Banior's use of the Amulet delayed the elven cavalry long enough
for us to reach the ship.

Back on the ship, we relaxed. We'd struck the first blow in what might be
a decisive war against the elves, though Surefoot had oddly mixed feelings.

And then, a blasted elven ship turned up. It faded in out of nowhere,
and glided swiftly towards us. It was a huge ship, and the could see a
woman wearing a tall pointed hat at the front.

The sea-serpent popped up again, and whisked us away, much to the woman's
annoyment no doubt. (Apparently, she's probably one of the people behind
the whole Amulet plot.)

Back in the Achipelego, the serpent asked (in its own way) if he could
help us. I nearly asked about my head, but then someone pointed out that
the serpent's understanding of the human mind was probably rather
lacking. I might have ended up thinking I were a fish.

Jack asked for the serpent's blood. I think it was something to do with
Lady Isolde, though I'm not sure exactly what.

We sailed to Choisy.

27/1/955

Reach Choisy.

Met with Dreux de Choisy, the commander of the Dwarven Navy. Word spred of
the Banior's appearance - to them it was almost as if the Prophet Turius had
appeared.

28/ and onwards

We were safe. We'd done it. I relaxed, healed, and just sat back and let
Banior get on with it.

He's very changed. Very different to Devon. Priests flocked to him. Some
opposed him, fearing for their own power; most saw that in the place of
their empty words, he held true power by the will of Knutt. The people
were swept up in the excitement. Many joined him.

Within a few weeks, the entire religious structure of the Sea Dwarves was
changed. Banior talks of travelling back to the Deep, and uniting the
Dwarves. In the mean time, his priesthood will expand, no doubt. He's still
deciding what to do with the Amulet. Better to leave it here, I think - 
imagine if he took it around the world poorly guarded, and the Elves
captured it!

We will return to the Free States soon. There is so much to do, now.
War seems likely. The ongoing problems within the Free States might need to
be dealt with immediately. Jack wants to perform some ritual on Lady
Isolde, and Devon wants to go to the Deep.

Soon the elves will pay for all they've done.