Editing Stranded in fantasy (section)

==Part 2==

===Journal Entry 110===

-6 bullets. I was in my first large scale battle today. We made it to Wolfdale today, the farming community. About 8 farms, a tavern, housing and so on. The civies evacuated when the Wolflake army spotted us and we moved in. The battle. It started with some magic being thrown around and then a charge. We outnumbered them but even so, the new cavalry destroyed their left flank. Mike stayed in the back with the other casters as did Marcus. I was placed in the third line wave with Jason. We were the wave that came in and cleaned up anything left. I helped flush out hiding survivors. We lost about 40 people on our side but we broke this defensive force. We're going to hold it for 2 days while the food is gathered up and transported to the main camp. Bodies have been looted, prisoners taken and interrogated. I've been in so many minds today, I'm having trouble differentiating my thoughts from stray ones that crossed over. I'm camped up in the tavern with a load of others. Marcus is keeping our spirits high with his music. I don't think I'm going to be doing much else tonight, I ache all over and my head is jumbled.

===Journal Entry 111===

While we were getting ready to move out, a lone rider shows up with a white flag and hands our Warleader  some scroll. A formal demand of surrender. Terms are surrender and they'll only enslave the tribes. Failure to do so and it's death for all by command of king under the might of whatever god. The messenger survived but he got his answer carved in the corpse he's chained to. Dramatic but effective. The trip back to the main camp should be about two days hard march. We're ready for it. Said goodbye to Wolfdale the farming community, soon it'll be in flames. Once we get to camp, and with the resources we got here, we'll hold out for the winter and start attacking come spring assuming Wolflake doesn't send an attack force. Well, time to move.

===Journal Entry 112===

Only a day out and we come face to face with one the Wolflake armies. They were on the way to sack our encampment while we were away, but we caught up to them. We have to go through them to get back and they are ready. We're about a mile apart, preparing for the upcoming battle. I'm in third wave again. The numbers appear even. My rough estimate is eight thousand each. The Wolflake army is mostly wearing heavy chain armor and brigandines lots of greyish blue and are using big tower shields. Lots of long spears. I think that they're moving into multiple phalanx formations. Fuck. I wish we had more magic users on our side. The only place that had any great number of them was Aeyllin, each side only appears to have a handful. A handful of casters and one telepath. Marcus has been playing his best courage song to the tune of “We will rock you.” The Orcs have gotten into it. It's fucking inspiring. Mike is as ready as he'll ever be and Jason is getting hyped. I hope someone's watching over us because this is going to be insane.

===Journal Entry 113===

It's been a few days. Where to begin.. It began to snow at the start of the battle. It was almost cinematic. I used up both magazines of my gun. 16 bullets. After that, it was the sword. It's not easy adjusting midswing to try and hit the holes in their armor. Sometimes I would try and get a few seconds by making them see something else, or just mentally knock them silly. I felt a lot of people die that day. We lost. The cavalry smashed upon the phalanx's flank like the ocean and shattered their defenses. It looked good initially. Then they each were systematically separated and slaughtered, one at a time. They went in way too early. By the time the front line got there, the phalanx reformed. We must have killed half of their force, but we lost almost everyone. I met up with the others. Marcus had taken several arrows but was good enough to move still, Mike was out of magic but had avoided injury. Jason's blind in one eye, a spear got lucky. He was alive but bleeding everywhere. I was still unharmed but exhausted by then. We decided to make a run for one of the other warcamps to warn them and get medical treatment, magic or otherwise. We were caught by a patrol and I was run down by a horse, trampled and speared. There was fighting but then everything faded out. I only remember blackness after that.

===Journal Entry 114===

I woke up naked and tied to a rack. The survivors dragged me back. I guess I was still alive. I was healed and to be tortured, repeatedly. Not for information, just to make a point. For fighting for the enemy. Any information was just icing. There was only two of them. The cleric and some archivist? The archivist was taking notes it looked like in a huge book. The cleric never got a chance to turn the wheel. I made the archivist think he was with me. He murdered the cleric and set me free. Then stole anything of use from his mind, then erased everything. A mental format. I stole some clothes and managed to find my things nearby, spread across a table minus my sword. The Kindle was turned on. I wonder what they thought of it. I used one of the cleric's spare robes and managed to get out of the dungeon by making the guards think I was him. I left the hood up, so I only had to manipulate the one looking at my face. I escaped and now I'm in town. Welcome to Wolflake.

===Journal Entry 115===

So I have no money, Mike had the money. I'm hiding out in one of the seedier inns. I..manipulated the innkeeper into thinking that I had paid him in advance for a few weeks and that I was an old friend and certainly not the stranger the guards are looking for. I got a nice hot meal and a warm bed for my efforts. From what I got out of the archivist, the others were not captured and may still be out there. Meanwhile I'm here. Wolflake is a much larger city than I expected. It's certainly no village. It's as large as Aeyllin at least. All plaster and wood structures, stone walls. It's divided up into districts by use. The smithing district is in full production for the war. The market is bustling but a sense of apprehension is thick in the air. Residential is quiet and constantly patrolled. Lots of anti-orc propaganda. The town crier is constantly going off about them murdering babies for food and raping everything with legs. I did the old taser in the alley trick to get some money, not much, but enough for some new clothes. Trousers and tunics. Oh baby. At least they're clean.

===Journal Entry 116===

I recognized someone today. I was in the market, grifting someone, when out of the corner of my eye I see Avery, dressed in the robes of the sun church. What the hell, what is she doing here? I stayed my distance and followed her for awhile. She went into the local Sun church. I asked around some of the apprentice clerics hanging around outside about her. She arrived in town two months ago to help in the war with healing. A call went for help in the Orc war and she left Rosenbridge to volunteer. They don't know anything about Alex though. Apparently Avery's become a very devout believer in the ways of the sun worshipers. She has become an accomplished healer as well. She's still considered an apprentice but is moving up in the ecclesiastic ranks. I'm going to try and make contact with her tomorrow.

===Journal Entry 117===

So I met up with Avery today. I just walked up to her while she was out doing her rounds and Surprise, it's me! I surprised the shit out of her. She was ecstatic to see me. So many questions. We found a nice outside cafe and had a long talk. I told her of our adventures to Winterfield, to Aeyllin and back. I left out some things of course, she doesn't need to know our part in king slaying, grand theft everything and child abandonment. She said a prayer for Amanda and Dan. After so long, she assumed that we had all died. She joined the church after a vision, and because she believed she had nothing left. Alex recovered fully and after talking with some spell slingers, found he was more suited for sorcery than wizardry. I could be wrong, but doesn't that require a special genetic background to use? He got some instruction and can throw around spells now. Apparently has trouble keeping control of it and accidentally caused some property damage. He headed off to Aeyllin a little before she left for Wolflake, to learn to control himself better. If my math is right, he was arriving as we were leaving. Assuming something didn't slow down his trip. According to Avery, Alex had been hoping to find us there, he never gave up hope. As for the others, they were shipped to the Wildlake slave pens. Something will have to be done. Anyways, I let Avery recharge her laptop and ipod off my charge stone. She was giddy. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any new movies.

===Journal Entry 118===

Met up with Avery again for lunch. She put two and two together over the course of the night and realized that yes, I'm the “baby murdering orc lover traitor spy” that escaped from the dungeon a few days ago. She confronted me about it. I wasn't going to lie to her. So then a Paladin showed up and sat down at our table. I felt very uneasy around him. Avery said wasn't going to turn me in to the king, but I was going to be “arrested” under the church and held in protective custody until this war is over or they figure out what to do with me. So I went. I'm not going to fight her, there aren't enough of us left for us to be turning on each other. They let me keep my things. I don't think Avery even knows I have a pistol with me. She did take my journal though, and read through it. I just got it back. She can't decide if she should be furious with me or not after all I've done and all I've suffered through. I think she was more incredulous that I've been documenting it in detail. It's a good thing she doesn't know about the things I didn't document. She is adamant, however, that I need to pay for my sins. Maybe I do. Maybe I'm not done sinning. Anyways, we watched Strange Days and then she left. My “cell” is a plain stone room with a plain bed, a tiny window and some church iconography. It's not exactly tiny and I'm not imprisoned here, I can walk around, just not leave the wing.

===Journal Entry 119===

Well, I was in that place a grand total of 21 hours according to my mp3 player. The longer I was there, the more... claustrophobic I felt. Avery came to see me in the morning and we talked about what I was doing with the Orcs. Told her my side of things and I may have convinced her that this war isn't about good and evil, it's a landgrab. Come lunch time, she was off doing church duty and I had decided enough was enough and walked out. Poked a few minds to get my way, but I didn't hurt anyone, for Avery's sake. I left her a note apologizing. I'm back at the inn. Not feeling so claustrophobic now. I need to figure what to do. I'm stuck in Wolflake with the guards and now the sun church looking for me. I bet the rest of my team think I'm dead on the battlefield. Thinking back, getting mindraped by Skinhead Mctattoo was the best thing that happened to me on this world. She opened some doors for me. Without that, I'd be truly fucked. At least I have some options. I'm going to poke around town tomorrow and see if I can find anything useful.

===Journal Entry 120===

Hey, this city has an airship port. I have an idea. I just have to wait for the airship to arrive. Anyways, managed to grift some money and browsed the market. News from the war. The surviving Orc horde managed to sack a few supply caravans and a farm, everyone murdered, dead strung up, babies eaten, etc etc. Between the lines, I'm glad they're still fighting, they haven't given up yet. Picked up some rumors. Apparently the royal castle's been enhanced by a thieves guild turned traitor and even they haven’t been able to break in since. There goes that idea. The city gates are locked up tight, only allowing trade caravans in, and anyone not expected gets arrested. There's also the curfew. So yeah, this place is under martial law. Whispers on the street is that there are some freedom fighters skulking about. I took a look into it that and anyone that knows anything is a toady for one of the noble families, the Rheingrafs. I can't tell if it's an elaborate trap, or a manipulative attempt at a backdoor coup. I'm going to take a risk and dig deeper.

===Journal Entry 121===

I talked my way into a meeting with these freedom fighters down at the slums. Not very organized. Their plans were odd, probably orders from on high with no context. They have a list of people that need to be dealt with, and I don't mean killed. Publicly humiliated, disgraced and so on. Replaced in a way that won't draw undue attention. Their methods leave something to be desired. Dirty rumors and name calling more or less. I have some ideas on how to deal with this, but is this actually going to help me in any way? Well, it keeps me occupied and I can experiment so I gave it a shot. Target 1. There's a tavern keep in the market district who runs The Wolf's head, that needs to be ruined. I paid a visit during his slow hours, cased the joint. He's a retired adventurer, hard core supporter for the king and his policies. Gives discounts to off duty military. They call him Screaming Howl of Wolflake. Some based around one of his adventures in the earlier Pacification war years ago. Know what else screams? Babies. I put in the niggling fear that it's an insult. That maybe everyone's been making fun of him behind his back this whole time and having a grand time about it. Taking advantage of his ignorance for cheap booze. I'll let that bake for awhile and see how it turns out.

===Journal Entry 122===

So while #1 is baking, I'm seeing about Target #2. A Madam of a brothel. High class establishment, all the girls are magically purged after every use, silks everywhere. She's been using her girls to gather info on dissidents. I paid a visit. Went for a ride around the block. I'm going to try greed with this one. Maybe she's not getting paid enough for the information. Maybe there are people who will pay more. Maybe she deserves some political favors for all the good she does for the nobles she supports. Nobles that she saved with her information. She looked pretty lost in thought on my way out. We'll see how that works out. In other news, it's time to move out of the inn. Avery left a note on my bed ordering me to return for my own good. No surprise paladins or anything this time. I've since moved in to an abandoned tower residence on the seedy side of town. Not a lot of room, but it has a clean bed I can use and privacy.

===Journal Entry 123===

I guess I won't get a chance to find out how my experiments are doing. An airship is in town, a small cargo hauler from Hebiry, one of the main trade hub cities along with Rosenbridge and Wildlake. Airships always draw crowds, so I went over to poke around a bit. The last two airships I've been on used a magic dongle was required for any of the navigation stuff to work. Flying one looked easy enough. Who would have the key? The Captain of course. Found him picking up chicks at a tavern after he was done unloading. He didn't have the key. It's locked in a safe on board the boat. I did get the combination though. So I am going to traipse over there, think my way aboard, take the key and fly away. Grand Theft Airship. Fuck yeah.

===Journal Entry 124===

Clearly I was drunk on success. So I get to the airship pad and SMITE. Paladins. Clerics. Avery. She guessed I'd try and escape. She read my journal again. I am in a lot of trouble. I'm back in the same room, but now I have this thing on my head, some kind of leather band that I can't take off. If I move then a few feet from the church, pain. Avery says it's only pain because I've become evil and it's the church's god influence burning away at the evil. She says that once it stops burning me, I'll be good and can leave. I feel like a child that's been grounded. She confiscated my gun and my charge stone, so I need to see her now to keep my stuff running. To make matters worse, they're all, all of them, wearing glowing temporary tattoos that are blocking me off! Fuck.

===Journal Entry 125===

So my imprisonment in the church. Avery has been spending her breakfast and dinner with me, we sit and discuss and debate. She has admitted that if she had gone with us to Aeyllin, she'd be in a similar state. If she'd take off that damn tattoo, I could show her, right in her mind. But no, I can't be trusted yet. She's very naive about what's going on out there. Being locked up in a church and surrounded by like minded people all day skews perspective. Divine group think. So yeah I'm bitter. So a little after breakfast, a Paladin walks over and backhands me across the room. I think he broke my nose. Then he heals me and tells me to keep my hands off Avery. Calls me scum. The works. Leaves me there crumpled on the floor. I think he's jealous. I mean, I'm not going to mess with her, even if she's the reason I'm here. She's like a little sister to me. Either way, I need to get out of this fucking place. This is an intolerable situation.

===Journal Entry 126===

Know what there is to do around a church all day if you're not a member? Sit around and do nothing. Self reflection maybe. Not for me. I have made it a personal quest to find ways of fucking with the paladins. All the church members meet up in the afternoon for their prayer service. That's when I work. Moving things around, hiding things. Rearranging. Sure, it's stupid little pranks but what else am I going to do? I did get some news from my two experiments. The Tavern owner's gone over the deep end and has barred military and even guards from using his place. He may even be behind a minor poisoning of some guard captains. The Madam wasn't as successful. Word is, her backers decided to give in to her demands. How did I find this out? The freedom fighters found me when one of their members were in for magical std treatments. I may have gotten the attention of the Rheingrafs from my work.

===Journal Entry 127===

News from the war. It sounds like the Orc cavalry is getting its shit together. The town crier is starting to use the throw around the horse mounted demon card loosely now. On the other hand, it sounds like they lost another major battle. The orcs are winning the skirmishes but not the large scale battles. Heavy losses on both sides. Most of the church personnel have been called away for healing and the occasional resurrection for any dead war hero nobles. This would have been a grand opportunity and Avery apparently came to the same conclusion, so I've been leashed. I have a chain around my leg that's connected to my bed post. I have about 20 feet of slack. Just enough to make it to the “bathroom.” Chained up like an animal. This is going too far. This will not stand.

===Journal Entry 128===

I have escaped from the church. The idiot freedom fighters decided to break me out while the healers were away dealing with war casualties. I managed to get the things Avery took from me. Found my pistol under her pillow. What the hell is that all about? So they unchain me, get that stupid pain crown off me and we make our grand escape. Right to one of the Rheingraf holdings, a decorative cottage near the market. A guest house. One of them was there, all dressed in more layers of clothing that was necessary, even with the cold weather. They want me to work for them under their house spymaster. They didn't offer the position. They told me. People with my skills are few and far between apparently, and they think they can get a political advantage with me under their spymaster. Oh, and escape is nigh impossible. The spymaster can just up and disappear whenever he feels like and for some reason, I can't touch his mind. He's no telepath, he's just impenetrable. He put some kind of magic link on me, so he knows where I am at all times. So I'm still a prisoner, the chains are just invisible this time. I'm a commodity rather than an animal. Wonderful.

===Journal Entry 129===

So the Rheingrafs. They run half the trade caravans in this kingdom, started as an imports-exports merchant family that got lucky back during the last pacification war and earned themselves a noble title from secretive war profiteering that fucked the other side's logistics. They've tasted power and want more. They are one of the richest noble houses in the kingdom, but have the least amount of political power since they're relatively new to the scene. They have the money but not the connections that the other nobles have. Their secret backroom handshake deals have been few and far between. My new boss, the spymaster, was imported in from afar and is obscenely loyal for some reason. He's one of the elf ethnicities. I bet he was programmed. People don't get this fanatic for nobles on their own. At least I hope not. Might explain why I can't touch his mind.

===Journal Entry 130===

So the spymaster took me in to the field today now that I got the house history down. This mainly consisted of puttering around the market while he checked his contacts and me making sure that they weren't holding back anything, and the both of us beating the shit out of someone when they were. Half his network is compromised in some way. He's stealthy as hell, but not too good at running a spy network. Ran into Avery. I'm under noble protection now, so the church can't legally touch me, as long as I'm not performing profane undead rituals. Within the city walls anyways. She's upset of course, but I think I got the point across that I am still in danger. I need to get out of this fucking place. I hope the others are still alive.

===Journal Entry 131===

After all this time, I still wake up some mornings thinking it's all been a dream. Nope. Still here. So we have begun a process of kidnapping compromised members of the spy network and instilling some loyalty. Through mind rape. Mind rape and beatings. I'm actually disturbed by some of this shit. I'm rewriting parts of these people's lives in a few of these cases. It's incredibly draining too, to the point where I started bleeding a few times. I hadn’t done that in a while. Needed a few rest periods to recover. I'm still looking for some way to escape this situation without drawing too much attention or ire. Wandering town is easy enough, the guard long gave up looking for the escaped prisoner and they didn't even have a good idea of what I looked like or any personal information. I'm still a fugitive from the church, but that's on hold as long as I'm under the Rheingrafs. The church has kind of taken it as a personal insult that I keep escaping them. Initially I was just Avery's pet redemption project. Now they've convinced themselves that I'm some kind of criminal mastermind that's insulting their god and shitting all over everything they stand for. Yeah, their magic tattoos have worn off, but their motivations are too deep seated to wipe away in passing. It would take a whole mindrape session to clear that away.

===Journal Entry 132===

So I got brought along to some royal ball the King was hosting. It wasn't in the castle, no, he has a whole separate building for stuff like this well away from the castle. The Rheingrafs wanted me there for information gathering. Nothing too intrusive. They were all there, dressed in their latest fashionable imports. I had to wear some absurd outfit with multiple sleeves and feathers. There's music and fancy noble food, most of which I wanted nothing to do with. Stuffed mice, various bird tongues, some kind of bone pudding. At least they had seafood. I can deal with that. Lots of alcohol, elven wines, dwarf brews, some rare Margarita knockoff from the south. So the party took place in some huge ball room with lots of mirrors. Mirrors are pretty rare, so this is some kind of show of wealth. There's more to it though, I was sensing people behind the mirrors. Watching. The King never made a public appearance. He may have been one of the ones behind the mirrors. I did hear some gossip, picked some minds. Apparently Winterfield is a huge mess. With no royalty, the advisers tried taking power and then one of the generals seized control and tried forming a military junta. Last word anyone's heard from them sounded like a civil war was about to kick off with the barbarians approaching. They did get another airship though. Someone else must have noticed the gap and filled it. Anyways, after the party I dumped all the info I got on the spymaster, and he's been sorting through it for anything relevant.

===Journal Entry 133===

I managed to escape! Freedom! I can feel the proverbial collar slip free of my neck. It feels so good! So the spymaster took me out of the city to run the loyalty test on the Rheingraf cattle and horse farm. Some of the news we picked up at the ball seemed to indicate that there was a skim going for one of the other houses. That place apparently was a recent acquisition and maybe old loyalties die hard. So we get out there, it's less than a mile from the city and pretty safe, has regular guard patrols. The workers all come out and look scared as shit. Word's gotten around. It suddenly occurred to me. The guard patrol won't be around for another hour. It's me and the spymaster, some farm hands and the farm accountant. Bang Bang. He took one in the head and one in the chest. He falls over and then just up and disappears. The workers scattered to the wind. I ran in the other direction. I have a general idea where the Orc war camps are, I'll head there and see what ever happened to the rest of my team.

===Journal Entry 134===

I'm camped out in a small cave in a ravine. I didn't think this through. No food, no water, it's starting to snow. Sure, I could try hunting with my pistol, but I have no knife. I managed to start a fire using some tree branches, dry leaves and my taser. I should have enough wood for the night, but it's so cold. I'm going to try melting some snow for water once enough falls. Hopefully I'll reach a camp tomorrow.

===Journal Entry 135===

I lucked out and stumbled into one of the Orc patrols. They had heard of me and I was dragged back to the war camp and put in front of the High Command. I was presumed dead and put out of mind, and now I had to convince them I wasn't a spy. That took awhile. I gave up as much information as I could on the situation at Wolflake. Afterwards, they set me loose on the camp. I found the others. I'm glad to see them, and they the same. They thought I was dead when they left me behind in their retreat. It sure felt like I was at the time. They're doing well. Marcus has some scars he seems to think will impress the ladies. Mike's doing fine but he's pale as a sheet. Jason ultimately lost his eye, but one of the camp spell casters gave him a replacement. More or less a Ruby jammed in the vacant eye socket. He says he can see better than fine with it. It's creepy as hell to look at though. I told them of my time in Wolflake, about Avery and her news on the others, about the Rheingrafs and my escape. We watched Strange Days. I'm about to sleep. I'll find out how the war is doing from this side's perspective in the morning.

===Journal Entry 136===

This is a war of attrition. The Wolflake armies are winning the battles but taking such heavy losses that they can't easily resupply, especially with most of their ground supply lines broken by the Orc raids. The Orcs on the other hand, have yet to have a decisive victory. The battles are usually routs with most of the survivors retreating. They can bring in replacements easier, mercenaries, but that can't go on forever. The cavalry is adapting nicely to the stirrups, but there aren't enough of them to make a big difference, and they've been taking losses from the enemy phalanxes and archer lines. Since I've last been here, they managed to get some artillery. Catapults. They've been using them to launch tar covered, burning hay bales in to the phalanxes during the opening salvos. Too bad we can't get our hands on some “alchemist's fire.” It's some variant of greek fire/napalm. It's apparently hard to come by out here. They also just got a shipment of specially trained war dogs. Big nasty things trained to go after anyone with the Wolflake symbol on them and follow verbal orders. I got a new sword, a longsword. It's seen better days. The blacksmith described it as “experienced.”

===Journal Entry 137===

It's been a few days. I have been sent out with a raiding party of about 30 mercenaries, mostly human. We're sacking a trade caravan heading in from Kinild by land. I almost feel like a bandit. We're camped out off the side of the road under heavy brush, snow, in ditch and waiting. It's pretty boring. A few of the guys are light sleepers and taking a nap, even though it's bleeding cold out. The rest of us are keeping ourselves entertained with war stories while watching the road. We have a few two man patrols making sure no one is sneaking up on us. No idea how big this caravan is, or even what it's carrying, just that there is one. One of the mercs has some heating stone, stays a new warm temperature he's been using to keep his hands warm. I gotta get me one of those. My Terran compatriots are back at camp. They're learning to ride horses. I feel all left out. It's kind of funny. Our big plan was to get to Rosenbridge and free our friends and they aren't even there anymore. Alex would have just missed us, Avery's gone native. The others are who knows where and probably in a bad situation, as they were slaves last Avery heard. I guess the next goal after this war is the Wildlake slave pens and then where ever they've gone. I'll be pissed if they got sent to Winterfield or Aeyllin. Running in fucking circles.

===Journal Entry 138===

We ransacked the caravan all right. 10 guards, 20 or so merchants, staff and passengers. Most of the guards went down, only two surrendered and they didn't even put up a fight. Our prisoners are being stripped of valuables and being sent to another camp to be ransomed back. Our cargo haul looks to be food supplies, smithing ingots, spices, what I thought was mage reagents, clothes and a chest of gold coins. Bribe money? Taxes? But why is it heading towards Wolflake? I felt I had to know. So I poked around in some of the survivor's minds. This caravan was a shipment for the church of the sun worshipers from one of their larger central cathedrals. They don't do their own caravans, they use third parties. Whoops. If they ever find out I was involved in this.. I can't let Avery read my journal next time she catches me. Part of me is worried, part of me can't stop laughing. So we're heading back to the war camp with our riches, should be a two day ride. We're certainly more armed then their original guard retinue. Wait, why was the church getting money? They operate on tithes, cleric services and don't pay taxes. The caravans drivers don't know anything about it. Something's funny.

===Journal Entry 139===

I'm learning to ride a horse. We're still on the way back. I've already fallen off twice, luckily didn't get injured. No stirrups of course. So I've been thinking of what else I can do for the war effort. Just to tip the balance. I'm sure Jason and myself could rig up some kind of scale model trebuchet for them to learn from, but that's more of a siege machine than battlefield artillery. Maybe the Chinese repeating crossbow, but I don't actually know how that works. I really don't want to introduce gunpowder. It's easy enough to make, they have most of the ingredients back at camp. Hell, we have the ingredients to make some here in the reagents crates in the caravan we're taking back. Anyways, the Orc cavalry is already starting to experiment with horseback archery, maybe the OH FUCK.

===Journal Entry 140===

I met with the others soon as we got back to the camp. I dragged them over to the caravan and we went through the materials. Between the ingots and reagents, we figure there is enough to build one simple cannon and fire it multiple times. Does that mean the gold is to pay a smith to make it? What's going on here? Maybe it's coincidence. Maybe Avery told them things she knows this world isn't ready for. If this was to be given to the Wolflake military to copy, that would be very bad. Okay, so what right do I have to decide what technology the locals can and can't possess? They have magic. At the same time, I've already been irresponsible with handouts. I'm conflicted. Anyways, I gave Jason the go ahead see if he can't help the camp bow maker invent the recurve bow while the rest of us figure out what to do.

===Journal Entry 141===

The recurve project went bust. The bow maker doesn't have the aptitude or creativity to get what we're trying to describe. Maybe we need a proper artificer. So we went back to the drawing board and had a long talk. If Wolflake is going to have explosives, then so should we. We aren't going to give them cannons, but we are going to give them gunpowder. We'll show them how to make a ceramic or wooden barrel grenade. Something they can fire from their catapults. Something simple. We'll let its usage evolve on its own from there. There's the high probability that someone is going to blow themselves up from this. Mike and Marcus are mixing the chemicals now to produce the first batch. I've had a lot to think about over the past few days. We're making a bigger and bigger impact on history as time goes on. Is this what we were brought here to do?

===Journal Entry 142===

Well, we held our first demonstration today. We made a small prototype using a clay jar, filled it with metal shavings from the blacksmith and packed it with black powder. We found a nice safe place and set up some of the training dummies complete with scavenged Wolflake armor. We had Mike light it from his maximum casting range and all took cover. It took a minute before it went off. The Orc's first reaction was that it was just a fireball spell anyone could use. Then they examined the area. The armor shredded from shrapnel, wood pulped, some rocks destroyed. I think they got the message. These aren't toys. We have enough ingredients to make 20 more of the hand variants, or 5 big ones for the catapults. They wanted us to make the big ones. High Command doesn't consider us just mercenaries anymore. We now have bodyguards.

===Journal Entry 143===

I'm pretty sure Marcus has developed a relationship with a half-orc girl in one of the Orc supply caravans. Every time they show up, he vanishes for awhile. Doesn't he remember what happened in Aeyllin? God damn bards. So we have our catapult bombs. We sealed them with wax and buried them in crates near the armory with clear markings so some idiot doesn't accidentally blow the whole thing with a torch. It'll take a directly aimed fireblast to trigger them now. Maybe. We'll dig them up when it's war time. In other news, still learning to ride a horse. I don't even know enough about horses to describe it's breed, or Earth approximate breed. All I know is that it's brown and named Medley. I have no idea why. It certainly doesn't sing.

===Journal Entry 144===

Winter is in full effect. We had a blizzard today. Everything's frozen. At least our camp was set up to avoid the harsher winds. Not a lot to do while sitting around the fire, shivering. So I started asking questions. I was wondering why the Orcs never use their own Phalanx formation in the war. Many different answers. Simplest answer? It's not their style. They don't care much for the long spears and big shields and tight formations. They rarely use shields and if they do, it's always something small like a buckler. Sure, they can withstand physical trauma better then a human, but really. Their tactics are more suited to smaller scale tribal conflicts, which makes sense. That's what I've observed so far. Not so good at war, pretty good at skirmishing. It fits their tribal mentality. If these guys ever get organized into a proper civilization, they'll be a real force to be reckoned with.

===Journal Entry 145===

Well, Marcus got drunk, sat down in the middle of camp and sung the entire 50 States Capital song followed by the most hilarious dulcimer rendition of Barracuda. We quietly dragged him back to his tent. I'm good enough on a horse now that I went out on a mounted scout patrol. Important or not. I needed to get out, even if it's freezing cold. I was kind of babied along by the others. Us Terrans have become well known. Just like in Aeyllin. Speaking of that, I wonder how the invention of the bicycle is going. Anyways, nothing new on patrol. We left sunrise and came back sunset. My hair was nearly frozen, even with a hat.

===Journal Entry 146===

It's cold enough that my pen ink is starting to freeze up. I've been having to hold it over a fire for a bit to get writing again. This may be the last Entry for awhile. We're hunkered down and practicing for war, holding mock battles and when we're bored, snowfort fight with the goblins. The trade caravans to Wolflake have apparently stopped for now according to our intel. This world doesn't have a Christmas. What a shame. This kind of hit me hard, because I realize how little I've thought of my friends and family back home. I'll never see them again. Us Terrans have pretty much become my new family. At least there's that.

===Journal Entry 147===

The Spring thaw is finally here and the ink in my pen has defrosted enough to use again. The war camp is packing up soon and we'll be on the march. It's time to get this war underway. So, in the interim, I've gotten better at horse riding and sword fighting as has Jason. Mike learned some new tricks and Marcus...got his dulcimer tuned. Both metaphorically and not. Anyways, it looks like our precautions on our catapult bombs worked, they're still dry. Good news with that. Our scouts report that Wolflake is already on the move and that they have people with them wearing the iconography of the sun worshipers on them. Fucking fantastic. I knew it would come to this.

===Journal Entry 148===

Our first major victory. The battle of Wolfgate, a tactically important fort right in the middle of the kingdom, right on the two main trade roads and supplied by the river and nearby farms. We met the enemy army and they immediately retreated to this area, a better position for them? So we're lining up and they're getting into their phalanx, we're about even in numbers, at least ten thousand. Spellcasters burning everything they have in the opening volleys, archers firing in high arcs. The sun worshiper paladins and clerics start going through their wounded and bringing them back up. Then we unleashed the catapult bombs. We did the math, checked and rechecked the angles. 5 fired, 5 explosions, shrapnel everywhere, right in the middle of their formations. Fear and Panic in the air. Chaos. Then the cavalry and the first wave hit with their war dogs. It became a one sided fight. Wolflake tried retreating but were cut off. Prisoners were taken, wounded taken care of. Jason and I spent hours going through the dead looking for Avery. She was luckily taken alive. The battle traumatized her. I'll visit her once she's recovered and we'll see what's what.

===Journal Entry 149===

We have taken Avery into “Terran Custody.” Marcus, Mike and Jason were excited to see her, and we all sat down and had a long talk around a fire. Avery was furious that we leaked gunpowder to the Orcs. I countered with the captured caravan with the cannon ingredients. She claimed to not know anything about it, just that a new and important church weapon was being delivered. And she was telling the truth. We all sat in silence for awhile with that reveal. Someone else leaked cannon design to the church. Either Alex or the others. This is not good. So I informed Avery that she is a prisoner of war and in our custody, and that I was going to take the moral high ground and not chain her to a fucking post or shove a slave crown on her head like she had done to me. As long as she's with us, she's under our protection. Let's see how she likes it.

===Journal Entry 150===

Stop reading my fucking journal Avery!

>Then stop leaving it out for me to read!

===Journal Entry 151===

We've reaped anything worth value from the fort and its surrounding lands and burned it all to the ground. We then made for the highlands to set up our new war camp while we prepare for battles to come. Avery has not taken well to hard marches. I don't suppose you get a lot of exercise when most of your day is spent on your knees. So we are trying to figure out why the sun church threw their hat in the war. Possibly for massive political favors and/or donations? Maybe a chance to become the head church of Wolflake? Avery has been completely blind to the politics running rampant through Wolflake and was shocked to find out she was being shipped to the front lines with her fellow clerics and paladins to lend support. Our camp paladin, follower of one of the warrior gods, wanted to listen in on this and even he agrees that it doesn't make sense for the sun church to have joined up like that. Even he isn't here on official business, he's here because this is what he does. The sun worshipers aren't warriors, at least that's not what they've been preaching.

===Journal Entry 152===

We have gotten new materials and produced 10 shrapnel bombs for the catapults. Carefully sealed them and have them in a safe place until we need them and have them under guard. Avery hasn't tried escaping, she's rubbing it in that she can take her punishment and won't go running off at the first opportunity like I did. Yeah, she isn't chained to a post either, or getting punched around by bored paladins, not to mention SLAVE CROWN. I'm not holding grudges, oh no. Not me. So she has spent her time wandering around the camp preaching the word and getting a lot of dirty looks. She then took Mike aside and had a long talk about his pact. I'm not sure what was said but they both came out of it pale and quiet. So the war. Wolflake has refused to capitulate of course and High Command is deciding where to strike next. I'm always ready to suggest sacking of the Rheingraf holdings. There's always the chance that Wolflake will gather all of its forces and come for us instead, so we are gathering our forces up. Our camp grows daily. We've already replaced the numbers lost in the last fight. More recruits. This time an elven band of archers from the wild elf settlements on the east border who have also experienced Wolflake pacification in the past and decided that maybe they should get in on this. They don't wear a whole lot and are surprisingly barbaric, but highly disciplined in combat, or so they say. Quite the multiracial band our side is turning into.

===Journal Entry 153===

The battle of Aganis Field. Finally, a location without Wolf in the title. The area is one of the unfarmable plains in the kingdom, boulders and rocks that they can't easily break up so the kingdom put anything that smelled bad. Leather tanneries, soap making and so on. The fumes in the area burn everyone's eyes. We didn't even plan on a fight here, we were passing through when one of the smaller Wolflake armies showed up, also passing through the area. They held their ground and so did we, then the fight was on. We set up two of the bomb catapults. Archers and casters tossing everything they have and then we fired the catapults. The enemy pulled into a Testudo formation. Really. It didn't help them a bit though, their formation was blown apart and cavalry wrecked them before the front line slammed into them. Avery sat out the battle on the hill with the other non combatants, but she came down afterwards to give her healing support. Prisoners taken, the nobles sent to be ransomed. We looted the area afterwards and got the hell out of there. Everything smells now.

===Journal Entry 154===

Before we can even get to our next camp location, another small force showed up and pressed to assault, in the hills no less.  Just as normal, everything set up, and right when the expected first exchange of magic and archery is to take place, Wolflake goes into a full horde charge.  No formation, just a rushing, screaming line.  Yeah, there's a reason why that's a bad idea.  Without their own casters to defend, ours wrecked their rush followed by the archers.  Half their forces were down by the time they got into melee engagement range.  What the fuck is this all about?  Most of us never even had to draw our swords, the catapults were never set up.  It was a decisive victory.  This isn't even desperation,  it's suicide.  Very few survived and their story was that they were following orders, got convinced that this was the way to beat our catapults.  We didn't find any officers amongst the dead or living.  I think they ditched the battle as soon as it started.  We set up camp nearby.  Avery is burning herself out healing the injured, but she's still preaching.  At least she's helping.

===Journal Entry 155===

Marcus is writing up a song to commemorate the war and the mostly exaggerated heroic deeds of our side. I'd be more impressed if he wasn't ripping off Queen again for the melody.  Well, I ran into another psion.  Apparently the wild elves brought one with them to make sure they weren't being fucked over by the Orcs when the war is over.  We had a polite conversation and exchanged ideas.  I also got a better idea of the elf perspective in this fight.  They were descended from one of the earlier groups to fight over this area over and over again and due to their long lifespans, several of them still recall times when they were in charge of Wolflake and losing the battle that left them scattered to the wilds.  Surprisingly, they aren't all that interested in retaking their former glory and just want some equal footing and be allowed to do their own thing rather then worrying about pacification forces tearing through their settlements every few years.  Understandable.  In other news, I found out what Avery and Mike were going on about a few days ago.  Apparently Avery said that there was a way to save his soul but he had to give himself to the church.  Mike, took it pretty hard and retaliated by suggesting that Avery was also in a pact just like him, just with another organization.  That Clerics were just Warlocks with another name. She didn't like that one bit.

===Journal Entry 156===

We're on the move again. Our scouts in the field noticed an airship flitting about in big circles and figured that the crew lost control of it. A few hours later it made about 20 passes over our main encampment. I'm pretty sure they're using the cargo airships as fast scouts now.  The only question is why they didn't start doing this sooner, or fill it up with archers  We're packing up camp and moving to a more secure location and preparing for a surprise attack.  If we don't see any sign of the enemy, we're going to sack Wolftail Mills. Why is it called Wolftail mills? No one knows, it dates back to the old original shifter colony, and they liked to put Wolf in the title of all the settlements. No one has bothered to change it. It's a good indicator as to how long an area's been settled or used.  So this is the place where all the wheat from the outlaying farms is 
shipped to be processed along with other foods. There's even a massive brewery and winery. I'm starting to see that there is a big chain of production going on in the kingdom rather then having each farming settlement process their own goods. Is this more efficient or is this an effect of bureaucracy expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy? Either way, taking it down should be a nasty blow to Wolflake's supply system.

===Journal Entry 157===

Sure enough, Wolflake sent out a huge army, at least as large as the force at Wolfgate Fort.  So, the Battle of Wolftail Mills.  We set up the catapults quickly in case they did another horde charge, but no.  Something else happened entirely.  I knew something was up when they arrived.  They had 30 or so of the big caravan carts with them.  We initially thought they were an unusually guarded supply train before they started getting in formation.  Phalanx.  The initial archer and magic volley's began, but their side never threw offensive spells, just the defensive ones.  We launched our catapult bombs, all 8 of them this time.  The enemy ranks were thrown into chaos and then we moved in.  They put up a good fight this time, all our waves were deployed.  Just as it looked like another rout, the carts started unloading.  Skeletons.  Zombies.  Undead.  The enemy spellcasters did their thing and the slain enemy soldiers started getting up as a fresh batch.  It's the first time I've seen anything like this.  I felt a chill go down my spine.  I had heard stories but here it is.  Every nation and religion that we had come across had banned this type of thing.  What the fuck is going on here?  Neither my skills nor my pistol are any good against undead.  I had to rely on my weaker swordsmanship.  The archers weren't much use either except for picking off the living enemy, which just made more undead.  We started losing ground quickly.  The undead don't care, they keep fighting even with half their limbs missing, any casualties on our side rose in service of theirs and they weren't letting us anywhere near the casters who rose them.  Something happened with Avery.  She had been sitting in the back with the rest of the non-combatants.  She snapped I think.  She walked right into the middle of the battle and lit up like a fucking beacon.  She picked up a mace and went to town.  I didn't know she had it in her.  With her help, we managed form a wedge and push right through to the caster line.  They pulled into a full retreat once we got near, taking whatever undead servants we didn't utterly destroy.  We lost nearly half our forces in this fight.

===Journal Entry 158===

Well, after all that excitement, we burned down Wolftail Mills and hauled ass out of there. Though we won, we suffered major losses in this fight, and it'll be time and money before High Command can get our numbers back up. So what would drive a nation, well respected by the other kingdoms, to break out the necromancers? Is the king that afraid of losing?  Every church that doesn't break ties with them now will be turned upon by the people, this type of shit doesn't fly. The people of this world are highly superstitious and marching around undead is one of their greatest taboos. High Command has deployed messengers to everywhere possible to spread the news. Avery's been in prayer since we set up our tent. Does her god answer her? I don't know how that works here.

===Journal Entry 159===

Avery got her answer apparently.  She declared that she will now give her full support to the war effort by her god's permission.  So wait, the sun god is officially supporting both sides of the war now?    Dealing with this gives me a headache.  Our scouts in the field have been reporting roving bands of undead, usually groups of a hundred, give or take, in Wolflake armor, moving from location to location.  Most often at night.  Maybe the King is some kind of lich.  I didn't think much of it then, but he was hiding during that ball I attended under the Rheingrafs and his castle is impregnable and off limits to non officials.  Then why is the church supporting him?  Especially the church with a hardon for smiting undead (and terran psions.)  I know you're reading my journal Avery, stop it!

>I'd like to see you try and stop me.

===Journal Entry 160===

We got some more people in from the tribes, fresh warriors and some goblins.  They came in with the supply caravan along with a supply of some kind of wards the tribe shamans made to help with the undead...  I don't know how effective these would be but there aren't enough.  They're being given out to the front line forces.  Sure enough, Marcus vanished until they left and came back with a smile.  So yeah, we're all pretty sure he's got a half green sweetheart.  We're set to pack up and march in a day or two to a new position out in the hills with a view of the main trade road.  Supposedly it's very defensible.  From there, we'll wait a few weeks for more recruits and then head out and see about ending this undead menace.

===Journal Entry 161===

One of our far patrols came in today.  They reported that there's been no Wolflake military activity in the field.  What's worse is that there's a massive undead army guarding the main gate to the city itself and it looks like parts of the city are on fire.  Avery is particularly upset about news of the city, she knows people there.  Jason seems to think a zombie apocalypse has broken out.  Maybe it has.  Maybe it's a rebellion.  Maybe the Reingrafs are making their move.  High Command has decided that we're going to start pushing forward, even with our decreased numbers.  They want to know what's going on.  We're going to make for Barrason Fort, a few miles from the capital and try and occupy it, and bring enough supplies for a siege.  We start marching come sunrise and should be there in a day and a half.

===Journal Entry 162===

We took Fort Barrason without lifting a weapon.  Only a small force was occupying it by the time we arrived and they surrendered when they saw us coming.  According to the fort commander, their numbers have been dwindling over the course of the month, a handful recalled here and there and the last week, it's been one or two soldiers at a time until all contact with the city was cut off four days ago.  He doesn't know what's going on with the undead other than orders to not attack them and treat them as any other Wolflake soldier.  We can see the city from here.  Large smoke clouds billowing from several spots hidden behind the massive walls.  We have our cavalry archers out poking at the massed undead force at the gates.  In the meantime, us Terrans have scoured the camp and have been making some more bombs.  We have enough for 3 catapult bombs.  Avery went and blessed the shrapnel we were putting in them.  I don't know if that will actually work and neither does she, but it's worth a shot.

===Journal Entry 163===

Today we saw one of the supply airships come in from the east and circle around for a while.  We tried flagging them down and managed to catch their attention.  They didn't land, but hovered up near one of the higher towers in yelling distance.  They're from Hebiry and were coming in on a scheduled supply run, but weren't going anywhere near the airship port with the way things looked down there.  Hebiry's not involved in this war and thought we were in the process of sacking the city.  Apparently it's that bad inside.  High Command paid them off to drop their cargo at one of the tribal camps since it's apparently stuff they can use.  Clothing, spices, weapons, other manufactured goods.  They went for it.  They're in it for the profit and don't care who gets it, as long as they have their money.  

===Journal Entry 164===

Jason, while on night watch, caught something going on at the city gates.  His replacement eye/ruby gives him some kind of vision enchantment.  The front gate opened a little and more undead streamed out, then the gates closed.  When sunrise came, it looked like most of the fires inside had been put out.  I have this sense of foreboding.  We're adapting a new weapon.  We found two barrels of lamp oil in the fort storage.  Mike is trying to thicken it up some and we're going to make some molotovs using a few used glass potion bottles.  The plan is that we're going to arm the cavalry with them and have them firebomb the undead army guarding the gates and then get the hell out of there.  We only had enough bottles to make 14 of them.  High Command is willing to give it a shot but wants the rest of the oil set up to use as catapult ammo.  

===Journal Entry 165===

You know, I've been in this fucking country for far too long.  If we never got caught up in this war, who knows where we'd be by now.  So the cavalry rode out, got close enough to toss their molotovs and made a quick getaway.  A few came back with arrow injuries but nothing serious.  We watched the undead burn from the fort.  They burned for hours, dead skin burning away, just standing there without a care in the world.  The only time they moved was to keep the fire from spreading from the front gate.  After awhile a good portion of the zombies collapsed, and an hour later, got back up as black charred skeletons.  Fantastic.  To make matters worse, a fresh group exited from the city a few hours after that.  Jason decided to volunteer along with some other similarly skilled individuals to climb the wall during nightfall and see what's going on over there.  

===Journal Entry 166===

Jason returned.  He and his group saw no sign of any patrols on the wall.  They were out there until sunrise.  He snapped some photos with his ipod.  Most of the city is decimated, especially the residential district.  The market abandoned and filled with corpses.  No sign of anyone living, just the occasional wandering undead.  The church of the sungod is still standing but all it's iconography has been removed and he said that there are lights coming from its windows.  The noble's district and castle also seem to be completely untouched and are the only places they saw anyone living moving around.  They managed to catch a group of undead moving from the military barracks to the front gate on their way out.  High Command has decided that the city is a loss and we're going to pull back to the tribal lands until they can figure out what to do.

===Journal Entry 167===

We're on the move.  Our wild elf mercenaries have been recalled back to their lands to warn and prepare.  We should make the orc tribal lands in a few days.  Then what?  High Command seems to think the war for Wolflake is over, that the whole area is cursed.  I guess they did accomplish what we set out to do, put an end to the pacification raids, but now there's undead building up.  I think they're afraid.  I'm sure I'd get my jaw broken if I called them that to their face though.  Facing down undead seems to have hit some deep seated fear.  So the plan is to get back to the tribal lands and fortify and hope the undead stay away.  Marcus has suggested that with the possibility of gunpowder becoming wide spread, that they should build a trace italienne.  A star fort.  He's currently designing up some blueprints.  

===Journal Entry 168===

I am so disappointed right now.  We made it back to the tribal lands and set up camp.  The next morning, all mercenaries were paid their dues and released from their obligations.  The war is officially over.  Just like that!  With the undead waiting around the corner.  They think fighting the undead is a futile task.  I'm pissed, which is funny.  We never wanted to get involve in this stupid war and here I am, disappointed that it's over without a proper conclusion.  We gave them knowledge so that they can finish and instead they back out because of superstition.  Sure, I could manipulate some of them, but I can't manipulate all of them.  So what now?  We have our horses, I think we're just going to get our asses to Hebiry while we still can.  Maybe follow the trade loop and see if our compatriots are still in Wildlake.  Fuck.

===Journal Entry 169===

We should be in Hebiry in a few days.  Our time in the war taught us good places to set up camp and how to properly keep watch.  We've run into several small undead patrols.  Usually three or four zombies or skeletons, which we have dispatched with Avery's help, and cremated the remains to make sure they won't be getting back up.  We'll be at the Wolflake border by tomorrow and I can't say I'll miss this place.  I wish the best for the Orcs, but I do believe that their decision was wrong.  The undead menace needs to be taken care of eventually.

===Journal Entry 170===

We passed into the nation of Hebiry last night.  The road we're on is set in a tight valley.  It used to be heavily traveled until the war broke out and now the undead menace.  We came across a border guard not long after crossing.  We got stopped and asked questions, but they were polite.  We updated them on what's been going on across the border, the undead and the war.  They didn't say much but they're worried.  They will of course need to see for themselves, but at least they know what to expect if Wolflake decides to expand.  We are camped at cave on the side of the road that's been furnished for trade caravan use.  The walls are covered in graffiti, writings of names, dates and destinations.  It looks like they date back hundreds of years.  Not to feel left out, I added our information to the wall using Earth time.  According to my calculations, we've been here either almost or a little more than a year.  I looked back to my first few entries.  I've come a long way.

===Journal Entry 171===

I got to sleep in a real bed!  Eat a meal in a warm tavern!  It's been so long.  So, welcome to Hebiry.  One of the main hub cities on the trade circuit.  Brick and plaster construction with a large granite outer wall, the city is circular in design, set up like a hub similar to Aeyllin but not nearly as large.  Cobblestone streets that are well maintained and pride of the city.  Apparently each stone has a name carved in it dating back to the first generations who built the city and settled here.  The main exports from this city are wines, cheeses and tomatoes, supplied from the many farms.  So, first thing in the morning, Avery heads off to the local branch church to check in.  She wanted an escort but I'm not going anywhere near that place.  It's clear that she doesn't know what to expect.  Marcus went with her.  He's the least likely of us to be branded evil and chained to something.  Jason headed off to check in with his guild which left Mike and myself.  We hunted around the market for anything interesting.  I got a new set of armor, some new clothes and some supplies.  Mike got a magic ring that he says has healing properties, clothes and a bottomless bag which is some kind of knockoff bag of holding.  Even with subtle manipulations, those magic junk merchants are a pain in the ass to get a good deal out of.

===Journal Entry 172===

Well, Avery returned with news.  The local sun worshiper church heads don't know anything about gunpowder or sanctioned deployment for Wolflake and are taking the news of what happened as an attack on their church.  So they're doing whatever it is they do.  We are going to stay around town for a few days before heading out. It should be a two days ride to Rosenbridge.  It's been a while since we've been there.  The place where it all started.  So we have been puttering around town, seeing the sights.  The food here is excellent.  So I was sitting in a cafe with the others discussing our plans when something caught my eye.  Someone writing with what appeared to be a pen.  It was larger than my ballpoints, but it was definitely a pen.  Looks like my old artificer friend finally managed to make it happen.  I'll have to pay him a visit and see about collecting my share and see what else he's managed to make.

===Journal Entry 173===

Went through the market today again, some new caravans passed through yesterday.  Something caught my attention.  A recurve bow.  I didn't think they had those here.  It didn't look new either.  I questioned the seller and it's apparently from a kingdom far to the south and quite rare.  The price tag on it was absurd.  Avery picked up some things from her church's store, Jason picked up a set of new steel shortswords and Marcus traded in his beat up old dulcimer for a guitar.  We're planning on heading out tomorrow and following one of the smaller trade caravans across to Rosenbridge.  The area is well traveled and I'm not expecting any trouble.  We watched Strange Days again.  I wish I had more movies with me.  We know every scene, every dialog, all the music lyrics, but it's all we have.