On the way to 'Culven's Ride'. The journal of Gramafatigut continues with the travel south towards the Twilight Peaks. At one point, the 'Knights of the Weeping Viel' find a small village that is totally dead, and stinks of evil. They find an elementalists home which is the least destroyed building, and find out that a great evil from the north has infested the land. The group travels northward and finds a section of land that is overwelmingly dead, and sucked of life. Caryss attempts to ask jaspree for her assistance, but only a small area of life is able to break through the danknes. and then, it is swallowed up. The group also finds an old tower of which is occupied by a horror who has infested the land. The group kills the horror, and frees some 12 children who are his prisoners. It is found that some old king who used to rule in this area had an advisor who became insane and used blood magic to the point of ripping open his chest to allow the horror entrance to Barsaive.

The journal continues with a ride through the plains to the north of the Twilight Peaks with a band of merchants heading towards Culven's ride. The group finds themselves within a pack of Orcs banded together. From what Gram says in his journal, there must have been the factions from at least 6 different Orc tribes that the group had to cross through. The group had to spend the night with the tribe leaders. During the evening, Gram writes that Odan gets into a punching contest with one Orc, Gram mentions that he helps Odan a little to win. Later, there is a presentation that the group is invited to. One of the leaders shows the others that he has found one of the missing daggars of Car Faad. The journal explains that the leader wants the factions to form a new Kar Faad, and re-take the relm that is 'thiers'. The next morning, the dagger is found to be missing as someone stole it out of the box that it was carried in. The group agrees that they will track down the thief, and get the dagger.

Using a splinter from the inside of the box, Flint finds the general direction that the blade traveled, and the group follows. Fortunately, the direction just happens to be toward Culven's Ride.

It is learned, that the thief had taken up horseback and travled south. Not far from the camp, the tracks stoped, and a few Orcs are found searching the area. It is found that the thief had been tracked earlier by some of the Orcs from the tribe and that they had come upon the thief (an Orc with a patch over one of his eyes). This thief had a small air-ship hidden within some trees, and had gotten away.

The group continues south toward Culven's Ride.

By nightfall, the group can see the fires of the town, and decide to camp outside the area until daybreak.
At dawn, the group travels on through the passages of the twilight hills and comes upon the town of Culven's Ride.
In Culven's Ride, the group is supposed to meet with an employee of the merchant from Travar in order to find out where the entrance to the cave is that they are supposed to copy runes from.
Gram states in the journal, that the group doesn't have much luck finding him, and they go to the castle to find out if anyone had seen him.
Gram writes that the castle is near the top of a small mountain near the town. He also writes that it is inhabited by a huge troll clan. As the group is on the path to the castle, an airship comes overhead with another clan of sky raiders aboard. Gram is sure that he sees a large bolt of lightning strike out and destroy the ship. The bolt comes from the castle. As the group enters the castle area, Gram notes that his presence is probably the only reason that the group is not stopped. Most of the trolls they meet, regard Gram as brother, or rock friend. The group gets to meet the leader of the trolls 'his lightningboltness' as he is later referred to. Gram makes some comment about Odan making snyd remarks at the expence of 'his lightningboltness' and being thrown out of the castle.
It is later learned that Aliceann is not with the group, and returns later with news that she went into the castle dungeons and found a man being held there. The group decides to do some shopping and training until they can find out what is going on. The group is all-the-while asking the people of Culven's Ride about a one-eyed orc.
The group enters themselves in a tournament, as does Odan and Cyrix. The group bets some of the funds on the outcomes of the fights. The biggest bet that the group makes is that Jazmine will come out of the tournament unharmed. Before the tournament, the group puts Jazmine into the hood of Gram's cloak.

The tournament ends up being uneventful, but the Knights do win. The journal goes on to describe some of the people in the town. Included in this is a group of Windlings that help the group do the betting, and an adventuring group from the tournament that devoted themselves to The Knights for not killing them in the tournament. This second group was called something along the lines of 'The Green Lanterns'.
The group of windlings turn out to have a small quest for the group in exchange for their help in freeing the man being held in the dungeons of the castle. That man is thought to be the contact that the group was supposed to find in Culven's Ride. The quest is simple. Be led to the entrance of a tunnel that goes through the mountain. It is a smuggling tunnel, but the last few caravans to go through havn't been seen on either side. The group was to go through, and report back as to the cause of the problem, and if possible, dispose of it.
The group finds the entrance to the tunnel, this is a part of that account... 

The walls of this initial tunnel were filled with inscriptions of
 various types, although only I could understand most. 
 Some of the writings were known to me because of my arcane 
knowledge, and others were written in my native tongue.  The 
writings were mostly protective devices with various levels 
of power still left in them.
Further down the tunnel, the group encounter a large rat. Gram describes the rat as having some sort of tether attached to it. The rat tries to get away, but Cyrix makes short work of that. Gram explains that the rat explodes at the point of Cyrix sword and covers AliceAnn. This substance is later refered to as Horror slime. The group then encounter millions of tiny insect like creatures as described by the following passage from the journal: 
The ground moved, or swayed, like waves.  When enough light was 
presented on the ground, some of us grew sick.  Little flat 
disks, with tiny arms and legs swarmed all over the ground.  
Trailing behind each one of these ws one of the tethers that 
had been seen on the rat.  Each of these 'creatures' was 
carrying a piece of the rock that the sides of the tunnel 
were 
made of.  When stopped, the insect just stopped, and 
waited unti
l the obstruction had gone.  Odahn and Angahren began slicing 
the tethers, and the insects stopped 
moving.
The journal continues with an account of finding the 'one-eyed Orc', and the finding of the dagger with him. As the group is going through the body, a Jehuthra comes of of a side tunnel and attacks the group. After killing the Jehuthra, the group continues down the tunnel.

At the middle of the tunnel, the group finds that the insects were working on filling a large crevase in the tunnel floor. Also, a dwarf comes out to address the group. Angahren notes that this dwarf has one of the tethers attached to himself. Odahn uses the vail on the dwarf, and kills the Horror creation that has taken his body. The group continues following the tethers until they come upon what looks to be the door to 'something'. Guarding the door, is a horror. This is a minor horror, and it is responsible for the tethers. The group quickly disposes of the horror. Behind the door, Gram describes his feelings that he has been feeling since they entered the main tunnel: 

I feel sick.  A great depression has covered me, attempting to 
swallow my will.  I grasp at the air, feeling the walls 
closing in.  The closer we get to the center, the more pain 
and suffering I sence.
It is later learned that behind the doors, is a living Obsidiman Life rock. Gram first believes that this is the Kaer of the LIfe Rock, but later finds out that this is not true.

There are stairs leading up into the castle that is on the mountain. After a little altercation in which the second in command of the Troll Clan is beheaded by Cyrix, the group finds out the the Life Rock is actually a prison in which several Obsidiman held captive a horror. It is also learned that the leader of the Troll Clan has been using this trapped creature to power the lightning that protects the castle and village. It also provides a magic which makes it hard to remember where Culven's ride is located, and keeps the area fertile.

After returning to the windlings with thier news, the group does some more training and shopping. Gram and Angahren train to become Nethermancers. Flint trains to become a scout. Caryss trains in Beastmaster. At this point, Gram lists the group, and their respective disciplines as far as he remembers: 

Gram - Wizard/Nethermancer

Odahn - Warrior?

Caryss - Woodswoman/Beastmaster

Cyrix - Windmaster/Elementalist

Flint - Archer/Scout

Wynton - Trubador

AliceAnn - Thief

Angahren - Warrior?

Zan - Spiritual Monk (Left the group - in Travar)

Travelling companion - Isamu

Aftr this, Gram notes several days of reading in the castles library about the clan's history and the facts that surround Culven's Ride. You get the feeling that alot about what happened has been left out. Another Obsidiman from Gram's liferock helped him research all the material. After gathering all the information they could, the group heads to the west were they find The Mount of Five Stars. This was foretold to Cyrix as a place where he could find a flying mount. The whole group, minus Angaren, and Zan decide to get one of these creatures for a familiar. During the stay, the group finds out that a creature has been terrifying the town. This creature turns out to be a cursed Questor of Astendar who many years ago had destroyed one of Astendar's temples in a fit of rage. The group helps this creature named Cilla to gain favor with Astendar, and meet Astendar in person. This is an account of that meeting:

       The air suddenly smelled of sweet ambrosia, and
    the floor (which we thought was clean) suddenly was
    sparkling.  In the place of the marble statue, stood
    the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.  By my
    own admission, I felt more like a man than I have 
    ever felt, although I don't know why (or how), or even 
    what it means to be a man, but I did.  ........

    After we had all left the temple, I felt a sudden burst
    of inspiration, and love.  I walked slowly back to the
    temple and just stared at the now still statue of what
    was once the only creature to stir my thoughts.
    What I did then was unexpected but the only thing I
    wanted at that moment.  I took off my embroidered robe,
    the one that I had been working on for the past years,
    and I put it around the statue.  Turning to leave, I
    heard a voice whisper back to me, but at the
    time, my thoughts were drowning out anything that
    I heard.  It is not that I didn't understand what was
    being said, but I don't remember what was said.

After this account, Astendar's name appears very often in Gram's thoughts, and in the journal.
The group heads to Travar. It is found out that Odahn has a job to do in Travar. His latest master who trained him requested a feat of some kind. The particulars are not written in the journal.

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