Church expedition journal to the Glacial Sea

Day 14.
I have finally arrived to Crowald. We are supplying before heading out. I was offered a charm in the market for "protection", and I decided to buy it. According to the merchants it was made by a Poro shaman. None of the sailors in the crew have heard anything about the local superstition.

Day 17.
We arrived to Dwyrsport. The people here are nothing like in Crowald. I already miss the hospitality we received down south. The local fishermen tell us to turn back and not to go any further, beyond Lake Mare. One peculiar thing I noticed was that they all wear charms similar to mine.

Day 18.
Occasionally I feel like I can see shapes in the trees. Through every turn the forest looks darker and darker. No wonder they call it The Black Forest.

Day 19.
We arrived to Lake Mare, it is incredibly beautiful in here. I can't believe why people are not living near here. However, seeing the trees, I can somewhat understand it. Agriculture would not be easy in this place, I can understand why the settlements were moved southwards..

Day 20.
We continued our journey upstream. It should take us four days to reach Lake Kelpie.

Day 22.
I did not intend to write until we reached our next destination. However, every night I believe I hear something swimming in the water. The sailors call me crazy. I know I am not crazy.

Day 23.
I saw something or someone swimming in the water during the night. I think I made eye-contact with it. I have no idea what it was.

Day 24.
Lake Kelpie finally. Whatever had been following us, I did not see it today. We are preparing to transport our boat through the whalers road to the Glacial Sea. I spent the day looking through the abandoned shacks of the whalers. I can't believe it has been already centuries. Although the rooftops have all caved in, some of the structures have survived remarkably well.
During the night, I heard it again. I saw it too. Eyes black as night, yet an innocent face. The necklace of bones that I wore, glowed in the moonlight and -it- was interested in them. I was scared and I did not know what to do. I took off the amulet and offered it to the creature. It was probably the best idea that I could have. It took it and disappeared into the water. I was pretty sure it was a selkie. Yet I had never heard that they looked like that.

Day 25.
Our departure was delayed. Mist, everywhere. One of the men who was taking watch during the night had disappeared. The men kept searching for half a day before we decided to carry on. As we pushed the boat onward on wheels, I noticed black oily slicks on the deck. Had the boat always been so dirty?

Day 26.
I am still haunted by what I saw. The travel across the tundra has been uneventful. The creaking rumbling from the makeshift wheels make it difficult to sleep. I never really thought it was possible to load a boat this large on wheels. Still, they say this is the best way to reach the Glacial Sea via boat due to drifting ice.

Day 29.
Saw some creatures far smaller than foxes. Not quite sure what they are. I have been sketching the creature I saw by the lake. I still don't know what to make of it.

Day 39.
We arrived to the Glacial Sea. The old town used by the whalers in here is in much better shape than the one before. I was able to find some old waterlogged journals. Nothing much to learn about what had happened. I have never seen anything as breathtaking as the mountains of ice ahead, drifting with the waves like clouds. The whalers were supposed to have a town out there.
I keep having dreams about the creature I saw. I wonder, if it is because of the stories I have heard from the sailors and fishermen that are making my imagination run wild. I don't want to admit it but the depths terrify me. I hesitated before getting onboard. I have come already so far, I can't turn back now.

Day 40.
The constant rocking of the boat in the waves makes me feel sick. I can't even count how many times I have thrown up. There is more of that black oily slick on the deck. The sailors keep telling it is just tar mixed with sea water. I can't be so sure of. I keep being reminded by the creature that I saw. We can no longer see any land and the sea has become more terrifying. I'm not sure, if we are even supposed to be here. The cold seeps to my bones and we lost one sailor to an accident. As he was swept under the waves there was nothing we could do but to watch him get further away from us until the screaming stopped.
If we were crushed against the mountains of ice, that ill fate would happen to all of us. I prayed for him and made the burial rites for a sailor lost in sea, may he find his way to the gods in afterlife.

Day 41.
We have arrived.
Land finally. The first expedition party to see the whalers town on this strange land. Everything was coated in translucent ice. The equipment, the ropes, everything, it was all there, in perfect shape. I visited on some of the houses left behind by the whalers, some even had frozen food on the table. It was difficult to understand what had happened. I could find some journals and diaries left behind by the sailor.
While the day to day activities may differ, they all speak of dreams that everyone keeps having. All the markings end on the same day. All the dreams described in the journals talk about creatures of the depths. I recognized my own dreams from some of the journals, though I have not dared to write the details of said dreams. All I can conclude is that we are not supposed to be here.
I walked to the biggest house and found the captain, reading through a journal. He looked deeply disturbed, I tried to approach him as he began retching salt water. He broke a bottle and slit his own throat with a shard of glass. Yet there was no blood, only water pouring out. I made the same mistake of reading through the journal. Next I knew, I was being carried back to the boat by the sailors and could hear rumbling sounds.
The sailors were screaming, something was happening. I had been carried on the boat. My mind could only piece some broken fragments together. Something in that journal did not want to be read. Who had written it? I did not know. All I could remember was that it was the scribbling of a madman, the words the symbols made no sense. Yet I feel like they beckoned, called us to the depth, to our home.
We were attacked. Creatures of the sea, monstrous tentacles and those Cold-Blooded Selkies. Everything happened so fast. In my delirium as the boat was sinking, I could see the one that I had given the bone-charm, wearing it like a necklace. I still don't understand why but it saved my life. I was left floating in the middle of the sea on a small raft of ice with my bag. At least I still had my journal. I was alone.

Last Entry, Day ??
I was saved. Some tribesmen from the Poro people came to my aid. The frozen lifeboat had drifted near the shores. I don't think I have become any wiser to what happened to the whalers. I do know what happened to the sailors. I wish to think that the one man who had gone missing, somehow managed to escape from all these horrors.
The local shamans have been helping me with my nightmares. The bone charms they gave me make me feel safe. Still I feel the depths calling for me, as if something dark has attached to my very soul. There was something evil there that night. Something that is best to be left alone. I am convinced that the northern wastes beyond the Glacial Sea is the end border of our world. Nothing good comes from stirring the waters of those depths.
I am grateful for having survived this ordeal. I have to tell my story, warn them to never send another expedition to the north.

Type

Journal, Personal