Aersday 9th of Dusk 212 EoL
Dear Diary,
After our short break in the mansion, we went back to the library because
Trip and
Shirel wanted to take Czyrkal's magic globe since it clearly was a source of power. After a somewhat long discussion, the solution to take the globe was that Trip created a semi-dimension where we stored the globe and all of the books.
Afterward, we finally left Czyrkal's palace. We were on our way to the chapel, where he supposedly keeps his shard. I was asked if I did not want to visit the cathedral first, since the Raven Queen's old champion was kept there, but knowing that we were not really at our full capacity I did not want to risk more lives or limbs. The strangest things went on outside the palace: there was a green light on the houses that was a sign of time manipulation. The houses the light was on switched from house to ruin and back. We were tempted, of course, to see what would happen if we entered such a house, but it seems that we have become wiser in the last few days.
When we passed the Cathedral, Trip started to hear Votluh again. Fortunately, he decided to not engage in a conversation with him and we quickly continued our way to the shard. Votluh continues talking to Trip all the way to the chapel. Trip then asked me to contact the Raven Queen and ask her what has become of Votluh's soul since apparently, the latter doesn't remember Trip. I don't want to talk to her right now. I don't want to let my brother hanging either. During the next few days, I'll have to find out where my priorities lie right now: ignoring the Raven Queen or trying to find out something of mild importance for my brother (I know it is kind of important, but I really don't want to talk to her).
Anyways, there's nothing on this island that is not weird. Once we arrived at the chapel, which was surrounded by gravestones, there were plenty of ghosts flying around. Each of them was flying one exact pattern over and over. We could not interact with them, they flew through everything on their way. Trip and Shirel kept analyzing the gravestones and found the one of Czyrkal's family. Again,
Yelena and I were bored out of our minds and decided to make our way to the chapel. To our surprise,
Lucky had already made his way into the chapel, that sneaky bastard.
In the chapel, we found portraits of a family. The father looked like Czyrkal and the son like Strahd. Interesting relations... kind of like when we found out that Caius is Shirel's father, only less concerning. By the way, how long is Shirel going to ignore that information? Will he ever talk to us about it? Maybe one of us needs to start that conversation... but then again, the thing about his ex and his child is probably enough to deal with right now.
Back to the chapel, the portraits were in very good condition, like they were not as old as they were supposed to be. Yelena then broke one of the walls holding a portrait from behind, so that she could avoid the magical time-slowing zone. Why she did that is not yet clear to me, but then again, Yelena is difficult to understand as it is, but now with the additional trauma of losing an arm it has gotten worse. We found an altar and thought it would be the clue to finding the shard, this is why Yelena and Trip's remaining zombie pushed it aside to reveal a staircase leading into Czyrkal family's crypt.
At the end of a corridor, we found an iron golem, that did not at all interact with us and a room containing the shard. Right before we wanted to take the shard and make the island fall down, Trip contacted Emilia once more to make sure that there were no pilgrims underneath us. Emilia then told us that the island had moved right over her town. So we decided to not take the shard out of place but instead, Trip experimented around and found out how to navigate the island. So I guess, the island is ours now and we're not only dragonslayers but also island pirates. We are so very cool, it's unimaginable! After a quick calculation, we estimated that we would need around 19 days to fly to Hispalis with our island.
We decided to switch turns on who flies the island since we need to enter a new location every hour. Shirel took the first night and stayed in the shard room with Drake. Trip, Yelena, and I slept in the mansion.
Lumday, 10th of Dusk 212 EoL
In the middle of the night
The Empress paid us a visit. She doesn't want us to fly over or near cities with the island to not endanger people. We agreed on that. We then told her that we wanted to fly to one of those weird trees (I did not even know that that was the plan... but it doesn't really matter now). She asked us to first fly to slay the dragon. So again, our plans changed and now our journey will take around 27 days. I am surprised that she let us keep the island. At least we now have one month to lay low, read some books, learn some spells, clean our new island, and hopefully come clear about some things. I can't understand why Yelena did not accept to give the Empress some of her blood in exchange for a new arm.
This morning, I am flying the island whilst trying to read my book. Trip is doing some magic in the mansion. He seems to be doing better, than yesterday. He feels less guilty about Yelena's arm after she refused the offering of the Empress. Shirel is sleeping after he stayed up all night to fly and Yelena and Lucky are outside to kill some zombies. This means that I am here all alone with my thoughts... not good...
1. I am glad that father sent us help. Without Mordec we'd all be dead. It is more than weird that I am thinking positively of father... for the first time in forever. Admitting this to anybody, mostly to my brother or father is something that can never happen... I need to remind myself of everything bad he ever did to me, to us, so that he will remain dead to me. Or is Trip right after all? Does he love us in some sense?
2. What has happened to all the souls that Czyrkal had already caught for his new phylactery? Did they all find their bodies, like the souls of Lucky and Yelena? If not, where are they? Were those the ghosts flying outside of the chapel?
3. If the ghosts outside are not the souls, who are they? Are they there because of the time magic Czyrkal did? This is all so very confusing to me.
4. How are we going to continue our journey? We all hit a low point. None of us are mentally or physically doing ok. Shirel is on a quest to find his child, not knowing if his ex and/or his child want to have anything to do with him. Furthermore, there is the new identity of his father, that HAS to bother him as well. Yelena is crippled, she won't be able to fight as she should. She jokes about it and makes it seem as if it doesn't really bother her, but it has to. She has to be devastated. Trip is doing better, but I'm sure that he can't really cope with the others sacrificing themselves for him and with all the losses he has to deal with. I'm also quite sure, that Lucky still has feelings for me, but has difficulties bringing it up after we left it kind of unclear. I feel exactly the same way.
5. WHY DIDN'T THE RAVENQUEEN TAKE ME IN WHILE I WAS DEAD???
I'd better get back to my book, these thoughts are just bringing me down even more than I am already. I'm looking forward to a few quiet days to organize them.
Love, BB <3
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