20 Ches 1371
 

Dear Master Zorthaster,

I sat here before a blank page, trying to compose a coherent way to explain the fantastic changes that have come over me the past couple of rides. I decided, at last, that no words exist that can ever truly describe a ride spent following the paths of Mount Celestia. Please know though that I have felt a calling to follow these paths higher up the mountain. The beings I've met, and the insights I've gained along the way have been beyond measure or description. It was only with great effort that I turned from those paths and returned to the realms of mortals where, for now, I still belong.

When last I wrote, we had just managed to defeat the wizard of Thay and his evil band of tieflings who had taken Daravil's walking castle and endangered his daughter. Following the brutal battle we carefully searched the towers and castle buildings. We found no survivors among Daravil's people. One tiefling remained alive long enough to fire a quarrel at Oskar as he searched a tower. The dwarf reported hearing voices and a strange, unexplained light in the tower before the ambush. We also encountered a dog that attacked our band. I did not see the fight, being occupied in guarding another tower, but Shane and Xan described the attack by what at first looked to be a gargoyle. After the beast was killed, it transformed into a dog. At the time I did not realize what we were dealing with. When I had the misfortune to see a similar transformation first hand, I was able to deduce the cause of this and other attacks that followed. More about that later.

We found most of Daravil's people dead. However, a note left behind by Vanya appeared to be a message from Daravil's daughter. The letter was short and intended to by cryptic. From it we gathered that Vanya was in fact Daravil's daughter. We further surmised that she and a few other survivors had taken a gate from the castle to the city of Heart's Faith on the plane of Mount Celestia. Despite additional clues in the letter, though, we were unable to activate the portal to follow directly.

Our search also turned up a bit of treasure that included coins, gems, adventuring gear, potions, a wand of color spray (the one used against me), a ring of counter spelling, (enspelled with a lightning bolt) and a very light, very fast dagger made of green steel, forged in the fires of Baator. The wizard had a spell book with a nice selection of spells. He also had a note from his master whose name was Arnulf. His sigil looked like a spiral line bounded on the right and below with a flattened 'J' shaped line. Several clues led us to believe that Arnulf had gone after Vanya after he had assessed the situation immediately following our battle with his apprentice. It was likely Arnulf that Oskar heard speaking with the tiefling before he was ambushed. If this was indeed the case, we felt compelled to seek Vanya immediately, not only to give her news of the castle and her father, but to warn her of Arnulf's pursuit.

Dreel agreed with our assessment and offered to continue guiding us onward toward Excelsior, the gate town to the plane of Mount Celestia where we would find the city of Hearts Faith. We gratefully accepted the offer and spent the rest of the evening cataloging treasure before resting for the night. I truly longed to spend several days in the castle's laboratory copying new spells into my own spell book, but we needed to be off before morning found the castle striding away with all of us on board.

As it was, I was very well treated by my companions in the division of loot. I came away with a bit of coin, the green steel dagger (a gift from Kerith), the wand, and carrying, for the party, the ring of counter spelling. It was still 'party treasure' but I got to wear it until it was officially awarded to someone.

The next day we left the castle to its well-worn trail and struck out toward Excelsior. I tried not to think too hard about what might happen if we caught up to the wizard we were chasing. The apprentice nearly proved too much for us. I hated to think about a battle with the master. Arnulf, it seems, did not want us to catch up either. Late in the night we were attacked by a horrible monster, much like the one that transformed into a dog at the castle. When this one was killed it burned away in a fetid purple flame leaving behind a pathetic, dead crow-like bird. The stench confirmed that this was a darkenbeast. What a terrible thing to do to a helpless creature, turning it into an evil, tortured monster.

Over the course of the next few nights we encountered more darkenbeasts. We defeated each with some difficulty. Eventually I started memorizing a pair of rope trick spells into whose shelter we retreated upon nightfall. The remainder of our journey was free of darkenbeasts. We arrived at the gates of Excelsior at mid day on the 8^th of Ches. Excelsior is a truly magnificent city. It appears, from a distance, as if it is made of gold. Eleven floating castles circle the city. There are knights in the most splendid armor, riding the handsomest, most extraordinary mounts conceivable all over the place. As we approached a gate we spotted a streak of light headed toward us. We were getting a bit nervous at its rapid approach until Dreel reassured us that this was going to be alright. The light was a massive canine-faced archon surrounded by a dozen bright, flying globes of light. The hound archon landed on one knee and welcomed us to Excelsior. He was particularly respectful of Oskar and Shane, but also quite polite to the rest of us.

From our greeter, whose name was Artur we learned that Arnulf was already in prison where they would try to rehabilitate him. The hound archon seemed saddened by the wizard's deeds that had, as he put it, "so deeply stained his aura with evil." We also learned that to reach Heart's Faith we could go to the Tower of Thought to find the gate to Lunia where Heart's Faith lay. He warned us to be prepared for a swim as we went through the gate. The hound archon also directed us to a place where we could resupply, sell the teifling's adventuring equipment, and pick up a few special items to help us arrive safely in Heart's Faith. This included an oilskin bag in which I could store the three spell books I carried, and a pair of inflatable air bladders attached to each other by a cord. By looping the cord under the arms, one could easily stay afloat in the most turbulent of seas.

Excelsior is a thoroughly pleasant place. The people, many of whom are archons, paladins, and other goodly beings, were helpful and kind. They seemed to epitomize the ideals of courteous behavior. We completed our business very quicky with such helpful shop keepers. I enjoyed our stay in Excelsior very much. My only dark thought was a bit of concern over how unpleasant our visit to Curst was likely to be by comparison.

The Tower of Thought was guarded by lantern archons at the door. They welcomed us to enter and we found a tower full of many stairways leading up. We each chose a path that seemed best and wandered upward thinking of our destination. I felt a little foolish with the big inflated air bladders tucked under my arms, but we all continued up the stairs. When I realized that I had to choose my own path based on my own desire to reach Mount Celestia, I was transported to a spot a little above a vast celestial ocean. I plunged immediately into the water. I had a moment of fright as I went under, but the air bladders helped me pop back to the surface at once. My companions were soon all in the water nearby. We had not been in the sea of Lunia for more than a few breaths before we were greeted by a party of creatures that had octopus like legs and humanoid torsos and heads. They helped us get oriented and swim toward Heart's Faith. After the initial shock of the plunge, the swim was quite nice. They water was comfortable and rather soothing. We were all laughing and enjoying ourselves by the time we arrived at a courtyard with steps that led up out of the water into the city. There we were greeted with a challenge from a huge lammasu. Oskar politely explained our quest and the lammasu was pleased to hear it. He told us that he would see that we were brought to Vanya at the hospice where she was working. He also explained that there was much more to Mount Celestia than simply enjoying our stay, there are opportunities and challenges leading to growth. There are many paths that lead up the mountain. They were both steep and hard to traverse. I was given to understand that the few souls that reach the top have grown in wisdom and purity until all else has been washed away. Later, when I was able, I struggled through the challenges at the very lowest levels of a path that seemed to lead to a deep mystical understanding of life and existence and all things. I came away completely changed, but I can find no words to describe what I experienced or how I changed, I can only say, very inadequately, that I am fired with an inspiration to achieve the purity, the perfect, unblemished virtue, I saw epitomized on the slopes of Mount Celestia and the people of Heart's Faith.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself in this tale, for my travels on the paths of the mountain came after we met Vanya. The Lammasu called a powerful Deva to guide us to the hospice where we were introduced to Vanya. She listened quietly and attentively as we told the tale of our meeting with her dying father, our journey to the castle, the battle with the apprentice Red Wizard, and our pursuit of the master wizard. Vanya had already learned of her father's death, but expressed her gratitude for our efforts to free her home from the clutches of the evil wizards. She gave us all hugs and thanked us and made sure that we found comfortable accommodations in Heart's Faith while we were here.

We stayed for a full ride in Heart's Faith. At first I thought that perhaps I should devote the time to working on learning the new spells from the two spell books we have captured. Oskar and Shane both wished to explore the paths up the mountain. I found that I could not pass up the opportunity to do the same. I could do spell research almost anywhere. I may never again get to visit the slopes of the Seven Heavens. Shane didn't talk much about his wanderings. Oskar told us that he spent time on the mountain before being called toward the sea. A Northman ship took him out on Lunia to a tower of blue flame where he found an Urgosh. It appeared to be his Urgosh, but Xan, who was in our room at the same time Oskar was in the tower, reported that the Urgosh left behind suddenly turned to a pile of rust. I could detect no magical enchantment on the weapon, so we were somewhat puzzled by the events.

The Northman Captain, Fernoch Bearhugger was mightily impressed by our paladin so he offered to take all of us out to the gate that would return us to Excelsior when we were finally ready to go. While I was not truly ready to leave, I think we all were starting to feel the need to attend to other matters. Captain Bearhugger took us out to sea where we found a glowing sphere that was the portal. One by one we each jumped through the sphere to the top of a tower in Excelsior. Here we intend to spend a bit of time so I can complete some spell research before heading off to Sigil.

Your student,
Cedar