A Voyage from Beyond Death

I awoke in a small cot, my weak and frail body just sentient enough to feel the now familiar rocking motion of a ship at sea. At first I couldn't move, only able to shift my gaze back and forth around the tiny wooden chamber in which I lay. Over a couple more days, complete numbness gave way to painful aches that surged through my my whole body, yet these were somehow assuring to me... a sign that I was still alive. Or rather, that I was alive once again.
I ....had.... died. The last thing I remembered was an arctic blast of ice and wind that completely overtook me as I tried to hide myself in a magically produced cloud of fog. We were... fighting. Torsten and I, and Wolfgar? But why were we fighting? Who were we fighting? Alec Ger. We saw him in a field hemmed in by a circular stone wall on most sides and a cliff drop-off into a rushing river on one side. But we didn't actually fight Alec Ger. That's right. He grabbed Wolfgar and disappeared with him, leaving Torsten and I to fight off three or four soldiers. And then a magic user came to join the fray... He must have been the source of that icy blast. I remember the soldiers all descending upon me...me doing my best to defend myself.... I put one of them to sleep.... but I remember feeling trapped in by these men with their swords, taking gashes out of my skin... and on the brink of death I summoned that cloud of fog as a final effort to survive.
But how did we get to the field?...That's right, we had been in the Forevale Priory. I had turned invisible and snuck into the Hoofenshatz Mall, while Wolfgar and Torsten pretended to be tourists interested in looking at some ancient texts. But I triggered an alarm when I tried to open a shining magical door in the furthest back section of that restricted treasure trove of artifacts. That was where there seemed to be the most promise of finding one of the evangelii, even though Dirge had failed to find one here. I managed to sneak out of that dungeon before they locked it up again, but at that point the entire Priory was placed on lockdown, and we were not allowed to leave while the break-in was being investigated. That is when that mysterious elf, the one who had delivered us Dirge's letter, came to us saying that he knew a way out, but it may be a trap. It seemed like he was earnestly trying to help us, but alas, it was a trap. That was where we stumbled into the portal that led us to the field where Alec Ger was waiting for us.
So no evangelus. No Wolfgar. Or Dirge. Or Mel. Just me and my pain. As I try to slowly regain my capacity for motion.
...And Torsten. The day that I regained consciousness he stepped into this little room to lean over me and talk to me. It was he who brought me back. Well, actually a powerful cleric in Ludde brought me back, with divine healing magic that I had no idea existed. But he had finished the fight against the mage and the last remaining soldiers, scooped up my completely frozen corpse, and carried it around the city of Emmaugh till he was able to find such a cleric. The magic worked, but took some time before taking its effect. So once again, he took my limp unconscious body and carried it all the way across the continent to Eastport, and made accommodations for me on this ship, which is now headed towards Down. I think it would make me laugh if it wasn't making me cry-- remembering all of those annoying little jokes about being my Da. He has truly cared for me like the father I never had. I am deeply grateful.
 
A few more days have passed on this ship, and most of the pain and achiness in my body has subsided. I can get out of bed and walk around, though I still feel week, perhaps mostly from all this inactivity over the course of almost two weeks. But now that this miraculous healing has nearly taken its full effect, Torsten approached me to talk seriously about what we may face as we head towards the Council where the new Archrector. We do in fact possess one of the evangelii! It is in the form of a long tube, of a similar size to a scroll case; though he warned me that touching it could be fatal, or lead to the same insanity that consumed some members of the past fellowship. He was able to locate it by following a lead Dirge had left him, again by letter, this time delivered by Helena. He found it at the estate of Steele of Emmaugh. Dirge reported that he himself had located another evangelus in Ludde, and that he would meet us at Down Cathedral. Yet, just two will not suffice to save the Blue Rose. We go to the council practically empty-handed, and with precious little time before the Rose's last petals fall.
Yet perhaps the eternal Rose will guide us somehow to find the other two.
Torsten reminded me of another important thing we overheard back at the Hoofenschatz. Prior Dannien expressed astonishment that the someone would try to break into the mall and tamper with the door, given that the evangelus had already been stolen. As far as we could tell, this could mean one of two things... Either Alec Ger anticipated our arrival and so hid or took the evangelus himself in advance, using Dirge's break-in as a scapegoat for its disappearance, OR Dirge himself had lied to us about failing to find the Evangelus. Torsten was highly suspicious of Dirge, and insisted we form a contingency plan to plant the final evangelus on my person while reporting to the rest of the group that Torsten had it, allowing me to go invisible and escape with it if it became necessary. I have to say, for my part I don't think Dirge would lie to us about not having found the evangelus. He lies about many things, and has behaved like a scoundrel in many ways, much to my distress, yet I'm convinced that he is completely committed to the success of our mission. If anything, it seems to me that it is his zeal for completing our task that has motivated some of the evils he has descended to and dragged us all into during this trip. That, and a fervent desire for self-preservation from death or imprisonment. And by the report of his letters, he has been trying harder to avoid these same evils as he continued on ahead of us. On the other hand, Alec Ger showed himself to be in opposition to our mission by kidnapping Wolfgar and sending soldiers to attack and kill us. It is amazing to reflect that I have come to trust a roguish thief's word over a vicar of the ecclesia, but this is what I've come to, through witnessing first hand the terrible corruption that seems to have taken over the souls of so many of the Ecclesia's highest ranking churchmen. Torsten does not seem fully convinced, and I am willing to be cautious with him if we succeed in meeting up with Dirge at Down, but I think if we have any hope at all of averting the great catastrophe of emerging planes or whatever doom comes to pass if the blue rose dies, it will be important for us all to work together.
Tomorrow we make port in Down. May the great Rose help us and reveal all that is still hidden!