Eknopolis Days

It took 3 days to shake of the torpor that overtook me, the result of our ordeals, and the bloody night that ended them. Finally, after prayer and fasting, The Mother of Mercy helped me to regain my wits and purpose...
 
I quietly sounded others out on their stance on the gladiator arena and it's apparent staffing with many unwilling men and beasts. Of course the Church's position is one of opposition to slavery, but this ... issue, was too close to both the Eknoi temporal powers and the culture that exists here. I did make some valuable contacts with those that feel as strongly as I do about this - particularly Sister Sophia and Father Elefthería - but I may have made myself an annoyance to some of the hierarchy. I must be more subtle in future. I have no desire to try and help, only to be sent to a priory at the ends of the world and only able to preach to terns and gulls. I must admit, also....to see the animation in Sister Sophia's eyes when discussing this, draws me further on as well.
 
But as I meditated and prayed over both the eyes of Sister Sophia and the Church hierarchy, something new came on the scene, and it distracted me and everyone else. The Porta Clavans have come to Eknopolis! I had only heard a faint rumor or two of the Sister preaching the Doors Of The World being shut to us. The very thought has terrible implications - for me, for all souls of the departed, and the worldly powers that care not to rouse themselves or stir the wrath of the Lich King. If she is right, that Mount Auronus can no long be the path for us all to reach the abode of the gods... then her call for a great Crusade would be impossible to not answer. The secular powers in this city-empire are quite dismayed by this new movement. They held fast by the sacrifice of the Martyrs, and they have become quite comfortable in their safety and their wealth. "Why should we provoke the King of the Dead?" they proclaim. Alas, the League is too scattered, small and weak to mount this kind of Crusade. Without Eknopolis' riches and her fleet - the Crusade would be nothing but a brave gesture.
 
When we return from the great deserts, I must see how the Porta Clavans have fared. And if Sister Sophia is still there...