Well it would seem that once his mind is set to the task of acting Skippy can really pull through, I'm not sure if I could have kept the same composure if a lover had just fallen in front of me. Animosus and Pavel stepped between the pointy end of my crossbow and Skippy. Trust is a very good thing, but the two of them may find their heads on the stick of a foe one day for being too trusting. I'd have thought Animosus would have been hesitant to trust so soon after so badly miscalculating the intentions of Brathimus Drell. It would seem that a fireball launched at Kurth Keep was just the sign that restless, freshly armed townsfolk needed to step up active response to the subvertive pressures of the Banite hold here. They were already assembled... well, gathered at least...outside the wall and it took little incentive to get them moving as a directed force. Most of our group broke off, each taking a half score of the most bloodthirsty of townsfolk and we quickly stormed the walls. The Banites, Zhents and others inside tried to backpeddle to the innards of Kurth Keep, many fell before they made the door. Those that made it inside BEFORE Lief blasted the door clean off the hinges with another fireball, tried to secure the Keep, but it was like trying to keep the sea from washing away the sand. Perhaps Haliembrar's Triad of gods were favoring the downtrodden this day, because we lost less than a quarter of the townsfolk. I would have calculated a loss of nearly half of an untrained, barely armed, unarmored peasant corps and considered it a decisive victory. When the night finally begged for quiet I requested from Kurth's new Haldoreeve appoint, Haleimbrar, to spend the night inside the Keep, inside Brathemius Drell's private chambers to be more specific as Brathemius certainly wasn't going to be using them any time soon. It was a rather laviously appointed room, which sported a rather imposing suit of armor, yet another thing Brathimus won't be needing anytime soon. When I strode down the next morning in this new set of plate our new Haldoreeve barely even took notice but I offered to make payment to the city for my upgraded hardware anyway. Alyona, that dear thing, has come to her full senses and has decided to stay and study the ways of magic before trying to walk her father's footsteps. Her adventerous spirit is well within her, I will miss her and I suspect my homecoming would be a night of passion neither of us would soon forget. She gave me some boots, boots that I would swear were made as a matched set to the new armor I'm wearing now, she always did have a wonderful fashion sense, but how did she know? Our loose knit band, which of two days ago had about as much renown as a candlestick, ate breakfast together and spoke about the parchment of charter offered us, I can see the start of a path, a path followed by a monk with visions and an weaponsmith with a bloodline for forging, I know that this is the path I must walk so it took little hesistation before I drew ink to this parchment of charter. One by one we all made our cases for continueing on as the now chartered Company of Light and Darkness, all except one. Perhaps it was the odds that the townsfolk overcame, perhaps the offer of a worthy and admirable post, perhaps he and Haleimbrar were destined to share more time. Animosus will be missed and finding a strong, capable and trustworthy swordarm to guard my back may not be so easy to find these days. Godspeed Animosus. Shortly after breakfast Pavel and I went to the bindery to find what we could about the land to our east. Pavel's travels I expect will aid our movement there and with any luck we will find ourselves at the base of the proper peak, after that I hope we have put together enough of the pieces that we can all live long enough to each have a passionate homecoming.