Phantom Pain

We learned a lot about mister Zij this morning after he walked into Vulkeneer's weird shop. The wizard was super surprised, perplexed even, at the sight of mister Zij. It turned out not only had he lost someone- his wife Nala- but she was still super present, to the point where the wizard said their "auras" were merged? I'm not sure what it all meant but when mister Zij walked out he seemed spooked, and sad. We questioned him about it and it turns out that his wife died when Otrix torched his village! That's why he was looking for the old man. And ever since, mister Zij gained magical powers, except they weren't his, really, they were the spirit of his wife being turned into magic in the real world! He even said that his eyes changed to hers when that manifested. I wonder if he can help me out with my eyes....
Anyway, then mister Al and mister Zij had a bit of a tense standoff on the topic of Nala's spirit. Mister Al seemed to have strong opinions towards keeping her here and not letting her pass. I wonder if mister Al knows more than he lets on about spirits and the dead. I hope so, given what we're about to face!
Mister Zij learned from the wizard that the barge master we were searching for was actually in castle Kern "pleading his case". I- er, rather- we talked our way into the castle only to catch the barge master at the end of an argument with lord Kern, clearly about a problem with regards to the town's mausoleum. It turns out it's been corrupted by a thing called the necrophage, which mister Al said was a weird thing that brings the dead back into walking corpses. The barge master wants to cleanse the place of the disease but the lord thinks it's too dangerous. Lucky for him, our group of badasses is cut exactly for this kind of job!... probably.... Well anyway I hope so because we volunteered to help out, given that it was the quickest way across the Les Misha.
We went back to town to prepare ourselves to face undead, and now I'm sitting with mister Al as he's preparing his spells out of a strange grimoire with lost of squiggly drawings on it. Somehow I can understand bits and pieces of it, but mister Al was quickly tired of my questions. I've never fought undead before... Or really fought much ever except for a few tavern scraps and the occasional roadside thug... Miss Esther has had a steely look in her eyes all day though. I expect watching her fight will be interesting. Rosalie, for her part, has been rather quiet today. Er- well, she's always quiet, but she isn't writing on her notebook as much as during the trek. I wonder if she's also preparing mentally for a fight. I'm sure watching her in the thick of the action will be interesting as well. Hopefully my next journal entry will have us all successfully on the other side of the Les Misha, one necrophage down, and closer than ever to Merovund, where we can be at a safe distance from the Circle!.... Oh and hopefully learn a little more about the wizard Otrix and why his ring is in my pocket.