Pointing and brick repair advice needed

[BGB autosport]

We live in a 1910 semi, its rendered top to bottom apart from the lowest two bricks. Its needed re-pointing ever since we moved in over 3 years ago but I have put it off again and again.

As I have some spare time I have decided to get it sort but I have the following questions....

As can be seen in the two pictures below, there is a black line of mortar between the two lowest rows, this appears to be the damp course as there is no plastic sheet like in modern houses. This was confirmed today when I raked out some mortar, dry above, damp below, again this can be seen in the pics, my question is, what do I replace the black mortar with to retain this barrier?




Also, there is a bay window at the front, the bricks are different to the house and it has a damp course so I presume it was added at a later date. The bricks are in abit of a state and I'm unsure as to the best way to sort it. I was going to chop them out and replace them over a period of time (non supporting wall) however the lowest bricks are actually below the edge of the path so getting replacements in will not be possibly as is. The worst...