Riloth the 19th the 21st

Dear Spellbook,

I think we both know why I missed my entry yesterday. Let's just get right to it.

Riloth the 19th the 20th

I really meant to continue with my survey. I swear. I was in the market looking for something new to try for lunch, when I passed by a beekeeper selling honey on the comb, and beeswax. This gave me an idea. I thought that If I could put the beeswax in my ears, maybe the harpy’s song would have no effect on me.

I purchased some wax, threw in some honey combs for lunch, picked up Ian, and set off South once more. On the way, I tried to formulate a plan. Judging by the harpy’s departure to procure the “feast” it appears the effect of the singing has a lingering effect that takes at least an hour to fade, but killing the Harpy would likely end the effect immediately. I had to assume the ogre would become immediately hostile upon the effect’s dispelling. Ideally I would kill the harpy, and then take out the ogre. Alternatively, I could wait until the harpy is gone and attempt to kill the ogre, but that would put me up against Gerald and the knight as well.

At the campsite I stopped for lunch while thinking through my options. Honey on the comb is a bad travel food. It is very sticky. Lamenting my inability to cast Clean, I spent a good deal of time trying to clean my hands off on leaves before heading out towards the fort. Once I got to the area the knight’s trail became harder to follow, I stopped to put the bees wax in my ears. It took the aid of Flame, but I eventually packed my ears full of the wax, and then wrapped a scrap of linen around my head to hold it in for good measure. I did not want to eat that deer again.

Without the sound to follow it was difficult to find the way to the fort, but eventually I came across the knight’s discarded sword and followed his path to the fort. This time I made it to the edge of the clearing free of injury and got to the base of the tower unseen.

I had planned to climb the tower, but the hand holds became scarce a few feet off the ground. As I was searching for a new one, I must have made a sound because that vulture-like head stuck itself out over the ledge. It looked at me with the same surprise as before, and after a moment it flew down to the ground in a wide lazy arc and approached me. Pretending to be enthralled, I simply stood and watched as if in awe. As she approached me, to escort me to her company of love sick slaves, she paused tilting her head slightly as she looked at my head. I realized that she had noticed my ear protection, and clearly this was something she recognized as a problem for her.

At her head tilt, while she was still a dozen yards away, I channeled my Will into the construct for Lightning Bolt and extended my hand towards her. Aiming at her arm, the brilliant blue white light streaked between us and I faintly heard the crack through my wax ear plugs. The bolt struck the harpy in the leg, and she spasmed falling to the ground. She screamed something I couldn’t hear, which reminded me we were not alone. Turning around, I saw that Gerald, the knight, and the ogre were climbing over the rubble that had once been a gate, crude clubs in each of their hands. I tried to keep myself from panic, barely succeeding. I had never been in a life or death fight alone before, except for the time I was beaten nine tenths to death in an alley. I was very quickly starting to rethink the decisions that brought me here.

While I was distracted by the approaching love struck goons, the harpy recovered herself and took off into the air.

I was still next to the tower, so they had to run along the wall to get to me. I don’t have a lot of options for dealing with multiple opponents. My old go to was running away, but I recently developed a new use for an old spell. Accessing the Font of Air, I shaped the power into an Updraft aimed perpendicular to the goon’s path of travel and into the wall. Gerald and the knight immediately lost their balance and were thrown into the wall. The knight’s armor protected him, but Gerald was not so lucky and hit his head very hard against the ancient dwarven stone. The ogre was stronger, but was also larger and subject to more of the wind’s power. He lost his balance and was knocked over, but did not fly into the wall.

Leaving the effect in place, I turned to run from my pursuers, sprinting to cover the hundred feet to the forest. It's very disconcerting fighting for your life with your ears plugged. There was a constant desire to rip them out, but I had to fight the urge. Halfway to the treeline I turned to see what was following. The ogre was only thirty feet behind, and the knight was limping after him still near the wall.

Releasing my control of the wind, I began to cast a Firebolt at the ogre and felt a rock impact my head, knocking me over and sending the Firebolt into the grass, which burst into flames that immediately began to spread. Now lying on my back, I scanned the sky for the harpy. She had retreated back to the safety of her tower roost. The ogre was still lumbering closer, and I could not afford to stand. I launched a second Firebolt at his bulk. This one hit true, and he stumbled back at the pain. His clothing, well soiled rags, started to burn and he paused to beat them out. His slack jawed face winced at each pat of his giant hands.

The knight was now level with the ogre and I shot a Firebolt at him as well. My aim was good once more, but it exploded on his armored chest plate, and he continued on towards me. Scrambling to my feet I resumed my run to the tree line. I knew I could outrun the knight in the open, and likely the ogre in the thick of the woods. Learning my lesson from before, I activated Arcane Armor while I ran. It proved the right choice because I felt my Will channel power as a rock was deflected to narrowly miss my head. Reaching the woods I turned to see the harpy circling above and the ogre swinging his massive club at my head. The force of the blow exhausted the last of my Will, but it deflected the blow enough that instead of turning my skull into a puddle, it only knocked me unconscious.

Honestly I didn’t remember that last bit until I wrote this down. I feared I had died. I am pretty sure death wouldn't be permanent, I’m less sure I’d remember these last weeks if I did die. Wait a minute, what if you aren’t the reason I remember these resets, but it is something about me, and when I die, you reset as well? Could I be stuck in an endless loop of nested resets?

I took a break, walked around the town for a while, and thought. If what I just said is true, I can’t do anything about it. Worrying about it will only paralyze further action. If it's true, this is not the first time I've had this revelation, and it won't be the last. Honestly, if I really consider it, that fate is less terrible than an eternity trapped here and being aware of it. Each person I see each today doesn't know they’ve repeated these actions dozens of times. Even the ones stuck in a bad day are stuck in just that, a day. They don’t see the unending repeats laid out before them. So if I have been trapped here for hundreds of years, it doesn’t feel like it. So I can only hope if that is the case, someone else is out there trying to save the world from this prison. I hope someone else out there will fix this. It can’t be up to me to end this, can it?

Let's get back to yesterday.

I awoke lying in the square of the fort. The sun was setting and there was a thick haze in the air, but there was just enough light for me to see the goddess that stood before me. She was walking with a limp, but somehow she made even that look divine. Backlit by the blaze that surrounded the fort, she looked like a being out of legend. When I remembered that I had caused the injury to her perfect form, I screamed in anguish. How could I have been so foolish? What had come over me? Would she ever deem to forgive me? I kneeled there, sobbing into my hands, contemplating ending my own life. The pain in my skull was nothing compared to the pain I felt in my heart. How could I damage the beauty

Alright, so I was not dead, that's good to know. I also seem to have started a massive wildfire, which is less good. I don’t think there is anything of value to learn from reliving that day any further. Aside from the entrancement, my skull was fractured. I am shocked I was able to think at all, let alone move.

I don’t know if going after Gerald was the smart thing to do, but it felt right at the time. Even terrified in that battle, I knew I was doing the right thing. I was making the choice my parents would have wanted me to choose. So what if Gerald will be in this situation the next today even if I save him once, at least I will have tried. And who knows, maybe this ruin really is the secret to this prison. My plan is just an attempt to feel in control. It may be the most efficient option to getting out of this mess, but what is saving a few days next to a possible eternity? I will return to, or begin I suppose, the survey, but first I must help Gerald. I can’t focus knowing I could have at least tried.

-Goodnight 21-