During the evening, Lenore returned once more, quickly entering her Hallow after landing on my shoulder.

“There’s a storm coming.” she told me, sharing a feeling of apprehension. “I wouldn’t want to be caught by it in the air.”

“Good to know. Does it roll in from the south or from the north?” I asked, curious if there was a way to use the storm to our advantage.

“I think it’s one of the last storms blowing in from the north, the last attempt of winter to keep its grip on the land.” she answered, likely having already felt what I was considering.

“Any more interesting things you noticed from above?” I prodded, wanting to get the information before we started to discuss my idea, knowing that we’d likely get carried away by the discussion about magical theory. It had happened before and would likely happen again.

“No, not really. There are a few hints that they use wagons and caravans to supply the camps but I’ve yet to actually see one.” she explained, showing me the spots that looked very much like stables, something we hadn’t seen before.

“I wonder what they use as beasts of burden, somehow I doubt that Centaurs would use horses. Too closely related.” I mused. At the same time, I realised that even amongst humans, there had been groups that had happily used other humans as slave labour, simply using the colour of their skin as an excuse why they were less than human. With Centaurs, it would make more sense, horses were, in general, less intelligent than Centaurs, so there might be some discrimination. Time would tell.

“I didn’t see them, but I agree, I doubt they would want to work with beings looking so like them but lacking sapience.” Lenore agreed with me, before starting to consider what we could do to use and influence the coming storm. We quickly got to the conclusion that there were two ways we should be able to influence it, either to boost its strength, causing it to furiously rage, causing it to dump a load of snow onto the area, but doing so would cause the storm to quickly expend the storms energy, causing it to blow itself out in a couple of hours.

The other option was to try to keep it down, causing a long-lasting unpleasantness, not strong enough to actually cause damage but I doubted that anyone would be willing to work outside in mostly freezing temperatures, with a nice mix of rain, hail and snow.

Ultimately, either would work to our favour by forcing the centaurs into their camps.

We discussed which way would work better for that goal, soon deciding to try the second variant, creating a long, drawn-out ritual that would focus on lending the storm endurance instead of trying to have it produce the heaviest snowfall we could manage.

It turned out that, for once, Lenore would actually lead the ritual, instead of me. Before, the rituals we had used were either fully led by me or in a cooperative effort, but for this one, it would be her. As such, I only contributed small parts to the ritual-circle we drew, mostly following her direction, while mostly focusing on the enchantment of my Athame and how to change the perch so that it would work with two sources. I managed to come up with a design while my body almost mindlessly followed Lenore’s direction. When I finished, I almost stumbled, after having most of my attention directed inwards, it felt a little strange to think about what my body was doing.

“What did you come up with?” Lenore asked, having noticed and felt my deep ponderance, thanks to our connection, but she had been unable to actually follow it, not without focusing on it, which would have disturbed the process of preparing the ritual circle.

“I think I can make us a tool that allows us to increase the amount of power we can raise. The more we push into the storm, the more control we have over it, right?” I asked, almost cheekily. We both knew it was a lot more complex than just more power meaning more control but more power would help with the rest of it.

“Curious. Show me what you’ve got?” she replied, her curiosity, a trait we shared in spades, shining through. Of course, I obliged her, despite the fact that it would increase the time needed to craft the circle and the staff, but I preferred to have her check over my design. Just as I was now checking over the design of her circle, I was unable to understand some of the runes but I could get a feel for the overall geometry and the way power would flow through it. It was both based on my own experience and a feeling I was unable to fully pin down, a sort of sixth, or seventh, eighth or maybe ninth, sense that helped with my magic.

It was something that made me wonder from time to time, how was a game able to teach my mind additional senses, it felt as if I shouldn’t be able to comprehend the information, even if I had the sense to gather them. Part of me was curious how it worked with non-humanoid races, like the centaurs we were facing, if a Traveller played one. How did the transfer from Mundus to Earth work, did they have phantom sensations of the limbs they were lacking? I had noticed that, when on Earth, the world was a lot less colourful, so to speak, without the additional beauty I was able to see thanks to my improved senses. It was similar with my emotions, ever since coming to Mundus, they felt stronger, clearer, more bright, in a way. But only on Mundus, on Earth, the emotions themselves seemed a little faded, yet in my memories of Mundus, they were clear.

In the privacy of my mind, it made me afraid, desperately afraid. And not just because Road to Purgatory changed me, with effects ranging out into the real world, but the bigger fear was that I would be found out. That people would come to know about the change and force me to abandon Road to Purgatory, pushing me back into the faded reality I had lived in before coming to Mundus. But now, I knew that there could be more to it.

Shaking off those thoughts, burying them in the deepest depths of my mind, I forcibly focused on the formation Lenore had prepared and the small additions that I had placed. They were mostly there to take in the naturally occuring Ice Astral Power in my body, so that it wouldn’t be wasted. Mostly, we wanted the storm to be windy, wet and thoroughly unpleasant. The Cold I contributed was useful but we had decided that it wasn’t something we wanted to waste power on.

“Looks quite good.” Lenore told me, when I felt her mind focusing back on the world around us. I quickly told her the few observations I had about her circle, it was quite sturdy and well-crafted, causing her to caw in pride.

“Let’s craft it, before we try the ritual. I think if we use a small amount of your blood, we’ll be able to create channels that allow your Wind Astral Power to flow through it.” I suggested, causing her to grumble a little. But I felt her agree with me, even if she didn’t particularly like it, due to the pain involved. I could understand that, the pain of using Blood Magic on yourself was the worst I had ever felt. Luckily, the material we were using was naturally inclined to Frost Magic, so I didn’t have to use my own blood in the crafting.

But before there was any blood-letting, we joined our minds together, not quite going into Avatar-State but using all the focus we could, simply to get the channels and magical formations we carved into the Hard Ice just right. We both knew that there was quite a bit of guessing and extrapolating involved, even with the different treaties we had on magic, mostly using the information I had traded of in Kolyug. Most of them were for a different kind of magic and for disposable items, created using non-magical materials that were later infused with magic, but I could make a few connections between both crafts.

Slowly, ever so slowly, we carved the lower portion, the actual staff, that would be held in my hand, allowing me to effortlessly channel my power into the Crystal of the Northern Wind that would be held in the head. It took us quite a bit of time, but after about an hour of intense focus, we agreed that it should work.

The next step was equally as intense, making the head of the staff into something that would allow Lenore to channel her own power downwards, into a formation that resembled the one we were planning to use during the night, a formation that joined Ice and Wind together, allowing both to merge and become greater than the sum of its parts. For that, Lenore had to give some of her Blood and not just any blood, I needed to take it with my Blood Magic. That step caused some irritation with her, simply because it was majorly painful, but after it was done, I carefully used the blood and the Wind Astral Power bound within to prime the spell-formations we had just carved. This was purely experimental, trying to use a type of magical power I normally couldn't but the risk was, at least in my opinion, minor, at worst we would lose the staff I had crafted. That would be an annoyance, but not a major problem, as I could just craft one again.

Finally, the staff was fully engraved and the magical formation at the top primed with both, my own magical power and Lenore's. And in the middle of that formation, we placed the Crystal of the Northern Wind, the capstone of the staff we were making.

I felt a surge of elation once the gem slipped into its slot, the icy clasps locking it in place. With a shiver of anticipation, I used the inspect skill.

Staff of the Northern Wind Rarity Rare Type Staff Base Damage 4 Damage Piercing Base Damage 0 Damage Slashing Base Damage 1 Damage Blunt Strength Modifier Low Special Effect Imbued - Due to the process used for the creation of this weapon, it is strongly in tune with the Ice-Magic of the Traveller Morgana. 25% lower cost when wielded by her Ice-Magic. Special Effect Call of the North Wind - Astral Power channelled into this Staff can be used to cause the North Wind to swirl around the wielder, dampening flames and blowing projectiles astray. Special Effect Spell Weaver - When this staff is used to channel Astral Power into Ice- or Wind-Spells, the effect of those spells is increased. This Staff was created out of Hard Ice by the Traveller Morgana. The material used, makes it lighter than normal but brittle and vulnerable to heat. Later, a rare crystal was set into the Staff, allowing it to channel formidable, magical power.