1st Light beneath the eleventh Moon

3761 Cycles beyond the Dark

722 Years after the Repentance

Entry: 1/017

Dear self,

I woke up this morning hanging from a tree branch again. Winter has arrived in full so there is a coat of white over everything. It wasn’t nearly as bad yesterday but the elemental sprites tend to spread the coming of a season as soon as the date arrives. The sprites started throwing frost around as soon as midnight came no doubt.

Fortunately for me, the house and garden is shielded from the worst of the weather, and completely warded the frost sprites away. I was only slightly dying of exposure instead of utterly. Since it actually is dangerous now to find myself sleeping outside come morning I charmed a bracelet and used some Duskblaze so I won’t be able to go outside the house even if I tried. I had to warm myself next to the Darcinderaht and didn’t step one toe outside for the entire day, at least as far as I could help it.

Jeriel came in with a great annoyance. It took me a while to remember the medallion I had been appraising for him. It was a proficiency charm that operated through Subtle magic in order to grant expertise directly to the mind of its user. Since he had been waiting for much longer than I had promised I burned some components to use in a ritual to expedite the last few issues with the appraisal and sealed it. These kinds of items can be dangerous even unintentionally because they can drastically alter the subject's behaviour. They not only make someone capable of certain skills, but tend to make them more inclined to use them and act in a way appropriate to someone who has them. There was a girl who once used a dancing charm to help her learn in a similar situation and she became obsessed with dancing, going as far as almost abandoning her friends and family before someone figured out what was happening and ripped the suspect earring from her flesh before she did something she would have deeply regretted, supposedly. These have the potential to essentially become a sort of mind control and mold the subject to conform to certain behaviours and professions. The medallion Jeriel got enhanced perception and dexterity by augmenting how the mind processes the senses and controls the muscles. It’s safe as far as I could figure but had a side effect of reducing one’s ability to sense or manipulate magic, which Jeriel had apparently been unaware of. So it wasn’t a complete waste of time to appraise the item again. He’s using it to improve his knife and hunting skills, which it certainly would do. Another effect it had was an oblique silencing aura which was also detrimental to general social ability, so I advised that he not wear it outside of hunting and remove it as soon as he got back to town.

Axl had left me a letter when he departed, as I hadn’t been in a proper state to receive his personal farewell yesterday. His investigations into how the Darcinderaht came to be here found signatures of a rift in the region with connections to divine energies. At present that could mean almost anything, but I someone will have to find it, see if it’s a problem at all, and figure out if we can do anything about it. He also gave me some advise on creating some personal wards which I might end up using. A lot of it is pretty basic and fundamental but I’m starting to think that Rashplume is just the kind of man who places great value in a strong foundation and basic principles. It is pretty annoying how he tends to exposit on things in the middle of a sentence instead of getting to the point.

I received a formal letter from Umari stating that she has arrived within the realm and will be here in a matter of a day or two. She also instructed me to prepare a bell of Aarthrium to prepare for her arrival. Mother only ever writes so formally to us when she is being very serious and very stern. She likely has heard of my suspension from the Guild already. She might get genuinely mad when she sees how little money the shop has left, and sees just how many of the material supplies I have managed to use throughout her absence. I think I have to impress her with my Apocryphal Ink or she might get creative with whatever penalties she is going to give me. I do owe her money already.

Hope we fare well.

Regards,

Me.

~*M*~