5th Light beneath the twelfth Moon

3761 Cycles beyond the Dark

722 Years after the Repentance

Entry: 1/056

Dear self,

Vamera was no brighter in the dream. Mumblings could be heard from her occasionally, but she seemed significantly unchanged. The little lights that had spawned from her had grown. They were twice their previous size tonight and you could see them dancing among the branches like pixies play in the elements of the world. Occasionally, you might see them float away into the wilds to explore and wander around the other trees. They’re the closest thing to imitations of true life in the dream so far.

Rahph hunted those fireflies with some eagerness. He would lay in wait, keeping his body still as only a lizard could, and then spring at any of the little lights that passed near his jaws. Several of them were caught between those scaled lips. All of them eventually escaped once more when he opened his mouth once more to cough them out. Eating did not seem possible within the dream, and fortunately no harm was possible.

The little sprout had grown some, and now reached as high as an ankle beneath the branches of the big tree. The two leaves that had grown from the tiny plant were as black as shadow, and their tips were prickled with miniscule points of light as delicate as the stars above.

I spent the morning playing a new game with Tori. My goal was to engineer a circumstance that allows for serendipity to occur regularly, if only in an insignificant game without consequences. I used a seven-sided teetotum as the largest element of chance. A normal unenchanted one. And I used the toy blocks enchanted to attract and repel one another in various ways as the rest. Every time the teetotum spins it would determine what type of block you could use, and you could add it anywhere you wished to create a tower of blocks.

Being forced to use blocks at random had a chance of causing disruptive resonance between several of them which would usually result in a dramatic collapse of your precious tower. You never knew what kind of tower you would get and every now and then you’d get lucky with a series of highly compatible blocks that stacked upon each other marvellously. Tori kept winning. I could never get far with the blocks before some part would disconnect. It was much the same when I played with them in younger years.

We finally had someone come into the shop only an hour before noon. It was this scowling woman who came in with a bracelet enchanted to alter her appearance. She had a bad item as the enchanter she had purchased it from had assured her of a long duration, but it had begun degrading mere weeks after she began using it. The Guild is already dealing with him, but she still needs the enchantment done properly.

She is a Dauthulscha, so I understand her need for a vanity enchantment to avoid people unfamiliar with her race staring. The sunken cheeks and deathly skin make people think ill of the Dauthulscha at times, and prejudice against strange things has never been a new phenomenon. Her people usually keep to themselves, but she is an adventurer who travels between foreign lands regularly. I myself might have reacted to her if I hadn’t already met others like her during my time in the Mysterium.

I apologetically informed her that reinforcing the glamour would take me until tomorrow but assured her that glamours are well within my capability. I even offered to enhance the glamour construct to improve the cosmetic effect. She did end up requesting me to make some practical alterations, but not anything truly cosmetic. She seems more pragmatic a woman than anything else, which is nothing strange for an adventurer.

She is one of the first wave of adventurers coming to explore the nearby ruins that have become accessible recently. Not many are willing to brave the ruins during the blizzards but those like her who are might profit while there are fewer rivals.

I did receive word from the Rangers Guild. From the message it was the same ranger who took Rahph away. I now at least now the big tree is called a Tunmtumm tree, however that is supposed to be pronounced, and is a slightly uncommon tree that tends to grow far apart from each other and seem quite solitary as a result. The store water in their wide trunks and can grow for centuries upon centuries without issue. Their branches also seem to become more impressive as they age, which would mean the big tree would have had a grander canopy of leaves if it had been the figment of an older specimen.

I worked on how the evasion cloak handles phasing through Materiality. If I do it well I can make attacks pass through harmlessly the wearer if they are shallow enough, and I can reduce the physical presence they have in the world to make them lighter and their footsteps less noticeable. This is the part of its magic which should have had the greatest affinity with the Rift Foil it is made from, but I can’t seem to figure out how to improve the phasing enhancements. The progress I had made before in the phase magic was mostly a product of the cloak itself as a wondrous item, but how they interact with the overall working is beyond me. The progress I made on the doll today was also less than interesting, mostly just being more adjustments on the animation of the joints. The lattice to coordinate the separate limbs requires more work on its foundation before I start applying it.

Hope we fare well.

Regards,

Me.

~*M*~