Dear Spellbook,

Today was terrifying and I never even left the Dahn.

Riloth 19th the 864th

“Care for a spar?” I asked Trish at the end of the training day. She’d finally gotten over my last experiment on her, and I felt safe to challenge her again.

“Nope, I’m going to take a nap. Why not try the Big Guy?”

Bearskin smiled at the suggestion. We had not sparred before. Bearskin’s weapon and fighting style did not lend itself to non-lethal combat, but...

Why not? I can’t exactly die.

“Sure,” I said turning to Bearskin, “But please be sure to put me out of my misery quickly if you maim or dismember me.”

“I have been waiting for you to challenge me. This will be good. Have faith in your abilities.” he said in a way both encouraging and terrifying at the same time.

I cast Mage Armor on myself and ran through my options. Levar’s paper swords were growing closer and closer to being a rapier, but getting close to Bearskin would only mean a quick death.

I can probably just run away and—

Daulf spoke up as the ground began to shift, “I think it would be best if we limited the area. If you just run away and blast him with magic, I don’t think you’d learn much.”

“Not everything needs to be educational,” I said sullenly.

“We both know you don’t honestly believe that,”

Flood, he’s right.

The tiles in the center of the Dahn warped, a circle fifty feet across drawing itself in the patterned floor.

“If you leave the ring, you forfeit,” Daulf said, setting the rules. “We will proceed until somebody gives up.”

Bearskin and I stood at opposite ends of the circle, each a few paces from the ring. He had his ensouled club along with a belt filled with throwing axes of Dagmar’s make. Trish watched from the side along with everyone else, very clearly not taking a nap.

Liar.

“Go,” came Daulf’s shout.

Bearskin broke into a run with his club held high. Before he could take two steps, a Gust appeared before him, halting his forward motion—but only briefly.

The wind pushed him upright and then instead of pushing him back, tumbling end over end out of the ring granting me victory, he continued to bend backward, his feet locked to the ground with his Primal magic.

With unbelievable strength, he brought himself upright and then began moving forward into the wind. It was clear he could get to me in time, so I needed to end the fight before he got here.

I sent a third-tier barrage of Magic Missiles—the sharp and deadly variety, not the training version—and watched as they hit him to little effect. Small pin-pricks of blood appeared on his chest where each hit, and he continued on unphased.

Next, I threw a Mind Spike at him, and this time he did flinch, grabbing his skull with both hands, but still, he came one, fighting through the pain without relying on the tribe’s Bond. By then, he’d covered most of the ground between us, and was in striking range. Eye’s still closed against the pain, he swung his great weapon at me. I met the swing with a Shield, angled to not absorb the overwhelming force of the attack, and then stepped aside dismissing Gust.

The sudden loss of resistance sent Bearskin sprawling forward, but with his feet still Bonded to the floor, he only fell down where he stood. I took the opportunity to Blink away across the floor and was halfway through a Lightning when an ax came flying at my head forcing me to ditch the spell in exchange for Vortex and a dive to the side. The axe missed but more were to follow. Frantically I dodged back and forth as I constructed my latest spell. In the time it took to cast it, Bearskin threw three more axes, and just as I sent my newest spell off into my bridge, I released Vortex. The last ax struck me on my thigh, grazing me but taking a large chunk with it, but then the axes stopped.

Bearskin stood unnaturally straight, with his arms pinned to his sides, held there by an invisible force.

“Do you yield?” I asked, watching him struggle to break free.

“Hrrrrrr,” he let out a bestial roar, the veins all over his body bulging as he fought to break free.

Oh no.

I cast another Mind Spike, but he didn’t even seem to notice and followed it up with a Lightning which he too ignored.

His roar turned into a shouted “No!” of defiance as his strength finally overcame my spell, and his arms broke free of my magical restraint.

Dare I?

I thought, with a quick glance at the spectators off to the side. Nothing seemed to work on this giant of a man.

In an instant, I made my decision and formed the components for my most potent offensive spell.

“Tee-roh-mah” I said, in the requisite measured tone at odds with a racing heart.

At the completion of the gesture, a massive bolt of lightning shot out from me to Bearskin and continued on. Four paces away, Bearskin convulsed and fell to a knee, and I sent another Mind Spike at him.

Somehow, he stood, clothes burned black, and red burns snaking all over his body. He took another step, and I calculated my remaining time before he reached me while doing an inventory of my Will... and then Blinked out of the ring.

“I forfeit!” I shouted, with not an ounce of shame.

Daulf ran to Bearskin’s side, and began healing the burns that covered his body.

“Great job!” shouted Bearskin, over Daulf’s commands to lay still. “That was fun! See? I told you you would not die!”

I looked at my friend in a new terrifying light.

He didn’t even use his Bond with his tribe! Is he even human? And there's a whole island of people like him?

Trish walked over and hit my on the shoulder, “You just wanted to trap me in that new spell of yours didn't you?”

“Yeah, but this was probably a better test. I’m marking it as a success despite the spell's ultimate failure.”

“That’s fair,” she said “The spell is called Hold Person, not Hold Bearskin.”

“Very true, but I got the sense it wouldn’t be impossible for others to escape from. The strength of the grip fluctuates with my attention, so if someone times an escape attempt while my focus is split, they could probably escape.”

We all cleaned up after our training, and spent the remaining night and I wrote this entry. I hope you don’t mind that my updates have been sporadic. All these days are running together, and I don’t feel the need to chronicle Dagmar and Roland’s arguments about which type of cheese we should purchase next from Crossroads.