[coronatiger]

Thoughts on September 3rd

We stayed at the mansion overnight. I had been assigned a spacious bed chamber with an adjoining servant’s room for Olivia. We messed up her bed before leaving, so it would look like she had slept there. Many people frown upon our kind of love, and it’s best to remain discrete and keep up appearances.

We didn’t hurry back to town. Instead, I practiced acrobatics on Lightfoot’s saddle, sometimes running circles around Olivia. She seems satisfied with Bluebell, who plodded along, largely ignoring my antics.


Thoughts on September 4th

Tonight, I had another countryside performance, this time at a Surnheim estate. Although adventuring is both fun and challenging, this is what I live for: The acclaim of an audience gasping in awe at my ethereal splendor. And celebrating a job well done with Olivia, afterwards.


Thoughts on September 5th

Hess Yggarson made arrangements for Olivia and me to stay the night after gigs outside the city. Traveling at night is discouraged, although I’ve heard that the Garuk region is more pacified than the dark forest surrounding Urdon to the south. The ride back to town started off pleasantly enough, but a sudden autumn squall surprised us, and Olivia and I were drenched when we arrived at the Crow and Spruce.


Thoughts on September 6th

Tonight’s performance was also at a Surnheim estate. These noble families are pretty large, with many branches on the family trees. On the way there, Olivia and I discussed whether I should start looking for an instructor. I haven’t had a teacher of acrobatics since I was young. Well, younger. After all, I’m only twenty-one. I argued that it would be difficult to find someone with skills surpassing mine, but Olivia maintained that a good instructor didn’t need to be able to outdo me, they only needed to be able to see how I could improve. And perhaps have ideas about new stunts. I agreed to talk to Hess Yggarson and Henry Toyler about it when we return to Garuk.


Thoughts on September 7th

Olivia and I set off towards Garuk in the company of other visitors of the Surnheims, a group of young dandies. One of them seduced me during a short rest and I apologized to Olivia as soon as I found my feet again; it’s been over a month since my last dalliance. The dandies laughed at the scowling “over-protective servant” when we continued towards Garuk. Olivia flushed red, and I decided we should find our own way back to town.


Thoughts on September 8th

Today was the last performance of the tour. Tomorrow is the governor’s ball, and then we’re off to the mines on quest again.


Thoughts on September 9th

We hurried back to Garuk from the Tinderholm estate in the morning, so I’d have ample time to prepare for the ball. I don’t know what caused it, but somehow everything went wrong. Maybe I’d had too much to drink. I’m not sure I’m getting another invitation to such events. Olivia tried to console me, but could find no words to pull me out of my stupor, and she had to stoop to linguistics to snap me out of it. She often tells me that she thinks it’s cheating, using that reset switch on my mood. I don’t mind it at all.


Thoughts on September 10th

All preparations taken care of by Kine, we were ready to go questing again as soon as Lady Karita had roused herself. The guards at the checkpoint were as thorough as I remember from the last time we descended, but they made no fuss, and we were on our way into the darkness in no time.


Thoughts on September 11th

With the new tax from the governor and most of the easy quests completed, there are fewer adventurers down here in the mines than there used to be. We arrived in the subterranean city in the evening, and proceeded directly to the location for our new quest to set up camp nearby. I reminded Kine that there are stacks of glass panes at our previous quest site that we could bring out to sell. We decided to fetch them later, when we’d discovered what we could fit on the wagon.


Thoughts on September 12th

After breakfast, Lady Karita, Va’lyndra and Kine started talking about going somewhere else. They were a bit vague, but I reckoned they were talking about the fortress deeper down. I pointed out that we’d just agreed to finish this place first.

When we approached the small house, Va’lyndra informed us that we entered an area of high mana. I didn’t know what that would entail, but I trusted Va’lyndra to let us know of any precautions we needed to take. Outside the entrance stood two statues, one wielding fire, the other lightning. Lady Karita copied the engraving above the doorway.

The single room contained a staircase leading down to a large, semi-circular room. We entered facing a long line of doors along the arc. I counted twelve doors in total, all made of stainless metal. One of the doors was larger and more ornate; all the others had symbols engraved above them and a lever to the side. Lady Karita ordered us not to touch the levers; they could be trapped. Va’lyndra warned us that we shouldn’t touch the doors, either, for they were spelled.

Lady Karita made note of the symbols, and compared them to each other and to things she’d studied while I was busy putting on shows. She managed to translate one of the symbols and explained that in the script of the people who once lived here, it was the symbol for “fire”. Bringing Kine and Va’lyndra into the discussion, Lady Karita speculated about the meaning of other symbols, believing some to mean “water” and “lightning”, but she wasn’t sure. I walked around on my hands while the others debated, and realized that the symbols made as little sense to me upside-down as they did the right way up.

The others decided on a door, and Va’lyndra started dancing to analyze the magic it held. It took her hours, but she eventually discovered that the door opens if we pull up the lever while no doors are open, that it closes if a certain spell has triggered and there’s nobody in the room behind the door. Va’lyndra wanted to pull the lever, but Lady Karita and I insisted she analyze another door, to see if they were similar. Va’lyndra spent the rest of the day dancing in the half-moon room.


Thoughts on September 13th

Lady Karita slept late today, and Va’lyndra showed Kine and me a dance while we waited for her to get up. Doing the weird dance let me sense the water on Kine’s wagon, and according to Va’lyndra, that was what was supposed to happen. Kine, on the other hand, produced a foul, yellow fume. It looked like I could do magic, but Kine couldn’t, at least not properly. I wasn’t sure how Lady Karita would react to the knowledge that whimsical me was meddling with forces best left untouched, so I convinced the others not to tell her about it; it wasn’t as if I was going to pursue a career of wizardry.

We had breakfast together, and halfway through my first sentence, I blurted out what I had done. Lady Karita gave me a Look, but didn’t comment.

After the meal, we left Olivia to go watch Va’lyndra analyze doors. Each spell she identified made us want to continue the analysis. She analyzed three or four doors today, and I put in a good practice session while we waited. No levers were pulled today, but I think we need to try one soon, as we don’t have unlimited time to spend here. The guild master gave us an extension because we wanted to stay in the city until the ball, but we have to remember that we must explore a fortress, too, before we return to Garuk.