Amber Ablaze – blogpost 10

We just murdered all the Alps and now decide to go back to the Giraffe farmer. We see smoke come out of Tians’ chimney. Tian is relieved to know that the Alps are gone. He offers us some meat from the grill – he has just slaughtered one of his animals. We take a short rest to regain strength and eat some Giraffe meat: it is really tender. I enjoy eating it.

We walk back to the inn to find the person who pointed us to the Gir-aafs. The person is called Alfie – I haven’t met him yet, but Solarion and Mivyre have. We walk to his door, but he doesn’t open up: he is still asleep. Mivyre and Solarion want to break into Alfies’ room. I offer to distract the guests on the ground floor. Alas, I set a plant on fire. That was not really my intention: to make up for the ruined plant, I offer the innkeeper one gold piece. Solarion sneaks upstairs, Mivyre follows him – less sneakily than the rogue. I stay downstairs and wait for them. After they descend, Mivyre and I walk to the temple to give Leymura some updates about the stuff that’s going on in Red Larch and its surroundings. Solarion heads to the tavern. The others (Tomen, Lurlille, and Celeste) went to another spot in town to do some mushrooms we got from the shopkeeper. After we tell Leymura about the Giraffes, Mivyre starts to pray. I give him some space and distance myself from the altar. Solarion enters after a while, greets me, and walks towards Mivyre. I hear them talk but can’t make up what they’re talking about. They exit and walk to the tavern. Out of curiosity, I follow them. In the tavern I see a wizard sitting at the bar. Apparently, he gave Solarion a quest to find a magic sword.

The wizard is called Morduc. According to him, we need to find a magic sword that resides in the Tower of Temptation. When we enter, we’ll get either crazy or rich. Mivyre asks my opinion: should we accept this quest and go find the magic sword? I think we can practice with the mushrooms and join the other half of the party that is already getting high. Mivyre doesn’t care for it and approaches the quest from another perspective: he only wants to go when he’s sure we don’t get hurt. I eventually say that I could use a magic sword. After that, we accept the quest. We suddenly hear a ‘poof’-sound and see a lot of mist. As it fades, we can see the wizard running away. Mivyre chases him. When he comes back, he tells us that we’ll start our quest tomorrow morning.

We don’t know where the others are, except that they wanted to eat the mushrooms. Solarion and Mivyre recognize the others walking down the street after looking for them for a while. They are headed to the mushroom and tobacco shop. Tomen is dressed in silk and lost his shield, and Lurlille lifts him up from the ground! I can’t believe my eyes! Am I dreaming, or am I high? When we catch up to them, there is no doubt that they are high on mushrooms. We all enter the shop. While everyone is deciding what to buy, I am contemplating whether to eat a mushroom as well. Lurlille, Tomen, and Celeste seem so relaxed and chill… I would really like that. Lurlille encourages me to take one.

I eat a mushroom, and suddenly, my pouch seems a lot lighter, but I can’t remember ever having money on me. Weird. I also feel weirdly magical… Like I can push people into doing things… But most of all, I feel sick. I slide down the wall of the shop and grab my book. I read the following poem:

Lock the door, blow out the light;
The hungry Oni haunts the night.
Hide and tremble, little one;
The Oni wants to have some fun.

Hear it scratching on the door;
See its shadow cross the floor.
The sun won’t rise for quite a while;
Till then, beware the Onis’ smile.

After reading the poem, I look up to the door and the window. I see an Oni stand there! O, God! No! I am so scared right now! I try to get up, but can’t do it on my own. I need Mivyre to get upright but need him to stay up. Mivyre helps me to the inn. I am trembling all over: I am sweaty, feel hot and cold at the same time, and try not to vomit. Mivyre puts me to bed and wants to leave. I beg him to create a fire for me. I see him hesitating to obey, but after that, his gaze softens and lights a candle for me. He even reads me a poem – a good one this time, about the fire. I am grateful, and will not forget his kindness. After a while, Mivyre checks up on me and changes my candle – I am still awake, but less stressed. Eventually, I can rest and get some sleep.