Mizzle's Journal

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

This follows The Wrong Book

I’ve been traveling with the Trimaldi brothers and Saraid for a little while. Finally - finally - we got entrusted with an important job.

There’s a monastery nearby, near a town called Crestview. There’s a demon named Saevis who was bound inside the monastery by some kind of arcanist. Now that binding is weakening. Saevis has been sending out wolves to cause pain and fear, and that helps weaken the binding.

Note: I need to learn more about arcanists in the area! I didn’t really even know what I’d bonded with for the longest time.

We learned about this by studying some of the wolves, who were attacking a merchant called Dwyer. Dwyer then introduced us to a woman called Anne. She in turn told us about a scribe named Neeta who had come from the monastery, then left again.

Note: we met Neeta! She was in a barn. I really want to talk more with her about scribing.

She told us about some tunnels that lead to the monastery. She said that’s how she got out. There might be slime monsters down there, but I think with Saraid and the Trimaldi Triad, that’ll be no problem.

What would a monastery want to do with tunnels, anyway?

Art by Patrice Long, more available here

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

Souls and Speaking Animals

Sputtermeer and Wolment (Vol XII) say that souls are everywhere, and everything is a soul or has a soul. I think of souls like tomatoes. You can have a whole tomato, you can dice tomatoes into chunks, you can purée a tomato into soup and put tomato chunks into it, and it’s all still kinda tomato in a way. You can add other stuff to the soup, or add tomato to other dishes, and it’s always some kind of distinct flavor.

Alys of Ratia wrote in her “Observances” that every soul wants to express itself somehow. Speech is a mode of expression. So are things like motion and color. She said that even things like cloth dyes have a soul of a sort. A red dye wants to be seen. It wants to be bright and exciting and attention-grabbing. I guess a tomato is red because it wants to attract attention too.

Saraid Sciury and the Trimaldi Trio are both more like natural animals than I am. I think the Trimaldis are actual raccoons. I know a lot of animals that speak, but not many that are intelligent.

Saraid said she can understand the wolves. When I call on the Mountain Book, I can understand any language. I wonder if the raccoons have their own language that they speak to each other? I think it’s probably rude to just ask out of the blue, and I don’t want to call on the Mountain Book to eavesdrop on them while they’re talking to each other. But none of that makes me any less curious!

Every soul wants to express itself. But for who and for what and why? Is every soul changed by its interactions, the way you can add other stuff to tomato soup to change its flavor? Is that what souls want? To be changed?

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

We defeated the demon, or the spirit. It was bound into the journal of a druid.

Along the way, we encountered mushroom monsters, wolves, and scared monks.

We found one monk in the pantry, for example. I’m glad we didn’t leave him behind.

The Trimaldis and Saraid fought really well against the demon. I was able to tell them all about the enemies we ran into. I did a lot of studying and listening, and I did more ritual divination stuff too. I’m not very good in a fight, but I think I’m good at helping people fight.

The Archmage and Security

I got to thinking about stuff.

The Archmagus was a bad guy. But he had an army of clankers and mechanical guys and all kinds of stuff. I sort of wonder, what would have happened if Saevis had gotten loose in the time of the Archmagus? Would the Archmagus have just crushed the demon? Bound it up again? Recruited it?

Either way, I don’t think it would have been allowed to just run loose, terrorizing people.

When there’s one big powerful bad guy, it feels like smaller bad guys don’t stand a chance.

Is there a way to get that, but without having a bigger bad guy?

We got hired to go investigate the monastery. But we were outsiders, travelers. We didn’t really belong at Central.

Is it really okay to just pay strangers a bunch of zenit and say “go risk your lives dealing with a nearby problem”?

Aren’t there better ways to keep people safe?

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

I’m carrying around a druid’s journal.

It carries a demon inside it.

I’m carrying around a demon.

I wonder what “demon” really means. Is it something tied to the Archmagus? Is it something that came before that?

I know the arcana exist, but I don’t know what they really are.

The arcana have rules. I wonder if demons have rules too?

I wonder if I tried to help Saevis, could they change? Or is it in Saevis’s nature to want to hurt people?

That would be really sad.

Was the Archmagus a demon, maybe? Or did a demon want people to be hurt, and convince the Archmagus to do that?

I wonder.

I have so many questions.

I don’t know how to answer most of those.

Would it be safe to read the journal?

I should tell my friends if I plan to do that, so they can be ready in case Saevis gets out again.

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

Dear Librarians of the Gallimaufry,

I left the Gallimaufry a long time ago. I went looking for a replacement for “The Three Fruits of Desion”. I haven’t found it yet. I am going to find it, though.

“I’m so sorry I damaged an important and valuable book. I’m really, really sorry. Please don’t hate me more than you must.”

I ended up traveling with a trio of raccoons who operate an Archmagus-type armor suit, called the Trimaldi brothers, and a squirrel-type person named Saraid, or just “Sara”. They’re all good people and I am glad I met them.

“I’m safe and nobody needs to worry about me.”

We saw a lot of stuff on the journey already. We fought a demon who was bound into a diary at Crestview Monastery, for example. I’m taking it with me to find the author, and because it would be bad to leave it on the island. I don’t think it would be good to bring it back to the Gallimaufry either, in case it got out.

I talked to some scribes and librarians at the Monastery. It was really different from the Gallimaufry, but also really the same in some ways. I don’t know if different libraries ever write letters to each other, but I think you should.

I found another book a long time ago. It held an Arcanum, and I guess it liked me enough to let me read it and come along with me. After we visited the monastery, I found another Arcanum, the Cat King, and it’s coming along with me as well. I also somehow befriended a creature named an Acorn Pixie, and it’s traveling too.

So I guess that makes eight of us. Me, the three Trimaldis, Sara, the Pixie, and the two Arcana. Thankfully we don’t have to forage and cook for everyone. I think it would probably get pretty expensive to feed the Arcana as well. On that subject, it’s really expensive to stay in a city. Rooms cost zenit, and so does food. I’m really appreciating how nice it was on the Gallimaufry.

“I miss home, but I can’t come back until I’ve made up for my mistake.”

I saw an opera about two fortresses and two people. It was very sad. I wish things had gone better for those people. I think if they had written letters to each other and let each other know what was going on, it would have been better. But I understand that’s not always something you can do.

“I’m sorry for not writing. I’m a bad person for not saying anything, but I didn’t know what to say, because I’d screwed up so badly and hadn’t fixed it yet.”

I’m still looking out for other rare books that might be good for bringing back to the Library. I’m enclosing two other things. First, notes on the Isle of Harmony, along with details about the diary that held the demon. Second, a letter from the Trimaldis. They live in a place called Trishenko. You can’t normally send mail there, but I thought maybe if you sent book-buyers or journeymen up to that area, maybe they could deliver it? The Trimaldis are looking for a new home for their people, and I want to help with that. It’s really important to have a home.

I’m traveling west, toward the Hundred City-States, Tel (where the merchant princes live), and Rozinande. I don’t know where we’re going to go, exactly, but we were asked to help people be friends as we traveled, and I’m really excited about that.

I’ll let you know when I find a replacement copy of the book. I promise I won’t stop looking.

“I’m sorry.”

– Mizzle Smoketree

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

We fought against Drakes, and then we helped Drakes.

A drake is a kind of big winged creature. I’ve read about different types of flying stuff: dragons, wyverns, drakes, wyrms, and more. I never saw one before, though. They were pretty scary. They like this particular type of thistle. So I thought, maybe they were coming down from their mountain for hunting reasons. Only we talked to the mother drake and she said this was her land, not the mountain.

We fought against someone named Halti, and she left.

I feel bad that she felt bad. But what she was doing was wrong. Halti was trying to hurt the drakes even when they were willing to stop hurting the people of this place. When the other person doesn’t want to fight any longer, you stop fighting too, right? It’s just common sense.

There were some people with Halti. Mercenaries, I guess. I don’t know why they need money so bad. Why would you put your life on the line, just to get paid? What if you die, and your family can’t see you any more? What if you get hired to fight for the wrong thing?

They didn’t seem to have any good idea of what to do next, once Halti left. I guess that’s something else that can happen when you are fighting for money, instead of an important reason.

We stopped fighting the drakes because of Enzo. Enzo came here to find out what was going on, and he did! We just sort of helped out with his situation. Enzo also got hurt, so we had to donate some of our thistle to helping him get through his situation.

Enzo got healed by Doc Thorne. She felt strongly about the thistle, because it helped her heal people. I think that’s important too. We helped her get more thistle, and I think that’ll do some good for more people.

There’s so much that happens because we forget things, or we don’t talk to each other about things.

It makes me wonder. The Gallimaufry collects a lot of books. What happens when somebody needs to know what’s inside one of those books?

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

I helped someone die.

It was an old tree. It was awake, like a person. It was being eaten, by giant termites. It was in pain.

I helped it die.

It gave us a seedling to plant, and it gave me part of its spirit.

I knew all the librarians on the Gallimaufry. I know basically what a family is supposed to be.

I only knew Grandfather Tree for an afternoon and then I took him away, by praying to a sky goddess I met.

I didn’t want him to suffer. This was supposed to be merciful. He approved of me doing it. And it was quick, just like we wanted.

It was supposed to be the best thing to do. The right thing.

So why am I crying?

---

I have a seedling now. I have to find somewhere to plant it.

It has to be somewhere safe. I can’t let anything happen to it. I can’t just put it in some soil and move on.

I have to keep moving, though, because I have to find a replacement for something else I destroyed.

Could we plant it in the elves’ forest? I don’t know. I don’t know the elves at all. I just know what I’ve read. And all of that could be wrong.

If we can get the Trimaldis’ people settled somewhere, I’d like to plant it at the center of their new community. I think we could ask them to keep it safe.

Would they really be able to? I hope so.

I learn more and more about the Archmagus. And early on, he doesn’t seem like he’s a bad guy. He made a bargain with Grandfather Oak, to give him strength.

I wonder if I’m feeling what he felt. I wonder if he started out wanting to help everyone and see everything. I wonder if it just got too much for him.

I wonder if that’ll happen to me.

I wonder if I’ll know when it happens.

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

I found a replacement for the book. Now I just need to take it home.

There’s plenty of stuff we should do on the way there.

Saraid’s first meeting with her kin went sort of okay. She met Melody, whose family didn’t want her associating with people like us. At the time, it felt kind of hurtful toward Saraid.

Their attitude made a lot more sense when we met the second one, Ambra. She keeps talking about being replaced, and she’s pretty violent and has a lot of magical power. Not everyone who shares your blood will share your attitudes, I guess.

We made a new friend, who I called Prisma. They’re a tiny, protean creature with endless curiosity and a positive outlook. Honestly, it’s really reassuring to travel with them. They sometimes get on well and sometimes badly with the Acorn Pixie, which is interesting.

I want to understand more about the spiritual world. We found out about a sorcerer called “Surdak” who’s no longer in this world, and he’s somehow tied to the aetheric substations set up by the Archmagus. In fact, those substations are off in little domains within the River of Souls! So whenever we travel to one of those, we’re where Surdak can be found. And it seems like you can travel between the substations too. So there’s a lot going on that I don’t understand.

We’re learning more about the Elonians too. They were part of the Archmagus’ forces, before they got replaced by the clanks. Now they’re militaristic jerks. Ambra is one of them, it sounds like. I think that might explain a lot about her.

I don’t know how I’m going to help calm things down. I think I need to get ahold of the Archmagus’ sigil. I know where some can be found - or where they previously were, anyhow. We need to go back there. And we need to talk to Ambra again, when she’s calmer. To do that, I need to learn how to neutralize her power. Maybe there’s an arcanum whose power I can ask for to do that?

It’s really stressful when people don’t get along with each other.

What do the Elonians actually want? What would make them happy, that wouldn’t also hurt other people?

What does Surdak want, that makes him use his undead guardian like this?

What does Ambra want, that she can get without hurting anyone?

What can I give them, to help them find peace?

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

I’m writing a letter of introduction for Rose, one of the squirrelkin. She expressed interest in the Gallimaufry, so I want to make it easy for her to visit if she wants to. I think they’ll be willing to accept my letter now that I found another copy of the book I damaged.

I’ve been re-reading my old correspondence as part of that process. I’ve learned quite a lot.

Lixana is the druid who trapped Saevus in her diary. She’s been away from her house for almost two years now. Her daughter Clove wants us to go find her, along with Clove’s uncle. There’s a Phoenix that needs to be re-awoken, and only a specific person can do it.

They journeyed to the same place the Trimaldis are from.

Clove has been fighting against Surdak, the wizard who took control of Sir Ortis that we met so long ago.

The squirrelkin were created by the Archmagus, I think. They’re children or clones or something of an original squirrelkin, “Ambra”, who the Archmagus was fond of.

There are Archmagus Sigils back on the Isle of Harmony. Part of empowering or creating the Sigils is using the Archmagus’ own power. I wonder if the squirrelkin can activate them?

We learned that demons aren’t bad, as such. They’re just part of a really foreign ecosystem. I think the right thing to do with Saevus is to take this shard back into the River of Souls and let it free. That way, it can go back to its normal existence. I think right now, it must be something like a caged animal that we’re starving. I don’t want to do that.

We haven’t heard anything about Halti. She wanted to be called Drakesbane, but I hope she finds something better to be the bane of.

I lost Grandfather Oak, and Sir Ortis. I don’t want to lose anyone else. I don’t even want to lose Halti, even though she was pretty mean.

I don’t want any of the squirrelkin to get hurt. Not even the mean Ambra. And I don’t want the Elonians to use her.

I’m carrying Grandfather Oak’s seedling. I have to find a good place for it.

I’m carrying a lot, honestly.

I’m running out of space in the backpack in my heart.