Entry: 2/051

Dear self,

My sprint through the forest was not an easy thing. The Rift was over an hour away at a normal pace. I periodically slowed from tiredness, but my haste and the biting cold spurred my limbs into fire. It became easier to ignore the hunger, though I do not know which of that or the winter affected me more. I Had only missed breakfast and lunch but already I was pained by the sensation. The running made it worse, and it was hard to keep chanting the ritual.

I was using the bottle of Stargleam for an infusion affect. I intended to use the Stargleam to place a temporary charm on everyone who isn’t the Outer being. I chose Stargleam in the hopes I could make its affect general enough to subject anyone born beneath the stars of our Realm to its essence. Knowing how insidious the Interloper was I had little faith in being able to target it directly in a timely manner. Anything I use against it would have to be across a wide area.

I am not exactly talented in manifesting effects widely in an area external to my body. The best I can do is through my Levinspark potion and hope it strikes the entity and manages to damage it. While I knew that it has tendrils spread across an area I knew little else about it.

The first thing I spotted was one of the little robed folk lying on the ground. I stumbled not them to quickly check their condition. They were fine but winded. I told them to start preparing the banishing ritual immediately and ran past without looking back. The Stargleam was already seeping into them.

There was mist everywhere. Mother was ducked beneath a tree strangling the mole while another pair of the robed folk were helping each other up from the ground. I ran towards the mole fighting Mother and tripped.

Getting back up felt like it took longer than my entire run here. I had tripped over seemingly nothing, but my theory is that I had stumbled over a tendril that reacted too slowly to my approach. Mother was raging a little against the monster mole, but she seemed fine dealing with it for now. It seemed more resilient than powerful as it kept slipping through fingers and ignoring attacks, but it equally dealt no significant arm. The mist it produced roiled in the environment doing not much of anything I could see.

I let the Stargleam pour out and seek out subjects. The others were gracious enough to heed my shouted orders to draw in to the flowing essence. I then turned to the Levinspark potion apprehensively. I didn’t know where specifically the Interloper was, other than it being drawn towards this area surrounding the Rift. Frantic and emotional rituals can often have empowering effects, so I wove a few very needed cantrips into the potion before throwing it onto the ledge near the Rift and hoping for the best.

I couldn’t decide whether to throw myself to the ground or not while watching the moment of that bottle sailing though the air towards an unassuming patch of ground. The amount of intent I had focused into that working had been worryingly concentrated. My only comfort was that the Solacium would encourage anything that might deal with the Interloper.

Lightning cracked across the ground and spread throughout the area. Here was no waiting for a delayed thunder as the electricity struck trees ad earth and narrowly avoided me and the others. The intent had not been perfect, and a few very painful jolts sprung off from the larger mass of energy to strike at me, but the greater mass would have killed me outright.

The thing had been revealed. It’s webs of roots and tendrils writhed and shook violently. The lost their camouflage and even swelled from the power coursing through them. The partially ethereal things were woven around most things and even seeing them I could feel how they rapped around my leg and thighs. The wrestle between Mother and the monster halted as they both stared in surprise. The warlocks instantly started coordinating their banishing spell while the entity struggled to recover its stealth.

The invocation token laid where one of the little wizards had thrown it at the monster the previous day. I picked it up and slammed it into the thickest bunch of tendrils near me as they hastened their spell. A great deal of resonance rang out as the entity vanished from sight in a thunderous flash. A thrumming sound continued for a few moments afterwards from the spell being augmented by the very Solacium itself.

Writing all that down felt extremely cathartic. I basically collapsed afterwards from placing too much Vis into infusing that potion. The rest was dealt with without nearly as much passion. Containing the mole was still dangerous , yes, but after having the Solacium itself intervene in our banishing spell our other struggles just felt so much more trivial in comparison.

Hope we fare well.

Regards,

Me.

~*M*~