The Second Friga of Sunna

Dear diary,
 
Following the prophecies of my family friend Amariel has led me, and the scoundrels I am travelling with, in to a pickle in Fourways. It seems that the local ruler Mario Durante is under a threat of assassination. In proper dramatic form befitting these people, they threaten him on his birthday of all days. Durante's son and the spouse of Tarja Lovesjel, Vincent Durante, seems to have taken the initiative and hired us to investigate and stop his father's looming murder.
 
For the sake of diplomatic relationships between my people and theirs, I truly hope we can do something about this. We don't need warmongering fools bringing down the peace we've built. Father, I wish I could ask you for advice, although I know what you'd say. You'd tell me to stay out of politics. And rightly so. Right now I'm almost certain I've bitten off more than I can chew and I'm just hoping I don't end up hanging from a length of rope with these criminals I've chosen to ally myself with.
 
Kon almost got himself added to the "hanging garden" by the gallows by listening to our criminally minded individuals. Even the priest Darvin got roped in to their plans. I truly hope he learned his lesson. The others had helped him steal artifacts from an auction we were at, but once the doofus got himself caught, they abandoned him to his fate. Honor among thieves my arse. I gave the guards a talking to and raised some hell on the very shady nature of the business dealings in their establishment. The establishment saved face by letting our monk go, but Fate doesn't weave many of these strokes of luck in the web of our lives. Sooner or later, luck runs out.
 
Oh well. At least I managed to convince Lord Vincent to at least give us some provisions to arm ourselves with. Seeing as these hopeless gits around me are more likely to gamble the money away than make proper investments, I'm sitting on our meager 'hoard' for now. Let them think of me as a fire breathing dragon if they wish. I believe everyone got something useful in the end, although I'm hoping that arming the gnome with traps and whatnot won't come to bite us in the rear in the end.
 
Speaking of lack of Honor. Eldove attempted to sell me another forgery of melf's acid arrow. Some day she is going to sign the sigils of a wizard that is currently alive and well and she is going to come to a very acute understanding as to why even thinking about forging magic scrolls is a horrible idea. If I don't get to her first, that is. She is doing everything in her power to enrage me. She even assaulted my mind with an Enchantment spell of some sort. Fortunately my mind is not some open door. This perfectly illustrates why the practice of hardening your will against mental attacks is so important to a wizard. It is because Enchantment spells are by far practiced by those who should never have access to magic to begin with. Manipulators, liars and immoral fiends that care nothing for anyone but themselves. I detest the idea of robbing someone of their own will, even if they have an arse for a face. Ugh, I'm reminded of that pervert Arnfinn Geving... I don't know if I can relax in a public bathhouse again. Here is hoping the absolute beating I gave him in our wizard's duel has smacked any sense in to him.
 
Just thinking about what kind of slimeballs wield actual magical might in these so called civilized societies makes me furious.
 
In brighter news, I have taken the time and the all too valuable inks and components to scribe down the Alarm spell. And I'm making progress toward my modifications on Melf's Minute Meteors. I call it Halla's Glacial Comets. Quite similar in practice, but drawing from the Elemental Cold instead of Fire. The geometry of the runes and sigils still require some tuning, as I haven't been able to create a shard of ice that would hold enough elemental energy to be anywhere near dangerous, and I would need at least six of these, hovering around me at my will. The theory is solid however. I think I'm getting closer.
 
As a side effect, I'm getting some practice in fine tuned elemental manipulation of water, which might be useful in itself once I get a good hang of it.
 
I've also put some time aside to study Alchemy in practice while my companions are out investigating this lead we have on a troupe of actors that are supposed to perform during Durante's birthday. It's a great logic exercise and a good distraction from the otherwise worrisome situation. And I firmly believe that the pursuit of these natural sciences is going to give me a broader view of magical phenomena as well. Simply put, Knowledge is power.
 
And it doesn't hurt if I can make some scented soap for my companions.
 
Since we are such a numerous bunch, I've given some thought to travel fortifications in the wilderness. I call this design the Rimefort.
The dark squares stand for 5 foot blocks of earth.
The letter H stands for a 5 foot hole in the ground.
With some practice it should take me some two and a half minutes to create or dispose on a suitable patch of terrain.
It features 5 foot inner walls of earth and a moat that can be manned and used for shelter and patrols and sparsely placed outer walls for increased cover against outer threats. And one could stick hooks and lanterns on those blocks of earth for increased vision.
The moat makes it difficult to climb the inner wall, as ten feet is quite a bit more than five.
And the Alarm spell should reach the outer walls, making our little fort more secure.
I'm pretty happy with this one. I will show it to Grandpa Sven when I next see the old codger.
 
[See image below]
https://i.imgur.com/NHhIpdj.png