Skip to main content.

Written By Aelgar

Nov. 19, 2021, 12:57 p.m.(8/6/1016 AR)

New apartment, same responsibilities. Long and short is no drama, no new crises. We are still trying to arrange meetings and manage schedules, but I feel that is an endless task and so more workaday operations than a special project. I feel like I am running each day, yet there is no special recent project or event that can account for such. Maybe I just need to get out of the city more...

Written By Auda

Nov. 19, 2021, 12:30 p.m.(8/6/1016 AR)

I didn't win any of the competitions, sadly, but Saikland's wine festival was pretty fun, all in all. Particularly all the tasting. I haven't found one to compete with Lenosian Red as my favourite, but there were some good alternatives.

Written By Lucita

Nov. 19, 2021, 1:15 a.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

It was good to visit Saikland Greens once more. The vineyards were at their best, lush grapes, herbs, flowers, fruits scenting the air. The beaches stretched clean and fresh, and I got to see my oldest twins and husband for a while. A group from Arx came to tour and dabble a bit in the wine making techniques varying from picking the proper grapes to dancing in the vats to squish them into pulp and juice. They saw how difficult to handle the barrels of wine and botle it but seemed to enjoy the tasting of the many varieties.

Written By Medeia

Nov. 19, 2021, 12:25 a.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

Another trip down to Saikland was just what I needed. The wine festival was well attended, and I was delighted to see how many friends and acquaintances from the city made the trip. I hope they all had an amazing visit and enjoyed all of the hospitality the Saiklanders had to offer. So much food, and music, and learning. It was wonderful to get a chance to share my love of winemaking with so many, show off what the vintners have been doing, and host the vineyard games with Baroness Lucita and Softest Whisper Cesare.

The games were quite a success, as well! Prince Baldessare Velenosa, Lady Ivy Blackram, and Cesare each secured 5000 silver for themselves and a 10000 silver donation to the Physicians Guild, the Lodge of Petrichor, and the Disciples of Jayus. Lady Kiera Wyrmguard was a standout talent in the games, however! She claimed a prize of 10000 silver for herself, 10000 silver each for the Mercies of Lagoma and Physicians Guild, and the right to have a custom wine made to her specifications by the Saikland vintners as the crowd's favorite.

Written By Cambria

Nov. 18, 2021, 11:30 p.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

Gossip is a bit of a past time, and having a good gossip or two in your network just makes sense. It keeps you tapped in and it's the way into some of the best stories around.

Written By Ilira

Nov. 18, 2021, 11:11 p.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

Relationship Note on Cesare

Seconded.

Written By Cambria

Nov. 18, 2021, 10:55 p.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

"You weren't there, you don't know what he said to me," those were the words I was told when I came upon the scene. I confess I was a bit dubious until I finally managed to divine the truth of what had been said.

I have to admit...

Definitely would have done the same thing.

Written By Jaenelle

Nov. 18, 2021, 8:37 p.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

Relationship Note on Aureth

Please let the Dominus know I was not born yet when he had such a great idea. Ask him if he has more.

Written By Baldessare

Nov. 18, 2021, 8:31 p.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

No Label day at the Black Fox was magnificent, and should become an annual event. And I am not just saying that because somehow I got a glass from a bottle that would costs more than a small sailing vessel...

Written By Ilira

Nov. 18, 2021, 8:23 p.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

Suffice it to say, I do not sleep on a very typical schedule. Perhaps this is the reason my dreams tend toward the strange and uncanny when I do?
Last night I dreamed I was standing on the ocean floor with my head above the clouds. I saw the horizon for miles--beyond miles--as I felt the sea crash around my feet and its secrets slither between my toes. I could have seen the world from that vantage point, if it weren't for all the cloud cover. Instead, I could only feel.
I felt the wind on the ends of my hair, the rain on my palms, the mountains and trees at my fingertips, and the sand at my knees. Waves roiled around my shins. The sun and moon and stars were in my eyes, and when I needed respite I would look into the darkness between them; I distinctly remember equating it to smelling coffee grinds at a perfumier's. As the light imprinted itself upon my vision, the brilliance scattered and reformed into abstract shapes that began to flow past me in a never-ending tableau. This is the more ineffable portion of the dream, where I was aware of all my senses and could sense everything, /everything/, but that is the best I may put to words for now. I awoke as the moon moved to eclipse the sun.

No, scholar, I do not smoke haze.

Written By Bhandn

Nov. 18, 2021, 7:03 p.m.(8/5/1016 AR)

I finally managed to get my hands on those baker books that I heard murmured about at the House. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard at anything written in my life.

I can't wait to show these to the lad. He is going to murder me in my sleep when he reads the first one.

I wonder how many in the Order have read them all? I'll have to find out.

Written By Zakhar

Nov. 18, 2021, 3:36 p.m.(8/4/1016 AR)

One of the quirks of amusing conversation that has come up, where do my ideas for puzzles come from?

I can go into long detail, though instead of being forced to hold a scholar captive. It's easier to simply state for people to come and ask me directly. The muse for a puzzle can be many different items and people all at once.

Such as the largest puzzle that is still being constructed. A miniature playset of the city. thirteen puzzles in one. twelve required steps to open the final, each with their own perils if a riddle is failed.

No. there is not a buyer for it yet. It's a passion project.

Written By Zakhar

Nov. 18, 2021, 3:32 p.m.(8/4/1016 AR)

Marching a pig through the streets from the market is an amusing scenario. Especially, when the animal is all too aware of its fate.
It's much easer to send a few into the woods to get a wild one then bring it back already slaughtered.

That said, there's plenty of boar stews, pies, sausages available now.

Written By Cesare

Nov. 18, 2021, 2:09 p.m.(8/4/1016 AR)

I enjoy the early morning hours. It's probably unsurprising that they are often the only time I find truly to myself, while most of the city still slumbers and the smoke of the breakfast fires is just beginning to rise above the rooftops. The sunlight in the post-dawn hour has a surreal quality; it is not quite like those afternoon golden hours, because it is finer, paler, more rosy-hued, but there is a similar feeling, a distance from all the cares that weigh us down in the bustle of our daily lives when all our troubles and concerns come to press and crowd in on us. Usually the early mornings are when I get my most productive work done on whatever song I am writing - for a given value of productive, anyway. Sometimes it's just writing down rhymes, many of them very stupid.

I am pleased to say that Seawatch Sanctuary has a new resident. Since Mssr. Vulpiano returned to Tor, it has been a bit lonely on the upper floors. Not the lower, certainly; summer is always bustling with gardeners and visitors to the garden who have sought Lady Medeia's advice on some herb which will ease an ailment or simply make an aromatic bouquet. But it is a rather large building and one rather feels like a ghost drifting about those empty rooms by oneself, visitors or no. Additionally, my new neighbor, Gio diFidante, has proven himself entirely charming company, and if he tries to protest, do not believe him. In my meddlesome way, I am doing what I can to make his adjustment to the city easier, as I remember what a shock this place can be rather keenly. Strange to think I've only really been here a year now. A year of upheaval and change, but a year nonetheless.

It seems I am to return to Bastion again. I am glad to assist, though I admit this period of knowing little about what may be done against certain threats chafes against my desire to be moving forward. Still, Archlector Roran did advise me once that one must not pursue change doggedly at all costs, and it is advice I have taken to heart, and will do my best to continue so. There are always moments for reflection even in these times of fraught and constant turmoil. To take a breath, to cherish the small moments of stillness and beauty - the way sunlight catches on eyelashes in the morning, turning them gold - those are the moments in which I am most wholly one with the world.

Written By Aureth

Nov. 18, 2021, 1:25 p.m.(8/4/1016 AR)

Many years ago, when I ran the Murder, I had a drinks menu item that was a mystery drink, which was basically a pour from any random bottle that we had that I couldn't read the label of or that the label had been removed. I'm glad to see that high society is finally catching up with the Grayhopes.

Written By Jaenelle

Nov. 18, 2021, 7:30 a.m.(8/4/1016 AR)

Julius and the Thirteen Swings

The chill of the water shocked him as much as his decision to follow the journey he set himself on. The deeper he trekked the more his thoughts turned towards home, the Capital so alive and vibrant and each new person who came through the Black Fox doors an experience. How he missed that, waist deep in a river which wants nothing more than to suck him beneath the surface, to pull everything away once and for all.

No. Not today he tells himself as he spots what he is seeking beneath the chilly, crystal waters. The thrill of his find returning his smile as he takes a deep breath. No, he thought again, not today as he plunges towards the river bed.


Pre-order your copy soon.

Written By Jaenelle

Nov. 18, 2021, 7:14 a.m.(8/4/1016 AR)

I hosted a lovely event the other day called "No" in the Black Fox. The theme was that you came into the establishment, ordered a drink, and were informed no, you can not, and poured a glass at random. All the bottles have had their labels removed so it was truly anyone's guess what you were given. It was surely one of my favorite moments being a hostess!

We shall see if the new bartender can determine what the bottles actually are as I'm not sure many people will enjoy the game for the next month. Who knows though!

Written By Aureth

Nov. 17, 2021, 10:27 p.m.(8/3/1016 AR)

Lady Sylvie Zaffria, once the Duchess Whisper, has returned to the city of Arx after a storied disappearance ten years or so ago, and I find that the lady is resplendent as the last day I saw her. I believe the last time I saw her, before she vanished, she consulted with me about the design of a building I was devoted to developing at the time: the Shrine to the Queen of Endings, which now stands in the Sanctum of the Lost, and any grace in its design I credit to her art and inspiration, whereas anything you don't like about it is probably my fault.

Unless you just can't stand the spiders, but there's really no helping that.

Written By Raymesin

Nov. 17, 2021, 7:08 p.m.(8/3/1016 AR)

I'm wondering what was going on at the Black Fox, Scholar. They were saying that the barmaid was Jaenelle Velenosa, the Archduchess herself. Either they were trying to see if folks'd fall for it, or the barmaid lost a bet.

Written By Ramona

Nov. 17, 2021, 4:59 p.m.(8/3/1016 AR)

Why are we feeding wolves, Archlector Giada? After a long moment of consideration (in this instance, I am hoping this is just an analogy) I think the wolf that is being fed is the wolf that has been tamed, and is now defending its resource - its ally. Unless, that wolf isn't really a wolf. It might be something worse. If so, then the wolf attacking the home is an actual wolf - behaving as wolves ought. That would be the one winning, I posit.

Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.

Leave blank if this journal is not a relationship

Mark if this is a private, black journal entry