27 Uktar

  Winter has finally arrived properly, that means the roads in the city are either covered in a layer of ice, or a pretty hefty amount of snow. There are efforts to clear it regularly, but that really only covers the more major thoroughfares until at least a few days of the people living or working on the smaller streets clearing them.

  Now that I’m almost eight years old, I’m actually considered big enough to help somewhat with shovelling. I’m currently sore all over as I write this, shovelling and pushing snow around is a real full body workout. All we’re doing is pushing it out of sections into larger and larger piles for people to either come melt with magic or transport into the harbours.

  On the bright side, exhausting as it is, it’s repetitive and simple. I was able to leave my body mostly on autopilot while I focused on the workshop instead. Not that there’s actually a ton of work needing to be done beyond pacifying the bugs as they get taken out of their drawers for their regular milking.

  It’s unfortunate that the roads outside the city are never really cleared though, since it makes travelling a nightmare. The Lizardfolk are unlikely to be able to make their pretty regular travel journeys again, which means that our poison sales will have to take a break. Can’t really tell people that they are getting collected from hunting missions when those hunters aren’t visiting the city more than once or twice a month at most.

  Instead, I have my minions assistants working on something I need to get done soon.

  I need a sponsor, a wizard who can work as my proxy. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, simply someone who will put a few signatures down and write a letter or two for me and can help take the money we give them to be paid as a scholarship.

  Naturally, I can’t actually go looking for that myself, but the lizardfolk have operated in the city for years, relying on people willing to work with them as liaisons with others who would otherwise reject them. It ends up being a matter of waiting, as well as a nominal fee. The money isn’t of much consequence, though, and is only paid if things go well with the scheme. They have around three months before I’ll be realistically able to apply and start my learning, so even with the city slowing down as much as it will for winter, they should get someone.

  11 Nightal

  Howldown has come and gone. Pelsot enjoys the hells out of it, him and his group going around doing some mock fights against some dressed-up adults pretending to be monsters. I actually saw that warrior from Penelope’s Nose, the one that uses illusions to disguise herself. I should probably try and actually get her name at some point, we were never actually introduced.

  She certainly remembers us, though, or at least me. I elected not to volunteer myself to fight the person who disguised herself as some sort of ogre twirling around a sword much longer than I was tall like it was a baton. Pelsot lacks self-preservation though, which meant he came home smiling, covered in bruises and a light limp.

  Somehow, I’ve ended the day perhaps worse off. When we all came home, planning to warm up by the fire, I made the mistake of listening to Jespa and trying to pet Neeshka. That damn cat took offence to it and clawed up my left hand again, so much so that Jespa basically had to drag the mangy thing off of me before I threw it into a wall.

  Seriously, that thing is like a tiny furred demon sometimes. Jespa starts crying, though, whenever I bring up the idea of tossing it back out to the streets where the feral thing belongs, so I’ve stopped doing it in her presence. Sadly, Virla seems to also recognize how much Jespa cares about Neeshka, so no such luck.

  I’m just lucky I write with my right hand, even if the cursive is dubious. I doubt I’d be able to write at all with how much the cuts hurt.

  24 Nightal

  Fucking Pelsot managing to ruin my winter.

  Pelsot, Jesler, and Felpirn had the bright idea to make a snow ramp to see who could get the best airtime sledding. There was a warehouse that had a huge pile of snow built up next to it, so they would climb up onto the roof to get a big runup before coming down close to street level. I told the idiots it was a bad idea, but the boys had actually convinced a number of the others in the group it was “mostly safe”.

  So naturally, you had dozens of kids climbing up onto a roof and trying to get as much speed as they could before launching into the air. One of them managed to go further than anyone else had really expected.

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  Jesler certainly flew through the air. Straight through a fucking window. The tavernkeeper was far from impressed, nor were the people in the middle of eating lunch who got covered in broken glass and a reckless eleven-year-old with his sled. News travelled quickly, of course, including to Virla and Tulgor.

  Pelsot was waiting like a man awaiting his execution for much of the afternoon as one of the ringleaders who egged people into doing it. We all knew that something was bound to come; this was a bit more than the typical fare for nuisance and troublemaking he tended to get into.

  Unfortunately, somehow, both Jespa and I got pulled into the punishment as well despite being spectators and how I had very much vocalized an objection to their plan.

  Virla wants Pelsot, and us by extension, to start volunteering at a temple over the winter and probably well into the spring. Something about them teaching us some moral values and providing an outlet for our hyperactive antics towards something productive. She also said the Font doesn’t count, which is likely directed almost entirely at me and slightly towards Jespa, given how we voluntarily spend time there.

  I didn’t exactly have a lot of options. Other than the Font, the only other temple or holy place I haven’t wanted to bolt from as quickly as I could was the Hospice of St. Lauspenn, so that’s where I said I’d be volunteering. I think Virla was pretty surprised by that answer, but she wasn’t actually about to argue against me picking a place I actually wanted to help at.

  What they’d actually have a seven year old do to help I’m not sure, probably cleaning or something. The only downside to that is that it isn’t actually close to the workshop, but I didn’t exactly have an option I’d be willing to pick that’s actually very close to here.

  29 Nightal

  Well, volunteering today was… more than I was actually expecting going into things. Virla had two instructions that were given before we all headed out for the day. The first was that we were to volunteer with whomever of the local clergy wanted our help while being on our best behaviour. The second was to try and learn at least three things about either the deity the temple was dedicated to or about the priesthood.

  The former was pretty active for me, all things considered. The hospital was still plenty busy, with people getting pretty nasty flus, people slipping on the icy streets, or people falling off their rooftops trying to clear the snow off of them. All sorts of things that I didn’t really think much about. I can’t really track people nearly as well with the cold killing the bugs that go outside.

  It wasn’t as if I was actually physically able to do a ton, so mostly I was either helping carry linens to be used or to be taken and cleaned, or I was running messages back and forth. Updates on treatments or requests for supplies, that kind of thing. Once I knew what some of the insignias for the different ranks at the church were, it wasn't too hard to figure out who was actually important and needed to be talked to.

  On the learning side of things, Ilmater is something of a complex nature. For a god of suffering, there’s actually a lot of theological debate on the nature of taking on burdens or lessening the pain of others. Naturally, if someone is injured, it’s a good idea to heal them, but how does that extend to the more abstract sort of suffering? They also help organize and run the equivalent of soup kitchens in the city, but there’s often some debate as to whether or not simply handing out free food is actually always helpful or simply creates some dependency.

  The solution is, naturally, that they also do their best to help the homeless and needy with more than just food, helping them find work or fulfilling activities they can do to help others. Plenty of the people that volunteer to help feed the poor are actually the poor themselves rather than the priesthood, who end up busy healing at the temple.

  There’s also some interesting distinction between purposefully feeling pain for its own sake or ritualistically experiencing it in order to be closer to Ilmater. He’s often depicted and bloody and bruised, taking the punishment and pain for as many people as he possibly can. Some parts of the clergy practice self-flagellation, but then there are some objections to such a practice, with the claim that it places one closer to Loviatar, the Lady of Pain and rival to Ilmater. It would simply be better for them not to purposefully make themselves suffer more when they could instead be helping the world to emulate Ilmater.

  That’s not even getting into the complexities of how they view self-defense or even just the general violence that can occur in this world. Is it right to harm a bandit who is bound to harm others as well as the faithful? To harm another is in some ways opposite to Ilmater’s ideal to take on the suffering of others, but if inaction would cause greater suffering, then isn’t it right to defeat the evils of the world?

  Honestly, this is all sort of interesting for me; mom and dad had basically not been religious at all when I was growing up. I never went to church or heard sermons, nor even read the bible beyond a single event where I idly skimmed one while waiting for something. It reminded me a little bit of the PRT manuals, especially in regard to hostages or victims of master influence. If someone is clearly being controlled, but they are trying to kill you, what sort of force is appropriate? When are you obligated to retreat rather than stand your ground to fight?

  Suffice to say, the Hospice wasn’t such a bad place for me to be made to volunteer at. There’s something satisfying about seeing your work directly helping people. It helps that the discussions there are engaging; it sort of reminds me of when I’m studying with Orsik.

  Pelsot, meanwhile, managed to sort of fail in his second task. He was able to list things he learned, but it seems like a lot of propaganda about how great the “forces of good” are and how Lathander sets bad people on fire. Did he not realize the entire point was about learning to be better people or something? I suppose that time will tell how long it takes him to actually realize the expectations.

  Winter has arrived, and the year comes to a close. This is the end of 1484 DR, or 453 NR as Taylor would write it. People more familiar with Faerun's timeline might recall the importance of 1485, seeing as it's when the Second Sundering really starts to kick off.

  In more personal news though, Tayvra turns 8 in a few months (the equivalent of February), meaning that she gets to try out for wizard school soon. That means she gets to see if she has the potential to be a wizard or not.

  Some might say I'm being a little mean to Pelsot here, but lets be frank. He's a 10 year old boy who doesn't have enough sense and is easily awed by knights in cool metal armour and wizards shooting fire out of their hands, which is pretty typical for his age group.

  I'm also happy I got to write a bit about Ilmater, mostly because I think him and his faithful are neat. He's certainly a god more worthy of venerating compared to most options.