March 24th
It is a good thing I ran out of pages in my journal recently, I have had to start this one again. I have only lost about 3 weeks of information to water damage, which I will quickly summarize here because what those weeks led up to was most fascinating. It all started when Griffin and I began searching for a large bear that he told me he had seen. I was unsure as to what its abilities may look like, I still do not know. When he saw it for the first time, he noted the archaic markings on its fur. It was covered in strange symbols, arching lines of red and orange. It had taken us several weeks to try to capture it and the closest that we got was today’s attempt. I had gotten it to chase me through the woods, lumbering along at a quick pace, but I was still managing to outrun it, when I tripped and stumbled. I righted myself before I fell to the ground and continued sprinting away from the beast, but in my brief confusion, I missed the turn in the preorganized path we had laid out. By this point, I was running out of energy and my legs were growing tired. I had been steadily ascending a slope for the past three minutes of running and I had failed to notice that I was at the wrong place. I was sprinting as hard as I could, looking at the ground below my feet, when suddenly I burst through the edge of the trees and began to fall. I had unknowingly ran over the edge of the cliff overlooking Lake Eleanor and was then falling towards what I imagined was my inevitable death. I hit the water and plunged like a knife down into the depths. The sudden impact had shocked my body and my already exhausted legs refused to kick. As I was looking desperately up at the sun on the surface of the water, while my lungs screamed for air and the world slowly narrowed around me, something swam in front of the light. I saw a flash of scales and wavy ginger hair floating through the water, cutting through the fading color palette around me, and then suddenly with great force, I was thrust out of the water and landed on the shore. That was the clearest, crisp air that I had ever felt in my life as I coughed water from my lungs and vomited onto the sand. I looked back at what had saved me and saw, to my horror, a scantily clad woman poking out of the water. She had long, dark red hair, which clung to her shoulders and neck, and had strange markings all over her face and arms. The markings looked to be scales and as I stared at her, some of the scales emitted a flash. She looked at me, puzzled, as if expecting a response and I watched as that confusion turned to worry and then she suddenly whirled and dove beneath the water. I rushed to the edge and looked into the water but I could not see her anywhere.
I was fascinated by her. A woman in the lake had saved me and then descended into the depths of the water. I am equal parts intrigued and disgusted by her. Her attire is very inappropriate, yet setting that aside, she has been under the surface of the water for well over 20 minutes. No human can hold their breath for that long, which means this woman must be able to breathe somehow while under the water, which means she is not human. And if she is not human, that means she is a monster who has taken the form of a human. And if it is a monster, then I want to capture it and examine it. Maybe open it up and see how it is able to take another’s form? I hardly have any clue what it could be, but one thing is certain, it is bizarre.
March 24th
I have regrouped with Griffin and it seems Shadow has restrained the bear. We examined it but could not find anything out of the ordinary. Weirdly, the marks on the bear’s fur were just paint.
My gear is soaked. I am lucky I did not lose my monocle.
March 25th
It seems there are stories about aquatic creatures called mermaids, which have been spotted all over the northern seas. Stories tell of charming maidens luring fishermen to their demise and feasting on their flesh. This makes one thing certain, regardless of if this monster is taking the form of a human or if it is in its natural form, it is a monster and should be dealt with accordingly. The strength with which the monster tossed me out of the lack was immense, any attempts to capture or subdue would likely be in vain, but I do have one thing going for me, it did not immediately attack me. If the stories about bloodthirsty mankillers are accurate, why did it not drown me and eat me? I suppose the only way is to capture it and dissect it so that I may get a clear understanding of its diet.
No, that would not work, what if it is unaware of the taste of a human? I did not know how good salmon tasted until I tasted it, the same must be true for that beast. Additionally, if it is indeed a mermaid, how on earth could it have gotten here?
March 26th
I went to the lake today and dove into the water. It was incredibly cold, I must not have noticed how cold it was. That beast must not get cold easily, its clothing is… minimal, to say the least.
This is only the second time I have ever actually been in the lake. Aside from the cold, it was not unpleasant. The lake goes very deep, easily reaching 40 or 50 feet down at its deepest point. I might have spotted the mermaid a few times out of the corner of my eye, but I''m not sure. I think it''s following me around, watching what I am doing.
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I could not hold my breath for very long, so my dives were limited to about 4 minutes at a time, heavily limiting what I was able to see. The center of the lake is perhaps the deepest part, and I am not able to see what is there. There is a sort of structure hidden below the waterfall. I would have guessed it to be a rudimentary shelter, but that doesn’t quite describe it. I did not get a good view of it, which was rather disappointing.
March 27th
I planted that weird seed today. I stumbled across it in one of my dresser drawers this morning and decided to plant it by the lake. Nothing of note happened. Griffin went to the lake and dove into it a few times. I then went back to the manor but Griffin stayed at the lake for a while.
It is almost as if reality is catching up to me. For the past few weeks I have felt... I do not know how I have felt. I do not feel like myself at the moment. I do not know what to do with myself. It feels as if a great calamity has befallen me. Perhaps Archibold’s death is affecting me more than I thought it would. I have avoided great physical injury for so long, and with such ease. Why did Archibold’s only run-in with a monster have a fatal end? One day he was here, the next he was not. Luck has been on my side for now, but for how long will fortune be smiling down on me? How much can I do, how far can I go? I have decided to make the most of my time, for I truly have no clue how long that time might last. Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, I will attempt to capture the mermaid. I will not stop there. I will seek out more monsters to examine. These monsters, this knowledge, is surely God’s gift to me, and I will not squander it. No, I dare not refuse such opportunities, for I have no idea when this might all go away. When the day will come when there are no more monsters in the land, when there is nothing new to find. I fear for when that day shall approach. If then. If then, what shall I do with my life? What shall I do to pass the time? These monsters are all that I have, what will replace their presence in my life? Should that time approach, I will need to seek out some other distraction. I can only pray that day never comes.
March 28th
That Scrying Tortoise could be very useful to me, but I will need to test out a few things first. Which is what I did today. The first thing I did was more closely examine how its shell seems to work. I started off the day by tracking down one more in the forest, not too hard to do. No more than a single section of the tortoise’s shell is linked to another individual, each section connects to a different tortoise. This of course must raise the question of what is linking them together, but that is not a question I will be able to answer right away. Interestingly, actually, I found two scrying tortoises today. The second one that I found is not linked to any of the other tortoises that I have, so it is of no use to me, but I have still decided to keep it nonetheless. Tangent aside, what I proceeded to do was place one of the creatures in a dark room with Griffin and I held the other out in the sun. Griffin told me that there was significant illumination, but not nearly as bright as the sun. He compared it to the fireplace.
This is incredible! Light that goes in one shell is able to come out the other without losing too much brightness. It is like a tunnel, or a window? Of course, I am calling it a scrying tortoise because it brings to mind the act of seeing something in a stone or crystal. I would say I doubt it exists, but I am no longer 100 percent certain. However, I am still fairly sceptical. Anyways, if I could make a pocket of air under the water, I could take one of the tortoises with me and have a light source to see deeper. I found from the snake monster that when one of the tortoises dies, the connected scutes go dark. This necessitates keeping the tortoise alive while it is underwater, thus the air pocket.
Blast! I cannot think of any way to get an air pocket below water. The main problem would be buoyancy. Any sort of container that could trap air would require an incredible amount of weight to keep it submerged, something that I am not capable of doing.
What is happening? That is strange, why am I writing out what I am thinking? Where am I? I am in a basement. There is a table in front of me with some sort of creature on it. It has a blobby appearance. It is gross. Disgusting. The torchlight hurts. Oh lord, my head hurts. I have to get out of this room.
Well this is interesting. Outside of that room, some sort of laboratory, I think, is a hallway with drawers set in the walls. My word this is interesting. There are vials and jars. Spikes, piles and piles of rope. Who has a need for so much rope? A journal? No, a notebook? It is full of sketches. What are these? A deer? Wait, it has three eyes, that''s odd.
Something feels so strange. I am writing all of this purely with muscle memory, it feels like. My hand is positively zooming across the page. Wait, this writing looks similar to the writing in that journal. It is not quite the same though, who am I? What happened to me, and why do I have no memory. Oh that is better, I just noticed a cloth tied around my mouth, now I can breathe properly after I took it off.
Let’s see where this hallway goes. A staircase. I am inside a house. It is a huge house. Large, ornate banisters on the stairs in the main entrance. Paintings of a man are hanging on the wall above the stairs. He looks cold. Angry. Wait, there is one of him that looks happy. Who is that woman beside him? She looks timid. She has long blonde hair and a long, black and blue dress. She looks refined, regal even. The man next to her, he actually looks genuinely happy. He is much younger, about the same age as the woman. His face looks youthful.
This house is huge, I can tell, but it looks a little under cared for. The intricately patterned wooden floor is covered with scratches and worn from use. The chairs at the dining table are slightly chipped, the seats slightly stained. There is the occasional hint of disrepair here and there. There are hand carved figurines on shelves. Carved to look like wolves or birds, smaller than a fist. Some stuff is organized, almost lovingly tidied up, but some stuff is cast aside, uncared for. But most intriguing, where are the occupants? I have not seen a single soul in the several minutes that I have been wandering this house.
Oh my god what is that beast?? I peered into one of the bedrooms and saw a great wolf staring back at me with unholy glowing red eyes. Is that what happened to the owners of this house? No one, not even a madman would let a creature like that into their home willingly. But if the occupants were killed, why, or how, am I still her~~
And I’m back.