Much has happened since I ended up walking through that portal into this world of Osterra. It doesn’t feel like so long ago, but I’ve been keeping busy, especially recently, but to get to that I must recount events from months ago. I’ll start in Winter.

The Winter Council began well enough, with a King for the land crowned and a currency established. Sadly, we weren’t meant to enjoy that long. Apparently a corruption has been spreading amongst the people and only the Black Sky Company could cure their members. A well established healer, Meryn, took three of us out by the lake and asked us to try to discover what we could for a better cure. Brennan and Cadence took to meditation, trying to connect to a higher power to tell them what to do. I managed to spot a very interesting occurrence in the forest. Flowers! Blooming in the dead of winter, can you imagine? They ended up being an important part of the cure, but they also made me wonder…

I took the entirety of Spring away from the major collections of people. It was the perfect opportunity. If the plants could possibly be magical, they must be getting it from somewhere. Plants aren’t magical in and of themselves, and those red winter flowers weren’t over abundant. I asked Imra to mark some of the magical ley lines for me, to map them out. If I could plant a crop of medicinal herbs along the ley lines, would they possibly be magical? Stronger? There was only one way to find out. But why stop there? I recalled the language of flowers, taught to me in my homeland, but perhaps the ideas would apply here as well. So I spent all Spring attending to my new potentially magically strengthened garden. I managed to gather up a fair amount of the herbs by the time of the Summer gathering, enough, at the very least, to test.

Summer was eventful. Not only did Black Sky establish itself as a guild now, with several sections, but the King has granted lands to many of the more established groups. It seems like a good idea to claim some land for myself, even if I thought I’d never have to deal with land holding again, but not at the moment. There are other things to attend to. My friend Imra got the chance to run the first established shop in Osterra. The Magic Shoppe did brisk business buying many of the items of interest to be collected, but did far less sales than I believe was anticipated. I’m sure that will even out more as the currency gets more established amongst the populace. The biggest event in Summer, however, was of course the opening of the portal. All gathered around as it was opened, but none of us could have anticipated what happened. A small group of demons came through and slaughtered an astounding majority of those of us in the area. I managed to remain alive, to recount what had happened. The demons managed to leave and are now roaming. No course of action was decided upon regarding the portal, though, so it remains open. I did manage to test some of my new batch of herbs, but nothing concrete came of it. I do believe I am onto something though, and I believe I will soon have a chance to test these plants properly…

News has spread recently of a plague infecting people. I’m not certain I can develop a cure, but it seems to me that I must try. The only currently known cure is a mysterious amulet, currently controlled by Brennan, and I do not like to rely upon such things. If I can get my hands on a sample of blood from someone with this plague, I may be able to find something to help, otherwise I fear to think what may happen, relying upon magic we know not the origins or workings of.

I am left to wonder if the answer can be found in the natural world of Osterra. Or if it MUST be found there now. I will have to discuss my thoughts with Meryn. She's the most prominent healer in this land by virtue, I believe, of being one of the earliest, so it's likely she'll have an idea of what I may be able to accomplish with this theory. I may also need discuss with Brennan and the other healers, but that's a choice I will make when I must.