One Long Series of Awkward Conversations

Raiya is alive! I need to tell Flicker and Wolf! Oh my god, I was so sure that she was dead, I can’t believe this! I… can’t believe this. I need to make sure its really her. She mentioned that castle she saw in the dream, but… Canarie and that orc guy were both there for that. What if it’s a trick by Glasstaff or the dragon guys so that we stop searching for her? I need to be sure, I owe that to Raiya. Should I tell Wolf and Flicker now? Probably, they deserve to know. But… Flicker was so desperate to believe that Raiya is okay. If I tell them now and it ends up being a trick… I’ll know for sure tomorrow and then I can tell them. One day doesn’t make a difference, right? ...right?
 
The talk with Flicker went well, I’m glad she wants to stay with the others. And I get where she’s coming from with the caution, but… I mean, if we’re going to all travel together, we need to at least kind of get along. And everyone keeps acting like I’m the leader (which, ridiculous) so I should at least try to soothe tensions.
 
I’m not sure if I handled the Halia thing the right way. I mean, Wester is incompetent for sure, but… at least I know what to expect with him. Halia seems sketchy and I’m sure she’s got bigger plans in motion. Hell, maybe she was the one working with the Redcloaks if they didn’t steal from her. I think that Flicker had the right idea telling Toblen and having him spread it around. Halia seems… dangerous, and this way we aren’t really picking a side (though I’m sure that won’t be an option for long).
 
I… What… How… “I wasn’t planning to consume you.” I mean... I mean... Fuck.
 
Well, trying to lead went about as well as I expected. I think I might have yelled at Damaia a bit, I hope there aren’t any hard feelings. I just… fuck, it’s so stressful being the one making the decision. I think we got to a good place in the end though. Protect the town (and us) first, worry about killing the dragon second.
 
I seems like Fortune knows something about a cult of Talos connected to the lighting pig. It sounds like he’s on a similar path of justice (vengeance? justice sounds better) which is… nice? It makes me feel a little less alone, at least. Plus, maybe he has some sort of information that can help me find answers.
 
Also, talking about cults made me think about that letter from Pumba where he talked about Uluran Mortis and a cult of Myrkul! Like, how did I forget that! He was a smuggler who killed his father or something that Pumba asked us to look into. It’s all connected! Everything! But… it also doesn’t actually give us any new information. Man, I never realized there was so much intrigue going on below the surface of Phandalin. In the short time I’ve been back we’ve learned about a death cult, a pig cult, an evil wizard mob boss, and at least one crime syndicate. Hopefully we can try to meet up with that cleric of Tymora soon and she can shed a bit of light on all this.
 
Wow, Flicker really took what I said to heart and, like, mission accomplished. She was perfectly smooth and it was way less awkward for everyone involved. Have I actually been secretly good at this leading and talking to people stuff all along and never realized it? I mean, my advice worked so well. “I wasn’t planning to consume you.” Nope, my soul is leaving my body again, I’m the most awkward person that’s ever lived.
 
A wizard! Here in Phandalin! Setting up a magic shop! This is so cool, I wonder what other sorts of stuff he’ll sell? I mean, wizard spray! A spray used by wizards! The others don’t seem as enthusiastic and he clearly has some sort of complicated history with Eethyl, but, like, still! A wizard! I can’t wait to visit his shop when it opens, I wonder if he’ll sell any books? Finally, somewhere in town I can spend all this money!
 
I was definitely right about being able to learn from Eethyl, he knows so much about magic. I could barely even keep up with all the stuff he was saying about, like, the ‘weave’ and lost schools of magic and primordials and stuff. I’ve always assumed that wizards (and I guess bards and artificers too, but in a less cool way) were the only spellcasters whose magic really came from them, and everyone else just, like, channeled it from something else. But maybe that’s not really how it works, I mean, I barely understand any of this stuff. I should try and keep an open mind, especially if Eethyl is willing to teach me more about it.