BelSon's Public Journal

[10 May 2020]
I acquired a journal today. Other seekers I've met around the place have told me that I learn faster if I write down my daily happenings. Learning sounds good, so I acquired this journal in order to help myself out a little.

About a week ago, I had another seeker agree to make me a journal, and they contacted me this morning via carrier pigeon to inform me that it was ready. I headed to the buyers corner to put up a notice to inform the other seeker where I wanted it delivered to, and left 12 silver near the notice. I then went back home to break my fast of the night before, and take care of my animals.

I have a full little ranch outside my back porch. I have six animal pens, and they are taken up by a cow and 5 chickens. I'm getting a steady stream of eggs from the chickens, and I intend to use them as breakfast every day. I did eat an egg breakfast, but not from my own eggs - there were some delicious meals in the restaurant a while ago that I purchased, and I'm still going through those. I've only 10 left, so I'll soon need to start cooking some for myself.

After checking on my animals and collecting six eggs, I headed back to the market to see if my payment had been picked up, and I found that it indeed had. Not only that, but there was a brand new, grail quality journal lying there. I'm so glad that no one took the journal. And I hope my supplier took the money and not some thief! I also noticed that the Minister of Finance had left a tax notice - either the minister himself or one of his servants - of 24 bronze. I hadn't yet paid it, but I will have to before I next leave the town.

I then headed over to the hospital. I had recently gone on an expedition to the monastery, and felt quite battered and bruised from all the filthy villains I'd encountered on the trip. However, somehow, I made it out in one piece. The purpose of my hospital expedition was to heal myself up - but I saw that the Monk could use some help, and so I spent my energy helping out instead. It took all afternoon, and by the time I arrived back home it was getting late. I've just managed to get this all written down by candlelight, but now I am exhausted and need my rest.

I'll be back and doing more journaling tomorrow.

[11 May 2020]
I woke this morning to a jangling of bells. The town crier was saying something. At first I couldn't quite make out what, my ears were still waking up. But then as the voice became clearer, I started to hear what was being said:


My yawn slowly turned into a smile, and then into a shout for joy. Spero had won again! I instantly jumped out of my bed, and started my day.

A delicious egg meal for breakfast, and then out to the ranch. My animals, good as always, were still around. My cow was ready for milking, and I found four eggs. No spectacular yields overnight, but still a good constant stream of food.

I then went down to the local sporting fields. They aren't really fields, but rather patches of land that haven't yet been claimed for anything. I spotted three areas set up for the grailympics (there always are three, this week is no different). Moving in to inspect each area, I noticed that the first area had some hops and barrels. When enquiring as to the goal, I was informed that competitors had to brew some hops into beer, move the barrels to a local bar, and then drink it, and whoever could do so while keeping their drink down was one who would do well in this competition.

Moving on, I saw signs pointing to the competition at the local river. What exactly was happening down there? Well, from what I could tell, competitors had to make a basic cannon (that worked), and a small boat (that floated). The cannons would be loaded onto the boats then fired to test the workmanship of both. That looked far out of my depth, and so I trudged on towards the first area to see if I could do anything there.

On my way back, I passed through the market, and saw that a corner had been set aside for this week's Farmer's Market competition. It looked like they had to harvest and sell some produce, and competitors were marked on sales and quality. That didn't catch my eye, so I continued back to the first area.

I'll spare you the details, but my beer was horrible, and that was after the transportation! I can't say I'll never do that one again, but it certainly wasn't my best performance ever. After making sure that the grail scorekeepers had my score (although it was clearly worse performance than the top three already), I stumbled off towards the hospital.

The hospital looked clean and inviting as I approached. (I say it looked as such, but it was probably just compared to the area I had come from.) I must say, the slower pace felt nice and relaxing. I offered some of my services to the monk, and then went to work on taking care of myself after the monastery walk a couple days ago.

It wasn't a fast job, but it wasn't overly difficult. As the afternoon was drawing to a close, I wandered back towards the animal area of the town. I wasn't quite done for the day, but I was too tired to work more on healing. So, I went to the animal pens and looked at the notice of what needed doing. I saw that the chickens needed some care, so I helped out a little there then headed back home.

Today wasn't that bad a day. I am remembering that I do have a soup order I need to fill, but it may take me a few days to get back to that. I'll have to see if I feel fully healthy soon.

I may not have learned much today, but if there's one thing I remember, I need to be careful with my beer making.

[12 May 2020]
Eggs again for breakfast. These eggs just don't get old. In fact, I feel a little healthier every day that I start with eggs. They must be doing wonders to my insides.

Went to check on the animals immediately after breakfast. They were out and about, as always, but still restricted to their pens. The cow wasn't ready for milking, nor were there any eggs. But the animals are still chugging along happily, ever growing and producing more.

I wasn't feeling quite recovered from my travels to the monastery, so I went up to the hospital and worked on making myself feel better. When I reached the afternoon, I felt pretty much completely healthy, and I won't need to head back there tomorrow. However, I still had some energy left, so I went back down to the animal pens.

No help was needed there, so I wandered a little. Eventually I came to the workshops, and I had a little look at what needed doing there. There was a lot that needed to be done, and I'd say there was work waiting from every workshop. However, Helfdane was paying the most at the time I passed, and so I stuck my head in and helped out a little with a Grail Potion of Strength. Not much, but enough to earn me four bronze.

The potion stuff was confusing, and by the time I was done there, my head was spinning. I ended up walking back to my residence in a daze (probably from the fumes coming out from the great cauldrons in there), and laying myself down in bed. I've just enough energy to write this entry, and I think I'll head to bed and get myself a good rest so I'm all rejuvenated tomorrow.

[13 May 2020]
A delicious egg meal for breakfast. Making me stronger every day. Then went out to the animal pens to check on my animals. 6 eggs again today. Those chickens just seem to keep on going.

Came back to my residence. The cheese is ready! I collected 11 more cheese pieces. I have the milk to convert a new batch into cheese, but don't have the time at the moment. Instead I went over to my cauldron to make some soups.

I'm in the middle of filling quite a large order of soups. I made another 17 meat soups today, then went out to the market to sell them. There's a stand I need to take them to, and then I take the bronze as pay.

Came back home. Got just enough energy to write in the journal. I might have worked out a trick or two with my soup making, so I'll just write them down so that I don't forget it.

[14 May 2020]

I woke up today, feeling nice, bright and happy. The sun was shining, and I felt like the day was just calling out, waiting to be experienced.

Breakfast this morning consisted of a delicious egg meal. They never really get bad, and I enjoyed the deliciousness of the eggs.

After breakfast, I headed down to the town ranch. As always, the noisy sound of all the animals there started off quietly, but then turned into a constant drone of noise as I approached. I found my way over to where my chickens and cow were being kept, and began to attend to them.

It didn't take me long. My cow was ready for milking, and I found five eggs in my search. However, my chickens were a little protective of their eggs - one decided to attack me! I got pecked on my fingers, so after bringing the milk and eggs back to my residence, I made my way to the area in which the hospital is located.

Once at the hospital, I set to work to make myself feel better. The chicken had pecked me quite hard, and it wasn't easy to heal myself. However, I got the job done without too much hassle. I then peeked in at the roster at the hospital, and saw that all the healing needed was covered for the near future, and so I headed back to my residence to get some more work done.

The biggest job I have at the moment is cooking soups. I've still got, and still had a heap of soups I needed to cook up, so I set to work trying to fulfil a little more of that order. Cooking soups is hard work, and I managed to make nine meat soups before I decided that was enough for the day. I then packed up the soups, and headed off to the market to deliver them.

The market was crowded, as always, but it wasn't hard to find where I needed to deliver the soups to. The buyer's corner stood to one side of the main market, and I went up to the entrance. When asked what my purpose there was, I replied it was to sell some soups. I then produced the soups and handed them over to the marketkeeper, and they, in return, gave me my cash and put the soups somewhere so that the buyer could collect them.

Feeling very fulfilled for the day, I headed back home to my residence. I didn't have anything else to do, but I did stop in at the tavern and grab a beer. They are always good for my mood, so I don't want to forget to have one! I also passed by the bank, and deposited some of my left-over bronze into my account.

Today was a good day, nice and busy. I'll have to check the chickens again tomorrow, but at least I'll know to be more careful when searching for eggs!

[15 May 2020]

I woke up nice and early today. It was a bright and happy day, and I couldn't help but feel happy. As a result of this, I got up this morning with plenty of energy and just bursting ready to get into my day.

The day started with, as always, breakfast. There's nothing like a good meal to kick you off! I had a delicious meal of eggs, and delicious it definitely was. My stock is running low, so I'll have to start making my own meals soon.

I then got onto my soup making for the day. I went into my kitchen, got some meat out from storage, and started cooking soups. I think I managed to cook 20 meat soups before I felt I was done for the day. A nice amount cooked, I'd say.

I then collected those soups, and headed to the town centre. I started by making my way over to the markets, before finding the buyer's corner. I went to the entrance and let the area manager know of my presence.

He wasn't at all surprised to see me, considering how many times I'd been around. I handed the 20 meat soups over to him, and he handed back 6 silver coins and 20 bronze in change. "That'll get stored for collection," he said. I left the corner of the market, and headed back to the main area of town.

I still had some energy left over, so I went to the labour hall to see what work I could do. There wasn't any breeding animals to be done, but I did see that there was plenty of work needing to be done in the workshops. I headed on over, and found that Helfdane was paying the best for the work that was being done. I set to work, and used up pretty much the rest of my energy helping out there, and for that I earned a wage of 5 bronze.

By this point I didn't have any energy left to do any work, so I started on my way home. However, as is my custom, I stopped in at the tavern (but only briefly) to have a beer. Just one, no need to get drunk. Then after that beer I passed by the bank and dropped off my over 6 silver in cash.

Now that would be all that I'd talk about, but I discovered that the banks had all changed the way their payments worked. An order, they said, that was by the Lord Arogandor. Previously the banks would only require a one-time five silver fee to open a bank account, now they'd require that fee every year. The notice went on to say something about how most of the fee was still going to the town, but it wasn't really worth the time to read. So I finished up my deposit and then went back to my residence.

At least I've still got an entire year before I need to worry about the next maintenance payment on my account.