6th/Joy, Saturday
Well, my second day of grand adventure! Because that's what this is definitely shaping up to be! And if things keep going the way they are, I'll be heading back home again in no time at all, with a lot of cool stories!

As I had been writing yesterday's entry, just after I left the tower, Kane and Alexis were talking. We decided that we all wanted to leave the forest, but none of us really knew where we were, so we thought that we may as well keep travelling together. Besides, as we had already learned, we made a great team: together we'd cleared out all the mean things from the tower, which none of us (not even Alexis) could have done on our own!

Anyway, just after we'd left the tower yesterday (I went back in briefly and climbed the rope! I managed this time! There wasn't anything really interesting up there, just the Hobgoblins' camp, but I still climbed it!) We found the tracks that that goblin had made, and tried to follow them but lost the trail pretty quickly. Since it had been going south, we decided to keep going south anyway, as it was just as good a direction as any other, so we kept on moving south all day today. It was hard going: there isn't really any path through this forest, so we were moving through some pretty thick terrain, and it was impossible just to go in a straight line, but we managed to head pretty much south for a fair distance. Let's see… Oh! We also found a really neat drum, which hovered in the air every time you hit it! Kane decided to take it with him (he seems to like that sort of stuff).

We've just made camp, and Kane is tending to my and Alexis' wounds (he's so nice! And pretty good at it too!) that we got back in the tower. I have to say, life might be the best teacher of them all, but it's also a pretty harsh one! But I don't mind. What doesn't kill me can only make me stronger, and when I get back home I might be strong enough to even surprise Master!

I only just came back from collecting firewood. We decided to set up a watch system in case anything mean tried to sneak up on us and Alexis volunteered to go first. I'll be second, which is good because I get to have my meditation for the day, but it means that I better get my rest now.

Write again soon!
Tsumiku Asuka.

7th/Joy, Sunday
We were attacked today! Isn't that great? Another life-threatening challenge! Well, sort of. There were only four of them, and they were pretty small, and it didn't take much to beat them… but still, they had wanted to kill us, and one did manage to hurt me a little. I think I did pretty well, but nowhere near as well as Kane did! He is obviously a good sorcerer: first, he was the only one of our group who noticed them before they attacked, then he scared two of the little mean thingies off (I think Alexis called them "Kobords" or something…) by making the noises of angry people come out of nowhere (cool!) and then he managed to stun the other one in time for Alexis and me to come and help him! He also managed to avoid every one of their attacks, but that bit is weird… It seemed as if somehow every time that the Kobords would try and hit him, something happened: the sun broke from behind a cloud, they tripped over their feet unexpectedly, Kane moved in a different direction that just happened to take him away from them… It's almost as if there is some thing protecting him…

Anyway, I killed one of the thingies myself: I somersaulted over the top of it (I made up that move! I'm learning!) and once behind, I snapped its neck. Alexis looked at me kinda funny afterwards, though I don't really know why. She killed the other one that had been attacking Kane, and then we kept moving south again until sunset.

Oh! I sparred with Alexis some today as well! It was a bit odd, since she was using her sword and I was still practicing bare-handed, but still fun! She's really good, even though she is very slow. When she does hit something, usually it doesn't get back up again!

Adventuring is hard work! We walked quite a long way today, and we're all tired. Isn't it great?

Write again soon!
Tsumiku Asuka.

8th/Joy, Monday
Today wasn't a very good day. I never really thought before that when you're having a life-threatening challenge, you might actually die… And today my friend Alexis came very close to doing just that.

We'd only barely started walking when we ran into a wild boar. I was surprised, but didn't really do anything: but Kane and Alexis immediately thought it'd be a good idea to kill and eat it. Alexis ran up behind it, drawing her sword, but she checked her swing: from what I've heard about her over the last two days, she probably was hesitant to kill an innocent creature. But then the boar just turned around and stuck its tusk right through her chest, and then threw her to the ground. She just lay there… I think that maybe attacking it wasn't such a great idea…

Kane quickly shouted something and the boar fell asleep just as I yelled and ran over to Alexis' side. Kane got there immediately afterwards, his face set in concentration, and he poured something out of a bottle down her throat. After that her face got some of its colour back, and I think she may have started breathing again. He told me to kill the boar before it woke up, so I picked up Alexis' sword from where it lay on the ground and cut its throat open. Kane is a good healer: when I asked where he learned it, he said he lived with one in the forest for a little while. I did whatever he asked me, though I wasn't all that much help… And all the while Alexis was just lying there, bleeding and looking pale.

It was hours before she woke up again and Kane sat back, exhausted. Alexis is a pretty tough character: even though Kane was good, a tusk through the abdomen is not something to dance with, but by the time I'm writing this (in the evening) she's able to move around and talk again. Kane and I were by her side all day while she fluttered between being asleep and being awake, replacing her bandages and even sealing the wound. When she could sit up again she used her own healing on herself: She did that to me once, but I'm still not quite sure how it works. She kind of just puts her hands on where it hurts and then the pain goes away…

Anyway, it was a very close call. I just hope we don't have to have another one of those in a while. But now I'll get back to meditating: it helps me listen out for things while I'm on watch.