🍁Nine Ancient Obelisks

January 14
Went to the tournament -- turns out it was a lousy idea.
Passed through the Gate -- haven't seen it in a long time. Monstrous, I'd started to forget how much. Threw Black Jack off the train -- some maniac who bought a non-removable Tung mask, and it already backfired on him. Great, I thought. I'll never hear about him again, and the tournament will be a bit easier. Never been so wrong.
The Station in Shina is dusty, unimpressive, and after the train you feel sick, but still, almost home. 
In the Light of the South, there are memorials and altars. It's nice here. Checked the memorials -- seems like everything's in order. Tried to remember at least some of the city's rulers -- maybe some of them are still alive.
Zinobis
Xenos
Kusarikku
Gnaev.
Fyr
Forgot a few. Well, good thing I'm not some Fyr — going down in history with a name like that would be awkward.

The School of Baldr — it's like a fiction, like a philosophy, and like a cult. A strange old man named Lampr sits there, says that after reading too many tablets he abandoned his family, fell for an imaginary woman, and even stabbed some Luu Saint-Luna just because they disagreed about something regarding their Baldr.
In short, in a certain kingdom, in a certain barony of Baldr, there lived an old man named Gungnir, and he had a bunch of children, but none of them were his own. Here they are: the hysterical Eir, the glutton Gulveig, the omega Anders, the holy man Anselm, Rehay-from-the-Mitsurugi-Isles, the crazy Imelda, the narcissistic Alessia, the bro Renold the fighter and his sister Ilva the cook, and Calantia — a woman of steel. I think Naoya writes something like this in her books. I think everyone died at the end, but I read it diagonally and I'm not sure. It's all strange, albeit interesting. I hope if I decide to actually read it properly, I won't lose my mind like Lampr.

On the way to the arena, I dropped into a bar — no other way to get there. Immediately spot another Asugukh face — it's Zenus, a white-haired loser with a katana, chasing after a skirt. I have a diamond eye for people — I knew right away he wouldn't do anything at the tournament. The bartender, a bastard, a man without honor, a perfect example of a Felician rat — he profits off the common folk, disgraces the country, thinks no one will touch him. But I touched him — and how! I think for the rest of his life he won't be able to say a coherent word. The people supported me, a ruckus started, but then they threw us all in jail. Punished the scoundrel, made a reputation for myself — let's consider that the first micro-step on my long path to the rebirth of Calcite.

Noddavariz — a simple Calcite man, we sat in the same cell under the "Sanctuary of Sand" after that fight. He told me all sorts of things. A good man, of the old breed. If you could gather a few thousand like him in one place — Shina would be turned upside down effortlessly, and Ginza's head would decorate the doors of the "Citadel."
Our gang did well. They kept me informed about who was fighting whom, I even placed bets. The guard, fortunately, retained at least some humanity. It was hard to bet just by looking at names, only after the first round did things become clear. Bibis and Beavis — huge thugs from the Scrym, but Erika gave them a watery-fiery hell and they folded. Erika, as it turns out, deserves respect — she made it to the finals and even helped Ilka. Giladrion Esiem Irikius — bet on him because of the name, they say he fought well, but couldn't quite pull through. Lezedi — a woman with a katana, fighting style like twelve mosquitoes stinging at once. Asura — also a woman with a katana. Why is everyone so obsessed with them? Katana wielders seem to multiply like budding. Zenus, Zibabych, Jack — they're all among them too.
It's not just the bartender disgracing our people. Some Hyattata stabbed a woman in the back with a knife.
Ginza. Ruler of Shina, a submissive Felician bitch, a bespectacled coward, a butcher of the regime, a spineless scum. In his time, he surrendered to Felicia without a fight, so there's nothing surprising about his character. Usually so important, thinks he's smart, but step on his toes — and he foams at the mouth worse than a rabid hyena. By his grace, this was (supposedly) the last tournament in the Citadel. He doesn't want tournaments — he'll get war.

January 15
What actually happened — me, the rest of the gang, Erika, and a couple of other guys from the tournament — Shram (he won the tournament and has a cool armor, as he himself says) and Zibaba — were thrown into a pit, they poured slop on us for who knows how long, we ate rats in there and almost died of fever. The rest is speculation.
Zibaba, a thuggish-looking man, was the only one who had his nails torn out, and Ginza offed some acquaintance of his. We of course asked him about it, and he answered, but I get the feeling he was lying somewhere — he's a slippery character. Here's what I see:
There's a certain flower girl in Shina — either she herself is some powerful witch, or she possesses something very valuable. A flower shop in Shina... That alone is enough to sense something is wrong. Zibaba is a buddy of Zenus and Black Jack. And finally, there's Taylo Bocci, part tournament fighter, part bookmaker, but in reality — the most vile and cunning creature on the planet, and lately, Felicia's husband. Number 1 on my guillotine list.
Either Taylo recruited Zibabych's crew to help kidnap the woman and then screwed everyone over, and Zibaba just didn't manage to escape alone, or Zibabych himself wanted to kidnap the woman because... Something. As cunning a bastard as Taylo may be, I don't see what kind of plan there could be that depends on a random pirate without any escape plan. For now, let's consider the first hypothesis as the working one.

??? February
Rested up in the capital's hospital. Baths, massages, but the food was mediocre. Felt a bit better, but not as good as before the pit — Nikonia Aigle tricked me. She promised a full recovery.
Asmidul, one of our egghead intellectuals, shows up with some woman. And he starts going on about a black knight, a curse, how Asmidul was out of his mind and killed someone. Looking back — I'm surprised he even cared about the knight and the pentagrams on the map at all. I'd have ignored it, and if I hadn't, I wouldn't have understood a thing. Erudites are sometimes more useful than they seem.
From the hospital, we picked up Erika and Zibabych. Also Ferrus, a silent journalist (turns out they exist), came along. And Camistella — a strange woman. Pretty, but creepy. Like glass. And completely insane, as we later realized.
Obelisk of Fire — Asmidul was drawing some diagrams on the map, said we need to go there. I said if this is a prank, I'll cut him and the woman down right here and now, but it didn't come to that. The woman turned out not to be a woman, but a Phantom — sounds terrifying (not really). Speaks in a way that needs a translator from Phantom to human — luckily for us, there was one. Aya — also killed someone foolishly and became the Phantom's lackey. Fortunately, Tann, the black knight, turned out to be reasonable — he explained what he needed and clearly showed why we had no choice. A decent man, in his own way. We're working.

We reach Onkaih — and it's in ruins. A Calcite landing force on air balloons. The Protector said they were all killed almost without losses — what were they even hoping for? Only the transport station wasn't working — as if fate is specifically hitting us, even if in small ways. 
With nothing else to do, we had to go to the Guild of Erudition, to Asmidul's buddies. There sits a freak with ten rings, says he can send us almost anywhere — if at least one of us has been there and has something from that place. An incredible coincidence, isn't it? I'm almost sure it's the Phantom again. Whether it's the true form, Linshi, or this one — they're all a bit off. We spent an hour thinking as a gang — decided on the capital. 

We ended up in Gura-Gura. Ferrus suddenly found his voice — and started buying up supplies. Quiet as he is, what a business grip. We scared Svereepka, the owner, pretty badly — in the context of the Harran attack on the capital. There was a small skirmish, Harran lost Lord Zezilion. They say the Tsar's daughter killed him, but that's probably propaganda. Missed all the fun a second time.
Arrived in Pharis — third time. Annoying.
Left for the Sushin Gate to cut down the dogs of the new regime. My hands are itching. Maybe I'll even get to Ginza. Especially since the strait is blocked and the tunnel (Zibaba suddenly remembered it — he's still a complicated type) to Calcite no longer exists as of very recently.

3 days, 13 locations, 43 characters