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My ventures into Trollheim last night have left my mind whirling with thoughts. I've scarcely bothered to actively seek mastery of the types of magic that course through the hyperelliptical world - when I do, it's most frequently Friendship magic, since I have little trouble safely finding my way through the Minefield and a fleet of bomberbirds is an incredible boon. Life magic can also produce valuable lackeys, although the greater safety in using golems comes at the cost of their decreased mobility. I've also mastered Flash and Safety magic many times due to the ease of collecting the needed materials, but the difficulty in influencing the opportunities to use them has lead me to find them much less practical than the minions who can remain at hand until their inevitable demise.
Experimenting with Time magic to extend my use of other spells has shown me that many others have the potential to stay available when needed. The battery of spells I assembled for my recent trip to Trollheim was a simple one: Teleport to leap past the trolls to their nest, Flash and Lightning to destroy the closest ones without leaving troublesome corpses, and Time to help keep the other three ready all at once. It was enough to attain my goal of procuring ten golden eggs, but it was slow, risky, and in retrospect, highly inefficient.
Further research has opened my mind to the alternatives. For one thing, Space magic - an option I'd forgotten to consider - is a far simpler way to pilfer distant troll eggs. And alongside Time magic, Shielding and Energy spells could truly get the chance to shine. I could cast repeated Flash spells to blast my way through hordes of foes, while holding back a shield to ensure my safety. The more magic I master, the easier it will be to attain more. The prospect of gaining enough power to access the legendary hyperstones has seemed daunting - but with a strategy like this, perhaps I could succeed.
I can start with the easy and most critical spells. Once I have the primary types of magic I need, it will be less trouble to pick up others to round out my arsenal. Frog, Aether, Freedom, Mind, Intensity, Shell...
I know not if this will work, but I must try. Tonight, I will return to the world of hyperelliptical geometry and put my full capabilities to the test.
The trouble with seeking vast power is that you start out as fragile as ever. In particular, the time in Red Rock Valley needed to master Space magic is chaotic and perilous, and other spells offer little protection from its dangers.
My first few attempts at this quest have failed, ending with the use of my escape charm to return home. On one trip, I made an early visit to the Clearing and mastered Freedom magic for the first time, but as with any other spell, it is no use if you don't have it ready at the right time.
I've decided to start prioritizing Red Rock Valley as soon as I can access it. Once I've handled that, other regions should be much more manageable.
Up to now, I've waited to write in this journal until I've left the hyperelliptical world for the safety of my own. But it's clear that this journey will be far too long for that.
As I write, I sit in the Prairie - a place nearly as safe, at least when away from the sections claimed by the bulls. I've gained full use of Space magic, and I've begun using it to swipe treasures from the safety of the Crossroads. However, I only have partial use of the critical Time magic. The distance to the Caribbean makes accessing it a larger endeavor, and so far I've been unable to rally enough bomberbirds to safely spend the time needed to gain full mastery.
It doesn't help that I've learned the hard way that Ferocity magic can be a danger to nearby minions. I will have to refrain from use of that and similar spells when deploying golems or bomberbirds. Despite the use those spells can have when alone, the opportunity to travel in a group is far more valuable.
The hour has grown late, and this spot is as good as any to set up camp for the night. I will resume my travels tomorrow.
Throughout most of my time exploring this world, the magic I've trusted most is Friendship. When planning this mission, I surmised that perhaps a greater power was the manipulation of Time. I realize now that in the world of hyperelliptical geometry, the true ultimate power is mastery of Space.
The power to seize anything in range of sight covers a massive area, far more than in the Euclidean geometry of home. Rather than my search for treasures demanding that I charge into danger, risking that my route to safety could be cut off or simply lost in the massive web of curving paths, I can simply pluck them from afar.
I've gained mastery of Time magic, and for the first time, Energy as well. Space magic proved less helpful than I'd hoped in the Caribbean, but in the Yendorian Forest, the chance to seize apples from the stability of the main branches made the venture far less perilous than my previous visits. But is mastery even significant?
Rather than challenging hordes of foes with a dozen spells active, I find myself spending most of my time safe in the Crossroads, swiping treasures from the regions I pass without even needing to enter them. Basic access to a spell is enough to use its power here, and even then, Space and Friendship cover all the magic I typically need.
Teleport magic still finds me plenty here even without securing access elsewhere, and I find myself skeptical of the need to bother returning to R'Lyeh to change that. I've come close to mastering it, but when I pass by R'Lyeh, I no longer see idols near its borders - nor do I see the treasures of the regions I've mastered. I suspect this is a phenomenon I'd never noticed before - that past the threshold of near-mastery, regions only offer further riches from deeper within.
Even with more and more magic flooding into the Crossroads, seizing several relevant types at once is still a lofty target. The times I become the kind of walking fortress I'd dreamed are sparse and short-lived - I cannot count on those powers to sustain me through a long journey, and at this point, I am loath to risk being caught without them. I've come too far to fail now.
Even if you try to avoid risky situations, they have their own ways to find you.
I considered myself well prepared for a visit to Free Fall. Space magic to seize meteorites once I'd progress far enough for them to enter view, Teleport magic to get out of trouble, Time magic to extend the use of both, and a few bomberbirds to watch my back. What could go wrong?
It turns out that, when aiming Space magic at a distant target, it can be a simple matter for one's focus to slip to its surroundings and instead Teleport there. Which left me far from the Crossroads and my bomberbirds, with no more defensive magic on hand.
I did make it back - I've faced Free Fall in worse conditions before - but it was quite embarrassing, and had things gone wrong, it could have ended this journey there. I'll have to prepare more redundant protections in the future.
By my count, the number of magic types currently linked to the hyperstones is 60. With more careful prowling through the Crossroads, I've secured the required basic access to 32 of them.
Staying here does not ensure that things stay simple. Just wandering near the Rose Garden or Cursed Canyon is enough to risk a troublesome ailment. The gems in my pack that fuel my Space magic continue calling out to Red Rock Valley, leading many of its enormous snakes to exit and pursue me. The giant dice of Dice Reserve are not nearly as numerous or troublesome, but still can be a problem when they give chase. The Land of Power strikes back in its own way - using Space magic to retrieve powerstones from its crystal structures is taxing, but worth it.
But staying here will also not be enough. Many of the remaining regions are not even accessible from the Crossroads - I'll need to prepare for longer missions, as well as a way back to safety. The cleanest way to ensure the latter would be Recall magic, but I have not yet found a path to safely retrieve slime molds from the Dungeon. My trips there on previous journeys have invariably forced me to use my escape charm to leave this world entirely - but on those journeys, I did not have Space magic.
Night falls once more. I will set up shelter and venture further come morning.
I've read reports of seven Crossroads regions in the hyperelliptical world. Before today, I had only laid eyes on the first four, and most frequently the first. Now I write from the seventh.
I suppose it's understandable for it to take this long. Despite gathering the power to access the others, I tended to stay in or near the simple first Crossroads, and it does not connect to its five successors - only to the Master Crossroads.
I did not realize what lay before me until I approached the area, thinking it was the Minefield. I wonder if I've passed before yet overlooked it from the same mistake.
Because the Master Crossroads only links to more Crossroads, it became an easy chance to find the fifth and sixth. The sixth one is an awful place, filled with the same hags that hex all who venture near the Cursed Canyon. The fifth, meanwhile, is scarcely a region at all - merely a tiny junction between three more locales. I cannot imagine seeking either out, but I suppose this is a world where all manner of things may have uses.
The nice thing about the Master Crossroads is, in linking to other Crossroads rather than elsewhere, there is a greater distance from emerging foes, and therefore potential for more safety. The not so nice thing is that many of its junctures lead to the sixth Crossroads, leading to frequent encounters with hags - and that just as many lead to the fourth, which has walls on neither the far sides nor the near one, meaning foes approaching from beyond have open egress across and to the Master Crossroads.
For this reason, it is hard to conclude that the Master Crossroads is actually safer than the first. Perhaps its biggest use is in providing a somewhat safe path from a more hazardous Crossroads region to an earlier one.
The shallowest layers of the Dungeon have nothing to offer, but venturing just a bit beyond them was enough to catch sight of the materials I sought. Navigating a safe path down to them and back would have been a further challenge. Swiping them with Space magic was not.
With Recall magic now in hand, I can prepare for the harrowing journeys to further lands. By now I have conquered 44, and only 16 remain. There are eight I can reach from the Crossroads, or will be able to in time: Land of Storms, Overgrown Woods, Bull Dash, Burial Grounds, Dragon Chasms, Elemental Planes, Prairie, and Trollheim. The other eight are distant: Brown Island, Kraken Depths, Whirlpool, Clearing, Lost Mountain, Temple of Cthulhu, Haunted Woods, and Galapagos.
Few of these are possible to address from the safety of the Crossroads. The Burial Grounds and Elemental Planes should be trivial once I have access to them, but the former will require sailing to the Kraken Depths, and the latter will mean dealing with the Dragon Chasms - something I should avoid until I venture beyond them to the Galapagos. I have already made the mistake of gathering large amounts of spoils in R'Lyeh and the Ocean before completing my tasks within them, and I will not invite further danger on my most complicated missions. On the other hand, the Prairie and Trollheim should be relatively safe, merely slow to complete.
The Crossroads itself is becoming increasingly chaotic as I gather more and more items from the regions around it, leading to increasing numbers of pursuers from them. From what I have heard, it will turn even deadlier in time.
Perhaps to say I have Recall magic in hand was a slight exaggeration. I have secured the materials for it, but use of the spell itself yet eludes me. Once it begins to turn up, it will be time to take on these quests.
My intention had been to kill the mutant ivy with Mind magic. Instead, I found myself snatching the sapling out from under it. I had not realized Space magic was capable of that, but once I learned, dealing with the Overgrown Woods became a simple matter.
Recall magic, too, has now shown itself to me. With the spell at the ready, I headed for the Galapagos, in search of the defensive boon I'd sought from the start. My first trip there ended early when my magic ran out, causing the Recall spell to whisk me away too soon - but on the second, I assisted two pairs of tortoises before returning to safety.
I then used it for my trip to the Clearing. The enormous mutant ivy there is always a daunting foe, but is far more manageable with layered defenses in place - and Space magic to snatch its fruits from a distance. Once I had enough, I retreated, then waited to return.
47 down, 13 to go. Shell and Freedom magic were the last of the key spells I had wanted from the start, and while my tactics have changed, they remain welcome.
Trollheim and the Prairie were, as expected, merely a matter of patience. It's hard to believe the feat that felt so momentous three days past is, with my current might, so simple and routine.
With my next Recall spell, I journeyed to the Haunted Woods. As Recall magic functions in the Dungeon, I doubted that here it would fare any worse - but just in case, I left my standard trail of spent orbs to mark a path out. Upon collecting enough lotuses, I used the trail to retreat to the Graveyard, then waited there to return to the Crossroads.
The way the Recall timer extends when joined with other spells adds much ease of use, but also leads to an unnerving time of waiting as one's protections all fade, then enduring a brief time with none at all. Far safer than seeking return to the Crossroads with only a blade, but still a harrowing and vulnerable point. It also means no protections upon returning - even minions are left behind, and while it remains unlikely for the Crossroads to pose an immediate threat, sufficient chances for an unlikely event can add up to a likely one.
This makes 50 spells under my command. Ten remain: five near and five far.
Slaying three dragons in the Dragon Caverns was as easy as I recalled. The Elemental Planes... could have been easy, had I maintained my patience.
Taking an elemental gem from the closest plane is a simple matter, easy to do safely with little preparation. Crossing that plane to find another element's gem to combine it with is, well. Also easy in itself, but I underestimated the challenge of finding my way back.
Which left me stranded in the Elemental Planes with far fewer spells prepared than would have made the situation comfortable. Like the time in Free Fall, not an outright emergency - merely a scare, and this time one without an established route to safety.
Thankfully nothing worse occurred before I could find my way back to the Crossroads, chagrined but undefeated. Eight regions left.
My success in Trollheim left but one region where I had never attained basic use of the magic within: The Bull Rush. I still cannot claim expertise in how best to safely goad the bulls there to strike butterflies, but my magic sufficed to protect me as I let them to do their job and seized the spinel gems left in their wake.
The tasks that remain are all ones I have, on past visits, completed before - but without nearly the impetus to stomp out risk of failure. Were I to falter now, I could certainly repeat this all with a better plan: Targeting the distant places early while pressure is low, leaving safer regions and key transit points for late. But even the thought of that outcome is agony. I will not allow it.
The Land of Storms, too, has yielded its power - the last of the nearby regions I can yet reach. Six remain.
Climbing the Lost Mountain in search of amethysts is a process slow and arduous. My first trip yielded eight of the ten I need.
While spell mastery has oft proved less relevant than I'd thought, the chance to recover my Time magic on a long trip has proved helpful to extend my reach. And my mastery of Space magic lets me use it more freely, which can significantly hasten my search.
Upon returning to the Crossroads, I took the chance to master one more useful spell: The Safety magic of the Land of Eternal Motion. The resulting wormhole can initiate a Recall spell early, which is a far more reliable way to return unscathed than waiting for the magic to end on its own.
I am so close to the end. But I grow weary, and I can feel my judgment flag. Best to set up camp once more and tomorrow use my full wits to complete my quest.
My journey into the Temple of Cthulhu was so nearly uneventful.
Passing through a hostile R'Lyeh on the way was tense but brief, and delving ten circles into the temple was a simple matter. I collected the grimoires, then returned to the outer circles, and was nearly back in R'Lyeh when my Recall spell went off.
It failed to work.
Sifting through my notes, I can find no explanation for what occurred. The simple answer is that the Temple of Cthulhu may have some ward to block the spell - though I know of no precedent even among regions known to resist similar wormholes.
The less pleasant answer is that the recall point may have been inaccessible. I had assumed the spell contained safeguards against that, but... perhaps I was too optimistic. In this case, the outcome could happen again on any future uses of the spell.
I would prefer to assume the former.
Whatever the cause, it forced me to fight my way out of R'Lyeh, then carefully search for a safe route back to the Crossroads. Thankfully, this progressed without further incident. I hope the few remaining tasks will not bring more of these complications.
Five regions to go.
I did not need much more from the Lost Mountain, but my return still required climbing far to find even two amethysts. I happened to have Dragon magic active for the trip, which offered a delightful chance to ignite ivies from the core.
The three remaining distant destinations are all aquatic, and bomberbirds will be key. I am attempting to gather a new band of friends, but the high frequency of hostiles means they keep dying as fast as I can recruit them. In the past, I've had some luck finding them in large numbers by going to the fourth Crossroads and finding a junction with the Minefield, where the lack of wall makes it a simple matter to find paths in or out in search of the needed orbs - but at this point the exposure to attack from other directions has rendered that impractical.
I'm sure the Ocean will also be a hazard. Earlier in this venture, I often spotted easy chances to gather amber and seized as much as I could, to the point of mastering Empathy magic - a distinction that has proved completely useless. It serves only as an albatross around my neck, calling its siblings to war with my flock.
It is an obstacle, and one I will defeat like every other.
I camt can't believe I just did that.
I can't believe I managed to escape that.
I should start at the beginning. I gathered a flock of bomberbirds, readied a battery of spells, and set off for the Whirlpool. I expected little resistance - while its current impedes escape, I have previously scavenged fifty pearls there before using Water magic to sail free of its grip. Ten, with my magic, would be a trivial matter.
The first problem emerged when I cast off from the beach. Among the spells in my arsenal was Freedom magic, and I learned then that it does not take well to boats. Sensing no path on foot away from my location, it erupted in misguided attempt to protect me - and slew all my companions.
I could have turned around then, and avoided the later problems. I did not. I still had plenty of spells, and confidence in my preparations.
I soon arrived at the Whirlpool. With my Space magic, I did not have to venture deep to find the pearls I needed. I secured them in my bag, then abandoned my vessel, leaping from boat to boat to bypass the vortex's grip and retreat to its outer reaches.
As I had thought, retrieving the treasure was easy. But I had grown complacent and neglected the next step.
My magic wound down, until only Recall remained. I drifted in the Whirlpool's outermost edges, waiting for it to call me home.
A moment before it would have done so, an orb of Water floated up next to me. In an idle motion - fully forgetful of the consequences - I reached out and touched it.
As it took hold, my stomach lurched in a manner all too familiar. The realization that I've made a crucial misstep, one likely or certain to mark the end of my current quest. Water magic is a great boon in the Whirlpool, granting the power to sail free of its hold - but to seize any spell was to delay my Recall spell further, until the new boon could run out. I now had to survive for far longer, with all my more robust protections gone.
Perhaps the safest course of action would have been to remain in the Whirlpool, where I had few pursuers and more mobility than any of them. But fear that my Recall spell might fail drove me to take the chance to leave.
The Ocean has been a mostly quiet place, in my experience, and I chose to wait the remaining time there. This proved to be my third mistake. Drawn by the amber in my bag, more and more birds and corsairs swarmed towards me, quickly forming greater numbers than I could fend off with my blade. The open terrain meant no true walls to slow their approach, and seeking other terrain the Living Fjord or the Caribbean could have brought more trouble to me than to them. All I could do was flee, making use of this world's geometry to turn in new directions whenever more threats appeared in my path, and hoping that it would be enough.
It was. My spells ran out faster than my luck, and I now sit once more in the Crossroads, damp and shaking but safe.
Three regions remain.
Brown Island, thankfully, was fully without incident. This time, I successfully lead a group of bomberbirds to my destination - I have heard they can be a hazard in that place, but I find their aid indispensable. I gathered up the needed tiger's eyes, then used a Safety spell to return.
The nice thing about initiating a Recall early is that it offers a chance to return with spells still in effect, rather than being completely vulnerable upon arrival. Unfortunately, unlike other use of Safety magic, it shares the quirk of other Recall magic that any minions are left behind. Still, even a brief friendship is a valuable one.
Only two more. A long trip to the Kraken Depths, then a short one to the Burial Ground.
The Kraken Depths were little more trouble than Brown Island. I brought bomberbirds to ease the trip there, but as usual, they did not survive long in the face of foes too strong for them to slay.
It was not an issue. I seized the readily available Fish magic, took down a kraken myself, then swam from its brethren while I seized their treasures from the depths. Like my last mission, I used a Safety spell for an early return and the smallest risk.
That marks the last of the distant destinations. The Burial Grounds now lay open as my final obstacle - and with my magic, they will be trivial.
Space magic cannot retrieve ancient jewelry from the barrow mounds. I was sure it would be capable of it. It is not.
The next thing I tried was Aether magic, to simply float inside for myself. That failed as well.
I will have to do this the hard way.
Using Sword magic to carve a path through the barrow is a slow process, and the draugrs here resist conventional weaponry.
I've made some headway, but my job is not complete. Another visit should do it.
I will not fail.
I did it.
I did it and they're everywhere.
Hyperstones. The moment I returned with the power of the Burial Grounds, they lay scattered through the Crossroads in every direction.
Seizing one will mark my biggest milestone. But I have heard tales of the consequence they bring. Upon touching a hyperstone, the Crossroads will begin to flood with creatures from every land.
The most prudent thing would be to prepare. To first gather a number of spells, and only then initiate this final challenge, when I am at my readiest to face it.
But I have spent so much time being prudent, and often courted trouble nonetheless. I will not risk failure with the hyperstones in reach.
I will seize them now, and begin the race to claim as many as I can.
That was absolute chaos. I still can barely comprehend what just happened.
I write now sitting among the Reptiles, a safe distance from the hell that has become of the Crossroads. Most of the floor below me has the potential to to rise and attack, but I sense no movement from it for now.
In my bag lie 53 hyperstones, next to the hundreds of other trophies. As many as I'd sought, plus a handful more.
So many times, I thought I was cornered, only for my instincts to guide me to one possible way to proceed. So many spells flying around that I could scarcely keep track of the ones I held. I don't even know how many times Shell magic must have shielded me from blows.
The hyperstone quest is complete, and the safety of the Crossroads is lost to me. Yet I still have a great deal of power. Perhaps quieter regions will offer me a chance to regroup and work to master more spells - a chance both to seek greater heights there and perhaps in time to return to the Crossroads, for more of its ultimate prize.
I cannot linger here for long. I must keep moving before the floor wakes.
All things must end in time, I suppose.
I ventured from the Reptiles to the Irradiated Field - hardly a friendly place - then fled to the Graveyard. While pursued by a horde of undead, I spotted a path to a place that held magic I quite wished to finish mastering. The Living Cave. A place where I have spent much time and come to have little fear - though it is also a place where things may quickly go wrong.
I failed to give proper weight to two factors. First, that the ghosts at my tail would pass through the walls to close the distance, and second, that a quick step through the fifth Crossroads on the way there could risk more foes emerging to join my pursuit.
I found myself with few opportunities to maneuver or fight, and made little headway into the cave before a pincer attack left me cornered. With my options exhausted, all I could do was use my escape charm to finally return home. I write these final steps of my adventure back in the comfort of my room.
Perhaps the final leg of my journey could have gone better. But I have no regrets. I got what I came for.
