Ravens's Diary

8th May 2013

Having gotten back to my school I managed to persuade the authorities using my story. They have accepted that I had some kind of stress related breakdown and ran away. I would imagine that this is far from unusual given the stress of A level exams. I do not know if my parents have contacted the school since I disappeared.

I have put Turpen in the school’s stables where I will have to look after him. I have become quite attached to Turpen and I hope I will be able to continue using him when I get back to the mansion. Unfortunately I forgot that the horrid gun was in its holder on the side of the saddle. I hid the evil thing in the hay loft. I will dispose of it later along with the ammunition.

I have tried to settle back into the role of student again. My experiences have changed me though. I am aware that I can walk out of the school at any time and find an infinite scope of worlds. I have not told any of my friends about my adventures. They would just think I am insane. Sometimes I wonder if that is in fact the case. My friends are treating my like I am made of Glass. They think that I may flip out again at any time. They are generally being very kind though and are trying to make sure that I am OK. I have had more cups of tea made for me than ever before I think. It will be hard to say goodbye to my friends when I head back to my wierd new life. I must make a point of coming back to visit them and not becoming a stranger.

The Evil bitch squad is using my ‘breakdown’ as a snide way of attacking me. Little do they know what I could do to them if I was a lesser person like them. I am using my newfound mental discipline to ignore their vicious comments but they do still hurt. Maybe being shot at, frozen, kidnapped etc has made me a more resilient person. It is hard though not to use the mind domination skills to get revenge on them. I must remember that they are just silly children who will die of old age before I am out of my youth.

Revision is a tiresome but necessary evil to make sure that I am able to pass my exams. I am not sure why I am doing the exams. I do not think that earth A level exams will be needed for me to get employment in Carnelian. Completing my A Levels may help my parents adjust to the new situation. It will also be the culmination of all the work I have done over the last two years. How I will pick up the results is an interesting question as I bet they will not post to Carnelian! The results will end up at my parents house.

My last A Level is not until mid June. Once that exam is over I intend to ride back to Carnelian using shadow walking on Turpen. I have no idea what I will do when I get back there. I could walk the pattern and go anywhere in the infinity of shadow. What I would like to do is to expand my knowledge of magic. Siobhan is my tutor in the mystical arts at the moment. I hope she will continue to tutor me. That does put me near Cordelia but I will just have to try and avoid her.

While I am revising for my A Levels I am also practicing my magic and I am working on the exercises that Cordelia dumped into my head. I am also trying to use pattern to attune to my home pattern so that I can use conjuration magic.

I am still of two minds on whether I like the new life that I have been thrust into but I must embrace who I am and learn to use my new skills to help people.

Rebuilding the relationship with my parents is a top priority once this chapter of my life is complete.

30th June 2013

At last the exams are finished. Back to Carneillon.

29^th Sohax 45

I walked back on Turpen.

I got back and freshened up and headed to dinner. There I found that Rodri and Natalia were missing somewhere in shadow. Renn was able to use trump to get Natalia. Natalia was rather beaten up somehow so I cast a healing spell on her. The pattern of Rodri did not work. To try and get him back Renn Drew a temporary trump of Daniel. Daniel then used the pattern to get to Rodri. Renn opened up the portal to get Daniel and Rodri. The shadow was in vacuum. The portal sucked stuff through and out into the vacuum.

2^nd July // 25^th Sohax 45

We had found our way to Charlie’s school. It was late at night so Petra was asleep. We arranged to get sleeping quarters. We were placed in the 6th form block.

We met Petra at breakfast the next day. We also met Anita who is incharge of the finance side of the relief effort. The effort needs $750000 per month. We decided that manipulating shadow to win a lottery jackpot may be a good way of getting money.

We then headed out with Ricky with the convoy. We spread out amongst the convoy. The convoy headed to Carnelian.

After two days we drove to Carnelian. We then slept and started back to Charlie’s school. This is all in preparation for us to take some of the slack off Cathal and Ricky.

After several days I was able to take a convoy on myself.

15^th Petax 45

Siobhan gave me another lesson on conjuration. I am starting to get the hang of making simple things in different elements. We discussed the book mentioned in the book from my home shadow. She did not know anything about the book as it is an area of magic that she is not trained in.

To find the book I decided to try pattern searching. This is the first time that I have tried to do this. Alana came with me. We were able to find the book after several hours of shadow walking.

30^th Petax 45

Carnelion held a winter ball. This was more like a Christmas party. I got a new, less formal, dress for the occasion. Many people from the town were invited. It was much more fun that the formal ball. I joined the group in the pool. I kept on my swimming costume. Some people took the micky out of me for that but I think it is unseamly to show off your body in public. I did drink rather a lot but again I did not suffer from much of a hangover.

I did have a long conversation with the mayor and Natalia about the resettling of the refugees. Their plans are rather long term and 17th century based. These people are from a simpler agricultural time but there is no reason that they could not be taught how to use a simple tractor. They would not be able to maintain one but this could be done by modern Carnelian. An electric tractor with sealed power, battery and control systems would greatly increase the food output from them. This would help to feed Carnelian. We will research if such a tractor exists somewhere in shadow. If they do we need to get the funds to buy several of them. Assuming a small farm (30-50 acres) would need one tractor. A farm of this size would need maybe 3 families to work it. About 15 to 20 people including children. This would be about 55 farms. Including spares 60 tractors would probably be enough to start. Not all the farms will be wheat. There will need to be pig, cattle, chicken and vegetable farms. So assume 40 arable farms and 15 specialising in other products.

I have been reading the book that I got from shadow. It contained a lot of information about power words. I will study these at my leisure.

2^nd Tihax 46

Some research has shown that there are several designs of a two wheeled, small tractor that exist on earth. They are used quite a lot in the third world. They are diesel powered and do have available many attachments such as plows and seed drills. These may be ideal as they are simple machines. The refugees would get the hang of using them very fast and with experience will probably become adept at maintenance and repair too. The power systems is diesel which I believe Cordelia is not in favor of but initially we may require the use of the original engines. A small number of diesel powered tractors would not impact the ecology of Carlelion in the short term. They would be replaced sometime in the future when an electrically powered version can be designed and built. Maybe using hydrogen, battery or super capacitor.

A more pressing problem is that the land for the farmers is still natural woodland. This needs to be cleared before any crops may be planted. This is going to to take at least a season and probably several. We need to move the refugees to the land to be cleared as soon as possible so they can start cutting the trees down.

Clearing the trees does have the side benefit that it provides raw material for construction housing for the refugees. We need to gain money so that we may buy tools to allow the clearance and building to start as soon as possible. Several decisions need to be taken as to how the farms will be run. Will the refugees be split up into separate farmsteeds such as in the American west or will they build a village and work out of that? Will each family be given an area of land to do with as they wish or will all the farms be worked on a collective basis? We should contact the refugees and ask them what they want to do rather than making arbitrary decisions for them.

15^th Tihax 46

We need money. My idea was to go looking for a shadow earth where there are no people. Then go to where gold may be found naturally in streams etc. Collect the gold and take it back to inhabited earth. There may be problems but I am sure we can overcome them.

We got together some supplies for the expedition. Previous equipment
MRE 24hr ration pack X5 (British army 24hr rations pack)
Extra water containers
Folding spade
Prospecting Pan
Leather wide brimmed hat
Sun protection cream
First aid kit

---