It seems that the whole churba infestation was, as we were coming to expect, a giant mistake. We finally got to Rillan. He was trapped in his house, where is animation magic had run wild and viciously animated the furniture. We had a rousing battle, in which we learned that enemies on the floor are much less dangerous than enemies up and about, and defeated the tables. It's not often that you feel accomplishment after demolishing the decor.

I noted in my last journal that we seemed to have a surprising impact on the world, given how young we all are. Today's events probably harmed that thesis. We captured Rillan, but before he got back, the investigators from town showed up to teleport him back. If we hadn't found him... nothing would really be different. We got paid, which is nice, and we had some educational experiences, but it all seems kind of pointless.

It makes me wonder if I made a mistake. I could have told Mortenser how to find Rillan, instead of solving that whole thing ourselves. Instead, I decided that this was another of those places where we might have a disproportionate impact, and thought we could handle it ourselves. Well, and the reward money, but I bet we could have gotten that anyway just for explaining where their scrying had gone wrong. Perhaps I got too carried away with cleverness, and being straightforward would've been better. I bet most of the rest of the gang wouldn't agree with that though.

Still, chalk up one mystery. On the other hand, there are still plenty running around. For one, there's still the strange dream, the riddle, and so on. That looks like it might be next on our agenda. Too bad that researcher didn't find anything useful.

But more urgently, there are the increasingly strange circumstances surrounding Alana's imprisonment. We thought that we had gathered the evidence to free her, but now it has gone missing. This is really weird, since I can't think of why anyone in particular would care if she was in jail. Perhaps there is something about her that we don't know. She could be involved in things that we don't know about, for instance. Still, she probably would have mentioned it to Malif. Though I guess he might not have passed that along to the rest of us.

The other possibility is that the courier pouch itself was somehow important. That might explain why the courier died to begin with, and then there doesn't have to be a conspiracy aimed at Alana. She just stumbled into something bigger. I wonder if it's possible to discover what was in that pouch, or for whom it was intended. Do couriers keep records? Anyway, hopefully we'll get her out after her trial.

And the last mystery is about Tera. She wants us to stay after a graduation party to meet with her. This is the kind of mystery that a little patience will solve, of course, but it's still strange. Why there? Why not just ask us to meet with her some other way? Perhaps there is something else going on that night. Or maybe again I am reading too much into otherwise innocent events.

Ah well, off to train.