December 18

We discover there have been 2 earthquakes in the region, as well as a lot of stars falling in the last 4 weeks - "Night of a Thousand Falling Stars"

Ruben, who has been thinking of little but the ink and his inky arm, comes up with an idea. He decides to write out a scroll, using his inky finger instead of any sort of pen. It works a little too well. Immediately, Ruben watches the future rewrite itself and realises he has just inadvertently altered the course, in Ruben's favour, of a future battle Ophion will be engaged in (+1 advantage to Ruben, -1 advantage to Ophion). Ophion remains unaware of Ruben's accidental treachery.

Ruben, not realising the dangerous path he is walking, keeps on writing. With a start, Maybellina realises something's not right just in time to stop something magical and very sinister affecting her. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to realise it is Ruben's scribing that is the cause.

As Ruben keeps writing, he realises the warning signs of his words affecting others, and he tries to put a stop to whatever is happening as it happens again, this time to Atala. He is too slow. Atala loses ... something, but Ruben does not receive whatever it was, due to his attempting to stop it from happening.

And again! This time the sinister magic is directed to Maybellina, who does not realise this time, and her future is now irrevocably changed for the worse with Ruben benefiting this time as the rewards become harder to refuse. (1 of Maybellina's future hits will automatically miss, and 1 of Ruben's future misses will instead hit)

Atala realises something's not right. She wanders over to Ruben, noting he is on his third scroll, but she was sure he'd only started with one piece of paper. She peers over his shoulder, discovers he has written up:

1) Prestidigitation, cantrip 2) A spell that would create a sigil, the elder magic sigil for luck 3) Another sigil spell, the elder magic sigil for consume

Atala tries to communicate with Ruben but he is unresponsive.

Meanwhile, Kunoh notices the world darkening, and he sees an old warrior in a ghostly form. He recognises from previous visions, it is his grandfather. The old man whispers urgently to "get him out of it". The vision then changes to Ruben falling to the ground, with a bloody nose. The vision clears. Kunoh rushes over to Ruben and smacks him in the face with the butt of his axe. Ruben falls over, nose bloody, just as Kunoh had seen in his vision. Kunoh thinks the troubles over and then ..

Ruben stands, and suddenly he is surrounded by hundreds of tiny little blood red flies everywhere.

Maybellina realises Ruben has allowed through a being from the Otherwhere. She realises this being is a single creature, but made up of a billion flies. She recognises this as a Diver.

Heian suddenly falls over, taking ill with no apparent cause. He crawls to safety with Onai's help, and Onai remains on guard to protect him.