Never a Cat so Clever

 26th of the 2nd Astral Moon, 006 7AE

Staelufre came over the other day. Gods know how she got in since the door was locked and Ran said he locked it while I was out. Maybe she crawled in through Sheepbeeps flap, I don't know.

Either way, I wasn't about to turn her out just because she probably broke in and possibly nicked small articles of jewelry. Not since she was offering up information on the Mistress. Aside from learning that we have radically different philosophies toward life, I have also learned two very, very important things about the Mistress.

• She is not just any Voidsent. She's a Succubus. So there's some bad news wrapped in a whole shiny foil of bad with a big bow of terrible stuck on top. 

• She is presently in the Coral Sea, the officers are aware of her presence and she is operating with what seems to be impunity from within, possessing the body of a fair-skinned, blond elezen woman who stands around and reads a lot.

You can imagine I'm pretty perturbed about the whole thing. Still, there's something to be said about keeping your enemies close, and I know what to keep my eyes peeled for now.

Stae has a plan to trap her. I worry because the luring part of her plan means getting involved with that spider woman who gave Stae the book that did nothing to help Dhem.  I think my idea for using the blood that tethers four of us to the Mistress to force her into the trap would probably be our best bet, though I'd like to do a fair bit more research on Succubi as a whole before committing to anything. There is an update to information on such monstrous things since the incidents with Lady Amaldine as Haukke Manor has become a bastion for researchers looking into the void and ghosts and ghoulies. I still say all you need for that sort of thing is a good old fashioned witchboard with a cut-crystal lens.

Still, Stae needs me to construct the actual trap to hold the blasted creature, and that I am more than capable of doing.

Materials Required:

• Seven unaspected aether crystals
• Seven ponze of sacred soil
• Sheaf of vellum
• Silver container, the inside smooth and flat- reflective as possible
• Clear glass with which to line each wall of the inside of the container
• Ink
• Silver powder
• Seven red candles
• Phials of blood from her victims
• Purified water
• Several alchemical formulas I will not list to avoid incrimination should this journal fall into the wrong hands -Talk to A'randr about concocting these.

This is a soft list for now, but a plan is already forming. I still need to speak to the others- preferably all at once and with Sig, Ran and Stae present. And possibly the one called Ja'ren though I have never even seen this person, let alone know how to get in contact with them. Seven hells, I have my work cut out for me.

I'm rather proud of the plan I'm formulating, though I probably shouldn't pat myself on the back quite yet. If this fails, it could be the death of us all. But if it succeeds, it could trap the Mistress indefinitely. So. A gamble.

In any case, I got the idea when Stae showed me the ghost that's been following her around. Someone called The Dollmaker that latched onto her on a trip to Haukke Manor. Three guesses what this bastard does.

In any case, the only way you can glimpse him is via your peripheral vision in a reflective surface which, according to Stae- traps him. Now I've read in several grimoires about the use of mirrors in exorcising Voidsent and legends about never being caught between two mirrors lest you be trapped. In fact, mirrors and reflective surfaces have been continuously in practical magics since, well, forever really. So it's certainly not unfounded. Perhaps when all this is over with, we could find some way to ensnare Stae's ghost as well.

Moving on from the troubles with The Mistress, Ran came to me last night with a very interesting bit of gossip about Reinette and Sig. I do believe Ran may even be planning some swooping of his own right now. However, I think this is one situation I will not be sticking my nose too deeply into, since I would rather not see friendships fall to pieces.

Sadly our gossiping got interrupted by a call for help on the linkshell. Reginoot said someone had poisoned Miss Vira and I was apparently the only person with any medical prowess on hand.

I will just let the pure horror of that sink in for a moment.

Fortunately it was no poisoning, though some art lady (Olive Greenich? Hyur names are weird) was initially accused. She did have some curious bit of information that a strange man has been hanging out on the front yard of the Still Shore for a while. So that's a thing.

Also Ren's room is apparently haunted. I offered to go back for my witchboard but alas no one ever wants to try it. I mean it is literally a way of asking ghost directly if they're there and what they want. With the possible side-effects of malevolent spirits possibly latching onto you and ruining your life but there are prices to be paid for the sake of science!