Last night was starless and rainy, but I was more than prepared to venture into the thick woods just East of campus. The Chaplain discouraged me from this and was praying for my safety, for this case involves something known as darkfire.

Whether or not darkfire is used by spellcrafters illegally to conjure the dead, just as the well-known figure, Reonard Chaney, says, is a matter of speculation. What I do know is that it is potentially dangerous in that it manipulates the thinking pattern of the human mind, for example, causing disorientation; thus, the reason it is illegal in the first place.

But my professional title is "wrayth-hunter"; my job is to hunt darkfire cartel leaders and capture them. And so I had no fear in this expedition, especially since I came with my traveling hat, infrared detection spectacles, spellfire talisman, and bind-spell-enhanced catching rope. Not even the black bear I came across gave me reason to turn around; I just cast a flash of white light from my talisman to scare it off.

Just one discouraging matter, though; no leads. I came across three mineshafts and two sheds without a single piece of evidence. No spellfire residue or remnants of darkfire floans. And when the rain became torrential and accompanied by lightning, I was forced to return to the Scalar, soaking and empty-handed.

And that after I was forced to take a longer route out of the woods. I, feeling strong in my sense of direction otherwise, am embarrassed to admit that I took a path that I thought would lead me back to the University Campus. But I ended up coming out South of the patch of woods a mile South of the Campus, so that I had to trudge up the hill and go through the Campus to make it back to the cable train terminal.