The not-immortal Blacksmith

7th of Anael, the first month of Snow,

2109 years since the new gods came.

I went to the library in town today. I was looking for some kind of old baking cookbook to find a new (old) recipe to surprise Martha with. I was met by an older middle aged Gnome woman, and when I inquired about ancient baking recipes she said she had just the thing in the stacks.

When she came back with it, I could see just how old it was. The ancient leather binding was obviously not it's first, as it barely covered the pages, no title was visible. Public cutbacks, go figure. As she signed me into the log book, as well as the title I was borrowing, she told me the recipe was best found in the index, under the name "communion loaf". She also said to not worry about the rest of the book as it was all just "Old religion mumbo-jumbo". I thanked her and left.

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The recipe was simple to find. It is even fairly simple to make. The ingredients, on the other hand are very rare, unless you used to be an adventurer, who knew those wivern wings would come in handy in the kitchen as well as the forge?

The recipe does mention that additional information about it is in chapter 3, on page 289. I will read it tomorrow after work.

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8th of Anael

This fucking book. I'm taking it back to the library tomorrow, recipe be damned.

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9th of Anael

I'm stuck with the book. When I tried returning it, the nice elf at the returns desk said that it was never in the catalog, and that they didn't have any "stacks" in the rear of the library, just the shelves of old books that are restricted for research, and not many of those. When I politely asked her to look again, she did, and came back a few minutes later with the library's Matron.

"No, Mr. Maxwell, we have never had a book like that in our collection, nor have we ever had a Gnome working here." She said. Frustrated, I left. Then I noticed the statue of Esmeralda, the Gnome goddess of knowledge at the entrance. The librarian had looked just like..."Well Fuck", I said out loud, and the damn statue winked at me.

I'm now stuck with a 2900 page book about the elder/old gods. At least the recipes don't look to bad. I will have to try and decipher some of the religious BS, so that I don't attract them in addition to the new ones that already plague me.

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11th of Anael

Today I try the new recipe. I have tried to remove all of the religious mumbo-jumbo that the book claims are needed to make the dough rise properly. I removed all the silly gestures, the meaningless "words of power", the "circles of sanctity", and everything else. More notes later, after the test is done.

*-*-*

Fuck this book. The kitchen is a mess. I had to pull out ALL of the old cleaning charms that I haven't used since Tristan was around. I wonder how he is (was?) doing? I guess I'm going to have to research the recipe more.

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12th of Anael

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. This is all stupid.

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20th of Anael

It has taken a week of studying this damnable book, but I think I have it down now. Some of the mumbo-jumbo was, and some of it wasn't. I haven't had to remember this much magic lore since I trained the kid...That wasn't actually that long ago was it?

*-*-*

23rd of Anael

I have manufactured an outdoor kitchen for my experiment. If things work properly, then I won't have anything to worry about. If things blow up again, then it will have been well worth the effort. Either way, Martha is appreciative. More later.

*-*-*

Well, it worked. Mostly. The bread is good, but not divine. Upon eating the first slice, I felt buoyed inside, and slightly better. But the effect faded after a few minutes. It would appear that this is some kind of "divine" healing bread. I will add the original, and my version there of, to my slowly growing bread book.

Now what to do with the other 6 dozen loafs?

TTFN