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• @zenbeater@beige.party 2026-07-19 19:10

  Quest update: the dark warlock fell, so my artefact has been granting its +2 to my servant leadership skill. Yesterday, I infused more magic into it. A lil story first... Some twelwish years ago, someone organised a bike tour in Transylvania, and we joined with a large group of friends. It was an epic adventure, but the important bit here is that for years, I honestly claimed that some of those regions are the most scenic I've ever witnessed. True, this stance had a lot to do with the good times we had as friends, but it still held true. Until yesterday. I'm here in Cascia (I'll toot about the event I attended later). Whenever I visit a new place, especially more remote ones where the likelihood of ever coming back again is low, I max out my sightseeing and, when possible, crown it with a local hike. Around here, that's the pilgrimage route to the Scoglio di Santa Rita. It's a touristy little sanctuary at the top of a peaking rock. Not being a person of religion, I didn't get much more from the whole saint shebang than an appreciation of history and admiration for people who are in this game for more than just themselves. Nevertheless, this being a pilgrimage, I took the soul-searching bit seriously - the Universe knows I'm in need of it. I won't bore you with the deets of my struggle, let's just say it was about what really gives me joy in this existence, and let's leave it at this: on my way back, I made decisions and peace to accompany them. And just then, I came across this creek, where, perhaps again thanks mostly to the magic of the moment, I got immersed in one of the prettiest spaces I've ever been to. It had it all: a bank of colourful stones (I whisked one away), a stone wall with a grotto, crystal clear blue water with fish swimming irenically, lush, big-leaved greenery, the chirp of birds and cicadas, the murmur of water, popping red poppy flowers on the far bank, clear blue skies - all of it enclosed between mountains. I sat for a bit, being completely aware that next to my short-term decisions made earlier, this, here, was what I wanted in the long run. It was a yet unnamed emotion, a rare, truly sacred place, a longing. Spinoza described this perhaps best through his pantheistic ideas, equating the concept of god with nature as a whole, with us a part of it. I left the sanctuary up at the peak unmoved - down here though, Nature was holding mass. So, I took my crystal out and submerged it in the numbingly cool water, careful not to spook the fish. Then I just knelt there, with my hands becoming one with the cold cleanness and I embodied the feeling for later reminiscence. When I took my artefact out, it was imbued with the gelid serenity that I will now carry whenever I'm contributing to the World. New enchantment slot unlocked! #TTRPG #Spinoza #Cascia #Umbria #Pilgrimage #Hiking #Travel

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