TO DO:
- Formal rejections for faction invites
- Test jump pads at south oasis
- Empty collection boxes
- Check Redmaiden stash
- Ask after/find Paulemond Loche
- Report missing persons to Stryd
- Inventory n. and s. oases
- Get splinters/assemble Egg of Arac
- Set up seeing stones Done, handled by <<1>>, new <<2>> recruit

Urge to join a faction this go around is stronger than I've ever felt it. Can't figure why. But I won't give in. Not this time. Not ever.

It's the leaders that are the problem. Leaders always go bad. The better they seem, the more they'll disappoint you.

Got to stay wary of the ones that seem worth following. That get you so enamored that you don't notice as they lead you right off a cliff. Right into a wolf den. Right into the gallows.

I do miss having a community. I miss companionship. Looking after each other. But you're never safe. Even in a team of two.

I'd rather be alone than fall in with some group where we all try to tell ourselves that we're equal. That we're not all steered by some quietly elected superior.

There is always an imbalance of power. Always a hidden agenda.

I will not let myself lose my ability to sense that.

I will not let myself be beholden to others.

I will not let others be beholden to me.

Even if someday I help them to see what I see.