When I was reading a book in Greek, which arrived just a few days ago, on my average Saturday noon, I did not expect a lot of things. Having a person knock on my door, introduce themselves as “Coyote”, ask me for help in their “gig”, or be shanghaied into the middle of the desert, alongside four other guys, were one of them.

I was confused, lost, and didn’t knew what to do, and others seemed to be pretty calm about this situation, seemingly encountering Coyote before. So I asked them, what is going on. And they told me to not worry about it, or try to rationalize it, for it all made little sense anyways and would just make it worse. And then I decided to do exactly that, as I did not have much to do anyways, other than finish the task Coyote asked us to do. And then we had a fight with abnormally hostile Javelinas, then I got yelled at by Sasaki (one of the guys), and he pointed his kunai at me, and basically he is correct, I was not entirely serious about all of that, because I was still not certain if it was real.

But now, when the job is done, I am back home, and I received a payment for the job well done, I was left to wonder, what to think of all of it. It certainly could not be a dream. Injury obtained from getting rock shrapnel fly into me, cigar, lost jacket and knife. And the words of Coyote about future “gigs”, not from him, likely, but from others? This makes me anxious and slightly paranoid.

Sasaki is right, and continuing to not take everything seriously because I think it’s just a dream will inevitably get me maimed, if not killed. But now that he opened my eyes, I can make steps towards making sure I don’t get myself killed.

First step. Getting myself in shape. Once I lost the knife, I was basically useless in the fight. Even with the knife, I was sort of useless. And even when I got the metal bar, I still lacked in the department of whacking things with it. I'll go get some training in that direction. You never know when you'll need to swing metal bar at a beast which demolished a gigantic rock with ease. Parallel with that, I'll start practicing the Rite of Moonlight (which after this "gig" I, to my surprise, found out actually worked now) and try to obtain a higher degree of control over it.

I don't want to accidentally destroy my table with it again.

Spirits possessing people, jack-o-lanterns, werewolves. It is apparent more than ever that coming into direct conflict with supernatural is a question of when, and not if. I will have to make some preparations to ensure I am prepared for whatever comes next.

Werewolves. Rite of Moonlight can empower them, unless the hit is a killing blow, which means for majority of the time we fought them, I had to use something else - a flashlight, a knife, and only in the end when I was sure that the Rite would, if not kill, at least incapacitate, I striked. It was not the most terrible outcome there could be, but far from ideal. Silver weapons seem like an obvious choice, but where does one procures a dagger made out of silver? Silver bullets could work, but I do not have a firearm, and I don't have training in using them, which means I would miss every shot. I will have to think about this investment later, and maybe start saving up money until then.

This did made me slightly concerned - about other supernatural. Vampires, for example. I can make some wooden stakes, that's easier to obtain. In fact I have remains of my demolished table still. I was planning on throwing it out, but then I put remains in the box, and then I got distracted, and then they stayed in my house ever since. Three stakes, even crude ones, should work, and even if I don't get to use them I can still use them as a fuel for fire.

Some other preparations included a bottle of holy water, getting civilian camping MRE, as well as replacing some of my lost equipment. I need to think more of what to acquire. As of now, i have very little ideas. Extendable rod, because never know when you need it? Rope? Bulletproof vest? Well I doubt I'll have a place for a rope in my bag, and bulletproof vest does sounds nice, but I wanted to save some money for silver dagger first.

The big news, however, was finally being able to read the book I procured from that farmhouse. Rite of Secret Histories helped quite a bit. It has some quite interesting information, though it is mostly irrelevant. What interests me more is a protective spell. It does requires whole four gallons worth of blood, which is going to make it harder to use.

This contract was quite... Underwhelming? I suppose I can't complain about a contract that didn't nearly killed me, but it was still kind of baffling that I spent more time arriving to the place where contract would take place, than actually fulfilling it. On the other hand I got to visit famous New York places, and also try some food, like that one-dollar slice of pizza. Was pretty good.

Managed to somewhat increase my mana capacity by continuosly using Rite of Secret Histories. I feel like not only my mana capacity improved, as I no longer get "tunnel vision" when using Rite of Secret Histories, even if it does still takes over a minute for it to kick in. In addition to that, figured out how to make a barrier rite and bypass my low mana capacity, throughput, and need for concentration. I don't have any good names, so I'll just name it "Multilayer Protection", because I don't feel like naming every single thing after Luna or its pale shine, even if my rites do have pale shine in them. i don't know why, it just happens.

Though I think I should look more into some healing rites though. Or maybe a Rite of Preservation. Remembering the corn fields made me thirsty, and lasting longer without food, water or sleep sounds useful. And with how contracts go so far, being too paranoid is a good trait. On the other hand, Rite of Storage is pretty useful, and could help me carry some things discretely, that otherwise could get people to look weird at me. Like tons of blood. Or stab vest. Or a helmet.

After some careful consideration, I decided to get pack of six glowsticks, a knife sheath, a grinding stone, and the cheapest silver dining knife I could find online. I am unsure about how much silver it actually has, but it should have at least some. It better have some.

Next thing on the list is stab vest (or maybe bulletproof one instead?), a helmet, a gasmask (Sasaki's words still don't quite leave my head), and maybe something for throat protection. Those ones will involve more money and weird looks. Maybe I should just get into airsoft instead? That could explain some of the things I order online. Except not really, but some things can be waved off as 'this is that weird occult guy'.