You can use update activity in your journey to save/modify any attributes in your schema/dataset and then can verify.

Easiest way to do a fresh install rather than debugging it since it is local. Do not deploy any content after fresh install and verify if author works.   Refer to below for more details. https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/adobe-experience-manager/cq5-author-doesn-t-launch-sling-error-n...