Journal The Disastrous Diary of Liadain's Least Lucky Lady

Private roleplay dedicated to character's personal journal entries.
Zinnia

Zinnia

In Bloom
Member
Monthly Poster I 500 post high club Seriously Likeable III
Messages
512
Character Biography
Link
Zinnia's Journal, Entry 1: Bristly Beginnings

Okay so this is gonna be weird and new for me, but uh...I don't know. I never thought Dreadlord work could be so lonely, and Kristen thought it might help if I started keeping a diary to store my thoughts in. I don't really know how effective this could really be, but...I dunno. I have a lot of time and no one to talk to, so this stupid book will have to do, I guess. Worth a try, at least.

Oh, and I won't be bothering to add dates to these. I don't see the reason. Hopefully no one ever even looks at these besides me, anyways. Why am I even prefacing this entry with this? Gods, come on, Zinnia, just get on with it.

Alright, so...scout work on the border territories again today. Yes, the Falwood, AGAIN. This area is awful, and it's a lot less, um...*entertaining* without someone like Kilien to keep me company. I keep requesting the Academy to have him sent out for another field mission with me, but they don't seem too keen on letting that happen again. I really can't figure out why...

In any case, today was even more terrible than usual. I completely get why everyone in Vel Anir hates the locals. Well, not the elves, but the fae. The more I encounter them, the less I like them. Are they all such awful little jerks? One leapt out of the tree line today and scared my horse. He started running right towards an embankment and I couldn't get him under control, but right before I thought he'd throw himself over the side and get himself hurt, that same fae creep *poofed* in front of him and made him turn one-eighty.

Unfortunately, him turning so fast threw me off. I hit the ground pretty hard and rolled down the embankment. Guess what? A whole mess of sticker bushes were at the bottom. I'm still picking brambles out of my skin and leathers. Ow ow ow.

Thankfully I got my horse back, and I'm supposed to be heading into town tomorrow to restock on supplies and get some rest in. Couldn't have come sooner.

Um...until next time, I guess?
 
  • Stressed
  • Bless
Reactions: doonaday and Kilien Basmarc
Entry 2: I Hate Big Words

Hi again, I guess? I made it back to town, and was immediately reminded of how I cannot seem to fit in much of anywhere. I'm not giving up, obviously, but just...ugh. Why am I like this?

Sorry, sorry, moping again. This is for VENTING, not moping, right..? I'm not totally sure what the difference is, but whatever, I'll get to the point.

There was...a REALLY handsome guy that I saw in town. The weather was pretty nice today, and he was sitting in the sun with an easel and a canvas and stuff. Painting. He was painting.

I did that thing I always do when I get the butterflies from just looking at someone where I keep trying to sneak glances at them, but I'm way too obvious about it and they make eye contact with me and so I end up feeling obligated to actually TALK to them instead of just respectfully absorbing how nice they look and--ugh, alright, I keep reminding myself to try and be more bold, like I said I would when I graduated.

So...instead of running away when he noticed me, I went ahead and approached him, tried to talk to him and all that. At first it was going okay, I just asked him about his painting and he lit up like a candle.

Then he started talking about technique and stuff? And I made the mistake of pretending to know ANYTHING about painting. He used a word I have literally never heard or read in my life, and I said just about the dumbest thing possible because I misunderstood what he meant.

"Oh, yeah, I love it when there's olives alongside the little meats and cheeses!"

GODS. I THOUGHT HE SAID CHARCUTERIE, I'M SO STUPID. He looked at me like he'd just seen a rat publicly chew off part of a BABY, Journal! And then he just said
"Uh-huh, well, you have a good day, I need to finish this," and went back to painting.

I went to the local book store right after and asked the owner about the word. "Chiaroscuro?" Who uses that word?! Just say "lighting" or "contrast" or something! AAHHH I WANT TO DIE!

Anyways...I'm just going to drink and pass out now. Thanks Journal, until next time.
 
  • Ooof
Reactions: doonaday and Kilien Basmarc
Entry 3: Breakfast in Bed
Well...it certainly has been an eventful morning. I've been staying at a local inn during my down time and it's been alright for the most part. Not the nicest place, but Dreadlord pay means I've got a room and I'm not sleeping in the commons.

Funny thing, that. I woke up in the commons this morning anyways. Actually, technically I woke up midair. My bed fell through the floor of the upper story.

I want to write that again. My bed. Fell. Through. The floor. Or, the ceiling, I guess?

I screamed. The other customers screamed. The inn workers screamed.

Thankfully no one was hurt. The innkeeper explained it to me a bit later. Apparently during a flood a few years back they had a pretty bad roof leak above the room I was in. Water got in and didn't get put back out, so dry rot got to the support beams. A few years of rot and decay later, and I was just the unlucky patron who happened to be sleeping in the room when the support beams gave way.

I feel a lot more fortunate that nobody saw me uncovered when I came crashing through. That probably would have been the worst case scenario.

At least the innkeeper gave me free breakfast and didn't charge me for that night's stay...it's the little things, right?
 
  • Yay
  • Popcorn
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and doonaday
Entry 4: Ghosts n' Stuff
Hello again. I've been back out on the road for a couple of days now and I thought I'd do another of these because today was...weird. Weirder than usual. While I was traveling up a trail through some pretty long-forgotten fields I spotted an old, run down house in the distance. I thought I'd go check it out but I was pretty shortly cut off.

This old guy in what looked like the remains of robes hopped out of the reeds and started waving at me and shouting to "turn back! Away! Away!" He must have heard my horse's hoof steps and gotten woken up from a nap or something.

In any case, he had a holy symbol of Kress hanging from his neck, but I'm not sure if he just found/stole it or if he was actually a priest of some kind. He was going on and on about "not treading upon the land here to follow, o ye of bright eyes and brown hair, lest ye invoke the ire of the fiend of yonder abode!"

(Or something like that, he was using way too many big words for me to fully get what he was saying.)

I told him I was a Dreadlord and that dealing with things like that was exactly my job, then asked him what I'd be dealing with.

"An ephemeral cretin, a specter from beyond the veil of life and death! Fear it well, young Dreadlord, or thou shalt--" yadda yadda yadda.

Anyways I spent like half an hour poking around the house. The place was a wreck, looked like a fire might've burnt part of it down at some point. The old guy followed me closer to the place but maintained a good distance.

I nearly soiled myself when something in a pile of rubble finally moved on its own. I drew my hammer and readied myself for something terrifying...only for the fattest opossum I've ever seen to come tumbling out of the pile a few moments later. I grabbed the thing by the scruff of its neck and held it up for the old guy to see, and shouted at him if this was the "ephemeral cretin."

He looked absolutely terrified and started raving and praying a bunch of babble I couldn't quite make out. I carried the opossum a good fifty yards from the house and set it down on a log, and it wandered off. When I came back the old guy was praising me for performing an exorcism and calling me a saint. I told him it was nothing and went on my way, but not before he handed me a little hand-carved charm that he said would ward off demons.

The Falwood outskirts are just as weird as the forest itself, I swear.
 
  • Yay
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 5: What am I Doing?
This one's gonna be hard to talk about. Write about. Whatever. But Kristen's some number of thousands of miles away, and I don't know if I'd even want to talk about it with Kilien, or anybody else. I just feel ill.

I came upon the remains of a fight today. I figured it was recent because the corpses were all pretty fresh and a burned out wagon was still smoking and warm. I know this sort of thing happens all the time out here, and in the world in general, it's just...a lot harder to look at than I thought it would be.

The wreckage was definitely Anirian. Probably a merchant convoy or something. If any of them survived, they were long gone by now. The rest were full of arrows or sliced up with clean cuts, and any abandoned crates had been totally emptied. Elf raiders, if the stories and my own little experience was anything to go by.

I found out I was right pretty quickly when I heard some pretty pitiful sounding coughing. I didn't think Falwood elves were particularly keen on leaving their wounded behind, but maybe things got so messy that this one was made an exception for.

He was hurt badly. Belly ripped open through his leathers, guts spilling out, blood draining from his mouth. I was shocked that he was conscious at all, but maybe elves are tougher than humans, I don't know.

When he saw me coming he growled something I didn't understand and spat me, a glob of blood and goo that didn't get more than a few inches from his face. He got a lot quieter when I got closer, breathing hard and just looking up at me, eyes kind of glassy looking. I think holding on to the anger was too much effort for him.

I didn't know what to do, or what to even feel. I was taught for my whole life that the raiders from the Falwood were evil creatures, supernatural monsters capable of cutting you to ribbons faster than you could see them coming. What I saw in front of me was a person on death's door, suffering as he bled out.

"You and yours killed these people?" I asked him. He nodded, and I think at that point he really knew I wasn't there to save him.

"Do what you will," was all he said back.

My hammer gave him his last mercy.
 
  • Yay
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 6: Are They All Like This?
I really cannot overstate my dislike of fae.

I'm back to patrolling near the tree lines and I hate it, I HATE it. I can't get ONE NIGHT without something WEIRD happening. I thought that maybe the Visitor was unique in being the more chatty type, but no. No, I was very wrong.

Another one appeared tonight while I was making camp and at first I thought I might actually be dealing with a ghost. It was a lanky, floaty thing with a long, tattered sheet hanging off of it and a kind of weird glow coming from its body, like a bunch of shades of red that was kind of hard to look at. The thing had its arms above its head, wiggling its long, creepy fingers in the air and literally saying "ooOOOooo!" You know. Like a ghost in a kids' book.

I froze when it floated in because, let's be honest, when you're settling down for the night while trying to cook a pot of beans over a campfire, the average person isn't expecting whatever in Kress' name that was. But then it started twirling back and forth in front of me and getting really silly with the "ooo" sound it was making? Then it just sat down across the fire from me and started talking.

"Did my eldritch entrance impress you, child? Does my baleful visage not drive you wild? Grant me but a cup of beans, and learn the secrets of my mien!"

(I would not have remembered any of that if the thing wasn't rhyming, that was actually kind of neat.)

I said something like "If I give you a cup will you just go away, please? I don't need to know how you're doing this, I just want some peace and quiet."

It sat there for a second staring at me from under the sheet, blankly, and replied "Yeah, okay."

So it sat there politely while I finished cooking, I gave it a spare cup with fresh beans in sauce, it thanked me, and left. I hollered after it to just ask like a normal person next time and it yelled back "you know that I won't!"

Please, someone, get me away from here.
 
  • Love
  • Frog Cute
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and VigiloConfido
Entry 7: It Still Hurts
Time is cruel.

I stumbled into a cemetery earlier today. I spaced out while patrolling and didn't realize where I was until my horse trotted by one of those stone monument things. I don't know what they're called, but I think you put a body inside of one.

Then I looked around and saw all the headstones. Like most of the things out here that aren't properly in towns, the place looked pretty worse for wear. I'm not sure if there's anything more...solemn? Is that the word?...than an abandoned graveyard. I felt a lump catch in my throat straight away.

Why do I still care so much? He didn't even like me. The last time we spoke was to fight with each other. Even though it's been years now, and there have been other boys, sometimes I see a bunch of stupid graves and I start breaking apart like I just started leaving my room at the Academy again.

It shouldn't matter to me. It never should have mattered to me. I was nothing to him, yet I insist on going to his grave and leaving flowers and notes every year, notes that no one will ever read. I should just stop, I should stop thinking about him and move on.

But I can't. And I won't. I'll be back at his grave to remember him again this year. If I don't, who will?
 
  • Cry
Reactions: VigiloConfido and Kilien Basmarc
Entry 8: Trippy
Alright so I think I've found another reason to dislike the Falwood, and for once it doesn't have to do with fae or elves.

The forest itself seems like it's...I don't know, alive, I guess? And it really, really doesn't like trespassers. Or maybe anyone, I don't know. Maybe the elves get along with the forest just fine, but it's kind of hard to ask the ones around here. Next time I visit central Vel Anir I'll have to pay a visit to the Elven Quarter to find out.

In the meantime, I'll have to be more careful about what plants and rocks I'm accidentally bumping into, or even how far into the tree line I actually wander. I went a bit too deep today, and the forest didn't care for it. It...showed me things. The local Anirians say it isn't real, just illusions, but...Kress, it was strange.

One long series of images and memories and things that never happened but could, like a dream, flashing before my eyes. It felt like it could have only been minutes, but when I came back to my senses I'd lost pretty much the whole day, and the forest had spit me back out in a completely different spot.

I thought maybe a fae might have been trying to cast magic on me to steal my things, but...no. Everything was accounted for. Gods, it's scary that the Falwood can just DO that. Makes me wonder how "natural" it really is, or if it was made with those security measures in mind...which just opens up a lot more questions, honestly.

What's so important that the forest itself feels the need to hide it?
 
Last edited:
  • Frog Sip
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 9: Stacks on Stacks
Alright, been a while since I last made an entry, but there hasn't been anything interesting going on lately. Today I happened to wander through an area that I hadn't patrolled through before, and what I saw was enough to prompt a journal entry, I guess. This is mostly out of sheer boredom at this point, but I think the locals can relate.

I was coming up on a town when I started seeing a bunch of piles of rocks. Like every few yards, a carefully stacked pile of rocks. All over the place, fields full of them. My natural assumption was that I just found my way into another graveyard, but no, not at all. I didn't even have to make it all the way to town to get an answer.

There was a guy out in this weird area in the middle of making another rock pile. I asked him what the piles were for, and if he'd lost someone recently (I was kinda worried about sickness, or raiders, or something). He shrugged his shoulders and told me that these were "the cairns," and that Cairnburgh was known for them.

Again, I asked him what they were for. Graves? Wards? Location markers?

"It's Cairnburgh, ma'am. We've got cairns."

I asked him if he was at least enjoying himself.

"Oh you've just gotta try stacking up a good cairn at least once while you're here, ma'am, pure barry, it is."

I told him I'd take his word for it and kept riding. The humans out by the Falwood are nearly as crazy as the things that actually live IN the Falwood, I guess.
 
  • Popcorn
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 10: Glitter Wings
A nice change of pace today.

Again, I really don't like the Falwood...but even I can admit that it can be really beautiful at times. I decided to venture into the tree line again, despite the time/memory loss I experienced the other day. I have to do it on occasion even if I don't want to, it's part of the job. That said, it turned out alright this time.

I found a little clearing to take a break in, let my hood down and all that. Elves and fae don't care that I've got horns, and no Anirians are around to see them, so it makes for a nice way to blow off steam. Like most times I'm out in nature, it felt very relaxing and...I don't know, *right,* I guess. Like I can breathe with my whole chest after a lifetime of having a rope wrapped around my ribcage.

Relaxing on a log for a while was nice, but I was given a nice surprise in the middle of it. And I genuinely mean that this time. Suddenly a whole bunch of little winged critters started flittering up from the short grass around me. Startled me for a second, but then I realized how pretty they were, and then I realized WHAT they were.

Gossamer moths! Hundreds of them! Such gorgeous little things, white and pale green with those fluffy ridges around their wings. They must have just started hatching from their cocoons or something, I happened to be in the clearing they all nestled down in right when they all came out!

It was such a wonderful sight. Almost enough to distract me from a giant spider that had apparently been stalking me, which I had to squash with my hammer. Thankfully I knew those moths don't produce silk, and I remembered that I was still in the evil forest that wants to kill me.

...this all reminds me that I really should stop by home and pick up Seri. I bet he's getting so big! And I could really use some company on the road.
 
  • Frog Cute
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 11: Shopping in the Shade
Hello again, Journal. Just like I wrote about last time, my want for seeing Seri overwrote duty a bit. I went home under the reason of "needing to restock critical supplies." I didn't bother saying that the critical supply in question was my pet haterpillar, but command didn't need to know that.

So...yeah! I've got Seri with me again! He. Is. SO. CHUNKY! And...well, he's a baby butterfly or something, so I figure he's gotta turn into a cocoon like those gossamer moths eventually, right? But I don't know when, and I don't have the ability to travel out to Vel Yuna to ask the locals more about haterpillars. Well, with all the gold I'm making from 2nd Level and Stalker status burning a hole in my pocket, I figured it was time to go shopping. At the very least for information.

Turns out finding books on critters that are only common in a very specific backwater of Vel Anir is a little more difficult than I thought. I wound up stumbling upon a kinda sketchy looking place with a sign out front that said "Tenebrous Trinkets" on it. Whatever that means. Didn't really see the harm in peaking in, though Seri was wiggling around in my arms like he didn't like the idea.

Went in and, wow, I don't think they've ever dusted the place even once, and it was not very well lit. I poked around for a bit until a spindly looking woman in a black dress showed up and asked if she could help me find anything. I told her about my hunt for books on haterpillars or other Anirian creatures, and she started showing me around.

We passed by the counter at one point and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the shopkeep lady had left a curtain to a back room half open. I started to look in that direction and for the briefest of moments I could have *sworn* I saw...something. Some big, looming *thing* and the tiniest flash of two glowing, red eyes. Quicker than I could even keep up with though, the shopkeep darted over and closed the curtain.

At this point I was thoroughly freaked out and told her I had to leave. She put a necklace in my hand before I could run out and told me "thank you for your patronage, please do return some day. Your discretion is appreciated."

I wanted to say that I don't know what "discretion" means, but instead I just said that I didn't pay for the necklace and that she didn't need to give it to me. She patted me on the shoulder, patted Seri on the head, and told me to think of it as a "first time customer perk."

Again, I wanted to say that I wasn't technically a customer because I hadn't bought anything, but at this point I was way too creeped out to stay. I left in a hurry.

Next day I went back to the area with the intention of pointing the Guard towards the place, but, uh...the sign was gone and the place was empty. What in Kress' name?
 
Last edited:
  • Frog Sip
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 12: I Should Look Into This...
Hey Journal. Short entry today, I think.

Might be by coincidence but I've been thinking a lot about my time in Pernach lately. The whole situation with kids going missing and people and animals being found drained of blood.

Almost as if on cue a town crier came through earlier shouting about "citizens being found exsanguinated," and urging people to stay in their homes at night until the authorities can find the source of the issue. I don't know why they couldn't just say "drained of blood," but at least I already knew the word "exsanguinated" from the Pernach reports.

Anyways...look, I'm a Stalker. The extended Falwood patrols and surveys are just busy work. I can, and should, be applying my status to start investigating this. I'm good at it, and I have a responsibility to do it. I owe it to Proctor Salak to do my duty.

Maybe I'll call on some help. I know I'm not the only Dreadlord in the area. At the very least, I'll have Seri with me. Here's hoping we don't die horribly.
 
Last edited:
  • Cthuulove
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 13: Just Desserts
And here we go again. Do I really need to keep trying to mix up these openings? I'm the only one reading these, I don't know how much I care about the writing being "fresh" or anything. Whatever.

Plans have been made. If by the end of the month, no answer has been come to regarding the disappearances and killings in Vel Luin, I've got full approval to investigate it myself. In the meantime, I'm wrapping up some loose ends in the Falwood border territories. Regardless of whether or not the Vel Luin situation is taken care of, this will be my last month out here.

In other news, that glowy fae jerk that I hate came back tonight, making those dumb noises again. I immediately rolled my eyes and asked him if we really needed to do this song and dance again, but he started to go into his routine again.

"OooOOoo, I am the specter of--" was all he managed to get out before Seri shot a bunch of sticky silk into his face. Kress, I wish Kristen or Lumen or Kilien, or ANYONE, really, had been here to see it. He was sputtering and spitting, and I think I heard him say something like "oh, gods, it's in my mouth!"

I'm sure the little troublemaker will be back another night to get me back for this, but for now, it was exactly what I needed. I'm so glad I went home to get Seri, he's already making things out here better.
 
Last edited:
  • Love
  • Smug
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and VigiloConfido
Entry 14: Homesick Nomad?
I don't really know how to put this feeling into words.

I'm really happy that Seri is with me again, let me just lead off with that. I should have brought him along with me in the first place. He's recently figured out how to turn himself into helmets, so I think he's pretty safe if we happen to get into a dangerous situation.

That said...I miss my people. I can't really say that I miss home, because...I don't know, where would that even be? The Academy? I guess it was the closest thing I had to a home, sure. It took me too long to figure out that not every Initiate and Dreadlord on the planet was my family just because the Academy technically "adopted" me from St. Kolbe's. I did find friends I could really rely on, though, and being so far from them, being out here alone...it's hard.

Nothing interesting happened, I just wanted to put these thoughts to paper. The venting is working, I think. I do wish there was a word for this feeling though, like a really deep longing for something you miss? I don't know, maybe I'll just make up a nonsense word or something. HIRAETH. No, that sounds silly. GLUMBLED. Ooo yeah, I like that one actually, fun to write and to say.

I'm GLUMBLED!
 
Last edited:
  • Haha
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and VigiloConfido
Entry 15: Oops
Well...I'm lost. Note to self: don't touch staves of umbral power.

I got tasked with investigating a weird temple thing that got dug up by an Anirian archeologist in the border territories. Wouldn't be my first dungeon delve (it's not really my *thing* though), and I was the highest ranking Dreadlord in the area, so they sent me in to take a peek.

Found a room with a staff in it. Big, empty room. Staff on a pedestal thing. Obvious trap even by my standards, but the archeologist said that he absolutely needed it and that it was the "staff of umbral power." Some crazy artifact, I guess.

Really didn't want to, but I grabbed it. Black fog poured out of the glowy, purple gem on the end of the staff, and next thing I knew Seri and I were in a big, stone maze in pitch black darkness. I am so cross with that archeologist guy.

Thankfully I had torches and plenty of food tucked away, but I have no idea how long I'm gonna be stuck down here. Time to start exploring, I guess.
 
  • Nervous
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 16: Not Alone
I thought I bumped into the archeologist today. I did not.

Remold Margrave, he calls himself. I stumbled into him in the maze after catching his trail, thinking that finding another person would be something of a godsend. I was very wrong. I asked him if he was another archeologist, and he corrected me, saying that his study was something called "thanatology" (he stood over me while I wrote the word down on another page to make sure I got it right). Something about studying dead things, I guess.

Apparently this place is not just a dungeon, it's a tomb. That's why Remold came looking down here, and touched the staff a couple of days before I did. He seems...really insistent that he knows what's going on and how to "solve the mysteries of the ancient tomb, claiming great renown all for the name of Remold Margrave!"

I don't trust that he does, and I had to keep Seri from spitting silk at him. My grub is not wrong about people. This guy is no good.

Unfortunately, for now I don't have any better choices. It's either see Remold to the things he's looking for down here, or keep stumbling around by myself hoping to accidentally run into something that gets me out. Kind of a lose/lose, and at least this way I have someone to talk to, even if that someone is a stuck-up jerkface who seems to think I'm just dumb muscle.

I got straight C's in educational studies at the Academy. I'm *average-smart* muscle, *thank you.*
 
  • Nervous
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 17: A Way Out, Hopefully
Turns out that Remold isn't completely full of crap.

It took us what I *think* was about three days, but the two of us (and Seri) finally found what Mister Thanatologist was looking for. It's a sealed chamber with a huge door made out of shiny black stone. Remmy very snootily informed me that it's polished obsidian, and that the ancient writing that's carved into it is both our key into the chamber and out of the maze.

Two problems: I have to sit and wait for who-knows-how-long for Remold to get the door open, and once the door *is* open there's very likely to be a fight waiting for us on the other side. At least, according to the expert in the room.

Which, by the way, he's informed me that he is NOT a fighter and that I'll have to be the one who takes care of whatever threat is going to jump out at us inside the chamber. So that's fun. How was he expecting to have any success down here if he *knew* there would be fighting involved but also *knows* that he can't fight?

I'm hoping that he figures this out sooner rather than later. I only have a few days worth of rations left and I'd rather die quickly by getting killed by some monster than slowly of starvation. I'm also hoping the monster kills Remold first.
 
  • Yay
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 18: Out
I don't want to write about this any more than I have to. I know I don't *have* to at all, but I *should,* at least to give some level of peace to myself, or maybe to Remold. I don't know. I just don't want to think about this, I don't want to talk about this, I would like to forget it, forever.

I was probably too hard on him. He acted like a stuck up gas bag, but in the end, he couldn't have been as terrible as he acted.

Remold got the door open. I have no idea how, I had been napping when he figured it out. Something about aligning some runes in the correct order? I won't claim to understand it. We went inside, and it was every bit the tomb he had claimed it to be.

The interior was nothing short of a nightmare. I can't begin to describe it. I don't have the words. The...*thing* that was waiting inside, prisoner, or guardian, or whatever it was...I was no match for it. I lost control. Teeth and claws and fire came out. I figured Remold would probably bail, get himself out and leave the two monsters to kill each other.

He didn't. He saved me. Stabbed the creature with a knife that stunned it and put its attention on him. Pulled me back to my senses, and he told me to get myself out, shoved me through some kind of gateway. I woke up later, just me and Seri, back in the place I'd found the staff.

The last look I saw on Remold's face will haunt me for a long time. If Kristen's god is real, I hope he can give Remold peace and comfort in...whatever comes after.

I'm done with the Falwood border territories for now. I need leave. This is too much.
 
  • Love
  • Spoon Cry
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and VigiloConfido
Entry 19: Fresh Air
My leave was approved. Transfer, too.

After debriefing I was instructed to pay a visit to some of the nicer magical medical services within the Guard. Apparently after some ordeal with another Dreadlord abusing her power and causing a graduate from the year ahead of me to have a psychotic break, they started taking mental wellness checks a lot more seriously.

"Pernicious lingering magical effects should not be a reason we're losing perfectly good Dreads," were the exact words the CO said while I was in the infirmary. I'm proud of myself for remembering the word "pernicious," though I have no idea what it means.

In any case...I spent the last few days with a Fourth Level chanting over me. Most of what happened is kind of a haze now. Kind of like I'd had a long, bad dream. Some part of me thinks that, by agreeing to this, I'm being a coward. I'm not sure how guilty I really feel about it. I felt like I was suffocating and now I feel okay. Not amazing, just...okay.

I also remember tales of how things were before the Revolution. This sort of thing, those in power actually caring enough about us to make sure we're okay...it wouldn't have happened before. They'd have called me weak and sent me right back out to die.

This is the best outcome, I think. I'm going to try not to worry about it. Seri and I have a little down time, then a new assignment. And I'm still going after Vel Luin next. You can't keep me down for long, and I'm going to prove that.
 
  • Yay
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and VigiloConfido
Entry 21: There's a Pit in my Gut
Back to travelling. Leave is over with, so Seri and I are headed to my next assignment before I head towards Vel Luin.

On the road I started to feel really strange. Uncomfortable, like the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end and my skin was on fire. I'm not sure what was going on, but Seri seemed to take notice because he took on his normal form and started wiggling around and whining a whole lot.

Around the time the feeling felt about as bad as it possibly could I think I had partially changed. Teeth felt too long, skin felt too hard, head was hurting really bad. Thought I was about to pass out or something and was really worried someone might see something compromising.

An old man in heavy robes stopped by to check on me. He seemed really jolly and I wasn't really sure why, but he offered to help me. My brain felt like it was splitting in two. I had no reason to turn away his kindness but part of me was screaming that I should tear him apart. I couldn't give him an answer, and instead I just looked up at him.

His whole attitude changed when I looked him in the eyes.

"Ahh. The girl with eyes like brushed gold."

That was what he said. I remember so clearly. I can't remember his face, but I can remember his words.

"I'll get out of your way for now. Be seeing you."

When he left I just ran, and kept running. Didn't take me long to start feeling better. Kress, I thought I'd gotten away from this sort of mess when I left the border territories, please don't tell me this is just my new normal...
 
  • Nervous
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 22: Help, It's Worse
Short entry, not much time to write. Bad smell was coming from further up the road. Went to check it out. Think I found a really small village or something, not supposed to be here. Saw blood running into the stream along the side of the road. Decided to check it out.

Some kind of disgusting ritual. Dead laid out in a circle, some kind of pattern. Disturbing to the point I threw up.

Felt a warmth in my pocket, realized it was the necklace given to me by the woman at Tenebrous Trinkets. Turned around and the shop was behind me. Felt like it was inviting me in. Going to go in. Praying to whatever gods will listen that I don't wind up dead, or worse.
 
  • Nervous
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and VigiloConfido
Entry 23: The Wandering Shop
Well I'm not dead, nor worse.

I don't have an explanation yet for what's going on here. I questioned the shopkeep and wound up with more questions than answers. Apparently (at least from what I can gather) the store itself might be cursed?

She told me that her store tends to "wander," especially when it's not being looked at, and *especially* at night. What that means is anyone's guess...it can't be teleporting, right? I was always taught that the Herald would take anyone that tried to teleport long distances, and this is a very long ways from where I saw it in Vel Anir.

I don't know, I'm not smart enough to make theories on how it works. That sort of thing was always Alistair's specialty. I wish he were here to help me out about now.

Instead, I did what I do best: stick my nose in places it doesn't belong and look for answers. After a bit of haggling I was able to trade some trinkets I had on me for information. The shopkeep wasn't responsible for the deaths in this place. In fact, she's not able to leave the store at all. But she *can* look outside, and she picked up some things.

Creatures came through. Shifters, from the sound of it. Some kind of tribal thing. Not fae, but maybe still raiders trying to see what they can get away with inside of Anirian territory. I asked if this was at all connected to Vel Luin, and she just smiled before ushering me out of the store.

If this really is connected, then something is very wrong. I need to get to the bottom of this, fast.
 
  • Thoughtful
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc
Entry 24: Halfway There
Honestly just bored on this one. Despite how eventful my travels had been up until my second encounter with Tenebrous Trinkets, the last few days have been totally quiet. Figured I would write in some "shower thoughts," as I've heard them called.

Of all the types of magic we had among initiates at the Academy, I don't think I remember even a single ice mage. Not one. Sure, Houri kinda had the whole spectrum of weather covered, but no one just had ICE. Thraah had fire, I know someone in the year above had lightning, and I think a few people had wind? Ice would have been nice, it's hard to come by naturally for my battery.

Oh well, at least I didn't have to worry about getting frostbite at any point.

Oh, real quick: what the heck was up with Houri's magic, anyways? I've heard from Kristen like a thousand times that storm magic is a Pirian thing. Everyone in that house is always naming things after storms, too. Was Houri secretly part Pirian or something?? Do the Luanas know?!
 
  • Gasp
  • Yay
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and VigiloConfido
Entry 25: Close Save
Another quick one today. Sometimes you get stuff that's not weird and supernatural or involves violence, and it's nice to be able to help in those situations too.

A wildfire spread into a village that I was passing. I was able to help put out a lot of the spreading flames with water that I'd stored up in my battery.

One guy I pulled out of a smoking building, but even after he was clutching his throat and breathing funny. I asked him what was wrong and he said,
"My asthma! My asthma!"

Thankfully I actually knew a trick to deal with this. I stuffed two gloved fingers up his nose and veeery gently channeled a mix of air with the tiniest bit of water mixed in up there, then told him to breathe deep and slow. It took a while, but it got his lungs working right again.

I like helping people. It feels good, and the villagers were very thankful. They gave me a Bundt cake!
 
  • Aww
  • Yay
Reactions: Kilien Basmarc and VigiloConfido
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back