An Unwelcome Visitor

So for all my complaining about not having agency over my own fate I do have to admit that I’ve had enough free time to do some things I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Did some proper grousing and carousing and vaguely questionable activities that remind me of the good old days… well, I was reminded of happier times until I went swimming and slammed my head on a wayward keel. Downright embarrassing, I’m glad my Rosie and Joel weren’t around to see such a sight.
 
A visit to Ruin was in order. The doctor patched me up well enough and I gave him a good look at my eye socket, since the pearl popped out of my head with the impact. He didn’t seem perturbed by my whole arrangement, still preoccupied with my piratical past and the fact that he considers me a mass murderer. Sylvie showed up for a time and we had a grand conversation. Feels nice to hang around and shoot the breeze with the crew again. Missed it. Even felt comfortable enough to take a nap on Ruin’s floor and not worry about being looted or stabbed, so you know we’re all getting along.
 
Of course the idle time was not for long. Cot hollered at us about a visitor, so we went to see who it was and found ourselves having an impromptu meeting with Ember, that fire genasi lady from the guild. That fire genasi lady with a scar upon her throat who is in a position of power over us and seems to know far more about the situation at hand than we do.
 
Sounds far too familiar for my liking.
 
She brought us a package and the news that Oak’Rynn was assassinated. The fearsome, incredibly loud, powerful man was murdered by some group named Chorus. The group means nothing to me but as soon as it was uttered our man Pheonix suddenly went all funny in the eyes and ranted like a man with a vendetta, uttering a wealth of information about said group for all of our benefit. As soon as he was done he was back to Pheonix and had no recollection of what he had just said. Man changes personalities quicker than the tides.
 
Ember presented us with a box with unknown contents, proclaiming that it was Oak’Rynn’s dying wish for us to see what was inside, to take up the mant- to take up the job and continue the hunt for Chimera. Really didn’t give us much choice in the matter. Either we go our own way and eventually run into Chimera, Chorus, and whoever else has it out for us or we try and get a head start on the problem. Would be stupid not to take whatever help we could.
 
Before I took a look inside I confronted Ember about being Kiara. There are far too many coincidences for my liking between the two fire genasi right big problems. Unfortunately either Ember is a very good liar or I’m wrong about my assumptions, because she insisted she knew nothing about Rhue or being executed, instead saying that her neck injury was unrelated and she had a score to settle. Davian and Sylvie seemed sympathetic to her cause, while Ruin was giving her a big stink eye.
 
I don’t believe her but I really don’t have much to go on right now. Maybe things are different here, maybe Ember really is telling the truth, but for now my gut’s telling me not to trust her so that’s what I’ll go with.
 
Ember left us with the package. It was our decision to accept Oak’Rynn’s last request or not, but to me the choice had already been made. Once we were in the room our path had already been decided for us. Inside the box was a wealth of clues but no explanations, more of a jumping off point to help us in our pursuit of Chimera and the cure for the plague. This looks to be a long endeavor.
 
It seems that everyone is in agreement to put an end to this plague, though we also have our own business to attend to. I did some carousing and investigating into Rosie’s situation, learning that she was last spotted in the Sea of Gallows, and the bounty was placed upon her head due to having some bad blood with the nobles. For now this Rosie seems to be fine where she is and I have no intention of intruding upon her situation, especially since if I did I’d have to explain why I’m an entirely different person from the Sam she’s familiar with. Imagine the look on her face when I told her there were two Ukule’s running around, now that’d be entertaining.
 
Trying to keep that particular aspect of my life to myself but once more I had to open my big fat mouth and spill it. Thankfully Davian seemed more confused than concerned, even asking if I was a familiar or some sort of homonculous, and while I did my best to explain that no, I’m me, just from a different place than this one, I left the conversation before any sort of conclusion could be had.
 
At this point I’d have to tell him the real reason why I know I don’t belong in this world for any sort of sense to be made. Already told him about Ukule’s existence but I can’t exactly go around and say what the difference is between us, where our lives differ, without being outright banished from this crew. Maybe if I never mention the subject again Dav will just forget. The man has enough going on what with trying to cure the plague and deal with his own afflictions, poor fellow. I offered to help him out with either situation but honestly I’m not sure what I can do beyond fishing up sea plants for his potions.
 
I also checked the bounty board after my investigation into Rosie. Her bounty hasn’t changed but mine has. Now it’s 20gp because I had the bright idea to go streaking through the main square. Don’t remember doing that but somebody else apparently did, maybe I should lay off the drink for a while.
 
After a time my activities were interrupted by beautiful song and music coming from downstairs in the tavern. Of course I had to take a look and what a sight met my eyes. A beautiful tiefling woman was dancing and playing a viol in a wonderful performance, and to say I was enraptured wouldn’t begin to describe it. For a moment all the uncertainty and toil of the world melted away, replaced with memories of joyful song and dance from more pleasant times. There was no plague, no Chimera, no mysterious assassinations, just good drink and food and a melody bringing everyone together in a happy occasion. I miss those days.
 
I tried to talk to her afterwards but the whole tavern seemed to have the same idea. The happy hour turned sour as a very rude man tried to cut into my conversation with the woman, who I learned was named Serenity, and I had to tell him off a bit. He replied with his fists and suddenly the bar was a sea of brawling and cussing. Normally I’d be more than happy to oblige and jump in but I was concerned for Serenity, seeing as she was trying to count her earnings and cut off to another engagement and not be involved in the fighting. Turns out I didn’t need to worry since she quickly departed through the nearest window. I tried to cast Darkness and make a hasty retreat, much like I did with those guards from before, but it’s much harder to run away when you and the entire fighting masses are all rendered simultaneously blind.
 
Resorted to some of the usual terror I used to subject my enemies to on the seas and was moderately successful, although I did sustain quite a beating. Too long has it been since I had a proper brawl, I’m out of shape. Sylvie did absolutely nothing to help me, not that I blame her since she had Wix to look after, but eventually I made it over to her and we retreated up the stairs to safety.
 
I’ll have to ask around about Serenity and see if I can meet up with her again, if only to apologize for talking smart to an idiot when I could have been talking nice to her. Also maybe if she wanted to have dinner or something I wouldn’t exactly say no….
 
After me and Sylvie were safely out of the wall shaking fight downstairs we had a small but pleasant conversation about the ocean. The lass has never been on the seas before and wanted to know all about it. Of course, it’d be far better for her to experience it instead of just having me explain it, but I did the best I could and promised to dredge up some plant life during my next excursion underwater.
 
Eventually I had to put aside my pride and ask Ruin for some healing. The doctor was just finishing up a conversation with Pheonix when I barged in and seemed to be in his usual mood. Not entirely surly, or at least not as surly as he seems to think he is, but he wasn’t too pleased to hear that I had been in a barfight. Made me promise not to get into any more fights in this bar before agreeing to heal me up.
 
Thankfully I did get a proper healing, though Ruin seemed surprised that his magic actually worked. I guess his goddess be a bit choosy over who gets healed, and he seemed to imply that my not so lawful past might have put me in ill favor with her (he called me a tumor at one point, really rude), but whatever I had done didn’t seem to stop the healing.
 
Ruin’s a tricky one. Seems to have his own code he staunchly sticks to, like Dav, but what that code may be I have absolutely no idea. There’s a line that I’m sure I’ve crossed but hell if I know where that line is drawn. Honestly I just want to get along with the crew, fulfill whatever destiny has in mind for us, and then figure out what to do with my life. Everyone else seems to have their own agenda as well, through some of us are a little more cagey about our goals and pasts than others.
 
Again I opened my big mouth and straight up told Ruin that there are two of me running around this world. Unlike my conversation with Dav I did nothing to try and clarify what that really meant, meaning that I’ll eventually have to talk to Ruin again in more detail if I want to try and not sound like a lunatic.
 
Maybe I am just crazy. Maybe this is all one big hallucination, though I’m not that smart to come up with a scenario as complex as this one. And it wouldn’t be fair to me to make up something about a man like Oak’Rynn being murdered. While I didn’t find the man the perfect example of authority he also wasn’t a man I had a grudge against, and he did seem to have the best intentions towards keeping our misguided crew together. For now I’ll do my best to fulfill his final wishes while retaining agency over myself. It’s the best I can do with what I’ve been given.