Back In Action

It is amazing how quickly I can eat my own words. “I will not join this crew.” Ha! What was I thinking, I barely have any agency over my own day to day activities, let alone my future endeavors. Ever since I joined the Guild I should have known I would find myself back on the same path as before, stuck in a cycle of heroism with a band of misfits.
 
That night we escaped the destruction of Riverrun was not over once we made camp. The captain of the small band of soldiers we saved wandered off into the woods in search of firewood and came back magically deafened and confused. Curiosity got the best of me and I turned myself invisible to investigate, smelling roses and finding footprints in the shape of sandals heading towards the camp. After a bit of wandering I discovered a lady seeking solace at a stream, trying to wash ash and dirt from her hair, obviously having come from the destroyed town we had just fled from. I interrogated her and found out her name was Marina and she had been separated form her mother and sister, too injured to continue searching through the night.
 
I have to admit I was about ready to attack her, such was my mistrust, but after talking to her a while it was clear to me at the time that she wasn’t the one who attacked the captain. Marina allowed me to carry her back to the camp since she was too hurt to walk on her own anymore. Having someone to hold in times of such peril and strife was… comforting, in a way. Was nice to help someone when I couldn’t do anything to save all those people from being killed by Chimera. The fact that she kissed me and felt safe enough to fall asleep in my arms didn’t hurt my opinion of her either.
 
Something happened on the way back but at the time I didn’t realize it. Suspicious eyes were turned my way as I returned with Marina, the poor girl completely tuckered out, and everyone had questions as I put her on Davian’s empty bed. At the time I should have wondered why I didn’t take her straight to Ruin, but suddenly my mind was fixated on Davian’s book. Specifically fixated on destroying it.
 
I’m thankful that Davian’s a smarter man than I am, because after much arguing and aggression he gave me the book. Things are a little hazy, as if I were in a drunken fog, but I came to with both Ruin and Davian looking at me like I had lost my mind, and the book I had so desperately wanted was, in fact, not the notes that I wanted to burn, but a disguised decoy because Davian didn’t trust me with the original. Ruin interrogated me for a time and determined that I had been charmed.
 
But who charmed me? The first suspect was obviously Marina. Sylvie woke her up and the poor girl immediately called for me. A bit of back and forth followed, she was scared and confused, we were all confused, and eventually it was determined that she was not an immediate threat and probably not the one who charmed me to destroy the book with the cure. At that point I just wanted to go to sleep. If Marina charmed me to get me to help her then so be it, she did what she had to survive.
 
The next morning Ruin was kind enough to inform us that a pack of wolves were headed our way, so we wasted little time in hurrying to the next town. Davian was adamant about keeping Marina in the dark about where we were going, everyone still suspicious of her intentions, but my main concern at the time was about our strangely friendly member of our crew, Vir. Well, he was Vir. Now he was Fingo, an equally cheerfully off putting gnome with no recollection of being Vir whatsoever. Still had the memories of what Vir did though.
 
Seriously what is with this crew, they’re stranger than the last group I was with.
 
Marina herself had some peculiarities about her. She didn’t murder us in our sleep so I wasn’t too worried about her, although it was found out that she has the ability to create charms without realizing it. Still don’t think she charmed me though in the woods to destroy that book with the cure to the plague. Doesn’t seem to fit in with what she wants in life, which is mainly to find her family. There’s a mark upon her neck, almost like a brand, that we never got to investigate, mainly because as soon as we reached the little town of Lintel we dropped her off and continued to Tefelina.
 
As we left Lintel Marina told me she hoped I didn’t have any regrets. A bit too on the nose if you ask me, considering she has no idea who or what I am.
 
As soon as we got to Tefelina we met up with Gus at the guild to drop off the book and talked a bit about what we were going to do next while Gus deciphered the wizard’s code (apparently the man knows 857 languages or something, very smart). We made Tin Rank, which means nothing to me except more discounts, and learned more about Chimera and his crew. It’s only a matter of time before his nefarious whatevers spread this way, and Oak’Rynn is determined to stamp it out before it becomes a right big problem.
 
Speaking of Oak’Rynn, I don’t think he can read. I even asked him after he refused to look at Gus’s message and almost got eaten by the Lion himself. Very intimidating presence, not that I’ll say that out loud, and while Davian seems to be honored to be at his beck and call I can tell that Ruin is not as enthusiastic. Interesting dynamic going on there.
 
We were given another mission should we have chosen to accept it, which we did, meaning we were put on the trail of hunting down a poacher named Sova to get some information from him. Apparently he is connected to one of the Horsemen, who is in turn connected to Chimera, and if we can follow the chain of command we can get to Chimera.
 
Well, not us. We’re lowly Tin rank and don’t get to have much of anything beyond orders thrown at us. Honestly the less I know the better, because knowing little makes it difficult to be forced into bouts of heroism, although I can see this crew hurtling down that path whether or not we want it, just like last time.
 
So we did some digging (meaning we just asked Gus for information) and learned that Sova is the guy with the wolves and had been tracking us from the forest to the town. We figured out where his hideout was and made plans to ambush him come nightfall. For the rest of the afternoon we split up and did our own thing, which meant I jumped in the nearest body of water I could find to swim a while and get my head back on straight. Ruin and Sylvie did arts and crafts on the beach and I was stupid enough to leave my bag with them.
 
Sylvie, Sylvie, Sylvie. At the time I did not know that she had such sticky fingers, but more on that later.
 
While I was having a swim and forgetting to tell the others that it is impossible for me to drown (resulting in Ruin and Sylvie throwing rocks at me in the water until I surfaced), our friend Fingo was delving into the criminal underworld to learn a thing or two. Turns out Umbra- one of the horsemen under Chimera’s command- is in town, meaning we have more right big problems headed our way.
 
That evening we took out Sova in our second ever team bonding battle. We did fairly well, thanks to Ruin taking all of the damage for us, and we captured Sova after murdering all of his wolves. Felt good to let loose and use some of the powers I have been granted. Not the same as burning a ship into the abyss but I still got to light some fires in the end.
 
While Davian, Desmond and I tied up an alive but subdued Sova (leaving Sylvie to tend to Ruin), our friend Fingo went all… possessed? Went something strange in the eyes and voice and started interrogating Sova to the point of having the evil man in tears. Very interesting sight, but unfortunately not one that I could further pursue, seeing as the town’s authorities had head the commotion and were trying to interrupt our less than lawful venture. So I took it upon myself to sidetrack them a bit so the others could get our friend back to the guild.
 
Did you know that night fishing is illegal? I didn’t. The guards also called me a fancy man, which I don’t entirely disagree with, but what I did disagree with was them slapping shackles on me and attempting an unlawful arrest. The audacity was staggering. Not that it really was a problem because I escaped and hid in the bay for a while but still. At least let me actually commit a crime before throwing me in the brig.
 
Everyone else brought Sova to the guild to be processed and took up residence at the Little Lamb Tavern by the port. After a brief conversation with Gus I was freed from my chains and spent the night underwater just in case the guards were still on the hunt.
 
The next morning Gus met us all at the Inn to discuss the imminent arrival of Chimera’s horsemen. Again I wasn’t paying too much attention at the time because that was when I discovered that Sylvie had stolen this journal and was attempting to sneak it back in my bag before I noticed.
 
Sylvie.
 
It took all I had not to stab her right then and there. At the time I had an unfathomable amount of rage and fear towards her, mind lost in wondering just how much she knew, and now I’m grateful that I stabbed the table and not her. In hindsight I should have pretended to be a traveling author or something and tried to convince her it was all made up. Too late now.
 
Oak’Rynn shattered my eardrums with possibly the loudest demand for an apology I have ever heard. The guild leader is so set on making sure we all play nice and hold hands and get along, truly invested in harmony in the crew, and I can’t help but wonder just what he’s been through to keep that kind of outlook such a priority.
 
Sylvie did look right scared though. Felt a little bad for that. We ended up talking later and while she did read all that I wrote (minus the Aquan pages, thank the stars she didn’t understand those), she doesn’t seem to make the connection as to why I need to keep my past and myself a secret. I’m glad she didn’t demand an explanation, because the more I think about why I want my existence to be kept quiet I realize that eventually I won’t be able to hide. I don’t really want to if I’m being honest.
 
It has also come to my attention that Sylvie is in love with King Malamor. He even gave her a fairy that lives in her hair. The back of my hand burns at the thought of those cursed golden butterflies. Or maybe that’s just my claws digging in at the memories, who knows anymore. Sylvie seems far too content to be in servitude to him against her will. I’ll have to keep an extra watch on her just in case she decides to go tell Malamor about me. Might have to have another strong conversation with her later.
 
I’ve had a conversation with just about everyone now. Ruin learned about my past piracy and took great offense to what could be considered some crimes (really though calling me a mass murder and implying that I kill babies is stepping over the line). The man seems to have a staunch code he sticks to, one that I have no hope of understanding, and even seemed to want to off me by the end of our conversation. Sure, maybe being an unforgiving scourge of the seas wouldn’t sit too lightly with someone who makes it their business to save lives, but I maintain that all those lives I sent to the abyss were rightfully defeated in battle.
 
Although that brings up a question. Do my past actions matter here? Since I wasn’t around to send them to the abyss in these waters, does that mean they’re still alive? I don’t know. Don’t even know how to explain it to anyone else for them to understand enough to have them help me figure it out. Again that’s why I don’t try to talk about myself much, it gets far too confusing.
 
When I stomped back into the tavern I was called over by the bartender, who I had gotten to know since I have been steadily drinking since I arrived. Man can make an incredible drink. His name is Cot, a Triton that seems to share a similar nautical background, and he gave me an opportunity to relax my mind and spout off about all my confusions, even though saying them out loud didn’t make any more sense than they did in my head. He did encourage me to tell my secrets to the others, which I will not be doing, but maybe I can ease up on the whole ‘mysterious backstory’ deal. Sylvie’s already pried into it.
 
Talked to Davian too. Man gave me a dagger as a sign of trust. Felt rather touched by the gesture if I’m being honest. It appears that my previous upset with him where I tried to burn his research has been forgiven (or at least set aside for now) since he let me take a look at his experiments. Even answered all my questions and offered to teach me some things.
 
Curious thing about Davian: he has some sort of affliction that manifested when he was at the bard college. He’s managed to keep it under control through a special tea, yet he doesn’t think there’ll ever be a cure, and despite my badgering doesn’t seem too keen to divulge too many details about it. Then again, I’m not inclined to divulge that much information about myself, so I can’t hold that against him. I asked him some ‘hypothetical’ questions and he had some interesting answers, although we were interrupted with his experiments blowing up and turning the room interesting colors.
 
Also discovered that our dear friend Fingo, the gnome that was once a perfectly normal man named Vir, had changed into a fire genasi name Pheonix. At this point I’m better off just coming up with a nickname for the fellow. Maybe Bob? As expected he doesn’t remember being anything but what he currently is, which is fascinating and also slightly horrifying. To live an existence where there are other versions of yourself yet you don’t know about their existence is… well, okay, nevermind.
 
Pheonix can play a mean whatever it was he was playing. Invented some whole new kind of music. I did my best to keep up but I was six or seven or five drinks deep at that point and everything was a bit hazy. Felt good to play music again, it’s been far too long. Have to hope that whatever Pheonix turns into next will be as musically inclined. We’ll have to get Davian in on the band too, since he is our resident bard, and see what we can come up with together.
 
At some point during the performance I must have passed out because I woke up in my room and now it’s night. Normally I’d take a walk to clear my head but I guess there’s a curfew or something, since the guards were so keen to arrest me for minding my own business out under the stars.
 
Oh and another thing. So there’s this bounty board that’s been put up where folks can see who’s wanted and for what and for how much. And there’s none other than Rosemarie plastered up there for a whopping 150,000gp! It’s an admirable list of crimes she’s been accused of, it truly is, but part of me is a little worried that someone might try to turn her in for the gold. I’ve started asking around to see if anyone knows where she is. Even dropped the name Ukule to see if that’ll lure her out. I don’t have any reason to be speaking with her, and in fact it’s probably a terrible idea that I’m doing this, but I can’t help but want to try and help her out. No matter where I am she will always be my Captain.
 
Another fun discovery is that I too have a bounty on my head. 12gp dry or 15gp wet, for night fishing, stabbing tables and trees, and being a nuisance to the public. Honestly offensive, I should be far much more than that.
 
Time to make a change to that bounty board. I already was planning on doing some night fishing but now I’m really going to give it my all and do some nocturnal angling like no one has ever seen before. Don’t know when that mark of destiny will be upon us all again, so might as well enjoy myself while I can.
 
Hey, maybe once Sylvie’s done being scared of me and Ruin doesn’t want to kill me I can convince them to turn me in for the bounty. We can collect it and then I can escape to raise the bounty even higher, and then we can have Davian turn me in to collect the new bounty, and so on. Foolproof plan!