018 - Session Recap

-From the champion's log of Cassius

General Summary

Champions Log: #32

A lot weighs heavy upon my mind as of this moment in time. Mayhaps Tocu has been right all along, and I am merely a drunken fool that lacks focus. The bottle in my hands is supposed to be an extension of myself... it’s supposed to help me think, help me through these situations. Though... recently my mind feels clouded. Like that connection has been severed some-how. It doesn’t speak to me anymore. Now that I think of it? It’s been happening ever since we stepped foot into this manor.
Ick... I felt that shiver down my spine again. The same shiver I felt from those dogs, and again moments ago from the haunting wail that sounded from that apparition of ‘Luigi’. Maybe Bruun is rubbing off on me a bit too much, but... I don’t rightly trust myself fighting anything that I can’t physically punch.
Hey... wait a minute... on that last note of him being an apparition and all, I feel I was lied to! These weapons that we procured moments before entering the Den... ‘sisterton’ I think they were called- No! Sisterstone! That’s what it was. I thought they went all ‘woo~’ glow-y and such that they were supposed to do better than that! Not... allow this primordial (I don’t rightly know that word. Remember to ask Tocu later) to enter these things and take control of them! Not once, but twice! I even tried to cross Indiana, and I’s blades, but... heh... that didn’t go very well, and I did learn a very valuable lesson... don’t mess with Indiana, or pay the consequences. I mean... I should have already learned that, but anyways. Moving on!
I mean... I don’t know... obviously, there is a reason as to -why- I am a Paladin, and not one of these masters of the Arcane arts or... ‘occult’ as Ishka likes to say. Y’know? There is a field that I greatly accel at, and that is defeating foes of a material state! Like big suits of armor! When those started to shift and screech towards us, god the sounds was terrible, but the feeling of adrenaline and understanding that this was why I was here was... indescribable joy!
I readied my pole-axe... boarding-axe (?) thing, and made my way towards the one on the left, but... they... literally and figuratively squashed me. Like a bug beneath their giant metal Sabaton. Speaking of bugs, I had bugs rained down upon me as I was fighting them! I don’t know if that was Ishka’s doing, Wilby’s, or the house just... doing that, but all were possible in this instance. I felt like everything was against me today. Actually? No.
No. I can’t even say that. I’m not foolish enough, this house was and still very much IS against all of us! The only two that seemed to be having a decent run of things was Bruun (I mean... he’s just happy whenever he gets to punch anything), and Ishka throwing acid and other things raining bugs upon things! He felt right at home!
But the rest of us? Tocu? He was... doing pretty well, actually. He always does. Silent... so silent, in fact that I forget he’s there sometimes. Then he speaks and my heart nearly jumps from my chest! Although he’s silent, he is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to doing something that he puts his mind to.
But Inidiana, Wilby, and Myself? We were... having a rough go of things. We fought long and hard, but... twas just not our day. I spent a better half of the fight chasing the ghost around. Every time I arrived to face him, he teleported to the other-side of the room. Just kept bouncing back and forth, corner to corner, until eventually? He appeared on the table, and Indiana stepped to him, and bravely so! Then... he disappeared again, but this time, he didn’t appear anywhere else in the room. He WAS her weapon! He was inside of it!
I read stories by the Red Raven about such things happening, but... for it to happen? In front of my eyes? How... frustratingly unique of an experience that was! Then, as she fought and dealt with that, those suits are armor that I mentioned earlier? They were locked in combat with Tocu, Bruune, Wilby, and Ishka! It seemed to be going pretty well for them, until... I got punched in the nose for trying to lock blades with Indiana, and noticed that Wilby had been on the floor, bloodied and bruised.
I felt like not long ago I had seen him standing and fighting with the rest of the group. Poor Wilby had caught the wrath of the aforementioned suits of armor, and... it seemed to beat them within an inch of their life... literally. Bruun, Tocu, and Ishka were able to fell the beast, but... it seemed like it was too late for the poor lad. I... foolishly, did what I thought would be best... I grabbed the strong stuff out of my bag, uncorked it, and took a swig, hoping that I could glean anything from this situation, and find a way to help. But... it seemed like Caiden told me to sit this one out. Down the wrong pipe it went, and I fell to one knee, coughing and hacking a lung out. I’ve never been shot... but I’m damn sure that’s what it feels like.
I steadied myself enough to look over, and gaze upon what the situation was with Wilby... It was a sorrowful sight. Ishka and Tocu were trying their best... Indiana was searching for her health-potion, then all of a sudden? As the final heave of Wilby’s chest fell, all of us were blinded. The room was filled with a searing white flash that seemed to remove Luigi’s spirit from this place. Everybody stood there, confused, frightened, and disoriented. But as we all regained out ability to see... we gazed down upon Wilby, whose just heaved and fell with a steady breath once more.
He made a statement, a statement that none of us will ever soon forget. He’d rather burn out than fade away.
He regained consciousness, and as everyone was having their heart-felt reunion... we all were reminded of why we were here. Another rumble and screech of something demonic sounding came from the floors above. We helped Wilby to his feet, and made our way to the grand stair-case, now that we had acquired the flower key, as well as the star-key. There, we found the Investigator that joined us on this mission... lying against the wall, surrounded by corpses of demons and other fiendish creatures...
I sit here now, among these corpses... and the feeling within me, this feeling of shame... the burning in my throat and lungs, the flash that is temporarily burned into my retinas... it has reminded me that, and as ironically grim as this is to say coming from me... we are all mortal. Is this the legacy that I want to leave? That of a drunken fool?

Report Date

20 May 2024