Home Sweet Home – Arkadius Hogg – 6.08.2020
Aug 13, 2020 17:40:37 GMT
Pieni, Jacinta Montajay, and 3 more like this
Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2020 17:40:37 GMT
Notes from the Diary of Arkadius Hogg
It is a rare occasion that life gives you the opportunity to face your own history as freely as I did this last week. It’s even rarer to be able to say that you’ve put your past behind you. It takes great courage, a strong heart and an even stronger mind to even consider challenging your history and your mistakes, and putting them to rest, but when you’ve never been able to rest easy because of your past horrors sit there in your memories, rearing their ugly maws and potentially threatening everything you stand for… I thought it was time to settle a few things back home.
The portal opened up by the soul of my mother did indeed drop us on a cliffedge in Fallford, as I suspected it would, but immediately this was a cause for concern. It… felt like Fallford, but when I left, Fallford was a town surrounded by a thick forest and mist. There… weren’t cliffs, not that I knew of or had explored, and nobody had ever mentioned cliffs. This was… strange. But regardless, we huddled together, and agreed to rest for a spell. We were all exhausted by what had transpired, and we could all do with a rest.
I wandered a short distance away from the group, finding a spot where I could relax and not be bothered, but stay within earshot of the others so that if there was trouble I could react. We all had our own thoughts to process, after all. This was both a good and bad idea as it seems, as I was able to overhear the conversation that Faye and Sheryl had during the first watch. She asked what happened back with the Nagpa, before we came through the portal. She didn’t know the sacrifice I made to ensure she was back to good health, and Faye insisted that this was a conversation that Sheryl should have with me. That would have given me time to prepare, time to put things in a line, make sure I had my words right.
Of course, the best laid plans of Adventurers in Kantas barely ever go without a hitch, and it turns out Bones was doing the exact same thing as me: listening in to the conversation instead of relaxing. Bones told Sheryl what happened, in the most succinct way possible, not being one to mince words.
The rest of the watch proceeded normally, some storms in the distance to occupy the senses, but far enough away to not cause trouble. After a while, I took over from Sheryl, wanting to ensure that she had time to rest too. It gave me the chance to catch up with Faye, given we hadn’t had time to talk recently given they’d been away from Port Ffirst and Kantas. We reminisced over Stedd and Gegrun, and how we missed them both dearly. I do enjoy Faye’s company, I wish we could talk more often.
Wren and Bones both took the last watch, and… honestly their conversation was not one I felt the need to listen in to. It was interesting, but not my place. I relaxed, and made sure I was ready to deal with the day head.
When we were all feeling better, we set off along the path down the cliff. We came across an old wooden structure, which looked like a guard post of sorts. Sheryl climbed up to look around, but given its age she didn’t really see much. We continued, and I tried desperately to remember the path back to my home, but nothing called out to me. Nothing looked familiar. I had… no idea where we were. It was clearly Fallford, but not as I remembered it. The mist was still here, clinging on around us, that was enough to tell me we were at least in the right place.
The others had remarked about how different I was looking, wrinkles and the like which weren’t there before. I felt it too, aches and pains in joints that bent and moved easily before were harder to shift. Not only that, there was another presence fighting her way into my skull. Swan couldn’t even leave me alone when I was in my birthplace.
After a while, we climbed a hill and came across a clearing. Three pillars stood around a large pile of belongings. We split up, a few of us heading to the pillars and the others sniffing around in the clearing. The pillars made for interesting reading, I have collated notes on them here, in what seems like a logical order.
The central pillar read: ‘May our illustrious lady - she who led us to this place of safety in ages past - take mercy on our souls once more, keep and protect us from the evil that has beset us, and allow us rebirth and life everlasting in the comfort and warm embrace of her shadow. We children of the Raven embark on our last journey. We relieve ourselves of all that ties us down - and take flight.’
The pillar to the right read: ‘To the invaders – may you choke on your plunder, despair of your conquests, fear the shadows – for we will always be watching you.’
The one to the left of the central pillar read: ‘To the Betrayer – he who left this sanctuary and paved the way for evil – we curse you, we damn you, we abjure you and your thrice damned kin. May you never rest for what you have wrought unto us.’
I have no doubt that this referred to me. I was the Betrayer. My heart plummeted, panic set in. What hath I wrought onto my hometown by leaving? Who had taken the opportunity to invade the town, who could be that heartless and cruel? How did they get here, how did they know where to go?
Sheryl and Faye snapped me out of the path my brain had taken. Sheryl, being the one to know of my history, reassured me that my actions were true and just, and that there was no way I could have been a betrayer, she reminded me that I did what I had to do.
We continued onwards, and eventually I started to remember details. I remembered the path, and finally knew in my head that we were where we needed to be. That's when she made a reappearance, bloody Swan. She used the weakness of the memories flooding my brain to break in, to infiltrate, to make me even weaker. I could grin and bear the pain, it would all be fine… But Sheryl took a scroll from her bag, casting it on me, and suddenly things felt freer. The pain relaxed, it was still there muted in the background, but it was like someone had shut off the pressure valve somewhat.
We made our way into the town, and my heart plummeted for a second time, the place was… ruins. It wasn’t a town at all, not anymore. Nobody lived here, that was for sure. We explored the ruins, memories rushing back whenever I stepped somewhere. The first the house of another one of the families within the town, and another, and another… It took a while before I had the confidence and fortitude to step anywhere near my father’s blacksmithy and our home, close to where we entered the town.
Bones made to follow me as I stepped towards the house, but Sheryl stopped him, saying I deserved time alone. I know Sheryl was keeping an eye on me, from a distance. I know she saw me not stepping foot into the smithy, just looking in from outside, like I always did. I didn’t spend too long there alone, before returning to the rest of the group, moving on away.
The next place we explored was the tavern. The largest building in the town, the unofficial town hall, where most meetings took place. Something didn’t feel right about the tavern either. Nothing had felt right about Fallford since the moment we got here. It took the others to fully explore to notice that the path to the basement had been covered up. They worked to unclear it, and we proceeded inside.
Inside, it was dark. I produced a flame in my hands, and was promptly reminded we should probably use the darkness to our advantage, not alert anyone inside and be sneaky, if there was anyone here who didn’t want to be found. I relaxed the flame, letting it die away quickly. We sneaked in, splitting up to explore different paths, which we would later find converged into the same room anyway. A room which… Did indeed have a family living in it, two adults, two children, and a grandfather lying in a bed.
We stepped in, through the two doorways, and those standing retreated to the walls, away from us. They were understandably nervous, believing we were sent by the invaders mentioned on the pillars. They explained that the invaders came after the betrayer left, they looked terrible, green and orange skin, they killed many and those they didn’t kill… they imprisoned, and took away. When they came, they changed the land, starting slowly, and when they kept coming back… it started happening faster. The trees withered and died, the land eroding and falling away. That explained the new cliffs. The weather changed, and the plane itself was becoming more and more unstable. The land was collapsing into the sea, and the invaders were using magic, this just sped up the process.
Jalem, the father, explained that after the first time, everyone thought it was a punishment from the Gods, for one of the few who made it out. Me, or Alocasia, or mother… Some whispered about the Raven Queen, who had brought them here. The invaders kept returning, and everyone put two and two together, they started to blame me and my family, they burned my father’s smithy and our home to the ground, and cast him out of the town. They believe that he was caught and or killed.
I had revealed my identity by asking specifically about him, the man in the bed, who I now recognised as Verdan, reached out for me while the others refused to go anywhere with “Arkadius, the Betrayer”. I remembered Verdan was a few years younger than me, so to see him so old and fragile, passing away was… indescribable.
I asked if he was one of the ones who bullied me, as a child. He answered that when we last met, he was not at his best. “I… forgive you,” I said, “For everything anyone did to me in this Gods-forsaken town, None of you deserve what happened here, so… I forgive you all.”
I was resolved to let the past be the past, and let it lie there. I was letting the past go, letting its hold over me go. Or so I thought, as Wren stepped into the room, advising that they had heard the invaders arriving topside. I nodded, looking at the others, the flame returning to my hand. “You know what we should do?” I said, looking around at the others. Faye responded, “What should we do?”
“We’re going to kick some ass, Faye. We’re going to kick some fucking ass.”
We’d killed the githyanki who were invading Fallford, but it wasn’t enough. This last invasion had sent the plane over the edge, it was now or never. We had to leave. Sheryl counted the numbers, the Harmonious Order pin that would return us to Port Ffirst would take eight of us, but with the four members of the family to save we numbered nine (and Verdan would have been ten, if we brought him with us...). I started to talk, but Sheryl interrupted, telling me she had another way out of there.
I turned to face her, face of stone, and looked her in the eyes. “If you’re going home, then you promise me right now, Sheryl… You promise me you’ll come back.”
I’d already nearly lost her once before when we travelled to the Feywild, and I’d felt like I had lost her when we were making our way through Shadowfell towards the nagpa. The prospect of not seeing her again now weighed heavily on my mind.
“I promise, Arkadius.”
“Cause you know full well… A word once given-“
“Cannot be broken, I know.”
“And this time… I fucking mean it, Sheryl.”
I turned away, rejoining the group. We snapped the pin, and were plane shifted back to Port Ffirst, all eight of us, leaving Sheryl behind to enact her plan to return home.
On returning to the lighthouse, surrounded by Wren, Bones, Faye and the last remaining family of Fallford, Swan made a reappearance in my head. She explained that she was ultimately displeased, and that… long story short, her time with me was coming to an abrupt end. She explained that it had all worked out, and soon she would break out of her prison.
“Did it work out? Really? Did it?” I shouted out loud, surprising those around me as I shouted suddenly at nothing in the air. “You knew, didn’t you? You and the Raven Queen both bloody knew what was happening to Fallford, and neither of you did ANYTHING to help or stop it. Neither of you did fucking anything.”
I have been imprisoned for years, and siphoning power as you left. The githyanki came in. And soon… I shall have enough power to escape from my prison, and then… I was hoping you would stay true to your path, but now I think I need to take you out.
I was feeling rather brave at that moment in time. I was feeling bold, foolhardy and resolved. “You know what, Swan? Fucking try me,” I replied, still shouting. “Come and fucking try me. You’ve seen what I can do, and you’ve seen what my friends can do.
So you know what?”
I paused, closed my eyes, caught my breath, and uttered two more words into the air before walking away into the city:
“Come try.”
It is a rare occasion that life gives you the opportunity to face your own history as freely as I did this last week. It’s even rarer to be able to say that you’ve put your past behind you. It takes great courage, a strong heart and an even stronger mind to even consider challenging your history and your mistakes, and putting them to rest, but when you’ve never been able to rest easy because of your past horrors sit there in your memories, rearing their ugly maws and potentially threatening everything you stand for… I thought it was time to settle a few things back home.
The portal opened up by the soul of my mother did indeed drop us on a cliffedge in Fallford, as I suspected it would, but immediately this was a cause for concern. It… felt like Fallford, but when I left, Fallford was a town surrounded by a thick forest and mist. There… weren’t cliffs, not that I knew of or had explored, and nobody had ever mentioned cliffs. This was… strange. But regardless, we huddled together, and agreed to rest for a spell. We were all exhausted by what had transpired, and we could all do with a rest.
I wandered a short distance away from the group, finding a spot where I could relax and not be bothered, but stay within earshot of the others so that if there was trouble I could react. We all had our own thoughts to process, after all. This was both a good and bad idea as it seems, as I was able to overhear the conversation that Faye and Sheryl had during the first watch. She asked what happened back with the Nagpa, before we came through the portal. She didn’t know the sacrifice I made to ensure she was back to good health, and Faye insisted that this was a conversation that Sheryl should have with me. That would have given me time to prepare, time to put things in a line, make sure I had my words right.
Of course, the best laid plans of Adventurers in Kantas barely ever go without a hitch, and it turns out Bones was doing the exact same thing as me: listening in to the conversation instead of relaxing. Bones told Sheryl what happened, in the most succinct way possible, not being one to mince words.
The rest of the watch proceeded normally, some storms in the distance to occupy the senses, but far enough away to not cause trouble. After a while, I took over from Sheryl, wanting to ensure that she had time to rest too. It gave me the chance to catch up with Faye, given we hadn’t had time to talk recently given they’d been away from Port Ffirst and Kantas. We reminisced over Stedd and Gegrun, and how we missed them both dearly. I do enjoy Faye’s company, I wish we could talk more often.
Wren and Bones both took the last watch, and… honestly their conversation was not one I felt the need to listen in to. It was interesting, but not my place. I relaxed, and made sure I was ready to deal with the day head.
When we were all feeling better, we set off along the path down the cliff. We came across an old wooden structure, which looked like a guard post of sorts. Sheryl climbed up to look around, but given its age she didn’t really see much. We continued, and I tried desperately to remember the path back to my home, but nothing called out to me. Nothing looked familiar. I had… no idea where we were. It was clearly Fallford, but not as I remembered it. The mist was still here, clinging on around us, that was enough to tell me we were at least in the right place.
The others had remarked about how different I was looking, wrinkles and the like which weren’t there before. I felt it too, aches and pains in joints that bent and moved easily before were harder to shift. Not only that, there was another presence fighting her way into my skull. Swan couldn’t even leave me alone when I was in my birthplace.
After a while, we climbed a hill and came across a clearing. Three pillars stood around a large pile of belongings. We split up, a few of us heading to the pillars and the others sniffing around in the clearing. The pillars made for interesting reading, I have collated notes on them here, in what seems like a logical order.
The central pillar read: ‘May our illustrious lady - she who led us to this place of safety in ages past - take mercy on our souls once more, keep and protect us from the evil that has beset us, and allow us rebirth and life everlasting in the comfort and warm embrace of her shadow. We children of the Raven embark on our last journey. We relieve ourselves of all that ties us down - and take flight.’
The pillar to the right read: ‘To the invaders – may you choke on your plunder, despair of your conquests, fear the shadows – for we will always be watching you.’
The one to the left of the central pillar read: ‘To the Betrayer – he who left this sanctuary and paved the way for evil – we curse you, we damn you, we abjure you and your thrice damned kin. May you never rest for what you have wrought unto us.’
I have no doubt that this referred to me. I was the Betrayer. My heart plummeted, panic set in. What hath I wrought onto my hometown by leaving? Who had taken the opportunity to invade the town, who could be that heartless and cruel? How did they get here, how did they know where to go?
Sheryl and Faye snapped me out of the path my brain had taken. Sheryl, being the one to know of my history, reassured me that my actions were true and just, and that there was no way I could have been a betrayer, she reminded me that I did what I had to do.
We continued onwards, and eventually I started to remember details. I remembered the path, and finally knew in my head that we were where we needed to be. That's when she made a reappearance, bloody Swan. She used the weakness of the memories flooding my brain to break in, to infiltrate, to make me even weaker. I could grin and bear the pain, it would all be fine… But Sheryl took a scroll from her bag, casting it on me, and suddenly things felt freer. The pain relaxed, it was still there muted in the background, but it was like someone had shut off the pressure valve somewhat.
We made our way into the town, and my heart plummeted for a second time, the place was… ruins. It wasn’t a town at all, not anymore. Nobody lived here, that was for sure. We explored the ruins, memories rushing back whenever I stepped somewhere. The first the house of another one of the families within the town, and another, and another… It took a while before I had the confidence and fortitude to step anywhere near my father’s blacksmithy and our home, close to where we entered the town.
Bones made to follow me as I stepped towards the house, but Sheryl stopped him, saying I deserved time alone. I know Sheryl was keeping an eye on me, from a distance. I know she saw me not stepping foot into the smithy, just looking in from outside, like I always did. I didn’t spend too long there alone, before returning to the rest of the group, moving on away.
The next place we explored was the tavern. The largest building in the town, the unofficial town hall, where most meetings took place. Something didn’t feel right about the tavern either. Nothing had felt right about Fallford since the moment we got here. It took the others to fully explore to notice that the path to the basement had been covered up. They worked to unclear it, and we proceeded inside.
Inside, it was dark. I produced a flame in my hands, and was promptly reminded we should probably use the darkness to our advantage, not alert anyone inside and be sneaky, if there was anyone here who didn’t want to be found. I relaxed the flame, letting it die away quickly. We sneaked in, splitting up to explore different paths, which we would later find converged into the same room anyway. A room which… Did indeed have a family living in it, two adults, two children, and a grandfather lying in a bed.
We stepped in, through the two doorways, and those standing retreated to the walls, away from us. They were understandably nervous, believing we were sent by the invaders mentioned on the pillars. They explained that the invaders came after the betrayer left, they looked terrible, green and orange skin, they killed many and those they didn’t kill… they imprisoned, and took away. When they came, they changed the land, starting slowly, and when they kept coming back… it started happening faster. The trees withered and died, the land eroding and falling away. That explained the new cliffs. The weather changed, and the plane itself was becoming more and more unstable. The land was collapsing into the sea, and the invaders were using magic, this just sped up the process.
Jalem, the father, explained that after the first time, everyone thought it was a punishment from the Gods, for one of the few who made it out. Me, or Alocasia, or mother… Some whispered about the Raven Queen, who had brought them here. The invaders kept returning, and everyone put two and two together, they started to blame me and my family, they burned my father’s smithy and our home to the ground, and cast him out of the town. They believe that he was caught and or killed.
I had revealed my identity by asking specifically about him, the man in the bed, who I now recognised as Verdan, reached out for me while the others refused to go anywhere with “Arkadius, the Betrayer”. I remembered Verdan was a few years younger than me, so to see him so old and fragile, passing away was… indescribable.
I asked if he was one of the ones who bullied me, as a child. He answered that when we last met, he was not at his best. “I… forgive you,” I said, “For everything anyone did to me in this Gods-forsaken town, None of you deserve what happened here, so… I forgive you all.”
I was resolved to let the past be the past, and let it lie there. I was letting the past go, letting its hold over me go. Or so I thought, as Wren stepped into the room, advising that they had heard the invaders arriving topside. I nodded, looking at the others, the flame returning to my hand. “You know what we should do?” I said, looking around at the others. Faye responded, “What should we do?”
“We’re going to kick some ass, Faye. We’re going to kick some fucking ass.”
We’d killed the githyanki who were invading Fallford, but it wasn’t enough. This last invasion had sent the plane over the edge, it was now or never. We had to leave. Sheryl counted the numbers, the Harmonious Order pin that would return us to Port Ffirst would take eight of us, but with the four members of the family to save we numbered nine (and Verdan would have been ten, if we brought him with us...). I started to talk, but Sheryl interrupted, telling me she had another way out of there.
I turned to face her, face of stone, and looked her in the eyes. “If you’re going home, then you promise me right now, Sheryl… You promise me you’ll come back.”
I’d already nearly lost her once before when we travelled to the Feywild, and I’d felt like I had lost her when we were making our way through Shadowfell towards the nagpa. The prospect of not seeing her again now weighed heavily on my mind.
“I promise, Arkadius.”
“Cause you know full well… A word once given-“
“Cannot be broken, I know.”
“And this time… I fucking mean it, Sheryl.”
I turned away, rejoining the group. We snapped the pin, and were plane shifted back to Port Ffirst, all eight of us, leaving Sheryl behind to enact her plan to return home.
On returning to the lighthouse, surrounded by Wren, Bones, Faye and the last remaining family of Fallford, Swan made a reappearance in my head. She explained that she was ultimately displeased, and that… long story short, her time with me was coming to an abrupt end. She explained that it had all worked out, and soon she would break out of her prison.
“Did it work out? Really? Did it?” I shouted out loud, surprising those around me as I shouted suddenly at nothing in the air. “You knew, didn’t you? You and the Raven Queen both bloody knew what was happening to Fallford, and neither of you did ANYTHING to help or stop it. Neither of you did fucking anything.”
I have been imprisoned for years, and siphoning power as you left. The githyanki came in. And soon… I shall have enough power to escape from my prison, and then… I was hoping you would stay true to your path, but now I think I need to take you out.
I was feeling rather brave at that moment in time. I was feeling bold, foolhardy and resolved. “You know what, Swan? Fucking try me,” I replied, still shouting. “Come and fucking try me. You’ve seen what I can do, and you’ve seen what my friends can do.
So you know what?”
I paused, closed my eyes, caught my breath, and uttered two more words into the air before walking away into the city:
“Come try.”
