2023-05-10 The Lesser Evil - Wik

"And then after that everything went downhill." Wik buries their face in their hands, shaking it from side to side. "Not only did an angry paladin nearly smite me where I stood, I handed what I'm guessing was one of those 'worst offenders' her memories back."

Rux shares a concerned look with Yom before turning to the now-boiling teapot. "Well, that is... a concern. But I'm sure it's not all bad. Start from the beginning. What happened?"

"Well, I recognized one adventurer, Lucky from my time as Ylana. He's a Lord from Waterdeep, and can handle himself in a fight, so I figured 'why not'. Turns out, a very powerful paladin named Oziah Daybreaker was gathering a party to help this woman, Oriniax, that she'd rescued some time before. Apparently she was being held somewhere in a demi-plane. Oziah and some others freed her, but she was without her memories."

"Ah. So this would be the..."

"Yes, turns out these memories were of all the evil things she'd done as the Mount of the Wild Hunt."

"Right. Well, you had no way of knowing, right?"

"No... I guess not..." Wik sighs deeply. "I shouldn't have even gotten involved. Once I joined Lucky, Oziah, and another paladin, Zola, we went to visit Leona Autumn. You know the Fiore Popular? In Castleside? She's the owner and the bartender there. The mood was... tense. Oziah was able to sniff out that a few of the patrons were fey, including me. They... asked me to take off my mask."

"Oh, child, I'm so sorry. You... did you..." Yom turns, harried, looking to Rux for guidance.

"No, no... I refused, and it nearly came to blows before Leona put a stop to it. She's a wood nymph of some sort, passing here as a human woman, so I think she understood. I hope so, anyway. I left her a note when I left. The others dropped it after that."

Rux and Yom breathe out, slowly, for what feels like the dozenth time this evening. They hold each other's hand, and they give each other a squeeze along with a concerned look. "Child, before you send Rux and I to an early grave, maybe just tell us at the top that nobody has seen past your mask?"

"Well, I... I can't do that. But i- it wasn't during this job!"

"Y- You... what? You..." Yom stammers, their fingers rubbing at the palms of their hands in anxiety. "You mean someon-"

"Love, here. Have some tea. Wik will get to that part when they're ready, right child?"

Wik nods, embarrassed and shamed.

"Right. Yom, love, there's nothing to do now. Let's just hear Wik out."

Yom nods their head, closing their eyes and shaking quickly from side to side as though to shake the thoughts from their mind. They reach for the tea offered by Rux, and nod silently at Wik to continue.

"Oriniax arrived sometime after that. She was... nice. She seemed small, as though there was something missing. She had come to Leona for the same reason we had - hoping that the mixologist could come up with something that would re-awaken her memories.

"Leona told us that there was a way, but she needed help. She and Oriniax had most of the ingredients: a blood red apple from the Orchards of Autumn; melted ice from the Glaciers of the Winter Court; a vial of the Spring aurora itself. But there was something else she needed. A branch of feylac, ceòlwyn an flùr, from the Court of Summer."

Wik sighs. "We should have noticed when Oriniax flinched at the mention of the Summer Court, and of Queen Titania. But we didn't."

"Anyway. We decided to go to the Court of Harmony again. Apparently Queen Merla there has a thriving feylac tree, and used to be an adventurer. Oziah thought it would be the most successful option. Better than trying to rob Queen Titania."

Rux chuckles. "Speaking of which, you know one time I..." they begin, before being hushed by Yom.

"You'll have to tell me after, Rux. But Oziah's plan worked, and we got a cutting of the feylac."

Yom purses their lips, nodding slowly. "And that was the last piece, wasn't it? The last thing stopping Oriniax from retrieving her memories?"

Wik nods in response. "The potion did it's job, and she just started... cackling. Her eyes were clear, and the horns on her head began to glow. It would have been mesmerizing, had it not been for what she told us. That she was there the last time the Hunt rode, with another named Drusilia and the Lord of the Hunt. His war cry, his horn, his fall. And then the darkness she found herself in, and the severance."

Wik shakes their head. "This is what I meant. I helped get her memories back, and I helped set her loose. And stopping her... she's a Ceryneian Hind. We can't kill her. And I don't think we're strong enough to cage her again. And now they have the Horn, and the Mount, and the Weapon."

Rux furrows their brow. "Wait. She's the Mount, I got that. But a Horn and a Weapon? How did that happen?"

"The Horn was given to Drusilia by some other adventurers. Apparently one of them had gotten marked by... by the Gloom Queen." They whisper the last couple words, looking around for any listening ears. The small patch of light from the stove flickers, as if in understanding. Rux and Yom shiver in response. "And he traded the Horn to Drusilia in exchange to have it removed. They didn't know what it was, of course, that it was the Horn of the Wild Hunt. They were told it was the Horn of Corellon."

Wik stands up, getting to their feet before pacing around the small room. "And the Weapon was my fault too."