The Life of Arkadius Hogg

’Reminiscing’

Arkadius is sat in the Flourished Hook, nursing a glass of whatever cocktail the lovely waitress recommended was the best at the time and brought over to him. Sat alone, he seems to be lost in his own thoughts, considering how it never takes him too long to find his way into trouble. Fun situations, but trouble nonetheless. Considering his own antics over the last few weeks alone, his gleaming orange catlike eyes seem to glaze over, and become paler...

First was the ogre and kobolds in Kundar (as he remembers this, he rubs his hip with a hand absent-mindedly, he still has a small bruise on his side to remember this by). His memory drifts on to the meeting with the dragonborn afterwards. Then there was the trip to the Kundarian mountains, the infernal tree, and… misunderstanding what “they’ve come to replace us” roughly means when kobolds utter the words at you. Since arriving in Kantas from far-away travels, lessons have been learned, and lessons have been… forgotten.

His mind drifts away from events, and onto other things. Jacinta, Mathew, Theo, Mace, Ergin, Bubbles, Sheryl and Faye… Kantas is home to some pretty interesting people, just to name a tiefling-sized handful of them. A smile is seen on Arkadius’ face. Mace in particular was an interesting fellow. ”Captain of Operations. I do like that, he says to himself, under his breath. ”I need to take my friend over to Kundar soon enough, let him practice his Draconic in a natural environment,” more as a verbal-mental note than anything else.

Arkadius’ mind flicks back to the world in front of him, namely the table and the drink, tangible items and relationships in the world. Most important of all of them, Sasha (to make it clear, Sasha is not in the Hook!). He makes a mental note to pay the stables for her stabling and feed, and smiles again. “A toast, to Sasha!”, he says out loud to himself. “And to the Swan, no matter where They may be!”

’The Incident - Part Three’

Travelling isn't the hardest part of being an adventurer though. Not by far. The hardest part is surviving whatever challenge is thrown at you. Self-inflicted, or otherwise. Arkadius had a... Biological advantage over the majority of the populace in that he sports a pair of wings, which he uses to fly.  "What else would you use wings for?", would be his witty retort if you were to ask their purpose.

Twice now they had gotten him into near fatal trouble, in the span of two months. Before he arrived in Kantas, he was fine. Healthy. Not in danger. Much. Actually, self-reflection might be the most dangerous thing for an adventurer.

---

"Well? Did you take that all in, did it make sense?" the Visitor asked, leaning back on the tavern chair, "...Are you with me... Helloooo?", the Visitor quickly stopped leaning, slamming a hand into the table to grab Arkadius' attention back.
Arkadius remained staring at the Visitor for a few moments, before bobbing his head rapidly. "Yes. Sorry. I'm..." He was still processing the words, the story, the meaning. He was putting pieces together in his head he never thought would connect.
The Visitor started smiling. "I can feel it within you. You want more. Deserve more. And I promise you, little one. Heed my words and my story, and you'll get more."

Arkadius stayed silent for a minute, before piping up.
"More what?"

---

Arkadius reflected on that day and his previous self on a near-daily basis. And he always felt the need to face palm. He had been such an absent-minded idiot back then, but everything is always clearer in hindsight. And eighteen years is plenty of time to learn the new gifts and strengths you'd acquired. He wasn't bored any more. 

...Well. He had been as of late. He'd spent a month away from adventuring, which hurt so badly. He spent two weeks recovering from his adventure out at sea, then two weeks doing light work for Mace's venture. Seeing his friend's venture go from strength to strength was... Heart-warming. Knowing he was part of it, even more so. But he knew it was time to venture out again, into the world. His place wasn't at a desk, shuffling paper he barely knew the contents of. His place was out there, with his friend. 

Which is why when his friend mentioned an old temple, Arkadius had his quarterstaff ready, and his horns polished. Sure, he still smelled of brimstone, but he'd made an effort. He was ready. He was confident. 

He was dangerous. Ish. 

’The Naming of the Weasel’

It had been a busy month, and Arkadius had been spending less and less time travelling away from Port Ffirst. He'd also become a lot more careful in his paths through the skies of the city after the shoulder-pain incident very nearly ended his life far too early. He shuddered to himself for a moment, remembering that evening. He'd taken painstaking efforts to ensure that he didn't let his mind drift whilst working again. He was sure that his past memories had caused the pain, and that in no way was it real. He'd stayed resolute that he would think very much about the future, and only think of the past when it was actually relevant to the situation. And for now, he had decided it wasn't.

He was stood next to his desk in the rear area of the newly refurbished Ffirst Airmail, tapping it lightly for a few moments before resuming his pacing back and forth. He was muttering to himself for most of it, but every so often he would speak up so his voice was fully audible to the room, stopping his pacing and turning to his desk. "But Seta... How are we feeling about Seta? ...It means silk. ...I thought it would be appropriate because... alright, forget it, jeez!"

He resumed pacing, muttering to himself again. This continued for a few minutes, before he turned abruptly to the desk again. "Yes, I understand that Whiskers, I do... Whiskers? Yeah, you're right. Makes you sound like a cat... I mean, you could be a cat?", he said, before giggling to himself for a moment, "Yes, good point. A cat probably wouldn't fit in a pocket. Continue." The pacing resumed for another minute, before he stopped, rubbing his chin with one of his six fingers. "How about Sparkle? Cause, you know... you can help me... Yeah, I can't keep a straight face either."

This continued for a good hour or so, back and forth of different names between him and the air before he sat back at his desk. The weasel sat there took the opportunity of Arkadius' arm resting on the desk for a split second to jump up and find her place on his shoulder. "Well, at least you're comfortable with me now. The first day when you were there, you couldn't get comfortable at all. We're moving on with the times it seems, he said smiling at the weasel, now sat comfortably on his shoulder. "I still think I'd prefer you settling in my inner coat pocket though. You'll be safer there. Yes, yes, only when we're out and about, I remember the deal we made."


"...I had a friend called Ida, when I was growing up. I always liked that name. You kinda remind me of her a bit, oddly..."

’The Reappearance of Alocasia Zebrina’

The arrival of his long-lost cousin had shaken Arkadius to the core. He hadn't seen her since they were both little, he can't have been more than twelve years old, and she eight at the time. She hadn't really changed a bit though, she was still as excitable today as she was when she was little, and even looked fairly the same. Well, she was recognisable, to say the least. The last that Arkadius had seen her was a few days after her parents, his auntie and uncle, vanished and she was taken away to somewhere. He'd finally get the chance to find out where she'd been.

"So... uhh... how have you been? I've missed you since you went away," he asked, unsure of how to word things better. He really was a bit shaken. Alocasia giggled at this question, "You're conversational skills haven't improved much then from the last time I saw you. I'm fine, thank you for asking, how are you?"
"I'm... surviving. Things have been... umm, hectic, the last few months. Years, even. I... left home when I turned eighteen, few years after you... vanished?"

Alocasia's smile drooped imperceptibly for a split second, but she recovered it quickly, though not quick enough for Arkadius to miss it. "Yeah, that was unfortunate. And weird. I went to live in the city, of all places. Not sure why, but hey ho. I hated it there, it was all stuffy and boring living in the big palace..."
Arkadius choked on the air in his throat when she mentioned living in a place. "Sorry, run that one by me again, palace?"

Alocasia nodded. "Yeah! Miss Zebrina adopted me and took me in, and took me to live with her in her house. Which turned out to be a big palace. I loved it there cause it was so big, and comfortable and posh, but everyone was so formal and boring. 'No, Mistress Zebrina, you aren't allowed to climb and jump on the furniture, it's for sitting on not jumping on', 'No, Mistress Zebrina, you must eat all of your dinner, we can't be wasting food, can we?', they were so boring. But after a while, I think Miss Zebrina got a little bit tired of me wandering off and having my own adventures, so she sent me off on an adventure, and that was that I haven't been back."

Arkadius grinned, knowing that she was leading the conversation to exactly where she wanted it to be. "So, what have you been doing on your adventure?" he asked, completely understanding he was playing into her hands.
"Ah, well I am so glad you asked and are showing an interest! I know you've been on your own adventure, cause I went back and spoke to your dad a few years ago, and he said you'd left aaaaaages ago. But I won't bore you with the full story, I'll give you the cliff notes. I spent time wandering, meeting different animals, rescuing a few if they were injured or trapped, and did odd-jobs for towns and villages. Then I went home, and spoke to people there. I wanted to meet up with you, but obviously you'd gone. That's when I found your old drum that you used to hate playing before, and have been practising and am actually quite good at it. I see you've given up trying to hide away from music, and are embracing your lyre-tastical skills!"

Arkadius winced. 'Lyre-tastical' did not hit the mark well, but Alocasia still giggled at her own humour. Arkadius tilted his head to the side, rubbing his chin with two of his six fingers. "Hmm. If you're going to be sticking around in Kantas for a while, and still feel musical, then... there's two lovely people you should meet. Who totally won't have been spying on us this entire time. Matthew, Sheryl? You there?", he loudly exclaimed the last part, stretching around to face behind him as he called out for his associates who he knew deep down would be too suspicious and caring to leave him wander around with a stranger. He knew at least one of them would have noticed the silent conversation between him and Alocasia during their charity concert earlier that day...

’What’s an R between F(r)iends?’

The forest was dark, dense and unnaturally silent. The only noise that could be heard was the soft crunching of branches underneath Arkadius' feet. He had been walking for a solid two hours, and was now well and truly out of his comfort zone. Having never stepped foot out of the town limits previously, he was well and truly the furthest from Fallford that he had ever been.

He'd been seeing regular movement out of the corner of his eye, a figure similar to that near the tavern in Fallford flitting between trees in the distance. He’d not been paying it attention, and hadn’t been able to see for definite who or what it was. In his mind, he wasn’t even sure it was anything, just his imagination playing tricks on him. Nothing was for certain at the moment. He was shaking, and starting to become exhausted, but something within him was urging him to continue, to not stop until Fallford was far, far behind him.

“Well, kid. You actually did it,” said an all-too-familiar voice from behind him, soft and almost blending in with the unnatural silence in the forest. Arkadius stopped in his tracks immediately, twirling around gracefully to face the voice, bolstered in newfound energy. He'd never felt so acrobatic and athletic before, marvelling in his head for a split-second at how well he maintained his balance, before focusing on the voice. There, leaning on a tree, as casual as you’d like, was the Visitor from last year. “I mean, I know you’re a coward, I saw as much last year. I just didn’t expect it to take quite this long. Neither did She. We started getting impatient, thinking you’d never show, and She wanted to cut you off and move on to the next in line. But here you are, proving us wrong!” The Visitor clapped his hands with a smile, punctuating his sentence very audibly.

Arkadius was surprised by his sudden appearance, but not all that shocked. “I thought it was you, nipping here and there out of the corner of my eye. You’re nimbler than you look,” Arkadius smiled at the Visitor. “I had to make preparations to leave Fallford, I couldn’t just disappear overnight, unlike you. I had to make it look… natural.”

The Visitor shrugged. “A year though, kid? I suppose better late than never... I should actually properly introduce myself, lest you keep calling me ‘The Visitor’ in your head… nice touch, by the way,” he held his hand out for Arkadius to shake, which he did promptly. ”My name is Jornos, I will be your… Hmm. How best to put this? Consider me your travelling companion for the rest of time immemorial. I think that’s how long we will be together. I’ll be your guide for what is to come in the world, I will be your friend at times, but remember I am also Swan’s Representative. Until such a time as you prove yourself worthy of Her direct attention, that is. If that happens, which… we have no doubt will happen in time. Well, we had no doubt before, not so sure now.”

Arkadius raised his eyebrows, but didn’t question anything. He felt there’d be plenty of time for questions in the future. ”I’m here, I followed Her call. The incessant whispering voices. I want to prove myself to Her. Prove that she made the right judgement,” he paused for a moment, letting the silence hang, before smiling back at Jornos. ”So, if we’re to be together for a while, where are we going first? We can’t be standing around in this forest all night. How about this Kantas place you mentioned, where is that? The story you told was… unbelievable.”
Jornos chuckled for a moment. ”Relax, Arkadius. Kantas is far away, both in time and location. We have many a long journey ahead of us before we even consider making that particular trip. And that story you don’t believe? That’s not any kind of fake, made-up story, it’s your story. Your future. Your real, hard-earned future. Heed Her words, and our future will be in your hands.”

Arkadius snorted. “If I am going to have to put up with you for a while, can you at least knock off the pretentious twaddle and just have a normal conversation every so often?”

’Doing the Right Thing’

”It’s alright to be prepared,” Arkadius muttered to himself, closing the door of Ffirst Airmail behind him. ”It’s natural to be prepared, it’s the right thing to do. It’s also necessary, given everything going on. It isn’t my time, not yet.”

I’m not saying you shouldn’t be prepared, Arkadius. I’m just saying… a hidden chest containing a will and enough gold for a resurrection. That’s just a little bit, I don’t know… morbid? Think of what the poor thing will feel when she comes to open that. Ida, like always, was sat in Arkadius' coat-pocket, warm and comfortable.

”I have friends that rely on me. The people of Port Ffirst have begun to rely on me, my employees, my company. The people of K’ul Goran… well, we do what we can for them, but sometimes things may not always go entirely to plan. And I have plans that I haven’t achieved yet. I’d like to try and finish what I’ve started, and achieve much more. I’m not done yet.”

Arkadius took off, flying high above the city towards the docks, wings flapping slowly and methodically. He had a face of determination, his eye out looking for something in specific over the docks and in the water, but on a quick passover didn’t spot it and flew onwards all the while saying nothing and remaining silently. He passed over a few other places in Port Ffirst before returning to the Ffirst Airmail office, settling down at his desk. He shuffled a few papers around between drawers, but didn't write anything. It was obvious he was preoccupied, wrapped up in his own thoughts.

”I think I’m doing the right thing. I have done the right thing, for as long as I can remember.
It’s up to me how I prepare for my future, and I’ve taken the precautions that I think are right. That’s up to me, and if others want to complain, then… That's for them to decide, really. I am looking out for me, and the others around me by looking out for myself. Hopefully my close associates will realise that, and in time maybe Kassandra and the Errant Guard will see that I mean well too.”

’The End of Life in Waterdeep’

“Jornos…” Arkadius quietly pleaded, hoping his husband would hear and understand the hidden meaning in the plea as he reached out to stop him. His paranoia that had been bubbling quietly under the surface was now in full stream, clouding every move and action, every signal in Arkadius’ brain, and he fully believed no good would come of anybody stepping foot into the hallway, let alone opening the door to the house. It was obvious that Jornos either didn’t hear Arkadius, or had ignored his quiet plea, as the half-elf stepped out of the office and down the hallway, out of sight, trying to peer out of the window in the front door.

Before Arkadius could take a step towards the hallway, the air was punctured with an extremely loud crash, shortly followed by another. Arkadius reacted without hesitation and without any thought or care, his instincts kicking in immediately. He rushed into the hallway, his primary goals to find out what was going on and, above all else, protect his loved one. As he rushed through the doorway and turned to face Jornos, there was a flurry of movement behind him, and everything went dark.

---

Arkadius awoke slowly, his vision blurry and dark. It was difficult to concentrate, but his vision was slowly returning. He risked opening his eyes, and he was grateful to see his office. He was not however grateful to see Jornos, his husband and former mentor tied to a chair. He attempted to call out and stand up to reach out for him, however he found himself also tied up to a chair and gagged. No amount of struggling was freeing him, he discovered, shuffling to try and escape. It was no use, whoever had done this had done an excellent job of trapping him.

A male voice came from behind his ear, a mere inch away, slow and calm. ”She is displeased, our mutual friend. She is very displeased, but not with you, little one. She does not believe you had any part in your disappearing act. She is displeased with this,” the figure spat in Jornos’ direction, ”traitor that you call a husband. He was meant to be a mentor, but now She is amused that he has misled you this much.”

Arkadius remained utterly still, tears running down his face. Nightmarish images floating through his head were a constant reminder that the idyllic life that he was complaining about an unknown but not too long a period of time ago, given it was still night outside, had no chance of being recovered. Other images of possible escape plans were forming too, but they were mostly put aside by panic, fear and sadness. His heart was calling out constantly, and his gaze was firmly on his husband, who was still unconscious, slumped over in the chair, only kept upright by the bindings.

The figure who had been standing directly behind Arkadius, talking into his ear stepped in front of him, blocking Arkadius’ line of sight of Jornos. He could now see his assailant, a kobold wearing black robes. ”We’ve been watching for a number of days, after you disappeared from Her view for… how long has it been, four years?” the kobold smirked, ”She asked us to find you, and it really wasn’t difficult to follow your… tracks. When the trail went cold in this city, we feared the worst. But then, chance would have it… we found you. And now… you have a choice, granted at Her mercy. You can either return to your destined path, regain Her favour and be on your merry way, or… you can both die here, in a tragic accident. I would say choose quickly, because I lack the… patience that She displays.”

The kobold raised his weapon, pointing it at Arkadius in a threatening manner. Arkadius couldn’t quite work out what the weapon was through the blind panic enveloping his mind, but it really didn’t matter for too long. He snapped to attention when the kobold cried out in pain and hit the ground following a candlestick smacking the side of his head loudly with great gusto. Jornos had awoken and broken free of his bindings while the kobold was distracted with Arkadius, and used the opportunity gracefully.

When the kobold had fallen, Jornos rushed to Arkadius’ side, ripping the bindings from his arms to free him from the chair first, allowing him to remove the gag himself. ”Arkadius my love, are you alright? Are you hurt?” he asked, hugging Arkadius tightly again. ”I… will be fine. We can’t stay here, we need to inform the Watch that-“

Arkadius was interrupted by Jornos scoffing loudly. ”If She knows we’re here, and She’s after us, then there’s nothing the Watch can do now.” “Then what do you propose? We’ve been here four years, we’re settled now. We can’t just leave!” ”We have no other option, Arkadius. But we have to go now, there was two of them, we aren’t all-” Jornos stopped talking, a look of surprise on his face as an arrow planted squarely into his back.

The arrow had met its target, and the remaining kobold in the hallway was notching another arrow into his bow. Arkadius could see this, his partner now falling to the ground in front of him, revealing him as a target. He knew what he had to do in this situation, all the training that Jornos had given him previously, when they were growing closer… he raised a hand at the kobold, he barely had to concentrate before his hand was wreathed in the flames.

”You have one chance to get out of my house before I do something I will more than likely not regret,” Arkadius said, the voice coming out of his mouth however wasn’t his own. It was… deeper, calmer and much, much louder than normal. Half the street must have heard it, surely. It was enough to give the kobold archer the creeps, who turned and fled out of the house door in the blink of an eye. Arkadius relaxed the fire, and knelt on the floor, pulling Jornos into his arms.

”Ark, listen to me,” Jornos begged, his breathing threads and slow. ”You… need to go to Kantas. You need to… Fulfil your destiny. Free yourself from… Her chains. Play your music, and… never... forget me.” Jornos managed to get his final words out slowly, before passing into the night.