Dear journal, I guess.
It’s Jadeth, again. Weird things happened the last few days, so I thought I better write them down so that maybe I’ll remember them better. I’m probably missing something– maybe even a lot. Perhaps I’ll get the thoughts of my friends to fill in those gaps. There was this monster that made me forget… Well, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.
I woke up in a strange place, but admittedly, that’s not too unusual for me. Blackout drinking is a bad habit of mine. Usually the world is intolerable until that point anyway. This time, however, was different. I wasn’t just in a strange place, I was in a strange place covered in blood. I jolted forward and gasped in a breath that triggered a coughing fit.
My vision was so blurred, but there was something next to me. Someone, next to me. Olaf, I think, snoring away. I laughed at first, figuring we must have gotten too drunk together and found something dangerous in the woods. He was covered in blood too, and I figured it must have been from a hunt. When I tried to move, I realized that this pain wasn’t that of a hangover. This wasn’t something else’s blood.
I used a nearby chair to pull myself up and take the full scene in. Everyone was on the floor unconscious. Blood was everywhere, pooling around the bodies until it overflowed from the cracks in the cold cobblestone floor. The first thought I had was: what the shit? The second one was much more urgent.
Juno. I could see the shallow breaths of everyone else around me– even Slender and Shade, as beat up as they looked, were still breathing. Juno wasn’t. She was so bloodied and unnaturally crumpled over that I hardly even recognized her. I fell forward, clutching her lifeless body against my chest. My pulse pounded in my ears, but hers was silent. I couldn’t let it remain so.
I set her back down and grabbed my amulet before screaming, “wake up!” Nothing happened. Not a single spark of magic. Everyone else began to stir behind me. I tuned them all out. I needed to focus. Juno’s life force was draining fast, and I wasn’t a good enough mage to perform a stronger spell if I missed this window.
I pulled the spell bracelet off my wrist and counted the beads. There was a revivify spell stored in it still, wasn’t there? I could still pull this off. I crushed three of the beads that were charged with magic between my fingers. My eyes gleamed with energy, and I focused it down into the body below me.
Juno didn’t move at first. There was a moment, however fleeting, that I thought I was about to lose her forever. The confused chattering of voice started quietly, then erupted into a panic that mirrored my own. Confused shouts of: “Slender? Shade? Jadeth– is that–” I covered my ears frantically. I needed the silence that I once craved if I was going to be able to channel enough magic to wake Juno back up. I hated that absence of sound. I needed to hear her speak again. I needed her to say anything. Flick me on my goggles, call me an idiot, tell me how I was letting you down when you needed me.
I whispered again for Juno to wake up- unsure if she would even want to. Who was waiting for her on the other side? Surely her passing would have been far kinder than my own was back in Port Battleborn. The thought crossed my mind that maybe she didn’t even need me. Maybe she was unafraid. My eyes darted from hers to that vial of poison on her hip. I, too, wanted to be unafraid.
Olaf offered a hand down when he must have seen what I was looking at. I was relieved to have my friends with me. I had to keep reminding myself I wasn’t alone this time. He pulled me to my feet, and through the haze of disbelief that was clouding my mind, I was able to cast healing light to save Slender from his own passing.
Just when I was about to give up hope, Juno’s eyes shot open and she let out a low groan. I didn’t move, even though I wanted to throw my arms around her. Our eyes met across the room– her stupid frantic eyes with my own emotionless red lenses. Somehow I could tell that everyone could see right through my mask.
Juno didn’t say anything to me at first. I don’t think any words needed to be said. She saw Shade on the table, still unconscious, and immediately began rummaging through her bag for a potion. Slender was on it faster. He gave me a pat on the back, clearly already feeling better than the rest of us were, and he swung the lute from his back. He began playing a melody far too upbeat for the mood in the cabin, but no one was going to stop him. Shade’s whiskers twitched as the magic rejuvenated him, and he jumped forward with his claws fully extended like he was ready to be back in combat.
Olaf rubbed his head and looked around the room, asking if any of us knew where we were. Slender suggested we may have been captured before giving Juno and I some pointed looks. I made a face back at him, which he couldn’t see under my gas mask anyway. Matanza made a few scared peep’s, and while I couldn’t translate them, the emotion was clearly there. We were all terrified, hurt, and confused.
I ducked back behind Juno as she went to unlock some of the doors, hoping to find clues. She bent down to the first lock, and I leaned up against the wall next to her. We didn’t make eye contact, but I still cleared my throat.
“Promise me…” I started softly, feeling like an idiot for even saying anything. “Promise me that never happens again.” I meant for it to be a question, but it wasn’t. It was a selfish demand. She scoffed at first. I didn’t blame her for that. I knew I sounded ridiculous.
A few moments passed, each more uncomfortable than the last. The lock on the first door clicked open and she swung it open to a modest, empty kitchen. “Sure,” her answer finally came. “I promise.”
Mole and Matanza opened one of the other doors to an altar. Everyone else was already crowded inside before Juno and I entered. It wasn’t a very big room either, but there was the symbol of Thaldra sitting out alongside a scroll of revivify and some jugs of holy water.
I shivered, never really being a huge fan of gods after my own had decided to force me into being a living weapon. Still, Thaldra was the goddess of protection, and I wouldn’t be one to turn protection down at the moment. I couldn’t help but feel a familiarity with the cabin, but, if I tried to think about it too long, my head ached.
Juno picked up a letter off of the altar– the seal had already been broken, which felt odd in itself. It was like I had seen the letter before, and even before Juno read it, somewhere deep in my mind– I knew what it said already:
“Dear Ashen Cabaret:
I hope this letter finds you well. I have heard many great things about your troop; how you fought off nearly all the bandits and goblins on the road to Olemnar. How once there you protected the town from attacks from terrorists, bandits, assassins, and even helped them solve an issue with the local wildlife.
And now you have landed in Port Battleborn. We are in desperate need of help here. Our leader, Father Asmo, has gone missing. I last saw him yesterday on his way to visit the old Barnaby house. Mr. Barnaby had fallen ill lately, so father Asmo would stop by from time to time to check in on the man and his young son.
Of course, fine people of your talent cost a great deal to hire. We may not have much in the way of coin, but I understand you are looking to purchase and build a ship. We have already sent the lumber required for the construction, and the Port Battleborn shipyard has concluded that it will reduce the cost of construction by roughly 15 thousand gold coins.
We look forward to seeing you and Spike soon!
Father Gidra”
“Spike?” Juno echoed the note. As soon as she said the name aloud again, my head felt like someone had driven a warpick through my skull. I tried to remember who that was– our dog, right? He was there the night we met, the evening we came clean about our pasts to each other, that day in Port Battleborn when we had our picnic… I backed towards the wall to steady myself as the room spun.
“We were hired here?” Slender asked, but no one was able to recall. “Well, fuck! I think we deserve more than we’re getting out of this deal. I wouldn’t have signed up for this shit for anything less than a full room of gold pieces. No way lumber is worth our deaths at the hands of…” He trailed off and rubbed his temple under his lion-mask. “Nah, I was hoping that would cause an epiphany. No luck.”
Shade pulled some dust out of his pocket and dropped it into the first jug of holy water. Both the paladins immediately began scolding and squawking at him for it as the glimmering pristine water became dull and dirty. He apologized and shrugged, not really knowing why the strange powder was in his pocket to begin with. The rest of us all felt into our own pockets and found the same dust. Slender held it up and cast a spell to identify that it was a teleportation crystal, but of course, that didn’t explain much more than we already knew.
I looked into the jug of plain water with disdain. We may have needed that to combat whatever horrible thing had left us so battered. I picked the other jug up to place it in my bag, only realizing I did something wrong when Slender pointed out my bag was now drenched since I hadn’t placed a lid on the jug. Didn’t have a comeback ready for that one. I was too exhausted to argue. Everyone else seemed like they were also ready to fall asleep where they were standing.
Juno went to lock up the doors, but Slender stood in the main hall for a moment while everyone else began to choose their sleeping arrangements. I asked him what was wrong, as he was looking particularly unnerved. He asked if I heard that strange song, and I listened very carefully for a moment. It let me hear the furious kick that Olaf gave to the door Shade barricaded quite well. A very sudden thud was followed closely by the tabaxi’s panicked screech.
The chair exploded on impact with the wall on the other side of the small bedroom, and we peeked in to see Shade crouched on the bed with all his hair on end. It slowly laid flat again, and he let out a much deeper cough as he tried to recover.
We split up into our groupings for the night – Olaf with Shade, Matanza with Mole and Slender, Juno with myself. I asked her to lock our bedroom door as well, paranoid that something– though I had no idea what, would find its way into the room in the night. We were the lucky ones.
I took my mask off and slid it into my bag, but I kept my maroon hood up. I felt a bit safer with it on, even though I knew that was foolish. Nothing was safe here. Juno took the bedroll next to me and slipped a dagger under her pillow. I knew she did it every night, just a consequence of paranoia. Still, I was glad she was as prepared for a fight as ever.
Shade began yelling for help just as the pinkish hues of dawn began to tint the sky. I leaned forward and rubbed my eyes before putting my mask back on, and Juno jumped up to get the door. By the time we were out of our room, everyone was gathered around the dining table as Shade paced back and forth frantically. He was once again covered in his own blood, and while it was hard to see under his auburn fur, the wounds sort of looked to be in the shape of serpents.
“Dreadwyrm?” I asked, but Shade violently shook his head negative. “Then what–”
“I don’t know!” He snapped; all the hair on his tail was on end. I looked at Olaf, and he also gave me a shrug. I didn’t understand how something could have attacked Shade without waking Olaf. Sure, our drunken dwarf was a heavy sleeper, but this… “I tried to yell for you guys, but nothing came out. What kind of creature can do that to you?”
Everyone turned to the paladins, but they both looked as lost as we felt. Matanza made a peep and looked at the door. It was a good point: we were in a town, so maybe someone else had the answers we didn’t. Juno began unlocking the door, and we all followed her outside into the cool air of early morning.
The town seemed nearly abandoned. The bell on the church of Thaldra rang out across the road, signaling a new day had come. We all jumped from the sudden sound. While times were uncertain, we had at least made it through the night alive. That should have counted for something, but looking back over my exhausted and shaken friends, I wasn’t so sure.
We approached the chapel, passing a couple of guards as we went. There was something unusual about them though, and when I paid them another glance, I recognized what it was.
They were young human children. Likely no older than the age of twelve. The armor they were wearing seemed too big and awkward for them, and I worried what would happen if either of them got in a fight. The big swords fashioned to their waists seemed to slow them down, and I wondered if either of the boys would be able to properly wield their weapons. Their heads turned to follow us as we walked past, and I found myself staring right back. It wasn’t very often that people looked at me that way, with admiration rather than fear.
“You’re Ashen Cabaret!” the first boy exclaimed. “You’re here to help with our bear problem, aren’t you?” No one had an answer to that right away.
“Bear?” Olaf repeated and looked back at the rest of us. The faint wrinkles on his face deepened as he thought. “You don’t think–”
“No chance we were taken out by a bear,” Shade hissed and approached the two little guards. “Kids, where might one find this ‘bear?’ I’d like to do some recon.” The smaller of the two boys pointed towards the southwestern forest, and Shade thanked him before starting that way.
“Wait, do you really think splitting up is a good idea?” Juno asked. Olaf echoed her, gesturing to Shade’s bloodied fur. The tabaxi covered as much as he could and made a face at them.
“Not like we have a better idea to find out what happened to us. Besides, I’m faster than practically any land animal. I’ll be fine.” His tail flicked impatiently, and we watched him jog down the road.
“Fifty-fifty chance we just never see him again,” Slender muttered. “Anyone want to make a counter-bet?”
Olaf huffed and led us inside the chapel of Thaldra. I stayed towards the back of the group, already feeling uneasy from waking up in a location devoted to the goddess. One of the priests came over with a warm smile that once again reminded me of someone– someone I was close to? No, I was just losing my mind. I had to stay vigilant.
The priest introduced himself, and I am ashamed to say I already forgot his name. He spoke with us for a while, said something about us being there to solve their wolf problems.
Olaf asked for clarification since the kid mentioned a bear, but he didn’t have much else to say other than they had been killing the farmer’s cattle. I cursed at Shade under my breath for running off on his own. Was he safe, wherever he went?
I stepped closer to Juno as she looked up at the beams above us. There were a million things I wanted to say to her at the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her any of them. The image of the bodies of all my friends left to die on the floor around me haunted me every time I closed my eyes, and we were no closer to getting to the truth of what monster could have left us that way. Sure, we weren’t the strongest adventurers, but we had come a long way from the group that nearly died to a bandit attack back outside of Olemnar. If something did that to us, I had to believe it could do so again.
The shouts of a frightened child snapped me back to reality. I turned, instinctively putting a hand on the hilt of the new longsword Slender gave me, Ifrit. I exhaled in frustration when I saw the thing scaring the child was none other than a paranoid Olaf. Matanza began chirping at him repeatedly, little graytone feathers ruffled out angrily. Juno pulled out her rapier, also seemingly fearful of whatever came over our typically upbeat dwarf. We all took a step towards him, exchanging glances on whoever would handle the scene he was creating.
“Olaf,” I began, tone bordering on hostile, though I didn’t mean for it to. “Please, put the child down.” The priests all began to back away– the way they regarded us instantly shifted from reverence to the fear I was so used to receiving from the townsfolk that saw me. I didn’t like that change. It felt good for people to consider us the good guys for once. “Olaf!” That time it was a growl. Everyone who didn’t already know me flinched– I made my damn eyes gleam again, didn’t I?
The child started to cry, so I excused myself outside. I overheard Juno begging Mole not to make matters worse as they went in for a dragonborn sized hug. Olaf’s hasty apologies were not seeming to calm the boy down either. Everything was becoming too much to handle, and I wanted to close my eyes and drown everything out.
I don’t know how long I was out there on the front step of the chapel, but by the time I looked back up from the ground, Shade was making his way back over. I asked him about the bear, but he shrugged and said he didn’t see anything suspicious about it. He hardly looked convinced, so I hardly felt convinced. He asked if we learned anything more, but I shook my head. His whiskers twitched as he thought about next steps. He looked back over his shoulder down the road he came from.
“There’s a bar down that way; might get some information. Even if we don’t, I could use a drink.” Now he was speaking my language. Olaf came out of the door behind me– his booze senses not missing a thing. We all followed the tabaxi down to the run down tavern, and just like the guards, the only person working at the counter was another dirt-covered child.
He was definitely too young to be working at a pub, so Olaf asked where his parents were. There was a moment where he made a face like he was trying to remember, but ultimately, it faded back to a smile and he said that he wasn’t sure. That made a chill run down my spine. Something awful was going on here, so, naturally, I was going to handle that just like I always did: by getting totally hammered. Olaf gave the kid five gold pieces to buy the bar, and the kid took the money and darted out the door. It was probably our best investment to date, quite honestly.
Shade slid over the counter and began sorting through the liquors on the shelf. He tossed one to Olaf, and the dwarf snatched it out of the air and popped the cork off in one graceful motion. I leaned over the counter and squinted at my options. Nothing as top shelf as I would have liked, but ale is ale. Shade took a swig of a honeymead so sweet that it made him purr, then offered me the bottle. I downed the entire thing and reached for another, only feeling satisfied when my vision began to blur. Olaf held up his own drink, and the three of us clicked our cups together with a satisfying tink as metal met metal.
Across the room, Juno had gotten a table with the others. I could faintly hear them discussing their own plans, but Shade began to recollect what he learned on his scouting trip.
“Looked like a big fluffy boy. Probably a bear, ya think?” He slurred his speech. Mine and Olaf’s hardly sounded much better. I pulled the gas mask back over my face and let out a gravelly laugh. Olaf slammed his drink down, then stared silently as the ale once again settled.
“I’ve been around, so I have my share of theories. Though, none of them very pleasant,” he said and scratched his chin through his scraggly gray beard. “I think we could interrogate that blacksmith across the way. The damn priests didn’t seem to know much more than the kids. Someone has to know something about what’s actually plaguing this town. Bear, wolves– they can’t even get their story straight.”
“Someone else mentioned it was bandits…” Shade trailed off. “It’s like whatever it is, no one can remember it.”
“Not like we can, either,” I added and glanced over my shoulder, making sure the rest of the group was still with us. It felt unfair not to even be able to trust our own memory, let alone the people of the town. I understood everyone’s growing frustration.
Shade impatiently batted his cup from the old wooden counter to the floor. The clang got him the attention of everyone in the room. I had never seen us all look so tired– so defeated. How could we fight an enemy like this? If I was any more of a coward, I may have considered running away.
“We were thinking of investigating the blacksmith,” Shade called across the room. “Any objections?” No one had any. I watched Olaf grab a few bottles of ale and stuff them in his bag. I thought about doing the same, but for the first time in my life decided that sobriety may be my ally in a situation like this.
The blacksmith had as little to tell us as the priests did. He also seemed to struggle to recall any details that could have been helpful, but we couldn’t fault him for it. As they were talking, Shade, Slender and I found that the wardrobe in the back of the room had a huge hole in the back of it. It led down into some tunnels like something had been burrowing under the village. The three of us exchanged a look before sliding down into them.
I went down first, listening carefully for any sign of life. It seemed like we were alone. Shade and Slender gestured to where one of the tunnels looked to head back up towards the surface, and I spotted another.
“Run back here if you see anything at all, okay?” I told them. They both nodded, and we split up into the cave system. All of the tunnels leading into this one could have served as an elaborate labyrinth if I wasn’t careful, so I made sure to make a mental note of where I came in at. I leaned down to check for any tracks, but I didn’t see any indication something had been down here recently. I was almost like whatever it was had hovered above the earth.
I saw faint light filtering through the floorboards of another house above me. There was another path up, so I followed it and again found myself in a closet. I carefully pushed the door open, and the man inside shouted in fright when he saw me.
“Who are you?! How did you get in my closet? Are you– are you here to kill me?!” He backed away from me until he hit the wall on the opposing side of the room. I looked from him to the tunnel behind me and narrowed my eyes. Had he really not noticed the huge hole there? Was it recently made?
“I’m not here to hurt you. There’s a hole connecting your house to some of the others in the town through this tunnel network, see?” I pointed, but he looked at me like I was insane. I sighed and headed down into it, again calling out to him. He didn’t bother to answer, so I repeated it a bit louder. Still nothing, almost like he couldn’t hear me. I climbed back out, and he looked at me with as much alarm as he initially had.
“Who are you?! How did you get into my closet? Are you– are you here to kill me?!” He repeated, and my shoulders sank. He… Didn’t remember me? When I didn’t say anything, his fear escalated. “Guards! Guards, come quick!” The rattling of oversized chainmail began to approach the house, so I shook my head and clambered back down into the tunnels.
Slender and Shade came back towards where we entered the tunnels, both looking a bit more satisfied with whatever they found. Slender’s coin purse had a bit more jingle to it than I remembered, but maybe I too was just imagining things.
“Find anything?” Slender asked.
“Their memories… It’s almost like something’s actively erasing them,” I answered gravely. Shade beamed.
“Pretty great, isn’t it?” Slender elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up. “I mean– pretty terrible. Truly a bummer.” It was more than obvious that they had stolen something, but there were more important things to worry about right now. I could grill them about it later– if I remembered to.
We all climbed back out of the blacksmith’s wardrobe, and the rest of the group beckoned us over. Olaf had patrolled the perimeter of this side of town while we were in there, and he found something– a bounty for a missing woman on the corpse of some poor adventurer in the woods. A man named Roger Deotony von Rockovitch detailed his house being attacked and his wife going missing, and he was offering a bounty to a mercenary named Viktor. It was definitely the best lead we had gotten so far. Furthermore, Olaf said he had cotton stuff into his ears, and he passed some over to us too.
We put it in without question, figuring that poor sap probably knew more about what we were fighting than we did currently. The blacksmith let us know where we could find the Rockovitch estate, and wished us luck with the wolves.
By the God Star, I wish it were wolves.