Game-Summaries:7/18/2020 Recollections

Recollections by Ci

A few hours after Zanna and Ember returned from Folcom Keep, Ci stumbles out a planar gate, and leans heavily against a column in the great hall of Shanjiu. Hearing he had returned, Zanna and Ember rush to his side. "What happened Ci? How did you get out? Where's Cassio?" they asked, questions spilling out rapidly in their hurry and concern. Ci lifts a trembling hand and speaks haltingly, "Cassio's gone, my friends. He saved my life, and now he's gone." With that, he walks unsteadily towards the kitchens. He stops at a jug of wine placed on one of the side tables in the Hall. He pours a glass, drains it, and then pours another. He takes a few more steps then collapses into a chair, exhausted, and begins to speak again.

"I am sorry, my friends. I have been in the Void for whats seems like an eternity. I escaped there from Folcom Keep, but could not bring myself to come home right away. My pain was too fresh, my mind too unsettled. I might be there still, but for my worry for you two. I suddenly remembered you had disappeared and rushed here hoping to find you had survived as well. I am glad that it is so."

"I stopped time and was able to get Garnet, Ember and myself out when Dereth betrayed us," Zanna says. " I am sorry, but I couldn't get you and Cassio out too, Ci."

"Do not fear, friend Zanna. I am glad you were able to escape. When Dereth rose that accursed wand and summoned the Horde, I thought he might raise it again to banish us all to gods-know-where. When you and Ember disappeared, I feared the worse. I have never been so pleased to be wrong. For myself, I was resolved to stay and fight to the death with friend Cassio. Neither of us would ever have surrendered to Dereth, and I think he knew it. I thought we might have one chance in 1000... if we could hold out long enough for Cassio to Dispel the enchantment that had prevented your gate from working, I might be able to take us into the Void. We almost succeeded too. My hand was on Cassio's back ready to take us into the Void. Cassio's spell had just begun to leave his lips, when suddenly Dereth raised his hand, pointed one long finger, and a streak of death shot out and stuck Cassio in the chest."

"I saw his face Ember. I saw Dereth's face when he killed Cassio. And although I knew that I would soon follow my friend into the long dark, Dereth'sface chilled me more than the thought of my impending death. He was smiling. Smiling at his own cleverness. At his own Surety. At his own Success. He was so convinced in the RIGHTness of what he was doing, that he couldn't see the evil in it. For a moment I saw his Victory. As fate balanced on the edge of a knife, I could it all laid out before us: A victory so complete that all the peoples of Eomas would be made slaves or ghosts. A victory so complete that the chaos of it would consume even the gods themselves. I even heard Chandra laugh behind me at just that moment, as if she could see it too. Chandra and Dereth and that bloody Conventicle would continue to the East, killing and enslaving as they went. They would throw down one god of death and raise another in her place. And there would be no one left to warn the Magistery or Order... no one left to stand in their way."

"And then just at that moment, like a stone dropped on to a mountainside, everything tipped and began to gather speed and slide the other way. I heard Cassio scream. It was not a scream of fear or pain. It was a scream of pure determination. As that thin line of death pierced his heart, his body flared with a heat so intense my hand was burned by it. In the space of an instant he was filled with the light of a thousand suns. Fire and ruin shot into the air all around me, hovered a moment, then crashed back to earth like a huge molten wave. It spread and washed over what little was left of House Payne."

"And then... Silence. I looked about, and there was left but me, smoking ruin, and that perfidious witch Chandra. She looked me in the eyes across the devastation and then fled like a scalded hound. And where just a moment before had been my friend Cassio, there now stood a perfect image of my friend in his last moment... defiance and bravery carved into his face... shield on his arm... flaming sword in his hand. It was of all of perfect black glass, smooth and clear, still smoking as it cooled. In the spot where stood the traitor Dereth, there was but a lump of soft black rock, small and misshapen. At its feet, lay the cursed Wand he had used to summon the Horde against us. I quickly covered it in warm black rock as deeply as I could, so that it might never again be used to betray a friend. Then as I looked upon the rock that had been Dereth, I saw his face, perfectly preserved for but a few more moments in that melting, dwindling lump of rock. I looked down and saw the face of one I called a friend. I saw the face of one who led us here to this place with misinformation and lies. I saw the face of one who had been my brother, but most of all, I now saw the true face of the one who had betrayed us all."

"I swear I will remember that face, Zanna. May fate damn that witch Chandra. May it damn the Seer and the Conventicle. I know that it has already damned Dereth Payne because I saw his face at the end. And he wasn't smiling anymore. No he most definitely was not smiling"

Recollections by Dereth

Uncle Conroy was always eccentric, but I didn't believe it all centered around Nerull. I've known the truth of it from the moment we learned of the Dreadhorde. Then, I watched Coin lose himself to the outside. Then, I learned the Dark One had returned, and Uncle Conroy was right. All along. When I saw our home destroyed, I finally believed his rants.

I showed the armies the Pardor Pass and watched as my companions collapsed the mountain upon them. I have not always known the movements, and I lamented the lives lost, but came to realize that this way was the best way. Maybe my friends will resent me for not blindly accepting the point of view we were spoon fed, but I pray they learn to consider all perspectives instead of blind trust.

I will weep for the losses to come, and I will miss the gentle jibes and jokes around Shanjiu Keep. I hope they remember that my cohort is not my enemy, and I hope we all survive to the end of this. Let's argue about it afterward...