#itora

Later on, in the finale of Ursh’s campaign (hence I attached their reroll model as well), we found out that one of our allies was the shade of this necromancer when he summoned the spirits of the player characters from that one-shot. I mean, I already knew, but that was when the others found out! Since Ursh had died earlier in the combat, I was allowed to control Larkspur’s ghost for the duration.

So I rolled the special icy dice I’d bought to represent Larkspur...and that’s how this character who had never even featured in this campaign until this final moment finished off the Big Bad. 

In a storytelling sense, maybe it doesn’t make for such a great finale. But I was personally Very Happy because a) it took some of the sting out of what happened to Ursh, and b) Larkspur died trying to protect her friend. And although she failed, she was able to come back centuries later and save* some other adventurers. Yay!

“Gulgg?”

“Mmm?”

They held her close and buried their face in her hair. Ursh could feel their own heartbeat, far too fast; but they could feel hers too, and it was slow and strong and soothing. 

Gulgg in general was strong and soothing. Now, as she turned her face to speak, her voice was as low and slow as ever, but with an edge of concern. 

“You’re shaking. What’s wrong?”

“Just a dream,” they said.

She slowly sat up, and they moved with her. “Should we talk about it?”

They leaned into Gulgg. As it always did, the immediate fearfulness faded with waking. Their heart rate was slowly returning to normal and everything else would follow. Ursh knew all of that, but dreams don’t spring out of nowhere, especially not the recurring ones. There were elements burned into their mind- a few images, a series of impressions. 

“This time, you weren’t there. But he was,” they said carefully. “He drowned.”

“It’s still not your fault,” she ran her fingers through their hair. 

“I know. It’s just some part of my brain doesn’t, you know? I know that so many people died and there’s no way I could change that- not with Garlin, not with anyone. But Kriv saved my life.”

Gulgg was quiet for a moment, but just having her there helped. When she wasn’t Ursh usually went to Floral, or sought out their mother, but neither of them were a physical presence. Neither of them were warm. 

“Okay,” she said at length. “Andry’s bound to be doing something fun. Probably something illegal. Should we find her, or should we haul drunken guests out of the front room?”

Ursh wasn’t really in the mood for hauling guests. “Andry sounds good.”