#wildgods

The wild gods followers are assembling again. Down by the river, bring a bottle to wear and a bottle to drink. Bring your fawn skins and your leopard print. Maenads and bacchoi and satyrs and nymphs and humans alike gather at the edges, the periphery.

They who will be carrying Dionysus have promises to keep, made to the god in the before times and made good now.

It comes, it comes. With wine and madness, sobriety and ecstasy, the gifts we need, not always the gifts we want. Strip us down and set us free.

It is revel time once more.

Wow. Looking at this, I can hardly believe I've not written since Wyrmshoals.

A lot has happened since then. The party helped me deal with my problems there – no sign of Sicarius, unfortunately, but that can wait.

After Wyrmshoals, we made our way to Bournerock – it was a very strange place. Far too dusty, and dry. I was missing the sea breeze before we even stepped in the gates. Along the way Arslan got into a heated argument with an ostrich. Dinner was good that night, and it got me the quill I'm witing with. Thanks Arslan! At Bournerock, we managed to repair the damage caused by Aliana's life choices, do a great deal of research in the library (I proved my travelling machine will work!), met and learned about the single most important creature in Arslan's life, along with his dad and sister and met Henderson, a scholar interested in the Wild Gods.

Henderson was extremely curious, almost creepily so. He immediately took an interest in Ulrika, given her direct experience with the Wild Gods back at that obelisk. He was also astonished to learn that we'd already met Luddeus (Yagmir's actual name, probably) and Sveln the Lucky. He told us he was planning an expedition to Kal'Zagur, to investigate Arkharis.

That went poorly. We wound up making our way North, which was thoroughly unpleasant. Both Aliana and I are built for tropical waters, not frozen wastelands, and we were bundled up so much we looked more like blobs of fur than Aqueln. I'm glad to be back in warmer climes now. We stopped in a town near Kal'Zagur to do some research, where we were assaulted by the Cult of Arkharis. Drae's stalker showed up again there – he was somewhat terrified by the fact that she was sane at the time. Still, we drove them off, and saved the town, so once more our general struggles to not die make us heroes. In this town we met up with Bellend. Sorry, I mean Beylen. Beylen Undercroft.

From there, were entered Kal'Zagur. We encountered some resistance, but not as much as I expected – that should have been a warning sign. A few Cultists, and some Wendigo. Eventually, we saw Arkharis upon his throne, with his spear in his skeletal, dead, hand. Bellend turned on us, claiming the Touch of Necrosis for his own ends, aiming to surpass previous attempts at necromancy, and become more than Shade. Now, I'm still only a learner when it comes to magic, but it seems to me that of all the branches of magic to try to push further than ever before, Necromancy would be quite literally the worst. I bet that there are over a thousand ways this could go wrong for him, and only one of them is us.

In Kal'zagur, we learned that Drae's stalker, Arhanir Rivenroot, was causing problem's near Ulrika's hometown, so we headed there without delay. We succesfully saved Ulrika's father from Cultists (though he definitely did his part – it was fascinating to fight next to a Shapeshifter), and proceeded to bring Arhanir's madness (and by extension Drae's) to an end. The fool actually turned himself into a Lich. That never ends well.

Seriously, I've been travelling taverns for over ten years now and I've never heard a story about a Lich ending well for the Lich.

After defeating Arhanir though, things took a bit more of a tragic turn. To stop Bellend, we'll need to gather the support of as many Wild Gods as possible; preferably all of them. We decided to split into three groups – Selendria, Henderson, and Spanky would travel to Brightlake to do research, Ulrika, Arslan, and Drae would go to the Sidherwood to seek a Wild God there, while Aliana, Artie, and myself go to the Shattered Isles in search of another Wild God – probably Renem, Goddess of Exploration..

I hate to part ways with them, but it's for the best. They're all perfectly capable, and now that Drae is sane again, I think they'll be able to take care of one another perfectly fine without the rest of us there. Doesn't mean I won't be worried. At least Selendria and Henderson have Spanky to take care of them. Though, while travelling with Aliana I'm beginning to realise what it'd be like to be a parent. Gods help me.

Jokes aside though, things took a turn for the worse. We passed through Artie's home village on our way to the coast. His brother died a long time ago, and his parents never told him. They wanted to protect him, but in doing so, they did the worst thing I can imagine. When Haluk died, I felt like my world had been torn apart. I can still barely bear to think about the days with him, sometimes. When I saw Artie hunched over his brother's grave, all I could see was Haluk's face. I can't believe Artie had to go through that. He always talked about how wonderful his brother was. He seems to be coping with the loss, but I'm really worried about him. When I lost my brother I lost myself in my grief. I just hope Artie's a stronger person than I am.

Following that revelation though, we continued to make our way to the coast, eventually arriving in a small seaside town. It always makes me feel better being near the ocean, and Artie seemed to cheer up somewhat as well. We did a little exploring, and found a note about an expedition to the Shattered Isles – we thought we'd struck gold – but we'd done better. We made our way to the docks, and there encountered the Wild God Renem. She wants to go to the Shattered Isles to reclaim her lost ship, and has enlisted our aid in doing so.

It seems perfect – we help and befriend a Wild God in exchange for her help against Bellend.

She's a fascinating character. Extremely flippant and casual, but I've noticed a more cautious side to her as well. She seemed way out of her depth when Aliana wanted to strike a deal with Yagmir, for example. Of all the Wild Gods we could be travelling with, she seems ideal; much more 'mortal' than some.

Regardless, we managed to secure passage abord 'The Onion Fairy', the ship on which we're currently sailing – and where we were joined by none other than Captain Minyet! Good to see that old cat again.

Of course, ocean voyages are quite dangerous. Earlier today we encountered pirates, using Captain Minyet's old ship as a flagship. Battle ensued, and with great effort, we managed to best the pirates. It was depressing seeing Minyet's old crew as foes – I remember Drae especially got along great with some of them. I'm not looking forward to having to tell her what happened. Aliana and I swam down to the sinking ship to recover some treasure; that was the first time in ten years that I breathed the way an Aqueln is born to do – it felt wonderful being underwater again.

Kachina.

Its been years since I've thought of that name. Years more since I actually associated myself with it. I thought that she was in the past, yet here I am.

We arrived in Wyrmshoals yesterday. As we approached the city, I told the others about Sicarius's bounty. They took it better than I thought they would. Part of me was afraid Arslan would just try to claim it, or that Aliana would panic at travelling with a criminal, but they all stood by me. That's the first part of whats led to my current mental state.

It was good to see Wyrmshoals again, despite everything. Of all the places in this world, its the most like home. If I ever get the chance to settle down, I think it'll be here. The smells of the markets, the canals weaving everything together, the sounds of the crowds, and the salt in the air; there's no place in this world I'd rather be, on the surface or underwater. Drae used a spell to modify my scales and fins to be blue as a disguise, and Artie lent me his cloak. They're good friends. Better than I've had in a long time.

We entered the city mostly without incident, but Drae did manage to introduce the guards to philosophy. She (I'll get to that later) asked one of the guards where the ocean ends. I swear, I saw that poor man's mind explode. It was kind of beautiful really. Weird to think Artie, Ulrika, and Drae have never seen the ocean before coming here. Even when I've walked forests and mountains I've always had the ocean in the back of my head.

Haverson's face at sight of me was a thing of beauty; we haven't seen each other in years. He gave us a booth, and I told the others the truth. All of it.

It was painful. Gods above and below, it was painful. Hard to describe... I'd thought about those memories a lot recently, but not actually about what was in them.

When I was done, they all reacted differently. It was hard for me to read some of their emotions. Artie seemed horrified by what happened to Haluk. Drae was kind about it all. Arslan offered to help me kill Sicarius; that was unexpected. Ria stayed quiet, but that's normal for her. Ulrika was quiet as well, but again, normal. Aliana jumped straight into trying to fling her political clout around, try and get my name cleared.

They brought me to tears, though I tried to hide it. Besides Haverson, no one has shown me kindness like this since Haluk died. I can't believe I threatened to kill Aliana in the past. She's been nothing but patient and kind, and now that she knows I'm a wanted criminal under her own mother's law, she's standing by me all the same.

After all that was done, we had a chat with Haverson. I gave him a gift of the Aqueln wine. I owe him literally everything I have, so that wine was the least I could do. He told use about some kidnappings that have been occuring in the city. Every one of them Aqueln. He also mentioned that the bounty hunters have stopped looking for me at his inn. Those two little facts together... I have a horrifying suspicion as to why these Aqueln are vanishing. I hope I'm wrong. I pray I'm wrong.

We began investigating with a Captain, a contact Haverson has. He killed two of the pirates in front of us (Artie pointedly watched the ocean instead), and then showed us to a smuggler who could potentially take us to the pirate's cove.

I can summarise the smuggle as 'ew'. A somewhat lecherous criminal who treated murder as a business deal and gave Aliana possibly the single most disturbing look I've seen in my life, and I've met Yagram. We worked out a 'deal'. We'd guard his warehouse for the night and kill anyone who tried to break in, and in exchange he'd ferry us to the cove. We'll split the loot 60/40.

A few hours later we'd negotiated an arrangement with the Thieves Guild. They'll ignore the smuggler's buildings for a week, and in exchange we don't do anything to them. In short, we lose nothing, no one has to die, and the smuggler gets screwed over. Win win win.

After that, everything went wrong. The others drank. They got up to some odd things, but none of that matters, because Drae drank her wine. It wasn't wine.

This morning, when we woke, Drae was different. Very, very different. Sane. Her insanity wasn't natural, wasn't due to an injury, its due to a fucking spell. That Cultist, that monster of a cultist we met back in that farmhouse has stalked her for years, and tried to make her 'his perfect bride' by breaking her mentally with madness. The wine alleviated it, temporarily.

That poor, poor girl. She seemed sweet and innocent before because she was sweet and innocent. These monstrous things she does sometimes; its not of her own volition, its because she's had this psychosis forced upon her by a bastard Cultist who deserves a fate worse than that which the gods can bestow. I can't even begin to imagine what I'd do to him if I had the chance... murder's too good. Maybe some kind of perpetual healing and fire feedback loop? Or a means of freezing his blood nonfatally, but permanently? Or maybe I could reverse the process and leave him gibbering in the dirt instead?

Kachina, stop. No. These thoughts aren't who you want to be, remember?

Regardless. Drae has been living as a man these past years as an attempted disguise. Clearly it hasn't worked. She's been travelling to Bournerock to try and cure herself. I've made her a promise while she's still lucid; I will do whatever I can to help her break this spell. Even if it takes decades. No one hurts my friends. No one.

After that, I made a suggestion; that we take a day in the city to do mundane things. I was still broken up inside about everything I'd spoken about the previous day; I'd had vivid nightmares again. The old ones. Haluk's body with his blood slowly dancing in the water around him. Sicarius's face contorted with laughter. Mum and dad hugging me as they sent me off to the surface. Between myself and Drae, I knew we weren't in a fit state to fight pirates that evening, so we arranged to postpone it and just relax.

I started to say I wanted to buy new clothes, and Aliana leapt, quite literally, at the opportunity. She dragged me out of the Scaled Fish and towards clothes shops faster than you can say 'stereotype'. Drae tagged along as well. We relaxed, chatted with the shopkeeper and each other, and got some new outfits. After that, I showed them the cities street food.

My god I missed squid. You can't get squid anywhere on the surface except this city, I swear.

After that, just started a new enchantment and chatted with Aliana back at the Fish. And I realized something.

I was happy. Relaxed. Myself. A day where I wasn't travelling for the sake of my own neck, or fighting for some cause under a nebulous title, more a figure than a person.

And so, I've made a choice.

I'm done running. I'm done being afraid of Sicarius, of hiding from my past. I thought becoming Viatori could be a way to deal with it, and for a while it worked. I was happy, but I was on eggshells. That fear, in the back of my head, always. Just look at how I reacted to Aliana! That's not how I want to live out the rest of my days.

And remembering my family; I want them to stay my family. Viatori and Kachina don't have to be two different people. I won't let Kachina die. Because when she's dead, what's left of her brother, mother, or father? A stranger born on the surface. I refuse to let that happen. I'm going to take what I've learned as Viatori, and use it to set my life back on course.

I don't have a plan. I don't know what to do. All I know is this. I'm going to clear my name. I'm going to see Sicarius and his pet assassin pay for what they've done one way or another, and I'm going to be a free woman.

My everything hurts.

On a related note, I hate Fire Elementals. Whoever thought that creatures made of living fire was a good idea was either a moron or a pyromaniac. Probably both.

We reached the Green's cottage as group. It was a bleak find. Cultists had killed the family and taken over the house. Between our various skills, the fight was simple. I killed again today. I froze two of the Cultists in that house to death. I don't know how many people I've killed now. That's disheartening. How is it that someone who hates death constantly finds herself having to kill to survive?

Regardless. Once all was said and done, most of the Cultists were dead, and all the remainders save one were captured. One of them used some kind of spell of darkness to escape. We heard a voice; I didn't quite understand it, but it was interested in Drae. I admit, I was distracted at the time. Drae seemed deeply affected by what it had to say though, I hope he's okay. I mean, besides the severe injuries he suffered later in the day. I hope he's psychologically okay. At least as much as usual. That boy needs help.

But that's when things went south. We went back outside, and saw a glow on the horizon. The town was burning. As we rode, we started to hear the fighting, and the screams. Cultists had assaulted the town, with a Fire Elemental laying waste to the town. We found Markland and Boran fighting off a group of Cultists near the gate. We quickly turned the tide of the battle. There was no time for mercy, no option to capture. We fought. We killed. It was as simple as that.

Once the Cultists were cleared out I saw an opportunity. A Fire Elemental right next to the river, and a spellcaster who specialises in water magic? Match made in heaven.

It did not like my Water Spray. Not at all. I sent it tumbling into the river. Great gouts of steam started billowing about, as the creature thrashed, desperately trying to get back to the riverbank. Then it looked at me.

I don't remember what happened next. I heard a scream: I think that was me. After that, I woke up to Artie's healing magic. The Elemantal generated a terrible fiery blast. Almost killed me instantly. But my plan worked. While I was unconscious, the others finished it off using the river.

The battle was still raging, and I had little magic left. I healed Arslan, and tried to heal Aliana. We were fighting the last band of Cultists when I saw Drae take a horrifying wound. One of the Cultists scythes tore right through his abdomen. I'm astounded he didn't die then and there. I took care of him best I could while the others cleaned up the last Cultist.

The explosion ruined my clothes. The dress and boots are unfortunate enough, but Haverson's trenchcoat is in ruins. Nine years I've had that thing. I hope he won't be mad I lost it when we next speak. I loved that coat. Now I'm having to wear my Aqueln dress. Its that or go naked, and they tend not to like that here on the surface. Haven't worn this outfit in years: not since I arrived in Wyrmbay.

The town is in shambles, but as far as we can find, casualties were minimal. We helped turn the tide of the battle just in time.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring. Personally, I'd like to stay here for a week or so. Do some enchanting, and help the town a bit. But I'm not going to abandon these people either. Drae is a danger to himself and others, and Artie seems... I don't know, lost? I'd help them both, if I can.

Ulrika is honourable though. More willing to violence than I am, but she seems a good woman. Violence isn't something she seems to seek out. I'd be happy to travel with her for a while.

Then there's Aliana and Arslan. Arslan horrifies me, to be quite frank. He treats killing so casually, and unlike Drae, seems perfectly lucid. But he still helped these people. That's something at least. As for Aliana... I don't know anymore. At this stage, I don't think she's heard of me. More for the better. It was unlikely to begin with, but can you blame me for being jumpy? I'm going to need to keep an eye out, though not for her. I haven't dressed like this since before I came to the surface. If there is anyone out here who knew the person I was, they'd be far more likely to recognize me now.

Its strange. I haven't though about the past for years. That person was dead: I'm Viatori now. But travelling with these people has brought back some painful memories. I'll get past it.

Things have been interesting here in Brookfield. I'm writing this in the tavern, just approaching midday. I've been working on enchanting a staff for myself, think I might need some kind of magical weapon if I'm going to keep travelling with this lot.

We spoke more en route to the town. I've learned a bit more about most of this motley crew. Ulrika and Artie definitely seem to be the main voices of reason. We've managed to convince Drae and Arslan to ease off a bit on the violence. I hope.

We all needed one hell of a drink when we got to the town. I think Ulrika and Selandria are the only ones who can remember what happened that night. I remember doing some traditional Aqueln dances at one point, and something involving a pineapple? Not sure. Aliana vanished into the night, and reappeared the next morning ranting about some incredible fictional tavern she found. Uh-huh.

Arslan bought some map from a conman in exchange for all his money. He didn't seem too happy about that the next morning. If I remember correctly, Artie mumbled something about books, and then vanished from the tavern, while Drae had an encounter with a certain shopkeeper of note. I may or may not have gotten banned from drinking at that tavern again after those dances. I'm told I was very impressive though.

The people of this town seem to be a few scales short of a fish, though. We were hired to take out a bandit leader who had been harassing the town, although there had been no casualties. Seemed like a reasonable enough cause, and the town even gave us horses to search for him (more on that in a bit). After picking up some supplies at the general store, we went off.

When we got to him though, we realised he wasn't greedy, or malicious, or even a bandit. He was just an idiot named Boran. His lover, a woman named Alana had been held captive by her husband, Bravis Tanner,  for two weeks back in Brookfield's general store. We quickly decided to help him, and free the woman from her husband's clutches.

Things went pretty smoothly there actually. Aliana, Artie, Ulrika, and Drae went into the shop from the front to distract Tanner, while Arslan and I snuck in from the back. He was more than strong enough to climb us both up the outside wall, and my water magic makes for a handy lockpick. It was mere moments before we'd rescued Alana

I'm told the distracting was easy enough. The man had slept with Drae the night before, and they played well on his confusion, frustration, and fear.

I escorted Alana to the Sheriff of the town (Mark Markland), and the shopkeep (or shopcreep, as Drae nicknamed him) was arrested.

As a reward, we got to keep the horses we'd been lent. Only a few of us actually know how to ride them, so four horses between 7 of us isn't really a big problem. I don't actually have any skill in riding, but one of the horses has taken a real shine to me, makes it easy. The others seem okay with her being my horse. I've decided to name her Amity. Look at me, getting all nostalgic.

After that, Markland asked us to look into the crop burnings. You see, many farms have been set on fire recently, and everyone had assumed it was the work of Boran. Ulrika, Arslan and I explored the farms that night, while Drae, Artie, and Aliana recuperated in the tavern.

I swear, every year these surfacers get stranger. I bet a decade from now I'll look back on this lot and think 'Viatori, what happened to those days? What happened to the days where people were normal? That elf and that dracgol, they were such kind, caring people compared to what you have now!'

Maybe I should explain. I've been traveling to the University, looking for information that might help me construct my traveling device, when the caravan I was traveling with got ambushed. I don't really remember much of the ambush to be honest. Anything, actually. That’s odd.

I had a weird dream. Something about creepy children, and a city falling to them. Being 'cleansed'. Or maybe it was 'purged'. 'Expunged'? 'Wiped'? 'Sanitized'? 'Depurgated?'

Got distracted again. Anyway. I was human in the dream, so that was weird enough. All felt strangely real. I'll need to read up on strange dreams at the University.

I awoke from the dream tied up in a small room. There were a few of us from the caravan in there. A Kororian human named Arturo, I believe. Smells of bear. There was also that other Kororian, Ulrika. That weird Sidherelf, Drae, and that Dracgol. I think his name was Arslan? Then there's Princess Aliana. I can't believe that I wound up in the same caravan as Aqueln royalty. She acts pleasant enough, but I don't trust her. Not had any good relations with other Aqueln in a long time. Not good to think about.

We manged to break out of our cell. Well, I say break out. There's dumb, and there's these Cultists. They left us, poorly tied up, in the same cell as our weapons. Held by a door which wasn't even locked.

We found the Cultists about to murder a poor elven woman. We fought briefly, and Arslan killed their leader. I managed to convince the others to stand down. That's when things got creepy.

You see, Drae and Arslan are both violent types. We interrogated the Cultists, and I admit, I lost control. I don't like violence in any form, but when that Cultist mentioned he lost count, I just couldn't stop myself. Its one thing to kill in self defence. Its another to murder. And its another thing altogether to lose track of how many people you butchered.

Still, at least I didn't kill him. I just stabbed his arm. I never meant for them to die. But Arslan seemed to relish in it. He crushed their skulls like it was nothing. Arturo seemed really shaken by it, poor guy. Then Ulrika made that comment about disarming them.

Drae and Arslan leaped on the idea. They butchered the remaining Cultists with a horrifying glee, in their attempt to tear their limbs off. I'm travelling with a Princess, and two psychopaths, it would seem. Great company to be in.

Regardless. Eventually there weren't any Cultists left, and the question of what to do with them became moot. We made our way out of the cave, keeping an eye on the elf, when lo and behold, more Cultists.

That fight went poorly, but we won in the end. Arslan, Arturo, and I all managed to fling our weapons across the room at one point or another.

There was a weird door they were guarding. Our elven friend translated the runes on it for us: it required dragon blood to open. Since Aqueln are part dragon, I tried rubbing a little bit of my own blood on it: open pops the door that had led the Cultists to murder hundreds of innocents in a vain attempt to open it.

The room beyond was beautiful. A great, smooth obsidian pillar rose in the middle. The ceiling was covered in these wonderful shiny purple crystals that glowed with internal light. We took a lot of them. I'm going to research how to make more. They could work wonderfully as a safe source of light within my device, and they're beautiful to stare at.

Eventually, we took a closer look at the pillar. Ulrika wound up touching it, and collapsed. She said she had a vision. Fifteen Beings, and something about finding the wild gods. I didn't know what to make of that, so I licked the pillar. Others seemed confused by that. Don't they realise that the tongue is one of the most sensitive parts of the body? Could notice things that fingers never could. Plus, it uses more senses beyond just touch. Still, didn't work out. Just got a sore tongue.

We've set up camp outside the cave, to recover a bit. We're going to escort this elven woman to the next town, I believe. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on Drae and Arslan. While I can somewhat forgive these actions, as they were carried out against those Cultist bastards, I'm worried they might find it funny to behead some poor peasant or something. I need to be ready to stop them if that happens.

I think I'm going to talk more to the two humans. They seem the most trustworthy of this little group. I'm a little worried for Arturo, I don't think he coped well with the events in the cave. Ulrika seems more confident there, but also very shy. Aliana is trying to be friendly as well, but I don't trust her. Why would an Aqueln princess put herself in such dangerous situations? Why would any Aqueln nobility care at all what happens to someone below them? She must have some game she's hiding.