There was a moment after the fight where time stood still. Blood stopped dripping from the wounds that my opponent opened on me. My party stopped chatting and rummaging through the battlefield. There was no more breeze. Before me was a massive, powerful creature, whose life I had just snuffed out. Moments ago we were playing – as deadly a game as it gets – without a fear in the world. That moment was now gone.

Some other memories filled this empty space – memories about another group of adventurers, some familiar, some still travelling with me. We went searching for a sage that could speak about wisdom. The sage was bad, trapped some villagers with a blight, and had to be dealt with. A new sage took its place – a nice girl that shed her skin with fire. I think she went to cleanse some of that badness, but I haven’t travelled to those Western reaches in a while. It’s a bit too close to home.

--

Narcel’Uss swells with purple light to my side. She has a living gnoll beside her. Her light surrounds the creature and it is roused back into the waking world. The creature stirs and snarls – I rush into action. Why did she bring the creature back? It deserves a quick death, and I go to make it as quick as I can.

But Dorian gets there first. He is quick – surprisingly so – and greets me before I am able to finish what must be done. He tells me something about information and knowledge and other things that are blatantly wrong. What he’s going on about is keeping a prisoner. The gnoll before me is a terrible beast, but it has a light in its eye and does not deserve to be imprisoned, as much as it will help us. What it knows it should carry to its grave – that’s what Rilador do with their foes.

Then again, that hasn’t worked so far away from the Sea. What about Lucien? Tried that. Punched him – got him good too. He didn’t seem to care too much about fighting back. He fought me in my mind instead, and there’s not much of a way to do that! Dorian warned me about that too. Maybe he’s right.

The gnoll sneers and snarls at the dandy; she doesn’t give him an inch. Maybe the frontier is like the sea. The breeze picks up again, and I try to end her misery, as is the proper way. As I close down on her, her eyes ignite and a wild rage overtakes her. It startles me and it seems like the last battle took more out of me than I originally thought! She fights back – no, she overpowers me! The world veers off course for a tick, colours seeping in that I didn’t know existed before. The others rush in to lend me a hand, but before they do, my adversary whispers a word – an Orcish one. It means that I’m a coward.

She continues to lash out as I come to. The world rights itself in a moment. I cough and see if my strength has returned – pain shoots through my body as I try to stand. Not quite ready yet. These gnolls are powerful and it seems like I underestimated them. Not again. Bird Girl scrambles to my aid and touches me, sending a rush of new vitality through my body. It’s a surprise and I turn to meet her gaze – she returns a cunning look. She continues to impress. The rest of the party mutters about imprisoning the gnoll. She wants, no, needs, to be free. I ask her what we should do with her, but we both the answer. She wants to die an honourable death.

We don’t do that and instead stick to a peaceful plot. I walk through the brush and look for where the breeze will take us next. Bird Girl and J lead us to a fort – rundown and smelling like a brig. More gnolls patrol the area, with our prisoner resting peacefully. Only she’s not. She’s clever – I’m beginning to see things in her. Feinting harm to recover over time to overtake us at some point. I say nothing as we track the patrols down. We plot things out and figure out what to do next? Well, what to do next?

--

I learned a lot of things being Rilador. I’m still Rilador – always will be. Even if they’d kill me on sight. We didn’t dabble much in heroics, only ever so often stealing freight from slavers. That was for ships like the Kallistos Thanatos, and of course Kangar’s boat. We’d pick fights when we had to, but most of our profit was in low-risk, safe things. I’d grumble as one does, but it was clean, safe work. Until I changed all of that. I’m so sorry.

Seizing an enemy vessel requires stealth. You were so good at that Kengar! I could never keep up. It takes a light step and when you’re at the whim of the sea, having a gentle foot isn’t my biggest priority. I’d come in after and cause an outright mess of things. It’s surprising how few sailors can actually swim! Vani reminds me a bit like you. She has a light step too and she’s really good at sniffing out the really bad stuff around. I never had an eye like that – I focus only on the kind of bad stuff.

--

We headed back after figuring things out, but Dorian is being all kinds of strange. First, I see him as a gnoll, clear as day. All snarly teeth! I was going to smack him right then and there, but then I realized it was him! Guess he is like those haughty wizards up in those ivory towers. TSR, Wizards by the Coast, maybe he’s cavorting with either of those lots. It doesn’t make sense that he’d just reveal his power now, I guess. Magic is all a bit confusing to me.

We head back to chat with the Ranger that’s still alive. He’s a bit of a knob. I don’t think he gives things the respect they deserve – especially after they chopped off his arm like that. We mince words and rest though – as safe a haven as can be.

--

Back and forth again. The gnoll with us is as weary as I am. The blood leaking into her fur has dried. Her heavy panting for air has stopped. Seems like she’s recovered. Her eyes circle around on occasion – her patience is wearing thin. Mine is too. All of a sudden a patrol appears from the fort. We key in on it, intent to follow. We can ambush this party – numbers are small enough for a quick encounter. Our prisoner sees this too.

I take her with my party to pursue the group. She is heavy, maybe once again my weight. The trip isn’t easy but between the rest and Bird Girl’s healing, it feels like the spring is in my step. But maybe not the silence. As we arrange the ambush I clutter on some brush. Not used to this terrain. The patrol is alerted, and they clutter up to defend themselves. My party springs into action.

But I don’t.

The patrol’s companion is with me. She took opportunities before to harm good people – folk that want to help in this world. But nobody deserves to be captive. I take the chance and release her to her group – it’ll make for a fair death once she comes to her senses. This isn’t the usual way to do things, but at least it’s a better way than just leaving her there. I tell her a new word that she might not have heard, and it was the word I heard last from my love. I can’t say what it means with this speech, but it might be “hero.”

--

The gnolls fight well and the Gods become involved. I don’t know much about the Gods either – only to abide by their wishes and whims. They play different games than we do. Turns out Dorian is one with the Conqueror. Haven’t heard good things, but Narcel’Uss seems to have a good connection with that one. But the best stories are still with Gulnur.

“By the Silver Sail,

We pray for the four winds to be kind today,

For the East to never lead us astray,

For the South to claim the foes we slay,

For the West to protect us from the Red Star’s domain,

And for the North to lead us home again.

Through Gulnur.”

Dorian aligns with Nurzhan now. He has a brand to prove so. I don’t think I would be so devout. My devotion is not to my God but to my people. I wonder if the T.I.P. will form a brand?