That Solemn Conquerer

That Solemn Conquerer
Date	07/19/23
Storyteller	Zoro
Tier	Expert- Medium
Player Characters	Illiam Elro, Kit Calloway, Grist Vanafeld
Rewards	200xp
Result	Survived, perturbed.
Author	Illiam

Another miserable and somber night. Rain pouring down, thunder crackling. Making it hard to write.

Kit's perspective; The storm is ever-bearing. Having to venture into the city was bad enough, but Oranges seems to be acting strangely. He's nipping at me, and hiding tightly in a blanket. Must be sickly.

An attempt to connect with his senses gave me... Nothing. Not only a lack of results, but it was absolutely nothing. A void, even when I had lit a fire. When I called to Oranges, he reacted.

Trying to find shelter proved fruitless as well. Illiam didn't answer, nor did Kali, or the Leyvald's... Maybe the Council will respond?

No. Nothing. Nobody, again. Even Grandmother's House is locked up tight with nobody to answer.

The abandoned buildings, everything was keeping me out. The storm got more and more intense. Oranges has stopped making noises, I need to stop where I can to take care of him. At least comfort him.

He's cold to the touch...

Huddled around some poor shelter, I keep trying to magically heal Oranges. Over and over, trying to keep him here. But he's stopped moving. I'm losing myself.

Each spell fails, and my fingers start to grow long and spindly. Nails growing long, I feel it... The Call is coming over me. I have to run. From Onadbyr, from The Call. The city is so big, I can't seem to leave.

Grist's perspective; Rosette seems to be having friends over after my labors. She seems lethargic, but it seems her mother has agreed to it, so I will as well.

Exhaustion is washing over her, she's yawning and moving so sluggishly. Even becoming despondant. Except when I said 'don't stay up too late', she got.. Attentive, and then a little bit explosive when I asked on it. She gets angrier, pushing Tim down and yelling after he tries to play with her. It made her feel better, but only for a second. Uncomfortable. Maureen is still asleep, deciding not to wake her is best.

I feel her touch on my ear, suddenly she's standing behind me and speaking as if she's healthy. I speak to the voices in my head, *"WE HAD A DEAL, YOU PROMISED TO KEEP HER OUT!"*

They responded that the deal has changed. They don't want me. They want Rosette.

I went to check on everyone, and speak with Maureen. To tell her this awful news, to figure something out. Immediately, she began to blame me after I said it. Saying I should've kept her out of it, saying I should've tried harder. Then sternly says she doesn't want to be spoken to on her way out of the bedroom. Suddenly... I don't hear the voices.

All alone in the bedroom, truly alone for once.

I need to pray. Aeomadae will hopefully grace me with her guidance. After arriving to her temple, I see the place is poorly staffed. One minor priestess asks if I need help, and I say that I need a private corner to pray in. Praying for forgiveness, to keep my family cleansed of this curse. Hearing nothing is the most heartbreaking sadness that I have felt in a long time, I couldn't help but weep.

A walk around town should clear my head. I've found somewhere to stay, but the storm is ever-encroaching, even into the dawn. A cheap breakfast and some suprisingly easy labor later, I try to go home. Dark. Empty. No signs of a break-in, but most things are gone that aren't mine... There's a note on the mattress. "Grist, I've taken our daughter to someone who can ACTUALLY help her. Do not follow us. -M" I can't help but crumple up the note and throw it. Far lighter than the grief in my heart right now. All I can do is scream 'why'. A gleeful, twisted grin watching down. Until I see half of Illiam in the sky?

Illiam's perspective; For some reason, Cyrus is back early from the vacation he requested. Unlike him. Then for some reason, Benny comes through asking a lot of weird questions after being gone for so long.

He asks if he wants to go on a date with me. To which I respond, we already have. A couple times.

He said he's looking for something more *serious*, I stated 'Alright, woah... Uh, you're not asking for Monogamy from me, right?' Benny hesitated, and said of course he wouldn't.

Then asked... If I loved him. Something about this feels unright. He knows I do.

He kept pestering and pestering, it felt inauthentic. He'd never ask for that kinda thing, he'd just make a funny joke that forces me to say it. After I kept asking why he was acting this way, he payed Cyrus 5 silver saying "Welp, you were right, I couldn't get her to say it." That is not Benny. He wouldn't call me a 'her'.

He tries to bolt for it, I'm *faster*, but... His arm stretches... Into... The front door.

And now Cyrus is gone. I decide to embrace the probability of a dreamscape and go even deeper. With my Daydream Trance, I manage to find myself in an empty mindscape. When I look, again, I have split vision. Trying to figure out what's happening, the split vision gives me two awful visions of things happening to Onadbyr. A torrential downpour, and the town going down in flames.

Union; Grist and I finally meet up, in his oddly empty home. At least, the left half of me. The right half is trying to keep up with Kit, and after explaining that all of them are JUST ASLEEP, I managed to pull them into the blank space so we could figure out what was going on. Our best guess, is that the Hag I mentally connected with back on watch wanted some retribution. After forcing Kit and Grist awake, they began to apparently make their way towards my shop.

I wasn't so lucky, in waking up. Long black claws were tearing the blank dreamspace apart, with long gray hair and long horns. Sharp teeth, blind milky-white eyes, staring at me. A Night Hag tried to coax me into joining her coven, and I sharply declined. She claimed that dreams were more HER domain than mine, and that I should be careful- before waking me up to my companions practically breaking my front door down.

That bitch.