Amanda was apparently a paladin of the church traveling with a handful of her compatriots to hunt down dangerous creatures.
Her story is a grim one, with members of their party being picked off one by one. She always mentions how the wolves would carry the bodies of the other paladins away after they died.
Eventually Amanda finds herself alone and retreating, with nothing but her blessed sword. She confesses… a lot of things, which Jin does her best to skim past. Not before finding out Amanda was pregnant with the child of another paladin, ‘Lorris’, one of her now dead compatriots.
The most interesting part of the journal is towards its end. The entry starts with bafflement that she got away with her life, and that an action so idiotic on her part should not have saved her. She then, goes on to write this:
I was trapped. In my haste to run as fast as I could, I stopped keeping track of my surroundings. I must have gotten turned around somehow, because rather than the road I was seeking, I was standing before a cliff. In a panic I began to climb it, but I quickly abandoned that idea when the howls rose up again. They were far, far too close. I still shudder to think of the sound. I didn’t want to die a coward. Instead I braced myself, keeping my back to the cliff so the foul creatures couldn’t surround me.
And then… they came. We fought, I can’t remember half the details of the battle. I lost my eye. They bit out my FUCKING eye. But by the Gods I’d make the trade again. I didn’t win. Not really. No, instead I followed a mad idea. Every time we fought, I noticed the wolves always, always kept their eyes on the prize. Obviously. But… I think their prize wasn’t our lives. They want our artifacts. They always stared at our artifacts. Which, of course they would. They are intelligent enough to understand the danger they pose. But I’m sure they hunt because they want our artifacts. Want to know why I’m so certain?
Because my dumb ass threw my sword at them. I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t, I guess. But it worked. It fucking worked. I think they were surprised when I did it. They all stopped moving to stare at the sword. And then they just… took it. They took it and I lived. By the Gods I lived…
Well well well. Looks like Moss just found a potential answer to the mystery of the arc-wolf attack on her and Sage. Although it doesn’t answer why the wolves never noticed her before Sage interrupted the enchantments. Maybe the magic was shielded to their senses somehow? Or… Jin’s gold tooth is enchanted. That would mean the wolves also couldn’t sense internal enchantments. Or maybe that they only sense enchantments of a certain level of complexity? The amplifier enchantments of her tooth are relatively simple.
Jin scowls.
Maybe this doesn’t answer as much as she initially hoped. She sighs and leans back in her chair. The guest room doesn’t have much in the way of furniture, so she’s using the bed as a table to rest the two books she’s in possession of on.
There’s a knock followed immediately by the door opening.
“Hey Jin!”
“Hi Sage.”
Jin slings an arm up onto the back of the chair and shifts so she can face the other girl.
Sage glances at the open journal on the bed. “So uh, what’s in there anyway? Moss didn’t give you a love note or anything did he?”
“What? No.” Jin gives Sage an incredulous look, who laughs in response.
“I know! He said it was about arc-wolves right? What’s it say?” Sage hops up onto the bed and schooches closer to the journal.
Jin stares at the journal for a moment before responding. “I’m… pretty sure the wolves were after that hourglass.” She taps the open page. “Here, this paladin talks about how after throwing her only enchanted item at the wolves, they took it and left.”
Sage’s eyes go wide and she smiles. “So that’s why it ran after the hourglass exploded!” Jin nods slowly. “Most likely.”
“Wow! Pretty neat that Moss found this huh? I wonder if he got it from the library in the church? I guess I’ve seen a couple historical journals in there. When did you tell him what happened with the arc-wolves? I don’t remember you two talking at all before…”
“Tell him..?” That’s… a good point. How did Moss figure out what she was looking for?
Suddenly Sage widens her eyes in some kind of realization. “Oh! Nevermind, I figured it out.” She giggles.
Jin blinks. “…Care to enlighten me?”
“Nope!”
Sage slides off the bed.
“Aaaaaalrighty! How about I show you around the village today? Oh yeah! Were you paying attention at breakfast today?”
Jin’s eyes slide sideways. She… really wasn’t.
Sage starts talking. “Okay so! I already have it all planned out.” Sage draws a hand across the air while looking off into the middle distance. “This week, in probably three to five days, you and me, we’re going to Traveler’s Rest!”
She puts her hands on her hips and smiles, still staring off into space.
Huh.
“Ok, sure.”
“Woah, that was fast!” Sage looks surprised. “I usually have to convince people way harder to make them go places with me. You’re alright, Jin.” The curly haired girl grins.
Jin rolls her eyes. “I don’t live here, Sage. I was probably going there soon anyway.”
Plus, the priest asked her to watch over Sage. Jin… still doesn’t know the extent of which she will do that. But traveling with Sage to the nearest city? That’s the least she can do.
“Oh yeah. Well!” She twirls towards the door and points, “In that case, to the village! I want you to know what you’ll be missing out on if you never come back.”
Jin frowns, but Sage is already marching out the door. Sighing, Jin decides she may as well follow. She leaves Amanda’s journal where it is on the bed and takes the notebook with her.
Then, it’s a tour.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Sage shows Jin the town’s bakery first, which is apparently where they got the biscuits from this morning. The place is… Fine? Not fancy, not gross. Just... Alright. She’s not sure what else can be said about simple stone and wood architecture. As Sage shows her around the rest of the village Jin can’t help but feel the same thing about the rest of it.
Maybe she’s just spent too long around mage built structures.
Villagers go about their business doing… Whatever it is people do during their days. Jin can’t find the ability to care as Sage points people and their tasks out. The villagers seem to care about her, though. Most stop what they’re doing to stare or talk to Sage when they pass by. Fortunately Jin manages to escape having to make small talk by looking disinterested and Sage being incapable of shutting up.
While they’re walking, Jin notices something odd, though. She glances up past some buildings where she can see the waterfalls making their way down the hill. “Sage… where is the river?”
“Oh, underground somewhere. Wanna see?”
“…Yes?”
Is there another answer to that?
Sage leads them towards where water can be seen falling towards ground level, and then around one last building. The water cascades down the rock face and then… Vanishes, somewhere into the ground. She moves closer.
A medium pond is the only standing body of water and holds far too little water for how much is pouring down the cliff face. But after staring at the base of the waterfall for several moments, she realizes that most of the water is flowing down through a hole in the ground, but is obscured by surrounding rocks.
Sage skips over to the pond edge and crouches, waving hello to a slowly moving lump beneath the pond’s surface. “Hey Mr. Turtle! How’s pond life going for ya?”
Reeds line the edge of the pond in patches, and in several places they look cut short. Floating plants dominate about two thirds of the water’s surface. Like the rest of the village, this small pond area also has a couple shade providing trees. A couple benches made of rough wood are around the pond as well, taking advantage of the tree shade.
Jin stares at the waterfall again, “Do you know how far down it goes..?”
Sage glances up, pausing her conversation with the turtle, “Nope! Nobody here is dumb enough to jump in and find out. As a kid we used to send food down to feed the chasm, but the church put an end to that practice.” She frowns, “I guess we wasted a lotta food back then, huh..? Now we just throw things away into it.”
Jin takes a seat at one of the benches. It’s a quaint area, this pond. The waterfall is a tad loud, though. She opens her notebook and flips to her most recent entry, skims it, and holds her pencil above the page.
Instead of writing she surprises herself by asking an idle question of hers, “Why is Rosemary the only one with a thick accent amongst your siblings?”
Sage waves goodbye to the turtle and stands up. “Oh, well she wasn’t taught by the church like we were. Mm…” She wanders towards Jin, “I think she said she hated Librarian Mirriam. Which, fair, but Rosie reeeeeally didn’t like her for whatever reason. Probably because she’s the family skeptic, haha! Which Momma was ok with, because our village healer, Camon, just lost his son and was looking for a new apprentice. She was really young at the time, but that’s what Rosie said she really really wanted to do anyway and Camon was good for it, so win win right?”
Sage giggles and sits down beside Jin. She starts kicking the ground with her heels, “Haha, Mirriam was soooo mad. She made tests for Rosemary that she had to pass, or else she was gonna publically declare incompetency on Rosie’s part. Rosie passed them all super easy, of course. Whenever Healer Camon wasn’t teaching her, Oak n’ I would be sure to catch her up on anything she needed to know. Oh and Camon and Momma grew up together, so they speak the same way. Rosie took a bit after Camon.”
“I’m starting to think I don’t want to meet this librarian.”
This gets a giggle out of Sage, “Probably not! But she knows a whole bunch about everything. She’s probably the smartest person in the whole village. Aren’t there a buncha questions you want to ask about, uh, everything? Or did you answer them all in your conversation with Priest Herrick last night?”
Jin snorts, “Hardly.”
Sage nods and looks out towards the pond for a while. After a few moments, Jin looks back down at her notebook and tries to remember where she left off this morning. She frowns and closes the notebook. “Where is the librarian?”
Sage eyes Jin dubiously. “In the church library usually. It’s ah, the door to the back left if you go through the big doors, but there’s also a way in directly from outside.”
Jin stands and after a moment Sage continues speaking. “Are you gonna go see her right now?”
“May as well. I’m tired of not knowing things. I want- need to know what happened to this world while I was gone.”
Sage shrugs while standing up, “All right then. I’ll lead you there, but I don’t have lessons anymore so there’s no way you’re getting me inside.”
Jin shoots her an amused look, well aware of how it feels to never want to see a particular instructor again. Then they’re off.
Walking up the hill with her limp is worse than she remembers, and Jin gives up halfway to summon her miracle chair and float the rest of the way up.
The plaza still has evidence of the feast last night in the tables and chairs that are still strewn about it. Jin wonders if they’re always out. A second look in the daytime reveals that the church does in fact have more building to the left of it that isn’t the chapel. It looks partially built into the rock face. Sage leads her to the wood door that leads into the alleged library and stops.
“Here you are. If she’s not in there, she’s probably in her room. She lives in the church, ah, her bedroom is connected to the library. It’ll be the only door that isn’t the one going into the chapel. She doesn’t like moving much.” Sage frowns, “You know she wasn’t even at the feast last night and it was happening right here.”
Jin nods and dispels her chair. “Thanks Sage.”
“Any time~!” She twirls and steps away from the door.
Jin walks up to it and pauses with her hand on the door handle, glancing back. “Should I knock..?”
Sage shrugs.
Jin copies the motion and opens the door.
The library within is… disappointing.
Jin steps into the room and looks around. “Hello?”
The room looks more like a classroom, than anything else. Chairs at narrow tables face one end, where a large plush looking chair sits beside a black board. Small chalk boards and a few sticks of chalk can be seen stacked on one of the tables.
Half a dozen bookshelves line the walls and are filled to the brim with books, with several overflow stacks sitting in front of them. But… it’s only half a dozen shelves. Jin has seen larger collections of books in her professors’ offices.
She steps further into the room and calls out. “Librarian Mirriam? It’s… I’m Cleric Jin. I was hoping I could speak to you?” Hopefully she’s loud enough that she can be heard through a door.
No one seems to be in this room, so Jin approaches a door towards the back. The library was one thing, someone’s bedroom is another—Jin raises a hand to knock on the door. “Librarian Mirriam, are you in there?”
She’s about to rap her knuckles across the wood door when a wide flat stick suddenly hits sharply across the back of her hand.
Jin jumps back and cries out. What the hell?! She turns towards the source of the attack and sees a small wizened looking woman who looks to be fueled by nothing but rage and spite.
“Keep your filthy hands off my door, Cleric.”
Where did she come from??
Mouth gaping Jin looks around and sees the chapel door hanging open. Is this old lady that stealthy?!
The librarian has an incredibly impressive glare. “What do you want.”
“I…”
“You. Yes. Are you all ego?”
What the hell…