Charomera

The 29th of Elaphebolion

The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals

Lyssa told me I should start journaling, that it might help jog some of my memories loose. I don’t much see the sense in that, but it’s worth a shot so long as Theodorous has the parchment to spare. My name is Arche and, about a month ago, I was born into a world called Tartarus. I don’t know how I got here but it wasn’t an accident. I was dropped into the middle of the Dawnwood, a territory inside the Sylv, which is itself a forest inside Mycenaea. There, I met Lyssa, a Dawnwood elf. She saved me from an early death at the claws of a diseased wolf and brought me back to her people, where I was tasked to join her on a quest to a necromantic dungeon that popped up near Dawnwood’s territory.

That’s where it all started for me.

Inside the dungeon, the Necropolis of Pygmaia, we met Helwan, a satyr. He was being held captive by some arachtaurs, big spider-women monsters. Whatever you’re thinking when you hear that, I guarantee you they’re worse in person. Then there was the revenant. We escaped him by going into a treasure room where I found and bonded the Tridory, a magical spear that can shift forms. I still don’t really know much about it but it’s been incredibly useful so far, despite the fact I can’t stow it in my inventory. It’s pretty heavy to keep hauling around with me. I really need to do something about that. Anyway, back to the story.

We returned victorious to Dawnwood, at which point Lyssa was exiled. Turns out, she accidentally killed her brother ten years back and that seems to be about how long it takes the elves to make a decision. Elf lives are sacred to one another, so it was an unforgivable crime that they punished the only way they knew. They clipped her ears and sent her on her way, the bastards.

The three of us rolled into this little town called Buton, named for the asshole in charge: Callias Buteo. It was under attack by these mutated monsters called beastmar, which we helped fight off. Callias tried to undermine or kill us all the while, so we ended up doing most of the necessary work behind his back with the help of his steward, Theodorous. We also met Vik, Elpida, and Gigator, who proved pretty helpful in dealing with Callias, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

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While at Buton, I partied a little too hard and got myself drugged and kidnapped by Tess. Through my bottomless charm and wit, I talked her out of outright murder. I think she was even about to cut me down, but we were jumped by a mantikhoras. That marked a turning point for us, one of several. On the way back, I stumbled across the beastmar den and got a quest to eradicate them before they destroyed the village.

When we arrived, we rallied a small group to fight the beastmar and met Abraxios and Odelia. They joined us for the expedition and together we fought our way through hordes of beastmar for about two days. During this time, I got my Profession, Demigod, which was locked behind a Profession Quest that required me to “raise my Divinity to 100%,” whatever that meant. I also met this ineffable entity called Hekáte, but she wasn’t the first. I met a being called Thanatos that’s apparently the embodiment of Death, this really weird thing in a dream called the Oneiroi, and…Ares…but I’ll get to him in a minute.

Tess nearly died in the tunnels. It was my fault. I was stupid and reckless, completely in the thrall of my own bloodlust with likely a little magical influence sprinkled in. That was almost a breaking point for me, but it was easier to keep things under wraps, down there. It’s harder to deal with it now that I’m not there anymore. Now I have to face the consequences.

Learned I was Psychic when I joined Tess for a confrontation with Death. That was a rough trip. He let us go because Ares intervened, called in some debt. Makes him sound like a good guy, doesn’t it? Not quite.

We finished fighting the beastmar, then the cavalry arrived. The rest of the village showed up to help us finish off the last of the bastards, just a little too late for me.

I fought the champion and I lost.

In fairness, I guess you could say we tied. We both died, at any rate, and that’s when I learned what my purpose was. Ares brought me to Tartarus to facilitate some war on his behalf. Instead, I promised to go to war against him – he seemed weirdly excited about that idea. Thanatos told me I couldn’t die but that it was going to be really bad for me every time I did. He also gave me a coin that can resurrect one recently deceased person. Hopefully, I’ll never have to use it.

I was returned to the living just in time to see Callias order the guards to kill us all. I talked that down into a duel, somehow, but the moron decided to tango with Lyssa. Whatever sense of self-preservation he has must be completely busted because she fucking demolished him. I wish I could have recorded it. Oh well. We walk out, I may or may not have had a panic attack, and we returned to the village as celebrated heroes. At the victory feast—because these people love to feast, apparently—Lyssa gets elected as the new village leader and Callias is exiled. Funny how that happens. Now we’re all in some sort of leadership position and we’re trying to figure out how to keep a village with no infrastructure and very little money floating.

Which means I get to go raid the Necropolis of Pygmaia again for more ancient, dwarven treasure to go sell in Ship’s Shape. Oh, and hunt down a revenant that may or may not have my number. Lucky me!

Until next time,

Arche