The Road to windfall keep
Traveling back always has a different feeling than the journey to somewhere
A feeling not talked about often in the bards songs
After the time it takes to lick our wounds so we can even just stand
Bury the dead if needed…
Or drag the corpse back if possible
It’s often feels anticlimactic in a way
The feeling of success… underpinned by everything that happened before
The money not truly being worth the friends it sometimes costs
It’s something many adventurers wish never to feel, instead just wanting to bask in the success of a kill or swim in the loot of a dungeon
But that’s not what we get
We get dead friends, scars that can never heal, and often the task of dragging a corpse for miles into civilization
Beast and man alike
One for profit
and the other for respect
And sometimes we have to bring them both back
And so I carry my friend home.
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His story might be over but he shouldn’t just be left on the dirt in mine
Hopefully his family can finish his work
Even if he never got the chance to forge with the dragon scales that he helped fell
His family should be able to finish his life long project
He was a amazing man, wanting nothing more than to make people happy
Forging wonders and inventing amazing things
He was the friend who would kill a dragon for just the right material for his work
The man who put his everything into everything he made
Even if it’s just to make a pig fly
Just because his brother said it was the only thing he couldn’t do
We never deserved him
And he never should of sacrificed himself for me
He was going to achieve more than I could ever possibly imagine
I’m not even going to be able to continue my work
Although he saved my life I still lost my hand
And I have not the means to recover it
So I drag the corpse of the man I trusted more than anything back home
Hoping not to be the one who has to tell his family
He deserved better. They deserve better than me
The coward who couldn’t even tell him on his deathbed
That I loved him…
This isn’t right
He didn’t deserve this..
I need to make it right
Whatever it takes
I’ll find a way to bring him back
For his family …
And when I do. I will fix my cowardice
and hope he will not hate me
But first I need to bring him back home
Home to his family
To his smart ass of a brother
To his sweetheart of a mother
And to his father
Who I hope he knew was proud of him
And most importantly, bring him home to his daughter…
I hope she’ll forgive me
For being the reason her father died
The man who taught her to forge
I don’t think I’d ever be able to forgive me
Especially for what I must do next
For what gods I must invoke
And for who I must deal with to bring him back
May the ferryman have mercy on me