14
JUN/20
This takes place after the killing of the Defiler Jorhkul and his partner Baldwin at the oasis and before our group began to explore the staircase which descends below. We are resting, recovering our hitpoints, staying alert for trouble, and planning on moving the rest of the dirt blocking the entrance to the mine.
Joe sits silently, planning, thinking. “Was I wrong about the stranger, Mariah, as we call him, or Va Sheer, as the Defiler had called him? Have I been too trusting?” The encounter with the Defiler was replaying in his mind over and over. That creature was everyone wrong with this planet encapsulated in single being. The group had allowed Jorhkul and his fighter friend Baldwin to share the most precious thing on this planet and that creature had been willing to destroy the oasis for treasure without a second thought. Joe seethed. This planet was barren enough as it was. Hot and dry to the extreme, the days were unbearable. The sun scorched the earth resulting in heat waves that formed mirages. The sun glinted off the rocks and sand enough to blind a man.
And that…thing saw no problem with making the problem worse…for everyone. So Joe had assumed he and the group would rid the world of this waste as soon as it had been identified as such. Instead it was hemming and hawing. Maybe this and maybe that. His brother had been the worst. Joe shook his head in exasperation. Oni had spent too much time stretching/meditating and not enough time trying to provide food for the tribe. Joe knew how hard it was to find food and water. And Joe knew it wasn’t going to be any easier when good people would make excuses for clearly bad ones.
But it got far worse. Just before the fight Joe realized the defiler knew the Stranger. That in itself wasn’t so bad, maybe even could have been helpful for the Stranger. But when the defiler had been killed the Stranger had tried to save him. Only Rain had prevented the Stranger from saving the defiler. The Stranger talked of “saving him to torture him for information and then killing him,” but Joe had his doubts. “Are our interests truly aligned, or is this Stanger using us? Will he turn on us? Is that the right question? Or should it be, when will he turn on us?”
Joe kept thinking. “Even before we knew Jorkhul was a defiler he and the Stranger had been giving commands to the tribe like they were bosses and we were labor. It just came so naturally to both of them to try and take control. We were to dig and they were to watch.” Joe’s face began to twist in a snarl as he thought about it.
Joe kept thinking and it got worse. “Now Oni has that spell book. That…could be bad.” Joe shook his head in worry. Should Joe steal it in the night and destroy it? He had wanted to destroy it on the spot but his brother had wanted it so badly that Joe backed off. Joe thought some more on taking the spellbook, maybe even by force if necessary, but he decided he would not. Joe had witnessed the defiler use his magic to restore life and that had filled Joe with awe and wonder. But it also filled him with more rage. The defiler had the power to heal the planet but chose not to. That was the moment Joe had known he was going to kill Jorkhul, the moment he showed he could bring life, but chose death instead because it was expedient.
So, Joe exhaled long and slow into the cool, crisp air of the night and filled himself with both hope…and resolve. Joe hoped he had been right about the stranger the first time, but resolved to do something if he was wrong, and Joe smiled. Joe will also will watch Oni, and Joe will hope to see Oni using the book to heal the desert. Joe did not smile at the thought of what else he was resolved to do.