Dear Lucina,
As of writing it is currently Godsay, the 49th of Spring, 801.13. I have grand news to share; so much that I am uncertain where to begin. It has been a lengthy time since I was able to write. Thusly beginning this tale properly; there is an enormously gigantic cave system that opened to reveal winding tunnels and old ruins into a huge jungle. I cannot describe in words the beauty I saw in that jungle, though I have a preference for nature after so long spent in the cities. Nor can I explain the beauty in the Thunder Beasts we saw. Thunder Beasts are still active and alive deep underground somehow. Majestic creatures; full of vim and with plenty of vigor.
On our travel into the jungle we stumbled upon the only living ancestor of pickpockets. A creature that stole a much larger one’s egg. Typically thievery in nature such as this is ignored; it is how life is when you must fight to survive one night longer. When a group of adventurers end up trapped between this egg running fiend and an angry parent ready to tear through everything in their way to retrieve them however? That is when we intervene. Showing my speed in such a chase from being a Legislacerator, we managed to batter the thief enough to relinquish their stolen good. Calia behested that we cease running before putting down the beast. It pains me to recall but there was a pack of smaller creatures that came to take advantage of any weakened prey; which unfortunately included Aldwyn. I am glad that she kept herself alive despite the dangers. I sense a proper justice behind her pirate upbringing.
Between enjoying the beauty of nature and mingling with the townsfolk. I practiced my cooking between assisting Calia. She decided to begin training with these Acolytes or some similar name. They are skilled in shield combat; Calia recently expressed her own interest in utilizing her shield effectively. After seeing her frustrations during training I made myself involved, I have a knack for making others more effective in battle after all. With their guidance and my own observations, I did not notice how nice Calia looked under her armour, surprisingly unscarred for her lifestyle. She learned enough capabilities to become a proper battler with her shield. They have an intimidating final trial however. Engaging in combat with a Thunder Beast wielding only your shield, alone.
Calia requested that I come along, I would have joined without her desire upon learning what the trial entailed. The goal of this battle is to remove enough scales and spikes to fashion your own unique shield from it. We travelled to a pack of the beasts. This was her first real combat experience with her new armour. I assisted in tailoring her armour with scales of a fish; she looks absolutely grand in it. Nothing compared to my usual outfit… though the screaming demon armour has been rather attached with me.
Following her orders, I took my own pouch of Dragon’s Breath and lit a part of the jungle on fire. It was controlled thankfully and scared off most of the beasts, burning such beautiful scenery is dreadful but it was for the cause of assisting Calia. She intercepted one of the beasts. With my guidance and her finesse she ripped off multiple scales, climbed the beast… and I pointed out all of the weak spots the beast had. It was phenomenal witnessing as she struck it, scales and horn off. Her shield struck so powerfully that she managed to kill the beast! Her renown in the group became highly known as no one has done such a task.
It was my guidance that gave her such capabilities, but I will let her brag. Taking some of the meat, I made a good stew for once! The group enjoyed it. Then we set off to investigate the rumours of dwarven ruins. What a journey that was. Lucian activated an intimidating golem, Dame yelled in dwarvish at it which actually worked to make it stop? Calia managed to take down a seal of protection to let us enter a forbidden area. There were lava wolves there; Lucian shot them as they came close which engaged a battle. My clothes were decimated by a lava spew… and as much as I hate it, Calia had to rescue me there. I think my skills are being lost; feeling weaker than ever.
We acquired some ancient thing, Kiri mentioned that it was for enchanting? On our way out, we encountered an interesting situation. A large lizard with an axe I’ve never seen before, I never asked Kiri about it but the weapon looked supremely magical. It spoke, and looked like a smithing manner unseen to me before and glowed more than an enchanted weapon would. Interesting nonetheless.
This lizard also came with another lizard chasing after them with someone riding on top. An old officer of the Dragon Empire who got lost in the past! After having wildly flailed blades in my face and fighting back against Kled, their beast retreated and we knocked them out. Our travels back were impeded by large beasts that could crush us underfoot; travelling a different way to avoid such a fate ended with us stalked and assaulted by a horde of smaller beasts. We disposed of them as required and moved on back to the town. Calia received a gigantic shield with an extreme amount of heft. Even I had some difficulty carrying it.
Strangely enough Calia insisted on taking one of the Acolytes to go dress shopping. I decided against participating and took the time to prepare for a few endeavours that Aldwin would need to take care of, primarily ensuring proper holding of Kled. I did get to wear my dress again and see everyone else dress accordingly. There was some strange ritual that the Acolytes had and Calia officiated some ceremony. I ended up taking far too much time that night discussing with Aldwin how to consider this a tax writeoff after she got essentially scammed by my… associates.
The following morning we received a key from the leader of the Acolytes; a sentient forged machine. This unlocked the gates of a temple. Calia and Lucian slipped into a giant pool of water, we situated a rope so we could leave and delved down after them. Water flowed down in ducts. The temple was designed as a puzzle, operated by water. Despite knowing that there were spiked devices that would come in to crush us in other rooms, one of us, I believe the lizard from before stole a helmet off a pedestal. Calia risked getting crushed by the spikes, I shudder to think if she would be okay.
After running through a deadly hallway with a spiked wall chasing us we descended into what appeared to be the final room of the temple. A challenge of snakes and snake-like creatures assaulted us; including a pile of snakes that tangled and swarmed around my feet. In my panic of the ambush I was unable to properly dispose of them around me. My brief moments of clarity were spent shouting out where to swing for the lizard and adding a touch of my own misfortune to others.
A bridge rose out of the water and we crossed it to meet the Ziggurat; Apophis as known elsewhere. They had a grudge against the Stone Thief and would help us if we disposed of the other problem that they had. Some spider demi-god I refuse to acknowledge. If we killed them then we could use his assistance with the Stone Thief. There were some nice items within for our reward; including a spear of some kind that looked ancient. I am uncertain of its purpose, and did not feel it appropriate to ask of what it was. We returned back to town after.
We returned some staff to Bastion, the leader of the Acolytes. I spoke with Aldwin about what to do for the land. I spoke of what Legislaceration is… and I think I sounded incredibly… lame in hindsight. Had she no respect for me I expect I would have been laughed at. Legislaceration is all about investigating and deciding justice yourself; at least to me that is. I gave my opinion and we came to the same conclusion that the Acolytes and the people in the town own this land. I hope that I left an impact that wasn’t just ruining my own reputation, heh.
Lucian led us with the map we were given to find the deity that we were fighting only for us to find ourselves directly on top of the creature! Their avatar came to battle us… and immediately warped behind me. I turned around just in time to see those fangs sink into me and my consciousness faded. I felt an old energy fill me as my mind took back grasp of my body. The demonic energies that filled me during old rituals of my past; a warmth that feels off. A warmth that I seemingly missed.
The pain I felt was beyond what I could imagine, but I steeled my mind for the upcoming struggle. It was a hard fought battle but the ritual completed, their avatar defeated, and we returned to town for one last rest. I needed to mend myself after that, and I decided that this was enough and wrote my letter now. I apologize for the length but the circumstances made delivering letters far more difficult than you would imagine.
Judging as always, Leanne.