On the boat ride Kroasi could be seen, keeping to her self, she
had barely made it onto the boat from the camp and had asked Sharleen
to pay the others that had risked their lives alongside her. The Iron
Fist had refused them payment saying they had not fulfilled the
mission, though a few days later the call for adventurers send out by
them had changed regarding the temple.
Her leg was gone, simply gone, not even a bleeding occurred. She
moved into a cabin under deck and sunk down, her body started
shifting through various forms, earth, air, water, air, some flames,
water, myst, flesh…
Each day, she kept in the cabin, not coming out until the ship
arrived back in Haven. As it anchored a blue liquid floats out onto
the ice and forms into a humanoid body moving over the ice and along
the red vale, it then transforms into earth, a wind hose, and those
who have ventured with Kroasi might have recognized this as being
her.
She makes her way to one of the settlements north of the river, to
a certain house she first went to a while ago, and plenty of times
afterwards. The knocking of the door lured forward a halfling woman,
looking confused yet somewhat happy seeing Kroasi enter, until the
form of air settles onto a chair and manifest back into the half elf
girl. Gabriella Greatoven looks at this figure, covers her mouth in
shock and then starts crying.
“ Please, don’t worry!” "Its hard not to worry seeing
you in this state...I mean look at you, your leg is gone!"
“Thank you again for the pies. They were marvellous... I was too
over eager and chased someone in wrath and arrogance, I won't make
that mistake again...” and she
turns her head to Gabbi and smiles faintly. “I will stay
with you for a short while, if you let me, but then I will have to
leave you, little one.”
"You'll die if you go back out there…" Gabbi
replies, her head falling once she mumbled this. At
this, Kroasi smiles, even more faintly. “Please, don’t
worry.” The two women spend
time in silence and after having taken out a paper and a feather
Kroasi starts writing, yet
after an hour she sinks together and asks Gabriella to be allowed to
sleep somewhere.
Gabbi, always helping supports
her while walking to a bedroom while lecturing her about not going
into the dangers of those islands and to stay way from Sharleen.
"I've read the logs everytime that lady is with anyone
someone usually is dead...that was almost you!" Kroasi
smiles again, her hand reaching for Gabbi’s cheek while turning to
water, softly covering the
halfling’s skin.
Two days pass in
which the two girls eat the food Gabbi prepared - "I'll
make some Hattes they are something that I have been experimenting
with!...think of them like small meat filled pies shaped like hats!"
-, drink the tea Kroasi has brought. The latter finishes a letter and
then announces that she will take her leave.
"Kroasi I dont wont to see you perish...I told you this
before you left and you come back like this...what will happen when
you leave again...will it be an arm this time? an eye maybe....your
life?" Gabbi fidgets a bit
obviously uncomfortable talking about the death of her friend, who
is standing at the entrance.
“ Here, keep this.” And
Kroasi hands her a piece of rowan wood. “If you are ever
in danger, come to the vale. I will always watch over you… little
one.” And a smile runs across
the half-elf’s face as her body starts turning into a
vortex of air, moving away,
faster and faster…
It is evening and the shadows
grow long in the vale. A
breeze of air enters the Thalidd’s halls and halts on a chair. “I
have failed you, Thalidd. You and your people took me in and you
treated me as one of yours… and I have failed you.” Inside
the chair sits the young druidess,
legless, a head, arms and a torso that starts to
become translucent.
“ I have failed you, I won’t be able to
clear out the menace of orcs or the black tower beyond the wall. I
even have failed my students in the chanter’s hall. The little gold
that is left here, 100 I owe to Sharleen, which I will seek next, the
rest is to you and your purpose.
It was my honour serving you.”
"Be at peace Kroasi
"You served us well indeed. Go to your
rest now; if such you can find. Lay aside these burdens and travel
on, for such things are the concerns of the living.
"Return to the source of all things and
return anew."
“ As always, you are too kind”, her
face shifts briefly to water as she smiles “ Tell Tannyll that I am sorry, please care for her, she lost everything and I won't be able to face her.” , and then the body returns
to air, moves out, as
the Thalidd whispers "Be at peace, child of Shaldis." ,
moves out,
down into the valley along the red river and towards Greendale where
a tall muscular woman can be seen, hacking away with
a flaming sword.
She
settles for the floor. “Wielder of Shaldinaris, don’t
grieve. This was not your responsibility. My arrogance made me chase,
running into the trap that was laid, not laid by you, but by whoever
was calling at us during that fight.
“ I need you to not search blame, I need you
to do, what I couldn’t. Protect the vale, get rid of the orcs, of
whatever lies in dworren deep and that ghastly figure on top of the
blackspire . And if you have time, please look after Tannyll... she lost those close to her and might need someone to fill the void.
“ Don’t grief yourself, but be strong and
protect the vale, it will do more for me than any tears you cry or
any anger or guilt you feed upon.”
The girl looks up to
the tall blond woman as her body looses more and more form and
consistency. A breeze of wind runs down Greendale and what form there
was gets carried away as mist. “Someone else will have to bring balance, I will be watching.” In Haven in the Chater's hall, the room where Kroasi used to hold her lessons about the spirits, a voice echoes in a person's mind: "She is gone. You will have to complete her task. Go and bring balance to our realm." OOC : There was the talk of whether we should retcon the death of Kroasi with the trap since there was a mistake by the GM. After thinking things through we agreed to not do it for 2 reasons: 1) There were still plenty of signs of the danger, my character might have still chased even w Sharleen's warning. It was an Aura 4 and we knew it. Also: The ability to sense traps comes from Shaldinaris and thus was the player's responsibility to keep track of. This has always been the ruling as the GM has no way of following all your abilities. 2) One of the most important rules of Maladon is that there is no retcon. Opening that door will mean it is impossible to ever close it again and impossible to keep the game consistent. I feel that the structure of the game is more important than me being able to play that character again (even though this was probably my favourite characters of the ones I had.) Everyone makes mistakes, but the goal is to create an amazing story and that is the reason for the no retcon rule. Stories could or will break with retcons. (Also this gives me the chance to fuck up Taleek's characters even more ;p)
