The Diary of Artemis Sunstrider

[sonuvalich]

"The light is life Artemis, always remember that." That's what my dad would say when he'd come home from the mines. He'd tell us that despite all the hardship and dangers of working underground, once he walked out into the sunlight he knew he would be coming home to us. We'd see him coming up the path to the house, all covered in dust and soot, but this big smile lighting up his face as we ran out to hug him and welcome him home. That smile was the light to me, and I loved it more than anything else. So was it any wonder that as I grew up I decided to join the clergy of Lathander and share my love of the light with the world?

There's no sense writing down all the boring stuff that happened between joining the church and arriving at Sundren, it was all so typical: prayers and worship, helping the needy, doing hard penance for sunbathing naked on the church's roof....average stuff. But one day the head priest comes into my room and says "Artemis, we are sending you to a faraway place called Sundren." Something about their church of Lathander needing aid and how my energy could best be spent elsewhere, anywhere else. So I packed up my stuff, said goodbye to my family, and set off for sunny Sundren.

And now I'm here, in the midst of so much darkness and badness. But it's always darkest before the dawn, right? I've acquired some equipment: big stuffy armor to keep me safe, a cute little mace for squishing evil, and some beautiful dresses for the times I'm not knee deep in gross undead. I've met some nice people, and some very mean, stupid ones as well. I've found passion and romance, even it if was with a dwarf, and had all sorts of fun. And I look forward to the dawning of tomorrow to do it all over again, smiling and laughing so all of Sundren can see that light and fall in love like I did.

[sonuvalich]

Yay!

Well, I finally did it. After months of squishing zombies and fighting monsters, I FINALLY managed to help out a simple farmer. I had just finished a long afternoon of frolicking in the creek with a halfling and trying to win a fun-off (we called it a draw) when it started to rain and I ran back to the fire. I was so busy gushing about all the fun I just had that I failed to notice a man humbly asking to join us. After he left, everyone felt really bad so I chased after him and apologized.

Turned out he was a simple, dejected farmer walking home alone in the rain and dark. So I gave him all sorts of blessings and praise (farmers are some of my favorite people!) and sent him on his way a little happier and hopefully a little more aware that there are good people like me who want to see him survive and proper in these dark times!

Of course, when I got back everyone told me I had run away and a big, stupid vampire lady had shown up and been all evil and mean! Lathander help me but I can't be in two places at once! Can I? Anyways I put on my best vampire hunting gear and chased after her but I haven't found her yet! When I do...squishin' time! Also, Artemis this is a note to yourself: buy more lemons, they are capable of destroying the undead with a single touch! With the might of Lathander and citrus, all nasty things will be driven back into the shadows!

P.S. If lemons cannot be found, perhaps oranges will do?

[sonuvalich]

Darkest Before Dawn

Run away! You're no match for them! Don't be a fool, woman!

All I hear lately seem to be voices telling me I can't do it...I'm not good enough, I'm not strong enough, I'm going to get people hurt with my stubbornness. The thing about it that really keeps me up at night is that they're right. Well...that and the nightmares. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Second Wind Inn has been my favorite place to meet new friends, lounging out on the benches basking in Lathander's glory (and giving those stuck up paladins conniptions hee hee). But all that happiness and joy seems to have attracted the stupid vampires and their ugly friends. The first time I stood up to them, I got turned into a statue. And I may have...almost mortally wounded another Lathanderite with my sunburst. I still blame him for that! And the lectures I got.....

Anyways, I took up drinking for a little while after that, and I might have stayed in those bottles forever except that I kept hearing about repeat attacks on the Inn. Also, I ran out of money. But mostly the attacks! I put on my armor and trekked right back into dungeons and swamps, looking for ways to improve myself and equipment to keep me alive in this fight. And I thought I was doing really well until I met Ruby's dad.

(Side note: Artemis, I think dad is not really the right word. Try sire or creator or progenitor to avoid confusion! Also, good job on remembering the word progenitor...that was a toughie!)

So anyways, Ruby's progenitor (yay) showed up and said some very not nice things about Lathander. I tried to let that pass, because I don't like getting violent, but then he began saying how he was going to rip out spines and feast on blood and all sorts of evil stuff. I'm really glad I had some friends there, because he had all these minions and servants with him that came running out of the shadows and it turned into a big, nasty fight. I burned away lots of them with Lathander's glory, but then one of them hit me hard in the back of the head and I went down. I guess while I was out he put some of his blood in my mouth and then left. Someone tried to rinse my mouth out with holy water and I spent a lot of time basking in the sun and trying to burn it out of myself, but I think it was too late.

Now every time I go to sleep I am wracked with horrible nightmares. I see Colibrus standing in a river of blood, surrounded by my friends and loved ones that he has turned or consumed. I see eternal night spreading over the land and Lathander's light going out forever. I hear the cries of the fallen and the accusations of those who say it is all my fault. Every dawn I awaken to the sounds of my own screams, with my pillow soaked in tears. But then...I laugh. Because it is dawn. Because every night ends and the sun rises to push back those shadows. Because someone has to be the embodiment of Lathander's glory, a shining beacon of hope when everything seems darkest.

So I will not run away. I will not stand down, or retreat, or give up. I may be a fool and I may die a fool's death, but even in that I think I could serve a purpose. I don't want to be a martyr for it's own sake, but if people see that there are those willing to give even their lives to stop all this...maybe that will be the spark the heralds the real dawn.

[sonuvalich]

Dear Diary,

I got married on a whim. I haven't seen my wife since. Also, I have a wife...which I did not ever expect. Soooooo it's been an interesting week. People are being really rude about it though, telling me she's a demon and I'm going to the Hells just because she has a tail. Oh, and some cute little horns. But I asked the Morninglord to show his displeasure if he opposed the idea and nothing happened, so it's probably ok, right?

Also I heard some big, nasty vampire lady was perma-squished. Nobody invited me! Maybe I should join Blackwood or the Legion so they have to take me a little more serious. They'll probably make me work with all the snooty paladins though, so that stinks. Need to find a way to help people and have fun doing it...maybe I should learn to bake. Lemon snaps would combine the undead smooshing wrath of citrus with the sheer joy of cookies....

Maybe if I ever see Maine again I could talk about opening a family bakery? If she could control her urge to set everything on fire just a teensy bit, it could be a perfect union of talents. Isn't that was a marriage is all about?

Sunshine and love, diary! We'll chat again soon.

[sonuvalich]

((this roleplay post contains a link to a song intended to help set the creepy, surreal atmosphere))

Dear diary,

I had a dream last night, and I can't shake it. I was running down a hallway, chased by a man in deeply hooded robes such that I couldn't see his face. No matter how fast I ran, he was always just one step behind me and I could feel his fingers at my neck. On either side of the hallway I kept seeing the faces of people I knew, people from Sundren who I thought of as friends. I was crying and begging for help, but they just looked away. A few even laughed and urged the man to go faster and get me. They started as whispers, but soon it was a deafening roar of laughter and jeers and a few "Thank the gods, we're almost rid of her!"

Covering my ears to try and block the noise and blinded by tears, I didn't see that the floor was suddenly covered in loose lemons and I tripped and fell hard. The robed man was on me and all I could do was shove back his hood with my flailing arms. It wasn't a man at all! It was Thresh, but not my Thresh. Her already pale skin had gone from pretty porcelain to bloodless worm-flesh. She had glowing red eyes and fangs and a look of hatred and hunger that twisted her beautiful face into something too scary and heartbreaking to put to words. She spoke to me, but it was not her voice, and even though she never got louder than a whisper each word shattered me to the core.

"It's your fault, Artemis! If you could have just pulled your head out of your arse and grown up a little, you could have protected me. But no, you are worthless and weak, a stupid little girl with a big mouth. I'm not even going to let you die, I'm going to make you what you hate the most and keep you from your precious god forever! You deserve this and so much more, you mewling little bitch!"

Shadows swirled around us and everything just got darker and darker. I woke up in the inn, Thresh dozing lightly beside me, my pillow soaked with tears. I wanted to wake her up, to make her hold me, tell me everything was going to be ok but I just sat there staring at her back and crying some more. I think Evil-Thresh was right...I think I need to grow up. I just don't know how...

[sonuvalich]

Hey book,

So you know how they say be careful what you wish for? Yup, turns out they're right. Today I learned how to grow up: you have to hurt...a lot. Thresh is gone. I think she realized how mismatched we were or that I was gonna die like five hundred years before her or just finally heard all the dumb stuff that comes out of my mouth. Probably a bunch of reasons but the result is all the same: the wedding's off and we're done as a couple. You'd be proud of me little book, I barely cried and didn't shout or break anything. I just said my goodbyes and wished her well and walked away. Maybe one day we can be friends again, but right now just looking back a few sentences at where I wrote her name makes me feel like a tiny goblin is in my chest tearing my heart to pieces.

I'm now as alone as I was when I first landed here, but somehow it feels a million times lonelier. I feel old and battered, and just so very tired. I keep asking myself why the dawn can't wash away these feelings, and I've realized it's because maybe He doesn't want it to. I left the Church, I became a mercenary, I've surrounded myself in violence and death trying to help heal this place. I think it's time to go back to the temple and make some apologies to myself, to the clergy, and most of all to the Big Guy. I know brighter days lay ahead and maybe the best way for me to find them is to go back to illuminating the lives of others. So here goes, diary! Wish me luck...

-Artemis