Kyoko's Journal

[Kaybrie]

'Idiots, lunacy, the ill tempered and barbaric humans were all I found in my travels through the icewind dale, I found no trace of my true mothers former master. The Arch Diviner will evade me it seems for yet another day, and yet how can I truly be surprised, I know from experienced that it is difficult to surprise one such as us, though beyond this the whole foolish scale of this... This idiocy, surely if he knew I was traveling explicitly to meet with him, and to learn of his exploits, his knowledge and his libraries then he would have made himself known to me.'

'Alas, on that note I feel that I am not worthy, as of yet, to be graced as the apprentice of such a powerful magician... Still, there was always Eirimil, though now he has vanished off the face of Sundren, upon my return I found no sign of him and heard no word. Fie on all of this! Still, I am knowledgeable enough now to walk on my own two feet without strain or difficulty. These past months have been difficult, albeit troubling by the same token but I will persevere and find my way in this world, alone even, if I must.'

'As for my travels, I found the barbarians of Talos to be nothing short of unworthy, short sighted imbeciles whom believed everything could be solved through battle, and they were disdainful of my very existence... Thankfully the cold harsh weather made them inept when it came to dealing with fire, and thus a few short spells and those barbarians that had wished to slay me by the axe found their way back to their homes with their tails tucked neatly between their legs.'

'I made my way to ten towns, having heard many wizards from Thay and other countries gandered the area frequently, I believed that some may have heard of Archemedes, what a fool I was indeed. The only 'wizard' I encountered was indeed from Thay, though he was not the terrifying embodiment of power that many others of that country were, instead he was simply a studious individual, not unlike myself, but he was hot headed and arrogant, perhaps also not unlike myself... Regardless hellfire and dragonfire do not mix and the meeting between myself and that evocation specialist was doomed to end in violence. I, having known full well that I would be actively seeking out wizards within ten towns, prepared the necessary abjuration spells and conjuration spells to counter his evocation. He hadn't known a single summon, and thus while my dire wolf snapped at his throat, I had ample time to blast him with a hail of missiles.'

'A pity that the townspeople were not as impressed, so to speak, as I hoped they would be, rather then noting the presence of a powerful wizard and giving me room, they instead reverted back to the fact that I was a tiefling, and not wanting to become an criminal within the Icewind Dale, I chose to flee the town... Ahh, memories.'

[Kaybrie]

Epilogue

The brisk air broke the morning mists in the mountain pass of the mighty Sundren gates, through it bustled different a variety of people coming and going about their business. In particular was a young, healthy dwarven woman, her thick fingers wrapped tightly around an oaken staff she used to brace her still clumsy walk. She rubbed her thick chin thoughtfully as she took a few moments to remember the past few days. The friends she had known through the years and only in her new life did she realize how much she cherished them.

----

The walk through the entertainment district was a nostalgic one, she hardly recognized the faces she had seen all the years past, and even took time to stop by Jimmies for a few dice rolls for old times sakes. Her auburn ponytail bounced on her head and her deep brown eyes scanned the surroundings with a new sense of interest and wonder. Around her neck hung a glass leaf, cut and died for simplicity to honor her new found faith. She brushed by the guards with a cheerful wave and couldn't help but blush excitedly when they didn't point accusing fingers at her and scream of her wrongdoings.

The Sundren Comfort was her first stop as she wheeled into the military ward, making her way up the stairs like a clumsy ox, she assured the innkeeper she would only be a few minutes. She stopped in front of room three and knelt down to retrieve her tired old ebon robes. She folded the robes neatly and placed them at the bottom of the door. Her eyes slowly traced up the door and she laid a finger against it with a tearful smile. Emiliana had been a friend for as long as she could remember, from her escape from Thay, to her trek along the sword coast through Neverwinter and by fates hand did they meet again in the Sundered valley. 'She and I were so different' she fumbles over her thick tongue, still struggling to make use of it efficiently.

She recalled the earlier joys, days that weren't wrought with a constant battle of paranoia and terror. She remembered her stay in Waterdeep, poking fun at Emiliana's husband to be and her pursuit of a military life in spite of her charismatic nature. She couldn't help but laugh at how easily she believed Emiliana could pull political reigns and become a governor or ambassador in and of herself. Her smile faltered as tears streamed down her face and she slowly stood, taking a few steps back. 'Farewell, old friend' was her final whisper, before she donned her floppy hat and descended the staircase.

----

Her departure from the Sundren Comfort left a second hole that needed to be filled, she looked back and was reminded of the old teachings of her master. She could never learn to where he had gone after her apprenticeship had concluded, Eirimil was the sort of man who reached for immortality, and even in another three hundred years, she still likely wouldn't see or understand the world anything like he did. Still, there was a connection between them, the two realists divided from society through their own volition were united in their bitterness, and in some twisted way found a manner of joy. She couldn't help but grin to herself and shake her head at the mischief the two of them undertook.

It was he who first taught her how to tap into her fiendish bloodline to draw out magical arts, the small school of divination was liken to the level that he could school her at an appropriate elven level so long as she accelerated and did not divide her attention among the other schools. Her ideal focus was for all intents and purposes the school of knowledge. He taught her to learn and absorb everything around her, that magic was not the only way to tap into the unsolved mysteries of the multiverse, and sometimes something as simple as a candle could turn the most lush forest into a baron wasteland.

She unrolled one of her last scrolls and quietly whispered the words of power written upon it, the last arcane spell she would ever cast, she knew that he would likely be crass and speak down upon her interruptions. Even still she spoke her message and watched as the words upon the paper evaporated, and the scroll itself turned to dust. Elsewhere dabbling about his business, a tired sun elf would hear a whisper on the wind; 'Normally people live and learn, you only seem to live.'

----

She did stop one final time however before she left the city for good, her heel turned and she lumbered her way back through the gates into the trade tier. Down and up familiar steps she winded the streets until she found herself at an unfamiliar temple. She opened her pack and shuffled through it for a moment, eventually finding something suitable. She looked upon the symbol of the triad completely undaunted, almost with a challenging smirk. Not to be disturbed indeed, she would see about this.

And deep inside did she find him, knelt and faithfully praying to his god. She took a moment to fish into her backpack and produced the leather hat, which she hid neatly behind her back. To be able to look upon another after dieing and being reborn through new eyes was miraculous. Still, she kept her demeanor cool and simply stated to him 'Thank you'. She stood up and left the hat there in her place for Darius to notice or ignore, truthfully she didn't care. . . In her last moments of paranoia and madness she remembered him and found peace. Her final courage, no matter how far he may have been from that place, was his gift to her.

----

She wiped a tear from her cheek as she grinned and continued to march along the muddy roads, the suns gentle kiss crested the mountain peaks and flooded the ravine with light. Her eyes slowly slid shut and her lungs sucked in a breath of fresh mountain air, though she would miss it, she believed there were more sane places to pad her feet in the realms. She waved over her shoulder to the now distant gate and redoubled her pace alongside the merchant carts.

She'd lived and died in a wild adventure, now she looked forward to the next hill, where a new horizon, and life awaited her.

*Cue ending credits*