Author's note:
After posting many installments of my campaign journal from the Shadows of Greatness campaign, I realized that the way I've been writing the Wrath of the Righteous campaign journal isn't nearly as interesting to read. It's dry and impersonal. To give it a little more passion, I'm writing this interlude from the viewpoint of Asami. I may start writing my whole campaign journal in this format.
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To:
Master Seimei of the Council of the Golden Flame
Golden Lotus Pavilion
Ayajinbo
Jinin
Respected Master:
Please forgive your unworthy apprentice for failing to write to you as soon as we arrived in the city of Kenabres. Much has happened since our arrival at the Worldwound. That does not excuse my failure to communicate with my master.
Young master Jiro and I have been in the West for only a few months, yet so much has taken place in that time that were I to write of all of it, it would be necessary to send this missive to you in a chest. We delivered the letters of introduction to the human woman Cennami as directed, and she introduced us to a group of other people with whom we began to train in the Westerners' techniques of combating demons. This training was enhanced by the presence of an actual demon, of whom you were no doubt already aware. He is known by the name Rhino and has dedicated himself to aiding the fight against his own people. His assistance has been most welcome. It is heartening to consider that even the denizens of the Abyss can seek redemption.
In addition to Rhino, we became acquainted with a small group of others, one of them a member of Cennami's tribe who sees Rhino as her adopted brother. Her name is Zosta, and she wields in her fists and feet far more power than one might guess from her stature. She revels in fighting demons and their followers directly, but is able to enhance her blows with magic and is not unskilled with weaponry.
The next member of our group of demon-fighting students is Frairuna, a tall woman partly of orcish blood. She is a warrior priestess of the goddess Iomedae and most devout in her faith, as skilled in oratory as she is in arms. Kenabres also boasts a devout warrior of Iomedae who like Frairuna is of orcish blood, and when we first began to go about the city as a group Frairuna was on several occasions mistaken for Irabeth Tirabade. It is extraordinary to think that we now travel alongside Irabeth and in many respects she looks up to Frairuna.
When we first arrived our number was joined by a half-elven man by name Aegronius, who had come to Kenabres with two comrades to join the Crusade. But his life has taken a different path and he no longer walks with us.
Were you to meet Jiro now you would hardly recognize him, so much has he been altered by his experiences. Humans are indeed an adaptable race. No more is he the timid and clumsy gardener who departed with me from Minkai. He has learned to fight with weapons and to wield greater magics than he commanded in the past. Yet he is still humble and courteous, and his heart is most content when he is able to see to the green and growing things of the earth.
We had been in Kenabres less than a month when the terrible event of which you are doubtless aware took place. While we listened to one of the leaders of the Crusade speaking to the crowd during a celebration, a huge demon rose up over the walls of the city and began to battle with Telendrev, the silver dragon who had taken the city under his protection. The earth beneath our feet split asunder and all five of us fell helplessly into the dark depths. I cannot deny I feared we would fall into the Abyss itself. But somehow we were preserved from death, perhaps by the intervention of the dragon himself though he did so with his last breath as the demon slew him. We found ourselves in dimly lit subterranean tunnels, which we swiftly discovered were inhabited. Others had also fallen into the depths with us, a wizard of our kindred named Aravashnial who had been blinded by the demon attackers, and a human woman, Anevia, who is wed to Irabeth Tirabade. Anevia's leg had been broken in the fall. Also among those who fell when the earth opened up was a human nobleman called Horgus Gwerm. We determined to look after their injuries as best we could and escort them back to the surface if a way could be found. We did indeed find such a route, with assistance from the mongrelfolk who dwell beneath the city, and they also helped us to discover that some of the demons' followers had secretly infiltrated Kenabres to help effect the surprise attack. As soon as we reached the surface we hurried to notify the remaining authorities of the city and leaders of the Crusade of this force of infiltrators in their midst.
Kenabres was much damaged by the attack, and in the aftermath some of the worshippers of evil had taken charge of a structure known as the Gray Garrison. The forces within Kenabres had few resources left to retake the well-fortified garrison, yet they had urgent need to enter it to wrest away from the enemy the Wardstone that had protected Kenabres from the encroaching Worldwound. When we five were asked to enter the Garrison ourselves and seek the Wardstone, we did not shirk from this task, We were successful, but when we employed the enchanted rod we had been given to destroy the Wardstone lest it be used for ill by our foes, something none could have anticipated occurred when the stone shattered. I am but your apprentice; forgive me for speculating upon maters best left to those of greater wisdom. But I believe that when the stone broke apart some of the arcane and divine energies sealed within it were imparted to us. We five have gained new abilities we cannot explain by training or nature. Furthermore we all received a vision from the goddess Iomedae, whose fane the Gray Garrison once was. Each of us also received a vision of another kind, in which we were visited by deities more suited to our own upbringing and beliefs; I believe the entity which appeared to me in my vision to be the Spirit of the World Tree. I cannot explain the message it gave me, but I feel that it is my destiny to continue the fight against the demons and all creatures from other planes of existence that would seek to enter this plane to do harm to those who dwell herein. Aravashnial is a member of the Riftwardens as were my parents before me, and it is my intention to seek membership in this organization to further my goal. I hope that this choice will meet with your approval, my master.
The destruction of the Wardstone did far more than impart new abilities to our small band of comrades in arms. The network of Wardstones that have defended the lands along the Worldwound from demonic invasion is gone. All of the other stones failed when the Kenabres stone was destroyed. Scouts from the army of Mendev have reported that many hundreds of evil denizens of the Abyss were slain by the energies released in this event, and they are yet disorganized and confused. But soon enough they will realize that the defenses have fallen. While we have the advantage we are attempting to retake the small city of Drezen, which lies closer to the Worldwound and was once a bastion of the defenses. It has long been held by the enemy, but while they are weakened and the attention of their commanders is elsewhere we shall undertake to wrest it away from them and recover the divinely blessed banner known as the Sword of Valor which once was held by Iomedae herself when she was yet a mortal woman. Already we have been able to free from the enemy's grasp an elemental being of wood whose grove they despoiled and who had been enslaved by them. Though I am proud that we were able to keep the Wardstone from the Enemy, I feel greater pride and joy in freeing this one captive.
I cannot hazard to guess what you would think of me now. You would tell me never to guess. My companions have told me that my appearance has changed since we were given these divine blessings, but I have not observed this myself. Kirara has undergone a more obvious transformation: she is no more an ordinary feline, but has become a creature of Elysium, a silvanshee agathion, and she now delights in flying about me wherever we travel. Bohgong the monkey has revealed himself to be the vessel for the spirit of Jiro's illustrious ancestor, who has been teaching Jiro and Zosta the martial arts of Jiro's noble family. We have also acquired another comrade to replace Aegronius, who left us to pursue a personal matter. Our new companion Shim is like Aegronius partly of elven blood, trained in alchemical magics. We came very near to losing him as soon as he joined us, but Bohgong's quick thinking and the fragment of Wardstone I carried in my pouch combined not only to save his life but to bestow upon him the same kind of blessings the other four of us had been granted. We have been given the honor of knighthood by Queen Galfrey of Mendev herself, and named her Crusader Knights.
We have also found what you and the other council members feared: the oni have indeed sought to ally themselves with the demons of the Abyss. Jiro's half-brother has joined them, though we are uncertain whether this was voluntary. But he has become possessed by the Nine-Tailed Fox. I myself have witnessed this with the aid of the spirits with whom Jiro can speak. I have seen other oni as well, preying upon the suffering people of the Worldwound. I will do whatever is in my power to stop them.
I can but hope that you will approve of my actions here and find my efforts worthy of your teachings. I will write again when I am able.
Your humble apprentice,
Asamiel no Seimei
Drezen
The Worldwound
Next: part 38, Seeking Redemption
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