Game: Dredge by scyllallycs.
Location: Trothguard, on the Sea of Angels.
Player Character: Unknown vessel/unknown captain.
Dredge is an exploration-based journaling RPG and was something I immediately thought would be a neat aid to my own worldbuilding - as I could use the game as prompts to create a story for a character that could be part of my world.
Day 21
I have returned to the docks. Even as I write, I'm getting closer and closer to the pier jutting from the maw of a long-dead behemoth. The swirling purple and red vortex within is growing larger than I could have imagined.
Whatever this thing was in life, it was huge. Gargantuan. It could swallow a fleet of ships three times the size of mine without issue, I realize with horror. But, of course, I'm not here to marvel at this strange dead being. With each step closer, I get flashes of images in my mind. People, events, places... Just being close to the strange vortex clears my thoughts and lifts the fog.
And I remember.
These items are mine. Gifts, mostly... Items acquired and given to me over time as my friends and I faced dangers and hardships.
A jagged tooth, ripped from the maw of a burrowing beast that tried - unsuccessfully - to swallow Halus whole. We thought for sure he was a goner that time, until the beast began spasming and retching and our barbarian tumbled out of it, clutching the tooth he'd used to kill it from the inside.
I collected it, as he discarded it. A reminder that even in the darkest of times, hope remains.
A crystal decanter of strange swirling green liquid. There had originally been nine of these in the old unmarked and battered crate we'd found them in. It took an accident for us to figure out what they did. Had our thief extraordinaire, Tafaress Tur, not been the target of a young pickpocket... we might never have found out.
Good as the youth was, our rogue was better, though in grabbing the youngster's wrist the decanter dropped - smashing onto the flagstones. From within the bitter vapors rose a pale green-skinned demon. Long-limbed with too many appendages and too many joints, it whispered in our minds, 'Command me'. It wasn't long before we saw the potency of the thing in battle. It was horrifyingly good at it, and though it did not survive the encounter, it bought my team victory out of what would surely have been a defeat.
This is the last decanter left. One more demon in a bottle. One more chance to defy the odds. A reminder that sometimes, the dice are loaded... and to stack the odds in your own favor as much as possible.
A chess set. Sturdy and well used. My fathers, given to me as I set out on my own adventures. We played many games together on this old thing, and after I left home I played many more with many other people. Some of those people, like my adventuring party, became friends... family even.
A reminder that home isn't just a place. It's also a thing we make.
A highly detailed statue of a bull, gifted to me by our knight, Kigran, after I failed to save his sister from a vampire. We'd fought hard, and though we eventually did clear the nest we'd been hoping to exterminate... she paid the price. Our one loss, in all the years we've traveled together. Had I just been able to get my Daylight spell out faster...
I blamed myself, but Kigran wouldn't have it. The bull had been his sisters, and that night as we camped, he pushed it into my hands.
"She would have wanted you to have this." He said.
When I asked why, he told me that we'd all signed up for this potential end when we chose to become adventurers. The world was dangerous for folks like us, and to do what we do... we need to be strong. Forged in the fires of adversity... but still able to recognize the beauty of the world we are part of.
The statue, he explained, had always reminded her of that. And now, it was mine to remind me of the same thing. Life is too beautiful to let our hardships break us.
And finally, my last gift. A sharp knife in a fine leather case. This had been given to me by our healer, Quiless. Before joining us, she'd been a herbalist. We picked her up after marauding monsters destroyed the town she'd lived in her entire life.
She'd always had a knack for healing magic and plants, and with everything she'd built in ruins, she had decided to come with us. Over the years that followed, she'd more than prove her skill. None of us would be here still if it wasn't for her.
She gave us each a little gift a month or two after Kigran's sister died. She told us to always keep them with us, to anchor us. I didn't understand what she meant, then... but I do now.
I do, because this whole world is that anchor. A tether, from where I am now, to where they are.
Because, I'm dead, of course.
I'm dead, but I'm not lost. Not yet. The petals I saw when I found this blade two days ago were a ritual.
A ritual to bring me back. But magic isn't as straightforward as the bards would like you to believe. Even in this, all she can do is make the door. I must find the path.
I close my eyes and smile, and step through the swirling vortex.
I'm going home.
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