Assembly Protocol.
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Document I
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Document I
"Meltdown."
I remember the first time I met Eleonora. I do not see the reason to repeat the incident, but the fact I can recall it so vividly is an indicator of how important Eleonora is to me. She is more than my friend, more than a tool. But these incident reports are not to be sentimental. I cannot afford to be sentimental anymore.
To find Eleonora, there is a solid methodology that is often not employed. One must seek out blood, whiskey, and a certain type of energy that is often hard to describe. I am sure I will have a file on what I mean later, but it is nearing midnight as I write this. What is worth acknowledging is that I am a master of employing this method, if only because finding Eleonora is necessary to run my groups efficiently.
I have been stalling for long enough. I found the necessary footprints at a small-town bar within the Hinterlands Duchy. By the time I arrived, I witnessed a man no taller than five foot eight get flung out of a window. This, if anything, was a footprint. I had not yet said a word since escaping my prison, as the site of where I had been contained was down the road from this very town.
When I stepped inside, I saw a woman with obnoxiously red hair beating a tall fellow to a pulp. The form, the brutality, and most importantly, the complete lack of anger, tipped me off exactly as to who it was. I did not see much reason to rejoice.
Yet, I felt a twinge of deja vu when I offered my hand out to her.
To find Eleonora, there is a solid methodology that is often not employed. One must seek out blood, whiskey, and a certain type of energy that is often hard to describe. I am sure I will have a file on what I mean later, but it is nearing midnight as I write this. What is worth acknowledging is that I am a master of employing this method, if only because finding Eleonora is necessary to run my groups efficiently.
I have been stalling for long enough. I found the necessary footprints at a small-town bar within the Hinterlands Duchy. By the time I arrived, I witnessed a man no taller than five foot eight get flung out of a window. This, if anything, was a footprint. I had not yet said a word since escaping my prison, as the site of where I had been contained was down the road from this very town.
When I stepped inside, I saw a woman with obnoxiously red hair beating a tall fellow to a pulp. The form, the brutality, and most importantly, the complete lack of anger, tipped me off exactly as to who it was. I did not see much reason to rejoice.
Yet, I felt a twinge of deja vu when I offered my hand out to her.
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Document II
"Title Missing."
This file is being written on the fly, so I must apologize if it is short. I'm not even sure who will fucking read this, but it's instinct at this point. I have recovered the second person for my upcoming Company, and it was an unlikely source. As of last week, Eleonora decided she would be taking a break, which I was reluctant to accept. I am sick of traveling alone. She is currently relaxing somewhere within the town of ████████, somewhere far from here.
I, however, am not relaxing. I reside within a cave, off the side of the town in which Leo is staying in. I will be honest; the position of being within a cave is uncomfortable to me, yet the fact I am not surrounded by tricorn-hat wearing psychopaths is promising. To my left is a sleeping Keltie Ledsarge, who had previously tried to kill me about an hour ago through the usage of a rock and excessive amounts of curse words. We are both currently being sought out by local authorities, Keltie for attempting to get her grubby mitts onto something that was not hers, and me for I will make a file on the happenings that have brought me into this situation later.
Keltie Ledsarge has agreed that, should we survive this particular kerfuffle, we will no longer be enemies and she will assist me in my goal of ████████. I remain worried that her status as a Sorcerer will cause some sort of rift, or that Ledsarge will relapse into a life of stupidity and crime, but I will likely not have to deal with those realizations until months into my plan.
Provided I can escape the authorities, that is.
I, however, am not relaxing. I reside within a cave, off the side of the town in which Leo is staying in. I will be honest; the position of being within a cave is uncomfortable to me, yet the fact I am not surrounded by tricorn-hat wearing psychopaths is promising. To my left is a sleeping Keltie Ledsarge, who had previously tried to kill me about an hour ago through the usage of a rock and excessive amounts of curse words. We are both currently being sought out by local authorities, Keltie for attempting to get her grubby mitts onto something that was not hers, and me for I will make a file on the happenings that have brought me into this situation later.
Keltie Ledsarge has agreed that, should we survive this particular kerfuffle, we will no longer be enemies and she will assist me in my goal of ████████. I remain worried that her status as a Sorcerer will cause some sort of rift, or that Ledsarge will relapse into a life of stupidity and crime, but I will likely not have to deal with those realizations until months into my plan.
Provided I can escape the authorities, that is.
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Document III
"Justicar."
Alcuin,
I am letting you know that I am alive. I was ████████████████████████████████ for a long, long while. I want to return. I, additionally, want your help in completing a rather heavy goal. This letter is short, for I do not have much paper, but I assure you I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Old friend,
Sincerest regards,
Your Commander.
Old friend,
I am letting you know that I am alive. I was ████████████████████████████████ for a long, long while. I want to return. I, additionally, want your help in completing a rather heavy goal. This letter is short, for I do not have much paper, but I assure you I will get back to you as soon as I can.
From,
Your Commander.
Your Commander.
Old friend,
It delights me to know you still walk this land. I will be frank, I thought you were dead once word got around. The group I have partnered myself with walks amongst the corpses of your efforts, squandering the foundation you have built with weak tactics and inefficient time usage. They fail to even perform to a fraction of my expectations. That being said, if you need my help, I'm glad to help. Just don't go disappearing on me again.
Regards,
Alcuin.
Alcuin,Alcuin.
███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Sincerest regards,
Your Commander.
Old friend,
Consider me interested. Give me a fortnight's notice and look for a Roy Widogast.
Regards,
Alcuin.
Alcuin.
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Document IV
Document IV
"Title Missing."
I have found a new member. Unlike the past examples, this was unplanned and unprepared. During a spat with Eleonora about whether a sword or a spear is more useful overall (I won that spat, by the way. Her fishing spear argument is weak. You can fish with a sword) a bounty hunter dragged a singed Dwarf into the tavern, violet chains curled around his form. A quivering barmaid hands her a pouch full of coin, and she rolls the unconscious midget her way. I couldn't help but notice the spectral nature of her chosen weapon, and the distinctive violet glow that rippled off her irises.
She seemed keen to do something other than solo work, and my attempt at buttering up the work did not go unnoticed. When I informed her where we'd be moving, she simply told me to meet her there, as she already had a ship scheduled for the Holy City about a month from me writing this. I managed to get a name: Kavia. The Elven nature of it all has me believe her ears are not naturally smooth.
She seemed keen to do something other than solo work, and my attempt at buttering up the work did not go unnoticed. When I informed her where we'd be moving, she simply told me to meet her there, as she already had a ship scheduled for the Holy City about a month from me writing this. I managed to get a name: Kavia. The Elven nature of it all has me believe her ears are not naturally smooth.
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Document V
Document V
"Martyr."
I am aware that my last entry was something of a victory. An unplanned, yet useful addition to the group. I do not feel as if this is a victory, but I also do not feel as if this is a defeat. I feel an odd sense of pride. But I cannot allow Faust Sokolov to rejoin us.
To prepare myself, I watched the window of the Argýris sto Parelthón. It is an alchemy shop that I found by spending the entirety of last night studying a map of ███████, and focusing on the familiar name. When I arrived, I saw Faust Sokolov. But it was not the Faust Sokolov I knew. There was this genuine look of joy on him, something I've never even imagined on him. He didn't look sick. He wore an engagement ring, one that matched with the large man that stood near him.
I must admit that I have somewhat of a soft spot for Faust Sokolov. I paid for his self-care endeavors, I encouraged him to be true to himself, and I prayed that one day he would step away from all this violence. That he'd scratch his last Darkwald itch, and find a happy place to live out the rest of the days. And when I looked upon Faust, I saw that happiness. I saw the very thing I wanted. My friend, happy.
It is with a heavy heart that I admit, some people are better off without a purpose. I pray he does not follow me.
To prepare myself, I watched the window of the Argýris sto Parelthón. It is an alchemy shop that I found by spending the entirety of last night studying a map of ███████, and focusing on the familiar name. When I arrived, I saw Faust Sokolov. But it was not the Faust Sokolov I knew. There was this genuine look of joy on him, something I've never even imagined on him. He didn't look sick. He wore an engagement ring, one that matched with the large man that stood near him.
I must admit that I have somewhat of a soft spot for Faust Sokolov. I paid for his self-care endeavors, I encouraged him to be true to himself, and I prayed that one day he would step away from all this violence. That he'd scratch his last Darkwald itch, and find a happy place to live out the rest of the days. And when I looked upon Faust, I saw that happiness. I saw the very thing I wanted. My friend, happy.
It is with a heavy heart that I admit, some people are better off without a purpose. I pray he does not follow me.
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Document VI
"Acolyte."
In contrast to my last entry, some people can only truly function with a higher calling. I had heard rumors of a Silven mercenary around the roads that led out of Faust's city, with a manifesto all too similar to the members of the group. Fortunately, we did not have to travel far to find her.
Midway through the trip, we cut through a particularly thick set of forest. The sun was snuffed out by layers upon layers of leaves, whilst the continued rustling of forest animals masked the quiet steps of our pursuer.
All the rustling in the world couldn't mask the audible, "Oh, shit." Cal made when viewing Eleonora. Unlike me, she hadn't bothered with facial coverings and scales and whatnot, so Cal recognized her immediately. As if the very soul of Faust had been channeled through me in that moment, I said, "Language." And she recognized me too. A rookie mistake, but, to be fair, I was a rookie. And it could've been worse.
I've yet to explain to her that her father will not be joining us on this quest, but she seems keen to help us anyway. I must admit, it is good to have her with us. She seems to have grown much in the time we've been gone, and she's a better fighter than even Kavia. I expect her to be the one to ██████ ██████.
Midway through the trip, we cut through a particularly thick set of forest. The sun was snuffed out by layers upon layers of leaves, whilst the continued rustling of forest animals masked the quiet steps of our pursuer.
All the rustling in the world couldn't mask the audible, "Oh, shit." Cal made when viewing Eleonora. Unlike me, she hadn't bothered with facial coverings and scales and whatnot, so Cal recognized her immediately. As if the very soul of Faust had been channeled through me in that moment, I said, "Language." And she recognized me too. A rookie mistake, but, to be fair, I was a rookie. And it could've been worse.
I've yet to explain to her that her father will not be joining us on this quest, but she seems keen to help us anyway. I must admit, it is good to have her with us. She seems to have grown much in the time we've been gone, and she's a better fighter than even Kavia. I expect her to be the one to ██████ ██████.
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Document VII
"Elder."
Shane has let me use his desk to write this report. It is a necessary comfort, as to prevent me from attempting to strangle him. Out of all of the people I gathered, Shane Marth was by far the hardest to get a hold of. Not only did it require taking a boat to his backwater country, but he had squirreled himself off into the deepest wilds of the island as some kind of potato farmer.
Considering how quickly Shane agreed to join me, I will instead detail the trip it took to get here. We began at the docks, after having taken a significant amount of time on a boat. Eleonora, in an attempted comedic display of happiness about us touching down on land, grabs the nearby grass and eats it. We spend the rest of the trip dragging her, while she mumbles about a dancing bronze man.
I spend the next thirty minutes studying an almost bare map, as we interrogate Claith about the glowing eye in the forest. It's easy to know that's Shane, he's obvious in that way. Well, that and the fact the hermit was known to farm potatoes.
We spent the next three hours on the road. Leo fell asleep two hours in, which led to Kavia carrying her by wheelbarrow. She insists she really saw a dancing man, but Shane tells me it was probably the food poisoning. On the path, we had to maneuver past Regalians, travellers, and anyone who covered their face. Because who would cover their face on a road, aside from bandits?
We found Shane's hut three hours into the walk. I knocked. He opened the door, offered us potato stew, and immediately agreed when I offered to take him back to Regalia with us. Part of me thinks he missed the damn place after all. Not even sure he understood what the purpose was. I suppose it's nice to have him back. But I'm never going to let him live this down.
Considering how quickly Shane agreed to join me, I will instead detail the trip it took to get here. We began at the docks, after having taken a significant amount of time on a boat. Eleonora, in an attempted comedic display of happiness about us touching down on land, grabs the nearby grass and eats it. We spend the rest of the trip dragging her, while she mumbles about a dancing bronze man.
I spend the next thirty minutes studying an almost bare map, as we interrogate Claith about the glowing eye in the forest. It's easy to know that's Shane, he's obvious in that way. Well, that and the fact the hermit was known to farm potatoes.
We spent the next three hours on the road. Leo fell asleep two hours in, which led to Kavia carrying her by wheelbarrow. She insists she really saw a dancing man, but Shane tells me it was probably the food poisoning. On the path, we had to maneuver past Regalians, travellers, and anyone who covered their face. Because who would cover their face on a road, aside from bandits?
We found Shane's hut three hours into the walk. I knocked. He opened the door, offered us potato stew, and immediately agreed when I offered to take him back to Regalia with us. Part of me thinks he missed the damn place after all. Not even sure he understood what the purpose was. I suppose it's nice to have him back. But I'm never going to let him live this down.
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Document VIII
Document VIII
"Titan."
I believe this will be my last entry for a long while. This marks a new point, with the full formation of the Stygian Company and the joining of our final founding member. It's funny, now. Looking back, I said I wouldn't let these entries get sentimental, but it's impossible to approach this without bringing in my personal biases. Though when explaining it, I believe the humor's a bit lost.
I found Lathai sitting atop a hill, off in the Regalian countryside. The same hill we sat on before, with Wesley. He'd just married, and we were both set to do the same at some point. I remember promising them both we wouldn't let it separate us. It feels like that was a lifetime ago. Technically, for me, it was. But I can't relate too heavily to Lathai. The man will live centuries, after all.
The rest of the company had decided to stay back, though some vehemently argued to come along. The sun was dipping under the horizon now, and Lathai looked just about ready to leave. He'd definitely heard me coming. He said something, there, but I don't think the contents of his words mattered too much. There was this rough sense of pain in his tone, like he couldn't even believe any of this was real.
I placed a bottle of whiskey next to him. I bought it in the Willow. I wanted to grab something more familiar for him, but Lathai's sense of taste isn't his strongest point. He didn't ask for my purpose, nor did he ask for a reason for my return. I think he already knew.
I found Lathai sitting atop a hill, off in the Regalian countryside. The same hill we sat on before, with Wesley. He'd just married, and we were both set to do the same at some point. I remember promising them both we wouldn't let it separate us. It feels like that was a lifetime ago. Technically, for me, it was. But I can't relate too heavily to Lathai. The man will live centuries, after all.
The rest of the company had decided to stay back, though some vehemently argued to come along. The sun was dipping under the horizon now, and Lathai looked just about ready to leave. He'd definitely heard me coming. He said something, there, but I don't think the contents of his words mattered too much. There was this rough sense of pain in his tone, like he couldn't even believe any of this was real.
I placed a bottle of whiskey next to him. I bought it in the Willow. I wanted to grab something more familiar for him, but Lathai's sense of taste isn't his strongest point. He didn't ask for my purpose, nor did he ask for a reason for my return. I think he already knew.
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Document IX
Document IX
"Confirmation."
I rediscovered this log upon further investigation of my luggage with the re-establishment of ██████ ██████. Much has changed in the month I forgot about it, and much more will likely change.
The Titan has left; his spot as the rebellious is filled by his significant other. I am unaware if I have been soft to her out of her relations to him, or due to a simple desire to maintain an old pattern. If I can confirm the latter, perhaps I will be capable of finding a replacement in the Titan's forefather.
Elder remains strong. He is suffering through much hardship, most of which is a direct result of me dragging him back. His stubbornness will prove useful, given time. And now he reveals himself, for all his ancient corruption. He is an anchor to realism and normality, despite his mutated form. I often find myself forgetting my life before, yet as always, he remembers.
Acolyte is lost.
Martyr is on break.
Meltdown is lost.
I have gathered new faces to my cause, more than the ones listed here. A familiar operative works within laboratories, recording capabilities and spewing incantations about order and wisdom. A Blackmark man seems out of place, yet his capabilities are like glue to patrolling members. Two new Archbloods ride with us; both with ranged capabilities and struggling marriages. I am thankful for the return of my position, but I do not have time to dwell on it. So many have left me, and many more have joined me.
Yet, at my side remain the whip and the sword. The Justicar sits firmly upon his position as my right-hand, and at my left stands a new, Elvish face. I trust them; though the anxious thought of a coup remains ever heavy in my mind. I at least know Alcuin as a man of honor.
The beasts are beaten back. With the re-establishment of the ██████, the constructs we brought were able to give the Infection enough time to fight against the rift. The Lord Chancellor, ███████ ██ █ ████████. I have now avoided our primary enemy. Though, it is nice to see the city recover, if only somewhat. There is still much work to do.
And many more people to assemble.
The Titan has left; his spot as the rebellious is filled by his significant other. I am unaware if I have been soft to her out of her relations to him, or due to a simple desire to maintain an old pattern. If I can confirm the latter, perhaps I will be capable of finding a replacement in the Titan's forefather.
Elder remains strong. He is suffering through much hardship, most of which is a direct result of me dragging him back. His stubbornness will prove useful, given time. And now he reveals himself, for all his ancient corruption. He is an anchor to realism and normality, despite his mutated form. I often find myself forgetting my life before, yet as always, he remembers.
Acolyte is lost.
Martyr is on break.
Meltdown is lost.
I have gathered new faces to my cause, more than the ones listed here. A familiar operative works within laboratories, recording capabilities and spewing incantations about order and wisdom. A Blackmark man seems out of place, yet his capabilities are like glue to patrolling members. Two new Archbloods ride with us; both with ranged capabilities and struggling marriages. I am thankful for the return of my position, but I do not have time to dwell on it. So many have left me, and many more have joined me.
Yet, at my side remain the whip and the sword. The Justicar sits firmly upon his position as my right-hand, and at my left stands a new, Elvish face. I trust them; though the anxious thought of a coup remains ever heavy in my mind. I at least know Alcuin as a man of honor.
The beasts are beaten back. With the re-establishment of the ██████, the constructs we brought were able to give the Infection enough time to fight against the rift. The Lord Chancellor, ███████ ██ █ ████████. I have now avoided our primary enemy. Though, it is nice to see the city recover, if only somewhat. There is still much work to do.
And many more people to assemble.
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