Dwa 34th, 4288: 23 Days in the mortal realm

Here it is, a few days later and I sit in our makeshift camp, thankful to be out of Sardik's Dukedom. We even managed to stay out of trouble over the extra day and a half we spent there. When I would go out, I made sure to avoid the slum district. Knowing what evil laid there, it wasn’t worth getting close. Let alone, what happened there had only added to my nervousness knowing that beings out of our control were walking around marked. I don't know what Heironious and Erythnul had planned, but their army of mindless followers was growing.

Despite the chaos that arose from saving Rekka from her kidnappers, I went out anyways to find me some kind of disguise. I was beginning to find it bothersome how iconic I looked, how clear it was I was a fallen Angelic. So I asked around in the various shops, seeing if there was something that could hide my wings and give me the look of life and not so... pale. I was directed to a shop that had a Circlet of Glimmered Alteration. The circlet had the power to disguise and alter myself! I felt so much more normal seeing that I could hide my wings completely. As I looked in the mirror, the image of how I use to look came to view. I felt my long hair and touched my darken skin. How real it looked and what comfort it gave to not feel so... unusual. I then went out and shopped for an outfit that resembled my former life. It was difficult to say the least considering a couple centuries have gone by and the styles have changed a bit since. But I did find something that felt familiar: a red shirt that I wrapped a sheep skin around secured with a belt. Then a pair tan jeans and knee high leather boots.

After gathering those things, I headed back to the Inn to wait out the day. My plan was to not create any trouble. I already was walking a thin line. I didn't know how long it'd take to hear the verdict from the Court of the Gods. Was I to be set free, imprisoned, or quite possibly receive the same fate as Cleric Rob?

As I hung out in the room, Rekka suddenly walked in.

“I am not staying in this city one more-” Rekka said in a huff, but stopped, her eyes wide with confusion when she looked at me, “Who are you!?” For a moment I had forgotten about my disguise.

“It’s me, Araja,” I said as I quickly shifted to my true form then back again to my disguise. Rekka took a moment to let what she saw sink in.

“I like your new look better.”

“Me too,” I responded with a smile. The smile was partly for scaring her for a moment, but mostly for my disguise being well received.

“Well, like I was saying, I’m getting out of here. This whole city’s crazy! No thanks to our party either,” Rekka went to gather her few items in the room that she had left behind, “You coming?” she offered.

“As much as I’d like to, considering past events here, I’m under obligation to stay. Of all we've done, of all I've done, I plan on this being something I do right. Ditching town while my verdict is still pending wouldn't be right,” I responded, my eyes longing to go with. Rekka looked at me, probably sensing my desire to get going too. “So where do you plan to go. I haven’t a clue where everyone else is at the moment. You’d be on your own if this is you parting ways,” I added.

“No, I just don’t want to be in this city anymore. I’ll head out to the encampment just outside town where our wagon is. I’ll be sure to make it ready for us to get going once you all can catch up,” Rekka replied. If there was anything I found admiring about her, it was the sheer common sense she had. She always seemed prepared and made appropriate preparations for our travels. I on the other hand had to keep reminding myself I needed to eat.

Rekka pulled something off her necklace as she got ready to leave the room. She then handed me a red gem.

“What’s this?”

“This way we can communicate one with another,” and with that Rekka was out the door of the room.

I laid down on the bed. Looking at the ceiling was quite boring, but I was most confident it was a sure way to keep me from running into trouble.

About a half an hour later, as my mind began to wander onto the possible outcome of my verdict, I clearly heard Rekka’s voice saying, “I’m going to the Nobles Court.” I was slightly confused by her change of plans, but figured she quite possible forgot to get something. Almost as soon as I had thought that I heard her voice sound again instructing me to meet her there. I let out a little sigh. Here was hoping nothing crazy came about whatever it was we were to be doing in the Nobel Court.

I found Rekka waiting for me at the entrance to the court. I don’t know how she got it or how long she was wearing it, but it became very apparent how fine her dress was. With the nobles walking about, she seemed to fit right in.

“So, I have one errand I need to run,” Rekka began to explain to me as we walked in. She seemed nervous and was avoiding my eyes, “If a commotion were to occur... I would suggest you begin to leave this court.”

I looked at her perplexed.

“Okay, seriously. What’s going on?”

Rekka stared at the ground, lips pierced. There was obviously something she was trying to avoid telling me.

“The Thieves Guild is after me. They won’t let me leave until I complete this one errand for them,” she reluctantly confessed. From how she looked, I felt she really was caught between and rock and a hard place. It seemed clear now why she was wanting to get out of town so soon. I didn’t think it smart of her to go through with this errand, but I knew I should feel somewhat relieved she even explained what was going on..

“Well,” I inhaled, “best of luck. Make it quick.” Hopefully whatever came of her errand wasn't bad. But hey, I didn't press further on it, so I forced myself to not ponder about it.

Rekka seemed... almost surprised by my response, but I couldn’t be sure for she did take off within the second I wished her luck. With the sudden solitude, I figured I’d take advantage of the nicer marketplace and look for a few more items. I was able to find bracers that made me more agile and better boots that left me move faster and jump a little higher. I also got some potions of Truth and Glibness.

After 30 minutes of shopping, I decided to duck into a tavern to get something to eat since I had the time I hadn’t heard anything from Rekka since her departure. While drinking some water, I then got an idea to go find a cup since if ever I needed to trick someone into drinking a potion of truth, it might be far more believable to do such a trick if I had a cup to pour it in.

Another half hour goes by, and I’ve acquired a simple tin cup for my purposes. I wandered a few more minutes when I heard Rekka communicate to me.

“The job’s bloody done.”

“Bloody?” I responded.

"I had to skin some rabbits. Very random, but the job’s ‘bloody’ done. I’m headed back to the Inn,” Rekka explained. I chose to head out too since she was done.

We met up with the others back at the Inn. There was a shock for a moment when everyone saw me. Rekka vouched for me, Isaac and Billy also confirming. Somehow they could see through the disguise. I still gave everyone a quick glimpse of my true form to eliminate any doubt. And the rest of that day was spent without trouble.

This morning we received 'good' news. Our party was aroused to find that we had a group of Clerics waiting to meet with us. As I came downstairs with everyone else, I could see they were less than thrilled to see us. Caleb and Garis were in the crowd. However with the lack of Paladins, there was hope that I was off the hook or perhaps they had a different matter to discuss with us. They were cordia. They knew we hadn’t been of much help since arriving in the city. The only highlight of our stay was our assistance in killing Pendral. However with the werewolf and marked situation that seemed to have been a direct result of our being there, they were struggling to get a semblance of order back. Sardik had gone missing. A thought jumped into mind as they mentioned Sardik's disappearance. He was a werewolf. If he had gone to the slums to establish order... he could very well had been ‘cured’ of his lycanthropy...

Caleb and Garis looked to me, Caleb saying I was free to go. They had bigger issues to deal with. Garis tagged on that they believed that it wasn't intentional what became of Cleric Rob, though all the Clerics there were still bothered by his death. I kept my face impassive though I could feel my face flushed with the joy of not being condemned for an unfortunate mistake. They added on that I wasn't welcomed back. That stung, but I really had no reason to want to come back to Sardik's Dukedom. Too many awful memories made.

Garis and Caleb then asked if we would get going. They didn't want us to help any more than we had. From the sounds of it, folk have been wanting to seek our help, but the Clerics were quick to shut them down. They were desperately trying to regaining order and felt our absence would make that easier. Isaac told them that we'd be out within the hour.

We met back upstairs as a party for a meeting. We discussed how we hadn’t any leverage on the werewolf problem. There might be a problem at hand with the sheer amount of werewlves, but I felt it best to go to the Dwarven Kingdom. Maybe we could gain more allies if this turned into a war. Rekka and Gideon were all for that too. Isaac however wanted to pursue Duke Lupik and deal with the werewolf problem, So did Cortanna and, well, Billy automatically sided with Isaac. Jessica remained neutral.

Isaac then took a moment to discuss with me his idea of how to go about Lupik. Instead of going to Lupik guns a blazing (whatever guns were) that we could spy and catch Lupik in the act of evil and take it to the King the evidence needed to hopefully shut him down. It was clear and concise. I felt that was a very practical idea and considering how rampant the werewolf problem was seeming to get just in Sardik’s Dukedom, it was a brilliant plan to hopefully tackle the issue without coming off as a threat.