Going to the Gonquin

The events following the unfortunate Goodshore encounter were supposed to be private. This meant that immediately after returning to Dwindlefyre, I pushed through the busy shoppe, navigating my way through the secret entrance to my room and disappearing to the comfort of my bed. Whether it was a byproduct of Tahvin-Trauma, as I have decided to call it, or because I was horribly heartbroken by the current state of events, I needed some time to myself. Specifically, I needed time to open the floodgate of emotion and sob as though I had just lost the most important people in the world to me for the second time in my life.

Before the Tahvinstead mission, while the mental dam still blocked many of my memories, I wasn’t as sensitive towards things. Sure, I still felt emotions and had moments where I needed to cry, but since that particular quest, I couldn’t help but find myself consistently teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown. It wasn't a great feeling, making me miss the months when I had gone through life as a fragmented shell of my former self. But even I could recognize the benefits of having these conflicting mental states living rent-free in my mind. They gave me two unique and recent perspectives to draw on when trying to understand what I was feeling.

As such, I had begun to realize over the last few weeks of dealing with these traumas that my mind was currently a work in progress. While hard to confront, especially alone, being able to process trauma through a mindfulness or combative behavioural therapy was definitely helping me heal in ways I never knew possible. In fact, I now figured that I'd be able to work through the memories better than Tahvin ever could.

So long as I could heal in my own time without being interrupted...

"Aww, is the little baby doing a cry?" Phyllis's condescending voice infiltrated my mind. "Looking to soak the pillow without the hole in it today?"

"Ph-Phyllis!" I yelled into the pillow between sobs. "Fug off! Leave me alone!"

"Why? Your tears are so delectable that I want to bottle them up and sell them for five gold an ounce. Virginal tears come at a premium, you know?"

"Screw you!"

"You want to screw me? But if you did that, those tears of yours wouldn't be nearly as valuable! Come on, I'll buy them off you. Let's say, one gold per ounce?"

Sitting up, I took the pillow I had been crying into and threw it across the room. I watched as it smashed against my fantasy bookshelf, toppling to the floor both the stolen school tomes and knockoff Phyllis-generated World Eighty-Two stories. Even though I knew the lich was in my mind and not the room, I still looked for her.

"Get out, Phyllis! I blame you for all of this!"

"Me? What did I do? I'm not the shut-in from another world. I'm the shut-in in this world! I didn't do shit!"

"You-You—"

"Me! Me! Come on, Izzy baby, stammer my name. You know how much it turns me on."

"Phyllis!"

"Ishara! Tahvin! Daddy!"

"Leave!"

"Fine!"

With that, the door to the bathroom slid open, revealing the lich who had been hiding away in my shower. She took quick steps, crossing the room and grabbing hold of the tossed pillow before fleeing out the opposite door to her shoppe.

"Just going to take this and juice those tears out," Phyllis remarked as she exited. "Five gold is five gold!"

"Phyllis!" I screamed in reply, grabbing the second pillow that had fallen from my mattress and throwing it at the door as it closed.

As it hit with a feathery thud, the exterior door opened slightly. Through the crack slipped a wrinkly hand that reached back in to grab the second pillow.

"I'll take the lust-soaked one too." She grumbled. "For personal reasons."

"Phyllis! Give me back my pillows!"

The door slammed once more, leaving only the sound of descending footsteps and maniacal cackles. Growling in frustration, I threw myself back into the bed and yelled until my voice ran out. With no pillows to cry into and an angry knot firmly settled in my chest, I slowly realized that my crying was done.

Sitting up, I stared at the mess of tomes while debating whether or not I wanted to clean them up. Ultimately deciding against it, I reached into the clothing storage beneath my bed and withdrew the various attire I had acquired over the last few months. Shoving the clothes into my bag, I exited the room with a slam of my door as I moved off to make good on my promise to go to Fearnechella.

With heavy steps, I raced down the stairs and exited to the store. Since there was no easy teleportation to Fearnemyst, I decided to swing by the single-use specialty mount department, where I knew a flash sale was coming to an end soon. Being an employee, I had insider knowledge that unused magical mount crystals had been abundant ever since the emergence of the Magosdromes. Because of that, Phyllis was looking to sell quickly to lower inventory. 

Curious about what was left in stock, I searched through the barrel of crystals. Eventually, I plucked out the four Esserian Condors going for criminally low prices. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, I rushed over to the nearest cash wrap before the sale could suddenly end. After ringing in the purchase myself and applying my employee discount, I was able to snag the twenty-thousand gold worth of product for two thousand.

Phyllis’s Phiner Phylactery. I thought, examining the deal I had scored. She’ll fleece you, but occasionally, you’ll hit the jackpot.

Packaging up the remaining three magical crystals and placing them behind the counter, I left a note in the store's system to deliver them to the triop as soon as they came through the Magosdromes. I may have been high on copium at the hope that they would decide to join me, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Then, shoving the final crystal into my bag and withdrawing my recently purchased magical staff, I marched forward through the Ter’aquit portal.

By this point, I’d travelled to this particular city more than a couple of times. Being one of the better places to buy clothing, I had wandered these streets to purchase my regionally inconspicuous wardrobes. After all, as much as I loved my Phyllis Brand basketball shorts and Henleys, they made me stick out like a sore thumb around the linen shirts, buckskin breeches, and throbes.

Passing through the city this time, I had decided to take a new route. I moved beyond the tannery and dyeworks, travelling down a series of side alleyways that took me nearest the southern docks. Going out of my way, I stopped by a small, nondescript side passage and stared down at its dimly lit dead end. While nothing was happening now, according to Phyllis, almost six months ago, the heroic triop of my story was lured into a hostile demi-plane by an Anak’hati Inquisitor. A disagreement on how to handle things led to a few of the hostages being killed, thus creating a schism between the members. 

This nondescript alley, one that housed a threat that was never a part of my story, may have very well been the thing that upended the fate of this world.

"Fug." I quietly cursed, running my hand along the rough, stucco walls. "What could have made them want to come back here that night? How did Anak'hati know to find them so fast?"

Unsure as to what I was going to do to fix the state of things, I stood there for a short while. I had no idea what I had done to change the story so drastically in the first place, and the more I thought about it, the more I feared that any interaction with the heroes or Moal'aw would only worsen the situation. So, after a period of self-deprecating thoughts, I pushed the idea of fixing their story out of my mind before continuing my march through the city and towards the outskirts of town. 

As I walked along busy streets, eying people going about their lives with no concept of the atrocities to come in the next few years, my mind raced with thoughts. Thoughts of casting aside my passive role now that the heroes were no more. Reminding myself that I had already gotten into a fight with Fliants well before they were supposed to be a problem, meaning that there was more going on in the world than simply the changes to the Moal'aw. I wondered if I could afford to stand idly by as the end drew closer.

But then again, based on the timeline I knew, the Fliants had allegedly appeared around the same moment I had. Because of that, there was no way of telling if their appearance had been a coincidence or was also my fault. And if it had been because of me, was that just more reason for me to stay out of the way? After all, a time traveller and an oracle had both already reached out to tell me that just being here had upset the balance of the world. And if the old gods caught my scent and discovered my secret, there was no predicting what they would do to me or the world. That was one fight I did not want to take on.

These thoughts consumed my mind as I sauntered my way through Ter'aquit. Eventually, leaving the last of the outskirt farming huts at the edge of the city behind me, I withdrew the mount crystal I had purchased. Channelling a pulse of magic into it, I watched as flashes of light erupted from within its crystalline surface before tossing it to the ground before me. A glowing liquid silver poured from the stone, immediately shaping itself into a huge bird. The creature itself was the size of a sports car with the wingspan of a bus. Its entire form appeared to be made of aluminum, making its massive avian form stick out amongst the drab colours of the landscape. Luckily, I wouldn't be travelling on the ground where beasts and bandits could easily pick me off. At the speed and altitude I would be flying, nothing would bother this reflective beast.

Climbing into the saddle that had appeared on the creature's back, I strapped myself in. I took hold of the reins, gripping them firmly before kicking my heels back into the magical beast and holding on for dear life. Three flaps of the creature's enormous wings were all it took for us to be well into the air and beginning our corkscrewing upwards. With a gentle tug, I directed the massive mount towards the cliffs just beyond Ter’aquit, where we caught an updraft that lifted us high into the sky. Eventually reaching an optimal cruising altitude, we began our journey north to Fearnemyst.

The trip as the condor flies was much faster than by horse and road. Instead of taking days of travel with numerous threats to be concerned by, I had begun my journey as the morning sun crested the horizon and by midafternoon was landing in the central courtyard of the Gonquin Garrison. After touching down, having reached my destination, the condor disappeared with a flash of light and a dying shriek. This, of course, just added to my bad luck with people telling me to shut up in this establishment.

"Shut up that terrible shriek!" Someone cried out.

"We're trying to enjoy lunch!" Another added.

"You can't park your bird there, bud!" Someone else joined in.

With a sigh, I shielded my face and exited the courtyard towards the hotel lobby. It was still five days until Fearnechella, but judging by the numerous people filling the space, the hotel was already nearing capacity. Dozens of people moved around atop the marble floors, lounged on velvet couches and enjoyed tapas with their drinks. I caught sight of large entourages as they moved together, the crowd centred around single figures that I could only imagine were famous bards set to play in the coming days.

"Hello," A delightful voice spoke as I approached the front desk. "Looking for a room?"

"Actually," I replied, focusing on the freckled groundling who barely peeked over the counter at me. "I'm looking for the Lords Chamber Package."

"The L-C-P? Hmm, let me see if we have any more wings available."

Oh shit, I never expected that it would be booked already, but of course it would. I mean, these packages are meant for entourages like—

"Oh, it looks like you're in luck. We had a last-minute cancellation and have one package left. Are you planning on staying through the festival?"

"Uh, yes."

"Ah, wonderful. For the ten days, five leading up to and the five of the concert, that will be five thousand gold. How would you like to—"

"F-Five thousand?" I gasped. "The last time we were here, it was a hundred a day."

"I'm guessing you came in the off-season." She replied, her eyes narrowing as she looked down into the tome she had in her hands. "If you want, we do have regular rooms for—"

"No-no, it's okay." I sighed, reaching into my bag and withdrawing one of the diamonds Phyllis had paid out to me. "Can I pay in diamonds?"

"Of course, sir, please allow me to grab an on-site jeweller to verify."

After a short wait, watching more people begin to filter into the lobby, the woman returned and handed me my key. At my request, I had her put aside three additional keys and left the names of my companions. Finally, with all the paperwork signed and nothing left to do, I escaped to my private wing of the hotel, debating whether the cost had been truly worth it, before crashing into the same bed I had taken the last time we had stayed. My body, exhausted from the emotional toll of the last day, began to drift off.

I hope they show up. I thought as sleep took me.