Throwback Post - A Confession of Fear

This excerpt is from my Play-by-post campaign May 29, 2014

The party was on the world of Nehwon, preparing to set sail for the Jungles of Klesh to confront a creature known as the Devourer. This creature was essentially a sentient Sphere of Annihilation that had been imprisoned by the gods for trying to destroy the world ages ago. The group had come to believe that the Devourer was slowly consuming the life and magical energy of the world and that, eventually, there would be nothing left but a dead husk of a planet. Raven was worried that the group wouldn't be able to handle a threat of this magnitude. This post is from the night before the group was to set sail.

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Shadow and Sai both take full advantage of the brothel’s services. Cedron arrives a short while later, requesting only a bath which the ladies are quick to provide.  Raven steps into his room and closes the door behind him. He takes a seat on a small bench beside the window and looks outside. Below he sees Maya heading over to the nearby tavern, Frostfrizzle leave the bar and wander off on his own. He even notices Knives climbing the stairs to the pleasure house as the door opens and closes softly behind him. The elf doesn’t even turn to face the woman who has entered the room but asks her to sit.  He hears the blankets piled atop the mattress rustle. “My companions think that I need relief from my worries and that you, or at least this establishment, will be able to provide that. What I seek is confession.”

The woman replies, “Then you need a priest, not a whore.”

Raven pauses, “I think not. I am personal friends with a God who would happily listen to my troubles. But, to me, it doesn’t seem right to burden Him with my problems. You, on the other hand, are being paid for a service. Not the service you expected to provide but still a service and I only ask that you listen. Not advise, not counsel, just sit there with your teeth together and knees shut and listen. You will not repeat what I am about to tell you to anyone. Do you understand?”

The elf takes the woman’s silence as a yes and begins speaking. He talks about the death of his father and his subsequent adoption by the Riders of Mistledale. He explains that for the last thirteen years that he has been on the road constantly, surrounded by men, woman and monsters that he has slain, his duel with the death god Erlik and the mercy killing of the lobotomized goblin-like creature from the tower at Earth’s End. “I am good, very good, at killing things but what we face now is something older than the gods, something that they weren’t able to slay.  All I have are these two blades and a bow taken from the body of one ally I failed to protect. Close to twenty men and women whom I count as close friends are relying on me to get them home safe yet I am leading them into a battle against a foe that is literally unkillable while the fate of this world and perhaps many more hang in the balance. That is my problem. Those are the thoughts that keep me awake at night.” Raven rises to his feet and turns, still not looking at the whore. “Do you have loved ones?” he asks her. 

“No.” she replies, a touch of sadness in her voice.

“Find someone to be close to, someone to share your heart with and comfort you in the coming days. I do not know if we will find the Devourer when we enter the mountains beyond the city wall or if we will face our final reckoning in the south but it will be soon and I am not yet ready.” Raven drops a small pouch of coins on the bench before turning and walking quietly out the door.