Lynch’s Journal #152
With Seto dead the whirlwind beings to slow. Its howling battle cries begin to die down. As the massive white wolf paces just behind the vortex, the form of a person begins to take shape. As winds fade to nothing a man in thick furs stands before us.
From behind, Lithia ask the strange ally his name. Hobbling on one leg as Amon supports her, there is pain in her voice. Hopefully her leg is not as bad as it looks.
The man announces himself as Aeomere, a druid from the Tribe of Frozen Paths. Giving the large wolf a friendly scratch of appreciated, he calls the beast Fang. In my teaches from Nataku I had learned of those who could become one with the elements. This must be the case with this northerner.
As he begins his tale, Aeomere had needed reassurance we were not the Vecna cultists he had battled previously. Motioning to the plague masks strapped to both Princess Muun and Balasar’s belts, claiming they had worn those. But unlike them, we had not uses their explosive orbs. Hearing our conversation about the slain cultist of Orcus gave him no doubts that were not the enemy but possible allies with the same goals.
That last statement makes my blood boil. I can see it is Lithia’s eyes as well as she realizes what that meant. Before the sorceress can accuse him, I beat her to it, pointing at that Aeomere knew of the dragon and let us walk into the lair purposely.
Amon calls for us to calm down, reminding me that there was a time that I did not trust most people myself. I cannot argue against that. When I first arrived in Red Larch paranoia had myself in a firm grip when it came to anyone being a member of the Restless Hand.
With that fact I ask him to reveal his left arm to the shoulder blade. With our enemies out here it cannot hurt to be sure this is not some trap. But if there is the brand of my former guild, there will be no hesitation from any of us to kill Aeomere.
There is no argument from the druid as he removes his fur cloak and hide armor, revealing the entire upper body as proof that he can be trusted. Though still seething at being used as bait, I nod in satisfaction to Prince Frost.
Not being satisfied with how little we need to trust Aeomere, Lithia throws a fit of rage at her husband and myself. She claims that if he knew of the dangers here, what stops him from leading us into other he may know about?
Balasar finally speaks up, informing Lithia that all of his divine abilities to detect a foe were met with no resistance when cast. With that the princess takes a depth breath to release her frustrations.
Then Vax steps out of the darkness of a hallway, unscathed from the dragon.
Infuriated once again, the sorceress summons her rage and unleashes it upon the Champion of the Raven Queen. Sparks of magical energy flicker in her eyes. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Lithia demands to know why the rogue never aided us against Seto. As a spell takes shape in one hand, Princes Frost questions if maybe it is he who should it be trusted.
A fair point.
Vax is smart and dares not look up at his accuser. It is obvious he feels ashamed as he absently stares at the ground. Taking a deep breathe to steady himself, the elf admits that the aura of the dragon seeded fear deep within him that could not be overcome. Reluctantly, the elf admits that act of cowardice makes him question if he should even be the champion to his god.
Before Lithia can continue berating, Amon motions for her to stop as Vax walks out into the courtyard in silence. As the sound washes over us all, I begin to question if our ally is who he claims to be.
She turns her frustration back to Aeomere, demanding to know why he is out here by himself. The druid answers
that a vision of great evil in the northern glacier had came to the grand seer of his village. Seeking to eliminate any threats to the area, the chieftain sent their best warriors on the hunt to destroy it. Pointing to the fallen Orcus cultists, he mentions battling some of their ranks during his search.
With that the four of us are in agreement that his presence will be beneficial. Not only does the druid possess power but he will be a better guide through the frozen terrain than myself. If he proves to be as useful as he was against Seto, Aeomere will be an ally we will definitely need on our search for Brask, Tuskgutter and Lothric.
