The Ring
Nel had never felt fully at ease in the small shrine to Steyfano beside the Blind Beholder. Before accepting a shard of the god's soul, she had only come one to pray to him there. But these days and nights found her there several times a week.
It was about the size of a small house. It was neither as opulent as many of the North Ward temples, nor as homespun as the shrine to Eosphorous in the South Ward. Instead, it was an eclectic mix of things -- decorations and offerings from both the rich and poor. Emerald green curtains partitioned some of the space into private areas for prayer. Dice, cards, and other that rely on a mixture of chance and skill sat on the altar with some coins among them. Green glass beads, green stones, green thread all adorned the altar. A large green glass jar was filled with written requests, usually too oblique for anyone reading to make out exactly who was asking for what to anyone reading.
But every now and then someone was specific enough in their request that she could decipher it. And every now and then, when someone didn't realize she was sitting silently behind one of the curtains, they would pray out loud. And when that happened, sometimes she could answer the prayers for them.
So when Martin Meier, who had learned to read and write at the Warrens school when he was seventeen, prayed for freedom from the Syndicate, thinking that he was alone, she heard him from her hiding place behind her own curtain. She felt her heart sink that the Syndicate had got their hooks in him despite her best efforts -- but also determination to help him.
At nineteen now, Martin, a young half-orc, had a sweet wife, Agata -- another student at the Warrens school -- and a beautiful new baby at home. He must have been desperate to risk everything by even looking for an out from the Central Ward's part of the organization.
She cased their house, a small cottage in the Central Ward. Around 3:00 each day, Agata took the baby for a walk and picked up some food at the green grocer's for supper. She was usually back by 3:45 and Martin was usually home from work by 6.
It was no trouble to pick the lock to their backdoor, which faced the windowless wall separating the Central and South Wards. She slipped in and left a box on the kitchen table containing two hats of disguise, train tickets to rural eastern Patlov, where Agata's family lived, a small sack of gold for starting a new life, and an anonymous note urging them to take the gifts and go.
They left that night.
Weeks later an envelope came in the mail for Nel at the Adventurer's Guild. She opened it and found a letter and a ring. It read:
"Dear Nel,
Thank you for the kind and dangerous thing you did for us. We are safe and well. We hope you stay that way too. We know it was you who helped us because the baby was fussy the day you left gifts on our table and I came home early and saw you in our kitchen through the window.
When we told the story to my grandmother, she said she wanted you to have this in thanks for helping us get safely back to her and because if I could catch you, someone dangerous will someday too. It should help."
The handwriting was Agata's. The ring was a nondescript dark gray, like tarnished silver. It appeared too small for her, but fit perfectly when she slid it over her digit on her right paw. It tingled and she concentrated on the now-familiar feeling of magic washing over her. Once she and the ring became attuned to each other, she looked around, not sure what exactly the ring had done.
She got up and walked to a mirror, puzzled that the guild members she passed in her hall didn't respond to her nods of greeting. She figured that they must have had something on their minds.
But when she got to the mirror, she did not appear in it. It reflected everyone and everything else around it, but not her -- not even when she reached out and touched it.
She was invisible!
She drew a quick breath and rushed over to an empty room where she could take the ring off without startling anyone.
This would, she realized, make her efforts to answer prayers for Steyfano much safer and easier.
Nel's Journal Ordered oldest to newest
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Warmth
25 Jan 2023 06:40:04
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Spark
28 Jan 2023 07:45:46
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Broken
01 Feb 2023 05:45:25
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Magic berries and numbered days
02 Apr 2023 03:23:18
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Something Borrowed
09 Apr 2023 04:13:35
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Ghosts
23 Apr 2023 06:01:46
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A Small Revolution
27 Apr 2023 06:10:46
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Moving Day
13 May 2023 07:34:00
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Safe
19 May 2023 01:26:05
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Candlelight
12 Jun 2023 03:33:42
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A life that is mine
12 Jul 2023 02:22:20
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Things Taken
07 Sep 2023 06:05:00
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Left a mark
10 Dec 2023 07:04:14
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Tiny Revolutions
18 Jan 2024 07:53:11
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Least bad choice
19 Feb 2024 05:19:27
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Best of all possible worlds
01 Mar 2024 11:31:23
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Wasteland, Baby
29 Apr 2024 10:19:05
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A hope reversed
19 May 2024 04:39:01
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I am Overcome
16 Jun 2024 07:57:43
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Outclassed
15 Sep 2024 07:20:18
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Thanatos
04 Oct 2024 05:47:50
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Long Lost
29 Oct 2024 05:40:21
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The Ring
14 Apr 2025 07:08:14
25 Jan 2023 06:40:04
28 Jan 2023 07:45:46
01 Feb 2023 05:45:25
02 Apr 2023 03:23:18
09 Apr 2023 04:13:35
23 Apr 2023 06:01:46
27 Apr 2023 06:10:46
13 May 2023 07:34:00
19 May 2023 01:26:05
12 Jun 2023 03:33:42
12 Jul 2023 02:22:20
07 Sep 2023 06:05:00
10 Dec 2023 07:04:14
18 Jan 2024 07:53:11
19 Feb 2024 05:19:27
01 Mar 2024 11:31:23
29 Apr 2024 10:19:05
19 May 2024 04:39:01
16 Jun 2024 07:57:43
15 Sep 2024 07:20:18
04 Oct 2024 05:47:50
29 Oct 2024 05:40:21
14 Apr 2025 07:08:14
The major events and journals in Nel's history, from the beginning to today.
The Ring
Nel had never felt fully at ease in the small shrine to Steyfano beside the Blind Beholder. Before accepting a shard of the god's soul, she had only come one to pray to him there. But these days and nights found her there several times a week. It was...
09:23 pm - 14.04.2025The Journal Entry’s title
Nel had never felt fully at ease in the small shrine to Steyfano beside the Blind Beholder. Before accepting a shard of the god's soul, she had only come one to pray to him there. But these days and nights found her there several times a week. It was...
09:22 pm - 14.04.2025Long Lost
Nel sat in Aaboli’s home, surrounded by the elders of her people. She had dreamed of having her extended family, her people, back for 30 years. And now that she had them, she found her heart predictably full, but also surprisingly lonely. Most of...
05:42 am - 29.10.2024Thanatos
.Nel opened her eyes from the now-familiar blackness of death and saw a dark sky, lit by an enormous, dim, red star that gave the ever-rising smoke and haze a faint red glow. She hadn’t felt cold since becoming undead, but the rubble she was lying on...
06:07 am - 04.10.2024Outclassed
Professor Sir Sedgwick Ivers paced around the room, lecturing passionately about the importance and complexity of taxes. He climbed the stairs to the lectern, standing on the raised platform that put him a sold three feet taller than he stood on the floo...
07:24 am - 15.09.2024I am Overcome
CW: prejudice, bad thing happening to children, abuse, slavery Soundtrack: "I am Overcome" by Live Nel had never thought she would ever see another ursan from her homeland ever again until one of them threw a femur through a portal into her kitche...
08:09 am - 16.06.2024I am Overcome
CW: prejudice, bad thing happening to children, abuse, slavery Soundtrack: "I am Overcome" by Live Nel had never thought she would ever see another ursan from her homeland ever again until one of them threw a femur through a portal into her kitche...
08:04 am - 16.06.2024A hope reversed
Content Warnings: grief, abuse, bad things happening to children. (Soundtrack in my head d as I write this one: "Fix You" by Coldplay) After the fire...after the factory went up in flames and too many machines blocked too many doors...after a...
06:15 am - 19.05.2024A hope reversed
Content Warnings: grief, abuse, bad things happening to children. (Soundtrack in my head d as I write this one: "Fix You" by Coldplay) After the fire...after the factory went up in flames and too many machines blocked too many doors...after a...
06:10 am - 19.05.2024A hope reversed
Content Warnings: grief, abuse, bad things happening to children. (Soundtrack in my head d as I write this one: "Fix You" by Coldplay) After the fire...after the factory went up in flames and too many machines blocked too many doors...after a...
06:07 am - 19.05.2024A hope reversed
Content Warnings: grief, abuse, bad things happening to children. (Soundtrack in my head d as I write this one: "Fix You" by Coldplay) After the fire...after the factory went up in flames and too many machines blocked too many doors...after a...
06:03 am - 19.05.2024Wasteland, Baby
It was supposed to be fun. An exciting tournament, no death on the line, in a new, beautiful place. Nel had strategized about how to stay in the shady part of the arena for the fight so that she could still see. Her opponent was a good sort. Then th...
10:37 pm - 29.04.2024Magic Berries and Numbered Days Saturday night Nel hurries to the Wayward Traveller after her deliveries, potion and magical berries in her pockets. She supplements the healer, giving the fighters berries to help them after each fight. She does her best to stay out of Marlene's way, but polar bears stand out in crowd. Marlene doesn't look happy that she's healed already. "Magic berries, huh? Cute. Let's see if you learned your lesson or I need to repeat it. You're subbing in the next fight." Nel knows better than to argue, setting her coat with its pockets full of berries and potions in the fighters' back room and comes back in time to step in to the ring. She is still stiff and sore, tired of hurting and being hurt, but she takes a breath, focusing on paying the rent and feeding the kids as she shakes her opponent's hand and squares off. She fights hard, in the moment, but each blow she gives and takes connecting to something else. Her left hook is a reminder of the money she's saving to help Gertrud apply to the Artificer's Guild. She takes an uppercut to the jaw but doesn't let it knock her down, remembering protecting Khemma when they were young in Ruskovich, how she couldn't fold, had to outlast the bullies. She lets lose a flurry of blows, imagining her opponent as Marlene and knowing she has to stay alive if she wants to get free. Her final blow is another punch with her left hand as she imagines wielding the Left Blade of Eosphorus against the Syndicate. The bugbear she's fighting goes down. She's breathing hard and heavy, not noticing the blood running down her face, except to wipe it out of her eyes. She catches Marlene's smile -- smug and triumphant-- and looks a away, running back to the bugbear and hand them several berries once the healer restores them to consciousness. Marlene comes over pats her cheek lightly, a gesture that would almost be affectionate if it weren't dripping with condescension. "Knew you just needed a little motivation. You've never been smart enough to chase the carrot, but the stick always works." Nel nods and looks down, a picture of submissiveness, but there is a fire growing inside of her and her left hand twitches, as if aching for a blade to strike a blow for Eosphorus. She promises herself that these days are numbered, and feels strength instead of shame.
03:22 am - 02.04.2023Broken
Wake up. Eat a too small meal of moldy bread or porridge. Break rocks until bones ached, muscles ripped, hands bled, hunger gnawed and thirst burned. Endure. Keep working. Keep an eye on the more sadistic prison guards and fellow prisoners. Protect ...
05:44 pm - 01.02.2023Spark
In the Warrens there is a small shop that sells produce that is close to turning. It's a ramshackle building that never smells quite fresh, but it's been cheerfully painted in brightly colored images of fruits and vegetables. The owner buys the items ch...
07:45 am - 28.01.2023Warmth
Nel came home Tuesday night with the food from the next day from the market. She did her best to take as little from the Syndicate for the school as possible, give them as little reason to interfere as possible. She knew they didn't need a reason, not r...
06:26 am - 25.01.2023The list of amazing people following the adventures of Nel.
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