Journal #40: The Lost's One's Save Christmas; what's Christmas again?

Dream or not, it’s difficult to be certain as to what happened.
 
Again I have found myself alone on the upper deck of the airship, with a letter and ring in hand, I feel different. I guess I needed somebody to snap me out of this melancholy mood. Never did I once believe that I would see this ring again, I thought I had left it behind with her. I still remember the hassle I had to go through to get the ring made, I think the most annoying part having to convince a wizard to enchant the diamond a teal green color, annoying but worth it in the end. A color she loved.
 
Without me knowing it, I really needed that letter. Still helping me even after I’m moving on and she’s long since dead. At least it provided
much need closer, for all three of them.
 
Funny, I’m really not sure what I’m gonna do with this for now. I know the answer is rather obvious what you would do with a ring like this but not yet. What I mean to say is I am not sure where to place it; I do not wish to put it in a bag of holding, and I do not believe I should or could wear it. I might just keep it in on a necklace and keep it under my shirt. Placing it in a ring box and keeping it in my pocket would be the easiest, but then it would be liable for theft. I’ll have to think on it further. The ring and the letter are from my late wife, a gift from our latest misadventure. Which started is the most peculiar way.
 
In one of those inky black rooms where dreams seem empty and devoid of imagination. I wasn’t alone. An elven child who looked at me with bright golden eyes. Silver locks of straight hair covered one of those eyes, her pale skin only made what color she had more prominent. Unlike normal elves, her ears were not as long nor were they as pointed, as was her face which was round. Features if I recall are common in younger elves. Even at a glance, it was obvious at whose child this was. At first what I thought would have been a pleasant dream, turned sour.
 
The child spoke and any illusion of this being a real dream pasted. A witch of ‘unknown’ origins has started messing with time. Disrupting some event called Christmas, this witch has taken some of the key figures from this event. The Silver Haired child asked if I could help. Which was unfair to ask, especially from this girl. I agreed knowing that this could only lead to bad things.
Ashlyn, Licia, Cid and I were the only ones to be awoken in a candy-coated nightmare. After a quick recap of Dream Children and The Witch, who we all believed to be Pin, we glanced at our surrounding. A thick forest surrounded us but was not the apparent problem that lay before us. A single brown house with pure white shingles, The glass was colorful and thin, but the room inside hidden from our view. The whole house looked warm and cozy a bit too perfect for a witch who stole Christmas to live in. It even seemed delicious, a fact Cid wanted to test. He addictively began chewing on anything he could touch. Even with a simple spell changing the taste of salt and metal. This newly added taste didn’t perturb him in the slightest, but we decided to press on into gingerbread house. Even if this Witch might be evil, you have to give them credit where credit is due, the construction of this place would kill a person's sweet tooth. Possibly all their teeth as well.
 
Ashlyn, like all times before spoke softly to the door to get it to open. By that I mean, she cut the door down with her adamantine scythe. The inside was just as sickly sweet as the inside, the soft round eyes of children were gazing. Those children offered us cookies and spoke about a mother. One they very much did not want to get on their bad side. Ignoring the children since I am sure Ashlyn would have dealt with that, the candy coating stopped at the stairs. A dungeon that to rival a drow torture chamber lay just beneath the ground floor. With a large hole that leads down, a place where the kids said there “Mother” had thrown other naughty children. Licia and I choose to go down and Cid attempt to force himself to stop eating.
 
What happened next was a strange combination of finding reindeer one with a nose so red you’d think it would be glowing. Turn out I could speak to those creatures, perhaps another side effect of this new arcane power. With riddling snowmen and other strange puzzles that had been placed, we started collecting present, A rather large turkey named Dreadwing, more captured kids, an icy moose thing and several other strange things. Oh, how could I forget the gingerbread dragon with all his gumdrop buttons. He held the remaining of our traveling companions, which was all women. I say this because Ashlyn who tried to be a diplomat so the dragon would not eat us, which negotiation broke down when the gingerbread dragon took interest ‘Special’ interest in Mery. After saying we’d free them, dragon and their broodling include when we took down the Witch who stole Christmas. Rounding off the strange cavern we found sleeping families. Ashlyn’s family, who were carefully placed in a slay, and mine Celu and Nivinle. We also meet with a white-haired boy named Jack Frost who was in the room with my familial connections. He was more of a prick than I originally thought. Thought that might have been a pang of jealous. Huh, jealousy that new, I’ve never really dealt that emotion before. I mean I know what jealousy is but never over another person. We gave him what was stolen from him, that Icy Moose and another thing which I forgot. Slugging the deer and the slay, with all over our sleeping friends my sister included, in over to the reef and ordainments over to the “old man’s” portal. Jack Frost mentioned that the Witch was.
 
The workshop was easily the stranger place this dreamscape gave us. Mostly the build which smelled of sugar cookies and pine. Not unpleasant to the nose but the first time you feel it enter your nose, it’s rather strong. The center of the workshop, if that was indeed what this place was meant to be since no tools or trinket that indicated a toy maker lived here. Besides the mounds of toys littered throughout the build. Trees sprinkled throughout, speaking of trees. Whisperbreath had disguised herself one while hiding in another room. I have to admit it fooled me, but once Licia revealed it was Whisperbreath I took full advantage. I swung at the false tree a handful of time make sure Silver really got to embed into the “trunk” I might have had some issues I had to work out. Perhaps it more I just do not like the old wizard all that much.
 
With all The Lost Ones discovered, the idea of Whisperbreath being the witch was all but gone. While they walked around in the other rooms, I explored separately till I was locked two doors into another place, magical locks that once I entered a room the door shut behind me. Was not my brightest decision but I have not been thinking that clearly lately. After breaking my lockpicks, which I almost never fail at before this arcane transformation. After a small time spent ponding what I could make a quick note to Ashlyn, a Scythe broke down my door. However, they found some sort of machine with guns attached to this two-wheeled machine.
 
The strange machine was far louder than anything Cid had up his sleeves it was quite concerning.
 
Once they started dealing with some moving statue that looked like the stone had been molded into an angel. I stupidly made the decision to look in rooms without anyone. Again. I should not leap into rooms without looking. First, I rounded the room to the far north of the building and ran into two figures. A mechanical rat and a large hairy man with goat legs. Before I realized who the rat was, and I did know with only a glance, Krampus grabbed me. Without a second's hesitation, I cast Dimension Door sending Krampus and I into the center room. While still being held I yelled to my companions that It was Whisperbreath!
 
Okay, this was where it complicated.
 
It was Whisperbreath but not our Whisperbreath. Her constant meddling in time had created this mechanical monstrosity, well that’s not entirely true. This Alternate Pin was from a time where Ashlyn had died and that Whisperbreath lost a moral compass to keep her on the straight and narrow. Not to mention had gained enough control over her ability to manipulate the ebb and flow of time. So much that this Pin went not back and forth and time, but across time. Into a timeline that was not her native one or at least that was how I understand it. While trying to explain that the Witch who stole Christmas, stole those children and everything else we saw, was a Whisperbreath. I was shoved into a Krampus’ magical sack. Now what I have failed to mention Pennyswaggle in a childlike form had started wandering around.
 
This is important.
 
This is what happens when I was shoved in this magical bag.
 
I turned into a child, while I kept my mind and skills; however, my body was in its 3rd decade? It was hard to tell. This was something I found out later, we quickly began to attempt to fight the mythical being but thought better of it. Pennyswaggle had that taken care of, he’s rather scary in combat even as a child. I am unsure if I have ever seen him in battle before. We had other things to worry about besides the goatman in the corner fighting children. As the mechanical ratfolk waltz in holding something similar to Cid’s firearms to the head of the ninja. One villain monologue later that a small verbal battle of morality between the two Whisperbreaths. Despite not genuinely believing our Pin at the words she spoke to her alternate version, I was like it far more than this metal rat. The Alter Pin tried to steal other domain from these Christmas Deities, are they deities? They probably are something akin to Eldest or Empyreal Lords.
The idea of Whisperbreath attempting to ascend to godhood is abhorrent, whatever time she is from. Spells, blades, and bullets flew as we tried to kill the timeline intruder. This Pin played a very different game, and her spells were vastly different and dangerous. During our battle a chime, a tiny silver bell was rung by Krampus summoning help for since pennyswaggle was handling it far better than we could. Before the death of the Alternate Pin, she cast a single spell Ashlyn, and Cid seemed to be fine. However, the first and final person myself was not. The spell killed me, let me stress this, this one spell ripped my soul from my body. Lucky Licia brought me back. Still, my abilities have changed so vastly that I am still unsure what I should be doing, I could take one or two hits before gaining this sword, but I need a better defense against spells. Perhaps making a spell would be better, my natural spell resistance will not help me here.
Krampus was killed by the time I was brought back, and another more jolly figure was present. At this time our slumbering companions started to stir, which more worrying I notice after a while the Celuriel and Ninivle were speaking to each other. I knew that she would not, could not be in danger since I tried to punch our Whisperbreath, but The Old Man cast some spell to quell my rage. Santa Claus, the white-bearded man, presented us with each a gift for our troubles. My present was a single spell scroll, A old ring, and a letter for my late wife. Needless to say, I was crying by the end of it. Ashlyn attempted to comfort me, which only made it worse. It was nice to know both of them died without any pain, that thought gave me comfort.
 
After calming down a bit, I chose to speak with my sister who had stopped speaking with Celuriel. It was a strange assortment of half-truths and questions that conversation.