Entry One: Past the Fog

Wasn’t going to make a log of the journey till we made it through the fog. Never expected to die in the fog but it was a possibility and if I’d written this log prior to that it would have been all about our supply runs and a documentation of a less than stellar team up against goblins. If I had died in the fog the log I’d have left behind in that case would have been a poor testimony to the trip.
 
Speaking of goblins, those poor goblins. They were bullying the town but I still feel bad for them. I should have taken the last one alive but I fell into the group mentality. I’ll make it up to them by helping some goblins in need if I get the chance.
 
That said the fog was absolutely fantastic. Terrifying and majestic but fantastic. There was a section of it where undead ghosts attacked us and if we’d died there we’d be trapped as ghosts so definitely more terrifying, but then there was a Chaos storm where waves crashed onto the boat and turned into random doogaws. The colors were brilliant too. I’m positive there were vibrant purples I’ve never seen before. I can’t describe them but I will draw them sometime if I can ever get the right pigments.
 
I’ve been put into the A team, which is the primary exploration team. I suspect mostly because the captain knows I can draw maps and I’m not likely to get lost. Of course, this being the nature of the world, I’m sure we’ll get lost the first time we go on a mission. If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a Kepper of the Ways is that lost is really relative and not as scary as people think it is. My strength with the elements grew the instant we left the fog too so I’m even more confident we’ll be fine.
 
That said I need to talk about my companions. They’re a mixed bunch but they’re going to be my friends for the next foreseeable forever and I need to get some of my emotions out about them.
 
Let’s start with the ones I really like.
 
Millie McMasters (I think) is a Riftforge. I’ve never met one or even heard of one before I met them and let me tell you they live up to all the tales I’ve never heard. :D Joking aside Millie is amazing. Gruff but loveable. Stern but parently. I am confident in battle I could put my back to theirs and all of the forces of Hell could assault me from behind and I wouldn’t have to worry about it unless Millie fell in battle. After the goblin affair they got very upset with the rest of the group and to be honest it was important someone said what Millie said that day. They made no friends likely for it but I appreciated hearing it. Given time I suspect Millie will warm to all of us. I hope so. She rings like a Cherubim’s bell to the ears of the elements and that is both calming and fascinating to me. I’m not going to press into it though. Walter has already burned that bridge in his obliviousness.
 
Effie Undertow is a hafling who lives up to the stereotype of all the other haflings (all 6 I know) that I have ever met. Happy and cheerful with a mysterious trickery hiding under the surface. She was a reporter who hunted out info and passed it out to the common folk (non-military people would be the closest class in our lands I think) which is frankly a fascinating thing to me. I often got into arguments with my superior officers about how badly info is disseminated to the masses amongst the clans and I think that was why I was given a position where I wasn’t dealing with anyone. Somehow Effie doing this job got into trouble, likely because some tyrant with power saw her as a threat, and tried to remove her. She’s running because of that and I am beyond pissed on her behalf. She clings to Millie, understandably, for protection but whether she knows it or not I got her back too. I should get to know her better. I think we’d get along really well.
 
Elric Delere is someone I know almost nothing about beyond the fact he likes to make potions from plants. If they’re beneficial that is an amazing talent. I can identify what not to eat but making something useful beside a salad out of a plant is beyond me. He can also apparently turn into a mouse. I’ve seen shamans back home do the same but he did it by sneezing and that was adorable. He’s someone else I should get to know better since I have literally listed all I know.
 
Now we move on to the two who worry me and for completely different reasons.
 
I’ll start with Walter Kennsington. He’d be someone in the list above if it weren’t actually for Raz’gomon, his magical blade. At first, I thought it hummed like Millie did but I am beginning to think my senses were off about it and that worries me. I don’t sense high malevolence from it but rather I suspect a trickster resides in that blade. Walter seems to suspect this, but is confident he has it under control. My gut tells me it isn't as cut and dry as that. He was shy and nerdy leaning before the goblins and then suddenly he was ready to storm their fortified (it was a wagon I know it’s not that fortified but a dirt hole is enough cover to let you pepper someone full of arrows let alone an upside down wagon) position until he was called on it. He claims he was moving closer to talk but that means he was either stupid or reckless and that’s not good either way. He claims he is here because he wanted to take the blade away from civilization but again that is either a misdirect or he’s not thinking out his actions. He got a lot of talk back from the others so I let it go at the time, but I need to sit down and talk to him I think. Hopefully I’m overreacting. Beyond his sword woes he’s a bit socially inept, like kept referring to Millie like they weren’t alive which is beyond rude, and he didn’t even realize it. Well meaning but clumsy it seems.
 
And finally, we come to Willumin Duskhym. Won’t lie, he got me wrapped up in his problems really fast and my charitable nature and my kindness likely got me in over my head. I’ve backed off a bit or will need to but that doesn’t change what’s happened. Willie, as I call him, is an old grizzled war veteran who was broken by what he saw. I have no idea what it was, but he has all the hallmarks of someone who had someone, in this case I think the Gods, on a pedestal and he watched the pedestal break into pieces. It’s a sad thing to see since he is clearly a conduit of their power. When his magic works he takes credit for it but when it doesn’t he seems to blame gods so he’s also the worst kind of hypocrite. It’s always a shame to see someone who has lost their faith. Mother was like that when brother left to go across the fog a hundred years ago. She got better but Willie doesn’t have an elf’s longevity despite being a half-elf. His daughter is here. Someone he appears to have ignored when she was young and now he is trying to get back into her life by dominating it. Another aspect of his hypocrisy he won’t see since he claims his mother manipulates everything too.
 
Worse of all is he thinks his mother has plans for this expedition but he isn’t sure what. I wouldn’t’ believe it myself if it weren’t for the fact his daughter is military trained without somehow realizing she was military trained. It sounds like she grew up in a cult. Her “father” is also either confused on why they’re there or hiding something. Can’t tell which but I don’t trust him. And worse of all this could all be nothing and Willie’s paranoia got to me. I’m keeping an eye on it for now but I have no idea how to stop it if it is a plot and if it isn’t I’m wasting my time and feeding Willie’s paranoia.
 
Probably should follow Millie’s lead on this but my gut won’t let me.
 
That’s all for now. Time for me to rest and we’ll see where the next couple of days take us. We found land and a city and the people here are sweet and dying for info which is honestly cute but weird but in a cute way. Excited to find out if they’ve seen my kin!