Ottokath's Journal #16
General Summary
I like nature. It's spirits and elements tell me things no one else would. They show me paths where most would find none. They guide and aid me in the travels I pursue. My father taught me the ways of them long ago and through all the things I have lost of home, that is the only thing that truly remains. They never left me and in turn I have relied on them, called on them when I had to. More than one of my companions is alive now only through the gifts they bestow. Yet I could not find the calm in my mind, even when surrounded by nothing but the spirits that treated me so. The ways of the humans confounds me to no end. My moral compass endangers my companions at every other turn. I lost a companion through my best intentions. The one spirit I have ever given both will and body to act in this world, unrestrained by my will, wishes naught but to devour the living in the way of deals. Why am I here?
That is the stupper of thought I found myself in when my companions arrived. To my surprise they had actually followed me this far. We were to deliver carpets now. The absordity and simplicity of it made me forget my worries and thoughts. There was a journey to plan for no reason other than that those I travelled with wished to go there. I could be of us.
We decided, with our poor understanding of the land, that the best course of action was to return to Koptos and travel to Luxor, our destination, by boat. To this end, we would request Hamood's father for a permit to accompany a boat head in that direction. Adventure was ahead.
And as if on cue we discovered a statue in the desert that was quite beyond anything any of us had ever seen. Feyret arrived an forewarned us of it, but we were of no mind to heed anything it said. It had not earned that trust. Buddy was the first to touch the statue and it would damn him. In mere moments three instances of him appeared from the sands and attacked us. It was folly really, Buddy may have been a rather unusual bandit and there was three of him, but we were adventurers now. And with us we had a powerful sorcerer. The fight was over quickly, but as the final doppleganger shattered, a fourth appeared, this one definitely the original. Mutt subdued him and we bound him. Buddy was not in his right state of mind.
Upon our return to Koptos I attempted to have the spirits remove the malignent effect. It was to no avail. As the night drew to a close and Hamood, my aid in the cleansing, had to retire for humans have to sleep, I resorted to my greatest and worst tool. I asked Feyret for help. Foolish, I know, but at that time there was little else short of death that could save the kid now. What I do blame myself for is believing it to have worked...
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