Session 46

Rainier,
It feels as though a lifetime has passed in just a matter of days. It appears that my initial suspicions of the darkness infecting this town were correct, but I didn’t realize until just yesterday how deeply the darkness ran and how thoroughly it’s embedded itself in me. How foolish it was of me to think that drawing the darkness out of the innkeeper wouldn’t have its own set of consequences. I first noticed it in the church-slash-golem sanctuary. While trying out my new protection spell, a splitting headache overcame me but vanished once I was outside of the spell’s radius. I was hesitant to have Cormag root around in my brain to look for answers. I had a feeling even before I let him in that I knew what he would see, but I wasn’t sure I was prepared for him to see it, for him to see Dalia. It helped, though, somewhat, to see I’m not the only one with darkness I’d rather keep hidden. I’m not sure how much longer it will stay that way, though, given the fact that this essence that has woven its way into the fibers of my being seems to be acting as a homing beacon for whatever evil we’re hunting. There was a second today where I considered fleeing. Fleeing into the woods and far away from this place, far away from my friends, my adopted family, so whatever this thing is can’t use me to hurt them. We have no idea how to remove this… parasite, and that unknown terrifies me. For now, though, when my friends are already in danger, I will pretend that this nagging feeling that I am endangering them can be resolved. It’s a miracle that Kara and I weren’t discovered in the boat when I felt that signal go off. It’s an even greater miracle that we made it to the center tower without really running into trouble. Maybe it’s not a miracle at all. Regardless, we found what I believe to be the hostages, and not for the first time, I felt the urge to run, to get my friends to safety. The others seem convinced that we must follow the signal down into the depths of this pit in order to truly free them, but I’ve sensed what’s down there, and I know what waits for us. I’m convinced that if we go down there, many of us will not come back.