But he's back.
2. The Friendly Arm Inn
But he's back.
Taerom, Stella wishes you well and asks how rebuilding the smithy and creating the antidote are going. May the stars shine upon you.
Stella hurriedly draws a constellation of a bear. She's nearly finished, about to transform so she could carry him, when he gasps and wakes.
The stars hanging in the air vanish and Stella leans in, feeling his forehead with the back of her hand to feel if the warmth is returning. "Dieter! Are you okay?" she repeats her eye-stars a mix between amber and blue, relief and fear. "Y—you were...you were dying. I'm going to get Ida, okay?"
She then snaps her finger, summoning Noctalia on the table. The bird tils her head and hoots. "Please fetch Ida," Stella says, mentally sending directions to the reading room. The bird hops into the air and quietly flies off.
She then takes one of his cold hands in her own warm hand. "Let's get you by the fire. You're freezing...Literally. You have several signs of frostbite. What...what happened?"
So the shadow wolf was a druid, not just a summoned creature, ther to make certain the mine was destroyed...that made sense.
She shivers as he describes the events. Her eyes-stars flare orange and her nose and lips twitch in anger. How could they use their gifts, the powers of the primal world itself for such carelessness for sentient life...It was atrocious.
She frowns as she realizes something. So...you painted blood on yourself and called yourself death...I would have thought you a servant of the Iron Throne and Bhaal too..." She keeps her mouth shut, however, and continues to listen until he finishes.
"That's...that's horrible! Dieter, I'm so sorry..." She pauses and shakes her head. "These definitely aren't just suppressed memories...Calliope's father had magically supressed memories and rediscovered them later with help...but he didn't start losing his life force when they were brought back, painful as they were. What you have..." She grimaces slightly and gestures in the air. "...This is either some kind of curse, or some side effect of dying and being brought back to life...You remember Kay? Her father, Jhonen, was cursed and basically became undead, losing the essence of his life force for a time. I doubt it's the same thing, but...I wonder if it's similar in any way. We should tell Ida about this, then talk to Miss Mirrorshade is she doesn't know."
Stella taps a page in one of her tomes with a pen and begins scratching notes.
"Some of this doesn't make any sense, though...Why would the druid ask you who you were when she already knew who you were...? And your sister you forgot about...Ada. Is she that druid? Or do you think your mind is just tying the events together?"
I know how it looks but I was just trying to gain a psychological edge since I was by myself. Fighting is more of a mind game- sorry sorry you probably don’t want to hear about that" Dieter says letting everything out.
"I think this is all just getting to me. There’s just so much death, I know you all fight too but when I fight I feel them die as my blade cuts through them. So many people have attacked us and I’ve killed them all. It’s makes everything else so hollow. The hours of my life I’ve spent training seems… tarnished. The fantasy of fighting evil is gone replaced with the reality of war. I think I have failed." Dieter vents
"I’ve failed. The only thing that seperates me from the servants of Bhaal is the law."
Stepping into the common room Ida sees Stella holding Dieter's hand as they talk quietly. Ida immediately notices how pale and sickly Dieter looks. The only other time Ida had seen Dieter like that was when Tulfgyr introduced her to the small frail boy who had escaped the forest and was living feral by her uncle's cabin before he had been taken in. Still walking quickly she comes in and sets herself beside deiter
When you attempt to learn or recall a piece of lore, if you do not know that information, you often know where and from whom you can obtain it. Usually, this information comes from a library, scriptorium, university, or a sage or other learned person or creature. Your DM might rule that the knowledge you seek is secreted away in an almost inaccessible place, or that it simply cannot be found. Unearthing the deepest secrets of the multiverse can require an adventure or even a whole campaign.
"Just be careful, you might see things..terrible things."Dieter warns