A Second Chance at Martyrdom

25 Mirtul

Hell is real.

I’m not sure what to make of that, though from what little I remember it’s not really all that related to Christianity from Bet. The fact that Hell is a physical place though that one can visit is… concerning. Devils and Demons also exist, but are apparently separate types of creatures opposed to each other, constantly battling in something called the Blood War.

What would they act like if one didn’t exist? Devils supposedly take the souls of mortals to act as cannon fodder for the war, would they do it if they didn’t need recruits, or would they find a new way to justify it?

Not only that, but apparently angels can become devils. That’s what happened to Zariel, who ended up as the lord of the first layer of Hell, Avernus.

What led her to make that decision? Was it worth it to her? Is she loyal to the hells, or to the gods?

Hopefully, I don’t have to learn the answers.

27 Mirtul

Something I’ve only really started to realize recently is how different the variety of bugs are in the city. There isn’t indoor plumbing in all but a few buildings, and while the Dungsweeper’s Guild does its best to transport trash and waste out of the city to the Rat Hills in the south, there are lots of bits that get left behind. It’s not like Brockton Bay after Leviathan’s attack, but there are a lot of beetles, ants, and other scavengers. Not a lot of venomous stuff though.

I’ve decided to try and help the Docks Ward though with my power. Every day when I’m out with the other kids playing, I send out commands to remove the more harmful insects. Things like fleas, lice, mosquitos, termites, and anything else unlikely to impact the ecology.

It’s the least I can do while I live here.

29 Mirtul

I've been spending more time with Pelsot recently, to his apparent relief. I think he felt some sort of guilt over what happened to Tayvra, even if he didn’t know the truth of what happened. Is that what it’s like to have an older sibling?

He and Jespa seemedseem excited for the start of Kythorn, from what was explained to me it seemed like some strange version of Halloween. It’s justified by some old war the city had with trolls, but kids do the whole trick-or-treating thing, but dressing up like trolls instead of assorted monsters.

I wonder if there was some sort of cultural exchange at some point between the two for athe similar holiday? Probably not, the commonality is just kids dressing up and asking for candy. Hardly the sort of thing that is very culturally distinct.

1 Kythorn

I realized that I haven’t gone trick or treating since Emma. It feels like a lifetime ago.

Emma’s doppelganger was a lot nicer though, Yeena still seems to be a little careful around me I noticed. She tries to keep in my field of view or announce her presence, trying not to startle me.

It’s a kind gesture.

Our group of kids also collected quite a haul of sweets. Lord Neverember had supplied the guards with plenty to hand out while they were doing their patrols. The others also managed to avoid stirring up too much trouble. The Docks aren’t exactly safe everywhere, but nothing went wrong.

7 Kythorn

I had Orsik help teach me more about the city and its alliances today. Specifically, the ones that aren’t related to the various dwarven holds he tends to drift off towards in conversation.

Waterdeep is one of the major lead members of the Lord’s Alliance, a mix of mutual trading pacts and defence agreements. Ten members in all, though realistically only half of them are of true importance in their own right. A mix of smaller protectorates that are technically independent but vital to the economy of the region, as well as larger metropolitan cities like Waterdeep.

Waterdeep is roughly in the middle geographically within the alliance, at least along the Sword Coast.

Neverwinter to the north was once far more influential than it has been in the last half-century after it suffered from a massive volcanic eruption and other various natural disasters in quick succession. It’s rebuilding though thanks to funds from the rest of the Lord’s Alliance, especially from Waterdeep.

Baldur’s Gate to the south, having in years past been a favoured playground for the now-dead god of murder, Bhaal. Good riddance. They mostly get by thanks to being well positioned at the mouth of the Chionthar River, a major artery further inland.

Silverymoon lay further inland, and is considered to be one of the most safe locations in the region. The untamed wilds are supposedly filled with hordes of orcs and other monsters but it survived partially due to its strong emphasis on arcane spellcasters, as well as having been governed personally by a demigod for many years. More recent events had left it somewhat in disarray though, with its other major alliance network faltering due to poor loyalty of its membership and various attacks from orc tribes. There’s also some level of conflict with its membership, where its currently elected leader isn’t always the one involved in politics with the Lord’s Alliance.

Kythorn 14

Today is Guildhall Day, meaning almost everything is closed today. It’s some sort of holiday mixed with advertising campaigns from most of the city’s guilds. They close most of the businesses in the city to give everyone a day off, so they go around the city looking at all sorts of advertisements and exhibits, as well as street performances.

Virla is going to be taking me, Pelsot, and Jespa out around the town to the various wards. Tulgor will join us sometime in the afternoon. He’s busy all morning going out with the rest of his crew fishing in the sea. He has to go out for the fresh catch since street food is one of the few business types not shut down for the day.

Wait, that’s something I neglected in my last life. Sealife, I wonder if I could use my powers somehow to be useful, like with getting rid of the pests.

Today was fun, Virla took us to see a few different street plays around the city. I never got to do anything like that before really. Mom would sometimes take me to the plays at the university, but Brockton Bay wasn’t really friendly to street performers outside a handful of areas.

Tulgor joined us about halfway through the afternoon, he and Virla must have set upsetup a meeting spot ahead of time. It was… nice, to do stuff as a big family. Noisier than with Mom and Dad, being an only child, but it was a feeling I hadn’t had in a long time.

16 Kythorn

Well testing was a partial success. The limitations on my power now have limited my large-scalelarge scale control regarding complex tasks. On the other hand, I can still precisely control individuals as I focus on them, and I can get some feedback from groups of them at range.

I was able to find a handful of coins from the water using some crabs. A slow process to be certain, but I believe the bigger hurdle was how slim the pickings were along the docks. The city held an official policy for those diving into the water to recover lost goods, so no easy luck on overturned crates of gold. A task made easier with the variety of magic available in the world.

Even so, spare coins do get lost. I was able to set the crustaceans to searching for anything metal, and my power would alert me should they find anything of note for me to take more dedicated attention to investigating. After that, it was a simple matter of slowly having them crawl along the bed of the harbour to a beach at the south end of the city where I could collect them.

The earnings weren’t as much as I was hoping for. Most of the coins were just nibs and shards. The lowest coin denominations are equivalent to pennies and dimes. I managed to find a few dragons and tails though, the equivalent of one and two-dollar coins. The buying power is greater than back on Bet though, it’s a lot more money than that conversion sounds like. A typical meal only costs a few nibs or shards.

Still, it’s not enough money to buy anything significant at the market though, so I’ll just have to keep doing this and hope to get lucky or find somewhere more lucrative somehow to use my bugs to scavenge.

20 Kythorn

Another break from my studies, today is the summer solstice. In Waterdeep, they call it “Dragondown”, and use the day to celebrate the defeat of a few powerful dragons that once threatened the city.

They do a lot of celebrations in the city, a lot more than I’m used to. I guess there must be quite the civil budget dedicated to it.

Or maybe it’s a tourism trick to invite more trade. My understanding is that Baldur’s Gate has far fewer festivities by comparison and that Neverwinter has had to put what little budget it has towards recovery efforts.

I saw Orsik out at the festival, at the side of a parade. They were carrying massive effigies of dragons to be burnt at one of the city squares. Apparently, besides being a scholar he is also a trained wizard and was assisting in some of the festivities by setting up illusions.

Naturally, it ended up with a history lesson. Apparently the city has a magical barrier that prevents dragons from entering the city. Not a single dragon has been in the city in years since the staff that was used to give permission for dragons to enter was lost.

It’s impressive how they might lose such a clearly important magical artifactartefact. More confusing is how they can’t use magic to find it, you’d think it would be considered a priority to retrieve it.