Uneventful Dinner in Goka (A Pathfinder Story)

 Talin was exhausted. He had been running for his life through an extradimensional realm that was collapsing around him and his friends. Trying to find a way out as all manner of beasts and minions tried to either stop them, kill them, or escape first. All of that and nearly killed them all and once again left them stuck near the Tian Xia city of Goka; again. His friends chose to get themselves a room at the fancy Inn nearby.  However, Talin recalled their last big dining excursion and decided he would take his meals at the Pathfinder lodge. It was much safer there. They also were huge celebrities after winning the Ruby Phoenix Tournament. While he liked all the attention, he just needed a calm meal with nothing crazy for a change. The lodge was a great place for that and besides, he had to report and turn in their findings anyhow. Well, most of their findings, discovering the knowledge of something. His mind tried to focus on a detail or two, something about Dragons, something secret he wasn’t supposed to share. For some reason he couldn’t recall what. While it disturbed him he knew he had it written down somewhere in his findings to turn in. So there was no need to ponder it further.

What he did recall, was the splendor of the Pathfinder Lodge stationed in Goka. Even the Magnimar lodge wasn’t as awe inspiring as the one in Goka. The detailed edging, the jade inlay designs, the sculptured dragons: it reminded him about how excited he was to see the lodge finished in Bistons pond. Of course, while he had a hand in that, he was even more excited about his Lantern Bearer lodge he got the approval to fund and start. That was a project that was his and his alone. The fact that the heads of the Lantern Bearer’s all agreed to let him build a base there amazed him.  For years the Lantern Bearers were an elven only organization. His thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a buzzing in his head, “Hrmm, the taste of old demon is in the air.” Sifted through his mind to the front.

Talin paused as the thoughts of his sword brought his attention to the forefront of his thoughts. His sword while much akin to his mindset was an intelligent item that had its own independent thoughts and beliefs. Very few people had magical intelligent sword that could communicate mentally to them. This one like Talin had a unique personality. “Are your taste buds telling you this?” Talin sent as a joking mental communication back. His sword ignored the quip. They were in a middle passage; that lead to the dining hall of the Goka pathfinder lodge. There were no summoning rooms nearby that Talin knew of. “No, but, seriously are you sure?”

“Well, I don’t have taste buds but there is something nearby. Maybe not Demon or Devil, maybe someone tussled with one.” Calanon replied. Talons eyes searched the room delicately for any hints of an outsider, yet he caught none. His senses were possibly some of the keenest there could be. He had heard people comment about certain pathfinders that could supposedly hear a pin drop in a thunderstorm two hundred feet away inside another building. He wasn’t sure how accurate those stories were, be he could count how many flies were in a room. If you wanted, he could tell you the subtle differences in the height of each brick that lay in the floor of the hallway. Perhaps even tell you which of the paintings that hung in the hallway had the same paint used in the others. Demons however: unless someone had one of those nasty familiars through here recently or came directly from the worldwound; he doubted were nearby. However, some crusaders who spent a large portion of their time in the worldwound, or even in Lastwall were rumored to have the stain of the filth almost on their soul.

Talin approached the dining hall with the mental pressure of the his swords mind on him. He just escaped death and was hoping to relax. He could hear the sounds of dinner plates, cards, leather, food being served, footsteps, armor and discussions taking place. It was a short time before he was able to match up the sounds and narrow down that there were a total of six people in the room. Two food servers, three people sitting at a table playing cards and eating, and one walking from the serving area and sitting down to eat. Talin assumed the three at the table were pathfinders, one was local with a Tian accent trying out his Taldane. Another, Talin guessed was a half orc, or maybe a tiefling with tusks or big teeth. The third spoke very eloquently knowing Tian with little accent and Taldane with none. Possibly a scholar, maybe a wizard. They were talking about the tournament while playing cards. “Great” Talin thought, easy in if any are good looking, or if I need help fighting a hoard of demons. They might recognize me. I hope they do at least, but then again, I really could use a night to myself for once. Talin turned the corner into the dining hall. Of course he was right on all accounts. Two servers, three party members, one indeed looked very Tian, that was a half orc with one huge tusk and a smaller one on the other side that looked broken, and finally, there indeed was a wizard. One with quite a mediocre looking spellbook. Well, to Talin it was mediocre.  He was friends with possibly the best wizard in Varisia. “Really?” His sword said mentally, in response to Talin’s self-narrated thought.  “They were just goblins.”

“Why do people keep saying that? It was impressive at the time, he was powerful then and we have seen the other things he has learned, and WHY are you reading my mind again?” Talin mentally said.

“Well sometimes you just broadcast your thoughts. By the way, why would you ever think to imagine THAT about his Tusks? You are quite disturbing even in comparison to others that are made of meat, bones, and squishy insides.” Talin shook his head and headed towards the serving area. It was almost immediately that he realized the guy walking to sit down was a renowned archer he had heard of. While his mind instantly catalogued the archers gear he also remembered that this archer was the one who beat him in the exhibition archery contest during the Ruby Pheonix Tournament. He knew he recognized him at the time and couldn’t place him. What was he doing here, last Talin heard, he was in the worldwound, or Ustalav. Surly this was the smell that was noticed. Riley was well known for his service in the worldwound until things went poorly for him. Talin couldn’t recall the story he heard, it had been some time since then. Talin attempted to go unnoticed but in the reflection of the dining hall mirror he quickly noticed Riley had also seen him. Seems Riley noticed him more passively and without a real thought behind it. As Talin watched Riley’s attention pass over the entire room Riley he stabbed his fork into a carrot.

“Now there is another true demon hunter.” Talin mentally appraised.

“Him? He doesn’t even carry a magical bow.” Calanon replied.

Talin harrumphed at his sword and got himself some food. Some succulent duck prepared in a way he had never thought of with steamed vegetables and some strange round white crispy things, that he is sure weren’t a chestnut, even though Maraktis told him multiple times that is what they were called. Sometimes he wondered if Maraktis was bad at trying humor or if he was serious.

When Talin sat a few tables down to face the pretty girls at the serving area, he thought maybe he should turn around and watch the archer more to see if he can appraise the situation more, maybe glean some information from him or why he is here. A friend he slept with last time he was in Goka mentioned Riley had come from one of the monasteries just before the tournament.  A strange sensation washed over him. He glanced up and saw the table of adventurer’s motionless. The sensation was eerie and Talin did his best to sit motionless as well, it was creepy how all had gone silent. There was a seventh person approaching from the food area. This worried Talin, he had noticed no one else enter the room at any point. This woman was a warrior adorned in full plate. There was no way he wouldn’t have heard her come in the room, let alone go past him to get to where the food was. Talin risked a moment to glance up at her face. Calm determination and raw beauty. However this was not the kind of beauty that one see’s in a master courtesan, this wasn’t the kind of beauty told to be had of the love goddess Calistria, or artistic beauty of the goddess Shelyn. This was that of a commanding presence, that of someone so confidant in themselves that it makes you feel inspired to be better at everything. Just by watching her walk, you feel you can accomplish anything if you are determined enough to do it. Talin was ready to fight hordes of monsters just to get a moment of praise from her. She glanced at him. That smooth steel armor, red cloak and short cropped hair. smooth perfect skin yet the look of a hardened warrior.

“She smiled at me, did she wink too? Calistria be praised” Talin thought to himself as she approached him. He held his breath, but she passed right by him. He waited for Calanon’s response, but none came.

“What do you want?” The archer said a few tables over.

“I have come to speak with you soldier.” She responded.

“I am no longer one of your little soldiers who think everything you and yours do is all holy and perfect.” Riley sneered. “ If you have something to say, feel free, I can hear you from two rooms over.” Talin wasn’t sure if this guy was trying to piss the woman off, if he was playing hard to get, or was just truly an asshole. Talin was also trying to place her small holy symbol she had hidden under the back of her cloak.  It seemed like an old god. He felt like she should be carrying a shield of some sort. He wasn't sure why. His mind raced trying to place how or why it was that she seemed familiar to him. Surly he would be able remember having met a woman so iconic looking and so, what was the word? Majestic. 

She stopped walking at the side of the table and looked down at Riley. “You are one of my greatest soldiers. You have never stopped being one of my greatest soldiers.”

“Bullshit, did you come here, with all your high pompousness to rub in my many failings? Perhaps you came just to try to preach to me about how I failed you? Or how even after I left your priests service and your orders service that even after that I just continued to be a failure? Is that it? I bet that’s it. I let down my friends, I know! I the person who can spot a flea on a dogs ass from a hundred yards away and maybe hit it with an arrow, couldn’t see a spellcaster from casting on me from less than thirty feet away.” He took a brief breath. “Perhaps you want to tell me about how I nearly got all my friends killed. How the woman I fell in love with. The one who made me decide to try to build something stable nearby just to hope to be worthy of her love, only to nearly have her die because of me as well.” He raised his eyebrows then continued. “Perhaps to remind me how I let my best friend get murdered by a dragon, maybe how I was murdered by a demon myself and now am still mentally tortured nearly every night as I glimpse the other side of Pharasmas judgements. Did you know that I often see the void and sometimes wish I had gone there and stayed there?” The long silence began. Talin glanced over his shoulder to see her standing there next to Riley as he sat hunched over staring at his plate of food. Talin knew the man was getting a bit angry but also sad. Something about his eyes, even at this distance it was hard to tell the man’s eyes were watery. Maybe if his back were not turned Talin would be able to know if it was both eyes or just one.

“Riley, what you did that day, when you and your team defied the orders issued by the priests and the paladins and those commanding officers who called your crew off that city. I was moved by your decision. You inspired your team even your teams leader to stay. You made the right decision. It is the decision I would have made if I were in your shoes.” Riley glance angrily now up at her. She however still calm and quiet continued.  “Sometimes we are given choices that compromise who we are regardless of the options we are given. Even a paladin of the highest order, if in your shoes, If they were there on site and were ordered to leave that town to its death. They would have been conflicted by the order of his commanders, and the righteousness of saving those people. What you did was something that they…” His plate of food went crashing across the room as he stood with a speed surprising even Talin. Very few had the grace that Talin himself had, and this man moved almost as well as Talin. Talin had to admire a straight up warrior who depended on the talents of those more inclined to speed, dexterity, and wits. It was admirable to see that rather than those who just used brute strength. On a side thought though, Talin felt those kinds also had their merits. Fond memories of a well groomed man in Magnimar just a year or so back came to mind.

Talins mind came back just as quickly as it had left when Riley spoke. “You are going to stand there, and tell me what I did was “o.k.” NOW! It’s a little late I think. After YOUR priests, and YOUR paladins and YOUR order shunned me, and called me a deserter and a coward.  They disgraced our teams leader, they disgraced our whole team. THE WHOLE TEAM DIED TO SAVE PEOPLE!” Riley yelled at the top of his lungs. “THEY DIED TO SAVE YOUR PEOPLE! THEY DIED AN HONORABLE DEATH AND YOUR PEOPLE SHUNNED THEM FOR IT!” Riley snarled at her. “You call yourself a god. You herald the life of Aroden. Yet you let the people who follow you treat each other like they treated us. I was the only one left to survive. I was shamed and humiliated privately, publicly and even when I returned to that town hoping to find a home. They treated me like I was a leper. For so many years I wished I had just died with them. The people threw mud at me and called me some of the most vial names one could come up with.” Riley’s voice cracked with emotion.  “I prayed to you for help. I cried to you, begging for you to show them the truth.” Riley’s voice softened and he took a deep breath. “It wasn’t until I met a pathfinder that I finally found a place in this world again. Someone who convinced me to pick my bow back up and take my skills and help people. They accepted me with ease. They found a place for me. They found a home for me. I found amazing new friends.” 

“You always had a home Riley. I do not command my worshippers, I do not hold their hands, and tell them what to do. I am not their commanding officer. They are only mortal, as I once was. Everyone makes mistakes. Them, you, even me. Please do not judge them for doing what they felt and thought in their heart was the right call. I know you are better than that. I also know that you do not honestly judge me for their actions. I can feel your truth…” she touched his chest with a single finger “.. right here, is the truth. I can feel there is still hope there. A small part of you still believes in me.”

“No! The only thing left for you in there is anger and disappointment.. and realizing that I am just like you, a disappointment to everyone who cares about me.” Talin noticed him push her hand aside. This astonished him.  Not only did he realize that this was the Paladin goddess Iomedae, but she is here and is having a conflict; or was it a conversation with Riley? There is so much Talin didn’t understand and he realized that everyone, even Calanon, his sword was frozen in time. Talin, though, he is allowed to watch and see this unfold. Why? Why him? Calistria doesn’t hold any super close ties with Iomedae. Does she? Is he supposed to be witness to this odd event for some celestial worldly purpose? Or is he just lucky? It must be my good looks, maybe I really did catch her eye. That’s gotta be it. He thought to himself as the conversation he watched continued to unfold.

“So, you ran away to save your friends from your supposed curse, you plan to what? Go join that monastery that offered you a place to be a master of the bow. Your self pity, self shame, disappointment, depression, and fears were too much?” She paused with her rhetorical question then continued before he could respond. “No, their ways were not your ways. You are a soldier, a noble, a leader. You are the type of person that people should look up to and aspire to be. If I had my way you would be a paladin of the bow.” She paused again and tilted her head as if reading his body language. “They exist you know?” She then continued.  “You cannot escape all of the horrors you have faced, you cannot escape the horrors yet to come, but you can lead others through it themselves, you can be that beacon that they need. I bet if you went back to that village you saved today they would know you as the one who helped close the worldwound, the hero of Carrion Hill, your accolades are longer than nearly any soldier of this age. They and anyone else would welcome you with open arms. Even the broken men of the crusader road would rally behind you broken or not. You could be there when they need you, and Riley, your friends. They need you. They need you now more than ever. Some of them will die if you do not return. The horrors they face will come and those horrors want you gone. You need to be there for them.”

Riley’s sad and angry face frowned trying to hold back pain and anger and sadness. His bottom lip quivered. “Yeah… and where were you? Where, where were you when I needed you the most? Huh?”

Iomedae blinked at him and smiled warmly at him, as a mother would to her son. Her warrior visage faded and she cupped his face in her hands and wiped a tear from his eyes. “Oh, Riley.” She let her hands drift to his shoulders. “You see all, yet the only thing you don’t see.”  Riley looks into her eyes. “My dear, that is why I have come today. I am here when you need me most.”

Talin’s eyes must have caught a whiff of the onions going around in the room as his eyes began to water as well. Riley fell to his knees sobbing as she put her armored arm around him while he collapsed slowly forward his words a bluster of sounds even Talin could not make out.

“Your friends will have much to tell you and everything that you think is your fault. Is not your fault. NONE of it is on you. You did not fail them. You were tricked Riley. Those who want to harm you all and stop you all were hoping to break your will and get you to die on your own. You must not allow that to happen, fight your way back to your friends Riley. Help them, save them.  Most importantly, save yourself.” She kept her hands on his shoulder as his head rested against her legs plate armor. The moment between them seemed to last forever as the room became more quiet. Then the goddess let go and stepped back from Riley. He, took a deep breath and as if suddenly steel shot through his nerves he gritted his teeth with a still wet face he straightened his back and got too his feet. She nodded and then once again reached out and put her hands on his shoulders, tilting her head down and looking up at him. “And, Riley, For Arodens sake, marry that girl in Carrion Hill. She hasn’t stopped worrying or thinking about you. Consider it an order.” She smiled at him. “Hell, you don’t know this but she just went to Kyonin in your place and saved the entire Elven nation on your behalf.” The confusion crossed his face and he swallowed the lump there and nodded.

Iomedae then saluted Riley and vanished. Dumbfounded, Riley just stood there, with all of his emotions laid bare, all at once just sitting there for him to comprehend. Thinking himself alone somehow he just nodded and took a deep breath and looked up to the ceiling. “Thank you.”

Blinking and confused, the servers glanced at the mess across the room. The sound of the people at the poker table conversing and placing bets and chuckling at the mess that just happened to appear continued. Of course the sound of Calanon once again in Talin’s head. “Where did he get that Bow, a half a second ago he just had a regular bow. That is the damn SEXIEST BOW I HAVE EVER SEEN!” Talin’s face went flush trying not to laugh out loud. “What? C’mon have you ever seen a bow with a string that sleek. What do you think her name is? Maybe you can introduce us.” Talin then noticed the Archer had somehow summoned a very obviously magical bow to his hands. Talin then promptly ignored his sword, Ignored the room. He took a deep breath himself. Then took his plate, and dumped it into the garbage. Then out loud but quietly said to himself. “Maybe I should have stayed to eat with Han and the others.”