Chapter 15

Praise be to Baldr, for there is nothing but good to be told of him.

## Synopsis

On the night after the celebration of our victory against the monster Buggo, we arrived at the meeting spot where we had planned to meet with our sad warrior. We waited for some hours and he never came, leaving us with doubts that he would continue traveling with us. I admit I've grown fond of his ~~silliness~~ company and would have been sad to see him go. I had grown worried that Duluth, ~~the other~~ Cleric of Baldr was in trouble, as he had abandoned his holy symbol in a tree, so we investigated where he may have gone. We investigated the ~~infernal~~ ~~abyssal~~ unholy cave that brought us to the domain of Ylil, and determined that Duluth had come to this place.

And Baldr is good, for while we were wandering to learn more of his wherabouts, we found Gurney! Covered in some sort of slime, too. He seemed ~~a tad too happy and I am concerned that he has been replaced like Helike~~ to be in good spirits. The tragic events that led him here have clearly been weighing on him, and he was happy to join us in our ~~wandering~~ holy mission.

We visited the head of the arboreum, who was doing what I can only call very suspicious and shooed us out. I forgot to mention that by this point it was perhaps two hours past midnight, so we decided that we might learn more when the rest of the city was awake. We gathered back tomorrow in the morning and Gurney, Lenny, Helike and myself visited the Chezalia Arboreum that Duluth used to visit every day. We were briefly detoured by a badger. Helike was convinced the badger was a person — he has been ~~a dickhead~~ difficult since he became an elf.

Finally, we found the tree where I found Duluth's holy symbol. He had been praying there every day, for hours at a time. I wish I could know what was going through his mind. I attempted the same prayers, but Baldr's ways are mysterious, and I could not see what he was looking for. Without any further leads, we decided to pursue the horizon walkers, so our possibly-an-octopus ranger summoned Caestamelora. I called upon Baldr with Augury for His guidance — should I pursue the horizon walkers and let Duluth go? I received my answer: weal and woe. Great good and great bad would come from this. Still better than most of our misadventures.

Caestamelora returned to us, duster trailing behind him in the gentle breeze... Seeing him rushing towards us I discovered ~~how much I wanted to kiss his face~~ a grace and charm to the scholar. He told us that there was a meeting of horizon walkers several days' north, past Hiberna. So off we went!

We quickly reached Hiberna, which was nostalgic for many of us; it was, after all, where we all met a lifetime ago. Lenny chatted with some old friends in the area and I believe Gurney punched someone but I don't know much beyond that. I tried to strike up a conversation with Caestamelora — and by Baldr's beard, he kissed me! I hadn't felt a connection like this since a long time ago, and something stirred within me that has left me unable to get him out of my thoughts. Then he simply left. I wish I knew what to make of it.

As we were leaving Hiberna, I remembered a spell that I had never successfully cast before called Sending, and sent a message to Duluth to wish him well wherever he was. He only responded, "God is dead." I am do not know whether to be more terrified that the great cleric of Baldr has lost his mind, or that he somehow speaks of a truth. Mere moments later, we were caught suddenly by these snake-like dogs — or maybe dog-like snakes — whatever they were, they were monstrosities out to kill us. I found a newfound power in myself in that moment and called forth angels of Baldr that caused the snakes to bleed out of every orifice in their body. Gurney showed some incredible newfound strength and slaughtered half of them, and Lenny and Helike were able to cut down the remaining few.

I hope I can someday share these stories with you. I miss you more deeply every day.

Your dear brother,

Carnelian