Joryn - 7

## Outmatched

Running away has always worked for me. I'm far quicker on my feet than most and I've the endurance needed to outlast any of my past pursuers. Yet, even with an entire staircase between us, I was not able to evade Leopold. In just a short moment, he was able to reach me, deliver a powerful blow upon the back of my skull, and send me tumbling forward.

Leopold was unarmed but his fist felt like a club. I knew that I was at his mercy. My only hope was that he didn't believe it necessary to kill me. I allowed myself to collapse and feigned unconsciousness.

Neither of the two People of the Ash that were with me were a match for Leopold, either. They foolishly engaged him after seeing me deftly beaten. Despite their skill in fighting, they were quickly and overwhelmingly subdued by just one "man."

Darius was the only one to make it out of the conflict without injury. Not being officially affiliated with the People of the Ash, he was able to negotiate his way out of physical harm. In the end, Leopold took Darius with him and left the rest of us lying in our blood in the sublevel of the island obelisk. He stated that he didn't want Darius' "gift" providing us with access to the tunnels. It's peculiar that he didn't just kill us.

After Leopold left, I pulled myself up and managed to bandage and stabilize Jake, who had been impaled by his own spear. The other warrior was beyond help. He had taken an even more severe blow to his head, making me wonder if Leopold was fully committed when he struck me.

Aligning myself with the People of the Ash has made me an enemy to a very powerful being. I wish that it were not so for I've never felt so powerless in my life as I do now. Perhaps that's why he didn't bother ensuring that we were dead; we aren't a threat. Then again, he elected take Darius with him to prevent us from foiling his plans, so it does seem as if we posed some risk to him.

## Meeting Leopold

We had been spending the night in the island obelisk after a long day of running back and forth between the tunnels. I awoke to humming and clumsily investigated after awaking the others. I had attempted to be silent but slipped wildly and only barely caught myself before falling over. The echo of my scuffle reverberated against the stone walls and notified everyone of my blunder. The humming stopped.

Up until that point, I had wondered if the humming were coming from the obelisk; if it were a magical property of the structure that occasionally manifested itself. Realizing that wasn't the case—or at least that it wasn't happening without assistance—I called out to whoever it was that must have now known of my presence. Shortly after, a man in a toga appeared at the top of the stairs.

I held my hands out in a non-threatening gesture and stated that I meant no harm. The man recognized me as one of the People of the Ash and inquired on the matter. I answered truthfully but concisely. He then invited me to join him upstairs and threatened the lives of my friends if I didn't cooperate.

The invitation seemed like a trick to me; a way of getting me to leave a more defensible position and walk into an ambush in an open room. I also recalled hearing about sacrifices performed in the volcano and didn't want to take the chance of a like tradition in the obelisk. Running away seemed like an easy and far less risky alternative.

I decided that the man's threat was a bluff and called a retreat to the others. I turned and ran as fast as I could, only to be immediately overtaken by the man in the toga; the man that Jake soon identified as Leopold.

In fact, Leopold's threat was real. Skaihl had alluded to his power but it was so much more than I had anticipated. It wasn't that he did anything that immediately appeared magical or of that nature, rather that he was unnaturally so much more than his appearance suggested. Up until he had demonstrated what he really was, I couldn't have expected what I experienced. His speed, force, and ability were each far beyond our own.

## Reunion

The following day at around noon, Todd, Vera, Lagreth and several others from the village of the People of the Ash came through one of the tunnels. The village had been sieged and overtaken, forcing Todd to escort the villagers out by tunnel. Skaihl was last seen preparing to engage Leopold and is presumably dead. I hope that isn't the case but I doubt he was of the mind to do anything but fight.

Vera's arm dangled lifelessly to the side as if broken but with no visible signs of injury nor was it slung for proper healing. She appeared to feel no pain. I suppose she might have been healed by Lagreth after a severe injury to her arm. It must have been beyond him to restore the bone entirely. Still needing quite a bit of care myself, I petitioned Lagreth to assist Jake and me. We weren't far from where we had fallen the night before, neither of us having much strength to move about.

Lagreth healed Jake and then me. It was an immense feeling; a surge of… rest that invigorated me as if I had slept peacefully for a week. The wound on the back of my head itched in a relieving sort of way and the large scab shed as soon as I scratched it.

The island became a camp for the survivors and several of them began hunting the lizards. We then heard shouting from outside the obelisk announcing that a large blue moth-like beast was approaching. It turned out to be Cromm; or at least I think it's Cromm.

## Metamorphosis

Through magic that Cromm avoided explaining, he had become a hybrid of a man and large moth. He was still humanoid but also had wings and antennae. He had blue fur and his voice was much different. Had he not introduced himself using our agreed upon cipher, I never would have known who it was. I would have shot him thinking that it was just another odd creature of the island.

Cromm claims to have been betrayed and "killed" by Leopold. He also stated that Leopold took his magical gift from him—or at least most of it—and now seems determined to find and kill him as soon as possible.

I don't understand what Cromm meant when he said most of his gift had been stolen, but I do know he claimed to have the ability to raise the dead. Perhaps he has the power to raise himself.

Another possibility is that Cromm's death is merely a metaphor for something else. It's believed that Asher created the Maar and many other creatures of this island. Perhaps Cromm experimented with some of Asher's magic and did this to himself. Or maybe Leopold did it.

## Trust

Vera does not trust Cromm and made that apparent soon after he was identified. I don't blame her for not trusting him. He already abandoned us once. Who knows what he might have shared with Leopold. His claim to want to kill him could just be a ruse. In fact, his new form could just be a temporary state that allowed him to fly to our location. It wouldn't have been hard to guess that the survivors of the People of the Ash would come to the island obelisk.

Given our circumstances, I'm far more willing to take risks than Vera. If Cromm were working with Leopold, he is merely the beginning of what is to come. Exploring the possibility of working with Cromm and what he can offer seemed like a reasonable gamble. So adamant was Vera about her lack of trust in him, however, she actually threatened him when I wanted to bring him inside the obelisk to experiment with the magical doors.

I tried to reassure Vera and pointed out how he might help us in opening the doors, but she refused to entertain the idea. To her, working with Cromm was out of the question. I believe she's worried that he'll abandon us again—perhaps at an even more critical time. It's a reasonable concern. What if he were to abandon us in the tunnels? That could be a death sentence.

Nonetheless, I managed to convince Vera to concede and escorted him to the obelisk door. Whether his magical ability was taken or not, he still has the ability to open them. The thought of him abandoning us in the tunnels, however, makes me unwilling to rely on him in that role.

Cromm is either helping Leopold or a wildcard. If he is, indeed, determined to kill Leopold then working with him could be mutually beneficial. I just don't think it's prudent to involve him with our plans at this time. Unless he somehow proves himself reliable, anything he does will have to be of his own initiative and aloof from any plans that we make.

## Planning Our Next Move

Cromm attempted to consult with me concerning our plans and seemed to be trying to determine if we might help him in taking revenge against Leopold. I revealed nothing; in part because we had no plans yet, but more particularly because I saw no reason to divulge them to him. I wasn't interested in brainstorming with him and hoping that he "opt in" if I were to present an acceptable idea.

I thought that he would just leave after determining that we would be of no immediate help, but he lingered and reiterated how devoted he was to killing Leopold. He was very urgent and came across as a little desperate or at least single-minded. In response, I suggested that he proactively help the People of the Ash and perhaps earn their trust. In doing so, he might enlist them in helping him defeat their common enemy. He didn't like the idea, alluding to his intention to only focus directly on obtaining his revenge.

If I were in Cromm's position and determined to kill Leopold, helping the People of the Ash is precisely what I'd do. I'd head to the other obelisks and see if I could assist in gathering any other survivors. Of course, I didn't tell him that they had been given a final order at the village to regroup at the other obelisks, so I suppose he wouldn't—or I wouldn't, presuming I were in his position—know where to look for them.

Unlike Cromm, I don't have the ability to open the doors or fly. I also have no interest in engaging Leopold. And so, I don't know what to do. Helping the People of the Ash to regroup seems like a natural course of action, but we only have one individual that I trust to open the doors.

More than ever before, Lagreth seems to be my only key to leaving Asher's Island. Keeping him safe will need to be a priority. We may just need to lie low at the island obelisk and lick our wounds while we wait to see what Leopold does. He seems to be holding all of the cards.

Rather than staying at the island obelisk itself, I might suggest to Todd that he take his people to the far side of the small island and start a new village. If Leopold is interested in finding Lagreth, then fortifying the obelisk itself would make us too easy to find. We need to be removed enough from it that he couldn't simply peek through the doors to identify our presence.

The largest problem with this plan is Cromm. We can't trust him with knowing where we are if we decide to remove ourselves from the obelisk. He'd need to leave before we begin to establish the village and also be somehow convinced that we're abandoning the island.

It might also be wise to keep the other surviving People of the Ash removed from those at the island. This way the Keepers might not feel the need to search for those near the island obelisk.

Another alternative might be the opposite; "hiding" everyone out on the small island save a select few with Lagreth that hide in the jungle of the main island. Yes, I think I like this idea most. It'll give us time to observe the intentions of Leopold and his Keepers. It may even give us a chance to find some of the other refugees from the village. I'll propose it to Todd, Vera, and Lagreth.