Timothy/Events
The following is a recap of the events in early 2007 involving Timothy, Ahspia, Xerasyth, and Vigther, taken from Reexa's post in the DR Empath Events forum [1]:
The text is copied here so it can be referenced for incorporation into other articles, and in case it is lost from the DR boards.
An old S'Kra Mur woman appears, speaking only in her native tongue and not making much sense even then. Her name is Ahspia, and it is difficult to tell if her words have meaning, or are just the ramblings of a crazy woman. One this becomes clear, though...she seems drawn toward Shard, though reluctantly. In her babblings, she mentions something about the wilderness and a woman, and repeats these mentions often. At the same time as her arrival, the plague that haunted the realms during the p5 events returned, spreading with each of her appearances.
As Ahspia continued to be attracted and repelled by Shard, Xerasyth and Vigther emerged to create havoc of their own. Eventually, Ahspia was drawn to them and a ceremony was witnessed in which some sort of essence was drawn from her, leading those witnessing it to understand two things: 1) Ahspia was under their control and 2) this was not the first time such a ceremony had been performed. While retaining control of her, they withdrew from her an essence that, mixed with the souls of others they obtained, enabled the Adan'f to create carriers of the disease and spread it.
Eventually, during a battle, the jar that contained the essence controlling Ahspia shattered, allowing her to escape the mind control she was under. However, the guilt from her being the source of the disease continued to haunt her. Though no longer under Xerasyth's control, her spiral into madness did not cease and she was left to wander Crossing, lost and confused and full of anguish, and still very ill.
At around the same time, a familiar figure from Elanthia's past reappeared...Timothy Burrows, the Sicle Grove empath who had disappeared long ago, was found wandering around the ogres and cougars woods, crying for his children and scrubbing at his clothing. He was rescued by a hunter who recognized him, though it had been many long years. That hunter brought Timothy safely to town, and over the next few weeks, Timothy made several appearances and spoke with many people, in varying levels of clarity. While it's not necessary to rehash everything he said or that was said to him, there were several key things mentioned that would play a role later:
- Timothy often called out for his children, and though he called many names at many different times, only one was ever repeated: Ambent.
- Timothy mentioned once or twice that Ambent was the last child alive, and it was her bloodstains on his clothing. He also mentioned that they used to read and sing to each other.
- Timothy was found more than once seated by the vela'tohr plant in the temple grounds. During a moment of clarity, he mentioned that the vela'tohr gave him a sense of peace he couldn't find elsewhere.
- Timothy hummed and sang often, and when asked where he had been all these years, he said that he was in the woods, and sometimes he met a woman there who sang to him, and helped him sleep.
- During a conversation with GL Annael, after Timothy had left (run away), Annael made a mention that attempts to heal Timothy had been made many times with little effect, and that some theorize that only another mad person could heal someone who is mad...that only they could find a way through the knots and tangles of the mind to heal what's broken.
At the same time that the Timothy appearances were happening, Ahspia continued to wander Crossing, speaking of a wilderness and a woman, and snatches of a song she didn't understand. She could often be found wandering near the entrance to the Empath Guild, raking the ground and sobbing with grief.
One day, weary from his days back among civilization, Timothy seeks solace at the vela'tohr and croons his song to it. Simultaneously, Ahspia is found near the Empath Guild, repeating the same lines as Timothy, and giving several folks an "ah ha" moment as they put the two together. This caused them, after an hour or so of wrangling, to moongate Ahspia to Timothy in the Temple Grounds. And then something even more unusual happened.
Timothy, quite taken with Ahspia's sudden appearance, touched her as a healer would and gradually, slowly, drew from her a sickly grey-green worm. He snatched it from her neck and threw it at the vela'tohr, and the plant instantly crushed it beneath its roots and leaves. But his healing did not stop there and he did not release her. Instead, she took on the appearance of someone in a high fever while he began to hallucinate and relive the day Sicle Grove was destroyed. In a final moment, he broke the knots clouding her memory and sanity, drawing them to himself and completely shattering any clarity he may have had. Believing that his home and his family were once again dying under a fiery rain, Timothy ran shrieking from the temple, leaving a bewildered Ahspia behind.
Now clear of the madness that had clouded her, Ahspia's grief and regret doubled because she could fully understand the magnitude of what she had been a part of. Though her coherence was slow in coming, she was eventually able to relay that she had been attacked by some of "her own kind" in her home in Raven's Point, that she didn't know where she was now, but she remembers what they did to her, how they used what they took from her to kill hundreds of people. She also told of the dreams she'd had, where she would hear a woman singing to Timothy, and that even now, though the link to him was fading, she could sense that she was with him, giving him comfort. Exhausted and heartsick, Ahspia was allowed some time to recover and rest.
And then the singing voice began...a verse or two of song haunting the minds of healers Elanthia-wide...coming and going like wisps of something familiar yet strange. It enticed one group of adventurers from Shard to Crossing to investigate, leading them to the vela'tohr plant which hummed a tune to them and showed them the dead shell of worm beneath its leaves. Its heart turned sapphire blue, and the gardener kept remarking that the tune sung by the plant seemed "awful like that song the crazy man kept singing". After a while, the plant too, quieted and rested, and the snippets of song continued to echo here and there over the next few days.
Now recovered physically from her ordeal but for occasional pain in the neck area where she was originally attacked, Ahspia's mental torture continued, more enhanced because of her returning memories. She wished that Timothy had left her crazy, or that he had found a way to let her die. She wandered near the Empath Guild as a force of habit, but would not allow herself to go in. She would follow the snippets of song, knowing they came from the woods but unable to pinpoint where exactly...so she wept and cursed herself. GL Annael, drawn from her office by the incessant singing, was brought to Ahspia in an effort to help her, and tried to convey that what had happened was not Ahspia's fault, that she was a victim, to no avail. Eventually, Annael and some of the others with them got firm with Ahspia, telling her that finding Timothy was of the utmost importance, and that if she had issues with what he'd done, she could face him and say so herself.
Reluctantly, Ahspia led Annael, GL Verika, and a whole gaggle of other people out the west gate in search of the spot where Timothy was being soothed by the song of "the woman in the woods". After some searching and wandering, Timothy was eventually located, unconscious, in an area not far from Knife Clan. As the group arrived to help him, a voice sang to him from the shadows, causing many to pause in their action of dragging Timothy to safety. The voice materialized into the figure of a young woman, who spoke with the group for a time. She introduced herself as Ambent, and said that she'd been singing to them all in hopes of drawing them to find Timothy, that the fact that they had done so proved to her that they cared for him and his welfare, and that she was safe in passing his care to them. She mentioned his extremely special nature, that he was able to heal something no one else could see. She also mentioned that she could heal his madness from him, but that she feared the flood of memories underneath would destroy him completely, and that his destiny was for larger things.
She revealed that, as a child, she had been found by Timothy and his wife Penelope...that she had been singing the song she sang to them all now, and that she had told them her grandfather had taught her to sing it. She also revealed clues to indicate that, as told by Timothy earlier, she was the last child alive in Sicle Grove, and that she had died in his arms. Though circumstances beyond them had removed her from him physically, she apparently was not finished yet with her reason for coming to him in the first place, and had been near him in some sense ever since.
She also said that he reminded her of her grandfather, Trylaine (did anyone present notice that she bore some resemblance to Trylaine herself? Like her grandfather, Ambent's hair color Shifted automatically...though it was only her hair and nothing else); and then, with great sadness, she said she needed to leave him in their hands, and bid them promise her to take care. With a tearful goodbye, she ascended to another plane of existence (or so they say), leaving Ahspia in wonder, Timothy in tears, and everyone else scramblings for the fireflies she left behind. Ahspia, specially entreated by Ambent to care for Timothy due to her understanding of madness, spoke in awe of her forgiveness and pledged to be caretaker of Timothy as long as she was needed and able. While many offers were made to house Timothy, it was ultimately decided that a home would be built somewhere in the woods, to give Timothy a stable place away from the crowded city. A number of people pledged their assistance with the endeavor, and donations already began pouring in as the crowd returned back to Crossing to discuss all they'd seen and heard. And that was the conclusion of the p5 plague event chapter.
Will disease be back? That's pretty sure, at some point. It's too interesting and dynamic a tool and event to keep it dormant forever. Will Timothy be an NPC healer again? Probably not...his healing of Ahspia shattered whatever sanity he had left and though he may, at times, be seen here and there, the likelihood of him returning to the Timothy of old is pretty slim. However, this much we do know...
- The plague that was spread by the Adan'f has been healed and the source destroyed.
- Timothy can heal at a level far deeper than anyone knew, and that anyone else can get to. Is it the madness that makes that possible, or something more? Maybe it's both. Or neither. Somehow, though this chapter has ended, I think Timothy's story is not yet fully told.
- There are, apparently, more Guardians still around than originally thought. First Trylaine appeared with a special task (introducing Manipulate) before he was allowed to Ascend. Now, his granddaughter Ambent, tasked with the care of this very special Halfling until Elanthia was ready to take over, has completed her task and has Ascended. Are there more of these extraordinary people/creatures? Time will tell, but I suspect we may see another here or there as their tasks are completed and it is time for them to leave this world for another yet unknown to us mere Elanthian mortals.
For now, though, we wish Ambent well, and hope that you may think of her from time to time, especially when you see a firefly.
Oh! And for those concerned about the financial wellbeing of Ahspia and Timothy, I'm told Ahspia is currently in negotiations with the Bard Guild for rights to copies of Ambent's Lullaby on song scroll. If they should come to a settlement, you may hear that song again some warm summer evening...
"I will sing the songs your heart remembers.
I will pave your path.
I will return to help and guide you.
I will bring you home."
GM Reexa and some other GMs