Alexi's Event Log

Alexi's Island Journal

1st Entry

As I awoke from the crash and looked around a wave of relief came over me, we'd made it. I uttered a prayer of thanksgiving to the Protectress and as I rose to my feet I noticed both Vyse and Vaeru lying on the ground with weapons clasped in outstretched arms about twenty feet apart. I hurried to Vyse and knelt to beseech Hyln on his behalf and seeing him stir I turned next to Vaeru to do the same. As the battered warrior got to his feet I noticed the eladrin shape of Arranis begin to show signs of life near the stern. Content that we had survived I ordered Vaeru to follow me into the lower decks of the ship and search for any survivors, and after some time we gathered the remainder of our crew, colonists and other refugees from the disaster on the deck of the then unnamed Aecris. I tasked myself and Vaeru with the healing of those that had suffered more than simple abrasions and noticed a Ximenian priestess and a shield-sister of mine doing the same with the assistance of their acolytes. As the events of the past hours began to set in, many of the people began to break down either in tears or into a trauma induced lunacy while others wore a visage of blank disbelief. The emotion of the group as a whole was one of hopelessness. I noticed eyes began to follow me as I went from victim to victim and as I rose from assisting the last of the wounded I understood what needed to be done. Lord Illica saw something in me, and now these people expected it of me. I turned to Arranis, asked if he could amplify my voice a touch, cleared my throat and began:

“Friends... the day seems to be a bleak one. We have lost many a friend, family member and fellow citizen in a catastrophe the likes of which none of us have ever seen save for in the darkest of dreams. I regret to inform you that this disaster, however, was no illusion wrought in slumber. Every hour of it, from the eruption of Thundermarl to the onset of the horde of undeath, was a very real and terrible event. There will be a time when we will mourn greatly the loss of our comrades, but that time, regrettably, is not yet at hand. The Shieldmaiden of Sigil saw it fit that we survive, and if we are to survive then we must come together. As a group we must see to it that the efforts of the Protectress are not wasted and begin to rebuild a semblance of our former lives here on this island. We must work to tune the rhythms of the reconstruction of our hearts with the rhythm of the practical reconstruction of our daily lives, and I assure you.... I assure you that not one life lost will be forgotten. When the time comes we will mourn the deaths and celebrate the lives of all who were taken from us in these past hours of peril. My friends, this day is indeed a bleak one, but tomorrow, on the other hand, holds a nature that is dependant on us. I believe tomorrow will be the start of many days with a much more positive nature than that of today.”

As I finished a few of people who had already collected their wits began a slow, scattered and mournful applause that slowly passed through to the rest of the people who weren't already using their hands to console the ones who were still reclaiming their will. And so it was that I gave my first speech as 'Lord Alexi Kholodov, Baron of the Dravic Empire' in the darkest of times to the most unfortunate of people.