Left Behind, Letter Two

Landon—

I trust that this letter, as well as the previous one, has found its way to you. The war here seems to be on the verge of resolution—at least, the nobles are meeting with the Prince Reginald, and we all pray that the recent madness will be put aside shortly. At least, with things as they are, things seem to be picking up for us common people. The trade ships which were so long delayed for fear of piracy have at last made it to port, and all of Avalon is rejoicing.

I myself am rejoicing as well. The arrival of our ships from the Souther Isles have at last allowed my wages to come through, as well as a not-insubstantial bonus. While an insignificant sum for one such as yourself, it is with a certain amount of pride that I write to inform you that I was able to restore Agatha’s dowery and her marriage seems to be imminent. These funds could have been used to aid Marie and my children, but one must do what one must for ones family. Not all of us have the option to pick up and move away when things get too difficult at home, after all.

We have received little word from your little colony in the past few months. True, it is now winter and the seas are not so conducive to travel as they once were. Still, I hope that you are well, and that you will soon come to your sense about the choices you have made. I know I was, perhaps, not as kind to you as I should have in my last letter. I spoke more bluntly than I should, but I hope that you understand that it came from deep love and admiration for you. You were always the best of us, and it was to you that I always looked. Your skills and wisdom and intelligence are sorely missed by all of us here, and we await your return.

Your brother,

Milo.

For this letter, my prompt was the Ace of Diamonds. This represents a positive financial occurrence with the community, and I decided that at least some of that has trickled down to the long-suffering Milo. With things not as terrible as before, he is feeling more generous to his brother, whom he does love. His last letter was rooted in such bitterness and resentment, that he never got a chance to express how much he does love Landon, and how much him leaving hurts him, even more than the difficulties he faces now with the family. Something I hope to explore as the play continues.

An on that note, let’s see what’s going to happen next. I draw a card from my deck, and get a:

Four of Spades

This is another Doldrums, focusing on Depression. It is also the second of three possible Doldrums. By comparison, I have only one of four possible Positive events. Per the rules, I need to wait 2 days before writing my next letter (due to the Positive outcome of this one), so I will see you all on November 5^th for the next letter.

Mechanics and Rules All We Love We Leave Behind by Adam Vass Universal NPC Emulator by Zach Best The Everyone, Everywhere List by Erik James Olsrud Card images from Wikimedia Commons, used under the GNU Free Document License.