The Tail of Chik-Tika

(This story is a bit foggier, and I may have to have help fleshing it out.  Anyone who was there, please feel free to correct my memory.)

Robin invented Chik-Tika.  Hamelyn made him legend.

I'm fairly certain that the name came from the ABBA song "Chiquitita".  Robin tended to have music playing during games, or while planning games.  

Our party (and I can't remember which characters) first met Chik-Tika during an ocean adventure.  We were on a ship, and the cargo was (I shit you not) blow-up sex dolls.  Only the captain of the ship was embarrassed to admit that aloud, and used a euphemism: "floatation devices."  

Somehow, this anthropomorphic, talking raccoon found its way on board, in the middle of the voyage, and began, well, acting like a curious raccoon.  Asking questions.  Poking its nose everywhere.  Stealing.  

The Tail of Panda

I have to begin by saying that Robin turned out to be something of a power player.

When Arthur began his Roll20 campaign Ilvantar, it was mainly for our family, and he was working out the kinks in the system.  We were his playtesters.  I ran Cage (ranger-type), Anita had Rosa (heavy magic and stealth), Kyrie was Somura (stealth/diplomacy), and Robin recreated Maxwell (magic and healing -- mostly healing), one of her first D&D characters and a longtime NPC in her own game.  The kids played when they could muster the attention for it.

Maxwell...overdid things.  I won't sidetrack this story by telling about all the things he overdid, but there were a lot.  If he had the choice of setting a duration of a spell for hours or days, he chose weeks.  Or months.  Or millenia.  

I'll give you an early example.  One of our early campaigns was to rescue a village of humans from a tribe of gnoll captors.  We established a base of operations in a nearby grove of fruit trees, and Maxwell thought it would be a good idea to set up a "healing point" at our camp.  He centered it upon one of the trees, anyone in a certain radius regenerates a huge amount (it's been so long I've forgotten how much, I think 70 hp per round), and he set it to last for millenia.  He burned up all his Power doing that, and dipped into health reserves if I recall correctly -- this was before I started making detailed notes, but somebody has them and can correct me.  That tree became a key part of future events, and for all I know, it is still there, spread throughout the entire world of Ilvantar by now.  That's when we began calling Maxwell "Miracle Max."  It's also when Arthur began modifying his magic system.

Enter the Bitter Trees.

One Year

I thought that I would write about how much I have healed this past year, but in truth, I still feel very much lost and empty, especially late at night.

I thought that I would write about the events of that late night, a year ago, but every time I start thinking about them, I keep wanting to go further back, explaining how things started, and then I realize anew that I don't really know how things really started, and what I really want to do is go back and stop it all from happening.

I thought that I would write about a lot of things, but instead, I spent the past few days in the company of family, and that was the best use of my time. 

Arthur and I finally moved the large china cabinet from the hall, where it has stood since we transported it from the rock cabin just before that place was sold.  And then I spent the next hour or so feeling guilty for finally accomplishing it, just as I still do for every little thing that I finally get done, having put it off for so long. 

The holiday isn't completely ruined for me.  I can look back on the good times and smile, even if that smile is accompanied by a few tears.  And I can watch my grandchildren enjoy a few sparklers with innocent abandon. 

The sense of emptiness is far greater after the visit, than it used to be.