Library:Who Watches the Watcher?

After stepping through a Lunar Rift to Ardoris, Lady FireLotus observes the Watchers for the first time. She questions their motivation and allegiance in this journal entry. The story was first published on the Shroud of the Avatar Forum, and the first three paragraphs were excerpted in Update of the Avatar #94.

Who Watches the Watcher?
by FireLotus

I finally mustered my nerves and stepped through the Lunar Rift and found myself in a majestic city known as Ardoris. I was immediately taken with its urban sprawl, charming architecture, and bustling markets. Here I saw great potential for a new home… a new Tavern; one that would easily rival the two existing establishments. Truth be told, I could probably buy out the Tavern of the South Wind with the gold I have squirreled away. That place looks like it has seen better days, and though I’d have to scrub it down (and be sure to evict “Blowhard von Strife” from his bar stool, permanently) it had potential… not to mention location, location, location.

But it didn’t take long for me to abandon that plan. As it would seem, the entire city has a bit of an insect problem. One that not even an expert exterminator could fix. Large, invasive, mechanized insects called Watchers.

Now, I’ve survived, even thrived here for close to a year now, and I credit that to a fair amount of carefully constructed deceptions and my staying off the radar. Nothing malicious of course, just a friendly ruse to help me assimilate more easily into my new life when I first arrived in this new land. Yes, I inherited my Tavern from a dying man who mistakenly, maybe even wishfully, believed that I was his estranged daughter. Apparently, I’m the spitting image of her... go figure! But I was the one who cared for him on his deathbed, and from what I could tell, I brought him more pride and joy then she ever did.

So I played my part in this grand facade, and worked hard to honor his memory by turning Fire Lotus Tavern into a thriving, vibrant success. He was more proud of me than my own father had ever been, and he was undeniably a more honorable man than my own Dad; someone I grew to care for deeply. I still miss him. But here I am, babbling on about things long past. The point is that, all in all my new life, my new identity, worked out great for everyone.

But then I get here and all of a sudden, there are these flying, crawling, insectoid eyeballs everywhere. Watching me. Watching everyone. Reporting to some mysterious “Oracle” who is supposed to know everything about everyone and everything. Half the people who live in Ardoris are creeped out by the things, I can tell by the way they whisper around them, and why wouldn’t they be. Something reporting their every move to some unseen entity. I’ve seen enough sci-fi to to know that can’t be a good thing. Especially for someone like me. Someone who values... no, depends on her privacy.

So, I quietly took my leave. I was kinda feeling homesick anyway. But I was left wondering, who exactly is this Oracle, and what kind of nefarious intentions would require the presence of the Watchers anyway. I’ll have to see if any of my contacts can provide me with more information about the Oracle and her legion of eyes. After all, if I won’t be investing in another Tavern, I have a bit of gold to spread around. At least until I find a location that’s not crawling with “bugs”.