Streets of Hope

How did you manage during the incursions and Sophia's passing? Was there any form of help for you?

"I managed, alright. I had my roots and the boys I'd made, those the Old Hope leprechauns call boggarts. That, plus years of unused standard ammunition. For a while, that worked out fine. Then Sophia died.

I couldn't both root myself for efficiency's sake and patrol my grounds at the same time, so I asked for help from the Lord and Lady. Nothing came of it. Official word's my hails never reached 'em, that someone at Evergloam figured total containment meant cutting themselves off from Hope for as long as the worst of it would happen. Oh, McHale's supposedly brought down Hell and high water on the Regent and I hear our mighty old Percival even put Vigilance to someone's throat over it - but it doesn't change the fact that I didn't see Summer bloom or Winter frost when I could've used either. 

Then, the angels came. I watched their golden portals open over the heart of the city - and not a single goddamn rift over Old Hope. Not a single solitary pair of wings for Pickman's Sound. Oh, they showed up later, once the demons got wise and encircled my fields, poisoned my lands - but I didn't matter. Not when Eirean had more seeds of me. Not when she could've let me die on their orders and then plant a nice, friendly, agreeable successor to Jack Greene. She cut in, sure, tried to assure me that'd never be on the table; but some of Gabriel's lieutenants had other priorities. Winning at any cost was on their mind, and nobody ever gave a damn about the local pumpkin-headed scarecrow, anyway.

So I dug deep. I sent my roots down, gunning for any fissure or rift outside of my fields. The demons themselves? They're idiots, cattle for bigger herders - but they can tap into something most of everyone in town was too afraid to even touch. Not me. 

Mark my words; Sophia's death won't have been for nothing."