Hope for Camp Despair
By Rowan
Ah, summer camp… those memorable days filled with campfire songs, group activities, that one overzealous counselor whose only joy in life is your suffering, and of course, bear traps. So many bear traps.
Camp Despair was everything the name would suggest, and so much more. Upon our arrival to the mist-shrewn campground, our motley adventuring crew was greeted by Head Counselor Despair, a peppy demon with a nasty scar and a nastier temper. While some of us pondered over whether we had arrived at the wrong camp, we were promptly instructed to divide into teams, school-yard style (I was baffled when Grindin of Ashenmark, a skilled fighter and competent athlete, was last pick). The first task: My team was to guide the other, blindfolded team through a maze of obstacles, grappling vines, and yes, bear traps. So many bear traps. We guided them all through in reasonable time and with few casualties. But when our turn came to navigate the course, the difficulty had increased: the walls were now fire, the vines now poison, and the bear traps were... well, still bear traps. So many bear traps. It was no wonder we failed (or maybe it was the guides who failed? I’m not sure). Some suspected foul play. Others suspected that Counsellor Despair had grown bored. It wasn’t until later that I learned of further sabotage wrought by demon influences from within our own.
I should get to the part about the Demons. Each of us were chosen by a deity or demon, for unknown (or perhaps just random) reasons. Our sponsors were known only to ourselves and granted us specific abilities. The demon representatives were given nefarious goals, and our mission was to purge them all. No, really, throw them in the fire and cleanse them of their demonic influences. Or the godly powers of one of our own, if we messed up badly enough. We mostly shot blind, mistrust and apathy abound.
But this story isn’t complete without Bob. No summer camp experience is complete without the unexpected friendship of two strangers meeting and passing like ships in the night. They may not follow through on their promises to keep in touch, but nonetheless they will never forget their time together. Bob is one such friend, and I hope he will always cherish our friendship bracelet. We encountered him on our Quest to “take care of” a bear that had been seen roaming around the campground. He was easy enough to find, rifling through an unattended tent (remember to properly secure your rations, kids). We made sure to take good care of Bob Disbearington, and led him back to the safety of the pavilion where he wouldn’t fall victim to one of the many bear traps. I gave him speech with our precious friendship bracelet, and everyone helped so that he had all the snacks and severed arms that he desired. We even got rid of a pesky demon who had insisted on putting Bob into a bear pit - where Bob had very much no desire to go - after much debate on the demon’s reasoning that bears go in bear pits, when a “bear pit” without a bear was clearly just a “pit” of any potential. It ended up being a demon pit in the end, and Bob made a lovely meal out of Temorse that night. I’m told he even earned his own merit badge and ascended into some higher state of being, perhaps even among the lower pantheon. We can only hope.
But alas, summer camp never lasts forever, and Camp Despair was no different. We succeeded in outing the last of the demon sympathizers in a well-played game of Never-Have-I-Ever. Despair herself turned out to have been corrupted by a very similar turn of events long ago, back when she was the Chosen of Aurora with a more hopeful heart. Together, we loyal campers managed to turn Despair away from her path of spite and redeem her true self. I might not have managed to earn a merit badge this year, but I look forward to returning for Camp Home next summer.
Rowan
Chosen (for a time) of Rawonam,
Friend of Bob