Post by Wil Frozendagger on Dec 1, 2019 1:36:08 GMT
There were traditions to be upheld and the arts to preserve.
A voice hung low in Wil's head, reminding him of this fact. It was his father who had said it, and Wil was only a child when he heard him, barely caring for them. When did traditions and arts ever help? These things didn't win you fights or put food on the table. It was only now, faced with the aged and wizened aaracockra chieftain in front of him that he realised; the traditions didn't need to help like that, that wasn't what they were there for. There were traditions to be upheld and the arts to preserve, and Wil was going to honour them, if not for his clan then for his grandfather, the Longstrider, and if not him, for himself.
"Our story begins on a curiosity amongst curiosities," Wil began, in a voice much clearer than its usual rough timbre, and with speech more even and eloquent than usual. "An island unmoored, freed from the sea bed for it was never attached, in fact, the island once lived and breathed, traversing the ocean as a leviathan. After its passing, the body drifted in the waves, slow enough for a community to form on it. As with nearly all settings, curious or not, there is always something even more curious going on within, in the realms where few have gone. This was the bread and butter of we five, tasked with delving into the caverns to uncover what lay within. He made a grand gesture at his four companions, Taz, Gegrun, Levion and Tethys who were in the process of petitioning one of the fowl men to make fudge with some special herbs that Gegrun had come across in the Feythorn.
"We five each were equipped with abilities to succeed in our endeavour; Levion, light on his feet could surely sneak around unobserved, Tethys could fight with extreme grace, I myself am able to see the bends and folds in the Weave, and as for Taz and Gegrun, well, when all else fails, we need people to try force, no? So we ventured, through the one time lair of a coral dragon, who was recently slain by a dragon turtle and that dragon turtle slain by no less than yours truly, but that itself is a story we do not have the time for. And so we five marched through the tunnels going further beyond, the darkness smothering us all except for our light sources. Ever forward, ever onward, we walked, hoping to find something to make this worthwhile, something, anything. Silence. For the longest time, nothing. And then we felt it, in our heads, in our minds, something beckoning us forward. The first to succumb was Taz, and as he moved forward revealed to us four sculptures, four beautifully carved gemstones, emblems of the elements in their respective colours, ruby for fire, emerald for earth, sapphire for water and diamond for air. Fire for the dragonborn as he sundered it with his maul, air for the half orc as he crushed it with his bare hands, water for this mortal man and earth for the elf as before us, all of the jewels lay in pieces and in their place, four beings of the elements, a lady of angry, passionate flame, a soldier of howling fierce wind, a maven of calmest serene water and a sentinel in obstinate steadfast stone."
"They addressed themselves to us as the Guardians, but offered no explanation as to what it was that they guarded. In fact they didn't want to answer any of our questions, instead offering us a single wish. Obviously there was much deliberation between us about this, but let me first remind you that we are only mortal, and adventurers at that, before you judge us for asking to see the most valuable item they had. As surprising as it sounds, they actually obliged, and began to lead us further into the cavern as we disregarded the now sealed entrance behind. The gravity of the situation did not hit us until we learnt just what they had been guarding, as before us lay a dark rounded object, almost the size of a giant, and within we saw the shadow of a terrifying beast. We were face to face with the island's child."
"We had been fools to come here, fools to even presume that we were ever in control of the situation and we knew now that this was far beyond us, so sheepishly, naively I asked the soldier of wind if we could leave. Again, my question was unanswered. It seems they had thought about trying force way before we did. It began. The chamber became a whirl of metal, elements and magic as we began to fight for our lives once again, although faced with such ancient beings, we felt the odds against us, right up until the maven of water shielded me from the lady of fire. Similarly did the sentinel turn on our aggressor the soldier. We had the upper hand now, and with a few well aimed strikes was the fire extinguished and the wind silenced. The remaining two elementals apologised on behalf of their former comrades, and deigned to grant two of us a small boon, a necklace of ice for myself and an earth symbol tattoo for Gegrun. We offered that they could now leave the cavern too however they wanted to stay. They needed to guard their prince, they said. So we left, and they remained, and it is safe to say that as I lie in my quarters tonight, I will be thinking of the prince of this island, and hoping that he sleeps well for a long while yet."
As Wil closed the story, he could see the appreciation on the chieftain's face, that nod of approval. Wil wondered about what kind of stories his grandfather told him, and whether he was as good as him. He wondered about the stories he had heard about Magnatus Frozendagger XIV, the Longstrider, the adventurer of the family who brought them back from the brink, who was supposedly educated in the Old Ways by a shapeshifting bird man in a faraway land. Wil thought back then that this could only be lies, that the Longstrider was nothing more than a raider and a pirate and that there wasn't a place on Faerun where a druid would part with their secrets. He had never considered that the land was so far away it wasn't even Faerun. How? How did he do it?
Just who are you, Magnatus Longstrider?
A voice hung low in Wil's head, reminding him of this fact. It was his father who had said it, and Wil was only a child when he heard him, barely caring for them. When did traditions and arts ever help? These things didn't win you fights or put food on the table. It was only now, faced with the aged and wizened aaracockra chieftain in front of him that he realised; the traditions didn't need to help like that, that wasn't what they were there for. There were traditions to be upheld and the arts to preserve, and Wil was going to honour them, if not for his clan then for his grandfather, the Longstrider, and if not him, for himself.
"Our story begins on a curiosity amongst curiosities," Wil began, in a voice much clearer than its usual rough timbre, and with speech more even and eloquent than usual. "An island unmoored, freed from the sea bed for it was never attached, in fact, the island once lived and breathed, traversing the ocean as a leviathan. After its passing, the body drifted in the waves, slow enough for a community to form on it. As with nearly all settings, curious or not, there is always something even more curious going on within, in the realms where few have gone. This was the bread and butter of we five, tasked with delving into the caverns to uncover what lay within. He made a grand gesture at his four companions, Taz, Gegrun, Levion and Tethys who were in the process of petitioning one of the fowl men to make fudge with some special herbs that Gegrun had come across in the Feythorn.
"We five each were equipped with abilities to succeed in our endeavour; Levion, light on his feet could surely sneak around unobserved, Tethys could fight with extreme grace, I myself am able to see the bends and folds in the Weave, and as for Taz and Gegrun, well, when all else fails, we need people to try force, no? So we ventured, through the one time lair of a coral dragon, who was recently slain by a dragon turtle and that dragon turtle slain by no less than yours truly, but that itself is a story we do not have the time for. And so we five marched through the tunnels going further beyond, the darkness smothering us all except for our light sources. Ever forward, ever onward, we walked, hoping to find something to make this worthwhile, something, anything. Silence. For the longest time, nothing. And then we felt it, in our heads, in our minds, something beckoning us forward. The first to succumb was Taz, and as he moved forward revealed to us four sculptures, four beautifully carved gemstones, emblems of the elements in their respective colours, ruby for fire, emerald for earth, sapphire for water and diamond for air. Fire for the dragonborn as he sundered it with his maul, air for the half orc as he crushed it with his bare hands, water for this mortal man and earth for the elf as before us, all of the jewels lay in pieces and in their place, four beings of the elements, a lady of angry, passionate flame, a soldier of howling fierce wind, a maven of calmest serene water and a sentinel in obstinate steadfast stone."
"They addressed themselves to us as the Guardians, but offered no explanation as to what it was that they guarded. In fact they didn't want to answer any of our questions, instead offering us a single wish. Obviously there was much deliberation between us about this, but let me first remind you that we are only mortal, and adventurers at that, before you judge us for asking to see the most valuable item they had. As surprising as it sounds, they actually obliged, and began to lead us further into the cavern as we disregarded the now sealed entrance behind. The gravity of the situation did not hit us until we learnt just what they had been guarding, as before us lay a dark rounded object, almost the size of a giant, and within we saw the shadow of a terrifying beast. We were face to face with the island's child."
"We had been fools to come here, fools to even presume that we were ever in control of the situation and we knew now that this was far beyond us, so sheepishly, naively I asked the soldier of wind if we could leave. Again, my question was unanswered. It seems they had thought about trying force way before we did. It began. The chamber became a whirl of metal, elements and magic as we began to fight for our lives once again, although faced with such ancient beings, we felt the odds against us, right up until the maven of water shielded me from the lady of fire. Similarly did the sentinel turn on our aggressor the soldier. We had the upper hand now, and with a few well aimed strikes was the fire extinguished and the wind silenced. The remaining two elementals apologised on behalf of their former comrades, and deigned to grant two of us a small boon, a necklace of ice for myself and an earth symbol tattoo for Gegrun. We offered that they could now leave the cavern too however they wanted to stay. They needed to guard their prince, they said. So we left, and they remained, and it is safe to say that as I lie in my quarters tonight, I will be thinking of the prince of this island, and hoping that he sleeps well for a long while yet."
As Wil closed the story, he could see the appreciation on the chieftain's face, that nod of approval. Wil wondered about what kind of stories his grandfather told him, and whether he was as good as him. He wondered about the stories he had heard about Magnatus Frozendagger XIV, the Longstrider, the adventurer of the family who brought them back from the brink, who was supposedly educated in the Old Ways by a shapeshifting bird man in a faraway land. Wil thought back then that this could only be lies, that the Longstrider was nothing more than a raider and a pirate and that there wasn't a place on Faerun where a druid would part with their secrets. He had never considered that the land was so far away it wasn't even Faerun. How? How did he do it?
Just who are you, Magnatus Longstrider?