001 – Lands of Pol – The Second Iteration

I have spent centuries wandering the cosmos. Time has no meaning. I have seen stars born and die. I have seen all the wonders the universe has to offer. Or so I thought…

I am Reborn. A soul who once lived. A soul who died. I have the freedom to see all. Yet I am imprisoned in my present form. Unable to find peace in the afterlife. Unable to walk among the living. I roam the cosmos watching… Waiting… Another star. Another planet. Tormented by the silence. Humbled by the beauty. Another Rock. Another Moon. I know nothing of what came before. Only… pain. Death. They did this to me. I know not who. I roam and I soar but all the while I am aware of the death. It sears in my mind like the burning inferno in the stars. I feel the cold rage at those who did this to me. And yet… There is a sadness in the beauty. It brings the calm and holds the rage at bay. Until the stars pass and the coldness grips me again. And then it came, like a thief in the night. Small at first, so insignificant. But it grew. Slowly at first, and then faster. It grew, and grew. I became gripped with fear. I was unable to stop this thing. Its massive form washing over me like a vast wave over a pebble. This is it. This must be it. The end is finally here. It became so bright and I was engulfed, until….. Black.

A strange… sensation.. I…. Feel?…. I FEEL! A warmness and a coolness all at once. The loving embrace of Mother Nature I hadn’t felt in so long. She is my saviour. She comes to rescue me from my exile. I feel her love encompass me. She tells me.. I am ALIVE! I live again! She touches my mind and eases the rage. She cannot extinguish it, that I must learn to do myself. But the rage is no longer all encompassing, I can think again. I am coherent. My Mother gifts me a staff to always remember, and she cocoons me. She tells me others are coming. She tells me not to fear them. And so I await them..

I hear them. They approach me in my cocoon. I am not afraid but I wait to gauge them. One of them knocks. Do I appear now? Or do I want a little longer? Uncertain, I decide to wait a little longer. I need time to adjust. I have forgotten the language, I need a little time to watch them, to remember. The cocoon begins to glow as they investigate me. I am out of time. I think I may be able to do this. One of them lifts the shroud from my feet. Coldness. I feel a rush of cool breeze on my feet. I wriggle my toes. I cannot help it.

I gasp. I huge gasp of air rushes into my lungs. I cannot see properly. All is blurry. It takes me minutes to focus. One of the others speaks to me in a language I am familiar with. He asks me who I am

Monologue to the others:

I am Sh… Shalana? Yes. I am Shalana. I woke on this world, startled and afraid. I have travelled so far for so long, I came from…. No…. I do not remember. I remember the stars. But…. No… no, I must go back further. I… ARGH! MYCHEST! IT HURTS!…. *gasps* I remember…. The blade in my chest… and then… I died… They tried to bring me back…alive… but something went wrong… Then I was in the stars… Oh but they were so beautiful… and I travelled among them.. a long… long time… I remember… a small star… No! A planet… insignificant at first… but it grew. It got bigger, and bigger and then… I woke here. I was alive again. I do not remember how it was to be alive before. But… I remember… Druid. Yes, that is me. I am one with nature and nature is me. But the stars… The stars are also me. *gasps* MY CHEST! THE PAIN!

I am introduced to the others and they to me. I like the others. Ferdinand and Blinky I am unsure of. They make me feel uneasy with nature. I am invited to their vessel to quest with them, and following my mothers direction, and having no other place to go I accept. I spend most of the night identifying items for the party. I do not feel the need for rest, but they must.

Bathinday the 20th of Skerpla. Year 164 of the Rested Seas:

I help to navigate the ship onward through the reef and treacherous waters. We are to journey to Yertlebar. Tact who says he is a merchant tells stories of Yertlebar. He speaks of Fish Pie. We’ve had fog but navigation has been smooth. We journey along the coast. There are small ruins along the land as we sail by, and hidden reefs under the water but I am able to avoid them. We go around the peninsula. There is a Fortification here at he tip of the Peninsula. Tact says it is called “The Tip’ and is used as a mark for where we are. He seems excited so I think we must be near to Yertlebar.

As we turn around the peninsula we see a fleet of ships mostly fishermen and one or two strange looking vessels in the distance. Then, I see strange looking Fish-men. I do not like them, and my new friends look worried. The Fish-men ride on the backs of huge crabs. One crew members calls out “Sahuagin!”. This must be the Fish-men. They come closer and I do not like the way they are behaving. I realise – they have come to attack us! They have been sitting in wait to ambush us. I begin to feel the familiar rage burn in my mind. It had almost disappeared since being on this world but again I feel it. My vision turns red and I am unable to think in the same way as I did before. My physical form bursts forth into a vision of bright stars like an ethereal constellation. I discharge a powerful spell at the closest Sahuagin. But it misses the creature. I am clearly still adjusting to my new form but I feel quite unhappy that I have missed. I loose a spectral arrow on one of the creatures and it hits! I get a thrill run down my spine as I see the creature hurt. Another of our crew slices through the creature and kills it. I am a bit annoyed that I did not land the killing blow. I say to myself that I wont allow that to happen again. I loose another arrow into the flesh of another creature. But my new friend Shaw finishes the kill and I am more angry this time at the stolen kill. I completely miss a couple of shots, and the creatures begin to retreat. In my rage I follow. I notice that Afgar also follows and I prepare to jump into the water and pursue the chase. I am grabbed from behind and thinking it is another creature, i turn to cut them down but this person is not one of the creatures. It takes a few seconds but I slowly realise that it is my new friend Thorgrim. The rage doesn’t want to leave but I reason with it. This is my new friend and I reason that I will feel horrible if I were to kill him. I slowly lower my weapons and allow the calm to wash over me once more. Afgar has pursued the creatures though. He has not come back to get our help. Actually, we haven’t seen him in some time. I hope he has not been slain. I allow the calm back in until the rage no longer bothers me. I look at my staff.. My gift from my mother and in remembrance I smile a little. I set the staff abloom covered in beautiful flowers and I admire it for a few minutes and I enjoy the calm and I am so grateful for my mother’s gift. Not only the staff but for quelling the rage inside of me.

We sail onward to Yertlebar