Elanaele's Time Along the Sword Coast

[Canto]

After many months wandering the Silver Marches after the fall of her home in Moonwood. Elanaele ventured south where she eventually found a new home in the village of Dharasha within the Misty Forest. There she began to come to terms with her loss and decide what her new life would be.

Below is a collection of some of her experiences in this place.

[Canto]

A Scream in the Night (Month of Ches, DR1350)

The dreams kept returning and growing more intense with each night. It had been four nights ago when reverie last took and the lack of rest was starting to affect her now. Today had been the official meeting of Dharasha and she found it difficult to remain alert as the others discussed and argued over weighty matters of selecting new leaders and the many other issues that come up among those in a growing village.

Today however she was not out on patrol but in a warm bed and she hoped that would make the difference. Telling her friend Kaikinnion about the dreams seemed to help as well. Maybe telling was all that was needed to let them finally fade away...

In the middle of the night a few of the villagers were awaken by a loud scream coming from the small hut where Elanaele had taken a bed.

[Canto]

A Dark Encounter (Month of Tarsakh, DR1350)

Elanaele worked her way carefully up the road through the Fields of the Dead, showing trepidation with each step. The skeletons fell far more easily than she expected but credited that to the bow she recently acquired in Beregost for this very purpose. Undead were something that had always held a particular terror for her ever since her own brush with death that changed her life forever. Despite telling herself of the good that ultimately came from that event, deep inside she knew instinctively of the risk that had been placed upon her very soul. Fortunately she had needed to encounter few undead in her life, that is until now.

These silly nightmares had been plaguing her for long enough and it was far past time to do something about them. The sleep draughts given to her by her friend Glenia helped but only for so long. It was time to face them directly. The most recent dream, jumbled as it was, revealed a crypt somewhere in this place; one of the few places along the Sword Coast she had yet to venture. Why this place or what she sought her she did not know, only that it was here within her dream.

Night fell and she found herself thankful for the cloud cover that hid the face of the moon; yet another image that revealed itself repeatedly within her dreams just before the terrors ripped her out of reverie. As she reached the rise in the road she could see the ruins clearly and she knew in her heart this was the place. She swallowed hard and made her way to the entrance. Her heart sank when she discovered the entrance unlocked. She had no excuse to turn back now. She cast the few minor protective wards she knew and descended into the crypt.

This place was awake. She could hear the shuffles of feet and the sounds of faint voices stirring within the depths. Reason tried to assert itself to her. She should not be in this place alone. If the others knew of this foolishness she knew she would hear an earful. But how would she explain this need? That she was receiving visions to enter an old crypt from a forgotten war that did not even involve her own people? She did not even believe that herself. This was simply something she had to do.

When she heard the sudden chanting from behind her she cursed her day-dreaming, turned and let fly her arrows with barely a thought. The mummified priest fell after a few short volleys but not before his minor curse took hold sapping her will even more. “You shall join us.”, it said as it finally fell. “Not this day.”, she replied softly to herself.

Still she pressed on dispatching two more of the perverted things nearby. Her quick success with those creatures strengthened her resolve and she recalled the words of her father: ‘There is nothing that causes greater fear than the unknown. Name it and its power over you becomes but a frail thing.’

She took yet another deep breath of stale air and continued onward yet again. However she did not get three steps before a hollow voice beckoned from near by: "Greetings, sister."
She whipped about scanning the chamber for the source of the voice but found nothing. "Who is there?!"

Silence.

"Name yourself!"

"Have I really changed so much?", asked the hollow voice flatly.

"I see nothing. Show yourself!", she demanded to the darkness; but the voice... though cold and emotionless, it was a familiar one. It couldn't be…. "Kael?", she asks to the gloom.

A hushed murmur sounded from nearby and a dark shape took form within the gloom. It was indeed the fallen arch-mage.

"Kael!”, she exclaims. “But... they said you fell. What are you doing here?"

"Do you really wish to hear such an answer from the Arch-Mage ?", his voice rang out flatly. Darkness hung from his very form as he stood there.

Elanaele's mouth went dry as struggled to find the words to respond: "Do you intend me harm?", she finally asks.

"I would not harm any of our kin.", he replies. "But had you been another, who knows."...his voice so uncharacteristically lacking the joy and humor of the elf she once knew.

"But you fell. How can you be standing here? Are you still of this world?"

The form nodded slowly. "I did fall and die...Elethineth and Ithilwen brought me back form the very gates of Arvandor..."

Elan relaxed a bit sensing no deception in his words; but his voice and presence still betrayed a disturbing image. She could sense the darkness in this being and she dared not drop her guard entirely.

He chuckled darkly. "You need not fear me. I used to come here often to gather reagents. I might, however, ask you the same question. What brings you to this place alone?"

"I...I was drawn here."

"You were drawn *here*? What is it you seek?"

"I...I don't know."

The dark form stared silently, expectantly.

She sighed. "I've been having ...er... dreams. Nightmares actually. In them I thought I saw this place hoped that coming here might bring them to end."

Kael’s form nodded thoughtfully, the shroud of darkness still hanging upon him. "Have you found what you seek?"

"I don't know.", she replied. The arch made had appeared in none of her dreams that she could recall, but finding him here like this was surely significant of something. "I don't think so."

"Then perhaps you could use some assistance within? I can cast some wards upon you for prot...."

"No!", she replied quickly. "...er...Thank you, no. I think I have had enough of this place for now. Perhaps we should continue this conversation in the light of day."

"As you will have it.", he chuckles. "Let us return to the surface then. But before walking far he adds: "You do realize that if I wanted to kill you I could do so in broad daylight just as easily, yes?"

The hair stood up on the back of her neck. Nightmares or no. This place can wait. She lets him lead the way out & follows behind cautiously...

[Canto]

Holding place for entry

[Canto]

Dream (Month of Flamerule, DR1350)

Elanaele sits on a bench outside her room overlooking a quiet corner of the village and the bright, moonlit falls in the distance. The peace and quiet of the village is almost jarring after the weeks she just spent wandering the dangerous northern forests of her former home. It has been too long she was away from her adopted home.

Reverie has continued to be difficult and achievable only after states of pure exhaustion. But even then she is only rewarded by the darkest and most disturbing of dreams like the one that drove her to this bench this night. She stares off into the falls letting the grey noise wash over her and empty her mind of her most recent dark dream.

A bird catches her eye. Her sharp eye catches the iridescent black plumage, glossed purple and spangled white breast even from this distance. 'Starling' she says mindlessly to herself. They were a common bird on the streets of Waterdeep where she lived as a child. It dives and bobs around the top of the falls seeking its dinner of insects. After a moment's though she wonders: A starling? Here? They are a creature of cities and farms; open places where the mark of man is strong. What is it doing here?

At that moment she is shocked as it is hit by a large black arrow. There is no mistaking the origin of that arrow. "Orqu! Orcs in the village!" she cries out. She runs to the falls and climbs to the top near the edge of the wood to find the dead bird but it is not dead. Nor is it a starling but a hawk perched on the dead branch of a fallen tree. An arrow is lodged in the branch beneath but it is not an orcen arrow but silver with green and orange fletching tied off with a black twine and a distinctive knot used by only one other person she knows. "Father?!" she calls out.

She looks about but is no longer within the village but at the edge of the small clearing within the dark forest of Moonwood she had visited only last week. There is a figure standing in the center of the clearing lowering his bow. She recognizes him immediately. "Father!" she cries out and runs towards him.

He raises hand to signal her to stop and she obeys in confusion. He points to something behind and she turns to see the hawk is no longer there but in its place is a snowy, white ghost-owl. It calls out 'pyee pyee' and rises from the branch and powering up into the night sky. Her eyes follow it as it rises into the light of the moon and disappears. She returns her gaze to the clearing to see her father walking away, bow at the shoulder. She runs after him but he disappears into the forest beyond. "Father!" she calls out again in despair and frustration.

She looks back to the sky and sees only a large bright full moon lighting the sky above. She looks back to the clearing but it is gone. Instead she finds herself standing in front of the entrance of the only partially built mage tower.

"Elanaele what is it? I heard you call out." a concerned voice asks from behind.

She turns to see the ranger sentry there, bow at the ready. "It...I am sorry. It was nothing." she replies.

He looks doubtfully at her. "Are you certain? You look as though you have seen a ghost."

"It was a bad dream. I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

There is a barking sound in the air above and they both look up. A white owl swoops over the tower and back into the forest.

She says good night to the ranger and returns hurriedly to her room, her white sleeping gown billowing in her wake.

[Canto]

Arrows are not Enough (Month of Flamerule, DR1350)

Elanaele knelt down to inspect the patch of ground more closely. That makes eight, no nine sets of prints. There is a another print with a broken toe underneath. This was a unit moving with like purpose perhaps three nights ago.

She had spent the last four days searching the Wood of Sharp Teeth for signs of the new threat of which she had only just learnt. Deep into the wood she went finding no sign other than the occasional dread wolf or orc. She was beginning to think that the news might have been exaggerated after all. An entire city appearing overnight? It was as if the news was plucked straight from her nightmares.

Only two weeks ago she had been scouting the desolation that had been her former home in Moonwood. She knew it foolish to return there. It was far too dangerous and what did she expect to find? Closure, she told herself. Seeing the forest move on might help her do the same and maybe be rid of these nightmares that plagued her for so many weeks now. The lights of her former village had been reduced to a tangle of dead trees, overgrown vines where mad beasts now roam. The were-beasts of Malar had taken her home. Gone were her people, her family, her father.

Any hope of finding peace shattered on the news she had learnt on her return: bands of werewolves now roam in the Wood of Sharp Teeth. Had she heard it only from the Kor Vain, that dread shell that had once been Kael, she might have thought him simply trying to get under her skin again. But Mendel was there as well and confirmed his words: while she was away an entire city of werewolves had appeared in the wood over night. An entire city! It was happening again. She left for the Wood of Sharp Teeth next morning. She had to see things for herself.

She arose and looked about the grove deciding her next step. This pack had come from somewhere. She would track it to its source. All afternoon the trail pulled her deeper and deeper into wood until she found a deep spring. Here the prints of humans were mixed among beasts in the surrounding mud. Trails led off in several directions from there and it took her a while to find 'Broken-toe' and his band. She followed that trail for several more hours before concluding it was headed towards the outskirts of the forest. This was not the trail she wanted. She started her way back to the spring to pick another track to follow but the light was now growing dim and traveling this wood alone at night was not wise. She found a gap within the roots of a large willow and settled in to await the morning.

She sat within the cleft reliving memories of her former home and lost loved ones filtering together with images of the sad twisted thing that place had become. Tears streaked her face as she stared blindly off into the forest in twilight.

Her reverie was interrupted by a sound in the distance. A rabid tossle of growls and broken branches followed by a moment of silence. A horrifying howl rips through the night air, terrible from even this distance. But she could still hear and recognize the grumbling undertones of a large and mature werewolf. This one had just made a kill, a large one. But it was what she heard next that startled her. Farther in the distance, carried upon the wind and barely audible was a response. Not one or two voices but countless howls rising into the air competing to be heard. This was no simple pack or two.

The next morning she made her way out of the forest as quickly as she could. "Arrows will not be enough.", she thought to herself. They could kill most of the host but they would regain their strength from our own fallen. How many beasts had they slain in those later battles only to discover the next morning that they were once kin? No. These beasts needed to learn fear. These beasts needed a fear of this plane that would haunt them for generations. They would pay for taking her father from her.

She recalled the Kor Vain's flippant comment: "Oh they burn easily enough." Was that the answer?

[Canto]

A New Path (Month of Flamerule, DR 1350)

Fear. Terror. Fear was what she needed.

Elanaele made her way to the Boareskyr Bridge as she returned home, obsessing over what she would do next. The beasts must be made to feel the same terror that has haunted her nightmares. She would become their nightmares. But how? What did she fear?

One look across the water gave her all the answer she needed. It was all she could think about on the return walk. She imagined the soulless laugh her would give when she approached and almost turned aside to go home instead. No. To learn the tools of fear she would need to conquer her own. She told herself she could conquer any fear to take her payment from those beasts. But what would she have to give up in that quest? What had he given up?

She shudders as she looked across the river to the ruined tower and sighs. Her nightmare would have led her there at any rate. She licks her lips and approaches the ruined fort. They will come to know the wrath of my people. They will come to know my wrath.

[Canto]

Holding place for entry: Asking the Kor Vain for help

[Canto]

A Quick Study (Month of Elesias, DR1350)

Elanaele walked into her room carrying the large book she received from the Kor Vain. That meeting had gone much better than she expected. He agreed to teach her the art she sought and sent her away with the old and heavy book. She recalls his words to her as she sets her bow in its usual spot on the wall: "You are no longer Elanaele the Ranger, you are Elanaele the Apprentice." She holds on to piece of wood and string that had been her constant companion for so many years hesitating. Then instead she opens a small cabinet and pulls out a soft deerskin. She releases the tension, wipes the bow carefully then wraps it carefully with0 the skin. She places the bow in a corner behind the cabinet fighting back tears as she does. She turns to the book and thinks to herself: You must be my weapon now. She sits down and immediately begins to study.

Page after page of dry prose laying out the organization of incantations and the progression through the various schools. She could see the commonalities of the minor incantations not just in the difficulties of the incantations themselves but by the potentially disastrous consequences if they were said incorrectly. The book described the properties of organic and inorganic materials classed by genus and power. The came the discussion of spells and she became deeply engross studying all through the day, the night, next day and night and the following day coming out only for the occasional break for food.

Two snowballs crash into her window but she doesn't even notice as she continues with her studies. "No, no these won't do what I need at all.", she mutters to herself and sighs finally sitting back and rubbing her eyes. "This is going to take forever.", she mutters again to herself. She flips a large stack of pages and another, now looking about two thirds the way through the book and begins reading again furrowing her brow as she attempts to understand the archaic language of the more advanced spells.

Late in the night a smile forms on her face. "This will work beautifully..."

Later the next afternoon she wanders out of the village into the forest carrying no weapon, wearing a set of mildly enchanted white robes and singing to herself happily. By the time she returns there are two orc statues standing on the fallen-tree bridge not far from the grove entrance. They remain there until someone finally pushes them into the ravine below.

[Canto]

Over the next few weeks Elanaele ventures into the Wood of Sharp Teeth leaving statues of werewolves in her wake.

[Canto]

Holding place for entry: Lesson's from Kael

[Canto]

A Glimpse into the Abyss (Month of Marpenoth, DR1350)

Elanaele admires her new work. A particularly large werewolf had given her chase and she was surprised at just how fast he could run. She ran back to the heavily used track she had been following, turned, raised her hands and recited the short incantation as it clawed uselessly at her protected form. The spell took hold as the beast had stood erect and reached up for what could have been a killing blow. Now it was a statue.

"Now that is a *much* better place for you.", she says to it. "Who would ever see you at the bottom of that ravine?"

It is one of dozens she had now made. And Kirias, the young elven cleric who could turn werewolves and undead alike, had been invaluable in this project. These beasts will harm no other and the disease they carry will not spread to other creatures of the forest who might feed on their corpses. Even more importantly, they will serve as a warning to the others of their kind. They must know that they people here are not prey hiding behind walls. We will fight back, viscously.

She makes a short incantation and a stream of air and grit blast forth from her hand. She reaches up, creates a smooth spot on the creatures chest and focusing the stream with her finger writes: 'There are worse things than death. Flee while you may.' Satisfied with her work she turns and scans the landscape. There is a rise just off the trail that will give her a good view of the surrounding land. She makes her way up the slope.

As she climbs however she hears a growl from a few feet away and something leaps from the corner of her eye. In her anger and hatred she fires off a spell almost without thinking and a large blast of wind and sand burst from her hand ripping through the flesh of the second werewolf that had stalked her unawares. Recovering she then recites the spell turning it to stone as it recoiled in agony.

She stood a moment in shock staring at what she had done. The creature stood frozen in pure agony with half of her flesh ripped from her exposed bones. If she wanted to send a message this was clearly it.

Shaken, she pulls herself free of her shock and steps back. "Enough hunting for today.", she mutters. She raises her hands and disappears in a flash of white light.

[Canto]

Fearsome Creatures (Month of Marpenoth, DR1350):

Elanaele surveyed the High Moor stretched out before her. The path she had followed had come to a divide, each meandering off separate ways to the horizon with impassable bogs between them. Which was the correct path?

The last vestiges of ancient elven ruins dotted the swampy landscape about her. This was a place of great sadness and reflection. She had heard the stories of the Crown Wars as a child in Moonwood but they had seemed so far away and long ago. It was only in her recent studies that she learnt the true nature and meaning of this place. This was once the site of the Miyeritarn Empire, once the center of Elven Art and High Magic, home of the Sy-tel-quessir (green elves) and home of Ssri-tel-quessir (dark elves) before they turned to evil gods. But the evil blood rains and killing storms of the Dark Disaster perpetrated by the Ar-tel-quessir (Sun Elves) destroyed all that nearly thirteen thousand years ago at the onset of the Fourth Crown War. Worse still it provided the excuse for the Ilythiiri (remaining dark elves) to turn fully to their evil gods, seek out vengeance in the name of their slain cousins and finally earn the name Dhearow. This was indeed a place of significance.

‘Why was she even here?’, she wondered to herself. Yes, Elaria had asked for her assistance and at first she had refused. There were too just many unanswered questions. Elanaele was also far too busy with her studies to go tracking through the moors. She was now apprentice to the Kor Vain, Kael, as dread a prospect as that was. The life of the ranger was behind her. She was also preoccupied with applying her newly learned arts in her own campaign of terror against the lyncanthropes in the Wood of Sharp Teeth to be distracted with trivial promises of treasure. She was determined that the beasts would not do to her new home what their cousins had done to Moonwood. She would see them pay for the destruction of her home and the deaths of her friends and family.

But why then had she agreed to Elaria's second request weeks later? She had agreed almost without thinking and was struck by what that meant almost immediately. The High Moor was not a place to wander casually. The paths changed constantly. Fearsome beasts roamed this place with impunity. One needed to know the voice of this land clearly to pass. Yes, she had traversed this place many times with Celundel and the other rangers of Dharasha but she had also been away from this place for some time now. In truth she did not feel up to this task. But perhaps something hiding in the back of her subconscious told her she needed this distraction. The meaning of this place to events in her own life right now was certainly not lost on her. She had originally told herself she came here now in hope of learning the voice of this place again without the pressures of an impatient party in tow. But there was another reason as well. There were more choices before her than simply which path to take into the moor.

A steady rain began to fall and she felt the strange sensation of water droplets and trickling down her scalp. She absently brushed at her hair with her hand only to feel the short-cropped cut recently given to her and several others by the Korreds. She sighed and told herself it would grow back in time. She looked out at the murky choice before her and decided that this was no time to go treading down an uncertain path. She would make camp and wait for the rain to end. The risen water would make the true path easier to spot in the morning. She pitched a lean-to and sat to wait out the cold autumn rain.

Reverie escaped her once again and after attempting for hours she finally gave up. Something here was off. It was too quiet. The rain had ceased and a low silent fog had risen. A three-quarter moon visible through occasional patches of night clouds scattered eerily throughout the mists. It was then that she realized that she was missing Aona. The stray wolf that began following her nearly a year ago had become a constant companion on excursions such as this. But since she began her studies with the Kor Vain, Aona had kept away. In her heart she would never the wolf again and it saddened her greatly.

She had wondered for some time how the mages she knew had found their familiars. They were more than simple companions but actually in some ways an aspect of the caster herself. For her campaign in the south she needed to be as terrible and frightening as her newfound art could allow. A menacing creature beside her would aid her greatly in that effort. That she had not found one yet had become such a concern for her that she had even gone as far as asking Ithilwen and the other mages of Dharasha about it. They all simply said that the familiar finds the mage not the other way around. Just have patience. But sitting in this chilly barren place alone she found her patience running thin. Had she grown so cold that no familiar would find her? Surely creatures of hearty character must inhabit this of all places she thought to herself. Perhaps this was her true reason for being here? She looked up to the moon above and for the first time made a short prayer to Sehanine herself: "Please, Lady of Dreams, help me find a fearsome companion to aid me in my fight against the beasts of Malar." Clouds covered the moon again and she was answered simply with another cold, steady rain. At least this time the patter of droplets lulled Elanaele into the reverie that had escaped her most of the night. She spent many hours wandering happy memories of family and childhood friends now long dead.

When she came to, the warm glow of a mid-morning sun was just breaking through the evening fog. There would be a good start to her task this morning. However something felt warm in her lap. She looked down to find a small white rabbit had taken refuge with her from the rain and remained snuggled there. Blinking away her morning daze she lifted the creature up in two hands to inspect as it left behind several pellets in her lap. It was then she was taken by the long sobs and eventually broke under a full cry she had not experienced since leaving her home.