I told my players they could mark XP if they wrote up each session from their characters perspective :)

I told my players they could mark XP if they wrote up each session from their characters perspective 🙂

The Druids Tale part 1

A shadow passed across the waters of the bay.  Sinathel felt the darkness pass above her, and she shuddered. A powerful flick of her tail drove her to the surface. When her dorsal fin broke the waves, she surged upwards, a shark leaping from the water, then suddenly shifted form – a seagull, flying high into the clear blue sky. Sinathel looked down, with black marble eyes.  Another great boat from the north… she thought. More humans, come to seek their fortune. But this time it brought something else… something wrong, something dark and dangerous, she could feel it.  

Sinathel banked to her right, sliding across the sky, dropping back down to glide unnoticed beside the great boat.  A man stood at the bows looking out towards the land, her land.  He stared forward towards the coast; his long beard tugged by the wind, flowing robes whipping around his thin body.  Sinathel watched the man, and a feeling of dread and foreboding slowly crept over her.  It was not the man himself that she feared, but something that followed him.  With a keening cry, the gull shifted in the wind and soared high again, turning and gliding back towards the Great Forest which lined the coast to the west of the bay.

—————-

The light of the full moon bathed the Heart of the Forest in silver – the ancient earthworks and standing stones, born in the dawn of time were lit by an ethereal glow.  All around, the peaceful darkness of the forest surrounded the site; the trees whispering quietly in the gentle breeze. Sinathel walked silently, slowly to the centre of the stone circle.  Seated on the ground at the very centre of the innermost ring was The Ancient – an old careworn elf, antlers protruding from his long grey hair. He looked up and spoke as the younger elf approached. 

“Sinathel, Shark’s Sister, Ocean-born, what troubles you child?”

Sinathel stopped and was silent for some time.  “Something bad is coming – the spirits revealed it to me. I felt it pass over the seas and enter the human’s settlement. It follows a man in robes.”

The Ancient pondered this for some time.  “Yes.  You are correct. I too have felt a change. Something dark, something unnatural.”  Picking up a twisted oaken staff, The Ancient pulled himself wearily to his feet. “Sinathel – you must go amongst the humans, and find out what this shadow is.  Find this man in robes, seek out this darkness that we may understand it.”

“Understand it and destroy it.” Sinathel nodded grimly. “These humans know nothing of our lands, they bring only trouble and woe.”

The Ancient smiled sadly and shook his head. “Sinathel, you are always too hasty, too willing to destroy. Life is balance, you need to understand this.”

The Ancient thought for a moment, then bowed his head and took a leather thong hung with three giant shark’s teeth from his neck. “Take this… when you are lost it will guide you. When you need wisdom, it will provide it. Go amongst the humans, find this robed man and seek out the Shadow…”

—————-

How the fuck did it come to this..?  Sinathel opened her eyes.  It was painfully bright, and only made her head pound more, so she closed them again.  What happened last night??

She was curled up in a metal tub in a human dwelling.  Her head was pounding, she felt sick and her mouth tasted of badger fur.  Sinathel groaned and concentrated on not throwing up.  There was the sound of movement in the room, Sinathel opened her eyes a crack and peered out over the edge of the tub.  The human swordsman known as The Hawke from the night before emerged from the next door room…  

“Fetch the village wise-woman” croaked Sinathel  “I have the burning fever…”  

The Hawke laughed.  “You have no fever, Elf.  Only the payback for an evening well spent!  Come! All the cure you require awaits us downstairs at the tavern breakfast table… You’ll need some good solid food after last night!”

Last night…  Sinathel had entered the town, and begun to search for the bearded, robed man.  She’d found herself in the tavern, talking to a young human male named Jack.  He’d offered her a glass of water – well it looked like water anyway, it tasted like fire – and things had become hazy after that.

She remembered an argument, some kind of disagreement over drinks with a red haired human. She remembered smashing the tavern table with the awesome might of her shark-form.  Sinathel smiled briefly before grimacing as her stomach turned over again.  She remembered telling them the tales of Father Michael, the human priest who had wandered into the South in search of gold.  She remembered Father Michael’s replacement – Father Mullah – the robed and bearded man!  Sinathel sat up suddenly in the metal tub, and immediately clutched her head and moaned as a flash of pain hit her between the eyes.  Whatever had caused her sickness this morning, at least she’d found Father Mullah.  She climbed out of the tub and stood up.  Then she span round rapidly, knelt down and vomited into the tub.  

Slowly the sickness subsided.  Sinathel pulled her hair back from her face, and froze… something was missing.

The shark’s tooth necklace was gone….  Sinathel growled like a wolf, and slowly made her way downstairs.