Thursday, October 25, 2018

A Voraniss Adventure: Part I


 by Renee "Kindrianna" Booke

“People fear what they don’t understand and hate what they can’t conquer.” From my very first days in the Realms, I knew this to be true. I was a Tiefling who had just claimed my freedom from the depths of the Abyss, and there were many adventurers who felt uneasy with my presence despite my best attempts at making friends. Now that I am a werewolf, I find that things are still the same. I have friends within these Realms that know me for my actions rather than what dwells within my blood, but the ignorance, the fear, and the hatred still lurk just beyond our borders.

It was a day much like any other in Voraniss. The sun was high in the sky and her rays found all the cracks in the forest canopy that she could; raining her light upon the pine needles and dried leaves that covered the woodland floor. I remember this day in particular because I had found a very nice napping spot where I could get comfortable and be in the sun at the same time, but my lounging was disrupted by a very frantic Wynn.

“Mama Mouse! Mama Mouse!” Wynn called, stumbling over roots in her hurry to get to me.

I sat up with a yawn, stretching my arms up over my head. “Yes? What is it, sweetheart? Does Mama need to smite someone?”

“I smelled something delicious and-and I thought it might be cake! So I followed it!” She paused in her statement, trying to gauge whether or not I was paying attention. Cake was very serious business to Wynn after all.

I patted the ground next to me, trying to see if I could get her to sit down and be calm, but there was more to her story. “Okay…” I replied with a bit of a chuckle, “Did you find the cake?”

She shook her head from side to side, pointing back the way she had come. “No! There wasn’t any cake, but they had sweet smelling things that they were eating with their hands!”

“Cupcakes?” I gently inquired.

Again she shook her head quickly. “It looked like bread!”

“Oooh, I think you mean biscuits. Those can be sweet if they have honey on them.” In my foolishness, I wasn’t asking her the important questions. In truth, I didn’t realize there was more to her frustration until she stomped her feet and huffed to get my attention.

“I gotta show you them,” she whined, trying to tug at my arm.

“The biscuits? Oh, sweetie, I’ve seen biscuits before. It’s okay. I can show you how to make them if you really want,” I said. I took her hand and let her pull me to my feet, feeling a little guilty that she was so distressed.

“Not the biscuits! The people!”

I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. People? I squinted my eyes and turned to look at Wynn more seriously. “What people, Wynnie? Did you know them?”

“No. They didn’t look like Uncle Cronin or the Broken Spears, and they didn’t smell like anyone else in the pack. They were camping in the woods and they got mad when I came to share biscuits. They started yelling really loud and went to get their bows. I didn’t like it so I left,” Wynn pouted. Her innocent mind couldn’t fully comprehend the potential threat.

I tried to stay calm so that she wouldn’t be alarmed, pulling her close and giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead. “There, there. We will make our own biscuits for the pack and you can have as many as you like,” I said, trying to comfort her. “Do you remember where these people were? Mama is gonna go scold them, okay? We gotta teach them how to share.”

“Somewhere near the Boar Shrine, I think. I don’t remember exactly,” she answered, returning the hug.

“That’s okay. You did good. Thank you.” I continued to hug her until I was certain she had calmed down a little bit. “You want to help Mama? Let’s sniff out the others and see who is nearby to help. I bet Uncle Cronin will have some good words for those guys. And Thoril will offer to do something completely outrageous but totally loving in its own twisted way.”

“Like when he wants to try and tap into reality, bend it, and summon cake from every plane of existence?” Wynn blinked as she laughed and looked up at me.

“Y-yes,” I replied as I patted her on the head. “Exactly like that.” I was a little concerned about her fervor for Thoril’s antics but decided to ultimately dismiss it as typical cake enthusiasm. I knew Wynn, and her passion for baked goods truly knew no bounds. I also had other things to worry about and needed to stay focused on the bigger picture. There were trespassers in my home, and they had made a very big mistake whether they knew it or not.

Besides coming into the forest uninvited, besides the fact that they had picked up their weapons when they saw my daughter, they had decided to camp near the Boar Shrine of all places. For their sakes, I hoped I could find them before Mogar did. If they took up arms against the Orc, who held great reverence for Mon’ghora the Boar Totem, I had no doubt that this fiasco would end with bloodshed. As Champion, Mogar was very protective of our forest and all of its inhabitants. He wasn’t going to take kindly to such intrusions to begin with. This had the potential to be a large scale disaster.

“Okay, Wynnie. Let’s get going. Who do you think is closest?” We started walking hand in hand as she sniffed the air, pointing out a direction to me.

“Tulkhan is over that way!” she exclaimed proudly.

“Then let’s go get ‘em. We’re going to need his help.”