All my life I’ve lived free in these woods. There are a lot of dangers, but none more so then the visitors we get from the local city. They enter looking for wealth and other things that they really don’t need. Don’t misunderstand, I do visit the city from time to time, in an attempt to understand why these people can’t live in harmony with the world around them. I’ve spoken with elder Druids, and they have explained some of it, but I get the feeling there is more to it then just a lack of understanding of nature. Some don’t even care how their actions affect the natural order of the forest I live in.

My closest friend is Moonlight, an albino wolf. I found him as pup almost two years ago. I believe he was orphaned after some adventures come through. But that’s a story for another time. One of our pasttimes is watching adventuring parties travel through. Sometimes I help them out, other times I let them go their own way undisturbed. It really depends on my mood.

Today was a strange day. I was sitting in a tree as this orc came crashing through my woods. He had the strangest bird on his shoulder. I was curious so I decided to follow. I turned into a bird and kept watch as he and several gnomes appeared to be following some map. After about and hour or so they walked into some drow. The strange bird screamed so loud I thought I was going to go deaf. It then shot two arrows and killed one of the drow. I watched the battle curious to see what was going to happen.

When it was over the orc and his traveling companions appeared sad, and did some very strange things with the bodies of the drow. Apparently one of the orcs friends didn’t survive the encounter. Curiously enough they stripped him of his belongings and started to decide who got what. “Mementos.” I believe that’s what they call it when you take something from a deceased friend. I think I’ll follow them till my wild shape wears off, then I’ll decide if I’ll help them or not.

I can see Moonlight from where I am hiding some distance off. He’ll stay just close enough so I can see him, but he won’t do anything unless I tell him to, so I’m not worried about him. He’ll warn me if anything big is coming.

Character sheet: Mishklo [Human Druid]
Companion sheet: Moonlight [Wolf Companion of Mishklo]

Cause of death: really big explosion.

I followed this group of adventurers to a portal that would open in a few hours. I’ve always wondered where it went, but never actually journey into it myself. I’ve seen other go in, however, I’ve yet to see anyone come out, so I decided it was best not to, at the time anyway. Watching this group I figured I’d ask if I could go along, but before I could make my presence known the orc came charging at me. I side stepped, came into the clearing. The first thing I said was that I mean them no harm. We talked for a bit and it was then that I realized just how much I have yet to learn about the world in general. I know enough about my home to stay safe, and live rather comfortably, but the rest of the world is so strange to me. After I convinced them that neither I nor Moonlight were werewolves, I was asked if I was going to go through the portal. It was a now or never thing, so I figured I’d go if they thought I’d be of some use to them.

The first thing I noticed after stepping through the portal was daylight. The entire area was boxed in by large walls, and flora almost waist high was everywhere. There was also a statue in the center that appeared to be staring at me. I was taking my time to observe the area when the Orc, Kor’tac is his name, walked up to the statue, and was hit with several thorns. A battle between us and the carnivorous plants of this area began. It was rough to start, but a little fire and some determination to live saw us trough. In the end it was decided that we should clear all the foliage of this “Garden” before exploring the tower. There was some confusion as to how I would fare where I stood to watch and make sure all of it burned, but everything turned out okay, I just need to prepare a few lesser restores tomorrow. The strange bird, Seren is her name, said something about snow capped mountain peaks surrounding the place, so I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to get my spells, but I’ll try anyway, and see what happens. I just want to go through the area quickly before we enter this tower, see if anything useful survived.