Davmorn Leafguise

Origin

My story isn’t a tragic one. It’s not an epic one either. At least, I wouldn’t say so. My father owned a tavern in a large human city. He was a simple man with a simple life and simple goals. On the surface, anyway. He yearned for something more. He burned deep down to see the world and unveil it’s secrets. But his upbringing imposed a realistic worldview. He was taught to settle down, get a reliable job, and raise a family. And so he did. He would often hear travelers spin their tales of daring quests and awe-inspiring adventures with an eager heart. He found his tavern being a center for adventure seekers to find and share jobs. It made his heart ache that much more, but he would settle for living vicariously through his patrons, and provide them with good food and good ale.

My mother was a thrill seeker. In her youth, she fought beasts twice her size and delved into dungeons seeking fortune and glory. She never stayed in one place for very long. Being an elf of high esteem, she was sought out to be the bodyguard to an Elvish Ambassador who had several threats to his life. She thought the job sounded rather dull, but she accepted with a sense of duty to her people. Of course, she stopped an attempt on the Ambassador’s life and caught the Assassin red-handed. Having little else to do, she celebrated her victory in a local tavern, which was said to be full of hearty adventurers, brimming with ale, and supposedly plentiful with potential adventures.

Father never believed in love at first sight. That was a foolish notion held only by hopeless romantics. Then he saw her face, and quickly became a hopeless romantic. But what won him over wasn’t her ravishing good looks, but her stories. My mother happily regaled him with countless tales of her daring exploits. What she saw in him, she never shared, but she quickly fell for him as well. The two of them promised to go on a life changing adventure together, and a few pints of ale later, I was brought into the world.

Mother wasn’t exactly ready to be a parent. My father insisted that they settle down until their child was ready to go into the world on his own, but my mother just couldn’t stay still for long. After a few years, she left us. My father wasn’t angry or heartbroken, he understood her heart. She wasn’t gone for good though, she would occasionally return home for a few months between her adventures. While she was around, she was my whole world. Her stories took me to the corners of the globe. She was wonderful. But, eventually she had to leave again, and it would be no telling when I would see her again. Father instilled in me the best stories he had heard over the years from his patrons, but nothing would ever match the first-hand retelling my mom provided.

Being a half-elf child in a mostly human city wasn’t the easiest. The human children wouldn’t accept me, no matter how many times I proved myself to them. The adults were nice enough, but I could always hear them whispering when they thought I wasn’t around. I tried not to let it get to me though. I spent countless hours by myself playing in the woods outside the city. Something about the tranquility of nature appealed to me much more than the bustling city. Perhaps it was the brutal honesty of the circle of life. When an animal stares at you, at least you can be sure it plans on trying to eat you. With people, you never know their true nature. I learned a great deal in my solitude. I picked up what kinds of berries and mushrooms were safe to eat (mostly the hard way) and made friends with all sorts of woodland critters. They were far more accepting than people.

When I finally came of age, my father was torn. He wanted me to live the life he couldn’t, the kind of life my mother lived. But of course, that kind of life is full of risk. You might not be able to make a living, assuming you didn’t get killed. Ultimately, he left the choice to me. I hesitated for far too long. Eventually, my father would need someone to take care of him when he got older. But I had inherited my mother’s wanderlust. I began to itch from sitting still. I wanted to know what the world held in store, but I just couldn’t decide. My mother visited me one last time before I could make up my mind. Seeing my indecision, she gave me a gift. It was a beautiful Scimitar with an ornate handle. She told me she was leaving my father for good this time. She wasn’t angry at him, nor had she stopped loving him, but they had fulfilled their promise to each other. She told me how they had promised to take each other on the greatest adventure of their lives, and told me that that adventure was me. Now that I was my own man, she wanted me to experience my greatest adventure as well. Whether that was raising my own family or changing the world was up to me to decide. She said before she left that she hoped to see me out there in the world if that was my choice. Then she was gone.

It was after I had met a wandering bard that I came to a decision. I would search the world for all the best stories, straight from the mouths of the people who had lived them. When I had traveled my fill, I would return and take over the tavern. Then, I could tell my patrons stories that would rival theirs. And maybe I would find love somewhere along the way, like my father. It sounded like a life I could be happy with.

I left my home with a heavy heart and no destination in mind, but with a clear image of what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be. My father sent me on my way with a smile and said he awaited my return, but only if I brought with me the best possible tales of adventure. I traversed the wilderness instead of the roads. I could deal with animals more easily than I could bandits. It wasn’t long before I found the life I had chosen to be… unsatisfactory. Hearing stories was just as fun as it was when I was a child, but something inside me burned. It felt wrong to share an epic adventure I myself never experienced. But I had already made my choice. It was too late to turn back… wasn’t it?

Eventually, I gave up. It just didn’t satisfy me like I thought it would. The day I packed up my belongings and turned for home, my life changed. I was in the woods, traversing the wilderness as always. I thought I had heard something a handful of times throughout the day. I began to feel paranoid, like I was being followed. I dismissed it as just the sounds of the forest. Animals, going about their lives as usual. It was after nightfall that I stopped telling myself that. I was sure I was being watched. I decided I had had enough. I found a clearing and walked into the center, moon shining down bright and brilliantly above me. I announced myself and demanded my stalker reveal themselves. I got exactly what I asked for.

From every direction of the grove emerged a pack of wolves. I was completely surrounded. They stared me down hungrily, each of their gazes burning straight through me. I was sure I was dead. I lay my equipment down beside me slowly and gently, careful not to make any sudden movements. I then drew the weapon my mother had given to me and decided I was going to go down fighting. A loud howl rang through my ears and reverberated through the clearing. Three or so wolves moved aside as a gargantuan silver wolf strode through the trees and placed itself between the pack and me. It held a calm, stern gaze as it looked me up and down. I thought it was sizing me up, deciding which parts of me were the weakest points to go for to take me down. That’s when it spoke.

A voice rang through my mind, as if it originated in my head. A woman’s voice told me to stand down. I obliged. She then calmly explained that she was an envoy of the goddess of the moon. She had been watching me throughout my life. I was part of a much larger story. The world around me was alive, the very ground upon which I stood was a living entity. And it was in danger. She explained how she had chosen me, among several others, to help protect the world from the coming danger. It was then she bestowed upon me the secrets of primal magic, and I was initiated into the Druids who served the Moon herself. My entire life changed in one night. I had a new purpose. I would go out into the world and save it from certain doom, and create for myself the very stories I sought to collect from others. Returning home wasn’t an option until I was sure I had done what I needed to. The tavern, my father, having my own family, all of that would have to wait.