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Author Topic: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks  (Read 1191 times)

mixafix

Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« on: October 13, 2011, 07:01:33 am »
Center was large enough to crowd out the senses, small enough to not to intimidate. There was life here, and the countryside was all around. The Portal was all that had been promised and warned against. There must be a better way she mused watching some birds circle - "Now that's the way!" she said to no one in particular.
 
 She paused to watch two adventurers sparring on her way north to deliver mail for one of the townies. Two big men, many months training behind them, muscles bulging,  emulating a couple of stags of the forest. Better to train or better to be she wondered. "Ha I'd rather be the stag." she offered to the preoccupied warriors and carried on her way.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2011, 04:53:47 am »
Sneaky things big cats, people can learn a thing or two from nature sure, had i that skill or training. Even a large cat can negotiate these towns hopefully unnoticed. But either way I need my cat to clear these sewers of strange and foul manifestations of what should be nature's creatures. I have neither the strength or the light foot to step so quietly. But I study the cat, I understand it, I can be that cat soon enough if I do my work - understand my inner self.
 
 The strange and perverted rat creature is down my job is done here, the cat will go it's own way and we can meet again if we treat each other right.
 
 More messages for the townies then but they lead me to contact with other leaves of our great world. Even dangerous journeys can be so much easier when you have a sense of what lies within. Tred softly, leave no trace be at one with all that surrounds you - they were right.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2011, 04:36:28 am »
I was to the south and Alindor, delivering a message for that townie - I think he is using me actually. Still it served well for there are great forests there and tended by rangers, and there was much to learn and see.
 
 Upon return oddly I met with an elf born in that place, Vell'dryn Rydrelle who was rather long on words and training, but he had affinity and understood the real world. He brought his bow to help me clear the Kobolds away south of Center where they had encroached nature. I did not waste words like the elf but took to shape - the bear. Here my observations and wisdoms matched the path of training. I merely trusted the form, became the bear, let nature run it's course. The kobolds were driven back and I returned to my outer shape and the elf was still talking!
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2011, 08:18:08 am »
Finding myself in the north in Leringard I chanced upon the strangest of junk shops, an insight into the discarded world of adventurers, all manner of weapons and magic and some unsavoury suits of armour too.
 
 Gathered from across the world and deposited here, each with a tangible history, an individual story - every nick a forgotten tale. I can see this, I can feel this. But here they all are waiting for new owners, fresh stories, and more adventures at the hand of another.
 
 Into this world I plan to explore, maybe one day I too will return here to deposit some history. My thoughts are broken Ygraine, shifter, warrior and Druid enters the room  - she of Fiveoaks, one of the Five who planted there.
 
 Checking up on me? or chance encounter perhaps - she did not say and I did not ask. She was buying something - experimenting with her new magic and various shapes that come to her as easily as planting a tree does to the likes of me. This is my world my future I watch I try and learn, I know it is right.
 
 She takes her share of the history and is off. I have my own tasks I will go by Hlint where I have promised to do work. Where I may be seen - the shape of panther offers speed and cunning, natural abilities I do not possess without shape. Shape is the answer.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2011, 05:58:28 pm »
I completed my work at Hlint, exploring the nearby mighty Silkwood forest, a vast and worthy forest.
 
 I moved south to Center, I had arranged to meet with Ygraine again. I had from an early age considered this day I suppose but nonetheless as it approached as I journeyed south my senses sharpened as I retreated into inner self, my soul, and confirmation of my desire for shape over training. My strength would lie in my ability to gain shape!
 
 To Ygraine I explained I would move to develop shape shifting over Druid. She knew. "Will you teach me ?" I asked. She answered by leading me in a procession of shape, and understanding of shape. Tutoring had begun, practical and theoretical both.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2011, 07:12:13 am »
Sitting under this tree reminds me when I was young...well I am of course still young right..so when I was very young Mother's last summer in the Forest of Fog.
 
 We were sitting in poppies under a maple and watching the villagers at the river. I remember they were trying to hunt, three lithe fellows down on their knees trying to sneak up on a stag. My mother bid me watch and learn. Three days in a row she bid me watch never explaining. The villagers got better each day, closer -  as the deer came down to the river - their training was paying off I thought and I told her so but this was not what she ahd sent me to learn. She sat silent waiting. She liked silence. On the fourth day I saw the villagers spook the deer, almost close enough for their spear but not quite. They had worked hard I considered they were well trained.
 
 The deer ran headlong into a waiting panther which emerged from the undergrowth, silent, deadly,  the perfect shape. Mother! we would eat today.
 
 While the villagers relied on their training and physical prowess mother, the shifting Druid, relied on transformation. She made me understand that year   self is based not on outward form, but on soul, which is truly the only constant.
 
 Even then I knew I would develop knowledge and understanding of shape over prowess. I mean look at me I can barely twirl a well crafted stave, and had the stamina of a favoured first child.
 
 It is Ygraine must teach me, but my past would be my present too. For inside we are what we have been and will do. An unassuming badger shuffled towards the road.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2011, 07:20:34 am »
Here is me who said I was not built for training, and what are we doing, training!
 
 It is the most different thing though, I might not be building up stamina running and wrestling, but if I want speed I need the concentration of form and shape - panther! If I need to be strong then Bear. Ygraine of course was on hand to show me the world of other forms I need to study, and strive to focus on if i am ever to bend my will to achieve free shape.
 
 I have realised this is no one trick wonder no before taking shape you need both the power to do so and the ability to understand value. There is a feeling that eventually it will come as second nature, the inner mind will shed the outer skin more routinely, serving as best needed, simple need, nothing more nothing less, no baggage the real self.
 
 Too much thinking here, time for some raw meat..I mean a nice cooked breakfast.Hmm.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2011, 04:07:56 am »
How and why. More practical lessons in the field from Ygraine where your sense of inner self needs to be really foccused - or well you die!
 
 Here I learned the right of shape, the need to really understand creatures both to emulate and to know when to use. Second nature it must surely become but only after you can know, feel even, all the strengths.
 
 If you don't want to fall to a volley of arrow - or the charge of bugbear, the terror of being close to Undead - you se all need the right measure of shape at just the right time to remain in control - the right balance of shape. I understand now - though I have it all to learn I surely understand now.
 
 Escape down a badger lair - who would have thought!
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2011, 02:13:55 pm »
East of Hlint I settle to study form. Hostile flocks of birds, bandits, and lizards who walk as men. Each as foe or potential shape needs understanding. I have the time and the wisdom to draw what I need from their every action.
 
 Think not what I can do to beat them but what they can do to beat me. For in this understanding I am beyond their potential - I am all they can be and so much more, I am all the shapes I can muster, I am the wisdom of the tree, the combination of balance,spell and the right shape for the right fight. I am shifter.
 
 Now where are the bandages for I am sorely wounded in the learning.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2011, 07:27:49 am »
Another day another shape. On the road again with Ygraine, an inspiring but driving task master. As soon as I am able I move from one shape to the next, exploring the usefulness and building up wisdom, stamina and knowledge to more freely change to shape of choice, when and wherever it might be called upon.
 
 Ygraine sets an impossible pace, one I cannot dream to keep up with. I am committed to shifter as no other, I am ready but I must grow in knowledge and power to properly take to the task of shape changing. I can only do so much at this stage but I am ready, I am shifter - time will tell how good a one!
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2011, 03:55:14 pm »
My search for the perfect shape has taken me south to a town called Vehl. It does not suggest anything of promise but nearby there are some fine fields of wild and natural corn. I have taken to hand picking only the finest with a view to introducing them into the food chain.
 
 However whilst there I have not missed a trick and have watched and learned. The Half Orc who is found most days at work guarding the gate - whether he keeps them in or out I am not yet certain. But either way what a case study he is, now there is a shape for a rainy day. All rage and power he is which make sme think I am ready now for I can barely stop to look at someone or thing and I am assessing their worth by way of shape and the usefulness a good study might be to a shifter.
 
 I must tell Ygraine of this but she has become harder to find this last week as she has taken to disguising herself in shape with the intent I should spot her and out her from the wilderness.
 
 "Hey mrs Ox is that the best you can do...I would know that rear end anywhere honestly..."..."Moo!"
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2011, 04:45:26 am »
Worried that I may over harvest the corn I took passage from Fort Vehl, and for once happily paid a fee to be on my way from that place. Mariners Hold to the south - Gateway to a more serene landscape. One thriving with many shapes and new challanges. However I had barely cleared the docks when some neer'do'well suggested by my attire I should go the Silver Buckle, a local Inn.
 
 I went of course and had to explain my red robes were a mark of the Maple and Poppy mother and I once sat by deciding my future. Shifter over Druid - sorry Father. I have not looked back from that decision for it is bearing fruit and the future is bright as a basilisk shape.
 
 Ygraine is my teacher and I am getting better at spotting her in her many shapes - she tried to disguise herself as a horse at the docks but I saw her mark right away.
 
 My work here is limited for I will not risk encounter or danger at this stage of my development to Shifter so I have taken to selecting hand picked walnuts for the high end potion market. If you aim for an oak - aim for a big Oak my father said, among way too many sayings to recall. Even there among the walnuts there are shapes to consider - for the area festers with all manner of foul beetle. However one man's fester is another girl's shapes!
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2011, 09:14:38 am »
Back in the place they call the Silver Buckle. I cannot afford the fare to take me to Vehl to gather more corn this month - nor can I venture into the wilds to seek adventure to gather such necessary filthy treasure.
 
 Here my attire draws the arty types, all flowery words and elegant gestures. Still they provide food and drink and so I am well. And here there is still opportunity to study shape and form in the dry. Mice,rats and smaller spiders prevail. Which is right for shifter, which is right for what task I will soon solve. Keeping these infernal and useless fops to arms length may take longer!
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #13 on: October 22, 2011, 07:43:47 pm »
Well I should not have complained so for one of the well worded and well dressed saps saw fit to fund me onto a ship and back to Vehl that lawless haven of have beens and wannabes. Though if I was to be honest I am not sure if he did it out of desire or desire to have me and my woodsie influence gone from the Inn.
 
 Anyway the journey was not wasted on me for shapes that can take to water or over it even under it clearly have a place in the world of shifter. Imagine, no more waiting for unseaworthy ships, no more beck and call to some drunken skipper. No more motivation was needed I studied form and shape all the way to Vehl.
 
 They say Vehl is a contradiction in terms, a bastion of law and order and those that follow the dragon or the gold and also home to quite a different fellow called Arkolio that they say can make anything happen there. To be honest I prefer my journey through town to be quick. It is safer to the north where shapes are plentiful and inner self the rationale for survival. Trust to your own judgement and avoid others. Head down walk fast. Take the shape that provides the path of least resistance.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2011, 04:56:18 am »
You would think a Druid would be good at climbing trees, well I am not that's the way of it. I had put all my faith in being wise enough to know when and when not to climb a tree! More specifically I considered there are many more creatures adapted to gaining the high ground than me in my original form.
 
 Wyrmlings are just the thing, why they can just flutter on up and perch wherever suits them..including that interesting branch above me right now that I will not risk. Even goblins, nimble and lithe can do admirably well, and are a shape to consider - an outer skin with all it's particular foibles is splendid, just avoid trying to get inside their head. This is the thing Ygraine has assured me, understand all they do, emulate, but focus and retain your inner self at all costs. Easy words, vital task.
 
 A man passes below, instinctively I stay still, part of the forest, part of nature, something within me craves for shape to better blend, though it is not yet so, I realise I am shifter, instincts have become my chosen reality. The man is both mage and warrior, blessed with spell and bound in armour. What a strange choice! I may never fully understand all the shapes that walk this world.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #15 on: October 24, 2011, 06:16:01 am »
Ygraine appears out of the gloom, she caught me fair and square this time I mistook her for the real article. I thought I was going to have to fight instead of observe - her minotaur is beyond description, it is perfection.
 
 She challenged me to follow her lead, but I could not my humble Druidic shapes not really worthy of discussion were no match for the shifter collection. I was deeply dissappointed I could not follow where she went, but only mastery of shape in shifter form could have enabled me to follow as she slipped from shape to shape to manouvre up over and under the forest. Had I been a greater skilled Druid I might have been able to grasp other less worthy shapes that might have achieved similar things but no I was left in her wake.
 
 I was left floundering in the woods and had to await her return for it was not wise to move on alone. The forest was not natural and I did not feel safe. Ygraine returned and I was able to scramble on in animal form while Ygraine circled around giving advice and assistance and underpinning the concept of developing Druid - soon to be shifter.
 
 As ever there was a host of things to learn and observe. Many I might have missed had Ygraine not been on hand - or paw, to reassure, support and guide. It was lucky for me she had so much time available to help me progress along a route she herself had chosen so many years ago. There is no doubt understanding of all forms is vital especially under the pressure of imminent danger to pick and exploit the right shape to deal with a given specific danger. Fighting Undead is not say the same as fighting giant spiders. Each have their weakness and it is not my combat prowess I need to fall back on but the shape chosen. I have learned so much it is time to rest up and reflect again. Ygraine dissappeared as suddenly as she had appeared.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #16 on: October 24, 2011, 06:18:16 pm »
All roads lead to Center. I found myself back there to trade carefully selected walnuts gathered with care in a sustainable and traditional fashion. Ygraine was there and espied a couple she knew, an old bench warmer she said, I think his name was Storold. He was stepping out with a younger Sorceror who was on hand to share his shelter from the rain. They were as one setting out on their own adventure. Never one to miss a training opportunity Ygraine took me aside. We dodged the rain in the thick coat of the badger shape and roamed about seeking some attention of our own from the over attentive couple. Food, shelter, and sympathy were there to be found in shifter shape. Another lesson learned.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #17 on: December 09, 2011, 09:35:26 am »
Stormcrest that was the place, apparently it was the hangout of some big swords in the old days. A place where those with worn shoes led those with shiny shoes. Now it just seemed a little windswept and overgrown but the fire was still warm.
 
 But there he was large as life, Eurioland Aloufin, Druid, Shifter and mentor. He had worn shoes. By chance we met it seems, hmm maybe. Anyway he took the time to show me a few things, some insights to retaining soul and service. So Shifter right, more than just a word, but first and foremost Druid can't lose sight of that.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #18 on: March 03, 2012, 04:39:50 am »
My wanderings have been extended. The grove are happy for me to pursue my concerns about the threat of Famine across Mistone, and elsewhere. What difference can someone make ? Can the balance be tipped by an individual. They think it worth my while learning what can and cannot be done.
 
 I have been down the Haven Mines in mixed company with other motives, and sometimes more can be achieved with company regardless of their objectives - I have mine.
 
 I travelled to Krashin again, this time in the company of Dwarves, Unther Hardhammer, and how they live the legend that is Dwarf.  Also a Halfling bard Lyle. Amongst the ice and Drakes they found a huddle of Undead creatures. We put them to spell, sword and claw.
 
 I met other Druids drawn to Center, maybe the study of famine can be shared.
 

mixafix

Re: Under the Maple, Foresta Fiveoaks
« Reply #19 on: March 05, 2012, 03:36:13 am »
Can one person make a difference to famine
 
 Twice I have seen the Bear shifter of Krashin, Xanya the Bear Warrior - they are a strange lot, shape is focussed for them, all rage and anger - ultimately all to enhance their natural Krashin rage! A one trick paw. Their reckless charge is dangerous to those around, I should know, not even mighty elf arcane archers could swing the fight. I fell once and hard among spider. Spider my natural hunting ground. The bear warrior, direct and focussed like some wild paladin. Can such directness work. Admorin was all about standing still, let others move around you.
 
 Can one person make a difference to famine
 
 I am more inclined to the power of the moment, let shape run it's course. So I must find out more, change is afoot in more than just me, witch, famine, death all stalk Center, you can almost see the people spread, taking their different stance to the danger, changing allegiences by the hour. The balance shifts in that place, so much so you can see and feel it.
 
 Can one person make a difference to famine