A Touched Dwarf
(Crossing, Zoluren: 7 Akroeg 360)
A dwarf, her face weary and careworn belying her young age sits down at the bar and says quietly,
"Baresh, I do nae know where else to turn. Mayhap if you listen to my tale you will give me the advice I so need." Twisting her wedding band on her finger nervously, she glances up at the kind barkeep and with his nod begins…
"I am Guri, Baresh, and I am a cleric of the lands and am married to the paladin called Drongol. In some ways I guess people think I am odd in that a have a Guardian angel that sent me to M’Riss, when I was just new in the lands. It called me a Chosen, and well since that day I have been struggling to figure out what it meant.
Fidgetting on the barstool, Guri leans forward, her voice a whisper and her face more troubled then ever. "I think that destiny the angel and that lady called the Riddler have spoken to Drongol and I about is clearer to me… though I do nae like the way it looks…"
Taking a deep breath she goes on. "You see the Riddler told me the other day my destiny laid in trying to find a non-violent end to this situation with Lord Sorrow. And that my voice would be the key. And I tried…I really did that first night after, after Marstan’s shade came and danced about me, whispering about needing help.
"I went to the Reach and sat with some other people, Drongol, Hartblest and Melvi and others… and begged people to listen." She shakes her head sadly. "But, they did nae. All they wanted to do was kill the invading forces…but there too something odd happened…amid the fighting nae one screamer or mage or spell touched me."
Guri wipes a tear from her cheek, "I failed you see.I did not stop it then, and so yesterday when the screamers invaded Crossing I went and walked among them, in rooms full of them, and they…well they ran from me! Me, a little cleric without a weapon. I went to ask some wiser clerics if that had happened to them and they told me no they were attacked like all the other warriors. I wonder if any other clerics, that have seen visions had the same experience?"
Gazing at Baresh with haunted brown eyes a moment she continues. "Baresh I think I am supposed to help. Now poor Marstan and his lady are forever lost to us. I cannot wait any longer. All of the fighting and death did nae save them! Like with the pirates something else needs to be done!
"If I can help, if I can help by dying even…to make Lord Sorrow leave us be…then so be it. I will go alone if I must and find him, or I will take others IF they are committed to a peaceful resolution to this madman’s plan."
"I cannae ignore my angel’s voice and that of my heart a moment longer. I will look for people to help me. And I will try." The band Guri has been twisting on her finger glows brightly as she slips off the high seat. Glancing out the door a moment, she say softly, "Thank’e for listening to me and try nae to think badly of me, I truly am nae as insane as I sound.
With a quick turn, the dwarfs short legs carry her to the door, and all Baresh is left with is the image on her cloak…of a worried young dwarf, a group of careworn warriors and a golden light that looks like an angel.