#Naska Wolfine

[therabidjackalope]

Naska Wolfine

The stag lifted his head at the crack of a twig, his large round ears pulling forward to catch the smallest of sounds. His dark eyes shifted as he searched for any signs of danger, his nostrils flaring as he tasted the wind, but he found no trace of his stalker. After a long pause, he lowered his head and returned to grazing.

Naska slowly let out the breath she had been holding. From her perch on the tree branch, she had an unobstructed view of her intended prey, but the very same leaves that dappled the buck's coat with sunlight helped to obscure her from his view.

With agonizing slowness, she crept further down the branch, being as careful as she could not to make any further sounds that couldn't be mistaken for restless songbirds or hunting squirrels. When the stag was almost directly beneath her, the young half-elf began to slowly coil her body like a hunting cat, waiting for just the right moment to strike.

She let out a small yelp of triumph as she finally leapt from the branch down toward the unsuspecting deer below, arms and legs splayed. “Got you!” She screamed as one of her hands struck the stag's flank.

The deer leapt forward in terror, nearly kicking the girl in his need to flee, but after several leaps he stopped and turned to look at his attacker. Seeing the young girl smiling and waving at him from the place he had stood but a moment before, he bugled his indignation and walked off to find a more peaceful place to eat.

“Oh don't be like that.” She called out. “You know I was only playing.” When the stag did not reappear, she gave a shrug and giggled to herself. “Ah well, he's getting to be an old grump anyway. Naska looked around her at the forest that had been her favorite playground growing up. The trees, which blocked out most of the sky, were full of life. Most of the trunks were so big that it would take three of her to wrap her arms around their trunks. It was a place of peace and security for the young druid. A place for her imagination to run as free as the deer that populated the forest.

Sometimes she liked to imagine her mother playing in a similar forest when she was a child. She often wondered if her mother played the same imaginary games as well, fighting invisible monsters and learning how to sneak up on animals in order to pet them.

She was pulled from these warm thoughts by a faraway voice calling her name. Recognizing the voice instantly as her father, Naska darted her way through the forest and headed home.

As the young half-elf stepped out of the trees, she spotted her father standing beside their wagon, stroking the nose of their old draft horse, Jasper. The cart was loaded with various supplies and bundles. “Ah, there you are.” He called to her cheerfully. “Would you mind helping me unload the wagon?”

“Of course, Father.” She replied. Between the two of them, the cart was quickly emptied and the needed supplies put away. Once emptied, the cart was driven into the barn. Naska went inside to begin preparing dinner while her father took care of Jasper.

“That smells wonderful.” He exclaimed as he walked in the door a while later.

“It's just rabbit stew, Father.” She replied absently, giving the pot another stir. “The same thing we've had all week.”

“And all week it has smelled just divine.” He replied, settling in his favorite chair. “You know, it smells so good it reminds me of the time your mother and I partook in a king's banquet. Have I ever told you that story?”

Naska looked over her shoulder at her father and smiled sadly. While the slight peppering of grey in his beard and at his temples told of his advancing years, he was still a handsome man. His blue eyes were bright with intellect and merriment. His body lean but strong. “Only about a million time.” Naska jested. “But tell me again. You know I love your stories. Especially the ones about Mother.”

The older man's sharp eyes narrowed and the smile melted from his face. “Naska? Is something wrong?”

Naska turned away to look down at the bubbling stew, giving it one final stir. “What makes you say that, Father?” She hedged.

Her father immediately stood and moved to her side, setting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Don't play that game with me, child.” He put a finger under her chin and gently pulled her face in his direction. “What is it? Are the villagers bothering you again? They may be your friends, but if you think any of you is too old for a good whack across the backside I'll-”

The young girl reached up and gently pushed his hand away. “That's not it. I already know that no matter what they say, all of your stories are true.” She interrupted. “I... I have something to tell you, Father.”

A look of worry came over the old man's face but he backed away and sat back at the table. Naska fetched a pair of wooden bowls and ladled stew into each before carrying them to the table and setting one before her father and herself. A loaf of bread and a small dish of butter already sat between them in the middle of the old wooden table.

Her father tore a large hunk of bread from the loaf and began slathering it with butter, waiting as patiently as he could for his daughter to collect her words, but the longer she sat and stared into her bowl, the more anxious he became. “Spit it out, girl!” He finally exclaimed, setting down the butter knife with a jarring clatter.

Naska jumped at the sound, finally pulled from her thoughts. “Oh. Yes. Sorry. It's just that, all my life I've been hearing your wonderful stories. The adventures you've been on, the ones you and mother took together, and all the exciting things she's been out doing since she left us here, and I think I want to go on my own adventures. I'm old enough now and I've managed to save a little money for supplies and I think it would be grand to go see the world.” The words spilled out in an uncontrollable rush, filled with a mingling of nervousness, excitement and concern.

As she finished talking, she looked up at her Father with anxious blue eyes, mirrors of his own in color, unsure of what his reaction would be.

The older man sighed as he returned his daughter's stare. “I knew this day would come eventually.” He finally said, his voice heavy with resignation. “I was hoping I would have more time but...” He ran a hand through his graying hair, the weight of years alone pressing down on him as he shifted his gaze to the table. “You are your mother's daughter. She loved the woods too, you know. Hardly spent a night under this roof, even though we built this house together. Said she didn't like to be boxed in.” His eyes shifted to a large wooden trunk pressed against one wall. In her early days, Naska had been curious of the trunks contents, but it had always remained locked, and when asked, her father had changed the subject or claimed he couldn't remember. Eventually she had simply forgotten about the dust-covered relic, but now her attention was drawn to it again.

“I'm afraid I can't give you much.” He continued, setting his hunk of forgotten bread on the table and rising to walk over to the chest. “But I think she would want you to have this.” Naska could only watch in silence as her father pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the trunk, pulling a hide-wrapped bundle from the chest before closing and locking it again. He then carried the bundle to his daughter and handed it over without a word.

Naska accepted the item silently, almost reverently. The silence was becoming oppressive but somehow it felt like a crime to break it. She looked up at the older man, asking with her eyes what she should do with the bundle, but he merely returned her stare with one of blank patience, already becoming lost in a memory.

Looking down at the bundle once more, she peeled away the supple hide, exposing a large cloak. The cloak itself was light but felt soft and warm, the material feeling far fancier than anything she had ever seen in the town.

“It belonged to your mother, once upon a time.” The old man finally spoke up again. “It's of elven weave, so it's much more durable than our normal wool and cottons, yet lighter on your shoulders. There's also some kind of enchantment on it, but I couldn't say what kind. You'll have to find that out for yourself.” He smiled, his eyes lighting up with their usual cheer once again. “It may even be a cloak on invisibility! Imagine that! Why if I'd had a cloak of invisibility when I was a young lad I certainly would have gotten myself into quite a bit of mischief. Why, did I ever tell you about the time when-”

His words were cut off as Naska leapt up to give him a strong hug. “Oh, thank you, Father! Thank you so much!” She exclaimed, her arms wrapping about his neck. She felt his own arm wrap around her in turn, those strong arms that had comforted, protected and guided her for so long. She wondered how long it would be before she would feel those arms again.

“You're welcome, my dear.” He replied softly, giving her back a small pat. “Now sit down and let's eat before this stew gets any colder.”

Her heart and mood lifted, Naska draped her fine new cloak across her lap and grabbed herself a chuck of bread from the loaf. “I'm going to have such grand adventures!” She exclaimed. “I can't wait to come back and tell you all about them like you've told me so many of your stories all these years! I might even meet Mother while I'm out there!”

“That would be quite splendid indeed.” Her father replied with a wide smile. “Just made sure you come home safely when you can. Bertie and I will be here waiting for you.” As if hearing his name, the goat let out a loud bleat in the yard, his voice carrying into the small cottage.

Naska smiled as she heard the call of her favorite pet. “I'm going to miss him almost as much as I'll miss you, Father. But I promise I'll come home with some exciting stories to share. And maybe I'll even find some treasure!”

“Treasure you say!” Her father's eyes gleamed eagerly. “Let me tell you the story about the time your mother and I befriended a unicorn and it helped us steal a dragon's entire hoard of treasure!”

The young half-elf's smile grew wider as she settled in to hear her father's exciting tale, clinging to every word. She knew that night her dreams would be filled with excitement. In the morning, now that she had her father's blessing, she would go to town wearing her fancy new cloak, and purchase the supplies she needed to begin her own adventures.

And certainly one more night in her own comfortable bed certainly wouldn't hurt. She would miss that almost as much as her small family.

[rabidwerewolfie]

So, I got to play my first session of D&D (EVER!!!) and OMG it was so much fun!!!

I’m playing a half-elf druid named Naska Wolfine (believe it or not, that name came from a name generator. I didn’t actually come up with any of it) who was raised by her human father. Her elf mother has been gone since shortly after she was born but her father never took another wife despite plenty of interest. When asked why his wife hasn’t been around for 20 or so years he just shrugs and says something along the lines of “She’s an elf. You know how they are.”

So all her life, Naska has been hearing her father tell her tall tales about the adventures he and her mother (also a druid) used to go on together and she believes every word as fact. She also loves to repeat these tales at every opportunity. Not one person has bothered to tell her to shut up yet. I’m still waiting.

So she finally left home to begin her adventure and went, where else, but the local tavern. She gets told about some guy called Old Man Jenkins who’s animals keep getting killed and mutilated and just had his prize bull stolen. And Naska, assuming herself to already be a god tier adventurer (she has a tendency to be over-confident in her own abilities) immediately thinks that the culprit is a dragon. Another of her bad habits is that once she makes up her mind about something, it’s not often that she’ll change it no matter HOW much evidence to the contrary there is.

So she gets there and the back fence is taken apart systematically and there’s tiny foot prints all over the place. Well, thinks Naska, this is a VERY clever dragon indeed! It covered up it’s OWN footprints and left those of some OTHER species to cover its tracks!

While she’s following the stolen bull’s hoofprints, she runs into a goblin and accidentally kills him when she tries to interrogate him about the dragon. Oops. Well, at least he led her to a cave before he died. There’s two pairs of eyes peeking out at her, but there beside the cave is a snort followed by some thrashing in the brush. AHA! Here’s the dragon!

So ignoring the cave, she DEMANDS that the dragon give itself up and MAYBE she’ll let it live. But then it moos at her. Having forgotten about the bull in the heat of the moment, she warns the dragon that she won’t fall for that trick of pretending to be a bovine and demands AGAIN that the dragon give itself up, saying that if it finds a new territory, she may even let it keep its hoard.

But the “dragon” just snorts again, so she charges it, prepared to do battle, just to come face to face with the bull. “Oh.” She thinks. “It really is just a co- AH!” and falls into a pit trap. Above, two more goblins show up and start shooting arrows at her.

One more thing about Naska is that she has one hell of a temper. So she starts flinging fireballs at these goblins and scooping up their own arrows to throw back at them. One of them falls into the hole with her and gets knocked out. CLEARLY not a threat, and she should focus on the one still shooting at her, right?

NOPE! She PUNCHES the prone one to death and then singes off the other’s eyebrows before landing a really good hit to just turn him into a crispy critter. She then manages to crawl out of the hole and check the cave. Empty except for more corpses and some junk. Damn! The dragon must have escaped while she was in that damn hole, being distracted by its goblin minions. Because CLEARLY the goblins were working for the dragon and not their own purposes. It’s obvious.

So she brings the bull back for her reward of money, fame and glory, but then she gets drugged and kidnapped by pirates and we ended the session with her being taken for ransom.

It was a BLAST!! I love this character and I hope she doesn’t go getting herself killed too soon! She’s going to be fun to play with!! Especially once I start getting more comfortable with how everything works. That’s when I’ll start making messes. LOL

I am so glad I FINALLY got to play!! And I can’t believe it’s taken this damn long!! But all my other groups seemed to dissipate soon after I joined and we never got to the actual playing part.

Also, I could see Naska pulling a Jori and finding her way into the Wolfcaller Chronicles.