Diana's Tale
The story of how Diana Cumpstook, an Elven cleric came to worship her gods- Hav'roth and Meraud.
It started in her childhood. Diana was found by the empath
Elizzabeth Le'Poupre, who was also mother to the warrior mage
ElizziBiana DrikWalla. Apparently, Diana had wandered away
from her home in the forest to the village that Elizzabeth
lived in. No one else would take the child in due to
prejudice against her Elven heritage, and the village was
comprised of S'kra Murs and Gor'Togs.
Elizza raised both Diana and Eliz as her own, and they honored
Hav'roth who was the patron of the S'kra Race. Diana never
knew she was different from her loving family other than she
had no tail, the family had no mirrors and they never treated
her differently. Since Diana was about 5 years younger than
Eliz, she did not understand at the time why Eliz was exiled
from the village. All that she knew was that she missed her
sister dearly and her mother was always so sad after Eliz
left.
Elizza raised Diana in the ways of the empath, since Diana
seemed to have a knack for it that Eliz never did. One day
Diana was out gathering some herbs for her mother when she
stumbled across a very hurt young wolf. Diana was afraid of
the wolf, but she felt so sorry for it. It slowly dragged
itself towards her, whimpering from the pain of the arrow
lodged deeply in its right shoulder. Diana overcame her fear
and slowly walked to the young wolf. It collapsed at her
feet, and allowed her to tend to it.
As Diana removed the arrow from it shoulder, the wolf turned
deep knowing eyes upon her. As she tended its wounds, the
wolfling seemed to grow stronger till it was able to slowly
back away from her. As Diana tried getting closer the wolf
backed away until it was far enough from her that she could
not close the gap quickly. Diana realized the wolfling did
not want her close to it; so she stopped and watched. As she
watched, it seemed to shift shape till it became a tall dark
Human which had bandages wrapped around its right shoulder.
Diana knew this was no ordinary being but was actually an
Immortal, and she was not afraid nor shrank back when the
being approached her.
The being stopped about a pace away from her and spoke
softly. "Diana Cumpstook, you have a kindness within you, and
while being a empath is a admirable job it is not what your
life is meant to be spent as. You have within you a good
gift, a gift better spent lifting others than taking their
wounded bodies upon your own. I am known as Meraud amongst
your people, which I see you have already figured out, for
while your understanding of the Immortals is scarce you
understand more than your years belie."
He reached out and gently touched her forehead, then quickly
he was gone but his mark remained upon her. She felt a
whisper in the wind that told her she should seek the lands
her sister Eliz had fled too, and to find her future in those
lands.
Diana grabbed her forgotten foraging bag and quickly headed
back to her mothers' home, where she told her what had
happened. Elizza scoffed and said that the heat had gotten to
Diana, until Diana pulled her hair back to show Elizza the
small wolf shaped scar upon her hairline. Elizza slowly
sighed as she realized that she was losing another daughter,
but knew within her heart that it was meant to be.
As Elizza helped Diana pack she told her all that she could
of the family history since Elizza had never had the chance
to pass it on to Eliz before she was banned. Elizza wanted to
make sure even though Diana was not an S'kra, she was still a
big part of the Le'Poupre lineage, and always would be a part
of the family. And that Elizza was very proud of her.
Diana left after a very tearful goodbye and headed in the
direction that Eliz was known to have taken those many years
before, and she wandered many days never quite knowing if she
was heading in the right direction or not. Till finally one
day she stumbled across a severely hurt adventurer, and as
Diana tried to tend to his wounds he died from vitality loss
on her. Diana wailed for she did not know what to do or where
to go for help, and the adventurers spirit stayed about his
body begging for her to help him until a sigh on the wind and
a quiet whisper in her ear spoke to her.
"Diana, these many days I have watched over you, my child,
until now. This is the test I spoke of those many days ago
when you helped my wolf, and now you will find the calling I
spoke of then. So now it is up to you to help replace this
poor lost spirit into his proper body. Place your hands upon
his chest and offer your voice up to the gods to help his
poor soul return to its rightful place."
Diana did as she was told and soon his body began to faintly
glow as his spirit was returned. With one deep gasp of air he
was alive again. Diana knew not how she did it and the young
man was so grateful that he brought her to the Crossing
clerical guild, and left her in the safe hands of the guild
leader Tallis. As he left he made a solemn promise to Tallis
he would never lose favor with the Immortals, and that if
Diana ever needed him he would be there to help.
Diana slowly approached Tallis, who simply smiled when Diana
spoke of joining the clerics guild. Tallis said a blessing
over her, and then began to instruct her in the ways of the
cleric. That day Diana knew she was where she belonged. That
was the day that Diana took a vow of poverty, and a vow to
help others in need.
And while Diana has never seen her sister ElizziBiana face
to face, she knows their path will one day cross, and until
then Eliz has given her a place to stay in the Crossing, food
and drink to nourish herself upon, and coins left around for
whatever Diana may need.
Meanwhile, Diana has never forgotten Hav'roth and still
worships him she also pays homage to Meraud for showing her
the way of her future.
So ends at this point the simple story of a young struggling
Elven cleric named Diana Cumpstook as she works to learn more
of her chosen guild, the Cleric's Guild.