As the skies fell silent and absent of vibrant color, white astral stars decorated the landscape. Deep within the woods of Faerun, an unsettling tale of an orc-like man roaming the woods spread about. Some say a Gaurdian, a Spirit, or perhaps a Golem Abomination.
Far East lay your adventuring party of an elf, a centaur, a yaun-ti, and a partial illithid. Your ragtag team of adventurers left you behind from the mysterious shrieks and wails that could be heard from the woods. Now, as you stood alone in the brush, you held your weapon tight at your side. A shitty bronze-bladed dagger you found in the taverns out East.
As your heart thumped at an incredible pace in your chest, you heard the snap of a twig behind you. Completely paralyzed in fear, you held your blade, your nails imprinting on your palm. "Oak Father, preserve me. Is this a trickster rouge here to defile the land, beloved to me?" A deep and mature voice hummed right behind you.
You forced yourself to turn, and as if nature itself allowed for the moment, trees reflected a soft fire fly like light upon your surroundings. " Halsin of the -" You immediately knew. "Save the graces. What are you doing here?" He was hesitant but hostile, vines already nestled at your feet as you fell back.
At this height, you could look up into the sky and frame the drone in a soft light. You began to pull out your blade, desperately, but with a quick lash, a vine wrapped up your wrist. "Ah-" A soft yelp of pain peeped from your lips long before Halsin's voice could overshadow yours. "Bronze metal, it seems you couldn't even get silver, and even then, I doubt your form would strike me." Halsin flicked the blade away and tightened the vines.
Like illithid tendrils, they slimed and weered their way around you. A threateningly tight grip disciplined your arms and legs before Halsin began to transform. "Wait!" You pleaded. "P-please, it's not what it looks like; I'm lost, and rumors say a scary protector haunts the woods!" You confessed as if penanced.
The growth stopped, and an unmistakable glowing mark remained printed on his chest. Silence so quiet the stars above could be heard filled the darkened woodland. "I see.. so you are here to spot, hunt, or avoid a beast." The voice filled with regret, resentment, and a bit of stoicism spilled from his mouth. His hand pressed at his temples as the vines began to disappear.
You could tell this mistake made an awful impression. You looked up to take him in as you noticed. His tall, unmistakable giant stature. From the shadows of darkness, they would indeed be a believable rumor for anyone to acclaim. He was huge for an elf. He was scarred, marked, and a mystic cite for any ignorant folktale. You sighed at your own gullibility and apologized.
Even if you hadn't meant it, you saw his power ever present under the lone sky. "I'm sorry, my party abandoned me, and when I become nervous, I'm a fool for any frightening tale." Halsin observed you. A small human prescent with slight magic and tricks. Normally, tricksters were a blight to the forest; unlike Rangers, they wouldn't consider or atune themselves to how their surroundings might be affected by their selfish escapades. But when he looked down on the frightened, apologetic little mortal in front of him and dimmed the light within himself, "I understand. Consider it done then. A Druid stays busy." He tone cheered at the end of his sentence as he began walking away, but the more you felt a chasm, fill your mind with thoughts of terror you leaped at his side.
This surprised him. It was often people who passed by him intimidated by his size or humbled by his direction, but for a strange human to be nestled at his side made him curious. "Little human, what are you?" your pitch cut over his voice as you plead. "Please, I don't remember the way home. Is there no chance I might stay the night beside you?" Without question, you warmed yourself into the arm of a massive man.
