Be Wary, Young Adventurer

Ah! Young Adventures! Welcome. Welcome to my humble hollow. Yes. Yes. Spare me your awe. I know exactly who I am. There’s no need to point it out. I am Nuray Solana, an old servant of the Wind, though you will know me more for my songs. Oh, I don’t play anymore. Age has taken that away from me, but it’s no matter.

Please, sit. Sit! Help yourself to some tea or lemon water. It’s been a while since anyone has come to my neck of the woods. Let me guess, you’re here because you want some advice? No need to be embarrassed. It’s wise of you to seek advice before taking off on some grand adventure. Well, since you made the trek here I suppose I can’t leave you empty handed. I’ll tell you three important things you should always remember when you undertake a dungeons and dragons.

Number One: Be bold! Don’t be afraid to take action even if it’s just a spur of the moment thought. Know your abilities inside and out and dare to take the adventure into your own hands. You see, when I and the other Defenders of the Wood: Norman the Hedge, and Mini the Gerbean undertook the quest of defeating the Fire Primordial, things often did not go according to plan, but we always seized the moment. Before entering the Fire Plane, we had to make a choice. We could go in and blindly search for the weapon to defeat the Primordial while trying to outrun his minions. Or, we could find a way to locate it directly so we would spend as little time in there as possible. We chose the latter and in doing so we controlled the story. We diverted from the path long enough to ensure we were ready to return to it. Interpret this as you will, but dare to act beyond what’s laid before you, and you’ll see you’re more powerful than you realize.

The second piece of advice I can give you is to remember to look up. So many adventurers fail in their quests because they reach a puzzle they cannot solve because they didn’t look up. Not to mention all the enemies that can come at you from above. I once had a friend, a vulpin named Ori, who had a companion almost get them killed. You see, they were exploring an abandoned spire and down the middle of this spire was an elevator shaft. They went about halfway up the spire through staircases and holes in the ceiling, but one of her companions decided to peak his head into the elevator shaft. He looked down and saw nothing but blackness. From that, he decided they were safe until warm breath came through the shaft. The companion looked up the shaft and saw a fifty-foot fire centipede glaring down at him. If he hadn’t looked up. He and Ori would’ve been caught off guard by the centipede and likely killed. So, remember young ones, always look up.

Now, the final piece of advice I can give you is to have faith. In yourself and your companions. You need to trust each other. Had I not trusted Norman and Mini, we would not have saved the wood. I regret to tell you we had our doubts at one point. There was a moment in our quest where we acquired a strange spellbook, a necromancer’s spellbook. Norman held onto it and the longer he did, the more Mini and I noticed a change in him. As you know, Norman was already an old hedge at the time, but after he got that spellbook, he no longer acted as old as he was. Not to mention, he was obsessed with the thing! Mini and I could not even hold it without him getting angry. We feared what it was doing to him. We feared it was manipulating him and one night, we confronted him about it. We cast our magic on each other because of it!

Ah…it fills me with regret to speak of what happened, but…in the end, though Norman grew obsessed with that book, the intentions of his heart remained the same. He still sought to defend the wood. Still sought to help people and still valued our friendship–in his own, grumpy way.

So, there, young adventures. I hope you take my advice to heart as you go on your way. You may rest here for the night, but you must be off at dawn. Leave this old bard with the wind’s song and build your own tales to stretch the horizons.