[center][URL=http://s29.photobucket.com/user/Genkai001/media/Andrik_zpszntvbayi.png.html][IMG]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/Genkai001/Andrik_zpszntvbayi.png[/IMG][/URL][/center] [indent][indent] On the beach of a small desert island, halfway between the sea and the palm trees that grow in the middle of the island, sits a knapsack next to a dimming fire, some freshly chopped fire wood and a few palm leaves with fruits gathered from inland. The island itself is a little way over the horizon from the closest port, situated in a place called the sapphire lagoon, and well out of anybodys way, yet there are no boats docked anywhere along it’s shore to explain how these things got there. The knapsack is one of a traveler, if you were to extract its contents you would find the hatchet used to chop the wood for the fire and the flint and steel that lit it, a spyglass and compass, several maps of many different regions of the world, some drawn by the owner of the sack, a few books about interesting places along with things like cloths, soap and other mundane necessities. Finally, wrapped carefully in clothing and paper are a few toys and trinkets from the local region, all kept carefully away from anything that might damage them. It is early in the night, the sun having just set over the horizon moments ago, taking the sweltering heat of the tropics down to a slightly more reasonable temperature. The moon and stars have come out to shine their soft light down on the waters below where a lot of the more dangerous creatures are emerging making the sea a rather less pleasant place to be. Anything that can is finding some safer places to be. From the ocean emerges one such creature, a sea lion with a large fish that is still madly flopping held in its jaws, lopes up the beach towards the small encampment. The fish is deposited next to the fruits on the leaves and the creature is engulfed a soft gold glow that illogically produces no light. The golden shape shrinks and changes, the universe helpfully hiding what such a transformation would actually look like for the sake of people not losing their lunch every time it happened. After a few brief moments there stands a stout dwarf in place of the sea lion. He is wearing a scalemail tunic made of the scales of various creatures found in the underdark. It is light and does offer much in the way of protection but is worn because no self respecting dwarf would ever be caught dead wear anything that wasn't armor. Even if this set is specifically designed to be as light and un-armor like like as possible in order to not drown the wearer if they were to fall of a ship. Around his neck is a small amulet in the shape of a stylized sun that is the color of molten glass, the mark of a follower of Sollava, the dwarven god of light and life. The dwarf stretches,then pulls a knife from his belt, where it sits alongside a few bone charms and a small metal hip flask and proceeds sit down to gut the fish and make himself some dinner. Andrik the dwarf had arrived in the nearby port town on a trade ship a few weeks ago and after seeing what there was to see and doing a bit of trading had come out here to get to know the local wildlife. Originally hailing from beneath the dwarven cities of the far north it was always a delight to explore the vibrant and sun kissed oceans of the tropics, to swim above the coral reefs as a manta ray and see the thousands of unique creatures that were nurtured beneath Sollava’s light. He did this whenever he visited a place, the achievements of a lands people were often not nearly as interesting as it’s natural beauty. It was as he was finishing his meal that the he saw the shooting stars, descending from the heavens as they lit up the sky all across the night side of the world. [i]'quite the light show your putting on there Sollava, what might the occasion be I wonder'[/i] He did not have long to find out as to his astonishment one of the light trails seemed to turn towards him, before vanishing as a large white object landed in the forest that occupied most of the uninhabited island, vanishing into the foliage as Andrik watched. [i]'what the blazes was that… only one way to find out I guess'[/i] smiling to himself at the existence of a new phenomenon to encounter he put on his knapsack and transformed, shrinking down to a puffin, before taking off, skimming the trees and looking for the strange object. The druid found the egg shaped thing on a small rocky outcropping, seemingly inert and non threatening despite its ability to float above the ground. After landing, transforming and throwing a cautionary rock at the floating object to check if it was a mimic or a ropper the dwarf advanced briskly, eager to investigate this thing from the heavens. [b]"Hello there, what are you? Be you elemental or angel or something else."[/b] Getting no response from the hovering object he decided to knock on it, maybe find out what it was made of. His rapping gained him no knowledge other than that it was hard but in response a hatch opened in the side of the egg, revealing an interior filled with a human sized seat and strange blinking lights.[i]'Enchanted gems perhaps? What under the sun is this strange contraption for?'[/i] Two quick shape shifts brought him to be standing on the chair, he was curiously poking at the lights when the door slid shut and the lights all started blinking furiously. [b]"Did I do that? Open back up. Please? Please! I will not be trapped again!"[/b] The dwarf began to panic as a strange liquid began to squirt up out of the walls, filling up the pod. [/indent][/indent] [center][h2][color=skyblue]- - - -[/color][/h2][/center] [center][h2][color=skyblue][ 15 years later ][/color][/h2][/center] [center][h2][color=skyblue]- - - -[/color][/h2][/center] [indent][indent] Andrik had experienced mainly nightmares in his sleep, the religious based revulsion he had for being trapped away from the light plus two very unpleasant experiences with a cave in and hiding from a Grick in a crevice as a child all came together to form a considerable claustrophobia in the dwarf. In a way he took to druidry partially because of how shapeshifting allowed him to escape from such traps, to dig out of the cave in, to fight the beasties or outrun them. Right now however his powers had failed him, his dreams filled with all the dangers his kind had encountered as they dug towards the surface. He himself had only encountered a fraction of the things he saw in that sleep, but his mind did an excellent job of turning the tales of his elders into seemingly real things that stalked him through dark, tight corridors of cold stone. When the pod opened, the insides were scratched with the claws of many dangerous beast from below the earth, lights smashed by attempts to break the sides with pure mass, the sedative having not affected the dwarfs many shapes nearly as fast as it had the others due to increased body mass and occasional poison resistance or vastly different physiology from the intended targets. Out of the pod now flopped a fish, Andriks attempt to stop what he perceived to be a risk of drowning. After a few moments the fish changed back into the dwarf who scrambled away from the pod, panting from the remembered fear and the few seconds where he had been drowning in air. The metal corridors where not much of an improvement in terms of encasement. To Andrik, the lack of sound coming from beyond the walls meant that they must be underground rather than simply a metal house or ship, because there you would be able to hear nature otside if you listened hard enough, and the druid could hear nothing in the moments of silence between talking. If it weren't for the two human youths who were already out and the assorted others biguns emerging from their pods he might have just started running about trying and find an exit. As it was he took a swig from his hip flask to calm down, griped his medallion tightly and went along with the introductions situation while trying to remain calm. Liquid courage and faith helped him keep it together, as did the thought that maybe these corridors leed outside eventually. Those where the things that had let him handle the ascension. [b]"If we are doing introductions, I am Andrik Nordin, Druid of Sollava. I am a traveler by nature, but Dwarf’s Embankment is the place to which I return at the end of my journeys and I suppose in that sense it’s home. It is nice to meet you all, though I wish it weren't in whatever this metal place is. Let’s work together to find where we are and more importantly, find a way out."[/b] [i]'I’ve heard of some of those places they said they are from before. hmmm'[/i] He thinks for a moment then rummages around in his knapsack and pulls out a large map which he unfurls and examines as the rest of the introductions are made, distracting him from looking at the enclosing walls as the voices drown out the silence. [b]"So I looked up some the places you're from and it seems they are all quite far from where I was when i was trapped in"[/b] he shivers a little in distaste as he indicates to the pod[b]" that egg prison as well as from each other. Which is odd. I wonder how we all got here?”[/b] [/indent][/indent]