Moody DesLunel
Background
As long as Moody can remember, he lived on his own in the Brocé mangrove marsh on the Azure sea, sheltering in the treetops when the storms caused the water to surge, and the bog when it receded. People were rare, destructive, and usually to be avoided. Moody instead made friends with Fauna. He could relax animals by humming the songs he wrote while listening to the rustle of leaves in the wind, or the sound of the brooks and tides splashing through the mangrove roots. Have you ever heard a farmer say that plants grow better when you sing to? It’s true that many bards play for their supper, but Moody manifest his with song. When nature was feeling particularly giving, his songs could lure fish right out of the ocean. In fact, it was after one such “fishing trips” when he was attacked unaware by a lost – probably shipwrecked – traveler.
Moody never ate until he was full. That day, he threw the last fish into the mouth of a seagull, giving something back to Obad-Hai. It was then that he was shot clean through with an arrow. He tried to scramble away, to get back to the trees, to hide, but he couldn’t escape. The man was in rags, with a matted beard. As moody lay there helpless, he saw the man going through his pack, dumping everything out, screaming “How could you not have anything!?”. Losing blood, Moody passed out.
When he awoke hours later, the man was gone, but all of Moody’s things were still there, in a pile. There were also some herbs growing nearby which he hadn’t remembered seeing before. Just the kind you’d need for a healing salve.
Some weeks passed, and he saw the man again, carrying a seagull. Moving slowly in the water near him, however, was an alligator willing to fight for that dinner. Moody tried to warn him but it was too late. The alligator bit the man’s leg, then ate that seagull in one bite and disappeared. Moody pulled him back up on shore and stopped the bleeding. The man thanked Moody by trying to stab him. This time Moody was able to get away. He watched from the woods as it was the man’s turn to pass out from his wounds.
Moody hummed a song while he lit him a fire to scare away any more animals, and cleaned his bite wound. When he was finished, there were some berries now growing nearby he could leave the man; after giving a few back to the water while thinking of the seagull. As he left, a Dryad appeared.
“Why would you ever show a man like this Mercy? He shot you in the back, tried to rob you, left you for dead, killed a seagull, and tried to kill you again.”
Moody knew desperate people acted in desperate ways, and the man was only hungry. He needed food, and didn’t know how to get it. Hopefully he could find his way back out of the forest. The Dryad was moved, and offered Moody a lute. He’d never held a lute before; had he ever held any instrument before?
His fingers knew how to play, “The Water Receding Below My Feet” the first first time he tried.
The last thing the Dryad said was, “Live the life my lady would admire, and think of her whenever you play”. With a tear on her cheek, she left back into the woods.
With hew new lute, maybe it was time to leave the woods. Moody kept listening to Flanaess, and writing songs, while he slowly gained confidence to move closer and closer to the towns nearby. He discovered people weren’t always to be avoided. A cat called Thimble started to show up regularly when he was playing, and Moody shared with him his fish. As the two became friends, he learned much from that wise old cat.
Being a Druid, Thimble was also quite attuned to nature’s power. He taught Moody Druidic and druidcraft, honing his skills. Thimble tries to get Moody to utilize the awesome and devastating powers of nature, but can’t except the Moody loves nature for it’s quiet and peacefulness.