Author's Note: This story references information in the Wizards of the Coast RPG Dungeons & Dragons. If you are unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons, you might not get some parts of this story. This is only a background story for a character I play, so I don’t plan on writing more.

Jade Moss: Background and History...Thus Far.

Cliff Sandalwood was meditating in his sacred grove, waiting for a sign from the Goddess Ehlonna. He felt the wild presence around him grow stronger, so he opened his eyes. A pack of wolves was entering his grove and sat, forming a semi-circle in front of him. They left a space just in front of him and a large dire wolf began to approach. On his back, rode a naked little girl, looking as wild as the creature she straddled. He could tell she was a half elf, just as he was, though he had darker skin, being half Drow.
“Young druid,” the beast addressed Cliff when it reached the circle, “We have raised this child from an infant, and now it is time for her to live with her own kind. Many winters ago, I witnessed an elf woman driven off the edge of a canyon by a band of humans and into a river. Following her down the river, I saw she carried a bundle, which prevented her from swimming well. After she was killed on the sharp rocks at the bottom of a waterfall, I drug her body ashore. Still bundled in her arms was a child who had miraculously survived the fall. She was born to be a survivor, so I took her as my own and raised her in the ways of true survival. I have taught her all I know, and now she must learn in the ways of the two-legs and discover her true self. May you accept this task from the Goddess Ehlonna and take her as your own, as I once did.” The girl dismounted the dire wolf and cried as she hugged its massive neck. After she let go, she turned around and sat in front of Cliff and looked up at him like a curious puppy.
“I would be honored.” Cliff knelt and covered the girl with his wool cape, “Has she a name?”
“We named her Moss for the fine fuzz that covers her skin,” the wolf replied as it turned around to leave, “I’m sure she will earn a worthy name with you as her guide, as well.”
Cliff would have had an easier time taming a wild stallion than he did domesticating Moss. She had absolutely no manners, and had a difficult time grasping concepts such as privacy and clothing. During the winter months was the only time she didn’t rip off whatever fabric or skins he tied to her when he wasn’t around. Curious as any pup, she persistently watched Cliff as he meditated, hunted, and cooked, and even while he dressed, and bathed. She did show him respect as her elder and they got along most of the time. In human years, Cliff was about 20 and Moss about 10, so their relationship was more like brother and sister than father and daughter. Being an orphan, himself, he knew what she was going through and how to help her feel better when she was sad or having trouble with something. Eventually, she got used to using tools, personal grooming, and wearing clothes, thought, to this day, she still sleeps in the nude. She was a fast learner in most other areas, though. She quickly discovered the value of ‘alone time’ and was speaking several languages fluently within her first year with Cliff.
Of the few visitors that came to Cliff’s sod hut in the side of the hill, Moss especially liked ‘Uncle’ North. North was the Centaur Druid that raised Cliff. Among the many stories North told her, Moss liked best the one about Cliff’s origins because it was a lot like hers. North had discovered the near dead body of a pregnant human in the wreckage of a wagon that had gone over a cliff. The woman soon gave birth and died. North named the dark child Sandalwood and raised him with his Centaur clan until he was about 15, when he left with North to be trained as a Druid. He was educated, tested, and welcomed into the Heartwood Brotherhood as Cliff Sandalwood.
About a year had gone by since Moss had come to live with him, and Cliff decided she was old and educated enough to accompany him on a trip to town. Thought he demanded she stay near him in the market, of course she wandered off to discover the new place. She saw a group of three boys chasing a dog and followed them into an alley. They cornered the dog and began to beat it with the sticks they carried. At first, she thought they were hunting the dog, but then heard their laughter and taunts and knew something was wrong. She ran up to them and yelled at them to quit. They turned and began taunting her instead. One of the boys moved to hit her with his stick and she yanked it from his hands. She had never experienced behavior like this and acted the only way she knew how. Screaming with fear and tears in her eyes, she began to beat the unarmed boy with his own stick. When the other two boys tried to stop her, she swiped the stick in a wide arc behind her and scratched both of them across the cheek before they tackled her. Cliff heard Moss screaming and saw the yelping dog run from the alley as some townsfolk headed down it. When he got to the alley, Moss ran up to him and cried as she buried her face into his robe.
“We were just playing,” one of the boys whined before he was smacked on the back of the head and told to hush as he was hauled down the alley by his ear. Eyes averted, they all passed by the dark-skinned druid without any words. At that moment, both Cliff and Moss understood the differences and similarities of civilization and the wild.
Moss told Cliff she wanted to be a druid like him. He told her she was not yet old enough, but she could train herself to be closer to nature without any assistance. He explained to her what he was doing and why when he composed elixirs, cast spells, or performed rituals. She did have to leave him alone for many rituals, such as when he summoned his animal companion. Cliff explained that it took a whole day and night of meditation to summon one’s animal companion. When he opened his eyes the next morning, he saw before him two dead tree limbs on the ground. Upon further inspection, he saw they were antlers, freshly shed. His animal companion was an elk, but where was he? Cliff called for it, and it finally stepped from behind a rock, head held low. It told him it was embarrassed because its antlers fell off when it arrived. It had been so proud to be his animal companion, that when they fell off, it was afraid Cliff would be ashamed to have a buck with no antlers as an animal companion. Cliff explained to the young buck that all elk loose their antlers in the spring. He named the elk Comet and introduced him to Moss. Comet liked to run around a lot, and Cliff and Moss had a hard time keeping up, so he let them learn how to ride him.
Comet took Cliff and Moss to all different parts of the land when they were in an exploring mood, or just gave them a ride to town when they needed to do some trading. One time on their way to town, they came upon a man on the side of the road that had been beaten. Cliff healed the man and gave him water. The man said his name was Brom and he had been taking a nap just inside the tree line when bandits jumped him. He fought them off, but not before taking substantial damage. Brom thanked Cliff for the help and invited them back to his house in town. There, Brom revealed he was a powerful sorcerer, and that he was doing a test. A dozen people had passed by and just left him there before Cliff helped him. In return, he offered to train Cliff as his apprentice. Cliff had always been interested in all magic, not just nature spells, so he eagerly agreed.
Over the years, Cliff took turns practicing the arcane arts with Brom and studying the ways of nature with the Heartwood Brotherhood. Moss, however, decided to stick to bonding with nature. Cliff often observed her having conversations with trees or pretending to be different animals as she played in the forest, donning different animal skins and painting her face with mud and berries. On the first day of spring on the 5th year they had been together, Cliff watched with tears in his eyes as Moss left with North for official druid training. He never realized how much she meant to him until she was gone. He prayed for Ehlonna to watch over and protect her. He quickly felt very alone, since he had ‘adopted’ Moss only weeks after becoming a Druid. Brom saw his student was upset, so he cast a spell on him so he would forget about Moss until the next time that he saw her. Now that his pupil was free from distractions, he introduced him to the prestige class of Geomancer.
Cliff fully immersed himself in the magic of the land over the next few years and utilized his special abilities on the errands he ran for Brom. He didn’t even seem to mind the body-altering natural drifts that he accumulated as his powers increased. Brom was steady sending Cliff out to gather rare herbs or acquire magical items. Proud of his power, he was always eager for a chance to prove himself in a battle or quest. While returning from one such quest, Cliff saw smoke coming from the town. He rushed there and found Brom’s house burned to the ground. Because of his strange appearance, not many people in the town would speak with him, so he looked for one of the vendors he had known since he was young and asked what happened. The blacksmith explained that a dragon had attacked the town. Brom had begun to defend the town with his magic, then seemed to be struck down by the dragon. Then Brom turned into a dragon himself and continued fighting. The bad dragon eventually defeated Brom and left. He thought Brom must have polymorphed or something like that to better fight the dragon as a dragon, but his dead body remained in dragon form. Cliff ran over to the other side of town where Brom had fallen. The massive body of a silver dragon lied smoldering with the rubble of a farmhouse. He could tell right away that this was Brom’s true form. From the moment they met, Cliff had a feeling that Brom wasn’t truly human. But why would another dragon hunt Brom down? For passing as human? For training Cliff as an apprentice? And was the dragon now looking for him?
Cliff wanted answers, so he told the townsfolk he decided to set out to find the dragon that killed his mentor. He had just finished packing his things when he heard a woman calling his name. Peering out the window, he saw Comet playfully prancing up to a beautiful half-elf woman. Whoever it was, he knew he loved her from the start.
“Remember me, Comet?” he heard the lady as she nuzzled his animal companion, “It’s me, Moss. My name is Jade Moss now. Where is Cliff?” Memories came rushing back to him and he anxiously fumbled around the hut. He couldn’t remember why he had packed all of her things away. He pulled a cloak off something hanging on the wall and froze. The reflection in the dusty mirror showed how his work as a Geomancer had devolved him into a twisted abomination of man and nature.
“She can’t see me like this!” he cracked the mirror with his fist, “She probably wouldn’t even recognize me.” Cliff grabbed his bags and slipped silently out the window just as Jade entered. “What could have made me forget about the girl I love?” he muttered as he mounted Comet and had him head for town, “It doesn’t matter anyway. How could she love a monster like me?”
“Cliff!” she called out to him as he rode off.
“I’m sorry!” he called back, choking on his tears.
Jade discovered from the townsfolk that a dragon had killed Brom, who was really a dragon also, and that Cliff had left to go find that dragon. They told her that studying under Brom had turned Cliff into a beast and that’s probably why he ran away from her. She doesn’t care what he looks like, she just wants to find him and help him with his quest. She has no idea where to start, so she just set off on her own and hopes she runs into him or someone who knows where he or the dragon is.