Rainel Moralagos

Rainel Moralagos is an aloof Druid played by Neenan. An elf who wanders but is not necessarily lost, she finds herself investigating strange occurrences in Dreams and Darkness. Rainel is a DNDNext character in a 4e setting.

Themesong: "Where the River Goes" by Stone Temple Pilots

''Yeah, I could hide in the calm of the eye of the storm and never blow away ''Well, I'm a young woman with a knife to my back, Some things never seem to change ''I wish I could live in the dream that I fly on the tarred & feathered wings ''Well, I'm losing a game of reality dice where the dealer never ever pays ''Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide, Sing the song or keep it inside ''Bought the farm, but the farmer done died, Sing that song, sing that song inside ''I wanna be as big as a mountain, I wanna fly as high as the sun ''I wanna know what the rent's like in heaven, I wanna know where the river goes ''If I was stronger, I could be a mountain range ''If night was longer, Could I escape the day?

Description
Rainel is a younger wood elf, typical for her species in height and weight. As she has spent much of her time in the wilderness, her dress is always neutral in color, a blend of natural colors that help her hide in the shadows of the forest. She is the epitome of nondescript, and values being able to not be noticed.

Personality
Rainel is a elf of contradictions. Her family name translate into common as "Night Storm," and it was given to her by fellow elves during her infancy. Whether it had to do with an actual storm, her stormy upbringing, or her childhood demeanor, the adult Rainel does not usually live up to the imagery. She is quiet, introspective, and somewhat aloof. While she values nature and prefers the "Druid" lifestyle, she has and can live in towns and cities. Though some would call her antisocial, she is quite able to adapt and live in a community.

When she reached adulthood, she chose the name Rainel, Elven for "wandering," for a good reason. She loved to explore. She often took long hikes as a child and went missing for days. Those that looked after her expected the worse, but she always came back. On these and future trips, she reveled in the enormity of nature. Not only did she come to value the forests, but she came to see and realize the balance of nature. This balance, a tenet of Silvanus she holds close to her heart, has driven her throughout her years, and into her current path. She has vowed to uphold this balance, and to punish those that would upset it - it either direction.

As a result, she truly walks the line between good and evil, law and chaos.

Family and Relationships
Rainel does not know if she has any family, nor does she know what happened to them or how she was separated from them. The small community of Elves in Shadowdale served as the closest thing she had to a real family, but no one elf seemed to wish to form any real bonds with her. As a result, in over 100 years, Rainel has had almost no relationships considered close.

The only true "close" relationship was that with her original Druid circle, those that inducted her into the way of the Druid and Silvanus' teachings. Over the last few years, she has formed a friendship with the human Esmeril Batton, although she still holds many of her personal information secret.

Early Years - The Time of Troubles
Rainel was born in or around Shadowdale, or so she has gathered as much from the other Elves that served as her pseudo-parents. One thing she knows for sure: she was born in the middle of what is now commonly referred to as The Time of Troubles. From the pieces she has put together, and has overheard from others when she was young, she believes her parents were rather important followers of Silvanus, and during 1358 they retreated to the secret and powerful Druid's Grove outside of Shadowdale. There it is rumored the Avatar of Silvanus appeared when Ao thrust him and the other gods from their realms. Here, Silvanus and Chauntea worked together with their Druids and Clerics to protect the land, strengthen the forests, and stop the chaos of the times from destroying nature's beauty.

Stories also tell that Silvanus' enemies found this place and attacked him, hoping to end him while he was mortal, or at least destroy the power of the Druid Circle located there. The Druids and Clerics of Silvanus and Chauntea found back their opposites of Malar, Talos, and Talona. It is said Silvanus nearly knocked Talos' head off with his mighty Mallet. Evil was defeated, but not without the cost of many followers of good. Rainel is quite sure both of her parents perished in one of these battles.

With the Time of Troubles over, the infant Rainel was taken to nearby Shadowdale. For most infants in this situation, something formal would have been done. Someone would take responsibility for her. Instead, a group of Elves, many with connections with the Druids and Clerics of the Druid's Grove, raised her as a sort of community. Rainel grew up as a commoner, working just about any kind of job she could. The Elves of Shadowdale seemed distant to her, and very closed about her past and her parents. Later, Rainel would look back and classify the other Elves' interaction with her as "uncomfortable."

The Death of Storm Silverhand
Many things went unchanged until Greengrass of 1378. Rainel, now 20, had taken a liking to the outdoors, and had been working as a gardener for some nobles in the town. She was working in one such garden when shadows passed overhead. One, then two... then many. If it wasn't for the speed of the shadows, Rainel may have never looked up, for they came that quickly and that quietly. When she did finally gaze up, shielding her eyes from the bright sun, time froze. Dozens of dragons, crimson red in color, were swooping down toward the city. Fire came from every direction. In her slow motion reality, she didn't notice the sirens blaring, or the insanely powerful spells being cast from the direction of Elminster's Tower. A tear fell from her eye - the forest was on fire, the gardens across town probably already gone. Much of the city was burning.

As the haze lifted, and she heard the first shouts in Elven from her Elders, she realized something in her heart for which she had no real reason to know: they were coming for Storm. She had never met anyone like the Bard of Shadowdale. Even the other Elves adored her, for she had been decorated by Evereska. Rainel had only talked to her a few times, but most of her free time was spent in Inns where Storm sat and sang. When she was younger, she fell asleep amid dreams of waking up to Storm offering to be her guardian. She shrugged off her Elders, and fled another way, toward the central part of town.

The full realization of the battle now hit her. She saw many of her kind erect defensive spells around the population of the city. Countless clerics and Druids were putting out fires and tending to those who were hurt. She could feel a kind of power in the ground, and it seemed like the Druids were harnessing this power. She quietly moved passed them, using the chaos to hide and not be noticed. As she got closer to the center of the city, she saw more and more dead, many of them wearing the Harper pin. It was at the center, outside of the town hall, that she froze in a dark alley. There lay several dragons, slain dead. However, the dead of Shadowdale far outnumbered them. Worst of all was the largest dragon she had ever seen, blood red in color, and in the center of everything. He held in his claw the broken body of Storm Silverhand.

Again time froze, and Rainel cowered in her dark corner, wishing she could do something... praying to see Storm wake up and slay the beast. The mighty dragon instead seemed to grin and took flight as Elminster himself charged toward the center of the town, flanked by several Elven mages. Elminster did not realize the prize the dragon had, however, and focused on protecting the people. The dragon flew away, and minutes later the remaining dragons fled as well.

The battle was over, but so much had been lost.

The Year of Blue Fire
In the days after the attack, the town rebuilt itself. News came of the destruction in Silverymoon, and the people could not stop asking for the simple answer to a simple question: Why?

Rainel does not remember much from those days. She does, however, remember reading an old text she had on Silvanus' teachings. ''All is in a cycle, deftly and beautifully balanced. It is the duty of the devout to see this cycle and the sacred Balance as clearly as possible.'' For all the good in the world, Rainel came to believe, there existed evil to balance it. The purest soul of Storm was balanced by someone with a soul of anger and blackness. Silvanus sees and balances all, meting out wild water and drought, fire and ice, life and death. For all growth, there is decay.

Silvanus' dogma intrigued Rainel enough to exit her depression from the attack. Months went by, and she finally decided to approach her Elders: she intended to follow Silvanus' teachings and wished to be initiated into a Druidic circle. She was met with resistance. She was young, too young. She had not seen the world, lived in the forest, been around her own kind long enough. She needed time, time to grow, and learn...

Rainel was not the most patient, but for seven years she did as the Elders instructed her to do. Still, she soon realized that most of the tasks were not getting her anywhere near her goal. She vowed by the end of the year she would leave Shadowdale and make her own path. She didn't have the chance.

Signs had been coming for some time, but Rainel could not see most of them. In one of her infamous hikes outside the city, she spotted a Elf in the distance. The Elf was dressed in magnificent green robes, glistening in the setting sun, yet almost making him invisible to her eye. Something drove her toward the Elf, and she followed him for some time. She knew subconsciously that she was getting farther from the town, almost farther than she had ever been, but she did not care. The Elf surely knew she was following him, but he made no indication that he cared.

Soon she saw a clearing ahead. She had no idea how long she had been walking, but she did realize where she was. Huge standing stones stood in front of her - this was the Druid's Grove, the place where Silvanus appeared during the Time of Troubles. The Elf she had been following now stared at her with a grim smile. He was not alone. Almost a dozen others stood in the clearing, all dressed as he, all looking at the stones. The Elf turned to Rainel, and she heard a voice in her mind. ''Something is about to happen. Those above us war like children, and soon one will fall that will destroy much of this world. Stay here, storm of the night, we will protect you.''

She took his hand, and joined the others in the circle. Old runes flared up under the grass. Memories of the day Storm died flashed in her head, as the power she felt that day was again around her, only a hundredfold in strength. Her mind seemed to connect with the others in the circle, and then she saw others - not here, but other places like here. She saw many others, hundreds of others in circles just like this one. She blacked out. A few moments later, Mystra was slain.

The Forgotten Time
The chaos of the Spellplague came, and with it all of Faerun was thrown into chaos. Or so Rainel learned many years later.

After blacking out, she awoke slowly. Every movement her body made sent shooting pains throughout her. How long did it take her to open her eyes? Stand up? Hours, at least. When she finally trained her brain to process information - again, was this hours? - she realized first that this was not where she was.

Where had the other Elves gone? What happened to Druid's Grove? Rainel's brain almost shut itself down again as the confusion clouded her mind. She struggled to keep her consciousness and eventually, started to walk. She had to make it back to Shadowdale. Something had happened, she knew that much, something that the Elf knew was coming, something he tried to prepare for. Obviously, it didn't go as planned.

She walked for some time, gingerly to keep her body from protesting too much. Nothing seemed familiar. Her mind was finally clearing when she noticed something odd: the Sun. It was higher in the sky than it should be. Where was she? She soon found a small stream, glistening in the sunlight, and bent down to take a drink. Then she saw her reflection.

Minor changes. Lines that had shifted, places in her face that were now more worn. Those that knew her probably wouldn't have noticed, it was not much and Elves age so slowly... but she was older. She lay down by the bank and hugged her legs and did not move for some time. Eventually, the sun started to set, and she found a small clearing and started a fire. It was not long before she heard strange sounds. Fighting exhaustion, she attempted to remain awake, but exhaustion overtook her. She was awakened by a spear point on her cheek, and a dozen Elves surrounding her.

The Circle of the Wandering Wind
After a tense few minutes, and quickly answered questions by Rainel, the Elves determined she was not a threat. The leader of the group in turn answered her questions, although she could not believe his answers. She was in nation called Aglarond, in the forest called the Yuirwood. The year, he claimed, was 1465.

Lost was not the word to describe how she felt. She asked if she could accompany the Elves back to their camp, and they reluctantly agreed. Rainel spent the next few months living among and learning what she could from the Elves. She learned of the nation of Aglarond and the tribes of Elves in the forest. Most importantly, she learned about the death of Mystra and the Spellplague. What had happened to her on that day? Had she just forgotten those 80 years? Or was she unconscious for all that time? How did she get to Aglarond from the Dalelands?

She decided to move on, because dwelling on those questions would drive her insane. It wasn't long before she continued on the dogma of Silvanus she practiced just before the Year of Blue Fire. After a year of earning the trust of the Elves in her new tribe, she inquired about finding a Druid to learn the ways of nature and Silvanus. It wasn't long before someone came to her.

A local Druidic Circle, called the Circle of the Wandering Wind, accepted her into their teaching. The Circle was the major Druidic company of the Yuirwood, and included many Elves and Half Elves. Their main objective was preserving the Yuirwood from both the cities of Aglarond and the encroachment of Thay. Most importantly, they dealt with and tried to contain any of the Spellplague pockets that ran throughout the forest.

By 1470, Rainel was a full member of the circle, and knew the land of the Yuirwood as well as those who had lived there much longer. She served as a guide for her and other tribes of the forest, and learned as much as she could about the Spellplague areas and its effects. Secretly, she yearned to learn more about the plaguelands and the rumored ancient fey portals, believing that they were somehow the method used to bring her here in the first place.

Current Whereabouts/Activities
Over time, Rainel ventured more and more toward the cities of Aglarond. Knowing that the tribes of Elves in the Yuirwood do not trust the dwellers in the cities, she approached cautiously. Blending in as best she could, she used the resources of the city to learn as much as she could about the history that she "missed."

Upon one trip toward a city in 1476, she was ambushed by several kobolds. Knowing taking a stand would be almost certain death, she fled toward the edge of the woods. She came to a clearing, and was met with a surprise. A human was there, probably collecting wood, and was currently fighting another kobold. Knowing she could barely continue, she fired a spell at the kobold, killing him in his tracks. The human was partly thankful and partly angry at the intrusion in a fight, until he saw three more kobolds behind Rainel. He nodded and without a word, he charged at the them, fists flying. Rainel fired from behind, and used all of her divine might to keep the human alive. In the end, the two were hurt by alive. They retreated to Veltalar, where they finally drew a deeper breath and introduced themselves. Though they have had their differences of beliefs, Esmeril Batton and Rainel have remained close friends since this incident.

On another trip in 1479, she learned of a mysterious occurrence at a place called Wayne Manor, where nature itself had been desecrated. Wanting to make sure this was a natural balance, and not man made, she has decided to learn more of the situation. As usual when she dealt with city folk, Esmeril accompanied her. Upon listening for more information in hound form in the Silver Crow, she witnesses a gruesome death, and a mysterious ray of light from an exploded cylinder encompassed her and Esmeril...

Whitehorn Inventory

 * 0 Healing Potion