Recursive Fanfic: Forgotten Realms
May. 27th, 2024 04:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
somarielA Ride's Repercussions (1275 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dove Falconhand, Original Human Character(s), Roddy McGristle
Additional Tags: Involuntary Transformation, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
While Dove had been quite pleased to hear that Drizzt Do'Urden had been one of those Mielikki chose for the Greengrass ride, it was not something she had truly given much thought to.
Which was why she was rather surprised, a month later, when Alustriel brought it up with her.
~Does Florin know anything about this drow ranger who was apparently chosen for the Greengrass ride?~ her sister asked, as the night's conversation was winding down.
~No, but I do,~ Dove replied. ~But how did you hear about that?~
~It seems that the Ladyservant and the Green Regent met to discuss it, and decided to issue an advisory to Mielikki's faithful to keep an eye out and learn what they could,~ Alustriel said.
~And someone asked you about it,~ Dove said, once her anklet had recharged, ~and now you're curious.~
~A bit more than curious,~ Alustriel said, ~as Besnell was the one who asked, after one of the Knights heard of the advisory, and reported it to him.
~And he specifically asked for me to inquire if Florin knew anything.~
Dove sighed. ~I suppose I'd better come up there and speak with both him and the Ladyservant, then.~
Dove's conversation with Besnell resulted in a description of Drizzt being disseminated among the Knights and Spellguard, to ensure that he would be recognized as an ally if he ended up in Silverymoon's claimed territory.
Her conversation with the Ladyservant, however, had more far-reaching results, with Tathshandra not only sending her goshawk to the Green Regent with a summary of what Dove had told her, but also recruiting some of Mielikki's faithful currently in Silverymoon to help spread the word that regardless of his species, Drizzt was indeed a true ranger of their Lady, and should be treated the same as any other person in Her service.
Two weeks later
Karthal had been near Noanor's Hold for most of three weeks, helping the land around an abandoned and broken mill recover from occupation by a hag, when his visit to the nearest village, to ask some questions of the locals and get a meal he hadn't cooked himself, was disturbed by an ill-favored man loudly asking the innkeeper if anyone had seen a drow recently.
And given that the description the man gave matched the one that had accompanied the tale he had heard from another druid who was passing through the area, of the drow ranger seen on the Greengrass ride, he felt it was worth paying closer attention to the man.
Which turned out to be quite a wise idea, as it meant he was able to refute the man's claims of murder done by the drow with the tale that had been passed to him.
The villagers had still seemed somewhat dubious about the drow's nature afterwards, but when the man went on to try and claim that the hag that had been living in the mill was really an innocent old woman that the drow had murdered, the room turned against him.
And as the man left the inn's common room after being ordered out by the innkeeper, Karthal couldn't help but feel that he was going to be trouble in the future.
The next morning, Karthal and his black bear Companion, Honeypaw, were about to start down the path to the old mill that they had made through the overgrowth caused by the hag's presence when Honeypaw suddenly whuffed, and moved ahead of him, her nose sweeping over the ground in front of her.
And when he reached for her mind to find out what she had noticed, he could only sigh on learning that she smelled a strange human and a dog.
The plants trampled and broken along the path only confirmed his suspicions about who the human was, and just before he reached the entrance to the mill, he heard a canine yelp, followed by the man from yesterday growling, "Damned mutt. Why can't you pick up the drow's trail?"
Sighing, Karthal stepped into the mill, and said, "You're seriously expecting your dog to pick up a trail that's more than three weeks old, when the villagers have scoured the entire mill for the hag's treasure, and I've been coming here daily for most of three weeks to aid the surrounding land in recovering from the hag's occupation of it?"
The man turned towards him and snorted. "And I'm s'posed to believe you about that, after you defended the damned drow?"
"You can ask the villagers if you don't believe me," Karthal replied. "But given that you don't seem to have anything to give your dog the scent, I'm not sure why you thought it'd be able to pick it up in the first place."
"Mutt knows the scent already."
Karthal sighed again. "And how exactly do you expect it to know which of the scents here it's supposed to follow, without giving it any clue?"
"It knows who I mean when I tell it to find 'the drow'!" the man snapped.
"That's not how scent tracking works, and you ought to know that, if you've actually trained that dog as a tracker!"
"I don't need advice from a stranger on how to handle my dog!" Then the man started moving towards Karthal, and he wrestled down his temper before stepping to the side to let him leave the mill.
But when the dog whimpered and balked at following—picking up Honeypaw's scent, Karthal realized—and the man responded by kicking the dog, then yanking on the lead and actually dragging it towards the exit, his control snapped.
"I don't know who you are," he said, stepping back into the man's path, "but you clearly have a grudge against a true follower of my Lady Mielikki, who was chosen by Her to ride a unicorn on Greengrass, and you are very obviously mistreating that dog, so I will only say this once: Give me the dog, and leave off your hunt for the ranger."
"A murdering drow, ride a unicorn?" the man scoffed.
"I saw him on the Greengrass ride myself," Karthal said. "And you heard me tell the account of his actions that was given to the Ladyservant by Dove Falconhand, so you know he is no murderer."
"Ye're all in league with him, then!" the man yelled.
And as he dropped the lead, drew the axe from his belt, and charged, Karthal raised his staff to block, and prayed to Mielikki for a spell to defend himself, as he had not prepared any today.
But even with his prayer, he was still quite surprised when the axe fell to the ground as there were suddenly two dogs in front of him.
Given the necessity of seeing to the care of the terrier that had previously been a man—which he had to admit was a rather appropriate breed for what he'd seen of the man's nature—and the much abused hunting hound, Karthal discarded his plans for the day and took them back to the village.
Finding a home for the terrier proved to be simple enough, once he explained what had happened, as the inn had lost its mouser a few weeks earlier and had not yet found a new one, but the hound was more difficult to situate, given the abuse it had suffered.
And in the end, Karthal ended up taking an extended period off from his land recovery efforts, spending it soothing the hound and reacclimating it to gentle treatment, then seeing to proper socialization, until it was safe for the local hunter who used a few hounds to add it to his kennel.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dove Falconhand, Original Human Character(s), Roddy McGristle
Additional Tags: Involuntary Transformation, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
As word spreads of the drow Mielikki chose to participate in the Greengrass Ride, things start to change
A continuation of Sharpest_Asp's fic The Wild Ride.
A Ride's Repercussions
While Dove had been quite pleased to hear that Drizzt Do'Urden had been one of those Mielikki chose for the Greengrass ride, it was not something she had truly given much thought to.
Which was why she was rather surprised, a month later, when Alustriel brought it up with her.
~Does Florin know anything about this drow ranger who was apparently chosen for the Greengrass ride?~ her sister asked, as the night's conversation was winding down.
~No, but I do,~ Dove replied. ~But how did you hear about that?~
~It seems that the Ladyservant and the Green Regent met to discuss it, and decided to issue an advisory to Mielikki's faithful to keep an eye out and learn what they could,~ Alustriel said.
~And someone asked you about it,~ Dove said, once her anklet had recharged, ~and now you're curious.~
~A bit more than curious,~ Alustriel said, ~as Besnell was the one who asked, after one of the Knights heard of the advisory, and reported it to him.
~And he specifically asked for me to inquire if Florin knew anything.~
Dove sighed. ~I suppose I'd better come up there and speak with both him and the Ladyservant, then.~
Dove's conversation with Besnell resulted in a description of Drizzt being disseminated among the Knights and Spellguard, to ensure that he would be recognized as an ally if he ended up in Silverymoon's claimed territory.
Her conversation with the Ladyservant, however, had more far-reaching results, with Tathshandra not only sending her goshawk to the Green Regent with a summary of what Dove had told her, but also recruiting some of Mielikki's faithful currently in Silverymoon to help spread the word that regardless of his species, Drizzt was indeed a true ranger of their Lady, and should be treated the same as any other person in Her service.
Two weeks later
Karthal had been near Noanor's Hold for most of three weeks, helping the land around an abandoned and broken mill recover from occupation by a hag, when his visit to the nearest village, to ask some questions of the locals and get a meal he hadn't cooked himself, was disturbed by an ill-favored man loudly asking the innkeeper if anyone had seen a drow recently.
And given that the description the man gave matched the one that had accompanied the tale he had heard from another druid who was passing through the area, of the drow ranger seen on the Greengrass ride, he felt it was worth paying closer attention to the man.
Which turned out to be quite a wise idea, as it meant he was able to refute the man's claims of murder done by the drow with the tale that had been passed to him.
The villagers had still seemed somewhat dubious about the drow's nature afterwards, but when the man went on to try and claim that the hag that had been living in the mill was really an innocent old woman that the drow had murdered, the room turned against him.
And as the man left the inn's common room after being ordered out by the innkeeper, Karthal couldn't help but feel that he was going to be trouble in the future.
The next morning, Karthal and his black bear Companion, Honeypaw, were about to start down the path to the old mill that they had made through the overgrowth caused by the hag's presence when Honeypaw suddenly whuffed, and moved ahead of him, her nose sweeping over the ground in front of her.
And when he reached for her mind to find out what she had noticed, he could only sigh on learning that she smelled a strange human and a dog.
The plants trampled and broken along the path only confirmed his suspicions about who the human was, and just before he reached the entrance to the mill, he heard a canine yelp, followed by the man from yesterday growling, "Damned mutt. Why can't you pick up the drow's trail?"
Sighing, Karthal stepped into the mill, and said, "You're seriously expecting your dog to pick up a trail that's more than three weeks old, when the villagers have scoured the entire mill for the hag's treasure, and I've been coming here daily for most of three weeks to aid the surrounding land in recovering from the hag's occupation of it?"
The man turned towards him and snorted. "And I'm s'posed to believe you about that, after you defended the damned drow?"
"You can ask the villagers if you don't believe me," Karthal replied. "But given that you don't seem to have anything to give your dog the scent, I'm not sure why you thought it'd be able to pick it up in the first place."
"Mutt knows the scent already."
Karthal sighed again. "And how exactly do you expect it to know which of the scents here it's supposed to follow, without giving it any clue?"
"It knows who I mean when I tell it to find 'the drow'!" the man snapped.
"That's not how scent tracking works, and you ought to know that, if you've actually trained that dog as a tracker!"
"I don't need advice from a stranger on how to handle my dog!" Then the man started moving towards Karthal, and he wrestled down his temper before stepping to the side to let him leave the mill.
But when the dog whimpered and balked at following—picking up Honeypaw's scent, Karthal realized—and the man responded by kicking the dog, then yanking on the lead and actually dragging it towards the exit, his control snapped.
"I don't know who you are," he said, stepping back into the man's path, "but you clearly have a grudge against a true follower of my Lady Mielikki, who was chosen by Her to ride a unicorn on Greengrass, and you are very obviously mistreating that dog, so I will only say this once: Give me the dog, and leave off your hunt for the ranger."
"A murdering drow, ride a unicorn?" the man scoffed.
"I saw him on the Greengrass ride myself," Karthal said. "And you heard me tell the account of his actions that was given to the Ladyservant by Dove Falconhand, so you know he is no murderer."
"Ye're all in league with him, then!" the man yelled.
And as he dropped the lead, drew the axe from his belt, and charged, Karthal raised his staff to block, and prayed to Mielikki for a spell to defend himself, as he had not prepared any today.
But even with his prayer, he was still quite surprised when the axe fell to the ground as there were suddenly two dogs in front of him.
Given the necessity of seeing to the care of the terrier that had previously been a man—which he had to admit was a rather appropriate breed for what he'd seen of the man's nature—and the much abused hunting hound, Karthal discarded his plans for the day and took them back to the village.
Finding a home for the terrier proved to be simple enough, once he explained what had happened, as the inn had lost its mouser a few weeks earlier and had not yet found a new one, but the hound was more difficult to situate, given the abuse it had suffered.
And in the end, Karthal ended up taking an extended period off from his land recovery efforts, spending it soothing the hound and reacclimating it to gentle treatment, then seeing to proper socialization, until it was safe for the local hunter who used a few hounds to add it to his kennel.
