1 CHAPTER 1: The Fallen Star

The Night is silent, and I'm the only one awake. Tonight, everything changes.

My name is Bree Runesinger. I have light brown hair and I'm a bit curvier than normal, maybe even a little overweight for a woman of my age (19 this spring). Raven-black hair is most common around here, but I'm tall and fair-skinned with blue eyes, like most others in my convent.

Yes, I said 'convent'. I've been here all my life, after I was orphaned at a young age, I was found by the head priestess of the convent, Tyrna, and raised by the sisters here at the church of Lathander, the God of the Dawn. I'm not a High Priestess, since that is title that usually follows wealth and privilege. I'm just a servant of the church. It's a hum-drum life, but a comfortable one.

My schedule has always been the same. At the 5'oclock bell, the members of the convent all rise. Everyone eats at the meal bells at 06, 12, and 18. Everyone has their own schedule for duties when they're not eating or sleeping, and occasionally, people wake up after midnight for a snack or the like. Day in, day out. Wash the clothes, ring the bells for meals and prayers… All according to a schedule, just happy to live my boring life of service with little breaks here and there.

Tonight, for example, I woke up some time in the night, probably after midnight, and dressed in some everyday clothes and headed to the kitchen for a snack and some 'me time'. The air still holds some of winter's chill now, in the first month of spring. The cold wooden floors of this old building make soft noises as I creep along in my house-shoes. I've heard that in some towns and cities, members of the clergy sleep in rooms that are in the church - or at least attached to it. In this town, Mirtulfield, church personnel live across the street in an old house built for their housing long ago.

The candle that I'm holding has an acrid smell, and it's burning dimly – dimly enough for me to catch the green light outside. Through the kitchen window, something is hurtling through the night sky, a fallen star headed to the woods nearby. I don't know if I can explain it, but as I see the green streak shooting through the sky, something changes within me. My daily routine flashes through my mind. Years of waking, eating, and praying at the same hour, every day. Something wells up within me and by the time the scenes cleared from my vision, I realized that I had already run out the door, and towards the light. I have no adventuring skills, like Athletics or Nature or Survival – what am I doing! I'm just a servant of the church! I've spent so many years praying in the temple (which I'm running past) that I've never dealt with people in the outside world.

I'm almost dead center in the village square as I look around and realize that I've never been out in the streets alone, and certainly not at night. I'm worried for a moment about just being out alone, as I look around, but I don't stop walking. The light from the star wasn't so bright as to wake anyone, but am I really the only one who saw it?

I should get someone. A priest. A priestess. A town guard. Anyone! But I don't want to delay any longer.

Sweat starts streaming down my face as I run into the woods – woods that might have badgers or bats or who knows what else. OH NO. What if there are wolves? I hesitate for a moment slowing to a trot, but while I don't know what's come over me, I know that I can't turn back. I catch my breath as I look around – if I can just keep my bearings, I should be fine. There are no lights burning in the town, but I'm moving in a fairly straight line, and I'm sure I'll find my way back. Thinking about the dark around me, I look down, realizing that I still have the candle in my hand, though it blew out, presumably when I broke into a run.

I start moving again.

Other than the candle, my clothes, and the holy symbol of Lathander, The Morninglord, that I always wear around my neck, I don't have anything with me. I clutch the amulet in my free hand instinctively.

"Lord of light, be with me", I mutter, under my breath.

The Forest is eerily quiet, and I can see the faint pulsing green light of the fallen star ahead. Now, so close, I feel apprehensive for some reason. I slowly feel around the dry brush by the light of the moon until I find what I'm looking for, and then head forward to the star with the useless candle in my left hand, and a sturdy stick in my right. I don't know how to use it, but it makes me feel better at least, until my heart starts racing as I see this… thing.

It's four feet wide, roughly spherical, pulsing green light.

…And it is NOT a fallen star.