And Then I Saw The Moon

Story by Oncardam

This is a fantasy story set in the Forgotten Realms setting for Dungeons and Dragons. This story builds on the fantastic work of others who have provided so much richness around the life and culture of the Drow, both at FP and in the wider world.

Like my other story, this is a story with sex and not the other way around. I hope you enjoy it.

I will be writing this one in parallel to the sequel to my other story.

Author’s Notes

This story is based on the first story I ever wrote that was longer than a few pages. It came into being because I wanted to write a character background for Dungeons and Dragons character I was playing (pen and paper, not computer).

I had not played a Cleric before, so I wanted to give it a go. I looked through the Forgotten Realms source book on deities and found Eilistraee. She seemed to encapsulate what I was looking for in a deity, but the catch was she only has female clerics. Being a GM (genetic male), this gave me a little pause, but I decided to go ahead anyway.

I was a lot more inhibited person when I wrote that story as was the audience I was writing it for. This is a rewrite of a kind which I hope is suitable for publishing here at FP.

Oh yeah, and in the current Forgotten Realms timeline Eilistraee no longer exists as she was slain. In her slaying, her followers were redeemed in the eyes of elvenkind, but still I find it irksome. She lives on in my heart, even if she was only fictional in the first place.

I will not refer to Eilistraee further in this story as I think others may find it disturbing that I refer to her in a sexual context. I will only refer to my goddess. Regardless, I have tried to stay true to her spirit.

I hope you enjoy the story of Teeyelle Karne.

Chapter 1 – I Saw the Moon

I will never forget the first time I saw the moon.

I had emerged from the Underdark three days prior. I was being pursued by a party of drow for whom I was a dangerous heretical enemy. They wanted my silence and they wanted my blood.

That I had overcome their attempts to damn my spirit galled them. That I had stood up to them in a way no one had before, threatened them.

That my faith in my beloved goddess had kept me safe from the powerful influence of their deity, the Demon Queen of Spiders, chilled them to the core.

I followed the internal compass that my goddess had planted in my head, seeking a place that I knew only as the temple at Lands End.

I travelled through thorn, thicket and stream, keeping as best as I could to a straight line to my goal. Perhaps that was foolish, but my pursuers would have no more woodscraft than I. They would also be following my trail and that would not be easy.

Much of the time I was crawling on hands and knees though thick underbrush, each twig and thorn catching on my clothes and shredding them just a little bit more. My sword belt snagged on everything and was always holding me back, but I was not willing to leave it behind. There was too much at stake.

I had managed to scavenge water from streams on the way and refill my water bottle, but my journey bread ran out on the second morning.

That the sky had been overcast for the three days had been a small mercy. I bound a not quite transparent veil of dark cloth over my eyes to ease the brightness of the day so that I could keep going. My eyes were ill prepared for even the subdued light of a cloudy day.

As hungry and tired as I was, the worst thing was the sunburn. My skin was bathed in sunlight, filtered by cloud, trees, and torn clothing, but still it came in and it burned.

As I drew near the temple I could hear the sound of unseen seas pounding on unseen rocks and the smell of salt air made a not unpleasant assault on my nostrils. This was something completely alien to me then. I did not know what it meant. It made me feel very uneasy, but being in terror of my pursuers, I forged onwards.

I emerged from the underbrush onto an open grassy area. I could see that I was at the top of a cliff. The pale light of the cloud diffused sun was setting behind me and I was casting a soft shadow, a shadow that pointed to a narrow light coloured stone bridge. The bridge led to a large disk that appeared to be made of the same material. A thousand people could have stood shoulder to shoulder on that disk without anyone falling off yet this night there was no one there.

My heart sank as I staggered forward, all but spent. The disk was empty save for a few short pillars around its periphery. Rectangular stone slabs bridged the gap between each pillar and formed a railing around the slab, the only gap being a

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