Sharyn Killasha

How did I come to Crossings and decide to join the Ranger guild? Ohhhh, that is a question that takes my memories back many years. There are times that I think back to the small village far to the west of Crossing where I was born. It is deep in the wilds, far from most civilization.

My father, Peyoter, was human and my mother, Alishana, was (or maybe it's is) an elf of one of a small River Elf clans. My mother always said that she had gotten the urge to travel, she met and fell in love with my father during these travels. I was the result of this union. Though I am half Elf/half Human, I look entirely human. The villagers were not kind at all to my mother nor to her young son (My half brother), Glynar. My mother soon became unhappy and began to pine for her home. Father, sadly knew he would not be any more welcome in her village than she was in his and told her she must return home before she became ill or died from her sadness. They both knew that as a half-breed I would not be welcome in the Elven village, so I stayed home with father.

My father believed that an infant child needed a woman's touch and care, so he asked our neighbors daughter, Lieza, to marry him and she accepted. They never had the intense love that Father had with Mother but they did grow to care for one another in their own way. They had a daughter and they named her Shaharazod.

Tragedy struck my home when I was about eight and Shaha was only one. Our father, like all the men in the village, was a member of the villages militia. One night a band of roving trolls attacked the small village. He died in that invasion leaving Lieza, myself, and Shaharazod alone in the world.

Lieza was a lovely and quiet lady but possessed no self confidence nor any true sense of adventure. Her father decided that she would be married to the first man that asked, and only two weeks after the funeral Lieza was given in marriage to Shaldon.

Shaldon was a dark and mean man, who truly hated women and thought they were born for only two reasons. He had two sons, Marliek and Fried, who were ten and nine when he married Lieza. He kept Lieza pregnant and she gave him three more sons. He raised all his sons to believe as he did, and he tried to teach Shaha and I that as women we were nothing. Just possessions, nothing more nothing less. Shaldon and his sons tormented (and reveled in doing it) the women of the house. He taught his sons to worship the dark Gods, for he said that pain, blood, and misery brought power and power ruled the world.

When I was 15 I overheard a conversation between my stepfather and Marliek. He was to receive 5 gold for my hand in marriage from an old man who lived a few miles away. I knew then and there that I would not stay one more night in that house. I decided that I would leave, go into the world and make my fortune and come back to get my little sister. I went to our sleeping space, said my good-byes to Shaha and told her to make herself very scarce the next day and that I would return for her soon.

I snuck away via the woods behind the village and promptly got lost. While stumbling through the woods I ran into a small group of wood trolls. From the instant I saw them I knew I was in trouble. I grabbed the only thing I could find, a stick, and started retreating from the area.... I backed herself right into a tree. All four trolls began to advance and I knew I was doomed, my grand adventure finished before I truly even got started. All of a sudden a voice boomed from across the glade... "Hey you slimeballs, why dontcha pick on someone yer own size!!!" I looked across the clearing and saw two young Elven ladies armed with swords advancing on the trolls. Nikadia and Kaleena, saved my life and took me with them. They adopted me and started training me in how to survive in the wilds. Eventually we ended up in Crossing and we all knew it was time to choose how to live the rest of our lives.

I looked at all the guilds, I knew I had no calling as an empath or cleric, I have an aversion to magic after watching all the dark, evil, rituals I had seen as a child. I felt lost, nothing called to me. One day I began wandering down a side street in Crossing I had never been down before. I saw a gate and beyond the gate was a glimpse of something that looked like the woods I had used as a refuge when I was young. I went through the gate and suddenly realized it was a guild hall. I had found the Rangers and my life's calling.

When I was on my second level of training Nika dared me to come to Haven. Not being one to turn down a dare I decided to go. A wonderful, friend Skarian (brother of Fanatha) agreed to accompany me and we began the long trip to Riverhaven. Once we got there Skarian, Nika, Kalee, and I hunted and had a grand time. One day Nika was nowhere to be found, we looked high and low. Finally a faint voice could be heard over our gweths **Come to Kelpies, I have some people here you need to meet.** I looked at Skarian and we grinned and off we went to look for these mysterious Kelpies.

After a long boat ride, we arrived in Langenfirth and found the Kelpies area. We found Nika surrounded as she always was by men. Nika grabbed my hand and drug me toward two gentlemen standing to one side, one a handsome S'kra Ranger and the other a Tall, human war mage. She said "Sharyn, I would like you to meet Lukrani and Derexal." With a few simple words Nika introduced me to my soulmate. I looked in Lukrani's eyes and felt my heart soar.

The rest of the tale is best left for other times for I fear I have bored you enough for now... So dear friends remember, never be afraid to look around the next corner for ye don't know what rewards await ye...