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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dougbass68" data-source="post: 457663" data-attributes="member: 7908">Ranstaar's Story - First DraftPlease feel free to comment on the first draft of Ranstaar's story, below. One thing I wasn't sure about: At 136, is Ranstaar still considered young? How old do elves get?  Here's the story:Ranstaar was born in the third month of the year after the appearance of the bright Dydeline star, to Elven parents living in the settlement of Hesterkin in the Great Tellurian Forest. Ranstaar’s youth was typical – he spent much time learning Elven songs and dances, and exploring in the forest surrounding the village with his friends. Later on, he spent many decades learning to make beautiful silver weaponry for the nobles of the settlement. Eventually, however, Ranstaar decided his true calling lay in exploring the natural world, so he decided to study under the tutelage of an Elven master ranger named Illyande. He was 82 years old at the time.Ranstaar spent many years of study under Illyande, soaking up as much learning as the master could impart. Illyande taught Ranstaar all he knew of wilderness lore and how to track various kinds of creatures across all types of terrain. Over time, he also learned to command their attention and even make them obey his wishes.  Ranstaar also learned move with almost complete silence and without being seen. With Illyande’s help, he improved his listening abilities and learned to shoot with a composite bow and to fight with a short sword in each hand.Unfortunately, his instruction came to an untimely end one day when Ranstaar and his mentor Illyande had a terrible encounter with a wandering hill giant while adventuring deep in the forest. After fighting for what seemed like an eternity, Illyande sacrificed his own life while killing the creature, thereby enabling Ranstaar to narrowly escape death. On that day, Ranstaar made a solemn promise to avenge his master’s death by seeking out and slaying giants of any description whenever he could.But Ranstaar was also consumed with grief, and so he returned to the home of his parents, completely disheartened. He spent many years there in various stages of mourning, either alone in his room or wandering through the forest. He also occasionally spent time alone honing his old silversmithing skills. Late one evening, though, some twenty years later, Ranstaar came to his parents and told them of plans he had been making.He said that he had been thinking long and hard about the promise he made to avenge his master’s death so many years before. He had spent the time alone in his room studying everything he could about the giant race, and had spent time in the forest devising and testing strategies for killing them. The time had come, he said, to put his learning and strategies into practice. He would seek an adventure with a band of humans, explaining that he hoped to find a human monk who could teach him additional mental disciplines and physical skills that would help him to defeat any giants that he came across. He would leave them the next day to start his quest.</blockquote>

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