“The first part of the story comes from Dristen himself.”
~~~
“When I was very young, I lived on the Whistling Plains. I liked the open spaces but when we moved closed to the River Pathmos is was water that became my new love. I spent as much time as I could in the water and learned how to swim quite well.
One day the other kids were picking on me; they said I couldn’t make it all the way out to the boat that was docked there. It was the River Pathmos, in Taldor, so it’s quite an expansive river. They said they had all done it, and that even a runt like me should be able to. They still weren’t old enough to understand the difference between a human and a halfling, idiots. So I swam out to the boat. I swam out and touched the boat, then returned to shore.
“They were very surprised but I don’t really understand why. If they could do it, then I could too. The next day, they asked me to do it again. I did it again. It was easier this time but they were just as excited with my ability. A few nights later we were traveling along a part of the river that wasn’t as wide. We came across a ship while we were walking; it looked like a merchant vessel. They started pointing all excitedly at it and then turned to me.
“‘Hey, you know what would be awesome? We should cut the anchor rope on that ship!’ The others laughed at this. ‘That’s seems dangerous. Won’t they be hurt?’ They laughed again. ‘Nah, they’ll be fine. The watch will notice the boats moving and they’ll wake up to correct the course. It will only provide a slight scare to them and a load of laughs to us.’ They all smiled at me and I caved. ‘Let’s do this!’ They handed me a dagger. I still have that same dagger.
“I swam out, cut the rope, and came back without anyone on the boat noticing. It floated down river, and then there were calls and shouts from the boat. Everyone else burst out laughed and I joined in just as loudly. I laughed just to join in but as I thought of the sailors waking up and having to rush to their posts I thought it was hilarious. A few days later I heard about a merchant vessel that had been pirated that night. I didn’t make the connection though.
“After doing this a couple more times, I walked in on the others having an intense. One of them was just saying ‘Give him his share; he deserves –.’ He cut off as I entered the room. Curious, I asked what they had been talking about. They wouldn’t say, so I convinced them to tell me. It turns out they were working with people had been setting up ambushes for all the ships I had been cutting loose. They would overwhelm the surprised crew and take whatever goods the ship was selling. I was about to leave right then when one of them pulled out a pouch and threw it my way. I caught it and looked inside. The coins were gold! I was raised well but I never seen so much money at one time. The money was nice, but it was being able to contribute that really kept me in the gang. A halfling with a bunch of humans wants to help out however he can. I was torn that night with what to do but eventually I decided to continue the work I was doing.
“This continued for over a year until one rainy night. We had stopped for the winter and this was the first job we had in a few months. It was already cold because of the rain but we needed the money and decided to go through with it. I made it to the boat and cut the anchor line but the water was so cold I was having trouble breathing. I remember struggling to stay afloat at one point and after that I woke in the temple with the priest.”
~~~
“The priest’s account is next.”
~~~
“I was on the ship that Dristen cut loose. The current was pretty strong at the time and you could feel it the ship start moving right away. I cast a light spell so that the sailors could get to work. In the light I was also able to notice the Halfling that was flailing in the water. I cast endure elements on him, lifted him out of the water and brought him onto the boat. I won’t go into the entire healing process but eventually I got him to the temple and did what I could.
“Over the next few weeks he came in and out of consciousness. Eventually he stayed awake long enough to talk. At this point I realized a disturbing trend begin to unfold. Sometimes when I would talk to him, he would talk about the gang he was in and the pirating. Other times, when I asked about it, he would just give me a blank look. I don’t think he was lying, he’s always been an honest man; it was as if he had no memory of it.
“When he was strong enough to stand he was eager to train as a priest of Gozreh and to help those who helped him. His devotion was sincere and his energy was infectious. His friends, or gang members, I’m not quite sure how he felt about them, visited him a couple of times but he told them this was the life he wanted now and they stopped trying to convince him to leave. As he continued to train it became apparent that something was wrong with Dristen.
“It was small things, but they started to add up. He would spell his name differently, sometimes it was with a ‘y’ and sometimes it was with an ‘i’. Dristen is not a terribly smart Halfling but he should know how to spell his name consistently. He also would constantly forget where he put things. He would ask around if anybody had seen this item or that and then he would find it in his pocket, or in his pack. It was the channeling though, that finally helped us figure out what was going on.
“The first time Dristen channeled energy was right after his friends had visited. He was conflicted about his roll with the gang and he channeled negative energy. I was saddened by that. Dristen wasn’t the most moral of people but I was hoping he would heal the world and not hurt it. Gozreh acknowledges both forms of energy as helpful to the world and so we trained him in the negative energy. That was, until he channeled positive energy, too.”
~~~
Varthek, who had been glancing at the papers, looks up quickly. Teskin smiled. “I told you this would be worth your time.”
“But, that should be impossible.”
“And yet, it is not. I do not know how much you know about the blessing of a deity so excuse me if I repeat something you know, but I believe I know what is happening here. Channeling is an ability bestowed by a deity in return for devotion. Deities will only bestow the ability in one form; to ask or try for the other would be in defiance to the deity. So there is no way that a person could remain devoted to their deity and also channel both forms of energy.”
“And Dristen?”
“I believe that when Dristen was unconscious he developed a separate personality. The two parts of his mind are completely unaware of each other. This explains the misspelling and the memory lapses. I think that a part of Dristen always regretted the pirating and so he reverted to a past where that never existed.”
“That doesn’t explain the channeling.”
“Yes, but it can. Because Dristen’s two personalities are unaware of each other, Dristen with an ‘i’ can serve Gozreh faithfully and channel negative energy while Drysten with a ‘y’ can serve Gozreh faithfully and channel positive energy. He is being a devoted follower in both of his capacities and thus Gozreh bestows abilities to both. And so, Dristen serves as something this guild could use quite effectively. He can be an effective healer or a devastating inflector.”
