------------- Lost Angel - Path Found

The old Dwarf huffed and sneered. This one simply didn't get it. Ah, the stupidity of youth.

"Because they're evil, Gwyldorf. That's all you need know."

"But every goblin, everywhere? They can't all be vicious, backstabbing raiders and trap building monsters."

The smack he got sent him flying out of his chair. The High Priest never had much patience with those who questioned the basic beliefs of the Mordren, the Gods of the Dwarves.

"And you base that on what, young acolyte? Have you ever left the halls? Have you ever been outside? Actually faced a band of blood thirsty goblins? No? Then sit back down and keep your trap shut. Opinions are allowed only in those old and experienced enough to have some basis for them. Yours hold no weight, and if you keep going as you are, they never will."

Gwyldorf awoke with a start. The dreams of years past occasionally crept back into his head. There was reason for them, he guessed. He had tried, as he might, to fight against the ages old wisdom when he was younger. He argued when he thought he could get away with it. He tried to undermine that which he thought was wrong. Somewhere along the way, he learned to keep his mouth shut and his eyes and ears open. Somewhere along the way, he began to see the reasons for things that were. And someday, he thought, when he was an old graybeard, he'd be allowed to pontificate his views on the world to the younglings. And he realized, they wouldn't listen either. The High Priest had one thing right however; there was no teacher like real experience. Now he had a completely unique view on that subject, unlike any other Cliff Dwarf in a thousand years.

He was sent as a young graduate of the Seminary to the front lines in the Western UnderDark, to see to the wounded as they came back from fighting the Splinter Kingdom Drow who threatened the Galathian northern borders from below. It was there he had his first taste of warfare, his first taste of blood fever and real fear, his first taste of the evil of the Dark Races. He had to try to repent just one goblin. He searched far and wide for a candidate, and search as he might, he never succeeded. The one time he got close, it cost many lives. The little monster had seen an obvious weakness in his trust and faith and betrayed his unit to their deaths. Gwyldorf escaped, making his way through a World Gate into unknown territory. There he found Dwarves of a lesser nature, and discovered he had traveled half a world away, to the infamous Pit of Glimri under Shabrund. And still he found himself fighting the Drow. After more years of fighting, he made his way back to the World Gate he had emerged from, but it had been changed. He found himself the prisoner of even less savory dwarves, the Duergar. In an entirely unexpected move, they merely turned him over to a bunch of humans in a place called Xanthius. Soon after that, he was turned over to a tall human female called Julie. That's when his real adventures began.

He had learned many things along the way. Just because a belief is old, doesn't make it bad. Just because he didn't understand something, didn't make it wrong. It merely meant he needed to get out of the hall and go find out. He never stopped questioning the old ideas and beliefs, but found that more and more of them were as solid as the stone the Dwarves called home.

------------- Credits

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