I wondered why Mortici had me leave my scimitars behind, but he was the master so he must have had a good reason. It was hot, for this time of the year in this area, but not near as hot as the dessert where I came from. There were many birds out and about, and I noticed that there were also several small forest creatures out along the path. It almost seemed as if they were watching me. After a quick lunch of nuts, berries, and water, I once again walked the path that would lead me to my objective. I still felt that the forest had it's eyes on me. About two hours down the trail I was surprised when three ravens landed in front of me and seemed very upset about something. Remembering what Mortici had taught me I tried to make some sense out of all their squawking. It seemed that there was a very mean Bugbear just around the bend in the trail and he was set to attack me when I got near him. I really wished that I had my blades instead of just a staff now. But forewarned is prepared, I continued down the trail to see what might happen. As soon as I passed the place that the ravens had told me about, the Bugbear came crashing out of the bushes unarmed. It wasn't easy but I managed to defeat him with only a few cuts, scratches and bruises to myself. The rest of the day was without incident and I made camp beside a small stream for the night.
It was just after the moon had reached it's mid-point that I was awaken by the howling of a pack of wolves; wolves too close for comfort. Now one or two wolves I could probably handle with my staff, but not a whole pack! I stirred the fire and added more wood to it hoping that it would help keep the wolves away. It wasn't long before I heard something big coming through the woods from the direction of the trail. I decided that climbing a tree would be helpful since I was unarmed, except for my staff. Then I smelled it, it was another Bugbear. As it came into the light from my fire I could see that this one was a female. In no uncertain terms she expressed her anger that I had killed her mate. Now contrary to popular opinion Bugbears can climb trees, they don't like to but they can when it suits them. It seems that it suited her, she started to climb up my tree after me. Now a tree is not a good place to try and fight something that big; so I made to jump down. As soon as I reached the ground she was right there also. We fought for about 30 minutes before I could get in a position to land a lucky blow to her knees and put her on the ground long enough for me to back up and get set-up for her attack. After getting up slowly, she lunged at me and I caught her with a killing blow to the back of her neck. After getting my wind back I saw she had a pouch tied around her waist. On removing the pouch and looking inside I found 10 gold coins. I kept the pouch and gold. I pulled her body a ways away from my camp, and down wind, and tried to get a little more sleep.
I woke up just after sunrise, had the rest of the stew from last night for breakfast, and got ready for my climb. I thought that maybe I could climb up and find a nest and retrieve a feather from the nest and not have to fight with an eagle. The climb was not too hard as I was lucky enough to find hand and foot holds in the rock face. It took me about an hour to climb up to a small ledge that held a nest. Looking inside I found three hatchlings that were not too happy with my presents, or so I thought. I did not see any feathers big enough to be useful, but I did see that the reason for the hatchlings squawking. There was one of the biggest snakes that I had ever seen on the other side of the nest and it had somehow managed to encircle a full grown eagle with it's body and was squeezing. The eagle wasn't moving any at all. I figured that the hatchlings were next on the menu. I decided that the best thing would be to try and remove the hatchlings and return them to Mortici. I then heard another eagle from above, and it was diving towards the nest. Now this was a very large eagle and if it hit me I was going to fall a long ways. But the eagle was aiming for the snake, maybe my cloak was helping to hide me. The eagle struck the snake and lifted it, and the dead eagle, off the ledge but dropped it as it was too much weight. I watched the snake and dead eagle fall to the ground below. Now I could just climb down and get a feather from the dead eagle as that fall should have killed the snake. The large eagle had other ideas, it was now diving straight at me. I set myself as best as I could, but with only one hand free that wasn't going to be enough to help much. At the last second the eagle flared and landed in the nest, checked on the chicks, then did the strangest thing - it just looked at me as if to say get away. I didn't wait, I started climbing down and away from the nest. After reaching the ground I found the dead snake. Now that I was closer I was sure that I had never seen a snake as big as this one. It was as big around as my thigh and at least 30 feet long it stretched out. I retrieved several feathers and then decided to skin the snake so that Mortici could tell me what type it was.
I returned to the grove just after sunset. When I showed the snake skin to Mortici he told me he had never seen such a snake before. I told him about the Bugbears, what else had happened and then gave him the feathers. He looked at the feathers and then returned all but two to me. He said that the feathers were for use as a spell component, and he would teach me that spell the next day. I went to the stream and washed, then we ate and talked about my little adventure until it was time to retire.
The next day was filled with Mortici teaching me the spell to summon an eagle using the feather, plus several others that worked the same way (but using other components). We also once again spared with each other with our staffs. I only hoped that one day I would be as good as he was, he beat me soundly every time. That night I asked what I should do with the gold I had removed from the Bugbear and was told that I should keep it for use in the future. The rest of the days were filled with training in the use of a staff weapon, learning more advanced spells, and the knowledge that I would need as a Druid. Mortici and I went on several adventures together over the next few years, he even found a couple of men to teach me how to correctly use my scimitars and not get killed in the process.
In total I spent 5 years with Mortici learning more each day. As I gained in knowledge and had more experiences, I was able to test to higher levels of skill in the Druid arts. One night Mortici told me he had taught me all that he could and that it was time for me to set out on my own. He said that there was only one thing left to do and we would do that very night. As the moon rose to it's highest point, we went to the shrine in the grove. Mortici had me place my scimitars on the alter as we both knelt. He asked the Goddess to bless me and to reward me for my hard work. There was a brief flash of blue light on the scimitars centered on the blue gems embedded in the hilt. Then the Goddess herself appeared before us with a beautiful Unicorn by her side.
"You have done well Medico; you have learned all that Mortici can teach you and have excelled. Your knowledge of the Druid code, the ways of the forest, and your wisdom have grown much. As a reward for your hard work and your devotion, I have imbued your weapons so that they are now magical and will do damage to those that only magic can harm. When you use them you will find that your speed with them has doubled. As Mortici told you it is time for you to go forth and serve. But know this, I will always be watching and I'm only a prayer away if you need help. Rest well tonight, for in the morning you will start on the long road back to the place I showed you." the Goddess said. With that said she laid a hand on each of us then vanished.
Mortici told me that this was only the second time he had been visited by the Goddess in person. The first time was when he was told to find and train me. I asked if it was unusual for the Goddess to appear in person. Mortici told me that most Druids never saw the Goddess in person and we both were very blessed to have received a visit from her; but that to brag about this would offend her and could cause hard feelings in others. We retired for the night, my last night with Mortici. I slept very deeply that night and had a dream that showed me the way back to the grove that the Goddess has shown me before I met Mortici; and again I saw a dwarf and an elf-like man walking in the dessert, but not together, I also saw a wonderful sight, a dragon.