AN: Hello everyone, and welcome! I'll get this off the bat, I do not, and never will, own D&D. And if you do, awesome job you guys are doing, keep it up! I request that you rate and review, and I gladly am open to and welcome criticism. Now then, enjoy!

Augur

I jolted awake, sweat pouring down my face. I looked around again, confirming where I was. Yes, my small hut. Good. My robes, small shrine to Savras, and various other belongings scattered around the room. Now, back to what had roused me.

A vision. I had tried to rid myself of them when I was a boy, before I realised the foolishness of that errand. I saw myself, with others, standing… standing… Damn! I lost it. I could feel a call in the distance, sure that it was related to what I had saw, but how? I walked to the outside of my hut, expected to see nothing, only to find a woman and man, about to knock. The woman supported the man, looking rather upset and distraught. Immediately she looked up at me, "You're a healer, right? Can you fix him?!"

I took a quick look at the man. Pale, sweating, clearly weak in either the limbs or joints. I nodded at the woman, "I can make no promises, however I think I can fix him. Bring him in and lay him on the bed." I indicated my own bed. I often used that for my patients. As she laid them down, I stepped towards my small shrine. I sent up a quick prayer, hoping to be repaid with a vision, something to help this man. I was answered when I felt my eyes unfocus.

Colors shifted before my eyes, before seeing the man currently laying on my bed standing in a swamp. He seemed to be searching for something. Before I knew what happened, I saw a flash of black and white, before a long snake was clinging to the man's leg. I knew the species, and the cure was difficult to get. My eyes focused again, seeing the woman staring up at me with curiosity. I looked down at her, "Yes, I believe that I can help him. Now, I would like you to keep him company while I get the antidote."

"Where will you be going?" She asked, walking to the bed.

"I need to find a snake like the one that bite him, so I'll have to go to the swamp land." I hoisted a dagger to my side, while grabbing my holy symbol, "Now, I shan't be too long." She said something as I left, but I couldn't catch it.

I took in the calm morning air. Dew was in the grass, and a few birds sang. I held still for a moment, concentrating. My eyes once again filled with a vision. I could see where the man had been looking. He was close to the eastern edge of the swamp, near the large willow tree. I cleared my head and steeled myself. It wasn't a terribly long walk, but it was difficult. I ran through my small list of spells, mostly healing or identification spells, however I did have some damaging spells. I unsheathed my small dagger, giving it a small once over.

Wicked sharp, with a slightly curved blade, roughly a foot in length. The handle was plain, simple wood wrapped in leather. The pommel was a simple iron ball attached to the end. I resheathed it once again and set off. Walking through town, many people gave greetings to me or asked what I was doing. I would give a small nod in return or tell them it was too urgent to stop. Eventually I got through the town, appearing before the swamp.

The swamp wasn't unpleasant per se, yet there were more inviting places. Full of snakes, quicksand, and various other dangers, only the bravest went into the swamp. Which is why going into the swamp for a night had become a test of courage in Emboan. I'd treated multiple cases of poisoning, or general sickness because of this. I stood at the edge of the swamp, and then sighed, realizing that I still had a ways to go. An image of the man, feverish and pale on my bed flashed into my mind. I must help him I thought.

I took a quick step into the swamp, holding my knife at the ready.

It was unpleasant, unclean, and dangerous, but I made it to where I needed to be. The snake should be around in this area, unless it had already left. The snake I was looking for, a cobra, was cunning. It had been designed to hide and then spring out from the darkness. So, I knew that I couldn't very well walk around the dark areas without light for fear of being bitten myself, and I knew that it was hopefully around this area. So I cast Light onto my dagger.

The area around was instantly brightened showing what was around. I could see small flickers of movement around the edges of my vision, though I discounted them as unimportant. What I was looking for would be much bigger, and of different colors than what I was seeing now. I looked around for a good while, searching under trees and lilypads when something jumped me. I spun around only to get hit instantly by my assailant. Sharp edges dug into my robes, along with the pure brute force of something slamming into you.

The wind was knocked out of me, and I landed on my back. I could hear something padding at the ground, huffing and preparing to charge again. I wanted to roll, but I knew I would have no time, so instead I cast Shield of Faith and a giant shimmering shield of energy appeared ahead of me. My attacker rammed into the shield, causing cracks to spread throughout. I finally got a good look at what was attacking me. A massive boar, with one tusk broken about halfway down. I could almost see the rage inside of it's eyes, it wanted blood, specifically mine in that instance. I crawled to my feet, before preparing another spell.

However, the Shield of Faith ended before I could finish and the boar came charging through. I barely had enough time to dodge, yet my thigh still got clipped. I could feel the pain burn and sting as a bit of my blood splashed across the ground. My knife wouldn't be near enough to charge it head on, so I flung out a hand and seared its face with holy flame, watching the boar just become more enraged. It charged again, and this time I had enough warning.

What I didn't have enough warning for was when it flung its tusks out at my side, tearing the robes and flesh. At the same time, I flung out my knife it an attempt to finally kill it. I felt resistance, then nothing anymore. I looked over to see one very dead boar. I collapsed to my knees in pain. My sides burned and my chest heaved in pain. I quietly muttered out a few short words and felt my wounds knit themselves back together. It was a strange itching sensation, combined with a small amount of pain.

I stood to my knees and looked towards the sky. The sun was approaching the western horizon, I was running out of time. I quickly abandoned my careful search process in favor of rapidly searching wherever the snake could be hiding. This proved to both work and be dangerous when I nearly got bitten myself. I had crouched down to look underneath a bush when a flash caught my attention. I doubled back, falling onto my butt as the cobra shot out of the bush, coming just a foot short.

I held my knife in front of me thinking about why I had though doing this on my own was a good idea. The snake coiled back up, hissing and baring its fangs at me. I couldn't do much combat wise, I was a weaker and unskilled man. So, wildly waving the knife around I cast a blind Sacred Flame.

The radiant fire light up and shot out of my hand, searing some of the ground and the tail end of the cobra. It began to hiss louder, before lunging at my foot, I barely pulled away. I knew that if I got bit, I'd be done for. So I was on high alert. I sent out another quick Sacred Flame, before flaring up the tip of my dagger with light. The snake reared back, and I took the opportunity to run forward and force its mouth closed. I could feel the the muscles struggle against my grip, but I held firm. I quickly cast Sacred Flame, searing the snake, killing it instantly.

I released its head, slowly lowering it to the ground. I looked at the snake. It was small, a sign that it's younger. We shouldn't have to worry about the mother, this type usually break away from the parents young. I quickly made a small cut near the head, as close to the poison gland as I could. I reached for a vial in my pouch, almost not finding them. I bottle some of the blood in one, and some of the venom in another. Then I grabbed roughly four scales and stowed them in my pouch.

I looked up, the sun was dangerously close to the horizon, I was low on time. I ran as fast as I could, which wasn't very fast at all, but I made it with about an hour before nightfall. I looked at the man on my bed. He was asleep, and far paler than when he was brought it. Sweat was pouring down his face, and he shifted restlessly. The woman was giving him water to drink when I bursted in. She looked up at me in surprise. I must've been quite the sight, bloodied with torn robes. She turned to me, "Did you get it?" The worry was almost palpable in her voice.

I nodded quickly, "Yes, I'll need to prepare the raw materials, get him more water."

"Yes, I will."

I turned back to my small workspace. I laid out the vials of blood and venom, before putting the scales into a small mortar and pestle, grinding them up to a fine dust. I kept that in the dish, and then I began to boil some water. To the hiss of the kettle I slowly mixed a few drops of blood into the venom.

I poured out the boiling water, quickly dropping a pinch of the dust and a few drops of the venom-blood mixture into a cup. I held the cup out to the woman, "Get him to drink this. He must drink it while it is still boiling, otherwise he'll be poisoned all over again."

With a quick nod, she ran to side, shaking him a little too rough for my liking, but it worked. He slowly came to wakefulness as she poured the liquid down his gullet, almost drowning him. At this very moment, my eyes blurred as a headache started up. My vision shifted, showing me standing on a hill, other people forming a circle with me. I knew none of them, yet I could feel a connection. My vision shifted once again, I was standing, well, sitting in my hut.

The woman was staring up at me once again, worried, "Are you okay? That's been happening quite a bit and I'm worried now."

I gave her a small smile, "Yes, I'm fine. It's something I had as a child. Nothing harmful, just… annoying." I quickly moved to the bed, looking at the man. No coughing, that was good, meant he hadn't choked on the tea. The paleness was fading, but he was still warm. Made sense, usually after being cured this venom gave the poisoned a cold.

"Will he be alright?" I jumped at the tiny voice behind me.

"Yes, he should be. From what I can tell, he's tough. Unless something goes horribly wrong, he'll be fine." I gave a small nod of confirmation to myself. Yes, indeed. I leaned down and pulled out two mats, giving them a firm shake to get the dust off, "You and I can sleep on these, unless you'd like to go back to the village."

Her head shook with conviction, "No! I'm staying with him."

"Very well," I handed her the mat, "Set that where you will. Good night." I laid down and closed my eyes.

I was standing on top of a hill, staring into the sunset. Purples and reds and oranges blended together, painting the sky like a mosaic. I could see people standing to my left and right, also staring at the sunset. We were smiling, looking bloodied, but alive. I got a look around at the others with me, we were a diverse group, both in body and race and what we could do, and that was all I could see at a first glance.

Grasses swirled around us, and we began to crest the hill. Looking down, I could see a city on the waves, tall spires with a large town square. We shifted, standing in front of another city with tall walls and many guards. Once again, we moved. I felt a chill creep into my bones. In front of us, in a wintery wasteland, was another city. A tall gate, easily cresting twenty feet with intricate carvings set in the wood.

A wall far taller denied us entry, indicating a tiefling, half-orc and a few others in our small group. We looked at each other, exchanging words I couldn't catch. Some shook their heads, before turning and walking away in disgust. I looked up at the men on the wall, before turning on my heel and walking away.

Before I could see the situation to its end, it was lost.

I woke to birds chirping. Sitting up, I looked towards my bed. It seems the man I had treated had left with that woman. I stood, my joints groaning in protest, and looked towards the glint in the corner of my eye. A small sum of gold sat on the table that I had brewed the tea on. I counted it, fifteen gold, interesting. I had planned to charge a little less, but this was fine, I wasn't going to search for them to return the gold. I turned to the west, feeling a tug similar to the one I felt yesterday.

I needed to go there, but why? I'm sure it had to do with my visions, but… No, Savras did not grant me this gift to ignore what it showed me. I searched around for my holy symbol, finding it lying on the ground near the door. Yes, that was all the more pushing I needed. I found my dagger, and a satchel. I packed up some herbs, and my healing kit. I sheathed my dagger, and grabbed some rations from within my drawers.

As I opened my door and felt the wind against my face, I knew this was what I had to do.

I took the first step on a my journey, yet I knew not where it would end.