Watercourse Way

 

Watercourse Way is the eighth installment for the series of works inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, taking place shortly after the events of No Regrets. Finally freed from the clutches of Fir's Gallows, Gilbey chooses to return north to what remains of his razed hometown of Bamont, as a pilgrimage where he can start his new life. Free to start on his first musical compositions, drawing from the land and his previous experiences, he finds himself quickly dragged into another small adventure by a roaming wood elf named Migizi, himself devoted to a grand mission of his own. Matched against otherworldly foes he has no experience with, Gilbey finds his journey to freedom will take more than he's ever expected, especially as he learns more about Migizi's respective past.

Watercourse Way can be read right here. 

The above image was drawn by Kingchenxi, whose online portfolio can be found here. 

This story was named after the song by American new age band Shadowfax, whose work I have previously referenced for A Pause In The Rain. 

Migizi and his backstory, such as his spirituality with nature and focus on his clan, were inspired by the Ojibwe (Chippewa), a tribe of Native Americans that has a sizeable population in my home state of Michigan; the decision came about due to me visiting the Sanilac Petroglyphs, a state park in Michigan that features numerous carvings made by the tribes, some thought to be over 1400 years old. Migizi himself was named after Migizi Inini, the "Eagle Man" in Objibwe folklore who is featured in one of the petroglpyhs; per tradition, Migizi Inini flies over the land from the east to ensure all denizens of the Earth are safe from a variety of other mythological beings (such as the underwater panther Mishipeshu), as well as ensuring that its subjects are continuing to study and practice their tribal heritage. "Giishkaatig" also means "cedar" in the Ojibwe language, as to evoke the hardy, natural image of Migizi compared to Gilbey. Having said that, while I definitely wanted to show how unusual Migizi and his lifestyle might be compared to Gilbey, I also wanted to depict him as a strong, respectable character without relying on stereotypical depictions of Native Americans or the "noble savage" trope. Migizi himself was initially intended to be a dark elf, represented by this image drawn by oollnoxlloo, but in the world created by my Dungeon Master, dark elves are almost never found above ground, hence the change to wood elf; with Saeros Elendil being a high elf temporarily masquerading as a wood elf, I figured it'd be interesting to have some diversity as well.

Migizi was not my first choice for a ranger character; instead, it would've been a former pirate named Anry Muse, who would have been exploring the land to protect others from otherworldly creatures after losing all his fellow crewmates in an unfortunate encounter with a fleet of aboleths. The concept of a sailor exploring the lands, however, seemed a bit far-fetched for my tastes, so Anry was mostly scrapped, his acerbic wit and boisterous personality lost when Migizi was created, and even their respective Ranger archetypes are different (Migizi is a Monster Slayer, while Anry would have been a Horizon Walker). Anry might get his own story one day, though that would happen long after I finish this series.