I lost a bet.

Really, that’s where it started. If I hadn’t bet that rake of a fellow I could drink him under the table I wouldn’t have ended up floating unconscious in the open sea for gods know how long before, ironically enough, a god was particularly kind to me.

She (and I call her she because really how can a pool of light have a gender), healed my alcohol poisoning issue (I swear that rogue cheated) and got me back on my feet again. I’ve kinda skipped ahead a bit haven’t I?

Okay, let’s start with something simple. I was in the Elserryn Cluster visiting Crosswinds Keep… you have no idea what I’m talking about do you?

Okay, the Elserryn Cluster is an area of the Astral Sea where there are like, a ton of color pools, and Crosswinds Keep is one of the few places that the more violent types that roan the sea are kept out. Are you with me yet? No gith, lower plane folk or illithids, got it?

Anyway, so I was minding my business having a drink when this braggart couldn’t shut up about his amazing physical prowess in all things, and frankly I’d had enough of him running his mouth. I mean really, if he’d just shut up he might have even been cute, but that’s beside the point. So he sees me, and like sooo many celestial mix-bloods, he assumes I’m too young to be there by myself and that of course he needs to impress me.

And yes, if you have to ask, I aged to maturity in a prime world until I was 100 years old so of course I’m old enough to handle my drink, thank you very much. And on top of that, I’ve been in the float for at least seven, almost eight decades before all of this even happened, so I have every right to be here on this head of a dead power, let alone in one of the keep’s bars. Oh, and unlike Mr. Braggy Pants, I’m of pure Astral Heritage!

Your eyes are glazing over again, pay attention.

Okay, I’ll move it along a bit. To sum things up, I beat him in darts, cards and pool. And certainly out danced him! But that led to a drinking contest, which led to… none of your business and more importantly me being passed out and back on the float in the Astral Sea.

Okay, well a bit more than passed out drunk, but actually unconscious, alcohol poisoning can happen to anyone you know.

I’m not sure how long I was a float, but when I woke up I wasn’t at the Crosswinds Keep, or in the Elserryn Cluster anymore and this ‘Pool of Light’ was talking to me.

They said their name was Krioth, but in my mind they sounded like ‘a she’ so that’s why I refer to her as a woman. But like I said before, who can really say if an amorphous energy being has a gender, let alone a god. Yup, Krioth is definitely a god.

So anyway, she was talking to me in my head, with my voice, and of course I answered her back. She really doesn’t phrase things like me though, kinda prefers to be more formal in her words choices which made it easier to distinguish my thoughts from her words, if you get my meaning.

Hello, did I just lose you again? Close your mouth before a bug flies in, seriously!

Okay, try to focus here, so yes there are gods, yes they are real and yes you can meet them, physically, if they feel like meeting you, and I just happened to get lucky and meet a nice one who helped me out from a slightly awkward situation that really wasn’t my fault in the first place.

So I hung out with Krioth for a while and we got to know each other a bit, of course she has an advantage there, with you know, like mind reading and being a god and all. It’s not like we’re ‘besties’ or anything and Krioth really isn’t the jealous type when it comes to making friends. In fact, she even told me a bit about some of her friends, and some of her rivals, and some of the things she wanted to work on. You know, stuff like pushing back against the lower plane folk and other negative if not outright icky things out there.

Turns out, Krioth and I have quite a few things in common, I mean I don’t worship her or anything, but I’m willing to help a friend if asked. And she did, sort of, and so I’m here.

Plus, this is where my astral cord was connected (who knew?). So I guess my parents must have ‘did it’ here at least 232 years ago, maybe more since who knows how long mom was knocked up and wandering the sea before she went planar long enough to figure out she was pregnant. I’m guessing it was probably longer, mom is always late to everything, just ask my father.

Huh, what do I mean by ‘sort of’? Oh, well Krioth cut my astral cord, which put me back here, but that’s another story…