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==== Scritch ====

Scritch is an awakened squirrel, who spent some time with [[Bigby]] from [[Voyager]].  Scritch, unlike most of the sorcerers of the [[Dray]] specializes in Abjuration, causing him to be ostracized before the Great Relocation, into the [[Hinterlands]]

He is one of the [[Dray]], originally from [[Uplift]] valley, but now living in the [[Hinterlands]].

He has, despite his individual ways, been reaccepted into the [[Dray]], and has become a leader in acclimitizing them to their new home in the city of Aramil, and teaching them the ways of the Not-Dray among them.  Central to this has been a developing of a new warrior class, and two different clerical orders.

When the Druids met to discuss the fate of [[Uplift]], [[Flint]] was unable to attend due to a
poorly-timed prophecy.  In his place, he sent Scritch, along with the following letter of introduction:

   My brothers and sisters of the oak,
   
   On this honored day of the great balance, under the light of the moon and with revered oakberries
   bathed in twilight, I offer you my welcome. This day is a joyful one in all ways save for the
   circumstances which hold at bay my attendance at this great meeting. For granting me this audience, I
   am humbled, and ask only that you accept in my stead a companion who will speak briefly and directly
   to an important matter.
   
   I am not from these lands, or from any land so adorned with light and crowned with clouds, but
   from a less luminous place far to the south, deep within the Underdark. Hidden from the world you
   know, it is no less part of the body of this world. Your skin basks in the warming sun, but my
   homeland is the bone beneath your flesh. As a true brother, then, I will share with you a small
   part of my tale.
   
   I struck out from my home many years ago, driven by a growing discord between the elements, and
   the compulsion I feel to make an end to this disharmony. This journey took me to the Valley of
   Uplift, a place you know well. Our former brother, Nayn, disturbed the balance there and has endured
   your rightful punishment. He remains under the weight of your retribution, but it is not of Nayn I
   wish to speak, but rather of what he has wrought. In truth, he altered forever the balance of life
   in many creatures, and set them on a path into the unkowable future. Unforgivable as the error may
   be, his works are with us and part of our life. What happened ~ and continues to happen ~ in Uplift
   affects us all.
   
   In my time there, I saw a new balance emerging, as life becomes accustomed to the meddling of one
   of our own. Looking at these creatures with my Underdark eyes, blind to their form and seeing only
   the purposes they have chosen for what span of life they have been granted, I see a people not
   unlike our own. Civilized, barbaric, troubled, peaceful. They are, as we are, even unto the taking of
   druidic vows. Even unto taking the mantle of duty and enforcing Nayn’s punishment as you would see
   it done. It is for this reason I lay at your feet a plea to aid their kind as I would entreaty your
   assistance for any people threatened by unnatural imbalances.
   
   In Uplift, the mighty tree, the valley’s pillar of power, establishes in that place a hospitable climate
   and plays husband to the life which now there dwells. The winds and rains spread from the great
   tree in many directions and, I believe you will agree, its shade reaches far beyond Uplift with its
   nuturing influence. Imagine what ills would befall any people who depend on its shelter, and in that
   number I do count our very own selves, should this nexus become erratic, or even fail utterly.
   
   This is, in fact, the peril we now face. The tree is failing. My companion, of late a resident of
   Uplift and here now to plea for your aid, will tell you the truth of it. Scritch, for so he is called,
   may seem abomination to your eyes, but I beg you, see him as I do: one ambassador of a people
   who, through no act of their own, stand on the knife’s edge of doom. Listen to his words, and take
   counsel among yourselves. As we do wherever we are needed, as we will in Resh or any place infected
   by the hazards of a balance unsettled, it is now to us to try and set the balance aright and apply
   our strength to the tree’s restoration.
   
   On my return, I will dedicate myself to whatever role you see fit to bestow in
   this endeavor. Until that time, I remain, in faithful service to the balance,
   
   manth!Nar’h of the svirfneblin

The Tree of Life itself has been moved to [[Resh]]; the [[Dray]] have shown no interest in returning to their 'heaven'-tree.

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