Sunday morning, Fireseek 2, 591 Common Year

Gar awakens to practice his spiritual routine before dawn. Gar is especially pleased when the servants deliver bread, cheese, and wine for breakfast in time for him to enjoy it all with his morning meditation upon the five elements. They remind him that dinner will be served in the hall at 9 am. After the servants leave, Gar closes the door and sets the latch to minimize any intrusion upon his quiet time.

Gar is a militant naturist, but only so far as it does not impinge too much upon his creature comforts. When it is cold outside, he is most likely to be found settled in front of a window with a blanket around his shoulders to keep warm. Traveling, he is most likely to be found stoking a campfire and pondering the magnificence of the morning’s fiery sun, watching its purples, pinks, magentas, and blues streaking slowly across the valley or mountain view. He ponders the weather and the clouds and the day to come, silently observing the sounds of an awakening city or countryside. It is a simple meditation, really. Since it’s another warm muggy day in Westkeep, there’s no need for a blanket or cozy fire, so Gar just settles into an armchair by the window and takes in the grandeur of this, his second day in the palace of the Prince-Governor.

As his heart jumps with joy at the exquisite colors of the morning’s sunrise, Gar’s mind silently recites his daily prayers in reverence for the five elements:

 I ponder and appreciate the grandness and beauty of nature, of its intimately related interconnectivity.

 I ponder and appreciate the fire in the sky and in our hearth and in our heart.

 I ponder and appreciate the earth below our feet and the mountains that rise up around us.

 I ponder and appreciate the water that washes everything clean.

 I ponder and appreciate the air that fills our lungs and keeps us alive.

 And I ponder and appreciate the Divine Spark of Obad-Hai which resides within us all equally.

At the end of this daily meditation, Gar ponders the spells he might need, praying for the divine power to infuse his being.

Gar envisions himself stepping through the palace gates, and imagines the stench of the city assailing his nostrils. He can plainly see the cause of the Filth Fever everywhere he looks. Armed with the belief that clean food and water should be a gods-given right no matter the cost to oneself or society, Gar pulls his hood over his head and goes out into the crowded street where the poorest of the poor begged in the streets and ate the garbage in the alleyways. Filth Fever indeed! One block away from the palace, Gar is overcome with an overwhelming desire to fondle the little Green Man hanging around his neck and mutter prayers to Obad-Hai. Looking in one direction, he casts purify food & drink saying quietly, “With the blessings of Obad-Hai, may those urchins eat clean food & drink clean water!” Five steps further, he does it again, aiming the spell at a group of young kids who are paying him no attention, munching on their cast-off cuisine for morning dinner. Realizing this is probably not the wisest course of action, but in his compassionate mind set and in his youthful impetuosity, he disregards his inner wisdom and continues further into the city than he should. Then Gar snaps out of his reverie and returns to the moment at hand.

As a devotee to the gods, Gar loves to check out the religious services of other religions. Having heard somewhere the night before that there would be chapel services before the morning dinner, he heads out to join them in order to pay his respects to their god, probably Heironeous. Gar puts on his chain mail under his traveling clothes. He keeps his dagger and slingshot hidden safely up his sleeves (just in case) and walks down the hall with his quarterstaff in hand.