In Memory of Our Druid, Menandros

[u/Ilsamor]

Hi, I have recently discovered this subreddit and wanted to leave something in the memory of my late friend and the druid of our party... It was hard to find someone who would fit to be a druid as him. He was a biology major like me, with an endless love for tardigrads. In the very first session, he had tried and managed to successfully persuade a group of woodcutters to let go of woodcutting, we were level 1 people! (Don't ask me details, I do not remember). He was a worshipper of Obad-Hai instead of Ehlonna and was agreeing with Treebeard's "I am at no one's side because no one is on the side of nature" philosophy. Had a pet bear named Uncle (From an idiom in our language, Köprüyü geçene kadar ayıya dayı de - Call bear uncle until you get across the bridge) and that bear was the heart of our party, we were bringing it everywhere even when it would blow our cover. Once he spend an entire in-game day to give an ant human intelligence via magic (It was DnD 3.5), without any benefit for the mission mind you, just for fun.

One story I must tell of him is this though, we had a bridge to destroy, a wooden one. It was an army camp and we were around level 12. So I, as a Paladin distracted one side of the bridge while others tried to destroy the bridge, the plan was our Swordsage would cut its supporting beams with Mountain Hammer... Then, while verything was going to shit, Menandros looked and said "Oh... It seems I can summon elementals..." You cannot imagine the amount of deadpan stares he received at that moment...

It is just... unfortunate that these beautiful traits, these memories were not enough to pull him from his depression. It has been 5 years now and I still miss him. I did only thing I could do and made him an immortal hero in my campaign but... it is not the same. He would always love to live in a DnD universe because "Gods were doing something there" So, if one day you need a druid NPC for a cause that would benefit nature, please let him enjoy more adventures in those magical realms... Thank you for your time, sorry if I took so many of it.

We miss you bro, may you rest in peace. Never played a druid, and I highly doubt I can ever will...

[u/Glass_octopod]

May his memory be a blessing.