Celesti-elk

Last night Bartholomew dragged all of us through a stormy, muddy, dark stretch of forest so he could find a village called Roth. When we finally came upon the log walls of the town, Jorgen stopped to light his pipe under the awning where the gate guard let us in. The rest of us followed Bart, who was on a mission for his eldritch patron. As if doing Asmodeus's dirty work wasn't bad enough, Bartholomew has a tendency to be unpredictable. Bart lead the way to one of the few dozen huts- but before he could knock DangerBot ran up to the door and banged on it.
 
A man, Arthur, finally answered. He beckoned his son to go out back before the rest of us came inside. Bart had questions about a fire that threatened the town and how the man played a part in saving over 200 lives. Arthur claims to have called out to every god he knew of, but only one voice returned his cry for help. I started getting creepy vibes from this dude. While Qalirin headed out back to talk to the boy, I left to find Jorgen. Strange pacts with disembodied voices never turns out well.
 
After blasting a trumpet with my trunk, Jorgen found me fairly quickly. I spoke briefly on the situation as we headed out back of Arthur's house to check out a tree that he seemed defensive about during Bart's inquiries. By the time we arrived, a scuffle inside the house resulted in everyone being out back. Bart said something to the kid in a language I don't know, then fired a blast of eldritch energy skyward. To everyone's surprise, so did the kid! For some reason I was the only one who drew weapons. It's obvious to me where powers like that come from, but the kid sounded like he was tricked into serving Asmodeus- the same way as my aasimar companion.
 
We all settled down in Arthur's house for the evening, talking about how we could help Arthurson to understand his powers. As the party made plans to take the kid under our wing, my paladin senses were tingling. I turned toward the trees, scanning for sounds or smells. I found none, but I felt the compelling urge to charge into the nearby wilderness. I don't know what was leading me into the darkness of night? A calling from one of my gods?
 
I entered a clearing. It had been stormy and raining but in this clearing the moon and stars were bright. As I waded knee-deep in wildflowers I spotted across the way a large beast. It was a deer- no... An elk! I thought my eyes needed to adjust to the light, because this elk seemed to be made of night sky. Instead of fur all I saw was glittery stars. And then we locked eyes. His eyes glowed in the darkness, bright lamps compared to the backdrop of shadowy tree trunks.
 
As our gazes met, the celestial creature drew a bit of magical energy from me. I didn't resist- I let the celestial creature draw as much magic as it wanted, feeling a bond spark between us. I don't know how to describe it, but I knew its thoughts and it knew mine. This creature was home to the stars, lost on earth, and needing guidance. We approached each other, our thoughts becoming one as I jumped atop its back. Its name came to me as soon as we touched.
 
Wapiti.