carlycchapman24

[carlycchapman24]

The Adventures of Celine Markus-Chapter 3

The following morning, they all get up, step outside their tents, and see Jolien still wide awake outside, “Not a thing happened,” she answered before anyone could say anything. “I suppose we’ll go our separate ways then,” Sidqiel says, beginning to pack up his and Arlech’s tent. “I suppose so, may the Gods and Mother Nature herself keep you all safe, I have some things to do,” Jolien said, standing up and dusting her cloak and dress off. “You can’t come with us to Tortoise Landing?” Celine says sheepishly. Jolien laughs, “No, this is a test to get into a Guild. Having someone like me be there would be cheating, especially according to Mistress Bula, who I dare say would likely disqualify you and kick out her favorite member,” she glances over at Sidqiel who has a look of shock on his face when she mentions him. “Now, I must be off, could day to you all,” she says and turns towards where the four came from, leaving them behind as Daxina picks up her and Celine’s tent. “Well, off we go then,” Sidqiel says and they all make their way down the road. “So, Elf lady,” Arlech says, “are you going to tell us your name or-?” Daxina sighed in annoyance, not wanting to tell the Wizard Girl or the Tiefling her name, but she was tired of them calling her ‘Elf’ or ‘Blondie,’ “It’s Daxina Amakiir, I’m a Pirate and I like fights, are you happy now?” “Yes,” Arlech answered. “What are your names then? It’s only fair that I get to ask too.” “Arlech,” the Tiefling said. “And you?” She asks the redhead, who seemed to not be paying attention. Daxina waved her hand in front of Celine’s face and said, “Uh, hello, Wizard Girl, are you there?” Celine shook out of it and said, “Huh, what?” Daxina sighed, “I said, what’s your name, since we’re all stuck together?” Before Celine could ask the blonde what her name was, Arlech whispered, “Her name is Daxina, she just told me.” Celine cleared her throat, “Uh, Celine, sorry to not pay attention, just, there’s a lot to think about after what’s happened in the few days I’ve been here.” “So you really aren’t from here?” Daxina said, genuinely surprised. “Obviously, did you not see my reaction to that giant fucking cat?!” Celine answered. Before Daxina could be snarky back at her, Sidqiel spoke up and said, “Tabaxi, they’re called Tabaxi, and they find it offensive to call them giant cats, even if that’s exactly what they are.” “So Tieflings, Gnolls, Elves, weird Dragon looking things, Tabaxi, Halflings, Gnomes, Devils, according to something Arlech told me when he was drunk, Demons for the same reason, drunk Arlech told me, but what else is in this ridiculous world?” Celine said, frustrated at having to remember all of these new things. “Much more than that, I can tell you that much. A lot of which I hope you’ll never have to run into. There are some nasty things in this world, and many would scare the living daylights out of you.” Sidqiel answered. “Okay, okay, I get it, you don’t want me to go looking for anything too dangerous,” Celine said, both aggravated and slightly freaked out. “Not until you’re strong enough, no.” The man answered and they continued.

After what seemed like ages, they arrived at Tortoise Landing, only to be greeted by the sound of bagpipes and people rushing out, getting ready to fight, “No, no, please, we’re here to help with your Gnoll problem!” Arlech says. No one believes him and the villagers prepare to defend themselves with what little they have. “No, please, he speaks the truth,” Sidqiel shouts and lets his glowing bronze wings out and both of his eyes glow a bronze color. Out of the crowd steps a, what looks like to Celine, a giant turtle. “I’m sorry, but what the hell is that?” Celine whispers but is told to hush by Arlech. The giant turtle says, “I am Koryver, the Chief of Tortoise Landing. If what you say is true and you’ve come to deal with our Gnoll problem, let us have a feast and discuss more of my job for you.” “Of course, we would be honored to join you for dinner,” Sidqiel says, putting away his wings bowing to the Chief, the other three follow his lead and bow to the Chief as well. When they stood back up the Chief said, “Come along” and they all went after him. After they set up the feast, with the members of the group sitting on either side of the Chief, Arlech and Celine to his left and Daxina and Sidqiel to his right, the Chief stands up and says, “Tonight, we welcome these four brave souls who are willing to rid us of the Gnoll problem we’ve had for the last few weeks. May the Gods smile upon them as they take on these dangerous foes who have done nothing but wreak havoc on our land and our people. Vu uas tewoust!” The villagers repeat “Vu uas tewoust!” The quartet looks on in confusion and after the Chief sits back down, he says, “It means ‘to our saviors’ in Aquan, my language. Now to the business at hand, there are usually three or four Gnolls that attack our village per night. We do not know if they are the same ones each time or different ones, but regardless, I want them dead and I want them to stop torturing my people. Gnolls are cowards, so if they see us fighting back, they’ll run away. If they see that none of their scouting party has returned, they will run. I want you all stationed at the front entrance, Gnolls are not smart creatures and will attack the same place every time, and they’ve been coming through the front entrance each time. Are you willing to take on this task?” All four nod and the giant turtle actually smiles, Celine notices, which is a little off-putting. “Good,” the Chief says, “now let us enjoy this feast and hopefully you’ll be victorious come the morning.”

They finish eating their meal and make their way to where they entered about three hours ago, keeping an eye out on the path ahead. Within minutes, Arlech and Daxina see three Gnolls making their way up the path and they point them out to Sidqiel and Celine. “How far away do you think the first one is?” Celine whispered. “A good one hundred feet, why?” Arlech answered and in an instant, Celine shot off a Fire Bolt, and it impacted the first Gnoll in the line, scorching it alive. All three Gnolls immediately run as fast as they can towards the source of what attacked them. “Good work Celine!” whispers Arlech. The first Gnoll, the one Celine hit, kept on running forward, Daxina also shot off a Fire Bolt towards the first Gnoll, just barely hitting it as well. Seeing what the other two were doing, but not being able to do much, he waited for them to get closer. The Gnoll furthest away just kept running forward, as did the middle one. Arlech looked between the two women, not being able to do much, so he prepared himself and waited until the Gnolls got closer. Celine shot off her Magic Missile and aimed it at the closest Gnoll with direction from Arlech, two out of the three went wide and the third one made impact, causing a little damage, but not enough to her liking. The first Gnoll kept running forward, trying to find its target. Daxina grinned and shot a Fire Bolt at the Gnoll getting closer, but missed, getting too cocky. Celine chuckled at Daxina’s misfortune and Sidqiel rolled his eyes and cast his Spiritual Weapon, which manifested as a Morningstar again, and placed it right next to the first Gnoll, then tried to hit it, but missed. The third Gnoll was keeping pace with the first two. The second Gnoll was right behind the first one. Finally able to do something, Arlech yelled, “You’re worthless, you’ll never amount to anything!” to the first Gnoll, casting Vicious Mockery and it instantly kills the first Gnoll. “You just insulted it to death.” Celine said in amazement. “Yes, yes I did,” he answered her with a wink. Celine rolled her eyes and shot a Fire Bolt at the second Gnoll, now that the first one was dead, hitting it with ease. Daxina pulled out her pistol and fired a shot at the second Gnoll since the first one was dead, and it hit easily. It was looking pretty ragged now. Sidqiel grinned and tried hitting the Gnoll again, it impacted and knocked the Gnoll down. The third, now second, Gnoll shot an arrow at Sidqiel, but missed and the arrow bounced off of a rock and fell on the ground. The second, now first, Gnoll tried hitting Sidqiel with an arrow as well but also missed. Both Gnolls growled at their attackers and Arlech used Thunderwave, hitting everyone. Killing one Gnoll, damaging the other, and accidentally hitting Celine, Sidqiel, and Daxina, apologizing in the process. Celine said, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, let’s kill this last one quick,” and threw a Fire Bolt at the last Gnoll, but just barely missed. Daxina laughed and shot a Fire Bolt herself at the last Gnoll, hitting it, it now started slowing down and was scorched and bleeding. Sidqiel threw a spell none of the recognized at the Gnoll, it was a gray-ish color, but it, unfortunately, missed the Gnoll, “Gods dammit.” The last Gnoll finally reached the quartet and bit at Sidqiel, but its teeth met Scale Mail, earning a chuckle from Sidqiel. Arlech shouted an insult at the last Gnoll, “You are a disgusting creature and no one will love you,” and cast Vicious Mockery, but the Gnoll seemingly wasn’t affected. “Oh move over,” Celine said, backing up a bit, so she was fifteen feet away from the Gnoll, and she casts a new spell of her’s called Burning Hands and a cone of flame came out of her hands, hitting the Gnoll who now looked like it could collapse any second. The others stared in shock, but Daxina shook it off and pulled her Great Sword out of its sheath and sliced at the Gnoll twice, the first slice missed, but the second one impacted it and killed it instantly. Celine collapsed on the ground and sighed in relief, “Holy fuck, thank whatever deities

this place has that we won.” A few moments passed and then Arlech asked, “Does anyone need to be patched up?” Celine, Daxina, and Sidqiel all raised their hands, “So everyone but me, all right then,” the Tiefling said. “I can heal myself, you can take the ladies.” Sidqiel answered, touching his shoulder and casting a spell that Celine didn’t recognize, all she did know is that it had a bright, white, light from her perspective. Arlech walked over and asked Daxina, “May I?” Daxina sighed, “Yeah, go ahead,” and let him touch her shoulder, a bright, white light like what Sidqiel’s spell looked like came out of Arlech’s hand and any bruises from his Thunderwave spell disappeared as if they had never been there at all. This surprised Celine and she blinked and shook her head, as if it was the darkness playing tricks on her. The next thing she knew, Arlech knelt next to her, holding a hand out, “Well?” Celine hesitantly stuck her hand out and Arlech took it and held it for a second, his skin feeling weirdly like warm coals, she noticed, and just as with Daxina, the bright, white light came out of his hand and her bruises from his Thunderwave disappeared before her eyes. “What the hell?” She said, not realizing how quietly she said it. “Well,” Daxina said, “let’s get a pelt off of one of these guys, that was the thing, right?” “Indeed,” Sidqiel answered, “Who wants to do it?” Arlech got up, stretched, and said, “I’ll do it.” “Do you have a knife?” Sidqiel asked. “No, but I have a dagger.” Arlech answered. “That should do it, have at it.” Arlech went down the path to the very first Gnoll they killed and skinned it with ease, taking the pelt off with precision that surprised everyone. “Celine,” he said, getting back up, “put this in your Bag of Holding and we’ll take it back to the Guild,” and gave it to her. “Gross,” Celine said, but did what she was told. Then, they finally went back into the village and were met by the Chief, “Did you kill them?” “The ones that tried to get to the village anyway,” Celine said, pulling out the Gnoll pelt with a disgusted look on her face. “Oh good, here, one hundred gold to split amongst yourselves,” the Chief said, handing them a large bag of gold, “and you’re free to stay for the night in one of the empty houses from the previous attacks. Maybe you could suggest this village to people on your travels so we can become more than just a small village.” “Thank you, sir,” Sidqiel said, taking the bag of gold. They made their way to one of the abandoned homes, split the gold amongst themselves, and went to bed.

The following morning, the quartet said their goodbyes and headed back to Crisherton. “So, how did you all enjoy your first contract, besides, of course, those damn bandits on the way?” Sidqiel asked. “It went better than I expected at least,” Celine said, stretching to wake herself up more. “Your idea to start attacking from a distance was a great one,” Sidqiel answered with an amused tone in his voice. “Yeah, well, after attacking those bandits or whatever they were head-on, I figured it would at least be something to try,” Celine said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Well, it was a smart choice,” Arlech said with a grin. “Well, thanks, guys,” Celine said awkwardly, not really sure how to accept the praise she was receiving. The two days to get back to Crisherton passed surprisingly quickly and Celine could only hope that the pelt didn’t decompose and get all gross inside her bag. When they got back into the Solarstriders’ building, they were greeted by Mistress Bula, “So you’re alive then? That’s amazing, considering you lot couldn’t take on a simple group of bandits that you ran into on the road,” she said and before any of the four could say anything she added, “Oh yes, I heard all about that, the whole town has. Jolien told us herself that she had to heal all of you up and bring Miss Red Head over here back to life completely, as she had been killed, not just knocked out cold. Here’s some advice, and I’d expect more from you as well Sidqiel if you cannot take on an enemy, run if you can. This world has no place for cowards, but nor does it have a place for martyrs. Now hand over that pelt and I’ll induct the three of you into the Solarstriders and forgive the damage from the Elf girl.” Celine sat her Bag of Holding on the desk and pulled out the Gnoll pelt, which to her surprise, didn’t decompose in her bag, and handed it over to the Mistress. Mistress Bula observed it and said, “Interesting, I’ll send this to the leatherworker in town so they can prepare to send it to the tailor for clothing. Now, come along, we need to mark you to induct you into the Guild.” “Uh, what do you mean, ‘mark us?’” Celine asked, which she regretted when she heard the answer. “Well you can’t expect to join any Guild without a branding of some sort, now can you?” Mistress Bula said. “Wait, branding, as in burning us? No. No, no. No, I refuse, I’m not going to get some symbol burned into my fucking skin!” Celine exclaimed and her wrist was grabbed roughly by the Mistress who said, “You will or you’ll be arrested and tried for trespassing in my building and for doing a trial and then leaving. Got it, Princess?” Celine tears her wrist out of Mistress Bula’s hand and massages it to get rid of the pain of the woman’s grip, “I’m not a princess,” she says with venom in her voice. “Then stop acting like one, you may not be from around here, that’s clear enough, but you’ll follow our customs and rules if you plan to stay. Now, as I said, come along.”

The trio is led down a flight of stairs and taken into the first door on the right at the bottom. They stepped in and saw a large furnace with fire blazing, a chair nearby the furnace that looked like a torture device, and a very tall woman, who looked like she was carved out of a mountain, was banging away at a weapon of some sort, “Niria, dear,” Mistress Bula said and for the first time since she met her, Celine noticed the woman had a look of admiration and love in her eyes, ‘Is this her wife or something?’ Celine thought. The giant woman turned around and said, “Ah, Umog, my love, what have we here? Some new recruits?” “Umog?” Celine whispered. “Her first name I assume,” Arlech answers back, just as quietly. “Yes indeed, they need to be branded, could you take the time to mark these three?” Mistress Bula asks. “Of course, but you’ll need to make it worth it since you interrupted me making more weapons for the Guild,” the giant woman said suggestively. All three rolled their eyes as Mistress Bula continued in the same suggestive tone, “You know I will.” The giant woman went over and kissed Mistress Bula on the cheek and said, “Well, then I’ll see you later tonight. Head back on upstairs, I’ll take care of them.” “I’m sure you will,” Mistress Bula said with a smile and left the trio downstairs. When the Mistress was out of sight, the giant woman’s demeanor changed, “Alright you lot, clearly you got far enough to be able to get inducted, so you better be able to handle yourself when I do this. If not, well, I don’t know how you got this far. Now, who’s first?” “I’ll do it,” Daxina said. “Then get in that chair over there,” Niria said, pointing at what Celine had thought looked like a torture device when they walked in. Her fears were confirmed when Niria tied down Daxina’s arms with some type of leather and rolled her sleeve up to her shoulder. “Uh, what’s this for?” Daxina asked. “Well, some squirm when I do this because it’s quite literally hot metal being placed against your skin to mark you.” Daxina went paler than usual and said, “Oh, I guess that makes sense.” “Now, let’s begin.” Niria said and pulled out a brand with a symbol that looked like a sun with a sword surrounded by fire in the middle of it, and above the point of the sword it read ‘Solar’ and it read ‘Striders’ beneath the hilt and pommel. Niria heated the metal until it was bright orange, “Now, take a deep breath,” she said and pressed the heated metal against Daxina’s shoulder with enough pressure to leave a permanent scar. Daxina gritted her teeth and passed out from the pain, which made Celine even more nervous, if Daxina passed out from the pain, she might just die. “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Niria said and unhooked Daxina after she was done and sat her in the corner. “Who’s next?” the woman asked, holding the brand up. “I’ll do it.” Comes Arlech’s voice, sounding cocky. “Ah,” Niria said, looking up and down Arlech’s form, “Devil spawn, are we? This should be no problem for someone of your heritage. I may not even tie your arms down.” “A pity,” Arlech said, “I was quite looking forward to that,” and winked. “You’re quite charming, but as you saw, I’m a taken woman. Now, sit down.” She said with a laugh. Celine was dumbfounded, Arlech’s flirting almost worked, and the only reason it hadn’t was because Niria was with Mistress Bula. She took a minute to process this as Niria heated up the brand again and pressed it against Arlech’s shoulder with the same amount of pressure as she did with Daxina, if not more. Arlech sucked in air as the pain hit his skin, but stayed conscious, after it was imprinted, he got up as if he felt nothing at all and went over to Celine, “See, nothing to it. Go on,” he said gently. “Come over here, girl,” Niria said, not unkindly. Nervous, Celine hesitantly walked over to the very large woman and the chair, her legs felt like lead and it seemed like it took hours to get over to them. She sat down and let her arms rest on the arms of the chair and Niria tied Celine’s arms to the chair, noticing how worried the young woman was. “Take a

deep breath,” came the woman’s voice, but it seemed slow and distorted to her. The second the hot brand hit her shoulder, Celine screamed out in pain and agony and the next thing she knew, she saw blackness and felt nothing. The next thing she knew, she woke up lying on the ground with Arlech and Niria standing over her with very worried faces and when she sat up, she saw Daxina looking at her nails with a look of disdain on her face, which Celine assumed was directed towards her. “You really are weak,” Daxina said, not looking Celine in the face. “Fuck off.” Celine said as she leaned against the wall. “Are you all right?” Niria asked before the two young women started fighting, “I think I’m okay now, I’m sorry if my reaction ruined the branding so you couldn’t do it.” Celine said with a monotone voice. “No, no, don’t worry about it. That’s the usual reaction, albeit a bit more extreme.” Celine looked embarrassed as Arlech made his way over to her “Here, let me help you,” he said, kneeling next to Celine, “I already fixed up Daxina,” then he held out his hand. Celine rolled her eyes and held out her arm, he took her hand and cast Cure Wounds on her, “There you go, all healed up.” Celine immediately glanced at her shoulder, and the brand was still there, which she didn’t know if she should be relieved or disappointed about. Then it dawned on her, she had no idea how long they had been down here, she reached in her Bag of Holding to try and pull out her phone when Arlech smacked her hand lightly as if to say, “Not here.” Not wanting to potentially fight Niria for whatever reason, she sighed and took her hand out of her bag and closed it back up, deciding instead to ask, “How long have I been out?” “A few hours perhaps, why?” Niria said. “Well, I’m pretty tired after that, but if it’s not dark outside then I don’t want to go to bed.” Celine reasoned. “Well, then you all should make your way back up the stairs. Welcome to the Solarstriders.” “Thank you.” Celine said and got up, then the three of them headed back up to the main room.

“I cannot believe you flirted with her and it almost worked,” Celine said to Arlech when they were out of earshot. Which made Arlech laugh, “I told you it works in the right scenario, but you didn’t believe me.” “Wait, he did what?!” Daxina said in disgust. “You two are quick to judge, it meant nothing. Obviously, she’s with Mistress Bula, it was simply in hopes of having her be gentler with the brand.” Arlech said, rolling his eyes. “Do you ever mean it when you flirt with people or is it all just a game to you?” Celine asked with an annoyed tone at the Tiefling, disgusted at his attitude with such things. Arlech looked genuinely hurt at the accusation for a second and said, “Well, it depends on the person I suppose.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Daxina asked, now honed in on the conversation. “Well, when it comes to store clerks or others of the sort, it’s merely just to get what I want, like information for example. If it’s someone I’m genuinely interested in, I mean every word.” Both women were still unsure but went with it and Celine asked, “And how does someone know the difference? The person on the receiving end that is? You’ve tried flirting with me multiple times and I haven’t fallen for it, because to me it certainly just seems like some bullshit a lot of men in my world do just to get in a woman’s pants. I call them fuck boys, as do many other people.” Arlech was taken aback and Daxina covered her mouth, snickering. “Mind explaining that term to me?” Arlech said, raising an eyebrow. “A fuck boy,” Celine said, starting to step closer to Arlech, “is a young man or as I say, a boy,” she stepped closer, “who thinks they’re hot shit,” even closer, “and who thinks they’re sexy,” closer still, “and will flirt with multiple women at a time,” she got even closer until she was as close to Arlech’s face as she could be with the slight height difference, “and don’t know how to take no for an answer, and the only thing on their mind is sex. They don’t want actual relationships, they just want a fuck buddy or friends with benefits and will keep on asking even after one of the many women he’s flirted with has said no.” Celine looked Arlech up and down, the tension in the air was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Arlech stood his ground and said, “Well, they sound like terrible people,” also looking Celine up and down. Daxina looked on, half expecting the two of them to kiss, and cleared her throat, “I don’t know if you’re going to kiss or kill each other, but maybe we can do it outside of the Guild?” Just then, both Arlech and Celine looked around and saw Sidqiel, Mistress Bula, and a few random members of the Solarstriders that none of them recognized, staring at them with their jaws on the ground. Celine stepped back first, “I think I’ve made my point,” she said, glancing over to the Tiefling. “I don’t know if you have, maybe you could explain it further later on,” Arlech answered with a wink. “Maybe I will, but not in a room alone with you, I’m not that stupid.” She replied haughtily and stormed out, finally letting herself flush red at his flirting, which she thought was odd, it had never worked on her before, why now?

Not long after, Daxina and Arlech join her outside and immediately Daxina shouts, “I’m sorry, but what in the Nine Hells was that?! I have never, in the short period that I’ve known you two, seen you go at each other like that. Care to explain?” “I’d ask Celine that if I were you, she’s never snapped at me like that before. She’s been sarcastic, but never gotten in my face like that, it was kind of sexy.” Arlech answered with a grin. “You’re gross,” Celine said a few feet ahead of the two. “You’re attracted to me,” Arlech shot back. “No I’m not,” Celine answered, getting furious now. “Then why did you get in my face like that?” The Tiefling shouted back. Just then, Celine turned around sharply and shouted angrily, “Because I’m tired of your bullshit!” and passers-by in the streets turned to stare at the two. “Just admit you find me attractive and we can settle this,” Arlech said, smiling. “You’re delusional,” Celine answered and made her way to The Clydesdale Inn. “I’m not convinced,” Arlech said to Daxina, who was walking next to him. “I’m not either,” she said, watching Celine walk off. A moment later, a light bulb went off in Daxina’s head and she suggested, “I have an idea, either before or after the next time we fight something, you kiss her and see what happens?” “It seems a bit rude to kiss her without asking, don’t you think? I’ll shamelessly flirt with someone, especially her, no big deal, but unless they permit me to do anything more than that, I don’t go further than a flirt,” Arlech reasoned. “So you do have feelings for her then or at least are genuinely interested in her,” Daxina said. “Well, yes. Ever since I first met her I thought she was cute and rather interesting. What are you supposed to feel when someone claims they’re from a different world? You’re instantly interested and drawn to them in some way, correct?” The Tiefling answered as if it was the most logical thing in the world, “You want to know more, you want to see how they tick, how they react, yes?” Daxina thought on this for a moment and said, “Yes, I could see how that would make you interested or attracted to someone, and while I respect the fact that you want to ask permission before going any further than flirting, I don’t find it very likely that she’d give you permission to kiss her or do anything of the sort with her adamant claim that she’s not attracted to you in any way, shape, or form.” “I understand your point, but it just feels wrong to not ask first.” Arlech insisted. “Fine,” the Elven woman started, “but if you change your mind or feel like you aren’t getting anywhere with her, take my idea into account.” The red Tiefling sighed in a defeated way, “I will.” When they got back to The Clydesdale Inn, Arlech took a seat at the bar and tapped on it to get Mr. Longfoot’s attention, the Halfling turned and went towards Arlech, “Hello Arlech, how are you doing today? What can I get you?” “Nothing today Mr Longfoot, I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be performing tonight. I don’t feel well and I have a lot to think about.” Arlech answered. “Well,” started the Halfling, “it’s a shame you won’t be performing, but if you feel you need time to yourself, I have no problems with that.” “Thank you, sir, I appreciate that. I think I’ll go two doors down to Madam Fibavam’s Bathhouse whilst I think.” Arlech answered, and walked out. Not long after, Celine came down from her room and started walking out, only to be stopped by Mr Longfoot, who asked, “Are you going two doors down as well?” “To the bathhouse? Yeah, I feel like shit after getting branded by the Solarstriders today, why?” Celine asked. “Arlech just went over there too,” he said and Celine froze in fear, thinking Arlech would see her naked, but then she remembered there was a fence between the two sides of the bathhouse and relaxed a little. However, she second-guessed herself and asked Mr Longfoot, “There are two sides blocked by a fence, right? A men’s and a women’s side?” “I believe so,” the Halfling answered, “but I’d ask Madam Fibavam to make sure.” This made Celine

nervous, but she went over to the bathhouse anyway.

As she stepped in, Madam Fibavam was at the desk and she looked up from her book in surprise, “Two people in one night? That’s a new record I think. How are you doing Celine?” “Fine, hey I have a question,” Celine responds. “What is it dear?” The Gnome asks, sitting up more. “Uh, are the baths separated by gender or only the changing rooms?” Celine asks and the Gnome laughs, “Yes, the baths are separated by gender as well, with a tall wooden fence, don’t you remember that from when you were here a few nights ago?” “I didn’t really pay attention, so I suppose not.” Celine answered. “Well, they are, are you wanting to be here for a while too?” Madan Fibavam says with a warm smile. “Yes, two silver, right?” Celine asks and the woman nods. Celine hands over the two pieces of silver and goes into the same changing room as last time and puts her stuff in the same closet. Then she tries to stealthily step into the hot spring so Arlech doesn’t hear her, but unfortunately, Arlech hears her step in the water through the fence. He jumps up, startled, and says, “Hello?” Celine clasps her hand over her mouth and tries to make her breathing slow and silent and succeeds, and her second step was far more silent than the first one. “Hello?” Comes Arlech’s voice again and a shift in the water as if he were turning around to look through the fence to see if anyone was on the opposite side, but nothing. Celine heard him shift again, assuming he was turning his back to the fence again. Celine sighs in relief as quietly as possible and leans against the fence herself. Just then, she hears Arlech talk to himself and clearly hears, “How do you even tell someone how you feel about them? I could just go ahead and say it to her face, but what if she thinks it’s just another attempt at flirting? I could try Daxina’s idea, but she might smack me across the face. Gods, this is difficult.” Celine tilts her head, was he talking about her? She couldn’t tell, all she could understand was that he was clearly stressed out about whatever and whoever he was talking about. She thought back on all of the times he flirted with her from her understanding of what she knew to be ‘flirting’ in her world. The suggestive comments, him calling her cute while he was drunk, him holding her hand when he healed her instead of placing his hand on her arm or shoulder, did he really mean those things or was he just trying to get in her pants? Because what she knew from her world, men, or boys even, would only act that way towards women with one thing, and one thing only on their minds. Then she thought about how his earlier attempts didn’t work on her, yet this afternoon, something changed. His flirting actually worked on her, why then and in that moment? Did he use a spell on her? She knew he had healing abilities, could he make people fall for his flirting with some sort of spell too? “What did it all mean?” she unintentionally said aloud and froze in fear, “Celine, is that you?” Comes Arlech’s voice from the opposite side of the fence. He even recognized her voice, which she was dumbfounded about. “Uh, no, not at all. Who is this Celine you speak of?” She asked with a horrible, fake, English accent. She could hear in his voice that he had rolled his eyes, “That was the worst accent I have ever heard. What are you doing here?” Then it was Arlech’s turn to freeze in fear, “How long have you been here?” She made a split-second decision to lie and said, “I just got here.” Arlech sighed in relief, but Celine couldn’t keep the smirk off of her face, and it could be heard in her voice, when she said, “Why do you ask?” “Don’t torment me like that,” Arlech says, hearing the tone of her voice ‘You torment me enough by just existing,’ he thought. “Okay fine, you don’t have to tell me. I just thought I would take the opportunity to mess with you like you did to me earlier.” She said, and it was that moment when they remembered they were both naked and talking to each other through a simple wooden fence and an awkward silence followed. “So, um,” Celine finally said, subconsciously

covering her top half even though he couldn’t see her, “why here?” “What do you mean?” Arlech asked. “I mean, you came here, as I heard from talking to Mr Longfoot, why here and not, I don’t know, another bathhouse or the hot spring behind The Clydesdale Inn?” Celine asked. “Oh, well, the only other bathhouse in this city is on the complete opposite side of town and the one behind the Inn is pretty small and I wanted to stretch out and maybe swim around in the hot water a little.” The Tiefling explained. “Is the one behind the Inn really too small for that?” Celine asked. “For someone my height, yes, the one behind the Inn is for one person at a time and for just cleaning up and getting out. I think it’s six and a half feet long and three or four feet wide or something, and I’m six feet tall. These ones are about thirty feet long and forty feet wide, each. Madam Fibavam was lucky that she managed to get this much land on this side of town and still be far enough away from the ocean.” He explained, which prompted Celine to look around and see that it is indeed a very large hot spring and for a moment she felt quite lonely in the wide expanse of this spring. “She’s been here longer than this town has been here, this town is maybe a hundred years old, Madam Fibavam is about two hundred years old, so her bathhouse and spring have been here longer than this town, so they had to build Crisherton around her bathhouse. Gnomes can live up to five hundred years, you know.” Arlech says and Celine immediately says, “I call bullshit, there’s no way.” “Fine, don’t believe me, but you can ask her yourself,” he responds. “Maybe I will.” She answers indignantly. Then Celine comes up with an idea, grins, and says, “Oh yeah, you wanted more of an explanation about fuck boys, didn’t you?” Even though she couldn’t see it, Arlech’s mouth dropped open and he said, “Hold on, now this isn’t what I meant when I said that.” “I know what you meant, but I’m not gonna give you what you want. Now, a fuck boy is somewhat in the same vein as an incel. Now an incel is a man, or boy rather, who likes to be creepy to women online, I’ll explain what ‘online’ is later, and they often feel entitled to a woman’s body, which is absolutely disgusting behavior. When a woman rejects this man-child, he often calls her many names such as ‘bitch,’ ‘fat fuck,’ ‘whore,’ ‘slut,’ you name it, it’s probably thrown around and they often assume the account on a dating app or even apps that aren’t meant for dating, is fake just because she rejects him. I’ll also explain what an app is at a later date. They also objectify women, only seeing them as a piece of meat, or ‘a piece of ass’ and see them only as things to reproduce with or just have sex with and leave them for another. Following along so far?” Despite this not being what he expected or wanted, Arlech found himself very interested in her explanation. A few hours and some questions later, Arlech said, “Gods, they really do sound like awful people. I may be a shameless flirt, but I don’t feel like I’m owed anything if I do flirt and they flirt back. I also ask permission before I go any further. I just find flirting to be fun and in some cases, useful.” “Then you’re neither of those things, surprisingly.” Celine responded. “Did you really think I was one of those things?” Arlech asked, somewhat offended. “I didn’t know what you were or how you were. I mean, for Gods’ sakes, I’ve only known you for a week,” and at that moment it registered in her brain, and there was a pit in her stomach, she had been in this world and away from home for a week and suddenly she panicked, “Wait, oh Gods, I’ve been here for an entire week, I died in my first week and came back alive, my parents probably think I’ve been kidnapped, or worse, murdered!” and she started hyperventilating. In the short time he had known her, Arlech never heard Celine sound so scared and panicked, if anything, to him she seemed the least likely to be scared of anything. “Whoa, whoa, slow down,” he said, trying to calm her down to the best of his ability while

naked and separated by a fence, which made it slightly awkward, but he shrugged it off, “Is there any way you can contact them and let them know that you’re safe?” “No,” Celine said, starting to sniffle but holding it back, “my phone doesn’t work here, I have no service, so unless there’s a way to send a letter to another world, it’s hopeless.” Arlech thought it over for a moment, “There might be a way, but it’s rather complex and pricey. There is a sort of magical letter paper that can be sent to anyone in any plane of existence as long as you write their names on it. It is, however, a good one thousand pieces of gold, if not more. Then there’s also something called a ‘tuning fork’ that you can attune to any plane of existence, and obviously, there’s a little bit of magic in your world if The Royal Wizard was able to bring you here through magical means. However, those are rare and require very strong magic.” That gave Celine hope, if only a small amount, and she imagined something that made her laugh through her sniffles, “I just had a thought, imagine what my parents would think of you if we brought them here, the world itself would be strange but imagine if they got brought here and you, Daxina, and I were right in front of them. Daxina looks at least somewhat normal, by my world’s standards, but just with pointy ears. You on the other hand,” she said with a weak laugh, “and Madam Fibavam, and Mr Longfoot.” Arlech began laughing too, “And let’s not forget Niria and Mistress Bula.” “Holy shit, yes.” Celine said, now in a full-on laugh. There was a moment of silence and out of nowhere, with a hint of awkwardness and shyness in his voice, and no evidence of his usual cockiness, Arlech asked, “May I hug you? When we’re out and dressed, I mean, not now. I don’t even think there’s a way right now, even if you were okay with that, which I’m sure you aren’t considering the state we’re in.” Celine rolled her eyes, which he could hear in her voice when she answered, “Yes, but preferably not in front of Madam Fibavam or Mr Longfoot, I feel like they’d take it the wrong way and start some rumors and gossip around Crisherton.” “That’s understandable,” he said and then added sarcastically and playfully, “I wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation of being able to easily reject any of my attempts at flirting with you.” “Ha, ha, very funny.” She responds sarcastically as well.

They finally got out of the hot springs after what seemed like several hours, both of which had wrinkly feet and hands, and went to change. They walked out of the changing rooms at the same time and Madam Fibavam looked at them and said jokingly, “Certainly took you two long enough, I almost thought you’d drowned. I’m glad to see that I was wrong.” Celine laughed and then said, “I have a question, and I don’t mean to offend you,” the Gnome answered, “It’s hard to offend me, go ahead,” “Is it true you’re about two hundred years old and did this city really need to be built around your bathhouse?” Celine asked cautiously. The Gnome laughed and said, “I take it Arlech told you this?” Celine nodded and the Gnome continued, still laughing, “Well, two hundred years old is a bit of an exaggeration, I’m around a hundred and seventy-five years old, but yes, Crisherton had to be built around my bathhouse because I refused to leave when they began building it up.” Celine’s jaw dropped and Arlech burst out laughing, “I told you so.” “Shut up,” Celine said, now embarrassed. Then the two went back to The Clydesdale Inn, having to knock so that Mr Longfoot could let them inside and Celine and Arlech added two extra nights in their respective rooms for four gold each. The Halfling gladly accepted the gold and went back to bed. They both glanced around to see if Mr Longfoot was still in the room, but it was hard to tell, so Arlech hesitantly put his arms out for a hug, which Celine had forgotten she agreed to for a split second, and she cautiously wrapped her arms around him, as did he in return. It most definitely wasn’t her imagination when Celine thought Arlech’s hand felt like warm coals, in fact, to her astonishment, his entire body felt like warm coals, which was rather relaxing. She could feel it through his shirt as her arms were wrapped around his torso, and she could feel it in his arms, which were wrapped around her waist. ‘A first step at least,’ Arlech thought as they let go of one another. “Uh, before I go to bed,” Celine said awkwardly, “may I ask you something?” “What?” The Tiefling asked. “I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination when you first grabbed my hand to heal me or not, but now I know what I felt was real. Why does your skin feel like warm coals? Is it like that all the time?” “Ah,” said he, and they sat down in front of her door, “that’s part of my heritage. As a Tiefling, or a Half-Devil, you have a higher body temperature than beings such as full-blooded Humans, or Dwarves, or Elves. Our skin also does, in fact, feel like warm coals when someone touches an arm or whatever. Think of it this way, a full-blooded Devil’s skin, living in the Nine Hells, would feel like raging fire, or burning coals. A Half-Devil, like myself, living on the Prime Plane, which is what this is called, our skin would feel like warm coals, or a dying, low, fire, like embers.” “Would that change if you went to the Nine Hells?” Celine asked. “I’ve never been, so perhaps, but perhaps not. The only way to find out is if we go, but I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.” Arlech answered, standing up. “Fair enough,” Celine said, getting ready to stand up on her own, but Arlech held a hand out as if to ask if he can help her up. Celine rolled her eyes but had a small smile on her face, and she grabbed ahold of his hand. He pulled her up as if she weighed nothing and said, “Goodnight,” letting her hand go, and the two went to their separate rooms for some sleep.

[carlycchapman24]

The Adventures of Celine Markus-Chapter 2

Celine woke up the next day, weirdly feeling stronger than the day before, but she shrugged it off, “Guess that’s what a good night’s rest feels like,” she said to herself and forced herself to climb out of bed. She finally got a chance to look around and see what her room was like, there was a tall, mahogany bookcase by her bedroom door and a plush, dark red chair next to it, with a small table on the opposite side of the chair. Her bed was a simple four-poster bed, but the covers were a purple and red pattern that reminded her of a mandala. Against the left wall, there was what looked like an early iteration of a vanity, which surprised her. There were also windows on either side of the bed with what looked like red silk curtains. She opened them and was greeted with a view of the sunrise over the docks. She smiled and pulled out her phone from her bag, mentally begging that it still works and isn’t dead. Thankfully it was still working, for the most part, and she took a picture of the sunrise. Finally, she decided to change out of her now wrinkled dress from home and into the clothes Captain Iseut gave her. The shirt was a little uncomfortable, since it was made of leather, but everything else seemed fine. After fixing her hair in the mirror on her vanity, she headed down to the main dining area, keeping the bookcase in mind, planning to browse it later. “Hey Mr Longfoot,” she greeted the Innkeeper. “Morning Miss Markus, what can I get you this fine morning?” The Halfling asked cheerfully. “Just some eggs and toast. Do you have coffee?” Celine responded, not expecting much just based on how primitive technology was here if they were so impressed by her phone yesterday. “Sure thing, one gold please,” Mr Longfoot answered. “Not a problem, is Singer Boy still sleeping?” Celine asked. Mr Longfoot laughs, “Is that what you’re calling him now? You know his name.” “Singer boy is fitting though, isn’t it?” Celine answers with a laugh. “You’re not wrong, I think he’s coming down now actually.” The Innkeeper answers and Celine turns around to see that he’s telling the truth. Stumbling down the stairs, his hair messy and still in his pajamas, is Arlech. Celine rolls her eyes and looks to Mr Longfoot who’s bringing out her coffee and breakfast, “Does he always do that? He acts like he owns the place.” “He just makes himself at home wherever he goes, I don’t know if he even has a home to go back to or if he’s always just traveling. If you two do end up traveling together, you’re going to have to get used to that.” “Oh yeah, that’ll go well,” Celine says sarcastically and begins eating.

Arlech plops down next to Celine at the bar and says, “Morning, already dressed and ready to go I see.” “And I see that you aren’t.” Celine responds sarcastically. “I see someone has come out of her shell a bit, considering you got here less than 24 hours ago.” Arlech says with a laugh. He motions Mr Longfoot over, “This morning’s special, if you’d be so kind, good sir.” “On it,” the Halfling answers and then calls out, “Edrich, morning special for Arlech if you would.” Behind the bar, Edrich sighs, sets the book he was reading down, and says begrudgingly, “On it sir.” As Edrich goes into the back, a group of people barge into the Inn and a sleazy, slimy sounding voice calls, “Where can an honest group of sailors get something to drink?” Celine cringed at the sound of the voice and as she looked over the motley crew, she immediately felt like they were sketchy. She tries to sneakily pull out her spellbook, planning to cast a spell called ‘Mage Armor’ on herself, just in case. Unfortunately to no avail, as a human-looking creature with long ears and dirty blonde hair notices and says, walking over, “And what do you think you’re doing, eh? You’re not gonna pull some fancy shit are ya?” Arlech, noticing the uncomfortable look on Celine’s face and the woman walking towards them, tries to secretly pull his dagger out in case things go bad. The blonde woman speaks, catching Arlech as well, “Now, now, no need for such violence, we’re merely just here for a drink.” “And why should we believe you?” Celine answers with venom in her voice, “You barge in here, demanding to have a drink, and don’t try and say you ‘asked,’ I could tell just by the voice of your buddy over there that you all would have taken something whether we wanted you to or not, and then act like you aren’t sketchy as hell and weren’t planning on fighting.” “What in the Nine Hells do you think you’re doing Celine, they’re pirates, they could tear you in half!” Arlech whispers. The dirty blonde looked on in surprise at the bright red head’s audacity at first and then burst out laughing, “Either you’re stupid or you have a death wish, girl. You don’t want to fuck with Captain Barks’ Crew and you most certainly don’t want to fuck with me.” “Try me,” Celine said darkly. “Gladly,” answers the woman, pulling out her pistol. She takes a shot at Celine and Celine falls down immediately, but forces herself back up and says with a smile, “A gun huh? That’s not quite fair, now is it, Blondie?” The woman blows the smoke away from her pistol and smirks, “Who said I fight fair?” “Good point,” Celine answers and fires off a spell called ‘Fire Bolt,’ only to still be unable to control her magic and hit the wall, causing the blonde woman to laugh. “I have to help her out, she’s going to get herself killed like an idiot.” Arlech says to Mr Longfoot, who answers, “No, no, let her learn a lesson here. She needs to learn how to pick her battles wisely.” Arlech sighed, “Fine.” After laughing, the blonde begins to walk off and say, “You’re not worth it, you don’t put up enough of a fight for me, you’re too weak.” This pissed Celine off and she growled, firing off a new spell she prepared that morning called ‘Magic Missile,’ two of which hit the woman while one broke the front window. Shocked, the blonde woman turned back around and said, “Maybe you’re worth it after all,” and pulled a giant sword off of her back. “Oh good, you’re learning.” Celine answered. The woman grins and charges at Celine, taking a swing at her with the sword, knocking Celine clean off of her feet, as her lifeless body falls to the ground. The blonde woman stashes the sword back into its sheath and grins, “Well, looks like I win. Now, about those drinks?” “Of course ma’am,” Mr Longfoot said, setting the crew at a table and bringing them all ale. Arlech sighed in annoyance and went over to Celine on the floor, whispering, “What an idiot,” before healing her. Celine sat up with a start, “Where is that blonde bitch, let me at her! I’m not finished with her!” “Yes, you are. Now how about you, oh, I don’t know, go be

a good little girl and stay doing, whatever it is you were doing.” The blonde calls across the way, causing her Captain and crew to burst into laughter. “Why you little-'' Celine starts and tries to run over to their table, only to be stopped by Arlech. “Hey, hey,” he said, “no, you already almost got killed once today.” “Listen to your little boyfriend, he’s the smarter one of you two.” The woman says, taking a drink of her ale. “He’s not-'' Celine starts, but is cut off by the woman, “Whatever you say.” Celine growls at the woman and shoves past Arlech, storming up to her room.

As Celine gets up into her room, she browses through the bookcase by her door to try and see if she can find a book to read. She pulls out a book titled, ‘Spells Every Beginner Wizard Should Know’ and begins reading. She writes down a couple of spells in her spellbook that sound interesting to her, one called ‘Burning Hands’ and another called ‘Ray of Sickness,’ and grins, “Perfect” she says to herself, then decides to take a nap. A few hours later, she wakes up and hears a knock on her door, “What do you want?” she asks. “It’s Arlech, may I come in?” Comes the Tiefling’s voice. “Go away, Singer Boy, I don’t want to talk to you,” Celine responds. “Oh, is that what you’re calling me now?” he says with a laugh and continues, “What if I told you I had food?” Celine’s stomach growled and it finally dawned on her how hungry she was, since she didn’t get to finish her breakfast because she just had to pick a fight with someone. She felt ashamed of herself and sighed, “Fine, come in.” The Tiefling walks in with a massive plate of food consisting of roast beef, vegetables, and mashed potatoes with gravy. The smell filled her nostrils and her stomach growled even louder. Arlech laughs, “Hungry are we?” “Guess so,” she looks at her phone and sees that it’s 1:45 pm, “Oh shit, I didn’t realize how long I had napped. Did those assholes leave?” “Unfortunately, no, they got rooms here. Apparently, their ship needs to be repaired and it’ll take a few days to fix it.” He says, setting the plate on the table by the chair. “Oh lovely,” Celine answered sarcastically. “Yeah, well, that’s life,” he sighs, then pauses for a moment, “I hope you know that what you did was stupid and reckless.” Celine puts her head in her hands and says, “Yeah, yeah, I already feel like a dumbass, no need to rub it in.” “What’s a dumbass?” Arlech asks, tilting his head. “Dammit, I need to get used to this new place,” she says to herself, then says to Arlech, “it means idiot pretty much. It’s just a more vulgar way of saying it.” “I see, well then yes, you were a dumbass. Did I use it right?” The man questions, “Yes, yes, now can we drop it? I learned my lesson, don’t go picking fights with random people here, I might get killed.” She replied with a frustrated tone. “Sorry, do you want me to leave so you can eat?” Arlech asks. Celine thinks for a moment and walks over to grab her plate, when she turns around she says, “You know what? No. Because if it’s true that you’re as well traveled as you and Mr Longfoot claim you are, since clearly, I need to learn more about this place, then who better to tell me about this place than you?” “I can tell you about more than that,” he says, winking, and Celine smacks him on the back of the head, “Stop it,” she says and then invites him to sit on the floor with her. “You’re no fun,” he says jokingly and sits in front of her. “Am I ‘no fun’ or are you just creepy?” She replies snarkily. “Touché,” he replies and then he begins to tell her what all he knows about Adamantia.

Several hours and another meal later, Arlech finishes telling Celine everything he knows, and she leans back against her bed to take it all in. “Well, alrighty then.” She says, still not fully able to process what she just heard. “It’s quite a lot, yes. Anyway, I’ll take these plates down and get ready for tonight’s show, are you going to watch or are you going to sit up here and let it all sink in?” Arlech asks, picking up the plates. “The latter I think, enjoy your show, you seem to like performing. Have a fun night.” Celine responds. “Well, if you insist, sleep well.” Answers the Tiefling with a smile, and then he heads downstairs. Celine gets up off of the floor, stretches, and then realizes that she hasn’t cleaned herself up in a few days. She heads downstairs and sits at the bar, motioning Mr Longfoot to come over, “Yes, what is it?” He asks. “Is there any place I can clean myself up a bit? I just realized how long it’s been since I washed up.” “There’s a hot spring out the back if you’d like to go there. There’s also a bathhouse two doors down if you want to get out of here for a bit, but you’ll miss Arlech’s show. It’s different every night.” He explains. “I already told him that I probably wouldn’t want to watch tonight. There’s a lot I have to process since he told me about this world and I’d like to have time to myself to do that.” She explains. “Well, all right then, enjoy your night Miss Markus. Maybe you can go check out the Solarstriders tomorrow or check the post-board to see if some of the other people around here need help.” The Halfling replies with a smile. “I plan on it, have a good night and enjoy the show, sir.” She responds and heads out.

When she gets to the bathhouse, she walks up to the person at the desk, a creature that was super small, but still some type of humanoid. The figure was a female with brown hair in a style that reminded her of Tracy Turnblad from ‘Hairspray,’ and she was reading some sort of book. She hesitantly tapped on the counter and the figure looked up, “Hello dear, how may I help you?” “Um, don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not from around here and people like you don’t really live where I come from, but what are you?” She asked, cringing at her own words. “I’m what’s called a Gnome, dear, and don’t worry, Gnomes aren’t the most common in these parts either. My name is Medda Fibavam, and you?” The Gnome asked. “Celine Markus, nice to meet you,” she says and pauses for a moment, “May I use your facilities?” “Of course, that will be two silver.” Medda answers. “I only have gold, is that okay?” Celine responds. “Gold is always welcome, dear. Now, you’ll head through this hallway and go on the side that says ‘Girls,’ all right?” Answers the woman, who hands her a towel, a key and a lock, and gives her 8 silver back. “Yes, thank you, ma’am, I appreciate it,” Celine responds, then rushes into the hall. “No running!” Comes the woman’s voice, who then says to herself, “Foreigners, Pelor help me!” Upon entering the ‘Girls’ side, Celine sees a room with closets against the walls, all open, “I guess no one’s here, good,” she says and stashes her Bag of Holding, her dagger, and her spellbook in one and locks it. Then she undresses and heads out the doors on the opposite side of the room, she unwraps the towel, and a cold sensation runs down her entire body in the evening air. She shivers, folds her clothes, and carefully dips a toe in the water, then quickly takes it out, “Jesus fuck that’s hot,” she swears, then she takes a deep breath and then fully steps in, both cringing and enjoying the heat from the bath. She took the time to think about everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours and what Arlech had told her this evening, after a moment she began to cry, realizing how truly far from home she was at this moment in time. She had her phone, yes, but what good is a phone when you can’t call or text a loved one and let them know what’s going on and that you’re safe. “My parents must be worried sick,” she sobs. Just then, a voice she recognizes enters her mind, “A little homesick I see? I know of a spell, but I don’t think you can learn it yet,” it was the Royal Wizard Maverick. Celine’s sadness becomes anger as she hears his voice, “You, you bastard, you did this, you brought me here! Where are you? I’ll kill you with my bare hands!” “I’m nowhere near you dear, and believe me, you wouldn’t be able to kill me even if you tried.” The old man responds with a chuckle. “Then burn in one of the Nine Hells,” Celine answers, an icy tone to her voice. “Ah, you’ve been learning, good, you’ll need that information. Though I don’t suppose someone as weak and unskilled as you will go there anytime soon,” He says snidely. A look of horror appears on her face, and when she doesn’t answer, Maverick says, “Oh yes, I saw that pathetic little fight of yours with that pirate, from a distance of course.” “How?” Celine asks and then immediately regrets it when he answers, “That spell I spoke of? I can use that to find you with ease,” a moment of silence and then, “When I said I’d keep an eye on you, I meant it, quite literally.” Celine shuddered in disgust but didn’t answer the man. She waited a moment, just in case she heard his voice again, and when nothing happened she sighed in relief and finished her bath and headed back to The Clydesdale Inn, needing to be let back in by Mr Longfoot, who had closed up after the performance, and headed to bed for an unsettled rest.

The next morning, Celine woke up early but stayed in bed until a knock was heard on her door. “Hello, Celine, are you all right?” Comes Arlech’s voice. “Go away,” Celine says, pulling the blanket over her head. “Oh, okay, I can’t walk downstairs in my pajamas, but you can stay in yours all day.” Arlech answers sarcastically. “Yep,” Celine answers, pulling the blankets even tighter in towards her body. She hears a sigh and feet storming off, thinking she was fine, she began sobbing like the night before. She cried herself to sleep and was woken up by another knock that came from the door, “Miss Markus, Miss Markus?” came the voice, Mr Longfoot. Celine forced herself to climb out of bed, lazily pulling her pants on, but not bothering to put a shirt on over her bra. She approached the door and tore it open, “Yes?” She said through gritted teeth, ignoring the look of shock and mild fear on Mr Longfoot’s face. “You know what, never mind, sorry to bother you, I didn’t realize-“ He said, averting his eyes. Celine sighed, “Did Arlech put you up to this?” “Y-Yes,” The Halfling said, flushing in embarrassment at seeing her without her shirt. “If he wants to bother me again, tell him to come up here himself,” Celine responded in frustration. “Right, yes, sorry to bother you, again.” Mr Longfoot answered and ran off. Celine slammed the door shut and plopped onto the chair next to her bookcase, rubbing her eyes and face in irritation. Moments later, Arlech swings the door open to see Celine sitting in the chair, his face becoming a darker red when he realizes she has no shirt on, “First of all, it’s late afternoon, you’ve been in here half the day. Second of all, do people, where you’re from, often, sit around without their shirts on?” Celine laughed bitterly, “You have no idea. Some walk around their homes completely naked, the amount of times I’ve glanced through the windows and seen a neighbor’s naked body is ridiculous.” “I don’t believe you, and not that I’m complaining, but can you put one on please?” He said, tearing his eyes away from the redhead. “Fine, don’t believe me, but what if I don’t want to put a shirt on? The important parts are covered, unless shoulders, collar bones, and stomachs distract you too much.” She answered sharply. Arlech sighed, “Please?” Celine grumbled, “Fine,” and roughly threw the shirt on from the Captain, “There, happy?” “Much better.” Arlech said with a sigh of relief. “Now, what do you want?” Celine said, crossing her arms. “We were going to check the post-board today, were we not?” The man said, raising an eyebrow. Her face went from angry to realization, “Oh shit, I forgot. I’m sorry!” “Did you have a rough night?” Arlech asks gently. “I don’t want to talk about it, come on, let’s go,” Celine says quickly, rushing to get her shoes on and grab her bag and spellbook. As she tries to walk out of the room, he stops her, “Hold on, no, what happened?” “I said, I don’t want to talk about it!” She answers back harshly. “All right, all right, have it your way.” He says, stepping aside to let her walk out. The two head to the post-board and as they get there, the Elf Pirate shows up at the exact same time, “And what do you two think you’re doing here?” Celine clenches her jaw, “We were looking for some jobs to take.” “You?” the Elf scoffs, “You couldn’t beat me in a bar fight and you think you can fight anything more than a simple spider? Gods have mercy.” “You’re a cunt, you know that, right?” Celine says, trying to hold in her anger. “And you don’t know what respect is,” The Elf shot back. “Why should I respect you?! You’re a fucking pirate, and pirates certainly don’t know what respect is!” Celine shouted. “I’m not saying you should respect pirates, I’m saying you should respect your superiors, and as I’m superior to you when it comes to fighting, well.” She said, glancing at her nails. “Will you two knock it off?!” Arlech shouted, which surprised both women, “There’s only one way to solve this, and that’s all three of us going to the Solarstriders and joining them, together,” the two women started

arguing with him and he said, “Now,” “Absolutely not, I’d rather die than work with this cunt!” Celine shouted and at the same time the Elf says, “As if I’d work with this weakling!” “Fine, if there’s no convincing you two,” Arlech says, “I’ll just drag you there.” He just barely manages to get ahold of Celine, but the Elf is too quick and gets out of the way, saying, “No way in the Nine Hells am I going with you and Weakling here. I’d rather go get a drink.” This gives Arlech an idea, “If you go with us, I’ll buy drinks for you and your entire crew if we get in.” The Elf smirks, “Now that sounds like a good deal, definitely enough to repay me for dealing with Weakling over there.” Celine sighed, “I have a name you know.” Arlech snickers, “Now that sounds familiar.” “Shut up.” Celine responds and she begrudgingly walks to the Guild with the other two.

They finally arrive, and when they walk in, they’re greeted by what was, in Celine’s opinion, the ugliest creature she had ever seen. It was a woman with long blackish-green hair, greenish-brown skin, and giant lower teeth that reminded her of tusks on an elephant, the woman spoke, “May I help you?” her voice was raspy and low and she glared over at the three of them. “Hello gorgeous,” Arlech said, “what’s your name?” The woman rolled her eyes, “You’re not the first one to try that, Half-Devil, now what is it you want?” Arlech backed up and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed, “We were just wondering if we could join the Solarstriders.” “You lot?” She laughed, “Give me a break. Do you think we just accept people with no consideration for their talents, or lack thereof? You three don’t even look like you can take on a regular old Gnoll, let alone the type of creatures we usually fight.” “Please?” Arlech begged. “No.” The woman said and started to turn away when the Elf shot her gun in the air, leaving a bullet hole in the roof, and then she pointed it to the woman at the desk, “You’ll let us apply or we’ll destroy your precious Guild building,” The woman got up in the Elf’s face and said, “The only thing you’ll ‘destroy’ is yourselves if you do not leave this establishment right this instant after the damage you just caused.” “Ma’am, please,” Celine said, “if you let us pay for the damage by working, we’ll leave you for good.” “Get. Out. Now.” The woman said, shoving them out the door when a tall man with black hair in a buzz cut and with olive skin stepped out of a door at the back, “Mistress, what’s going on?” “Go back to the barracks Sidqiel, it’s none of your concern. You may be a Guild member, but you’re not the leader, and how I handle trespassers is none of your business.” He looks over the trio, “Were they trying to join the Guild?” “No, not at all, they-“ but the Mistress was cut off by Arlech, “Yes, yes we were, and your leader here treated us with disrespect and wouldn’t give us a chance.” Sidqiel was skeptical, but asked the Mistress, “Mistress Bula, is this true?” The woman sighed in frustration, “Yes, but they-“ but she was cut off by the younger man, “Mistress, if they were trying to join, let them. I’ll oversee their trial myself.” “No, they burst in here and didn’t even make an appointment, now please go train or something while I deal with these hooligans.” The Mistress said sternly. “Please?” Sidqiel tried again. The woman rubbed her eyes, “Fine, but they only get one chance, if they fail, they must leave the Solarstriders and never return or ask again, “Do you understand?!” she says to the trio and all three nod. “Good, now, let me see if I can find something,” she says and pulls out a large wooden chest, digging through it. “Hmm, nothin’ too fancy today, but a fishing village outside of Crisherton is dealing with Gnoll raids on the daily and there’s not a fighter among the villagers, so more and more villagers have been getting kidnapped or killed. They need someone to fight them off and bring a pelt back as proof of getting rid of them.” Never having heard of ‘Gnolls’ before, Celine whispered to Arlech, “What the actual fuck is a Gnoll?” “You’ll find out,” the Tiefling responded, making Celine instantly shut up and turn back to the woman. “You lot up for it?” The woman asked the trio, who all said yes. “Good, Sidqiel will join you on this, if you fail, you leave and never come again. You succeed, we’ll consider the damage from Miss trigger-happy over here paid for and you can join the Guild. The reward is entirely up to the chief of the village, now be on your way.”

They walk out, joined by Sidqiel, who says, “I apologize for the Mistress, she’s a bit, intense, but you don’t become a guild leader by being nice I suppose.” “So, you’re telling us she’s always like that?” Celine asks Sidqiel. “Yes, unfortunately. Now, before we head to the fishing village, we should stop and buy a few necessities.” The man said, it was then, now that she was closer to him, that Celine noticed he had heterochromia, but an interesting form of it she’d never seen. One eye was green, which was normal enough, but the other was a bronze color and metallic just like the metal. She tilted her head and Sidqiel laughed, “I see you’ve noticed my eyes. Quite interesting, are they not?” he smiles, but his smile doesn’t reach his eyes, Celine notices. “Yeah, I guess.” She says, starting to feel uncomfortable. “Anyway,” he says, facing forward, “let’s go get the items and rid this village of these Gnolls, I’m sure the Chief of the Village will award us handsomely.” The Quartet made their way down the cobblestone street to wherever Sidqiel was leading them, the silence amongst them only being broken by the Elf, “So where are we going? Where are we buying items and what’s the name of this fishing village? Or do you just expect us to trust you?” Arlech whispers to Celine, “Well that sounds familiar,” and they both laugh. “What’s so funny?” Snaps the Elf. Celine clears her throat, “Nothing, nothing at all.” “Enough,” comes Sidqiel’s voice, “If you need to know so badly, we’re going to a shop called The Glass Key, which has many magical items you all may need. As for the village, it’s called Tortoise Landing because Tortoises lay their eggs on the beach every year and return to the rainforest until their eggs hatch. Is that enough information for you?” “Yes, much appreciated,” the Elven woman’s voice says back sarcastically. They finally make it to The Glass Key and the four walk in, a Shopkeep that kind of reminded Celine of the dragons from Game of Thrones was at the front desk and greeted Sidqiel warmly, “Ah, Sidqiel! What can I do for my favorite customer today?” “Hello Myuustik, how are you doing today? I have some new recruits for the Solarstriders here, we’re off to fight Gnolls for their trial.” Sidqiel responded. The dragon looking creature looked behind Sidqiel, “Oh hello there! What are your names?” Before Celine could answer, the Elf says, “Our names are our business and no one else’s, now get us what we need.” “This one is quite sharp-tongued I see, she could almost compete with Mistress Bula with that attitude,” Myuustik said. “Yes, that attitude almost got them a restraining order from the Mistress herself after their, shall we say, abrupt entrance. Anyway, I believe we’ll be buying eight regular healing potions and some camping gear for their trial. Put it on the Solarstriders’ account please.” “Coming right up Sidqiel! Good luck to you all.” Myuustik said with a grin and went to the back of the shop. When he returned, he said, “Alright, so, two healing potions each for the four of you, four bedrolls, four traveler’s clothes, rations for five days, and two, two-person tents. Four-hundred and eighteen gold and five silver in total, on the Solarstriders’ account. I hope the Mistress can pay for it all.” “I’m sure she can, and if not, we’re likely to get paid more than enough to pay it back after the contract is done,” Sidqiel responds and off they all go.

As they approach the wall to leave, they’re stopped by guards, “Halt, what is your business outside of the city?” “This lot are new recruits for the Solarstriders, so if I were you, I’d let us through or Mistress Bula will be very upset that we didn’t complete the contract,” Sidqiel answers. “Show us proof or we’ll not let you out.” One of the guards said gruffly. Sidqiel pulls out the contract from his pocket and shows the guards, “Now may we leave?” The guards backed off, “Yes, you may, but be careful, bandits have been seen on the roads lately, and we don’t usually see them this close to the city, so something must be driving them from their hideouts.” “Duly noted, we’ll keep an eye out, right folks?” Sidqiel says, glancing at the trio behind him, all of which say, “Yes sir.” “See, already some sort of discipline. Have a good day my good sirs.” Sidqiel said cheerfully and the quartet walked out of the city. After walking a good five hours, the sun began to set and their stomachs all growled. “I say this is a good place to rest for the night, but keep off of the road. We’ll camp in the underbrush over there,” Sidqiel said, pointing out several trees and bushes off to the right of the group. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to stop?” The Elf said, rolling her eyes, “Why not keep walking as much as we can and then rest for the night?” “You heard what those guards said, right? The roads aren’t safe at night and there are bandits around here.” Celine said, annoyed that this girl in front of her had even thought of such things. The Elven woman sighed in annoyance, “Fine, whatever, I just thought we’d get this done quicker, but what do I know?” Sidqiel and Arlech sighed in relief about not having to interfere with the women fighting and Sidqiel said, “All right, we have two tents that can fit two people in them, I say we the guys in one tent and the girls in the other.” This caused a fight to break out, “You expect me to sleep with her?! Have you lost your mind?! We’d kill each other!” Celine shouted. “More like I would kill you, little miss weakling!” The Elf shouted back. Sidqiel rubbed his temples and shouted, “Enough! This trial is about learning to work together as a group because if you can’t work with a group, you cannot join the Solarstriders. Every contract requires a group to go because they tend to handle things far worse than bandits and Gnolls that can’t be taken on alone, like dragons for example, and I’m not talking Dragonborns like Myuustik, I mean large, vicious Dragons like Elder Dragons for example. Now, you two will sleep in the same tent or you can leave right now and never bother the Solarstriders again.” The two women begrudgingly agreed and Arlech handed them a tent. Once the camp was set up, Sidqiel pulled out dry meats and bread for everyone. “We have rations for five days,” he said, “I doubt we’ll need all of them as it’s a two day walk to Tortoise Landing and a two day walk back to Crisherton. Eat up, you’ll need your strength.” Celine hesitantly ate the food, wishing she was back in her world and could order Chinese takeout and watch trash TV instead. At that moment, she felt like something was trying to get into her mind, but as she tried to push it away, it failed, and suddenly she felt very watched by eyes that she could not see. Her facial expression changes without her realizing it, which prompts Arlech to ask, “Hey, are you all right? You look awfully uncomfortable.” Not wanting sympathy or to worry anyone, Celine says, “Maybe it’s because I’m with a person I don’t know, a person I hate, and a person who shamelessly flirts with anything with a pulse, if I can even call half of you people.” Knowing the flirting comment is about himself, Arlech says, “Hey, that’s hurtful.” “Good, I hope so. I’m gonna go for a walk, don’t bother me,” she starts. “I don’t think that’s such a good-“ the Tiefling says and Celine shoots back, “I said, don’t bother me,” and storms off. Sidqiel looks around awkwardly, “Is she always like that?” “Yes,” The Elf and Tiefling say simultaneously. “Right, well, I’ll

take the first watch, which of you will join me?” Sidqiel asks. “I will,” The Elven Pirate responds in a bored tone. “Okay, and you, Tiefling, what’s your name?” Sidqiel asks. “Arlech.” The Merlot haired man answers. “Arlech, get some rest, you’ll do the next watch with the redhead.” “Her name is Celine, and will do.” Arlech responds and gets into the tent.

Once she gets a moment to herself, Celine leans against a tree and slides down it, the bark leaving marks on her shirt. Just then, she hears Maverick’s voice in her head, “I see you’re outside of the city now.” “What the fuck do you want, you bastard?” Celine answers. “My, my, vulgar today, are we?” The Royal Wizard responds. “Who wouldn’t be when it comes to you?” The redhead said through gritted teeth. “People who know their place in this world.” Came the man’s voice. “Well, good thing I don’t know my place, then.” She answers. “Then learn it.” The Royal Wizard responded. When she didn’t hear another message from him, she turned around and threw a Fire Bolt at the tree behind her. She hit the tree and left a scorch mark on it, then headed back to camp. Back at camp, the Elf and Sidqiel are keeping watch, neither really see anything. They hear a rustle, but when they look over, it’s just a deer eating grass, which gets scared off when the two notice it. Once Celine gets back, they tell her to get some sleep and she mumbles to herself, “Gladly.” A few hours pass and Sidqiel and the Elf wake up Arlech and Celine, telling them it was their turn to keep watch. Arlech and Celine both force themselves to get up and they sit near the fire, looking at the surroundings around them, Celine still half asleep while Arlech is wide awake. “So, are you gonna talk about what happened last night or not?” Arlech asks the shorter one. “I said I didn’t want to talk about it. Do you understand what, ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ means?” Celine shot at him. “Yes, I do, but there are some things you shouldn’t keep to yourself.” Arlech responded in a frustrated tone. “And why should I tell you? You just met me forty-eight hours ago, and you think I’d be willing to tell you anything? Get real.” She answers, rolling her eyes. “I’m just trying to be a good friend!” He answers. “Well you’re not my friend, you barely even know me! Maybe consider getting to know people instead of mindlessly flirting with them all the time!” She whisper-yells at him. Just then, they hear a crunching sound, like a stick. When they turn their heads, they see five figures in the shadows, all with weapons of some sort in their hands. “Wake the others,” Arlech whispered as he pulled out his Lute. Celine rushed into the tents, waking both Sidqiel and the Elf up, “We’ve got company” was all she told them. The two hopped up and quickly changed and grabbed their weapons. The first figure approaches and when it comes into what’s left of the firelight, they see it’s a man with a scraggly looking face, with a scar over his left eye, he says, “Give us your gold and maybe we’ll let you live.” “How about no?” Celine says and pulls out her spellbook. “So be it,” the man says and runs up to Celine, trying to slice her in the stomach, and manages to do so. She clutches at her stomach and glares at him, firing Magic Missile at her attacker while a second figure comes out of the shadows, this one is a woman, and she fires her crossbow at Sidqiel. Celine hits her attacker with one Magic Missile while the other two go wide, at the same time, the bolt from the second figure goes wide and misses Sidqiel entirely. A third figure steps out, a man, with studded leather armor and a green bandana on his head, and he throws a dagger at the Blonde Elf and hits her. The fourth figure steps out, another woman, and she runs up to Arlech, trying to attack him with her scimitar. She succeeds and leaves a cut in his chest. Sidqiel casts a spell and a giant, translucent Morningstar appears next to the figure that attacked him, it hits her and knocks her off of her feet. The Elven Pirate pulls out her pistol and shoots at her attacker, but the bullet doesn’t come out and she whispers, “Son of a bitch” to herself. The figure with the bandana chuckled at her and pulled out his scimitar. A fifth figure steps out, male and shoots a crossbow at Celine, but it misses and hits a tree. Arlech pulls out his short sword, taking a swing at his attacker, but swings wide, then he tries to cut the woman in front of

him with his dagger, but she just barely gets out of the way, a smirk on her lips. The first man who attacked Celine attacks her again and manages to do so. Celine casts Mage Armor on herself to protect herself while the figure who attacked Sidqiel fires her crossbow at him again, but the bolt just flies up into the air and lands ten feet from Sidqiel. The man with the bandana throws a second dagger at the Elf, but it misses and he runs up closer. The woman who attacked Arlech sliced at him again, and hit him with ease, then backflipped away from him, but landed on her backside. Arlech looked ragged and like he was about to pass out. Sidqiel uses the giant translucent Morningstar again on the same woman and hits her again and now she begins to look ragged and like she’s going to pass out. The Elven woman stuffs her gun back in its holster and pulls out her Great Sword, running towards the man who attacked her and taking a swing at him. He glared at her with disdain and got himself ready. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow again and hits her easily, immediately taking her down and she passes out. Arlech glares, casts a spell called Thunderwave and his attacker gets hit and she’s shoved ten feet away and is knocked out cold on the ground, then he runs towards Celine. Celine’s first attacker slices at Celine again leaving more cuts in her skin and suddenly her last breath escapes her body and she’s lying lifeless on the ground. Sidqiel’s attacker fires a crossbow at him, but it misses entirely again. Sidqiel laughs at the woman’s failure and gets ready to attack again. The man with the bandana slices at the Elven woman, and hits her, leaving a nasty gash in her arm. Sidqiel hits his attacker with the giant Morningstar again and kills her instantly. The Elf slices at the man with the bandana again, but he steps out of the way, which causes her to growl at him. Celine’s second attacker attacks the Elf with his crossbow but misses entirely. Celine’s first attacker slices at Arlech with his scimitar and just hits him before he can move out of the way and Arlech is knocked out cold, falling on top of Celine’s lifeless body. The man with the bandana makes a slice at the Elven woman and hits her, but she’s still up even if she’s not looking great. Sidqiel attacks the man in front of the Elf, but misses entirely. The Elf swipes at the man in front of her again and hits him. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel and misses completely and growls in a frustrated manner. Celine’s first attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel and also misses completely. The man in the bandana throws a dagger at Sidqiel and misses entirely as well. Sidqiel tries to hit the man in front of the Elf again, but the translucent Morningstar just does not hit him. The Pirate slices into the man, but he steps out of the way too quickly. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel but to no avail. Celine’s first attacker tries again as well, no luck. The man in the bandana slices at the Elf instead and slices into her shoulder, causing her to fall on the ground. Sidqiel runs over to the Elf as fast as he can and heals her up, she gasps and gets up. “Why you son of a-, “ the man with the bandana said. “Elf, go to Arlech and heal him up as quickly as possible,” Sidqiel whispers to her. “My name is Daxina, and will do.” Daxina answered and ran over to Arlech. The man in the bandana gets a hit on Daxina as she gets out of his range, leaving a gash in her leg as she runs over to the Tiefling who’s out cold. Deciding Sidqiel is the biggest threat, Celine’s first attacker shoots his crossbow at him, but the bolt ends up in a tree. The man in the bandana slashes at Sidqiel, but Sidqiel steps to the side too quickly. Sidqiel then quickly tries to grab the man’s arm, but he moves it away too quickly. Daxina takes out the potion from her tent and pours it down Arlech’s throat and he awakes with a start, “What’s going on, what happened?” “Not now,” Daxina said, “we still have a problem.” Arlech looks over as Celine’s second attacker

shoots a crossbow at Sidqiel, finally hitting him and causing some sort of damage. Feeling hopeful, Celine’s first attacker tries to shoot at Sidqiel as well, managing to hit him. The man in the bandana grins and slices at Sidqiel, hitting him as well, knocking him out cold. Daxina slices at Celine’s second attacker, slicing into him like ham. The man she attacked, attacked her, but she jumped out of the way. Arlech then cast Thunderwave, knocking one bandit out cold and accidentally knocking Daxina out. “Sorry,” he says and runs to the man in the bandana. The second man who attacked Celine attacks him as he leaves and hits him. The man in the bandanna chuckles, “You really think you can take me?” “No,” Arlech said, “but I refuse to go down without a fight.” “So be it,” the assumed leader said and sliced at Arlech hitting him square in the chest, knocking him out cold. The two remaining bandits spit on the bodies of their victims and left, not caring for what they had if they had been that weak.

An hour later, a Tabaxi walked by, and she saw everyone on the ground. She checked their pulses and found all but one had a slow, steady heartbeat, “Oh dear, this will never do,” she said and healed the three she could heal, and they all sat up quickly and noticed her, “Who are you?” Daxina asked, still not fully there. “My name is Jolien, I’m a Druid, and I can see you all need help. The redhead, how long has she been dead?” “An hour,” Arlech answered her, looking down. “Well, then I think we’ll be just fine.” Jolien answered and walked over to Celine, cold and dead, Jolien placed a hand on Celine’s arm and said words that no one but Daxina understood, “Al’katar,” the others looked in confusion, “ ’Come back,’ she says,” Daxina translates, “Al’katar norvium,” the Tabaxi continues, “ ’Come back to the light,’ ” translates Daxina. The next thing they all knew, Celine sits up, gasps, and coughs. “Welcome back young one,” Jolien said and Celine screamed at seeing a giant cat in front of her. “Shh, shhh, don’t worry, you’re safe,” the Tabaxi says. “What the hell are you?!” Celine exclaims as she backs away on the ground. “My name is Jolien, I’m what’s called a Tabaxi, and I just brought you back to life.” “Excuse me?” Celine asks, stunned. “Yes, I just brought you back, you weren’t breathing.” The Tabaxi reassures. “I-I was dead?” Celine asks, still processing what she just heard, “You really mean that?” she asks, looking at the giant cat in front of her, which was still an odd sight to her. Before Jolien could answer her, Arlech and Sidqiel ran over and knelt by her and started asking what seemed like fifty-thousand questions, “Are you okay?” “Did you meet or see any of the Gods?” “Do you need help up?” Celine covered her ears and said, “Shut up, please! And back the fuck off!” Jolien lightly pushed the two men back and backed up herself while Daxina looked on in shock at everything that happened, wondering how a Tabaxi knew Elvish. Celine sat up fully and leaned against a tree, she inhaled deeply and sat for a minute, just in silence as the others looked on, confused. When she exhaled, she said, “So you’re telling me, I died, as in, actually died, and somehow I was brought back to life? That makes no logical sense. Especially in this world where it seems like it’s all early versions of weapons and furniture, compared to where I’m from. You wouldn’t have the equipment to even attempt that, my world doesn’t and it’s more advanced than this.” Jolien walked up, slowly, “Well, I don’t know where you’re from, dear, but with magic, we can, depending on how long the person or creature has been dead. What I used on you, the creature or person can’t have been dead for 200 or more years. You had only been gone an hour and it was the only one I had prepared, so it was quite easy to bring you back,” she turned to the other three, “and this question goes to all four of you. What in the Gods’ names were you doing out here in the middle of the night? These roads are dangerous at night nowadays.” “They were to join the Solarstriders, we were on the way to Tortoise Landing, the fishing village two days from Crisherton, for their trial. They’re having a bit of a Gnoll problem. These bandits, I presume, that attacked us were not part of it. They tried to attack our camp,” Sidqiel responds and Daxina adds, “Now, before you lecture us about getting beaten by simple bandits, there was this large man with them that seemed to be their leader.” “I would have done no such thing,” Jolien answers, “But that certainly explains it. If their leader was with them, that means something drove them out of wherever they were hiding.” “Do you think it might have been the Gnolls?” Arlech asks. The Tabaxi scoffed, “Gods no, a Captain or Leader of the bandits could easily handle a Gnoll, a small group of them even. No, it had to have been something big. I need to report this to the City Watch in Crisherton, but that will wait until tomorrow. You all go to sleep, I’ll keep an eye out for anything else.” The quartet agreed and climbed into their tents, going to

sleep with ease.

[carlycchapman24]

The Isabella Ramirez Chronicles-Prologue

The sun rose at 09:00 on February 25th, 2019 and it woke up young Isabella Ramirez. She was confused for a moment, then realized what day it was, her 11th birthday. She hopped out of bed and planned to get her parents up, but as she ran downstairs, she noticed the scent of pancakes, eggs, and toast, her favourite breakfast. She ran into the kitchen and found her mother, Eryn, standing over the stove, preparing this special breakfast for her special girl. “Mummy!” Isabella exclaimed, and her mother turned to face her. “Bella!” Eryn said cheerfully, and went over to Isabella, picking her up while hugging her. “Happy birthday sweetheart! I’ve made your favourite breakfast.” Isabella laughed as her mother sat her down, “I know, I smelled it!” As Eryn returned to the stove, her father, Félix, walked in, half asleep. He smiled and hugged his daughter and kissed the top of her head, “Hey Isa, how’s my girl?” he asked, his Spanish accent thick. Isabella thought back on the Spanish she learned from her father and his side of the family, “¡Muy Bueno, gracias a papá!” Félix laughed and ruffled her long, black hair, “Good job mi hija!” A few moments later, Eryn carries in two plates of food. One for Isabella and one for Félix. After setting their plates down, Eryn goes to grab herself a plate. As they eat, they hear a knock on the door and look up in confusion. Félix looks at his wife and asks, “Mi Amor, are you expecting someone?” Eryn shakes her head, “No Estimado, are you?” Félix shakes his head, “No? I just got up, why would I be expecting someone?” Eryn nods in understanding, and the knock gets sharper and slightly impatient. Isabella looks to her dad and says quietly, “Papá, what’s going on?” “I don’t know mi hija, stay back, just in case.” Eryn walks over to the door, looks in the peephole, and sees a woman who looked to be 175.25cm in an emerald robe with her black hair in a tight bun, a pointed hat, green eyes, and square spectacles. She cautiously lets the woman in and says, “Hello?” “Is this the Ramirez Residence?” The woman asks with a heavy Scottish accent.

Félix gets up and walks over to the severe woman, “Sí, and might I ask who you are, to suddenly show up at our door and somehow know our family name.” he responds sharply, his Spanish accent equally as heavy as the woman’s Scottish accent. “You can wait for that information, sir, now where is Isabella? I have a letter for her.” The stern Scottish woman asks. Before her father explodes again, Isabella hesitantly walks up, “Uh, that’s me,” she says shyly. The Scottish woman gives a warm smile, “Hello, and happy birthday. This is for you.” She hands Isabella an envelope, sealed with what looked like wax, which had an ‘H’ on it and surrounding the letter was a lion, a snake, a badger, and an eagle. Isabella looks at it in awe, then looks up at the woman. Félix clears his throat and says, “You still haven’t told us who you are.” The woman sighs in frustration, “I am Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That letter your daughter is holding is an acceptance letter to the school. Any other questions?” Félix and Eryn look at one another in stunned silence, while Isabella has a huge smile on her face. “Can I open it?” Isabella asks excitedly. “May I? And yes, you may.” Minerva says, not unkindly, and gives the girl a soft smile. Isabella carefully undoes the wax seal and inside the envelope, there are two pieces of parchment. The first page reads,

‘HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorceress, Hero of the Second Wizarding War)

Dear Miss Ramirez,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. The term begins on the 1st of September. We await your owl by no later than the 31st of July.

Yours Sincerely,

Nioclás Lynwood

Deputy Headmaster

Isabella couldn’t contain her excitement and shoved the letter in her parents’ faces, “Look, look! This is awesome!” Then she realizes how strange this all is and turns to Minerva, her soon-to-be Headmistress, “Wait, but how?” Professor McGonagall kneels to Isabella’s level and asks, “Isabella, or, may I call you that?” Isabella nods and the woman asks a strange question, “Isabella, have you ever had something strange happen when you’re upset, or scared, or possibly even excited? Something you couldn’t explain?” Isabella thinks back to when she’d lost a friend, a boy about her age. He had tried to comfort her after she got bullied, but when she had yelled at him to go away, she shook the ground beneath them. This scared the boy and not long afterwards, the boy and his family had moved away. When she realizes this, she looks up at McGonagall and responds, “Yes…” Professor McGonagall stands up and smiles, “Well, there’s your answer.” Isabella grinned and looked at her mother and father, both surprised, yet proud of their daughter. “So, does that mean I get to go?” She asks them. Félix and Eryn look at one another, as if silently debating about it, after fifteen minutes, they looked at their daughter, and said in unison, “Yes.” Isabella jumped up in excitement and cheered loudly, prompting Félix, Eryn, and Professor McGonagall to tell her to be quiet. Isabella calmed down and gave a sheepish grin, then remembered that there was a second piece of parchment and she sat down the first one, reading the second one. It read

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil’s clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)

By Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic

By Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory

By Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration

By Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

By Phyllidia Spore

Magical Draughts and Potions

By Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

By Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection

By Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 Wand

1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 Set glass or crystal phials

1 Telescope

1 Set brass scales

Students may also bring, if desired, an owl OR a cat, OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK’

Isabella read all of that, confused, and she handed the parchment to her parents, who read over it. They look at Professor McGonagall and Eryn asks, “Wait, where can we possibly get all of this?” Minerva McGonagall smiled knowingly and said, “Here in London, if you know where to go.” “Wait, so where do we go?” Félix asks, dumbfounded. “We’ll go tomorrow, get everything as early as possible,” Professor McGonagall responds, then she starts to walk off. “Oh, I almost forgot,” she says, then turns to face the family, and she pulls out a train ticket from her robe and hands it to Isabella, “Here, for when the term starts.” Isabella takes the ticket and reads it aloud, “London to Hogwarts, one-way ticket, platform nine and three-quarters, what’s this mean?” Professor McGonagall responds, “On the first of September, you need to go to King’s Cross Station and find the platform to get on the Hogwarts Express, the train leaves at ten in the morning, sharp, so don’t be late.” “How do we-?” Eryn starts, but is cut off by the professor, “Look for other kids with a trolley filled with books, crates, cages, what have you, and watch them.” She says with a glint in her eye. “Now, I must be off, lots to do, more Muggle-Borns to inform, see you tomorrow.” Finally, Professor McGonagall walks out, when Félix, Eryn, and Isabella go out to say their goodbyes, the stern-looking woman known as Professor McGonagall had disappeared.

[carlycchapman24]

The Adventures of Celine Markus-Chapter 1

It was a cool September day and Celine was out running errands. She had just left the grocery store when she saw a figure in a black cloak, with its hood up, motioning her to come over to him. She looked around, and no one seemed to notice the figure, which freaked her out, so she began walking away. The next thing Celine knew, the figure made a gesture with its hands and for a moment she felt compelled to walk over to it. She shook it off, was confused for a moment, and then started heading home. However, when she turned around to walk up the street, the figure seemed to appear right in front of her, startling her. The figure then took its hood down to reveal an older man, perhaps in his mid to late 70s, laughing cheerfully. “You’re a stubborn one, aren’t ya? Good, you’ll need to be. The name is Maverick. I’m the Royal Wizard of Crisherton, which I’m sure you’ve never heard of, so that’s not important. Anywho, you look like someone in need of work, or an adventure, or both even. What’s your name, young lady?” Celine shook her head in disbelief, wizards? Royalty? Crisherton? This guy was a nutcase! “Sir, pardon my rudeness, but you’re delusional. Have you hit your head? Do you have a concussion? Follow me, I’ll take you to the police department.” She grabs his arm and tries to walk away, but she runs into some sort of force field, which seems odd. Then, she looked around and noticed people weren’t paying attention, didn’t seem to notice her, and didn’t seem to hear this man speaking to her, or see him either. “What in the world?” She whispered to herself. “That settles it,” the old man said, tearing his arm from her grasp, “you need an adventure, and I need amusement. If you want some work and are tired of your normal day-to-day life, come to this location tomorrow at 9:00 am sharp. Dress nicely.” Then he hands her a business card with an address on it and smiles, “Don’t be late, Celine.” Then he disappears and she’s back in the middle of the street, looking dumbfounded at what just happened. Then she said aloud, “Wait, how did he know my name?!” earning looks from passersby. Embarrassed, she began heading home so she could process everything that just happened.

Celine put her groceries away, changed into her pajamas, and flopped into bed, staring at the card she was given. It didn’t look like a typical business card, it seemed to be made of some shiny paper and it didn’t even have the man’s name, just the address he wanted her to go to. “Weird,” Celine mumbled and tossed the card onto her bedside table, plugging her phone in and lying back down. Suddenly she woke up and noticed her phone said 8:35 am, she quickly jumped out of bed, haphazardly fixed her bright red pixie cut, and put on a floral print dress and black flats. She threw her phone in her purse, grabbed the card, and ran out of the apartment as quickly as possible. She just barely managed to make it to the building and what she saw caught her off guard. It was a five-story building that looked dilapidated and abandoned. Vines were crawling up the walls, the windows were broken, and it seemed that the trees around it had been dead for many, many years. She froze in fear, staring at the building for what seemed like ages. She eventually shakes it off and glances at her phone, the time reads 8:55 am and she immediately runs inside the building, not wanting to be late for whatever this Wizard guy had planned. When she walked through the door, however, she didn’t see a lobby of any sort, oh no, she somehow ended up in a field in the middle of nowhere. “What the hell?!” Celine exclaimed. The next thing she knew, she heard a familiar laugh, Maverick’s laugh. “What is going on? Explain yourself to me! Where am I?!” Celine demanded, turning towards the old wizard. “You’re in the Kingdom of Calgora on the continent of Adamantia. Anything else you wish to know, you’ll learn as you go along. I have a gift for you, though, here.” The old man handed her a massive leather-bound tome and smiled, “Oh, and that little purse of yours? It’s become this thing called a Bag of Holding, you can hold many things large and small, but it cannot exceed 500 lbs. Enjoy your time, but I must be off. As the Royal Wizard, I have duties to King Auditorius, but I’ll keep an eye on you and check in from time to time. Before I leave, however, I’d like you to give that spellbook a try, you might be surprised,” and he winked. Not believing a thing he said, Celine rolled her eyes, opened the spellbook, and tried a spell called ‘Create Bonfire,’ aiming it at his feet. Suddenly a fire sprung up where she was pointing and it burned Maverick’s feet, who quickly jumped up at the pain and then laughed as he stepped on the fire to put it out. “I’m sorry, but what the hell just happened?!” Celine exclaimed, pulling her hand back, and suddenly she feared herself for the first time in her life. “Why, you just cast a spell. I knew you had potential the moment I saw you walking out of that grocery store in your world! Glad to see my instincts were correct. Be careful though, don’t accidentally harm yourself. Toodles,” and in an instant, Maverick disappeared. “Maverick, Maverick!” Celine called to no avail, “Stupid old Wizard,” she grumbled. Celine looked down and noticed she was still in her dress, and suddenly she felt very exposed, which was embarrassing. She pulled her phone out of her, now, Bag of Holding, and read the time, 10:45 am. Sighing, she looked around for some sort of path so she could get out of the middle of the field, as she began feeling bugs crawling up her leg and making her itchy. She looked around and saw one a few feet away, so she made her way over and began following it.

After what seemed like hours, Celine saw, at a distance, a giant stone wall with an open gate, which she recognized as a portcullis from her World History classes from when she was in school. She took a deep breath and went towards it. When she got within thirty feet, she heard a gruff, male voice say, “Oi, who goes there? State your name and business, stranger.” She didn’t feel comfortable stating her real name in this strange land, so she said, “My name is Annabeth Reed, I’m but a simple traveler just wishing to find a place to stay.” The man glared at her, “Do not lie to me, stranger. Give me the truth now or be arrested by me and questioned by the King himself.” Celine swallowed hard and said, “Alright, fine,” she mumbled to herself, “At least I tried,” and then spoke to the man again, “My name is Celine Markus, I’m a twenty-two year old from Los Angeles, California, on the continent North America.” The man didn’t believe her and was getting ready to arrest her when a woman behind her spoke up, “Arnold, don’t treat new arrivals like that! You may be part of the City Watch, but you are not the Captain of the Guard, I am.” The man now known as Arnold froze in fear and responded, “My apologies Captain Iseut, I meant the girl no harm, I’m simply trying to do my job!” “I understand, but the girl isn’t from here and she seems nervous and scared. Now go, it’s time for a shift switch,” the woman now known as Captain Iseut said. “Yes ma’am!” Guard Arnold said, rushing back into the city. Captain Iseut looked at Celine, “Now, Celine, how did you get here? You’re not from around here, it’s quite obvious by your attire.” “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, ma’am,” Celine answered nervously. “We’ll see about that, come to my quarters, I’ll get you some new clothes and maybe some tea.” Captain Iseut responded. “Not to push my luck ma’am, but I haven’t eaten today, so maybe some food as well, if it’s available,” Celine said, hoping she didn’t come off as ungrateful. “That can be arranged, oh and don’t worry about Arnold, he’s a good person and guard, but quite hot-headed.”

The two women walked into what Celine assumed was Captain Iseut’s room or quarters as the Captain put it. It was nicely decorated, the walls were made of stone, but there were tapestries with designs that Celine had never seen in her life, they consisted of golds, browns, reds, and slight hints of greens. One had what looked to be some sort of family crest on it with how it was designed, it was a green and white shield with the silhouette of an eagle flying in front of a large tree with no leaves, just bare branches. Celine tilted her head upon seeing the design and Captain Iseut noticed immediately, “Ah yes, that’s the Iseut Family Crest, beautiful, isn’t it? According to my father, my five times great grandfather, on his side, designed it himself. If I ever marry, I plan to keep my family name, my spouse will have to change their name,” the woman laughed, “it’s not exactly common for an instance such as that to happen, but then again, I’m not exactly a traditional sort of person.” “What do you mean by that?” Celine asked, turning to the Captain. “Well, women rarely join the City Guard, let alone become Captain. It’s often considered a man’s job, to be a soldier and a guard, at least here. I’m sure some other countries and Kingdoms have more of a combination of men and women in their military, but this one is more ‘traditional,’ if you can call it that. I wanted to be a knight or join the City Guard as a child, my parents didn’t like that, thought it was just the fantasy of a young child, a phase if you will. When I stayed true to my choice, they hesitantly let me train and join. Enough about me though,” the Captain says and begins boiling water in a kettle, “tell me who you are, how you got here, and if Celine is your true name.” Celine wasn’t sure if the Captain was telling the truth or not, but she also didn’t see a reason for her to lie, so she explained her situation to her. “Of course it was Maverick,” the woman said, rubbing her temples, “he always tries to find some new person to mess with. He always has high hopes for the people he chooses, but half of them die and the other half become stories for a short time and then no one remembers who they are after three months. Although, you’re the first from a completely different world. I’ve never heard of Earth or any of the places you mentioned. If you plan to stay for a while, maybe you can tell me more about these places you speak of.” The woman gets up and grabs the kettle off of the fire and pours them both some Jasmine Tea, then she fishes out some dry meats and cheeses, along with some bread, from her personal stores and splits it between the two of them. “Uh, sure, I guess. So you’re telling me this, ‘bringing new people here’ nonsense is a habit of Maverick’s?” “Unfortunately, yes.” Captain Iseut answers the younger woman. “Why me though? I’m not an interesting or important person, so I don’t understand.” Celine says, she begins to reach for the food when she stops and says, “You eat first,” to the Captain. “Suspicious are we? Smart, that will help you go far here,” Captain Iseut takes a bite of the food when Celine realizes it’s not poisoned, she begins eating as well, “As for why he chose you,” the Captain starts, “clearly he sees some potential in you that you don’t see in yourself.” “I guess,” Celine answers.

After a long conversation over lunch, the two women say goodbye to one another and Celine begins walking out of the Captain’s Quarters, then she stops midway to the door and asks, “Captain Iseut, ma’am,” “You can call me Renee, but yes?” the Captain responded. “Is there someplace I could stay for a few days? Like, a hotel or something?” “I’m not sure what a ‘hotel’ is, but there are a few Inns in town you could stay at. I’d suggest The Clydesdale Inn, it’s a bit on the expensive side, but it’s worth it. Their food is certainly better than what I had, their beds are comfortable, and there are different types of entertainment, if you know what I mean,” the Captain said with a wink. It took Celine a moment, but when she realized what the slightly older woman meant, she flushed a bright red, “Uh, maybe not for me, but I wouldn’t mind a comfortable bed.” “Very well,” she said kindly, “here’s twenty-five gold and a change of clothes. Some trousers, a bodice, some boots, and a cloak. All a brownish-green color to blend into the surroundings when you leave town.” “Thank you for your kindness and standing up for me Ca-,” she corrected herself, “Renee.” “You’re quite welcome, but be careful next time. Not every Captain of the Guard will do what I did, so if you leave Crisherton and go to another city, be warned.” The Captain said, a grave tone in her voice. “I’ll keep that in mind, have a good rest of your day,” Celine said with a soft smile and walked off.

She looked around for a few minutes and finally found The Clydesdale Inn, when she noticed it was near the docks a smile crept across her face, as she loved the water and the ocean, “Maybe this won’t be too bad,” she said to herself and walked in. As she approached the bar, a human-like figure with auburn hair, tanned skin, and seemed to be in his forties, greeted her, but he was very short and had to use a stool to see over the counter, “Lovely to meet you, miss! A traveler huh? I can tell you’re not from around here! Welcome to The Clydesdale Inn, the name is Fredrick Longfoot, and my wife and I own this little establishment. What can I get you?” Celine felt embarrassed again, she knew she stuck out like a sore thumb, but she didn’t realize it was that bad. She cleared her throat, “I’d like one room for a week please, if there’s one available.” “That’ll be fourteen gold,” the man said, “I hope you enjoy your stay. We’ve got a great performance tonight from a traveling musician. He’s been here for about a day and a half now. Now, what’s the name, dear?” “Celine Markus,” she answered, not trying to lie about her name for a second time today after almost being arrested. “Celine, what a lovely name,” a voice she doesn’t recognize says and she quickly turns her head towards the voice, only to see a creature with black Aurochs horns, blood-red skin, Merlot colored hair, and golden eyes with no visible pupil or sclera. Startled, Celine pulled out her pocket knife from her Bag of Holding, which had turned into a dagger, and pointed it at the creature, nearly falling off of her seat. Mr. Longfoot shook his head, “Now, now Arlech, I appreciate your performances, but don’t go scaring guests please.” ‘Arlech’ strummed his lute tunelessly and said, “Sorry Mr. Longfoot, I didn’t mean to. I certainly didn’t expect her to pull a dagger on me either. Although I think mine’s bigger,” he says with a wink. Celine flushes and almost smacks the creature across the face when he does, in fact, pull out a much larger and prettier dagger than her’s, “It’d be more like a short sword for old Fredrick though,” the creature says with a laugh, and Celine notices his sharp canines, much like a Devil’s or a Demon’s based on stories she’d heard from her world. “Pardon my language, but what the fuck are you two? I can guess Mr. Longfoot simply by his name and height, he’s a Hobbit, but you, Demon, Devil, looking thing, I don’t know about you. I’ve had enough scares and surprises for the day and I just got to this place like three or four hours ago.” “I’m not sure what a ‘Hobbit’ is, but I’m a Halfling, so if they’re similar I’ll give it to you,” Mr. Longfoot answered. Shit, that’s right, Celine thought, this isn’t my world, it’s far from it, I don’t belong here. “Let’s put our daggers away and properly introduce ourselves, shall we?” The horned creature asked and slipped his dagger back in his pants pocket. Celine looks towards Mr. Longfoot for reassurance, who says, “It’s alright, Arlech might talk you to death, but he’d never hurt someone unless he had to.” Celine sighed in relief and stuck the dagger back into her Bag of Holding. “You really should keep that on your person somewhere instead of in your bag, if those bags get destroyed, everything you have in there? Gone, and you likely won’t get them back. Anywho, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Arlech, a traveling musician and storyteller and I’m a Tiefling, hence the horns and red skin,” he said with a smile, purposely showing off his sharp teeth. “I’m Celine Markus and, obviously, I’m not from around here. I guess I have some sort of magic because I was given this book with spells in it by the Royal Wizard, Maverick, ever heard of him?” She replied. “Yes, I’ve heard of him, where are you from anyway? Women here certainly don’t wear such, ah, revealing clothing, in this Kingdom at least,” the Tiefling responded, looking her up and down. Celine looked down, confused, because she didn’t have any cleavage hanging out or anything, but then she remembered that the dress stopped above her

knees,

which looked shorter when she was sitting down, which she didn’t find to be too bad, but this wasn’t her world, so the ‘shortness’ of her dress might be ‘distracting.’ “I’m not from this world, I can tell you that much,” she answered. He laughed, thinking she was joking, “Are you serious? Come on, there’s no way.” “Want some proof?” Celine asked. “I don’t know what you think will convince me, but go ahead, show me this ‘proof’ of yours.” He replied.

Celine pulled her phone out of her bag, unlocked it, and showed it to him. Both Arlech and Mr. Longfoot looked at the phone in awe, “What IS this contraption?” the two men ask in unison. “It’s called a cell phone, they’re pretty common where I come from, a place called Earth,” she answered. Arlech reaches for the phone and Celine snatches it away, “Hey, ask first!” Celine says sharply. “May I look at this thing you call a phone?” Asked Arlech, slightly annoyed. “Say please,” she said back. “Please?” He asked, rolling his eyes. “Yes you may,” she says and hands it to him. Celine moves closer to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t try to steal her phone. “So, how does one use this?” He asks, staring at her phone in confusion. The screen times out, becoming black, “Oh no, is it broken, did I break it?!” the Tiefling exclaims. “No, it shut itself off because no one was using it, here, let me turn it back on for you,” Celine says, taking the phone from him and unlocking it with her thumbprint, revealing her phone’s background, which was her old family dog. “Wow, magical!” The horned man said in excitement. “It’s not magic, it’s technology. Though I guess to you all it would be considered magic,” she answered him. He tapped on the camera icon, not knowing what it was, and when it popped up, it was the front camera, which startled him, “What in the Nine Hells?!” he says, nearly dropping Celine’s phone on the hardwood floors. Celine just barely catches it in time and thanks whatever deity or deities this world may have that her phone didn’t shatter. “Please be careful, it can break if you drop it,” Celine said with a frustrated sigh. “Would it explode if it broke?” Arlech asked worriedly. “No, but the screen could shatter and I’m almost positive there are no screen repair shops in this world,” the young woman answered. “What did I do anyway? Why could I see myself? Is there an artist living in your contraption that makes lifelike art?” The man, Celine guessed, said. She laughed, “No, it’s called a camera, here, let me show you.” She unlocked her phone again, opened the camera app like Arlech had previously, and said, “Get a little closer,” he did and she took a picture of the two of them. Then she went into her gallery and tapped on the picture, showing it to both Mr. Longfoot and the Tiefling. “Astounding, I must go get my wife and show her this! Oh, and dinner is on the House for you tonight Miss Markus, simply for showing me such an interesting contraption. Edrich, give Miss Markus the House Special and our best ale.” Before she could say anything, Mr. Longfoot had run off and sighed, “I was gonna say that I prefer water or wine, but okay.” “I’ll take the House Special too, Edrich, if you don’t mind, and some whiskey,” Arlech said. “Be lucky you’re performing tonight or I’d charge you double,” a human, or, he looked like a human, but he had pointy ears, that was standing behind the counter said, which Celine assumed was Edrich. About half an hour later, Mr. Longfoot walked out with a normal human, probably about thirty-seven, from the back of the Inn, she had wavy, light brown hair and a smile across her lips, “Miss Markus, this is my wife, Helena,” he said. “Oh, you must be the newcomer with strange objects, welcome to our Inn! My husband seemed impressed with this object you had, and nowadays it’s quite hard to impress him,” she said with a laugh. Soon after, Edrich brought out Celine and Arlech’s food and drinks.

After an hour of conversation, and a few drinks on Arlech’s part, Celine began getting tired. She’d already had a long day of being transported to a new world and finding out she could use magic. She glanced at her phone, the time read 7:45 pm. She sighed and stuffed her phone back in her Bag of Holding and laid her head on the bar. She took a sip of water that had been placed in front of her an hour ago and out of nowhere, she heard Arlech say, “You know, you’re pretty cute,” and she choked on her water, “Excuse me?!” she exclaimed. “What, you’ve never been told that before?” He asked and Celine noticed he was slurring his words, clearly drunk. “Not by a drunk Demon thing,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Tieflings aren’t Demons, they’re Half-Devils,” explained a drunk Arlech. “What’s the difference?” Celine asked, now amused. “Devils,” he slurred out, “tend to make deals with mortals and they honor those deals, alright? They’re not super violent, unlike Demons. A Tiefling, or Half-Devil, like myself, tends to have one Devil parent and one mortal parent. Usually, the mortal parent isn’t exactly willing to join an arrangement or deal with a Devil, but they do so out of desperation. Some Devils want a soul, others just want the mortal’s body, if you understand my meaning,” he says and gives a very drunk wink that was almost a blink, but Celine understood what he meant and rubbed her temples before he could explain any further. “Alright, time for you to sober up, Mr. Longfoot, do I have permission to knock some sense into him since he’s supposed to perform here soon?” She asks. “Go on ahead, just don’t kill him, if you knock him out, I have spare healing potions.” He answers, wiping down a plate. “Thank you,” says Celine and she pulls out her spell book and finds a spell called ‘Witch Bolt,’ “Oooh, sounds cool,” she says and casts it, but unable to control it, it hits a bar stool instead. Arlech laughs and she says, “Dammit” to herself and tries again, but misses a second time, hitting the same bar stool. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” and she gets up and pulls her dagger out of her bag, flipping it to the blunt side so she doesn’t hurt him too badly, she hopes, and tries to hit Arlech with the hilt, thankfully she’s not nearly as uncoordinated with the dagger and she actually manages it. “Jesus fuck,” she puts her dagger away, “why was that so difficult to do?!” she said, rubbing her eyes. Arlech snaps out of his drunken stupor, “Huh, what? What just happened? Did you just hit me?” “Yes, you have a performance, stupid, and you were drunk, so I needed to snap you out of it.” Celine answered. “Oh, thank you.” He answered, rubbing the back of his head. Then he noticed the burn marks on the barstool behind him, “How did that happen?” he asked. Celine gritted her teeth while Mr. Longfoot chuckled, “I don’t want to talk about it.” “Oh, alright then, let me go get changed into a new outfit for my performance and the music can begin!” Arlech exclaimed and ran up the stairs. A few minutes later, Arlech comes back down the stairs in an all silk, purple outfit, from a button up to a pair of pants, and a beret with a feather attached to it and began to strum his lute and sing, a beautiful baritone voice comes out of this strange Half-Devil thing. Celine was genuinely impressed, she didn’t know what she had expected, but it wasn’t that and her jaw was on the floor. Mr. Longfoot chuckled, and murmured to her, not to interrupt Arlech’s performance, “If he doesn’t win ya over with his sarcasm and wit, his singing will.” Celine scoffed and murmured back, “He didn’t ‘win me over,’ I was just surprised is all. I didn’t expect him to actually be GOOD at singing, ya know?” An hour passed and Arlech’s concert ended with a bang, as he changed the color of the flames from the chandeliers into a purple color, much like his outfit, and everyone that had come to see his show applauded. He took his beret off and people gave him tips of up to five gold, which Celine assumed was a big deal with how he reacted. “Thank you, thank you all so very much! I appreciate

all of your generous tips and I’ll be here all week if you’d like to see me perform again! Goodnight everyone!” Cheers erupted again and Mr. Longfoot stepped up to the platform that Arlech had been on. “Thank you all for being here for tonight’s performance! I hope you enjoyed yourselves because I certainly did. Now, I do have to apologize, however, I’m closing up for the night, so those who only came to see the performance and have homes to return to, you need to leave soon, unfortunately. For the patrons that DO have rooms and are staying, I’d like you to clear out the dining hall here pretty quickly and make your way to your rooms. Thank you again, have a wonderful night, and may the Gods bless you to have a good day tomorrow.”

As the patrons clear out and make their way to their rooms, Arlech plops next to Celine, still in his concert outfit, and asks, “So, did you enjoy that?” “I mean, yeah, you have a good voice. I didn’t expect that at all.” Celine responds. “You underestimate my musical ability? Why, I’m offended.” He says sarcastically. Celine laughs, “I just didn’t know what to expect. Remember, I’m not from around here?” “Well, you’ve got a lot to learn here Miss Markus. Clearly, the world you’re from is vastly different from this one, so you’ll need to adapt to everything. I’ve traveled to quite a few different cities here in Calgora, but outside of this Kingdom, I don’t know much of what’s out there. Maybe we can learn together.” He says with a grin. “Are you trying to flirt with me?” Celine asks, raising an eyebrow. “Is it working?” Arlech asks. “Nope.” She responds. “Then no, but if you’d like someone to travel with anyway, I’ll gladly join,” he answers. Celine sighs, “Fine, but only if you promise to stop trying to flirt with me.” “I don’t know if that’s a promise I can keep. It’s quite fun, and useful if you use it in the right circumstance.” “I hate you,” Celine says half-heartedly. “No, no you don’t, and I think you and I are gonna be good friends.” The Tiefling says with a tired grin. “We’ll see about that, anyway,” she looks at her phone and the time reads 10:35 pm, “I should get some rest. I think I’ll chill here in the city for a couple of days to get used to my surroundings and then try and find some jobs to make some sort of money. You need money to live and to get money you need some sort of income.” “Sounds like a plan,” Arlech responds, “there are usually requests for help on the board near the post office to get some money, there’s also the Solarstriders and you could apply there if you wanted.” “What’s the Solarstriders?” Celine questions, tilting her head. “Oh, they’re an organized group of mercenaries who take requests from private investors, whether it be someone from high society that doesn’t want to do the dirty work themselves, to kill someone from a competing House, or to kill some ridiculous monster for parts to sell, or smugglers and crime families and such that usually want some monster’s part for profit or magic. I'm not part of the group, or Guild, if you will, but if a group asks, I’ll occasionally help out if something sounds interesting, and if the money is good.” He explains. “That could help out a lot actually. I’ll think about it. Anyway, goodnight, don’t get as drunk tomorrow night, I might have to actually kill you next time.” Celine answers, smiling, and heads upstairs to her room for what she hopes is a nice, long, rest.

[carlycchapman24]

Introductions

Hi there, welcome to my blog! Here’s some information about me:

Name: Carly Chapman

Age: 24

Gender/Pronouns: Female and she/her

Height: 5’2.5”

Weight: 191lbs last I checked

Occupation: Security Guard and Dog Mom

Hobbies: Writing, creating characters, reading (occasionally,) photography, playing video games, and watching YouTube

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

‘Backstory’: Hello, I’m Carly and I was born and raised in Missouri. As of right now I still live in Missouri with my parents because a bitch doesn’t get paid enough to move out, no matter how hard I try to save. I used to be better at saving, but that’s gotten worse over the years, which makes it even harder. I’ve worked two jobs in over 3 years, the first one I quit because my boss was a literal fucking bitch who made me have a mental fucking breakdown every night. But, I digress, my current job is a Security Guard and while I’d love to quit, I don’t have much of a choice in jobs because my grades sucked ass in school and I have zero money to pay for college. My father didn’t even have a college fund for me, like dude, fucking really? Anywho, because of that, my only options are fast food, retail, security, or, if I get lucky, a secretary job where I take calls and make appointments and what have you. The problem is, I don’t think I type fast enough to do a job like that. I also refuse to work in fast food because customers are complete and utter dicks to them. My dream job is working from home, but unfortunately, jobs like that, legitimate ones at least (so not the survey taker shit,) are damn near impossible to find. All of that aside,

What are your plans for this blog?

You may ask. Well, just as the title states, I plan to post stories. I have two currently in the works. One is Hogwarts in 2019 with OCs and the other one is, as a friend of mine called it, “Jumanji mixed with DnD.” If that doesn’t give you any hints, basically, the MC, which, by the way, all of these characters are OCs I made on DnDBeyond, gets transported into the Dungeons and Dragons world and her initial goal is to get home. However, as the story progresses, she starts thinking the place isn’t so bad and may or may not decide to stay. You’ll find out eventually, I’m only on Chapter 4 so bear with me. Also, my Hogwarts one is still in the prologue. The prologue is done, I just need to figure out what the fuck to do story-wise. Then I have another DnD World story that I haven’t even started yet because I don’t even have playlists made for all of the characters. Other than those, I don’t have any projects in the works, maybe as time goes on I will. For now, however, that’s all I’ve got for you.

If you read this far, thank you very much and I hope you enjoy this Blog/Tumblr, whatever this nonsense is. Thank you for your time and I hope you’ll consider following me.

Yours,

Carly Chapman