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Childhood
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Lione was born in a small sea-side town of Tenneca, the town Itself lived off farming, fishing and a little market supplied by merchants stoping by on their way to the bigger cities along the coast. There were a few unusual shops in this town aswell. Being It a Gardener´s Tent, where the local „beauty“ sold many extraordinary plants and pretty flowers or maybe the Wooden Gem, a woodcarver´s shop. The origins of the name of his shop was when one of the traveling merchants mistook his carved wooden gem for a real one. But then of course there was an Apothecary with a very mundane name. Violett´s Apothecary.
This Apothecary was originally run by Violett Erena and even though located in a small town such as Tenneca, It´s bussiness was flourishing. There were remedies for common ilnesses, herbal extracts with various effects and even a simple things like flower scented soap. Also the prices were quite reasonable, since all the ingredients were collected or bought locally.
Violett wasn´t the prettiest woman in town, but she certainly wasn´t ugly. She had a slender frame, long raven black hair tied in a knot and mesmerizing deep blue eyes. There were many who´d want to marry her, but most of them didn´t had the courage or were mercilessly shot down a several times. Almost everyone gave up after a while. Except one.
Drenan Haley was but a smaller merchant traveling the land and occasionally on the sea. Once he met with Violett, he started coming back to the town of Tenneca more and more frequently and asking Violett out again and again. He wasn´t bad looking either but he wasn´t the image of a resposible man at the time. His wavy blonde hair was oftenly braided on the side and he had this „adventurer beard“. But his biggest charm were his jokes, that were said could crack up even a pope in the middle of the capital´s Church. After a three years since they met, she finally gave in.
Surprisingly they „dated“ for only few months, before Drenan proposed to her and Violett agreed. They started to live together. As Violett had a more stable income with her Apothecary Drenan was to abandon his way of life, of traveling merchant and to join her in the Apothecary. Drenan was always about maximazing the profits, while Violett was more inclined to „customer service“.
After two years of their marriage, Violett was with a child. Thanks to many herbs easing her burden, she gave birth to a perfectly healthy child. It was a girl and the pair decided to name her Lione.
That was a birth of Lione Haley.
At first Lione was just like any other small girl, playing with girly toys, dancing and making flower chains. But when she was old enough Violett decided that she is to be taught how to read and write.
Drenan agreed and promptly started to teach small Lione.
She learned at an alarming rate and was able to read and write at the age of 8. Then she expressed her interest in Apothecary itself and started helping with the shop. She read many books about medicines and herbs and other books her father collected and kept from his days of a merchant.
Soon she became an apprentice of sorts of her mother and Violett pleased by her eagerness gladly taught her all her knowledge.
She was about 11 years old when her parents noticed that Lione was becoming smarter than even some adults. They talked to her and wanted to know what she had in mind for her future, since she was already smart and wise enough to decide for herself. After giving It a thought Lione replied, that she wanted to learn more, about everything. „Isn´t there something concrete you would like to learn more than other things?“ Asked her Violett. But Lione didn´t have an answer for that. She only wanted to learn more, read more. As she tried to express these feelings she mentioned that she would like to read many more books and her father proposed that she could go learn to the Academy, as there are plenty of books to read from and she can study to become a clergy or a wizard and possibly achieve a higher status is she wished to.
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Academy - travel
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Lione did end up going to the Academy. But It was rather bittersweet to say goodbye to her parents, her friends and town. On the outside she acted like an adult and simply enjoyed her last day with her friends, but at night, as soon as she lied in her bed she teared up and quietly sobbed and wished she could just go with everyone else, but that wasn´t an option. All her friends and family had different goals and different paths. She chose her own path. And to realize It, she had to leave.
Her destination was an Academy where other people go to learn If they want to learn on their own acord. There were various different things one could study and all of those branches had a certain outcome. For example If a person decided to study mostly holy texts and books about religion, one would most probably become a Cleric and If one were to study magical formulas, runes and scripts left behind by great magicians, then you´d be on the shortest way to become a Wizard. But except these two major study branches, there were other minor studies such as agriculture, trade & economics, tactics & swordplay or even acting. Even though there was such a big spectrum, Lione wasn´t really interested in any of these all that much, she wanted to learn more „raw knowledge“, the knowledge of the world. But she soon uderstood that this kind of knowledge isn´t something ordinary and that there are a lot of people disliking the idea of someone profoundly studying these truths and laws. So she went with the most logical option, to begin her studies under Goddess of Knowledge Adatia. She figured that If she were to join such a group, she could perhaps get access to more knowledge then elsewhere.
Thankfully Lione has heard rumors that the closest route to the Academy is frequently raided by bandits so she decided to take a detour and go around the mountains and through the Mayor´s Valley from the south. This way she also had a chance to visit another city. Medler´s Folly. Only a step behind the largest two East coast´s cities. The city famous for their seafood cusine and one of the largest markets selling various local and exotic items.
Lione was looking forward to her first visit of a city and It was only about two days of travel by foot.
This was also her decision that she didn´t want much help from their parents and to fend for herself. But her mother at the very least was against that idea so Lione ended up basically sneaking out of her room around 1:00 AM and beggining her journey as a runaway. Of course she left a letter of goodbye so that her parents won´t worry too much and she also grabbed a bag with her „neccesities“. Also If that wasn´t enough she later that day found out that someone (her mother most probably) packed in her bag a bunch of elixirs that should help her. So, here she was 12 years old Lione traveling alone with her destination set on the city of Curnow where the Academy was.
Her first day went quite peacefully as she learned and even practised some of the basic survival techniques: How to make a fire, How to dissect wild animals (she learned that from a cook from a tavern, funny fella that Tirr) and How to locate drinkable water. All that plus her knowledge of herbs and edible plants equaled somewhat comfortable travels through the wilderness.
First night she didn´t bother with setting up a tent or anything she just found a small basin in the landscape and made a small fire on which she warmed up the food she brought from home. She set up her bedroll and slept after that.
The second day was mildly more interesting as she met a caravan and a few people on the road and she saw a ship sailing in the same direction to the Medler´s Folly. When the night has fallen Lione realized she made a begginer mistake. She thought It would take her two days to reach Medler´s Folly, but that would be If she were an adult and was traveling faster. Because of this she had to wait out one more night in the wilderness. Fortunatelly she still had some rations.
The third day she woke staring eye to eye with a rabbit. It would be hard to say which one of them was more scared at this encounter. When Lione calmed down (and rabbit ran a few miles) she felt very embarresed. She packed her things and set up on the final stretch. She decided to leave the main roads and go through the woods and undergrowth and collect some medicinal plants she could sell and make some more money for her travels. Her dad gave her what he thought would be enough for her journey, but she also wanted to buy something as a souvenir since she was going to the market anyway.
She managed to find some of the valuable plants but It was hard to know how much would these cost in a city since there probably will be many other places like her mother´s Apothecary and they´d collect similar if not the same plants every now and then.
Around noon she finally stumbled out onto the road again and after an hour she could see the city walls. The road soon came to an opening as around half a kilometer around the walls weren´t any trees. All were cut down probably for strategic reasons. The road was quite busy as there were people coming in and out of the city. The guards at the gate were only for the effect as they didn´t give a damn about anyone suspicius coming through the gates. Lione decided to just simply mix with the crowd a little and go through the gate as everybody else.
Behind the gates she could see a small square and many buildings bigger and more composed of stone than wood compared to her town. Also many houses had glass windows, which was rare in her town. The first thing on her list was to find a place where she could sell her collected herbs.
She went around the small square and learned that there wasn´t any shop similar to an Apothecary, so she simply picked a road and went further in. After 20 minitues walking around streets she finally found a shop called Mushroom´s hat and after looking at their display featuring various herbs some of them she had only heard of from mother and some she never saw before. She went in and was met with a familiar scent of mixed herbs and aromas of the powedered medicine. She went to the counter to the person with slightly pointy ears and slightly more beutifull than average. The person in question peered over the counter on the little girl that in her eyes looked like a 10 year old.
„Who might you be, little girl?“.
Lione, somewhat annoyed from being called „little girl“, answered:
„Hello, I brought here some herbs I want to sell. They are freshly picked today.“
And after finishing the sentence she started to place one after another on the counter while telling their names and uses. The half-elven woman managing the shop was quite shocked when she found out this little girl in front of her has correctly named each one of the herbs lying in front of her. Before anything else she thought only one thing.
„Can I hire you, little girl?“.
Lione, taken aback by this sudden reaction was unable to answer and before she could say anything the half-elven woman took the chance and started to persuade her by telling her how smart and knowledgable she is and that she could give her a salary of 2 golds and she would only have keep going to the forest around the city and search for herbs and so on. Lione raised her hands as a gesture for the shop owner to stop going over the benefits.
“I am sorry, but I don´t plan on staying in this town. So I only ask you to apraise and, If you would, buy these.“
Shop owner sadly sighed.
“ Well, then there is nothing I can do about that… Let´s see the herbs you brought… 6 Mole leafs, 12 Numera flower petals, 2 Kaoli seeds, and a whole River Dias… quality is as best as It could be.. that would be… 12 silvers.“
Lione, clueless about the prices in a city, simply agreed and exchanged the herbs for money.
After that she asked the half-elf for directions to the main market and possibly for a tavern where she could find a room for cheap, but would be somewhat safe. She was told the main market is just one street from the docks and that a tavern she could find at the western gate.
Fast forward. Lione bought a room for herself at the tavern and the next day she went to the market.
Even though there were many things that caught her interest, she settled with a lost diary someone was selling. Inside were written pages with unknown language and curious drawings and numbers. Also she bought a simple necklace made of leather and a copper wire. After buying some more food for her travels and a rope for making traps for animals, she basically depleted her earnings from the herbs.
When she was done with all this she started preparing for her next journey. Right in front of the tavern she had a room rented she overheard a corversation.
„.. And what If I want to go to the Academy? Why couldn´t I? Am I supposed to stay here and work myself to death in a Garrick´s forge?“
„And what would you do there, hm? No one wants to hear about your theories and prototypes! Half of them were just pure garbage and the other half were useless! Why would anyone need a these weird uneven circles?!“
„Those are cogs!“ They move each other and then they-„
„Oh, shut up you brat! If you are not going to work, then Im going to sell all your tiny „cogs“ and whatnot on the market tomorrow!“
Lione peeked around the corner of the tavern to see a young boy in leathery apron of sorts and a large older woman standing in the doors of a house, arguing. The woman then smashed the doors and left the boy on the street. The boy just scoffed and turned away, walking down the street.
Lione went back to her room thinking about what possibly could have that boy made and what those cogs were.. but in the end she ended up flipping through the diary she bought. After some time spent in her room her belly started rumbling, so she decided to go buy herself a meal downstairs.
She ordered a roast pork with bread and while waiting for her meal at the bar she looked around the tavern for anything interesting. There was that boy. He was sitting in the corner with a tankard and sheets of paper and graphite pieces.
She decided to grab her meal and try talking with him. The boy, which name turned out to be Kerry, was a bit surprised as to why would anyone especially a girl want to talk to him, but he gave in to Lione´s natural curiosity and introduced his inventions. He described the workings of a cog similar to the domino, except that the cogs could be used like this indefinitely if they had some sort of power source. He also mentioned that he learned about cogs from a book he bought on market. Altough that this is already in use in mills where they put a water wheel as a source or wind mill uses wind and dwarves use them aswell, his idea was to make it smaller and complicated and to find another source of power.
He said that he figured out he could power It with the springs for a while, but It wasn´t perfect, so he thought that maybe someone else could help him… but there wasn´t anyone interested in these things in this town and so he decided to try his luck in the Academy.
Lione was quite intrigued by Kerry´s inventions, but couldn´t really think of anything that could help him. But she shared the goal of going to the Academy, so she told Kerry to join her. Kerry gladly accepted and they set off the next day. They did so in a bit of hurry, since Kerry had to quietly sneak into his room and take his things before his parents could sell them.
Kerry was a useful companion as he could set up a camp and was more knowledgable about animals and how to butcher them. Lione showed him the diary that she bought, but even he could not understand what was written in it. So the travel went by as they met with different people on their travels. Once they encountered a weird looking caravan with curtains so that no one could see inside, but when they were just passing by Lione and Kerry, the curtains of one of the carriages moved to the side and a naked woman in her thirties with shortish red hair and pale skin stretched her hands upwards showing off her bodily features. Kerry, stunned watched in silence and awe, but Lione, after a few seconds of shock, attempted to cover his eyes while her own face was gradually getting red. The woman then noticed the two and smiled charmingly striking a pose before sinking back behind the curtains. The two then walked in silence for a few hours not knowing what to say.
After a few days of travel they arrived at the Mayor´s Valley. It was just about a day of travel before arriving in Curnow and the Academy. Lione decided to collect some herbs as It did prove useful before, and Kerry not knowing what to really do simply tagged along. Unfortunately Lione didn´t have much luck this time and found only some edible plants they could snack on on their final day of travel.
Both of them were traveling a little while by now and had learned about themselves quite a bit. Lione thought of Kerry as a friend of hers already, so she was glad to have a friend at the Academy. Even though they both wanted to study something else, they should still be able to meet and talk from time to time. She even felt a little embarresed that she splept all this time with a knife under her pillow, just to be sure that Kerry won´t try anything stupid.
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Academy - Curnow
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After their arrival to the city of Curnow, they decided to split up and go where each of them wanted to go and to meet up around noon at the academy. It was still around 8 AM so they had plenty of time for their short exploration. Lione decided to go around the market streets. She still had a little extra money saved, so she could at least buy some exotic sweets or other foods at the colourful stalls that were hugging the edges of those streets. She bought a meat and vegetable sandwich with some sort of sauce called „kebab“ and a whole pear marinated in honey. It was a very good meal to start her exploration. She even made a mental note to come back and buy some more of those „kebabs“.
Lione still had some time before noon, so she decided to pay a visit to one of the „green areas“ inside the town. Lione had no idea what these places were, as the name was vague and she haven´t asked around much. When she arrived the first thing she saw were trees and bushes and many colourful flowers. Lione was stunned that someone actually made such place inside of the city´s walls. She also saw people strolling around and sitting on the grass or benches, talking and laughing. It was a very peaceful sight. Lione walked around for a while, but the sun was almost at It´s highest, so she had to go to meet Kerry. She set out to the Academy as there were plenty of signs showing the way to the main building everywhere.
Lione finally reached her destination. Before her stood a building made entirely of stone bricks with many glass windows and behind them she could see shelves full of books and many people walking by with even more books in hands. The building was a huge-ish rectangle with trimmed bushes instead of a fence running around It. The roof was made of what looked like a thin layer of metal glued or perhaps nailed to the wooden planks. The building itself had three floors so If there was anything behind It Lione couldn´t see It.
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Right when the bell in the nearby church rang away noon, Kerry showed up on the little square in front of the Academy. He first looked up to admire the building the same way Lione did, but then met eyes with Lione and walked over to her.
„Done with all you wanted to do?“
Asked Kerry.
„Most of It.. But I am looking forward to exploring the city more. How about you?“
„Yeah, same here. And I heard some rumors about the Academy not having enough people this year attending. Might be a good thing for us since we want to get in…“
„Or, the entrance exams might have gotten harder this year and we might not get in at all.“
„Stop being such a pessimist, Lione.“
Smiled Kerry and grabbed Lione by the wrist and pulling her towards the entrance.
The Academy exam wasn´t that hard after all for Lione, and as it later turned out neither was for Kerry. They both got in and were assigned rooms. Also, since neither of them was an adult yet, (Lione 13 y.o., Kerry 14 y.o.) they were both given some money to live off, sort of like an allowance. The buildings where the students of the Academy had their assigned rooms were divided to the Boys House and Girls House. It turned out that behind the main building of the Academy there was a little garden and on the opposite sides of It stood these two buildings. Lione went to her room to settle in. The rooms were quite simple. There was a simple bed, a desk under the only window in the room, oil lamp, shelf and a wardrobe. There was a paper with rules of sorts on the desk. The rules were about the typical things like „Don´t break anything“, „Don´t throw stuff out of the window“ and at the end of those was a sentence „You are free to add other furniture and decorations as you please and you´ll have to take those with you once you´ll leave this room.“
With that thought in mind, Lione fell asleep, thinking of how she should decorate her room and what furniture to buy.
In the following week Lione and Kerry spent a lot of time buried under the books. In Kerry´s case the books were mostly about technical things and most of them were written by dwarves. In Lione´s case the books were basically about everything she found interesting. Some books had intriguing titles, some had a very obscured cover. The money they were given was hardly enough for food and sometimes a little something extra and since this „allowance“ was only until they reached adulthood Lione decided to look for some kind of part time job or something.
It wasn´t long until she found a job as a caretaker for the „green areas“. There turned turned out to be two such places in Curnow and each one had to have two caretakers and apparently one of the caretakers quit the job not so long ago and they were looking for some part-timers to fill the spot until they found someone to replace that spot. Lione got in simply because of her knowledge of plants and because she was a student in the academy. Apart from Lione there were two other girls that got the job. Lione didn´t really have a chance to speak to them, because they were rotating on shifts as part-timers. But even so, Lione wasn´t all that interested in making friends. She was slowly becoming quite the loner. Everybody in the Academy had different goals and wanted to talk about different things.. but everybody searched for only „shallow“ knowledge. Kerry on the other hand had found himself friends pretty fast and the times they could sit and speak about their days at the Academy grew fewer.
Later Lione ended her part-time job as a caretaker and decided to try for another job. She found out about a shop on the outskirts of the city called Gnawed Skull. Even though the name was goofy and weird the shop was in fact the only place in the city that sold magical items of various kinds. The place intrigued Lione as she was becoming more and more interested in magic and Its foundations.
At first she tried reading books about the official history of the world and most of those were from the curriculum of Adatia followers, so when the first inspection on progress came Lione had made a new book that included many facts and theories from mostly books on religion. The book was basically a mix of other mostly boring books that nobody would read and Lione managed to make them more appealing, which was viewed by the inspection as an improvement and Lione was encouraged to become one of the acolytes of Adatia.
Second year in the Academy came quickly and Lione had made quite the improvements to her room. She had bought a blue carpet from a lizard in the market, a magical lamp instead of the oil one from the shop she worked at and she bought other various furniture from a shop with antiquities where she used to rummage through from time to time. She even found a book with a very omnious title spelling
„D O O M bringer“ but It turned out there were only circles and stars drawn around a weird looking figure with some kind of glowing metal stick. She also got in touch with her parents through letters. They weren´t very happy about the fact that Lione ran away, but were glad that she was doing well in the Academy.
Third year rolled by and Lione´s 17th birthday came. As she didn´t have many friends and her parents were busy running the Apothecary, she went to celebrate by herself and simply bought a kebab at her favourite stall at the market and went to buy herself a gift. A book. Or more like half bookshelf worth of books. At this time Lione was becoming aware of the fact that she won´t be able to learn much more as an acolyte of Adatia as there was something like forbidden knowledge. So she decided to start learning magics as It would come with the perks of easier knowledge collection and as means to defend herself because she was slowly preparing for her first adventure to one of the forbidden ruins. She heard that forbidden ruins were exactly the place where one could find the „forbidden knowledge“ and was simply intrigued by the idea.
Lione went to the ruins right after she hit hers 20th birthday. There still weren´t many people she could call friends, so It wasn´t hard to just go over the usual „birthday route“ Lione upholded since her previous birthdays. Buying some books, kebab and going to the café for a cup of coffee. After that she went to the room at Academy to pack things that could help her on this little adventure.
The ruins Lione has heard of were supposedly in the mountains of Sunny Peaks. Under the second highest peak, there should be a little cave and at the end of that cave an ancient looking wall made of oval polished green stones. But It was said that the one that discovered this was too scared to interact with this suspicious wall and simply ran away. It wasn´t that good of a lead, but It was the only lead Lione knew about at the time.
The thought of paying some other adventurer to help her did came to mind, but Lione was afraid that the stranger she would hire could double cross her and take whatever they´d find for himself. And Kerry.. he had his own path and Lione hasn´t spoke to him for a whole year by now.
The journey was almost boring. No bandits, no wild animals or monsters, only people and traders. Once she got to the Sunny Peaks a huge rainstorm followed and there was no other choise than building a quick „shed“ and wait through this shitty weather. Of course that „boring“ part had to be compensated with a very „action-filled“ part. So right after Lione built her shelter there was that typical howl everybody describes in their books. Wolfs. Thankfully Lione had her weapons and spells ready and was able to deal with a few wolfs and the rest ran away. But since the rain was falling all that time they were fighting, Lione was pretty much drenched. When the rain stopped, it was about 5 PM and before some other exploring, Lione had to make a campfire and dry her clothes, before she would catch a cold. In the end, she arrived at the little cave around 7 PM and the night was already falling. But the girl was done sleeping in the wilderness so she simply made a few torches and went inside of the cave. There wasn´t anything much interesting except maybe a few copper veins, but copper wasn´t all that valuable and she sure wasn´t going to mine anything. So as she descended or more.. ascended? The cave curiously ended up going upwards more than downwards. A the end of the cave there really was a wall similar to the description she has heard. But of course not everything is true in these stories. There was clearly visible that someone tried to smash through the wall. Either with a hammer or with a pickaxe. So much for being scared of the wall, huh?
After some more investigating Lione found out that even though they tried to use raw power to break through, the curious wall was holding up surprisigly well and there wasn´t anything but a little dent after those tools. She decided to study it a bit more and possibly find a clue.
Lione spent a quite a while looking around and touching every piece of the wall, but nothing happened. She was becoming desperate and tried to use magics she has learned in the course of the three years. But even the magics were somehow not really effective. In the end Lione gave up and after resting for the rest of the night she set off back to Academy. It was shame she didn´t even noticed that when she was leaving, the wall emitted a slight green glow and regenerated the holes Lione and the other adventureres made.
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Curnow – Adventuring life
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In the next 5 years Lione was going out to investigate many other weird places and sometimes was even met with success. Finding some artefacts she then sold in the city and making some money. The Academy was still providing her with support even a little beyond the usual „free room“ simply because Lione was one of the few that has stayed at the Academy for so long. But Lione was becoming tired of her little rooms and was thinking of moving out. She decided to document some of her findings and to publish a book in hopes of raising money to buy herself a house.. or at least a bigger room. Kerry already moved out two years ago and stopped by to give farewell to Lione along with a gift. He made some progress with his inventions and was able to make a mechanism that never stopped moving even without magics. He said that there were some springs and magnets involved. He gave Lione a pocket watch that showed precise time at all times. He even heard about Lione going on many adventues so he made the watch waterproof so she could freely take it wherever she goes. Lione didn´t have any gift for Kerry, so she at least invited him for a kebab and decided to see him off as he was leaving the city for the capital.
Lione was now 26 years old and actually managed to raise enough money to buy herself a small house in Curnow. The house was very simple. It had a bedroom, kitchen, multipurpose room, bathroom, attic and little cellar accesible from inside of the house.
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After moving all her things and furniture from her room at the Academy to her new house, Lione basically stopped being a student as there wasn´t much else she´d be interested in there. She already learned all about the knowledge approved by the kingdom and wanted to learn more, but as there would be some serious consequences if somebody found out that she is researching the „forbidden knowledge“, Lione decided to look for answers on her own.
Although she did buy herself a house, she didn´t spend much time there and was making trips and journeys all around the place. She then finalyl decided to become a full fledged adventurer and to simply make money while investigating various places. She always picked job that would lead her to a possible new source of information. Like this she has spent a half year in the dwaren kingdom doing one „quest“ after another. And since the quest were becoming more and more dangerous she decided to arm herself a little better and had a dwarwen blacksmith make her some magical equipment. After the half year in the dwarven kingdom she came to like mead that the dwarfs occasionally make and when she finally made her way back to her house in Curnow she immediately went and bought a few bottles of mead and stored them in th cellar. Although there was more mead in Etria than among te dwarves she still liked the dwarven one bit more.
Along her travels she even made a friend. A half-dwarf guy called Brian. He was an adventurer as she was and they happened to work together in the group a few times. Brian was one of the few that could hold a converastion with Lione as she always either overwhelmed people by facts or was silent as other people were happily talking around her. Brian had this side to him that always managed to bring Lione back to the conversation and when she was making a tidal waves of informations one after another, he simply waited and once she cooled down he smiled in his crooked way and continued the conversation. Brian, being a half-dwarf, was a pretty rare sight. He was almost as tall as other humans, but was usually twice as wide, not to say he was a warrior, wearing his heavy armor wherever he goes.
Lione actually invited him to her house for a lunch at her 27th birthday. It was a bit awkward as Lione wasn´t used to celebrating her birthdays with anyone, but in the end It turned out well. Brian knowing that Lione liked the dwarven made mead he gifted her one.
The next day Lione was already preparing for her new adventure and as always her first stop was a tavern where most of the quests and people accepting these quests gather. There she always picks a table in the corner and while quietly sipping her coffee she reads a „newsletter“ of sorts that this particular tavern gives out. There are written all the rumors and quests and sometimes a little extra.
This time the „extra“ happened to be a pseudodragon appearing out of nowhere on Lione´s table and intently staring at the newsletter. There was all kinds of things happening in this tavern, so Lione wasn´t all that surprised about this encounter so she decided to not care and simply continue reading the newspaper. The little dragon seemed a little anoyed that he wasn´t getting any attention out of her. He seemed to lock his eyes with someone at the bar and It wasn´t long till the person made her appearence aswel. Turned out the person was a woman and you could say from the very first look at her clothes, and smell of perfume that she most probably was a prostitute. This woman simply sat beside Lione while pushing the dragon to make space and then laying down two tankards of beer. Lione simply raised one eyebrow, but before she could add any kind of comentary she was struck by the monologue only an extrovert could give. It was one unbroken sentence basically, made of questions.
Lione gave up on understanding the questions that seemed to be pointed towards her. When the woman finally stopped, the dragon (presumably hers) already licked through the foam of both of the beers.
„Look.“
Said Lione.
„I am not interested in any of yours services, so If you would-„
At that the woman slightly laughed.
„Nah, I ain't trying to earn money now, I'm simply curious , you know people sitting in the corner of a tavern sipping coffee are either adventurers or serial killers and in both cases they have interesting stories to tell and I love a good story so .... which of them are ya? "
Lione was taken aback a little when she compared her to the serial killer, but still answered.
„Well… I don´t think that serial killers would be drinking coffee.. and I am here for the same reason everyone here is. I am here to take quests, complete them and earn some money. So Im sorry, but there really isn´t much of a story I could tell..“
And while saying that Lione got up and headed to the counter to pay for her coffee and to return the newsletter. Unfortunately for Lione the woman wasn´t going to give up.
"Thats sad.... but... would you like companion on your quests ? I- I-I'm somewhat adventurer myself! …Even if my looks may differ.. And..And..I know some magic too! ….Well not that many offensive spells but I can still be useful .... plus .... I hate traveling alone....."
Lione simply walked out of the tavern and went down the streets, while the woman came right after her non-stop talking about how wise It would be to bring her along on the travels and that It must be too boring to travel by herself and so on.
Lione was just walking and walking and didn´t even realized that she ended up right at her favourite kebab stall.
*„… Might aswel..“*
Thought Lione as she went and bought a kebab for herself. That finally caught her attention as she curiously watched the man behind the stall prepare the kebab.
„Wha- what is this?“
Said the woman while breathing in the flavourful smell of the kebab.
The man behind the stall, being true to his work as a merchant, immediately seized a chance to bring another customer in and started explaining the process and even the history behind the food.
Lione quietly started eating the kebab and stood there watching the dialog, somehow forgetting that she was actually running away from this troublesome woman. She then decided to buy one too and Lione nostalgically remembered the first time she had her kebab.
After that the woman, finally remembering to introduce herself as Dianetes, simply tagged along and followed Lione around the town as she was going to the shops to buy some equipment for the travel. And Dianetes stopped pleading for Lione to bring her along and started to ask about the stuff she was buying and the shops she was visiting. This way she managed to start up an actual dialog with Lione and It turned out to be a somewhat nice evening. They ended their stroll in another restaurant where Lione used to go for a dinner sometimes… she was a pretty poor cook, only able to boil stuff in the pot.
Dianetes and Lione both sat at the table… along with the little dragon that followed them all this time. They both ordered a meal and were talking about rumors and how did Dianetes got her dragon and other stuff. Even the dragon got a „meal“ of sorts in the shape of a rare steak.
At the end, Dianetes was faster with her wallet, and paid for them both.
„So..um.. are we now…friends?“
Lione stopped for a second to think this through and then reluctantly made a decision.
„..Alright then… be at the Ashrow´s gate tomorrow at 8 AM.. we´ll be going to-„
She was interupted when Dianetes started hugging her. Lione not used to body contact went a little red in her face and quickly pushed against Dianetes to break free.
"Oh sorry didn't meant to ...."
She paused for a moment and then smile appeared on her face as she patted her pseudodragon on his head.
"Ya heard that Fridrich ? We have a new friend now well... I hope "
And looked back at Lione that was just about to rethink all this. But before Lione could do much Dianetes simply patted her dragon (called Fridrich?) as he just finished his steak and started walking down the street.
Lione made a mental note to be wary of Dianetes and went back to her house. And since she was a bit sceptical about all this she made herself invisible just to be sure. At home she finished packing her backpack and lied in her bed to sleep.
Who knows what this all will lead to?