Buttercup
Princess of Florin
Last night I played in the first session of Steve Creech's new campaign, and I had a blast. I really like my character, and I've got some great plans for her, if she doesn't die, Steve being the Rat Bastard DM that he is. So anyway, I thought I would record her experiences in the form of a story hour. I hope I'm good enough at this that I can provide some enjoyment for anyone who takes the time to read it, and I also hope that readers get an idea of how much fun we're having. So without further ado, here's chapter one.
Taken by the Storm
The diary of a lady’s bodyguard
I have never kept a diary before, since I’m not really given to vapors and moonings like some young women. But my life has suddenly taken such an extraordinary turn that I must have a way to order my thoughts, lest I give way to madness and despair.
Let me begin by recording my background. I grew up in the city of Faliner, the child of a career military officer. My education and interests were nothing out of the ordinary for my station, but I was always fascinated by my father’s swords. When I was 8, I finally convinced him to give me lessons. I demonstrated such an aptitude that I was enrolled in the elite Faliner Academy, which trained all the sons and some of the daughters of the gentry in swordplay, archery, riding and military tactics. I wasn’t much interested in tactics, and I don’t like horses all that much. But worst of all, I just wasn’t strong enough to use the big swords that the boys did. I was beginning to think that maybe I really didn’t belong at the academy, but Master Govier told me that I just needed to learn a different kind of swordplay. He enrolled me in gymnastics classes, and gave me a much smaller and lighter blade to use. Finally, I started to make some progress! As the years went buy, I became a star pupil, if I do say so myself.
It was in this way that I came to the attention of His Grace, Duke Fenris. He wanted a bodyguard for his daughter Lady Amelia, who would be entering society in a year, and by all accounts was turning into quite a handful. His Grace directed that my training for my final year focus on my future role as bodyguard to a noblewoman. The time passed swiftly, and before I knew it, I was wearing the Hawk and Rose livery of the Fenris family.
All the reports were true. Lady Amelia was a handful. I don’t really blame her though, because the life of a bird in a gilded cage wouldn’t have suited me either. The way I saw it, I was her bodyguard, not her father’s. So I did my best to help her with her schemes and plots, while keeping her from coming to harm. Fortunately for me, her father never found out about our shenanigans, or I’m sure I would have lost my position.
But that life is gone now, so I won’t dwell on it. Instead, I want to record all the strange things that have happened to me since the spring when Lady Amelia and I both turned 18.
It all started when my Lady Amelia Fenris asked me to deliver a package to the Stedwick estate. Normally, I’m not an errand girl, but Lady Amelia wanted to be sure that word did not get out about this package, and my loyalty and discretion are above reproach. I even overstepped myself and told her that it wasn’t a good idea to send me, because then she would be left unguarded. But she’s a stubborn one, is Lady Amelia. “Danira, don’t be silly, I’ll be fine. Just deliver this package to Jaston Stedwick—into his very hands, mind you—and hurry back to me. You won’t be gone more than a few hours. It’s only three miles.” Neither of us thought to worry about my safety.
It had been threatening rain all day, and as I left the Fenris estate, I could see that the sky was pretty dark off to the west. No doubt about it, I was going to get wet. But my blades were freshly oiled, so I wasn’t too worried. No, what worried me was leaving Lady Amelia unguarded. Even though we were at her country estate and not in town, I didn’t kid myself that a good assassin couldn’t find her. I passed through the village of Fenris, and into the light woods beyond. A feeling of unease was growing in me, so I decided to pick up my pace a bit. I began to jog.
As I trotted along the road through the woods, the sky continued to darken and the rumble thunder became nearly constant. Within ten minutes it had begun to rain, big fat drops that hit the ground, and me, with heavy splats. Suddenly there was a bolt of lightning stabbed the ground not four feet in front of me. I stopped short with the smell of charred stone in my nose and my hair standing on end. The sky opened up, and a torrential downpour worse than any I’ve ever seen in my life began to hammer down on me. I couldn’t see to walk—my hair was in my eyes and I felt like I could hardly breathe. I stepped off the road into a thicket and ducked under the bushes for the small shelter they provided.
The storm seemed to go on forever, but it was probably only about half an hour. It finally stopped, almost like somebody stopped pouring a pitcher. I scrambled out from my shelter, covered with leaves and mud, soaked completely through. A thick fog was everywhere. No matter, I thought. I knew where the road was, and I knew where my destination lay. So I began slogging through the wet leafmould back to the road.
Except the road wasn’t there. I had gone less than 10 feet from it when I hid in the thicket, I was certain. Obviously I had got myself turned around. I slogged the other way, but the road wasn’t in that direction either. Now, I’m not an outdoorswoman. Give me the stinking alleys and narrow streets of a city any day. So I figured that maybe I should just wait a bit for the fog to clear, instead of wandering around in circles like some deranged animal. So I stopped where I was, took off my armor wrung out my shirt and trousers as best I could, and put my armor back on. I checked my beautiful sword, that Lady Amelia had given me last Winterfest, but it was fine. The scabbard was as good as the blade, and it had not gotten any water inside. My daggers were another matter, but since I really had no way to dry them off, they would have to wait.
By the time I was done, the fog had lifted, so I tried again to find the road. After wandering around for about 10 minutes, I gave up in disgust and decided to climb a tree. Which was odd, once I thought about it, because the light woods I had been in, didn’t really have any trees big enough to climb. It was just a copse. Now though, there were big, old trees all around me. But like I said, I’m no outdoorswoman. What do I know about trees, really? I picked a nice tall one, and shinnied up it as far as I could.
When I looked out from my high perch, the hair on my head stood up again, and my heart skipped a beat. There was forest stretching for miles in every direction, except for toward the northwest, where a chain of lofty mountains rose up. There are no mountains anywhere near the Fenris estate. You have to ride for over a week on a fast horse to get to the mountains. There was no river. There was no road. The forest did end about a mile toward the Northwest, and the mountains, and I could see what looked like a palisade about a mile farther than that. I climbed down the tree, feeling confused and a little angry. It seemed as though someone had played a practical joke on me, but I couldn’t imagine how. This was strange beyond anything I had ever heard tell of.
I began to make my way through the trees toward the settlement. When I came out of the woods, it was obvious that my lack of woodsman’s skill had led me astray. I was about a mile further east than I wanted to be, maybe more. I looked around, at the open ground ahead of me and the mountains rising up almost abruptly. And then I noticed him.
There was a man standing in front of a small cave in the rocks, about 100 yards from me. He was wearing only his small clothes, and looking around wildly. Every now and then, he tapped his wrist. I drew my sword and approached him, but stopped about 40 feet from him, when he finally noticed me.
“Identify yourself, “ I said. He looked at me with total confusion on his face, and responded with gibberish. “What movie are they filming around here? That’s the most realistic looking costume I’ve ever seen,” he said. I asked him if he had suffered a head wound, since he was obviously raving. He seemed a bit insulted at my question, but continued to look around in confusion, and pepper his conversation with nonsense words, like Holly Wood and motion picture. Several times he mentioned a place called Cala-Forn-Ya. Although it seemed unlikely, I asked him if he had been hit by lightning. I have heard that sometimes people survive such a thing, and surely it would explain his raving. He laughed at me, and said he had lost an ocean. It’s a measure of how uncomfortable his strange behavior made me that I didn’t ask his name or House.
After a few minutes, I established that he did not know where he was any more than I did, so I asked him if he wanted to accompany me toward the settlement off to the west. He agreed, and picked up a long black bag made of some strange material. I was surprised that he made no move to take clothing out of his bag, since he was nearly naked, but made no comment. Lady Amelia always said that well bred women were supposed to pretend not to notice men’s bodies, and well, he was obviously brain injured, which isn’t all that attractive, if you know what I mean.
We walked westward for a few minutes, when I heard a wolf’s howl in the distance, quickly followed by another, answering howl. I suggested that we might want to pick up our pace a bit, and my companion agreed. We began to jog. The wolves’ howls grew more numerous, and seemed a bit closer. I looked behind and saw something that made my blood run cold. There were two huge wolves, each with a small person sitting on its back! “Run!” I cried, and we both took off as fast as we could go toward the settlement, which, now that we were close enough to make out details, appeared to be a rough fort, surrounded by a wooden palisade. As we ran, two more wolves and their riders joined the chase, and continued to gain on us. As we drew closer to the fort, one of the men on the walls yelled for the gates to be opened, and thankfully someone did it quickly, because we just managed to get inside the narrowly opened gate with the wolves hot on our tails. As we both collapsed on the ground, sucking air, we heard their large bodies crash against the once more closed gate. I was in no shape to do anything about it, so I was happy to hear that the four strange mounted warriors turned and rode at top speed back in the direction they came from.
Taken by the Storm
The diary of a lady’s bodyguard
I have never kept a diary before, since I’m not really given to vapors and moonings like some young women. But my life has suddenly taken such an extraordinary turn that I must have a way to order my thoughts, lest I give way to madness and despair.
Let me begin by recording my background. I grew up in the city of Faliner, the child of a career military officer. My education and interests were nothing out of the ordinary for my station, but I was always fascinated by my father’s swords. When I was 8, I finally convinced him to give me lessons. I demonstrated such an aptitude that I was enrolled in the elite Faliner Academy, which trained all the sons and some of the daughters of the gentry in swordplay, archery, riding and military tactics. I wasn’t much interested in tactics, and I don’t like horses all that much. But worst of all, I just wasn’t strong enough to use the big swords that the boys did. I was beginning to think that maybe I really didn’t belong at the academy, but Master Govier told me that I just needed to learn a different kind of swordplay. He enrolled me in gymnastics classes, and gave me a much smaller and lighter blade to use. Finally, I started to make some progress! As the years went buy, I became a star pupil, if I do say so myself.
It was in this way that I came to the attention of His Grace, Duke Fenris. He wanted a bodyguard for his daughter Lady Amelia, who would be entering society in a year, and by all accounts was turning into quite a handful. His Grace directed that my training for my final year focus on my future role as bodyguard to a noblewoman. The time passed swiftly, and before I knew it, I was wearing the Hawk and Rose livery of the Fenris family.
All the reports were true. Lady Amelia was a handful. I don’t really blame her though, because the life of a bird in a gilded cage wouldn’t have suited me either. The way I saw it, I was her bodyguard, not her father’s. So I did my best to help her with her schemes and plots, while keeping her from coming to harm. Fortunately for me, her father never found out about our shenanigans, or I’m sure I would have lost my position.
But that life is gone now, so I won’t dwell on it. Instead, I want to record all the strange things that have happened to me since the spring when Lady Amelia and I both turned 18.
It all started when my Lady Amelia Fenris asked me to deliver a package to the Stedwick estate. Normally, I’m not an errand girl, but Lady Amelia wanted to be sure that word did not get out about this package, and my loyalty and discretion are above reproach. I even overstepped myself and told her that it wasn’t a good idea to send me, because then she would be left unguarded. But she’s a stubborn one, is Lady Amelia. “Danira, don’t be silly, I’ll be fine. Just deliver this package to Jaston Stedwick—into his very hands, mind you—and hurry back to me. You won’t be gone more than a few hours. It’s only three miles.” Neither of us thought to worry about my safety.
It had been threatening rain all day, and as I left the Fenris estate, I could see that the sky was pretty dark off to the west. No doubt about it, I was going to get wet. But my blades were freshly oiled, so I wasn’t too worried. No, what worried me was leaving Lady Amelia unguarded. Even though we were at her country estate and not in town, I didn’t kid myself that a good assassin couldn’t find her. I passed through the village of Fenris, and into the light woods beyond. A feeling of unease was growing in me, so I decided to pick up my pace a bit. I began to jog.
As I trotted along the road through the woods, the sky continued to darken and the rumble thunder became nearly constant. Within ten minutes it had begun to rain, big fat drops that hit the ground, and me, with heavy splats. Suddenly there was a bolt of lightning stabbed the ground not four feet in front of me. I stopped short with the smell of charred stone in my nose and my hair standing on end. The sky opened up, and a torrential downpour worse than any I’ve ever seen in my life began to hammer down on me. I couldn’t see to walk—my hair was in my eyes and I felt like I could hardly breathe. I stepped off the road into a thicket and ducked under the bushes for the small shelter they provided.
The storm seemed to go on forever, but it was probably only about half an hour. It finally stopped, almost like somebody stopped pouring a pitcher. I scrambled out from my shelter, covered with leaves and mud, soaked completely through. A thick fog was everywhere. No matter, I thought. I knew where the road was, and I knew where my destination lay. So I began slogging through the wet leafmould back to the road.
Except the road wasn’t there. I had gone less than 10 feet from it when I hid in the thicket, I was certain. Obviously I had got myself turned around. I slogged the other way, but the road wasn’t in that direction either. Now, I’m not an outdoorswoman. Give me the stinking alleys and narrow streets of a city any day. So I figured that maybe I should just wait a bit for the fog to clear, instead of wandering around in circles like some deranged animal. So I stopped where I was, took off my armor wrung out my shirt and trousers as best I could, and put my armor back on. I checked my beautiful sword, that Lady Amelia had given me last Winterfest, but it was fine. The scabbard was as good as the blade, and it had not gotten any water inside. My daggers were another matter, but since I really had no way to dry them off, they would have to wait.
By the time I was done, the fog had lifted, so I tried again to find the road. After wandering around for about 10 minutes, I gave up in disgust and decided to climb a tree. Which was odd, once I thought about it, because the light woods I had been in, didn’t really have any trees big enough to climb. It was just a copse. Now though, there were big, old trees all around me. But like I said, I’m no outdoorswoman. What do I know about trees, really? I picked a nice tall one, and shinnied up it as far as I could.
When I looked out from my high perch, the hair on my head stood up again, and my heart skipped a beat. There was forest stretching for miles in every direction, except for toward the northwest, where a chain of lofty mountains rose up. There are no mountains anywhere near the Fenris estate. You have to ride for over a week on a fast horse to get to the mountains. There was no river. There was no road. The forest did end about a mile toward the Northwest, and the mountains, and I could see what looked like a palisade about a mile farther than that. I climbed down the tree, feeling confused and a little angry. It seemed as though someone had played a practical joke on me, but I couldn’t imagine how. This was strange beyond anything I had ever heard tell of.
I began to make my way through the trees toward the settlement. When I came out of the woods, it was obvious that my lack of woodsman’s skill had led me astray. I was about a mile further east than I wanted to be, maybe more. I looked around, at the open ground ahead of me and the mountains rising up almost abruptly. And then I noticed him.
There was a man standing in front of a small cave in the rocks, about 100 yards from me. He was wearing only his small clothes, and looking around wildly. Every now and then, he tapped his wrist. I drew my sword and approached him, but stopped about 40 feet from him, when he finally noticed me.
“Identify yourself, “ I said. He looked at me with total confusion on his face, and responded with gibberish. “What movie are they filming around here? That’s the most realistic looking costume I’ve ever seen,” he said. I asked him if he had suffered a head wound, since he was obviously raving. He seemed a bit insulted at my question, but continued to look around in confusion, and pepper his conversation with nonsense words, like Holly Wood and motion picture. Several times he mentioned a place called Cala-Forn-Ya. Although it seemed unlikely, I asked him if he had been hit by lightning. I have heard that sometimes people survive such a thing, and surely it would explain his raving. He laughed at me, and said he had lost an ocean. It’s a measure of how uncomfortable his strange behavior made me that I didn’t ask his name or House.
After a few minutes, I established that he did not know where he was any more than I did, so I asked him if he wanted to accompany me toward the settlement off to the west. He agreed, and picked up a long black bag made of some strange material. I was surprised that he made no move to take clothing out of his bag, since he was nearly naked, but made no comment. Lady Amelia always said that well bred women were supposed to pretend not to notice men’s bodies, and well, he was obviously brain injured, which isn’t all that attractive, if you know what I mean.
We walked westward for a few minutes, when I heard a wolf’s howl in the distance, quickly followed by another, answering howl. I suggested that we might want to pick up our pace a bit, and my companion agreed. We began to jog. The wolves’ howls grew more numerous, and seemed a bit closer. I looked behind and saw something that made my blood run cold. There were two huge wolves, each with a small person sitting on its back! “Run!” I cried, and we both took off as fast as we could go toward the settlement, which, now that we were close enough to make out details, appeared to be a rough fort, surrounded by a wooden palisade. As we ran, two more wolves and their riders joined the chase, and continued to gain on us. As we drew closer to the fort, one of the men on the walls yelled for the gates to be opened, and thankfully someone did it quickly, because we just managed to get inside the narrowly opened gate with the wolves hot on our tails. As we both collapsed on the ground, sucking air, we heard their large bodies crash against the once more closed gate. I was in no shape to do anything about it, so I was happy to hear that the four strange mounted warriors turned and rode at top speed back in the direction they came from.
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I hope you get a couple more players, but it looks to me like whether you have 'em or not you're going to be having a blast!
