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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruined" data-source="post: 424161" data-attributes="member: 113">I sent the file on yesterday Dinkeldog. Hope it found you. This post has the colors removed. I'm gonna look at it and debate (it is easier to post this way).This section, the introduction to young Surielle, is a bit different from your typical game beginning. It does set up things for her, as you'll see in following chapters. It was fun to run something this different, as you'll see.---------------------------------------------------------Surielle – 19th of Madrer, yr. 141 AV“I don’t smell food. Why haven’t you cooked yet?”Surielle looked with surprise at her father as he walked into the kitchen unannounced. She immediately felt a twinge of guilt for not having cooked yet. She had been taking her time tending to her brother Tomlin, but it was still mid-afternoon.“I’m sorry father, but it is early. I’ll start on it now.”He grumbled and walked by her, leaving the aroma of whiskey trailing behind. It wasn’t so out of the ordinary for him to smell that way - they grew the grain that was malted to make some of the best whiskey in Fernmag - but she could tell that he had been sampling the mix. It was the look in his eyes that told her the truth. She hoped that the whiskey was the cause for his recent string of bad moods. Karn Hammond had never been one for violence, but his ire had been directed at Surielle for over a month now. The birth of her brother Tomlin had been a bright spot for them all; a child they did not think would be born. In the months afterwards, her father’s moods had seemed to darken, and now he found fault with everything she did.Later that evening, Surielle worked to clean the kitchen while her parents spent time with Tomlin. Mother had returned late as usual, her work in Fernmag keeping her out longer now as she resumed her work. Father overlooked the fields and organized the farmhands that worked for them while mother tended the arrangements with those who fermented and bottled the whiskey in Fernmag. She was respected in town for her uncanny book sense. Surielle would not follow in her footsteps, her mind more on nature and the healing arts.Sounds of an argument spilled from the other room, accompanied by the cries of Tomlin. This happened often in their household. Surielle had grown numb to it, but she hated when her father upset her brother like this.“… damnable Ban Urmadna… those Denev-worshippers...”Surielle knew he spoke of her. She had heard those words, the Ban Urmadna, from him before, yet she knew not what they meant. Her mother had been silent on the issue, but Surielle was determined to learn the truth. A few questions asked among the elders of the city had given her the answer. When she found it, the truth had almost been too much to deal with.In Fernmag, and much of Darakeene, the Ban Urmadna was an age-old rite for families with difficulties bearing a child. Another woman could be brought into the house to help the father conceive a child if the wife was barren. Had her parents done this? Was she born of another woman? It seemed a lie without substance, but the more she pondered it, the more Surielle could see it. Her mother had flaxen hair, while hers was a dark shade of reddish-brown. She bore other features that seemed to pull more from her father, but in truth she did not resemble either. Tomlin, on the other hand, bore a striking resemblance to Surielle’s mother, with large blue eyes and wispy blonde hair.She had confronted her mother one morning with this information and the truth came about. When younger, her mother could not get with child, and so they had found an outsider, a woman from the Keltai tribe to the north. They had brought her into the house, and soon enough, her belly swelled with child. Surielle could see the jealousy still in her mother’s eyes at mention of this. Her birth mother’s name was Amara; that was all she would tell her. She forbade her to visit or even approach the Keltai. The memory remained, though.The door to the kitchen flew open and her father stormed forward, eyes focused on her. He ripped the dish cloth from her hands and pointed to the outside door.“Get out. You are no longer welcome here, you ungrateful witch!”Surielle stepped back in surprise. What had brought this on?“You want me to… leave?"  She turned to her mother. “Mother?”Her mother held downcast eyes and would say nothing. She turned to her raging father, and then asked her mother again.“Just go, Surielle,” her mother said. “Go, for now.”Surielle’s heart sank as she reeled in confusion.“But…”She was whisked away as her father roughly grabbed her wrist and pulled her out onto the back stoop. She fell forward onto the grass, the tears now flowing freely from her eyes.“Never come here again!” her father roared. The next sound was of the door being closed behind her, and muted arguments from inside the house.Surielle lay there for moments, confused, grief-stricken, and frightened. She was only fourteen. How would she survive?The weakness faded, replaced with newfound determination. She would find a way. This would work itself out somehow. She rose from the ground, and moved through the yard. She considered a walk into the city, but it was foolish to walk in the night with the chance that titanspawn could steal her away. She was old enough to know that the tales of vangarauk and hill giants roaming Darakeene were not merely lies to scare children. Glancing about the field, she spied the barn where father kept the horses. That would have to do.***The sound of braying horses roused Surielle from her fitful sleep. The night had not been a horrible dream – she was still here in the loft of the barn. She pulled a few pieces of straw from her hair, smoothed her dress the best she could, and descended to the floor of the barn. The horses were still stabled, so it was likely that her father had not left the house yet.After looking about for signs of her parents and finding none, Surielle skirted across the yard to the side of their house. Her timing was almost ill-fated, for as soon as she reached the corner, the door swung open and her father exited the house. She held her breath, and fortunately he did not see his daughter. As he moved with purpose out towards the barn, she slipped behind him and silently entered the house.She heard the sounds of her brother Tomlin gurgling happily in his room. She didn’t want to lose her family, but most of all she would miss him. She had practically raised the child after mom had finished nursing him. Tomlin would probably never know her, with her being forced to leave now.She slipped past her parent’s room, catching a glimpse of her mother prettying herself with a hand mirror. Surielle ducked into her room, and pushed the door to behind her. Minutes passed and soon she heard her mother leave the house with Tomlin, heading to town. Sparing no time, she found a sheet, and quietly placed a few blankets and clothes inside of it. Satisfied with what she had, she left her room and stopped in the kitchen. She grabbed a few loaves of bread she had baked herself. She would not starve that easily.Surielle gave her mother time to move up the road towards Fernmag, and then followed after her. She wanted the chance to speak to her mother away from her father. Perhaps she could reason with her, and some arrangement could be made to get her back in the house.She followed her mother, keeping to the trees lining the rock-strewn road. Soon the trees were replaced by worn buildings that had stood since the end of the Divine War. Many of the buildings had been abandoned for years, but the rising popularity of whiskeys produced here had brought new business and livelihood to a diminishing town.Her mother took a different path than normal this morning. Surielle thought it odd, but mayhap she was finding someone to watch after Tomlin, who was bundled in her arms. Trying to appear casual, Surielle followed until her mother walked up to a building that seemed more an office than a residence. She waited at the door for a moment, then it opened and she was ushered inside by an unseen person.Surielle’s curiosity overcame her need to talk to her mother, and within moments she found herself leaning up to a window in the rear of this building. Her balance was not what it should have been, and she fell forwards onto the sill with a bit of noise. Or maybe it was the sight she saw: her mother in a passionate embrace with a man she did not recognize - a man that was not her father. She landed roughly against the building and slid down. The clamor did not go unnoticed, and soon the man was looking out the window, looking for the cause of the sound. By that time, Surielle had fled into the streets. She ran at a hectic pace, caring not in the direction which her feet took her.Her father hated her for what she was. Her mother… who knew what her mother was doing behind their backs. Surielle had no one to turn to, and nowhere to go.Never go to the Keltai village north of the city. They are not good people.The words echoed in her mind, spoken by a woman who no longer seemed fit to judge others. A woman who was not truly her mother…</blockquote>

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