Just as Darian was finishing up with his list of reasons why he wanted to be an adventurer and Pellanor was chiding him for his overly rosy picture of life on the road, a young monk was finding out just how un-rosy an adventurer’s life could be.

Her name was Asteria, a medium-sized half elf, lithe of body and strong of limb, with long silvery white hair half-tied in a braid that draped partway down her back. Her skin was lightly tanned with hints of gold and green sprinkled throughout. Besides her backpack and leather belt tied around her homespun brown robes, she bore a forest-green cape and cowl, which due to the known xenophobia of the local humans, she kept up around her head, to partially obscure her pointed ears. 

She’d been trying to sleep under an oak tree in a vast, d...

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