Cecilia Reinhold RIP

Backstory, Also known as 1600+ word wall of text. (6 pages double spaced, if you're curious!) 

Hailing from beyond the Mindspin Mountains, Cecilia is a Chelaxian, according to the locals. Perhaps she is, perhaps she is not, regardless she is a foreigner in a "strange" land. Though her life has been brief; under 18 years. Cecilia's thirst for knowledge and exploration burns bright. Surrounding her village, there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy. A wandering Wizard would occasionally come by, and while he was in town, Cecilia would pester him day in and day out. "I want to learn magic!" A curious desire from the daughter of the family that runs the only public stables in the village. 

Quickly, the young girl learned to read magic and could perform a few simple cantrips. It wasn't anything overly impressive, but she seemed to have a knack for the arcane. The Wizard's visits became further apart, but each time he returned, he shared greater tales of his exploits. Fearsome enemies, ancient ruins, and audiences with great people. Clearly, he was quite busy. It was a bit disappointing that she couldn't learn more from this man with such incredible knowledge, but it couldn't be helped. The Wizard focused primarily on teaching her how to defend herself, as sending a child running around with destructive magic was not something on his to-do-list.

One day, the wizard left promising to return soon. However, a few years passed with no sign of his return. In his absence, Cecilia kept up her daily training and began to call herself the Viridian Enchantress. The other villagers dismissed her new title as child's play, and perhaps held some concern for her mental development. They lived off of the land, magic had no place for them. It was the stuff of adventurers and their ilk, not of the common-man. Thus, Cecilia, the Viridian Enchantress was left knowing simply how to shield herself from attacks, after much trial and error along with many looks of disdain, she managed to fire a dart of acid. Her first, and only offensive maneuver.

Instead of only casting magic, Cecilia also took advantage of documents that the wizard had left behind. They were all in different languages, but he left guides for her to study in his absence, after all it was only so often that a wizard would find a young child so interested in magic. She had a knack, not only for magic, but for language too it seemed. Unfortunately, this led only to a further amount of ridicule from the fellow villagers.

Shortly after that, Her younger brother, Chester was attacked by a goblin that was either lost, or a scout. Cecilia arrived on the scene, only to see Chester run through by the goblin's short sword, and collapse onto the ground. Blood, gushing from his stomach. She leapt into action, channeling all of her focus into a single acid dart. The dart flew through the air, hitting the goblin between the eyes and tearing through its skull. The goblin had been slain. Chester, the poor boy seemed to be worse for wear. Cecilia scooped Chester off of the ground and onto her back, and went back to the village as fast as her legs would carry her. By the time she arrived, her back was covered in blood, and Chester had stopped breathing. It was too late for him.

Everyone in the village looked down on her with disdain. "If only you had stopped playing and done a better job of taking care of your little brother none of this would have happened." Her parents seemed lifeless. Every day for months, Cecilia would head to the site that Chester had been buried and cry over his grave. Perhaps everything was her fault after all. After a countless number of days of grieving, one trip to the grave played out differently. As she was on her knees crying, a small bird, A thrush landed on her shoulder.

A wave of excitement overcame her, "My master had a thrush! Perhaps this is a sign!" she said aloud.

Digging some scrolls out of a container that had been stowed away in the corner of her room for who knows how long, she found the papers documenting how to perform the ritual to create a familiar. Her master has left behind a clue at least, it could just be time for her to get her own start. Following the ritual to the letter, Cecilia turned the once wild thrush into her own familiar. As the ritual concluded, the thrush cocked its head back, and stared into the depth of her soul.

"M-M-Master? Name?"

“I'm Cecilia, the Viridian Enchantress. And you.... You're Chester.”
“C-C-Chester?” the bird continued to stare at the young girl.

“Yes. Chester. And we will be traveling together. We are going to see everything the world has to offer, take in all of the sights we can. Along the way we may even find some traveling companions. All the things my master has told me about, I want to see them with my own eyes.”

“C-C-Cecilia?” Chester made some squawking sounds as he attempted to speak. “Together?”

“Yes, Chester, we're going to be going together.” Cecilia thought it odd, her master's familiar had spoken with such fluency. “I guess it comes with time...” she mused aloud to herself.

The village had all but turned against her, she no longer had a place to call home. Her parents even ignored her most of the time. She began to pack her things, found a sturdy stick to function as a quarter staff and left a letter for her parents.

Dear Mother and Father,

This may seem a bit sudden, or it may not. I have decided to go on an adventure. The village is not my place any longer.
The people here hate me, all because of what happened to Chester. You both look so depressed whenever you look at me,
I can hardly stand it. I want you to know, that I love both of you, and I shall return to this village some day,
when I have come to terms with who I am, and have seen the things that I would like to see. For better or worse,
my master has had a profound influence on my life, and I thirst for experiences and knowledge that I just cannot find in our small village.
Don't worry too much about me. I have some provisions and some coin that I have saved. Hopefully,
despite all that is happen someday I can become a daughter that you can be proud of.

With love,
Cecilia

Under the cover of darkness, Cecilia left her village. Looking back as she casually strolled away, memories came rushing in, so many good times as a small child learning magic from an eccentric old man. None of the other children in the village seemed to be interested, or if they had their parents had crushed their desires. Her master had told her many tales of a land beyond the Mindspin Mountains, a land that was rife with opportunity, intrigue, and adventure. Thus, the sixteen year old girl set out to see the world for herself.

Along her way, Cecilia traveled with many caravans, they were going the same direction, and having an extra hand is always nice. Among these adventures, she picked up the ability to use a crossbow. It was something anyone could learn to use with ease, and having another person to fire into an oncoming band of goblins or some other creature was a person that was doing something to help the group. One night, a man grinning ear to ear tossed her a dagger.

“Lass, ya best be learning to use one of these. You never know when it might save your life.”

Many of the people around her adventures seemed to be quick to help, something drastically different from her experience in the village where everyone had kept to themselves. Through her travels, Cecilia picked up quite a few skills. Her ability to negotiate and talk to others had improved greatly from the days where making eye contact with another person from the village made her feel terrible. She had learned to be light on her feet, as there are times where being silent is important. Picked up trinkets, and other oddities along the way, and even managed to pick up a few spells from traveling wizards that were willing to share.
The words of her master, in his description of his adventures did not even begin to describe the sights that Cecilia had been able to take in. Chester, too became more capable when it came to speech, and developed a personality of his own. A little on the tricky side, but still a great companion. He knew when to keep his mouth shut, which was a boon. A talking bird would be sure to draw a crowd, so he did his best to avoid talking while people that did not know his true identity were around.

Another habit, likely a good one that Cecilia picked up was to ask anyone who looked like they had been around the area for a while for information. Common things, like which inn is best to visit, who to avoid, interesting events that are happening in the area, all things that could lead to a new experience.

It was through this, that Cecilia heard of the Swallowtail Festival that would be taking place in the town of Sandpoint. She made it her priority to make it to Sandpoint before it started. Her village had a few celebrations sure, but they were small, hardly something worthy to be called a festival. Her master had mentioned time and time again, that festivals were a wonderful thing that should be experienced as often as possible.

It was hard to believe, that in just a little over a year all of the things that she had experienced in her travels.