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Mon 4th Dec 2023 02:46

The Meeting of Tales

by Luce Virtues

~5 Years Ago~
Luce was wandering the Fey wild having just performed at a bonfire and trying to find her way back home. However, she had imbibed a bit too much fey wine and was lost. While wandering she stumbled across a beautiful pond that seemed to glow a soft blue light of its own accord and with no obvious source in sight. Though Luce knew that beauty especially such extreme beauty often hides danger she could not help herself from wandering closer to the pond to touch its still and glowing surface. As soon as her finger touched the surface she was pulled through in a vortex of streaming blue until she landed in a strange world less than a heart beat later. Brushing herself off she stood and surveyed her surroundings, seeming to have landed in a forest though not one she recognized.
While trying to get her bearings she heard the sound of laughter and merriment, something safe and familiar, and so she followed. A short walk later she stumbled into a square, clearly a small farming village, though wear was another question entirely.
Luce followed the road to a brightly lit building with a tattered sign declaring the establishment to be The Puzzled Sun Tavern and Inn. Upon entering she noticed though the place was busy the performer was clearly more interested in the busty barmaid than in entertaining the patrons much to the annoyance of the barkeep. Playing to her strengths and finding an opportunity Luce strode to the stage and did what she does best, began to tell a story. A story of a young satyr lost and in a new place full of the unknown and peril, but also full of hope and opportunity. Immediately the crowd was enthralled, those on their way out pausing to listen and getting pulled back to the bar by the intriging tale, for the best stories are those steeped in truth.
After performing, Luce struck a deal with the bar keep, a beautiful half elf woman named Odette Windrider. Luce would perform each night for room and board and could keep any tips she made so long as she brought in customers and encouraged those who were there to stay a little longer.
A week later Luce had made fast friends with Odette and had found answers she was looking for such as the fact she had indeed landed in the material plane in a land called Daeodin. She was in a small village called _________ near _______________. While Luce enjoyed her time with those she had met she felt the urge to do more, to explore, to find her next adventure, but was unsure where to begiin.
As it turns out Lady Luck was on her side that night, for it was that night she drew the attention of the Djinn, Shaharazaad. Shaharazaad was traveling and happened to have heard rumors of a small satyr with a penchant for telling stories. Being the mother of story telling herself, Shaharazaad was intrigued enough to search out the girl to see if she truly was what the rumors said. Upon entering the tavern Shaharazaad was met with a scene of a petite auburn haired satyr jumping from table to table, somehow not disturbing a single glass, and mantaining every person's attention in the room, as she told the story of battle between a mouse and a dragon.
After the Luce had finished telling her tale she returned to the bar and her drink still puzzling over what to do next. It was in that moment she was approached by a stunning, seemingly air genasi woman. She had waist length hair the color of the midnight sky - a deep fathomless indigo- that seemed to fall in waves down her back with the shorter tendrils floating to frame her face. Her skin was soft periwinkle blue clear of any markings or scars. She gazed at Luce with an openly curious gaze though the longer Luce looked into those eyes the more she felt that this woman was not all that she seemed.
After introducing herself as Shaharazaad, the mysterious woman asked Luce to tell her another story, one untouched and meaningful in its earnestness. Intrigued by the request Luce thought back to her childhood in the fey wilds and thought of one of the elders in the place she grew up in. A woman of great intelligence and power, but no less mischevious than any other fey. Luce decided to tell her story, a force of nature who shaped the world around her despite its fickle nature and the sacrifice she made to protect the those in the small community they lived in when another sought to take what was not theirs.
Touched by the story Shaharazaad knew that Luce was not just a storyteller, but a holder of histories, someone who held power in the stories she told not so unlike herself. The two continued to talk almost as if they were old friends catching up through the night; Luce falling asleep at the booth they had taken up seats in later in the evening. When she awoke the mysterious woman was gone, but in her place was a letter, one that explained that Luce was given a boon in thanks for the beautiful story she had told and that if she continued to collect stories and tell them, Shaharazaad would continue to listen and reward her for them.
Realizing she had found her adventure, Luce bid farewell to Odette and those that had helped her and started on her journey to find the next story and the next adventure.