The Story of Briette Part II

The Start of the Adventuring Life

Briette packed everything she thought she might need to start her adventuring life.
She bought a large backpack to fit everything inside, a bedroll to sleep on when travelling, spare clothes, a water skin, a firestarter, a mess kit to cook meals with on her travels, rations and of course she didn't forget the bow and sword her parents got her when she was younger.
After she finished gathering her things in the morning she was extremely excited to head out into the world. She hugged her mother Lastaiell and her father Azilizat, promising to return some time next year to share all about her adventures.
Though worried, they wished her all the best. Her mother Lastaiell decided to give her a gift just before she goes; an amulet made of copper with a polished piece of rose quartz set in its middle. She told her that this amulet will give her courage and show her the way when she is lost, it was a gift given to Lastaiell by her own mother.
Briette put the amulet around her neck and with a big smile on her face began heading off towards the city gate.
As she stood at the gate, she looked back at her city to take it all in for one last time before heading out into the world. She could hardly believe it, she can finally pursue her dreams of seeing the world and going on adventures.
Walking through the Isila Forest that her city is located in, she enjoyed watching all the various colourful birds flying around and hearing them sing as the sun shined at her through the treetops.
Her first destination was a human town called Munavegir, as it was the closest settlement of the humans located in the plains to the east outside the forest.
When it got to the afternoon she had finally left the forest and was now in the plains. This was the first time she was standing in a field of tall grass with barely any trees around her, it was almost alien to her having lived all her life inside the forest. She took off her backpack, dropped to the ground and rolled around in the grass laughing with joy, so happy to be out in the world finally making these new experiences.
After some time of laying in the tall grass she noticed her stomach was rumbling so she decided to eat one of her rations that she brought along. Some light bread made from the seeds native to her forest and folded and dried, thick, delicious leaves from a plant cultivated by her people.
After finishing her meal she got up, put on her backpack and decided to continue on her way.
The only guide she had was the old road that was once used in ancient times for trade, now however this road hasn't seen much use, or maintenance for that matter. Barely any stone blocks of the road left visible.
After walking all day, Briette felt like she hasn't gotten any closer to her destination with the plains stretching far all around her.
The sun was setting so she decided to make camp for the night, finding a nice hidden spot to sleep near a large boulder and under an oak tree. She was glad the bedroll she bought was nice and thick, as the ground here isn't overly comfortable and the wind of the plains being fairly cold as it is currently spring.
She dreamt of the stories her mother and father told her about the human places and almost woke up from excitement throughout the night.
She woke up to a crow cawing, on a branch in the tree she was sleeping under. These birds are rare where she comes from so she wasn't overly upset at getting woken up by it, besides it was time to get up anyway as the sun was rising. There was no river or stream nearby to bathe in so she just took some water from her water skin and washed her face with that, planning on taking a bath as soon as she gets to some kind of inn at the human settlement.
Briette stretched and continued her journey.

The First Humans

After walking for a few hours she finally saw the first human buildings in the distance.
As she got closer she saw that the humans had a big stone building here near their town, it was many stories tall and had several humans in armour on top of it keeping an eye out. "This must be a castle, like in the stories mother told me." Briette thought, marvelling at this interesting looking building. She waved to the people on the castle as she got closer but didn't get a response, maybe they just didn't see her, they were pretty high up after all.
She walked past it on her way to the town and saw there were a large amount of farms outside the town, with the town itself being encircled with a tall stone wall with several archer towers built into the wall. The banners of the human kingdom that owns this region flying in the wind.
Some of the farms had windmills, something that she only heard about.
The way humans practice farming is pretty strange she thought as she eyed the various farms that were now around her.
As she walked along the road, she watched the various humans working in their fields. Their faces are much rougher than that of the elves she noticed and she had to do a double take as she noticed their ears. Briette had almost forgotten about the different ears humans have, rounded off at the top rather than wedge shaped like hers.
Some of the workers were looking at her as she walked past, obviously seeing an elf was a rarity for them but Briette smiled and waved at them, she was happy that most of them waved back.

Munavegir

As Briette finally arrived at the gatehouse, one of the human guards held out his hand to her, palm facing her and said something she didn't understand.
She was taught the human language or "common" when she was younger but didn't really retain a lot of it as she didn't use it much after learning it.
She sheepishly smiled at the guard and in very broken common asked him to repeat himself.
Briette saw it took the guard a moment to decipher what she just said but then he spoke much slower than before.
After a moment she realised the guard wants to know her name and wants one silver coin from her, he called it a "toll".
Briette had no idea what that word means but she didn't want to argue with the guard in a language she realised she was much worse at than she thought. So she grabbed her coin purse and pulled out a silver coin, handing it to the guard. She then introduced herself as Briette, daughter of house Gaeth.
Inside the gatehouse was a little window, with another guard sitting inside there at a desk. He looked at Briette as she answered the guard that stopped her and then wrote something down into a book he had.
The guard then indicated for her to keep walking, something she gladly did. Briette was a bit embarrassed for being so terrible at speaking the language here.
As she stepped into the town, she was amazed at seeing the inside of a human town for the first time. It looks much different to her own city.
She looked at the attire of the various people here and thought to herself she must tell everyone all about this once she returns home.

The Woodmans Arms

As Briette wandered slowly through the town, taking everything in, she almost walked into several people a few times due to her not paying attention to where she was going. Through mere luck, she found the tavern. There were people sitting at tables outside a building that had a smell of food come out it's door so this must be the building she was looking for she thought.
Briette walked inside, being in the afternoon now, it was full of people. The smell of food and alcohol lay in the air, there were a couple human women walking around serving people. In the corner was a large fireplace with an old axe mounted above it.
All in all, this looks similar to the drinking groves in her own city, with the exception of this place being overly full of people and having a large fireplace in the corner.
She walked up to the counter noticing that some people were staring at her but tried to ignore it.
As she got there, the busy barkeep finished serving one person and then asked Briette something. He spoke way too fast for her to understand anything, on top of that, the other people in here are very loud and the minstrel near the fireplace played music so that didn't help either.
Briette just looked confused at the barkeep who had an expression on his face like he lost patience with her rather quickly and moved on to the next patron. Trying to get his attention again ended up being fruitless. This upset her a bit. Hopefully not all humans have this little patience and are this rude.
Standing there at the counter, she saw a barmaid walk near her. Briette waved her down and said "food?".
The barmaid spoke just as quick as the barkeep, so with a sigh Briette simply handed a silver coin to the barmaid who gave her three copper in exchange and pointed to a chair at an empty table.

Briette nodded and sat down at the table. After a few moments the barmaid came over, putting a piece of bread and a bowl of vegetable stew as well as a mug of ale in front of Briette before walking off to the next patron.
Briette was pretty hungry so she didn't spend too much time inspecting this meal, instead began eating.
After the first few spoonfulls she noticed that human meals are quiet rich in salt, thankfully she got some ale with her meal.

Once she finished eating, a barmaid came to grab her empty bowl and mug. Before the barmaid managed to run off, Briette said "Room? Bath?".
The barmaid in simple terms told Briette that she wants six silver, Briette thought that was quiet a lot of money for a room but just handed over the money.
Not long after, the barmaid came back handing a key to Briette and pointed to a door near the counter.
Quickly saying "thanks", Briette then walked through the door and up a set of stairs.
She saw her key had a number on it, thanking her parents in her mind for making her study what human numbers looked like over and over.
Briette found her room and entered it, she put her backpack on the ground near the bed and then heard a knock on the door.
Opening the door she saw several barmaids enter the room with buckets of warm water and fill the tub in her room as well as hand her a bar of soap, she was quiet relieved to finally be able to bathe.
After the barmaids finished filling the tub, Briette locked the door, undressed and got into the lovely warm water. It was very relaxing, she laid on her back in the tub and sighed, it was very welcome after walking the distance she did to come here.
It was so calming in fact that she actually fell asleep in the tub for a while before waking up with the water now cold. She got out of the tub and dried herself off with a towel that was hanging on the wall near the tub.
Using the bar of soap and water in the tub she also quickly washed her clothes, she then laid down in the clean bed and quickly fell asleep.
In the morning she got dressed using her spare clothes and locked her door before heading down into the tavern to order breakfast.
She was curious what the humans would serve her as breakfast, hopefully it wasn't as salty as the stew she thought.
For only six copper she was served breakfast, some bread and cheese. Not very exciting but it got rid of the hunger so that's all that matters.
She looked around as she ate and saw a manner of different people here, mainly people dressed like the farmers she saw yesterday but also some people that wore some more expensive looking outfits.
After finishing her breakfast she got up and went to her room to get her things and explore the town. She got her clothes that were hanging out of the open window to dry since last night and put them in her backpack which she then put on her back before heading downstairs.
She gave the room key to one of the barmaids and gave her a quick thanks.
Briette then left the tavern.

Exploring the Town

Upon stepping outside she noticed that it was overcast and rather cold this morning. Thankfully her cloak does a decent job at keeping her warm, the hood also helps with covering her ears so that people don't keep staring at her everywhere she goes.
Having no map or idea where anything was she decided to simply start following the streets until she found anything interesting. As Briette walked through town, she heard music from down the street so she continued following the music.
When she got closer she saw a man in what could be described as rags, play a strange instrument she has never seen before. As best she could, she asked the man what the instrument is called. The man smiled at her and said that it was called a hurdy-gurdy, Briette smiled and thanked the man. She wondered how the man fed himself just standing here playing music before noticing a straw hat the man had placed on the floor. It had several copper coins inside it, so she decided to put some copper coins in herself.
The man thanked Briette while he continued to play. She wasn't really used to this kind of music, being used to harps and flutes generally but she like the enthusiasm the man put into his music.
Continuing on down the street, Briette thought that it's quiet busy with many people walking here. She felt a bit claustrophobic as in her own city the streets never got this busy with people walking almost shoulder to shoulder like here so this was a bit of an unpleasant new experience.
As she walked some teenage human ran into her and almost knocked her over. Briette looked around and that kid was gone as quick as he had appeared, he must have been in quiet a hurry. "Whatever" she thought and continue walking along until she came to what appeared to be the market square, she was glad to be here as there was more space to actually move around without walking into someone.
She inspected the various stalls here, people selling jewellery, clothes, cloth, various tools and even some weapons were for sale here. One stall in particular caught her attention, it seems to be the stall of a baker with freshly baked goods with a sweet smell.
Briette approached the stall and looked at the different goods, various breads and strange twisted pieces of baked things were here. The smell that caught her attention earlier came from some berry pastries that were on display here.
The baker greeted Briette and asked what she would like, this man spoke in a slow and relaxed tone, something Briette appreciated as she could figure out what he was actually saying unlike that rude barkeep.
She pointed at one of the pastries with wide exited eyes, the man smiled and informed her that it costs seven copper. Sugar is expensive so this didn't surprise her.
As Briette reached for her coin purse, it seemed to be missing. She patted her back and sides along her belt, she was sure she tied it on there.
Maybe she left it in her room? But no she didn't as she gave a few coins to that man playing music on the street not too long ago she thought.
Then it hit her, it must have been that kid that ran into her.
Instantly the feeling of having a pit in her stomach came over her, all her money, gone just like that and that kid is probably impossible to find now.
She stammered a quick sorry to the baker before turning around and almost hyperventilating about what she's going to do without money now in this foreign land.
Thankfully she still had some rations and water left but that won't last long.
She decided to go back to the tavern, sit down and think. Her adventure can't end this soon, she has to think of something or else she will have to return home while she still has some rations left.
Upon entering the tavern again, she sat down and considered her options.
Her friends told her that adventurers generally make money by doing "quests", solving problems the towns might have.
So Briette got up and asked a barmaid if there were any jobs available. The barmaid slowly explained to her that there is a quest board near the counter and to tell the barkeep if she is interested in one of the jobs posted there.
Briette thanked the barmaid and made her way to the quest board. She saw some jobs asking for people to help move barrels in town, helping clear out the stables of a wealthy man and finally a more exciting job of locating a goblin nest and clearing it.

She was trained as a blade dancer, goblins surely won't cause much of a problem she thought but perhaps a companion would be good to have for backup.
Surely she can't be the only adventurer in town she thought. Either way she took the job, took in a deep breath and went to go talk to the barkeep.
She stood there near the counter looking at the large man who was currently polishing some mugs. Briette cleared her throat to gain this mans attention but he didn't even look at her.
So she quietly said "hello", again no answer.

Briette had it with this man, she breathed in and yelled a loud "Hello!!".
The barkeep finally looked at her and with a sigh came over to her. "What do you want elf?" He asked.
"Job, this one." she replied, holding the job paper out to him.
The barkeep looked at the job and then at Briette before nodding and asking her for her name which he then wrote down.
"Good luck young lady." he said and went back to what he was doing.

Briette smiled, stuffing the job paper in her bag.
She looked around, praying for Adanos to send her another adventurer to assist her in her quest.

The Companion

As soon as she finished praying she saw the door to the tavern swing open and saw someone walk in.
Her face dropped as she realised who just walked in. A dwarf. Standing at about 4'8" with armour, a backpack and a long thick beard with double braids in it.

She put up the hood of her cloak and turned away. "A dwarf, would he attack me?" she wondered as she is an elf after all and their people constantly fight skirmishes with the dwarves.
The dwarf stepped close to Briette near the counter and asked the barkeep something, all she could make out from their conversation was the word "job".
The barkeep pointed at Briette and said something about talking to her. Briette's facial expression instantly changed to one of dread and worry.
As the dwarf tapped her on the shoulder, she slowly turned to face the dwarf, keeping her hood up to hide her ears. Though her heavy accent and lack of skill with the human language is surely going to give her away she thought. Her heart was racing with panic as she finally looked at the dwarf.
The dwarf had a big smile on his face as he looked at Briette. He asked something in a dwarven accent that Briette had no hope of deciphering unless he spoke much slower. She didn't want to reveal her being an elf so she just nodded and made a quiet "Mhmm" noise with a bad fake smile trying to hide her true expression.
The dwarf seemed excited for reasons unbeknownst to Briette, what did she just say yes to?
The dwarf said his name was "Urist Anu, son of Bryn" while holding his hand out to Briette.
Briette hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with some common human name. She just panicked and didn't want to wait any longer so she grabbed Urist's hand and shook it while saying "Briette" with a smile, hoping that this dwarf would take it for a human name.

Urist seemed happy, this relieved Briette immensly.
"So Briette, tha job ya get. What's it about ay?" Urist asked.
Briette barely understood anything but replied anyway: "Uhh, job? Uhh, goblins, look."
She dug the job paper out of her backpack and held it out to Urist.
Urist looked at her stroking his beard for a moment in silence.
Briette started to sweat with worry.
Urist suddenly spoke: "Lass, are ya an elgi? Elf?".
She didn't know how to respond, still holding out the quest paper with her hand trembling and the other hand moving towards her dagger.
He then spoke again: "Ya needn't worry lass. I get nay quarrel with ya." with a big friendly smile.
Briette only understood the first part but hearing that and seeing the friendly expression Urist has on his face gave her reassurance.
She let out a relieved sigh and removed the hood from her head, nodding.
"A very pretty elven lass." Urist said and smiled at her.
Hearing the friendly compliment she laughed and smiled back at him.
The quest paper was then gently taken out of her hand by Urist as he began reading it.
Nodding, he gave it back to her "Looks like we gotta find and clear a grobi nest south a'here, might be dangerous. Good thing ya got me with ya." he said with a laugh.
Briette was glad this dwarf didn't want to hurt her and seemed almost pleasant.
He then asked if she was ready to go now, to which she gave a confident nod.
Urist led the way, with Briette following close behind, happy to go on her first quest.

Will continue in part 3.