Hey guys. Happy Friday!
What a freaking week this is. There have been some great moments, like defeating the great dragon queen Tiamat in a going-away game for our now relocated GM (who I’m gonna miss) and finally getting to see the Warcraft movie. (Yes, linking to my instagram for contaxt/visuals is a thing I do now). At the same time, the thesis stress has hit me hard. Exactly 10 days until submission now and that thought makes me a bit queasy. I legitimately don’t know if I’ll manage in time or not, and that’s a weird feeling for me. I usually know, but… nope.
During last week’s session, the last of the campaign with the aforementioned relocated GM, I had an idea for a story involving a reworked, and re-named, version of my character in that campaign. It’s still in its early stages, very sketchy, but here’s a little morsel from what might become the first chapter if the idea grows:
“Good evening, Tylla!” Thom, the spice-merchant called, raising a wide hand in greeting from over by his stall.
“Good evening, Thom!” she replied with a smile and, reflexively, added: “Blessings to you.”
A wide smile rustled his great brown beard as she moved on. He was not the first to greet her on her way back to the temple, nor the last. She was used to it by now. After all, it had been fifteen years since she was chosen to bring luck to the city. The slowly setting sun caressed the bright green tresses that hung down her back, and that had once marked her for this life.
It wasn’t a bad life, not by a long shot. She spent one or two hours studying in the morning, before going with the Sisters across town to visit the sick and the poor. Although only her precense was demanded at these housecalls she helped out with whatever she could, prefering to feel useful and not just ornamental. Often there was some wedding or other public affair where her precense had been requested, and she would part ways with the Sisters sometime after noon to go about such business, which could be drawn-out affairs. Today it had been a name-giving ceremony for one of the noble families and, as usual, her walk back to the temple was lined with shouts and waves, and hopeful faces wanting only a smile and a blessing, and all the many things that lay behind, from her. People reaching out to her didn’t bother her, and she did not doubt the sincere happiness in their face when they saw her. She was fairly sure that she would be loved by her neighbors even if she was a regular girl, although no doubt her precense at events would be less desired. Yes, it was a good life. But then there was the mirror…
She crossed the dusty square in front of the temple, then slipped around back to go straight to the living quarters and her own room. The mirror had waited for her there on the evening that marked the thirtteenth year she’d spent in the temple. It was a small thing, only a little larger than her palm, and the handle and the back all in silver with gentle floral designs. She’d found it on her bed wrapped in a length of silk, and initially she had thought it was a present from the Sisters but they denied any knowledge of it and she believed them. They had no reason to lie, and so the person who had delivered it to her remained unknown.
She sat down on her bed and picked it up from on top of her bedside table. As usual, her stomach tightened into knots as soon as she held it. She knew it would probably be better if she just got rid of it and put the whole thing out of her mind but she didn’t think she could. She had to understand what it showed her, somehow. She lifted the mirror up to her face and met her own gaze in it. At first she only saw her face, the pointed nose and the freckles. Then she saw it… the light moved underneath her skin, pulsating with a pallor that made her look sickly, and the sight made her feel sick. She lifted her hand to her cheek, pressed her fingers against the fleshy part as if she thought she could feel whatever it was that was moving underneath. She felt only skin, underneath it bone, but she couldn’t stop feeling, couldn’t stop looking.
It’s a bit rough but… I think it can really turn into something. What do you think?