Waking up before the sun comes out doesn't sound appealing to most. But to little Lute, it means more time to study. "Hmm, what shall I read this morning?" Lute asked herself out loud as she fingered through her bookshelf with one hand, waving her unbraided hair from her face. "Ah, the Glossary of Falibrian Entomology!" She gasped and jumped down from the stool, massive book in hand. She took to her desk and chair, magically lit a few candles with tiny fire spells and began to read by candle light.
Before Lute looked up again, her candles had melted and she had read about an odd bug called the chemida beetle. It had wings in its juvenile stage of life but lost them just before maturing into adulthood. "Interesting, other insects I've read about so far have undergone metamorphosis in order to gain wings." She thought aloud just before a furious-sounding knock came at her front door. Who could it be at this hour? Lute asked herself before standing, pulling a robe on over her night gown and walking over to answer the door.
Upon opening the front door, a comically nervous-looking Artur stood, orange curls sweat-matted against his head, pale as a ghost. His arm out-stretched, he held a white book with gold lettering that read Lux Aeterna framed by intricate gold engravings. What really caught Lute's eye was the sedgel lizard's tail that protruded from the top like a bookmark. Suddenly, Lute remembered that she was the cause of Artur's hilarious bought of fright. She'd borrowed that book and caught a lizard whose tail would regrow, took the tail and replaced her friend's bookmark when she was done reading it.
"Good morning, Artur." Lute smiled as she greeted her long time friend. "Anything I can do for you this morning?" Without skipping a beat, Artur began to nod, shaking nervously. "Well, what is it, friend?" He shook the end of his book furiously, still not speaking. "Oh! This thing?" Lute pulled the tail from the book, playing dumb and trying not to giggle.
"Lute, don't do things like this to me..." Artur sighed and patted Lute's head. "Your pranks will be the death of me if you keep it up."He turned and opened his book, walking back towards his own home. "I'll be by around noon to help your mother with her garden, tell her that for me?" He looked back and asked just before turning around again.
Lute nodded and closed the door, walking back to her desk, about to close her book and go monk-watching when she remembered. "Artur's afraid of spiders as well..." She pondered for a moment, holding her glossary half-open, "Perhaps, if I immerse him in a harmless instance of his fear he will find his way over it." After only a few more moments of deliberation, Lute opened the book again and flipped to the index fingering over it, chanting quietly to herself, "Non-poisonous, local spiders... non-poisonous, local spiders... non-poisonous, local spiders..."
Some Time Later...
Lute had awoken later than usual, the sun already high in the sky. She'd stayed up late studying the night before and was now paying for it. The sun shone brightly against her. She never was one for sun, always preferring candle light to the light of day. She was still in her red and purple dress that she'd worn to dinner the night before and smelled something dreadful. "Oh, no. I do need a bath." Just as lute was walking across her home to the bathroom, and hurried knocked came at the door. "Always at the worst times." Lute sighed and pulled her royal blue cloak onto her shoulders and around her body just before opening the door.
The boy that stood on the opposite side of the door made Lute perform a double-take. He was young, about her age and only slightly taller than she. He wore simple armor and clothing, a dark top and white shorts with boots, and a black bandanna across his head. In his hands he held two large axes that seemed too big for him to carry. "Hurry up! You're Artur's friend, right? I'm Ross... and those things..." He motioned, raising one of his axes, causing his rigid arm muscles to flex wildly, towards a creature that has been aid to be dead for some time.
Lute nodded and grabbed her tome of fire and followed the handsome pirate onto the battlefield. Burning revenant after revenant to a crisp next to Ross's wild slashing of undead bodies into small pieces. Soon though, the battle was over and the party regrouped to rest, bathe, and discuss the return of the creatures or lore.