She could hear the dull thudding noises of wood hitting wood, below her, as the young elven children who wished to be masters and mistresses of battle practiced with wooden longswords sized for them. Loriana smiled. She remembered when she herself had tried that; she didn't like it. Loriana preferred her own art of divine magic. For Loriana was a druid, though odd in her age of forty. She would be equivalent to a human girl of perhaps ten; a child by all rights.

Oh well. Who cared? Loriana did not. Her father had vanished mysteriously, leaving only a carefully written note that was unmistakably in his own hand:

To Loriana:

My home is yours to keep, but do not take it until you are of age to do so and have left your mother. Respect other dragons, if they are good; and always, my dear,

Remember me.

And Jenai, though highly thought of in the community, had been attacked and killed by an assassin who was never found, but had somehow managed to make the death permanent, blocking even a true resurrection, to the town's dismay. And so Loriana was alone, and she chose to follow the path of a druid, a child of nature.

Loriana looked down at the village road from her vantage point, sitting atop the roof of the small but very good school. There were some people wandering the roads, off on errands, going home, et cetera. She had gotten up here, of course, by virtue of her half-dragon-ness: Loriana, to her continual joy, had wings- large silver draconic wings that told all too clearly her heritage.

And aside from that, she was silvery, with minute scales that were barely noticeable but for that they changed the color of her skin; her hair, unlike the normal elven dark, was silver-gray. Loriana had retractable claws, like a dragon, and had chosen to practice until she could use them as effectively as any dragon, dealing ordinary damage equal to that of a dagger, with each hand, when she hit things.

Lori wore loose hide pants and shirt, which worked well enough as hide armor, and no shoes. Her scales thickened and hardened on her feet, thus making footwear unneccesary. Lori had no spell component pouch; she had, at some point, found that she was similar to a sorcerer in the sense that she had innate power, casting magic spontaneously and without needing material. But Lori still paid homage to Ehlonna of the Forests, goddess of the woodlands, as her patron deity, from whom her spells partially originated.

And now she was bored. It was fun to watch the children learn- to a point. It was fun to play with the little kids and give them rides- to a point. Her life as a half-dragon elf druid was fun- to a point. And now Loriana, daughter of Harrosinuth and Jenai, was bored; and she intended to do something about it.

Lori sat in a tree, eating lunch, and listening happily to the sounds of the forest, grinning from ear to ear. Literally. Lori had an extremely odd quality that tended to be amusing and sometimes annoying: she was literal. Literally. If that makes any sense. In this case, it meant that her mouth- and thus her grin- actually stretched across her face, from ear to ear. It applied in things like throwing tantrums, which she used to do: a small object labeled TANTRUM would appear, and Lori would throw it. It wasn't a solid object, merely a random picture of literality, and would vanish again. But that, of course, was entirely not the point.

Lori was wearing, of course, her hide clothes, and her long, silver hair was held in a neat ponytail. As she finished her squirbit (a common type of creature: half-rabbit, half-squirrel, and very good to eat) sandwich, Lori heard a sound, her sharp elf ears twitching.

It was a human. A warrior. And however much he seemed to be proceeding in what he seemed to think was a quiet manner, that man was making enough noise to wake a sleeping elf! But then, he was untrained in moving through the forest, clearly, and elven ears were sharp.

Lori grinned. She waited until the warrior, a fighter-class human, came into view. Oh, very good- he was a good 6' 2" tall. And wearing armor on his shoulders. Mischief sparkled in Lori's bright green eyes. When the fighter was right beneath her (and naturally, had totally failed to notice the druid, who was quiet), Lori jumped agilely and landed on his shoulders with a grin, wings folded down to the point of being almost unseen. The man fell on his back with a startled cry.

"Tsk, tsk!" Lori said laughingly. "Mustn't make so much noise in a forest!"


The man stared at the girl who was now sitting on his stomach cross-legged, grinning at him. Why hadn't he heard her? More importantly, why had she heard him? Until he yelled, he'd been quiet. Or had he been? "Er, hello," he said gruffly, unsure what to do. This was not something you could simply whack with a sword. This silvery girl was not something to attack, for two reasons:

1) She was a child. An honorable warrior who paid homage to Heironeous, God of Valor, would not attack a child without exceedingly good reason.

2) She didn't seem to be evil; just a child who was amused by jumping out of trees onto people. This was mischief,
not meanness.


Lori grinned at the confuddled man. She had realized by now that she was smarter than him, of course. Fighters weren't exactly known for intelligence, anyway. "Hello to you, too. I'm Loriana, but you can call me Lori. Who're you? And would you like to go adventuring with me? I'm only forty, but I'm bored, and I'm a druid besides."

The fighter blinked, assimilating this large chunk of things-to-assimilate. After all, he probably didn't even know what "assimilate" means. "I'm Rodney Stoutheart," he said proudly, after a moment. "I'm a warrior-adventurer, and- uhm- go adventuring with you? Sure, I'll protect you, if you're sure you're not worried about danger.."

An obscure smile twinkled in Lori's eyes at the fighter's interpretation of her request. Well, of course. The strong and not-very-smart fighter would assume he was protecting her, when she would likely be doing just as much. Which was the point. Lori smiled at Rodney and got up from where she was sitting. "Off we go then!" she said. Rodney nodded.


Rodney was a warrior, a man who had gone to a good warriors' school back at his hometown, Blueberry Hill. He was of average to dull intelligence, the type to look at you funny if you said a word like "quintessential" or "ovation." Rodney was, however, a staunch defender of anyone in danger, and had extraordinary strength, the kind of strength you find in high paladins and warrior-lords.

And so he named himself Stoutheart and went to school.

There, Rodney had learned the arts of battle and statistics. He understood how to fight a good fight and win. So Rodney Stoutheart of Blueberry Hill set off to find adventure and further the cause of good and right, praying to Heironeous and happy to tell everyone.

Rodney walked along the path, making some effort to be silent and not scare anyone, and to listen for others there. Rodney looked for someone to adventure with. A strong sorceror, perhaps, or a monk? A cleric, maybe, he thought. And so Rodney was thoroughly stunned to have a young elven girl drop suddenly from a tree on him, laugh, and want to adventure with him!

So Rodney took his view. This Lori was a child, but she seemed to be agile and happy and perfectly wishing to go. So he would bring her along and protect her and everyone would be happy, yes?


Lori grinned at her new friend and danced up the tree again, causing Rodney to blink. How did she do that? Oh well, he thought, shrugging, and waiting for Lori to come down.

Lori, meanwhile, was getting her cloak, and roomy belt pouches. The pouches went on her soft belt, and the cloak on her shoulders. Fortunately, it fit over her wings, and they could spread out and be used if necessary. The elf/dragon shook herself for a moment, readying, and dropped gracefully to the ground, supporting herself with her silver wings.

Rodney, of course, blinked again, staring, for he had not noticed her wings. "Why d'you have wings?" he inquired, ever the straightforward.

Lori smiled. "My dad was a dragon," she replied helpfully.

"Ah."

The two set off, Lori perfectly content and not seeming unduly annoyed that Rodney was twice her size.

They saw two figures in the distance; one was garbed in purple and the other in pink. Who were they? Lori sped up, to see who else might join their party to adventure.