Celeste

Childhood and Family Life:
Father: Avery (frail, tired, hardly leaves the house, very loving to Clementine)

Mother: Clementine (hard worker, a bit stubborn, usually is the one to go out to town, nagging (in a loving way)

Sisters:  Emelie (14 years old) very excited about marriage, girly girl, she's a bit of a lazy worker and wants people to do stuff for her, fantastic cook. Celeste and Emelie are opposites, so they fight a lot, but they love each other deeply. Emelie and Celeste have each other's backs when necessary.

Odette and Rosa (7) typical twins, identical in almost every way, except Odette is more outgoing than Rosa. She tends to lead Rosa, but they do things together. Very sweet girls, sometimes a little mischievous (they play with the sheep rather than working) young, playful, have a lot of friends in the area.

Celeste is the oldest of four girls who lives on a farm located on the outskirts of Alaix. They mostly herd sheep and will sell them to a butcher them when ready. This also includes normal farm duties such as, shaving fur, milking the sheep, weighing them, etc) The family takes care of over 100 sheep... They also have a self sustaining farm just for the family growing vegetables, fruits, and grain. Mother and father were hoping for a boy, to take over the land one day, but were unable to conceive more than 4 children. Celeste's family has always struggled, but more so when their father fell ill year ago. Celeste was fairly young (10)  when her mother Clementine took over the majority of the herding (some able hands did come and help Clementine) and Celeste did the gardening, Emelie took care of the twins and her father. Celeste's father, Avery, was stabilized after a few months enough to help take care of the young children, but could not work the farm again. He was and still is feeble and unable to do many physical tasks. Seeing her mother's level of stress compounding, Celeste volunteered to help with herding and was a natural. She trained her first large dog rather quickly and seemed to understand animals. Celeste took it upon herself  to learn how to use a bow and spear. Which actually was her grandfathers and has been passed down to the men of the family. While watching the sheep, she became fairly adept at carving her own arrows.

Her home was in an unfortunate place as it is very far from town. Wild animals freely roam about and some goblins find ways to creep through often. Her first dog Alyson died after 6 years of shadowing Celeste, because of wolves. Celeste also endangered her mother by being too arrogant. During on goblin attack, Celeste was unaware of her surroundings and Clementine took a brutal blow to her leg, saving her daughter. Clementine was forced to amputate and couldn't herd the sheep anymore, instead she only could do small tasks such as milking the sheep and shaving them.

Celeste's family now depends on her for the most part and has for about 3 years. Now with the discovery of a potential new species of goblin, Celeste is determined to be on guard and ready for any future attack on their farm. Celeste is bound by her family and her new pup Cash.

At a fairly young age Celeste was very much aware that she wasn't "normal". Being the oldest, there is a huge burden on her shoulders not only to take care of her family's estate, but also to marry. Ideally, marrying a man that is somehow better off than Celeste and her family. Unfortunately, she is repulsed by the idea of even being with a man. She had a little crush on a girl when she was about 10, their family moved to another village, but Celeste knew she liked women. Now in her prime, Celeste's mother has been pushy about when she will go and get married. In order to support her family and avoid them at the same time, she goes and works for another farmer Jerome and stays as late as she can.

Her hope is she can make enough money for her family to live comfortably without her. She has aspirations to travel to other parts of the world to see if maybe her feelings will be accepted somewhere else. She loves and adores her family, but she doesn't want to be bound to something she doesn't believe in.

Celeste isn't really into Pelor, but she respects the god and religion. She follows a more druidic faith. Ehloana is who her family tends to worship, her parents are fairly devout as they always pray for good harvest and every week make offerings to the god. Celeste will pray when the need arises, for instance when there's a surplus or a drought. She will either ask for help or give thanks.

Jerome and the Werewolf Arc:
Jerome, friend of Celeste and fellow farmer ..... (add story)

Meeting with Hugo and Andre, mimicking Andre for Jaqueline...

Andre's Death and Trial:
River death, super traumatic. Immense guilt on Celeste's shoulder.

Celeste put on trial by Jaqueline's dad (asshole)

convinces Jaqueline to move out they move out together

De Champs to Port d'Argent:
Celeste ferries along the river, excited but also very nervous. She quickly misses her family and friends back home. She takes this time to find a little reprieve, like going to the baths and finding more information about the elves, rather than hunting with the men.

In De Champs, Celeste buys Cash an adorable bandana and apologizes to the mother of the child who was being used by the necromancer. It was quite uneventful in De Champs, especially since Celeste should never have traveled back there.

Finally, arriving in Port d'Argent Celeste decides to almost immediately buy a slave. She had a few options, but decided to buy a one eyed rugged elf named Bayezid. Almost immediately he showed his cut throat sociopathic personality by killing a criminal in an alleyway and assaulting Celeste. She managed to kick him off, to his surprise which gained her a little more respect.

She expresses to Bayezid her desire to find the elves to teach her to be a better warrior. He thinks this is a joke, but Celeste is absolutely serious. Being her slave, he basically begins to teach her the ways of elven fighting style. Brutal and bloody.

Port d'Argent has a crumbling dwarven tower overlooking the bay from the south, the port is easily the busiest and most colorful place you've seen. The unfamiliar buffet of races, languages, smells, and styles hurrying around the busy streets and docks is mesmerizing, though you quickly learn not to get so distracted to lose something valuable to a pickpocket. You sell your horse here, though for a measly price, and ask for a ship taking you to your destination across the sea. You book passage on a vessel, a two-mast caravel named Fortunale, commanded by Captain Enrico, a surprisingly tall halfling who insists on speaking to you in his broken French, saying that he always means to practice but never finds the time. Enrico's first mate is an imposing orc named Melchiorre who looks every bit a swashbuckling privateer down to the curved sabre tucked into his sash. They set sail in five days but Enrico says he is more than happy to have you stay in your cabin on the ship until then.

Port d'Argent and Corinne:
"''You eye some of the fights, and honestly most of them intimidate you. You’re a large woman, but even you have nothing on some of these sailors who, you learn, row on the oars day in and day out (think old vintage naval propaganda posters with the beefcake sailors. It’s like that with these guys). However, you eventually find something that looks a little more your weight class and, after a fair bit of arguing, convince the ringmaster to let you in. Your opponent is a wiry looking elf with many crude tattoos covering his arms and he doesn’t seem to be happy to be facing a woman. He spits a bunch of words you don’t know (but can infer the meaning perfectly well) at you when the match starts. You can tell that he’s not taking it seriously and is toying with you. Bayezid is coaching you from the sidelines and you manage to get in a few solid hits. After this, your opponent drops a bit of the act and approaches you more cautiously. You try to go on the offensive, but unfortunately it quickly becomes obvious that the elf has been in more than a few fights over the years and simply outclasses you. He’s moving faster than you can consistently react to, striking at your face and gut, then tripping you and going for a kick. You manage to grab his leg and pull him to the ground, then try to use your superior strength while grappling. You keep him pinned for a little bit, but he grabs your arm, twists from under you and springs back to his feet. Bayezid is tell you to play defensive and look for another chance to grab him and throw him to the ground, but he doesn’t give you one. You exchange blows, but he simply gets more in, and after you are knocked to you knees the ringmaster calls the match in his favor.''

The match didn’t do anything for your ego, nor for your coin purse, but it taught you a valuable lesson.

''Bayezid grabs a cold drink for you from the bar to nurse your fresh bruises and starts talking you through some things to improve. Mostly you just lack experience, and that will only come from practice, but in the mean time you’ll want to train up you reactions and learn to put more power behind your punches. You’ll also need to lean some actual technique for grappling if you want to play the ground game. As solid as the advice is, you’re not terribly in the mood.''

''However, the eye candy in the pub is quite nice. Most of the women here are the bar wenches and, ahem, entertainers, but not all of them. Some young ladies seem to have come in with the sailors, drinking up the free booze and attention in equal parts. Eventually you see a lovely girl without a chaperone. She’s been here for a while but the man trying to buy her drinks eventually got the message and left. She’s a bit shorter than average, putting you a full head and shoulders taller than her, with a well-made, if work stained, dress and an embroidered coif which mostly covers her raven-black, wavy hair that contrasts sharply with her pale skin. She introduces herself as Corinne and she’s a candler here in town. It sounds ridiculous, but she actually comes to places like this to be alone—for some reason the bustle and noise drown out everything and she’s just left with her thoughts. And, she says with a wink, she can usually get a few free drinks. She watched you in that fight earlier and asks what that was all about. Before long the two of you are happily chatting away. Once you get a bit of alcohol in you, your conversation turns a bit more flirty, despite your best intentions.''" Loved this scene, which sets up the rest of Celeste's experience in Port d'Argent.

Originally hitting it off with Corinne, pretty similarly to Jaqueline. Despite her efforts to be subtly flirting and humble bragging, it still didn't woo Corinne. But they became fast friends in the bar after this big fight that she participated in. The next morning Bayezid was going to help her purchase better weapons for this long journey ahead. More elven ware, a long and short blade. Bayezid meets her and explains that warriors should not only know how to use a spear and bow, but a blade as well. After doing some weapon shopping with her slave, she meets with Corrine for a "date but not date".

After a really fun day together, Celeste makes the mistake of being brutally honest with Corrine. Telling her that "I... find myself attracted to you, more than a friend. Like a lover." Corrine, rightly upset begins to question Celeste. Asking if the only reason she approached her was because she was attractive. That Celeste didn't just want to be friends and basically was trying to get laid before sailing across the sea. Celeste is a little mortified with herself, but still tries to reason with Corinne. And a bit of herself. She wanted to be honest with the girl and it ended up backfiring. Trying to respect Corrine's needs, Celeste asks if she can at least say goodbye before she leaves, as friends. Corinne politely and painfully refuses the request.

Celeste in a strange angsty way decides to go and find a prostitute. She quickly thinks of Giacomo in this situation and wants to just gain some experience. She finds an older (in her mid 30's) woman who did the part. Celeste is a little upset because this was her first time, and she expected something more meaningful. In the end she does feel some satisfaction about her decision and is ready to move forward.

Across The Water to Beresti:
Celeste stays low for the meantime until Enrico decides to set sail. He says that he is taking the shorter more dangerous route (will reduce trip by a month.) The boat ride is a bit rough and it takes some time for her to get her sea legs. Cash seems to be a natural.

A boy elf named Zafer (boatswain) starts to grow fond of Celeste, but Bayezid is not pleased with him. He becomes pretty insistent at a point and Bayezid actually throws him overboard. He is saved though.

Celeste begins to try to get to know Bayezid. Trying to be persistent in where he lived what he did. Most of the time he would retort with short remarks or random grunting noises. Even if she doesn't learn exactly of his past or how he ended up a slave exactly, she learned of Kobolts and some elf culture and the like. Enrico was actually a better source of information for the elves and kenku culture.

The ship ride is fairly uneventful except for the occasional monster and practicing with Bayezid everyday.

They land in Beresti which is a little upriver from the coast, sitting along the long side of a severe bend in the river. The first thing you notice are the collection of colored banners strung from the rooftops and spires of many of the buildings. Most of them are thatched, something you don't see in Alaix because of the heavy snow, and many of the stone buildings sport decorative stripes of darker brick. The entire town is surrounded by a wood and earthen wall, with only a few homes and the fields outside. You would estimate that the town is about the same population as Alaix, maybe a little larger.

Enrico and Zafer both ask you to stay for dinner and if it would be okay to write. Celeste denies Zafer's request, but gives him an address that is actually Hugo's. She does stay at dinner with Enrico, but is firm with him that it is strictly just dinner. He is polite and is able to give her some information on the town and somewhere to sell pelts and furs.

Bayezid does suggest selling him for more money, but she is oddly attached to him and tells him thanks no thanks, you are mine. She does everything in her power to keep Cash, Baye, and her fed. She ends up getting enough money to be comfortable again in 2 weeks after hunting.

With a bit more money and practice under your belt, you negotiate traveling upriver with a trading party. It's a large raft being towed upriver by a pair of mules, a setup with brings back an unwelcome memory. You and Beyazid will stay with the mules along the towpath along with one of the caravanners. The trip will take about a week and is likely to be uneventful.

Getting to Meryem's Home
The whole point of this quest was to get to Meryem as per Galad's suggestion. Celeste wants to join a warband and is concerned that being a woman will get in the way. Or she won't be taken as seriously.

On the road to Meryem's, Bayezid opens up a little. you've been around Beyazid for long enough to know he's somewhere between surprised and amused that you don’t intend to be rid of him any time soon, in part because he starts teasing you about it in his typical deadpan way. At least, you're pretty sure it's teasing. You also catch him smiling at you when he thinks you aren't looking, usually when you've done something like bring down an impressive kill or get the hang of a new technique he's been teaching you. You try calling him out on it once but he just responds with an unamused look on his resting scow face.

However, you have found one way that seems to get past a few of your elf's defenses--stories. It turns out he has a very large collection of them and tells them quite well. The legendary Great Khagan Doruk who conquered the very mountains and lead the primeval elves to victory against the Rakshasa and their empire. Hanali Celanil, a maiden betrayed and outcast by a jealous chief's daughter who knew nothing but sorrow and heartache all her years but whom the gods raised up with them among the constellations. The wise cat Ersa, who's words went unheeded by the proud Riza, costing him crown and kingdom. Of the migration and conquests of Khatum Yasemin, the ancestral mother of all elves in the human lands. He even talks a bit about his father and grandfather, though he gives you his signature scowl when you start asking about his history.