Sorry about my reluctance to leave yesterday, but its OK because mum said I can still go this week.

And I promise not to bring anything. I mean it this time. Except mints. Of course.

I'm really very sorry but I could't help it.

I'm sorry!! I unconsciously made a batch of best blueberry muffins and another 6 liters of fruit punch, and I accidentally made a birthday cake for Jelly.But its all 97% fat free! Oh, except the two boxes of eclipse mints, but those are sugar free. So all's goods then.

This is actually before all the others, so Sparrow is just preparing to leave Elderhaven and set out. This is four years before present time.

At dawn, once she had finished secretly packing, she turned to take her leave but before she did so she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Link Farshot, the palace gardener, craftsman and hunter. He was shorter than her and her same age, with kind brown eyes, soft, light brown curls and coffee toned-skin. His long pointed ears were curved inward slightly, like a winter-elf's. he was honest and kind and her only friend.
"I saw you last night. Are you alright?" he took her arm. She wrenched it back and said fiercely, "Whatever I am feeling is no business of yours." Link was silent and Sparrow felt ashamed. "I'm sorry." She said. She meant it.
"I'm OK I guess. I'm not sure where to go from here, but at the same time I'm exited." She said quietly. "The world outside Elderhaven is so full. I'm ecstatic to be able, finally, to see it."
Link looked at her with sad eyes. "But where will you go?"  Sparrow was quiet for a moment. "I'm not sure." She paused."But I will return, I promise." Link bit his lip. "Promise you'll write to me. All the time. There are new services that guarantee fast delivery of personal messages. Whatever the cost, it'll be worth it."
Sparrow suddenly seemed to light up. "Come with me." Link looked dubious. "But I'm just a-" "A hunter, aren't you!? You'll be great. You can shoot an arrow well over 50 feet. I've seen you!"
"Sparrow, I'm not sure whether-" "Oh come now Farshot, if it wasn't for me you'd be a farmboy peasant somewhere out of the Haven itself-" "-And if it wasn't for me you'd be back at the palace! Face it, Sparrow, I've gotten you into enough trouble already-" "So? I want you there. Please." Link bit his lip again and she jumped up and down impatiently. "Cleodine-"  "All I want is for you to be there. You don't have to do anything. I swear-" "Cleo-" "You'll love it out there. Come with me, Farshot-" "SPARROW." "She stopped. He closed his eyes and said; "What I'm trying to say is, I just don't want to." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "What I'm trying to say is…I..just don't want to go."
Sparrow's eyes softened. "I'm sorry. …I understand." Surprised, Link frowned. "Really?" "Yeah," she said. "I sort of knew you wouldn't be able to leave. You like it too much here." Link looked relieved. "And it's safe." He added. Sparrow nodded. He had never been one for bravery. Suddenly, his eyebrows drew together in a worried frown. "But you'll be okay, won't you? It's dangerous out there. You don't know how many stories I've heard about those lands. I swea-"
"I've heard them too." Said Sparrow. She set her face into a determined grimace. "And I'm ready."

"I made you this." Said Link. He held his hand outstretched, fingers clasped around the hem of a purple velvet bag. She took it. She opened it and drew out a strange semi-circular object, white and so delicate she thought it would break in her fingers. Upon closer inspection she found it was a tiara. "I spent all night making it." Link explained. It was beautiful. Streams of ivory-white curled into roses in it's center, thorns extending down into a large pointed thorn-tip that dipped down just above the center of her eyebrows, halfway down her forehead. Sparrow laid it on her head and tried not to cry. "It's beautiful." She said delicately. Before she knew it, Link had stepped forward and scooped her up in a tight hug. Sparrow pressed her tears into his shoulder. She would miss him.
"I'm sorry to have to go." She said.  "I cant stand it her any longer. You know that." Link nodded. "You need to keep watch. Your father may send out watchmen to look for you. After all, royal blood is forbidden outside these city walls. When they realize you're missing-" "Farshot, do you really think they'll find me?" "But-well-" "Don't worry. Just- keep calm and don't say anything about me." "You know I won't." Link smiled, but it was a sad smile. "Now go." "But-" "NOW. Or you'll never make up your mind." Link chuckled. "Why are you so willing to let me run away?" She asked. "Because you know it'll be all for the best in the end?" She looked quite morose. Link breathed. "No," He said quietly. It's because I-" And then he said the words that would never leave her.
"-I know that someday you'll come back."



Chapter two__________
Sparrow didn't manage to catch her last sentimental glimpse of the city. That was because she fell off the wall before she could turn back around properly. "Ooof." She grunted, hitting the earthy ground. Luckily the ground was not harsh on her; the fallen autumn leaves and pine needles made a soft cushioning for her impact. She stood up and shook several hitchhiking leaves off her back like a dog, and then blinked. The impact of what she was about to do ran through her mind for the first time. What if what Link said was true? What if she wasn't ready?

Sparrow slept that night at the bottom of a ravine. She'd made little progress in the four hours she'd walked that day, but then again, she reasoned, it wasn't like she knew where she was going after all; let alone trying to get there in a certain time. But she had to find food soon or she would be too weak for any possible combat.
The latter was also slowing her down. Determined to catch any approaching threat, she was turning around so often that it reasoned paranoia. She had undergone years of secretly kept teachings in martial defense, but her attack workspaces were not high. But she felt much more confident knowing her arrows were on her back; her only weapon. But she had many expensive items of jewelry and royal treasures that were resting safely in her pack, and she had made a mental to trade them in at the nearest town. The prospect of another town scared her. What were the inhabitants like? What was it like to live amongst other races? Sparrow had connections with eladrin, her cousins from near the fey. She had only seen another race once before, when a group of travelers was welcomed into a city after rescuing an abducted young elf. There had been two dragonborn and a shardmind n their party, as well as two eladrins bearing staffs. Sparrow, being eight at the time, shrank against the wall to avoid their gaze.

Now she awoke to a piercing golden sun. She contemplated what she was to aim for today, and then stood up, stretched, picked up a couple stray leaves that had stuck to her back from her soft, dirty smelling bed of pine needles, and continued on.
By noon, the trail rations were all but gone from her pack and she was starting to feel very hungry. She'd filled up her flask at the last river, but it was now running low and the hot midday sun made her feel thirsty enough to drink it in a second. She shook off the heat but the enormity and endlessness of her journey stifled her in her mind. The leaves crunched under her boots. Branches creaked in the breeze. Sparrow turned a corner around a huge stone cliff, and suddenly, the world was ripe with a crossbow bolts! Goblins, short in height but fierce in strength, made her way toward her, hungry for flesh. She could run, but her anger at herself and all who had tried to repress her flowed through her veins. She pulled out her bow.
The three goblins circled her hungrily. One of the pulled out a shirikin. "Oh, damn." Said Sparrow.
 Then she let her first arrow fly. It hit a goblin square in the chest and he doubled over, provoking an angry cry from the rest of the goblin party. One of them threw a shirikin, which she dodged. It whizzed by her ear and stuck into a tree, a foot behind her. She shot again, hit, reloading and turning around again just as another crossbow bolt pinned her arm to the trunk of the tree behind by the thick hide of her armor.. Unable to shoot her bow, Sparrow struggled frantically. One of the goblins said something in it's language. "Eeeugggdbdeli oioilhssaaggaadoong geeeeeebbhblgblghlwaa?" Laughing maliciously, the second goblin walked toward her, raising his dagger menacingly. He came closer, blade outstretched- "Wrong move." Said Sparrow quietly. Quick as a flash, she did a prize martial technique, slamming both fists against the tree trunk , kicking off from the ground and walking through air; twisting as she did; she caught the goblin by the neck between her ankles. With a nasty crack, it fell to the ground, dead. During the general confusion that followed, Sparrow twisted back her arm and pulled the shirikin from the tree in which it was lodged, flinging it with all her might just as the third goblin pulled out a handaxe and positioned it, ready to throw. Surprisingly, the shirikin caught him right on target, cool steel blade burying itself in green flesh. The goblin yelled but did not fall. Sparrow turned and ran.

It followed. Through cool trees the size of towers, wild grasses lapping at their knees, the roar of the musky wind and the titters of birds high above, they ran. Sparrow, the fastest elf in her city and the stealthiest knave in the forest, quickly lost the goblin. But she didn't want to take any chances. Ducking behind a towering oak, she readied her bow noiselessly. The angered goblin soon came into range. All was still. Then-
TWANG.
"Take THAT!"

Sparrow wrenched the arrow out, and also took the shirikin. It had proved useful and she might need it later. She searched the body and found a handaxe, dagger, twenty silver pieces and six gold. She also discovered a map and although she couldn't read goblin, found the pictures of cities and roads very useful. Checking the goblin's front pocket, she came across a compass.
Liking her new items, Sparrow ran back to the scene of the other fight. This time she did not put away her bow but kept it drawn and at the ready. From now on she would take no chances. Stepping up to the bodies, she felt no twinge of fear, but instead a feeling of capability and accomplishment at them. These she looted too, and found other strange and useful treasures.
A satchel of sooty pencils and parchment proved useful when plotting the foes she had encountered and where. A rope and steel grappling hook would aid her climbing. A long black cloak with a hood found in one of the goblins' backpacks would help her avoid unwanted attention, especially if she saw anyone from her town. She collected thirty more gold pieces and seventy-five silver, and found a crossbow on one goblin, and a great axe on the other. The hand crossbows she kept, but one of them had a greataxe which she could not lift for more than a half-minute, and which was far too heavy for her to take with her. But she did use it to chop a dead pine tree into firewood. Then she set on her way once more.

My character background PART THREE OF TEN

The coin pouch was within her arm's reach. Sparrow grinned, set down her tankard and was just reaching toward it with a precarious tilt of the chair when her mark stood up abruptly, swayed on the spot, and started lumbering toward the door to the stairs. Knowing these lead to the travelers' lodgings, she slipped out of her chair and filled her hip flask with the rest of her tea. She gave her mark a seconds' head start before following through the door the eladrin had shut behind him.
The stairs were old and steep. Stepping only on the sides of the steps to avoid creaking, Sparrow crested the stairs and in reaching the landing heard the sound of a key in a lock. She leapt up the remaining stairs just in time to catch a glimpse of the eladrin's teal blue cape vanishing through a door at the end of the hall. Smiling wickedly, Sparrow followed. She peered through the keyhole.
From the eladrin's point of view, the only problem in the world right then was that stupid halfling snoring on the bed opposite. His wretched companion had drunk all the rum in the cupboards and had fallen fast asleep without leaving him any.
Muttering to himself, the eladrin took two steps across the room, hit his toe against a chest of drawers and shouted a curse in elfish. Before she could stop herself, Sparrow snorted loudly. The drunk stopped. He started to walk towards the door, steps weaving dangerously, arm outstretched for the handle.
Sparrow gasped soundlessly, whipped around, saw that there were rafters above her, and jumped.

The hall was empty. Staggering around again, his eye just caught on something lying forgotten on the floor runner. He bent to pick it up and his fingers missed it by at least two feet.
This guy is really drunk! Thought Sparrow from above. She was crouched like a monkey in the middle of two diagonal wooden posts, watching the drunk elf examine the arrow she'd left lying on the ground as a distraction.
He was turning it over in his hands, seeing through blurred eyes the form of a flying sparrow at its tip. The beak and the edges of the wings were razor sharp and made of bronze tipped wood, from a black-locust tree. Sacred runes ran along it's stem in faded gold.
Sparrow realized with a start that he could read them, and hoped like hell he was too drunk to make them out.
No luck.
"She who is wild at heart shall always be free." Sparrow noticed the smoothness of his voice and decided he must be of higher class than she first thought. But he was drunk. And the fact that he was better off always meant more money to be had.
 As the man tried to find the right door again, Sparrow leapt down easily from the rafters and was inside his room before he could even turn towards the noise. She made her way forward into the suite, and was just examining a very valuable looking sword when the eladrin stumbled through the room, door hitting wall with a resounding crash. Surprise formed on his face as he looked at her. His eyes too blurry to make anything out properly, he moved toward the figure. "That my sword." He blurted out tipsily. And he reached for a magic staff by the wall.

My character background PART TWO OF TEN

 Sparrow found her way to the nearest city, a town called Fulcrest. Her royal blood unknown to others, Cleo quickly adopted the class and appearance of a rogue, as well as an accent with sharp vowels and dropped H’s. She learned the art of thievery and stealth, as well as becoming streetwise to the point of having acquaintances spread through many other cities; the result of often meeting travelers in bars, and often picking their pockets.
One night, exactly two years after her escape from Elderhaven; Cleo visited the Tavern of the Drunken Sailor, a favorite among travelers just come into the city through the docks beside the building. While drinking her way through two pints of spiced vanilla tea, she notices a large bag of cash hanging halfway out of the pocket of a very drunk seeming Eladrin.
....
to be continued.

APPARENTLY IT'S BACK ON

MY HOUSE AT 12:30
Wether we actually choose to play D&D depends on if anyone brings the stuff for it, if anyone is willing to endure me DM'ing, if anyone wants to DM themselves instead of having to endure me DM'ing; and teh general mood regarding the sweeeet alternative of saying what the hell and settling down to watch tropic thunder and play poker, which if you ask me is a pretty bad-ass way to spend the last day of term break.
So!

WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW

If anyone is indeed showing up at my place?