Luc

And so, our journey begins...

Luc’s journey starts during a drizzling day at Watchpoint Ziegler, a docking point for traders. A caravan of paladins arrive at the docking point, called upon for an escort mission. Among this caravan of paladins is Luc and their paladin squad, consisting of their captain Durlan Sarleth, and their squadmates, Reddyl Steelfist, Lazlo Thanur, and Devonne Commonflame. The squad is given a short briefing; they are to escort a trading caravan, run by a man named Ulrich Hamlen, to the east.

Meeting Someone New

Captain Sarleth leaves to look for Ulrich Hamlen in the docking point, and Luc and their squad is left to do their own thing. After briefly conversing with their squad, Luc takes a look around the docking point and takes notice of Leucothea, a water genasi, standing nearby a cart. They are immediately enamored by her, as they find her rather attractive and had never seen a water genasi before.

Ulrich Hamlen arrives at the cart next to Leucothea, taking notice of the paladins standing nearby. He tells Leucothea to go over and ask where the commander of the paladins is, and then promptly leaves to fill out some paperwork. Leucothea complies, approaching Reddyl and asking where the paladins’ captain is. When Reddyl asks who Leucothea is, Leucothea tells Reddyl that she is also guarding Ulrich Hamlen’s cart.

Reddyl is unsure where Captain Sarleth is and Luc offers to find him. Luc introduces themself to Leucothea, and then they both head out, finding Captain Sarleth talking with Ulrich Hamlen. Having found the captain, they both decide to go back to the paladin squad. There, Leucothea introduces herself to the squad. They converse briefly, before Devonne tells Luc to buy more rations for the upcoming journey, asking Leucothea to accompany them.

Doubts

The both of them head out again and after buying some rations, Luc and Leucothea decide to wander around the outpost for a bit. Luc overhears a conversation that is seemingly hostile towards paladins; the hushed whispers of, “I suppose they’re one of the good ones,” and “They’ve got one of them in their ranks.” This troubles Luc, and they point it out to Devonne when they return, stating that the people in the docking point seem to not like paladins. They express some doubt about whether or not they should be doing things for others if no one likes paladins anyways. Devonne pulls Luc aside and gives them a brief talk about being a paladin. She tells them it’s “a thankless job” and to have faith in themself and their squad. After this talk, she tells Luc that they’re free to talk to her, and they both return to the others.

After Luc and Leucothea awkwardly converse for a little bit, Captain Sarleth returns with Ulrich Hamlen, informing the squad that he has gotten horses for them to ride during the journey. He takes notice of Leucothea, and she introduces herself to him. Captain Sarleth informs her that she needs to either ride in the wagon or with someone else on a horse. Leucothea decides to ride a horse with Luc, and they prepare to head off.

An Insulting Show

As the caravan begins its leave, a troop of paladins enters the docking post from its northwestern entrance, bearing a crest of a golden sun on their banners and donning golden armor with steel plating. The troop is led by a tall human man with fair skin, yellow eyes, and long silver hair, who approaches Luc’s squad. Durlan and the man exchange introductions. The man introduces himself as Hugos Fairengale, commander of the Order of the Changing Dawn, and Durlan introduces himself as a guardian of the Order of Valorous Wings.

Hugos takes a notice of Luc, calling them an “interesting pupil” and asks to speak with them. Captain Sarleth tells them to come forward, but Luc, uneasy, makes an objection. Captain Sarleth repeats himself more sternly, and Luc begrudgingly decides to do what he says. Hugos asks Luc for their name, and they give it to him. He then comments about how it’s interesting that their Order is accepting “devilkind” within the ranks, especially during times of suspicion.

Luc, misunderstanding the situation, makes a comment that if he had half a brain, he would be able to tell the difference between a dragon and a devil. Captain Sarleth tells them to stand down, but they refuse, upset that their paladin order has seemingly been insulted twice that day. Captain Sarleth tells them that he can handle the situation and tells Hugos that if he had nothing constructive to say, then they shall take their leave. The caravan then heads off.

Luc is still very bothered by what had happened, and as they ride off, Luc asks Leucothea if their paladin order seemed bad. Leucothea informs them that she doesn’t know enough about their order to comment about it, and Luc tells her that they aren’t bad. At this point, Devonne cuts into the conversation and informs Luc that Hugos wasn’t talking about the Order; he was talking about Luc as a tiefling. This shocks and upsets Luc, who says they don’t want to be disliked by anyone. Their squad comforts them, and Reddyl tells them that she doesn’t hate them, nor does anyone else in their squad. She tells them to keep moving forward, and Luc gives her a thanks.

A Trip of Awkward Conversation, But Also, WOLVES!

art by ThisIsSurreal

As the journey goes on, Luc and Leucothea converse. Luc asks where she’s from, and Leucothea replies that she’s from Venicci. She reveals that she worked as a bodyguard in a palace, which impresses Luc. She informs them that it was nice for some time, but she couldn’t stay. The awkward conversation dies quickly after that, as Leucothea is not so fond of opening up about her past with a stranger.

It gets close to evening, and Captain Sarleth announces that the caravan will be camping shortly. Not long after this, Luc and Leucothea spot the figures of wolves in the forest at their right. Before Luc can issue a warning to their captain, the caravan gets attacked by the wolves. Luc and Leucothea split off from the caravan to defend the smaller cart up ahead and are able to successfully do so, though not without getting injured. The rest of the wolves are successfully fought off by the paladin squad.

After Luc and Leucothea get healed up, the caravan leaves the scene, though Captain Sarleth lingers behind slightly to inspect the dead bodies of the wolves as they ride off. The caravan makes camp at late evening, and Ulrich gives his thanks for the protection. Luc and Leucothea converse further in an awkward manner. Leucothea asks where Luc learned to ride a horse, and they reveal they had learned to do so from bootcamp. When Luc asks Leucothea where she had learned to fight, she tells them she had learned from books as well as having received help from a friend. This impresses them quite a bit. They converse a bit further, but the conversation awkwardly dies.

Leucothea jumps at a chance to take the next watch, and Luc heads off to rest before taking the next watch after her. The night passes on and the next morning comes. The caravan takes its leave.