A Raven's Blessing | Vax'ildan x OC | TLOVM

Prologue: Part 1

*Finally edited (Good God who let me publish the unedited version)

Warnings: Strong Language, Sexual Language (provided by our favorite bardic gnome)

Sorry if this seems too long. I want to make sure we establish a good connection to Athena and the group plus some backstory. So the Prologue will be in two parts to do what I want to do justice. I promise we will jump to the main events soon.

—————————————————————————

Athena's eyes peeped out from under her hood as she made her way into the town. She spent most of her time camped out of the forest across Tal' Dorei, preferring to keep herself isolated. She only went into towns to buy supplies when necessary. Even then it was only every few months when made this trip but never to the same town. She couldn't risk someone recognizing her, not after all she had done to gain the small freedom she had.

Her eyes darted in every direction, keeping track of townspeople. A dwarf blacksmith was working on a small blade, glowing an angry red as small sparks came off the blade as he worked the metal. The clear sound of his hammer could be heard as he pounded at the metal. A group of women were gathered together with buckets as they washed clothes, chatting away about the weather and crop season. A wood elf was tending to some horses in a pen, brushing out the mane of a crème colored mare. Other humanoids were shattered about across other town buildings doing other daily chores or chatting amongst each other. Music could be heard coming from the town's pub down the road: her destination. Two humanoids stumbled out, already intoxicated even though the sun only had just begun to set. One of them proceeded to puke the contents they drank into the muddy street as the other one was clutching the pole holding the awning for support.

It was an average town but Athena was on high alert as if the town was full of thieves, smugglers, and spies that could shove a knife in your back at any instance. Her feet sunk into the mud with each step as she approached the pub. Gods she hated towns like this. At least in the large cities, you could tell who you couldn't trust and act accordingly. Here everyone seems too ordinary. A part of her was itching to get away from all these people. It wouldn't solve her problem to run away back into the forest. Though, she would never admit to herself that she hated her current lifestyle even more than her current predicament.

She passed by the two drunkards who were now laying unconscious, one of them in their own puke. Athena reeled her nose in disgust at that one. Pushing past the small wooden doors, the smell of alcohol was apparent in the establishment. A majority of the tables were full of people drinking ale. A few tables had some card games going on. Most of the patrons did not take note of her entrance, except for one pair of brown eyes. To the untrained, the elf's look would have been meaningless, a mere glance at the door. Athena though could see their eyes assessing her as they looked at her for only a second.

The elf turned away and leaned into the figure next to him, who appeared to be an elf as well with a blue feather behind her right ear, whispering something. The gnome wearing bright purple sitting across the table tried inserting himself into their conversation but was quickly shot down. The large goliath with black tattoos picked him up and placed the gnome back in their seat. Athena also noted that there were three more individuals at the table: another gnome with white hair and a scar down her left eye, a tall silvered hair human with glasses, and another eleven figure whose attire screamed druid. She also did not fail to note the big, brown Bear that was curled up into a blue feather, elf. The group fell into conversation together as she made her way up to the bar, secretly keeping her eye on them. This was something that she could deal with. The group looked to be trying to converse with each other but the discussion was quickly getting heated. The goliath turned his head towards her but was smacked back down to the table by the white hair gnome.