Storyboards: Kerowa

First Adventure | Apprenticeship | Dream | Search for Qethia | Fair rose of Riva

Kerowa's First Adventure
I was just a young girl when the wanderlust overtook me. Being cooped up on the Isle of Riva to help protect some mystical orb of Aldur was not my idea of a fun life at all, and I wanted desperately to see what the rest of the world was like. So one night, I packed up a few supplies and a little gold, and stowed away on a small trading vessel bound for Sendar. When I arrived at Camaar, I realized that I had gotten into a lot more than I had bargained for. I had no idea where to go and where to stay, and I followed one shabbily clad sorcerer to a hostel...
"Can't you read, little girl?" demanded the hostel owner, pointing to a sign. "No loitering allowed here!"
"I'm sorry," I replied, pulling out my modest pouch of money. "But I can pay. Really, sir."
"Give me that!" The hostel owner snatched up my pouch of money greedily, and emptied it on the counter. Smiling slyly, he remarked, "Perhaps this is enough for one night, if you work in my kitchen too."
"Is there a problem here?" The shabbily clad sorcerer poked his head through a doorway on the other side of the room.
"No, there isn't," said the hostel owner. "Just trying to shoo off a loiterer."
"That looks like a fair amount of money you have on the counter there. More than enough to stay a month or two," observed the sorcerer. "No need to work in the kitchen with that. Perhaps you should not try to cheat the young one. Or I could report you to the authorities here..."
The hostel owner grudgingly picked out a few gold coins and pushed the rest back to me. I quickly stowed my money back into my pouch, and then turned to my savior to thank him.
"The name's Ranfir," introduced the sorcerer. "One as young as you should not travel alone. I have heard that you could perhaps join the organization known as the Adventurers. They are a band of young ones like yourself who travel about to learn more about this world. What say you to that, eh?"
With that, he took me to Lady Qethia of the Adventurers who took me under her wing.

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Kerowa's Apprenticeship
"Again!"
I focused what remaining will power I had on the image of a projectile flying at the practice dummy... "Waouq wuggurz!" Nothing happened. I sighed.
It had been several months since I had become apprenticed to my new master. Alviara Weaver of the Winds, they called her. A Rivan like myself, she had adopted me as her
Apprentice after seeing my "apparent proficiency" in spell casting under Qethia's tutelage. Apparent proficiency. Right.
"Again!" Alviara's command interrupted my thoughts. It was nearly supper time but she had refused to let me eat lunch until after I had gotten off a successful magic missile spell. Stomach growling, I again tried to focus on the image of a projectile flying at the practice dummy... but wouldn't those magic mushrooms be so delicious about now.
"Waouq wuggurz!"
I blinked hard to make sure I wasn't hallucinating as a cluster of rotten-looking mushrooms spattered onto both Alviara and the practice dummy. I sighed as I sprinted for the mop to clean up the mess. This was going to be a long apprenticeship.

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Kerowa's Dream
It was hot. Not the muggy humidity that one might find in Sthiss Tor, but dry hot--like the Araga desert. I opened by eyes and found myself on the edge of a cliff looking into a glowing hot chasm. Did I mess up on that last transportation spell? Somehow, I must have landed myself in Hell...
"Why is this puny mortal trespassing in my domain?" boomed a voice from behind me.
I whirled around to find myself facing a giant demon. Two stories tall, horns, leather wings, pointed tail. This couldn't have been any normal demon. I looked up into his evil eyes. Crossed eyes. Where had I read about a cross-eyed demon--aha! It was a Vesta demon--no wait. Vesta, the Demon--lord!
"My apologies, sir lord demon," I stammered. I had never met a demon before—never mind a demon of any high ranking--and I hadn't the faintest clue how to address one. "You see, I am just a novice sorceress practicing her transportation spells. This one must have gone awry. I'm so sorry-"
"Haha!" roared the demonlord. "Such a pitiful excuse! Prepare to die now!"
The demonlord raised his huge claw over head and brought it down with tremendous force. Instinctively, I raised my hands over my head to form a protective shield against his attack. "Gpuzre!"
Whammm! The impact knocked me onto my knees and left an indentation on the ground where my shield spell had been. I raised my hands again. "Qarr diesilla!"
Tendrils of lightning streaked down from high above. One landed between myself and the demonlord, blinding the both of us. Dazed and off-balance, I staggered backwards as I tried to keep my footing on the crumbling cliff. Then, the whole cliff gave way. I screamed as I plummeted into the chasm.
I fell for a while, anticipating my certain death at the end of the chasm. But it didn't come, so I struggled to open my eyes. They were still blinded, but I seemed to hear a voice in my head.
"Congratulations Kerowa! You have passed the test of the Order of the Rose. We welcome you, Kerowa, Sorceress of the Rose."
Order of the Rose? What's that? I struggled to open my mouth to ask, but my body did not respond to my thoughts.
"Do not worry, Kerowa, for all shall be revealed in time."
And then I sat up abruptly and found myself on the floor beside bed, with a rose in one hand.

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Search for Qethia
"Please join us in the clan meeting hall promptly at 9 am." read the slip of paper on my desk. I glanced out the window up at the sky and sighed. It was already at least half past nine, and the note seemed urgent. Whoever had left the note on my desk should have known that I normally exercised and practiced the Will every morning from 6 to 9 am. This morning, however, I had been delayed on the way back. An unfortunate mistake with my teleportation spell had landed me on the top of a tree. A very silly and unacceptable excuse to be late to an emergency clan eeting, I thought, as I hurried to the meeting hall. How would I explain my tardiness? I darted around the corner, narrowly avoiding Saventch and a stack of scrolls, and sprinted for the elaborate double doors that guarded the threshold to the meeting hall. When I finally reached the doors, I paused for a minute to catch my breath. As I forced my rate of breathing and heart beat back to their normal pace, I couldn't help but listen into the ongoing debate in the room.
"--can't afford to send another council member to search for her."
"But the Lady has not checked in for over five weeks. She was last scheduled to report to us two weeks ago!"
"Perhaps something more important has come up that has forced her to stay undercover."
"That is even more reason to have people in her vicinity in case she needs our help, or if she needs for someone to act on her..."
"Perhaps that is the case. But if we send a council member to look for her,then we may blow her cover and endanger her life as well."
"Then what are you suggesting we do?"
The voices paused. I straightened myself up and reached for the door knob. "Please do come in, Kerowa."
Startled, I forgot I was still leaning over as I grabbed the doorknob and pulled hard. Whamm! I stifled a cry of pain as I reached with my other hand to feel poor nose and jaw, before looking up sheepishly to find myself facing Magus Wylset and Master Gares.
"Hello Kerowa," said Magus Wylset calmly. "I presume you already know our current dilemma."
My face burned with shame as I held back my tears of pain and nodded at Wylset.
"Good. Kerowa is to accompany Alviara to Melcene to help search for Lady Qethia."

"Wake up, Kerowa! We're there already."
Who was calling my name? I struggled to open my eyes as I propped myself up on one arm. It was still dark outside. Why had the wagon stopped? What was going on? Confused and tired, I turned back over to go back to sleep.
"Get up you lazy girl. Now! We're in Mal Zeth already."
Mal Zeth! Already? Recognizing the annoyance in Alviara's voice this time, I rolled onto my hands and knees and crawled toward the door of the wagon and poked my head outside. Surely enough, the gray walls of Mal Zeth loomed just in front of us. Beyond the walls, I could just barely make out the well-ordered rectangular buildings characteristic of Mal Zeth's military architecture--the sight agreed perfectly with the texts I had studied earlier in my apprenticeship.
"Ah. Finally you're up. We have a big day in front of us." Without another word, Alviara turned back to tending our breakfast on the campfire.
Confused, I glanced back at the city. Such a big city--how were the two of us supposed to find Qethia in there? Where could we even begin looking? My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by two black-clad riders quickly approaching on two pitch-black horses. Uh-oh. I prepared myself for the worse as I moved as stealthily as I could to the campfire to get Alviara's attention.
"What is it?" Alviara responded loudly and grouchily to my poking and prodding. "Oh. They're right on time."
"Eh?" I was confused. Black riders were good? Definitely a big contrast to the texts I had studied, where everyone on the "good side" wore white. I looked up quizzically at one of the black riders that had stopped right in front of us. Grolims, I thought quickly, were notorious for posing as innocuous travelers who revealed their true identities only when assured that no one would live to tell. How would we deal with these two?
To my surprise, my "Grolim"s next action was to lift off his plumed black helm to reveal a very Drasnian hooked nose. "This is the one?" he inquired,pointing at me.
"Yes," explained Alviara. "She's perfect. Freshly trained by myself. I highly doubt Mallorean intelligence will have any record of her anywhere."
"Excellent," responded the rider. "I knew I could count on you Adventurers. I presume you've already explained what she needs to do, correct?"
"Wait a minute," I interrupted, more and more confused. "What's going on here? What am I perfect for?"
"Okay. So she doesn't know anything yet?" queried the rider. Alviara shook her head in response. "Okay, we will brief her on our way to the palace then."
"Palace? Lady Qethia's hiding in the palace?" I exclaimed in surprise. "What is she doing--"
"No," interrupted the rider impatiently. "Lady's Qethia's whereabouts are still being researched. However, in exchange for our intelligence efforts, we would like you to extricate us from a slightly embarrassing situation that has come up."
Unsure of what to say, I looked back at Alviara, who nodded in agreement with the rider. "Drasnian intelligence is the best. There is no way we could find Lady Qethia by ourselves, so I thought I might ask around to see if the Drasnians had any word of her," she explained. "Their assistance will prove most invaluable."
"In the meantime," said the Drasnian rider. "We need you to retrieve a key ring that was dropped by a member of our intelligence community in the royal halls of Mal Zeth. We would like you to perform as an exotic dancer for one of the higher ranking members of the Mal Zeth nobility..."
Unsure if I heard him correctly, I blinked slowly. I sure as hell was going to go through a lot of trouble to retrieve Harltek's silly little key ring. But to save Qethia, I would do anything.

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Fair Rose of Riva
"Any news of the Lady Qethia yet?"
I shook my head sadly in response to Alviara, as I reached down and absent-mindedly adjusted the thin leather straps of my outfit. What could have possibly befallen the Lady Qethia such that even the vaunted Drasnian Intelligence could not divulge her whereabouts? I shivered as I considered what could have happened to the illustrious ranger. My own ordeals earlier today had been horrendous enough: I was still shaking from my little adventure in the Mal Zeth palace to retrieve Harltek's key ring. If the noble Drasnian spy had not intervened... I shuddered at the thought.

"Dance for me."
I looked into the eyes of the pudgy Mallorean nobleman sitting in the chair in front of me. Not sure what to do, I hesitated. I was still feeling very self-conscious about my outfit. Thin black leather straps wrapped around my neck and came down across my chest to form a halter-top that barely covered my ample-sized breasts. Thankfully, the sensuous ankle length purple skirt concealed the remainder of my body. Though it was a warm night, I shivered under the gazes of the Mallorean men--I could almost feel the nobleman and his two guards undress me with their eyes.
"What are you waiting for? Dance now!" demanded the nobleman impatiently.
Still hesitant but now more afraid that I might blow my cover, I raised my arms above my head and began to gyrate my hips slowly in circles. As I swung my hips around, I also slowly turned around to exhibit the rest of my body as well. Tinkling bells at the ends of my skirt marked my every motion. Then, my worst fears happened.
Crack! Just as I had my back completely turned to the nobleman and I was beginning to feel most vulnerable, I felt a sharp pain to the back of my head. I staggered from the blow. Head swimming with pain, I fell to my hands and knees before I felt a great weight pin me to the ground from behind. I looked up only to see the guards in front of me drooling at the sight of my predicament, and then I screamed as I felt my attacker's hands beginning to probe my body.
And then--my saviour appeared out of nowhere. Blades whistled through the air. The guards in front of me dropped to the ground suddenly as short daggers appeared in the sides of their neck. Still stunned, I watched as if in a trance as a darkly clad Drasnian strode up to me, grabbed the nobleman on top of me by the hair, and severed his head in one clean stroke.
"Do you have the key ring?" he whispered urgently as he picked me up and carried me out of the room.
"No. But I know where it is now," I responded slowly. "Thank you so much--"
"Don't mention it," the spy cut me off. "Let's finish this first. You can thank me once we've have left this place."
The rest of the mission went off without a hitch. I sighed, as I thought once more of my saviour, and then moved behind the cover of some flora to change out of my outfit. I had just gotten my top straps off, when I suddenly realized I wasn't alone. Gathered my will to fend myself from my new foe, I scanned the darkness for a target before--
"It's you!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Back in the palace. You rescued me."
The darkly clad Drasnian slowly emerged from the shadows. He must have been embarrassed to have been caught snooping around right when I was changing, for he was flush as tomato. He slowly pulled a letter out of his black doublet and placed it on the ground. And then he was gone once again.

Dearest Kerowa,
If you are reading this, then my mission has been a success thus far. As you may have realized by now, I am alive and well but still in hiding. However, for several important reasons, I must continue to remain underground.
There is a faction in Riva that has long sought to discredit our clan in the lands of the West. It is only the fair graces of the Princess Belderan that has saved us until now. This evil faction has now sought Mallorean aid to assassinate Princess Belderan. I myself am personally unable to attend to this matter. The assassins have already attempted to kill me--in their minds, I am already dead. For now, the security of our entire clan is in your hands.
Hurry! Go forth and save our princess, Kerowa Fair Rose of Riva!
Signed,
Lady Qethia

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