Chapter 1: Hello! I'm Penelope Reid.

Chapter 1

Well, today has probably been the most eventful day I’ve experienced since being exiled. I was going about my usual business, looking for adventure, when suddenly a storm appeared. A large bolt of lightning struck the ground just over a hill. I quickly took refuge in a cave I saw nearby. The rain had soaked me through, even the fur on my legs were damp. I suppose being in a dark cave should have instilled in me some desire for adventure, but quickly those thoughts dissipated when I heard voices coming in the way I had come.

Oh! I suppose it’d be smart of me to introduce myself before I continued on much further. My parents always told me a good impression is made when warmly introducing yourself. I’m Penelope Reed. Unusually tall for what I’m told. I actually am unsure as to what I am. I identify myself as an elf, or at least I disguise myself as one since I’ve been told my true identity would be ill received... which it was. I’m afraid that my desire for adventure was rather thrown upon me. I hadn’t anticipated seeking out an adventure until I had made my own way in life. Couldn’t bare to leave my parents. Alas, while obtaining this amazing scythe that’s larger than me (very few things are), my disguise failed to which my town, Paris, broke into pandemonium and I was taken hostage.

My poor parents. They have been stripped of their ranks as Paladins. In poverty they must live while serving all their days. And I’m to never return to Paris. If I do, I shall be killed... all because of whatever it was they called me. Suk-cum-bus? Sa-key-bus? I don’t know.

Anyways, back to the present. I could hear voices... many people. I tried to hide. I then heard the sound of many falling rocks and gathered the cave front had been blocked. My heart raced. I put my disguise on, having taken it off when I was drying myself. I shifted further down the cave, especially when I saw a glow of light appear.

“Hello?” I heard someone say.

Be nice, be friendly. No need to worry, I told myself. People have always liked me, up until they saw my true identity. These people wouldn’t know what I truly looked like and one of them was some kind of guy... surely I could befriend him easily enough.

“Hello?” I responded back. The folk came around the corner. There was an elf looking girl, a man, female gnome and some creature I had never seen. She had a faintly similar look to my true identity. However, she was the least friendly of them.

“Oh, my! What a fair maiden we have here,” the man called out to me. I was greatly flattered, but the one girl suddenly piped in with her displeasure for me.

“Don’t be fooled by her appearance! She’s a succubus!” she spat out. Her whole posture was rigid as she glared at me.

“N-no I’m not,” I said, my heart racing hearing me being accused once more of being a succubus. I wondered how she knew?

“What? Kedra, this is clearly a normal, unusually large, female,” the man defended.

“She’s clearly disguised! I can see her clearly as her true form,” the woman Kedra persisted.

“Are you a succubus?” the elf like girl asked.

“No,” I responded.

“Yes you are! Stop lying!” Kedra spat.

“I’m not!” and I wasn’t... right? “What’s a succubus?” I asked.

“What you are!”

“Seriously, are you one?” the elf girl asked once more.

“Ladies, can’t you see you’re upsetting her?” the man defended. I was near tears. I’ve never dealt with people hating me until a few months ago and here it was; Kedra hating me before she even knew me... well I guess she knows what I am. Apparently being a succubus wasn’t good, but I wasn’t one! I decided to let my disguise down hoping that maybe she would see I wasn’t a  succubus or that I was honest and therefore nice and not this evil thing she presumed me being.

“Fine, this is what I really look like!” I shouted. Everyone nearly jumped back with my sudden revelation.

“So you are...” the elf girl said. I gaped at them in shock as they all agreed with Kedra.

“Seriously, what’s a succubus?” I asked.

“You! That’s what a succubus is!” Kedra shouted.

“Kedra, she obviously isn’t bad. Look,” the man touched me on the arm, “if she was evil, she could touch me.” Kedra shifted.

“Well Sanji, people can cast ‘hide alignment’ on themselves,” Kedra continued. I couldn't take it anymore. She was incorrigible!

“Well, fine! Good bye,” I said and took off away from them down the cave tunnel. I put my disguise back on just because I liked looking normal despite not reallu being an elf.  It got smaller and smaller. So much that at one point I got stuck. I could hear the folk behind me, Kedra muttering something about me luring them into my trap. I was able to maneuver through the small gap finally and waited for the rest to follow.

“So you’re gonna follow me then?” I asked.

“Might as well, there’s no way out the other direction,” the man, Sanji, said. I liked that even though he saw my true self he was kind to me. I noticed a little bird next to him.

“That creature’s cute. What’s it’s name?” I asked.

“This is Gunther,” Sanji told me.

“I have a little creature friend too,” I admitted, “Box puppy,” I called out. A scittering of feet could be heard. Out came a wooden chest with many feet and a red, velvety tongue lagging out.

“Luggage!” the elf girl shouted.

“You know this creature, Cortanna?” Sanji asked.

“Yeah, that’s Isaac’s luggage! He ran off after he died!”

“Are you sure? I found him in this cave shortly after arriving,” I explained to Cortanna.

“Perhaps you killed Isaac to obtain his luggage,” Kedra accused.

“Who’s Isaac?”

“The guy you killed.”

“I’ve killed no one. I suppose if he was evil, his death was well deserved,” I retorted.

“Cortanna,” Kedra said to the elf like girl, “Did not Isaac go back down into the underdark and when he returned was when he put that hat on?”

“Yes,” Cortanna confirmed.

“And here we have this Succubus in which the trunk is with her. Who’s to say she didn’t charm Isaac and trick him to put that hat on to which the luggage was to be hers when he died?” Kedra argued.

“You are so irritating! Don’t you think I’d killed you all by now if I was something evil?” I debated, “This scythe is more than able to do that to you all in one swing!” I then stormed off frustrated with Kedra. How dare she accuse me of being a murderer! I was nothing of the sort! I’m beginning to wonder if she’s the evil one. If so, I certainly won’t hesitate to put her head on a plate! I could still hear them follow, Kedra continuing to mutter about how I was luring them into a trap. Wasn’t like I had invited them to follow me, so she ought to shut her mouth before I do so myself!

A glow could be seen up ahead. The tunnel opened into a room. I stopped as I could see in the middle of the room two folk in robes standing at an alter. Clearly something was sacrificed. Sanji went out ahead of me and I followed after him. There were three side rooms off to the right which orcs were in them praying or something of the likes.

“I think it’s a safe... but these folk aren’t worshipping Heironious. This is much too morbid for his likings,” I whispered to Sanji. As we got closer to the altar it was easier to see what was sacrificed. There was a man chanting next to it and a woman cutting the flesh. The hair on my neck rose as I realized what she was cutting up.

“Hmm, looks to be some badgers. Can’t recall any deities-” Sanji began.

“Those are humans! Why are you sacrificing humans!” I demanded of the woman. She shh’s me. I persisted for an answer, “Who’s your God!?” This time the woman grabs the staff leaning on the altar and taps the floor with it. A pillar of ice forms next to me to which I looked at it wide eyed. Immediately I swung my scythe around. I sunk my blade deep into her but not enough to stop her from fighting back. Once more she tried to send some kind of ice spell at me but the pillar formed next to me.

Soon arrows and daggers are flying about me as I made a gallant effort to destroy the clearly evil woman. After my third attempt hitting her (my second one swinging through her but causing no damage to my surprise) I knew she was dead. Except she wasn’t... she glowed for a moment and at the same time I thought she was being Exalted which would have been obsured if Heironious was allowing her to be Exalted.

Thankfully the woman wasn’t Exalted. Rather, she kept this glow about her and tried to run. I swung at her and hit her firmly once more. However no blood came from her. She seemed perfectly fine, though very annoyed with me. She ran out a door and I would have pursued, but there was an enormous black ooze like creature on the altar now. It wrapped a tentacle around my body and held me tight. With how big I am, I knew the shoes I got would come handy if ever I got really stuck. So I clicked my feet together and I quickly was able to maneuver from the ooze’s grip.

All of us attacked it, but the creature continue to exist with no signs of being harmed. Even a few hits from my scythe seemed to do very little. That is until my 3rd of 4th hit. The creature exploded into many bits and pieces upon my scythe sinking deep into it’s gooey flesh. After some healing we attempted to go through the door the one woman exited through. Apparently there’s some kind of spell like thing about it in which we had to hold Sanji’s hand to get through. I had no qualms holding his hand and enjoyed the feel of it for the brief moment we had as we walked through the door.

Beyond the door was another room in which there was the woman and some kind of monster. Sanji mentioned it was a Braxat. I didn’t know what that meant, but from how he mentioned it, it clearly was evil like that woman. The Braxat was about the same size as me if not bigger. They both attacked us. Once more I had fun swinging my scythe around. I especially wanted to get the woman. She sent some kind of black energy at me that made me feel weaker, but I pushed past the slight burn and managed to deal some decent damage to her and the Braxat. I got hit hard by the beast at one point before Sanji turned into a huge nine headed hydra. It was the craziest thing ever! I mean, I can’t wait to hit a tavern and tell them about my first adventure! A man turning into a hydra? Never heard of that one before.

Soon the woman and Braxat were dead. A single door was at the far end of the room. We examined it for a trap- oh! How silly of me, I totally forgot about the trapped doors. Wow. I guess they weren’t as exciting as all the fighting we did. So there were quite a few trapped doors that we had to get through before we got to the room with the altar in it. I bashed one door down and barely missed the guillotine that fell down after busting it open. One of the doors was loaded with poison darts. Poor Melinda and Cortanna got hit badly by it. Once they came around I went and opened the door. I knew I was immune to poisons, I having been bitten a few times as a young girl by snakes. Funny enough the same snakes that bit me in my later teenage years couldn’t puncture my skin any more. Anyways, I figured I would fair the dart far better than the others.

Sure enough most of the darts plinked off my skin. I pulled the few stuck in my skirt and flesh from me and continued on searching for a way out. And that’s pretty much how we got to where we were. I hit the door, after examining it, soundly with the butt of my scythe. The door being unlocked swings open effortlessly. There is beautiful daylight shining beyond the door. I take a step outside, somewhat cautious just incase the trap was on the outside. Suddenly two Braxats drop down, hurting me a lot! I feel weak and am bleeding more than I ought to to be considered as alright. I retreat back into the room and around the corner. Everyone else comes to my aid. Sanji in his hydra form squeezes through the door and continues to ravage the creatures. The other three females, Cortanna, Kedra, and I think Melinda, follow after. I head out in time to see one Braxat dead and Melinda hop up on the other. She looked like she was about to fly away when Sanji killed the creature. Actually, she did fly away.

And they thought I was the evil one...

Cortanna seems very frustrated by it all. She calls for Luggage who shows up. She asks for a wand of healing. The Luggage coughs a wand up. I look at it curious like.

“Does it cough anything you want up?” I asked. Cortanna looked at me confused.

“Kinda... at least if it has it” Cortanna responded.

“So, what all does it have?”

“I think you know,” Kedra said as she leered at me.

“How would I know what’s in it?” I questioned.

“You killed Isaac for it. Obviously you had him tell you what’s in it,” Kedra persisted. I rolled my eyes. I was completely done talking with her. There was no reasoning with her.

Many minutes pass, just as Cortanna and Kedra were getting ready to head back to Rehm, Melinda appears.

“What happened Melinda!” Cortanna shouted. The little halfling cowered.

“They put me under some kind of spell. I thought if I stayed right after you killed it you would have thought I was evil or something,” she replied. I nodded in agreement. I certainly would have done something like that I’m sure.

“Well, Kedra and I are about to head back. Um, I don’t think we ever got your name,” Cortanna said to me.

“It’s Penelope,” I answered.

“Penelope, Sanji, do you want to come with us?”

“Yes!” I said a bit too excitedly, “I mean, I would love to go on more adventures whether it’s with you or on my own.”

“Well we need to go back to Rehm to let the people know their town should no longer be plagued by animated objects. Then we need to get back to the Man Kingdom,” Cortanna explained.

“I know there’s a coastal town called Toast. They should be up and running to get passage across the ocean. However, could I wait here until you’re done with Rehm... unless you think they wouldn’t be weirded out too much by a giant scythe,” I said.

“Hmm, yeah you probably should wait here.”

“I’ll wait with her,” Sanji mentioned. I now noticed he was no longer a hydra. He was wearing heavy winter clothes though. He looked very stuffy in them. Even Gunther looked hot.

“Okay, the three of us will go then. We’ll be back later."

The women left, Sanji and I lounging on the mountain side. We were rather high up. A light breeze brushed the grass. I had laid down in a comfortable position as I rested the pain away. I needed to clean up. I was dirty and bloody. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to find a river of some sort. Doubt any town will let me get within a mile of them with my scythe. Ugh... how will I be able to tell my tales of adventure if I can’t go into taverns? Actually... can I get into a tavern now? Oh bother.

As I laid on my back I looked once more at Sanji. His face was red and laiden with sweat. Poor guy. Why would he even be wearing that outfit like that? Even for France, his attire seemed overly compensating for cold weather.

“Sanji, where you from?” I asked.

“Oh, the Northern Waste,” he replied.

“I’m guessing it was very cold there?”

“Oh yes. Very.”

“Well, why are you still wearing those clothes if you’re here now?”

Sanji looked at me and seemed to realize that his attire was foolish. He then took his vest and shirt off, his bare skin shining with sweat in the sunlight. I looked away as a grin stole across my face. He was handsome to say the least, but that’s about it. I’m in no way interested with romance or going steady as some girls do. Rather I enjoy the attention I get and the beauty men have. And every man eventually gets boring or some guy more interesting comes along. I like to think I live in a world filled with many flowers and I can pick the ones I want and chuck them after enjoying it’s beauty.

Oh, just thinking that makes me think of my parents though... they have scolded many times about not playing with the hearts of men. They told me it’s not right to lead them on. I hardly do such a thing... okay, that’s a lie. I’m very good at leading them on. It may not be right, but it gets me what I want most of the time. Besides, it’s just words I’m using. No magic. So it’s their fault for not being stronger willed to resist my allure. There fault for getting so caught up thinking I’m actually wanting to be there one and only. Why can’t guys understand that I just like having really good friends? Perhaps I should engrave my scythe with, ‘lets be friends.’ Hmm... that probably wouldn’t come off the way I want it to.
Anyways, still waiting for Cortanna. I know Rehm isn’t too far away, so hopefully she’ll be back in a half hour.