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carlycchapman24 · 4 years ago

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The Adventures of Celine Markus-Chapter 1

It was a cool September day and Celine was out running errands. She had just left the grocery store when she saw a figure in a black cloak, with its hood up, motioning her to come over to him. She looked around, and no one seemed to notice the figure, which freaked her out, so she began walking away. The next thing Celine knew, the figure made a gesture with its hands and for a moment she felt compelled to walk over to it. She shook it off, was confused for a moment, and then started heading home. However, when she turned around to walk up the street, the figure seemed to appear right in front of her, startling her. The figure then took its hood down to reveal an older man, perhaps in his mid to late 70s, laughing cheerfully. “You’re a stubborn one, aren’t ya? Good, you’ll need to be. The name is Maverick. I’m the Royal Wizard of Crisherton, which I’m sure you’ve never heard of, so that’s not important. Anywho, you look like someone in need of work, or an adventure, or both even. What’s your name, young lady?” Celine shook her head in disbelief, wizards? Royalty? Crisherton? This guy was a nutcase! “Sir, pardon my rudeness, but you’re delusional. Have you hit your head? Do you have a concussion? Follow me, I’ll take you to the police department.” She grabs his arm and tries to walk away, but she runs into some sort of force field, which seems odd. Then, she looked around and noticed people weren’t paying attention, didn’t seem to notice her, and didn’t seem to hear this man speaking to her, or see him either. “What in the world?” She whispered to herself. “That settles it,” the old man said, tearing his arm from her grasp, “you need an adventure, and I need amusement. If you want some work and are tired of your normal day-to-day life, come to this location tomorrow at 9:00 am sharp. Dress nicely.” Then he hands her a business card with an address on it and smiles, “Don’t be late, Celine.” Then he disappears and she’s back in the middle of the street, looking dumbfounded at what just happened. Then she said aloud, “Wait, how did he know my name?!” earning looks from passersby. Embarrassed, she began heading home so she could process everything that just happened.

Celine put her groceries away, changed into her pajamas, and flopped into bed, staring at the card she was given. It didn’t look like a typical business card, it seemed to be made of some shiny paper and it didn’t even have the man’s name, just the address he wanted her to go to. “Weird,” Celine mumbled and tossed the card onto her bedside table, plugging her phone in and lying back down. Suddenly she woke up and noticed her phone said 8:35 am, she quickly jumped out of bed, haphazardly fixed her bright red pixie cut, and put on a floral print dress and black flats. She threw her phone in her purse, grabbed the card, and ran out of the apartment as quickly as possible. She just barely managed to make it to the building and what she saw caught her off guard. It was a five-story building that looked dilapidated and abandoned. Vines were crawling up the walls, the windows were broken, and it seemed that the trees around it had been dead for many, many years. She froze in fear, staring at the building for what seemed like ages. She eventually shakes it off and glances at her phone, the time reads 8:55 am and she immediately runs inside the building, not wanting to be late for whatever this Wizard guy had planned. When she walked through the door, however, she didn’t see a lobby of any sort, oh no, she somehow ended up in a field in the middle of nowhere. “What the hell?!” Celine exclaimed. The next thing she knew, she heard a familiar laugh, Maverick’s laugh. “What is going on? Explain yourself to me! Where am I?!” Celine demanded, turning towards the old wizard. “You’re in the Kingdom of Calgora on the continent of Adamantia. Anything else you wish to know, you’ll learn as you go along. I have a gift for you, though, here.” The old man handed her a massive leather-bound tome and smiled, “Oh, and that little purse of yours? It’s become this thing called a Bag of Holding, you can hold many things large and small, but it cannot exceed 500 lbs. Enjoy your time, but I must be off. As the Royal Wizard, I have duties to King Auditorius, but I’ll keep an eye on you and check in from time to time. Before I leave, however, I’d like you to give that spellbook a try, you might be surprised,” and he winked. Not believing a thing he said, Celine rolled her eyes, opened the spellbook, and tried a spell called ‘Create Bonfire,’ aiming it at his feet. Suddenly a fire sprung up where she was pointing and it burned Maverick’s feet, who quickly jumped up at the pain and then laughed as he stepped on the fire to put it out. “I’m sorry, but what the hell just happened?!” Celine exclaimed, pulling her hand back, and suddenly she feared herself for the first time in her life. “Why, you just cast a spell. I knew you had potential the moment I saw you walking out of that grocery store in your world! Glad to see my instincts were correct. Be careful though, don’t accidentally harm yourself. Toodles,” and in an instant, Maverick disappeared. “Maverick, Maverick!” Celine called to no avail, “Stupid old Wizard,” she grumbled. Celine looked down and noticed she was still in her dress, and suddenly she felt very exposed, which was embarrassing. She pulled her phone out of her, now, Bag of Holding, and read the time, 10:45 am. Sighing, she looked around for some sort of path so she could get out of the middle of the field, as she began feeling bugs crawling up her leg and making her itchy. She looked around and saw one a few feet away, so she made her way over and began following it.

After what seemed like hours, Celine saw, at a distance, a giant stone wall with an open gate, which she recognized as a portcullis from her World History classes from when she was in school. She took a deep breath and went towards it. When she got within thirty feet, she heard a gruff, male voice say, “Oi, who goes there? State your name and business, stranger.” She didn’t feel comfortable stating her real name in this strange land, so she said, “My name is Annabeth Reed, I’m but a simple traveler just wishing to find a place to stay.” The man glared at her, “Do not lie to me, stranger. Give me the truth now or be arrested by me and questioned by the King himself.” Celine swallowed hard and said, “Alright, fine,” she mumbled to herself, “At least I tried,” and then spoke to the man again, “My name is Celine Markus, I’m a twenty-two year old from Los Angeles, California, on the continent North America.” The man didn’t believe her and was getting ready to arrest her when a woman behind her spoke up, “Arnold, don’t treat new arrivals like that! You may be part of the City Watch, but you are not the Captain of the Guard, I am.” The man now known as Arnold froze in fear and responded, “My apologies Captain Iseut, I meant the girl no harm, I’m simply trying to do my job!” “I understand, but the girl isn’t from here and she seems nervous and scared. Now go, it’s time for a shift switch,” the woman now known as Captain Iseut said. “Yes ma’am!” Guard Arnold said, rushing back into the city. Captain Iseut looked at Celine, “Now, Celine, how did you get here? You’re not from around here, it’s quite obvious by your attire.” “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, ma’am,” Celine answered nervously. “We’ll see about that, come to my quarters, I’ll get you some new clothes and maybe some tea.” Captain Iseut responded. “Not to push my luck ma’am, but I haven’t eaten today, so maybe some food as well, if it’s available,” Celine said, hoping she didn’t come off as ungrateful. “That can be arranged, oh and don’t worry about Arnold, he’s a good person and guard, but quite hot-headed.”

The two women walked into what Celine assumed was Captain Iseut’s room or quarters as the Captain put it. It was nicely decorated, the walls were made of stone, but there were tapestries with designs that Celine had never seen in her life, they consisted of golds, browns, reds, and slight hints of greens. One had what looked to be some sort of family crest on it with how it was designed, it was a green and white shield with the silhouette of an eagle flying in front of a large tree with no leaves, just bare branches. Celine tilted her head upon seeing the design and Captain Iseut noticed immediately, “Ah yes, that’s the Iseut Family Crest, beautiful, isn’t it? According to my father, my five times great grandfather, on his side, designed it himself. If I ever marry, I plan to keep my family name, my spouse will have to change their name,” the woman laughed, “it’s not exactly common for an instance such as that to happen, but then again, I’m not exactly a traditional sort of person.” “What do you mean by that?” Celine asked, turning to the Captain. “Well, women rarely join the City Guard, let alone become Captain. It’s often considered a man’s job, to be a soldier and a guard, at least here. I’m sure some other countries and Kingdoms have more of a combination of men and women in their military, but this one is more ‘traditional,’ if you can call it that. I wanted to be a knight or join the City Guard as a child, my parents didn’t like that, thought it was just the fantasy of a young child, a phase if you will. When I stayed true to my choice, they hesitantly let me train and join. Enough about me though,” the Captain says and begins boiling water in a kettle, “tell me who you are, how you got here, and if Celine is your true name.” Celine wasn’t sure if the Captain was telling the truth or not, but she also didn’t see a reason for her to lie, so she explained her situation to her. “Of course it was Maverick,” the woman said, rubbing her temples, “he always tries to find some new person to mess with. He always has high hopes for the people he chooses, but half of them die and the other half become stories for a short time and then no one remembers who they are after three months. Although, you’re the first from a completely different world. I’ve never heard of Earth or any of the places you mentioned. If you plan to stay for a while, maybe you can tell me more about these places you speak of.” The woman gets up and grabs the kettle off of the fire and pours them both some Jasmine Tea, then she fishes out some dry meats and cheeses, along with some bread, from her personal stores and splits it between the two of them. “Uh, sure, I guess. So you’re telling me this, ‘bringing new people here’ nonsense is a habit of Maverick’s?” “Unfortunately, yes.” Captain Iseut answers the younger woman. “Why me though? I’m not an interesting or important person, so I don’t understand.” Celine says, she begins to reach for the food when she stops and says, “You eat first,” to the Captain. “Suspicious are we? Smart, that will help you go far here,” Captain Iseut takes a bite of the food when Celine realizes it’s not poisoned, she begins eating as well, “As for why he chose you,” the Captain starts, “clearly he sees some potential in you that you don’t see in yourself.” “I guess,” Celine answers.

After a long conversation over lunch, the two women say goodbye to one another and Celine begins walking out of the Captain’s Quarters, then she stops midway to the door and asks, “Captain Iseut, ma’am,” “You can call me Renee, but yes?” the Captain responded. “Is there someplace I could stay for a few days? Like, a hotel or something?” “I’m not sure what a ‘hotel’ is, but there are a few Inns in town you could stay at. I’d suggest The Clydesdale Inn, it’s a bit on the expensive side, but it’s worth it. Their food is certainly better than what I had, their beds are comfortable, and there are different types of entertainment, if you know what I mean,” the Captain said with a wink. It took Celine a moment, but when she realized what the slightly older woman meant, she flushed a bright red, “Uh, maybe not for me, but I wouldn’t mind a comfortable bed.” “Very well,” she said kindly, “here’s twenty-five gold and a change of clothes. Some trousers, a bodice, some boots, and a cloak. All a brownish-green color to blend into the surroundings when you leave town.” “Thank you for your kindness and standing up for me Ca-,” she corrected herself, “Renee.” “You’re quite welcome, but be careful next time. Not every Captain of the Guard will do what I did, so if you leave Crisherton and go to another city, be warned.” The Captain said, a grave tone in her voice. “I’ll keep that in mind, have a good rest of your day,” Celine said with a soft smile and walked off.

She looked around for a few minutes and finally found The Clydesdale Inn, when she noticed it was near the docks a smile crept across her face, as she loved the water and the ocean, “Maybe this won’t be too bad,” she said to herself and walked in. As she approached the bar, a human-like figure with auburn hair, tanned skin, and seemed to be in his forties, greeted her, but he was very short and had to use a stool to see over the counter, “Lovely to meet you, miss! A traveler huh? I can tell you’re not from around here! Welcome to The Clydesdale Inn, the name is Fredrick Longfoot, and my wife and I own this little establishment. What can I get you?” Celine felt embarrassed again, she knew she stuck out like a sore thumb, but she didn’t realize it was that bad. She cleared her throat, “I’d like one room for a week please, if there’s one available.” “That’ll be fourteen gold,” the man said, “I hope you enjoy your stay. We’ve got a great performance tonight from a traveling musician. He’s been here for about a day and a half now. Now, what’s the name, dear?” “Celine Markus,” she answered, not trying to lie about her name for a second time today after almost being arrested. “Celine, what a lovely name,” a voice she doesn’t recognize says and she quickly turns her head towards the voice, only to see a creature with black Aurochs horns, blood-red skin, Merlot colored hair, and golden eyes with no visible pupil or sclera. Startled, Celine pulled out her pocket knife from her Bag of Holding, which had turned into a dagger, and pointed it at the creature, nearly falling off of her seat. Mr. Longfoot shook his head, “Now, now Arlech, I appreciate your performances, but don’t go scaring guests please.” ‘Arlech’ strummed his lute tunelessly and said, “Sorry Mr. Longfoot, I didn’t mean to. I certainly didn’t expect her to pull a dagger on me either. Although I think mine’s bigger,” he says with a wink. Celine flushes and almost smacks the creature across the face when he does, in fact, pull out a much larger and prettier dagger than her’s, “It’d be more like a short sword for old Fredrick though,” the creature says with a laugh, and Celine notices his sharp canines, much like a Devil’s or a Demon’s based on stories she’d heard from her world. “Pardon my language, but what the fuck are you two? I can guess Mr. Longfoot simply by his name and height, he’s a Hobbit, but you, Demon, Devil, looking thing, I don’t know about you. I’ve had enough scares and surprises for the day and I just got to this place like three or four hours ago.” “I’m not sure what a ‘Hobbit’ is, but I’m a Halfling, so if they’re similar I’ll give it to you,” Mr. Longfoot answered. Shit, that’s right, Celine thought, this isn’t my world, it’s far from it, I don’t belong here. “Let’s put our daggers away and properly introduce ourselves, shall we?” The horned creature asked and slipped his dagger back in his pants pocket. Celine looks towards Mr. Longfoot for reassurance, who says, “It’s alright, Arlech might talk you to death, but he’d never hurt someone unless he had to.” Celine sighed in relief and stuck the dagger back into her Bag of Holding. “You really should keep that on your person somewhere instead of in your bag, if those bags get destroyed, everything you have in there? Gone, and you likely won’t get them back. Anywho, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Arlech, a traveling musician and storyteller and I’m a Tiefling, hence the horns and red skin,” he said with a smile, purposely showing off his sharp teeth. “I’m Celine Markus and, obviously, I’m not from around here. I guess I have some sort of magic because I was given this book with spells in it by the Royal Wizard, Maverick, ever heard of him?” She replied. “Yes, I’ve heard of him, where are you from anyway? Women here certainly don’t wear such, ah, revealing clothing, in this Kingdom at least,” the Tiefling responded, looking her up and down. Celine looked down, confused, because she didn’t have any cleavage hanging out or anything, but then she remembered that the dress stopped above her

knees,

which looked shorter when she was sitting down, which she didn’t find to be too bad, but this wasn’t her world, so the ‘shortness’ of her dress might be ‘distracting.’ “I’m not from this world, I can tell you that much,” she answered. He laughed, thinking she was joking, “Are you serious? Come on, there’s no way.” “Want some proof?” Celine asked. “I don’t know what you think will convince me, but go ahead, show me this ‘proof’ of yours.” He replied.

Celine pulled her phone out of her bag, unlocked it, and showed it to him. Both Arlech and Mr. Longfoot looked at the phone in awe, “What IS this contraption?” the two men ask in unison. “It’s called a cell phone, they’re pretty common where I come from, a place called Earth,” she answered. Arlech reaches for the phone and Celine snatches it away, “Hey, ask first!” Celine says sharply. “May I look at this thing you call a phone?” Asked Arlech, slightly annoyed. “Say please,” she said back. “Please?” He asked, rolling his eyes. “Yes you may,” she says and hands it to him. Celine moves closer to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t try to steal her phone. “So, how does one use this?” He asks, staring at her phone in confusion. The screen times out, becoming black, “Oh no, is it broken, did I break it?!” the Tiefling exclaims. “No, it shut itself off because no one was using it, here, let me turn it back on for you,” Celine says, taking the phone from him and unlocking it with her thumbprint, revealing her phone’s background, which was her old family dog. “Wow, magical!” The horned man said in excitement. “It’s not magic, it’s technology. Though I guess to you all it would be considered magic,” she answered him. He tapped on the camera icon, not knowing what it was, and when it popped up, it was the front camera, which startled him, “What in the Nine Hells?!” he says, nearly dropping Celine’s phone on the hardwood floors. Celine just barely catches it in time and thanks whatever deity or deities this world may have that her phone didn’t shatter. “Please be careful, it can break if you drop it,” Celine said with a frustrated sigh. “Would it explode if it broke?” Arlech asked worriedly. “No, but the screen could shatter and I’m almost positive there are no screen repair shops in this world,” the young woman answered. “What did I do anyway? Why could I see myself? Is there an artist living in your contraption that makes lifelike art?” The man, Celine guessed, said. She laughed, “No, it’s called a camera, here, let me show you.” She unlocked her phone again, opened the camera app like Arlech had previously, and said, “Get a little closer,” he did and she took a picture of the two of them. Then she went into her gallery and tapped on the picture, showing it to both Mr. Longfoot and the Tiefling. “Astounding, I must go get my wife and show her this! Oh, and dinner is on the House for you tonight Miss Markus, simply for showing me such an interesting contraption. Edrich, give Miss Markus the House Special and our best ale.” Before she could say anything, Mr. Longfoot had run off and sighed, “I was gonna say that I prefer water or wine, but okay.” “I’ll take the House Special too, Edrich, if you don’t mind, and some whiskey,” Arlech said. “Be lucky you’re performing tonight or I’d charge you double,” a human, or, he looked like a human, but he had pointy ears, that was standing behind the counter said, which Celine assumed was Edrich. About half an hour later, Mr. Longfoot walked out with a normal human, probably about thirty-seven, from the back of the Inn, she had wavy, light brown hair and a smile across her lips, “Miss Markus, this is my wife, Helena,” he said. “Oh, you must be the newcomer with strange objects, welcome to our Inn! My husband seemed impressed with this object you had, and nowadays it’s quite hard to impress him,” she said with a laugh. Soon after, Edrich brought out Celine and Arlech’s food and drinks.

After an hour of conversation, and a few drinks on Arlech’s part, Celine began getting tired. She’d already had a long day of being transported to a new world and finding out she could use magic. She glanced at her phone, the time read 7:45 pm. She sighed and stuffed her phone back in her Bag of Holding and laid her head on the bar. She took a sip of water that had been placed in front of her an hour ago and out of nowhere, she heard Arlech say, “You know, you’re pretty cute,” and she choked on her water, “Excuse me?!” she exclaimed. “What, you’ve never been told that before?” He asked and Celine noticed he was slurring his words, clearly drunk. “Not by a drunk Demon thing,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Tieflings aren’t Demons, they’re Half-Devils,” explained a drunk Arlech. “What’s the difference?” Celine asked, now amused. “Devils,” he slurred out, “tend to make deals with mortals and they honor those deals, alright? They’re not super violent, unlike Demons. A Tiefling, or Half-Devil, like myself, tends to have one Devil parent and one mortal parent. Usually, the mortal parent isn’t exactly willing to join an arrangement or deal with a Devil, but they do so out of desperation. Some Devils want a soul, others just want the mortal’s body, if you understand my meaning,” he says and gives a very drunk wink that was almost a blink, but Celine understood what he meant and rubbed her temples before he could explain any further. “Alright, time for you to sober up, Mr. Longfoot, do I have permission to knock some sense into him since he’s supposed to perform here soon?” She asks. “Go on ahead, just don’t kill him, if you knock him out, I have spare healing potions.” He answers, wiping down a plate. “Thank you,” says Celine and she pulls out her spell book and finds a spell called ‘Witch Bolt,’ “Oooh, sounds cool,” she says and casts it, but unable to control it, it hits a bar stool instead. Arlech laughs and she says, “Dammit” to herself and tries again, but misses a second time, hitting the same bar stool. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” and she gets up and pulls her dagger out of her bag, flipping it to the blunt side so she doesn’t hurt him too badly, she hopes, and tries to hit Arlech with the hilt, thankfully she’s not nearly as uncoordinated with the dagger and she actually manages it. “Jesus fuck,” she puts her dagger away, “why was that so difficult to do?!” she said, rubbing her eyes. Arlech snaps out of his drunken stupor, “Huh, what? What just happened? Did you just hit me?” “Yes, you have a performance, stupid, and you were drunk, so I needed to snap you out of it.” Celine answered. “Oh, thank you.” He answered, rubbing the back of his head. Then he noticed the burn marks on the barstool behind him, “How did that happen?” he asked. Celine gritted her teeth while Mr. Longfoot chuckled, “I don’t want to talk about it.” “Oh, alright then, let me go get changed into a new outfit for my performance and the music can begin!” Arlech exclaimed and ran up the stairs. A few minutes later, Arlech comes back down the stairs in an all silk, purple outfit, from a button up to a pair of pants, and a beret with a feather attached to it and began to strum his lute and sing, a beautiful baritone voice comes out of this strange Half-Devil thing. Celine was genuinely impressed, she didn’t know what she had expected, but it wasn’t that and her jaw was on the floor. Mr. Longfoot chuckled, and murmured to her, not to interrupt Arlech’s performance, “If he doesn’t win ya over with his sarcasm and wit, his singing will.” Celine scoffed and murmured back, “He didn’t ‘win me over,’ I was just surprised is all. I didn’t expect him to actually be GOOD at singing, ya know?” An hour passed and Arlech’s concert ended with a bang, as he changed the color of the flames from the chandeliers into a purple color, much like his outfit, and everyone that had come to see his show applauded. He took his beret off and people gave him tips of up to five gold, which Celine assumed was a big deal with how he reacted. “Thank you, thank you all so very much! I appreciate

all of your generous tips and I’ll be here all week if you’d like to see me perform again! Goodnight everyone!” Cheers erupted again and Mr. Longfoot stepped up to the platform that Arlech had been on. “Thank you all for being here for tonight’s performance! I hope you enjoyed yourselves because I certainly did. Now, I do have to apologize, however, I’m closing up for the night, so those who only came to see the performance and have homes to return to, you need to leave soon, unfortunately. For the patrons that DO have rooms and are staying, I’d like you to clear out the dining hall here pretty quickly and make your way to your rooms. Thank you again, have a wonderful night, and may the Gods bless you to have a good day tomorrow.”

As the patrons clear out and make their way to their rooms, Arlech plops next to Celine, still in his concert outfit, and asks, “So, did you enjoy that?” “I mean, yeah, you have a good voice. I didn’t expect that at all.” Celine responds. “You underestimate my musical ability? Why, I’m offended.” He says sarcastically. Celine laughs, “I just didn’t know what to expect. Remember, I’m not from around here?” “Well, you’ve got a lot to learn here Miss Markus. Clearly, the world you’re from is vastly different from this one, so you’ll need to adapt to everything. I’ve traveled to quite a few different cities here in Calgora, but outside of this Kingdom, I don’t know much of what’s out there. Maybe we can learn together.” He says with a grin. “Are you trying to flirt with me?” Celine asks, raising an eyebrow. “Is it working?” Arlech asks. “Nope.” She responds. “Then no, but if you’d like someone to travel with anyway, I’ll gladly join,” he answers. Celine sighs, “Fine, but only if you promise to stop trying to flirt with me.” “I don’t know if that’s a promise I can keep. It’s quite fun, and useful if you use it in the right circumstance.” “I hate you,” Celine says half-heartedly. “No, no you don’t, and I think you and I are gonna be good friends.” The Tiefling says with a tired grin. “We’ll see about that, anyway,” she looks at her phone and the time reads 10:35 pm, “I should get some rest. I think I’ll chill here in the city for a couple of days to get used to my surroundings and then try and find some jobs to make some sort of money. You need money to live and to get money you need some sort of income.” “Sounds like a plan,” Arlech responds, “there are usually requests for help on the board near the post office to get some money, there’s also the Solarstriders and you could apply there if you wanted.” “What’s the Solarstriders?” Celine questions, tilting her head. “Oh, they’re an organized group of mercenaries who take requests from private investors, whether it be someone from high society that doesn’t want to do the dirty work themselves, to kill someone from a competing House, or to kill some ridiculous monster for parts to sell, or smugglers and crime families and such that usually want some monster’s part for profit or magic. I'm not part of the group, or Guild, if you will, but if a group asks, I’ll occasionally help out if something sounds interesting, and if the money is good.” He explains. “That could help out a lot actually. I’ll think about it. Anyway, goodnight, don’t get as drunk tomorrow night, I might have to actually kill you next time.” Celine answers, smiling, and heads upstairs to her room for what she hopes is a nice, long, rest.

#OCs #Story #Celine Markus #DnD #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #The Adventures of Celine Markus #Original Story

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