How did young Oakroot fall in with a bunch of Heroes? It goes back to an uncaring family that blamed him for everything, and anything, that ever went wrong, a child who internalized self blame, and self shame, and a kind fighter who picked them up out of the midden, where the child was tossed when money grew scarce.
@internutter/challenge-04586-l202-unexpected-hero -- Anon Guest
It had been a long and bloody exhausting journey just getting through these woods. In fact, the Adventurers hadn't quite made it to the mountain in the midst of the woods. Tagnis set up her portable altar as part of her evening ritual. Gisse was singing the wards as Whatli began working on a cauldron of stew. Darme was still chopping the firewood for the camp when Tagnis opened her eyes with a sigh... and discovered her little silver cup had vanished from the red cloth of the altar.
She tried to contain her alarm, looking around in case the cup had fallen into the nearby low plants. There was no trace of it. "Whatli? Can you use your location spell to find my silver cup?"
He didn't need to. A soft little murmur from under the oak gave it all away. There, in a formerly-neglected hollow, was a very small child in very little clothing clutching the silver cup and cringing.
"A thief," said Tagnis, reaching in to scoop the kid out. "Stealing the bread, I understand. Stealing the wine? Also likely. But the cup it came in?"
The child simply cringed, dropping the cup in favour of covering his head. Tense and waiting for blows.
Wizard, fighter, bard, and cleric exchanged looks. Without a word, they agreed, We can't not adopt him.
Whatli ran a cleansing spell over the kid, Tagnis did a delousing spell and cured disease on him. Gisse rummaged through his extensive wardrobe and found something they could sacrifice for the kid's wardrobe. Disassembling the original and turning it into a pair of braies and a long shirt. Darme dished up a small sampling of the stew and blew on it to cool it. He began tearing chunks off a slice of bread and soaking it in the gravy.
"We won't hurt you," promised Darme, offering a fragment of soaked bread. "We just want to know why you took the cup."
The kid snatched the fragment and almost inhaled it. "Shiny?"
Tagnis helped Gisse dress the child. "Please don't take things from us again. It's rude to steal from your hosts."
"Or family," added Whatli, ahead of the rest of them on current events. "Do you have a name?"
The child had moved from cringing to attempting to steal food from Darme before he could serve some. "Uh. Some folk call me Fuckoff?"
"Nope," decided Gisse. "That's not a name."
"Git?" suggested the child. "Short for you git?"
"Absolutely not," said Tagnis. "How do you feel about us naming you Oakroot? After the oak root we found you under?"
"You can find a better name at any time," soothed Whatli.
"I like Oakroot fine," said Oakroot. "You sound nice when you say it."
[Photo by Limi change on Unsplash]
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