A New Beginning

I had barely been in Stronghold for two weeks. Time seemed to pass by more quickly here, it felt like only days. Unfortunately, the gold that father had given me was running out, meaning that my time here could soon end.
 
Those of the Dagger Guild were required to pay dues each month, but their message board was always full of jobs, so it didn't seem like an impossible feat to pay the dues. The other two were in the same place as me, money running low, time wearing thin. Our choice was to take a job or possibly leave the city.
 
I had spent my days wandering the city with the other two. Something about them was still unsettling to me, although I wasn't sure if it was them or the newness of the town. I wasn't often allowed to have Yldris by my side due to his size and the fact that many here were apparently afraid of dire wolves. He spent his days in the stables, very pampered if I am to believe the small child that had begun caring for him. His lack of constant presence unnerved me more than anything, but it was just another thing I had to learn about this new world.
 
Father had warned me numerous times about the orcs and the barbaric ways. Elves had an extreme dislike for them, constantly at war with the brutes before the beginning of the Eldritch War. The orcish girl that was often my companion was odd, very different from what father and Taeral had described. I found out through some odd stories of hers that she was only half, much like the half-elves, but with a more brutish other half. The scars and state of her hands made me pity her some, but that was taken away when she explained how she had been kicked from her tribe and homeland. She had moved forward with her life, finding holy teachings and history through her self-taught archeology knowledge. When she spoke of the dragons and their Metallic Council, I found that are homelands were not too far apart.
 
The other girl was...different. She was wild and spirited, reminding me of the girls that Vamir liked to chase. He liked to say they had personality, but I was sure it was that he enjoyed hot-headed, somewhat crazy women. Vamir loved the chase, and I would have loved to see how he reacted to the pale girl named Craea. She seemed to have a no-nonsense attitude but she could also be very humorous at times. I was sure she could smell hidden coins as she always knew where to find money. It seems most of my letter to Vamir was about her, so I'm interested to hear his response.
 
Our lack of coin found us taking a job that seemed easy, one that was for fledgling adventurers. The flyer itself hinted at monsters, those that I assumed were undead. Never had I felt more confident in a group's ability to deal with such things than with a cleric and paladin working side by side. The roguish one also had her skills, but she seemed more secretative when sharing them.
 
The excitement of our first mission was a new feeling. Yldris felt it when I went to say goodbye to him before we entered the Old Catacombs. This was the first time that I could do something without being under the watchful gaze of my brothers and father. There was a whole new world ahead of us, a whole new me. For Yldris and I, this was a new beginning.