Sleeping Giants Game 20

Intro

Lyla's Encouragement

After the meeting with Jostan, you were a bit shaken. The party all went their separate ways for a bit, agreeing to meet back up later to get started on the new mission. You spent this small amount of downtime collecting your gear, making last-minute purchases, and other odds and ends. As you are making your way through the streets of Skyhammer, you hear an odd sound coming from behind a tree. It sounds like quiet sobbing.

You walk up to the tree to investigate, and you see your good friend Aaron Donaldsson sitting on the grass. His back is against the tree and his head resting on his arms, which lay across his knees. He hears you approach and looks up, his cheeks and eyes wet with tears.

“Oh, hello miss,” he brushes away some of the tears. “Were you looking for me?”

You respond that you were not, in fact, looking for him. You simply heard him crying and decided to come investigate.

“It’s just.. Now that Simon is gone, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. He was my only real friend here. He was my only real friend since Bigby and the Cirque, really. I’ve been so many places, seen so many new people since then. They tried to take me to the orphanage, but it was full. So Simon took me in. He brought me to Skyhammer, he let me read his books, he let me shoot magic sometimes. He didn’t like it, but at least he let me do it. And now he’s gone.”

You urge him to find his own path, and to make his mark upon the world. He claims that he’s only 14 years old, but you are living proof that age doesn’t matter when it comes to doing important things.

Aaron stands and brushes himself off, with a new sense of confidence. “Thank you for talking to me, Lyla. You’re nice. Simon used to always say that when you find a nice person, you should try to keep them around. It’s very rare in this world.” He then turns and begins walking back to Simon’s library.