Avari Glok

He is an adventurer

### Family

His mother hails from Amusani, previously holding an Flame Blessing as a teenager after graduating as a prestigious student from the Merusia Academia at a young age. However, upon returning to her home city, the Blessing Edict had been put in place, confiscating the power that had been bestowed upon her. Avari’s mother comes from a line of magic users. While none of them necessarily held Blessings, their bloodline is gifted in the usage of magic casting and basic elemental manipulation. Magical talent and capabilities run naturally in his family.

Avari’s father, however, is from a small rural village that is sat between the borders of Uilye and Amusani一in fact, it’s the same one Neo Yim’s paternal grandmother comes from. This village is named Sh’ymeon.

His parents met when his mother was coming back from Merusia and stumbled upon Sh'ymeon at nightfall. The small town provided her a place to stay for the night, the town lodge being run by Avari’s father’s family. The two of them talked well into the night following dinner and promised to stay in contact with each other as she left the following morning. Upon returning to Amusani, everything seemed fine as she was reunited with her family, someone reported her Blessing, causing it to be confiscated, as well as being put under house arrest for “hiding” it from the military. While they were still able to send message birds to each other, she remained under house arrest. After a whole cycle of the moon came to pass, she decided she couldn’t take it anymore and attempted to flee.

Somehow, she made it一finding herself stumbling across the Amusani foliage until she found her way back to Sh'ymeon as Avari’s father greeted her with open arms, her final letter speaking of her planned escape attempt written in rushed font across the parchment.

She ended up living in the inn with his family for quite some time. As the Blessing Edict expanded outside of the main city, the fear of being caught along with wishing to see more of Phantasia for a new beginning, the new couple decided to head north to Damtondst where they eventually settled in Sommertal; a town similar in size to that of Sh'ymeon, but holding only new faces and a song of freedom in the air. Five years later they would have a baby boy named Avari.

## History

While not necessarily having formal training of any kind, he demonstrates a degree of talent from a young age, recommended by Amaris herself to attend Merusia Academia when she sees his talent one day during an errand run in Damtondst for food and supplies for his family.

He got jumped while holding onto whatever he bought and in a moment of panic he manages to summon some fire blasts thanks to a potion he purchased from Timotheus and blows the hobgoblin camp to dust. Amaris, who’s trying to escape responsibilities by taking a walk, instigating hobgoblin camps too sees this and is like *“Oh word.”* She accompanies him back to Sommertal where his family is and asks

> “*Have you ever considered pursuing spell-casting more seriously? You could join the Dragon Guard or the Adventurer’s Guild if you refined that talent of yours. Who knows, you could even acquire a Blessing.”*
>
>

Avari’s mother is like “Ooooh” since she wanted to be able to do something similar and travel the lands of Phantasia but the Blessing Edict ruined that for her, leaving her without a blessing and only able to do so much without it.

Amaris gives him a formal recommendation to Merusia Academia, something many people can only dream of due to its academic rigor. She explains that once the leaves begin to turn orange and the days get shorter, he should head to Merusia for their fall enrollment.

As autumn begins to flow its way through the air, his parents help him pack enough for the trek to Merusia. This includes a map so this kid doesn’t get lost. However, he’s never gone further than Damtondst’s city from Sommertal, only occasionally wandering in the nearby wilderness to practice his magic. It goes poorly once he realizes how directionally challenged he is. It all goes downhill when the paths diverge near Dusk Brewing Company. “I should just keep going in this direction, right?” And then he keeps heading south. Good job. It doesn’t click for him for a while. He even stops at Quanyin Monastery at one point and doesn’t think much of it.

Var asks him to grab some stuff for her if he has some time and he agrees because he is a people pleaser and can’t say no. Var’s thought process in asking is

> *“Oh you’re traveling the area, I’ll give you free boarding for the night if you can help me since I’m on a tight schedule tonight.”*
>
>

If anything, he feels like he’s being watched at all times when he’s trying to settle for the night which doesn’t help with anxiety. It is probably Xi, a long-living, but young-looking protector secretly watching him. His eyes glow in the dark a bit. If you can feel ghosts watching you, you could certainly feel Xi’s judgmental glance.
He continues but heads westward at Var’s advice after finding out where he wants to go. He then gets lost in the surrounding karst and canyons.

> *“Well this doesn’t look like desert or rainforest, how about that.”*
>
>

He ends up wandering around the surrounding karsts and mountains for a good few weeks. Wandering lost for weeks and constantly having to fend off enemies forces Avari’s magic skills to increase exponentially, but one day he realizes he’s run out of potions for spell casting. That day he also realizes he’s probably missed the enrollment deadline for Merusia Academia. He doesn’t cry often since he tries to put up a strong front for his parents, but this breaks him. He misses his family, doesn’t want to disappoint them, and at this point has had to find materials in the wild for cooking since he’s run out of rations. All he has now are things he scavenged from the wild, his hiking staff for traversing mountains, and his makeshift sleeping bag that leaves him open under the starry sky above. He falls asleep that night along the cliffs of a mountain to the sound of his makeshift campfire crackling a little more vibrantly than usual, gold reflecting off of the tears on his melancholy face.

He wakes up the following morning to see an emblem of sorts clasped to the back of the scarf he wears. He’s startled and begins panicking because he’s afraid someone might’ve robbed him in his sleep. But then he remembers what his mother would tell him about Blessings and how they’re bestowed almost out of thin air once they deem someone worthy and capable of harnessing their power. Attached to the scarf is nothing less of a Flame Blessing. He’s just frazzled, but like anyone, he’d want to test it out so he tries to cast magic like he would with the potions he’d get from Timotheus.

There’s a lot of trial and error, he is not graceful with his spell casting一having a basic catalyst doesn’t help either. He easily spends another month in the same area and is eventually able to summon magic similar to what he’d see in the exploding red dahlias littered around Damtondst. Being without any supplies for a while, he works on healing magic一and while not the best, he’s at least able to get spurts of support when wielding his hiking staff as a weapon. His casting is still very spontaneous and is in no way graceful, but he’s easily able to knock enemies off their feet while he’s traversing the area.

Eventually, one day when he tries heading further east than the karsts, he gets that feeling of being watched that he felt at Quanyin Monastery again. He had felt that on and off in the past few months. He looks up into the trees when he gets a strong feeling of that and sees bright amber eyes. He gives an incredible scream of fear. And runs.

> *“Why are you running?”*
> *“AAaaAAaaAaAA”*
>
>

And surprise surprise he ends up back at Quanyin Monastery and Var is out on the patio at the bottom of the Monastery and sees him like *“Oh you’re back? Is Merusia on break? Is that a Blessing I see?”* Avari is just “Panique” and sees the same eyes from the top of the Monastery. He’s just about done, wanting to go back to Damtondst now that he’s back on the main road. It's incredibly dark and by no circumstances is Var going to let him get attacked during these early hours on the road. He stays in the same room as last time, but this time on the overlook deck Xi is there and I guess they get to exchange a conversation after Avari throws a pillow at him.

> *“It moves一”*
> *“Excuse me?”*
>
>

It turns out Xi saw that Avari lost during one of his patrols around Uilye and wanted to help him get back to wherever Avari needed to be (in this case, an actual main path) but as we know Xi doesn’t know how to talk to people so Avari just ran screaming and he went with it. Avari’s just like “Okay. Can I sleep now?” They don’t talk much because Avari’s frazzled and tired and Xi’s not a talkative person, this positive interaction is good for later when Alinia drags Avari with her to get Xi to go to Prosperity Festival with her. The following morning Var suggests that Avari tries going to Uilye Harbour instead of right back to Sommertal while he’s here.

> *“You haven’t experienced Uilye until you’ve felt the brisk spray of the harbour while having a meal from the infamous Min Wan Tea House.”*
>
>

He makes it successfully as there are people from the Adventurer’s Guild staying at Quanyin that night and they accompany him down to Uilye after finishing their commissions. It’s from there that Avari meets Neo Yim.

### Meeting Neo Yim

The first place Avari goes to in Uilye is the Adventurer’s Guild since members of the Guild helped guide him to Uilye in the first place.

> *“Woah you survived out there on your own for two months without a Blessing for half of it??”*
>
>

Avari responds *“I guess?”* He then hears some loud yelling coming from the direction of the Guild

> *“What do you mean you don’t have any more commissions for me?”*
>
>

> *“Neo Yim, you’ve cleared out every single ruin guard, treasure hoarder, and Φphichian Mage within the ten-mile area. There’s nothing we can give you. You’ll have to go to a different city一”*
>
>

Scoffing, *“It’s not like you and the Dragon Guard will be getting any of this done if I leave一”*
Avari sees Neo Yim for the first time, nearly holding Caterina at knifepoint with her enormous two-hand sword. Anyone could smell a hint of burning as flames danced to life on their fingertips. The Guild members that are with Avari ask

> *“You have a Blessing too, uhm. Could you walk up there with us,”*
>
>
> *“Why一”*
>
>
> *“The Blessing?”*
>
>
>
> *“Oh yeah.”*
>
>

He walks up to him and raises his hand as a little hello. Neo Yim swings zyr claymore to bring it down from Caterina and nearly decapitates Avari.

> *“Pardon?”*
> *“Oh shit! I didn’t see you there一”*
>
>

He asks zem what’s wrong because he heard the fighting and whatnot and ze replies about commissions and whatnot. It turns out Neo Yim has cleared out every enemy camp within the 10-mile diameter of Uilye Harbour; from ruin constructs and sentinels to bandit camps, they’re all decimated by zem and zyr one-person adventure team alone. Ze explains to him that zyr only source of income is from working with the Adventurer’s Guild, as ze’s using the money to support zemself and zyr mother, as well as saving up funds to eventually travel around Phantasia. Because ze mentions Glint so much, Avari asks zem if ze wants to have dinner together, paid by him of course. He phrases it more so along the lines of *“I want to get to know more about this city since I’ve never been here before.”* Var Argea gave him some spending money after clearing out the monster camps around Quanyin Monastery, but he wants to pay her back in full and then some next time he goes back though.
Neo Yim immediately recommends the Min Wan Tea House. *“Everyone in Damtondst should even know about it! It’s known for its cuisine all around Phantasia!”* It’s here that the two of them share dinner and Avari realizes how much he loves spicy food. His mother would make some dishes back home, but the chilies are expensive to import so they were more of a luxury in Sommertal. Mao Xia is intrigued when Avari mentions dishes his father would make occasionally back home if they had access to the ingredients. He mentions a dish and asks her if she’s ever heard of it considering that she includes tentacle condensate in a few of her dishes as a thickener for curries and whatnot. She says no. “Where are you from exactly? I’ve been all around Phantasia’s major cities and have never heard of that.”

> “Ah, my dad is from a rural village between Uilye and Amusani where they make a lot of spicy-sweet dishes like that. Because Amusani shut down a lot of the roads to get into the country, that might be why.
>
>

> *“YOUR FAMILY IS FROM THERE TOO??”* Neo Yim and Avari share a moment of solidarity.
>
>

After the pair of them eat, Neo Yim then suggests that they head over to one of the tea bars overlooking the harbour. It’s a newer one that has a lot of imported teas and coffees and isn’t exclusively tea and traditional dining like the Heyu Tea House. It is a café of sorts, an idea borrowed from Fondcois by one of the people who founded the place with their Damtondstian and Uilyese business partners. Called Starryluna, the establishment is very much an amalgamation of the three cities in terms of interior and exterior decor, as well as the silverware and food placed at the tables as they walk in. It has Uilyese architecture to blend in with the contract bound city. Damtondst and Fondcios-influenced pastries, desserts, and light sandwiches, alongside delicately detailed cups from both cities. It’s not a pick and choose, but rather the cups seem to be fused in designs to make them truly one of a kind. Avari sees the logo and it reminds him a lot of something, but he can’t quite remember what. It couldn’t be the statues of the sixteen, but rather a person’s face that he might’ve passed once or twice while visiting Nachtrag Bar or Damtondst General Goods on grocery runs for his parents.
Neo Yim notices him looking at the logo a little too long and just: *“Everything’s great here except that, I don’t know whose twink that is :/”* Somehow there are open seats on the patio that overlooks the harbour and the two of them get a seat there. Avari gets a floral tea while Neo Yim gets an iced matcha latte. The weather is really pleasant as the beginning of autumn is settling in, the day still warm but the nights getting progressively cooler as each day comes to pass. One of the owners of the tea house then goes to the center of the shop and announces that it’s busking hour一something they picked up to go against their competitor a few blocks over, as well as allowing younger storytellers and musicians to have a stage that would usually be taken up by the few elders at Heyu Tea House.

> *“We’ll begin with our usual, Starryluna’s own Den Cheng!”*
>
>

\*Insert hollering from the locals\* A young man with a lightning Blessing emerges from the back of the shop, his hair tied up in a top knot while magenta and violet robes follow in his wake. He bows to the crowd, carrying a leather-bound book in his left hand as he flips through the pages with his right. After flipping for a good five seconds, he closes it and begins reciting poetry that sounds almost prose but flows extremely well.
Neo Yim: *“Wait for it.”*

> *“Wait for what?”*
> *“Thou art so irritable that thy mother won’t even read to thou at night.”*
>
>

Applause from the audience, Neo Yim’s cackling zyr ass off, Avari’s just confused. After Den Cheng leaves the stage, it’s explained to Avari that this guy opens every busking night at the café since he works there part-time to help pay for tuition. He’s well known around Uilye Harbour since so many people visit Starryluna if they find themselves in the city, and the locals found themselves more curious than not upon hearing of an establishment that blended cultures from other cities in its food and silverware. By then, the two of them have finished their beverages and Den Cheng himself comes over to clean off their table.

> *“I haven’t seen you around before, are you visiting Uilye for the first time?”*
> *“Uh, yeah. Neo Yim from the Guild here suggested we come here after we had dinner. This place is cool, and your poetry was nice to hear while we had our drinks!”*
>
>

At the end of the night, however, Neo Yim talks with Avari about the Guild, suggesting that if he’s ever low on money that the pair of them could probably go a bit further out if they worked together since they could carry more supplies and he has a Blessing of his own. Ze’d even put in a word for him. He nods, expressing how grateful he’d be for that, especially considering how he needs money to get back home and pay back Var out of good faith. Var even gave him contact with one of the Uilye inns to stay at while in the harbour. While not free, it meant discounted stay for a few weeks at the minimum, and not being homeless. They end up going to Damtondst together. They both save up money for Avari to travel back home and Neo Yim to come with them so they can experience the city for the first time.

### Meeting Meidi

He met Meidi during travels, and she actually joined his team. After having a few disputes that resulted in what Avari believed was Meidi's death, the team had mixed reactions, from "good riddance" to quiet mourning, and continued on their travels.

Agnezi, a friend of Meidi and Avari and was known for his kindness and how often he stood up for Meidi for Avari's jokes, left the group after Meidi's death.

### Meeting Alinia

Avari frequently wanders between Uilye and Damtondst because while his family came from the outskirts of Uilye and he grew up right outside Damtondst, he finds it hard to stay in one place since he’s he has a fixer complex and never wants to lose the connections and friendships he makes in each region. However, as much as he wanders, he isn’t exactly the best when it comes to directions and maps. He hates maps since he can’t wrap his head around them, so he doesn’t carry one on him. You can see where this is going when someone’s like *“Need help getting somewhere?” and he’s like “Well. About that.”*

This originated with the getting lost on his way to the Merusia Academia by the way. Now he’s just petty because as dumb and gullible he is, he holds grudges. One time while trying to find a shorter way back to Damtondst because he’s on a deadline (actually Amaris needs to go out and doesn’t want to leave Ilya on his own), he gets lost within an abandoned town. It’s not so bad since there are abandoned buildings for shelter and whatnot, but there are the specters of the fallen. See, he doesn’t mind the specters since his parents would always tell him stories of the departed when he was little since he lost his grandmother at a young age and his grandfather before he was even born. (This is the family on his father’s side. His mother has no connections to her family after running away from them at a young age; she’s from Amusani.)

So he’s sort of waiting until the sun comes back up since he doesn’t want to get attacked by enemies at night while half-consciousness. It just so happens at that time, Alinia一the Wanderer一is going through the area with Monpa. She had heard about the village before, at the mines near The Gorge area, and wanted to scope it out, but didn’t realize how long it’d take to get there. She isn’t taking the ghosts very well. She’s not exactly terrified but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t spooked. Monpa isn’t helping either, pointing out how scary everything looks in the dark and how quiet it is.

Avari hears a voice! And footsteps! A person! He jumps up and tries to see who it is because being alone in the wilderness isn’t the most enjoyable thing, no matter how much experience he has. He sees Alinia and thinks

> *“Oh it’s the infamous Wanderer! She’ll know how to get out of here.”*
>
>

So he runs out to her, waving.

> *“Hey!”*
>
>

And Ms. Alinia is scared shitless, Monpa screaming her ass off.

> *“I THOUGHT THEY COULDN’T INTERACT一*”
>
>

So poor Avari is trying to get Alinia to talk to him, but she’s just running off and he can’t do anything but chase after her because he doesn’t want to be left alone. It's a play on what happened in the Karst with Xi. And she just keeps running north until they’re attacked by a labogoblin. This is when Alinia starts to put two and two together as Avari uses one of his [ASkill]s once the labogoblin charges toward the two of them.
Whether it’s his anxiety or just the adrenaline from running for the past half hour, Avari kills the labogoblin and it disintegrates before the three of them there.

> *“Ghosts can f-”*
>
>
> *“Shut up Monpa, he’s not a ghost.”* Avari’s just standing there awkwardly.
>
>
>
> *“Uhm. Yes, not a ghost, no.”*
>
>

Alinia and Avari finally get to properly introduce themselves to one another. In any case, Alinia’s like

> *“Oh you’re the apprentice Amaris mentioned!”*
>
>
> *“Apprentice? Huh?”*
>
>
> *“Are you not?”*
>
>
>
> *“...”*
>
>

In any case, Avari is just starstruck that he met the Wanderer that saved Damtondst. She’s on her way to Uilye for the Nadir Rite since she wants to find any way possible to meet the revered Sixteen of Phantasia. He’s like

> *“Oh I’m supposed to be going the other way, but I can probably get away with taking you to Uilye if it’s you. Amaris shouldn’t get too upset.”*
>
>

So Avari does go to Uilye with Alinia; it’s a lot easier to head back the way he came, especially since Alinia can read maps.
Once Uilye Harbour is on the horizon, Alinia says to him:

> *“It’s nice to have more company, I missed that after I set foot outside of Damtondst.”*
>
>

Avari’s in awe and reverence. She offers him to lunch at the Min Wan Tea House, since she knows Mao Xia, before he heads back to Damtondst. It’s quite nice actually, and he has to run right before the Nadir Rite because he doesn’t want to push his luck with Amaris. He’s late enough already.

### Confrontation with Meidi

While they were travelling to their next destination, Meidi stumbles upon their camp they set up for the night.

> *"You shouldn't even be alive..." - Avari*
> *"And yet here I am. Let us resolve this once and for all, old friends." -* Mei to Avari & Team
>
>