The Kantas Mentorship Program - 17/07 - Zaspar

Mentorship Program. 

Unimpressive building. I am the only one suitably dressed up for the occasion. I am still hopeful that I can learn something.

Present are: Ronkk, Calla, Felix, Beets, Dee’arna, and myself.

Important Notes:

- Calla died?
- Water stronger than cardboard
- (Sketch of Beets with black eyes)
- Check surroundings before backflip.
- Economonomics? ask Ronkk
- Strong adventurers take cardboard cutouts when available
- Ask beets where muffin is from
- Wyverns weak to lapis lazuli
- Everything is weak to damage
- Head bone is connected to traps
- House can eat me?
- Sometimes quest givers want you to die.

I asked Ronkk to be my mentor after he informed me that everything is weak to damage. This was phenomenal information. However, he immediately rejected me.
It is time to find a new mentor.

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Beets The Beetle (Feenix)  & Zaspar

Zaspar stumbled out of the mentorship HQ, juggling his new plush toy amongst his viol, lute, rapier, flute, and notebook. "I really must invest in a bag of some kind," he murmured to himself, hoping not to drop anything. He reflected on what had just happened - Ronkk had in no uncertain terms rejected him, which was disappointing, but he had met a few other interesting characters. Beets in particular stood out to him - though he did not think Beets was a bard. In fact he was not sure what she was, or what she did, not noticing much other than that her eyes appeared to leak black ichor when she was angry? And when he failed his backflip she didn’t make any snarky comments. And she had brought a basket of really nice muffins. He would like another.

Looking up, he spotted just the person he happened to be thinking about. He tried to organise himself a bit before approaching, strapping his rapier to his hip and jumbling his instruments and plushie about so he had at least a hand free. He smoothed out his fine silk attire and cleared his throat. Although he suddenly felt overdressed as he noticed Beets was wearing the Kantas Mentor branded T-shirt. He approached the fairy, trying to project casual confidence.

“Hmm a T-shirt huh…” Beets muttered aloud as she examined her newly garmented and heavily branded reflection in the only slightly grimy window of a closed up fishmongers on the same street as the newly established Kantas Mentorship HQ.

“Don’t think it’d hold up too well in a scrap, but it is kinda comfy-in a baggy sort of way-maybe I’ll wear it as pyjamas. She hoists up her muffin basket in one hand, its baked confectionary contents now replaced with creations of another kind, strange wonky felted furry lumps with perhaps one too many eyes than was necessary. “Limited edition plushies,” she laughs as she shakes her head, “not quite what I was expecting to get out of this venture but hey, maybe The Beetles will like’em!” and she began to drum up her amber wing beats, ready to begin the flight back home to Daring Heights.

"Beets! I was hoping to catch you before the day ended, though it looks like you are headed somewhere. I was headed to Daring Heights - perhaps we could journey together if you are headed the same way?" He paused, then added with a hopeful smile, "I'd love to hear more about your adventures and maybe get some tips on how to navigate this place." It felt too soon to ask for mentorship, especially after how unceremoniously his first prospect had turned him down...

Beets flitted round to face the balancing bard walking towards her. “Oh Zaspar-hey!” She felt her ears turn pink as she recalled her smashing off that blue stone creature he’d conjured, a camel apparently, over that rotting Wyvern’s head, making it look like it’d be dusted with blueberry crumble. It hadn’t done it any favours appeal wise.

“Yeah I'm heading back to Daring!” Beets smiled as she flitted over to join Zaspar in moving down the street. “My adventures huh? Well I can honestly say a lot of my early days were spent at Fort Ettin, Daring Heights was the largest town I’ve ever been to, took me a little while to get my head around it too to be honest.” “Oh do you need some help with that?” She gestures to the bundle of things clutched in the bard’s arms.

Zaspar smiles, glad for the company, and lets Beets set the pace for their walk. There is about a two and a half foot height difference between them, so he is a little surprised by her speed-though she was flying so that probably helped a bit. “Oh, um, this is what I usually carry around so it’s ok.” He turns to Beets, “Well actually, I was wondering where you get all your baskets and stuff from though? One might be helpful…”

Beets has already emptied the contents of the aforementioned basket into the T-shirt which she has hastily pulled off and tied it into a bundle, and now held it out towards Zaspar, one forgotten and slightly squashed muffin pressed against the wicker rim. “Oh I get them from Paradise Frost, especially when I buy out a big order, which I do often! Super handy for making deliveries! Here you can have this one-ohh, and the muffin!”she adds with an embarrassed grin as she realises. “Sorry for smashing your camel gem. It really did come in handy distracting that wyvern though!”

“Are you sure?” Zaspar begins to ask, but he is already graciously accepting the basket and places his flute, plush toy, and lute inside. “Thanks Beets. And thank you for the muffins earlier, and the muffin now,” and he takes a huge bite from the muffin, “they’re really good y'know!”

“And don’t worry about the camel,” he begins with a flourish, “I can make one once a day anyway, it’s a new trick I learned in the College of Creation, just a shame I can’t make real ones,” he grins proudly. “I was wondering though, are you like..a delivery person? Is that your job?”

“Oh!-Yes, in my downtime I’m a delivery girl for the Rooftop Beetles.” Beets announces, unable to hide the pride that seeps into her voice as she says the name aloud. We deliver a variety of things, except the post of course thats Wendy’s claim, but one of our best clients is Paradise Frost Bakery, I buggin’love their pastries. It’s one of my all time favourite things about moving to the Dawnlands.” She gives an approving nod towards Zaspar’s now mostly eaten muffin.

“So College of Creation?” Beets asks as they head out onto the main road heading out of Port Ffirst. “Is that like a real place, or one of these ‘school of magic’ things I always heard the wiz kids and beardies going on about?”

Zaspar nods and smiles at her enthusiasm. “Well, sometimes the College is a real place. You know that camel I made? Some bards can even make buildings and stuff. That’s pretty cool, right?” Zaspar glances at her, hoping for approval. If he is to be Beets' mentee, he at least needs her to think he is cool. He hopes a nod to his future potential will make a good impression.

Beets exclaims as memory hits her, “Oh like my friend Lolli-very talented seamstress by the way!” She gestures to her tailor fitted start yet sturdy attire before explaining. “She’s able summon a whole flittin’tower decorated in icing and gumdrops, though she's a witch-bun not a bard. So for you I guess it’s channelling magic through music or song- like my friend Lucky does when he recites a poem that when he’s done buffs us all. Jeezh honestly at a loss and in awe how you guys can do that stuff!”

"My my, yes your attire is almost like something I'd see when we're holding court back home. Very impressive. She sounds very interesting, your friend." Zaspar nodded thoughtfully, reflecting on his own method of casting magic. "As for me I just twirl my rapier round in certain patterns and bam, something happens. I know a lot of bards play their lutes or whatever, but I managed to combine the magic with the sword. The instruments are just for fun really. Mother is a court musician so I've always loved that kind of thing." He grinned, a sparkle of mischief in his green eyes. Then, clammed up a bit shyly, wondering if he had said too much, was he being weird? -- Time to stop talking about himself.

“She’s the most talented little Harengon in all the Dawnlands!” Beets affirmed.

Zaspar hummed for a moment, thinking of a subject other than himself - then his eyes widened with curiosity as he enquired, “The Rooftop Beetles? So are they named after you? If so you must be a pretty good delivery woman, then,” He smiled warmly, clearly intrigued by her pride and eager to learn more, encouraging her to keep telling her tales. "How did you get into deliveries, may I ask?"

“Oh well it kinda sorta just happened. As for the whole name thing, well the gang actually sorta named themselves that…” she admitted a little embarrassed. “They were originally 'The Daring Heights Rooftop Assault Squad'-or the ‘Bug’kour-Squad’ for short. I trained them up in rooftop running/aerial acrobatics to help support the defence of Daring Heights a few years back. Then when the threat…Went away.” She said, her face falling downcast if but only for a few seconds before she continued, “They found that the skills they’d learnt meant that they could get around the city pretty quickly, and so they started up a delivery service, and collectively sorta made me their founder.” She reflects on the memory of that day, one of the happiest in her life still, her ears now fully glowing pink with pride as she smiles with an embarrassed shrug, eyes shimmering in the dusk light.

“Ah, so THEY named themselves after you…” Zaspar exclaims as they level off from the inclimb of the coastline and onto the main road to Daring Heights now visible on the horizon, “ Wow, Beets you are really surprising. Sounds like you saved the city my friend…”

Beets shook her head. “So I’m guessing with the mention of ‘Courts’ you’re from somewhere in The Feywild then right?” She asks, turning the conversation back to her travel companion.

“Oh - goodness no!” Zaspar replies hurriedly, “I apologise for misleading you. Father holds a large estate of land in Faerun, and we invite common folk to come and share their problems once a year. He calls it holding ‘Court’. Occasionally we invest in businesses - once I inherit the House it will be up to me to decide what we invest in.” He explains somewhat bashfully. “Father has very different ideas than I - he wouldn’t let me invest in a Kobold food cart even though they had a crazy invention called ‘pepper’ which made the food they made tingle like magic.” Zaspar shakes his head regretfully and seems to disappear into his first memory of having seasoned food for a few moments.

Zaspar pauses, weighing his words. “Say… you know the whole rooftop thing, saving the world… it sounds like you have some teaching experience and well, since you were in the mentorship thing… I was wondering if you were looking for a mentee?”

Zaspar immediately blushed furiously, wondering if he’d overstepped. “That is - only if you want to - and if you have time, you sound really busy and stuff with your deliveries so it’s ok if you can’t but I think it would be kinda cool. And maybe I could help you since you had a musical experience, I could teach you some instruments and stuff if you want. But it would be really cool to learn from someone with an entire company named after them, and-“ Zaspar stops and catches himself, taking a deep breath.

“Sorry. Beets. Would you be my mentor?” And he grins a big, goofy grin, blushing slightly in embarrassment as he waits for a response to his tirade of questioning.

‘Business and investment..Common folk?’ Was this Zaspar some kind of royalty?’ Beets thought, the continuing stream of chatter flowing from the elf’s mouth whipping by like a gentle breeze as she flitted alongside them whilst pondering, catching snatches of his speel as they went. Something about never having any pepper with their meals growing up…Some idea about her saving the world...‘Would she be his mentor?...

Wait-hold up! Flit back there a second!-And she literally does, realising she’s fluttered a little ways beyond him on the dirt trade road.
'Beets. Would you be my mentor?'

“M-me?” She exclaims back at Zaspar, his unexpected request still not truly hitting home yet. “You want me to be your mentor?”

Zaspar blinked in surprise as Beets flitted back to him, and he stopped in his tracks. "Yes, you!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with genuine admiration. "You’ve got this incredible energy and experience, and I could learn so much from you. I mean, you trained a whole squad in rooftop acrobatics and turned them into a delivery service! That's amazing!"


He paused, trying to collect his thoughts and calm his excitement. "I think having you as a mentor would really help me grow in ways I can’t even imagine yet. So, Beets, I would be honoured if you would be my mentor." Zaspar paused again, scuffing his shoe on the ground and looking down bashfully. "But only if you want to be my mentor, I mean. If you don't, that's okay too. I just think it would be nice—" He trailed off, his voice softer now, his excitement turning into a hopeful smile as he awaited her response.

"Well um," Beets started, landing softly to the ground with an audible 'clack' from her insect legs as the drone from her wings faded. ‘Her', be a mentor?

Zaspar stood silently, feeling the weight of the pause in their conversation. He watched as Beets landed softly, the sound of her insect legs making a gentle 'clack' on the ground, her wings quieting to a soft hum. Each second of silence felt like an eternity. His mind raced, second-guessing every word he had said. Maybe he had rambled too much. He was sure he had come across as weird, too eager, too desperate. What if she thought he was being silly or not worthy of her mentorship?

Beets began to contemplate. ‘A-alright so she’d done it before with the Rooftop during the Gadenthor invasion but that was a different situation then-all hands on deck-or wings in her case! To be personally asked to mentor Zaspar, to help them in finding their way in the Dawnlands… But then, hadn’t Marto, Lolli and Kavel and all her friends all started off the same as her, and Lolli, all coming to their homes to find their own footings in the Dawnlands and then had helped welcome her as she’d flitted in, over-awed and and still ‘Beets The Beetle’ back in those days. Not even understanding what the value was of the little pouch of metal disc things folk called` ‘coin’ that Jenna has set infront of her after her first ‘job’. At least thankfully she wouldn’t have to explain the concept of money to the young bard, given by his fine clothing and talk of investing…
Just the thought of it made her head itch like she had fleas, it was why she left the money-managing duties of the Rooftop Beetles to Diana.

But there was lots of stuff she had learnt she could pass on: Not challenging an Archfey to an arm wrestle before you met them for one, or assisting in humiliating one at their own party by throwing a heeled boot at them whilst your friends glued their mouth to a martini glass. Trying to run away from your problems only to find them facing you-in a big horrible hissing, leg many legged armed waggling-form.

Alright-so maybe those lessons didn’t transition well to everyone.
But forming friendships, helping others in need, being..true to yourself. Those were good lessons she had learnt since being here, things that adventurers needed most of all when out facing..whatever they were facing.

Beets realised she’d been leaving poor Zaspar hanging for way too long, the Bard’s hopeful smile beginning to waver in the stretched silence.

Zaspar's heart pounded in his chest, and he felt a cold sweat on his brow. He wished he could take back his words, but it was too late now. All he could do was wait.

“Uhm yes! Ahem-I would be honoured to be your mentor Zaspar.”
Beets announced to the elf, holding out a clenched fist up towards him.

A wave of relief washed over him, though he then paused in confusion, staring at her outstretched fist. What kind of handshake was this? It must be something the Beetles do...Well, he decided to respond how he knows best: a firm handshake like his etiquette tutor had taught him. He hesitated still, then awkwardly reached out to grasp her fist to shake it, immediately realising his mistake but unsure how to correct it without making things even more awkward. His hand was just wrapped around her fist, and he awkwardly shook it up and down while speaking.
"Really? Beets, this means so much to me! I'm gonna be the best mentee you ever had," Zaspar replied, almost shouting, his voice a mix of excitement and uncertainty as he quickly withdrew his hand and tried to play it off with a laugh. "Where should we start? When should we start? Or have you been secretly mentoring me the whole time? That would be so cool, and I -” and he continues to ramble, though this time with a much more comfortable casualness as they amble towards Daring Heights together.


Beets smiled as her new mentee rambled on as they went. She would explain the finer points of a bro-fist or ‘Beets-fist’ as she had named it with her more frequent use to him later.

She tried hard not to think about why she had decided to use it in exchange for a handshake- with the increasing unpredictability of her inner beast she couldn’t trust herself being in close quarters with someone for too long. She tried hard to block out the memory that kept creeping back from the dark depths of her mind. A monstrous three pronged claw-her claw-crashing through the base of her room door back in Fort Ettin , the face of Marto on the floor beyond staring back, his face growing pale wide-eyed and afraid.


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(Thanks to Beets The Beetle (Feenix) for the really fun RP and tomdm for the session. Also Phil for Ronkk’s helpful advice.)