Ancala_The_Unlucky

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BACKGROUND
Ancala Hoffman grew up living a somewhat boring life as a farmer's daughter. Do you know what farming is? Boring. Do you know what milking cows is like? Tedious. Do you know what pigs smell like? Filth. Sewing, sweeping, cooking? Boring, boring, boring!

Young Ancala kept finding ways to slip away from her chores and responsibilities around the farm to sneak into town and listen to the old greybeards at the inn go on telling tales of swords and sorcery, dragons and damsels, and glory and riches. The stories of adventure fascinated the impressionable youth, and she dreamed of the day when she'd be old enough to run away from the farm and apprentice herself to the Royal Knights. Then she, too, would be able to go on adventures!

As it turned out, she couldn't wait the full time. Four days after her sixteenth birthday, she stuffed a few meager possessions into a knapsack and ran away to the capital, intent on becoming a knight. She lied about her age and was inducted into the ranks as a Squire Trainee.

And thus began her new life of sweeping, sewing, and cooking.

Being a squire wasn't quite what she dreamed it would be. But she hung in there and persevered, because one day she would become a knight! Soon she began on physical training, sword-play, testing for arcane talent, lessons in theology, and so on and so forth. After a full year, she was promoted to a Squire Apprentice, meaning that a fully fledged knight could take her under their wing for personal training. However, many of the strongest, swiftest, and bravest knights in the kingdom passed her over in favor of taking on other squires. Ancala ended up with the less then impressive Lady Effronya Bryce.

And thus began her new life of sewing, cooking, and polishing armor.

But things were better then before, because now she was receiving personal lessons from Lady Bryce. And though the Lady was by no means a master swordswoman, she was still rather proficient and a damn slight better then Ancala herself. For the next six months, wherever Lady Bryce went, Ancala was her shadow. It was hard work for Ancala, make no mistake. She had to care for the lady's armor, care for the lady's horse, cook the meals, mend torn garments, sharpen the lady's sword, rise before the lady, go to be after the lady, and oh yeah, find time to keep up with her lessons somewhere in all of that. Whew. But it was wonderful, and Ancala took to life on the road with zeal.

And then disaster struck. Lady Bryce, investigating some strange disappearances, lead the pair out into the woods. There, the pair encountered a demon-worshiping cult, and in the ensuing battle, Lady Bryce was slain, a dagger pierced through her back, and Ancala was captured. The young squire was dropped into a portal into the Dark Lands as a sacrifice. Ever since then, she's been struggling to survive and make her way back to civilization with little more then a dagger, a lamp, and a few bits of rent armor.

The rest of her life is expected to be short and brutal.