Rookfest 2025 - Day 1 - Introductions
Ulpia "Rook" Mercar - Earning the Name
for @rookfest A small, somewhat canon-friendly story to show how Ulpia got her Rook nickname as a intro to her.
"What's your name again, kid?" Varric asks, reloading Bianca, his back against a wall in an alley.
"Ulpia" A gruff response by the short elf woman, as she grunt in an effort to extract the tip of her staff from the caved-in chest plate of a Venatori. She spits at the corpse. "And I just kicked a hornet's nest."
"Well, at least these people are free now." Varric puts his crossbow on his back, walking away from the grisly scene with the young woman in tow
"I'm happy about that, not sure my bosses will be." Ulpia shrugs "Another shouting match with Tarquin I imagine, or worse. I don't care."
"Why wouldn't they be happy?" Varric peeks around a corner, making sure the streets are clear.
"A lot of those Venatori are big names. They weren't rank and file. It's likely they'll hunt me down." Ulpia explains, quickly unmaking her braids and loosening her hair, pulling the hood of her armor over her head. "That could make shit harder for them in other cities."
"And that doesn't bother you?" Varric starts walking through the street with a hasty pace.
Ulpia follows, matching his pace. "A lot of things bother me a lot, doesn't mean I'm going to stop. Sure, I can yell at the shadows and insult their mothers on a bad day, I'm still there to break the chains with or without them when it comes down to it."
"And if they insult your mother in return?" Varric asks, trying hard not to cackle.
"Only seems fair to me." Ulpia walks past Varric to peek around the corner of a street. "We should be clear to the hideout."
Varric and Ulpia makes their way through Nessus, careful to avoid any further issues with the local people, reaching the empty hideout in under an hour. "Well, you have my sincere thanks for helping me out with this, hopefully this won't come back to bite you in the ass."
"I don't mind if it does. I'd rather people be mad that I did this than not having done it and dealing with regrets." Ulpia says. "Sure, maybe I made other operations harder, that sucks. I don't expect people to like it, but I don't expect people who signed up to do this shit to be here for the easy pay."
"Well, that's music to my ear, Rook." Varric smile.
"Rook, huh?" Ulpia considers the sudden nickname. "I've been called worse things."