PS: Happy New Year's Day to everyone from Tianzi!
PS2: Three updates today. This is the first; the other two will be tomorrow.
In the end, Aaron did not join the party. He had to leave with the convoy for the Great Swamp the next morning. How could he spare the time or energy for more socializing?
Still, the names Jaheira and Khalid piqued Aaron's interest.
He knew little about the Realms. Most of his knowledge came from webnovels, memes, and things that had broken into the mainstream, so he was completely in the dark about many things in the Realms.
Those two names, Jaheira and Khalid, were the exception.
He remembered that when he played Baldur's Gate, the protagonist Charname's foster father-whose name Aaron had forgotten-wanted him to flee right at the start. After Charname said goodbye to his friends in Candlekeep and his adorable little sister Imoen, he left Candlekeep with his foster father.
Outside Candlekeep, Charname and his foster father were attacked by a burly man in full plate armor. His foster father was a fairly capable mage, but two fists were no match for dozens of hands, and the armored brute killed him in the end.
The letter Charname's foster father left behind told him to seek help from two members of the Harpers at an inn.
Aaron remembered this very clearly: those two Harper companions were named Jaheira and Khalid. One was a druid, the other a fighter, and they were powerful allies early in the game.
He barely remembered Khalid, but Jaheira had left an impression. This companion expected quite a lot from Charname, complained from time to time, and was a hot-tempered druid. But Aaron had been a complete newbie at the game, and later, for some reason he never figured out, the