"Well I would like one," says the woman, moving across to sit at the table. "Could you do the honours, Velma lass, please."

Once the woman has seated herself, she gestures for Guilliame to join her at the table while saying, "I am no dame, so please call me Dora. And what is your name?"

"This is Guilliame, Mother," answers Velma. "Guilliame de Marchant."

"De Marchant, eh?" says Dora looking up at her daughter. Then whatever she is about to say is forgotten as she adds quickly, "Velma? What happened? Where did you get that bruise?"

The woman then turns and looks at Guilliame suspiciously with her one good eye.

"We were attacked coming home. I was taken completely by surprise so was no help at all I'm afraid. The owners of the restaurant saved us."

"Yes," says Velma. "Poor Guilliame was knocked out. Didn't have a chance."

Dora Smit looks at her daughter for a moment and then asks, "Did you recognise them?"

"No," replies Velma simply, who then turns away to go back to making the char for her mother.

[OOC: Make an Insight check for Guilliame please.]

13

Quote from Guilliame >>

5

[OOC: Although you don't know what the roll was for, Guilliame may roll again for experience.]

"My, my, what is this city coming to?" says Velma's mother before continuing on to add, "Still, you don't seem to be badly injured. Or have you healed yourself? I think Velma said she met you at the School. Are you a wizard?"

21

"Fortunately I seem to have got off lightly. I am a wizard. Not that it seems to have a lot of good for me recently."

[OOC: Guilliame has gained some experience.]

"So, what line of work are you in, Guilliame?" asks Dora. "I take it you are not just a student."

"My grandmother owns a shop selling various potions and ointments. I help out and do some magickal identification on the side."

"Potions and ointments?" queries Dora. "Is she a wizard too? Does it run in your family? Velma is the first one in our family that is a sorcerer."

[OOC: For the record, Granny Naomi has told Guilliame that her mother was capable of minor magicks.]

"She has knowledge of the non-magickal world. The sort that is gathered and passed on across generations."

Dora nods and says, "She sounds like a wise woman. And I suspect she is where you get your sorcery and your pale skin from."

Before Guilliame can say anything, Velma sets a mug of char down in front of her mother. 

"Are you sure you do not want a cup?" asks Velma of Guilliame.

"Actually I would thank you."

To Dora "Did you go to the school? What magick do you know?" 

"No, no, I have no magic, and did not have much schooling at either," says Dora shaking her head. "Velma is the smart one in the family. I was just a cook until the accident that took my leg."

At this, she raises her peg leg for Guilliame to see. "I was run down by a carriage in the street on my way back from shopping. The healers could not fix my leg and eventually they had to cut it off to stop the rot from killing me."

"Mother," says Velma abruptly from where she is standing at the small stove. "Guilliame does not want to hear all the gory details."

"So, I will not tell him about the eye," Dora replies with a grin. "Unless of course he asks me."

"Mother!" exclaims Velma. "You are being very naughty. Have you been drinking?"

"Maybe, maybe not," replies Dora. 

Then she turns to Guilliame and says in a conspiratorial tone, "I can get you something stronger than char, if you like?"

"I think I'll need to keep an eye out for trouble on the way home. Perhaps better if I have a clear head. Thank you for the offer though."

To Dora "Sorry about the eye reference. I wasn't thinking."

"Fair enough," says Dora, politely not mentioning Guilliame's faux pas. "I begin to see what Velma likes about you. Her father—Donai take his soul— and I tend to be a bit more impetuous than our Velma would like."

[OOC: Despite how it sounds, 'Donai take his soul' is meant as good thing for the Mithran faithful]

"What's the most impetuous thing you've done recently?"

Dora chuckles and says, "Me? Not much. My risky days are over."

Then she returns the favour and asks, "What about you? Do you go out and collect the ingredients for your grandmother's potions? I imagine that can be dangerous on occasion."

"Grandmother used to go out herself but mostly we buy from markets now. Even that is more dangerous than it used to be."

Quote from Guilliame >>

"Grandmother used to go out herself but mostly we buy from markets now. Even that is more dangerous than it used to be."

[OOC: Not sure this is correct.

Below is Guilliame's backstory as copied from that tab in the Notes section of his D&D Beyond character sheet. We may not have been playing him with this in mind, so if you want to change it, that is fine. If you do want to change his backstory, could you write up a new one and send it to me. It will need to include the connections with Wamzut and his friends from his adventuring days.

---

Background of Guilliame de Marchant (For information about the Engelian Adventures' setting see: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/magudonya-phillberrie) Guilliame is the legitimate first son of the recognised bastard of a Sorendenese official who worked for the emperor.

 

His grandfather, Guilliame Marchant, came north to Engle as part of his duties. His grandmother, Naomi, was a Stemian servant woman who had a child by her master. In recognition of his affection for the woman, the Sorian official allowed her son to take his family's name before he returned south to Sorenden. This is indicated by the "de" prefix in Guilliame's name indicating that he is of the "Marchant" family, but not in line for any inheritance.

 

Guilliame's grandmother is skilled in the use of natural medicines and she passed on some of her knowledge to her son: Jon. Upon reaching adulthood, Guilliame's father started business as a merchant specialising in herbals and other magickal supplies which he collected from all over the country. Guilliame's mother, Nardia, was one of his contacts and left her home to marry Jon and live in Constantine. She became adept in preparing and storing the herbal materials that her husband brought back to Constantine, and with the founding of the School of Occult Studies in Constantine, this business kept Jon and his family fairly well off—if not rich.

 

Guilliame, their only son, grew up in the streets of Constantine and led a fairly normal life for a city kid until his mother died when he was twelve years old. With his father regularly away on expeditions, and his grandmother kept busy running the family shop, Guilliame started to run with a tough crowd learning some skills in fighting, something he has an aptitude for. At this point he had no interest in the family business. Like all children in Constantine, he had been tested for innate sorcery when he was very young and had lost all interest in magick when he learnt that he did not have the gift for it.

 

At the age of fifteen, Guilliame got into trouble with the city guard. Fortunately it was only a petty crime, but his father decided to take him on all future expeditions. Guilliame found that he liked the travelling and his father soon found it useful to have Guilliame along on the expeditions as his son proved to be a capable young man, when he had something to apply himself too.

 

For eight years father and son travelled to various parts of Engle to gather their goods for sale. At this time, Guilliame's father decided he was getting too old to go out in the field so Guilliame continued collecting alone while his father stayed at home doing the preparation and selling and looking after Guilliame's grandmother.

 

Last year, Guilliame's 27th, was a bad year for him. First of all, his father died of a sudden illness and then the School of Occult Studies—previously their biggest customer—began purchasing its magical supplies from a single provider. Guilliame was therefore forced to look into other ways of making a living for himself and his grandmother and took up with a group of adventurers trying to find their fortune in the ancient ruins in the north of the country.

 

Recent Personal Background for Guilliame de Marchant

 

It has been several months since Guilliame was discovered to be a latent sorcerer by the court wizard of Ilbarsis: Wamzut. The ageing wizard did not want to take you on as an apprentice, but he did give you a letter of introduction to the School of Occult Studies in Constantine, which he apparently had a strong connection with; unfortunately, recent news from Ilbarsis is that Wamzut has died and that Lord Vead, the ruler of Ilbarsis, now has a new court wizard.

 

Although given access to the School of Occult Studies by Wamzut, Guilliame needs to pay for his own tuition. This costs five golden Engles a month, payable at the beginning of the month. Guilliame's current magical knowledge and money in hand represent his costs and efforts to date, but to keep him and his ageing grandmother fed, clothed and homed, plus their jointly run business running, is currently draining his funds by about one silver Constantine a day.

 

Guilliame's magical supply business shop has recently lost more of its clientele to the Black Magick Shoppe; the biggest supplier of magickal simples in Constantine. This shop is owned by Negress Black, the twin brother of the current archmagus of the School of Occult Studies, Cyrus Black; Guilliame's business is suffering due to an obvious case of nepotism. Another cause for Guilliame's downturn in business is that his ageing grandmother, now in her sixties, is no longer able to keep up with the demands of both the preparation of goods and the running of their shop while Guilliame has been studying.

 

Although Guilliame has lost contact with his adventuring friends, he is aware of the activities of some of them. He knows that Alaric Brand lives in the city, but they have yet to catch up. He is also aware that Melitta Taloran recently visited the School of Occult Studies, which she graduated from as a journeyman magus. He also recently found out that Melitta was one of twins, but that her sister died several years ago. Of the others of his adventuring group he knows little.

 

]

How's about:

"Grandmother used to go out herself or with my late mother to collect things. We still do sometimes but we buy more from the markets now. Even that is more dangerous than it used to be."