Johnnythewizard

Born in a halfling village of moderate size, Greta Goodbarrel is the only child of Gregory Goodbarrel of Brandybrook and the native Madelyn Greenfoot, the proprietors of a prosperous winery. Though Greta grew up without siblings, she was constantly surrounded by her various relations, having dozens of cousins who frequently visited without warning. Greta often attempted to shelter herself from these visitors, but her mother impressed upon her the importance of being sociable, and though Greta preferred to sit alone in her father’s library, many years of dinner parties and social calls taught her to be cordial. Aside from the demands of socialization, Greta lived a very relaxed life. Household “chores” were performed by her father’s farmhands or house sweepers, and rather than doing manual labor, Greta spent long hours being taught to read by her father and to sing by her mother, never once having to do a hard day of work in her life. When not reading, Greta would go on long walks through the village. Her mother often claimed that this was the only thing that kept her thin, seeing as Greta ate constantly, and as she reached adulthood also began to drink and smoke often.
 

As Greta reached adulthood, many began to notice that she had become aloof and increasingly reluctant to attend parties and social calls. By the time she turned forty, Greta was outright bored with life at home. Though she had always taken an interest in foreign tales, as she entered her late thirties Greta began to read mannish and elvish stories of adventure and epic heroes. Though Greta at first repressed her wanderlust, the increasing demands of her parents to get married, combined with ever tiring afternoons of visits from any of her fifty-two first cousins, made Greta withdraw even further. Her fellow halflings began to believe that she preferred books to the company of people, for while most halflings would spend their evenings drinking at taverns with friends, Greta would enjoy a glass of sweetened wine with her books beside the fire.
 

Everything changed for Greta when she turned forty-three. Flustered by the rumors of her “unsociability”, Greta decided to throw a large party for the village on her forty-third birthday, if only to “prove” to her parents that she was capable of socializing. In reality, however, the thought of hosting that many people filled her with great anxiety, and, acting impulsively for the first time in her life, Greta would take only a traveling cloak and a walking stick and would leave home in the early of hours of her birthday, leaving nearly two hundred party-guests without a host. Greta would almost immediately regret this decision, but her lack of geographical knowledge left her lost, with only the untamed world ahead. 
 

Greta now stands, for the first time in her life, alone, without any advice (solicited or otherwise) from her parents, and is torn between two desires. One is very much in keeping with halfling tradition; to return to her family, apologize profusely, and live quietly without extreme and fantastical ambitions of adventure. Another part of Greta, however, is elated at the new freedom of being abroad and yearns to test herself in the wider world.