It was near dawn and the first lights began to apear in the store-fronts all along Brine street. A young woman in dark clothing crept from behind a pile of refuse toward the cellar in the back of "Lou's Bake Shoppe". Carefully, she removed a thin wire from her hair, gave two jiggles and a twist and the lock fell free. Lyzle, the young woman glanced arround swiftly before lifting the cellar door. She crept inside and closed the door behind her as she decended into the darkness. Her bare feet hit the ground softly and she crouched in place while she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim light filternig in through the tiny windows all around the upper walls of the ceiling.
Lyzle had spent a week watching the Bake Shoppe from the piles of rubbish across the ally, carefully mapping out the comings and goings of the Baker and his family. She knew that they removed the grain from the celler at first light and by full light the hearths were blazing and the lovely aroma of baking bread could be smelled for blocks. At two candles past full sun the ceiling ventilation would be fully opened to release the wonderful smells into the neighborhood, becconing passers-by and locals to the Shoppe for a loaf or two warm from the ovens. Lyzle had spent many mornings clutching her arms around her chest suppressing the urge to burst into the Bake Shoppe and begging for just a taste of the sweet morsels and many nights she scurried to the trash piled up beside the shop, searching franticly for left-overs before the rats got them.
Soon Lyzle's hunger got the better of her and she concocted a plan. She would sneak into the cellar of the Bake Shoppe and when the moment was ripe, she would extract several loaves for herself and live for days on lovely warm bread and leave the scraps to the rats!
As soon as Lyzle's eyesight became accustomed to the low light she moved cautiously toward the ladder which was nailed to a beam of wood which ran the length of the cellar. A square stream of light shone through the cracks over the ladder revealing a trap-door built into the ceiling of the cellar. The light coming through was significantly dimmer then the light from outside and Lyzle saw no motion in the floor overhead. She climed carefully up the ladder, testing the stability as she rose. Luckily the ladder was well made and only faint squeeks and crunches could be heard as she climbed.
When Lyzle was near the trap door she paused long enough to listen. Sure that she would be emerging into a less used portion of the Shoppe, Lyzle carefully and slowly raised the trap door just enough to get a glimpse at the room she was perched beneath.
The room was indeed, ill used and quite dim. It was a storage room of sorts. The sack of grain from the cellar that was hoisted up earlier in the morning was set in this room, a scoop half buried in the open sack and various other ingredients in bulk lined the wall directly behind the door to the cellar. An old grain sack half hung over the doorway from this room into what seemed to be the kitchen.
Loaves of bread lined the hearth all set on wooden paddles. Some were rising in the heat near the fire, and some were golden peices of heaven ready for consumption. Lyzle stood transfixed for some moments, struggleing to keep her wits about her as her stomach churned with hunger. She brushed her hair from her face with one trembling hand and steadied herself against a wall with the other.
The Baker's wife, a rotund woman with grayish hair and bright pink cheeks, called for one of ther children to come for some loaves to deliver to one of the farmers come to market in exchange for various items. As she scolded him for his previous trips (including breaking two eggs and picking a worm-eaten apple) she loaded his arms with four of the golden loaves, wrapped in a bit of cloth. He made his way for the front of the Shoppe and dissapeared from Lyzle's veiw. She felt a pang of regret in seeing the loaves leave the store and that only reaffirmed her resolution. While the Baker's wife was turned, Lyzle shot from her hiding place to crouch behind one of the many tables which held dough and ingredients as well as various items for bread-making, all of which were foreign to Lyzle. The Baker's wife returned to the hearth, pushing in the wooden paddles which held risen dough and pulling out those which held the fresh bread. she refilled the empty paddles and set them to rise, gave her hands two vigorous wipes on her apron and went through the doorway to the front of the Shoppe to check on her husband.
Seeing her oppurtunity, Lyzle sprang from behind the bakers board and ran to the hearth. Quickly she grabbed a loaf of the piping bread and, lifting it into the air, promptly dropped it as she screamed. From the next room came a shriek of alarm and a booming shout as the Baker and his wife charged into thier kitchen. On the floor lay the smooshed loaf, clearly someone had rushed through the kitchen toward the cellar leaving a clear trail in the flour spilled on the floor. Guessing what had happened, the Baker ran out the front door and around the corner just in time to see the young girl emerge from darkness.
"Stop!" The Baker demanded.
Knowing she was indeed caught, Lyzle stood in place, head bowed awaiting her punishment.
"What is the meaning of this? Why have you broken into my establishment? Who has sent you?"
Shocked, Lyzle raised her head and looked at the Baker, puzzled.
"Did that Oaf, Bruno send you? You just tell him I paid his three crowns last week and he'll be getting no more from me. I have a family to feed and clothe too!" The Baker shouted the last bit, shaking his fist to the heavens.
"I am sorry, sir, I don't know Bruno. I was hungry. I've been so hungry ever since...." Lyzle's words trailed off as she began to sob.
The Baker approached her nervously and putting a hand on her shoulder, gave her a little shake. "What's this then? You went through all that trouble over a bit 'o bread?"
"Hot bread sir. Hot fresh bread thats not moldy or full of bugs or filth."
The Baker gave Lyzle the loaf of bread that spilled on the floor as well as a seccond loaf that had not sold the day before. He told her that if she came by the Shoppe every morning before dawn and hauled up the sack of grain and helped him grind it, that he would give her a loaf of bread a day, plus allow her to make a pallett in the cellar so that she would have shelter to sleep under out of the grime and rodent infested streets. Lyzle lived for a year in the cellar of the Bake Shoppe but eventually she grew tired of working for a loaf a day and began to believe that there was more to life.
Bruno one of the "neighborhood watch" visited once a week to collect protection money from the Baker and noticed Lyzle immediately. For several weeks, the Baker succesfully managed to steer him away from her but Bruno was persistant and eventually introduced himself to the girl. Eventually he began making special trips to the Bake Shoppe especially to speak to Lyzle. Finally he convinced her she should meet his friends, that she was destined for greater things and he could help her to find those things.
Lyzle left the Baker's family with Bruno and was introduced to his "friends". Eventually she learned the ins and outs of the streets and the rules of "The Guild" and for a year she made a meager living implementing the very skills that got her into the Bake Shoppe. She also learned a great lesson about men and what she thought was love. Bruno made a great many promises, all of which she would discover were lies; including the promise that he would always be with her and that she was special. When Lyzle caught him with his pants around his ankles and his hands up Hildy's skirt, making her the same empty promises she had heard from him many many times before, she ran.
At first she just ran aimlessly through the city. Eventually she decided she would leave Dyvers and never come back. She figured she could fall in with travellers along the way and work for food and provisions until she came to another town in which to either apply her newfound trade or get some honest work. By the time she reached the gates she was met by six individuals in dark clothing all carrying clubs. Bruised, bloody and sensless Lyzle was hauled back to the Guild hall where Bruno waited in her room. He told her she was not allowed to leave. He brought her into this "world" and only he would let her out. Lyzle knew enough to understand the only way she would be leaving would be dead. Lyzle spent the next several months mainly "serving" Bruno and letting her bruises heal. At least he wouldn't humiliate her by putting her to the streets all black and blue. She was fed well, bought nice gifts and baubles, and all she owed him in return was her life. Secretly she cursed ever leaving the Bake Shoppe. Even mundane work for little pay and the mice infested celler was better then this.
Eventually when Lyzle went back to the streets, she began her quiet quest for salvation. Anyone who would help her to escape. She had to be cautious for Bruno was well known, and although not well liked he was feared and sometimes even respected. Eventually Lyzle found who she was looking for. A wizard who was visiting Dyvers from Greyhawk presented himself in need of the Guild's services. Being a friend of the guild in many cities and having the highest reccomendation, the whole guildhouse was at his disposal. He selected a few of the younger theives including Lyzle and took them to a rented apratment to fill them in on the details of thier asignment. Lyzle, seeing this as her oppurtunity took every care to flatter the wizard, lavish him with her attention and spend as much time with him as possible. As planned he demanded that she help him with a "special" mission and that she accompany him to Greyhawk immediately. During private conference with Bruno he negotiated a deal, bought out her contract, and received various threats reguarding her future presence in Dyvers and her personal health and safety. Before Bruno died in a mysterious fire in his own office, the wizard assured him he would see to Lyzle's safety and wellbeing personally.
The old wizard proved to be a better employer for Lyzle. He sent her on many petty asignments and gave her much time for leisure and applying her craft to support her own time off. Although she was made to sleep in servant's quarters and come and go through the maid's entrance to the grand estate, he charged no rent and meals were provided as well as access to nearly all of the house. There were of course rules. Lyzle was to aviod all guests and certain wings of the house including the basement were strictly off limits. Zornhal, the wizard would not tolerate his servants stealing from the hand that "fed" them and the fine for such a crime would be death. All-in-all Zornhall was a even tempered man, caring little for the afffairs of his servants. It was only when his own affairs became his servant's affair that he proved to have a short temper. For Lyzle, this meant failure would not be tolerated. Public exposure would not be tolerated. Secrecy was of upmost importance. Zornhall was cautious and broke most tasks into small asignments kept secret from other participating parties. Lyzle would sometimes do no more then "case" or scout out a specific location and make a full report to Zornhall. She would hear no more about the task until the final result reached the rumor mill and the location which she had been asigned to scout out would end up mysteriously vandalised.
Zornhall made it quite clear to Lyzle that eventually he would introduce her to very powerful people if she so desired once she had proven her worth and loyalty. To Lyzle, the memory of Bruno was fresh enough that she decided she would aviod these "powerful" people for sa long as possible. She was in no hurry to end up back in the employ and the bed of one like him; and she figured the more powerful, the more cruel. Whenever the oppurtunity presented itself she would instead, express interest in buying out her contract and thus gaining her freedom. Lyzle was in no hurry and spent three years in the employ of Master Zornhall and would have spent longer if given the choice.
