Apollo of the Creed pt 2 -- First Quest

The first righteous quest of the aspiring Apollo of the Creed was given to him by a Champion of the Holy Order of the Sword and Rose named Yanlong of Shu. Yanlong demanded that Apollo, “Find someone who was hungry and feed them with eternal food.” With that vague direction, Apollo returned to Peakshadow and attempted to buy all the groceries and non-perishing stores he could for the nearest peasant child -- a lad named Hugo.

It took a sympathetic comrade in arms great pains to tell Apollo that he was fulfilling the quest too literally and with not enough regard for the word "eternal". He recommended that Apollo see to the lad's education, thinking that the the aphorism about teaching a man to fish, would do better than giving him a ton of fish in the present. So Apollo rethought his strategy and presented the lad to the local church for education, prepaying all of the expenses possibly affiliated with such an endeavor.

In gratitude for the previous gift of food and now the purchase of his education, the boy's mother invited Apollo to her home in the slums to share a meal. She said she was not a churched woman but would gratefully accept anything that gave her son the promise of a better life. While they were eating, however, a local ruffian and drunk appeared outside of the home demanding that the door be opened and the woman present herself. The boy's mother appeared embarrassed and the boy Hugo was humiliated, hiding his shame behind his hands. As it turns out, the mother was a practicing trollop and had not been about her "duties" that evening. It took Apollo stepping from the house, to convince the drunkard to leave.

Sitting with the boy and his mother, Apollo determined that she was once an embroiderer of some ability whose husband had died. A local moneylender seized their shop in collaterol of the dead husband's debt and leased it to another. Moved by their still deeper plight, Apollo promptly found a new empty shop, outfitted it with the equipment and tools she needed and allowed her to resume her proper trade, both debt free and without the encumbrances of moral compromise. The woman straightaway vowed to use her embroidering skills on behalf of the church and its activities.

When Apollo presented himself to Yanlong, the Champion listened quietly and nodded his approval. Then, laying his hands upon the warriors head, intoned a blessing and imparted the ability to Detect Evil Intent, the first of many of a Paladin's faculties. He then told Apollo to seek out Lunsford of Saklan for his next quest, but that is yet another story.