I'm sure this question is beaten to death here but... Where to start?

So, been toying with the idea of whittling for quite a while, especially when the warmer weather comes around. Something about sitting on the balcony and just enjoying the day while doing something to wind down and create.

Did a little look through the FAQ and still have a few queries..

Was looking into getting one of those sets that come with what seem like essentials, but with this day in age of targeted ads, I find it hard to pull trigger on whats actually useful, and what is just being funneled to me because I looked up one or two things. Is there a relatively cost effective bundle to just get into basic carvings, while not covering all the bases?

Now, I've also seen videos with rotary tools and am also interested in this, but want the hobby to be rather minimal. When the timing strikes, I don't want to have to pull out a bunch of different things and get sorted. Ran into this same issue with mini painting, love it but when it came time to do it I would have to spend a bunch of time pulling everything out and getting it prepped. Are there rotary tools powerful enough that I could achieve "simple" carvings with batteries or a more "on demand" experience?