(Week One) Journal of a redheaded dwarf

Journal of a redheaded dwarf in the year 1510

After our initiation upon completion of our appenticeships we agreed to meet at the Red Spot Inn in Bartertown (You know the one, it has a red spot on the ground in front of it – although if it has not been renewed recently it tends to harden to a brownish-black.) to see what adventure awaited us.

Anyway, I guess that I took overly long in my morning karma ritual, (afterall it was my first one after initiation) and in getting my armor looking just right, because by the time I arrived my erstwhile companions had already departed.

I was a little depressed, especially as I had been looking forward to spending time with the deep-thinking Nox, the Obsidiman. So, I bought a beer, though it wasn’t yet past the second bell, and I spilled out my disappointment to the barkeep. I guess he wasn’t in the mood to listen to the tales of woe of another just graduated apprentice, because he said, rather curtly, “They left for Gnarles Barkley .” Then when I didn’t leave right away, he mentioned that there was a horror, Baron Silas Greenback, there that was eating the town’s people, who were dwarfs, but that strangely the message had been brought by two young, male humans.

Not being able to get any more out of him, I heighed myself over to the town hall, where a kindly dwarf showed me a map of the route to Gnarles Barkley – I couldn’t afford a professional copy of course, so I memorized as much as I could, and took a few notes – (I’m no cartographer although I work with my hands and quite delicate work I can do too!).

Anyway, I figure that I wasn’t more than an hour or two behind them, when I set forth. But being a single dwarf (and I’m not planning on marriage in this decade at least) I took care as I approached others on the road – and especially when nearing crossroads of which there were surprisingly few. The passage of Nox, the big orc Throg, Azarael the T'Skrang, Okira and of course the other dwarf, Dob, was obvious in places and I had no fear of losing their trail. If nothing else, the distinctive pile of rocks from Nox’s karma rituals marked their campsites.

The trip to Gnales Barkley was otherwise uneventful with few locals on the road. Of course, being alone I camped well off the road, which may have slowed me down some, but for those two mornings I rose at first light and completed my nightly camps in the dark, in the attempt to catch up with Nox and companions.

When I finally arrived at Gnales Barkley, I saw a plume of smoke rising from the remains of the townhall and I almost cried when I learned that Nox was dead, killed by the skin-shifting magic of that vile caterpillar that must have been the source of evil behind the giant frog who cared for it.

I’m glad to say that before he died, Nox, even though he was wounded, smashed that frog horror to death. And I did lauigh later as my companions described Nox’s initial attack where he knocked the frog unto his back with a chicken egg. Okira and the others were very supportive and accepted me back into their fellowship even though I had missed the battle with the horror.

We returned to Bartertown uneventfully, leaving the town’s folk to clean up the mess. I admit that in the interests of speed, I had neglected my karm ritual on the way out, but on the way back I followed Nox’s example and performed it each day, although I didn’t need the karma, I probably did need the practice.

When we reached Bartertown, the group wanted to party to celebrate the killing of two horrors, and I guess that we went a little too far when the orc danced on the table, because the bouncers threw the orc out the second storey window onto the “red spot”. She got up none-the-worse-for-wear.

Okira received a letter purporting to be from a Charles D. Ward, a yound wizard who had attempted to go to Gnarles Barkley by himself to defeat the frog horror. Instead, he was waylaid by an assassin who forced him to write a letter to us (or most of us) relating his story – he was tied up and starving – an appealing hostage for a human.

Taking along five live trussed chickens to feed ourselves or Charles D. Ward when we freed him, we trekked back to Gnarles Barkley – I noticed in passing that some of the rocks that had been Nox were still scattered about the old townhall site, but that the town’s folk were siting a new building at the edge of town.

The townfolk soon informed us where the stranger –swarthy foreigner with black cape and hood – was staying and we approached the house which was standing alone at the edge of town (a different edge). Storming into the house, we found Charles D. Ward tied to a chair and looking rather wan. The assassin was lurking behind the door, but my companions quickly knocked him down – and before we could fully interrogate him, the orc slit his throat. We did learn that he received his commission to kill us via a dream state, from someone known only as Vincient’s mother. We didn’t find out how he would have been paid, but as he was the follower of a manipulative and deceitful passion (whose name it would not be politic to mention) maybe payment wasn’t as important a motivation.

Charles D. Ward was so hungry that upon being freed from the chair he attempted to eat a chicken raw; however the feathers defeated him and he reluctantly agreed to have it cooked for him. In searching the house, we found several rubies and we each got one – I wonder if they aren’t tainted and I intend to sell mine as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

Again we left the villagers to clean up, and marched back to Bartertown, mayhap to take the river south …