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FF: A Story
6 years ago
General
(First typed April 6, 2018)
“Hi, there! My name is Netza!
I just got started with this weird ‘writing’ thing one of my brothers got me into, so sorry if my words look all strange and stuff! I promise I’ll improve to make it better!
I should start like this! I was born in a big cave 17 years ago with 3 other brothers and 4 other sisters! I’m the youngest fourth brother!
I got parents, too! I spend more time with my siblings, though! They showed me all kindsa stuff to help me better myself and all that! Reading, writing, talking, the works! Um, I’m not actually sure what ‘works’ means, but it feels like it makes sense to write it that way, so I’ll keep it in here!
Oh! I just saw that I was writing in those big lines with the dots on the bottom at the end of my sentences! Crok told me to call them ‘exclamation points’, so I think I should!
Exclamation points.
Wait.
Exclamation points!
There we go! I like those.
So, I love my family and all, but I think that some of the things they do to live is kinda...slow. Not all exciting, ya know?
We could do so much instead of that mining work. Like I’m doing!
I’m trying to find a good party of adventurers to take me along and go on great adventures with them! I wanna make lots of money so I can bring it to our cave and give it to everyone there!
I try to do that when no one else needs me for anything, but my parents call me back and tell me to go back to the cave! I like the cave, but I don’t know why they want me there whenever I try to go outside. Sometimes it’s my brothers, and then sisters. I was finally able to leave a few days ago, and now, I’m here writing in this little journal I have!
I’ve been looking for the best party I could in the nearby villages, but no one is able to take me, they said. One party said I was too green to go with them, but that confused me, cuz’ I’m not green, I’m red. Another party said they wouldn’t dare bring a dirty kobold with them, but I’m sure I cleaned myself in the morning. The next one said they would only let elves in their party. What are elves? I asked them, and they said it was people like them. Pointy ears, skinny bodies, supper affine tee to magic compared to any other race. They have magic for supper? I wonder what that tastes like!
So, uhh...I couldn’t join a party today, but I’m sure I’ll have a better time tomorrow! I’m sure of it! Have a good sleep, journal!
Wow, wow, wow, I was able to join a party, today! With kobolds, too!
There’s four of them, all girls. No boys? That’s weird! I’m sure we’ll find more later on!
The main leader...wow. She has wings! On her back! Her name is Vorel and she can fly and stuff and it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! But she’s not like those big scary dragons from those stories my sisters used to scare me with.
She’s nice! I mean, I think she’s nice. She tells me what I should and shouldn’t do cuz’ I’m new to adventuring, which is a pretty nice thing to do. And she’s blue, too! I’ve never seen a blue kobold before, and with wings. Who knows what else I’ll see here. Oh, she said she was looking for an important item stolen from her clan and that she offered to track it down. Brave, too!
The pink one with the bow and arrows-Oh. I’m sorry, she not pink! The leader told me Aesthyr was corner-carner-shun. Carnation! That’s the word! Her name’s kinda hard to say, too.
And she’s super-nice, too. I saw her set up hunting traps a while ago. It looks really complicated, but maybe I could make my own traps someday, too. I gotta eat, too!
Too, too, too, I like the word, too!
The green one...Aww. I kinda feel sad about her. Miirik said she lost her sister a while ago from a scuffle in her clan against another one and she’s trying to get her back. Goodness, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost one of my siblings. I guess the same thing!
Hey! She just gave me a round metal ball and said that if I pressed the button on it and threw it at a dangerous undesire bow that it would make it go away! Wow, that sounds like magic! Another thing I wanna know about, one of these days!
The black one, um...The black one kinda scares me. Baeshra’s got these big creatures she calls weasels and she takes care of them. But, uh, she doesn’t really talk a lot. Does she know how to? Oh, I’m sure she does! The blue leader and the carny trappy lady know how to!
I’m learning all sorts of words from my party! Provisions, loot, contraptions, upwind, invigorating, neat! Oh, no, I already knew what neat meant.
None of my siblings ever said these words. I wonder why?
Huh? The leader’s calling me over right now! I wonder what Vorel needs?
...
Yeouch! She wanted to see how well I could handle myself in a sword fight, so she put me against Baeshra, our weasel handler.
I know that adventuring means lots and lots of fighting, so I gave it my all and used the short sword I borrowed from Crepzis to fight her.
I-I did my best!
But the weasel handler beat me.
Baeshra said I had acceptable dodging capable abilities, but that I lacked the strength to survive in an actual one-on-one sword fight for more than a minute.
The leader, er, Vorel said she expected as much and said to go see our carn friend.
She meant Ester, right? I mean, Acer! Um, Aesthyr.
Friend...That’s another word I’m not that familiar with. For some reason, I think of my brothers and sisters when I hear that word. But it feels like the kinda word that could be used for more than just kin, ya know?
Aesthyr showed me how to properly handle a short bow. This was kinda weird because she was using the bow and pulling the arrow with her left hand, and I tried to do the same thing but it didn’t feel right. She giggled for some reason and told me to switch my hands so I was pulling the arrow with my right hand. It felt much better now! When we shot all our arrows, she said “Clear!” and told me we could get our arrows now. But why couldn’t we get them before? Who else did she say clear to? I asked her and she said that’s what archers do so everyone knows it’s safe to get the arrows back. Oh! Now, I get it.
I asked Aesthyr if I could give her a nickname since I’m not good at saying her actual name. She frowned from the question for some reason and asked what I wanted to call her. And I said, “Umm...Ace!” And she breathed a bit and smiled and said that was okay. Ace, it is!
After that, Miirik called for me and said she could show me a thing or two about detecting and creating metal traps.
I-I tried to pay attention to what was being said, honest! But I found myself accidentally daydreaming as she was explaining how each trap worked.
Miirik would say, “Did you get that?” and I would say, “Could we please go over that again?” and I think I said that too many times because the fourth time I said that, she frowned and said that was it for today. I think she meant three days since that was when Miirik called for me again.
I felt bad about last time, so made sure to pay extra attention the next time. Miirik liked that, I think.
Baeshra showed me how to feed and order one of the three big weasels around. I don’t like giving orders to anyone, but Baeshra told me to, so I did. And the weasel I was with did exactly what I asked it to! It took a few minutes of walking around and scratching itself, but it did it.
Baeshra didn’t like how long the weasel took to follow my order and start saying mean things to it. It started hissing, which scared me, but then it lowered itself to Baeshra and rubbed itself against her.
Weasels are weird. I wonder what other animals are out there?
I’m starting to wonder, why are Ace and Bash on an adventure, too? I’m here to go on a great adventure like all the tales I heard before. Vorel needs to find an important item and Miirik needs to find her sister.
Ace told me she didn’t really have a reason the way I did. She simply felt safe and appreciated following someone like Vorel around. I guess it’s not bad reason if it makes her happy.
Bash told me this was a favor for Miirik’s sister, Vaeri, who had given her some wonderful tools and saved some of her kidnapped weasels from bandits. That’s one good favor.
I wonder what Ersek’s making in the cave today. Probably Meaty Rat Stew, her specialty! No one could cook as good as her, not even Deerka! Well, Miirik is pretty good with food making, too.
Miirik, Miirik. I can’t think of a good nickname for her. Same with Vorel.
Just Miir? Or...Vor? Nah. Doesn’t sound right.
But I already got one! What was it? Nuthead! Yeah! I like it cuz’ it’s silly, like, my head isn’t made of nuts! Haha!
Hi, journal. I’m kinda sad today. There was this pretty animal called a dog that I saw and I wanted to give it a few berries I found, but before I could do that, an arrow went straight through its head and killed it. I fell back to a bush cuz’ I was so shocked by it all happening so quickly. Somewhere else, I heard someone running after me saying they were so sorry that they didn’t see me trying to feed the dog. It was Aesthyr.
She tried to explain that she hadn’t done long-distance shots in a while and tried to get the dog she was tracking. She was so fixated on it that she didn’t see me behind the bush near the huge tree. I said it was okay. I know she was just hunting for food cuz’ that’s what she does. But I’m still sad about the dog. It had pretty hair, more pretty than the weasels. I didn’t feel like having a piece of it for dinner that night.
I don’t know if Miirik is still nice. She pulls pranks on me with her weird metal things and scares me silly half of the time. She doesn’t do it to the others, so why me? She said she only pranks green grass patches on their first adventure to keep them attentive of their surroundings. I understood some of that, but I told her I wasn’t green grass. I’m red.
Miirik then explained the use of the phrase, and then I understood. I think.
All I need is experience, and she’ll stop pranking me! I should see if someone needs help in the next village we pass.
Someone did! A weird-looking person taller than me and without elf ears told me his cat was missing. I found it lying on a tree branch almost a mile away and showed them where it was. They brought a sword, but I don’t know why. They weren’t gonna harm the cat, were they? If not, I hope Ace doesn’t shoot at it.
I guess not. The weird person gave me their thanks and a few silver coins, then went away with their cat. I just noticed the weird person had a tail, too! How strange.
Another person had me deliver some small boxes while two humans covered in odd markings followed me. I tried talking to them while we were traveling, but they told me to focus on the errand at hand and stay quiet. So, I did. The other people that got the boxes had some odd markings on their clothes as well. Was there a special occasion going on? I dunno, I just gave them their boxes, they checked them, and we went our separate ways. Before they left, one of the humans following me gave me a pretty looking sapphire gem for my errand. Oh goodness, it was so pretty! I thanked them and said to have a great day, and they said they’ll do what they want. Uhh...Okay!
This gem is really nice, but...It’s not nice to keep things and never use them. What would I use it for? Getting coins! But, do I really need them more than the others here?
Hey, Vorel might need it! She’s always talking about supplies and preparations, so maybe she could sell it to get more! Plus, she’s blue, too!
Vorel said she didn’t need anything at the moment but appreciated the gesture. I said she could still keep it, just in case. For some reason, she was deciding if she should take it or not. Who would ever say no to a free gem? Not me! Eventually, she did, and thanked me for it.
Miirik was still pranking me, but they bothered me less as time went on. I was getting smart enough to avoid the more obvious ones, so she started making more complicated contraptions to eventually trip me over. She got me a few times, but I was sly enough to dodge the latest ones she put against me! I’m getting better, all right!
Hey, it looks like Vorel keeps a journal, too! I saw her holding one the other day. I asked her about it, but she told me it wasn’t like what I had. It was a journal showing all sorts of words and creatures with wings on them. It was kinda scary, especially the, um...dragon? But she seemed to enjoy the journal, so I said it was kinda neat and left her to it.
That’s strange. I haven’t been getting pranked by Miirik lately. I searched for her to see why that was. I found her, half of her body slumped over a tree stump with her fingers holding cords and metal parts dangling around each other. She seemed sad, so I went toward her and asked what was wrong.
Miirik said she hadn’t seen her sister or her clan for months and wasn’t sure if she would ever see them again. I didn’t know what to say right away. Looking for her sister meant being away from her clan, but staying with her clan meant maybe never seeing her sister again. Those are both cruel thoughts I would never want to deal with.
I told her I was sure we would find Vaeri, we just needed a little more time and to look through even more dungeons. There is always a chance we could find her!
Miirik smiled for a few seconds, then returned to her original frown. She said she wished she shared my eternal enthusiasm for the currently impossible. That it was the pranks that kept her mind off of her own sadness, but as of late, they didn’t quite have the hold on her as they used to.
I was about to frown, too, but it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. What Miirik needed to do was smile! But how? Maybe if I ask about-
Oh, wait. I remember now. She told me that she wanted to be alone when she noticed that I was asking about things I normally wouldn’t in the hopes of changing her mood. I told her I was sorry, and left her alone.
I saw Baeshra come shortly afterward. I told her Miirik told me she wanted to be alone, but Baeshra went, anyways.
I searched for Ace today and met a new person I hadn’t seen before. He was a hunter. He was scary, too, because he looked like a dragon but smaller and on two feet. Ace seemed to really like him, but he didn’t say much. Like Bash.
I was wondering when more males would appear in the party, but I was expecting kobolds. Not dragon people.
No, he wasn’t with the party, Ace said. The two just crossed paths and passed some time before going their separate ways.
Thank goodness. What if he tried to make himself leader and he and Vorel fought over who would order us around? That wouldn’t be good. I’m with Ace, I prefer following Vorel over anyone else.
Bandits are a hard obstacle to deal with! They’re bigger and tougher than us. They use whatever they have to rob people or kill them and take their stuff. Thankfully, they aren’t as organized or as strategic as us! Vorel scouts them out to let us know how much of them there are and where, Ace uses her bow to kill them one at a time, or if they’re bundled together, Miirik can use her contraptions to blow them up or cause a lotta damage and Bash can send her weasels to swarm them while we attack from behind.
It’s good working in a team.
Today, something not so good happened to Baeshra. Or rather, one of her big weasels. We spotted a tough-looking gryphon in the sky following us around. We didn’t want to fight it, but it was searching for a meal. And it found one in one of the weasels it managed to swiftly slay with its sharp talons. Ace wasn’t able to get the first shot in before it’s sudden strike. The second arrow hit, but it simply made it switch its priorities from one meal to the next. When it flew down again, Baeshra practically grabbed ahold of the gryphon and stuck her dagger deep in the flesh of the bloody bird. She didn’t stop stabbing until the gryphon stopped moving.
We all feasted on the remains of the gryphon, but only Baeshra ate her fallen weasel.
Some people don’t like us very much. I could do some work outside of the group early on, but the further we go with our adventure, the less people want to see us around. I hear some humans and elves make gestures with their arms and call us mean things. Words like rabble, troublemakers, bottom feeders and thieves are often used. But we’re not rabble, or thieves or bottom feeders. We’re adventurers that find our own ways to survive.
It’s not nice calling other people names. What if I went around telling humans that they had long hair, pink skin or...weird feet? That wouldn’t be very nice.
There were worse things I could say, but I promised one of my sisters that I wouldn’t use swear words like she did while on my adventure. I think it was Iglo.
Darn, now I’m starting to forget the names of my own siblings. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them and so much has happened. Like, 6 months? Goodness...Is this what Miirik feels when she thinks about her clan?
Vorel...I’m sorry...I’m so darn sorry...
I invited a group of friendly male kobolds in a close cave to meet our party. I thought it would be very helpful to have more members than we currently did, that we would be more safer, that Vorel would accept them and so I wouldn’t always be the only male here.
But I was wrong. None of the other girls liked them. Not even Ace could extend her kindness to them. They tried their best to be nice to the girls.
Or so I thought.
When Vorel demanded they leave our camp site, they became furious at the opposition and stormed off back to their cave. Vorel warned me about bringing in random people, but...Why me? Why was it okay for the others to do so? I mean, they never did, but Vorel was never as critical towards them so much as making an absurd suggestion.
We left the area fast, but didn’t go far enough. The angry kobolds from before came in higher numbers and caused as much damage as they could. Many goods, tools, and food items were destroyed. We couldn’t even keep the clothes on our backs because they tore at them with such a harsh relentlessness I rarely ever saw from another kobold.
If there was one good thing about the incident, it was that none of them survived to be able to do that much damage again.
Yet...
Vorel gave me a very harsh chastisement for what I had done against everyone. I was told that, before I showed up, whenever more than one male tried to join the party, strife would always occur between the males from petty jealousy or competition or against the females for not adhering to their excessive needs. It always ended with the males leaving and the party with more discomfort and less enthusiasm prior to receiving them.
No more strangers. Never again.
Baeshra spoke more that night than she ever did, but it was to utter the harshest swears I had ever heard one yell and ended them off with her spitting near my feet.
Miirik refused to talk to me for another month. No more pranks, either.
Only Aesthyr remained kind to me, but I could tell, with each sentence, with each pause, with each unspoken word, that there was a secret frustration toward my actions that was not being shown. I was fearful for every time she held a bow and released an arrow anywhere near my general direction.
I only...
I only wanted to help, but I ended up making our lives worse.
Sorry.”
...
“It’s been a few weeks since I turned 18. Not that it’s important. No one celebrates the year when you become a new age. No one I know, anyways.
I’ve been trying to keep myself busy ever since that incident two months ago. Lots of errands to run for the girls, some I make up for myself. I made sure to stay away from strangers we don’t know, even those of our own kind. Cruelty extends beyond races, Vorel told me, and I don’t question her anymore.
I don’t talk as much now. Nor do the other girls. Everyone’s on edge about the next possible incident to make us lose all our valuable items again. Or, that’s what I think to explain all the frowns and lack of talking.
I wish they would talk. I wish they would smile and joke, like they used to. It’s what made half of the adventure fun. But this doesn’t really feel fun now. It feels tense. It feels lonely.
I want to cheer everyone up. But how?
I could try delving in more ruins and dungeons to get enough valuables to replace what we lost. That...that could work! But I won’t last by myself. I’ve become a better fighter over the months, but not good enough to stand against a horde of criminals and monsters alone. No kobold is.
But I couldn’t ask that of the others. Not yet.
For this one, I’ll have to be as sneaky as Miirik to get what I need. Sneaky, sneaky, I must become sneak incarnate.
Hello, journal. I almost died today.
I found some good loot from a horde of bugbears, but they spotted me on my way out of their dungeon entrance. I ran as far as I could, but they caught up to me.
I remember the bomb Miirik gave me a long time ago that I forgot about. I used it as they were closing in and suffered the most bizarre sound I had ever heard. And because I threw it so close to me, I suffered from some wounds from the explosion. But, it was enough to keep those bugbears away! So, I managed to keep my life and my goods, and I told the girls all about it!
They were not happy.
Ace and Bash were looking all over for me, but somehow, never followed my small trail to the bugbear entrance. Have I gotten better at trail concealment?
Anywho, I got a speech of not delving into dungeons alone from Vorel. I told her I knew I shouldn’t and also that I felt no one would have gone with me. She asked why that was, I made an excuse that everyone looked too occupied to, and shook her head.
I know I should have asked, anyways, but I didn’t. That wasn’t nice of me. Darn it.
I showed her all the valuables I found, but she had no interest in taking it. Share it with the others, she said, but not her. She didn’t need it.
I told Ace about what Vorel said. She admitted that Vorel was lying about not needing the extra valuables, but that she didn’t approve of what Ace agreed was a dangerous act. I thought about asking more questions, but decided against that. I didn’t want any more answers.
I offered Ace the loot. She took a few rubies, then dropped them and took some sapphires instead and thanked me with a small smile. Then, said to ask for help the next time I wanted to get loot.
I offered Miirik the loot. She took some rubies and emeralds and uttered a small thanks before lumping her head back to her contraptions with a slow sigh.
I offered Baeshra half of the remaining loot. She broke her nonchalant pose and threatened to send one of her weasels after me the next time I ran off again. I told her that was an acceptable consequence.
Bash glared at me, chuckled, took the amount and nodded her head.
...Lessru would go crazy seeing all those gems in one place. She loves shiny things, but she never shared any with us. Only with Ned and Deerka when they told her to.
Last night, I woke up to Bash staring at me in my sleep. Somehow, I was convinced I had screwed something up and that she was here to chew me out for it. Did I mishandle one of her weasels by accident again? Had I annoyed her with a question I probably shouldn’t have asked? Or did she need someone to utter swears at out of frustration of some incident unknown to me?
...No, it was none of those. She simply told me she was sorry for lashing out at me after that old incident. I don’t know why she would apologize. She wasn’t the one that wronged everyone.
Bash said it bothered her because she knew how sorry I was to see that group I brought turn against us. She knew I was in the thick of the battle and trying to fend off more of our foes that anyone else could. To a reckless extent, she saw fit to remind me.
I told her that the reckless part wasn’t what bothered me, it was that I let everyone down and nearly caused everyone to die on account of my...recklessness.
So, I guess it did bother me.
She was right to be upset, I told her. It was fine if she called me a...dirt-sucking, scum-guzzling, moth-jumping, weasel-pecking, gryphon-loving rancid pile of minotaur waste.
That, um, wasn’t actually what she said, but it was along those lines.
Bash shrugged, shook her head, said letting me know would “help her sleep better” or something, and went back to her sleeping pile.
No chewing out for me, at least.
Today, we stumbled upon an odd dog that kept barking at us until we followed it to a big cave. Ace had her bow ready, but Vorel used a hand gesture to keep her at bay. Something was off about this dog.
Inside, we found feeble, poorly-dressed kobolds lamenting at the loss of their kobold queen Sazkozo. Or rather, that their queen was turned into a dog by Vhog, one of her ex-followers, when she found an item of “divine importance”. Whatever that meant.
Vorel was curious of where Vhog was and they told her he was busy throwing away the queen’s personal valuables to make room for his.
We came up with a plan to incapacitate the guards of Vhog as we advanced until we found his chambers and attempted to force him to turn the dog back to her original self.
Unfortunately, he had wings like Vorel did and was tougher to take down due to his magic spells. But after some intense aerial combat, Vorel was able to cripple Vhog’s wings and force him on the ground.
I only wish I was able to contribute more to the final battle. Vorel ordered me and Bash to keep our distance if something went wrong, but we were practically standing between the entrance and the fight the whole time. Vhog didn’t care about us. Even the weasels got a few hits in despite Bash snapping at them to stay back.
That is, until the very end. With our blades on Vhog, he turned the dog back into Queen Sazkozo. Then, was promptly scratched and bound in shame by the queen’s followers.
The people and the queen were happy!
Vorel was not.
Apparently, the item Vhog took from Sazkozo was the item Sazkozo stole from Vorel’s clan, claiming it to have special powers and “make its wearer fit to rule all kobold kind”. That last part was how Sazkozo described it, which Vorel dismissed as a foolish assumption.
So, we finally found that item Vorel was looking for! It looks like some kind of ceremonial mask. Huh? We traveled for miles on end for a mask? Surely, there’s more to this adventure than that...
I asked Vorel what happens now that she finished her quest. We take an alternate route back to her clan and continue with Miirik’s quest in the meantime. Bash and I weren’t the only ones concerned, it seemed.
But, hey. If we were able to finish our leader’s quest, I’m sure we’ll get our smith’s quest done in no time!
...We were attacked by tentacles today.
We heard about some valuable ore in a deep cavern and decided to check it out.
We had our pick axes ready, but in reality, we should have had our blades unsheathed. Below the suspicious piles of rocks we stood over were tentacles grabbing at our limbs. Everyone was trapped and getting choked by tentacles except me and the giant weasels. I was thrown to the side after they rubbed against me. I guess they weren’t interested in my misery. The weasels, on the other hand, were being suffocated until I intervened and slashed at the slimy arms. Soon after, we slashed at the other tentacles, freed the girls and ran far from the cave.
The girls were covered in slime and other substances I wasn’t familiar with. No one was happy, except Miirik who was laughing hysterically the entire time until she had a brief pause and collapsed to the ground.
A wondrous trap, she uttered.
I had grown worried about Ace’s random disappearances one day and decided to search her out. When I followed her trail, I found that hunter guy I saw on occasion. His bare back was to me, with what appeared to be Ace’s hands rubbing against his lower back.
I walked up and introduced myself. The hunter froze for a moment and slowly covered himself up. Ace shook in surprise and rushed to do what appeared to be putting her clothes back on. Why were they off to begin with? Did she have a scar or wound he was tending to? Maybe I could help her!
Umm...No, that wasn’t it. Ace kept stumbling over her words trying to explain what they were doing while the hunter placed his hands behind his head and lowered her eyes to Ace. She noticed, had her face grow more red, and said she had an errand I needed for her to do. I asked if she was hurt, but she assured me she was fine and sent me on my way. I’m glad she okay, at least. Guess that hunter’s not so bad, after all!
There was this gryphon bothering Vorel for a while that she thought no one else knew about. I was worried that it might hurt her, so when I saw it pick her up suddenly, I rushed in and swung my sword at it. This scared both Vorel and the gryphon, but instead of flying away, it placed itself to the ground and smiled at me. I nearly killed the thing! Why was it smiling? Then, it jumped on me and started nibbling at my arms, like we were playing around! I had no idea how to react. It wasn’t attacking me and Vorel wasn’t ordering me to slay me. In fact, she grabbed my short sword from the ground and was...laughing? What in the world? She rarely laughs at anything.
Vorel didn’t own the gryohon, she explained, as she gave me my sword back. They had a rough encounter, whatever that meant, but after that, he visited her from time to time to see how she was. Couldn’t be all the time. I never saw him help us during that one old incident.
Regardless, it was nice to see her smile for once. I just hope nothing happens to alter this small bit of joy.
We stumbled upon a gnoll campsite today. Everyone tried to keep their distance and were mostly successful in doing so. Miirik, however, started getting more daring with her quest and checked to see if they had captives there. They did, but they weren’t what she was looking for. A few humans and elves. Among them was a bare white kobold that swore out her captors and flung herself around while bound to a pole. Miirik snuck in without telling Vorel to save the humans, elves and white kobold. She was successful...
The humans and elves fled the area.
Once the white captive got ahold of the nearest blade, she took random objects from the campsite, lured each gnoll chasing the former captives away from one another, and stabbed each one to death. She had no qualms for her own deep wounds. Their blood and sudden shrieks of pain were all that mattered to her.
Covered in blood, she was almost as red as me. I saw the terrifying smile she gave Miirik and me before she fell deeper into the overwhelming forest.
We did the right thing saving one of our kind...Right?
We found where Miirik’s sister was. She was brainwashed, wearing a maid outfit of all things, by a powerful human mage named Glazin Chuv to make him otherworldly contraptions for his impenetrable fortress.
Vorel and Miirik tried to negotiate with him to return Vaeri to Miirik, but what he asked of us was an impossible task.
He wanted us to kill a nearby bronze dragon giving him trouble, take its scales, take its treasures, and bring all of them to the mage. They said they would consider the offer.
How could they?!? No matter how good we are, how could we take on a bronze dragon by ourselves? There had to be another way...
There was. I asked around the nearby town about the mage, and of all people, the bartender in the pub told me there was only one way we could could break his specific spell. We had to travel to a nearby ruined crypt and find some ancient words to break the spell. Apparently, the mage owed the bartender some tabs he never paid off, so he wants us to pick up the check for him.
We went to the crypt, fought off the undead there, and found the wall with the words on it. But in front of the wall was a small opening that demanded an “ocular sacrifice to save that which matters most to them”.
“No one look through that hole,” was the first thing I said before anyone else. Although, I guess I didn’t have to.
We decided to test the legitimacy of this mysterious hole by kidnapping an elven bandit and forcing him to look through it.
And what happened next...
A blast of energy burned his left eye in an instant. It almost physically hurt just to watch it happen. He was screaming so loud and fumbling all over the place, we had to pin him down to stop him.
But after the pain left, he saw in his left eye the words to break the spell, before it was nothing but darkness.
‘Mojisconsukai’t’
The bandit’s left eye then turned to stone and fell out of his eye socket.
I would suffer many nightmares a few nights afterwards.
Vorel took a step back.
Aesthyr shrieked at the broken stone eye.
Miirik stared in fascination.
Baeshra picked up a few stone pieces and flung them to the side.
The bandit was left unconscious.
On our way back, I recited the words the bandit told us about before it was destroyed. Such a mysterious phrase that probably has more importance that I will ever know!
To be allowed in, we told the guards we would have to see the mage again to accept his offer. In the meantime, I snuck off to the brainwashed Vaeri and uttered the legendary words.
“Mojisconsukai’t.”
It worked! Vaeri was surprised to see herself in her outfit and in the strange establishment she found herself in. I explained to her we needed to get out as fast as we could to see her sister.
She questioned how I was able to save her. I explained what had happened, and felt a sudden sadness toward the bandit we had forced to suffer. She was shocked, asking why I’d go through so much trouble to save a single soul such as herself. I simply told her that her sister spent months looking for her, and that if I lost one of my own sisters, I’d spend as long searching for them.
“You’d make someone lose an eye for them?” Vaeri asked.
“Not my preferred choice, but if it was me, I’d be more upset if I lost my right eye,” I said, “That’s my favorite.”
Speaking of eyes, I noticed that one of Vaeri’s eyes didn’t always look to where the other one was. The right was actin’ crazy while the left was straight at me. I never brought it up, just thought it was an interesting observation.
And so, Miirik’s quest came to an end. We regrouped at our campsite with smiles about.
I was happy to see Miirik and Vaeri holding each other as close as they did. Kinda makes me miss my own siblings!
Baeshra offered a few words of relief to Vaeri, gave the biggest smile I ever saw, and went back to tending to her weasels.
The two smiths gave me their thanks, but I told them I was only the word giver. Vorel was the one that truly kept Miirik’s quest alive. I told them the only thing they could do was let us return them home safely.
They did more, though! During our time going back, they made some inventions ask thanks for Vorel’s efforts as the party leader.
The first was a custom pair of goggles that protect the wearer from blinding lights and help the wearer see farther.
The second...was an extraordinary contraption! It was a metal gauntlet with a cylindrical opening on the side that shot metal objects from within itself. Good for causing distractions or stunning enemies at close range!
Vorel was absolutely appreciative of their gifts, claiming no one has ever made such amazing contraptions for her before.
It seems they really liked her reactions to their gifts, because near the end of her praising, each of the smiths licked the sides of Vorel’s face and smiled at each other. It looked weird when they did that, as reflected by her immediate reaction.
No one’s ever licked her before, I take it.
Later, Vorel promised to put them to real good use. I would hope so!
It was kinda strange to see Vaeri wear those goggles the entire time before we went back to her clan, but also not. I don’t know how I’d feel about having a wandering eye for everyone to see, so I think I understand. And they were some cool-looking ones, too, like the custom goggles she made for Vorel.
It was a hard day when the smiths returned to their people. We had some crazy adventures with, well, one of them, and their return meant having two less companions. No, three, actually. Baeshra went on her way, too, but she let us keep one of her weasels.
“Don’t let him die on you, ya hear?” She told Vorel.
I remember that odd stare Bash gave me before leaving us for good. I could barely hear the words she uttered and turned around as, “Stay safe, Nuthead.”
So for adventurers, it was just Vorel, Aesthyr, and Netza (Me). I, uh...Aww.
I miss everyone already.
And...Vorel has to go back, too. Doesn’t she?
Sure enough, she did. There was less celebration for Vorel’s return, but she seemed grateful to us for staying with her for as long as we did.
“Now, Aesthyr. It’s all up to you, now. You’ll have to be the master scout. I expect you to excel at your job,” and she turns to me, “And I expect you, Netza the Nuthead, to take her word to heart. No lone runs, no acts of estranged heroism. The usual. After all, no one ‘bold can take on a bear of a world by themselves. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
Then, she gave us the gifts Miirik and Vaeri made for her.
“These should help you two more than me, I think.”
Aesthyr got the custom goggles and I got the custom gauntlet!
I had issues with the leader before, but now? Best leader ever!
Afterwards, Ace and I talked and she pretty much stated that she wasn’t comfortable being the party’s leader, but she didn’t have the heart to tell Vorel that.
So, I was promoted to leader.
Oh.
I asked her what leaders did.
Ace told me what she saw Vorel deal with and it sounded really difficult, but for our sakes, I’ll do my best!
One night, when the dragon man hunter came to visit, we started talking about our families.
I obliged.
“So, there’s Crok, Crepzis and Udisk, my brothers, and Iglo, Lessru, Ersek and Sirguk, my sisters! And my parents, Ned and Deerka! They’re all real swell! I wish I could show them to you if they weren’t so far away.
Oh, but I can’t wait to show them my gauntlet!”
The hunter, smoking his brown pipe, admitted to me that his name was Udovroth Ecauth. I don’t know why I never asked before. He didn’t seem to mind being called ‘hunter’ the whole time, so that might be why. However, that was as far as he went with with discussing his bloodline. Maybe some other time, he said.
We ended up learning more about Aesthyr’s family, too! Her history, was, uh, kinda sad. I now understand why Vorel didn’t want a red kobold like me teasing her about her color and name so much. But despite any of that, I’m glad she’s here with us now!
Morning time!
And so, we were off!
To...Uh...Huh.
Where do we go now?
I didn’t really feel comfortable traveling far without extra company. Ace is the best at what she does, but even she needs support for her weaknesses every now and then. Like me!
Maybe we could...carefully bring new adventurers into our party if they really wanted to join, and if we’re really sure they’re worth bringing in? We don’t want a repeat of last time.
We’ve got a fighter and a ranger.
Let’s try getting people different from those!”
...
“No luck so far.
We’ve met lots of kobolds, but none that see joining us as a worthwhile endeavor.
One male wasn’t convinced we would last even with him in the party.
One female didn’t want a party with other females.
Another male threatened to stick his sap in my left eye if I didn’t let him be.
Another female said she would join, but changed her mind a second later.
Gosh. Before adventuring, I never realized how difficult it was to deal with folks the same kind as me just on a social level. We should keep searching...
Oh, no.
The strangest act of fate somehow dictated we would briefly encounter the elf bandit we forced to help us. He was slumped against a big tree, biting at the slightly burned meat he cooked over his small campfire.
Ace suggested we avoid him. It would be a wise move. Something within me felt pity for the lonesome soul lacking a left eye, but I knew he would try to kill us if he spotted us. So, we let him be.
We were trapped!
For the last week, Ace and I were stuck in an abandoned castle after trying to help a group of kobolds loot it. Our weasel had to wait behind since the group didn’t trust it.
But we were separated due to the unforeseen trickery of the castle walls. The group died to complex traps and lack of organization on their part.
There was a madman watching over us and noting our progress the further we went into the massive castle.
As it turned out, the elf bandit was stuck in here with us. I wasn’t keen on witnessing his end, so I did what I could to help him get past his traps, which I could only assume then that he appreciated.
The craziest point was when Ace was stuck in a small room with a roof descending downward to crush her. The only way to open the door was to lift up the chains on my side. The only problem was that there were two chains and only one of me.
I tried desperately to pull each, but I was not strong enough. Suddenly, the elf bandit appeared from nowhere and pulled the other chain so we could free Ace.
We tried to track the madman responsible for the traps, but he was never found. The most we could do was escape the castle grounds via an underground sewer system connected to his abandoned quarters.
That was one harsh incident.
I never learned the name of that elf bandit. When I asked, he simply shook his head and walked away through the forest.
Today, (Struggling marks) a day after that incident, we were attacked by a small pack of wyverns. We were sure, so sure, that we were safe where we were camping. Far from any (Dropped pen) sign of danger. But our luck wasn’t shining upon us that night.
We attempted to keep them at bay with our bows, but one of them got brave and went straight for Ace. Her bow was des-destroyed trying to stop it from ripping her throat out. When I intervened, I got a few hits in with Crepzis’ sword before it and one of its accomplices attacked me with their stingers. I resisted the pain from them as best as I could, but I wasn’t in (Lighter marks) any shape to keep fighting.
I threw Ace my bow and she was able to kill two of the five wyverns as we made our escape. Our weasel ally was able to distract them, for a short time.
I’m...I’m hurt bad. I don’t know why I’m still writing like this. Ace tells me I need more rest. I know I do, I just...I’ll be there in a min-
It’s all right! I know the stains on the journal say otherwise, but I only collapsed for a few minutes. Ace is literally over my shoulder begging me to drop the pen and rest. I will, I will, I only...Okay, Ace.
I can’t forget Crepzis’ sword! He said he borrowed it from a busy adventurer, so if they ever needed it again...No. Crepzis would never steal from another person! Not from one of our kind. He’s too loyal.
Or, was Crok the loyal one?
Ugh. It’s been too long...
I’m not sure what to do now. We tried getting new companions but aren’t having good luck with that, and without others, traveling for a long period of time with a party of two kobolds and one weasel isn’t a realistic situation that would end well. We couldn’t survive that castle at the end without outside help.
We barely survived those wyverns, and we didn’t even kill most of them.
This was so much easier when we were following Vorel’s lead, someone whom already had combat experience, an explicit goal and returned home upon accomplishing it. But I can’t return now! I’ve been through a lot but don’t have enough to prove for my experiences.
Hmm...
Just need the right adventure. One good one, with no dead companions or overwhelming odds. No, no, it wouldn’t be an adventure unless there were deliberate odds we would need to overcome and be immensely rewarded for.
But...I don’t want to risk losing Ace again, and another dead weasel wouldn’t help anyone but our sad bellies.
What to do...
This is it! We found papers detailing the lost treasure of a renowned human noble known as Beralved Amretryavya.
The amount he was offering for the retrieval of his marked treasure box was astounding to a small party like us!
It took many months, countless rumors, multiple followed trails and too many close encounters for us to procure the location of the marked treasure box.
Luckily, Ace and I got out relatively fine.
Our big weasel, however, sacrificed himself to keep a mercenary leader from tracking us down. He will be missed.
But it was all worth it! Yes!
When we made it to the noble’s esteemed mansion, the guards and other nobles weren’t sure of what to make of us. But they saw that we were returning the box back to the Great Lord Amretryavya, so they left us alone.
The noble was happy, extremely happy, to have his box back, but his praise lasted for no more than 20 seconds, then he gave us our reward and sent us on our way.
I don’t know why, but something inside me told me to inquire what exactly we had returned to him. It wasn’t my business, but it was bugging me the entire time we held onto it.
The noble was happy to oblige to my request, however, and what was inside were multiple complex locks that many had attempted to break through but were not successful. Behind them was a sophisticated-looking box that had contained...Art pieces of barely clad females from multiple races. Beralved was particularly fond of the ones with the odd humans with horns and tails.
Drawings.
We saved drawings.
...Not a precious crown or legendary weapon from olden times, or a book containing lost knowledge, or an important souvenir from his ancestors to hold on to and pass down, or a potion for everlasting life.
It was drawings.
...
We were paid very well for our recent quest, but something about the outcome disappointed me to such a grave extent.
Ace asked me what was wrong. She seemed pretty satisfied about our reward, our adventure.
But I still felt...unfulfilled. The grand adventure I wanted three years ago was nothing close to what I ended up with. Not at all like the stories my siblings shared with me.
I was better than what I once was, but I didn’t feel better. I was richer than I had ever been, but what would I ever do with that money? Share it with my siblings, of course. So, I wouldn’t keep much, anyways. Nor do much with it.
I had met some wonderful companions, but they were all gone a long time ago. They all returned home.
I...I guess I should do the same.
I did as I said I would.
Crepzis got his lucky short sword back. I tried to make it look as good as when he gave it to me. It saved me from a lot of possible deaths. It was the least I could do.
Ace met my family, all of which were glad to meet her. But she said it was time for her to go. Where? I hadn’t asked.
The last time I saw her was by our cave entrance, waving goodbye while Odovroth stood by a nearby tree behind her. Waving at us along with her.
I felt something really strange I hadn’t felt when I saw her leave. Like, I didn’t want her to go. But I couldn’t force her to stay. I had no reason to. None that I could think of right away.
I suppose that’s the end of my tale.
Thanks for being with me to the end, journal.
Oh, that’s right.
The original was destroyed at one point, so I had to start all over and rewrite everything in another one identical to you.
I hope Crok doesn’t notice.
Goodbye.”
“Hi, there! My name is Netza!
I just got started with this weird ‘writing’ thing one of my brothers got me into, so sorry if my words look all strange and stuff! I promise I’ll improve to make it better!
I should start like this! I was born in a big cave 17 years ago with 3 other brothers and 4 other sisters! I’m the youngest fourth brother!
I got parents, too! I spend more time with my siblings, though! They showed me all kindsa stuff to help me better myself and all that! Reading, writing, talking, the works! Um, I’m not actually sure what ‘works’ means, but it feels like it makes sense to write it that way, so I’ll keep it in here!
Oh! I just saw that I was writing in those big lines with the dots on the bottom at the end of my sentences! Crok told me to call them ‘exclamation points’, so I think I should!
Exclamation points.
Wait.
Exclamation points!
There we go! I like those.
So, I love my family and all, but I think that some of the things they do to live is kinda...slow. Not all exciting, ya know?
We could do so much instead of that mining work. Like I’m doing!
I’m trying to find a good party of adventurers to take me along and go on great adventures with them! I wanna make lots of money so I can bring it to our cave and give it to everyone there!
I try to do that when no one else needs me for anything, but my parents call me back and tell me to go back to the cave! I like the cave, but I don’t know why they want me there whenever I try to go outside. Sometimes it’s my brothers, and then sisters. I was finally able to leave a few days ago, and now, I’m here writing in this little journal I have!
I’ve been looking for the best party I could in the nearby villages, but no one is able to take me, they said. One party said I was too green to go with them, but that confused me, cuz’ I’m not green, I’m red. Another party said they wouldn’t dare bring a dirty kobold with them, but I’m sure I cleaned myself in the morning. The next one said they would only let elves in their party. What are elves? I asked them, and they said it was people like them. Pointy ears, skinny bodies, supper affine tee to magic compared to any other race. They have magic for supper? I wonder what that tastes like!
So, uhh...I couldn’t join a party today, but I’m sure I’ll have a better time tomorrow! I’m sure of it! Have a good sleep, journal!
Wow, wow, wow, I was able to join a party, today! With kobolds, too!
There’s four of them, all girls. No boys? That’s weird! I’m sure we’ll find more later on!
The main leader...wow. She has wings! On her back! Her name is Vorel and she can fly and stuff and it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! But she’s not like those big scary dragons from those stories my sisters used to scare me with.
She’s nice! I mean, I think she’s nice. She tells me what I should and shouldn’t do cuz’ I’m new to adventuring, which is a pretty nice thing to do. And she’s blue, too! I’ve never seen a blue kobold before, and with wings. Who knows what else I’ll see here. Oh, she said she was looking for an important item stolen from her clan and that she offered to track it down. Brave, too!
The pink one with the bow and arrows-Oh. I’m sorry, she not pink! The leader told me Aesthyr was corner-carner-shun. Carnation! That’s the word! Her name’s kinda hard to say, too.
And she’s super-nice, too. I saw her set up hunting traps a while ago. It looks really complicated, but maybe I could make my own traps someday, too. I gotta eat, too!
Too, too, too, I like the word, too!
The green one...Aww. I kinda feel sad about her. Miirik said she lost her sister a while ago from a scuffle in her clan against another one and she’s trying to get her back. Goodness, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost one of my siblings. I guess the same thing!
Hey! She just gave me a round metal ball and said that if I pressed the button on it and threw it at a dangerous undesire bow that it would make it go away! Wow, that sounds like magic! Another thing I wanna know about, one of these days!
The black one, um...The black one kinda scares me. Baeshra’s got these big creatures she calls weasels and she takes care of them. But, uh, she doesn’t really talk a lot. Does she know how to? Oh, I’m sure she does! The blue leader and the carny trappy lady know how to!
I’m learning all sorts of words from my party! Provisions, loot, contraptions, upwind, invigorating, neat! Oh, no, I already knew what neat meant.
None of my siblings ever said these words. I wonder why?
Huh? The leader’s calling me over right now! I wonder what Vorel needs?
...
Yeouch! She wanted to see how well I could handle myself in a sword fight, so she put me against Baeshra, our weasel handler.
I know that adventuring means lots and lots of fighting, so I gave it my all and used the short sword I borrowed from Crepzis to fight her.
I-I did my best!
But the weasel handler beat me.
Baeshra said I had acceptable dodging capable abilities, but that I lacked the strength to survive in an actual one-on-one sword fight for more than a minute.
The leader, er, Vorel said she expected as much and said to go see our carn friend.
She meant Ester, right? I mean, Acer! Um, Aesthyr.
Friend...That’s another word I’m not that familiar with. For some reason, I think of my brothers and sisters when I hear that word. But it feels like the kinda word that could be used for more than just kin, ya know?
Aesthyr showed me how to properly handle a short bow. This was kinda weird because she was using the bow and pulling the arrow with her left hand, and I tried to do the same thing but it didn’t feel right. She giggled for some reason and told me to switch my hands so I was pulling the arrow with my right hand. It felt much better now! When we shot all our arrows, she said “Clear!” and told me we could get our arrows now. But why couldn’t we get them before? Who else did she say clear to? I asked her and she said that’s what archers do so everyone knows it’s safe to get the arrows back. Oh! Now, I get it.
I asked Aesthyr if I could give her a nickname since I’m not good at saying her actual name. She frowned from the question for some reason and asked what I wanted to call her. And I said, “Umm...Ace!” And she breathed a bit and smiled and said that was okay. Ace, it is!
After that, Miirik called for me and said she could show me a thing or two about detecting and creating metal traps.
I-I tried to pay attention to what was being said, honest! But I found myself accidentally daydreaming as she was explaining how each trap worked.
Miirik would say, “Did you get that?” and I would say, “Could we please go over that again?” and I think I said that too many times because the fourth time I said that, she frowned and said that was it for today. I think she meant three days since that was when Miirik called for me again.
I felt bad about last time, so made sure to pay extra attention the next time. Miirik liked that, I think.
Baeshra showed me how to feed and order one of the three big weasels around. I don’t like giving orders to anyone, but Baeshra told me to, so I did. And the weasel I was with did exactly what I asked it to! It took a few minutes of walking around and scratching itself, but it did it.
Baeshra didn’t like how long the weasel took to follow my order and start saying mean things to it. It started hissing, which scared me, but then it lowered itself to Baeshra and rubbed itself against her.
Weasels are weird. I wonder what other animals are out there?
I’m starting to wonder, why are Ace and Bash on an adventure, too? I’m here to go on a great adventure like all the tales I heard before. Vorel needs to find an important item and Miirik needs to find her sister.
Ace told me she didn’t really have a reason the way I did. She simply felt safe and appreciated following someone like Vorel around. I guess it’s not bad reason if it makes her happy.
Bash told me this was a favor for Miirik’s sister, Vaeri, who had given her some wonderful tools and saved some of her kidnapped weasels from bandits. That’s one good favor.
I wonder what Ersek’s making in the cave today. Probably Meaty Rat Stew, her specialty! No one could cook as good as her, not even Deerka! Well, Miirik is pretty good with food making, too.
Miirik, Miirik. I can’t think of a good nickname for her. Same with Vorel.
Just Miir? Or...Vor? Nah. Doesn’t sound right.
But I already got one! What was it? Nuthead! Yeah! I like it cuz’ it’s silly, like, my head isn’t made of nuts! Haha!
Hi, journal. I’m kinda sad today. There was this pretty animal called a dog that I saw and I wanted to give it a few berries I found, but before I could do that, an arrow went straight through its head and killed it. I fell back to a bush cuz’ I was so shocked by it all happening so quickly. Somewhere else, I heard someone running after me saying they were so sorry that they didn’t see me trying to feed the dog. It was Aesthyr.
She tried to explain that she hadn’t done long-distance shots in a while and tried to get the dog she was tracking. She was so fixated on it that she didn’t see me behind the bush near the huge tree. I said it was okay. I know she was just hunting for food cuz’ that’s what she does. But I’m still sad about the dog. It had pretty hair, more pretty than the weasels. I didn’t feel like having a piece of it for dinner that night.
I don’t know if Miirik is still nice. She pulls pranks on me with her weird metal things and scares me silly half of the time. She doesn’t do it to the others, so why me? She said she only pranks green grass patches on their first adventure to keep them attentive of their surroundings. I understood some of that, but I told her I wasn’t green grass. I’m red.
Miirik then explained the use of the phrase, and then I understood. I think.
All I need is experience, and she’ll stop pranking me! I should see if someone needs help in the next village we pass.
Someone did! A weird-looking person taller than me and without elf ears told me his cat was missing. I found it lying on a tree branch almost a mile away and showed them where it was. They brought a sword, but I don’t know why. They weren’t gonna harm the cat, were they? If not, I hope Ace doesn’t shoot at it.
I guess not. The weird person gave me their thanks and a few silver coins, then went away with their cat. I just noticed the weird person had a tail, too! How strange.
Another person had me deliver some small boxes while two humans covered in odd markings followed me. I tried talking to them while we were traveling, but they told me to focus on the errand at hand and stay quiet. So, I did. The other people that got the boxes had some odd markings on their clothes as well. Was there a special occasion going on? I dunno, I just gave them their boxes, they checked them, and we went our separate ways. Before they left, one of the humans following me gave me a pretty looking sapphire gem for my errand. Oh goodness, it was so pretty! I thanked them and said to have a great day, and they said they’ll do what they want. Uhh...Okay!
This gem is really nice, but...It’s not nice to keep things and never use them. What would I use it for? Getting coins! But, do I really need them more than the others here?
Hey, Vorel might need it! She’s always talking about supplies and preparations, so maybe she could sell it to get more! Plus, she’s blue, too!
Vorel said she didn’t need anything at the moment but appreciated the gesture. I said she could still keep it, just in case. For some reason, she was deciding if she should take it or not. Who would ever say no to a free gem? Not me! Eventually, she did, and thanked me for it.
Miirik was still pranking me, but they bothered me less as time went on. I was getting smart enough to avoid the more obvious ones, so she started making more complicated contraptions to eventually trip me over. She got me a few times, but I was sly enough to dodge the latest ones she put against me! I’m getting better, all right!
Hey, it looks like Vorel keeps a journal, too! I saw her holding one the other day. I asked her about it, but she told me it wasn’t like what I had. It was a journal showing all sorts of words and creatures with wings on them. It was kinda scary, especially the, um...dragon? But she seemed to enjoy the journal, so I said it was kinda neat and left her to it.
That’s strange. I haven’t been getting pranked by Miirik lately. I searched for her to see why that was. I found her, half of her body slumped over a tree stump with her fingers holding cords and metal parts dangling around each other. She seemed sad, so I went toward her and asked what was wrong.
Miirik said she hadn’t seen her sister or her clan for months and wasn’t sure if she would ever see them again. I didn’t know what to say right away. Looking for her sister meant being away from her clan, but staying with her clan meant maybe never seeing her sister again. Those are both cruel thoughts I would never want to deal with.
I told her I was sure we would find Vaeri, we just needed a little more time and to look through even more dungeons. There is always a chance we could find her!
Miirik smiled for a few seconds, then returned to her original frown. She said she wished she shared my eternal enthusiasm for the currently impossible. That it was the pranks that kept her mind off of her own sadness, but as of late, they didn’t quite have the hold on her as they used to.
I was about to frown, too, but it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. What Miirik needed to do was smile! But how? Maybe if I ask about-
Oh, wait. I remember now. She told me that she wanted to be alone when she noticed that I was asking about things I normally wouldn’t in the hopes of changing her mood. I told her I was sorry, and left her alone.
I saw Baeshra come shortly afterward. I told her Miirik told me she wanted to be alone, but Baeshra went, anyways.
I searched for Ace today and met a new person I hadn’t seen before. He was a hunter. He was scary, too, because he looked like a dragon but smaller and on two feet. Ace seemed to really like him, but he didn’t say much. Like Bash.
I was wondering when more males would appear in the party, but I was expecting kobolds. Not dragon people.
No, he wasn’t with the party, Ace said. The two just crossed paths and passed some time before going their separate ways.
Thank goodness. What if he tried to make himself leader and he and Vorel fought over who would order us around? That wouldn’t be good. I’m with Ace, I prefer following Vorel over anyone else.
Bandits are a hard obstacle to deal with! They’re bigger and tougher than us. They use whatever they have to rob people or kill them and take their stuff. Thankfully, they aren’t as organized or as strategic as us! Vorel scouts them out to let us know how much of them there are and where, Ace uses her bow to kill them one at a time, or if they’re bundled together, Miirik can use her contraptions to blow them up or cause a lotta damage and Bash can send her weasels to swarm them while we attack from behind.
It’s good working in a team.
Today, something not so good happened to Baeshra. Or rather, one of her big weasels. We spotted a tough-looking gryphon in the sky following us around. We didn’t want to fight it, but it was searching for a meal. And it found one in one of the weasels it managed to swiftly slay with its sharp talons. Ace wasn’t able to get the first shot in before it’s sudden strike. The second arrow hit, but it simply made it switch its priorities from one meal to the next. When it flew down again, Baeshra practically grabbed ahold of the gryphon and stuck her dagger deep in the flesh of the bloody bird. She didn’t stop stabbing until the gryphon stopped moving.
We all feasted on the remains of the gryphon, but only Baeshra ate her fallen weasel.
Some people don’t like us very much. I could do some work outside of the group early on, but the further we go with our adventure, the less people want to see us around. I hear some humans and elves make gestures with their arms and call us mean things. Words like rabble, troublemakers, bottom feeders and thieves are often used. But we’re not rabble, or thieves or bottom feeders. We’re adventurers that find our own ways to survive.
It’s not nice calling other people names. What if I went around telling humans that they had long hair, pink skin or...weird feet? That wouldn’t be very nice.
There were worse things I could say, but I promised one of my sisters that I wouldn’t use swear words like she did while on my adventure. I think it was Iglo.
Darn, now I’m starting to forget the names of my own siblings. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them and so much has happened. Like, 6 months? Goodness...Is this what Miirik feels when she thinks about her clan?
Vorel...I’m sorry...I’m so darn sorry...
I invited a group of friendly male kobolds in a close cave to meet our party. I thought it would be very helpful to have more members than we currently did, that we would be more safer, that Vorel would accept them and so I wouldn’t always be the only male here.
But I was wrong. None of the other girls liked them. Not even Ace could extend her kindness to them. They tried their best to be nice to the girls.
Or so I thought.
When Vorel demanded they leave our camp site, they became furious at the opposition and stormed off back to their cave. Vorel warned me about bringing in random people, but...Why me? Why was it okay for the others to do so? I mean, they never did, but Vorel was never as critical towards them so much as making an absurd suggestion.
We left the area fast, but didn’t go far enough. The angry kobolds from before came in higher numbers and caused as much damage as they could. Many goods, tools, and food items were destroyed. We couldn’t even keep the clothes on our backs because they tore at them with such a harsh relentlessness I rarely ever saw from another kobold.
If there was one good thing about the incident, it was that none of them survived to be able to do that much damage again.
Yet...
Vorel gave me a very harsh chastisement for what I had done against everyone. I was told that, before I showed up, whenever more than one male tried to join the party, strife would always occur between the males from petty jealousy or competition or against the females for not adhering to their excessive needs. It always ended with the males leaving and the party with more discomfort and less enthusiasm prior to receiving them.
No more strangers. Never again.
Baeshra spoke more that night than she ever did, but it was to utter the harshest swears I had ever heard one yell and ended them off with her spitting near my feet.
Miirik refused to talk to me for another month. No more pranks, either.
Only Aesthyr remained kind to me, but I could tell, with each sentence, with each pause, with each unspoken word, that there was a secret frustration toward my actions that was not being shown. I was fearful for every time she held a bow and released an arrow anywhere near my general direction.
I only...
I only wanted to help, but I ended up making our lives worse.
Sorry.”
...
“It’s been a few weeks since I turned 18. Not that it’s important. No one celebrates the year when you become a new age. No one I know, anyways.
I’ve been trying to keep myself busy ever since that incident two months ago. Lots of errands to run for the girls, some I make up for myself. I made sure to stay away from strangers we don’t know, even those of our own kind. Cruelty extends beyond races, Vorel told me, and I don’t question her anymore.
I don’t talk as much now. Nor do the other girls. Everyone’s on edge about the next possible incident to make us lose all our valuable items again. Or, that’s what I think to explain all the frowns and lack of talking.
I wish they would talk. I wish they would smile and joke, like they used to. It’s what made half of the adventure fun. But this doesn’t really feel fun now. It feels tense. It feels lonely.
I want to cheer everyone up. But how?
I could try delving in more ruins and dungeons to get enough valuables to replace what we lost. That...that could work! But I won’t last by myself. I’ve become a better fighter over the months, but not good enough to stand against a horde of criminals and monsters alone. No kobold is.
But I couldn’t ask that of the others. Not yet.
For this one, I’ll have to be as sneaky as Miirik to get what I need. Sneaky, sneaky, I must become sneak incarnate.
Hello, journal. I almost died today.
I found some good loot from a horde of bugbears, but they spotted me on my way out of their dungeon entrance. I ran as far as I could, but they caught up to me.
I remember the bomb Miirik gave me a long time ago that I forgot about. I used it as they were closing in and suffered the most bizarre sound I had ever heard. And because I threw it so close to me, I suffered from some wounds from the explosion. But, it was enough to keep those bugbears away! So, I managed to keep my life and my goods, and I told the girls all about it!
They were not happy.
Ace and Bash were looking all over for me, but somehow, never followed my small trail to the bugbear entrance. Have I gotten better at trail concealment?
Anywho, I got a speech of not delving into dungeons alone from Vorel. I told her I knew I shouldn’t and also that I felt no one would have gone with me. She asked why that was, I made an excuse that everyone looked too occupied to, and shook her head.
I know I should have asked, anyways, but I didn’t. That wasn’t nice of me. Darn it.
I showed her all the valuables I found, but she had no interest in taking it. Share it with the others, she said, but not her. She didn’t need it.
I told Ace about what Vorel said. She admitted that Vorel was lying about not needing the extra valuables, but that she didn’t approve of what Ace agreed was a dangerous act. I thought about asking more questions, but decided against that. I didn’t want any more answers.
I offered Ace the loot. She took a few rubies, then dropped them and took some sapphires instead and thanked me with a small smile. Then, said to ask for help the next time I wanted to get loot.
I offered Miirik the loot. She took some rubies and emeralds and uttered a small thanks before lumping her head back to her contraptions with a slow sigh.
I offered Baeshra half of the remaining loot. She broke her nonchalant pose and threatened to send one of her weasels after me the next time I ran off again. I told her that was an acceptable consequence.
Bash glared at me, chuckled, took the amount and nodded her head.
...Lessru would go crazy seeing all those gems in one place. She loves shiny things, but she never shared any with us. Only with Ned and Deerka when they told her to.
Last night, I woke up to Bash staring at me in my sleep. Somehow, I was convinced I had screwed something up and that she was here to chew me out for it. Did I mishandle one of her weasels by accident again? Had I annoyed her with a question I probably shouldn’t have asked? Or did she need someone to utter swears at out of frustration of some incident unknown to me?
...No, it was none of those. She simply told me she was sorry for lashing out at me after that old incident. I don’t know why she would apologize. She wasn’t the one that wronged everyone.
Bash said it bothered her because she knew how sorry I was to see that group I brought turn against us. She knew I was in the thick of the battle and trying to fend off more of our foes that anyone else could. To a reckless extent, she saw fit to remind me.
I told her that the reckless part wasn’t what bothered me, it was that I let everyone down and nearly caused everyone to die on account of my...recklessness.
So, I guess it did bother me.
She was right to be upset, I told her. It was fine if she called me a...dirt-sucking, scum-guzzling, moth-jumping, weasel-pecking, gryphon-loving rancid pile of minotaur waste.
That, um, wasn’t actually what she said, but it was along those lines.
Bash shrugged, shook her head, said letting me know would “help her sleep better” or something, and went back to her sleeping pile.
No chewing out for me, at least.
Today, we stumbled upon an odd dog that kept barking at us until we followed it to a big cave. Ace had her bow ready, but Vorel used a hand gesture to keep her at bay. Something was off about this dog.
Inside, we found feeble, poorly-dressed kobolds lamenting at the loss of their kobold queen Sazkozo. Or rather, that their queen was turned into a dog by Vhog, one of her ex-followers, when she found an item of “divine importance”. Whatever that meant.
Vorel was curious of where Vhog was and they told her he was busy throwing away the queen’s personal valuables to make room for his.
We came up with a plan to incapacitate the guards of Vhog as we advanced until we found his chambers and attempted to force him to turn the dog back to her original self.
Unfortunately, he had wings like Vorel did and was tougher to take down due to his magic spells. But after some intense aerial combat, Vorel was able to cripple Vhog’s wings and force him on the ground.
I only wish I was able to contribute more to the final battle. Vorel ordered me and Bash to keep our distance if something went wrong, but we were practically standing between the entrance and the fight the whole time. Vhog didn’t care about us. Even the weasels got a few hits in despite Bash snapping at them to stay back.
That is, until the very end. With our blades on Vhog, he turned the dog back into Queen Sazkozo. Then, was promptly scratched and bound in shame by the queen’s followers.
The people and the queen were happy!
Vorel was not.
Apparently, the item Vhog took from Sazkozo was the item Sazkozo stole from Vorel’s clan, claiming it to have special powers and “make its wearer fit to rule all kobold kind”. That last part was how Sazkozo described it, which Vorel dismissed as a foolish assumption.
So, we finally found that item Vorel was looking for! It looks like some kind of ceremonial mask. Huh? We traveled for miles on end for a mask? Surely, there’s more to this adventure than that...
I asked Vorel what happens now that she finished her quest. We take an alternate route back to her clan and continue with Miirik’s quest in the meantime. Bash and I weren’t the only ones concerned, it seemed.
But, hey. If we were able to finish our leader’s quest, I’m sure we’ll get our smith’s quest done in no time!
...We were attacked by tentacles today.
We heard about some valuable ore in a deep cavern and decided to check it out.
We had our pick axes ready, but in reality, we should have had our blades unsheathed. Below the suspicious piles of rocks we stood over were tentacles grabbing at our limbs. Everyone was trapped and getting choked by tentacles except me and the giant weasels. I was thrown to the side after they rubbed against me. I guess they weren’t interested in my misery. The weasels, on the other hand, were being suffocated until I intervened and slashed at the slimy arms. Soon after, we slashed at the other tentacles, freed the girls and ran far from the cave.
The girls were covered in slime and other substances I wasn’t familiar with. No one was happy, except Miirik who was laughing hysterically the entire time until she had a brief pause and collapsed to the ground.
A wondrous trap, she uttered.
I had grown worried about Ace’s random disappearances one day and decided to search her out. When I followed her trail, I found that hunter guy I saw on occasion. His bare back was to me, with what appeared to be Ace’s hands rubbing against his lower back.
I walked up and introduced myself. The hunter froze for a moment and slowly covered himself up. Ace shook in surprise and rushed to do what appeared to be putting her clothes back on. Why were they off to begin with? Did she have a scar or wound he was tending to? Maybe I could help her!
Umm...No, that wasn’t it. Ace kept stumbling over her words trying to explain what they were doing while the hunter placed his hands behind his head and lowered her eyes to Ace. She noticed, had her face grow more red, and said she had an errand I needed for her to do. I asked if she was hurt, but she assured me she was fine and sent me on my way. I’m glad she okay, at least. Guess that hunter’s not so bad, after all!
There was this gryphon bothering Vorel for a while that she thought no one else knew about. I was worried that it might hurt her, so when I saw it pick her up suddenly, I rushed in and swung my sword at it. This scared both Vorel and the gryphon, but instead of flying away, it placed itself to the ground and smiled at me. I nearly killed the thing! Why was it smiling? Then, it jumped on me and started nibbling at my arms, like we were playing around! I had no idea how to react. It wasn’t attacking me and Vorel wasn’t ordering me to slay me. In fact, she grabbed my short sword from the ground and was...laughing? What in the world? She rarely laughs at anything.
Vorel didn’t own the gryohon, she explained, as she gave me my sword back. They had a rough encounter, whatever that meant, but after that, he visited her from time to time to see how she was. Couldn’t be all the time. I never saw him help us during that one old incident.
Regardless, it was nice to see her smile for once. I just hope nothing happens to alter this small bit of joy.
We stumbled upon a gnoll campsite today. Everyone tried to keep their distance and were mostly successful in doing so. Miirik, however, started getting more daring with her quest and checked to see if they had captives there. They did, but they weren’t what she was looking for. A few humans and elves. Among them was a bare white kobold that swore out her captors and flung herself around while bound to a pole. Miirik snuck in without telling Vorel to save the humans, elves and white kobold. She was successful...
The humans and elves fled the area.
Once the white captive got ahold of the nearest blade, she took random objects from the campsite, lured each gnoll chasing the former captives away from one another, and stabbed each one to death. She had no qualms for her own deep wounds. Their blood and sudden shrieks of pain were all that mattered to her.
Covered in blood, she was almost as red as me. I saw the terrifying smile she gave Miirik and me before she fell deeper into the overwhelming forest.
We did the right thing saving one of our kind...Right?
We found where Miirik’s sister was. She was brainwashed, wearing a maid outfit of all things, by a powerful human mage named Glazin Chuv to make him otherworldly contraptions for his impenetrable fortress.
Vorel and Miirik tried to negotiate with him to return Vaeri to Miirik, but what he asked of us was an impossible task.
He wanted us to kill a nearby bronze dragon giving him trouble, take its scales, take its treasures, and bring all of them to the mage. They said they would consider the offer.
How could they?!? No matter how good we are, how could we take on a bronze dragon by ourselves? There had to be another way...
There was. I asked around the nearby town about the mage, and of all people, the bartender in the pub told me there was only one way we could could break his specific spell. We had to travel to a nearby ruined crypt and find some ancient words to break the spell. Apparently, the mage owed the bartender some tabs he never paid off, so he wants us to pick up the check for him.
We went to the crypt, fought off the undead there, and found the wall with the words on it. But in front of the wall was a small opening that demanded an “ocular sacrifice to save that which matters most to them”.
“No one look through that hole,” was the first thing I said before anyone else. Although, I guess I didn’t have to.
We decided to test the legitimacy of this mysterious hole by kidnapping an elven bandit and forcing him to look through it.
And what happened next...
A blast of energy burned his left eye in an instant. It almost physically hurt just to watch it happen. He was screaming so loud and fumbling all over the place, we had to pin him down to stop him.
But after the pain left, he saw in his left eye the words to break the spell, before it was nothing but darkness.
‘Mojisconsukai’t’
The bandit’s left eye then turned to stone and fell out of his eye socket.
I would suffer many nightmares a few nights afterwards.
Vorel took a step back.
Aesthyr shrieked at the broken stone eye.
Miirik stared in fascination.
Baeshra picked up a few stone pieces and flung them to the side.
The bandit was left unconscious.
On our way back, I recited the words the bandit told us about before it was destroyed. Such a mysterious phrase that probably has more importance that I will ever know!
To be allowed in, we told the guards we would have to see the mage again to accept his offer. In the meantime, I snuck off to the brainwashed Vaeri and uttered the legendary words.
“Mojisconsukai’t.”
It worked! Vaeri was surprised to see herself in her outfit and in the strange establishment she found herself in. I explained to her we needed to get out as fast as we could to see her sister.
She questioned how I was able to save her. I explained what had happened, and felt a sudden sadness toward the bandit we had forced to suffer. She was shocked, asking why I’d go through so much trouble to save a single soul such as herself. I simply told her that her sister spent months looking for her, and that if I lost one of my own sisters, I’d spend as long searching for them.
“You’d make someone lose an eye for them?” Vaeri asked.
“Not my preferred choice, but if it was me, I’d be more upset if I lost my right eye,” I said, “That’s my favorite.”
Speaking of eyes, I noticed that one of Vaeri’s eyes didn’t always look to where the other one was. The right was actin’ crazy while the left was straight at me. I never brought it up, just thought it was an interesting observation.
And so, Miirik’s quest came to an end. We regrouped at our campsite with smiles about.
I was happy to see Miirik and Vaeri holding each other as close as they did. Kinda makes me miss my own siblings!
Baeshra offered a few words of relief to Vaeri, gave the biggest smile I ever saw, and went back to tending to her weasels.
The two smiths gave me their thanks, but I told them I was only the word giver. Vorel was the one that truly kept Miirik’s quest alive. I told them the only thing they could do was let us return them home safely.
They did more, though! During our time going back, they made some inventions ask thanks for Vorel’s efforts as the party leader.
The first was a custom pair of goggles that protect the wearer from blinding lights and help the wearer see farther.
The second...was an extraordinary contraption! It was a metal gauntlet with a cylindrical opening on the side that shot metal objects from within itself. Good for causing distractions or stunning enemies at close range!
Vorel was absolutely appreciative of their gifts, claiming no one has ever made such amazing contraptions for her before.
It seems they really liked her reactions to their gifts, because near the end of her praising, each of the smiths licked the sides of Vorel’s face and smiled at each other. It looked weird when they did that, as reflected by her immediate reaction.
No one’s ever licked her before, I take it.
Later, Vorel promised to put them to real good use. I would hope so!
It was kinda strange to see Vaeri wear those goggles the entire time before we went back to her clan, but also not. I don’t know how I’d feel about having a wandering eye for everyone to see, so I think I understand. And they were some cool-looking ones, too, like the custom goggles she made for Vorel.
It was a hard day when the smiths returned to their people. We had some crazy adventures with, well, one of them, and their return meant having two less companions. No, three, actually. Baeshra went on her way, too, but she let us keep one of her weasels.
“Don’t let him die on you, ya hear?” She told Vorel.
I remember that odd stare Bash gave me before leaving us for good. I could barely hear the words she uttered and turned around as, “Stay safe, Nuthead.”
So for adventurers, it was just Vorel, Aesthyr, and Netza (Me). I, uh...Aww.
I miss everyone already.
And...Vorel has to go back, too. Doesn’t she?
Sure enough, she did. There was less celebration for Vorel’s return, but she seemed grateful to us for staying with her for as long as we did.
“Now, Aesthyr. It’s all up to you, now. You’ll have to be the master scout. I expect you to excel at your job,” and she turns to me, “And I expect you, Netza the Nuthead, to take her word to heart. No lone runs, no acts of estranged heroism. The usual. After all, no one ‘bold can take on a bear of a world by themselves. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
Then, she gave us the gifts Miirik and Vaeri made for her.
“These should help you two more than me, I think.”
Aesthyr got the custom goggles and I got the custom gauntlet!
I had issues with the leader before, but now? Best leader ever!
Afterwards, Ace and I talked and she pretty much stated that she wasn’t comfortable being the party’s leader, but she didn’t have the heart to tell Vorel that.
So, I was promoted to leader.
Oh.
I asked her what leaders did.
Ace told me what she saw Vorel deal with and it sounded really difficult, but for our sakes, I’ll do my best!
One night, when the dragon man hunter came to visit, we started talking about our families.
I obliged.
“So, there’s Crok, Crepzis and Udisk, my brothers, and Iglo, Lessru, Ersek and Sirguk, my sisters! And my parents, Ned and Deerka! They’re all real swell! I wish I could show them to you if they weren’t so far away.
Oh, but I can’t wait to show them my gauntlet!”
The hunter, smoking his brown pipe, admitted to me that his name was Udovroth Ecauth. I don’t know why I never asked before. He didn’t seem to mind being called ‘hunter’ the whole time, so that might be why. However, that was as far as he went with with discussing his bloodline. Maybe some other time, he said.
We ended up learning more about Aesthyr’s family, too! Her history, was, uh, kinda sad. I now understand why Vorel didn’t want a red kobold like me teasing her about her color and name so much. But despite any of that, I’m glad she’s here with us now!
Morning time!
And so, we were off!
To...Uh...Huh.
Where do we go now?
I didn’t really feel comfortable traveling far without extra company. Ace is the best at what she does, but even she needs support for her weaknesses every now and then. Like me!
Maybe we could...carefully bring new adventurers into our party if they really wanted to join, and if we’re really sure they’re worth bringing in? We don’t want a repeat of last time.
We’ve got a fighter and a ranger.
Let’s try getting people different from those!”
...
“No luck so far.
We’ve met lots of kobolds, but none that see joining us as a worthwhile endeavor.
One male wasn’t convinced we would last even with him in the party.
One female didn’t want a party with other females.
Another male threatened to stick his sap in my left eye if I didn’t let him be.
Another female said she would join, but changed her mind a second later.
Gosh. Before adventuring, I never realized how difficult it was to deal with folks the same kind as me just on a social level. We should keep searching...
Oh, no.
The strangest act of fate somehow dictated we would briefly encounter the elf bandit we forced to help us. He was slumped against a big tree, biting at the slightly burned meat he cooked over his small campfire.
Ace suggested we avoid him. It would be a wise move. Something within me felt pity for the lonesome soul lacking a left eye, but I knew he would try to kill us if he spotted us. So, we let him be.
We were trapped!
For the last week, Ace and I were stuck in an abandoned castle after trying to help a group of kobolds loot it. Our weasel had to wait behind since the group didn’t trust it.
But we were separated due to the unforeseen trickery of the castle walls. The group died to complex traps and lack of organization on their part.
There was a madman watching over us and noting our progress the further we went into the massive castle.
As it turned out, the elf bandit was stuck in here with us. I wasn’t keen on witnessing his end, so I did what I could to help him get past his traps, which I could only assume then that he appreciated.
The craziest point was when Ace was stuck in a small room with a roof descending downward to crush her. The only way to open the door was to lift up the chains on my side. The only problem was that there were two chains and only one of me.
I tried desperately to pull each, but I was not strong enough. Suddenly, the elf bandit appeared from nowhere and pulled the other chain so we could free Ace.
We tried to track the madman responsible for the traps, but he was never found. The most we could do was escape the castle grounds via an underground sewer system connected to his abandoned quarters.
That was one harsh incident.
I never learned the name of that elf bandit. When I asked, he simply shook his head and walked away through the forest.
Today, (Struggling marks) a day after that incident, we were attacked by a small pack of wyverns. We were sure, so sure, that we were safe where we were camping. Far from any (Dropped pen) sign of danger. But our luck wasn’t shining upon us that night.
We attempted to keep them at bay with our bows, but one of them got brave and went straight for Ace. Her bow was des-destroyed trying to stop it from ripping her throat out. When I intervened, I got a few hits in with Crepzis’ sword before it and one of its accomplices attacked me with their stingers. I resisted the pain from them as best as I could, but I wasn’t in (Lighter marks) any shape to keep fighting.
I threw Ace my bow and she was able to kill two of the five wyverns as we made our escape. Our weasel ally was able to distract them, for a short time.
I’m...I’m hurt bad. I don’t know why I’m still writing like this. Ace tells me I need more rest. I know I do, I just...I’ll be there in a min-
It’s all right! I know the stains on the journal say otherwise, but I only collapsed for a few minutes. Ace is literally over my shoulder begging me to drop the pen and rest. I will, I will, I only...Okay, Ace.
I can’t forget Crepzis’ sword! He said he borrowed it from a busy adventurer, so if they ever needed it again...No. Crepzis would never steal from another person! Not from one of our kind. He’s too loyal.
Or, was Crok the loyal one?
Ugh. It’s been too long...
I’m not sure what to do now. We tried getting new companions but aren’t having good luck with that, and without others, traveling for a long period of time with a party of two kobolds and one weasel isn’t a realistic situation that would end well. We couldn’t survive that castle at the end without outside help.
We barely survived those wyverns, and we didn’t even kill most of them.
This was so much easier when we were following Vorel’s lead, someone whom already had combat experience, an explicit goal and returned home upon accomplishing it. But I can’t return now! I’ve been through a lot but don’t have enough to prove for my experiences.
Hmm...
Just need the right adventure. One good one, with no dead companions or overwhelming odds. No, no, it wouldn’t be an adventure unless there were deliberate odds we would need to overcome and be immensely rewarded for.
But...I don’t want to risk losing Ace again, and another dead weasel wouldn’t help anyone but our sad bellies.
What to do...
This is it! We found papers detailing the lost treasure of a renowned human noble known as Beralved Amretryavya.
The amount he was offering for the retrieval of his marked treasure box was astounding to a small party like us!
It took many months, countless rumors, multiple followed trails and too many close encounters for us to procure the location of the marked treasure box.
Luckily, Ace and I got out relatively fine.
Our big weasel, however, sacrificed himself to keep a mercenary leader from tracking us down. He will be missed.
But it was all worth it! Yes!
When we made it to the noble’s esteemed mansion, the guards and other nobles weren’t sure of what to make of us. But they saw that we were returning the box back to the Great Lord Amretryavya, so they left us alone.
The noble was happy, extremely happy, to have his box back, but his praise lasted for no more than 20 seconds, then he gave us our reward and sent us on our way.
I don’t know why, but something inside me told me to inquire what exactly we had returned to him. It wasn’t my business, but it was bugging me the entire time we held onto it.
The noble was happy to oblige to my request, however, and what was inside were multiple complex locks that many had attempted to break through but were not successful. Behind them was a sophisticated-looking box that had contained...Art pieces of barely clad females from multiple races. Beralved was particularly fond of the ones with the odd humans with horns and tails.
Drawings.
We saved drawings.
...Not a precious crown or legendary weapon from olden times, or a book containing lost knowledge, or an important souvenir from his ancestors to hold on to and pass down, or a potion for everlasting life.
It was drawings.
...
We were paid very well for our recent quest, but something about the outcome disappointed me to such a grave extent.
Ace asked me what was wrong. She seemed pretty satisfied about our reward, our adventure.
But I still felt...unfulfilled. The grand adventure I wanted three years ago was nothing close to what I ended up with. Not at all like the stories my siblings shared with me.
I was better than what I once was, but I didn’t feel better. I was richer than I had ever been, but what would I ever do with that money? Share it with my siblings, of course. So, I wouldn’t keep much, anyways. Nor do much with it.
I had met some wonderful companions, but they were all gone a long time ago. They all returned home.
I...I guess I should do the same.
I did as I said I would.
Crepzis got his lucky short sword back. I tried to make it look as good as when he gave it to me. It saved me from a lot of possible deaths. It was the least I could do.
Ace met my family, all of which were glad to meet her. But she said it was time for her to go. Where? I hadn’t asked.
The last time I saw her was by our cave entrance, waving goodbye while Odovroth stood by a nearby tree behind her. Waving at us along with her.
I felt something really strange I hadn’t felt when I saw her leave. Like, I didn’t want her to go. But I couldn’t force her to stay. I had no reason to. None that I could think of right away.
I suppose that’s the end of my tale.
Thanks for being with me to the end, journal.
Oh, that’s right.
The original was destroyed at one point, so I had to start all over and rewrite everything in another one identical to you.
I hope Crok doesn’t notice.
Goodbye.”
