A Well Used Journal wrote:Uktar 1, 1381
I've been on patrols since I lost the girl. Trying to rebuild my standing; shaking hands, smiling at the people who can look me in the eye. It's not easy, and I don't blame them for hating me. The girl's dead and that's on me.
They still let me join the patrols. Did some scouting work for the captain; sounds like orcs to the south, still kobolds to the north. It's enough to pay for better armor, anyway.
Uktar 2, 1381
The oracle seems to have come around, or got worried enough that she's willing to talk to me without coming around first. She asked me about the kobolds I fought while trying to get Westra back. Sounds like she's looking for a really big red one. I said I hadn't; she sent me up to talk to the kobolds about it.
They were bloody terrified to see me. Maybe the gods reminding me of what I've done; maybe the oracle knew it would be a reminder. But we conversed this time-- he sent me to a cave, east of their home, where I found nothing. Apparently it was supposed to be a trap, but I managed to not rip the kobold's tongue out for that. He spat out the truth, that the kobolds had adventurers that we had to worry about, and the ones I was looking for were about, with elementals under their command. Hells if I know how, but that turned into work for me, skulking about the plains in search of kobold adventurers, until a goblin put a few darts in me.
He's in worse shape, but I'm writing this in a bed, after the nice eastern girl patched me up again.
Uktar 3, 1381
Fat lot of good the scouting was. Once I'm ready to give up, come back to Sir Ssil, and he tells me that there's a kobold and a fire elemental just on the road. Being a kobold and a fire elemental. It was slow, or I was fast, or I was lucky, or some combination-- but the elemental went down fast, without leaving too many burns on me. Brought a healing ring with me this time, which was enough to keep me going.
But the kobolds seemed to have a plan. After that one was down, I was up to a beach to catch a bunch of them on little boats trying to land. I had axes, and the path was narrow; that was a blessing. But the fight was long and bloody, and I was in no shape to continue at the end.
Uktar 5, 1381
The oracle took a look at some garbage I picked up from the beach, and told me that I'd missed one-- the one with the wind elemental had dodged south, and I was to follow. And so I did, a long march by her directions, and a rough fight with living wind-- it didn't bleed, but I could cut it somehow. Its master sounded like a pig, but the bugger shot some sort of magic in my eyes.
It was the same to Gullykin, tracking and fighting living stone this time. I walked the trip twice; seems that I was supposed to make sure the town was doing well before coming back. Paladins. I'll get used to working for them, I'm sure.
Uktar 6, 1381
Fourth elemental today, but it was a proper hell. Stepped over the corpse of another who had plans like mine to get to the water beast. It was easy enough to lure it out of the flooded parts, but it hit hard; was most of my potions to keep upright, and the master hid in some sort of awful labyrinth. Every hall looks the same, except they're not. Some of them shoot arrows.
I dragged a trail of red back to the temple. Again in the care of people who are too nice to me.
Had a dream that I tried to explain my mistake to Westra. I sounded like an idiot.
Uktar 8, 1381
Ssilintarsk tells me that none of the creatures I killed was the one we wanted, so I'm back into the plains, tracking. Must've been a bad day, or a bad time of day. I lost count of how many goblins and gibberlings I had to fight to get about. And some awful naked woman screaming in a language I don't understand; she was easy to hit, but there was some strange business with her skin that made steel not cut right. I was a bit haggard by the time I finally started finding things belonging to the critter, and so I brought them back so the oracle could magic out some information.
Uktak 9, 1381
Super spoiler; extra risk of accidental metagaming:
The oracle sent me to a cave to find big red; said he was writing a message, and he was. It was a challenge a proper duel, on the beach where I butchered his allies. Doglizard honor, I suppose. But I went, and found an ambush; some exceptionally-sturdy kobold took up my post when I fought the landing, and held me in for entirely too long. But I'm writing and he isn't.
Doglizard honor, I suppose.
But after that, Sir Ssil had better luck than me; he'd sent his knights out to chase off big red's entourage, and I was to run out and handle the big one himself. After what he'd put me through, I was feeling myself drifting back to the fury before, but I contained it somehow. It was a very typical fight when we finally met; he threw himself on my shield, frothing and swinging like mad, until he tired out, and I opened up his hamstrings, and then his neck.
And it seems to have earned me a little bit of that lost respect, and they paid me in magic again. They had a few things; I picked a ring that they said keeps evil out of your head. Sounds like something I could use.