| Toefur Burfoot: | ||
Fun Quotes:
Toefur: "But how do you know if someone is
lying?"
Jondo: "Sometimes you roll the dice and you just get a
feeling"
DM Notes:
Quinar:
O ur Story:
entered the city gates and wandered past the stables and guild halls. As I wandered through this marvelous city, I tried to decide where to find someone that could help me understand how to help a talking sheep. It would have to be somebody very wise, like a priest (I heard of two temples in the city) or... a librarian! Yes, they know everything, surrounded by all those wonderful books! Perfect. I was so excited that I nearly missed a large human until I nearly knocked him over. He seemed a likeable sort, and apologized for not noticeing me.
"Not to worry," I replied, "You would be surprised at how often people overlook me."
"Yes, I am sure." He said, bending over to see me better.
"You look like you know your way around here. Would you now where the library is?" I queried.
"Why, yes, I do. As a matter of fact I should find out some information about Goblins... since it seems I will have to deal with some. Why don't I take you there myself?"
"You are so very kind. I am Toefur Burfoot." I responded, shaking his hand
"Jondo." He answered in a friendly tone.
"I am sorry to hear about those goblins." I stated as we started off towards the Library. "Nasty creatures, those. I have run across them more times than I care to. In fact, they are the reason I no longer have a job. They have been attacking all the flocks in the area. Even tried to get mine a few times, but I ran them off. You know they are awfully stupid, anyway, All the raids have absolutely ruined the livestock business here and I got laid off just this week. That is why I am here instead of in the fields. I need to find out about talking sheep. You see--
I noticed the human had stopped and turned to walk back to him. "Did you say talking sheep?" He asked.
"Why yes. That is why I came here. I have only seen one in all my years of working with sheep and she said to come here, so I thought a librarian might know something useful about them." I answered
"Oh, Well I am afraid I have never heard of a talking sheep, either, but the library should have information about a lot of things. Maybe they know about talking sheep, too..." Jondo said quietly and we continued on towards the library.
At the library we met a very official-looking man sitting at a table, reading a large book. It must be important because he didn't even notice us walking up to him. I climbed up on the chair next to him to see what he was reading, but could not understand much of what it said. The man suddenly jumped and asked me what I wanted. I introduced myself and he said his name was Vexnyr. I asked him about talking sheep and he just stared at me. Perhaps he didn't hear me, so I asked where I might find someone that knew about talking sheep. Jondo probably figured he was hard of hearing, too. He spoke very loudly and said that I had an encounter with a talking sheep and wanted to find a book that might shed some light on it. As we stood there, another man waked up and asked if he could help, stating that Vexnyr had a lot of reshelving to do.
Vexnyr closed the book he had been reading and hurried off towards the bookshelves. We explained once again that I had had an encounter with a talking sheep and would like information about it. This man said he had never heard of a talking sheep before, but suggested two sections of books, one about magical creatures (which would include talking animals)and one on mundane animals (which included sheep).
Jondo said he wanted information about Goblins and was directed to another section of the library. We thanked him, I thanked Jondo for helping me find the library, and we headed off to find our information.
Unfortunately, most of the books here were written in some language (it certainly wasn't common as I learned it) that I only understood half of. I found several incorrect entries about sheep breeding times and disease treatment, though. I grabbed these and a few other promising-looking books and headed down to find that nice man again and see if anyone could help me understand the texts.
Halfway down the last flight of stairs, I lost my balance and the entire stack of books scattered accross the stairs. Vexnyr and the other man quickly came to help me pick the books up again. "Thank you so much. I don't know how that happened." I answered. "I looked through a lots of these books -- oh, those ones over there should be corrected. They have some blatantly faulty information about livestock care -- anyway, I tried to read through these books and they must be written in some other language because I didn't understand half of what they said. I hoped someone could help translate them for me."
Vexnyr carried off a stack of books and the other man sat next to me. "You wanted information about talking sheep, right? Hm, I think you may be looking in the wrong place. You might want to talk to the priests of Martus."
"Do they talk to sheep?" I asked "Well, not exactly. Martus is the God of healing and his priests work to cure maladies of every kind." He replied.
I was a bit confused for a moment. "Oh, you think the sheep was sick and needed healing. That would certainly be a good reason for one to start talking when they never did before."
"Um, ok, sure, the sheep could use some healing." He said slowly. "I really think you should talk to the priests of Martus. Tell them I sent you to help you with your talking sheep issue."
"Oh, Thank you! I will go right now!"
"You should hurry, it is almost sundown and they will be closing up the temple for the evening. It is just down this road." He said as I ran out of the library
I ran off to the temple of Martus to see if they thought the sheep needed healing.On the way Jondo caught up with me. He picked up a couple friends somewhere. A Dwarf and a very skinny man. I introduced my self to the dwarf, but the other man seemed busy and kept a little behind. Probably tired from running.
We reached the Temple of Martus just as the were closing the door. I yelled to them to wait. They asked if it was an emergency and I assured them that it was. When we got inside a very nice man in a long robe (I wonder if robes are required for educated people) asked what the emergency was. I told him how the nice man in the library said that the talking sheep that I saw might have done so because it needed healing and that he recommended I talk to the priest at the Temple of Martus. The priest stood quietly for a bit.
Jondo said that he thought the librarian said I might have mistaken what I saw and he must have had something in his eye cause he started blinking it. I responded that I didn't see how I could mistake a talking sheep when it was only a couple feet away from me. The priest must have gotten something in his eye, too because he started blinking at Jondo, too. He said he understood, though, so he must have realized how important it was to find out what the sheep wanted. He asked me to tell him what happened. I described the encounter, at which point the priest looked thoughtful again. He said that Martus is the god of healing, but that he doesn't usually work much with animals, so if the sheep needed help it would usually fall under the domain of Adara.
I had heard that name before, but was not familiar with it, so I asked him if there was a temple for her nearby. He said that there was not and that my companion, the elf, would know more than he did. I was a bit confused until I looked closer at the skinny man with Jondo. "You are a real elf?!"
"Yes," he replied, "my name is Quinar"
"Can you tell me about Adara and where a temple is?" I asked.
"Adara is the Goddess of animals and plants. Her temple is far to the North in my homeland. I suppose I could take you there if you prove yourself worthy."
"Oh, That would be wonderful! When can we go?"
Jondo broke in at this point and mentioned that he had to take care of a building project that was interrupted by a band of goblins. Then Hanks, the dwarf needed some help avenging himself on some kobolds. "After that, I suppose we could go check out the elven lands, though." He concluded.
"That sounds great!" I responded. "When do we leave?"
"We need some equipment before we go, Where is the nearest equipment shop?" queried Hanks.
"Trader Jovic's is just down the road a bit. We should get some provisions and a good night's sleep... I can stay with the guild, but The Traveler's Inn is that way, too, if you would like a place to sleep.
So we headed to Trader Jovic's. I had never been to such a place before. There was stuff all over, armor, weapons I had never dreamed of, tools of every kind. The others bought some stuff while I walked along the isles, amazed that one person could have so much stuff. Jovic asked me if I would like anything.
"Well, we are going to fight goblins. Normally I wouldn't bother, but then they usually only come in small groups when they try to steal sheep. I suppose that since we are so few and since there will be many more goblins, I should have more protection than just this coat. Do you have any of these things in a little smaller size?" I said, pointing at the armor rack.
"Excellent idea, young man! I have some that would fit you perfectly in the back, can I interest you in a nice chainmail shirt or maybe a set of plate armor?"
"Well, that looks pretty heavy, how am I supposed to run or throw my spear with something like that? Kind of silly, I think. What about this stiff hide stuff. That looks pretty decent"
"You have good taste. I have just the thing over here." And he did. It was a wonderfully made outfit. Hinges in just the right place to let me roll and throw. "How about some weapons?" Jovic Offered.
"I have my spear right here. I wouldn't know what to do with all those things." I responded.
"Well then, perhaps a second spear, in case you need to throw that one."
"Yes, that would be nice! I will take another spear. I don't have much to trade for this, but I do have some money..."
"Money would do wonderfully." Said Jovic. "16 Gold Pieces should cover it."
"Is that a good price?" I asked.
"A good price? If you would like to pay more, you can."
Jondo jumped in here and replied that we might receive a discount sice the armor was auch a smaller size than the regular items.
"Well, that is true," answered Jovic, "but the workmanship is superb and with all the raids in the area, business has not been as good as it once was. My It is all I can do to keep my children fed. But I could possibly bring it down to 14 if that would be more affordable to you."
"That is very nice. Here is the 14 Gold Pieces." I replied. "And here are a couple for your children. We can't have them worrying about raids that they can do nothing about."
I think Jondo was happy about the idea, too because he sighed very loudly.
We went to another shop that had every kind of food you can imagine! I have never been very picky about my food, though, so I just bought some trail rations and a water skin. It would be nice to not have to trap rarbbits before dinner every night, though.
We went to the Traveler's Inn and Hanks and I reserved a place in the common room. I felt a little guilty wasting money on a cot when there were perfectly good places to rest just outside the city, but we would be leaving early, so I figured it would be best to stick together and avoid looking for each other in the morning. I guess Quinar was shy because he requested a room. Luckily, the Innkeeper had one person that had reserved a room and not shown up, so Quinar was able to use it. I had a wonderful bowl of stew and some delicious mead in the Inn. Too much more of this and I would really get spoiled. The young lady that brought it to me was so friendly and kind. She came right up to me as soon as I sat down. I was amazed at how well she moved through the crowded room, even with her arms full of platters. She must have been tired because she sat on peoples' laps from time to time. I noticed that people left extra on the table when they left, so I figured I would do the same. I didn't know how much was appropriate, so I left her a gold piece. I returned to the common sleeping area and settled into my cot. There were a few people already sleeping and some stumbled in later, but all in all I had a good night's rest.
We left early the next morning and took the road towards the bridge that Jondo had been working on. I noticed along the way that Quinar had a pet cat. He must have liked it a lot because he kept talking to it. The strange thing is that he seemed to listen, as well. Well, we set up camp for the night and took turns watching for trouble. I guess Quinar must have slept very well at the Inn because he was already awake when I went over to wake him for his shift. He was just sitting and staring into the darkness. Maybe he was praying.
Well, we got pretty close to where Jondo had his trouble with the goblins and noticed a barricade across the road. Quinar had an ingenious idea of pretending to be goblins and catching them off guard. We started to investigate the barricade, when I saw an arrow fly towards me. I instantly jumped away and ducked behind a rock, calling to the others and pointing where it came from. Quinar, who suddenly looked very Goblinish, called out in Goblin language for the shoteor to stop. All those years of chasing Goblins away from the sheep was really paying off now.
"Who you?!" the goblin replied.
"Me Big Boss, where your boss? And why you shoot at me?" Quinar shouted back.
I could see the shooter now and he tried to move to a better viewing point. "You not Big Boss, You with those guys. They not Goblin! I just do my job and get money from big men that try to use road."
"Yoo Stoopid?!" Quinar retorded. "Me Big Boss's Boss. They my prisoners. Put down bow and come down here."
"Where other guy?" The goblin said.
I figured he meant me, so I piped up in Goblin, "Yoo better listen to Big Boss or bad stuff happen. He get angry and yoo no like what he do!"
The poor sap was too confused to decide. "I go ask boss you wait here." He said, and started to turn away. Hanks let loose an arrow and the Goblin screamed. He picked up his bow and shot at the elf. Quinar shot off some kind of energy into the woods, but must have been interrupted by the arrow because he just hit some rocks, from what I could tell. He dropped to the ground as the goblin scout started to run away.
I knew we would be in trouble if he brought reinforcements, so when he stood up, I let loose a spear and skewered him to the spot. I recovered my spead and looked around and didn't see anything else. I returned to the other three and found them trying to help the elf, who lay unconscious on the ground. They obviously didn't know what they were doing. They managed to get the arrow out, but their efforts caused more harm than good. I was used to bandaging up small wounds from wolf or bear encounters while watching the sheep, so I moved in to see what I could to do help.
Suddenly as my hands reached out to look at the arrow wound, a light flared up around it. As I watched, the stopped bleeding and wound closed of its own accord. I yelped and backed up to a rock. Quinar started stirring as i stared at my hands, wondering what had just happened. Jondo and Hanks murmered about the miracle htey had just seen, but Quinar was more interested in figuring what to do about the rest of the goblins.
I finally decided that it must be an elf thing and that I would find out more when we got to the elven lands. I shrugged and returned to the discussions about dealing with the goblins. Jondo said he thought there were 8 or 10 goblins, so we figured we had nine left. We decided to go ahead with our idea of impersonating the goblins and to use that to draw them others off one or two at a time. Quinar said he was pretty good at disguising people and I had to agree, considering how well he fooled that first goblin guard. I put on the armor from the first goblin to help keep up the appearance. Quinar said his cat had found the camp about half an hour away (no wonder the priest said he could help me find out about talking sheep, he talks to cats!) Elves seemed to be full of surprises!
When my costume and quinar's were complete we had Hanks hide and set up a mock battle between Quinar (goblin) and Jondo. I went off to the camp to get a couple goblins. When I got near, I saw ten goblins, one of which was much bigger and had better armor. I yelled out in Goblin, "Hey, whose turn to watch?"
The big one said, "What yoo do two here. Yoo supposed to stay all night!"
"Other guy run off." I responded.
"Where he go?"
"Don't know, he say he have to take leek and not come back. I think he drunk somewhere." I was rather proud of my quick thinking at this point.
"Damn useless grunts! You and you go back to barricade and stay all night! Now!" the big goblin yelled at two others, who grumbled and started heading my way. I stayed a little way to the side and let them pass.
"Hey! Yoo come too! We no take your watch!" One of the two said, so I started to follow, looking as sullen as possible so they could not get a good look at my face. When we got near the barricade, we heard the sound of fighting. Coming around the corner, we saw what apeared to be a goblin fighting a human.
I yelled out before they had a chance to look too closely, "He hurting other guard. go get him!" They did and as they started to run away, I impaled one with my spear. The other ran straight for Jondo and delivered a crushing blow with his sword. Jondo fell to the ground as Quinar and Hanks turned on the goblin and killed him.
I looked at Jondo and he looked pretty bad. I was able to stop the bleeding, but without the elf's ability to heal himself, Jondo would take a few days before he could walk.
Now we were in trouble. We had managed to get rid of three or maybe four goblins, but there were still eight more back at camp. How in the world could we get rid of them all with only three remaining guys?! Then I had an idea. When we have a pack of wolves aftee our sheep, we set traps it usually kills or scares off the wolves. Now goblins are a bit smarter than wolves (a little, at least) but I should be able to rig something to at least slow them down so Quinar and Hanks could take them out with bows.
We moved Jondo up the other side of the ravine so he would not be in the middle of the battle. I worked all night and managed to rig up a couple large boulders that would tumble down the side of the ravine when released. We put the bodies of the three goblins at the bottom of the slope to draw the morning shift in to investigate. Hanks hid behind them with his hands on the triggering ropes, Quinar stood watch while I took a short nap. The next think I knew, Quinar was on the other side of the trap (he had forgotten to wake me) yelling at four goblins to hurry after the ppl that killed his three "companions". The leader of the group yelled back "How many?"
Quinar said, "Four humans. Hurry they get away!"
"That many we should get more help!" Said the leader.
"No, coward! They get away, hurry!" Quinar coaxed them.
The leader and two others walked around the barricade and stopped to look at the fallen goblins. Hanks let loose the boulders and the trap was spring. Two goblins were pulverised while the other received a glancing blow from the second. Quinar ran back and finished him off. I noticed that the last one turned to run for the camp, though. I ran after him, but could not catch him so I tried a desparate throw with my spear. I barely missed the goblin as he disapeared back into the woods.
Well we had all of a half an hour to get ready for five angry goblins to attack. We couldn't run unless we left Jondo behind to the goblins' mercy. We didn't have much chance in a frontal attack. We didn't have enough time for any traps more complicated than a few trip wires. So I set a couple of those to at least slow the goblins down and settled in with my spear and a bonfiscated bow to wait. Quinar had other ideas, though. I don't know how he did it, but as we watched him, he gradually changed into some monster shaped like a huge ball with a large mouth, one giant eye and dozens of tentacles waving around. If I hadn't watched him myself, I would not have believed it. He climbed up onto a large boulder and looked almost like he was floating in the air. The goblins rounded the corner and stopped short. They looked open-mouthed at the beast in front of them. Quinar yelled something about feeding on fresh blood and all five turned tail and ran at full speed back towards their camp. Quinar said his cat followed them, that they grabbed a large chest and ran for the hills, never looking back.
It would have been nice to know what they had in that chest, but we had more important things to think about. Jondo was doing poorly, so we fashioned a litter and half-dragged him back towards town. After a couple days he could sit up and then limp along with some help. We told him about chasing off the goblins and he was impressed. Quinar said he buried Jondo's friends' bodies, but he must have done that while I was looking after Jondo, because I didn't know anything about that.
We got back to Jordia and Jondo reported that the goblins were no longer a problem. He received a reward, which he graciously split with us and we went to the tavern for a drink to celebrate surviving our first adventure together.
Introduction - Entrance to Jordia - Spider Bait - Valiant Death - The Ravine - Women and Children - The Paladin - Parting Ways - Ogre Problems - Undead Battle
