Dear Diary,
It has been a tumultuous couple of weeks. It started horribly when my village was destroyed while I was running errands for Hammond, my Halfling employer. Hammond and I were part of a program to develop closer ties between the village of Green Shire and my Goblin village of Gronsh. It was on 4 days of leave from working for Hammond as a locksmith that I discovered my beloved home and family were destroyed. My village was slaughtered to the man, not even children survived. The homes of my clansmen were nothing but warm ashes. I laid the villagers out side by side, and burned their corpses letting their spirits return to whatever god they worshiped.
I managed to wander back to Green Shire in a daze, and I took some vegetables from the fields as my first meal in days. I was seen, of course, and being a communal field if you do not work you do not eat. I was summoned before the Magistrate, and I was reminded of the rules of the village. I was told I was required to help Crazy Tom, the merchant, deliver goods to the next town as penance for my action.
Lot of fun that turned out to be. Stuck on a cart with an elf woman, an old man and his half orc son, a loopy forest gnome, a dour dwarf, some guard, and, of course, Crazy Tom who got deathly ill soon after we left. We traveled for 1.5 days only to find that the town we were headed to was raided and looted. The guard stayed behind to try to find survivors while we turned and went back to Green Shire. Yup, as is my lot, another 1.5 days to discover that Green Shire had just been attacked, we could still see the raiders ship tied up offshore.
We wanted to see if we could grab any possessions that might still be left in town before we headed out with Tom to a large Elven town a couple days away. Green Shire was pretty well looted. All of the corpses were piled up in the town square. We saw two raiders watching the everything burn. We almost had a fight on our hands when one of the raiders headed our way, but the loopy gnome distracted him and we were able to escape and sneak off with Crazy Tom and his wagon.
Crazy Tom was an adventure. His fever finally broke while we were crossing a small river. Crazy Tom did not take well to the news that his family was piled with the rest of the villagers center of Green Shire. I am not really sure what his problem was, but he went all crazy on us and jumped off the wagon, cleared the bridge, and landed in the river far below. Good riddance, one less mouth to feed. Apparently the human and his half orc took affront to Crazy Tom's swan dive, and they went after him. The half orc dove in and pulled Crazy Tom back to shore. I am not sure what happened, but they seem to have driven the crazy from Crazy Tom...what a shame that was.
We camped that night and were set upon by hungry wolves seeking an easy meal, I guess. But, I showed them a thing or two. While the rest of the everyone else was setting fire to the surrounding area, and for some reason the dwarf, I was busy cracking wolf skulls with my handy crowbar, Wolf's Bane. The fight was short and sweet, but since the whole damned place was aflame, we had to hurriedly pack and get back on the road.
Other then meeting and having to camp with some Elven Warders, the rest of the trip was uneventful. We finally made it to the Elven City, Tamarael Sanguine. Homeless, jobless, and pennyless, Crazy Tom set us up at The Knights' Shade Inn for the evening and bid us farewell. It seems he wanted to go back to Green Shire to die. Good riddance, I say.
The next day we all wandered around looking for work. I managed to snag some work with a locksmith, Tom Moore. Odd fellow he is, though, keeps his earnings in an unlocked box. He did loan me a set of lock picks to use while I was in his employ, fine upright gentlemen that he is.
The next day or two was a blur of work and sleep, nothing exciting in the attacked-by-wolves sort of way. Until, on the third day in town, one of my companions was offered a job. The job was simple. We were to retrieve a book for a very large well dressed man I call Fatty McFatterson. Fatty was unable to get it due to a rat infestation, large rats as it turned out. So, we go down and smash a couple rats. Wolf's Bane was not liking having to hit vermin, not one bit. Maybe, it was just the fact that my companions seemed intent to burn stuff again. Rats smell nasty when they go up in floury flames. We finally manged to find the book behind a locked door. Wolf's Bane's disdaine for vermin seems to have affected my lockpicking skill, as I had to resort to asking Fatty McFatterson for the key. Luckily, he had it on him, and the books were his. He gave us a book, some dumb book of magic that didn't reveal its secrets to me. Not sure who has it now, probably that big lug of a half orc.
I went back in after we turned in the book and managed to drag all the dead rats outside of town. Took me a bit of work, but I managed to turn one of the skulls into a helmet. Its a bit large for a hat, but great as a helmet, I am actually able to use the rats eyes holes to look out of. With my new helmet and a rat teeth necklace I strung together, I am now a fearsome goblin sight.
Well i think I'd better turn in, long day ahead of me.
