Bandits did eventually make an appearance in my travels. A party of three I met, and a party of three I killed. They were weak, very weak – no doubt inexperienced youths looking for an easy way to earn gold. Winthrop had mentioned that the fist will pay handsomely for bandit scalps, though, so I scalped the bodies and continued on my way.
The remains of two caravans, I encountered, though, and from what I could tell, the guards had been plenty and mighty. These bandits must indeed be dangerous.
Beregost came. Although I had not been here before, I had studied many maps back at Candlekeep, and with little difficulty, I managed to find the thunder hammer smithy. It was the middle of the night however, and the shop was closed, but that only provided me with an opportunity to shop with some extra discount. Unfortunately, I did not find anything of particular value, so I though it best to retire for the night at an inn.
Winthrop may not have been the most wise of people, but he certainly had his contacts, and the innkeeper of the red sheaf of one of these. I could do with some information, and I was told that this man was very good on that front. I entered the establishment, and was immediately met by a rowdy-looking dwarf.
I hurried out into the rain, and hid behind some barrels. The dwarf followed me out, but gave up and returned back to the inn. He had known that I would be there, and he knew that I would still want to go in there… Something was suspicious. Instead, however, I opted to stay in Feldepost’s. Although it took some time to dissuade a drunk fellow from attacking, it was worth it, as I managed to lay my hands on a magical helmet that protects me from magical charms and enticements.
In the morning, I made a stop by the thunder hammer smithy. I bought an ammo belt to store all my arrows, There was a very nice-looking set of thieves’ tools, but they were too expensive – I shall return at a later date. As I made my purchases, I could tell that they were obviously not very pleased with my presence – evidently I shall have to find some way to make them appreciate my presence.
There was a man named Bassilus to the south-west that was the subject of much discussion. Evidently the local townsfolk do not hold much appreciation for the undead – no matter. The bounty on his head is significant, too, and it will be able to buy me much gold. With a new destination, I set off.
I did not get long before I ran into a Drow. She came running towards me, fleeing from a flaming fist. He saw me with her, and attacked. I had no choice but to respond in kind, and before long, a dead flaming fist lay before me.
This was not good: in anyone found out about this, it could be disastrous. The drow would not be any trouble – whatever she said would be dismissed as lies – but I would have to distance myself from this encounter as much as possible. I departed.
Straight into a group of hobgoblins.
This was a proper bandit group: no caravan could withstand a horde of hobgoblins. However, I had some advantages that no caravans had – I could run, and I could hide. Through a combination of these methods, I picked off the hobgoblins one by one.
Some way south from Beregost, I was attacked by a pair of ogrillons. Though their own possessions were not worth much, they were carrying something else. A letter, addressed to a house in Beregost. From what I could tell of the contents, it was from a wealthy man to his wife, and judging from the date, she has not had any news from him in some time. A wealthy man means a wealthy wife, and a wife without ant news means a substantial reward for bringing this to her. I headed back to beregost.
A magical ring I received – more than worth the effort. I stopped off at the jovial juggler for a quick drink before heading to Bassilus, and some more rumors reached my ear. A certain gnome had lost a magical cloak in Cloakwood, and an old school of magic to the east – and old schools of magic mean treasure in my book.
Returning to the trail, I passed by a submerged house and found something very bad. Another group of hobgoblins, but this time with bows. Although most of their arrows glanced off my plate, I was lucky. I was not so lucky with my next attackers: instead of some weak hobgoblins, they were ghasts. Though ghasts can be deadly foes, they are slow-moving, and they did not retain enough intelligence to do anything but shamble towards me until they were physically unable to continue.
After many hours of traveling, many dead hobgoblins and many dead gibberlings, I spotted a creature that I had not seen thus far – a skeleton. This must be because of bassilus. A small child nearby told me about Bassilus – mad, he was, and had raised these skeletons in his madness. I started to pick them off.
However, there were more of them than I had initially thought, and my arrows proved to be rather ineffective – I left. Bassilus would be dealt with later. I retreated to Beregost.
I decided to pay the dwarf in the red sheaf another visit. No doubt he would still be waiting for me, but now I was expecting him. His axe bit deep, but my swords bit deeper. Eventually, bloody and bruised, I emerged victorious. My wounds were deep, by wand was expended, but the damn dwarf was dead.
The barkeeper proved to be as good a resource as Winthrop had promised me. Of the two magical belts, one was revealed to be a cursed belt of gender exchange, yet the innkeeper gave me a hundred gold for it – what he plans, I don’t want to know. The other one appears to have no function, but it belongs to a rich halving former adventurer, who is currently staying at the friendly arm inn. Rich former adventurers give good rewards for their personal items, so that’s where I headed to, after stopping by the temple complex and getting healed.
The journey to the friendly arm inn was mostly uneventful, but as I tried to enter, I was waylaid by a mage.
Although he was a user of the magical arts, he was not a very skilled user, and he soon fell.
Unshey was found upstairs, in her room. I only got seventy gold for my trouble, but in another room, I got my hands on something else. Something much greater than a mere seventy gold.
I stayed the night at the inn, and then headed to Beregost. I had been sent to clear out a house of spiders, but I intended to clear it out of more than that. Besides, I had been offered a large reward for my work.
These were bigger spiders than I had been expecting.
If I had stayed inside, no doubt I would have fallen to them. However, by luring them outside, I took them out of their element. One by one they fell. I returned the possessions to Landrin, and received a reward – not a large one, but not a small one either. I did hear some new rumors, though – there was a carnival in Nashkel. No doubt it would be full of rich nobles who would be too preoccupied to hold onto their gold. I set off for Nashkel.
When I set off, the path was littered with bandits. When I finished, the path was littered with bodies. One by one I had murdered them, leaving their bodies to rot in the sun, only fit for carrion. Each kill I relished, each body brought me joy.
When I arrived in Nashkel, I was looking forward to a visit to the temple and a night in the inn. Instead, I was assaulted by amnish soldiers.
They fought with discipline and skill, forcing me to flee and hide, lest they slay me. It was under this cover of stealth that I made my way to the local temple, for healing. As I did so, I ran into the mayor. Although he did not like me, he was prepared to pay very handsomely for my help in clearing out the mines. As a mayor, he can surely offer a much better reward than what I have been getting recently.
In the temple, I paid for my healing, but also had to part with several hundred gold. Surely this will raise my name – I have learned the value of having a good reputation. Indeed, the finest thieves are the ones that are not even known as thieves. I will take special care in the future to appear to be an upstanding member of society.
At the inn, there was another bounty hunter after me. They are working beneath the law, that is for sure. The most likely suspect is the armored figure that slew Gorion. Evidently, I have been caught up in the problems that led to his death. Damn the fool.
As I set off for the mines, I ran into a large man, who appeared to organize various forms of bounty. He misidentified me as one greywolf, and offered me two hundred coins. I was sorely tempted to take them, but I knew that I would be operating out of here for a while, and this was one bridge I could not afford to burn. He told me a tale of an artist turned gem thief, who had taken some emeralds and had run south. South was where I was going: I would have to look out for him.
By the banks of the river, I found someone who claimed to have stolen some herbs and poisons before he died. Poisons are always useful to one such as me, so I followed his tracks, staying wary of any dangers. I was very surprised to find a herbalist guarded by a rock golem. Her wares were interesting and she could even brew the herbs I had into new potions. My money was rather short after my stay at the temple, so I had to leave, but I did promise to come back when I was richer.
Nearby the mines, I found the man I was looking for. He was indeed a skilled artist: the very rock itself had been carved into the shape of a female face. He was still working furiously. I knew he had the emeralds, but I did not know whether they were on him or secreted somewhere else, so I humored him and promised to stand guard. As I did so, we were joined by none other than greywolf. Although he was a large fellow, I valued those emeralds highly, so I refused to let greywolf kill him. In the end, it came to blows.
He certainly lived up to his reputation as a fearsome bounty hunter. Our fight was a long and bloody one, and his magical sword bit deep. However, my blows continued regardless and he fell eventually. Prism died shortly afterwards, but from exhaustion rather than dismemberment. A quick search of his body revealed the emeralds. Of course, Oublek would not see them – three hundred gold, he offered me, whereas I knew I could get over a thousand elsewhere.
Edited by Ed boy, 12 August 2010 - 09:18 PM.
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