After the fight of the previous day on the Elven Market, Syrx, Balor,
the Half-giant and Cenedra visit the endangered noble...
First of all, allow me to apologize for any ommissions in this diary. It
isn't easy to write without being noticed while travelling with a caravan,
and even harder in a company of four. But let me start at the beginning. We went to the noble, whose name I by now have forgotten. We explained
what had happened on the market, that we were attacked and that it seemed
to be an attempt on his life, since I found a paper with his symbol on it.
Syrx asked him if he had trouble before, perhaps this was one in a series
of many. The noble said there hadn't been anything out of the ordinary,
only that he had trouble getting any shipment of goods through to Nibenay in
one piece. Since we'd already showed great fighting skills, as the foolish
noble thought, he asked us to guard the next caravan heading for
Nibenay. I thought to myself, "Not in a million nows to come !". Unfortunately,
I seemed to stand alone in this. I reluctantly agreed, at least it would
mean a chance to once more run as free as an elf, the hot desert sand
tingling under my feet, taking the mightiest of opponents, the sun,
straight on and when I would loose the fight, the chance to retire
myself to the merciful shades of the caravan wagons. Syrx concluded by saying we had to be on our way, and we left with the
promise of returning the next. We made our way towards the Elven Market,
where our duty started. Though I knew almost every stall had something
to hide from the law, I didn't notice anything. I had been trained in the
mysterious ways of thieves and mages, but not those of half-legitemate
merchants. At one stall I examined the contents closer. The elf was selling
waterskins, a common practice around here since waterskins sometimes get
holes in them. I looked around very carefully. It wouldn't surprise me to
find an elf with an obsidian knife putting those holes in. Then again,
finding that elf would surprise me... By now, I had been so impressed by the Half-giant, I decided to test him.
A common practice among elves, but a fairly closely kept secret. I dropped
half my money where he couldn't fail to notice. In the mean time, I acted
as innocent as a little kitten. He made no reaction whatsoever. He didn't
even try to secretly take the money, which was quite a dissappointment,
since that would have undoubtedly proved his unthrustworthiness. But he did
nothing. I got extremely mad at him, because my test had failed. He should
have failed or passed the test, but no, this huge lump of meat made my test
fail. This wouldn't be lightly forgotten ! Although I looked as closely and carefully as I could, I found nothing.
This made me even sourer. I had been outsmarted by a bunch of elves, who,
by the sun, dwelled inside a city ! Yuck ! We returned to the barracks, where the Half-giant practiced his fighting
skills against Balor. To underline their stupidity, they had to fight with
their own weapons -- consequently injuring eachother, though they both
looked like they would live. Good, because I wasn't done with that
Half-giant ! Syrx, who had watched the fight as well, came to me and asked
me to practice a bit against him. I agreed, but only with blunt swords, I
said. Our commander was able to provide these, after which we engaged in
fatigueing training, while we didn't hurt eachother. As it became night, Syrx walked up to me and said he felt like "checking in"
on the noble. I had heard Syrx play the flute, and the thought crossed my
mind that he might be a bard -- one of those thieves who can turn to
amusement for distraction or feeding. Anyway, remembering the entourage of
the noble, where plenty could be taken away without being noticed, I agreed
readily. We sneaked out of the barracks. After a couple of blocks, a hissing sound
came from around a corner. Syrx and I jumped to a wall. Syrx peeked around
the corner, as did I. Several large spiders came towards us. To get to the
noble, we had to fight them. I knew my fighting skills to be below average,
and Syrx didn't look half as decent a fighter as Balor, the mul, seemed.
So we sprinted back and turned to bed to rest for the next day.
The rest of the team seemed more occuppied with lazying in the sun than
performing their duty. Although it didn't feel correct to have to try to
catch outlaws instead of joining them, there was a job to be done and I
felt compelled to do it as good as I could. Which was lousy.