View source for Nell's diary

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This is the diary as written by Nell.
She is writing it as an exercise in learning to read and write.

[[#end|To End]]

== First entry ==

Hello diary.

I am to write here to learn how to write. Velicia will help me write,
when needed.


== The big feast ==

Today a lot happened.

I was at the big feast that the whole town have been preparing for for a 
long time. I went there with Velicia. There were lots of food. There were 
three tables filled with the best from each of the inns. I liked the Rusty 
Dragon best, even though it was quite spicy. Loads of butterflies were 
released, flying around everywhere. I was eating when mayor Kendra Deverin 
stood up and talked about something. Then the sheriff Belor Hemlock said 
boring stuff and Cyrdak Drokkus talked about his new play. I think I will 
make sure I get invited to see that. Then Father Abstalar Zantus was just 
about to speak even more, when <Name> wanted to go look at the bonfire. 
Or the pile that would become the big fire. I grabbed some more salmon 
and followed her. The salmon was really good. I wonder how its done. 
I've never been a good cook. <Name> said something was stirring somewhere 
towards the gate and we was just going that way when lots and lots of 
goblins poured in towards the central square where the feast was held. 

There were one riding a dog and others singing a silly song.
Velicia rushed ahead and threw some of her magic, powerful great magic, 
at them and several fell to the ground. I loaded my sling with several 
stones and hit many with my barrage of stones, blinding one temporary. 
I ran up to a goblin and made a move I've often used when in trouble.
I showed plenty of thigh and stabbed with the dagger. Even if it worked
I was a little put off as the goblin rather looked hungry when looking at
my thigh. There followed a big melee where I felled goblin after goblin 
saving many of the villagers. Some of the people living here also fought 
with us. There were Nathaniel Deverin who I have met before. He is a 
nobleman from one of the four noble families here, but after today I 
think he's nice anyway. Also there were a strange looking rhenne called 
Dorothea Caiphon who used magic and a female satyr called Honeypot who 
helped us fighting the goblins while playing the flute. We killed most 
of the goblins and a few fled.

== The boneyard ==

We were very proud when the sheriff told us that he had seen how good we 
were and asked us to check the gate. When we got there there were some 
commotion in the boneyard. I snuck in but they noticed me, so I threw a 
bullet at the bigger goblin with my sling. Velicia waved her fan at a group 
of goblins and almost all flew away. I hit it again with my sling and 
then stabbed it with my dagger. The others ran up to a group of goblins 
trying to protect others of them around a ladder raised to the wall. 
Several goblins suddenly surrounded me. They hit me from all over and I 
just barely got out before I got really hurt. Honeypot played some really 
refreshing tune and I attacked again. Soon most of the goblins were dead.

The goblins were dragging a sack from the cemetery and Velicia used her magic
to suddenly appear on top of the wall where the goblins were trying to climb
ladders to get away with the sack. She stopped them, blowing and burning them 
with her mighty magic. Then Nathaniel really showed what he could do. He ran 
up to the ladder and killed the big awful goblin dog that were chewing on 
Honeypot and continued up the ladder and skewered the goblin leader with his 
rapier helping Velicia. Then he climbed down and retrieved the sack back up to 
the wall. He dumped it down the ladder right in front of me, and pulled up 
the ladder on the outside of the wall. I peeked in the sack and it contained 
the remains of some dead body.

From the wall the others said that there came lots and lots of more goblins
demanding to get the sack. Honeypot faked another sack ad threw it to them.
I went looking for if there were any open grave the body could come from and 
found one. It was marked cleric Ezakien Tobyn. Nathaniel went to talk to the 
guards by the gate and I ran back to the square and told the sheriff. He was 
busy  but said they were handling most of the goblins now that we had broken 
their attack. I went back and saw them throwing a live goblin over the wall. 
Strange. That fall would probably not even kill it.

== The white deer ==

I told them how things were and we brought the ladders and the remains of the 
body to the guards at the gate and went back to town to help cleaning up the
last goblins. When we were nearing The White Deer, there were a really big 
goblin riding the biggest, meanest goblin dog so far attacking a dog while a
man was trying to fend for himself a few yards further away. I put a bullet
straight in the chest of the goblin. Nathaniel charged a goblin and split it 
in two in a mighty blow. Velicia ran up to the riding goblin leader and used 
her incredible magic. Nathaniel joining in too. Dorothea and Honeypot used 
their magic on other smaller but still very tough goblins. Those threw 
javelins at us hitting with several. Nathaniel was pierced by one and fell to 
the ground bleeding. Honeypot ran up to him reviving him and killed the leader
goblin. I moved up to the awful, monstrous dog sure to kill the poor man trying 
desperately to defend himself, and hit it well with my dagger forcing it into
Velicias impressive magic dancing dagger swarm, slicing it to shreds, thus 
surely saving the mans life. It turned out to be Aldern Foxglove who is a 
nobleman passing through town, I've seen partying at an inn earlier. You can 
never trust noblemen, perhaps except Nathaniel who seems to be nice.

Now I will go to bed. It's already late. Good night.

== The day after ==

I hurt a little all over this morning when I woke up after the big fight.
We took it easy and hung around talking all morning. Aldern Foxglove who's
Life I saved yesterday by killing that monstrous giant dog, invited all us 
girls to go hunting. Then there were some commotion, and when we checked 
what it was it turned out that some half elf scout had come back from 
running around in the woods keeping an eye on the goblins. She went to the 
sheriff and we followed her in. The Sheriff greeted us and said that it was 
good we already were there so he didn't have to send for us. He sent for the 
Mayor though. The half elf told us a lot about all the tribes around here. 

There are five of them.
* The first is led by someone called Bruthasmus. I think that one was a bugbear.
* Second is led by Big Gutmut. I didn't really pay attention to all she said.
* Then there's Rip Nugget who had a lair called Thistle top.
* Korvus led a tribe called seven teeth or something.
* The last one licked toads in a swamp where a cannibal goblin called Vorka tried to eat them.
I'm guessing the last ones are losers.

The one we killed yesterday was called Gortmurt. Not that that makes much
difference.

I juggled a bit with some apples that where in a bowl in that room. The 
sheriff told us he was going to Magnimar tomorrow to ask for more guards 
until the goblin problem is solved. He asked us, as the big heroes we are, 
to help keep an eye open for trouble. We told him we would and that we 
would especially keep an eye on a suspect we have that might be the human 
helping the goblins from within the village. The meeting was over and I
put back an apple in the bowl and kept the others as lunch.

We thought that we should start looking for traitors right away so we went 
to the Rusty Dragon to see if any one had heard anything. They greeted us 
as the big heroes we are, that saved the entire village from being overrun 
by all the goblins. I told them the story once again of how we realized 
that there were goblins in the boneyard that no one else had noticed and 
how we saved most of the remains of Ezakien Tobyn. As Nathaniel wasn't 
there I took his and my place in the story and told it climbing the chairs 
as ladders up onto the table posing as the wall where I and Velicia fought 
imaginary goblins.

It was easy to get food and drinks after that show. Dorothea really likes 
beer. When we listened to the others stories but those were mostly of how 
stupid the goblins were, like when some goblins crept into the bonfire while 
others set it on fire. Someone heard about how several mills had burned 
down and suspected the Scarnettis to be involved. But there were no strange 
humans lurking in shadows helping goblins. It became a late night before we 
turned in.

== The hunt ==

I woke early, but not early enough to be up when Alden came. He though 
hunts should start very early. Some of us had had more to drink than me 
and were less than happy about the time. As we were a little late he had 
a second breakfast together with us talking about the hunt. When we got 
out he had several horses waiting and presented us with them as a gift. 
A GIFT! Horses are really expensive and he just gave them to us. He must 
be loaded. I acted unimpressed as usual when I get men to give me gifts.

When we left for the trip and he helped us up on the horses he groped my 
behind. When I shot him an angry look he missed it as he was looking up 
my skirt. I bit my lip and got the horse moving. He then did the same to 
the others. Then we were off to where we were to hunt. It was called 
tickwood. I hate ticks. They are disgusting little bugs. On the way out 
of town we met up with Nathaniel and to Alderns dismay Velicia immediately 
invited him to the trip too. Honeypot kept Aldern company. That was 
fortunate as Nathaniel and Aldern didn't seem to get along that well.
During the hunt Honeypot and Aldern got separated from us others, but we 
found them again after a little while. The hunt was a success and Aldern 
and Dorothea were the sharpest with the crossbows with Nathaniel close 
behind. Honeypot selebrated Alderns hunting success. During all the time 
in the woods I kept a sharp lookout for ticks.

When we got back I took the two boars we had shot to the Rusty Dragon to 
get them done. Ameiko promised to make a great feast out of them and in 
return could keep the rest of them that we didn't eat.

I and Dorothea saw Nathaniel being approached by Shayliss who asked for 
his help to get rid of a rat problem. Apparently it was in the cellar 
and she led him down there. As we knew of her reputation as "loose", we 
decided to see what would happen. Stealthily we followed and watched. 
When Nathaniel was half undressed and Shayliss mostly undressed her 
father appeared. They didn't notice until he shouted at them waving a 
club about. Nathaniel answered by saying: 
"What I have done to your daughter, many has done before me." I could 
not believe my ears. It was hard to not laugh, but he continued
"None the less, I know what I have done and will take what punishment you 
think would be just, as I respect you as her father."
Her father beat him, but his anger was apparently soothed by Nathaniels 
willingness to take the punishment. Dorothea and I made sure to leave 
before we were noticed.

We all met again at the Rusty Dragon later for dinner. Velicia asked 
Nathatniel what had happened to him as she noticed his bruises and was 
very impressed at how he respected the father. I think she is a little 
smitten by him. Honeypot showed up a little late together with Aldern. 
Then the boar arrived and it's delicious. I have earlier hinted at 
being good at sneaking to Velicia so she used one of her magic tricks 
and whispered in my ear that now that Aldern was here someone should 
check out his room. I asked Dorothea to come with me. Before I left I 
filled my bag with bread, cookies, some vegetables and filled a small 
plate with boar to eat while walking across the whole village. When 
at the White Deer we saw his servant eating in the first floor dining 
room and went up to his room. I picked the lock while Dorothea kept 
watch. We got in and looked around. He didn't have that much stuff, as 
if he's not really that rich. I mostly found a lot of papers. I asked 
Dorothea to read them but she said they were too boring. She was 
absolutely right. The papers were hard to read and very boring. I only 
got that it was about estate and there were the Foxglove Hose, the 
Foxglove manor and the Foxglove farm, or something like that. As we 
left I locked the door.

When we returned I was thrilled to get back to the dinner that I had 
been promised would be refilled all night, but it was mostly finished 
when we got back. I asked the servant girl for more but there were some 
problems in the kitchen. We went there to investigate and found lots of 
food. The others said something about the halfing cook and some strange 
letter, but I mostly looked for the best cold dishes. I always get hungry 
after acrobatics, and I love cartwheeling, jumping fences and such things, 
so I do it all the time. But anyway we found out that Ameikos brother 
that we had heard about earlier, and planned to ask Ameiko about, but 
never got around to, wanted to meet with her at the glassworks at midnight. 
It was already after midnight so we hurried over there.

== The Glassworks ==

On the way there Honeypot prepared a ritual and we took the time to get 
it done. It made sure that we could whisper to each other even if we 
were at the other end of the glassworks. To test this Velicia, 
Nathaniel and Honeypot went to the exhibition end of the glassworks 
to peek in through glass dome on the roof, while I and Dorothea went 
to the service entrance at the other end, where Ameiko were supposed 
to meet with her brother. The doors were locked but after some work we 
got it open. The others told us that the glass in the exhibition was 
smashed. We entered into an empty hall. There was an awful smell of 
goblin. You could hear goblins making noises through some double doors. 
The others got down from the roof and ran over to us. I listened to the 
other door and heard goblins making noises there to, but not as loud. 
I thought I heard a human voice in pain through that door so I 
suggested we storm through that door. As we did we saw lots of goblins 
and a glassworker being treated badly as entertainment by the goblins. 
We took them by surprise and there was a big fight. After a while we 
had killed all goblins and freed several workers, but we were too late 
to save all of them. There were at least one that had been hacked up 
as if butchered for meat. I felt sick but tried to look the other way. 
I don't know if the others noticed.

We took a short rest while Honeypot tried to heal the workers. We told 
them to leave as we would make sure the all goblins would be killed. 
They were quite taken by the experience and asked for protection. 
We helped them out and set them on the way to the Mayor before we 
headed for the other room, which turned out to be where all the glass 
were made. I charged right up to a big goblin boss standing next to a 
big oven looking fireplace in the wall. I tricked it to get right 
in front of the open doors to the fire pit and skewered it so he fell 
right into the fire. With a scream he died a fiery death. Dorothea also 
had time to get in and use her scary magic before a goblin made an 
awful cloud of disgusting goblin vapors fill the room. It didn't quite 
fill the entire room, but the whole part we were in. It made my eyes 
tear up and all goblins very hard to hit. A goblin charged me with a 
glass blower pipe. It was like a spear with a melted glass tip. I 
easily jumped out of the way. Nathaniel sliced a goblin in half with 
the mightiest blow I've ever seen done with a rapier. Velicia improved 
on my idea of throwing the goblins into the ovens by doing it to three 
at a time with a thunderstrike. After some more hard fighting we 
succeeded in striking down most of the goblins. The magic using goblin 
and another one tried to flee but Velicia put her ball of whirling 
daggers in front of the door and I and Nathan both charged the mage 
goblin. I jumped up on a long table, running along it and springing 
forward with feline agility I lashed out, cut deep into the mage with 
my new magic dagger and rolled on to box it in. It didn't last long when 
we all surrounded it cutting it to pieces.


<span id="end"></span>
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