Nell's diary

Rise of the Runelords

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

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.