Drama at Eastbrook

We've arrived at Eastbrook and found ourselves in a situation. Goblins seem to have taken the women and children hostage in the town hall and there's a siege in progress. Oppillaa has been scouting and almost got herself killed by a bugbear, and Hellsby lead the team and some of the locals to fight a worg. I hope they can sort this out, I'm getting hungry and Pansy says we're out of eggs.

Quatrains

Athelred has been reading through the scrolls retrieved from the crypt. He can't understand all of it but he says apparently this Ashkalon character fought something called a maglubiyet which ended up killing him. In another chapter there's mention of the descendants of Ashkalon which will lead someone to fight something. I did mention that it all seemed very vague, at which point he merely commented that I wouldn't be able to read any of it at all, and went away. Apparently the language it's written in is called Quatrains or something, and it's jolly difficult to understand.

Very Strange!

Something very peculiar has been happening. Unk has been acting, um, dare I say it, intelligently. He chopped a thick branch off a tree, trimmed it, and took me to the cart where he mimed taking out my chest of tools. I assented as I assumed he was asking permission to use them. He then took a battered breastplate I had lying around and bashed it into shape to fit the thick end of the branch. He bashed a few rivets into it, and with a bit more work had a very serviceable though primitive club / morning star.

He was so pleased with himself I could swear he danced around in an orcish sort of way. He held it up and showed me how he would swing it. Then he said a word... he said "SMASHER"! So the first word he ever says to me and it's a name for his new weapon?

Back From the Crypt

The party has returned from the crypt. They had some hair-raising adventures, it seems. A statue attacked them - I'm guessing it was an earth elemental of some sort; and a dead thing came out of a sarcophagus they opened. Judging from the Princess's description of the smell it was some sort of ghoul, but the princess is such a ... erm... princess... that to hear her talk Unk smells that bad as well. Of course he doesn't, it's just the furs he wears.

They did recover some loot, but the big bonus for me was how much snake oil they used up - 21 jars! I'll be able to buy a new pony when we get to Eastbrook so the poor fellows don't get so tired. They also retrieved a very nice sword which I reckon is worth about 1000gp. I let them pay me for the snake oil with the sword and returned them the difference.

They brought out some scrolls which were buried with one of the corpses, and Athelred has been reading them. Apparently the dead thing they fought used to be some mighty warrior called Ashkalon. I guess that was his sword? But who can tell, with the passing of time?

Interim Report from the Crypt

Athelred has advised us of a nearby crypt, and most of the adventurers have gone down to explore it. Apparently before they even made it inside Unk had fallen into a pit. Once they got him out he threw Hellsby over into the room and he was able to close the trap. Then they managed to get themselves shot by an arrow trap.

After spending rather too long a time searching for secret doors, they found a hallway with 4 skeletons in it. Unk's axe was almost useless against them, but apparently the dwarf crushed all 4 of them with her bare hands.

Garm says the halfling was so desperate to fight that the dwarf actually had to scale the walls to climb past him, and then she crushed one of the skeletons by falling on it. The halfling then tried to scale the walls to get back into the fight, only to get his toe caught in a crevice and end up dangling upside down above the action. Hellsby seems to think he's a warrior... let's hope he figures it out sooner rather than later.

No Longer Half a Man

I had a talk with Hellsby after we left the village and told him that he was definitely a halfling no matter what his parents said. He was quiet about that for a while, but then started complaining that he only had padded armour and a dagger. Does he think he's going to fight things TODAY? I hope he doesn't!

The Dwarf

I've been trying to make small talk with the dwarf but she's not very chatty. I finally got out of her that she's keeping an eye on Hellsby. Why? Who is she? Where did she come from? I know there are dwarves in these mountains but why Hellsby? Do the dwarves suspect something? Is there some dwarven monk cult I should be aware of? I suppose if she becomes dangerous I can get Unk to chase her off (blindly loyal as he is), but there's something about her that tells me she's telling the truth. I'm supposed to be the one with secrets around here...

Hellsby the "Human"

It has happened already. Hellsby has approached his parents telling them he thinks he's a halfling. They denied it of course, though he'd have to be as stupid as them to believe them. I wonder how much they actually do understand? Nobody in this village is very bright.