Adventuring in Limbo

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

After a couple more drinks, Damian had finally imbibed enough courage to take out a dagger, one of many that he carried on his person, and carefully dislodge the seal.  The dialect was a bit different than what he was used to but he was able to make out some of the words.  It seemed that it was an invitation to either imigrate to some Eastern continent or get one of his many relatives who barely spoke to him to do so.  Something about needing good story teller.

His two half brothers in Atamara were well settled in and modestly successful so it was not likely that they would be interested.  The third half brother was a better prospect.  Still it was better to ask than not do anything.  So he hired a scribe and had him make copies of the document and then sent it off to his less than hospitable relatives.

Having done his duty as he saw it, after a suitable rest Damain returned to earning a living.  While monster hunting was always more lucrative, he had effectively reduced the local population so much that it was not an effective use of his time.  So undead slaying, if one could call it that, was the order for the day.  After three encounters and collecting the bounties, Damian had earned his daily quota of at least one gold, although the last encounter was touch and go and produced only some cuts and abrasions.

With the undead suitably suppressed, the only other thing to do was go scavanging.  This was not Damain's prefered activity as his collection was already quite extensive and he had not seen hide nor hair of a wizard in months.  Still there were a couple of items that he did not have yet so time to risk the peasents wrath.  Sure enough the first days searching only turned up 6 groups of irrate peasants.  Sometimes Damain wished peasant slaying was an option but that would just make him even less welcome.  The second day was better until the very end and then it turned really good.  Searching through a pile of religious discards he found a staff that had been used by the heritic Adrian who had been executed by SA zealots.  This was a real stroke of luck as it was one of the items that he did not have.  Only a portal stone or Book would have been more useful. 

Having had a good day, Damian retired to the inn for some well deserved rest.  He was starting to feel some of the aches and pains of adventuring these days.  Thoughts of buying an inn and leaving the adventuring life occurred but then he would have to put up with crowds, smoke filled rooms, and occasionally need to knock some heads together to keep the place from being broken up in fights.  Better to get paid for the effort with monsters and undead than  people who he could not kill and that were likely to carry grudges.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

Having nothing better to do, Damian sat down and sorted through his inventory of items.  Then he got out his list made by the great Sage Wiki.  Comparing his inventory to Wiki's list, Damian found that he was still eight items short of having all the know items.  Of course there was one small problem.  Damain had an item that Wiki had not discovered as yet.  Perhaps he should send a note to Sage Wiki to tell him about the book on Monster Hunting.  But then everone would want one.  So perhaps it was not such a good idea.  Looking through the list of missing items, it quickly became obvious that four of the items Damian needed could be found in and around cities, so instead of moving to another region, Damian gritted his teeth and set out for more scavanging. After 6 encounters with peasants and militia in a bad mood and three more hours of finding nothing, Damian began to get discouraged.  Looking didn't cost anything and one did not run the risk of getting hurt, so one more try and then if nothing turned up, time to move on.

So the next moring Damain set out for more scavanging.  As noon approached, Damian sat down to eat his lunch.  Across from him two drunken peasants were having an arguement over the remains of a jug of spirits. Suddenly one pulled a knife and stabbed the other in the throat.  Realizing he was in trouble if caught he threw the knife in some bushes and ran.  Damian, being a good citizen, called the guard and pointed the way the drunken peasent had fled.  Having done his duty, he then wandered over to the bushes and retreived the bloody murder knife.  One less item missing from his list.  Wizards wanted some of the strangest things.

[roland.walters@abbott.com]

Well, scavenging may be boring and frustrating but it can also be quite lucrative without much risk.  After 6 more encounters with militia and peasants, Damian found a small diamond in a heap of discarded scraps in a decaying jewelry shop.  Worth a couple of gold on the open market so not a bad days work.  If only there was some way to distract the peasants.  Maybe a fire would do the trick, but where to set one without risking burning down the whole town?