Tolis Va Entry 1
I have traveled this road many times in my day, though it is nice to have skilled warriors and leaders to accompany me. We stand only a few days away from Winterhaven now and so far the journey has been swift. I know little of my companions. Suffice it to say, I know their names and professions. The roguish halfling Sylar accompanies me as a secondary scout. He has great stealth, but it is obvious he has not spent his youth among the trees as I have. Balasar is a massive Dragonborn fighter who yearns for honor and glory. A tiefling warlord there is also who goes by the name of Morthos. Lastly among our troop is Etholin, an eladrin and distant cousin of the elves who plies his trade as a practitioner of the arcane.
About a day and a half out from Winterhaven when we rounded a bend in the road and came across three gravestones. I suspect they belonged to some wayward merchants or perhaps adventurers like ourselves. I paid them little attention, instead focusing my attention upon the mounds of rocks that lie ahead of us. The seemed a good place to spring an ambush and my instincts proved correct. Filthy little lizard folk, know to the masses as kobolds, beset us. Unsurprised by the assault, I was able to loose an arrow from my bow at one of the creatures, felling him, before dropping my bow to engage in my normal modus operandi. The troop proved too much for the ilk to handle and soon lay slaughtered among the vegetation. Our halfling found himself set ablaze by one of the kobolds and chose to relieve himself upon its corpse in retribution. Though it was a childish gesture for his part, I cannot blame him for it.
We arrived in Winterhaven about midday and proceeded to the inn to both relax our road weary legs and gather what information we could about our query. This inn appears to be a hotbed of information as we happened upon a man whom provided us with a map to the location Douven was headed, as well as mention of other work. We spoke to the town guard about meeting with the local lord in reference to his mission to remove the kobold threat from his lands and were given word that we would have our answer in the morning. As we awoke the next morning, our message had indeed arrived and we set off immediately to meet with Lord Padraig. The offer was 100 gold and proof that we had slain the beasts. Should be an easy task, though first we must locate poor Douven.
We set out south of the town and were soon beset upon by yet more kobolds. We dispatched them, albeit with a little more trouble this time, and continued on to our destination. Soon we came upon an excavation site that was the last known location of Douven. Already searching the site were four humans whom looked to be weak muscle, two drakes, a halfling and a gnome. The gnome greeted us and beckoned us to enter the site. He seemed cordial enough though his congeniality was quite suspicious. I noticed a tarp behind him covering something roughly man sized and asked the gnome if we could view their finds. This seemed to anger the gnome a bit and Balasar moved on the anger at once. He roared in an attempt to intimidate our foes and managed to shake the nerves of two of the humans, but the rest bore weapons and came upon us.
Already having an arrow nocked in my bow, I fired at the gnome as he shifted rearward. I was already nocking my second arrow as the first hit and my target vanished. Undeterred, I loosed my second shot as his same location, and again my aim was true and the arrow found its mark. I shifted around an embankment, hoping the gnome would show himself once more. He did so, loosing a crossbow bolt at my friends, ending his invisibility. I again launched two arrows into him as the wizard fired an icy bolt of magic and the gnome fell dead upon the field. With their lead dead, we turned out attention to the rest of this motley crew and soon were victorious.
Once the last brigand was subdued, I rushed to the tarp, flipping it aside to reveal Douven. He lie unconscious but breathing. Sylar attempted to wake him with wine, but to no avail. I proceeded to tend his wounds and was able to awaken him. He was glad to see us and gave us the gift of a locket, which Sylar donned before anyone could question it, as thanks for saving him. We must get him home to truly complete the quest, but I have a feeling that we have come together as a troop and shall prevail in that as well.