Astra's Personal Journal - The Goblin Bounty

**Year Four, Day 67**

I finally made it to the town of Hope, famous in the region for its plethora of adventurers and radical acceptance of different races and backgrounds. I approached warily in the evening and made my way into the Stuck Pig tavern to observe the atmosphere. I was shocked when almost immediately I was approached by **a shirtless man** who didn't seem to mind my appearance. I was even called "pretty" by some sort of **small Troll**. What is this place?

On the one hand, it was fantastic to socialize for the first time in many months, but the **Troll** did put her feet right on the table, which was extremely offputting.

I noticed we are adventuring with **two gnomes** who seem to constantly bicker. I have to take deep breaths to remind myself that these adventurers on the edge of the world won't have the same professionalism and discipline as my old team, may they rest in peace.

But I've started from the bottom before and I'll do it again. If I can completely retrain myself in this new and rotting body, I can manage to get a bunch of unruly men and women to focus... hopefully.

I will say, being around so many living creatures for the first time since the accident is difficult. I could feel my stomach growl as **the shirtless man** sat too close. Eventually, I had to leave to clear my head. Thankfully tomorrow we will be outside where the smell isn't quite so intoxicating.

**Year Four, Day 68**

The Group of us set off bright and early after sunrise. As one accustomed to traveling under the cover of darkness, waking up at this ungodly hour was a struggle. The bright sun hurts my head and my poor eyes. I noticed I wasn't the only one struggling. The human woman **Teres** also seemed to despise the sun, although she also looked as if she'd had a bit too much to drink the night before.

The party consisted of myself, the human woman **Teres**, the gnome brothers **Gimble and Bimble** (honestly... who named them?), the small troll with bad manners **Ida**, the shirtless man **Hector** (so unnecessary), and **Linh** who appears to be blind? She seems capable enough though, and I'm not one to judge a person's misfortunes as long as they can contribute.

The group of us headed into the swamp and immediately encountered the mists, which have an unnerving quality to them. I've never experienced any mist quite like this, not even when I lived underground.

Very quickly we found an abandoned farm that had already been looted through. We found some butchered pigs and scale strikes, and I suggested we butcher the other pigs since they won't be long for this world anyway. Besides, I was getting increasingly hungry and agitated at this point, and I didn't want to make a regrettable mistake, especially with those around me not dressed properly.

We explored the homes, finding a dead lizardfolk in one of them. It looks as if some sort of battle or raid took place here. The others looted some supplies and treasures found in the house. Personally, I decided not to take anything except a rope ladder. I'm not in the habit of taking money and irreplaceable items from innocent people who may not be dead or may have family members to inherit them. If I find that these people are not dead, I will be sure to return the rope ladder to them. I thought about saying something to the others about not taking the items, but as a new member of the group, I didn't think it wise to stick my neck out just yet... metaphorically of course.

About 24 miles South of Hope I spotted a stilted village in the distance. It appeared to be a village of frog folk. We deiced to give it a wide berth as to not cause any trouble or confusion.

That night we made camp not too far from the goblin village. I managed to take my portion of raw meat before anyone had a chance to salt and cook it, and I ate it by myself off in the dark... I hope no one noticed me eating it. How embarrassing.

The others seemed very fascinated by my pistol, especially the **gnome artificers**, and **Linh**, who wanted to touch it but was afraid of the loud noise guns make. I even had a great conversation with **the artificers** about a potential silencing contraption.

I was on watch duty with **Teres**, who I quite like. She has beautiful long brown hair that makes me pine for my old hair... before the accident. At first, **Teres** started firing questions at me about my appearance, which to be honest, made me feel like absolute horse shit. I know that I'm ugly, but it hurts to have people acknowledge it. Especially when those pointing it out are much more appealing than you.

But after a while, we seemed to bond a little. She offered me some ale and I offered her a few redflower leaves. I don't think she'd ever experienced them before because they seemed to have a strong effect on her. She kept touching her hair, almost to rub it in.

But on our watch, we were attacked by a horrible swamp monster! It almost completely incapacitated me in just a few blows, and I had to run for cover, drawing my gun. I managed to get a few great hits in on him before we finally took him down.

**Year Four, Day 69**

We approached the goblin camp just after dawn, and **Hector**, **Teres**, and I decided to sneak through the front gate to get a better look. It seemed like the camp had already been attacked. There were dead goblins and skeletons everywhere, and even a pile of freshly burned bodies. We crept around the camp trying to find any sign of living goblins, collecting ears as we went.

Someone noticed that the creatures who attacked the goblins (possibly the skeletons) appeared to arrive in the camp through a large pond instead of the front gate. The goblins, trying to escape, knocked the gate down from the inside! The dead skeletons all had fancy swords called Wakizashi, and I decided to take one of them for myself.

The group of us all wandered around the goblin camp until we finally ran into a live goblin. We tried to negotiate with it, but it started attacking us. Then, hordes of goblins came running through the camp to get to us. With no clear plan, we were sitting ducks along a long corridor. It was impossible to see where they were coming from, and I got hit pretty badly with an arrow very early on. I spent the entire fight barely conscious, so to be honest, it's kind of a blur, but I do remember immense frustration at the lack of a coherent plan. People would run off and get shot down, and we'd have no idea where they were. The Goblins had an advantage knowing the lay of the village, and we were at a disadvantage in that horrible hallway. I hope that this will be something that improves with more team training.

Thankfully, we put an end to all of the goblins without one of us perishing. I feel like it was an effort of brute strength and sheer resilience, rather than a genuinely tactical mission, but I have to remember that these others may not have the professional training I've experienced.

Finally, we make our way to the big goblin boss after a quick rest to heal up. One of the artificers **Bimble** has a brilliant idea to put a noisy music box near the front door as we climb up the ladder and enter from the roof. FINALLY a tactical plan!

The final fight with the boss goblin was over very quickly due to our strategic approach, and thankfully we were all still whole after the encounter.

The group of us not only managed to collect many goblin ears for the reward, but we also found a very interesting map to a shipwreck and cave which may hold treasure. I'll have to see if any of this group would like to accompany me there soon. Maybe we can uncover the mystery of what happened here with the goblins and the undead. We shall soon find out.