Roddy: Roddy’s... Something Journal: Scout and Danger Routine

Day One:

Hansel left. Him, Goro and Mishka were all going to Calimport. Some sort of teleporter thingy for Mishka. Vacation for Goro. Hansel said I could go buuuut considering how things went last time I was in Calimport, I figured it was better to stay behind.

It’s kinda lonely without them here. Really quiet. I don’t like this. Ripley’s living here too but she’s off- somewhere. I miss her. I miss everybody. Think I’ll head into town, find some bard work. Not adventure bard work just- bard work. Been a while since I done that!

It’s just a couple weeks, Hansel’ll be back before I know it!

Day Two:

Bard work is boring. I just sang songs and had my hat out for tips. And I didn’t even get that many! Okay some but. I got two thousand gold for saving the city and can’t even get twenty for singing a few songs.

...That seems about right actually. We never did make a lot in the circus. I think this adventuring has gotten me spoiled to all the money.

I’m gonna head into town again and do it some more. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.

Day Three:

I talked to Sugar today. She doesn’t seem to be doing her best, I had to Send twice before she responded. I wasn’t being *annoying* I was just concerned. She said she was fine, she just didn’t know what to say. Apologized too. I miss her. Hope she’s back soon.

Oh wait. I was thinking about Sending at Hansel too. Guess that’ll have to wait for tomorrow.

Day Four:

Something exciting actually happened today!! I bumped into Ripley!! And we’re going on an adventurerering!

Gonna go asplore a castle and see if there’s neat stuff or danger sos we can all charge in later and kill stuff! It’s gonna be the bestest! Ripley’s the bestest. I’m not even mad about the beer.

Day Five:

And here is a good example of why I shouldn’t journal drunk. Or agree to things drunk. Anyway, me and Ripley are headed out this morning. Gonna go scout that castle and hopefully not get killed! More updates later.

Okay so, we’re in our base now. Old abandoned farmhouse. Getting set up was- interesting. The place was infested with raccoons, possums, and other pests like that. Took a while to clear them out, I got bit *three* times! The nerve.

Although I did- accidentally kill one. I have this one spell, Dissonant Whispers, it’s good at making things run away. Except that it also does hurt, more than some measly little possum can stand up to. I feel bad about it.

It’s kinda nice working with Ripley though. She’s not that talkative but she listens. Mostly. I don’t blame her though I do talk a lot. It’s just a little too quiet still. I’m used to there being more people, more noises.

Anyway! Once we chased all the animals out we boarded up all the broken windows and blocked off all the holes we could. Don’t need those breaking back in halfway through the night. They can have it back when we’re through. Then we ate the possum.

~~Hey~~ Hansel ~~it's Roddy.~~ Miss you. I’m ~~on an~~ adventure(ing) with Ripley! We’re at ~~an~~ old farmhouse. Cleared ~~a~~ bunch of animals out ~~of it first~~. Tell Mishka we’re scouting ~~his~~ castle. And hi ~~to the both of them I guess.~~ Goro too.

Hansel replied! Said he misses me and told me to stay safe. Like I’d do anything different.

Day 6:

I NEARLY DIED TODAY. AGAIN. AND IT WAS RIPLEY’S FAULT.

We arrived at the castle bright and early, ready to get to scoutin’ and guess what happened. GUESS WHAT.

BANDITS.

LIKE I dunno, FIVE HUNDRED BANDITS WERE HANGING AROUND. Luckily we saw them before they saw us. And so I got sneaky and Ripley did too but then RIPLEY stepped on this BIG STICK and it BROKE and it was LOUD.

Helm or Iomede or *someone* must have been watching out for us though because the bandits didn’t notice. We snuck off and hung out far enough away to re-group. Sorta.

I may have been panicking slightly. (None of my *team* was there, I like Ripley and all but I’ve never been out adventuring with her before!) Anyway. Ripley- I don’t know what she did I was still all panicked. And then I sort of asked why she’d brought me along in the first place.

You know I thought she’d say something about- I don’t know. I was the only one available. Better than nothing.

She- said it was cause I was good at it. Mentioned my magic, me being sneaky and all, and- you know I think it finally sunk in that she’s *right.* I am good at this adventurer stuff! Maybe I’ll keep it up, even though I don’t really have to any more.

...Oh Helm now that’s a scary though.

Anyway. We scouted around a bit more, got a better idea of where all the guards were. Or well, I did. Ripley stayed hidden and waited for me to scream for help. Not that it was needed, I happen to be very sneaky when I want to be. Tomorrow we’re gonna slip in and try to see what the grounds are like. Between the two of us maybe we can make a halfway decent map too!

Ripley nearly got me killed. ~~It~~ was fine though we ~~were~~ sneaky. ~~We're~~ making a map! ~~Not that~~ Neither good at it. ~~Ripley either.~~ Why’d we think this was ~~a~~ good idea?

Hansel says Ripley’s supposed to keep me safe too. I told her that. She laughed a little and said she’d do better next time.

Day 7:

Oh Helm oh gods oh HELM.

We’re in that space. The spot where we go when I do that magic thing with the rope. SOMEONE didn’t LISTEN to me when I told her she was drawing the map wrong! And then I tried to fix it but it didn’t fix and then we almost got spotted by a bandit.

Ripley spotted him (bandits are usually male I think) before he spotted us at least. Now we just gotta PRAY he leaves within the hour otherwise this is gonna get messy.

Okay so. We’re at the farmhouse now. That was a nightmare. But we managed to get away without having to kill anyone! And even got a good idea what the grounds look like too! The map is- not the best though. Maybe next time we should bring someone who’s good at maps along. (Hey wait, I’m planning for a next time. Huh.)

Hiding while that bandit wandered around underneath picking fruit was nerve-wracking. But you know, I think I did well! I mostly panicked in my journal and not at Ripley. Although that was weird, trying to get enough light to see, even with the magic goggles. Bet Hansel’d be proud. I should tell him about it.

I like Ripley though. She’s all calm and easy going and stuff when we’re out adventuring. Lot less snappish than when she was our boss. Hope she keeps hanging out with us.

~~Hey~~ remember when we hid in that space? With ~~the~~ rope? ~~Had to~~ Did that today! We’re all okay ~~though~~, nobody got hurt. Not even ~~the~~ bad guys! I like Ripley.

Oh apparently Hansel was fighting a shark? I hope I didn’t cause him to get bit. Goro’s there at least he’ll be able to fix it.

Day 8:

Ugh. UGH. Today has been the WORST day. First we go sneak around the castle again, but we can’t find anywhere *new*. Just covering old ground, trying not to get caught, that sort of thing. All the other areas are too heavily-guarded to scout.

So we gave up early and came back to the farmhouse. And you know what happened?? Guess. Just *guess.*

The raccoons had gotten back inside and ate all our food!! All of it! I don’t feel bad about killing that one any more. Okay so that was a possum but *still*. We’ve got no food, and we gotta put all these boards back up, and by the time we’re done there’s not gonna be any time to go by the town.

So that means hunting or going hungry for the night. I’m decent at foraging, might see what I can find. Helpful to supplement our food at the circus and all, plus it just made it taste better. Tomorrow we gotta go hit the town though, stock back up. Rotten critters even chewed my spare lute strings!

Raccoons ate my lute. Not Gekker. Ate the food too. Mad. Town trip tomorrow. Dropped hammer on my foot. Hurts. Miss you.

Hansel said he missed me to. And sorry about the lute. I’ll get it fixed eventually, that’s okay.

Day 9:

We hit town today, that was fun. I got to talk to more than one person at once! I missed talking. I mean Ripley’s nice and all but I grew up in a circus and then got stuck on an adventurering *team.* I’m not used to this- just the two of us thing.

The town’s called Glimmerton, it’s a small fishing town. They’re not doing that well. I met up with some fisher-person, she (last one was a he so it’s only fair to swap) told me about what was going on.

Turns out the bandits have been here a while, keep coming into town and harassing the locals. It’s a hard living and having that gang coming in and taking everything is only making it harder. I told her we were adventurers and that we were scouting this area out, and once our team got all back together we’d come back to help.

She just looked- really tired. Said that’d be nice. I don’t know if she really believed me though. I felt bad for her. But we’d just get killed if we tried to fight them now, so waiting is better.

Then I went back to meet up with Ripley. She’d been getting the supplies. But while I was headed over some little person, probably a kid? Starts threatening us with a wooden sword, declaring he-she-whatever is a bandit and I'm being robbed. So I crouched down and helpfully explained she didn’t want to be a bandit, because I was an adventurer. I come to towns like this to kill people like her.

...Well the kid ran away crying. Kids. I was just trying to give good life advice but look what happened. Honestly.

So, met back up with Ripley, and we headed back to the farmhouse. Still all good and boarded up, no more possums in there. I just hope it stays that way.

 Wait I knew we forgot something! New strings for my lute!!

No new strings for lute. Forgot. Town was sad. Too many bandits. Made kid cry today. It was playing bandit. Explained bad idea. Was *helping.*

Hansel told me not to make kids cry. It’s not like I was *trying* to it just happened! Apparently we’re gonna talk about it later. I’d rather talk about something else.

Day 10:

Today was actually exciting and not in a scary way! Well, for the most part at least not. At first not much happened. More sneaking around, more not finding anything new, more trying to fix our terrible maps. But then! We went around to look at the back of the castle. No bandits there, so we didn’t have to try so hard to sneak.

It didn’t seem like it’d do much good though. It was just the backside of the castle. Pretty inaccessible. There was a lake and a waterfall, it was pretty. And there weren’t any bandits around so I figured why not splash around a bit?

Ripley thought that was a good idea too. So we splashed around, wasn’t really deep enough to really go swimming. All right with me though. We talked, about the circus, about her temple, about our gods. She’s had it rough, but I don’t think that’s really surprising. You know, it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen anyone worshiping Helm outside of Skyport. Wonder why.

 Anyway, after that I went to stand over the waterfall. It was *cold*. And then I tried to lean back against the wall and I fell! There wasn’t one! I told Ripley and then we went in and went exploring. It was a neat cave, and it went in for a ways too! It was getting late but we agreed we wanted to do just a little more investigating. And guess what we found.

 Just guess. An entrance to the castle! Well the dungeon at least. That was thankfully empty. Kinda stunk though.

 It was late enough that we decided to head back to the farmhouse, we’d explore and map that area tomorrow. I’m excited!!

 Found dungeon! Explore tomorrow. Went swimming. Told stories. Was fun. No bandits! Hope you’re having fun. Say hi for me. I love you. See soon!

Hansel said he loved me too. This feels nice I like this. Also I’m supposed to watch out for Ripley.

Day 11:

Went to explore the dungeon today. It didn’t start off that well. Not in a dangerous way, but it wasn’t good. That smell I smelled yesterday? Turned out to be a body. The bandits had someone locked up, Ripley said by the look of it they probably starved to death.

We took the body out. Took some clever handling to sneak it by, but we managed. The bandits didn’t seem too fond of going down there, I guess cause it was all moldy and damp. Don’t blame them really, I wouldn’t want to hang out too much down there either. If I had a choice anyway.

Anyway, we took the body out and found a quiet area and buried it. Ripley didn’t think it was dead too long, two days max. We’ve been hanging around longer than two days. If it hadn’t been for the raccoons maybe we would have even saved it. Or the person at least.

Dwelling on it isn’t gonna do anyone any good though. After burying the body we went back to the house. The bandits were out and about more than usual for some reason, it was safer to go back and lay low. No raccoons though at least!

Found body in dungeons today. Buried it. Went camp early, bandits around. Body was dead two days. Maybe could have saved it. Didn’t get to.

...Hansel didn't reply. I guess maybe he was fighting another shark?

Day 12:

Ow ow OW. Today was the WORST day. I got *stabbed*. My leg *hurts*. We fought bandits. A whoooole bunch of ‘em. Too many. We’re probably lucky we’re alive. One of them got me good, right above the knee. Ripley managed to keep me from bleeding out but that’s about it. She’ll have more healing tomorrow, in the mean time, I have to suffer.

At least we got the dungeon mapped. Wasn’t too much of it. No more bodies. Ugh I hurt. I’m gonna try to heal up a little better with what magic I got left and try to go to sleep. And I’m out of magic to talk to Hansel too. Ugh.

Day 13:

I saw Jonn today! He’s okay! Turns out he was also going to Glimmerton on thiefy business. We talked a bit but then he had to go. Hope he stays safe. Thought about going with, but me and Ripley have our own thing and my leg still hurts.

I sorta snapped at Ripley. Didn’t want to. Just didn’t- like the way she was acting like I should be doing better. Like there was something *wrong* with how I wanted to spend time with Jonn.

Well she took off and let us talk. It was nice, we promised not to ditch each other. Pinky promised, it was some sort of special promise. I don’t think it’s actually magic though. Hey did you know Jonn can play the piano?? I can’t play the piano! Maybe I can get Jonn to teach me. I’ll teach him some more music if he wants in return. Or maybe something else. He’s a better thief than me, and that and magic are about my only other talents. Maybe I’ll tell him circus stories, he seemed like he’d like that.

Anyway. He gave me this- bird. I’m mostly convinced it won’t peck my eyes out. But I can use it to contact Jonn so that’s good! ~~I'm a bit concerned that maybe he shouldn't~~ Nah it’s fine.

Then he had to go though. So I called for Ripley and then remembered. We were hiding from bandits.

So we had to pack up and move. We talked some. We’re gang now, apparently. I think it’s somewhere between team and family? Ripley said she cares, that felt nice. I just- well- she out and out said she didn’t want to be my parent. Which- you know- that’s her right but- I latched on a little harder than I should have. Hadn’t even been a month before my last family ditched me and Ripley saved me from *slavery*. I really wanted someone and- kinda picked her. I shouldn’t have, Hansel’s happy to fill the role and I love Hansel, I really do. Just, well, got my hopes all up and keep getting ‘em let down. Hopefully this time I can keep them down.

Well speaking of Hansel- still don’t have enough magic to contact him. And I’m feeling all hot and sweaty, think I’m coming down with something. What a time for it too. And Ripley’s healing just works on wounds, uuuuuggggghhhhh.

Day 14:

I don’t think I’m sick. I think I might be poisoned. My legs swelling up and Ripley can’t do anything for it. We’re gonna head back to Skyport. Here’s hoping I don’t die of fever.

Well I’m alive! It was a close one though. I was definitely poisoned. Think it futzed up my magic too. I’m so tired today, I don’t think I’m going to be casting any spells. Not good either, I think I Sent at Hansel while I was all feverish? I bet he’s worried.

Dunno when they’ll be back so I’ve been camped out by the teleportation circle waiting for them. Ripley’s been sticking around to make sure I’m healing up okay. I may possibly be abusing the fact I’m recovering a bit. Don’t tell her, she won’t mind if she doesn’t know.

Anyway, storytime! It took us nearly two days to get back to Skyport. Me being sick like that really slowed it down. It’s all kinda a blur. I remember magicking myself a few times just to keep me going. I don’t know where the energy to cast Sending came from, that’s a hard spell!

So anyway. We staggered back into Skyport, which then lead to a new problem. We’re enemies of the church, and the church was where all the clerics were. Luckily I got a good spell for changing what I look like. Ripley had to help me focus enough to cast it though, that was really hard.

I asked Ripley what I looked like just now. Apparently like some deformed orc. But it worked, I went in, and one of the clerics had me healed up in no time. Left, re-joined Ripley, and staggered back to Mishka’s place.

We’ve been working on the map a bit more too. It’s not coming along well. I think it’s an improvement? I hope it’s an improvement. We’re terrible at this map-thing.

Day 17:

More hanging around the teleporter thingy. Hansel and Mishka should be back any day now. I’m feeling better rested, not up to spells like Sending yet but I had my little magic hand floating around earlier. Gave myself a high five for that one. Ripley laughed, but I didn’t mind.

I think I’ll let her write something. If she wants. Not read anything though.

**roddy helped me scout out a castle**

**fuckin great adventurer**

**A+**

**will take on future adventures**

**- Jo**

Hansel's back!!