Market Research - Reginald T. Tealeaf

New in town and looking fer a bit of coin, I check out the “adventurer” board. Gods these people are so fucking disorganised it looks like nobody ever bovvers with checking they have the right “skills” before they head out! What has happened to the good name of rogues here?? Don’t these people recognise the need for our special set of skills? Who is opening stubborn locks? Or checking for nasty surprises?

Ol’ Reggie spots an opportunity here! But first, time for some market research!

I’ve joined a ragtag group heading out for somewhere called the “Barrowmaze”. There’s a couple of Goliath types but they couldn’t be more different… **Balbrek** is probably the self-styled “leader” and looks handy with a blade (although I’m not convinced there’s much going on upstairs if you know what I mean?). Then there’s **Sharpmind** who looks to have a gadget/idea for every scenario (might be worth getting to know them for some of those fancy gadgets). **Sofia** seems like someone not to trifle with… in my experience though, these holy types end up being some of the best customers for my type of skills. I’ll just need to demonstrate my usefulness to her! No idea what **Gravedigger**’s deal is. He seems a little off to me, but we’ll see I guess! Finally, we have someone of actual value. I always say “If you can’t work with other rogues, work with other Halflings” and **Isaa** seems a perfect travelling companion - even if he is a little excitable.

Interesting developments on our first night. Attacked by a couple of “scarecrows”, the team kept into action and swiftly dealt with the threat. We saw some sort of spectral horse but left it alone… seems people are happy to apply a bit of brains instead of just relying on brawn - this is a good sign!

I spoke too soon… arriving at the first Barrow, it turns out I was the only one who thought to bring tools! This is exactly what I’m talking about, these people are in desperate need of a good “guild” to help make sure they are suitably prepared when they head out!

Anyway, after several hours digging (with my one shovel…), we final gained entry. Time for Ol’ Reggie to shine! I snuck down and scouted ahead. Seeing some decent loot, I pointed it out but before I could caution them, **Gravedigger** had got all “touchy” and triggered undead things to attack us. I was suddenly exactly where I don’t want to be!! Up front and facing the nasty!!! Luckily **Sofia** and **Isaa** were on hand to ensure I wasn’t a focus!! **Gravedigger** did make up for his touching by animating one of the fallen creatures and setting it on watch. (Note - **Sofia** did NOT seem happy with this!). As we rested up in the Barrow, more zombies attacked and **Gravedigger**’s “friend” helped before it was destroyed - I was much happier where I belonged (in the rear with the gear)!

Morning finally came and tensions seemed to ease. We found our way to the monolith. Clearly this thing is bad news but it wouldn’t be work without a little danger/warnings… just gotta watch our step!

We found an already disturbed Barrow. It looks like people have been here before us, so I wonder how much loot will be left. Either they took it, or they died… neither sounds like a good deal to me but the group wanted to check it out, so I guess it’s time to earn my pay!

Sneaking forward, I tried not to flinch every time one of the others made a noise… I guess it’s a little reassuring at times to know they are still there! Spotted a warning about a Minotaur and sure enough, a few minutes later we came across a skeletal Minotaur figure. Or rather it came across us! Catching us by surprise, it knocked down **Balbrek** and then **Sofia** before the others figured out they needed to get close to it to stop it charging! **Sharpmind** has a clever way of helping revive people as he “shook” them awake… fascinating!!

With a door seeming very inviting, I checked it and opened to reveal a bunch of zombies… we had them pretty well contained with a bottleneck at the door so I was able to pick and choose which targets to stab at and it wasn’t long before we’d dealt with them. **Balbrek** and **Sofia** standing firm while **Sharpmind** threw fire. **Gravedigger** seems to have some sort of magical blade but he also spent time fawning over them, I guess it’s lucky Sofia didn’t notice! Despite the success, poor **Isaa** took a whack that knocked him out briefly.

Zombies dealt with, we did manage to find some treasure and that seemed a sensible point to head home!

Pretty successful trip. I’ve no idea if this is the “standard” of adventurers I’ll find out here but I think it’s clear that they need my services!! I need to do a bit more digging around until I find the other rogue elements here. There’s no way this town doesn’t support a bunch of shady types… I need to keep my eyes open and work out which ones to approach about joining forces. Based on the lack of organisation, I reckon we could make a pretty penny with some “organised” services!