1097 of the Age of Northern Expansion
Mythday, 5 of Chazron
There are times when I wonder what my life would have been like had I stayed with my birth clan. Then I remember how miserable I was. No one respected the knowledge that writing could give, and the fire...the less said the better. No, my life with Garrek and Mathias, my friends and mentors, is better than any I could have imagined before I was cast out of the clan.
Oh life in the old barn was as bad as I feared at first, the townsfolk would come periodically to chase me out of town, I'd get cold and sneak back to the barn only to be chased out again in a week's time. Then one day I snuck back to the barn only to see tables set up with a myriad of odd plants and animal parts. The back stables also had two bedrolls and some pots and pans.
At the time I was terrified, I knew the common language of humans in these parts and knew that the town was having trouble making enough money ever since the copper mine went dry. It seemed like the barn I was calling home was given to some newcomers. I didn't dare hope that the new residents of the barn would let me stay, and some part of me just broke. I was tired, my life was an unending cycle of eating what roaches and rodents I could catch, sleeping in a dilapidated barn followed by running for my life out into the cold. I just wanted it to end.
After a few hours of standing in the middle of the barn, they showed up. A big guy with a sword that looked like a long piece of metal with an edge and a halfling with a belt and bandoleer filled with tiny clay pots. Garrek and Mathais, the half-orc and halfling business partners. And the greatest alchemists I've ever had the fortune of knowing.
I expected that they would chase me out or kill me. Instead, they asked who I was and why I was in their barn. I told them my name and that I slept there. I don't think that they knew quite what to do with me, they bought the barn to turn it into an alchemy shop and found a goblin squatting in their new property. Instead of chasing the goblin squatter out or killing him, they gave him a job and put him to work.
Oh sure, I have a bit of fun at their expense now and then, the first time I wold told to sweep I went to where he pointed and swept that spot for hours. The look on Garrek's face would make for one of my most entertaining memories for years.
Truely, the greatest gift that they gave me was a spellbook they took off of a dead wizard. Well, they gave it to me after they were done with it to get potion ideas. While I had no training in the arcane, I was a smart little goblin, and after two months of studying the book managed to produce an orb of light.
To this day
~~~~~~
"WAIT A MINUTE, YOU PRANKED ME?!"
The goblin nearly leapt out of his skin at the bellow just above and behind him. Face pale, Gronk turned around to see the furious half orc that had been reading over his shoulder.
"Ah-w-w-well...um...the thing is...Gronk," he started, trying to think of a way to talk himself out of Garrek's fury.
"I know full well you know how first person works, Gronk. Now what do you have to say for yourself for pranking me in that way all those times over the years?"
"Y-y-you see...it-was-Mathais's-idea-bye!"
A slow grin spread across Garrek's face as he looked out at the goblin running down main street. His business partner walked up from in back and looked at the amused half-orc.
"You figured out that he was pranking you two months in, why'd you wait more than ten years to bring it up with him?" the halfling asked.
"The last two times Gronk wasn't doing it because it was funny, he was doing it because it was routine. This way he'll find something new to entertain himself. Perhaps it'll be at your expense this time Tablespoon."
"Don't start that again," Mathais groaned as he went back inside, though Garrek managed to overhear the halfling mutter the old material under his breath, "A dash is not a unit of measurement."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you like my work and want to support me, check out my homebrew race book here.
No comments:
Post a Comment