From ToEE

Daily Diary of Gara Duhl, Holy Warrior of the Orcs

Day Three - The Assembly

Woke up feeling sick. Vargul's eyepatch, I won't be eating goblins for dinner again. "Morning exercise" consisted of squatting in bushes for half the morning. Did my morning meditation in the river while having a much-needed bath. Felt much better.

Rode into town. Bought lunch at tavern (the beef wellington was excellent, but the vegetables were somewhat overdone), purchased a drink (I don't think much of their wine - too coarse on the palette - but their locally-brewed ale is excellent), and waited patiently for the condescending priest fellow to arrive.

First to arrive was that half-orc I saw yesterday. His command of the common tongue was shaky, but I dared not speak orcish while surrounded by humans. After some struggle I managed to deduce that his name was Grugg, that he considered himself to be rather mighty, and that he too was waiting for the same cleric as I. He seemed to think this cleric's name was "blabber-beer", though I felt that had to be wrong. Oh well, at least he wasn't dragging a goblin corpse around behind him.

I couldn't help noticing a rather surly-looking ranger sitting in dark corner, puffing on her pipe and trying to look all mysterious. She was scrunching up her nose at a bad smell and sending meaningful looks my way. I hadn't the heart to tell her that she had trodden in animal dung out on the street, and the sole of one of her boots was caked in it.

Just when I thought I could take no more of Grugg's claims of might (he once beat a fire-giant at thumb wrestling, if you believe his telling of it) our mysterious friend arrived. It turned out his name was Vladimir, though if he keeps talking down to me I may have to start calling his Blabber-Beer like Grugg does, just to annoy him. Despite his obvious distaste for half-orcs, he does seem to be a decent bloke - he seemed quite taken aback when I told him of my thrice-daily meditation regimen. I doubt he thought I could even say the word "meditation" (Grugg, for example, calls it "finking").

Tagging along with Vladimir was a familiar face - the over-anxious young priest by the name of Benjamin. Vargul's eyepatch, that boy needs some beer and a night with a young lady. He needs to relax!

We all talked for quite a while, planning our expedition. I showed Grugg my ancestral sword, and I could have sworn I heard a little squeaky voice say, "Crikey!"

Stabled Bankie, decided to stay the night. Ate an evening meal (too much pepper in the chicken pie, but the vegetable stew was just right). Went to my room and did my evening exercises, determined to work off some of the food and drink of the preceding day. Someone down below banged on the ceiling, yelling something about dragging furniture around. Did my evening meditation. Checked equipment for tomorrow. Went to bed.

Woke up. Ate some bread for a midnight snack (the oat rolls at this tavern are superb). Went back to bed.

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