From ToEE

Daily Diary of Gara Duhl, Holy Warrior of the Orcs

Day Nine - A Waste of a Day

What an infuriating and depressing day. Decided to spend the day looking for Snappy and Bouncer, so I missed out on the fun of returning to the moathouse and killing more monsters. (Actually, that didn't turn out so well anyway - more of that later.)

Slept in, then got up and did morning meditation. Came downstairs for breakfast, and found that clumsy halfling propped up in the corner, gingerly slurping soup from a bowl. He's certainly looking better than yesterday - for one thing, he isn't covered in his own blood (mixed with copious amounts of frog saliva). Felt a bit bad about making fun of him yesterday, so passed a few minutes chatting with him, while eating my oats and fruit and drinking tea. Found he is really quite pleasant company.

Very strange event followed. Heard the bell on the door tinkle, and in walked a chirpy-looking human female. Her face lit up in a smile when she saw the halfling sitting beside me, and he cried out "Jill!" with a big grin on his scarred face. He then asked what his "little big sister" was doing in the neighbourhood. Sister? Is he crazy? Vargul's eyepatch, they're two different species!

Needed to get out among somewhat less crazy people, so I said a polite goodbye and headed for the stable. Fed Bankie a celery stick, then saddled him up and went for a ride. Forgot for a little while about my troubles, and let myself get lost within the wonderful feeling of going for a ride on a beautiful day with no particular destination in mind. However, business had to take precedence. Spent at least three hours slogging my way through that horrible swampland and scrub. Might as well not have bothered - could not find a sign of my truant pets. Little mongrels...

By the time I got back to town, Bankie was mud-caked to the withers, so I had to spend an hour washing him and brushing him down. When I was done, I restabled Bankie and stormed off to the trading post to have a word with the management. I had suffered through a rotten morning, and I was determined that someone was going pay.

Encountered that old creep Gremag behind the counter. I'm not actually sure whether Gremag is male or female - he/she it is tall (for a human), skinny as a ten foot pole, has facial features so sharp that they could slice cheese, and has eyes that bulge so much it looks like a gerbil has just jumped up his/her arse. (Oh, bugger these ambiguous pronouns - I'll assume Gremag is male.) Explained about dogs, demanded refund. Gremag was totally unreasonable - claimed I must have mistreated the dogs (as if I could ever hurt my babies), and that they were well-trained, veteran hunting dogs that would never run away from a good master. I was livid - shouted at the old rip-off artist and threatened to call the militia. He laughed in my face! I couldn't believe it. If not for my mental discipline, I would have popped his head off like a champagne cork. After much shouting, he finally said that I could have a meagre discount on my next livestock purchase from the store. Right, like I'll ever buy anything from them again!

Stormed out of the trading post. Needed to calm - went to that lovely grove to meditate. Sat comfortably and excised my mind of negative feelings, making myself calm and relaxed. Must have meditated longer than I intended, as shadows were lengthening as I stirred. Noticed a druid watching me from the trees. He smiled when he saw I had finished meditating, and we talked for a while, mainly about animals. He sympathised with me about the loss of my pets, and agreed that the owners of the trading post could be rather unscrupulous. He suggested that I try to attract more merchants to the town, since the new exploration was stimulating the economy, and competition would force the trading post's prices down. I laughed out loud - it was the perfect revenge! I thanked him profusely, and gave him a handful of coins to help with the upkeep of the grove.

Terrible news awaited me at the inn - the squeaker is dead, poisoned by a giant centipede in the ruins of the moathouse. I am shocked. She was such a lively little thing. Our party is diminished by her loss. I smiled tearfully to hear that her new friend, the wolf, had avenged her by ripping the centipede to pieces. It then vanished over the drawbridge and into the swamp.

Only slightly less shocking is the news that my half-orcish comrade has contracted a terrible disease. It seems that he was attacked by a monstrous parasite, and while it was removed before it could kill him, it tainted his blood with pestilence. If we can't find a cure within a week, he will die. Oh well, at least he has a new shield, which makes him happy (even if it does smell, bizarrely, like lizard guts).

Weary party sat down to eat, and I realised that I hadn't eaten since breakfast - I was starving. Filled up on a small mountain of lamb cutlets (grilled to perfection), roasted potatoes (crispy-golden, just the way I like them), and rather too much ale. Food was so good, I didn't even mind too much that a rather vocal elf, wrapped up like a mummy in many yards of stained bandages, was bragging about how he slew the snake that had surprised him. Vladimir confided later that the elf had been caught off guard, and would have been swallowed whole had the rest of the party not come to his rescue. Typical. Still, that's one weird elf... I didn't know they could grow stubble, and I certainly didn't know they were capable of putting away such vast quantities of ale.

Couldn't help feeling frustrated as I went upstairs to bed. Didn't bother with exercises of meditation - figured that tomorrow would offer plenty of chances to exercise and work out frustration.

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