2021-11-30 The First Hurdle - Gerhard

A red tabard floats over and refills my drink as I sit with the members of my party, all of us newly paid after our latest job: "quality assurance" for Jenna Archleson's new training dungeon.

At the sound of Beets behind me, I turn to find her being held back by Marto.

"You touch a hair of her-hic-head..and you will have to answer t-t-to Me-me-meets.."

The focus of her outrage is none other than the tinkerer Sterling, a rather straightforward halfling who just recently tried to "finish" the job with a little too much.. finality. The job was, to be fair, to ensure that ArchJen the Fire Votex, the new denizen of a dungeon north of Fort Ettin, would.. "never bother us again". I suppose one interpretation of that is surrender; another is to send your homunculus Bird after her fallen body to deliver a nearly fatal shock.

Sterling seems content with his payment, however, and does not seem to harbor any ill-will towards Jenna, who has joined us at our table for a round. A drink sits next to him, untouched, as he tinkers with Bird.

Beets continues her onslaught, and I am reminded of her bravery in the dungeon - throwing her beetle-leg javelin at beast and automaton alike. Not too unlike Marto, in fact, who led the charge as we delved deeper and deeper into the caves, searching for ArchJen.

As I turn away from Beets and Marto, I see Gütts and Jenna engaged in a lively discussion about their common Draconic ancestry. Jenna has her wings tucked behind her for now, but when she was ArchJen the Fire Vortex, they were displayed magnificently behind her, red as the dawn light.

"Oh wow, perhaps we're related as well that would be swell wouln't it now" says Gütts before succumbing to the trials of the day (and a failed bit of quaffing). Leaning against his chair sits his massive obsidian greatsword - taller than the kobold, it is a fearsome weapon. Lucky for us, it also proves very effective at lifting stones out of the way in order to inspect a fairly rudimentary trap: a tarp, stretched over a small pit, that we needed to find our way across as we entered the dungeon for the first time.

Knock sits quietly with us. This is the first time we have worked together, and as a fellow archer I was impressed with how cool he was under pressure, firing off arrows from his crossbow while sorcerers and animated trees bore down on us.

---

As the night rolls on, Marto and a relaxed Beets join us again at the table, and we begin talking of the Feywild. Marto has been many times, and to my surprise, Beets has not! I take copious notes (this time with permission (why do I make a fool of myself)) and add them to my journal.

Maybe in these notes will be the secret to this strange new power I have discovered. Beets dubbed it Mind's Eye: by picturing in my mind the impact of the arrow, I can make it have a greater impact. An animated mannequin that I loosed an arrow towards nearly split in two with the force of it!

Who knows what else may be in store?