"Where to start, where to start," I muttered to myself as I turned in place, taking in my
surroundings.
"I would start at the shops in the south end," came a voice from behind me. I turned to see
no one... until I looked down. It was a Dwarven girl is what appeared to be a bone and leather
armor suit, tailored into a dress.
"You would, would you?" I replied, "And the south end of town is a 2-day or 3-day walk from here?"
I think the sarcasm in my voice was very clear, "And how much for the 'map' to get there?"
"Hmm," she pondered, "Let's try this again because something went astray."
She turned around, walked back a few steps, turned back, and walked up with a smile on her face.
"Hi! I'm Leonni. I heard you mention that you were looking for aplace to start, and I think a wonderful
place would be at the south end vendors. I'm headed there now. Want to come?" The smile on her face was
frighteningly genuine, and I started to feel rather guilty about how I replied.
"Leonni, I'm Zhelavar," I said with a laugh, "and you just made my day. Lead on."
She led me through the crowd of street vendors and down to the blacksmith shop where she introduced me to
her teacher, Master Tapoy. After greetings and generla chat there for a while, she led me east to the
armor and weapon shops.
"Look around, but don't buy anything. There's a wide selection here, but you get much better prices from the
street vendors."
We went once around the town and back again. It was a much nicer layout than the congested Village back home.
I found a vendor carrying soulshots for my bow and an exceptionally priced dirk. An Illythrai who went by the name of Mamamia.
Like most Dark Elves, she didn't say much, but she did manage to make me feel welcome, which was a feeling that I
don't think I ever got from their kind before. Maybe the ones here are a differnt breed. Maybe they aren't the pissy
snobbish... bleh, nevermind. Ranting.
Leonni led me around behind the stores where a gaping hole in the wall guarded by two soldiers led out in the fields.
The ground rolled with an even carpet of green grass, and in the distance one could see lizardmen and spiders.
"Slithiss!" she yelled as she raced towards a lizard man. At first, I was confused, as I thought maybe this creature was
a friend of hers, but then she started bludgeoning it to death with her mace, so I figured she just had an affinity for killing
lizardmen and that was her pet name for them.
"They're so cute," she said as she continued to bash in the skull of the semi-conscious creature before her, "but they're
pretty easy to kill," she continued as she raided the dead creature's pockets, "and sometimes they have the best patterns for
leather outfits."
We headed further south and came across another Dwarf out hunting by himself. It seemed we all paused at about the same time to catch our breath
so I took advantage of the moment and greeted him. Ironfist was his name. He seemed to have a full bag of tricks on him. Bow, melee weapon,
an ample supply of soulshots, and some very well-crafted and rather expensive-looking bronze armor. Ironfist, like most Dwarves*,
was a friendly fellow and was open to conversation while we were bashing away at critters. The three of us were able to make short work of almost
everything we found very quickly. It was a profitable and enjoyable trip for all. It was getting late in the day, though, so we all
said our goodbyes, parted ways, and agreed to look each other up next time we were back in Gludin for some hunting.
One day, two friends, zero mishaps. Things seem to be ontheir way up!
*= 'most' might have been 'all' had it not been for that -_- -_- Dwarf I ran int on my first day in Dwarf Village.
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