1. Remembering Ispin Greenshield

Ah, Ispin Greenshield. What a wonderful man he was, and what great adventures he led. I am sad to have received an invitation to his funeral. I first met Ispin when he saved the small town my family lived in after our first hamlet was destroyed by the war. I will miss our drinking and talking, and mourn all the evil in the world that will not succumb to his sword.
 
On my way towards the town of Valet, I came upon a short goblin on the road. She reminded me of my childhood friend, Waah, and so I called out to her, and made sure that she did not feel like I was a human enemy. What a fantastic coincidence that this goblin happened to be Waah! We embrace, and decide to travel together. She is very different - not the scared little goblin that I found in the forest one day. I'm glad her path has been good to her, and I was happy to have this time to catch up. As we walk and talk, an elf approaches, then two humans. We decide to travel together, all 5 us. We were all going to Ispin's funeral. The two humans are brothers, and they are funny. They were at least nice to Waah, unlike the elf who started off on the wrong foot, but I suppose that she'll learn that Waah is the best little sister anyone can ask for.
 
We head on to the city of Valet, and we see more traffic on the river. I hope one day that we will have a nice boat and can travel in a way that hurts our feet much less. As we walk on, we hear some screaming, and a terrified man asks for help. He says that down the road he was guiding some soldiers, when they were attacked by creatures. That very handsome Sterling tells him to guide us, and off we go to find a very large wagon surrounded by three corpses.
 
We had asked him what it was that he saw, and the scared man was only able to describe cloaks and a large size. Even I was surprised when I saw these large, taloned beasts, picking through the remains of the caravan. All 5 of those creatures talk to each other and then 3 of them leave. I think they suffer from the same issue all bigger people suffer from -underestimating us smaller people! To prove my point, Waah goes up to one of them and kicks it in the face! Go, girl! Then she sweeps it's leg! We all join in the fight.
 
Once we take care of these weird bird creatures, Sterling tells us that they are devotees of the Queen of Darkness, Takhisis. What are these awful people doing around here, where there will be a festival? We also look around the caravan and the bodies, but there isn't too much of value. Plus, Sterling doesn't want to take money from the soldiers. He also insisted that we bury these bodies, so I went to grab the guide who originally called for help, and ask him to lend us a hand now that the danger is passed. Waah gives the guide 1gp, and then Sterling gives him some of the rations we found. I at least got 1 ration. Also, the guide is a farmer from around here. Why does he need more food? It's what he does every day.
 
Now that we are all ready to go on, we continue our walk. The 5 of us seem like a good team. Which is fine, since neither Sterling or Mal seem to be worth much anyway. I guess they would be good allies, as they don't seem to hate on Waah. But that elf is still suspicious to me, so I'll keep an eye on her. Maybe she'll leave, but I don't think I would want to try and get money from her anyway. Maybe I'll annoy her enough that she'll leave, and leave Waah alone, too.
 
Finally we reach the village! It is beautiful and peaceful and boring! Except not really boring because they are setting up for the festival! I can probably pull my best fortune teller act then. But not tonight - tonight is the night to remember Ispin. We head directly to the Brass Crab. We all have individual rooms, the luxury!!
 
For the King Fisher festival there will not be a tournament like I expect, but a reenactment of the fight of long ago by the Knights of Selumia. Sterling keeps talking about gaining honor, so I suggest he joins the reenactment. He doesn't want to. It would be a nice way to show off to the mayor, and maybe get some goodwill. But then I would have to distinguish myself, and I don't know if we'll be here long enough for it to be worth it.
 
We are finally at Vogler, with our rooms and we have some time before the funeral begins. Sterling goes off to check the town, and Waah and I go to the market. Pretty trinkets all around.
 
For dusk, we return to the Brass Crab and Becklin greats us all. She tells us she invited us because she knew us through Ispin and his stories. She tells us that we will mark his passing with tales of Ispin. She and their other friend lower the boat that carried his shrouded body into the river, and we enter the Brass Crab for the reception.
 
We all share tales of Ispin, and drink to his memory. But we also all notice a blue elf who is hanging out at the edge of the crowd. He did not share a story, nor did he look moved by the funeral. I will keep my eye on him.