The Strange Travellers in Amarley

The last few days have been spent alongside Dormaruk the seafaring minotaur, who very much lives up to the sailor's name. A bit too much. When we arrived at Amarley he charged into the inn, whose owner he knew. The other notable people inside, who I now know to be Nakor, who speaks like no Kang I ever fought and who insists on the nickname "the Blue Rider," Kazagal Headsmasher, who admitted to having smashed Nakor's head, possibly causing his strange speech, and Eugene, a taciturn local. Nakor introduced himself by insulting Dormaruk. Kazagal was in the midst of building some sort of replacement of his son. Eugene sat alone. Soon after a goblin ambush descended on the village. The lack of discipline was astounding, but expected. Who hesitates in such a situation? Perhaps a quicker and more coordinated response could have minimised our casualties. Anyway, Dormaruk ran into combat with commendable bravery, and Eugene can shoot a bow. I took down two goblins, which is unremarkable, and Nakor seemed to shrink himself. I can not think of any reason as to why. The Headsmasher brought his unfinished son into the battle, which is worrying. Some of the enemy managed to escape, and we found out that the tailor Deorgria was kidnapped by an ogre. Pretty similar to some old folksongs I suppose. Dormaruk hates horses and wants a wagon that swings. But, the grandest injustice of the day was when the innkeeper Marion seemed ignorant of Zimean beer - I do not know what I expected. The second injustice was when the dwarven captain of the guard insisted on a verbal contract regarding our pay when he offered us a job to rescue Deorgria. Has he never spoken with people before? Nakor wanted 75 oranges in return for a smaller payment, so I suppose the Headsmasher truly did a number on him. I had to use one of my own paper sheets to this end - I prepared those for correspondence with Francine! If written contracts are rare here, I suppose I will need to purchase even more in the future. Before embarking on our search westwards towards the forest where the ogre went, we stopped by the blacksmith Klara Greybelt. She turned suspicious towards Eugene, who may be a thief. For some forsaken reason Kazagal attempted to flirt with her, and by some divine intervention it worked - and well, for she now wants to "speak" with him upon our return. I inquired about adamantium weapons, which turned out to be a possibility. Interesting that she did not comment on my armour - maybe she has connections to the Merandure family and has worked extensively with adamantium before?