Another Gary

After spending a night in Croesus, Gax and I bid farewell to our friend and headed back to Najarma. I'm in a bit of a conflicted head-space. Before we left, Misht left his book with me. The book. I don't know how I feel about it. I still cannot trust this item, though I suppose I should be happy that it is with me and not an unpredictable tiefling.
And its not just the book that's got me thinking, it's also the lose of our income. We did come by quite a lot of loot from that Kuatoa temple, but we don't have anyone paying us any more. I'm thinking that maybe Gax and I just finish the trip to Shidon, as sort of a... symbolic end to our travels, and take what's left of our spoils back home. Maybe we see Trevor again and maybe he'll give us something to do, but for now, I'm set on finishing this long journey.
 
Gax doesn't seem to have much of a plan either, so we returned to the goodbye center of Najarma to find those travelers with the weird box. Luckily they were still there and even though they had made another hire, they didn't seem to mind us tagging along. They teamed us up with the new hire; a gnomish dude that seemed to hide behind his neutral tones and some really nice hair. Named Gary. Gary Weedwhacker. Boy that was fun to explain to Gax.
 
Hopefully this Gary will be less of a prick than the other one we've met. As most people, he's never met dragonborns before, but he was curious. Almost to a fault. I didn't think I would ever have a crisis over whether I pick things up differently than other people considering my anatomy. But Gary's questions were a good distraction from Gax trying on and getting really excited about riding chaps. That he doesn't plan to wear over other clothing. Dear Rellemkhsaadlayn. Give me strength to deal with this dope.
 
Gax managed to get distracted by these chaps while we were trying to do a job for the travelers, the leader being Noring, but if he hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to see Gax completely wipe himself out trying to catch a burglar that was headshot by a member of Noring's party. Djemidor proves himself to be an exceptional ranger as we continue to make our way through the desert. And so has Gary, he's a strange little fellow, but his archery skills are incredible. Our other companions are Bela, Lefer, and the really big box that Lefer is obsessed with. We've found ways to be distracted so that the box means very little to us. Gary and I had some issues traveling through the hot sand anyway, so we had to trail a bit behind. But otherwise, the incredible amount of life in such a barren place keep us entertained.
 
So inspiring that Jem couldn't help himself from killing most of it. I guess it's fair, a lot of the creatures in the desert are incredibly dangerous, but I can't believe he convinced us to ambush a party of kobolds. One with some impressive control over the elemental martial arts. I can't say much about the battle, my blood ran cold when Gary accidentally shot down Gargax. I don't remember much except this overwhelming emotional power being thrust from me as I tried to defend my brother. Like... I tried to punch the Flamescale Kobold, but even though I missed, the punch hit the dune that lay far beyond him. I'm not comfortable with what that could mean, but I'll have time to worry about that once we reach the end of the desert. For now, I'll tend to Gargax. We're fortunate that Gary, despite shooting him, was very apologetic and has the ability to cast Cure Wounds. We'll have to remember that for the future.