01 Longest Job Interview

After spending quite some time wandering around the River Kingdoms, I visited my father, Legolas, at his home in Kyonin. He gave me the family journal that I loved to read as a child, and details many of the things the way they were when the Stolen Lands were part of the ancient Elven nation. I had often daydreamed living as a skill warrior in the ancient empire. This dream, and my father's example, had been a large part of the foundation that makes up who I am. I feel a strong drive to be the best warrior that I could ever be, and to bring honor and glory not only to my own family, but to the Elven people as a whole.
 
After I returned to my wanderings in the River Kingdoms, I caught word of an expedition from Brevoy into the Stolen Lands. Deciding that this was a great opportunity for me to reclaim ancient Elven glory, I traveled to Restov to see if I could become a part of the expedition. And, if not, perhaps I could at least get an idea as to what else I would need to do it on my own.
 
Once in Restov, I was directed to the mansion of a Swordlord, Jamandi Aldori. There were many people seated in a banquet hall, and I made my way to an empty seat in the back of the room. Vilem Nathet, a mercenary was annoyed that I sat next to him. I did not care, and spoke briefly with him, finding out that he works for a bored-looking noble, Hannis Drelev, across the table from us. Apparently the noble does not like sitting by strangers, having the assumption that everyone might want to steal from him. Shrugging, I watched the rest of the room, taking note of the room full of people I saw. Most of them were rather unimpressive.
 
The first to be mildly interesting was Ikori, a strange Aasimar cleric of Pharasma. She stood before the throne and stared at it as if she could see something or someone. She prayed, which annoyed a few people, but nobody really did anything. The next interesting person was Cherilyn, an Aasimar paladin of Iomadae. She sat at a table with Zira, a Half-Elf ranger, and Linzi, a Halfling bard. The dwarf, Bashful, tried to talk to Ikori, and got her to stop praying for a moment to talk to him.
 
Cherilyn and Zira moved to the table of a dwarf, Harrim. I walked over to a pale elf, Jaethal, who I noticed to be an undead follower of Urgathoa. I spoke with her briefly. She was wary of Ikori and trying to be alone. Amiri, a tall muscular barbarian woman had a very large sword. She would be a good ally.
 
A non-interesting, and outright irritating individual, was Tartuccio, a gnome sorcerer that seems to be more intent on bragging than learning to use his power. The world would be a better place without him. I really hope that he does not go with us. Otherwise I will let him seal his fate with his ineptitude. He has no honor, and without honor you are nothing.
 
After a while, Jamandi entered the room, gave a speech, and we had good food and drink. I idly wondered if it would be our last. That night I shared a room with Zira. We were awakened to the sounds of combat from the hallway. An assassin came in through the window, blade in hand. I put an arrow into his chest and he dropped to the ground.
 
I came out of the room to see that Bashful has cleaved an assassin with his halberd, and Ikori had put four of them to asleep. Some of the people took the time to tie them up as I surveyed the scene, ready for action. The others in our group were Cherilyn, Linzi, and that honorless, atrocious hack, Tartuccio. I wondered if perhaps he might do us a favor and find an assassin's blade. That thought cheered me for a fleeting moment.
 
We moved together towards the great hall. I heard a loud noise from up ahead. We opened the door to the banquet hall to see two frost giants blasting people with their ice magic. Amiri battled the giants as we fought some assassins. Zira and I killed two of the assassins with our arrows as our companions cast spells that did nothing useful. As I muttered about this to myself, Bashful angrily cleaved an assassin with his halberd. I was happy to see that Lonzi shot an assassin in the mouth with her crossbow, dropping him. Yes, use reliable weapons, not flashy and unpredictable magic. Zira and I finished off the last two with another arrow each.
 
Looking at the bodies, we found that an assassin had a key, which just so happened to open a nearby armory that Tartuccio was quick to show us. Something was up with him, as he seemed to really want to steal as he tried to get us to take money from a strongbox. Two of us decided to take something from the armory. While I took two healing potions and Zira put on some studded leather, Cherilyn and Ikori had ran up ahead of us. We heard them trigger some traps on the way. Instead of wasting time to wonder why that assassin had the key in the first place, we ran after them to catch up. We could worry about that later.
 
Zira and I got into the room in time to kill the last two with our arrows. It was good to see Cherylin had managed to take down two with her sword. Harrim, or should I say "Harriet"?, was lying on the ground feeling sorry for himself. I snapped at him, telling him that he was dishonoring his clan, and he manned up and joined us.
 
On our way to Lady Aldori, we braved fire, saved some guards, and were joined by a knight, Valerie. We eventually found the Lady in combat with giants while within some sort of magical field that was being held by three wizards or priests. I killed one of the wizards with an arrow, as Zira wounded another. Linzi blew up two assassins with a sonic blast from her lute. Perhaps her magic can do something useful after all. Tartuccio finished off the wounded wizard with magic missiles. As some assassins swarmed me, I maneuvered through them, evading their attacks, and killed the third caster with an arrow.
 
After the rest of the intruders were killed, our survivors met in the banquet hall. Lady Aldori is certain that one of us is a spy. I briefly wondered if the spy would remain here. Tartuccio revealed himself to be the spy when he tried to point the blame on Cherilyn. I pointed out that his accent was from where the assassins had come from. Lady Aldori was not in the mood for logic, and declared that we would go in two expeditions (instead of the original planned three), one lead by Cherilyn and the other by Tartuccio. One the bright side, I will not be with him. He will probably get his expedition killed, or someone will find a way to bless the world by offing him.
 
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate gnomes? I have never met a gnome I like. They are an honorless people and blight on our world.