Excerpts From a Young Rogue’s Diary

I stopped outside the cave, and took a deep breath. I was sure I was better prepared this time. I shuddered as I remembered my adventures with the Mythic Rooster. I hoped the experiences would not be repeated!

This time, I’d done my research, I knew what I was after – a Battle Helm! I’d carefully packed and repacked my pack, leaving out the dozen axes which usually filled it, and replacing them with more Scrolls of protection, some potions to neutralize poison, some blossoms and remedies to heal wounds quickly, a pipe to replenish my magic, and my lucky Acorn.

Grasping the shaft of my military fork in my hand, I took another breath, and snorted to unleash my fury. Oh yeah, I was fury-ous. I headed into the cave.

Monkeys came and scratched at me – I ran around them, jumped over them, or poked them with my fork, sending them running. I ran from room to room, searching for my quarry; eventually, deep inside the cave, I found him. The leader of the Monkeys!

I quickly dispatched his minions – the little yellow nippy ones and the big ugly blue ones – and began setting my traps. First the trap to damage his strength, then the trap to flash and blind him so he couldn’t beat on me while I searched his pockets.

I had just finished setting the trap, and even remembered to chant the magic words over it, when something hit me from behind. I whirled around as I stumbled – somehow he’d gotten behind me! But I was sure he was still where I’d last seen him, as I’d kept my eye on him the whole time I’d been working on the traps! I turned, and sure enough, there he was, in his cute brown pants, and here he was again…in white pants! How was he in two places at once, wearing different pants?

The leader…or leaders (maybe they were brothers?) held weapons that looked like two sticks joined by a short chain. As the one closest to me swung his weapon at my head again, I decided I didn’t have too much time to think about why there were two, and simply to adjust my game-plan to deal with both at once. I dodged the stick heading for my head, and jumped away, putting distance between us to give me time to think.  As I crouched behind a rock, the leaders wandered around, looking for me.

I would have to work quickly, and set the traps just so, so that I could immobilise both of them at the same time. I broke the seal on a protective scroll, and felt my armor glow as the magics were released. Running from my hiding place, I quickly dug the holes and set several traps. I then attracted the Leaders’ attention, and led them to the traps. Sucess!

I dispatched both leaders quickly, then rifled through their packs. I was lucky today, they each had several gems and coins, but what I was really looking for was the Battle helm, and sure enough, there it was. I grabbed it, along with a strange stone marked with the Fire trigram.

Placing my loot carefully in my pack, I cracked the seal on a kindred Talisman, returning to my clan Haven. Checking to make sure no one was following, I made my way to one of my secret caches, and stowed my prize carefully. It looked good beside the dozen others I already had there.