Quite a few surprising developments today! I’m at the Rusty Dragon for one, in my own private room – and for free, no less! Free to me, anyway. Paid (and then some!) for by one Mister Aldern Foxglove in grateful recompense for having saved him from a nasty fate at the hands of some nastier goblins. Goblins! In Sandpoint!! I’m really getting ahead of myself here, but it’s hard to know where to begin…

All of the hard work to have the new & improved cathedral finished in time to dedicate it during the Swallowtail Festival came to fruition today, but that’s just about the only thing that happened according to plan. Father Zantus​ ended his speech with the dramatic crack of a thunderstone when gobins burst into the courtyard. (Almost as if on cue…) They were seemingly everywhere all at once and in great number; a pandemonium of tossing torches, smashing stands, and attacking basically everything/everyone in sight.

I was caught flat-footed, full-bellied, and greasy-fingered – albeit well-armed (lesson learned: stop at two sausages) and the two shots I did manage to pop off only served to draw the goblin’s attention and rouse their ire. As I stood there stupidly exposed, contemplating both the strangeness of the turn-based nature of this world we live in and the sad fact that I appeared to be the only capable fighter (ha!) currently in the area (where were the guards?!?), that last assumption proved blessedly incorrect.

Suddenly this tall bald man in monk’s garb and a fantastic cloak shows appears and is all *BAM* with the fists and it’s one goblin down! I’m standing there gobsmacked about this when I hear a giggle to my left followed by a *twang* and then it’s another goblin down with an arrow through its neck – and lo and behold appears a bloody purple-haired PIXIE standing on a table not ten feet away, bow in hand, smiling at me and giving the thumbs-up!

And so it was on! Their numbers were great, but we managed to turn back the attack – and in the process, save a really rather well-heeled man (the aforementioned Aldern Foxglove).

A bit about the folks who fought with me:

Fiona “Twinkletoes” Starflower
It seems she’s able to blink in and out of visibility at will. I’d heard of this before, but boy is it something else to see. She strikes me as friendly, fun-loving, light-hearted, and easygoing – but there’s an undercurrent of incredibly intelligence there too, and damn is she ever quick with the arrows… just maybe stand back a bit if she’s trying to hit someone near you.

Rho “Thunderfists” Amnesiaman
Buff as hell and lightning-fisted. Obvious training there, and yet not a single scar to show for it… strange, unless and until you observe how in combat his wounds seem to close up and heal almost as soon as they’ve been dealt and then it’s stranger still. I’ve since learned that his name is Rho, but that and his fists are just about all that he’s sure of. Doesn’t seem to have any memory from anytime before the fight.

Sexypants McMystery
One of Zantus’s acolytes leapt in to heal my sausage-sodden ass after I fell from a particularly nasty hit from a dogslicer, but get this – she made as if she was healing me with a spell she really did it with a well-concealed wand. She noticed that I noticed and I noticed that she noticed that I noticed, but damn if she isn’t as elusive as she is fine.

Mister Foxglove thanked us profusely once it was clear that we’d run off the goblins and invited us all to dinner with him at the Rusty Dragon. Secretwand Zappyhands declined but the rest of us accepted – and that’s what brought me here, up in this room, well-fed and 100 gold richer than before.