If You Find Yourself In a Hole, The First Thing You Should Do: Stop Digging

He was at the bottom of this big ol’ pit. The moss was all over the place and so was the meenlocks. There was this like.. I don’t know how to call it. A big glowing thang? That was hanging on the ceiling in the middle of the pit. The guy was at stuck at the bottom in the moss while the meenlocks was pumping him full of the venom that makes you scared. He was screaming a bunch but he wasn’t awake, they was just giving him nightmares in his sleep. Sledge wanted to save him, I wanted to get the hell outta there. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I felt bad for the guy, but I’d been beaten within an inch of my life and saw nightmares of me killing and slaughtering so I wasn’t too keen on being a good Dahlanian when I wasn’t sure if I’d even be an alive Dahlanian after that.

But it didn’t matter, the meenlocks seen us and wasn’t gonna let us just waltz outta there. The big glow thang - a heart? No, it wasn’t no heart. Hearts don’t look like that. Anyway, the big glow thang was where the baby meenlocks was growing out of. Like an egg sack that spiders hatch out of. Sledge and Vidar had the bright idea to just burn the whole thing down, so Sledge ran ahead of us real right quick with Vebradu right behind him. To burn down the sack and also to rescue the guy. But Sledge leaving us behind was what probably messed us up the most, we split ourselves up and it was too easy to gang up on us. Don’t get me wrong, the baby meenlocks wasn’t nothing to deal with, it was just.. I can’t explain, there was something magic about them that made everything harder. I uh.. really wasn’t doing well.

I think it’s normal for people to think about when and where they’re gonna die, like what they want to happen afterwards. I done thought a lot about what would happen to the ranch if I died. But I think most people just kinda assume when the raven caws it’ll happen quiet at home. For the first time in my life I realized that wasn’t what was gonna happen. I was so scared I’d die far from home with no one to let you know what happened to me. I mean, the boys was with me, but they didn’t even know who you was yet, or why I left town, or even what town I was coming from. Let alone how to get back. I’m not real sure what pulled me together, but Vidar and Larry and me put our backs to each other with torches out so we couldn’t get snook up on and we regrouped with Sledge and Vebradu.

I just remember holding my torch so tight I got splinters and the wood snapped at the end. I couldn’t breathe too good, but I just tried focusing on making sure my buddies could do everything they needed. I remember Vebradu fell somehow and I helped him up. I waved my torch in the ugly faces of the damn meenlocks to prime ‘em for a good bite from Big Clyde or a sword slash from Vidar. Stuff like that. Right when I thought I wasn’t gonna make it, Vidar and Sledge was able to light the glowing egg sack on fire and pick up the guy. We high tailed it outta there, the minute the glowing thang really caught fire the whole burrow started to collapse.

Luckily we made it out alright.

We seen the same brownie that helped is before. He was true to his word and took real good care of Charlotte while we was gone. Then we saw some.. faerie lawmen. I don’t know, I didn’t really question it, but it really didn’t make no sense to me that there’d be lawmen. I mean, I know they got laws and rules and all, but it was just so.. never mind, I don’t even wanna get into it. They helped us outta the borderlands and we ended up at a graveyard a few leagues out from Jaimelgar. It was night time so we decided to make camp there. Oh, and that brownie from before, I forgot to say, he kissed our ears and taught us goblinese. That was weird but I just went along with it. He even taught Charlotte goblinese. Actually she might still know it.. Anyway, Sledge gave a healing potion to the guy. Vebradu was messing with a dog statue and took a weird rotten bone from it. Do you remember why he did that? I think there was a reason but I.. really don’t… Goodness, why did he do that? That was weird. But I realized while we was making camp that a whole week had passed. That was hard to stomach. With the full moon and all.

Larry and I talked that night. That was when - what? Why can’t I tell him that? No, it’s nothing bad. Just that when we talked that was when I knew you was trustworthy. Larry really pulled me together that night. I was in a state.

The next morning, Enrique introduced himself to us. He said he was a merchant heading to Camino when he got attacked by goblins. Vidar was working out a deal with him so we could get paid for saving him. When he said he was going to Camino I said we could escort him for more cash. He said he had a bunch of connections and things in the city. Vidar was happy because he knew somebody who could make jotun armor, so he looked forward to that. We dropped him off back at town and then went back to the witch, where we got the sneaky potion and some healing potions. He gave us some extra ‘cause we gave him more meenlock ingredients and things.