You are probably wondering about the rabbit ears. Just in case you thought I was some sort of chimera, no, they are not real ears. It's sort of silly, I know. But, the rabbit ears have their uses. For one thing, everybody notices them and doesn't stop to think that I'm small. They make me look taller. That's handy if a couple of stray dogs are sizing you up as a potential lunch. They notice the size, and don't think about how good rabbits are to eat. Maybe they decide not to bother with anything that big. Nobody stops to think about how rather ordinary I look either. Let's face it; I don't have much going for me. I'm not big or strong or clever with my hands. I'm not hearty, and I couldn't charm a convention of giant maggots. So, the rabbit ears are really just something of a distraction. Maybe someone thinks I'm a bit crazy. That's not as bad as thinking all those other things.
I got the ears from Uncle Tyson. He used to frequent some establishment in Madra where young women wore these things. Some place that you might as well not go unless you had a lot of money and just wanted to have fun, which described Uncle Tyson pretty well after each time he'd run some poor chicken farmer out of business. He'd had a jolly time and had gotten these from the girl he was with, or one of them, as a souvenir. I guess when he got back he thought about how stupid they'd make him look, so he ordered me to put them on. He and Julliana and the rest of them had a good laugh. But I kept the ears.
I decided I'd wear them once I'd mastered the first level of magic use. After all, magic users are allowed a certain scope of eccentricity. Just look at their outfits. So, why not rabbit ears? Nobody else I knew had them, except of course the women at that place Uncle Tyson would go, and they don't exactly move in the same circles. I'd never seen one of them out wearing rabbit ears even in Madra. So, now, that's part of my outfit. I can take them off, of course, but they really do look good. With some modifications, I now wear them over my ears instead of directly on top. Better not to have them look like the girls' outfits; wouldn't want to be mistaken for one of them. Not likely, I'll admit. I customized my hat so it slides down over them. All in all, pretty nifty, no?
So, that's how I happened to be wearing my full outfit in Daila. The merchant had salvaged his cargo and left, so I finally felt that I could make an appearance, and start looking for some profitable work. People in the tavern noticed the ears, right away. Then I did the rabbit out of the hat trick for them. It's not a real rabbit, of course, but I can make it look and act pretty real, especially if people have been drinking. (I have a pink one I use on special occasions.) I don't know that I fooled anybody, but I did get folks talking, and managed to meet some others who were likewise poorly situated when it came to money, and were of similar mind to try a bit of adventuring.
I spread about some money for drinks as if I had plenty. That's one of the things I learned from Uncle Tyson: never let on about whatever your weakness is. It was money, but I acted like I had it. Well, and charm, and size, and all those other departments too, but I just tried to act like I was a good fellow, full of wit and such. I bought drinks for the table from the bartender Leoraid, only to find out I'd just spent two thirds of my remaining gold! My, I hadn't realized this was such an expensive place! Now I didn't even have enough left to spend the night! (I did buy some rations for the road, though.) But, so it was I came to meet a cleric named "Stark" (a good familiar nautical name), a fighter named Logan who carried this really, really big sword, and a shadowy character named Lifaim who I took then as a thief type, but later decided he was a ranger or fighter. Stark says he is a worshiper of the one true god Yaweh. That's fine by me. Logan seemed to want to kill something.
We all agreed that, lacking the capital to purchase lodging, we might as well set out right then! Since the only road led South, there wasn't any question which way to go. Lifaim knew of a place three or so days away where we might have a chance to persuade kobolds to part with their money. He seemed to think it would be worthwhile. I was in no position to argue; I don't know these parts, and we needed to do something. So, off we went, the four of us, looking for adventure.
Now, please understand, adventure isn't really my top priority. But, I needed money, and it was obvious I wasn't going to earn any more around Daila by the arts of navigation. Adventuring seemed the best option. But, the point was to get some money. If you have enough money, you see, you can buy love, too. At least, that's what Uncle Tyson always said. It didn't explain whatever Julliana saw in Amarillo, but it did explain what he saw in her. Some day I want to have enough money to at least take a shot at it. But, that's a long way from the here and now.
About half a day's travels brought us to where a road goes off to the left. What's that way? Heck if I knew. Lifaim said it was only some kind of shrine to the "God of the Sea", and only used for certain festive occasions. It looked as if nobody else knew much about it either. In fact, even the road we were following was more of a trail, and didn't look like it got much use. Daila does most of its business by sea. We turned toward the southeast, into a wide valley. It was fairly open, with trees here and there. I think the mountains to the left are the ones I could see from the ocean when we were approaching Daila, before the fog set in. From the other side, of course.
We made camp and had an uneventful night. The next day we trudged on to a point where the road turns south and goes over a bridge, then more toward the southwest. We could see the ridge marking the edge of a plateau ahead of us, the area where Lifaim said we'd find something.
Well, we found something all right. A lot sooner than we expected! I was asleep. Logan was up, keeping watch and feeding the fire. He spotted wolves, and rousted everybody. By the time I was fully awake, he was in the middle of fighting a bunch of them. The fire had not scared them off. I cast a sleep spell, and when I saw there were still wolves moving out there, I cast another, and then my last. Then I followed to see if there was anything useful I could do. Stark was helping Logan fight off the last wolf, and Lifaim was out there somewhere shooting his bow. I could hear the bow twang and the arrows swish. I killed the ones that were sleeping as fast as I could. Finally, the last wolf ran off, and I hit it with a dart as it ran away, but couldn't bring it down.
But while all this was going, two more came in from the opposite side, and there we were with another fight on our hands. Logan, Stark, and Lifaim managed to kill them though. Wow, what a fight! I thought to myself, that it was a good thing I'd brought 3 sleep spells; even one wolf can be more than a match for a single adventurer.
Lifaim kept watch for the rest of the night, but we were not bothered. I regained my "sleep" spells as soon as I could the next morning while the others skinned the nine wolves that lay dead around our camp sight. Logan was hurt, and here we had only just approached our destination. Apparently Stark had already done some healing on himself.
Just then, of all the things you'd expect to see out here in the boondocks, here came a wagon. Or several of them, actually. Some merchant was on his way overland to Daila. There we were with nine wolf skins, so we figured, why not go back with him and sell the skins? It would make the trip back a lot safer, and maybe we'd get some good money. So, that's what we did.
Summary:
Monsters: 10 wolves (9 killed, 1 escaped wounded)
Treasure: 9 wolf skins, sold in Daila for 36gp, shared evenly among the party (I got 9gp)
Hurt: Stark -5, Logan -5
(I slept 7 wolves with 3 sleep spells and hit another for 2hp as it escaped.)