I had been sailing with the pirates about a month, when we heard that a rival band of pirates, led by a blustering cutthroat named Sempronious had staged a raid in the Luftgren area.  Among other things, some rare silks had been stolen.   The Captain of the

I had been sailing with the pirates about a month, when we heard that a rival band of pirates, led by a blustering cutthroat named Sempronious, was trying to smuggle counterfeit silks in the Lufkin area.  The Captain of the ship on which I sailed was Gerard, and I felt an affinity with him almost immediately.  Like me, he had trained to be a Paladin with the Monks of Kord but with him it didn’t quite take.  He had left the order about twenty years ago (shortly before I had started my training) but had maintained a relationship with the monks and they supplied him with special silks bred from magical worms.  The colors of these silks swirled and changed, responding to the mood of the wearer.  They also had the property to help sailors gain and maintain their sealegs.  Apparently, Sempronious was trying to pass off his silks as ours.  

As the months went by, I had grown quite close to one of the deckhands.  His name was Apemantus, and I could tell he was in awe of me.  I decided to take him on as an apprentice and teach him the ways of a Paladin.  Several days ago Gerard had called me to his cabin:  There were rumors that Sempronious had an ally.  My ears perked up when he told me what kind of ally.  If Gerard’s information was correct; a goblin was imbuing Sempronious’ silks with a type of magic that mimicked our genuine silks.  That’s all it took for me to volunteer to go ashore near Luftkin with Apemantus, and find out if this story was true.

Gerard wished us luck as we disembarked at the river mouth just south of Lufkin.  As a cover story we had decided to fill a cart with our silks to sell them along the way, if we ran into any locals (I realize now that this may not have been the best idea).  We followed the south side of the riverbank and the first thing we noticed was a strange conical spire sticking out of the middle of the river.  Next we passed an old mill on the north shore.  Finally we came upon the Old Kingdom Bridge.

We crossed over to the north shore and began following the road north toward Lufkin.  As we neared a bend in the road, I realized that my armor was trying to warn me of something.  I put up my hand and Apemantus halted in his tracks.  We left the road and then circled back to it.  Through the trees, we saw an encampment of soldiers.  As we watched, the soldiers began to march off toward the north east.  When we were sure we were alone again we returned to the road. 

Apemantus noticed the column of smoke first.  We decided that that must be the soldier’s destination.  After some discussion, we took off in the direction of the smoke and soon found its source:  A cabin was burning just on the other side of the clearing we had stepped into, and we realized that a battle was taking place just outside the cabin.  I was astonished to see that one of the fighters had intimidated a band of goblins into forming a bucket line to put out the fire.  As the fire dying down, the person I perceived as the leader of the group was entering the cabin and soon I realized he had pulled a soldier to safety.

Suddenly there was a commotion by the well the goblins had been using to draw their water.  They were jumping into the well to drown themselves.  I put up my hand as if to stop this from happening.  I had so wanted a chance to interrogate them.  That’s when my armor started vibrating again.  Two Bugbears had broken from the fight and running in our direction.  The first one nearly toppled Apemantus to the ground before making a beeline out of the clearing.  My first shot with the crossbow missed the second beast, and my next did little better.  Apemantus recovered his footing and took two quick shots both of which hit home greatly wounding the creature.

I noticed that the Captain was setting a perimeter around the cabin.  It wouldn’t be long before we were spotted, and I really wanted to at least examine the bodies of the goblins in the well.  So I called out our position.  This is when I realized I had made a grave tactical error by bringing the silks.  A female Druid bounded into the clearing, and as soon as she saw our cart she began to accuse us of being thieves and things didn’t get any better as the fighter who had intimidated the goblins approached, followed closely by the leader of the group. 

Now that he was standing in front of me, I knew who he was by reputation.  This was the famous Captain Regdar.  I had heard Captain Malek talk about him hundreds of times.  This must be how Apemantus felt about me.  I was in awe of the man. I heard myself telling them we had wounded the Bugbear, and could feel them eyeing us suspiciously.  I thought about trying to tell them about Sempronius, but Regdar didn’t seem open to the concept of good pirates vs bad pirates.  It took all my diplomatic skills to calm the situation, and even then the female druid insisted that I turn over the silks to the fighter (whose name, I later learned, was Begdemagus.  The Druid’s turned out to be Dani) in exchange for our lives instead of the 1000 apiece I had hoped for.

When I heard that Captain Regdar was concerned that the goblins had contaminated the well, I breathed a little sigh of relief.  I told him I had the power to purify the water, but it would take at least 2 hours.  After that he was open to letting me examine the bodies.  I ended up being disappointed; Numbilung was not among the drowned goblins.  I was almost finished at the well when an alarm went off and a soldier came running in from the south where goblins were massing in a field.  Captain Regdar had gone so far as telling me that he could help Apemantus and me find lodging in Lufkin for the night, but now that would have to wait.

At the new battle site Begdemagus and Dani quickly coordinated their attacks:  Dani would lay down a thorn wall and Begdemagus would set it on fire killing the goblins behind it.  I told Apematus that we had to prove our loyalty to our new companions, so we joined in the fight.  As Dani moved in position to lay down a new thorn wall my armor started to vibrate I looked across the field and there he was Numbilung!  I could swear he looked right at me before disappearing just before Dani’s thorn enclosed the rest of the goblins.  My armor was now working overtime.  Smoke Dragons began to strafe the battlefield and I was also able to perceive a small hole to the right of  Apemantus position.  For a moment I didn’t know what to do.  I bore no real allegiance to these people but I knew Kord would see it as cowardice to leave them in such circumstances.  I told Apemantus to go in ahead of me and then I shouted out the position of the hole before quickly following him.  I just hope I made the right decision.

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From a very young age, my best friend Refrus and I (Revlis) roamed the streets of the city called Melinir, the largest settlement in Thunder Rift.  Both of us were orphans and that meant we had to fend for ourselves and sometimes that meant we strayed to the wrong side of the law:  We were thieves; there I said it.  As babies, we had been left at the doorstep of the Temple of Kord.  I arrived first and Refrus a month later.  The monks did what they could to set us on the right path, but all too soon it became clear that our destinies lay somewhere beyond the Temple walls.  Yet Kord would play his part in our lives, but not till much later.

By the time we were ten, our ability to outwit the stalwart Captain Commander Malek and his disciplined city guard had caught the eye of the goblin, Numbilung and he recruited us into his band of misfits.  One night, Numbilung sent us on a mission to break into the house of the Lord Protector of Melinir, Valum..  Numbilung had heard that Valum had bought a small statue of Kord from a gold merchant and locked it away in his vault.  Numbilung knew that only a pair of ten-year-olds would be foolish enough to attempt such a feat.  He also knew that we possessed the skills to pull off the job. 

We gained entrance to the house.  We gained entrance to the vault.  We found the statue, and then we found something else hidden in the vault.  Refrus saw it first:  A small silver flask, glinting in our torch lights.  He picked it up and made as if to sample its contents, but I cautioned against it.  He relented and settled for secreting the potion in his cloak.  I did the same with the statue.

In the hall we noticed a ribbon of light streaming from a doorway.  We crept closer and beheld a vision:  Miranda, Valum’s eight year old daughter fast asleep in her bed.  A candle she had been using to read before she drifted off was the source of the light.  I think we both fell in love with her at that very moment.

Later that night Numbilung explained to us why he had wanted the statue.  It had the power to cloak the location of our hideout.  He was afraid that Captain Commander Malek and his men were getting too close.  With the power of the statue, even if they found the hideout they would perceive it as just another empty building.  Suddenly Numbilung gave Refrus a suspicious sidelong glance.  What is that I spy in your cloak?  Give it here this instant boy!  Refrus sheepishly handed him the flask.  You should know by now that you can’t hide anything from me.  Now let’s see.  Ah yes, this potion was distilled by a powerful Djinn.  It shall grant your most fervent wish if you drink it.  But most likely NOT in the way you would like.  I will give it safekeeping and maybe just maybe, I will return it to you when you are older.

Over the next few years, we spent as much time with Miranda as possible.  The Lord Protector would never let two street urchins like us anywhere near his daughter but we were stealthy and we found ways around that.  Then one day when Miranda was 15 and we were 17, she confessed to us that she had fallen in love with both of us but it didn’t matter because her father had found a suitor for her, his name was Terlalecyn, and he was said to be a direct descendant of Gravis, the first King of Thunder Rift.  She was to be married to him before the end of the year.

If there was one thing that Refrus was more obsessed with than Miranda it was the flask.  He resented Numbilung.  Over the years, that resentment had simmered into a pure hatred.  He finally decided to give up Numbilung’s location to Captain Commander Malek.  He knew quite well that as long as Numbilung had the statue, he would stay hidden.  So, the only way to betray him was when he was away from the hideout..  He told Malek about a job the goblin was planning and which pier he would be at.  Numbilung was arrested on Refrus’ information, but his goblin friends broke him out, he took the statue and left for parts unknown...

The morning of Miranda’s wedding finally arrived.  I awoke to the sound of someone banging on my chamber door.  It was Refrus.  He had spent the night before drinking himself to the bottom of a bottle of the heaviest spirits he could find.  Since Numbilung’s disappearance, he had searched for the flask virtually every waking moment.  And then it came to me.  He drawled as he stumbled into my chamber, pulling a knife and waving it in my direction.  The only way Numbilung could hide the flask where I couldn’t find it is if he had given it to YOU!  He was right; the goblin had given me the flask because he knew I would try to protect my friend (not that Numbilung cared).  For some reason Refrus never saw the danger of the potion; but I did and so it is ironic how things turned out…  GIVE ME THE FLASK!  Refrus demanded and I could see an insane glint in his eye..  I quickly knelt, reached under the bed, pulled the flask from its secret compartment, took a swig and made a wish.

It was a simple wish.  All I wanted was for all my troubles to go away.  I stood up and realized that I was alone.  Refrus had disappeared.  And not just from my room.  The potion had made it as if he had never existed.  I was to learn later that miles away there had been a gathering, but no one seemed to remember what it was for.  It seemed to be a wedding but there was no bride.  Miranda had disappeared as well, as if she had never existed no one remembered her, not even her father.  My troubles then were the fact that I was in love with my best friend’s girl and the potion had made them both go away.  They never existed…. But I remembered both of them.  I thought I heard the faint sound of a Goblin’s laughter on the wind.

I spent the next 19 years training to become a Paladin at the Temple of Kord.  The monks came to me and told me the time had come for me to seek out Numbilung and bring back the statue of Kord.  I had never told them about him but somehow they knew.  It has been too long in that vile creature’s hand.  You must seek him out and return the Statue to its rightful place here in the Temple.  I wanted to know how I would find him, since the statue was protecting his location.  They gave me the Armor of Eyes which they said would improve my perception.

I took Refrus’ name as my sir name as a remembrance and the last few months, at monk’s advice, I have been sailing with the Pirates of Goathe, but so far I have learned little as far as the location of the Goblin.  Yet someday my most fervent wish is to somehow be reunited with my best friend and the woman we both love.  Oh and in case you were wondering, the flask is somewhere at the bottom of the ocean.