I have in recent times fallen in with a band of scoundrels and adventurers whilst I was “seeing the world”. I found myself short of coin and some paying work removing bandits from the area around Hommlet seemed like a superlative idea. At the time.

I am accompanied by people from all walks of life including some half-breeds, they’re not as bad as one might think actually, almost adequate in a fight but their trustworthiness is yet to be confirmed.

We have so far managed to locate and destroy two bandit camps if my memory serves me correctly, we have also assisted in cleansing some foul area of the forest locally and have so far been richly rewarded by the elders of Hommlet.

We now have taken it upon ourselves to cleanse the ruined moathouse of the ancient evil which dwells there and as I write this we are resting up preparing for a new assault. Oh how I wish I had some of the family retainers with me to assist, life would be much easier with men around to life and carry for me so that I may concentrate more fully on my arts - I must see if I can locate any likely lads when we next return to the town. I also look forward to spending more time studying in the library of Elmo, one of the elders who has amassed a not inconsiderable collection of tomes in his time.

Our first destination was to be the closest to Hommlet.  We set out early in the day and travelled by foot.  Along the way we noticed a foul smell in the air and upon approaching a small copse we noticed that some giant spiders had made their home here.  After a brief scuffle in which I must admit I was of little use, being unable to safely cast my Sleep spell without causing one of my companions to also be affected.  Not wanting to look completely surplus to requirements I set to removing some likely looking parts from the bodies of the spider.  I have no idea what I my be able to do with these but surely somebody can make use of spider mandibles!

Upon further investigation, Ravi discovered several coccoons hanging in nearby trees, obviously a store of food for the spiders.  To our surprise one of the coccoons turned out to contain a gnome by the name of Borofin alive and as well as could be expected.  In return for rescuing him he provided us with a small reward and a scroll of arcane magic!

We continued along the road with Borofin travelling with us to provide assistance where he may be able to.  Before long we were ambushed by some overlarge yellow-skinned, red-haired creatures!  Several members of our party ploughed headlong into battle, blades flashing.  I felt that against such overwhelming odds I was compelled to assist and cast my Sleep spell on one of the beasts.  In a tense moment the creature seemed that he was unfazed by this but then he fell to the ground, asleep!  Beside me, Borofin was wielding some sort of wand from which flew balls of pure force that unerringly reached their targets.  After several minutes of battle we had finally overcome the onslaught but a number of us were only barely standing.

[At this point several pages are illegible due to what appears to be blood and soot]

Anyway, I decided to try playing an old school elf magic-user with my mediocre ability rolls.  Good enough to get by but not good enough to excel sadly!  So, armed with a spellbook and one spell per day, Quarion is off in search of adventure!