At the guild I was asked to help with a job. I had half a mind to deny the request but we were being sent off to the desert to help pick up artifact(s?) for Springreach university. The desert! I had never been before! This was a great opprtunit to do somw mapping and see some new beasts. My party was a big mix. All of them new to me. Piprim and Leopra weren’t going. Nor was Julius. It would be hard to get a word in edge wise, but I would do my best to make nice.

We spent a lot of time lost due to Joc. I am great at navigation and maps. I just…didn’t ever end up saying anything so we just remained lost until we weren’t lost anymore. It was a little fun to be honest. In the desert itself we ended up getting ambushed by some scorpions. Normally I would try to talk them down. The party had other ideas. They attacked instantly. I had heard they they taste amazing; it was too bad I wasn’t a big fan of eating meat. I shaped myself into a lion and went on the offensive slashing at a giant scorpion with my claws. It took some time, but we were able to beat them all down.

We took a break to take a rest for the night and in the morning we kept up our exploration. We were majung decent progress until we spotted a weird guy with his dogs on a run. The guy, well, he looked weird from a distance. It wasn’ too scary until his dog ran forward and had clearly been dead for years at least! He was an undead!!! We went into battle. I stayed back and launched my spells my first time using them offensively. We were able to re-dead him and end his life…again…and his dogs too.

We made it to the tomb and we went inside carefully. No traps. No fluff. We made it to the center. We made it to the “big boss room” as someone called it. There I expected to see a massive monster of epic hated and intense fury…instead we saw a cute like slime dude! Her had an ability to scare us but we were able to kill him so fast it didn’t matter.

We headed home with our spoils soon after!

Dear Rohin,

I hope Mother hasn’t discovered the latest thing you’ve done yet. If she has, I’m sorry. If she hasn’t, for the love of everything holy, stop reading this letter and go fix it before she does.

As for me, I have once again found myself doing things that would be considered deeply questionable if anyone important were watching.

I was asked by the Guild to help with a job. I had half a mind to refuse, naturally. Not because I’m lazy, mind you. A Laqoc simply understands the value of carefully selecting which dangers are worth ones time.

Unfortunately, the job involved going to the desert.

The desert, Rohin.

I had never been.

Naturally, I accepted immediately.

We were being sent to retrieve some sort of artifact—or artifacts—for Springreach University. The details were somewhat unclear, which I’m sure comes as a shock to you. Apparently when academics say, “We need someone to retrieve something from a tomb in the middle of the desert,” they consider that sufficient information.

The party was…interesting. I’ve met a few of them before and they seem capable enough. Though some wher new and quite a few were spell casters .... you know how much i love that though they did come in handy at times!

Our journey started well enough.

Now Rohin, you know I’m an excellent navigator. Maps are practically second nature to me. I can look at a landscape and determine where we are, where we’ve been, and where we ought to be going so I naturally took charge.

Everything went along swimmingly with not but a few hiccups.

Eventually we reached the desert proper, where we were promptly attacked by scorpions.

Giant ones.

One of them even managed to grab me in its claw!

But no scorpion will hold me down and I lead our party to a resounding victory.

We camped for the night and continued our journey the following morning.

Things were going surprisingly well.

Which, as you know, is usually when things become considerably worse.

We spotted a strange man running through the desert with his dogs.

At first, he didn’t seem particularly threatening but I ordered the party to hide. Unfortunately one of them decided to taunt them.

Then one of his dogs came running toward us.

It was a foul beast!

This poor thing had been dead for years.

Which, as you might imagine, raised a few questions.

The first being, “Why is the dead dog running?”

The second being, “Why is that man coverd in linen?”

The third being, “Why are we standing here discussing this?”

We quickly discovered the answer.

Undead.

Naturally.

We fought the man and his undead dogs, and after a surprisingly unpleasant battle, which included the man who taunted them almost dying. Too bad he never listens to me. Thankfully we saved him, and we managed to kill the undead beasts and their master!

Again.

I’m beginning to think being dead is becoming less of a permanent condition than it used to be.

Eventually, we reached the tomb.

We entered cautiously, expecting traps, curses, ancient horrors, or possibly all three.

There were none.

No traps.

No mysterious curses.

No hidden mechanisms.

Nothing.

Frankly, I was beginning to feel insulted.

We eventually reached the center of the tomb—the room everyone referred to as the “big boss room.”

Now Rohin, you know how these things work.

Ancient tomb.

Desert.

Mysterious artifacts.

Undead guardian.

Naturally, I was expecting some enormous monster of legendary hatred and unimaginable fury.

Perhaps a giant undead warrior.

A demon.

A mummy king.

Something with enough teeth to make you reconsider your career choices.

Instead, we found a little slime.

A cute little slime.

That was the big boss.

It tried its best but was easily felled once again thanks to my great wit and leadership!

And so, after all that anticipation, we simply collected the artifacts and headed home.

All in all, a successful expedition.

I saw the desert, fought giant scorpions, killed an undead man and his undead dogs, explored an ancient tomb, and defeated a terrifying little blob of…whatever it was.

I’m sure Father will be very proud.

Give my regards to Mother.

And Rohin?

Try not to get yourself killed while I’m away.

I’d hate to have to come home and explain that I’m the responsible Laqoc now.

Your loving brother,

Joc.