Recently I came across some pieces that I wrote a good few years back. They’re in-character stories about the doings of my RP-ish hobbit burglar called Gaderic. They are in the form of entries in his personal notebook, and were originally posted to my kinship forum. Sadly the kinship and its forum are no more, but when I happened to see the original text files on my PC I thought I’d post some of them to my blog.
I think the very first piece is lost, as I probably wrote it directly in the forum. So we start with the second and third entries in Gaderic’s journal.
Spiders
They say I am now a hobbit of stature, even though I am the same size as always. Seemingly it is because I have killed a lot of spiders.
It is true that them giant spiders are very hard to fight, so perhaps people that only heard about that think I must be bigger than I am. They tangle you up in webs and try to poison you. I don’t rightly know how I’m still alive to be honest. Three spiders set on me, and I think I got two of them, but after that I don’t remember much, until I woke up near the inn. Perhaps the poison does that to you.
I think there are remedies for poison, but I don’t have any, and not too sure where they can be gotten. Pies are also good for restoring you after poisoning too, but you can’t really stop for a bite when fighting a mess of spiders.
Adventuring does interfere with mealtimes something rotten. That is probably why it is not popular with hobbits.
Note: Find out where to buy remedies for poison and such.
Adventuring
I have been resting up for a few days, after the battering I got from the spiders.
Also I have been thinking about adventuring, whether it is worth it.
Against adventuring:
1) The meals are irregular, and you quite often have to make do with fare that is not up to scratch.
2) Many hobbits think it ain’t respectable. Mam says no hobbit wants their daughter marrying a lad who’s been off gallivanting in foreign parts. She could be right, cos they say Old Bilbo never married, though he lived to be eleventy-one, and was one of the richest and most famousest hobbits in the land.
3) You could get killed. Or worse.
For adventuring:
1) It is fun and exciting. (Except sometimes when you have to trudge a long way, with nothing to see but a crow or two. Or get lost in the forest for days on end.)
2) If you believe the tales, there are wondrous places to be seen, and marvellous folk to be met. Marvellous foods to be et too.
3) Sometimes you get to help folk in need, almost like being a bounder. Very gratifying it is, and once in a while they give good rewards for helping too.
4) If you are lucky, there are gold and jewels and such to be gotten. Either by burgling (the best way, especially if you can find a dragon to burgle) or by mining for nuggets and ores.
That is four reasons for adventuring, three against. On balance, adventuring seems worth it.
