Following is another report from the trident-wielding warrior, Novak. Details, such names or the distinction between elf and half-elf are largely lost on the barely-literate Novak. More learned comrades of his might relate a more coherent narrative. The following account was the best history preserves.
News came to Malcolmsfort about norkers attacking a nearby town. Norkers are degenerate hobgoblins. The attack failed. The town was offering 250 GP for hunting them down. That sounded like a good deal, but before they left town, Novak and his crew put the word out. Several men-at-arms came forward, one of which was a sturdy barbarian named Golmar. They all joined up just for the chance for treasure.
When they got to the attacked town, everything was wrecked. The leader of the town had a witch with him who had warned of the attack. She told them to remember the name Grahkirt but didn’t say any more about that.
They got moving right away, heading up in the hills. After a day of walking, they made ready to camp when several boars rushed out of the bushes. It looked like a good battle, but the sneaky elf cast the spell to make all but two of them go to sleep. It wasn’t long before they had far more meat than they could eat. Bellies full, they slept well and woke to fine a fine snow covering everything. Luckily, the ranger had no trouble picking up the trail they’d been following.
Presently, they came to a log fallen over a stream. While partway over, norkers came out waving their crude clubs. Once again, the elf make them fall asleep. Novak cut stakes and stuck the heads on them as a warning to other norkers.
After more following the norker footprints, they found a small cave. Novak told the sneaky elf to go take a look. He found a trap door inside the cave, but then a couple of norkers caught him. This proved no problem as everyone rushed in to kill the two beasts.
Novak opened the trapdoor and told the sneaky elf to go scout it out. He came back with a story about a couple of norkers drinking beer. So, Novak went down himself with a torch-bearer and the cleric. Once down there, Novak threw flaming oil that burned up one norker. The other ran at him, got a good hit in on the barbarian, but the got cut down by Novak.
Novak told the barbarian to beat it, go back up. The rest he told to follow him. He and the torch guy went down and Novak killed another norker, but the cleric wasn’t listening. He went through a different door. Pretty soon the sneaky elf and the ranger went with him.
Meanwhile, Novak wandered around and caught a norker with a bunch of weapons and armor. The sneaky elf ran up and the two of them killed that norker. Since the others were off in a different direction, Novak backtracked.
He found them blabbering with they guys in a jail cell: a human, a norker and a gnoll. The elf undid the lock on the human and they sent him away. As he left, he complained about some elf girl who was captured, too. The cleric wanted to kill the norker in chains, but Novak thought it was funny he was chained up. They talked to the norker and found he hated his chief for attacking the human village. They made a deal to let him go if he helped them kill the chief.
Sure enough, the chief was not far off. As soon as they opened the door, the nice norker ran right up and started fighting the norker king. Two guards just stood by, as did Novak and his band. The king and the good norker traded some blows, but eventually the king chopped off the good norker’s leg.
Immediately, Novak charged in, trident first. He skewered the king who died right away. The ranger killed one of the guards, but the other crumpled up like a coward and begged for mercy. The cleric helped the friendly norker not die, too.
From the king, Novak took a silver necklace with a key. That key opened up a chest in a room behind a curtain. The chest was filled with coins and gems. He told the hirelings to carry the chest out. He also took jasper bracelets and a gold ring.
They grilled the cowardly guard and figured out that the elf girl went into the room behind the curtain and never came back. They also got promises from the norkers never to attack humans again.
Novak looked under the bed for another trap door, but then the sneaky elf found a secret door. They decided right then that they ought to go down and find the elf girl.