The Company I Keep

Everyday I think of the first time I met Drazil and his cousins/brothers - whatever they are. I squinted in the sun with blood running down my forehead and I remember seeing a large rough hand reaching down for mine and pulling me out from under the dead orcs.

"You should be fine master elf." The dwarf said to me, his gawdy golden tooth glimmering back at me - hit other teeth white as ivory.

I remember sitting on a log and looking over at the dwarf talking to another dwarf. The dwarf he spoke to sat on the ground holding his right arm grimacing in pain. The wounded dwarf shook his head and nodded it towards my direction. The gold toothed dwarf shrugged his shoulders and came back to me.

"My stubborn friend insists you have this", the dwarf said as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a potion I instantly recognized as a potion of healing.

I think of this encounter everyday because at that moment I had realized alot of the things I was told throughout my life were misnomers. I got a hint of it during my schooling but the cut-throat nature of that business brought out the evil in everyone.

I informed Drazil that day that if there was anyway I can repay him and his troops to let me know. Well needless to say he has taken me up on that offer, for everytime he has called on me to help him with something I have gone. In retrospect this has been vital in my growth as a magi. I found fighting alongside the savagery of these dwarves to be invigorating. This has allowed me to grow as mentioned earlier and it has allowed me to stay safe. Ever since that day the caravan I was on got ransacked I have rarely felt the bite of a foe.

As one could imagine I get grief on this when I return to Celene. My naturally subversive nature enjoys their discomfort. I hope to one day publish my thoughts and turn the ideas of some of my fellow elves, but I find this unlikely.

I write this as we are on our way to Rittersmarche. It seems Turrosh Mak has pulled wool over the Prince and has been waging a small scale war through various minnions in the Principality. The Prince was furious because his council (in which one of the members was an agent of Turrosh) thought it necessary to send some ragtag bunch of adventurers to investigate the matter. I pray for their souls for they surely have met their demise, but I digress.

The purpose of my journal entry today was to reflect on my companions. I don't make too many entries in here, but I feel now it is necessary. I feel this mission we are embarking on will end up being of some importance, in which even Celene will feel the affects; as much as they try to ignore them.

The Elite Thunderbloods, The Thunderblood Company, The Thunderblood Three; I have heard my companions called all of these and more. I simply call them Burton, Ruggin, and Drazil.

Drazil is an interesting character. He has somewhat of a flair for a dwarf. That is not to say he is weak, on the contrary he is a fierce and rugged warrior; it is just that outside the warrior realm he speaks freely and is quite charming. This is made all the more impressive because of his gruff appearance.

His face is littered with bruises and scars but none more significant than the long ghastly one that runs across his face from one end of his forehead to the opposing end of his cheek before disappearing into his beard. His nose is just one big broken nub. It's been broken so many times that he cannot come close to remembering; he estimates in the hundreds and by looking at it I wouldn't really argue.

To watch him in battle is also amazing. He wields two swords which is somewhat rare for a dwarf, but to see him do it you would wonder why. He is poised, precise, and fast. Very fast. He insists on singing while fighting which at first I found to be a distraction but have grown to enjoy. There is a violent cadence to it that is very invigorating. My drawing of him shows him with a battle axe. He did this as a nod to his heritage, to "throw people off" he says."

He is the most proud of the gold tooth he brandishes. I find it gawdy and hideous, but when he smiles at people it seems to bring them in. I roll my eyes and argue that they are simply too flummoxed by why someone would do that to themselves than really have any interest into what he is saying. He laughs me off.

Where Drazil is a little unorthodox, Burton is not. He is all dwarf. Gruff and grim in battle and gruff and grim when not in battle. I think he was born with a military warbook and hasn't let it go since. He is honorable and loves his kin dearly. It was Burton who deferred his potion to me. He lives by a strict code which is essentially "Service and Family before Self". He has very little to no personality so when I am alone with him it bores me to tears. I could excite him if I wanted to talk about the military writing of some ancient dwarven general but that wasn't on Gandor's reading list.

Ruggin inspires me somewhat. He cannot speak due to a nasty encounter with an ogre. He had the opportunity to have it healed but he refused to. I find an odd sense of honor in that, which surprises me because normally I would think that just stubborn and idiotic. I wish he wrote because I would love to see what is going on in his mind.

In battle Ruggin is the most intimidating Thunderblood to look at. He has armor that is adorned with spikes and he wears a helmet with the same. He wields a polearm with vicious efficiency, but he is more known for his violent and chaotic charges on the enemy, where he launches himself without regard for his own safety at his foe; ripping them to shreds with his armor. It it gruesome but very effective. I find his methods irritating at times, but I can hardly argue with the results.

When I asked to draw him he agreed and surprisingly he too picked an axe. Everything these dwarves do they do together. This is no more evident when seeing them all in battle. Ruggin's chaotic attacks are offset by Drazil's grace and all brought together by Burton's poise.

I adore whenever Drazil reaches out to me. I will never admit this to him and I hope he would never find my writings, even though I doubt he'd be able to read it anyway.

I am ending this entry as I will try and get a bit of rest because I as I alluded to earlier, I believe we are stepping into something that is larger than any of us imagine.