Day 1

It has been only a few hours but I’m starting to regret this already.

The hooded man at the tavern seemed worried. He told me about these little impish creatures that plagued the forest, “gnomes”. Never heard anything about them before in my life. To be honest, the guy who sent me in this quest seemed pretty deranged in the first place. I wasn’t sure if he was just tripping on some magic mushrooms the first time I met him, but then he came back to me again and again and again in the same state for the entire week that I spent in the tavern. I figured that he was just insane and it would be easy to trick him for some easy money. I’ll just catch some forest fairies and tell him they’re gnomes and he’ll probably buy it no question. Or maybe he’s so out of it that a ferret is enough.

In any case, I can use the money, and it’s really no big deal to go out in the forest for a couple of hours to catch the first thing I come across. I have my trusty crossbow and a quiver full of bolts, and lots of patience. I could have used a hound, though, that’d make hunting small game quite a lot easier. Who knows, maybe I’ll buy one with the money I get from this. ---

It’s been a couple hours since the last entry and I’ve decided to set up camp for lunch. I haven’t had any luck as of yet, and I’m getting hungry. I thought of going back to the tavern to get some actual decent food, but I have rations with me and I want to get this done as soon as possible, I’m not going all the way back out of the forest and then in again in the evening. Sorry, no. I foraged some wild berries to accompany the carrots I brought and I’m currently making the saddest stew known to men and elves alike. Not to dwarves though, their food is far worse than this. Fuckin’ dwarves.

I’m finishing up. I just heard something rustling in the leaves. Free gold, here I go.

Day 2

Slight change of plans. I was so fed up with everything last night that I didn’t even bother to write an entry. God damned gnomes and god damned insane hooded men in taverns.

The thing is, I got a little bit lost. I actually have a pretty good sense of orientation, as is needed when you go into forests to hunt things by trade. This rarely ever happens, but this forest has me stumped. I might have overstayed, though, that’s on me, I was so focused on the hunt that the night fell upon me and got me by surprise.

By the time I decided to get back I only had a few minutes of proper daylight left and I failed miserably in the task of finding my way to the tavern. I got pretty mad but I figured the only thing I could do was suck it up and wake up early in the morning. My hubris has struck me down, I fear. At least I won´t get back empty handed, though, last afternoon I managed to grab myself a nice little hare. I would stay a little longer and search for forest fairies since I don’t want to overestimate how much of a fool this guy is, but I’ve been here long enough and I’m not even sure that there are any in this forest. So back to my room it is. No more gnome hunting for me. ---

Right. Update. Shit just got fucked, big time.

I’m pretty sure I’m in deep crap right now. I haven’t been able to go back. At all. I’ve been following the landmarks that I intentionally paid attention to so I wouldn’t get lost, and they lead me nowhere. I’m at what’s supposed to be the end of the forest and there’s just more and more trees. If this place is cursed I’m killing the fucking insane hobo who sent me here. I’m freaking out a lot and I need to calm down.

Maybe I’m just an idiot and I got overconfident and I’m just that, lost. But I’ve got a pretty nasty feeling about all this shady sketchy shit. At least I’m armed. If it weren’t for my crossbow I’d be losing my shit a lot more right now. Now I’m definitely gonna remember to keep it loaded. For fuck’s sake, why did I think this was a remotely good idea.

I just thought about foraging for a more balanced lunch, but I think it would be wise to work from the assumption that this place is just evil and not eat anything colourful that grows here. I still have the hare, luckily, which I presume is safe to consume, and I have a bit of leftover vegetables from yesterday. I should get to hunting to keep a steady supply of food coming in.