Kind sirs, can you spare a moment for an old man who is really more beggar than cleric? I would warn you about Og if you have time to listen, and perhaps you will thank me one day.
Ahh--to be young and ambitious such as yourself! Truely I see that the whole world of DarkTide lies before you and that success will ride on your bright shoulder as you and your stallwart companions journey forward. Surely any creature that stands in your way will regret it, and surely you need but remain true to your quest to achieve it.
Before you and your companions hurry forward into adventure and great wealth, please take a few moments to hear about my ugly neighbour-- Og. I once traveled with him long ago and know something about him, so hear the pleas of one less fortunate than yourself, and now unable to make his way alone in the dangerous world of DarkTide.
First you must see that while I am old and bent and small, Og is large and three-eyed. You might (after looking at his ugly face) say-- "Yes,but surely he can have no intelligence, he is an animal--slay him and be done with it." And you would be pretty much correct. I have seen him come back to his Golem cave after a wild night out and bash the crude door off its henges just because he cannot find the rope that pulls the bolt up. I have never seen the least spark of wit in his face except once or twice when his middle eyed seemed to twitch with a single brief thought.
Og only has one friend, Kewtsquirrel, and how such a civilized man can tolerate the beast is beyond me. I don't know the man too well, so I shall only say that Kewtsquirrel is far more deadly (and reasonable) than Og.
My good sirs, I, Barbasol, shall never raise my hand against any living creature no matter how great my need or cause. I will not slay the living, and I will not stand for vile magicks such as Necromancy in my party! I cannot say as much for Og. He seems bent on killing every living thing that crosses his wandering path. Whether he feels a great rage inside, or is simply too dumb to take any other course is anyone's guess. I believe he shuns all and seeks vengence because he is so frightfully ugly.
The best way to deal with Og is to avoid him completely. He has a number of standard haunts where he is likely to prowl time and time again and unless you seek to slay him, you should avoid them. I know that he is frequently seen in Holtburg, Shoushi, Nanto, Yaraq and Rithwic. Here he hunts (mostly for food I think) the fresh new-comers to DarkTide. He spends time at the Golem Caves east of Baishi and can be seen in Baishi as well. I once saw his shadowy form take shape near Lin after some unhappy encounter with a mage. They say his shadowy form is frequently seen near Lin, haunting the smithy there after the loss of a violent encounter. I have heard that he prowls the marsh near Saweto from time to time, and the dessert near Tufa, though I cannot confirm this.
On the third day of DarkTide Og was born south-east of Shoushi, the child of a sho miner and perhaps a Golem. Some say they have seen him there by the river and life stone, lost in morbid memory of his ugly sireing by that muchy miner wench and river Golem--his eyes turned downward in perpetual frown. I once witnessed a curious exchange in this place between two large rocks, a man named David Towns (dressed in the finest armor I have ever seen) appeared and picked up a parcel Og had dropped by that river, only to vanish and be replaced by Og again. I shook my head in wonder.
I am told by travelers that he has left Shoushi and now lives in those Golem caves in the mountains almost due east of Baishi. For a time he employed several servants to clean out the old bones of hapless young mages. I believe this proves he is related in some way to the Golems, for he seems very comfortable around them--however he does not share their magic abilities, only their tough hides and fists. The servant I talked with (who asked to remain annonymous) thought that anyone seeking Og, would do well to start at these Golem caves--and anyone not seeking him would do even better by avoiding them.
For weapons he uses his bare hands, a claw, or sometimes an axe. He is most formidable when he catches his victims by surprise. His favorite ploy is to nab the unwary while in the midst of commercial transactions, or private conversation. He is not above racing into a group, killing the weakest, and then vanishing into the night. And he vanishes swiftly--for though it seems like a contradiction, his greatest asset and finest skill is speed. He runs like the wind (a smelly wind).
For armor I know that Og is poorly equiped--either because of a lack of concern, chance poverty, or just plain stupidity he is rarely seen in anything more bright and spiffy than a Mattagar coat and yoroi leggings. I don't know much about such things, but a low lightning blow might be his weakest point--unless his head is barely covered with the leather basinet of his most recent inexperienced victim, in which case an axe to the brain is your best answer. Yet do not be too certain of what you see, for I once saw him slip rings upon his fingers that made his body flash momentarily with protective light, and others tell me he frequents the mage tower south of Baishi and fills his hands with charged mana stones to feed these same rings.
From Og you need fear no offensive magics, he is as dumb as the nail he picks his toes with. However, because he is more plain earth and stone than man, he can often avoid lesser spells, and a novice wizard is urged to run rather than use his wand. As you might expect, Og can take a great deal of punishment and tires slowly, so unless you can deliver significant damage to his already scared face you should not attempt to trade blow for blow in close battle. Far better to shoot with bow or flame bolt from the roof of a tower than stand on the open field. I have heard that a group of lesser warriors can bring Og to his knees if they cooperate carefully--and are willing to sacrifice several of their party.
Og always loots his victims, as the pile of weak red potions, letters to Ceylend, and second rate armor on his front lawn will attest. He has never returned anything to anyone and his possible uses for reagents and cooking gear is anyone's ghoulish guess. His servents say he makes a second-rate-mage stew in the big Lugian pot in his larger cave. There is no point in trying to regain lost weapons and reagents, he does not speak our language (that I have ever heard) and he uses most everything in that stew (I believe the string from Lithia's bow is a prime ingrediant).
While Og is agressive he is also cowardly and if his face gets hurt he will quickly run from an even fight. There is not a shred of decency or nobility in the lumux so challenging him to a duel (even if he understood our language) is a waste of breath. Similarly, there is no mercy in his heart--once Og has come for you, you must either slay him, chase him away, or escape. Threats that are not immediate have no meaning to him, since he cannot see far into the future. Suggesting that your friends will avenge your death is like asking a policeman to wait for his doughnuts. The bright side of his ignorance is he will rarely hold a grudge, and while he will hunt the same terratory time and time again, he almost never stalks specific prey. We are all the same in the (three) eyes of Og.