Babes in Faerieland

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Babes in Faerieland

• aka: The Changeling

GM: GM: Jacqui Smith
Season: Summer 792 WK

Party

• Bleyze - played by Craig H (Party Leader)
• Aqualina - played by Keith (Scribe)
• Anyway - played by Kelsie (Mil Sci)
• Kishwa - played by Scott
• Thoron - played by Bill
• Caskette - played by Harry
• Ughbash - played by Adam
• Adam - played by Sean

Time on adventure

01/04/91 to 31/05/91 AP

Employer

Annadel and Wilheim Torrent

Mission

To recover a baby from the Spriggans and return their changeling

Plane

Tir-Na-Nog

Places Visited

Cottingley (small village in NE of Brastor)

Knockma Hill (location of portal - just outside Cottingley)

Falias - Faerie city in the forest Cruinen Darag - The Earth Tree

Morllyn Colle - Lake Eiddel Bethial Dwren - Castle in the lake

Esgad Monadh - Invisible mountain Lon Clanhiwl - Swamp area

Yyal Gaedd - Enchanted island in the swamp Llyn Tain - Lake of Fire

Luidd Abein - Blur Mountains - The home of the Spriggans

Forn Croddair - Spriggan Hive.

Murias - Faerie city by the lake

Major NPCs encountered

Jonnan Torrent - missing baby

Agata Whithie - wisewoman at Cottingley

Padrig - Brownie servant at Falias

Cystennin - Gorgeous Daenoe-Sidhe

King Finvarra - King of Falias

The Morrigan

Seamus O'Leary - Leprechaun guide and illusionist

Binnacle Jack - A dolphin at Morllyn Colle

Clioda Fairhair - Queen of the Lake

Daffyd - A herbalist in the swamp

Rhonwen - A water faerie

Havgen - Spriggan King

Wonald - Spriggan baby (changeling)

Lugh Lamfhada - King of Murias

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snsu9201.zip

Adventure Summary

31/03/91

Met our party employers, Annadel and Whilhelm Torrent, from the village of Cottingley. Their firstborn had been swapped for a changeling. So they wanted us to go to Faerie and get him back.

01/04/91

Headed off in the direction of Brasta by cart. Stayed at farmer's houses on the way.

07/04/91

Arrived at Brasta and stopped at the Laughing Plowman Inn. Sampled the evening entertainment at the Scarlet Bumpkin.

10/04/91

Arrived at the village of Cottingley. Visited the local wise woman, Agatha Whithie. She showed us the changeling. It was a spriggan from the plane of Tir-Na-Og. The portal to the plane was in Knockma Hill and would open at midnight on the 15th. Also told not to eat anything killed on the plane.

11/04/91

Examined the cave in the hill and found several rusty iron objects. Concluded that the portal doesn't allow iron through.

15/04/91

Completed our preparations and entered the portal just before midnight.

16/04/91

We found ourselves outside an identical hill in a forest where all sorts of trees were growing. A pixie started playing jokes on us (illusionary spiders, mud puddles etc). Also met up with a water fey and a dryad. The dryad told us to go to Falias where the Faerie King lives.

17/04/91

Encountered a bunch of tiny fey. Some of the party very fascinated by their antics. That evening Bleyse spoke to a fire sprite for a faster way to get us to Falias. The sprite said he'd see what he could do before disappearing.

18/04/91

Just before breaking camp a host of faeries on horses entered the camp. There was a man with golden armour and black robes wearing a crown, a veiled woman in white, and a woman in black armour. We concluded that this was the King's entourage. Then the entire party were put to sleep.

When we woke up, we found ourselves in a bedroom, inside a tree. When I looked out the window I could see we were in a forest. Bridges connected the trees. This had to be Falias. Had an audience with King Finvarra. Informed him of our problem. The King told us that the King of the Spriggans had the baby which was destined to be eated at the Feast of Beltaine, about two weeks away. His suggestion was that we should present the King with some special faerie wine and that we were to go on a quest to get the ingedients: a bowl of Elemental Earth, filled with Elemental Water, add special herbs, plus Elemental Fire and Air. We accepted the Quest. A guide was also assigned to us, a leprechaun called Shamus O'Leary.

Had dinner that night at the Faerie Court, followed by dancing.

19/04/91

Headed off on faerie horses and arrived at the Earth Tree (Cruimen Darag). We managed to get inside and navigated our way through a maze of rooms as well as fighting off spiders, some of which were illusions. Finally reached the centre where we were able to obtain the Earth Cup.

20/04/91

Left the Tree and headed for a large lake. Arrived there late at night.

21/04/91

Used a pod of dolphins to get to the centre of the lake then swam down to the bottom. Down there was the castle of the Queen of the Lake, Clioda Fairhair. Once we reached the castle, we got inside and worked our way to the airfilled garden at the top where we found the Queen and obtained the Elemental Water.

22/04/91

Left the castle, and the lake, then headed off in the direction where the mountain with the Elemental Air was. When we got there, at twilight, we discovered the mountain was invisible.

23/04/91

With the help of Witchsights we started the ascent. Had to cross a very deep gorge, crawled over a landslide and worked our way around a ridge. Finally found a hut where we rested for the night.

24/04/91

Continued up the mountain. By mid afternoon we had reached the cloud layer and it was getting very cold. Encountered some sylphs that cast a sleep gas cloud at us. By sunset, found a cave to rest in.

25/04/91

Continued up through the snow and attacked by snow creatures. The survours continued up and obtained the Elemental Air from a fountain at the top.

26/04/91

Flew off the mountain using a spell called Fireflight that a friendly firesprite had cast on us. Once back at the bottom, and with the horses, headed off to a swampy area called the Verdant Mire (Lon Galenhiwl). Arrived there just before dark and reached the house of a herbalist, Daffyd Ibramson.

27/04/91

Went out into the swamp, on punt boats, and arrived at an enchanted island (Yyml Gaedd). Managed to retrieve the required plants: the leaf of a herb, the root of a white flower, and the petals of a blue lotus. Camped on the island for the night.

28/04/91

When we got back to the house Daffyd prepared the herbs for us before we left for Llyn Tain - the Lake of Fire. Arrived there very late that night. Seamus told us that a very large island in the middle of the lake was inhabited by a very ancient faerie dragon.

29/04/91

Very hot here. The lake was covered with heat shimmer and mist. We could see the large island. Smaller rocks surrounded it and looked like they could be used as stepping stones. The lake itself consisted of molten lava.

We started traversing the stones but discovered some were illusionary. Also we were attacked by salamanders and plagued by fire sprites. Some of the party managed to reach the island where they answered the dragon's riddles then he breathed on the bowl containing the mixture.

Headed back to Falias where, for our reward, we were to take a mouthful of the Faerie Wine. That would give us a new Talent each.

30/04/91

Cystennan (one of the King's Court) took us to see the Spriggan King who was in Luidd Abein, the Blue Mountains. Reached there that afternoon. Discovered the spriggans were very ugly and we needed to be desensitised. Finally got in to see King Havgan and swapped the changeling for the baby in exchange for the wine.

01/05/91

Headed back to Falias. Feasting and celebrations.

03/05/91

Some of the party joined a Wild Hunt against the Firbolgs near Murias (a city by the Lake).

15/05/91

Portal finally opened and we crossed back to Alushia

16/01/91

Returned the baby to the Torrents

1/06/91

Finally got back to the Guild.

Scribe Notes

31/03/91

Today I was at the Guild meeting hoping for a rather lucrative adventure. So why did I pick this one? All they were offering was the best of their sheep and cows. I think it was because a baby had been stolen. That made me angry. Children and families are very important where I came from and for anyone to break up a family needs to be taught a very severe lesson. So I signed up.

My fellow adventurers turned out to be:

Ugh Bash

He's an orc. Surprisingly good looking for an orc but still an orc. He's got greenish skin, is well muscled and has pointed teeth. He said he tries to avoid fighting and he's a Dark Celestial mage.

Caskette

A short (even shorter than I am), round human. Wears brown leathers. He's a Mind Mage and ranger.

Thoron

He's a tall elf fighter dressed in olive. He rides horses, is stealthy, a ranger and spy. It's his first time out.

Kishwa

Another fighter type - human this time. He's wearing leather with bits on it in brown and dark red colours. He's also slim with lots of muscles. He's a Beast Master (hope so - that's a rather vicious looking wolf with him), fighter and herbalist.

Anyway

The other female in the party. She's slightly taller than I am (5'2"), has long red hair and is wearing dark brown leathers. She's also got a rosebud tattoo running down her face. She's a Lesser Summoner and prefers to use knives. She asked whether any of us used sign language. Now that's an idea. Wonder if she'll teach me a bit?

Adam

He's tall. He's very tall. He says he's short. He's a fire giant and he's carrying a very large, silvered, axe. He's an Earth Mage, a good fighter, and a beginner healer.

Bleyse

This guy I've heard of (in fact everyone has) even though he's been away for some time. He's a Fire Mage with a reputation. He's the guy who gave the Fire College its bad name. He seems to be always finding new ways to blow himself up. Must remember not to stand too close. He's an tall elf (6'6") with scarlet hair and dressed in bright red. An obvious fire mage. He says he prefers not to fight and he's a vague healer.

Aqualina

That's me. I'm short (5'1") and slim with dark skin and long black hair (slightly damp at the moment). I'm wearing a short, aquamarine skirt. I'm a Water Mage and can usually be found in that element. I'm also a navigator and am rather agile.

The farmer couple introduced themselves as Annadel and Whilheim Torrent. They had had their first child, a beautiful boy named Jonnan. Just after his first birthday, on the night of the 16th of March, he disappeared. In his place was a hairy ugly child. They went to the wise woman of their village (Cottingley - somewhere near Brastor) who told them that the faeries had swapped their child for a faerie child - a changling. Their child was in Faerie and someone would have to go there to get him back. That's why they were here, to seek our help. They would provide transport, a horse and cart. Adam would walk alongside. He was a bit big for the cart.

Bob, from Guild Security, was also present. Once the couple left us we had to settle on party leader and party scribe. I wanted the job of scribe. I needed the money. Unfortunately so did Anyway. Ugh Bash volunteered as well. Meanwhile Bleyse and Kishwa were competing for party leader. Bob stepped in before the arguments got too heated and handed out voting papers. We filled them in and handed them back. Anyway became scribe (oh, well - them's the breaks) and Bleyse as party leader. Bleyse had very good perception so he also became military leader.

Bob brought out the Guild Contract and we all signed it. No extra clauses although Ugh Bash wanted to add one about wanting the couple's second child. I'd hate to imagine what for. Bob left to file it (or do whatever they do with it) while we made our preparations. I headed off to the library to read up on faeries. There was a lot of information there - most of it contradictory and not very helpful. Seems like that there are lots of Faerie lands. Anyway came in a little later on so we spent the next few hours reading.

I decided to go for a wander around the shops for a bit before dinner time then looked into the Guild party for a couple of hours. Looked rather too crowded for my tastes so I went for an early night.

01/04/91

Up early for an agility workout and a five mile swim before breakfast. While crossing the courtyard I saw Bleyse, Anyway, and Kishwa staggering in. They looked rather the worse for wear. They must have been out all night.

Got to breakfast and most of the others are there too. Thoron seemed rather happy this morning. He was banging the cups and making loud comments about the greasy food to Kishwa. Kishwa still looked a bit worse for wear.

At nine we assembled in the courtyard. Some of the party have got horses but I decided to stay in the cart. Anyway decided to do the same and have her horse follow along behind.

The weather was fine and I reckoned it'll stay like that for the next day as well, becoming cloudy on the third. Ugh Bash didn't believe me. The trip was fairly uneventful except for Bleyse throwing a couple of, small, light balls at Kishwa. I ducked, just in case. The farmer couple looked rather alarmed but Bleyse reassured them that there was no danger and started juggling some more of them. He dropped one. It landed on the ground and harmlessly vanished.

I had a rather interesting conversation with Kishwa at one point. We were talking about dolphins and how easy they are to train. Kishwa reckoned they wouldn't be too much of a challenge. So I suggested orca. I think he liked the idea.

The rest of the day went uneventfully. Accommodation had been arranged for us all the way to Brastor at farmer's houses. We reached the first one near nightfall. All of us were going to sleep in the barn but Anyway and I were offered the guest bedroom. We took it. The rest ended up in the hayloft except for Adam who stayed on the cart.

Nothing happened during the night.

02/04/91 - 06/04/91

I was woken early in the morning by a rooster. Anyway was still asleep so I quietly wrote up this diary until she woke up.

After breakfast we set off. Nothing much happened on the way to Brastor. I was right about the weather. It rained on the 5th. I asked Anyway about teaching me sign language and she agreed, saying she'd teach anyone who was interested. Adam took her up on the offer as well.

07/04/91

Arrived Brastor late afternoon and stopped at the Laughing Ploughman Inn. We were about to have dinner when Caskette announced it was his birthday today. He's 23. The landlord went to tell his wife to make a special cake. Someone, I think it was Anyway, produced a copy of Alphonse's recipe book (He's a Seagate chef and hobbit. Most adventurers like to eat at Alphonses) and asked the landlord to cook us a special dinner consisting of Creme de menthe, French onion soup, roast sheep and Baked Alaska. He looked dubious but agreed. What he came back with was rather interesting.

Bleyse reckoned we should celebrate Caskette's birthday in the proper adventurer's style and reckoned we should sample Brastor's nightlife. However we were feeling rather tired from our long journey so Kishwa brewed up a restorative. I wasn't sure about going out partying. Should I let the party go without me - leaving me alone in a strange place, or go with them and experience goodness knows what. (I've heard about some of the strange things that happen in towns).

I decided to go. Bleyse led us to an area of Brastor with lots of red lights around. I was making sure I could find my way back if necessary. We ended up at a place called the Scarlet Bumpkin. There were two large guys guarding the door but they let us in. It was rather dim inside but we did see a large room with a stage in the middle surrounded by several tables. There was a bar to one side. There was a fire lit on the stage and dancing around it were several young girls wearing rather little. Looked like some sort of pagan ritual dance.

We found a large table near the stage. Bleyse bought a rather large drink of elven spirits for Caskette. Meanwhile Kishwa found a bottle of 'some rather good stuff' - so he said. He offered me some. Vodka he called it. I took a cautious sip. Wasn't too bad. Kishwa gave me some more. He later told me I had six glasses full.

The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur. I remembered Thoron asking for Bugman's brew but the bartender hadn't heard of it. The ladies on the stage were still dancing and also removing their clothing at the same time. The guys seemed rather interested. Bleyse bought Caskette a rather interesting drink consisting of several different coloured layers. Some rather odd pieces of clothing ended up on our table. Also one of the ladies seemed to be rather interested in Caskette. Thoron was having a conversation with another one.

Not sure what happened next but Caskette was on stage dancing as well. Bleyse and the others were cheering him on and wanted me to join in. I don't remember much else but have a vague recollection of Ugh Bash helping me get back to the inn (for some strange reason I couldn't walk properly) and I was trying to tell him which direction it was in. Also, somehow, my hair was damp again.

08/04/91

I woke up rather later than usual with a headache and feeling rather lousy as well. Kishwa fixed the headache but I still felt rather unwell. I spent most of the day lying in the wagon, trying to ignore the movement.

Later on it rained. It was a rather cold rain so I cast Protection from Cold on myself and just let the rain hit me. That felt much better.

09/04/91

Not much happened that day. We arrived at the farmhouse for the night. Anyway and I were set up in the spare bedroom while the others were out of the barn. This place was a cattle farm so we had beef for dinner (a change from the usual mutton).

Bleyse instructed us in a couple of things we needed to remember. If he said 'Geronimo' we were to cover our eyes. That meant he was about to create a blinding flash of light. Also if we were talking to someone and one of us said 'And another point' then we were to attack the other person with whatever we had.

It was getting close to dusk when Anyway said she wanted to go sheep riding and have races. Sheep riding? This I had to see. Not for me though. I have enough trouble riding anything with legs. Give me a dolphin any time. I just hope that we don't get into any trouble.

We headed out to a place a few fields away and Anyway cast a spell. A short time later three sheep arrived. Caskette & Bleyse wanted to have a go as well. I just balanced myself on top of a fencepost and watched.

It was first a case of catch your sheep. Anyway had no difficulty but Bleyse and Caskette had to chase theirs. Caskette managed to catch his but the one Bleyse was after got away. So he attempted to get Anyway off her one. He finally stunned her sheep (and blinded us for a short while - no one said Geronimo) by creating a flash of light. So both of them had a go at getting Caskette off the one he had.

Anyway succeeded and did several fast laps of the field on the sheep. I remarked to Kishwa that I should introduce this lot to dolphin riding. That would be a lot easier.

By now the farmer and his wife had arrived, attracted by the noise and the flash of light. They were rather bemused about where the sheep had come from. He said something to his wife about getting the bull and they could try riding that.

It was getting dark by now and Anyway (still on the sheep) trotted up and dismounted. We left the sheep in the field and went back to the house.

10/04/91

We arrived in the village of Cottingley about lunch time. Kishwa was showing off his horsemanship skills. Meanwhile I was eying up the river and the millpond near the village. The water certainly looked inviting.

We stopped at the inn and had lunch, then went to see Agata Whithie, the wisewoman. She showed us the changeling. It was an ugly, hairy, baby with sharp teeth. Anyway managed to determine that it was a spriggan from the plane of Tir-nan-og. The wise woman told us that it ate most foods but it didn't seem to matter if it wasn't fed. We were to take it back with us. Ugh Bash waved his iron dagger near it. It didn't like it. Faeries don't like iron. Fair enough - neither do mages. It stuffs up our spells.

The portal to Faerie Land was in Knockma Hill and would open at midnight on the 15th at the new moon. Strange lights and sounds had been seen and heard on that hill from time to time over the last few centuries.

Agata also told us that we should not eat meat that was killed in Faerie Land and that the faeries are to be respected but not to be trusted. However they are known to be fair in their dealings with mortals. We decided to stock up on lots of rations including meat for the wolf. We finally arrived at the Torrent farm and had roast lamb for dinner.

11/04/91

We went to examine the hill. We found that it is a smooth, rounded, hill and that there is a cave in it which goes in fairly deep. Agata said that the portal is close to the entrance.

While looking around we found an old rusty sword and a belt buckle. Further searching revealed several other rusty metal objects. We come to the conclusion that the portal doesn't allow iron to pass through.

Bleyse and Kishwa decided to ride back to Brastor to conduct further research. I decided to go to the river and spend the afternoon relaxing. I also cast Waterproofing on my clothes and other perishables - just in case. The only thing I found in the river was small fish.

15/04/91

All our preparations were complete. We had stocked up on provisions and Bleyse had obtained horses from the village for those of us (including me) who hadn't brought one. Now I had to figure out exactly what to do with it. Also Kishwa brought back some bronze daggers. I accepted one.

Ugh Bash did an astrology reading after sundown. What he got was:

Two Kings opposed
Two babies exchanged
Of seelie and unseelie folk
Of mortal and immortal kind
A quest glorious
A land fair, yet perilous
To a forest free
To its tallest tree
To castle deep
And mountain steep
To verdant mire
And lake of fire
To caverns old
Come heros bold
"Drink your reward"
Says Faerie Lord
Heed his will
Or be unchanged still.

Just before midnight we headed up to the hill. I was carrying the changeling (no one else wanted to). We waited just outside the cave, Just before midnight the whole cave started to glow, as if we were looking into a lighted room. We could see trees on the other side. Adam stepped through first. Nothing nasty happened to him so we followed.

We found ourselves outside an identical looking hill. We quickly discovered that any iron we had had remained behind. Kishwa's crossbow was now useless. It was dusk (or was it dawn) and the stars were out. The star patterns looked like nothing I was familiar with. It looked like we were in a forest. There were quite a few different types of fruit trees about. The fruit hanging from them looked delicious. I couldn't sense any water nearby.

16/04/91 (I think)

I wanted to check out a banana tree (bananas in this forest???) but Bleyse wanted everyone to stay together. Just as we were doing so, Thoron noticed a large, brightly coloured, hairy spider on him. He knocked it off but it reappeared again. At that moment Anyway saw one crawling up her leg. It didn't take long before we all had spiders on us. I felt it was safer not to move in case it had a rather nasty bite.

While we were attempting to deal with these spiders (they were all over the place by now) we heard someone giggling. Then the spiders disappeared. Must have been a faerie playing tricks. Someone identified the faerie as a pixie.

We mounted up on the horses (I got some help from Kishwa) and headed north. After about thirty minutes we found a path running NE/SW. We continued NE and, after a short while, entered a clearing. There's a large oak tree here. It looked like a good place to stop and rest so we decided to do so. I could hear a stream nearby.

Adam examined the oak tree looking for mistletoe. He didn't find any but someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was a lady dressed in leaves. She told us she's a sylvan and she lives in the oak tree. Like a dryad. She also offered to get Adam some mistletoe. He agreed and soon she's back with some.

Anyway discovers that Sylvan was the dryad's Generic True Name. Meanwhile the sylvan told us that there is a city far away to the west where the faerie King lives. We should ask him what we should do with the spriggan. She doesn't like them - they're nasty (I'm beginning to agree with her. It nearly took my finger off again.) She doesn't know how far away the city is.

Ugh Bash and Anyway took a dislike to the dryad. Anyway reckoned she's a dumb bint. Ugh Bash wanted to know what will happen if he hurts her tree. She said it would hurt her too. He decided to do it anyway and suddenly found himself held in the grip of a hand coming straight out of the ground. Anyway tried to threaten the dryad to let Ugh Bash down and found herself in a hand as well.

Bleyse reckoned that we're going to have to camp here now as it will take a few hours for those hands to let go. Kishwa and I went to get some water. We found the stream nearby. It's got a large pool in it as well. The water was very clear and inviting. According to Kishwa it was rather sweet as well.

Just then we spotted a tiny female on the other side of the pool. She swam over to join us. She wanted to know if we want to go for a swim in her pool. I was all for the idea but Kishwa wasn't. He said that this creature is a nymph and they can be very dangerous. He's encountered them before. If I went in there something bad might happen to me. I thought of going anyway but then I remembered the string puppet incident and decided, reluctantly, not to. The nymph was rather disappointed.

When we got back Kishwa told Bleyse what we found. So he told me I was not to swim in any strange pools. He also told Kishwa and Thoron to make sure I didn't.

We managed to get some rest. A few hours later the sky got lighter and the sun came up. The hands have released Anyway and Ugh Bash so Bleyse decided we should move on. The path continued NW. After about ten minutes, we found another clearing. In it was a rough circle of fifty or so toadstools. Each toadstool was red with white dots on top. A path went west. Kishwa described it as a faerie ring.

We followed that path for a while. Nothing happened for a while until the horses at the front stopped. Anyway slipped off her horse and landed on the ground. When she got up she was covered on mud. Mud??? There wasn't any on the path. We soon determined that this section of the path was an illusion covering a large mud puddle. The pixie strikes again. Anyway used a clean cantrip to get rid of the mud then we cautiously went around the puddle and continued on our way.

We encountered another faerie ring that afternoon. Ugh Bash created an area of darkness nearby and stepped into it. Then he was making strange noises from within. From what we can figure out it seemed like he was being bothered by a pixie.

Meanwhile Adam stepped into the circle and started to shrink. He leapt out. He's still a head taller than Bleyse. We found out, via DA, that he'll revert back to his normal size when we get back to Alusia. Also his ears have become slightly pointed. Was he turning into an elf?

Bleyse stepped in and nothing happened. Anyway sent her cat in. She started talking to it. We found we could understand what the cat was saying. The cat has also got slightly bigger. Bleyse picked up the cat and carried it out. We can still understand it. It became a faerie cat. Kishwa decided to step in and see just what would happen if he stayed there. He has become rather more handsome. Ugh Bash DAed him and reckoned that Kishwa has turned into a Daoine Sidhe. I think that is a type of faerie folk.

Caskette also stepped in and he started to shrink as well. Now he is 4'7" tall.

I considered stepping in there myself but decided not to take the risk. We continued west and found somewhere to camp. There is a stream nearby. I wanted to get in it but, after noting the way Thoron was holding his weapon and watching me, decided I better not. I didn't feel in a very good mood after that.

Bleyse wanted me to make the fire. I told him I didn't really know how. He proceeded to teach me how to build a camp fire. I would have thought that was his speciality. That's usually mens work where I come from as well.

A little later on Ugh Bash had to deal with a candy striped snake crawling up his leg. We decided to sleep in pools of darkness. Should keep most things out.

17/04/91

Once we had broken camp Anyway managed to persuade her cat to climb a nearby tree and tell us what it saw. More trees. Not a sign of anything that could be a city. Maybe the city is in the trees.

While we contemplated what we were going to do next Anyway started playing her flute. Nice. After a short while it seemed that we could hear more, harmonious, music. Bleyse asked Anyway to stop playing. We could still hear music, coming from behind some bushes nearby. Caskette went to have a look. When he didn't return the rest of us went to have a look.

What we saw looked rather interesting. There was a large collection of tiny, winged, faeries. They were dancing from flower to flower. Some were playing tiny flutes, harps, horns and other similar instruments. Others were carrying tiny spears and bows. As they danced from flower to flower, the flowers changed colour. We watched in fascination. But when it came time to leave, Ugh Bash, Anyway, Caskette and Adam refused. They looked entranced.

Someone tried to distract them with sound but that didn't work. It had to be some sort of hypnotism associated with their dance. I tried to create a fog to cover them but the fog came behind me. Then I tried to create a wind to blow them away and mess up the dance. But that didn't work either. The wind blew away from me in the other direction. Cursed backfires! I shouldn't be casting when I'm not in the water.

Then I felt a slight prick in my arm. One of the faeries must have shot at me. For some reason I felt rather scared and headed back for the camp.

While I was catching my breath there was a flash of light from that area and soon the others arrived back. It turned out that Kishwa had realized what was happening, put a bag over his head, found Bleyse (who had got entranced as well), put a bag over his head so he recovered enough to let off a light flash, getting rid of the little faeries.

Ugh Bash was looking rather strange. He was giving me some very lustful looks. I'm a good girl. I don't believe in taking advantage of that sort of thing. He ran at me, his intent obvious. I managed to duck behind a tree. When I finally got the nerve to come out Ugh Bash had been knocked unconscious by Anyway. Bleyse was working on him. He said Ugh Bash had been affected by some sort of love poison. He may be able to fix it. Half an hour later he managed to do so. Whew! Thank goodness!

We continued on. Nothing happened all morning. Maybe that pixie had gone away. We stopped for lunch.

After lunch we continued on. Just then Caskette and Anyway's horses (they're in the front) suddenly reared up. Caskette managed to hang on but Anyway fell off.

It turned out that we have run into an invisible nettle patch and this section of the path is an illusion. Anyway had landed in the middle of it. Also Thoron's foot started itching, even though he wasn't near the nettles. That pixie must be back.

Evening came without further incident. We camped. Thoron, Kishwa and I went to fetch the water. This time we found a pool with a spring. This pool had another small creature in it. It jumped on Kishwa's hand and he felt cold. It did the same thing to me even though I had a Cold Protection on. This didn't make sense.

When we got back Bleyse had got the fire going. He was talking to something in the fire. If he went in the fire I was going to argue that I could go swimming.

However he didn't. Instead he created a Wall of Fire and the small Beoteine (fire faerie) jumped into it. The Beoteine later told us that we were days away from the city of Falias. He advised us that we needed to see the Faerie King about the spriggan. He also told us that the King played a very good game of chess and has an eye for the ladies.

Bleyse asked the Beoteine if there was a faster way to get us and the horses to Falias. The sprite said that he would see what he could do then disappeared.

In the middle of the night there was a strange odour coming from Caskette. It's that pixie again. Caskette managed to locate the pixie and mental attack it. It became a blur and left at speed.

18/04/91

It was dawn and we were just about to leave camp when we heard the sound of bells. Bleyse put up a fire wall and we waited. Nothing happened for a while except the bells got louder. Kishwa reckoned they were harness bells.

Soon a whole host of faeries on horses entered the clearing. Mostly white horses. Bleyse dropped the fire wall. There was a man with golden armour and black robes wearing a crown, a veiled woman in white, and a woman in black armour riding a white horse. Kishwa rapidly came to the conclusion that this was the Faerie King's entourage. Since the guy was wearing a crown I agreed with him. Just then everyone except Kishwa and myself fell over. I was rather concerned until I heard Caskette faintly snoring. I felt magic impact. After a short while one of the faeries got down off his horse and lightly touched me. Sleep overcame me.

When I woke up I found myself lying on a comfortable bed with a sheet covering me. I found that I was wearing an ankle length shimmering green robe. Nice. The rest of the party were still asleep except for Kishwa, who was rummaging around in a pile of clothing and equipment, and Caskette. Caskette started waking everyone else up.

I got up and gathered up all my gear. The only exit from this room was a spiral staircase. I could sense water somewhere down stairs. Also the curtains over the large window were drawn. I pulled them open. Light streamed into the room. When I looked out it looked like we were in a forest. I might have known that Falias was made out of trees. Bridges connected the trees. We were inside one of the trees.

Just then the tree shook. Ugh Bash was sticking his dagger into the wall. A short person came on the room and told him to stop it as he was hurting the tree. Adam told us he was a brownie. The brownie said he was Padrig. He said that breakfast was being served in the room upstairs. Our horses were in the stables downstairs. Kishwa asked him whether or not there was any coffee. Padrig looked rather puzzled. He had never heard of the stuff. Kishwa told him to go and get a bag of brown beans from his saddlebag.

I was rather taken with the material in the robe. Ugh Bash wanted to see if he could cut it. He tried his sword, knife and even his teeth. No luck. That stuff is tough. I decided to see if we can keep them.

Breakfast was delicious. Lots of fruit. Kishwa offered me some of his coffee. I tried some but I didn't really like it - even though it is better than the usual Guild brew. I decided to stick to the honeyed fruit drinks.

After breakfast I followed my nose downstairs again. Two flights down was the bathroom. It was divided into male and female areas. After doing what needed to be done, my attention turned to the large pool in the room. So I cast Water Breathing on myself and immersed myself in it. Anyway arrived a little later on. She asked for a Water Breathing as well so she could join me. We stayed under the water for an hour or so discussing various topics, in both spoken and sign language. She seemed to be enjoying herself. I reckoned she should come to the next Water College party.

When we got back the others were lounging around in the top room. I decided to go out in the balcony and lie in the sun for a while. As I did so one of those little faeries arrived and began to dance on my nose. I nearly went cross-eyed watching her. Meanwhile Kishwa was polishing and checking his equipment. Anyway was berating him for still working when the opportunity was here to have a holiday. I quite agreed with her. Bleyse also informed us we had an audience with the Faerie King at noon.

Ugh Bash had disappeared for a while but then he came back up looking rather annoyed. It turned out he had attempted to create a pool of darkness to lie in, backfired and turned himself deaf. He summoned the brownie who then fetched an elf to examine Ugh Bash. To complicate things he couldn't read Common nor had he been learning signing from Anyway. Fortunately Kishwa could write Orcish. Ugh Bash was going on about getting his problem fixed - right now. Kishwa pointed out that it would take six hours and our meeting with the King took priority.

We got ourselves ready for our audience. Soon, what was the most gorgeous looking person I had seen, stepped into the room. His name was Cystennin and he was to conduct us to Kink Finvarra. What a guy! Handsomest person I had ever seen. All I could do was stare. For some strange reason, Ugh Bash ran off. Kishwa and Bleyse went to fetch him but they didn’t have much luck. Cystennin had to go and help.

When we arrived, King Finvarra was holding court. He was seated on a throne under a silken panoply, on a mound covered with flowers. Faerie folk surrounded him. With him were his queen and the lady in the black armour. She was introduced as the Morrigan. Finvarra wanted to know what we were doing here. Bleyse explained about the problem with the spriggan and that we were sent to get the original child back. King Finvarra explained that the child had been kidnapped by the King of the Spriggans and was destined to be eaten at the Feast of Beltane - about two weeks away. The only way we would be able to get the child back without incurring the wrath of the Evil Faeries was to distract the Spriggan King with something better.

Finvarra thought for a bit then suddenly exclaimed that he had an idea. What would convince the Spriggan King to give up the child was to be presented with some special Faerie Wine. We were to go on a quest to get the ingredients: a bowl of Elemental Earth, filled with Elemental Water, add some special herbs, plus some Elemental Fire and Air. This must be one heck of a drink.

Finvarra then asked us if we accepted this Quest. It had been a long time since they had been entertained by one. We thought about it and Bleyse accepted on behalf of all of us. He asked us to step forward and receive his blessing. We did so (except for Ugh Bash. He was rather adamant about it even after it was explained) and found that we could now understand the faerie language. It seemed like a dialect of elvish.

We had to have a guide on this quest so Finvarra introduced us to a leprechaun called Seamus O'Leary. Anyway and Adam looked rather alarmed at this addition to our group. Anyway said something about that we would have to seal our pockets. The King announced that there would be a feast that night in celebration of the Quest.

When we got back Ugh Bash wanted to see the elf that had diagnosed his problem and get it fixed. So the elf arrived and Ugh Bash was taken away. Meanwhile Kishwa and Cystennin had gone off somewhere. Kishwa wanted to place a bet on us completing the quest. I went to have another bath.

Later on we found that new clothing had been laid on the beds by the brownie butler. Mine was a blue evening dress, cut low at the top and slit up to the thigh. When I came back, after putting it on, Thoron whistled in appreciation. I quite liked it too. Anyway's outfit was a green off-the-shoulder number, designed to show off her tattoo (I had already seen that it ran down the length of her body and down one leg). The guys looked rather dashing in their new clothes. Except Ugh Bash and Adam who wouldn't wear theirs.

Dinner was delicious. Adam was complaining there wasn't any meat. Thoron and I suggested to Seamus to make Adam believe that the nut loaf was a meat loaf (Seamus is an illusionist). After dinner was dancing. To my delight Cystennin asked me to dance. I felt a bit clumsy at first but soon caught on. We danced the night away. Many of the other party members also had faerie companions.

19/04/91

Seamus arrived mid morning. He led us to a clearing where some white horses were standing. Quite a few faeries, including King Finvarra and the Morrigan were standing around. Finvarra told us that these were faerie horses. They would be able to get us to our destinations much faster than the horses we had. Our horses would be well looked after in our absence.

We mounted our horses (I needed assistance from Kishwa - again). Seamus was on Bleyse's horse. Once we were ready The Morrigan raised her sword and proclaimed 'Let the Quest begin'.

At that we were off. Seamus and Bleyse were in front and we followed. Fortunately these horses needed hardly any guidance from us. Everything blurred as we picked up speed. To my horror it seemed that we were going to crash into the trees, then we started going through them. I couldn't look. I just shut my eyes and hung on.

We arrived at our destination. It was the tallest tree I had ever seen. We dismounted (I had to be prised off the horse) and approached the tree. On the way we were greeted by a short old man.

He told us that the Elemental Earth we wanted was in the tree. All we had to do was to find our way in, get it, and find our way back again. A clue was in a riddle. "What is lesser than a mouse and has more windows than a house?" No one had an answer to that so we examined the tree.

After a short while we found a spider design on the bark. That gave Thoron an answer to the riddle - a spider. Now all we had to do was to figure out how to open the door. Several people tried looking for hidden mechanisms with no success.

I had a wild idea. What would happen if a real spider crawled over the design. I suggested that to Anyway. She summoned a spider. I carefully, and gingerly, picked it up and placed it near the design. When it crawled over the design it glowed. Eight triangular sections opened outwards from the centre. Strange kind of door...

Inside the door we found ourselves in a room with archways on each side. Adam started casting. Earth college counter-spells, he said. This place is some kind of place of power for him. Then he yelped. One spell had worked only too well and now he couldn't use mana to cast any more.

Bleyse said the mana level is extremely high in here, and Adam had burnt out something inside him that helps us do magic. I hope it's not permanent. Ugh Bash soon found that one archway was real and the other was an illusion. We went through the real one. Bleyse created a flickering light on the edge of his dagger so I asked him for one on the end of mine - just in case.

The next room was identical to the first except there didn't appear to be any openings. Ugh Bash managed to determine that the far wall was an illusion. I tried poking my dagger through it but it seemed rather solid. Kishwa tried to walk through it and banged his nose. It turned out that the illusionary wall was hiding a very real, closed, door. Caskette opened it and we went through.

By now we could tell that we were going around the inside of the tree. There was a door at the far end. Scratching sounds could be heard from the other side. The door was carefully opened and giant spiders rushed us. I backed off. I couldn't think of anything I could do against them. Thoron and Kishwa went in to attack. Anyway tried casting a spell. She didn't look happy. Whatever it was it didn't work. Bleyse wanted to cast something but Adam wouldn't let him saying he could hurt the tree. Adam relented after a while so I prepared a Create Water spell - just in case Bleyse started a fire.

We soon managed to defeat two of the spiders before Caskette was able to close the door. Kishwa had killed one with his sword, but the second one bit him before Bleyse blew it up with a blast of flame. He overdid it, and now Bleyse can't cast either. Kishwa is poisoned. How are we going to get out of here?

There were more spiders coming. Caskette and Adam struggled with the door. Anyway tried to cast a spell but backfired. Now she couldn't move. At all. Paralysed from the neck down. Fortunately the door was closed. The spiders could be heard moving beyond it.

I decided to check the inner walls of the rooms we passed through in to see if there is an illusionary area. Meanwhile Ugh Bash had picked up Anyway and is doing some rather mean things, such as propping her against a wall upside down. Bully. Wonder how he'd like that being done to him. Bleyse has managed to stabilise Kishwa's condition with an amulet.

In the next room back my dagger suddenly disappeared into a wall that abruptly wasn't there. I called the others. Adam was carrying Anyway. They wouldn't believe that it wasn't a wall to start with. Turned out there was a door there. Caskette opened it. At that point my dagger went out. The area is plunged into darkness until Bleyse lit Kishwa's torch. I ended up carrying it.

The next room had a door to the right and a wall to the left. Both turned out to be illusions. The actual door was to the left and the wall is to the right. I bet whoever set this up was laughing. The torch went out again so Bleyse relit it.

We carried on, working our way from room to room. In one room we could hear the sound of spiders beyond the door. No way were we going in there, unless we had to. Fortunately we didn't.

A few rooms later Caskette opened a door and we saw a gigantic spider in the room. Ugh Bash said that it's generic true name was F***ing Big Spider. We decided to backtrack to a door we hadn't checked but found that the door wasn't real. We had to go through the spider. Oh great! When we got there Kishwa walked right up to it. You brave fool. I feared the worst until, to our utter surprise, he walked right through it. It's not real. We continued on.

Ugh Bash told us that the Tree's name was Cruimen Darag. That was the name of that little guy who met us outside. Well... he did say that he was the Tree.

We found that we were going back to the outer ring of rooms. Ugh Bash muttered something about using his axe. There was one door that Caskette couldn't open so Ugh Bash shouldered him aside and had a go. He opened it, not a problem.

The next room had an archway to the right. We went through that and found a room with no exits. This is getting ridiculous. The talk about axes got louder. Bleyse then stepped through the middle of the inner wall. It's another confounded illusion.

A little later on Adam slumped against the wall. He said he was tired. He had tried to cast a spell. That burnout must be temporary. We decided to stop. Bleyse created boiling water in the pot and Kishwa brewed up a restorative drink. Adam started making strange sounds. He then said that the Tree won't hinder us but it won't help us either. The bowl of Elemental Earth is in the center and we don't have to go up or down. Thank goodness for that.

At that moment the little man appeared. He said that the Tree can cure Anyway but it will take six hours. Standard curse removal. It could be done here but it would be better in the center. Since Adam was tired Kishwa took over carrying Anyway. We carried on going deeper and deeper in the Tree. We encountered some snakes. They were illusions so we went around them. So were the scorpions a few rooms later. We also found out that the answer to the riddle is a spider-web. The map to this place did look rather like one.

We finally reached the fifth level, hoping that there were no more. But a giant scorpion is encountered. Bleyse walked straight through it. Another darned illusion. I was getting rather fed up by now. As was the rest of the party.

The path worked it's way all the way back to Level Two. So near - and yet so far. This was getting ridiculous. By now the talk of using axes on the tree had spread to nearly everyone. Even Adam. It must be his Fire Giant background coming through.

We finally work our way back to Level 5. As we came into the room something came into it from the left. Oh No! Giant Scorpion! And it's real. Kishwa dropped Anyway so I dragged her out of the way. Adam smashed into the scorpion with his axe. Bleyse stabbed it. Adam hit it again and Thoron's arrow hit it between the eyes. The scorpion crumpled. There's another angry one behind it. It suddenly stopped then moved, rather clumsily, towards us. After a short while it laid down. Bleyse hit it with dragonflames leaving only ash. There were no other exits in this room so we had to backtrack to Level 4 and go through the other door. Ugh Bash said that the Generic True Name was Scorpius Gigantus.

We continued on. In another room was another forest of snakes. More illusions. Then we found a door in the inner wall. Hopefully it was the door to the central area. But when it was opened it was another segment shaped room. Oh not another level - how many more?

Adam reckoned that the floor was strange. It felt of Earth. We concentrated and the illusion disappeared. This was the central room. Thank goodness and little fishes.

Cruimen Darag appeared. We asked him for the Earth Cup. He stood in the center of the room and gestured. The ground rose up in an eight-fingered pattern. Within it a bowl shaped object appeared. Bleyse took the bowl. It is chalice sized and heavy. The surface felt like stone, but it looked like earth. Ugh Bash said it was Bound Earth.

Cruimen Darag then touched the floor and a circle appeared. We were told to put Anyway inside the circle and he started the curse removal ritual. While we waited we rested. Next is the lake containing the Elemental Water. That is going to be fun.

Cruimen Darag offered us food while we waited. We were hungry so we accepted. Lots of fruit started appearing on the walls - all sorts of fruit. Quite nice and juicy. Then was even "bread-fruit" to eat with it. Some red liquid then started flowing out of a hole into a basin molded into the wall.

Kishwa tried some. When I asked him what it was he said it was red wine. I decided not to try it, and instead drunk some water from another basin. Kishwa said that what he really wanted was a nice thick juicy steak. To his utter surprise one appeared on the wall.

That night I was having strange dreams. I seemed to be dreaming of trees a lot. Willow trees, palm trees...

20/04/91

Got woken up by Ugh Bash shaking me. Anyway is already up and about. The curse removal must have worked. Breakfast had already been produced consisting of eggplant, baconleaves and breadfruit. I expressed a longing for coconut milk. Cruimen Darag had never heard of coconuts so I tried to describe one. What I got, looked like a coconut, but what was inside was not exactly coconut milk. I wasn't complaining. He had managed to come up with chocolate milk instead. Yum. I suppose it was Kishwa's fault for mentioning cocoa...

Anyway decided to resign as party scribe. I had lost to her by one vote so I offered to take over. Great! I need the money.

I tried to purify but failed. Bleyse asked if we were going to have to work our way back out of the Tree but Cruimen Darag just smiled and waved his hand. A whole series of concentric archways appeared, forming a tunnel back to the outside. We could see daylight. Guess we missed a few on the way.

When we got out it was a bright, sunlit day. The Morrigan was waiting outside. She asked us if we had been successful. We told her we had been. "Then let the quest continue," she proclaimed and disappeared. Seamus was asleep, until Anyway kicked him. He was rather annoyed until he smelt the contents of the bottle Kishwa had opened. Whiskey.

Seamus told us we had been in the tree for a day. Our next stop is a large lake. It will take several hours to get there. We needed to travel in a NNW direction in the forest for an hour then cross some plains. The lake is called Morllyn Coole. I still needed Kishwa's help getting on the horse. Give me a dolphin any day.

We get through the forest and cross rolling plains then encounter some hills. I was very glad that the horses were going around the hills, not through them. The trees were bad enough. As we proceeded the hills turned back into plains. We had to pass through a branch of another huge forest as well.

When the sun went down Bleyse called a halt. He asked us if we want to stop here for the night or continue on. The lake is still another two hours away. We continued on.

It was about 10pm by the time we arrived by the lake. Seamus pointed out some twinkling lights due north over the lake. It is another faerie city, called Murias, about 50-60 kilometres away. Bleyse wondered if we should go there and rest but decided not to as it would be wasting time. We camped by the lake.

Once the camp was set up I wandered down to the lake shore to get some water. Anyway followed. It looked very nice with the water lapping in the moonlight. Anyway suggested that I summon something and talk to it. Seemed a reasonable idea so I did. The only species I could think of was freshwater eel.

We had to wait a little while before it arrived. It tried to nibble my toes so I knelt down in the water and tickled it. We found out that the ruler is known as the Queen of the Lake and she lives in the castle below. The eel has never been there. It also said that there are dolphins and merrows (merfolk) in the lake. Now that was interesting. Bleyse had also came down to the lake shore and was listening.

Once we had finished I thanked the eel, gave it some food, and sent it off.

Standard watches were set. A while later we were woken up rather abruptly. There was a strange looking ugly thing in the middle of the camp. It had been skewered by a crossbow bolt. Some of our equipment was scattered about. When Adam explained that he had shot it Seamus called him "the exterminator". He said that the creature was a bogle, and that they are vermin. Bad faeries. Ugh Bash started skinning the thing. Bleyse then incinerated what was left. The rest of us decided no way we were going to go near it. It smelt dreadful.

21/04/91

Next morning I decided to purify, and sat up to my waist in water. I managed to do the two hours I planned. Bleyse wondered why. I told him it seemed to be the only way I can ever purify.

After breakfast I prepared the rest of the party, Waterproofing equipment, Water Breathings, and Protections from Cold. Anyway also wanted the spells cast on her cat. She is going to have some fun convincing the cat to go in.

For some strange reason Thoron and Bleyse were sniggering and pointing at Kishwa. I soon found out why. Kishwa had an extra nose on the back of his head. It did look silly! Apparently he had tried to convince Seamus to come with us and that it was safe. I think Seamus didn't believe him.

The next trick was to summon a dolphin. Now I get a chance to impress Kishwa with my riding. While we waited I prepared myself by divesting my outer garments as I didn't want to be encumbered in any way and strapping my dagger to my leg. I then got into the water - it was very clear, and I amused myself practising aquabatics.

Soon we saw a triangular fin cutting the water. Bleyse got rather alarmed and wanted me to vacate the water thinking it was a shark. It wasn't, it was the dolphin I had summoned. I pointed out to Bleyse the difference between the two.

I asked the dolphin, very politely, if he could round up some more and help us in getting to the castle. He agreed, but only if I provided some salmon. That wouldn't be a problem, I hoped. The dolphin, whose name translated as Binnacle Jack, soon arrived back with the rest of the tribe. I showed the others the best way to ride, holding on to the base of the dorsal. While the others sorted themselves out I was riding sidesaddle on Jack slowly cruising around watching.

Adam was finally convinced to enter the water, but no way was Anyway's cat going to go. The cat hissed at Anyway in no uncertain terms. It seemed too angry to talk. Even faerie cats aren't fond of water, I guess. In the end she gave up.

On the way out I asked Jack for more information. He said that the Queen's name was Clioda Fairhair and she was good and wise.

It took longer than I anticipated to get out to the center of the lake. It had been a while since I had been on a dolphin but once learnt, never forgotten. Kishwa and Caskette soon got the hang of it, for their first time they were doing surprisingly well, but some of the others definitely needed help. In the end we decided that ropes would be a better idea for Ugh Bash and Anyway. Jack told me he was a bit worried about Ugh Bash (the grey one). Ugh Bash was wanting to hold on by sticking his dagger into the dolphin. I managed to talk Ugh Bash out of that. It didn't take long to make some rope harnesses for those who needed it.

Kishwa decided to try some riding tricks so he was doing some leaps. Bleyse's dolphin tried as well and Bleyse ended up falling off. I asked Jack to tell his son to cool it down a bit - after I stopped laughing.

Kishwa then started trying to stand on two dolphins. However he kept on falling off. I decided to show him how it was done and finally managed to balance while standing on Jack's back. It's much easier when you can talk to them. Soon the two of us were showing off and playing.

It was 2pm by the time we stopped in the center of the lake. I tried to summon some salmon. First try. Nothing. Second try. Felt some fatigue drain. Third try. Nothing. Fourth try. They're on the way. Soon two lots of salmon were sighted. One was heading in my direction while another school was heading towards Kishwa. Why Kishwa? The dolphins were pleased.

Anyway pointed out that the waterbreathings were wearing off. Oops. This had taken a lot longer than I thought. So I renewed the lot, except for Ugh Bash who had obtained a double duration. I was still having trouble with Thoron. Bleyse managed to score a triple.

Some of the others were still wearing metal objects such as armour and weapons so, as soon as they let go of their dolphins, they sank rapidly to the bottom. Oh dear! Forgot about that. I followed, carefully spiralling downwards keeping a watchful eye. I could see a glow below me. After dolphin kicking for about fifteen minutes I finally saw the castle below me. The rest of the party have already assembled nearby. I could also see several merrow guarding the entrances.

There is one entrance on each of the four walls. The merrow are armoured in seashells. Bleyse wanted us to split up. One half will go to the gate and talk to the guards while the others try and sneak in. That plan got vetoed when most of us wanted to go to the gate.

We advanced cautiously. A merrow approached us. His armour was a bit more ornately decorated than the others. I guessed he was the Captain. He wanted to know what brought us mortals here. Bleyse told him that we wanted to see the Queen. He wanted to know why. Bleyse said we were on a Quest. He finally explained exactly what we wanted. Captain Beda (the merrow's name) told us to follow him and swam upwards. He then had to turn around as some of us were too heavy to follow. I started casting Floatation spells on those who needed

Just as I had finished Beda wanted to know if I needed some help as he was a Water Mage as well. Now he tells me. Men! We swam up and over the castle. In the middle we could see a dome. There was a garden growing under it. We guessed it was air filled. Beda said the Queen would most likely be there. He then took us back to the entrance and said we could go through. The doors were opening and closing all the time. I tried swimming through but got caught around the waist. It was a bit of a squeeze but I wriggled through when it opened again. Ouch! That hurt! I felt bruised.

I found myself in a vertical corridor. There was a door in the north, one in the south (which the rest of the party were coming through) and two in the east. There were quite a few little coloured fish in here so I was busy playing with them and feeding them. Soon I was surrounded by them. Nice!

Anyway suggested I try talking to the castle. After all it worked with the Tree. So I cast the spell. The castle was sentient. It said it's name was Eiddel Beothial Dwren. I could call it Dwren (thank goodness - the rest of that name was a tongue-twister). I asked it the way to the Queen, and it said to take the lower east exit. We did so - through another of these opening and closing doors. Adam was trying to hold it open.

The next room had a pink coral throne in the middle of it. Anyway swam over and sat in it. My fishy friends have followed me. There are two female merrow in here cleaning the walls. They looked rather beautiful. I wondered what it would be like to swim with a tail. The walls are covered in brightly coloured corals so I decided to examine them. They looked nice. The whole place reminded me of home, which I haven't seen in a long time.

The exit led us into another corridor. Suddenly Caskette was surrounded by little bright yellow, red and blue fish. Neon fish. Lots of them. They must have been hungry as they were nibbling at him. Bleyse tried to swat them away with his sword but that didn't do anything. Instead he started tumbling. Meanwhile Ugh Bash cast a small patch of darkness.

I tried to summon them off Caskette but ended up with a cloud of my own. Now why was Bleyse rather alarmed? He told Caskette and myself to go through the darkness. Ugh Bash also cast a spell on us to protect us from it's effects. Caskette went though and quite a few of his neon fish swam away as they touched the darkness. They looked frightened. So I counterspelled my summoning and followed. Caskette had still got fish around him, but far fewer. Now he could see where he was going.

I asked the castle which way now. He said to go down, then up. There is an exit down and another ahead to the west. A merrow guard was waiting at the west one.

I smiled and waved at him. He waved back. Meanwhile Ugh Bash and Adam held the down door open while the others went through. When I followed I found we were in a darker, cross shaped room. Faint illumination was provided by glowing algae. There were doors in nearly all directions.

The building was not very helpful about which one to choose so we decided to look through every one of them. The first one we looked at was some sort of bathroom. The next was a room full of merrow clothing. Most of the ladies stuff looked rather flimsy, translucent and nice. Kishwa reckoned I could buy similar stuff in Seagate. Hope so.

As we watched a lady merrow swam in another door into that room, selected some clothing then swam through a ceiling door. We decided to follow. This room turned out to be a large dining room with a large table laid out for dinner. A few merfolk were already there. When I asked Dwren where to go next he just said "Down, then up". Not much help at all.

Ugh Bash decided to swim over and talk to the merrow. They told him that the garden is on the next level up but they have never been there and don't know how to get to it. There was another down door on the other side of the room so we decided to go down that one and see what is there.

It turned out to be a store room littered with all sorts of junk. There were no other exits so we went back to the cross shaped room and continued to check rooms. Mostly cupboards and more bathrooms.

Caskette spotted a circular pattern on the ceiling and started to examine it. Anyway wanted to know if the pattern was some sort of disguised opening so I asked the castle. It said that it was the way. However it won't help by opening the door. Caskette and Kishwa continued to fiddle with the bits sticking out around the pattern and managed to get it open.

This room was dark. When our eyes adjusted to the light we saw that there were a lot of bottles in this room containing different coloured liquids. Bleyse managed to get the top off one and some red liquid came out. He reckoned it tasted like wine. Kishwa wanted to take some of the bottles but Bleyse and Thoron won't let him. Meanwhile Caskette had found another door in the ceiling and got it opened. There was a mirrored surface above us. There must be air beyond. Adam made a beeline for it and disappeared through it.

The rest of us followed a bit more cautiously. We found ourselves emerging from a small pool in a garden. There are many trees and flowers. We could also see a well in the center and a larger pool on the other side had two seals were swimming in it. A large rock had been placed in the middle of the pool and a beautiful lady was sitting on it. She was not aware of us until Thoron yelled out.

She introduced herself as the Queen and Bleyse explained our mission. She told us that the Elemental Water is in the well and advised us to get a cover from the dining room to cover the bowl so the water is protected. While Adam got the water I went back for the cover.

Queen Clioda then invited us to stay for dinner. Adam wanted to get out of here and back on dry land. Clioda pointed out it would be dark by the time we got back to the surface and it would not be safe to traverse the lake at night. She has explained the situation to the dolphins and they will continue to wait for us. At the moment they were having more salmon for dinner.

Adam finally is convinced to stay and we are led to a dining room off the garden. This entire level is filled with air. Dinner is seaweed - all sorts of flavours. Kishwa doesn't look too happy. Clioda is fascinated with our stories, especially the ones Ugh Bash was telling. They were still talking through dessert - flavoured seaweed jellies. Delicious.

There was a man and a woman serving dinner and afterwards we all went out into the garden. There were no sign of the seals in the large pool. I asked Clioda whether it was okay to go swimming in that pool. She said I should ask the seals and indicated the man and woman. I felt rather perplexed at that but did as I was told. They thought it was an excellent idea. It turned out that they were selkie and could change their shape from human to seal. I had a lovely time until Bleyse wanted me. He wanted all the water breathing spells renewed. I did so. The male selkie then informed me that his sister was a Water Mage as well. Meanwhile Kishwa was chatting to the lady.

Quarters have been prepared for us on this level. I was wanting to sleep underwater but Bleyse pointed out that it could be dangerous if I overslept. Now after I practise that spell a bit more ....

22/04/91

Breakfast has been prepared but there is no sign of Clioda Fairhair. I didn't feel like purifying - the view outside was too beautiful. It reminded me a lot of my home, which I hadn't seen in over six months. I felt very sad.

Bleyse interrupted my thoughts. He wanted all the waterbreathings renewed again. It didn't take me long to do that and we made our way back through the castle. On the way back we had to pass through the throne room. Clioda was there with her court. We waited until she was finished then we went to say our goodbyes. Bleyse thanked her very much for her hospitality. I also expressed a wish to come back and explore her realm if there was time after the Quest was over.

She said that would be alright. On the way out I managed to get stuck in the door again. We reached the outside of the castle and I renewed the Flotation spells on the rest of the party then began a slow ascent. On the way back I was passed by everyone else. I still cannot understand why they were in so much of a hurry.

I continued to ascend, stopping every so often to admire the view. Just then something started pushing me. It's Binnacle Jack. Guess the others must be getting impatient. I grabbed hold of his dorsal and ascended. On the way up I asked Jack to do a leap so we picked up speed until we shot out of the water. As Jack reached the top of his leap, I attempted to perform a graceful somersault dive off him. Well I nearly got it right. I think I'll have to practice that trick a bit more.

We made our way back towards the shore. Jack's daughter was in a bit of a playful mood so Bleyse was getting tossed about a bit. Meanwhile Jack and I decided to do most of the trip underwater, surfacing every so often to see how the others were getting on.

A few hours later saw us at the edge of the lake. I thanked the dolphins and summoned some trout for them then went to get my equipment. The others were already organised. Also the lady in black had been here checking on our progress.

Bleyse had already used cantrips on the rest of the party to dry them off but I decided to let the wind and sun dry me off as we travelled. That was why I decided not to get fully dressed. Kishwa helped me on my horse. For some reason he tickled me.

Seamus led us in the direction of the mountain where we would find the Elemental Air. I felt sure that we should be able to see it in the distance but there was no sign of it. Maybe when we got closer...

A few hours later there was still no sign of it. Seamus said it was not very far away now. Bleyse reckoned we should be able to see it by now. Just then the awful truth dawned on us. The entire mountain was invisible. I don't like the sound of that.

Soon we reached a large flat plain. Seamus said that we had arrived. We moved forward cautiously. Just then the horses started stepping on something invisible. It's the mountain alright.

It was twilight by now so we stopped and set up the camp. There was a river nearby so I went to investigate. The water wasn't very deep for swimming so I just sat on the bank and dangled my feet in the water. I ended up talking to a small water faerie called Esylit. She said that there is a path up the mountain and that the river flows down off the mountain. I could see it suddenly appear a few hundred metres away. By now Bleyse had arrived - presumably to see where I went. I told him what I had found out so far.

We went back to the camp and Bleyse asked me to make the fire again. I had a go. The usual rubbing two sticks together wasn't going too well. Kishwa reckoned there was a better method and handed me his tinderbox. I soon had the fire going after that, in fact it went surprisingly well. I got a round of applause as the fire caught. Bleyse reckoned I did a good job of it.

23/04/91

We had to cross the river to get to the path while Seamus stayed with the horses. I called out to Esylit to get her permission to cross but there was no response. We crossed the river. I felt rather nervous on walking on an invisible path until Ugh Bash cast witchsights on us all. The path and surroundings became visible for about a hundred metres around us. All of them were glowing blue. I was very relieved to note that we couldn't see through the glow to the ground below.

The path was two people wide and I ended up in the middle of the group. The ascent wasn't too bad but after a while it was getting steeper and harder.

After a couple of hours the path stopped at the edge of a deep gorge. The river flowed far below. Much too far below. We could see the path continuing on the other side but, as far as we could see, there was no way across.

Just then Kishwa stepped out into mid air. I nearly had heart failure on the spot until I realised that he must be standing on something we can't see. He told us that there is a bridge here but there are no handrails and it is rather narrow. Gulp!

As Kishwa crossed, he laid a trail of gravel so we could see where the bridge was. He was also laying down a rope as he went. Once he reached the other side he tied the rope to the nearest convenient object. Ugh Bash did the same at this end. Once that was done the rest of us started to make our way across, one by one.

Bleyse was first and did so with ease. Ugh Bash tried crawling over on hands and knees. However he looked very pale when he reached the other side. It was a very long way down and I was very aware of the relentless tug of gravity. Adam stopped halfway across. After a short while he managed to start moving slowly across.

Finally I'm the last one left. I was told to remove the rope and tie it around my waist. I shut my eyes and carefully moved onto the bridge. I could feel the bridge sway under me as I continued, very slowly. Halfway across I risked a peek - and immediately wished I hadn't. I tried to move but my legs just wouldn't obey me. I felt sure that my next step would send me plunging to oblivion. Something pulled on the rope and, before I could do anything about it I've been pulled off the bridge. Frantically, I twisted myself around in an attempt to protect myself from the rapidly approaching cliff. I could hear someone screaming then realised that it was me.

The next thing I remembered was lying on the path. My wrists were splinted up and I was feeling sore and bruised all over. Bleyse did something and the soreness went away.

We decided to stop and have lunch then continued on. I found I was able to walk but Bleyse said I wouldn't be able to cast any spells for a while until the splints came off. I reckoned I wouldn't have much opportunity up here anyway.

A short while later we rounded a corner and the path disappeared. A landslide had come down and blocked it. Adam tried to clear the pile of dirt, rocks and rubble away but decided not to continue when it looked like the whole mess was going to come down on top of us. Bleyse jumped up into the air. When I saw how high he went I started wondering if he should go for the Seagate high jump record. He said he could see the path on the other side. Meanwhile Kishwa took the rope and started walking over the top. He was now glowing blue as well. Also it was curious that his steps weren't disturbing the ground. Using the rope we all managed to scramble over the top.

An hour or so later we came to the top of a ridge. The slope downwards is very steep and covered with lots of little stones. Scree Adam called it. Poles mark where the path went. We couldn't see the bottom of the slope but I could sense water at the bottom. We concluded sliding down could be very dangerous.

Bleyse floated out to have a scout around. When he returned he told us that the ridge carried on up then loops around to join up with the one on the other side. We can get around that way but it is very steep. A rope is used to help us get through the narrow ledge around. As we proceeded I could see the sheer drop to unknown depths. Now I know what a fly feels like.

Adam was the last one through (I refused to go last, not after what happened last time). He had the rope tied around his waist. Unfortunately he slipped and ended up swinging and dangling. Several swings later he managed to grab something. Thoron and Kishwa soon hauled him up.

By the time we reached the path on the other side, it was starting to get dark. We looked around for a campsite and found a hut. Rather convenient that. There was a stream nearby so I washed myself down to get the dust out of my hair.

The hut had two rooms inside, with six bunks each. That meant the six guys were in one room with Anyway and myself in the other. Also it looked solid from the inside, even through the floor. We don't need to worry about the Witchsights running out. There is also a stove with wood stacked up alongside. Bleyse started preparing dinner and getting the fire started. Adam commented that I should start the fire as he reckoned it would be more entertaining.

24/04/91

Breakfast was porridge. It was supposed to have been last night's leftovers but Caskette had eaten them during the night. Kishwa also prepared some more of his delicious herbal tea.

After receiving more Witchsights, courtesy of Ugh Bash, (I got a double) we set off. The path continued along with lots of ups and downs. We had just reached the top of one such slope when the ground suddenly turned very slippery. Ugh Bash, Anyway, and I managed to stay on our feet at the top but the others slipped back down to the bottom, ending up in a rather undignified heap.

When we examined the slope we discovered that a layer of ice had appeared on it. Also Bleyse spotted a human sized faerie with large diaphanous wings fly away. Kishwa muttered something about sylphs. Bleyse muttered something else I couldn't quite catch (I bet it wasn't nice) and melted the ice with a spray of flame.

By lunch time the path was going along the top of the narrow ridge. There was a steep drop on each side. Once we reached the other end we stopped to have lunch. Suddenly something snatched the sandwich out of my hand. We were surrounded by birds, a rather hungry flock at that. It reminded me of what happens when a school of small fish encounter a mass of plankton.

I decided to be nice and hand feed them, like what I usually do to reef fish. It didn't take long before I had them eating out of my hand. Also I had birds perched on all sorts of places, including my head. By now Ugh Bash had created a patch of darkness and he, Bleyse and Thoron were inside it. Ugh Bash pointed out that we're heading for burnout country. I presumed he meant that the mana level was getting higher. It took nearly half an hour before we got rid of the birds. Someone reckoned I was nearly completely covered with them.

By mid afternoon we're starting to get into cloud. It is also getting very cold. I thought Seagate in winter was cold but this was worse. I decided to put Resistance from Cold spells on us all. It was difficult without free water nearby, it was very difficult but I finally managed it. Then I tried blowing the cloud away with a Mage Wind. Ouch! That hurt! I don't think I'll try that again.

Kishwa and Thoron were in the front. A short while later Thoron fell over. Kishwa felt dizzy but managed to stay up. He also said his lungs felt like they had been burnt. We concluded that there must be some sort of sleep gas ahead of us. Caskette concentrated and said that he could detect three rather amused entities nearby. He called out and they disappeared.

Bleyse wanted me to cast a wind to blow the gas away so I tried to comply. So I sat down on the ground, crosslegged. Adam helped by resting the bowl, containing the Elemental Water, on my lap. It now seemed easier to cast so I tried, and tried, and tried again. However I just couldn't get it to go right. The only wind I was able to get started blowing in the opposite direction.

Bleyse had told us to stay put but Adam decided to try to get up to Thoron in order to see how he was. Just as Adam fell over I finally got a wind going. Soon the gas was blown away. Thoron woke up soon afterwards but Adam was still asleep. I felt absolutely exhausted and my head was pounding from the effort. Another spell to practise when I get back. It is proving to be a rather useful one. Kishwa managed to sooth the pain. As I picked up the bowl and stood up Caskette reported that the faeries were coming back. They seemed rather concerned about Adam.

Bleyse ordered us to move up the path a bit, away from Adam, so we could observe what the faeries would do. I think Bleyse is up to something. A short while later Adam arrived back, rather quickly. He was also rather upset about being left alone and his Witchsight wasn't working so he thought he was suspended in mid-air. The faeries had arrived and sent him back to us using some sort of rapid transit spell. That also unsettled him. I thought it was rather mean and said so. Bleyse told Adam that it was all self-inflicted. If he hadn't disobeyed and gone into the sleep cloud it wouldn't had happened. Adam didn't look very happy at all.

By sunset the mountain slope is getting much steeper. We found a cave and discover it has bunks in it. There was also a small spring and pool at the back. There was no life in it and it is not very deep. So much for that idea.

25/04/91

For some reason I just couldn't sleep. Instead I went to the back of the cave, caught up on the diary, examined the pool, did my watch with Ugh Bash, tried to sleep again and failed. I finally ended up at the cave entrance watching the sun disappear in the west, turn into a ribbon of faint light stretching along the horizon then coalesing again in the east.

A few hours before dawn Bleyse and Kishwa were on watch. I was watching Bleyse tend the fire when one of those Beoteine turned up. It was a female one this time. I moved up closer to hear what her and Bleyse were talking about. She told us that we are half a day away from the top of the mountain and Sithiche faeries live up here. They must have been the ones we encountered yesterday.

Bleyse offered to create an even bigger fire for the Beoteine so we all stepped outside and he created a wall of flame. The conversation with the Beoteine continued on for a while. She said that they lived in the sun when they weren't hopping from fire to fire. Then Bleyse turned to me and asked what I was still doing up. I told him that, for some reason, I just couldn't sleep. He used his Healer skills on me and determined that I had insomnia, probably the result of a backfire the previous day. So he gave me a really soothing backrub and I finally relaxed enough to sleep. The dreams were weird though. I dreamed I was flying. Covered in flame. I think it was triggered by something the fire sprite said earlier about flying.

After the others woke up I used the pool and the Elemental Water to recast the cold protections. It's bitterly cold today. Even with the protection I wrapped my furs tightly around me The ground is also covered in snow. It may be water but it is completely useless. Once those protection spells run out I won't be able to do any more.

We progressed along. It was about mid morning when we were surprised by creatures just appearing out of the snow. Two wolves, a big cat, a bear and two humanoids. I decided to start making snowballs, just in case. Thoron shot at one of the wolves with his bow, hit and stunned it. Meanwhile Kishwa is attacked by the wolves. The rest moved up.

I decided to go around the side in the hope I could use snowballs to distract the opposition and allow our team to strike. Kishwa was now attacked by the leopard as well and was knocked to the ground. One of the humanoids also had a go at him as well. The bear was having a go at Thoron. I tried distracting it with a snowball but it had no effect. Adam was having a go at the other humanoid and managed to defeat it. It collapsed into a heap of snow.

I decided to back off and get out of the way. However one of the wolves left Kishwa and headed in my direction. I was hoping I'd have time to react, as with sharks, but this wolf was on me before I knew what had happened. There was a sharp searing pain then blackness.

26/04/91

I slowly became aware of my surroundings. It was dark, and bitterly cold. I felt very tired and couldn't muster the strength to stand up or even move. The cold was intense even through my furs. All I could do was curl up in a tight little ball and shiver.

A few minutes later Bleyse found me. He picked me up and carried me back to where the others were. It was quite a bit of a shock when he said that Kishwa and myself had been killed in that attack. But this was the Undying Plane. We were automatically brought back to life at midnight. However we had lost what abilities we had gained such as understanding faerie or any enchantments. On the plus side, if we had been cursed, they were gone as well.

On the way back he said that they had managed to obtain the Elemental Air. There was a fountain of it at the top of the mountain. All they had to do was to put the bowl in the fountain. Caskette was doing that. When he came out he was acting drunk. Bleyse reckoned that Elemental Air was rather potent stuff.

When we got back the others were in another of those convenient caves. Bleyse put me down and created a pillar of fire. I edged up as close as I dared. The snow around the fire quickly melted and I was soon sitting in water. Later on I was helped into the cave and fell into a deep sleep.

I awoke late that morning, feeling more energetic, but still cold. I tried to purify but the cold and the smell of breakfast put me off. I was famished. Later on the others were clustered around the pillar of fire. Bleyse was talking to a female Beoteine. Because I had 'died' I could no longer understand what they were saying. Kishwa had prepared some more of that restorative herbal tea so I had some of that. I felt a lot better and warmer. Wonder if he added anything else to it.

Once I got to the mouth of the cave I saw something which sent cold shivers running up and down my spine. I couldn't see the mountain any more. All I could see was a sheer drop straight down to the ground below. Several hundred metres below. I ducked back inside.

Bleyse told us we were going to fly off the mountain using a spell called Fireflight. The sprite was going to cast it on us. I watched as the sprite touched other members of the party. They were enveloped in a corona of flame, then took off with an audible whoosh.

I gingerly stepped out of the cave, trying hard not to look down, and feeling my way with every step. After a few steps I suddenly found myself covered in fire. Ouch! Ow! Frantically I tried to brush it off but it wouldn't come off. Bleyse looked rather amused and explained that was the fireflight corona. All I had to do was to think about flying.

I did so and suddenly I was in the air. It was just like that dream I had a couple of nights ago. In that dream it had been enjoyable. I could see the others as points of light ahead and below me. Dropping too fast made me nervous so I decided to spiral down.

Once I got used to it I thought I'd try some twists and turns, such as a mid air twist, like I would diving into the water. This was fun. Unfortunately I passed too close to Thoron and our coronas touched. Ouch! I decided I'd better get down before anything else went wrong such as the spell running out.

Flying was easy. Landing wasn't. There was a large clearing near where we had left the horses. I saw some of the other landings that were made and it looked messy. I circled around a couple of times and called out to Bleyse for landing instructions. He flew up and helped me down. I apologised to Thoron.

The next problem was to get Anyway's cat down. It had its own fireflight and was busy attempting to catch birds on the wing. Also Ugh Bash had a problem. He had leaned against a tree while still wearing the corona and had badly scorched it. Suddenly he was held in a Hand of Earth. The tree was sentient. Adam tried to convince the tree to let Ugh Bash go but the tree refused until the corona was removed. Ugh Bash wanted to keep it.

Bleyse created another pillar of fire and the Beoteine appeared. She removed all the coronas, including Ugh Bash's. Then the tree dropped him.

We went back to the horses and Seamus. When we found him he was leaning against a tree drinking out of one of Kishwa's bottles. We then noticed that Kishwa was missing. It turned out Kishwa had gone ahead of us and had asked Seamus where the nearest faerie circle was. He had left about five minutes ago. Seamus also pointed out that faerie circles may not work the same way twice.

We found Kishwa walking back. He told us that he had stood in the circle but he hadn't turned back into a Daoine sidhe. Ugh Bash managed to determine he was now some sort of shape changer. Kishwa was carrying a feather. We managed to determine it was a swan feather. When he had it, he was able to turn into a swan. Curious. I detected water nearby and asked Kishwa whether he could do the same. He couldn't.

Finally we're on our way. Several hours later we reached the Verdant Mire or, as Seamus called it, Lon Galenhiwl. We cautiously made our way through. There's lots of water around but it doesn't look very nice. Sort of scungy.

An hour later it was starting to get dark. We saw a house with smoke rising from the chimney. Clearly someone, or something, lives here. Seamus said it was an old man called Daffyd Ibramson.

Bleyse went up to the door and knocked. A youngish gentleman answered the door (Seamus must have a rather odd definition of old) and Bleyse asked for shelter for the night. He welcomed us inside and the horses were left to graze on the nearby meadow. He also told us that we were expected and he knew what we needed. Odd that. I wondered if the faeries had been somehow keeping tabs on us. Hope they're suitably entertained by our antics.

Somehow he also knew all about us and where we were from. He told us he was also from Alusia but had come here several thousand years ago. As well as this being the Undying Land, it was also the Land of Eternal Youth. If he was to leave this plane and go back his true age would catch up with him. He was also surprised that we were all specialists in different types of magic. When he was in Alusia there weren't such things as Colleges. He was also a Herbalist and Kishwa was very intrigued. He obtained permission to study from Daffyd's library and proceeded to do so. I suspect he was there all night.

We had dinner and Daffyd told us we needed Falmather leaves, Mandrake root, and Blue Lotus petals. We asked him where they were and he told us the following verse

Seek first the sacred leaf
Within the hollow tree
High on a hill alone it stands
Above the rock like a key
Then the root, buried deep
In the field of yellow
Find the white flower
And there delve below
In the darkest place
The sacred lotus find
Sunless pool shrouded in mists
Since time of nevermind.

They're all on an enchanted island in the middle of the swamp. The island is called Yyml Gaedd. We retired to bed soon afterwards (except Kishwa). Anyway and I got to sleep in beds. I had the best nights sleep in a long time.

27/04/91

I managed to purify for an hour. Over breakfast we told Daffyd the story of our adventures to date. To get to this island we would need to go down the stream. I'm all for swimming it but Daffyd reckoned that would not be advisable. There are all manner of dangerous creatures in the swamp. Instead we would use boats.

He led us down to the stream. Moored to the bank were two flat bottomed punts. I was looking for the paddles until Daffyd said they were propelled by pushing on poles. Novel idea. I also suggested to Bleyse it might be a good idea if everyone got a dose of Water Breathing in case someone fell in the swamp. He replied that was a good idea so I did so. I first waded into the stream and cast but, after something nibbled my toe (couldn't see what it was as the water was just too murky) I got back out so the water was just up to my ankles. The swamp bottom also felt all squishy.

Once that was all done we got in the punts. Bleyse, Adam, Thoron and I were in one. Kishwa and I were poling. This was quite a bit different from handling an outrigger canoe.

Kishwa's boat was in front as we made our way downstream past the mangroves. It was getting misty and difficult to see so Bleyse put a firelight on the back of the other boat. I reckoned he should put two on, a red one on the port side and a green one on starboard, just like they do in Seagate Harbour. I had just finished saying that when we heard something scream ahead of us. Couldn't see what it was. Too much mist.

Just then something shot out of the water in front of us and screamed. I was frozen in shock. Bleyse took a swing at it and it disappeared. I came to my senses just in time to stop myself being tipped out of the boat. In doing so I lost my grip on the pole but, after a couple of attempts, managed to hook a rope on it and haul it back. After that I made sure there was a safety line on the pole.

The mist got thicker. Kishwa shouted that he could see a high point so we headed towards it. We found land. The bank was rowed with a lot of willow trees, just like the ones I had dreamt about in the Earth Tree. We tied the boats to a tree and got ashore.

We had to slog through the swamp. It wasn't long before our boots were full of water. Adam slipped in something and got completely covered in mud. Hope he's happy now. He's got earth (damp earth but still earth) all over him. A little later on something tried to frighten Kishwa and Adam (they're up the front) but failed. Adam took a swing at it, missed, and slipped.

Soon we were up the hill and found the hollow tree. The herb was in it. So was one of those little feys. Thoron asked if we could take some leaves. She said yes so we did.

After that Thoron spotted a patch of yellow. We headed there and saw that it was a patch of flowers with more of the feys dancing about. The ground was boggy. We could see a white flower in the middle of the yellow.

The problem was, how to get to that flower without getting affected by the feys, and also not getting stuck in the bog. Soon Ugh Bash came up with the answer. He created a tunnel of darkness to the flower. Meanwhile Kishwa changed to swan form and flew in. Adam slogged in behind to talk to the flower. We watched and waited. Soon they came back with the root. The final clue was suggested a pool of water surrounded in darkness so we headed for the darkest area we could find. Due south, a few kilometres away. On the way something frightened Ugh Bash and he ran. Bleyse went after him and brought him back.

We proceeded onwards. It got darker and the trees looked menacing. The whole area was making me feel paranoid. I could sense a large concentration of water ahead. The ground was very wet. I heard a splash. Kishwa had fallen in. When we reached him he had just got out of the pool. He said hands had helped him out. A shadowy female form was half out of the pool. I couldn't understand what she was saying but I was told later that she was the spirit of this lake. She would get the blue lotus for us if one of us would entertain her with a story. So Thoron related the tale of our adventures. That seemed to please her as she disappeared into the pool and came back holding a blue flower. She told us to be careful with it was it is rare.

By the time we got back to the boats night was falling. I did not advise trying to make our way along the river at night. It's bad enough on the open ocean sometimes. So we headed on back up the hill and camped.

28/04/91

The trip back to Daffyd's house was uneventful. When we got there he took the herbs and prepared them.

It was very nearly midday by the time we were on our way to the next stop - the Lake of Fire or, as Seamus called it, Llyn Tain. I was not looking forward to this one. However I put on a brave face. Bleyse had entered my element so I was going to enter his.

The horses sped along the ground at full speed. Late that afternoon we entered a region of rising land and broken hills. Instead of going around the hills, Seamus would persist on leading us up and down them at speed. My stomach protested. So much for lunch.

On the way Seamus told us that the island in the middle of the Lake of Fire was inhabited by a very large, very ancient, faerie dragon. This dragon was so old that it had retired. Now that must be some dragon.

By midnight we reached a flat plain area. Hardly any vegetation grew here. We could see a red glow ahead of us, lighting up much of the sky. I could detect no water nearby. Great! Backfire city, at least for me. We set watches. My watch with Ugh Bash was uneventful but rather nerve racking.

29/03/91

We soon arrived near the Lake of Fire. My goodness it was hot. Even hotter than I am used to. Bleyse wanted to cast Protection from Normal Fires on us all but he discovered that the mana level in this area was rather low. He had to go near the Lake itself before the mana level rose again. The closer we got to the Lake the hotter it got. I was sweating like crazy (goodness knows how the others put up with it) so I removed some of my outer garments then headed towards Bleyse to get my protection. Once I had that I still felt hot but at least it was comfortable again so I went back for my clothes.

The lake was covered in heat shimmer and mist. Once we got to the shore we could just make out the large island in the middle of it. There are smaller rocks surrounding it. In two places the rocks come close enough to step on. It may be possible to use the rocks to get to the island. Adam DA'ed one of the rocks and discovered it was an illusion. Ugh Bash and him check out other nearby rocks and only a couple of them were real. Caskette also told us that he could detect a sleepy dragon thinking of gold, three playful minds, and another couple of minds just waiting.

Kishwa reckoned that the Beoteine were planning on having a lot of fun with us.

The lake itself consists of molten lava. Bleyse dipped his finger in the lake. I decided to do the same. The stuff felt like very thick sludge and it hardened quickly. Not nice stuff to get stuck on us. I hoped none of us fell in. Someone poked a four foot pole in the lake and it was deeper than that. Those rocks must be floating on the lava.

Meanwhile the others had discovered that some of the illusionary rocks disappeared when they were prodded. We were still going to have to check all the rocks remaining but that would eliminate some of them.

After a while Ugh Bash had determined that it wasn't safe to use the route on the northern shore that we were investigating so we trooped around to the southern side and start working our way from rock to rock. Ugh Bash and Adam took turns checking the rocks with Anyway helping. There were some rocks that all three of them failed to DA so Adam came up with the idea of using Earth Hammer spells as a test. If the spell worked when part of the rock was used as a source then it was a real rock.

A few rocks later we reached a large rock with a hole in the middle. There was a fire burning in the hole. When we stepped on it a voice from within the fire greeted us. Another Beoteine. It told us that we were welcome and the dragon was waiting to test us.

The next large island had an area of fire magic on it. All of it. It must have been some sort of ward. Bleyse did something and said that it was safe, for a short time. We quickly passed over it. We also marked the rock for future reference.

Bleyse was the first one to step on the next large rock. When he did so he was engulfed in a column of flame. His yelp of pain and surprise as he leapt back told us that it had hurt. He reckoned it wasn't supposed to do that. The column of fire disappeared soon after.

We approached the next large island rather cautiously. Anyway reckoned she could see something moving on it. Ugh Bash stepped on it and discovered the island was covered in fire ants. He stepped back and blasted the entire island with a Web of Darkness. Those ants that survived scattered into the lake.

By this stage we were close to the island but not close enough. It was still 3 metres away but we can't jump over as there is no place to land on the other side. We were forced to continue rock hopping. Adam had DA'ed some of the illusionary rocks and had discovered that the illusions are rank 20 and permanent. Whoever set this lot up is a very powerful entity. Probably the dragon. Kishwa discovered another pillar of fire ward by stepping on it. Well that is one way of getting rid of the ward. We rested for a bit while Bleyse healed Kishwa's burns.

About a dozen rocks later we discovered another rock with a ward on it. As Kishwa stepped on it a gorgeous female form rose from the rock. Ugh Bash commented it was a 'bint attack'. So did Anyway. The form reached for Kishwa and wrapped herself around him. For some reason he was grinning rather broadly. Bleyse hit the thing with a blast of fire while Ugh Bash used a Web of Darkness and Adam followed up with an Earth Hammer. The thing slipped into the lake.

A short while later Ugh Bash's helmet caught on fire. He beat it out, muttering curses under his breath. Kishwa reckoned that he saw something lizard-like jump out of the lava and jump in again. Bleyse reckoned the lizard-like thing was a salamander so he decided to try to cast Protection from Magical Fires on us all. He already had it himself. He succeeded on Kishwa, myself, and Anyway. However he managed to burnout when doing Anyway. She got a triple.

I was muttering something about Fire Magic and the Fire College reputation for pyromania. Bleyse said that he wasn't the one who gave the Fire College its bad reputation. It was a pixie called Frazzle. Said pixie had since been drummed out of the Guild. Ugh Bash reckoned that was correct. I'm going to have to check this one out.

Just then Adam's bootlaces caught on fire. It must be another salamander. Ugh Bash spotted three of them. He started to cast something at them.

Suddenly an elephant appeared on the next island. Well, we were right about the islands floating as this one is starting to sink. Where did it come from. Some people are giving Anyway odd looks. After all she is our resident summoner. She looked as surprised as the rest of us.

The elephant was in distress and was trumpeting loudly. Bleyse and Ugh Bash fired spells at it in an effort to give it a quick death before the rock sunk into the lava. After that the elephant was screaming and the lava was nearly over the rock. I hoped the guys put it out of its misery quickly. Another set of spells soon finished it off. Adam managed to drop his crossbow. Fortunately it landed on the island. Adam was able to grab it before it fell into the lava. The weight of the dead elephant pushed the rock under the lava. Great! Now how do we proceed?

Poor Anyway. Everyone else reckoned that she was responsible for summoning the elephant but she's denying all knowledge.

In the midst of the argument, the back of Ugh Bash's tunic caught on fire. Kishwa spotted another salamander. Ugh Bash started firing black fire at them.

Meanwhile Bleyse has floated over to the main island, now about fifteen feet away, with one end of a fire protected rope. Caskette had the other end. Kishwa tried to jump across but fell short and landed in the lava. He had to struggle to keep moving. At one stage he was nearly up to his hips in it. Adam threw a dragonbone at Bleyse. It managed to hit Kishwa and bounced into the lava. Caskette used Telekinesis to lift the bone and float it towards Bleyse. With the help of the bone, Bleyse was able to reach Kishwa and haul him out. Kishwa spent the next few minutes chipping off rapidly cooling lava while Bleyse kept it hot.

It took a little while but Kishwa managed to get enough of it off so he wouldn't become a statue so Bleyse floated back, healed the burns on Ugh Bash then took the bowl from me and floated back.

After a while Bleyse and Kishwa arrived back with the bowl. It had been changed to a black colour and looked like porcelain. Bleyse told us that they had found the dragon and answered his three riddles correctly. The dragon then breathed on the bowl.

We made our way back to where we left the horses. When we got there the Morrigan was waiting for us. She smiled when Bleyse commented that the Bowl was now the same colour as her armour.

It was about 10pm by the time we got back to Falias. The entire Seelie Court is waiting for us, including Cystennin. The King accepted the Bowl of Faerie Wine from Bleyse then announced that, for our reward, we were to take a mouthful of the stuff. I remembered the prophecy about drinking our reward so I did so. It was the best stuff I had ever tasted. As I swallowed it I felt some mana impact. The King told us that his Namers would be able to tell us what Talents we had gained but that would take time.

I felt so tired that I could only remember us being escorted to our guest Tree as a blur. I decided to have a bath before going to bed so I cast Water Breathing on myself and gratefully immersed myself in the water. I felt so relaxed ....

30/03/91

I suddenly woke up. Oops! I was still in the bath and the water breathing was about to wear off. I must have fallen asleep. When I surfaced I noticed a rolled up scroll nearby with my name on it. I unrolled it. It told me that I had acquired a talent, from drinking the faerie wine, of being able to turn into water-form while in water. That would effectively cause me to become invisible.

Could be very useful when encountering a mess of hungry sharks. Reef sharks especially. The note also concluded with the words 'An odd place to sleep but somehow appropriate'.

I decided to try it out. It took a bit of practising but I found I was able to do it. I was just lying there, invisible, contemplating the uses I could put this ability when someone stepped on me. It was Anyway. She looked rather surprised, especially since, to her, an apparently unoccupied bath went 'Ouch!'. I decided to become visible again before she poked me with whatever it was she grabbed. Somehow I don't think she saw the funny side.

I get dressed and go and have breakfast. Cystennin arrives a bit later on and told us he is going to take us to the Spriggan King, whose name is Havgan. He also told us that there was a side effect to drinking the faerie wine that the person accepting it had to grant any one request of the giver. We were now committed to giving the wine to the Spriggans. All we had to do now was to figure out a way of getting him to drink it so we could ask for the baby back. Talking of babies guess who got to carry the Spriggan brat again. I'd better watch where I put my fingers.

Our horses were waiting for us at the bottom of the tree. An extra grey stallion is with them. Cystennin got up on it. Meanwhile Thoron is telling him what a fine horse he's got. The horse, called Selyf, nickered in appreciation. Cystennin told Thoron that the horses could understand what we said to them. Thoron decided he'd better say nice things to his horse before she decided to get stroppy. Ugh Bash was also having problems with his horse. He was muttering something about glue factories.

We set off and headed off towards Luidd Abein, the Blue Mountains. When we finally got there, about 3pm, we could see why they were called that as the peaks were a deep blue. We were now in an area of large hills and Thoron said he could see a cavern in a hill a mile or so ahead. I'd be darned if I could see it. Anyway decided to play her flute and a bird landed on the other end of it and chirped in harmony. The music woke the spriggan child and it was in a biting mood. After nearly losing a couple of fingers I asked Cystennin (he's an E&E mage) to put it to sleep. He did so. We stopped at that point and Kishwa, Adam, Anyway, Bleyse, Thoron and Cystennin went on to scout ahead. I suggested to Cystennin that he keep an eye open for water entrances, just in case. They could be useful as a back door.

About twenty minutes later there's a rather strange noise. The rest of us (that's Ugh Bash, Caskette, and myself) moved forward cautiously. It turned out to be a rather frightened Adam. Cystennin said that it was his fault. He had been using a Wizard's Eye to look into the cavern and had been passing what he had seen to Adam. Adam had seen a spriggan and got scared. Cystennin reckoned the place was swarming with spriggans.

I was sensing water to the north-east and the north. The cavern entrance was to the east. Anyway returned from looking about and said that there was a hole, in the side of the hill, with water flowing out of it to the north-east. We went to have a look. It turned out to be a rather fast and wide river. It was flowing too fast to swim against the current. We also noticed the water was a rather odd brownish colour and there were bits floating in it. Ugh Bash examined some of the bits and concluded that the spriggans were throwing their rubbish into the river. Yuck! It looked worse than Seagate Harbour.

We decided to investigate the other area of water. If this was an exit, the other one may be the entrance. For some reason I can't seem to detect it any more. Once we get to the other side of the hill we find a saddle, surrounded by hills. In the saddle is a large lake. We could see an opening, mostly submerged, where water is flowing in.

Cystennin saw a water faerie. Some of us (Kishwa in particular) reckoned that any faeries around here were likely to be Unseelie, and allied to the Spriggans, but Cystennin said she was Seelie. She swam over. I cast Protection of Cold and Water Breathing on myself and joined her in the lake. She said her name was Rhonwen and she was rather annoyed with the spriggans for polluting her river but there wasn't a lot that she could do about it. Cystennin reckoned that he should lead the Wild Hunt around here at some stage.

Ugh Bash had been annoying Cystennin by calling him anything but his name. At the moment he was calling him 'Sustenance'. So Cystennin used Levitate to hold Ugh Bash in the air then dipped him in the water. I put a Cold Protection on Ugh Bash. Didn't want him to catch cold and start sneezing while we're sneaking past spriggans.

I was contemplating going down the entrance and scout out the caverns but Bleyse thought that would not be wise. If we were to be bearing gifts for Havgan then we should go through the front door. Cystennin is using a Wizard's Eye to scout the caverns out. He touched Bleyse so Bleyse could also see through the Eye. There are three levels. The bottom level is mainly stores, sewage, slaves, dungeon and a lake. Just then Bleyse dashed off towards the cavern entrance brandishing his weapon and yelling 'Kill the spriggans'. Oh dear. Then Bleyse fell over. Cystennin had put him to sleep.

Cystennin told us that the second level is mostly living quarters. The main entrance is on this level. He decided to show me. I could see dark caverns. Then I saw a spriggan. It was the most horrible thing I had ever seen. Next thing I knew I was heading for the safety of the lake bottom. Rhonwen had to swim down to convince me to come out again.

The top floor was the banquet area, the throne room, and where the King and Queen live. Cystennin also managed to find the baby. It was in a room, behind the throne, guarded by a rock trap.

We had to desensitise ourselves to the sight of spriggans so Cystennin showed us all what they looked like. Anyway reckoned they look cuter than Ugh Bash. She was playing her flute again. I still don't like the looks of them but the sight is not so bad now.

By 6pm we're ready to go to the front door. Ugh Bash had thought up a cunning plan. We go in and tell him that we have a sample of a special wine from Alusia. When he tastes it to check we ask for the baby back. For some strange reason Anyway wanted to keep the spriggan. Goodness knows what for. I reckoned that the spriggan's mother would be wondering where it was. Kishwa reckoned that she might have been in on the scheme.

Bleyse asked for a goblet and Anyway produced a pewter one. Bleyse used a cantrip to polish it. He also split the wine into two wineskins and the bowl was left with the horses.

We went up to the main entrance. At least six spriggans were standing guard. Bleyse told them that we were here for the big party tonight and we were invited by the King. The guards told us that the party was tomorrow night and they would have human to eat. They had no instructions about any guests arriving. We managed to convince them to fetch the guard captain. Bleyse told him that we were heros from a long way off that had come to see the King. We had a gift for him. The Spriggan Captain, Bob, assembled an escort and led us through the caverns.

We are told to avoid the rope trap that the spriggans had so carefully hidden. Actually it was rather obvious but we tell them how clever it was. We also saw glowworms in the ceiling above. They looked rather pretty.

A little later on, a light appeared on Bob's head. Bleyse told him it must be a sign that he is important and is destined for greater thing - like spriggan general. Bob swells with pride - literally.

We passed the spriggan nursery and met the midwife. She said that our spriggan child could be Miriem's which disappeared a while ago. Rumour said that the King was the father and the Queen may have found out. Miriem is missing the baby very much. The baby's name is Wonald. Soon we reached the large banquet hall with two thrones at the end. King Havgan, and his Queen were sitting there. Bob announced us.

Bleyse explained why we had come. We had found this child and we wanted to return it to its people. Havgan asked to see the baby so I stepped forward, curtseyed, and handed it over. He looked at it and handed it to the Queen. For some reason he looked a bit guilty.

Bleyse continued by saying that one of our babies had gone missing and we had a gift of special wine in return for it. Havgan denied knowledge of the baby. He wanted to know just what we were and why we had a Daoine Sidhe with us. He also wanted to know exactly what Ugh Bash was. Ugh Bash said that he was our plane's equivalent of a spriggan but Havgan reckoned he wasn't ugly enough.

Havgan wanted a taste of the wine but Bleyse wouldn't let him have any since he said he wasn't the one with the baby. After an argument Bleyse gave in and poured some of the wine into the goblet then handed it to Havgan. He tasted it. From the expression on his face it was evident that he liked it. He then told the Queen to fetch the baby. The Queen protested but, after Havgan yelled at her, went and did it. I took the baby off her. Ugh Bash checked it over and said it was the real thing.

Ugh Bash pointed out that Clause 16.3 in the Hero's Contract allows for gifts. Havgan agreed and wanted to give us the finest from his kitchens. My stomach nearly turned over at the thought but Bleyse pointed out that part of being a Hero meant that we could not eat or drink anything on this plane. We had to carry all our own food. Ugh Bash reckoned it was a great burden to bear.

Havgan decided, instead to bring us some works of art. The turned out to be the strangest things I had ever saw. The King said they were Firbolg art. We suggested that it might be better all round that we take their prisoners off their hands for them instead, in exchange for the other wineskin full. Havgan agreed to that and sent Bob to get them. He came back with three creatures that looked a bit like kobolds. Havgan said they were knockers. They were always digging holes in the wrong places. They looked neglected. Come to think of it so did the baby. That diaper was definitely on wrong. I had a sickening thought that the baby had already 'died' a few times while in the care of the spriggans.

Just then a female spriggan rushed in from the kitchen exclaiming 'My baby'. The Queen looked very accusingly at the King. We thought we'd better leave - quickly before a riot started. The three Knockers were called Huey, Dewey, and Louie and they vowed they weren't going anywhere near spriggans again. It was dark when we got out of the caverns so we decided to drop off the knockers first. When we got to their village (they're Seelie folk) we were given a huge welcome and invited to stay the night there.

It turned out that the knockers were good weaponsmiths and we are presented with new weapons. Thoron got a new Estoc while Bleyse and Anyway went for falchions. Kishwa wanted a heavy crossbow but, unfortunately, they didn't have one. I decided to try out a set of darts. The weapons had intricate carvings on them. So did the furniture.

We feasted and drank and learnt the knocker's drinking song "Gold gold gold gold ...." or "Tin tin tin tin tin ...." Somewhat similar to dwarvish songs in our own plane.

Later on we retired for the night. Cystennin put the baby to sleep and we spent the night together.

01/05/91

We headed back to Falias. Kishwa wanted to know whether or not it was possible to crossbred faerie horses with normal horses but Cystennin reckoned it wasn't possible. Once we reached Falias we headed for our accommodation. Meanwhile Cystennin went to see Finvarra. Something to do with a Wild Hunt.

Lunch time. Lots of delicious fruit and cheeses. I tried some of Kishwa's whiskey but I didn't like it. Much too dry. Kishwa asked Padrig to go and get some vodka. Much better. For some strange reason Kishwa's drink is on fire. So is mine. Reminded me of that restaurant in Paris. I then had to show Ugh Bash how to peel a banana. He was eating the whole thing. Also I discovered that watermelons were detectable with divining talent.

Kishwa sampled the cheeses and decided to change drinks from whiskey to port. Meanwhile Ugh Bash asked Padrig to fetch Cystennin. Wonder what he wants him for. I soon found out. Ugh Bash wanted to know if blood was drinkable or did it count as living tissue. Cystennin looked horrified and told him that it did.

He also told us that some Firbolg had been spotted near Murias (the city by the Lake) and the Wild Hunt was going to set off after them. It turned out that Firbolg and Daoine Sidhe are mortal enemies and take great delight in 'killing' each other. So far the Daoine Sidhe are ahead on points.

There is usually a competition to see how many Firbolg can be killed. The rules of the competition is a point per death and is basically one-on-one combat. Spells are okay but investeds are frowned on. It is part of the Morrigan's job to keep score. This Hunt is scheduled to leave in two days and the King of Murias, Lugh Lamfhada, will be leading it. He is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. We are invited to take part.

All the others are keen. I decided not to join the Hunt itself but to go down with them as far as Murias. A good opportunity to visit the Lake and maybe pay another visit to Queen Clioda. While the others prepare their weapons I decided to pay a visit to the library. I was curious about their oceans.

There was another feast that night followed by dancing outside. A large fire was built in the middle and there were some Beoteine dancing in it. Just then the fire went out. Just as suddenly it was relit. I noticed that Bleyse was talking to a red headed female faerie. Her name was Elen. She led him towards the fire and they ended up dancing in it. Other fire mage faerie couples are also in there as well as the sprites. After a short while they all take off, using fireflights, and treat us to a dazzling display of aerobatics. Other faeries are also putting on shows that night with the most spectacular being the illusionists.

02/05/91

Not much happened that day. That evening there was a braying of trumpets. When we investigated we can see a party of faeries approaching. The lead one was glowing. It turned out to be a tall blond guy in shiny gold armour with a shiny spear. There was another party that night.

03/05/91

We headed off towards Murias, except for Caskette and Anyway. They had overpartied. When we got there I left the others. King Lugh Lamfhada had arranged for a guide and interpreter. Murias is on the north shore of the Lake and is built on giant lily pads. There was lots of music and dancing going on and soon I was learning many of the faerie dances, especially the underwater ones. Later on I managed to contact Binnacle Jack and went for a cruise around the Lake.

On the way back we were greeted by an escort of water faeries. The Wild Hunt had returned and the festivities were well underway.

Bleyse said that they had managed to vanquish the Firbolg. He had managed to score quite a few points but the winner had been a Solar Celestial mage who had used Solar Flare on them. Bleyse had been using an Invested TK Rage on them, while fireflighting and had been knocking Firbolgs over in all directions until he fell unconscious. Meanwhile Elen was hitting them with dragonflames Ugh Bash, Kishwa and Thoron had also been getting into the thick of things as well. Well to each their own sort of fun.

We had to wait until the 15th until the portal reopened. Much of the time was spent practising our skills, spells and weapons. I decided to learn some of the Faerie language, which is similar to Elvish and to French. We also were shown around many of the local sights.

15/05/91

On the 15th we were escorted back to the portal by Cystennin, Elen and some other faeries. Once through the portal we retrieved all our iron equipment and camped the night. The next morning we returned the baby to the Torrents who were overjoyed to see us. They presented us with our rewards, the pick of their farm animals. I chose a cow. We also enjoyed a big meal mainly consisting of meat. Once we reached Brastor I sold the cow for 50sp.

01/06/91

We took our time getting back to Seagate but finally arrived at the Guild on the 1st of June. When we got back and told them of our adventures they paid us 2000sp for the description of the plane, another 2000sp for the location of the gate, 1000sp for the True Names and 1000sp for the new herb lore. After tax we ended up with 750sp each. Won't fully pay off my loan but will go some way towards it. Next thing to do is to get lots of training done. I suspect that I won't be going adventuring for a while.