the duke

[cellio]

November 22 (Sunday)

We found the duke! He didn't make it easy, though.

The ring was still calling us straight up, so as soon as we could see we started climbing the mountain. (Well, I flew, carrying Prolix, and Liandra can now turn herself into a bird so she also flew. Kyle and Turok climbed; we set ropes for them.) As we got to the top we saw a roc chasing a griffin coming straight at us -- and the ring was pointing right at them! I couldn't see anybody riding either of these creatures, though. I wondered if perhaps one of them was the duke in altered form, so I started scanning for magic. As they came into range the griffin lit up and the roc didn't, so I told everyone else that the griffin is the duke.

The griffin was in pretty bad shape, too; it obviously hadn't completely evaded the roc. That's not surprising; I don't think all of us working together could keep a roc away, either.

Liandra pulled out a scroll -- dispel magic, as it turned out -- and cast it on the griffin. He was still flying when she did, but at least he was fairly low and Turok broke the duke's fall.

Unfortunately, while we were catching the duke the roc grabbed Turok and took a couple big bites out of him. Kyle and I did a lot of damage to it and Prolix distracted it with an illusion of a griffin, but that was a close call! Turok was barely conscious when the roc dropped him and Liandra got to him.

Prolix made us all invisible (I didn't know he could do that) and we waited for the roc to go away. It was weird to talk to people we could feel but not see.

Once Turok was healthier and the roc was gone we climbed down. We were able to reach the cave with the horses just as it was getting dark.

So why was the duke a griffin? He said his wizard suggested that. The wizard turned him into a griffin and then sent him here. He was supposed to follow, but he never did. The duke doesn't seem to doubt his wizard's loyalty; I wonder if something went wrong.

The duke has been kind of moping tonight. He's politely thankful for the rescue, but it seems he really enjoyed being a griffin. He didn't realize how limiting his duchy is for him until now. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do for him on this front; I haven't figured out how to alter someone else's form, and not so completely in any case. (I did get a sudden idea about the fire thing that I will try out tomorrow, but that doesn't help the duke.)

Maybe on the ride back to Draneken the duke will talk with us more.

November 23 (Monday)

Ok, I still don't know what Murdock meant by "summoning" fire, but I've figured out how to conjure up a bunch of fire, pack it into a small space, and then send that space elsewhere and open it up. Neat! This is different from the flaming spheres of fire that I already know how to make -- for one thing, those stick around and this is a flash effect, and for another, those are conjured in place.

This morning Liandra sent off one of Lord Marius' bird tokens. (We kept the duke busy with breakfast while she was doing this. I see no reason to mention Lord Marius to the duke unless he starts asking questions.)

We did tell him about the ring. He said he was there when the wizard made it. Prolix is still wearing it; this seems wise until we get back to safety. It would be awfully embarrassing to have to report that we had the duke and then lost him.

This afternoon the duke told us a little more about the battle. He said there have always been problems with bugbears, but this time they were much more aggressive. They'd never breached the palace walls before. This time they behaved more like an attacking army, where previously they behaved like raiders.

We rode very late today, and we pushed the horses pretty hard. We'll have to do that again tomorrow, but I think we can get back by the end of the day if we do. Liandra spent a while talking with the horses this evening.

November 24 (Tuesday)

Made it. Just in time, apparently -- Melan had his corontion scheduled for tomorrow. So there will be a big feast tomorrow, but it will be to celebrate the return of the duke instead of to crown a new one.

It was pretty late when we got in. Calem asked the folks in the kitchen to scare up some food for us, but now that we've eaten we're all ready to turn in. At least we'll spend a night in relative safety, assuming there are no bugbears roaming the hallways. Hmm, I wonder what they do for patrols around here; I assume there is a night watch and the duke probably has a guard. I wouldn't want to be nosy and ask about security details in someone else's land, though. Really none of my business.