travelling to Draneken

[cellio]

November 7 (Saturday)

This afternoon Lord Marius sent someone over with horses, gear, and a letter of introduction to the seneschal of Draneken. He also gave us some magical bird tokens with which to contact him, but he warned us to use them sparingly.

I now have a fine horse that apparently will not freak out in a fight. He doesn't seem to be bothered by minor magic, either (I tested this). I haven't tested his reaction to great balls of fire nearby yet; I don't want to do that to Colm's courtyard.

Prolix got a pony and Kyle got a riding dog. It looks prety fierce, though not as tough as Slade. Turok and Liandra got horses, and we also have the two horses Turok brought from Shepford. (He sold the wagon here.)

We decided to head out this afternoon rather than waiting for morning. No sense giving those lunatics in Summerville time to hurt us further. We thanked Colm for his hospitality; he's been a great host and general mentor for us. I hope we get to see him again soon.

I sold Uncle Viktor's armor yesterday. It felt a little sad to get rid of a family connection, but it was big and bulky and I'm not likely to ever wear it, so it was time to lighten the load.

November 9 (Monday)

Ok, now I know why Prolix said not to worry too much about winter gear. Saturday night we stayed in an inn, but last night we were between towns. So Prolix conjured up a decent-sized "hut" (that's what he called it) -- a large dome over us. It's warm and dry in here even though it's wet and cold outside, and he says people outside can't see in. We can see out just fine, though.

November 10 (Tuesday)

One of the books I picked up in Covanion has a lot to say about planes. I wish it were a little more coherent. I finally gave up on that one for now and am studying Murdock's treatise on magical fire. Interesting; he seems to be saying that you can "summon" fire rather than having to actually create it. He doesn't actually say how to do that, though, or where to summon it from. I wonder if you have to have a specific source in mind.

November 11 (Wednesday)

So far, efforts to summon the cooking fire from my parents' kitchen have been utterly unsuccessful. Maybe I need a closer source.

It's just as well that Liandra doesn't know what I'm trying.

November 13 (Friday)

We got our first real snowfall last night. Waking up to see snow suspended above me was neat. (Last night was only the second time we've needed to use the hut on this trip. We've mostly been passing through small towns.) Hrolf was a little freaked by it, but he tried to pretend he wasn't.

While we were waiting for Prolix to finish preparing his spells I made a small snow-gnome. I had to actually lift the head onto him, though; it was too heavy to do with magic. Oh well. Prolix scowled at me, but I think he just didn't like the pointy hat, magically red.

November 15 (Sunday)

Last night we heard wolves howling for what seemed like half the night. We never actually saw any, though. Hrolf said that sometimes they do that and it's probably normal, but it seems weird to me.

We've also been getting a fairly steady, but light, snow. It's going to get worse before it gets better. What ever possessed us to travel north in winter?

And I still can't summon a cooking fire. Hmpf.

It's been hilly for the last day or so, and I see mountains up ahead. Oh joy. Mountains don't tend to have lots of inns. There's only so much tea I can drink. I'll bet Turok will get pretty surly about it.

November 16 (Monday)

More wolves. Still haven't seen them, though. No tracks, either.

Today we crossed the border. Things were kind of tense, but we have a mission and a letter of introduction, so they let us through. I hope we won't have any trouble getting back.

We're actually in another duchy. Wow. I've heard of other duchies, but it finally struck me just how far from home I really am. I wonder if I'll ever go back to Shepford. I wonder, if I did, if I would be a complete and total freak to the people who live there. Most of them have never been as far away as Covanion, let alone Draneken. I don't know whether I've been blessed or cursed.

November 17 (Tuesday)

There was a bigger snowfall last night -- a few inches, rather than the dustings we've been getting. No wolves, though.

According to what Lord Marius told us, we should be reaching the duke's palace soon. I would have expected such a thing to be surrounded by lush farmland, though, not these hills and the mountains we can see in the distance.

finding the duke

[cellio]

November 19 (Thursday)

This is going to be a challenge.

We arrived in Draneken yesterday afternoon. It's basically a small palace with a small town -- not at all like Covanion. I thought the ducal seat would be bigger.

We met with the duke's seneschal, Calem Larinthan. She told us that Duke Larith had disappeared from the battle, pretty much as Lord Marius had said, and that his wizard Keeland then appeared and said the duke was safe. That's the last anyone has seen of the duke. (The bugbears were eventually repelled.) Meanwhile, the duke's son, Melan, is eager to claim the throne. He's even minted new coins with his portrait on them! Thus far there have been some unfortunate delays in the coronation logistics, but that will end eventually. We passed Melan in the courtyard at one point; he struck me as kind of brusque and self-absorbed. He sounds pretty insistent, though. If we don't find the duke soon, he might return to find that he's no longer duke. I wonder how the local laws handle that? I didn't ask.

Calem had nothing but good to say about Duke Larith. I asked her assessment of Keeland; she said she had no doubts about his loyalty, though maybe some about his industry. No one seems to know exactly what he did to the duke -- and to himself; he hasn't been seen since the night of the battle either.

With Calem's permission we broke into the wizard's quarters to see what clues we might find. Gah, the man has no color sense whatsoever. Garish. But I digress. It looks like no one's been there in weeks, and we wouldn't have known that a wizard lived there if not told. Where were the spell books? The lab? The experimental notes?

Eventually we found a small secret room, but still no spell books. There was a magical fountain with a faint aura; no idea what that was. And there was a box containing a magical ring. A heavily booby-trapped magical ring, as it turned out. Prolix picked it up and wham, the next thing I knew I was lying on the floor of the outer room coughing and desperately trying to breathe. So were Hrolf and Kyle. Apparently there was some sort of noxious cloud.

Prolix eventually got the ring and put it on. Almost immediately he began getting a strong sense that the duke is somewhat far to the north, a few days at least. A ring of "locate duke"? Why doesn't Keeland have it with him?

Well, it's the best information we're likely to get, so we're heading out this morning. We were in no shape to travel after that poison gas.

November 19, evening

I've heard of "birds" that are bigger than barns, but I thought they were just stories. This afternoon, as we headed north in search of the duke, we came upon a flattened farm house. A hysterical woman was outside calling to her husband and son, who were trapped inside. We ran to help and were able to pull them to safety. But it was obvious that this wasn't a regular collapse.

The people explained that a giant bird had snatched up a cow from the field nearby and sat on their roof to eat it. This caused the building to collapse. Obviously we are not talking about ordinary birds here. Further, this wasn't a unique occurrence! The woman said that once or twice a year one of these birds is spotted in the area. Usually it grabs a cow or horse and goes away without doing further damage.

We couldn't just leave them there with the ruins of their house, so we suggested that they grab what they can and we'd escort them to the next town. It'll be a little crowded in Prolix's bubble-hut, but we'll manage.

November 20 (Friday)

One of the people in town said the "bird" is a roc. This is not good.

This afternoon we were attacked by bugbears, like the ones who attacked Draneken. They demanded money and food, we refused, and when the fighting was over they were all dead. One almost got away, but I shot him down. I took his masterwork morningstar as booty. It doesn't hurt to have a good weapon, just in case I have to fight with physical weapons.

It's been lightly snowing all day. An advantage of this is that we were able to press on a bit further into twilight than usual. Every extra hour we can squeeze out for travel helps.

Hrolf brought in a good-sized chipmunk tonight for dinner. He said the snow helped. I asked him if hunting is going to get hard now that winter is setting in, but he assured me that things are fine and he won't need to resort to "people food".

November 21 (Saturday)

Last night more bugbears attacked us. They can see in the dark and we can't, so the fact that we were hidden in Prolix's dome didn't help as much as it could have. Kyle slipped out and hurled fire-pots at them, engulfing the one who turned out to be their leader. Hrolf delivered a major shock to the leader, too. Prolix distracted some of them with illusions. But many of them charged our dome and the fight landed on top of me and Prolix. It turns out that bugbears burn quite satisfactorally; between my flame spheres and Prolix's burning hands we were able to wear them down until Turok could get to us with his sword. He had one spectacular blow where he thrust his sword through one bugbear and into another, killing both of them.

Bugbears smell really nasty when they're on fire. Even worse than bugs.

Later, just after we got back to sleep, Prolix jumped up again. He said it wasn't more bugbears -- the ring had given off a sharp twinge. I don't know what that means, but it can't be good. So this morning we got up as early as we could see, readied spells, and headed out. Of course, the weather had to turn nasty.

Today, after following one road that turned out to be a dead end, we came to the only crossing point across a huge gorge. And, naturally, the ring is summoning us to the other side. The problem is that the bridge that used to be here has collapsed -- and in a very unnatural way. The ends don't line up; not even close. There's no way we'll be able to get the horses across, despite Prolix's theories about magical ropes and pendulums and "reduce" spells. I took an arial survey (Hrolf didn't even laugh) and there aren't any other ways across, at least within a reasonable distance.

Earlier we had seen (and sneaked past) a cave with some huge insects in them. The whole place stank. But that's the only cave we've seen today, and a cave is our best bet for keeping the horses safe until we can return. So we went back and fought the creatures. It turns out that their tentacles can paralyze people; they got Kyle, Turok, and Liandra before my flame spheres and magic missiles and Prolix's crossbow bolts finished the creatures off. Fortunately, the paralysis wore off an hour or so later.

I summoned some servants to clean out the cave. Liandra is talking to the horses, and Slade and Kyle's dog are going to stay behind to help guard them (and keep them here, we hope). We think we've got enough time to cross the gorge tonight, so as soon as Liandra is done we're going to head off.

I hope we're as close to the duke as Prolix says we are; the ring hasn't exactly been consistent sometimes. I mean, this morning it said northeast, then northwest, the due north, then... a person can't possibly move as quickly as the ring seems to be saying, unless we're practically on top of him. I mean, it's not like the duke is likely to have sprouted wings and gone exploring, now is it?

November 21, addendum

We are safely across. We are currently camped at the foot of the highest mountain around. The ring is pointing straight up. I flew up looking for caves or other places where the duke might be hiding, but I found nothing. The sun was setting as I was doing this; we're going to have to wait until morning.

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.