The Journal of Keledrial Nightstar

by Azurielle

Elven wizard and elven berserker, Keledrial's life has gone through one change after the next. How will he handle it all?

2. Chapter 2

We returned to Waterdeep.  Once the things that we meant to sell were sold, we each went our own ways again, vowing to meet up again at the guild house in a ten-day or so.  We also returned the book to Hayworth to finish the original job, and got the rest of our pay.  The old man seemed very happy, and told us that when he found enough clues to go after the next book, that we would be the first he would ask to do so.

       I spent my time over the week doing many things.  Airk was content enough to work at the forge, making a few silvers a day…a paltry sum compared to what we made adventuring.  I spent time studying from the book of spells that the Zhentarim wizard had had.  Some of them would be useful, so I learned them. 

A few days into the week, I was approached by a young human, who told me that I must go to the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors.  Once there, I found out that if I wanted to continue practicing magic in Waterdeep, I would have to register with them, and pay a "nominal" fee.  What foolishness and greed humans have, charging money so that one may practice their chosen vocation.  Yet I was not willing to give up what I had only so recently regained, even if Airk sneered the whole time that magic was worthless enough, and we certainly did not need it.  I paid the fee, and while I was there, got the materials to summon a familiar.  I had not summoned one before, but I knew that they could be useful beasts, good for carrying messages, and spells, and such.

I spent a day in a lovely, wooded park in Waterdeep, and when the spell was completed, I gained the aid of a squirrel as my familiar.  He was wholly unimpressive looking, yet I knew that even the smallest creature could be useful…even if Airk merely commented that its use would best be served as a stew, or a fur pelt.  Needless to say, I am growing adept at ignoring Airk's voice when it comes to anything magical.  He can be quite annoying.  I named my familiar Sanhandrian, after the weapon of my god, Corellon.  Naturally, Airk has already taken to calling him "Sandy", merely to irritate me, I've no doubt.

Later in the week, I let Airk have free reign, and we went down to a master's forge, in a better part of town that where we work.  Airk spent some of the money we'd made to trade in the great sword we'd found on the bugbear for a beautifully worked elven great sword, though I find I must wonder at the size of the elf who wielded it, for it fit my hands perfectly. We stayed there for a while, watching the smiths work, admiring their techniques, and ultimately finding out, that as a smith, Airk was being seriously underpaid, and that most of the people around there considered Stefan a cheat.  Needless to say, that did not sit well with my pride, or Airk's, so we returned to the forge, and quit…permanently.      

A few days after that, after rereading the last bit of writing I had done…and realizing just how unstable I had gotten, I decided to redouble my efforts to locate the elven temple within Waterdeep.  To that end, I sought out Tobias, he being the only other elf I knew of in the area.  It took me a good few hours to find him, wandering about down in the dock ward of the city, apparently looking for an inn to play at.  I followed silently behind him for nearly an hour before he realized that he was being followed.  I guess it is a good thing that Tobias adventures with the rest of us, or else he would certainly be dead from a lack of perception.  Finally, he turned around, and noticed me.  He asked me what I was doing, and what I wanted.  I told him that I needed to find an elven temple… and soon.  He seemed to think about it for a moment then nodded, and headed off, saying he knew the way.  I followed him for a while, and eventually we came upon a large crowd of people gathered.  Interested in what was going, on, we walked over, to see an overweight, balding human man standing on a box, talking to the crowd.  He spoke of how the gods were false, and how the people had been betrayed in their loyalty to the gods.  I laughed at his, but continued to listen.  I noticed that the man was wearing a flower behind his ear, and though it odd, for some reason I could not put a finger onto. Then he spoke of the "one true god."  I spoke up then.

"What god would that be?" I asked, sneeringly, for nothing would turn me from devotion to Corellon, and nominal following of Tempus.  The crowd took up the question, and the man finally had to answer.  He spoke of a god called Moander, though the name meant nothing to me.  Some sort of god related to plants, and such.  I lost interest quickly, after that.  The crowd was getting rowdy, though, so after a bit longer, the members of the city watch would been standing around, forced them to disperse.  As the speaker went to leave, I noticed something that bothered me…the flower behind his ear was still growing…and the end of it went into his ear. I attempted to point it out to Tobias, but the elven bard did not see, so I wonder if, perhaps, my imagination was not playing games with me. 

As we, too, moved to leave, I caught sight of someone at the edge of the crowd…a glimpse only, but enough to make me seeks out the person.  There I saw another elf, also of the Teu Tel' Quessir, with silver hair and amber-hued eyes.  He was shaking his head, an expression of distain on his face.  He was dressed in plain enough clothing, although of fine quality…not the uniform I remembered seeing him in.  Perhaps that is why it took me more than a moment to recognize him as a person I once knew…or at least, knew of.

"Lord Craulnober," I fell to one knee before him.  Though he was not royalty, I owed him allegiance, for he was the Captain of the King's guard.  I was in shock…finally, after all these years…a familiar face!  More importantly, someone who I knew, without a doubt, knew the way home.

Lord Elaith looked down, momentarily confused, as I also knew Tobias to be.

"What are you doing?" Tobias queried.  I looked up at the bard.

"Do you not know?  This is Lord Craulnober, the captain of the King's guard on Evermeet.  He deserves respect." 

"Please, stand up," Lord Elaith ordered, and so I did. 

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Lord Captain," I stated to him, fervently.  "It had been so long."

"Do I know you?" Lord Elaith asked, looking at me curiously.

"Perhaps you do not remember.  It has been many years, and I have changed a great deal.  I am Keledrial Nightstar, 1st son of the house Nightstar.  I have been lost from the People these many long years, and I am certain that I am thought to be dead after so long."  He seemed to think about it for a moment.  He seemed to recall the name, but I do not think he knew me, beyond that.  After all, he had been the Captain of the guard, with far more important things to do that to take note of one sickly, elven child.

Captain Elaith invited Tobias and I back to his tavern to talk.  He led us down to a building in Dock ward, with a sign of a darkened dagger over the door.  When we walked in, the people running the place instantly greeted Captain Elaith, and cleared out a booth in the back for him.

We spoke for a while, and I explained a bit of what had happened to me, while Tobias was invited to play on the small stage.  Captain Elaith listened graciously, asking few questions.  He eventually told me that he was no longer in the King's guard, that he had left the position when he had come to the mainland.  Searching back, I now vaguely remember that Elaith had, indeed left, a few years before I did, although I recall nothing of his reasons for doing so.  In any case, I felt he still deserved respect for having held such a position.  Finally, just as Tobias sat down again, after a round of applause for his wonderful performance, I came to the one question that I desperately needed the answer too.

"How do I return to Evermeet?" I asked Elaith.  He raised an eyebrow.

"Well you can't, not now anyhow.  There are no ships going there."

"Why not?" I asked, my hopes falling. 

"Evermeet was attacked, very recently…I believe that the battle is over, but the damage to the island was great.  I imagine that no ships will be going there until the situation stabilizes again."

"Attacked?! "I gasped, disbelieving.  "Surely not…there is nothing that could attack us on so large a scale…" I protested.

"I'm afraid it is so.  They say that it was drow, come from long forgotten tunnels below the island…though perhaps not so long forgotten," he added wryly.  And vaguely I recalled that Elaith was the last of his family…that the Craulnobers had been killed…on Evermeet many years before my birth…it an attack from below.  Still, the concept of a large-scale attack by the drow on Evermeet was inconceivable, unbelievable to me, and even as I write this, my shock is still strong.

"Drow…but it can't be…"

"It was not only drow…human pirates, as well…from Luskan, I believe…" Elaith added.  I growled…or rather Airk did.  Both sides of myself are still elven, but where as I reeled at the concept of drow, Airk was furious at the idea of Luskan pirates attacking…the people of Ruathym, as so too, Airk, hate the Luskan folk for their many attacks on them.  In my hand, the glass of fine wine I had been drinking shattered beneath my crushing grip, shards of crystal slicing into my hand.  Yet I did not feel it.

"And the King and Queen…they were not harmed were they?  The Moonflowers still hold the throne?" I asked…  For a moment, Elaith and Tobias exchanged a glance.

"The Queen does still rule, yes, from what I have heard… but the King…King Zaor was assassinated many years ago by an elven traitor."  A red haze fell over my eyes, and in my grief, I howled a terrible scream…my King was dead.  It was not anything I could have anticipated, and the knowledge seared me deeply.  Dead…and by the hands of an elf… Evermeet attacked… My whole world, the dreams I had clung to were all shattered in that moment.  I had looked to return home, but home would not be as I remembered.  I had assumed to return to find the remaining members of my family, to kneel once more before my King and Queen…yet it was not to be…  In my grief I turned on Tobias, grabbed the front of the smaller elf's shirt with my wounded hand.

"Why didn't you tell me this?!" I shook him, angrily. 

"Y-you…didn't…as-ask!" He managed to stutter out.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw people around the bar, including Lord Elaith, tensing…I knew I had to calm down, or risk having someone attempt to "calm" me down.  I focused, took deep breaths, and with a shuddering sigh, the red haze withdrew, and I sat back down to my seat, releasing Tobias.  I took a long drink from the bottle, grateful for the numbing burn of strong liquor.  Then another…lowering my face to my free hand.  No one spoke… perhaps they felt uncomfortable, or perhaps they understood my grief, having once know it themselves.  I did not know what to do.   Finding my way home had been my focus for so many years, and now…it was gone…home was not the same…and never again would be.  I cursed myself, for though I know it a foolish though, I wondered perhaps, if I had not been absent, might I not have helped somehow?  I had been gone, when I might have been needed.  One more high-mage might have turned the tide of any battle…but I had not been there.  Even now, there might no one of my family left who might remember me.  And there greatest leader the elves had ever had…King Zaor was gone…

I spoke with them a while longer, but my heart was no longer in the converse.  I only wanted to drink myself into oblivion, but my two companions would not allow me to do so.  Finally, I rose, and stated my desire to depart, that I wanted to find the elven church, as had been my initial intent that day.  I felt that, perhaps, speaking with a priest of my faith my help soothe my soul, and at least give me something to do.  Lord Elaith gave us directions, which were in completely the opposite direction that Tobias had been taking us.  The bard at least had the good graces to look sheepish when he realized that he had been caught in his falsehood.  Before I left, I turned to Elaith, and said,

"I thank you for the information you have given me today, Lord Elaith, grievous though it was.  If there is anything I can do to repay you, you need only ask.  We," I gestured to Tobias and myself, "are often found over near the adventurer's guild house."  Elaith merely nodded, and we headed out.

Thanks to the proper directions, we found the church easily enough.  The priests were upset when we walked in, for there was blood from my hand on Tobias and myself, and they thought us to be wounded.  I explained that we were not, and that I wanted to speak with a priest of Corellon, about a personal matter.  My request was quickly answered.  A smallish, moon elf with dark hair, wearing robes and the symbol of Corellon, came out and led me to a private room.   As we walked, I felt many eyes upon me, and my keen ears, caught the sounds of whispered comments…mostly about my height and size, and general appearance.  I lowered my head, not meeting any of their gazes… my people thought me a freak…as I had suspected for so long.  It hurt worse than I would have expected… I knew then, that I had truly become like the Cha-Tel Quessir…trapped between two worlds…forever outcast in both.  The knowledge burned me, and I felt terrible anger and sorrow.  The whole while, Airk laughed at me, jeering that I was weak, if I cared so much about the opinions of others.  That it was better to be strong, and that there would come a day when I would be forgotten.  It is very hard to ignore a voice within your own mind, but I did my best and explained that if he didn't shut the hells up, I would take our sword and axe, and pitch them into the harbor.  He fell silent.

I spoke at length with the priest, whose name is Celedor.  Though it was difficult for me to voice my problems, I told him every thing…confessing the horrible things I had done, and the terrible fracture in my mind and soul, that was growing worse every day.  He listened intently, but the he response was not the one I had secretly hoped for.  I had wanted there to be some divine spell, some magical means of eradicating the growing presence of Airk…but there was not.  A wound such as mine could be healed, Celedor stated, but it would take time…and it was not something that magic, in any form, could, fix.  It would take effort and diligence on my part to repair what I…yes, I…had done to myself.  I listened to him speak for a while, and some of what he said seemed to make sense to me.  I would have to come back to the temple often, for the aid I needed.  I knew I would do so, but after several hours had passed, I felt Airk grow restless within me again, and finally, I rose to leave.

Outside, Tobias waited still.  He asked what I had spoken to the priest about, but I gave him no answer.  My personal affairs were none of his business, friend or no. 

That night, I took a "tour" of the bars of dock ward, doing my best to drink myself into oblivion.  The drink numbed the pain that the news I had heard of my home and my king.  By the end of the night, I was unconscious, and I recalled nothing of how I managed to get back to the inn where I was staying.  Tobias kindly informed me the next day, that he had rented a cart and dragged me back.  I suppose that I should have felt more gratitude to him, but, the after effects of the previous evening were still with me at the time, and it was all I could do to keep my eyes open.  Fortunately, in my spellbook, there was a spell to help with such…difficulties, and as soon as I could concentrate enough, I cast it upon myself.

A new sign appeared at the adventurer's guild that day, but up by the city watch.  They were looking for assistance in uncovering the identity of the person who was behind several murders in the city…the latest one occurring only last night.  At that, Tobias opened his mouth, and mentioned that he had discovered the body from last, night, as he had been carting me home, and summoned the watch.  I asked him why he had not mentioned this before, why he had not awoken me so that we might have looked around to try to find the killer.  I have little confidence in the intelligence of humans to search for the proper clues.  By way of reply, Tobias merely shrugged, and stated that he didn't think he could have awoken me in my condition, had the demons of the nine hells been pouring out of a crack in the ground.

When the others arrived, Calvin and the dwarves, we discussed briefly about attempting to take on the job of investigation.  I told them what I had learned of the murders, before we had left to go to the orc encampment, and then to Goldenfields.  I had spoken briefly with guard…I may not have mentioned that previously, as it did not seem important at the time.  They spoke of other murders that had occurred, prior to the whore who had been killed outside of the tavern. The information was still in my head and I told the others of it.  Tobias went on to explain what he had seen last night, which had consisted of a pool of blood spreading from an alley, and a body, warmth barely faded from the limbs.  I told them how I thought that the murders were not committed randomly, but rather by a person who knew what they were doing, judging by the preciseness of the wounds.  Finally, Calvin stated that he had heard of the murders, and thought them an affront, and that if the rest of us were willing, that he would like to try and discern the killer's identity.   Having little better to do with ourselves, the rest of us agreed. 

So we headed down to the watch captain's station.  They let us in as soon as we explained that we were there because of the sign that they had put up at the guild house.  They led us to an upstairs room, where a large, somewhat overweight human man with a brown beard and hair to match, was seated before a desk. 

He answered all the questions we could come up with about the murders.  There had been 6 so far, each one in a different ward of the city.  The people did not seem to share any similarities in their lives…one was a whore, the next a merchant's son, the third was a tavern wench, the forth a traveler from a place called Calimport, the fifth a half-orc dock worker, and the most recent was an old woman who lived alone in the Sea Ward.  Some were murdered on the streets, some in alleyways, and some in their own homes.  There was no pattern to when it happened, and the only thing that proved that it was the same killer doing this, was that they all died with the same wounds.  A slash across the chest, and throat. In particular, I asked about these slash wounds…especially the angle's in which they were made.  Calvin caught on to my way of thinking immediately, and when the captain explained what I needed to know, he nodded, and glanced at me.

"The killer is left handed," he said.  I nodded in agreement. 

"Great," Tobias sat back.  "That only narrows the list of suspects down to a third of the city of Waterdeep," he laughed.

"Did anyone catch any glimpse of the killer?" Calvin asked.

"Actually, one person did…a half–elven dock worker down in dock ward.  He was friends with one of the victims…the half-orc dock-worker.  He came out of the bar, just after his friend, and saw a cloaked form walking out of the alley where the body was found.  The only thing he remembered was that the person was tall…nearly six feet…and that he clinked when he walked."

"So our list narrows…a tall, armored person, who is left handed.  Wonderful…that brings the number down to around ten thousand or so, wouldn't you say?" Tobias, added, unnecessarily.  I glared at him, warning silently to shut up.  He merely grinned.

"Do you have any other information?" I asked.

"Well…actually, we did find a blood trail, with one of the murders.  It led to the Morning spires…the temple of Lathlander, in the city.  We questioned the priests, though, and they didn't know anything.  I have to say, that I believe them…after all, the Lathlanderites aren't the type to be involved with something like this.  We're thinking the killer left a false trail to distract us."

So, with that, we left the watch station, and decided to do our own investigation.   Seeing as Calvin was a respected kind of person in the city, being a paladin of Tyr and all, we deiced to have him ask the families of the victims, questions…especially about any strange or unusual people that the victims might have seen or spoken with the last few days of their lives.  Meanwhile, the rest of us began to check out each of the murder sights.  We found nothing…nothing that would be of any use to us, until we got to the most recent murder…and in a corner, where there were none of the watch boot prints to mess anything up, I found a footprint.  It was not much, but I could tell by the size of the foot, that the man had been of a large stature…matching the half-elf's description…there was a small notch out of the corner of the boot, and I knew that if called upon to do so, I could identify the same boot print again, if I saw it…not that it would be much help to us.  As Tobias had stated, there were thousand of people in the city who met that description.   

We walked to where we meant to meet Calvin, later that night, as it had taken up most of the day doing our investigation.  As we did, I asked about this temple of Lathlander, and the god worshipped there.  According to Tobias, Lathlander was some human god of the morning, and rebirth, and life, and so on…basically, all things good and living.  The church was well known for its good working throughout the mainlands, and its efforts to destroy undeath wherever they found it.  Its paladins and priests were as well respected, if not more so, that those of Calbin's god Tyr.  Therefore, it seemed wholly unlikely that any one from such a place could be involved with murder.

Calvin had only one piece of information.  From the same half-elf friend of the dead dockworker, he had learned that the half-orc had spoken with some a few days before he had died…a priest of Lathlander.  He had said that the half-orc was trying to get over a bad drinking problem, and had asked the priest for help.  Two days later, he was dead.  That bit of information seemed damning in my eyes.  Twice the priests of Lathlander had shown up involved with the investigation…twice was enough for me to be suspicious.  Calvin had learned the name of the priest, who was not truly a priest, but a paladin...one Alexander Brightstar.  We decided to pay a visit to the church in the morning.

So we went to the church.  The building consisted of two tall towers that rose up from several smaller buildings, high into the sky.  They vaguely reminded me of some of the buildings from Evermeet, with their brightness and beauty, but these were human buildings, all the same, wood and stone forced into their shapes by human crafters. 

It was deiced that Calvin would be the one to go inside, and do the talking.  He was a paladin of a respected religion, and who better than that to speak with a priest of another religion.  Besides that, the dwarves were not great in the conversation department, and I saw no point in allowing a potential enemy to know the faces of all of us.

About an hour later…and hour in which I stalked around the building looking and listening for anything suspicious, while Tobias lounged against a tree in a garden area to the side of the church, and told me to relax…Calvin emerged, his face grim.

"I have spoken with Alexander.  He is a paladin of Lathlander.  I cannot say whether or not he is involved; for he seemed sincere in his answers to me…but he does somewhat match the physical description.  What bothers me though, is that when I asked to speak with his superior, he stated that the man had taken a day off, for personal reflection.  I insisted, and he took me the room of this man.  The door was locked, and when I knocked upon it, I heard the sound of movement from within, but there was no answer.  Alexander did not seem overly disturbed, but I fear that something strange is going on…that the leader, the Dawn master of the church may be in some danger.  What this has to do with the murder, I do not know, but thought it a good idea to mention it."

"This room…does it have a window?" I asked.  Calvin shrugged. 

"I do not know…but it is on the ground floor, on the outer wall of the tower, I think."

"Show me," I demanded, picking up Sanhandrian from the ground where he had been digging for something.  We walked around the building, and finally Calvin stopped.

"Here…I think it is here."  There was a window…a thin arrow slit of a window, deep set into the wall, barely wide enough for my arm.  I reached in through the opening and dropped Sanhandrian on the ground.  Now, a wizard and his familiar have a mental bond…a link that allows them to communicate.  I had such with Sanhandrian, and though he is smarter than any other squirrels, he still needs simple instructions.  I told Sanhandrian to try to find someone living, something moving…to tell me what he saw and smelled.  What I got back from him was not encouraging.  There was no movement, no person, but on the floor below the window, he smelled blood, felt air.  I relayed back to the others what my familiar had seen, then bade Sanhandrian to climb back out, to me.  A moment later, he hopped up onto my shoulder, and held out his little furry paws, wanting a treat for being "good."   I idlely gave him a bit of a walnut, and turned to Calvin.

"Demand to go into that room…say that you are concerned about the priest…do what you must, but get in there, and find out what is going on.  We will wait here by the window, and come in, of you ask."  Calvin nodded, for the plan was sound, and went back into the church.

"And take Sanhandrian with you," I added, placing the squirrel in Calvin's hand.  "Where he goes, I will know the way."  Calvin seemed disconcerted by the squirrel, but took it in stride.  A few moments later, there were voices within the room, Calvin's and another man's.

"…I cannot say that I like this…the Dawn master would not appreciate breaking into his room," the other voice stated.

"And if the Dawn master is in danger…?" Calvin queried.  The other sighed.

"Very well then, but we must be quick."  There was the sound of movement in the room, and Calvin was quiet.  Then,

"Here…there is a crack in the floor…something is hidden beneath.  But I cannot find the way in."

"Here, give him this," Hank suddenly stated to me, handing me a crowbar.  I went to the window, and called Calvin over.  I rather would have liked to see the expression on the other paladin's face when he realized that there were people waiting outside.  I gave Calvin the crowbar and instructed him to use it on the crack he'd found.  A few moments passed.

"No good," Calvin said, even as the other paladin protested about this "destruction" to the Dawn master's room.

"The crack is too thin…there must be another way to open it." 

"Look for a switch, or a lever," I told him.  "I have an idea, but it will take me a bit to get it."   With that, I took off, not bothering to explain.  As usual, Tobias followed me…rather irritating seeing as he could barely keep up with my swift pace at a run.  I went all the way back to the mages guild, and bought a scroll of a spell called knock.  The spell could open any locked or barred door, and I assumed it would do the same for whatever Calvin had found within the building.  In a hurry, I decided to run back to the church…to make things easier on myself, I grabbed Tobias up, and threw him over me shoulder, so he would not slow me down.  He protested a bit, but I ignored.

When we got back to the church, I dropped Tobias, and strode in through the front door, purposefully.  Following the way that Sanhandrian had gone, several priests moved to stop me, saying that I could not go back there, but all it took was one of Airk's glares to have them back away.  I made my way to the room Calvin was in, Tobias my shadow.  Calvin was poking around at the wall, even while I finally caught sight of the paladin that was getting so upset over what Calvin was doing.  He was complaining that Dawnmaster Markus would not like this.  Without explaining, I stood over where the crack in the floor was, and began to read off the scroll, lamenting that I was wasting a spell that I could have scribed in my spell book.  The moment I finished, there was a grinding noise, unique to the sound of stone moving against stone.  On a small altar in the room, a golden statue to the god Lathlander turned in a full circle, and the crack became a block, which slowly sunk into the floor, then moved off to one side, revealing a dark staircase.  I looked back, and saw that Alexander had a stunned expression on his face, that I felt was sincere.  Whatever this was, he had not known about it. 

We called out the window for the two dwarves to make their way in here, and then, I began to climb down, followed by Calvin, Tobias, and the paladin, Alexander.  It was dark until we reached the bottom of the stairs, many feet below the surface.  There were lit torches along the walls of a short corridor, which lead up to a door, with a strange symbol inscribed on it.  The symbol was not the sun of Lathlander, but of black antlers on a red background.  Very curious. 

"What is this symbol," I asked the others…no one knew.  I am never one to delay, so I opened the door, which was not locked, and walked into the room beyond.  The room was large, and sparse, made of stone.  There was a large altar in the center, with a statue of the same creature that had been on the door, sitting upon it.  Kneeling before this altar was an older man, thin, with dark hair.  He looked up as we walked in, his face the picture of outrage.

"What is going on?  What are you people doing here?  How dare you invade my private sanctuary?!" He spat out the questions at us faster than anyone could answer.

"What is this place, Dawn master?" Alexander asked, looking highly confused. 

"My private sanctuary, and none of your business, paladin," the Dawn master replied. 

"But this is no symbol of Lathlander," Alexander protested.  Meanwhile, to my side, Tobias was chanting quietly.  He touched my arm a moment later.

"There," he whispered in elven. "Against the far wall…there is something there…powerful magic."  He pointed.  I nodded, and walked that way.  Behind me, I heard the dwarves had finally arrived.  They seemed disappointed that there was no battle.

"What I do with my own time, is no one's concern.  Now all of you leave now, before I have the guard called, and have all of you arrested for trespassing," the priest exclaimed, angrily.  The others seemed to believe that this man was innocent…that this hidden place had nothing to do with the murders…Hank even turned and climbed back up the stairs, muttering about how we were all fools.  Yet, I remembered the blood that Sanhandrian had smelled…why would there be a scent of blood if this was innocent?  And the wall where Tobias claimed was magic, seemed nothing more than plain stone…what was this human hiding?  Why would the high priest of one god be in a hidden room, with a symbol to another?  I studied the priest carefully walking closer to my goal.  He again ordered the others to leave.

"We are hear to investigate murder," I said, suddenly.  The priest instantly turned to look at me…and Alexander suddenly looked down….  Very strange. 

"The guard has already spoken with me on that matter, and know that the priests here had nothing to do with that," The Dawn master said to me.  I sensed the falseness in his words, in the shifting of his eyes away from mine. 

"Nothing to do with them?  And does the watch know about this room?  I think not," I stated, softly. 

"This place is my sanctuary.  It is of no consequence."  Again, the lie.  And as I inched closer to the wall, I felt it…magic, as Tobias had warned me…but I sensed a foulness to the magic.

"You are lying," I stated. 

"How dare you…?" The priest sputtered.  I turned my back on him, ignoring him.  The others, including Alexander, began to ask more questions, again I paid no attention.  Still, they distracted him long enough that I reached the wall, and stared, disbelieving at the stone there.  Suddenly, the illusion that was in place there fell to my eyes, and I saw the nature of the magic hidden there.  It was a tapestry…hanging from the wall, several feet taller than myself.  The scene it depicted was not a pleasant one…but of 4 strange, rat-like creatures that stood like a humanoid, with glowing red eyes, and sharp talons.  Evil.  I knew it.  Why would such and evil be here…and why would a so-called "good" priest be trying to hide it. 

"And what is this here, that you hide, human?" I called to him, gesturing towards the tapestry.  He glanced over, a false expression of confusion on his face.

"I don't know what you speak of…there is nothing there but a wall." 

"Liar…you know as well as I that it is here.   Why do you try to hide, when you know that you are found out?"  I stepped closer to him.  He laughed, but I sensed a tenseness in it.

"Perhaps you should stay here at the temple for a while, that we help you with your…madness," he walked towards me, holding one hand out, his tone the type that one would use on a madman or a hysterical child.  I knew that what I was seeing was true, though.

"You lie I am a wizard…I know when people lie," I bluffed. "And if I am mad, then pray tell, what is this?" I spun back, and grabbed the edge of the tapestry.  When I pulled it away, I knew that it would break the illusion spell.  I did not expect, however, the bolt of pain that ripped up through my arm…a foul kind of magic that felt like black lightning, burning me.  I screamed, but the purpose was served, the tapestry revealed.  The others looked with horror on the monstrous tapestry…but no one more so than Alexander.

"Sir…what is this horror?!" he choked.  The priest stood up straight, his expression changed, grew calm, and confident.  That was enough for me to reach for my axe. 

"Of course I know you are a wizard, elf…what elf in the world isn't?" He sneered at me. Then he turned to the others.

" Fools…I would have let you go, but now it appears you shall be the next sacrifices!"  He began to chant, quick and harsh.  Mentally, I ordered Sanhandrian out of the room, to get some other priests down here. The squirrel ran off without hesitation, disliking the sense of foulness he had felt since coming down here. From behind me, I felt the magic of the tapestry redoubled, and the room was lit with a glow from behind me.  Meaning to stop the priest before he could finish his spell, I flung my axe at him, but the weapon bounced off some sort of shield around the man.  I thought to try a spell, but before I got the chance, Airk roared within me, and drew our sword.  He charged at the priest in a battle rage, even as the magic from the tapestry drew forth the creatures, which had been woven onto it, as real beings, who began to attack us from behind.  The battle erupted with shouts and prayers, and from myself, a cry to Corellon, which caused the priest's eyes to widen in hatred.  As the full force of the rage slipped over, I was forced to watch as Airk attacked.  I had little enough sense of what was occurring, only that the priest stood his ground, and chanted again, even as some of our hits slid off whatever shields he had up…but only some.  When his prayer, to a god I did not know, ended, a creature was summoned forth…a huge, demonic looking animal that looked something like a large cat, appeared.  I knew, instantly, that this thing would be beyond our skill to defeat alone.  But…we were not alone.  Even though he had been stunned at the outset of the fight, Alexander rallied, and began a prayer to Lathlander that I heard over the ringing of battle.  A moment later, Alexander changed…he became something more than human…something that radiated good and light in a ratio equal to the evil thing that the other had brought forth.  The creature that Alexander had become…a golden, glowing, vaguely leonine beast, leapt at the cat-demon thing, and a heartbeat later, both vanished, and Alexander was left, standing for a moment, then falling over, unconscious.

Airk…I…continued to attack the priest, enough of our attacks getting through his shield that he was beginning to bleed freely from many wounds.  Even though I did not feel pain in a rage, I knew that I was wounded, felt the claws of one of the rat-things from the tapestry tearing into my back.  I vaguely saw the others fighting…saw Hank appear at the shouts, from above …saw several of the rats attacking Ranon…but it meant nothing to me in my focus on the priest…he was the leader, and so, the largest threat.  Another hit, and suddenly, the priest realized that his life was in danger of being ended.  He had expected a wizard from my being elven…but instead of a wizard, he'd found a warrior of the north...he broke from the battle and ran.  But we are fast, and took up the chase.  He tried to dodge, to trick us, but it did not happen.  Finally, he was cornered and sank to his knees, cowering.

"Please…no!" he cried.  Airk drew the great sword high, meant to strike the killing blow, but I screamed at him, exerting what control I had over my own body.  :No! We might need him alive…the tapestry is an artifact!  It might be controlling him… he might be innocent!:  And Airk heard…at the last moment, he turned the edge, and struck with the flat of the blade, knocking the man unconscious.  Then turned back to battle, and attacked the rat creatures.

This fight was harder, for it seemed that blows that would fell a man were shrugged off by the creatures with hardly more than a scratch.  At one point, Tobias came up with the idea to stop this, by slashing the tapestry.  I might have warned him that an artifact was more powerful than a mere blade…but I could not.  At his attack, though, the attentions of all of the rat creatures were drawn to the tapestry, and thus to Tobias.  They attacked him, and he fell quickly, leaving only a few of us standing, none unwounded.  We hacked into the rat creatures, and one by one, they fell, vanishing in smoke, and reappearing in the tapestry a moment later.  Finally, the last one fell, and Calvin slashed the tapestry down from its hook where it folded over.  The threat had ended, and even as it did, as the strength of my rage faded from me, leaving me feeling wounded and drained…then… finally, the priests from above arrived, gazing at the scene before them in horror. 

I paid little enough attention as they awakened Alexander …as questions were asked and answered.  I knew only that it appeared that Alexander was the murderer after all…that he had been acting on the orders of the Dawn master…that he believed that those people had had to die in order to prevent some prophecy of someone called Alaundo from occurring…that he knew nothing of the tapestry and the Dawn master's betrayal.  I got the feeling that what he was saying was the truth.  I felt bad for him, but at the same time, that he had been foolish to trust his superior so completely that he would be willing to go against his own nature and commit murder…no matter the reason given. 

We eventually left the clergy of Lathlander to clean up the mess.  The watch arrived moments later, and I did not feel like doing much talking.  A priest healed up my wounds, and as soon as I got the chance, I left, and went back to the inn for some much needed rest.

We got our payment from the watch a few days later, along with their thanks for what we had done.  Calvin also showed up, with a bunch of things, that he said the priests at the temple to Lathlander had given him to give to the rest of us.  Apparently, the Dawn master who'd been behind the whole plot had been a fraud all along.  He was actually some priest to a goddess called Beshaba, who has something to do with misfortune.  In any case, he had killed the real Dawn master on the road, on the way to the church, then taken his place, for what reason, Calvin didn't know.  The things that the church had given us were items that had belonged to the false priest.  He wouldn't be needing them, seeing as he would be in a jail cell for a long time for what he had done.  Calvin also mentioned that Alexander was not being arrested, even though he had done the actual killings.  He would have to do some service for the city, and atone to his god, for many years to come, but that was all, apparently.  I was indifferent to the whole matter, but from the things, I took a very large, darkwood bow.  The pull on it was a bit too strong for me to use with ease, but I meant to build up my strength until I could use it. 

Over the week, I did several things, the first of which was to register at the smith's guild…of which there was one in the city that my former employer had not mentioned…I wonder why?  Then I found out the names of two places that were looking for workers that had reputations for good quality, and good pay.  The former was the smithy I had gone to a while back, which was run by a dwarf.  Naturally, I decided to check out the other place first.  The other smithy was run by a human named Brian the Swordmaster, and upon entering it, I saw that it seemed a fine enough place.  There were a number of forges, and people working at them.  I watched for a while, before a large, aproned man approached me, and asked if he could help me.  I explained that I wanted a job, and was a fairly good smith.  He asked where I had worked before, and I answered him truthfully.  He grimaced when I said Stefan's name.  I assumed that he, too, knew that I had been taken advantage of by the weasel of a human. I also mentioned that I had worked in the Moonshaes before that, but I did not say more than that.  He seemed willing to give me a chance, said that if my work was sound, and of good enough quality, he would pay me five gold a day.  I added that I was an adventurer, and would occasionally have to leave without much advance warning.  He shrugged, and said that I could do what I wanted, since he would be paying me on a day-to-day basis.  The situation seemed fine enough for both of us, and I told him that I would start the next day.

I left, and began asking around to find out if there was a place, nearby the forge that I could rent, to stay…something less expensive, and on a longer-term basis than a room at an inn.  While I was doing so, I ran across Tobias, who had been looking for me, for some reason he did not explain, other than he did not want me to get in trouble.  I finally found someone who knew of a place…a man was renting out a loft above his house, a street or so away from the forge, so I headed over there, Tobias tagging along like an over-eager puppy.  I wonder why he does so, sometimes…I am certain that I cannot be good company…and I am generally fairly rude to him…but I suppose it might have something to do with being the only two elves in the group… indeed, in the area, save for Lord Elaith.  We at least speak the same language, and understand some basic tenets above elven life, even if I am from Evermeet, and Tobias has never seen the elven homeland.

The building was not too far from the forge, and the man there was polite when we spoke to him.  He showed us the room, which was a fairly large, open, and empty loft at the top of his house.  There was plenty of light, thanks to several windows, and although it was dusty, I thought it would do well enough as a place to rest, and to store things.  The price was fair, at a gold a ten day, so I accepted.  Tobias did not surprise me, when he asked if I wouldn't mind a roommate.  I believe I shrugged, and replied that so long as he was quiet when I wanted quiet, and was willing to pay half the rent, I was fine with the idea.  So we paid for the place, for three months, and went to get our things from the inn.  Tobias used a few cantrip spells he knew to clean up the dustiness of the room. I could've done the same, but didn't see the need, since he was more than willing to do the "women's work," as Airk would call it.  I chose the far corner of the room to sleep in. It was away from any windows or doors, and so away from any potential, immediate threats.  Used to sleeping on the floor, for so long, I merely tossed my bedroll and sleeping furs down on the floor there, and promptly decided to have a nap, leaving Tobias to his own devices.

The rest of the week passed fairly swiftly.  I spent a great deal of time down at the forge, doing my best to impress my new employer.  I would hazard that I succeeded, although, much like my father, Brander, he was not one given to praise.  I did a bit of studying, and of, course, have been writing more and more in this journal…which I am glad to say now consists of an actual book of blank pages.  I do not know why it is that I feel compelled to continue with this, seeing as, there very well might not be any one left from my family alive to care to read it, as was the original purpose for beginning this.  The idea that Evermeet was, and might still be under attack is still so very surreal to me, and I think, that until the day I return home and see evidence of it for myself, that I will never truly believe it, no matter that the words came from an elf I know I can trust.

Tobias and the others seemed restless, the few times I saw them…mostly I saw Tobias, when I returned from work.  I am still shocked that he hasn't managed to fill up the loft with all manner of frivolousness.  His corner is almost as bare as mine, though, although where I keep my bow and weapons on the wall next to my pallet, he keeps musical items, and so forth.  He carries a harp, but often plays this strange, annoying instrument, called a harmonica.  The sound it makes grates on my nerves, but others seem to like it.  I would far rather him play the harp, but at the same time, I fear it would remind me of Evermeet, and my father…I do not need painful memories to haunt me at this time.

On another, note, I have been speaking with the priest at the temple nearly every night, after work.  I am determined to find a way to cure the rift in my mind.  He has told me to try to stop thinking of Airk as another person, since he is just a part of myself…but it is difficult, when I can still hear his voice, as though he were beside me, speaking to me.  Yet, I am trying. 

I have been experiencing odd visions at night, during my reverie.  I don't know why…but I dream of battles…titanic battles of no significance I can think of.  They seem old to me, and I feel that if these visions are true, that they happened a long, long time ago.  Many seem to involve the race of humans.  There seems to be no purpose I can find in my having these dreams, and I do not know what could possibly have spurred them, for I know little of human history, except as it relates to elven history.  Very curious…and very strange.

Finally, we have found another "adventure."  Tobias came to the forge, late one afternoon.  Fortunately, I was just finishing my work, so I was able to speak with him.  He explained that a new post had gone up that seemed a likely job for us, and that we were to meet the others at the potential employer's place of residence.  I went to Brian, my employer, and explained that I might have an adventure to go on, and that I might be away from the forge for a while.  He replied that I could do what I wished, that my job would be here for me, when I got back, but that I should be careful…he did not want to lose a good smith to a dungeon.  It was as close as I had ever gotten to praise for my work, and somehow, the idea pleased me.  I merely nodded, and followed Tobias out.

The place we met at was a small building of not special note, other than it matched the address on the post.  After knocking on the door, we were greeted by a human man…very small and slight, with pale blond hair that lay flat against his forehead, and blue eyes that looked as though they more belonged on the face of a woman, than a man.  He invited us in, when we explained why we were there, had us sit down, and offered us tea. 

His name was Karden, and he was a sage.  The job he wanted us to do, was to accompany him to an abandoned dwarven city, within a volcano in the mountains to the north, near a human city called Neverwinter.  The city had been abandoned many hundreds of years ago, when the volcano became active, and in recent years, had been taken over by creatures that preferred such a fiery temperature.  The sage wanted a book that was said to still be in the city…a history of the city, as it were.  During the conversation, I laughed, and remarked to Tobias, in a sneering tone,

"Leave it to dwarves to build a city on a volcano."  Tobias laughed as well, and Calvin shot us a dirty look.  I keep forgetting that he can speak and understand our language, as well.  I imagine, that if the dwarves had heard what we were saying, they would not have been so amused though.

Karden stated that he had special cloaks that he had had made for a previous expedition to a place called Chult, that would keep us from being burned, or over-heated within the sweltering heat of the city.  All he wanted, was for us to deal with the creatures we might, or might not encounter, and help him find the book.  The others asked about payment for our services, practical as ever.  Still…we were not doing anything that would help any number of people, but satisfy the curiosity of one…so I did not have trouble taking payment aw well.  The sage replied that he had no coin to pay us, that he had spent most of it on the cloaks, but that if we went along, anything else we found by way of plunder in the city…which had apparently been abandoned rather quickly, would be ours to keep, with himself taking no percentage of it.  The others seemed a bit put out by the idea of not knowing for certain of not whether there would be any decent pay involved in this venture, but in the end, having nothing better to do, seeing as I gathered that few of them had any real professions to practice, we agreed.

We left the very next morning, on a caravan headed north.  It was fairly slow going, but safe enough, I suppose.  I passed the time teaching Sanhandrian some tricks, and doing nothing in particular.  We reached the city of Neverwinter a full ten-day later.  We had little time to look around, however, as Karden kept us moving ever forward.  We continued north, into a forest, and two days later, reached our destination…a cave that went deep into the side of a large mountain…the volcano. 

We got into the city easy enough, for Karden had apparently done his research, and knew the way to open the doors.  Once inside, I immediately felt the heat rise from comfortable, to sweltering…hot even for me.  Karden quickly handed out the cloaks, and we donned them just as swiftly.  The larger animals, like the few horses, including Calvin's mount…and a dire fox that Hank had picked up somewhere, we'd left in the city, as there would be no place for them in a dungeon.

Once inside, Karden moved to the back, and let us lead.  Since no one seemed to want to go first, I grumbled and stalked ahead.  Fortunately, dwarves, for some reason, tend to build things very large…I had feared that the tunnels and city would be too small for people like myself, and Calvin to easily move through.  I wonder what it is that the dwarves were compensating for? 

I will not go into the details of every turn we made, and every door we opened, as it is mind numbing, even as we were doing so…more so in retrospect.  Many rooms seemed alike, just a previous one had been.   The first floor was all but empty, and Karden mentioned that other adventures might have come through before.  That statement did make the others very happy.  I was indifferent.  While we walked along, I checked for traps, having nearly fallen into the first one we encountered, when the floor fell out from beneath me.  As we got further into the city, we began to encounter…creatures.  All seemed to be fire based…some were small and imp-like, others reminded me of humanoid-like newt creatures, and others, still, were large and looked much like half snake, flaming monsters.  We had little difficulty with the first few groups we ran into, as we more than outnumbered them, our only major wounds consisting of burns from the heat that seemed to come from their skin. 

Then we started finding treasure.  Perhaps I make this seem like a bad thing…and to me, it was.  The first chest was trapped, with some sort of electric spell that shot up my hands, and burned pain through my body.  It was not a pleasant sensation.  Inside we found a bit of gold, and a few items…only one thing caught my attention, for it was a great sword.  The weapon was of fine make, even though it was dwarven in design. I sneered a bit at it, thinking that my elven sword was surely better, but Airk, being the bloody warrior he is, picked up to look closer at it.  As soon as my hands touched the hilt, I felt the tingle of magic against my palms.  Magic, to me, has always been a soothing thing, for I can always feel its presence…and the lack of it, as well.  So, while I mentally preferred wielding a blade of elvish design, to this one, my hands preferred the warmth of magic in this new one.  Airk stated loudly that he was the fighter, and he would decide what weapon we would use…and he liked the feel of this new sword.  I mentioned that it was a magic blade…and for the life of me, I cannot think how dwarves managed to enchant a blade with magic, being creatures as repulsed by the weave, as the humans of Ruathym were…perhaps even more so…still, Airk didn't seem to care…claimed that if the magic helped him hit and hurt better, what the hells did he care?  It is so irritating trying to deal with him…honestly!  Still, and all, I gave in.  What matter what weapon we used, so long as it kept the enemies at bay.  The older sword went onto my back, and the new one into my hands.  We continued on. 

We fought several more groups of creatures, again with great success, and found still yet more chests.  Three more to be exact.  And I'll be damned, if I didn't manage to get zapped by nearly everyone one of them, no matter what I tried to get around the ward inside.  It almost worked with the last one, when in a fit of temper, I flipped the box upside down, and chopped through the bottom…but when I reached in to pull the contents out, the ward went off anyhow!  I was so angry, that the box was in pieces before I could control myself again.  My hands ached, and my arms burned from all the energy that had been jolted through them.  All for a bit of gold, so that the other party members would not bitch about the lack of payment!

I believe that the others saw how dangerously close I was to losing my temper completely, and did not comment on my behavior.  Ranon healed my hands without my having to ask him, thankfully.  We continued on, the whole time, Tobias and I spoke back and forth, in elven…mostly insulting the dwarven architecture and such. 

In another room, we fought a larger group of them…this one outnumbered us.  When I saw that the others were all being wounded, far more than I believed was necessary, I slipped into my battle rage…with a call to Corellon for strength…that surprised me.  I think that part of me thinks that I cannot rage with out Tempus' aid…but, it appeared that it was not so. 

When I came out of the rage, the last fire newt fell to the ground before me.  Tobias whined once more about how I had splattered him with blood.  I merely glared at him, mentally telling him to get used to it.  If he felt the need to use me a shield, he would just damn well have to accept the consequences.

There was, of course, a treasure box in the room.  I flatly refused to touch the bloody, damned thing, so Hank took his turn.  I grinned, amused at the idea of someone else getting hit by the ward…and nearly screamed, when Hank opened the box with no ill affects.  It was not fair!  My guess was that the newt-creatures had already set off the trap…unfair…

After continuing on a bit, we ran across a pair of dwarves, oddly enough…a pair of ghostly dwarves.  Immediately recognizing Undeath when I saw it, I drew my sword.  One of the pair did the same…only he drew a wicked looking axe.  I locked gaze with him, and we exchanged a mutual glare.  Still, I did not move forward, waiting for the other to make the first move.  The other ghostly dwarf, and the rest of my party, though called for myself and my opponent to stop, and promptly began to talk.  I half heard the conversation, but I was too intent on the other to pay much attention.  They one dwarf ghost, who seemed to be talkative, spoke of a giant fire creature…salamander, I believe, who seemed to be in charge of the forces down here.  The creature was holed up in a place called the auditorium room.  The dwarf claimed that he was irritated with all the creatures running around his home, and said that if we were willing to help clear them out, he would tell us where the book we sought was.

So the others agreed, and myself, by default of being with them…not that I minded a good fight.  Still, I knew I would need rest before going into another battle, as I was still weary from my previous rage.  The dwarf…I have forgotten his name already, explained that the creature, the salamander had put up a wall of fire, blocking itself into the room, and that we would need to retrieve something called "ice dust" to still the fire and get past.  He claimed that we would most likely find some in the priests' chambers, beyond the old forge.  He also explained that if we needed to rest, we would find a safe place in a room nearby.  Then he stated that the book we sought was in the lesser priests' chambers…but that the only way to those rooms was to go past the salamander…naturally.  Then they vanished, as though they'd never been there.

The others deiced to first go retrieve, this "ice dust."  I was rather tired, but I said nothing.  No matter how I felt, I would not show weakness…not to any one, regardless of who they were.

We found the forge easily enough, and at first meant to walk straight through.  Suddenly, though, Ranon turned into one of the forge rooms, claiming that he thought he saw "something."  We all followed along, foolishly enough.  While he poked around in once corner of the room, I looked about, at the actual forge area, mentally comparing it with the forges I had worked at previously.  Naturally, this one was smaller in height, but grander in design. It had been cold for so long, that the dust on the anvil was inches thick.  Idly, I poked my sword at a pile of ancient coal, and wood and in a corner, and was therefore caught off guard when something moved within the pile of refuse.  A tentacle shot form the pile and hit my arm, cutting painfully into the skin.  A moment later, as the tentacle was grappling with my arm, and I was trying to bring my sword to bear, the actual body of the creature appeared, along with more tentacles.  It was a disgusting mass of brown, and eyes, and with a smell to it that reminded me of a garbage heap.  A memory surfaced, with a description, and I knew the creature as an Otyugh…although little else about it.  Still, it reacted poorly when I sliced my sword into it, when the others followed suit.  Soon enough, it was dead, a lifeless heat of disgusting matter in the coal.  Disgusted, I kicked it a few times for good measure, and stalked away.  Ranon looked up from where he had been searching a moment later, and held up the "something."  A single…lousy…silver piece.  He stuffed it in his pocket and did not even have the good graces to look sheepish.  Still, he healed the wound the creature had caused, which was a good, thing, as I did not like the look or feel of it.  There was a strange brown residue in it, but I assumed that whatever it was, the healing spell had gotten rid of it, seeing as my arm felt fine.

We went into the priests' quarters, where Ranon promptly began praying at one of several statues of dwarven gods that was in the room.  Jokingly, I asked Tobias if he thought that the dwarves had any female deities, and if they did, how did one tell the difference?  I mentioned it in the common tongue, in part; I think to needle Ranon for some reason.  Ranon, naturally, got offended, and shouted that his patron deity was Beronar, and wasn't she a woman?  And elves had no sense at all.  I laughed, and peered at the statue, then commented that I did, indeed, see breast…or so I thought…somewhere beneath the beard.  In elven, I mentioned to Tobias that it was disturbing enough that human males grew hair all over their faces and bodies…but at least one could tell their women from their men by more than their chest size.  The other elf laughed, but our amusement earned us another glare from Calvin.  I may respect the human for being a decent enough fighter, but by the gods, he has no sense of humor.  Besides, it is not like any of what I said was not true.

So we went to the "safe" room that the ghosts had mentioned.  The room seemed fine enough…until we realized that there was someone sitting in the chair that was before an empty fireplace.  As we entered, the person turned to look at us…and I realized that it was yet another ghostly dwarf.  This one looked older than the previous two had been, and definitely of a more scholarly bent, than the other two, who had most definitely been warriors in their lives.  I stood at the ready, but did not draw my weapon this time.  The others greatly the old dwarf in respectful tones, and the dwarf replied in his own language.  I did not understand a word of what was said, though the others seemed to.  It did not bother me, and I looked around the room, instead.  There was a fairly large bookcase on one side of the room, filled with books. Most of them were, however, written in the dwarvish and common tongues, so I could not even read the spines of the book.  In a way I was glad, for it meant that I had not lowered myself to learning the languages of those lesser than the people…yet in some ways, it made me feel ignorant…and I wondered what the books were of…if any of them were anything that might be of interest to me.  I wondered, for the first time, if I weren't, perhaps being foolish, clinging tenaciously to the belief that everything not elven was beneath my notice.  Worried at the strange bent my thoughts were taking, I turned to Tobias, and said something to him in elven…I no longer recall what.  When the dwarf in the chair turned to me, and addressed me in my own language…elven spoken with such a hoarse, gravely, accent…I was so shocked, so utterly amazed, that I do not recall a word the dwarf said to me. 

"You...speak…elven?" I managed to choke out. 

"And read it, as well," he held up the book in his lap that he'd been reading when we entered…I, too, could read it, though the dialect was very old…it was in elven…a book, written by an elf…about the high forest.

I merely stared at him, positively dumbfounded.  A dwarf…knowing elven?  Inconceivable.  Since I was not answering, he turned back to the others, and spoke, in common.  He mentioned about how the creatures…the salamanders, and newts were annoying, that he was upset they were in his home.  Then, he asked of the world outside, asked what trouble the wizards of Netheril were causing.  No one seemed to know what the dwarf was talking about…but I did.  I laughed at the dwarf.

"Netheril?  Netheril fell thousands of years ago, old man!  A truer example of the folly of allowing humans the use of magic, and the race's innate greed for power, will never be found." I exclaimed to him, arrogance in my tone.  The others all gave me strange looks…the one I got from Calvin was almost angry.  I ignored them, though, for my words were true.  The trouble caused by the power-grasping humans of the Netheril people had caused such massive changes and wrought such destruction, that whole cities fell, and a once great forest was now a desert…and that was just the beginning. 

I kept my focus on the dwarf, and for a moment I felt bad, upon seeing a saddened expression on his old, translucent visage.

"Well…it has been a long time…I don't get out very much, y'know," he said by way of explanation.  Feeling strangely guilty, I retreated from the conversation, to the corner of the room, near a large bookcase.  I am now writing this, while the others continue to talk.  I shall rest in a short while, though, for I am still weary from my rage.  Ranon and the old dwarf are speaking something about "rings of Truesilver" and how they were lost long ago.  It seems of little interest.  Idly, I looked over at the bookcase, and saw a tome, written in elven…perhaps I shall read a bit of it, before I go to sleep.  I think now, that I will cease writing, as Tobias is looking over here, seeming far too curious about what I am writing.  The other seemed shocked, earlier, when I began, mentioning about how, being a barbarian, they did not expect me to be literate.  I am quite proud of how Airk and I handled our temper, for we did not kill anyone, or even wound anyone for the insult.

To make a long story short, we found the leader of the salamander, who was huge, and much like myself, could go into a battle rage.  Still, the creature was rather dumb, and I defeated him, with only nominal help from the others, who were attacking the smaller salamanders.  We found the books, five heavy tomes, just beyond a statue of Ranon's dwarven goddess, and another like her.  I promptly gave them to the sage, though Tobias protested that he wished to read them first.  Ranon, meanwhile, was staring at the statues, and two rings, one on each of them that looked to be part of the statue.  He kept muttering that the "answer was here," and that the rings looked like the stone one on the statues.  In a bored tone, I told him, that he should take the rings from the statues, so that he would not forget what they look liked.  Ranon gave me a look as though I were an idiot.  I shrugged and walked on, uncaring.  Ranon was the idiot, though, for he was quite surprised, when he pulled the rings from the statue, only to find that the rings were real, and had been hidden in plain sight, disguised as stone, all along.

We found a bit more treasure, including a glove, which Tobias told me would store one weapon until recalled. It seemed useful, so I claimed it, with no trouble from the others.  We also found, and fought the leader of the fire newts.  The fight was actually harder than the salamanders, for some of the newts were riding strange lizard-bird look things that seemed to breather fireballs at us.  For some reason, Calvin tried to ride one, stupidly, and only narrowly managed to avoid being killed when it fell into another pit trap.

When it was apparent that we had cleared out everything to be found in the area, and found what treasure there was to be had, we left, after spending one more night in the old dwarf's chamber.  About the only good thing, was that the dwarf had some ancient ale kegged up, which was strong enough to fell a horse.  Needless to say, a drink of that was enough to calm me, and allow me to relax enough to go into reverie.

We left the very next day, and returned to Neverwinter in short order.

About a day out from the dwarven city, however, I began to feel…ill.  By nightfall, I could feel a fever in my blood.  I said nothing, praying that it would clear up by morning.  But when morning came, I felt worse, still. I stayed quiet the whole day, still hoping, vainly that I was mistaken…that whatever ailed me would go away.  It reminded far too much of all the times I was sick as a child…it is my greatest fear, to return to that sickly, frail creature I was…I think I would rather be dead. 

The others finally noticed, the morning after that, when I was unable to rise from my bedroll, shaking, and paler than ice.  Fortunately, it was not an illness, but a disease, probably from the otyugh that had attacked me.  Calvin, as a paladin, was able to remove the disease, and as soon as he cast the spell, I began to feel better.  By the time we arrived at the gates of Neverwinter, I felt fine…my fears, happily, unfounded. 

  Karden took his leave us shortly there after, after collecting his cloaks.  He thanked us profusely for our aid, and informed us that he would tell all his friends and fellow sages about us.  I suppose it was a good thing, seeing as we had certainly not come away empty handed.

We sold much of the things we had found, as well as the weapons and armor we had taken from the bodies of the newts and salamanders, for a fair sum.  The others quickly ran off to spend what they had.  I kept my money, however, in the hopes that someday, when ships are able, once more, to go to Evermeet, I will have enough coin to get passage there.

Rather than leave immediately for Waterdeep, we decided to stay, and look around Neverwinter for a while.  It was a pretty enough town, far cleaner and less crowded that Waterdeep, certainly.  I wandered around, seeing the sights, with Tobias, as usual, tagging along.  There were three bridges of particular interest…one was shaped like a Dolphin, one like a Wyvern, and the last was a sleeping Dragon.  All in all, the workmanship was nearly as good as elven, and I was impressed.  As I walked about, I noticed that most of the people in the city seemed to be human…or half-elven.  I felt bad for the half-elves, since there seemed to be so many of them…I especially felt bad for their mothers, who were all, no doubt, elven women who had been violated by human men…after all, it is inconceivably to think that any elven woman would willingly give herself to a human man…although I did hear a few stories…

There was a large garden in Neverwinter, which I found both peaceful, and comforting, after being underground for several days…after all, elves are not meant to walk in the dark earth, save for the drow elves, who, in truth, are not really elves any longer, anyhow.  Strangely enough, when I found a quiet spot, I felt compelled to dance, as I had not done since coming to Waterdeep. I drew out my blades, the two great swords, and borrowed Tobias's long and short swords as well.  The other seemed confused, and I felt not the need to enlighten him.  I placed the blades out in the pattern I wished, then bade Tobias play a song…an elven song that I knew from my childhood.  He took out his harp, thank the gods, and began to play what I wished.  I stripped down to my pants, and took my boots off, then stepped barefooted into the circle, and began to dance. 

During the dance, time lost meaning for me, a thing of which I am glad.  My concentration focused only on the dance and the blades…it is the one past time, as of yet, that Airk and I agree on…I like the movements, the music…he likes the danger and the skill required.  So we danced.  And when the music stopped, some time later, I looked up to see that a small crowd had gathered, people…mostly women and children, staring awestruck at me.  No small few handed Tobias coins, and praised both him and I for a magnificent performance.  Tobias offered me some of the coins, but I refused them, distaining the money, for I had not danced to entertain, but to calm my own soul.  Still, I felt a blush across my cheeks, as I drew my clothing back on, when I saw the faces of some of the women…saw the lust burning there.  I do not understand why they looked at me like that.  I wonder if they were not being cruel, for some reason…for I know that I am not the kind of man a woman wants…not an elven woman, and not a human woman.  No one wants a freak.  I left as quickly as I could, to get away from those gazes, and breathed easier, when I was free again.

We passed a few days in Neverwinter, when, about four days later, we heard a story in a bar, from farmers who lived just outside the city.  In a state of drunkenness, one of them told us that giants had come down from the hills and were stealing their cattle, that if the thievery kept up, he would be ruined. We managed to get the whole tale from him, after I used a spell to sober the fool, and directions to where the giants had been seen last.

So, in a state of mild boredom, we went after the giants. They proved to be easy enough pray, for they were easy to track, and foolish in their battle.  They fell for our tricks, and we had only mild difficulty in dispatching them.  Certainly nothing interesting enough that I mean to waste parchment writing about it.  We did find a good many of the stolen cattle alive, in a makeshift corral inside the seas-side caves where the giants had been staying…that, as well as a good many items that the giants kept as loot.  We kept the coin and treasure for ourselves…payment for our good deed, I suppose, but returned the cattle to the farmers, before returning, once again to Neverwinter, some two days later. 

Once back in the city, it wasn't longer than a day before people in the city seemed to know what we had done.  It wasn't long after that, that we received a summons from the man in charge of Neverwinter, one Lord Nasher.  We answered it, escorted by a few guards of the city up to his home.  We were lead in by an aging, human, butler, who seemed rather scornful of us, until he realized who we were.  He led us to a small garden behind the house, where we met Lord Nasher, who had been gardening at the time.  The human Lord thanked us for what we had done, said that hill giants were a problem in the area, and that we had stopped the problem before it had gotten any worse.  He offered us a reward for our deed…a rather unusual reward, but the others seemed happy of it.  He offered to pay the local wayfarer's guild to teleport us back to Waterdeep, so that we would not have to spend another ten-day traveling back…and waiting for a caravan to travel with, on top of that.  I had no problem with the idea, and Ranon seemed particularly glad of the idea, saying that he had some package to deliver to a store in Waterdeep.  So we accepted.

We left later that day to go to the guild, after gathering up all our things, the others collecting their mounts.  The guild was a fairly small building, and we were met at the door by a small, gnomish man.  He let us in, as soon as we mentioned that we were from Lord Nasher.  He led us down several flights of steps, to a large room beneath the guild house, with an arcane circle inscribed on the floor.  He then teleported all of the large animals, including Calvin's horse, and Hank's foxes, into the room with us, weighed the whole group together, and wrote the total down, saying that that would be the bill to be sent to Lord Nasher.  A moment later, he cast the spell necessary to activate the teleport circle, and we entered the field.  We arrived a dizzying instant later, a few miles outside of the city, Calvin immediately recognizing the road.  We were almost run over by a caravan that happened to coming down the road, but we got out of the way swiftly. 

We got inside the city walls, to find that Waterdeep was packed…ten times more crowded than I had ever seen it.  There were so many people on the roads that I felt claustrophobic, with them all pressing in me.  I kept pushing people from me, even as Calvin suddenly stated,

"Oh yes…the Mid-Summer's festival!  I nearly forgot," He went on to explain that the reason there were so many people here, was for the Midsummer's festival that would be happening in three days.  Now, I knew what Midsummer's was, though it goes by different names in other places.  It was usually a night spent in drinking and frolicking, and I gathered that in Waterdeep it would be no different.

The party eventually split up, each going our separate ways, agreeing to meet again at our usual tavern, across the street from the adventurer's guild, the day before the festival.  I went back to the loft where Tobias and I stayed.  The old man who owned the house greeted me warmly, and I mentioned that I had not died.  He laughed.  I dropped off everything that was not necessary for me to carry, mostly my gear and my weapons, since one is not allowed to carry weapons around in Waterdeep unless they are peace-bonded, and I see no reason to carry around two great swords, anyhow.  I did, however, decide to keep my glove on, seeing as the magic item contained my great axe…and it would be easy to retrieve…should I need it.

I immediately went down to the shop, and told my employer, Brian, that I was back, and began working.  Later in the day, where the forge closed down for the night, I went over to the temple to see Celedor.  He seemed glad to see me, and we spoke at length over everything that had occurred since I last left.  I explained that I was still having trouble with Airk.  He reminded me, once again, that it would take time and patience on my part.  He suggested, that one of the ways I might rid myself of Airk, was to stop allowing people to call me by that name.  He said that answering to two names could be contributing to my mental instability.  I recoiled at the idea, though, explaining to him that it would not be appropriate to allow N'Tel Quessir to use my elven name…besides, I added sneeringly, they probably wouldn't even be able to pronounce it.  Celedor smiled, and said that I might find myself surprised, as I had with the dwarf who could speak elven.  He told me that it was my choice, of course, but that it was his advice to me.  I replied that I would think on it, more.

It is Midsummer's night, and I find myself, not out drinking and enjoying myself, as I was ordered to do, but here, in my loft, writing.  I am coward, and how I hate myself for it.  I can hardly believe the lack of strength and courage I displayed this day.  It makes me sick to think of…  I shall explain from the start, though.

The day before the festival, my boss, Brian, approached me at the forge, and told me that the forge would be closed for the festival, that I should go out and enjoy myself.  I shrugged.  It did not matter to me either way.  He saw this, and sighed.

"You need to get out more, do something besides work, Airk."  I stiffened, thinking I was being insulted, somehow.

"I thought you were glad of my being a hard worker," I sated, not looking up.

"I am, but still…you know what they say, all work and no play…" he sighed again.  "Look, take the rest of the day off, go sign up for a few of the competitions they'll be having tomorrow.  Have some fun…try not to be so serious all the time."  He slapped me on the shoulder, and walked off again.  With a sigh, I put my hammer and tongs away, took my apron off and put out the fire. 

I went down to where people were signing up for the contests, as Brian had instructed, and signed up for three of them.  A footrace in the morning, swords in the early afternoon, and an axe throw just before evening. 

I met with the others later.  No one was being very talkative.  Calvin wasn't there, still at the church, no doubt.  Ranon asked what we had all been doing, saying that he'd been hiding from all of the people in the city.  I laughed…called him a coward, and made some cutting remarks, in elven, which Tobias chuckled at.  I laughed at Ranon for being a coward, when I should have directed the insult at myself.  Even now, I can feel Airk raging at me for what I've done this time…

The next morning, I went to each contest, wandering about through the people-packed street.  I came in second in the footrace, beaten by another warrior, like myself, who looked very much like a Ruathym warrior, only with dark hair instead.  My prize was some silly little silver statue that I will probably sell later for some coin.  I did horribly at the sword-fighting contest…I accidentally threw my sword, during my first fight. I was so shocked at my slip, that I stood there, staring, as my sword skewered a person in the audience, and my opponent, a wet-nosed, human boy put his sword to my chest, crowing about how he'd won.  A moment later, the later sitting next to the man I killed, exclaimed that he had been a thief, even as she pulled her purse out of his hands.  I was certainly surprised when the woman ran out to me, and thanked me for my quick actions…as though I'd thrown the sword at the man on purpose.  She gave me a kiss on the cheek, leaving me so bewildered, that I didn't even care that I had lost.  I did knock the annoying boy out, with a sharp right to the nose.  He wasn't so cocky with a broken nose…

The axe-throwing contest was much better for me, and I ended up winning it, along with the prize, a well-made hand-axe.

I wandered around, checking out a few of the other contests, and shows that were being performed.  The pie-eating contest was amusing, seeing as a group of Faerie dragons got to the pies before the contest could begin.  I could hear their laughter, even as the contestants protested.  I was highly amused…I hadn't seen a Faerie dragon, or any other kind of Fae for that matter, since Evermeet, and forgot how much I had enjoyed their antics…so long as they weren't directed at me that is. 

I caught Hank's performance at the archery contest…which was as disastrous as my own performance in the sword fight…he ended up being distracted by something, and shooting one of the judges…oops.

Night fell…Tobias took off to play at a noble's party that he'd been hired for.  The dwarves went off to points unknown, and I hadn't seen Calvin all day.

Left to my own devices, and unable to work, or do much else to occupy myself, I went out to a bar and had a few drinks. 

I was wandering around idly, watching the festivities, listening to the music and laughter…and missing Evermeet something fierce.  I wasn't paying any attention to where my feet were taking me.

I looked up to see that I was in dock ward, just as a voice from behind me called out,

"Elf!"  I ignored it, not wanting to deal with anyone at the moment…but the other persisted.

"Elf!  Whassa matter?  You a coward?!  Turn around!"  I turned, to see a large, ugly, half-orc man, who seemed drunker than I was. 

"Thass right, you sissy!  Fight me, you girl!"  He shouted.  Now, all I wanted to do was to be left alone to my thoughts, but the damned creature was just spoiling for a fight, and even on the best days, Airk…I mean, I don't like being insulted…not by anyone.  So I strode back, determined to give the piece of orc-loving scum, what for.

I never saw it for the trap it was…I was foolish, and stupid …but then again…when have I ever been anything but naïve about the world?  He hit me, before I was ready, and I grew enraged…  I snapped the fingers of my left hand, summoned forth my axe, from the glove, where I had magically hidden it.  I cut into him just once, before he turned and fled into a nearby alley.  I did not think as I chased after him, so angry as his unprovoked attack, was I.  He was waiting for me, at the back of the alley, a weapon of his own, now readied…and I wondered, briefly, where it had come from.  I drew back my axe to attack again, when my weapon was violently wrenched from my hands by some one who had come up behind me…some one who was taller by me, by at least a hand span.  I jerked out the only other weapon I had with me…a piddling dagger, and turned to look up at my new enemy.  Where the one had been half-orc…this one had to be part ogre, he was just that large and ugly.  I stabbed him once, in the stomach…he laughed at the wound, as though I did little more that scratch him.  I saw no others, but some how, I felt that there were more than these two in the alley, with me.  At the time, I did not know why I was being set upon…whether they were bandits, or what…but I knew that this attack had been planned, knew it even in my rage.  I knew I was outnumbered…and outmatched, without my axe.  I reached out with my mind, to find Sanhadnrian, whom I knew was nearby, and gave him a mental image of Calvin.  I knew that my familiar would find the paladin, and that Calvin would know, upon seeing Sanhandrian, that something was wrong.  Though I had little hope that Calvin would reach me in time, he would at least know to look for me. 

The half-ogre one had my weapon resting casually on his shoulder.  I could have…should have made an attempt for it…even though it would have meant leaving myself open to attack from behind. I should have done anything other than what I did. 

I ran.

I wrested control away from Airk…from my rage…and I ran from a battle.  I am a coward, and the wounds I received I deserved for my cowardice, though they burn sorely.

I heard the ones who attacked me shouted and gave chase, the sound of heavy boots hitting the cobblestones behind me.  I knew I was fast…but they were both of a height…they could be fast too.  I tried to think where I was, where the closet place I could go where there was an ally…a weapon.  Calvin and Tobias were far too far away…and I knew not where the dwarves were.  The guilds were closed for the night…and the tavern where I usually met the party members was many miles of streets off.  Then I remembered…the Hidden Blade…Lord Elaith's tavern, was but a few streets from where I was. 

I don't know how I managed to hold my pace so long, with the fatigue from after raging upon me. I felt only a mild sting when the first arrow stuck my from behind.  It pierced my left shoulder…painful, but not enough to slow me.  A second and third arrow hit me in quick succession…one in the middle of my back, one slightly to the side…I could feel that one drive into me deep enough to hit my ribs…had it been but a fraction lower it might have killed me.  I kept running…ignoring the pain, though it felt as though my back was aflame with it.  I knew my only chance was to get to a street with people on it, and hope that those chasing me…and there were now more than two sets of boot steps… would not attack with witnesses about.  A few more arrows missed their mark, as I turned a corner, and after a moment, as I ran towards the sound of voices, I heard the sounds of my attackers fade.  I did not slow, charging onward, and into a street crowded with drunken partygoers and revelers.  A few guardsmen saw me, but I did not stop.  It only took a moment or two for me to reach the Hidden Blade.  I pushed the door open, breathing hard, blood from my wounds dripping from my soaked tunic.  The bar tender was the same from before, and I saw recognition flare in his expression.

"Lord Elaith!" I shouted, hoping that the elf was there. I looked to the barkeeper. "A weapon!" I demanded.  "I need a weapon!"  Before the man could do anything, Lord Elaith came striding out from a back room, looking calm, but ready for a fight.  His expression never wavered when he saw me, dripping blood on the floor of his tavern, but he reached behind the bar, and brought a sword forth and handed it to me, even as he drew his own sword from his belt. 

"What has happened?" he asked calmly.

"Attacked," was all I replied, as I strode back the way I came, meaning to go back and fight…anything to sooth the sting of my cowardice.  Lord Elaith was following me, and I felt a surge of gratefulness to him.  He was an elf, of my rank, though he certainly had far more honor and position that I…yet he came with me, to help me, with no explanations. 

I made my way back through the crowd, only to find that the guardsmen, who had seen me, were blocking off the road from whence I had come.  The looked up when I walked up, demanding to pass.  They blanched at the sight of the arrows sticking out of my back, and their voices rose in a babble, as they tried to question me as to what had happened.  I followed my own blood trail back to the last place I had heard them.  My axe was lying on the ground, but of my attackers, there was nothing…my few tracking skills availed me little, for they had vanished.  I went all the way back to the alley where they had attacked me, again, nothing.  I slammed the wall, angrily, but it did little to improve my situation, save bruising my hand. 

I tuned back to Lord Elaith, who was still with me, ignoring the guardsmen, who had also been following. 

"I apologize for dragging you into this, Lord Craulnober," I ground out.  " It appears the one's who attacked me have run as well," I handed him the sword back.  "It will not happen again."

Lord Elaith shook his head.

"Do not worry about it, Nightstar.  What else was there for me to do but offer what aid I may to a fellow Teu-Tel 'Quessir?  Perhaps, though, you should go get those wounds looked at, and I will hear the story tomorrow, when you come and explain what has happened."  I nodded, still fuming, even as there was the sound of hooves approaching.  I looked up, to see Calvin riding up, at a fast clip.  He must have ridden hard, indeed, to have arrived from the temple in so short a time.  Sanhandrian was perched atop Calvin's horse's head, clinging to one of the ears.  My familiar immediately scurried down, and up onto my shoulder.

"What has happened, Airk?" Calvin called down, looking with suspicion upon Lord Elaith, as though my fellow noble was somehow responsible.

"I was attacked.  Lord Craulnober gave me aid," I stated as I started walking away.  The guardsmen pestered me again for answers, and I told them that if they wished information, they could find me at work, on the morrow at Brian's forge. 

Calvin pestered me, the whole way to the church, and I gave him enough information to shut him up, though I was having a bit of a time concentrating, with three arrows in my back, losing a bit more blood with each step.  I think Calvin would have followed me into the church, had I not informed him that humans were not meant to be in an elven church.  He left me alone.

The priests of Corellon that were there quickly removed the arrows…an agonizing process to be sure, but I made no sound, gave no sign of my weakness…then healed me enough to stop the bleeding.  They would have healed the wounds further, but I would not allow them.  The pain and discomfort of their healing, the scars that would be left would serve as an appropriate reminder of my cowardice.  That I dared run from a battle…

My foster father would have said that there is no dishonor in retreat from an enemy that would surely slay…but I feel nothing of honor for doing so…I feel weak.  I hate weakness…especially in myself.  Though I wish Airk gone…the very idea of becoming what I was once, curdles my stomach.  Celedor says that Airk is no more than a part of myself that I have given a name…that Airk's temper, is my temper, that his strength is mine as well…yet as much as I want the part off him that speaks gone from me…I fear to revert, should I fully banish him from my thoughts.  Airk is not a coward…but Keledrial…

I know not what to think anymore.

After I was healed enough, I went down to the tavern across from the adventurer's guild, hoping to have a drink to numb myself into a stupor. 

It was not to be.

I saw that something had happened, immediately upon entering.  There wounded everywhere, familiar faces, and unfamiliar, too.  Ranon was moving about, healing whom he could.  Tables and chairs were broken, as though from a bar fight, but I sensed whatever had happened was something more ominous than that.  Since no one was wounded to the point of death…except for the bar keep…who was dead…his beheaded body being dragged out by several members of the watch, I picked up a table and an unbroken chair and sat down.  While I waited for Ranon to notice me, both Calvin and Tobias entered the room.  Tobias was dressed in nice clothing, that he had changed into for his performance…but there was blood on him…blood that, for once, I had not put there.  His face was bruised, like Ranon's…as though he'd been hit, repeatedly.  They both saw me, and pulled up chairs, as well.  Tobias grabbed a few bottles of liquor from the now untended bar, and clunked them onto the table.  I opened one up, and took a long drink, not even bothering with a glass.  A moment later, Ranon joined us. Calvin was first to speak.

"What happened here?" he asked.  Ranon explained, in a loud, angry tone, that a group of men had come into the bar and started causing trouble.  The next thing he knew, the bar keep was dead, and a full-scale fight had erupted…except that the men who'd attacked were all carrying weapons.  Thought the bar was often filled with adventurers, few people there had more than a dagger on them, for weapons were not allowed to be worn in the city, especially during a festival, where drunken tempers could run high. Strangely enough, though, no one, save the bar tender was killed.  Ranon, of course, ranted on about how two of the men had held him down, and continued to hit him with a chair, even after he had surrendered. 

The Tobias explained what had happened to him.  The party he had been playing at had also been attacked.  A large group of men, who had been posing as guards for the party, had begun attacking guests.  Tobias had tried to run, but had been caught, and slammed repeatedly against a wall.  He had spoken with one of the men, who seemed to be in charge.  A large, blacked haired, bearded human…the leader had insinuated that the attack on the party was not the only attack that was happening…and that it had something to do with adventurers, and the guild. 

About halfway through the tale, Hank came in, looked beaten and battered, as the rest of us, save Calvin.  He quickly explained that the ranger's station, just outside of the city, where he stayed, had been attacked, as well, in the same fashion as the other attacks.  And in all four attacks, including my own, the attackers stopped abruptly, killed no one, and left, even though they had the advantage of numbers and surprise.  Though they probably could have killed all, only a small number was harmed…as though they were giving some sort of warning… taunting us.  Calvin, on the other hand, was not attacked, and had spent a peaceful evening at his temple, at least until Sanhandrian had shown up. 

The others pressed me for information, as well, but I gave little, my mood at the moment, worse than surly.

It was about then, that there was a huge explosion, from across the street.  We all rushed outside to the sight of the building that had housed the adventurer's guild aflame…already destroyed beyond repair by whatever had caused the explosion.  Within moments, members of the guard and the watch arrived, and began to try to put out the fire…not that it mattered…there was nothing left of the building to be saved.

We all went back into the tavern…in shock, I would imagine.  Perhaps it was the shock caused Ranon's tongue to be so loose…but I care not, for his insult was not to be borne.  I recall little of what was said to lead up to it, only that I recall saying something to Tobias about how he should go to the watch and explain that he may have seen the leader of whomever was behind these attacks, of which I suspect we will hear of more by tomorrow.  Then, I rose to leave, wearied beyond belief for the night, which had promised to be so good, and had turned out so dreadfully horrible.  Tobias rose with me, and at that moment, Ranon made some snide comment about how Tobias followed me around as though he were my "lapdog."   Both Tobias and I turned at the comment, enraged.  Tobias stalked up to Ranon and punched the dwarf square in the face, with more violence towards a "friend" than I had ever seen him show.  He spun, and walked out.  I grabbed in Ranon in a fury, by the front of his tunic.  Airk howled at me to slay the repugnant digger for the insult he dared deliver Tobias and myself. How dare a dwarf insult an elf?!  I reigned in control of our…my temper, though, and shook Ranon violently, then, hurled him at the wall, rather than tear his smelly head off, as was my first impulse.

I left, furiously shoving my way through the crowd.  I should have killed him…at least it would have been one less dwarf in the world…

I was about halfway to the loft, when I heard Calvin behind me, calling my name.  I kept walking.  To the hells with the dwarves, and the damned paladin, too, of he sided with them.  He was on horseback, though, and he caught up with me, kept up with me, as he began to speak, not caring whether or not I was listening.  He went on and on, about how I was acting the part of a child…imagine…about how I was taking the "so-called" insult too seriously…about how, if something weren't done, the party would not last.  I listened, and unwillingly snapped replies, when I though necessary.  The dwarves had delivered a deadly insult to myself, and to my fellow elf…I would not tolerate it.  Finally, I agreed to meet with the rest of the party, on the morrow, at a church for all gods who did not have a temple within the city, called the Plinth, after he had followed me up to my loft, and badgered me endlessly into promising.  I warned him, though, that if the damnable dwarf did not come up with a serious apology for his insult, that it would be the end, for me…and I know damned well, that out of the party, I am the strongest and fastest, and without me, they would all be weak… and fail.

Sometime later, Tobias came in, and a moment later, there was an incessant knocking on the trap door into the loft.  When Tobias did not answer it after a few moments, I shouted for him to do so.  Still, he did not answer it, and I grew angrier, yet.  I looked to him, from where I have been writing, in my corner of the loft, and said,

"Tobias, you will open that damned door and shut up the person on the other end, for if you do not, I will rage, and you will suffer the consequences!!"

Grumbling, Tobias got up from his pallet, and answered the door…once again it was Calvin, the damned, miserable human, whoreson…this time extracting a promise from Tobias to meet at the Plinth.

"Yes, fine, whatever…go the hells away!" Tobias all but shouted, and I knew he shared my anger and irritation over the things that had happened.

Finally, Calvin departed, and now, I go to sleep, if I can even manage reverie tonight, I am still so angry.  Until tomorrow…

I got up early to go to work, at first forgetting that things had changed drastically from yesterday.  My employer seemed surprised to see me in so early.  I noticed that he looked weary, for some reason.  He asked how my day had gone yesterday, and out of courtesy, and respect, I told him a brief description of what happened, as I began work.  He asked me if I wanted to take the day off, especially with my wounds, but I refused…my work would be my punishment.

As it was, I forgot to leave at noon to go to the meet Calvin and the others.  I think that I did not really wish to go, though, and so subconsciously forgot. At about 1230 or so, I heard a loud squawking outside.  It sounded familiar, so I went out to see what it was.  It proved to be Tobias' familiar…a hawk that had a name I cannot recall at the moment.  I then remembered what I'd promised, and so I left work early, rather unhappily. 

Now I cannot properly describe everything that went on at the church, for it was so bizarre, that I am still trying to consider everything.  Calvin and all the others were already there, and upon entering, Calvin made some remark about how I was late.  I shrugged my shoulders, and promptly went to the opposite side of the room from the dwarves, nearer to Tobias.  I noted that the room we were in was completely empty; save for a pitcher of ale, a few mugs, and some food, which was all sitting on the floor.  I wondered if Calvin had not ordered all of the furniture removed so that we would not kill each other…not that I consider any of the others of a strength, or skill enough to kill me, save by unfair means. 

Calvin then preceded to act very…un-Calvinish, is the best way I can think to describe his behavior.  He began taunting us all, calling us children, who had nothing better to do than squabble, and take insult at the slightest thing.  He went on to explain, that this was not the first disagreement he seen between elves and dwarves, that he had been in charge of men when he'd worked in the watch…that he'd seen more than one group of elves and dwarves resolve their differences, even after fights more grievous than the one we'd had last night.  He claimed that if the party was to survive, as a group, that we must reconcile our differences, and act like grown folk.  He turned to Tobias and I, and asked,

"Are not the elves famed for their vaunted patience, and wisdom…I see none in the two of you."  I controlled my temper, though I wanted to hit the human…all though, I think that that might have been his intent, all along…to focus our anger away from each other, and onto him…why I cannot say, for their can be nothing good about having four people angry at you…especially, we four.

Then he turned to the dwarves and made some similar remark that had then grumbling.  Finally, Ranon spoke up…his complaint towards Tobi9as and I was nearly laughable…even if it happened to be mostly true.  The dwarf claimed that he was annoyed that Tobias and I constantly spoke our own language to each other, when we knew that neither of the two dwarves could understand us.  He claimed that he suspected we were saying derogatory things about them…laughing at them, in front of their faces.  Now granted, Tobias and I do that frequently enough, though more often than not, we are not specifically speaking about Ranon and Hank, but the dwarven race in general.  Tobias laughed at Ranon complaint, but I turned on the dwarf, speaking angrily, though I had meant not to address him until an apology that I felt was sincere was given for the insult.

"Look you…I do not care if your feelings are hurt because you think we speak about you in our language.  So we do…and you do the same to us, in your dwarven tongue.  I do not speak it, Tobias understands it well enough and can tell me what you say.  It is the nature of the People and the dwarves to fight…"

"All I want is for you two to speak common, at least…it's only fair," Ranon grumbled.

"I do not care what is fair," I nearly shouted.  "The humans forced me from speaking my own language for over four decades!  I will not allow a dwarf to do the same!!"  Ranon took at step back at my anger, but did not back down.

"I ain't asking you to stop speaking your language…just speak one we understand, when you're with us."

"So learn elven," I hissed, "Then you will understand.  I say what I must in common…and I will speak in whatever other language I will.  I will not follow and order given by a dwarf!"

The argument went back and forth for a bit, until Ranon actually agreed to try to learn elven…though it was Tobias who agreed to teach…I would never lower myself to such a task.  Then there was another argument over the matter of the insult… Ranon claimed that he had not insulted me…imagine!  That he'd only insulted Tobias…I informed him that he had, indeed, insulted me, both by insinuating that I would ever have a creature such as a "lap dog," and by insulting a fellow Tel' Quessir.  Finally, Ranon seemed to see my reason, and did apologize to Tobias and I.  Then there was a bit of silence, for though some had been talked out, there was still the separation, the uneasiness between the elves and the dwarves.

Then Calvin began acting like an idiot.  He began challenging us all to fight, calling us children who could not get over the views taught us by our parents.  He hurled insults at each of us, yet none of us attacked, as he goaded, so confused were we by his strange behavior.  Finally, the paladin left the room, stating once again that we had to learn to work together, and stop acting like brats.

He slammed the door behind him, and was gone.

It only took a bit of time for us to realize that he had barred the door from without, and meant us to stay confined in the room until we "worked out our differences."  We didn't need to work out anything…elves are taught such differences at a young age, and I assume that it is likewise for the dwarves. Tobias and I worked well enough with the dwarves, and they with us…there will always be friction between us, for it is in our natures…for all the history of the world, the two races never agree for long…and none of Calvin's taunting will change us.

But, I suppose, in a way, his plan worked well enough, for we were forced to work together to break down the damnable door to get out, and by the time that task was done, we were all about ready to give Calvin the beating he'd been begging for.

Needless to say, we did not go through with it, though we threw a great deal of threats at the meddling human, when we found him waiting outside for us, mounted on his horse.

With the hard feelings out of the way…at least for the moment, we returned to our usual bar…which was now under new ownership…that did not take long…to discuss what our course of action against the people who'd attacked us should be.

       The problem was, that there was little enough information to be found.  It was decided, that the others would go and speak with the watch, and with the noble who'd hired Tobias the previous night.  They would ask if there had been other attacks, and ask if Tobias' employer had known any of the men, since he had hired them as guards for the evening.  I told them that I had to return to work, but that when I got off, I would go speak with Lord Craulnober, and see if he knew anything.  I knew that Lord Elaith had been in the city for some time, and might, perhaps, have contacts that we did not.  So it was agreed, and we went our separate ways, vowing to meet on the morrow, with whatever information that we had managed to garner. 

       I returned to work.  Brian ended up forcing me to leave early, when he noticed that there was blood seeping through the back of my tunic, where one of the arrow wounds had reopened.  He told me to go find a cleric.  I did nothing of the sort.  Ranon and Tobias, both, had tried to heal my wounds earlier, and I had refused them as well…punishment.

       So I went back down to the Hidden Blade to speak with Lord Elaith.  Fortunately he was still there, though his barkeeper had stated that Elaith usually wasn't at the tavern this time of day.  With no prompting, I explained to Elaith all that had happened last night.  He gave me the information that it had happened all over the city…that it seemed nearly all who'd had a membership at the adventurer's guild, had been attacked nearly simultaneously. That was both enlightening, and disturbing.  It meant that whatever had happened had been planned, had required a great deal of manpower, and a great deal of time to ready.  It had been no random attack, nor had it been focused on just my party.  A that point, Elaith asked me if he could get me anything…a drink, some food…a healing potion, he added the last.  I was beginning to get annoyed with people, even Lord Elaith, trying to force me to heal myself.  I took the drink, and snapped that the wounds were healed enough, thank you.  Lord Elaith did not seem bothered by my outburst, though…perhaps amused, though it showed only in his eyes. 

       So I asked him for help, to see if he could find out any more information of the people who done the attacking.  He agreed easily enough, saying that he would have looked into it anyhow, even had I not asked.  I rose to leave, after thanking him, asking that, if he uncovered anything, to send word to Brian the Sword master's forge, for that was where I worked when in town.  He claimed he would, and I left.

       I stopped briefly at the temple, to speak with Celedor.  He gave me a bit of counsel, and once again, told me that it was time I stopped using the name Airk, and reverted to my own name once more…that he believed it the next step I must take in my recovery.  I balked at the idea, though…still unwilling to let go.  I do not know what I shall do.

       I spent the rest of the night finishing up the tiny mithral shirt I was making for Sanhandrian.  I meant to teach my familiar how to wear it, so that he would be better protected.  Sanhandrian does not seem fond of the idea, though.

       The others turned up no information of importance…at least nothing that I had not already learned.  Tobias' employer had not know of who the people were, only that he'd hired them as temporary guards.  The watch knew only that the guild had been destroyed by some explosive gnomish creation called smoke-powder, which was, evidently, an illegal substance in Waterdeep, and that nearly all of the guild members had been attacked…but not one of them had been killed, strangely enough.  There were no other leads for us to check out…all we could do was wait and hope something turned up.

       I went back to work, and it wasn't even a day before Tobias showed up at the shop, claiming that Calvin had gotten word from the church of Lathlander that the priests which to speak with us on a matter of urgency.

       At the church, we learned that the paladin who had been involved with the murders, Alexander Brightstar, had been wounded while trying to atone for his action.  Unfortunately, he had been wounded by a creature called a hag in the Marsh of Dead men, a day or two out from Waterdeep, and whatever the hag had done to him, no magic had been able to cure.  The paladin was lingering on near the edge of death, and he had asked that we remove the evil that he had failed to do so.  The priests told us that the only thing they knew of that would cure Alexander was item that the hag would have on her…a heart stone.  They asked if we would go retrieve it.  Since the hag was an evil creature, and Calvin seemed to feel some kinship for the other paladin, we agreed…besides, it was better than sitting around, waiting. 

       We left that afternoon, seeing as how the situation required that we act quickly, if we wished to save the paladin.  Before doing so, though, I went back to work and explained, once again why I had to leave.  I hardly know why Brian continues to employ me, seeing as I am so rarely at the forge, lately…but I will not complain that he does, for working the forge calms me. Before I left, I told him that there might be a message arriving for me, from Lord Elaith, and asked him if he would hold onto it for me, if it did.  I could not help but notice the strange look that came over Brian's face when I said Elaith's name…he looked as though he wanted to ask me something, but I was in a hurry, and gave him little enough time to do so, once he'd agreed to hold the message.

       Now, there is not much I can write about what happened out at the marsh, or the battle with the hag, for I was in a rage, nearly the entire battle.  We found her lair easy enough…a spot of fairly solid, dry land, about a half a day into the marsh.  She was probably one of the most hideous things I had ever had occasion to set eyes upon, her stringy hair, foul colored skin, dagger-like teeth, and disgusting smell were all stomach turning…I could hardly even tell that she had once been a woman.  I had cast my spells before entering the fight…to heighten my strength, make truer my first attack, and better protect myself from her attack.  Then I roused my self to a rage, and the battle is little more than a blur from there.  I know that I, and the others were all wounded…that the hag fought with power and trick at her command.  There is a terrible, yet now-healing wound where my shoulder meets my neck…apparently, the hag's teeth were as sharp as they looked, and she'd bitten me, tearing out flesh.  Most of the others have similar wounds…Tobias was terribly upset, for the hag had bitten his hand, and he was worried about his playing ability and appearance, moaning that he would have to wear gloves forever, to hide the unsightly wound.   We did manage to retrieve the heart stone, as well as the bit of treasure that the hag had hidden under a pile of bones…there was an axe that was warm with magic, that I claimed, and great deal of a metal called ice steel, which the others wished for me to fashion into all sorts of different items, which I will most likely do when I have time.

       I was not awake for much of the trip back to Waterdeep, for I had been badly wounded, and the hag had, apparently, cast some manner of spell on me that had drained away my strength.  Needless to say, when I awoke, I was…unhappy.  I kept the nature of what had happened to myself, for I did not wish the others to know how weak I was at the time…so weak that I could not even lift my sword. 

       We returned to the temple, however, and after the priests used the heart stone to heal the paladin, they offered to heal the wounds that the rest of us had taken…Rather than that; I had them remove the damage that had been caused by the spell.  I cannot tell you how relieved I was when the strength returned to my arms.  I know truly, now, that I would rather be dead than weak. 

       When I went to work the day after returning…and we'd been out of Waterdeep for five days, apparently, Brian immediately gave me a sealed letter, which proved to be from Lord Elaith.  I opened the seal, and read the letter, which stated that he had found a lead for me, and that I should meet him at the Hidden Blade as soon as I returned.  Brian did not seem at all surprised when I left immediately, merely shaking his head, and wishing me luck in catching the bastards.  I find that I admire Brian… 

       So I went to meet with Lord Elaith.  The lead he had wasn't a great one, but it was better than naught at all.  Apparently, a series of robberies occurred at the same time as some of the attacks…as though, they too, had been coordinated.  The guard knew who had committed the robberies, as the person was already wanted for similar crimes.  What Elaith had found, though, was that the perpetrator of the robberies had been seen several hours before everything began, deep in conversation with several men…all of whom matched Tobias' descriptions of the men he'd seen at the party.  Elaith had also managed to learn, somehow, that the criminal, an ugly, scarred human by the name of Mario Navarro, had left the city by way of the north gate nearly a day ago.  That meant that if we moved quickly, there might still be time for Hank to pick up the tracks and follow them.  Hank may be a dwarf, and an unusual one at that, but I've learned in matters of the woods and tracking, he is incomparable to anyone I've met since leaving my homeland.  If anyone could pick up the tracks, Hank could.

       I rose quickly after being given as many of the specifics as Lord Elaith knew.  I bowed low to him, and thanked him for his assistance.

"Once again, I am in your debt, Lord Craulnober," I stated.  He merely smiled.

       "Do not worry about Keledrial Nightstar.  Had you not asked, I very likely would have gotten involved, anyhow.  You are saving me the trouble of tracking this criminal down. Sweet water and bright laughter, my friend."  I was momentarily startled at the phrase, for I had not heard the phrase of elven leave-taking in so long, that I'd nearly forgotten it.  I shook my head.

       "I am in your debt," I repeated, then left, as quickly as I could.  I knew there was no much time if we wanted a chance of catching up.

       I tracked down Tobias easily enough, for he has a series of favored haunts, where he whiles away the day drinking and playing music.  I dragged him away from his performance, and told him to round up the others, have them ready themselves to leave for a possibly long trip, and meet me at our usual place as soon as possible, that I had information we needed.  To his credit, he did not badger me with questions, but went off to fetch the others.

       I returned to work and explained where I meant to go to Brian.  He did not seem upset at my going, all though, as I said, it seems that I am more often away than at work…but then, I did warn him of that when he hired me, so perhaps it is only what he expects.  He surprised me though, showing once again that he had some thought for my welfare, for some reason, when he bade me take care, for he would not wish to lose a good smith.  I find myself confused often, as of late…why a human I hardly know should care a whit about me seems odd…especially since he cannot possibly be making much money on a smith who is never here.

       I returned to the loft and gathered up what weapons I felt I would need, as well my traveling gear.  I took some gold as well, meaning to give it to the man who owned the house, to make certain that he continued to hold the room for Tobias and I until we returned, whenever that might be.  Imagine my surprise when he refused it, saying that we were already paid up 'til Nightal.  I asked him how, and he replied that a messenger had come while we were away, with a note and a bag of platinum.  The note wasn't signed, but stated that the coin was to pay for my lodging.  I asked if I might have the note, and Hacasian shrugged, uncaring as he handed it over. The script was in common, so I had a little trouble reading it…I find that despite Airk's…I mean my distain for learning to read languages other than elven, I am slowly learning common, for the language is really so simple, and I see it everyday on signs, and whatnot…I am learning it whether I wish to or not…and I am beginning to find it is not such a bad thing, for I do not wish to appear ignorant…besides...it is fairly embarrassing to always have to ask others to read things for me.

       Getting back to my point, the note was in common, and the script was neat and even, but did not seem to match the hand of anyone I knew.  I asked Hacasian about the messenger, but he only stated that it was a street boy…probably there'd been more coin in the bag, but the boy had most likely helped himself to a bit extra.  So I have this mystery…someone has paid for my lodging…and I could think of no one who would do such thing.  It was a great deal of money, as well.  I do not like to be beholden to anyone…especially a faceless person.  Yet, I can't think how I might go about finding out who has done this.  Strange indeed.  I knew that it could not be the party members…for one thing, nearly all of them, besides myself were broke…they spent their money as quickly as though they though it might evaporate in their purses. I keep mine, seeing as I have notion how much I will need to return to Evermeet…I spend only on things that I truly need.  And for another thing…the only one who knows where we live is Calvin, and frankly, he is far too busy tithing to his church and buying shiny armor to have any money to spare…so who could it be? 

       Ah well, a mystery to ponder for another time, as I must go meet the others at the inn now, so that we may begin the first step in tracking down the ones who attacked us, and so many others, as well.  Besides, if we don't move quickly, some of the other wounded adventurer's might find the same lead and beat us to the criminal…and I want my revenge first.

       So I met with the others, and they were ready to go as soon as they heard what I had to say.  Hank seemed a bit doubtful of finding the appropriate trail, seeing as so many people come in and out of Waterdeep on a daily basis, but after a few hours, he did manage to find what seemed a likely trail, headed north, and a bit to the east.  It was better than nothing, so we began to track.

       It has been nearly a ten day now, and we are still on the trail, which is rather confusing.  The one we are tracking sometimes seems to be alone, and sometimes there are other boot prints with his, yet there is no sign of where these others came from or where they go.  Hank has been doing most of the tracking, although I do a little as well.  His animals, the small fox, and his newer one, a dire fox, help by scenting.  We know we are no more than a day behind the criminal, and though we could catch up if we traveled through the night, the others seem reluctant to push the horses.  Needless to say, that I probably slow the party, for I do not ride a horse, unless forced to ride pillion with someone…needless to say it does not happen often.  Ranon flies, of course, and Hank rides his dire fox.  Still, I can run easily enough to keep up, so we still go at a fair pace, when the criminal is on foot.

       Such a battle! I still feel the rush of energy shaking my hands…we have fought, and defeated a dragon!  A small one, mind you…probably no more than a juvenile, or young adult…but a dragon, nonetheless…and an evil one at that.  Earlier that day I had warned Ranon that his flitted about in the air would cause him to come to grief…but I hardly expected that my words would prove true so quickly.  We never saw it coming.  The dragon attacked much like a bird of prey…it flew down, straight from above, and it used its claws to bear Ranon to the ground.  Fortunately for the dwarf, the dragon released its claws, giving Ranon time to scramble away.  The dragon, now on the ground, was a target that I could deal with.  It took almost no time for us to react to the threat.  The dragon could have flown off, but it seemed bent on its prey…us.  It was a black, midnight scales seeming to absorb the sun's light…and I managed to cast a spell to better my aim, just before I drew my weapon, and let the rage take me, even as I called out to Corellon, for his favor.

       The only thing that I truly dislike about raging is that I have so little memory of what happens during a fight, save for blurred images, and vague recollections.  This would have been one battle that I would have wished to recall every detail of, that is for certain…after all, is it not the goal of every man who adventurers to defeat a dragon of evil nature?  So many die in the effort, and yet we triumphed!  I know that the creature was vicious…that its attacks were damaging, for even now my clothing is near ruined from the acidic nature of its breath, and my shoulders ache with healing wounds from its claws…yet we prevailed…more than that, though, it was my attack, a mighty blow with my new axe, recovered from the lair of the hag we had defeated, that felled the beast!  The dragon fell, dead…the head of the creature was small enough that Tobias could put it in his bag of holding, so I took it as my trophy of the defeat.  The others set about removing others bits of the carcass…mostly scale and a bit of hide.  Hank wanted to know if I might be able to tan the hide and make it into leather armor.  I am not certain, for I have never worked with dragon leather…but I can try…when I get the chance that is.  Fortunately, the relatively airless space of a bag of holding will keep the skin from being ruined before I get a chance to work with it.

       We reached the small town of Red Larch a few days later.  We did manage to discover that our quarry had been there but a day before us, from a woman who owned a tavern in the town.  She was angry, for Navarro had caused a brawl, and then skipped out on his tab.  She seemed to know we were adventurers, and stated that if we caught up with him, would me mind brining him back so that she might take the price of his bill out of his hide?  The others seemed to think the concept amusing, but Ranon, for some odd reason took paid the bill out of his own pocket, and stated that now Navarro owed him.  Either way, the woman seemed content.  I paid little enough attention, since I did not se the point of stopping.  For some reason, Calvin and a few of the others wanted to speak with some of the farmer's that had been in the bar when Navarro had been causing trouble.  I don't really know why.  Rather than worry about it, since it seemed we were to spend the rest of the day in the town, I finished up Sanhandrian's armor. 

       The tiny chain shirt fit Sanhandrian well, but the minute I put it on him, my familiar was less than amused.  Through our magical bond, I sensed that he felt stupid about wearing the armor.  I tried to explain…or rather make him understand that the armor would protect him…giving him mental images of a cat biting him without armor, and he being hurt…then a cat biting him with the armor, and the cat breaking its teeth.  Sanhandrian was still not convinced…I suppose this will take a bit of time.  But I am determined to keep my familiar protected…after all, a familiar has a great deal of use…but the loss of a familiar by violent means can be…unpleasant, to say the least. I tried to placate Sanhandrian with a walnut, but he threw the thing back at me, and clicked his claws against the wood of the table.  Finally, I gave in, and took the armor off him after he let me know that he also didn't like the armor, since it pulled at his fur.  It will only be a temporary reprieve, until I can make some sort of undershirt for him…and then he will learn how to wear the damned armor…whether he likes it or not.

       Needless to say, the party members who saw me working with Sanhandrian must have thought I was mad, for they kept shaking their heads and giving me strange looks.  Well, to the nine hells with them anyhow…besides…I am mad, right?

       I gave up on the waiting, when night had fallen, and the others were getting nowhere.  The farmers had indeed fought with Navarro, but none of them knew which way he had gone.  Hank finally turned up from wherever he had been hiding all day, and I asked him if he felt our skills wouldn't be better served by trying to pick up Navarro's trail by way of tracking.  He agreed, and we left. 

       It took no more than an hour or two to find the trail, which continued on in roughly the same direction as before. I went back to retrieve the other idiots, only to run into them looking for us.  We set off then and there, even though it was already dark, seeing as we had lost nearly an entire day of the chase.     

       We tracked Navarro across Stonebridge, which I was only mildly impressed by.  The bridge itself was a mile long, spanning a river.  As we crossed it, Tobias mentioned that the bridge was of ancient dwarven make, and that for some strange reason…probably magical, the bridge had pinned the river, and that in all the years that had passed, the river had never shifted from its place under the bridge.  It was mildly interesting, only in that it was so rare for dwarves to be able to produce any form of magic that was not clerical, or in the form of a weapon. 

       We quickly discerned that Navarro's destination was the High Forest.  We were nearly two days behind him because we had stopped, and because of the battle with the dragon, but his tracks were still clear, and there was still more than a little chance to catch him.

       We lost the trail as we approached a small village, just on the outskirts of the forest.  The inhabitants were mostly human, and they looked up from their work in the fields around the town, and waved as we passed.

       When we got into the village proper, a place called Grassguard, the first thing I noticed was that most of the buildings had wanted posters of Navarro up on them.  I guess he had already caused some trouble.

       My guess proved correct, when we were quickly sought out by the mayor of the town, a small halfling man, believe it or no.  His name was Mayor Rodder, and he questioned us about why we were there, not that they didn't like travelers, he was quick to add.  We explained that we were tracking Navarro for crimes he had committed in Waterdeep, and because he had been seen in the company of the group of people involved in the attacks on the guild.

       Rodder was only too happy to tell us everything that he knew.  Yes, he knew who Navarro was, and yes, the weasel had been seen.  Apparently, Navarro had not even paused in his march.  He had met up with a large group of bandits the day before, and the group had attacked and killed a small farming family to the north of the town, and raided the farm. 

       We thanked the mayor for the information, and immediately headed for the ruined farmstead to pick up the trail once more.

       It took us half a day to reach the place.  The ruin of the house and barn were still smoking from the fire, though there were several fresh graves, indicating that the slain had already been buried.  Looking at the ruined farm, I wondered briefly, if this was how the cities that I had raided on looked after we left…I imagined that it did, although we rarely burned homes or buildings…it was not good "business."   I felt disturbed that I did not feel more at seeing the sight.  Had I become so used to the sight of death and violence that I no longer felt sorrow or regret?  That is a frightening thought…I do not wish to become a conscienceless killer.  I am an elf, damnit…and yet I felt nothing more than casual interest…perhaps a bit of anger over the destruction.  I know that, as an elf, I should not be upset over the loss of human life…they are so short lived, it hardly makes sense to allow oneself to feel anything for them…and yet, I still think I should feel something…after all, I have a respect…perhaps even a bit of friendship towards Calvin, and he is a human…I just do not know what to think or feel anymore.  Life is a very confusing thing.  I do not really want to think on this subject further, anyhow.

       In any case, we picked up the trail easily enough, and followed it further, towards the woods.  The sky was beginning to cloud over, I noticed…it seemed as though a storm was brewing. 

       It was towards noon when we came across a strange sight…on the very edge of the woods, there was a ruined house…almost a mansion in size.  It was mostly boarded up, and the forest was beginning to take it back.  We probably would have passed it by had not we heard a cry come from within, even as we looked up to see the darkened sky open up with a volley of stinging rain.  Everyone ducked into the house, although I took my time walking in, letting the rain wash off some of the travel dust and dirt that had accumulated on my skin over the past week or so.  Needless to say, I was soaking wet by the time I got into the building…not that it bothered me much.

       The house was mostly empty, with bits of rotting furniture scatted here and there.  It did not take us long to find the person whose shout we had heard. 

       In an upstairs room we found him, a half-elf.  The room he was in was littered with wet, ruined parchment, candle stubs, empty inkwells and broken quills.  The half elf was seated on the floor scribbling notes onto another piece of paper, talking to himself.

       Curiosity drove me to ask what he was about.  He looked up at us, then began to babble madly about a song, about dead elves singing hellish music…hundreds of dead elves, enslaved somehow, about a ruined city in the woods, about witches who had stolen the "ghost lady's" harp, and about how being half-man had saved him from being trapped.  Then he seemed to see myself, and Tobias, and his eyes widened, as he screamed that we were elves, that we would go with them, that we would take him down with us.  We could get nothing more out of him after that, as he moaned and whimpered and went back to his desperate writing.

       The others all exchanged glances, and I saw Tobias swirl his finger about near his head…they thought the poor creature was mad…which was true enough, I suppose…but there was more to it than that, I felt.  He'd spoken of dead elves…enslaved elves…the very idea of such caused a feeling of dread in me. Something had driven the bard insane, for we'd heard about him the short amount of time we'd been in Grassguard…a month ago this bard…Morlaine, had been sane…but he'd gone into the woods and come back mad.  If there really was some sort of terror in the forest involving elves, I knew that I would have to convince the others to investigate with me. True, we were on a quest to catch Navarro, but he had gone into the woods…why not try to do two things at once?   If I meant to redeem myself to Corellon, what better way to prove it than to help the people?  Besides…I cannot bear the thought of any of my people suffering.  Yes, I will do what I must to convince the others.

       The rain finally stopped, after a long, thundering storm.  We set out immediately after it, having lost a few more hours of daylight.  Fortunately, we did not have to go far before we ran into a few of Navarro's "friends."  Bandits, that is, and not very good ones.  They attempted to attack us, but we cut down the group of them so quickly, I hardly think I took more than a scratch…not even enough to "accidentally" splatter some onto to Tobias, and listen to him whine that I'd ruined another set of his clothes…it is so very amusing to annoy him…

       I did manage to catch one of them, rather than killing him outright.  He did not really feel like talking at first, but a few times of being slammed into a tree, with the others whispering helpful hints, and warning the stupid little human about my terrible temper, soon convince him that it was wiser to answer my questions with all due haste, rather than anger me further.  He admitted that he was working for Navarro, and that we could find Navarro and the rest of the bandits…some 20 or so of them, at a ruined city a few miles down the trail, further into the woods.  Now, I had promised not to kill him if he answered my questions, and I did keep my word.  However, I did make life more difficult for him, as I was in a rather silly mood for some reason.  To that end, I had Tobias take off the man's boots and pants, but the boots onto the man's hand, and tie them on tightly, then I took his pants, put them over the man's head, and tie the legs around his neck…not tight enough to suffocate…just humiliate, when he inevitably ran across someone…I doubted that he would be able to remove either boots or pants on his own.

       As the man started to stumble away, I heard a faint giggle in the woods, just before Hank's dire fox, Celerity, bolted into the woods, in the direction of the giggle.  Hank took off, shouting for Celerity to stop.  The rest of us exchanged questioning glances, then we, too, proceeded to give chase. 

We wound up in a small clearing about a half a mile off the trail…the forest seemed less dark here…and the ominous feeling I'd had since entering the forest was gone here.  Everything seemed more natural, for some reason.  Celerity was seated in the center of the clearing, panting…several small lights buzzed around his head, tugging at his ears, and so forth.  It only took me a moment to realize that the little lights were pixies, flying about and laughing.  A few of them noticed us, and began to fly about us, chanting some words at us.  I listened carefully, and realized that the pixies were speaking a riddle to us, and probably wished for an answer.  The riddle was:

On metal I sleep, with rock on my side:

On air do I move, my fire's inside:

My blood will give life, my life will give death:

And you'll see your luck, when I catch my breath. 

       Now, as a child, another of my pastimes was reading books of riddles.  I thought back, and pictured the page in my mind, that had had that riddle on it.  I grinned as I returned the answer to it…

       "You are a dragon."  The pixie stopped their mad swirling, and began to hover in the air in front of us, clapping tiny hands.

       Since the pixies seemed din a good mood, and I knew them to be smart creatures, we asked them some questions.  Having answered their "great" riddle, they were all too happy to help…though they did seem to be having a bit of amusement by tugging at the dwarves' beards. 

       The pixies told us that they did, indeed know of Navarro and his men, and thought they were "bad people."  They explained that we could find them at their camp to the southwest; however, they added that the leader, Navarro had left camp a little while ago, and they had seen him headed towards a bog, nearby.  They mentioned that he looked nervous, giggling, and rolling about with laughter as they attempted to show us his expression. 

       The others would have been content with just that small amount of information, but there was a bit more I wanted to know.  So I asked the pixies about the "dead elves" Morlaine had spoken of.  Their expressions grew serious…or at least as serious as pixies could be.  They spun us a tale that I found I believed.  There had been an ancient elven city where the bandits were now camped…but long, long ago, the city had been destroyed by some evil creature called the Ygwannach.  They did not know how the creature had been summoned, only that it was evil, and had control of the woods around the ruined city.  The "dead elves" were ghosts that haunted the ruined city. 

       As we took our leave of them, they also warned us that, if we meant to go to the bog, there were a covey of hags there, who were very dangerous and "yucky."  We thanked them for the information, and left.  As we walked out, I noticed a large leaf stuck to the back of Calvin's armor…written on it, in shaky common that I was barely able to read, seeing how poor my reading skills are when it comes to anything but elven, it read "Kick me in the behind!" Chuckling, I pointed it out to Tobias, who laughed, and promptly did as the sign bade.  Calvin turned on us, an irritated look on his face.  As soon as he turned around again, I proceeded to follow suit. When he glared at us, I shrugged, trying to look innocent, and merely mentioned that if he had not wanted to be kicked, he should not have put such a sign on his armor.  I heard the pixies howling with laughter, invisible, around us.  Calvin managed to get the sign off, read it and crumpled the leaf up, muttering, to himself about "children."   I didn't bother to take offense.

From the pixie's camp, we headed for the marsh, seeing as the small fey had seen who we assumed was Navarro headed that way.  It was more than an hour or so before we found him…up to his waist in a sinkhole, and sinking further in by the moment.  When he saw us, he immediately began pleading for assistance.  For a moment, I think, we all entertained the thought of leaving the little weasel to his fate, but since we had come all this way to catch and question the man, we had Ranon fly over and fish the man out.  Before he had a solid grip on the ground, we had disarmed him of sword and crossbow. 

       At first he seemed confused as to why we were "attacking" him.  We quickly explained who we were and why we had been tracking him.  Now, the others, for some reason were not being very talkative…or, in Ranon's case, far too graphic about the tortures we could inflict on the human if he did not cooperate…maybe even if he did cooperate…so it fell to me, believe it or nay, to coax the needed answers form the bandit.  Navarro did not seem in the least bit cowed by Ranon's threats, and was quite cool and arrogant, even disarmed as he was.  I doubted that threats would get what we needed from him…so I resorted to other tactics.

       I let him think I was a bit of a kindred soul, being Ruathym and a raider, and I gave him my word that if he answered our questions, I would not harm him.  The weaselly human actually wanted us to offer him some reward for the information, saying that the people he would be betraying to us were quite powerful.  Since I really was in no mood to bargain, I told him that leaving with his life was reward enough, and that I might even return his sword to him if he told us what we wished to know.  He seemed to think about it, the grudgingly agreed, shaking my hand on the deal.  He told us that he did not know the name of the leader, or what exactly they were up to, but that the people we were looking for were part of a group called the Shadow Thieves, and that we would most likely find the leader in a place called Skullport. 

       Deciding to head back to the bandit camp, and find the rest of his compatriots, the others and I started walking.  Navarro protested that I had said I would return his sword that he did not want to walk unarmed through this "accursed" forest.  I shrugged, keeping the blade on my shoulder…far above his reach.

       "I will," I told him, "But I did not say when.  You will return with us to your camp and instruct your men to surrender to us…unless, of course, you wish them all dead."  A strange expression came over his face then, but he grumbled and followed along, having little other choice.  I thought it strange that the rest of my party had not noticed the loophole I had left in my promise to Navarro…I had stated that I would not hurt him…but I had said nothing about them.  I had assumed that they wanted Navarro dead, for the reward, if nothing else…but not one of them acted, much to my disappointment. 

       We found our way back to the path towards the bandit camp, when we set upon by a large pack of dire wolves.  The battle might have been deadly, seeing as there were about a dozen of the beasts.  Hank, however, used some druid spells to control, and befriended nearly half of the wolves, and the rest of the party managed to take down the others.  Since I did not want to have to save Navarro, should the wolves attack him, I foolishly returned his sword to him.  By the time the battle was done, the rat was long gone, having run, like a coward.

       We continued into the bandit camp anyhow, only to find that something had already happened there.  The campsite was devastated, and the corpses of the bandits were strewn about like dead leaves.  Yet, there was no blood, and no obvious indication of how they had died, save for the hideous expression of terror frozen on their faces.  All of them had weapons drawn, and the camp fires were still burning, indicating that whatever had occurred had only just happened.  Perhaps this was the reason the pixies claimed that Navarro had seemed afraid when he was running towards the marsh.  There were signs that there had been horses in the camp, but they had all bolted.  As we started to search them, a strange thing began to happen.  The corpses began to fade away, until there was nothing human left of them, and a sickly black mist began to form in place of each of them, coalescing into vaguely humanoid shapes.  I am no priest, but I know undead when I see such.  There were twelve of the shadows, and we began to cut into them as best we could, but I saw them touch Tobias, and the bard staggered, his face paling…then they touched Calvin, and the paladin dropped his sword, suddenly too weak to hold it up.  We would have lost, I have no doubt of it, for the best efforts and prayers of Hank and Ranon and Calvin were doing nothing to turn aside the undead creatures.  But then, the shadows seemed to stop.  The temperature of the camp grew chill enough that I could see my own breath, and the shadows recoiled, as though in fear.  A pale, bluish-hued light appeared from behind us.  When I turned around, I saw five figures floating above the battlefield…the shadows shuddered, and fled into the forest.  The forms began to take a clearer shape…the shapes of elven men and women; beautiful as all the people, but so sad that it hurt my soul to see.  They seemed to have a leader, a woman, who in life must have been gorgeous, but now her face was marred by her sorrow.  Her eyes seemed to plead for something, and she opened her mouth as though to speak, but instead began to sing, the others with her joining in the unearthly chorus.  At that moment, I knew why Morlaine had gone mad from the sound of it.  The woman's voice seemed to tug at my soul, and drive her sadness into my mind.  I felt an urge to follow the music, to join the chorus, even if it meant my death…but I managed to resist the urge, before I could put the thoughts to actions.  However, as the ghosts began to move away, I saw that Tobias was moving forward, as though he meant to follow.  I grabbed him by the back of his shirt to keep him from folly.  Suddenly, from the left, in the bushes, there was a rustling.  Before we had a chance to investigate, Morlaine, the crazy bard from before stepped out.  At that, the eerie chorus floated towards Morlaine.  The leader entreated the mad half-breed closer, and Morlaine stopped his shuddering and moaning, and slowly nodded his head.  The leader of the ghosts melded into Morlaine's body, and when he looked up at us, his eyes were no longer crazed, but filled with a terrible suffering.  He began to sing, but his voice was now clear and even, with just the slightest hint of feminine inflection.

       "Help us…please help us and end this eternal damning torment," Morlaine sang.

       'How?" I asked, knowing that I was speaking to the ghostly elven female, and not Morlaine at all.  She did not answer but beckoned…so we followed…Tobias and I drawn by the elven spirits, and the others, perhaps, only thinking to follow us.

       Nothing could have prepared me for the sight the ghosts lead us to.  The bushes and thorns we pushed through were so thick they seemed to deliberately impede our progress.  We walked into a grove, still as death.  A blanket of dead leaves covered the forest floor, and all about cobwebs hung, and deadly nightshade bushes grew like weeds.  In the center of the grove there was a terrible, twisted, dead, black tree.  Some of the ghosts began to flit into the tree, thing of death that it was.  This place seemed a corruption of all that was life and elven.  I hated the feel of it.  Then Morlaine began to sing again, and the words seemed to tell the story of the ghosts…of what had happened in this place.  The voices seemed to change throughout the song, sometimes one, and sometimes more. 

       "Death and pain and vile blister, let us doom our hated sister; Let us sheath her cursed song, ever more than ever long; let us watch us once she dies, and then stop at where she lies; let us dance and sing all day, for poor Ilumenine!

       Oh, Ygwannach, wrath of the forest! We are thy daughters! Our guardian, we beseech thee; come to us! For our sister has haunted thy silence! Become as living hate of the forest; Slay, destroy, dance to our sister's voice! Bring down what you have guarded for so many centuries! Let sweet Ilumenine be the cause of her house's fall!"  Then the song changed again, this time two voice, a man and a woman seemed to speak, their voices rising above sounds of screams from the other ghosts, and a memory of a the rumble of destruction.

       "Father, father? What curse has come on us? What enmity hath doomed our house?"

       "Cursed child, it is thy voice that hath summoned the forest's wrath! Thus Ilarnesil's house dies, and I rue the day I sired a maiden with a voice that would charm the forest spirits and turn them upon us!"  As the song ended, fading into silence, the spirit, whom I assumed was the Ilumenine of the story, abruptly left Morlaine's body and resumed singing with the rest of the choir, the song still unearthly, but the sadness beginning to grate on my nerves. 

       Morlaine suddenly collapsed to the ground, gasping, and weeping.  He managed to gain his feet again, but with terrible difficulty. 

       'Defeat the Ygwannach…strike the root, its power and end this curse…their curse…my curse…song eternal.  Her silver harp-her sisters took it to the bog…it is lost, the harp…summon… No way to redeem Ilumenine.  All victims-her voice summoned, the Ygwannach brought the cursed, ravaged the city, chasing her… The curse can end…the harp…the sister…" Morlaine gasped and pleaded.  The others seemed confused, but puzzling my way through the meaning in the song was nothing compared to the intricacies of studying ancient elven history.  I nodded, helping the half-elven bard stand.  I understood his madness, his wish for a cure.  If I could find the way to cure his madness, and release the tormented spirits of the people as well, then I knew I had to do everything in my power to do so.  I only wish that my own madness were so easy to cure…  Perhaps you wonder why I wrote so much of the detail down of the song…I do it, for this is a piece of elven history I have never read about.  Perhaps because the city is so small…but I think, that because this place is so old, and because this curse has gone on for so long, that maybe the other communities of the people did not know what had happened here…or perhaps they forgot.  In any case, I feel I should record as much as possible.   

       I explained to the others the meaning of the song, in simple terms, so that they would understand. Ilumenine had been the daughter of the leader of a house called Ilarnesil.  Her sisters were jealous of her, and hated her, so they used magic to corrupt the forest guardian…the Ygwannach.  Called by the sound of Ilumenine's voice, the Ygwannach came, and destroyed the elven city.  The curse of the sisters assured that the ghosts would not rest, and that the Ygwannach would continue its control.  The sisters were apparently hiding in the bog, with the harp needed to make right the curse.  At least, that was what I gleaned from the ghost's words…although I have difficulty believing that the sisters of Ilumenine would damn themselves and all their people for the sake of jealousy.  Then again, after the incident in Goldenfields, and the tale told me by Lord Elaith of the assassination of King Zaor…I suppose that I must come to the conclusion that elven nature is not infallible…that there are those among the people with hearts of darkness to rival the blackness of the drow's souls.  Perhaps such elves are throwbacks to ancient days, before the Crown wars…when all the people and the drow were brothers…before great Corellon turned dark the skin of the drow.  Perhaps a small few managed to escape Corellon's curse, and their descendants are among these evil-spirited elves…for only folk as evil as the drow could have killed our beloved king…or damned an entire city to eternal suffering over a foolish, human emotion.

       The others agreed that we must do what we had to, to help the spirits.  It was only right, and just that we should.  However, it was also decided, that with the draining affects from the shadows and those of us still wounded from the fight with the wolves, that we would rest for a while…long enough for Ranon to be able to cast more healing, and remove the damage from the shadows.  We rested not far from the tree, for we all had the feeling that we would be safer with the elven ghosts than we would be in the woods, or the ruins.  I did not rest much…I could not, not with the faint strains of that song echoing about.  It was such a terrible and great melody, that it was all I could do not to give into the despair it invoked.  Tobias, perhaps because he is a bard, seemed to feel the effects even more keenly…to the point that I ended up knocking him unconscious to keep him from folly.

       We passed the long night, and were up and moving once more, back towards the bog, as the light was just beginning to cut through the trees.

       It did not take us long to search the treacherous swamp, and find what had to be what we sought.  The pixies had spoken of hags that lived in the swamp…and the song of Ilumenine's sisters stated that they, too, lived in the swamp.  It is known that when some elves die, they become banshees…so we thought if these sisters were so evil, perhaps their own curse recoiled on them…making them hags.  The theory seemed sound enough, and it was all we had to go on.

       We found the only sign of a place that might be inhabited… or rather, Hank did.  It was in the form of a dark, dank cave that reeked of death, even before we stepped into the darkness.  Guarding it was a fairly stupid hill giant, who seemed to be in love with the hags.  The entrance was a quagmire of rotted vegetation and the stench was stomach churning.  The giant did not seemed to notice, merely called out  "who goes there?"  We asked a few questions, but got little in the way of usable answers, save that we would find the hags somewhere within.  We gave the giant the chance to leave, but he refused…so we killed it, when it decided to attack instead.

       I hardly remember every thing we saw in that cave, only that the water was foul, and chest level in some places…so deep that we had to lift the dwarves clear or risk having them drown.  There seemed to be skeletal body parts littered all about, much like the last hag we had fought, had decorated her lair.  Slime and roots covered the walls. We found several rooms that were empty, and one where we were attacked by three creatures so foul that we could not tell what they were at first.  We thought they might have been the hags, but when we began to notice that the bodies seemed to rise, even after they had been "killed," we realized that these were scrags…foul water trolls that could only truly be defeated by fire.  Fortunately, we had torches, and the casters of the party, save for myself, had fire spells prepared.  So Calvin and Hank, and I cut down the creatures, and Tobias and Ranon finished them off. 

       We found a hidden lair at one point, which contained a naga…of the good variety.  It had tried to trick us at first, with an illusion of a blue dragon lairing in the pool where it was…but I saw through it easily enough, and the others soon realized it as well.  Tobias and I were the only ones who spoke the creature's language.  It told us that it had come in the room several months ago, and been trapped by a collapsed tunnel.  It was trying to stay hidden from the other occupants of the cave, thus the reason for the illusion.  It asked us for assistance, saying that it's eggs had been stolen by some humans, and it wanted its "children" back. We did not ask how the naga had lost them, but I agreed to keep an eye out for the eggs. It gave me a piece of cracked eggshell to compare, if I found them.  It thanked us, and we left the cave to continue with our search. 

       We finally came across the hags, hidden in a secret lair.  There was little about them that was elven any more, although one did try to fool us with an illusion.  Calvin had nearly been knocked down by the feel of evil radiating from them, so we were not fooled with any of their false words.  We cut them each down, only marginally slowed by their spells. 

       We found their treasure in another room, gold, some items, and the silver harp that we had been seeking.

       We left the place without delay, headed back towards the city.  Morlaine found us almost immediately, and took the harp, reverently.  First we went back to the tree, and he played it there…the music freeing the ghosts from their curses, as they all faded away, hopefully finally able to complete their journey to Arvandyr.  From there Morlaine brought us to a place…a place he had seen in Ilumenine's memories when she had been in his body…it was an altar to the Ygwannach.  Inscribed on it was a riddle, in elven; it read:

       When shadow meets sun, Water meets stone,

       Wind meets song, and spirit meets bone;

       When all this is done, then Evil shall come.

It was a simple enough task to decipher the rhyme.  We had to play the harp at noon, after we had freed the elven spirits, and placed water upon the altar.  It was near noon, so we did have long to wait…Ranon dumped out his water skin on the altar, and standing back from the rest of us Morlaine began to play, the song was that which the ghosts had been singing, only without the supernatural feeling of sorrow.

       It did not take long for the call to be answered.  As the music died away, a steady thudding shook the ground, and there was the cracking sound of trees and branches being torn and broken.  From the tangle of the forest behind the altar it came, and though we were all ready for a battle, the actual sight of the Ygwannach was momentarily stunning.  It was huge, and seemed to be made of plants, though it had a vaguely humanoid shape.  The sense of it was so evil that I did not need Calvin to tell me so, however, and the look of it alone, dark and withered plants, terrible curved claws…was enough to assure me that this the Ygwannach…and I felt sickened at the corruption of the guardian.

       I took time enough to cast a few spells…mostly to make my strength even greater than usual, and to strike truer with my first hit…then, with a call to Corellon for his guidance, I rose to the killing edge, and charged the Ygwannach, the battle cries and chanting spells of my compatriots ringing in my ears.

       We defeated it, despite its greater size, and strength, and its unholy powers, yet at a cost.  Hank fell during the battle, and no spell that Ranon or Tobias could cast would heal him.  For some reason, they decided not to bury or fellow, but preserve his corpse…I suppose to send him to his home to be buried…although I do not know where such a place was.  I did not object, but snapped at Tobias when he made some uncouth comment, and told him to shut up and honor the dead, for Hank had fought bravely.

       The only material reward we got for our troubles were the belongings of the dead bandits…but the satisfaction of helping the people, and removing great evil from the land was more important to me than any amount of gold.

       We returned to the town a day or two later, spending a bit of time resting in the forest.  When we did, there was quite a surprise waiting for us.  The gates to the city were locked, and we were barred entrance on the orders of the new "mayor"…none other than Mario Navarro…up to trouble, not even three days after we had let him go.  Well, we certainly weren't going to let him loose a second time.  The guards at the gate spoke to us, though they seemed fearful.  They told us that Navarro had killed mayor Rodder…that friendly halfling fellow…and he and several "goons" had taken control of the town by imprisoning the council members.  The guards were all being forced to help, despite the fact that they did not agree with what was going on, because of the hostages.  They did mention, though, that their captain, Keerath, seemed to be helping Navarro…or at least, not opposing him.

       I explained to the guards that we were going into the town, whether they liked the idea or not, after they returned from speaking with Navarro, who had refused our entrance.  The guards were given the option of pretending that I had hit them, and knocked them unconscious to gain entrance, or actually experiencing the ordeal.  Naturally, they chose the former; especially after the others added their own comments as to the amount of damage I could do, even without a sword.

       So we got into the town without incident.  Ranon and Calvin immediately went off to the local church…of a halfling goddess named Yondalla, with Hank's corpse…I suppose so that they could keep it safe while we did what we had to do.  Tobias and I went to the inn and tavern, thinking to find out what we could there.

       The place was small, run by a very pretty human woman, named Rice Rina.  She was all too willing to tell us whatever she knew, after we explained that we meant to deal with Navarro.  She reiterated the guard's story, and added directions, as to where we would find the captive town council.  Once we got the hostages free, we could deal with Navarro.

       Ranon and Calvin came back a few moments later, and spoke with Tobias about something.  I did not pay much attention to their words, all though I think I should have, in retrospect.

       We came up with a quick plan, which was mostly that we would have Tobias use his magic to make us all invisible and scout out the hostage house.  When we got there, we could see one guard…one of Navarro's men, patrolling the perimeter of the house.  A closer look in the windows revealed that there were five of Navarro's men inside, and the six members of the town council were tied up in the center of the room. 

       The plan we decided on was simple.  I would sneak up behind the one guard, and knock him out, then use a spell to create the illusion that he was still there.  Then I would go up to the door, knock, and cast a web spell into the building.  The others would come up then, and we would deal with the, hopefully trapped, guards.

       Everything went perfectly.  The guards…mostly half-orcs, and greasy, smelly humans, had no idea what was happening, before it was too late.  They were all trapped within the web, before they even had a chance to draw their weapons.  The party methodically cut through the web, until we released the captives first, told them to run off, and hide somewhere.  Although I would have preferred to kill them, we decided to tie up Navarro's men, with the same ropes they'd bound their prisoners with, and leave them in the house.  With luck, Navarro would not know what we had done, until we had caught him as well.

       It was not long before we had the expected encounter…in fact, it was far shorter than we had anticipated.  We had only begun to walk towards mayor Rodder's house, where we had been told we would find Navarro and the captain of the guard, Keerath, when an arrow flew from seemingly nowhere, and stuck Ranon in the wing.  The dwarf howled and clutched his wound.  Calvin immediately took off in the direction of the archer, as another flew out and hit Tobias.  I moved forward, but in a paralleling direction, meaning to catch the archer in a flanking position from the other side of the building. Instead of the archer, I ran face to face with Navarro, instead…or rather, neck to sword.  I turned a corner of the building, only to have him step from the shadows, and put his sword up to my throat before I had a chance to react.

       "Well, if it isn't you," Navarro sneered.  "Just what are you doing in my town?"

       "Your town?" I asked, eyebrow raised, skeptically. "I thought that mayor Rodder was in charge here."

       "He was…but now I am," Navarro boasted. 

       "So what do you mean to do now?" I looked down at the sword.  He did not seem to like the gesture, for he pushed the tip of the blade harder against my neck, drawing a bit of blood.

       "Getting rid of trouble, now walk!" he ordered.

       "We saved your miserable life," I growled, menacingly.

       "And I told you what you wanted to know.  There is no debt…walk!" He hissed.  I thought of my options…I could defy him and attack...but I risked a slit throat with that…I could cast a spell to daze the smelly human, but again that same problem.  So then I decided my best option was to let Navarro think he was in control for the moment, and surprise him.  In order to do so, I had to warn the party…and to that end, and used my empathetic link with Sanhandrian to send the familiar to Tobias, and warn the elf.  I gave him the mental image of him, hiding beneath a leaf, then of him showing the same movement to Tobias.  The others were all well aware of my link with Sanhandrian, and with luck, they would know what I meant…and hopefully, they were still standing, and not riddled with arrows.

       I walked slowly, to give them time, even though it further annoyed Navarro, who scored another thin line of blood across my neck.  I was getting more and more irritated with the human, and knew that as soon as opportunity presented itself...I would tear his ugly head off.

       When we got back to the street, where I had left the others, there was no sign of Calvin, Ranon, or Tobias.  I had to hope that that was good.  Navarro seemed frustrated, as he looked around.  I had to assume he meant to use me as a hostage against their surrender.  Navarro called out for the others to show them selves…and they did…Ranon with his crossbow readied, and pointed directly at Navarro, and Tobias in a like position, with his longbow.

       Navarro was trying to use me as a shield, but Ranon and Tobias were flanking him, so it wasn't working very well.

       "Put your weapons down!" Navarro shouted.

       "Shoot him," I called out to them.

       "Now!!" Navarro screamed. 

       "Now," I ordered.  They listened to me, of course…after all…there's really no good reason they should listen to a lying criminal like Navarro.  The arrow and bolt flew towards Navarro, even as he thrust upwards, meaning to kill me.  I managed to dodge, moving to the side, and his sword only grazed my skin, leaving another thin line of red.  Tobias' arrow missed, but Ranon's struck true.  Navarro screeched, and moved to attack again.  A snap of my fingers, and my axe appeared in my hand.  I swung at him, connecting with his armor, and cutting into him. Seeing that he was overwhelmed, Navarro turned and ran, even as I allowed the battle rage to catch hold.  I chased after him, and eventually, must have caught him, for when I was calm again, his headless corpse was laying in the dirt before me, next to his head, fresh blood dripping from my axe.  Ranon and Tobias came up a moment later, breathing hard from the run.  A short time later, Calvin came walking up, holding his sword on the archer…none other than captain Keerath.  We questioned him as to why he had been helping Navarro.  His excuse, like the guards, was that he had had no other choice.  Rather than kill him, we turned him over to his own men…o rather I did, as the others all ran off to do things…Ranon taking the head of Navarro with him, for some reason.