Singing cheerily and lightly leaping between his friends, Brand plucked the strings of his faded lute to try to bring happy faces to his comrades. After leaving the farm and its new pen, the fellowship rarely talked and kept to themselves. Brand, wanting to make sure his friends weren't falling into depression or any other pathological problem, decided to pull out his trusty wooden lute and play an ancient, famous jig.

Shaking his brown feathers on his high head, Kel watched the energetic half- elf with his short blonde hair jump to and fro. Kel sighed and looked ahead to see if the Surefall Glade entrance was in sight. It wasn't. The griffin stretched his large wings and rotated his shoulders to help flex his impressive wings. He began to nip at the tip of his right wing where an annoying bug was making its home. Kel crushed the pitiful insect in his powerful beak and spat it out on the ground.

"When arrre we getting therrre?" Kel finally said aloud.

Silence answered him. Each member of the party looked to the other for the answer. Brand held his lute in his hands like he was going to continue playing, but he dared not pluck a string. Slith hissed menacingly and eyed his father. Aubrey, brushing back his light hair, chuckled uneasily and sighed loudly. Mirk threw his supplies on the ground and glared to all those around him.

"We're lost aren't we?" Brand mumbled.

"I thought you were leading up?!" Aubrey turned sharply and shouted at Mirk.

"Why do you think I would lead the group?" Mirk crossed to the human and stood in front of him.

"Because you we're the first one to leave the farm without asking for directions, so I thought you knew the way!" Aubrey pushed the iksar out of his face.

"Never assssssume thingsss!" Mirk growled and spat.

The two older males stood and bickered continuously like children. Slith and Brand rolled their eyes and walked a few yards away so they didn't have to hear the two argue. Brand whistled a sporadic note every once in a while, but never more than that; he didn't want to get yelled at by Mirk and Aubrey.

Slith began looking around anxiously for an unknown spot. Brand cocked his brow and let out a small chuckle. "What are you searching for?" the half- elf again laughed.

"I need to relieve myssself and I wasss looking for a ssspot to go." The young iksar smiled.

"Oh. Well.there's a cluster of bushes by that tree over there." Brand pointed it out for his friend.

"Thanksss." Slith hissed in reply and scurried off towards the bushes.

Brand turned away and struck up a conversation with Kel, who was lounging beside him. Seconds later, the sound of Slith's yells reached their ears. Mirk stopped his quarrelling with his human friend and shot off running to his son. Brand, Kel, and Aubrey followed quickly behind.

Slith was up against a tree with a wild-looking barbarian hovering above him. He was shouting something indistinctive, but soon enough the four that were running understood. Mirk slowed his pace and began laughing. He had to put his hands on his scaly knees to steady himself. The others then listened carefully to what the feral barbarian was saying.

"You've defiled my house! You've defiled my house!" the barbarian kept saying.

Slith, in a shaky voice, shouted back. "I didn't know you lived in the bussshesss!"

Aubrey stepped forward and tapped the angry barbarian on his dirt-covered shoulder. "We are terribly sorry that Slith," he motioned to the young iksar. "Relieved himself on your home."

"Well, once you apologize that way, I guess I wont kill him." He shook his long brown hair out of his face, but it didn't do much difference since his face was covered in hair also. "My name is Barthum." He pounded his chest.

"I'm Aubrey, that's Mirk, his son Slith, Kelvren, but we call him Kel, and that's Brand." The human pointed out and introduced each group member.

"So, why do you live out in the middle of nowhere?" Brand looked around at is surroundings.

"Three years ago, I was traveling to Surefall Glade and I got lost." He shrugged.

"Oh, great." Slith groaned loudly.

"OK, I'm not going to live in some bushes for the rest of my life." Brand turned to Kel. "I don't know why we didn't do this earlier, but Kel, go and find a road or Surefall Glade." The bard ordered.

"Rrright." The griffin nodded his crested head and took flight. He circled the group twice before heading north.

The five that were left behind, sat on the prickly grass and passed around a water flask to wet parched lips and mouths. Barthum politely asked if he could accompany them until they were at Surefall Glade so he could rejoin civilization. There were no objections.

Six uneventful hours of Barthum's tales of killing and fending off rabid animals passed, before Kel was seen flying back. The great grin on his face indicated that he had either found a road or Surefall Glade. The griffin landed and excitedly told his friends that Surefall Glade was two hours walk from where they were.

"Did you ever try to find your way back to the road?" Mirk asked Barthum after they started walking.

"Nope. I didn't want to lose my tree and bushes." The barbarian was a simple-minded fellow.

Night had fallen well before the six got to the entrance of Surefall Glade. They reluctantly stepped into the secluded glade with its watchful guards and warm houses. Prior to getting to the glade, the group had decided to search for Papsworth's clue before they rested for the night.

Asking a lone human who was whittling away at a stick, Aubrey questioned how they could get to the caves behind the waterfalls. They received the directions and after thanking the human, the group started to the falls. Following a well-worn path, the six entered the cool, moist caverns and began their search. Splitting off in groups of two, they each headed in a different way. They were too meet up again twenty minutes later at the beginning.

Aubrey and Kel left first down a narrow path, the griffin squeezed himself through. Mirk and his son, Slith, began climbing up rocks and walls, looking for any secret crevices. Leaving Brand and Barthum to search elsewhere.

Brand, telling Barthum to find Papsworth clue, which was a letter, forgot to tell the barbarian that it was first a glowing orb. So, the half-elf trudged down dark passages and past hidden animals in search for something that was already found.

Trailing behind the bard, like a dog would its master, Barthum plucked Papsworth's orb out of a high crevice and fiddled with it. The barbarian then pocketed it in his filthy tunic made out of animal hides and waited for the half-elf to finish his search. Something in his tunic moved, making him jump and thrust his hand to where the orb was supposed to be. Replacing the shiny orb was a fancy letter. Barthum looked confused and turned the envelope over in his huge hands.

"Yup, the twenty minutes are up. Let's go see if the others have found it." Brand said without turning around.

"I have it though." Barthum's face grew red.

Brand twirled around and snatched the letter from Barthum's hands. He ran to the beginning of the caves to where his friends were waiting. He ripped open the letter once he got there and read so they all could hear. "Is it just me or are my clues very simple? Well, to find your next one you must go to the Everfrost Peaks by Halas where on a mountain slope you will find a quite amusing snow creation. You must dig through it to find my next letter. Signed Papsworth." Brand finished.

"You can take me home now!" Barthum boomed in his deep voice, making the dust from the ceiling fall onto the heads below.