Chronicle

Thur 3 Nov 1588 : see also Chapter 9

A In Lehrbahn Rallink has a word with Guerin and Fabius. There is another person there who Rallink introduces as Ralpere MacBressel an upstanding supporter of the Essini church. Rallink talks about the importance of the sign in the tower at Gran Fordir. He thinks it is related to a sign which seems to be part of the glyph which he has seen in the possession of Bellidarn, a goat trader in the market, whose bales of wool and cheeses bare the mark.

B Fabius thinks they should take on a local. Both Guerin and Ralpere claim local knowledge but he mentions a person who goes by the name of "Iz" who might fit the bill. Guerin notices Ralpere's trousers and they have an argument about Willan. Ralpere has flowered in the three years since we last met him, he looks like a church guard.

B We have to go to a town about 100 miles away on the Nystel Yan called Talserrin. Lehrbahn is noted for it's cloth and general decorative work so Iz heads down the market to get some trade goods.

B Guerin thinks that Whenslidayle would like to come as he is in town to see his Uncle Emmental and will not be able to get back to Salsorme until spring. He is unlikely to relish the prospect of kicking his heels in town if there is adventure to be had. He's right! Guerin talks Ralpere into going down the "Mermaid and Otter", during the evening Whenslidayle comes in. Stories are exchanged.

C The next morning Iz hires a boat. He meets Jorkim MacHelime who arranges one for him which includes Jorkim MacJorkim (his nephew). Ralpere goes to negotiate a budget from Rallink. We hire the boat via Jorkim and give some of Rallink's money to Iz to purchase extra trading goods.

C We set off. On the boat are Guerin, Iz, Whenslidayle Mac Trelik, Fabius Mac Chemos and his female companion Obum, Ralpere, Jorkim, Jorkim and a sailor called Karnok. After about thirty seconds of the journey Jorkim MacHelme and Karnok are embroiled in a rampant argument over who is to captain the craft for this journey. Jorkim considers that it was within the terms of his agreement that he should captain the boat. Karnok shouts that it is his brother's boat and that he is in charge of it's well being which means he must captain it. Both parties dig in and it is soon apparent that an accommodation is out of the question. Ralpere and Whenslidayle are helping run the craft and the bottom line is that we can get to Lehrbahn without Jorkim but not without the offensive Karnok. Jorkim threatens to get off as he feels he has been humiliated. We head back to the dock and Jorkim and Jorkim get off! Whilst we are unloading another person turns up to do the rowing apparently supplied by Karnok.

C We set off again.

Fri 4 Nov 1588

A Guerin gets impatient and threatens to deal with Karnok if he doesn't stop ordering us about. They end up having a brawl, it is a quality event which Guerin gets the best of at the start however Karnok fights back throwing Guerin. Guerin quickly recovers and gets a head lock on him. Karnok breaks free and punches Guerin very hard on the head.

A Guerin gets hit again as he gets Karnok in a bear hug. Karnok struggles to get free but Guerin holds on. When Karnok eventually struggles free he is severely winded however he knocks Guerin over and kicks him in the head. Guerin manages to get up and immediately knocks Karnok over and leaps on top of him. Karnok pushes Guerin off and gets up . They are looking a bit shafted and Karnok calls it a day. Guerin helps him up and Fabius offers them a pint. They have both inflicted real damage on each other. Ralpere offers his services but no one takes him up on his offer. Karnok goes for a sit down. The rower keeps on rowing. Guerin suggests that Karnok modify his style a little. Karnok seems unimpressed, however whilst he is still a bit rough his manner has less of an edge than before. He limps around the boat. We continue our journey.

Sat 5 Nov to Wed 9 Nov 1588

F The Party decide not to attempt to retrieve Maurice's staff from the remains of the altar in the nasty wood.

A A message for Essel arrives at the castle. It transpires that Farlas has been summoned by the King of Ruistor. Other members of the party are also invited. Amazingly the letter is from the King in his capacity as King, NOT as head of the Knights of the Golden Falcon.

A As it will take a few days for Farlas to write his military report on the recent events it is not feasible to leave at once. Other members of the party combine to write a full general report to be lodged in the castle library. It was decided that it would be best to gloss over personal aspects but names like Norgraze and Tusula must be included.

A Essel says that despite the losses sustained, we have taken steps to restrict the effects of the evil that others would not have done. This can only be a good thing. Our trapped colleagues were mentioned in reports. A further report is to be written for Marius Tellman, Nalin will dictate this.

B During these few days Farlas mentions that the fate of Modo has been troubling him. He has had a growing feeling that Modo has done enough to redeem himself since he murdered Offa. Indeed Offa's ghost seemed to say this when Willan met him some time ago. Farlas decides to ask Tarsober and Qhivon whether to forgive and forget Modo. The sword says "The balance tips" and delivers a nasty shock to Farlas. He feels that Tarsober is probably not disposed to forgive yet!

F Willan wonders what Gruston's name translates to, and if he might be the true wielder of the shield currently in Mig's custody.

C Holmir leaps off the castle wall in a test run of the cloak of gliding he recently acquired from Culderas. It doesn't!! He is hurt when he hits the ground. On closer examination the cloak appears to be unusually stitched. The Lady Aretha gives it the once over and points out the unusual construction of vertical leather strips expanding as they go down. No one is able to spot a command word on the cloak. Holmir tries various other gliding methods, from a safer height this time. None of them work.

C Since returning to Zeim Falc, Nylas has shunned company, he is quiet and unresponsive. He does want to travel with us. Mig asks if he would be prepared to have a spell cast on him to try to free him of Tusula's charm. He is not happy with this and firmly declines.

A It takes five days to complete the reporting. During this time we interrogate the person who claims to be Mig.

D Mig introduces Nylas. Pirfeltenke and the sword fell out as Mig was unwilling to pursue the rituals that the sword required of him again (kill a Lagoin child, noble if possible, once a year (all the circumstantial evidence suggests that this WAS done once)) The sword he now has is apparently the same one as he had when he was Pirfeltenke however it looks completely different, although very special. It has a silver hilt and a pommel with a swirling design. The blade is etched with a design. The sheath is unusual in that you can see the sword through the circular interlocking design.

D Whilst on the plane on which we met him Mig says that he met Maurice and a Farah priestess (the one who went in Uspin's place). The Farah priestess has allowed him to atone for his sins as Pirfeltenke. He does not quite understand what has happened to him since his battle with the sword that resulted in us finding him encased in ice. He does not consider himself sufficiently versed in the ways of Essini to be a priest as he currently appears. He needs to speak to Rallink. He feels uncomfortable being called Mig and would like to be called Isiil Oômé.

E Farlas announces that he intends to take a lower profile from now on as he is questioning the benefits of the "violent" struggle. Although he will not go as far as joining the Farah church he wants to follow a more peaceful path. He still wishes to further the aims of the quest. If Gilla will still have him he wants to get hitched and stay in Salsorme!!! As a token to his commitment to this new path he returns the shield he has on loan from Nalin and gives his sword to Taran in exchange for his. He also offers his empty 'finger of death' ring to whoever wants it. Willan takes it for now. Nalin lends the shield to Willan.

F Nalin wonders if there is anything we can do to help the knights in their newly depleted state. We chip in with some training for them.

F Bazron feels the need to rest due to his weakening at the hands of the shadow. Belthazar asks Isiil Oômé what the silver lines were on the plane where we found him. He does not know but personal experience suggests that it would be unwise to cut one. Bazron feels better .

Thur 10 Nov 1588 : Mon 14

A We consider acting on King Telanir's message. We now have Nalin, Bazron, Belthazar, Grim, Holmir, Abubaca, Rez, Aretha, Taran , Farlas, Willan, Isiil Oômé and Nylas. Essel offers to lend us horses for our journey on the understanding that we replace them.

B Willan has the ansachat belt and bracelet. He gives the bracelet to Farlas as he thinks it will be safer to keep them separate. Farlas has a scroll that includes a 'Permanency' spell he suggests we might want to think of how to use it. We spend a lot of time on the journey tossing about various spells we might make permanent.

A It will take about ten days to two weeks to get to Rimdies. We travel down the River Sorm from Lehr Sorm.

C Farlas speculates that the King may offer us a reward for our recent activities. He suggests we might consider something that would be of particular use to the quest. Isiil Oômé suggests library access or equipment. Information was thought to be more important.

C Belthazar checks the ansachat bracelet and belt for magic. They are both still magical. She thinks the belt is necromantic and is some kind of protection. It is given to Isiil Oômé for the time being (Nalin overrules Farlas, who suggested Isiil Oômé could have it permanently, as he is now leader).

D Guerin, Fabius, Obum, Ralpere, Whenslidayle and Iz arrive at Talserrin without further major incident with Karnok (or anyone else). It is a walled city of about 4,000 people with a castle. Guerin offers to buy Karnok a pint the whole group go to the "Orange Stallion" where Ralpere buys the drinks.

D Iz asks the proprietor of the "Orange Stallion" about markets and rooms. The guy seems a bit dense so Iz negotiates hire of the rooms and gets a reasonable rate. Iz arranges to go to the market with Karnok. Fabius goes off to get a flavour of the local ambience. The specialities seem to be cloth, cheese, produce and goat mutton and leather. Iz looks around the market for bales of cotton. He uses his samples to engage the traders in conversation to try to get a lead on Bellidarn

D Talserrin is not too up on Essini as just outside the town walls is HamHer Rinjal, one of the four Thrune Academies, led by Balasnal Tyr Thrune. There are a lot of Thrune types about. Fabius manages to find his way to the dancing girl quarter. Iz tries to find the appropriate guild or the League. Ralpere finds the Essini establishment and gets some info on Thrune and the local bigwig. The lord is Marpen, Thegn of Tamscor the castle is his second castle. Ralpere accepts the hospitality of the Essini church. Iz is now in the market trade pubs looking for goats. Fabius' persistent questioning is aggravating some people. Fabius is not particularly skilled in interpreting peoples reactions but when the people he is bugging get really annoyed he quickly leaves. Whenslidayle and Guerin get a bit the worse for wear and only just avoid getting arrested. They are escorted part way back to the Inn.

Fri 11 Nov 1588

A Only Ralpere and Iz are on time for breakfast. They discuss what they have found out. Fabius comes down later and adds his information to the discussion. Eventually Whenslidayle and Guerin stumble down stairs right into an argument between Ralpere and Fabius. Plans are made.

A A rather imposing looking Dwarf wanders over and introduces himself as Giganticus the Dwarfen catapult shot, Former Chief Keeper of the royal catapultist to the King of Van Lies. He is in town as he is helping a friend who is a Thrune cleric to revise the manuals on catapulting. He tells us about his time in the circus. Guerin casts aspersions about Giganticus Dwarfishness claiming he is a Dwarf sized human. This turns out to be correct.

A Giganticus manages to keep the conversation going for some time. He points out some deficiencies in the groups organisation (like discussing plans loudly in a public bar). His arguments are reasonably persuasive.

B There is a discussion, in hushed tones, on what to do next. Fabius suggests that someone follows him to see if anyone is following him. An amusing comparison of skills in this area ensues. It would appear that Giganticus thinks he is best. Whenslidayle asks Iz if he went to the League yesterday. Iz confirmed that he had been and asked for an appointment but had not got one yet. Whenslidayle offered to come and throw some Salsorme names around but Fabius suggested that we don't need an appointment we are just adding to our cover story. Iz and Guerin are going to look around the warehouses. Ralpere is going back to church. Whenslidayle is going into market to take the direct approach. Giganticus reckons he can find out where Bellidarn lives. Fabius manages not to organise his day so he must be shagging the arse off Obum.

C Guerin soon finds a small warehouse near the river with the symbol on the door. Meanwhile Whensildayle is getting led up the garden path in the market. Guerin and Iz find an alleyway that leads to the back of the warehouse. Guerin goes to have a leak, Iz will cough three times if he is spotted. Guerin goes to look at the back of the warehouses but there are no ways in. Iz doesn't hang around long before following Guerin down the alley. They search for a possible way in and Iz finds a patch of wood that might provide an opening with a bit of time and effort. Guerin starts working at it with his dagger, it's a bit noisy. Iz is keeping an ear open and after a while he hears someone coming. They leap behind some crap and get their daggers at the ready. By the sound of things it is a town guard who has been tipped off. However he does not see them and goes away mumbling. Iz goes off to check the escape options of the other end of the alley. He makes a lot of noise and comes back. Guerin guesses it will take at least half and hour to make an entrance.

C Eventually Guerin makes a hole big enough to squeeze through. It is very dark inside. When his eyes adjust to the dark Guerin goes to look around but he noisily knocks over a box. Guerin tells Iz to be quiet. Iz is shitting himself but has a go at climbing over the boxes. He accidentally kicks Guerin in the head but gets up at the second attempt. He works out that the warehouse is full of boxes. Guerin looks in a box. It contains cheese packed in straw. They are under mature but otherwise unexceptional. Guerin goes off to look around, he finds a lamp and lights it. In the light he sees what is obviously the inside of a goat farmers warehouse. Try as they might they can find nothing untoward although Iz finds a box containing super fine skins and cloth. Guerin conceals a skin under his cloak but Iz manages to talk him out of cutting up the cloth. They put things to rights and leave the warehouse.

C As they get back to the entrance to the alley Guerin notices a guard keeping an eye on the alley. They try to go the other way but there is too much rubbish in the alley and they make a lot of noise. It becomes apparent that they will not be able to get out of the other end of the alley. Iz thinks they should climb over the roofs but Guerin opts for waiting out the guard.

B Later in the day everyone reports back to the inn. We retire to our suite with some beer. Giganticus was directed to the "Floppy Goat" where Bellidarn is allegedly staying. Ralpere has found what he believes to be his house. Giganticus comes up with a plausible plan for us to go into the "Floppy Goat". We show Giganticus the mark. He thinks it is vaguely familiar. We decide to go to the "Floppy Goat".

D We procrastinate and go through the usual round of bollock awful plans for finding out about Bellidarn resulting in doing the original plan of going to the "Floppy Goat"! Iz and Ralpere go direct to the "Floppy Goat", it's quite a posh place. The rest go on a pseudo pub crawl.

D Iz and Ralpere get polite service from the woman behind the bar. Iz tries to glean information from a serving girl and finds out that Bellidarn is in the third booth from the left. Iz gets Ralpere to try to stop the "pub crawl" before it gets in the pub and causes a scene. Ralpere just has to stand outside the door and wait for the rest to arrive but he decides to go and try to find them. He doesn't!

D The pub crawlers arrive and express surprise that Bellidarn is not there already. The barwoman points out that Bellidarn is in the third booth from the left and the group go over to see him. At the booth they claim that Bellidarn is not the Bellidarn they were looking for. Giganticus is just about to make our apologies when Whenslidayle steps in and initiates a conversation on the chances of there being two Bellidarn's in town and how unreliable our Bellidarn has been in the past. Bellidarn is amenable to conversation and introduces his colleagues as Thollis and Sletmar, two other merchants.

D The conversation turns to travel and we find out Bellidarn's eldest son is Yanar, he also has twins Bellot and Belrick and a daughter Keli. Whenslidayle is persuaded to recount his story of the liberation of Salsorme. Bellidarn and his companions foot the bill for the drinks. Iz gets off with the serving girl and then remembers to ask her name, it's Dorillwrath but she goes by the name "Rilly".

D Ralpere comes over to the Bellidarn group as Fabius turns the conversation back to trade and we find out that Bellidarn's stall is in the north east corner of the market and his family sign is a representation of a goat. The symbol (the one we are looking for) has been in his family for generations. He has recently expanded to Lehrbahn through the connections of his wife, Kelena, to the Castle. Fabius and Whenslidayle call Iz over despite the best efforts of Ralpere and Giganticus to deflect them. Iz and Bellidarn have a superficial discussion about trade but both of them consider that now is not an appropriate moment. Fabius introduces the Hramin religion of Azilhar into the conversation but gets little response other than some remarks from Giganticus about a circus fire walker he knew. Fabius makes an attempt to get a look at Bellidarn's family records and discovers that there are loads of Druids amongst the goat farmers in the hills.

E It's late and people make their excuses and leave in order to get home before the midnight curfew. Iz has stayed at the "Floppy Goat" to shag Rilly, Ralpere has gone back to the Essini temple, Giganticus has headed off to the Academy, Whenslidayle and Guerin head back to the "Orange Stallion", grab a couple of drinks and head up to Obum's room. Guerin tells her that Fabius says she should look after us. However things don't go well and they give up and go to bed when Fabius arrives.

Sat 12 Nov 1588

A Very early the following morning Ralpere heads down to the "Orange Stallion" and has to wait for it to open! Iz returns having made arrangements to see Rilly again. Iz goes to see Yanar and talks cheese. Yanar seems a very pleasant chap of 16 who turns out to be Belric, one of the twins. He professes to be a bit naffed off at being on the stall and mentions that Bellot is at the farm whilst Yanar is busy doing business elsewhere. His sister is, apparently, a useless clot! Somehow Iz is persuaded to purchase two lengths of dress fabric.

B At lunch time Giganticus turns up. Iz comes back and Fabius suggests that Iz give some of the fabric to Rilly and see what he can find out about Bellidarn's wife Kelena. Fabius and Guerin are going to the farm. Giganticus volunteers to go and case the farm by following someone from the house. Guerin is made invisible by Fabius and follows Giganticus who goes back to the Academy. He goes to his room and reappears looking like a street urchin! He takes up position outside the house posing as a street cleaner.

B Fabius goes round the market to see if he can find out about Bellidarn's antecedents. He finds out that Belledarn's father is called Roblen.

B Whenslidayle and Ralpere are going to the Thrune church to look at records of Births, Deaths and Marriages. At the church they ask if they can see the record keeper. They are asked to come back that evening.

B Giganticus follows two young men from the house and is himself followed by Guerin.

B Fabius recons that Bellidarn is a nice bloke and that it is someone in his families past who is the evol bastard. Fabius comes back to the pub and asks Ralpere if he can think of any significance in the names of Bellidarn's family members. Ralpere turns out to be a bit of a linguist and is sure that the names are not of great significance although Kalena, Bellidarns wife, sounds like a non-lagoin name. Yanar is likely to be named after the local river god.

B Giganticus follows the two young men to the academy. Guerin goes to the east gate as he seems to have lost Giganticus, but picks him up again at the gate heading towards the Thrune academy. Giganticus, the street urchin, gets stopped at the entrance to the academy but claims he has a mesage for a member of staff who he names and is let through without trouble. The two young men go in different directions. Giganticus follows one of them but soon thinks he has been seen. He veers off, converts to a dwarf and can't see the guy he was following. Giganticus throws caution to the wind and speeds up, relying on his change to deflect suspicion. He sees the young man talking to a Thrune cleric in a cloister. Giganticus walks past and hears a reference to being followed. Giganticus decides to head to the area where he thinks the other young man was going but does not spot him. Guerin is geting bored following giganticus. Giganticus goes back to the first young man. Guerin follows him back to his room. It's late afternoon and Guerin settles down to watch the door. Giganticus meets up with some tall, silver haired, heavy set guy and talks about catapults in the refectory whilst eating lamb sandwiches and a bottle of wine. They discuss trajectories and the elastic properties of various types of vines. Guerin gives up and heads back to the "Orange Stallion" despite keeping an eye out for opportunities he is unable to get his act together enough to pick any pockets.

B When he gets back to the inn everyone is there except Giganticus. He reports back to Fabius complaining that Giganticus is not following anyone but travelling backwards and forwards to the academy. Guerin decides to stay invisible so Fabius pops down to get him some "Goat a l'Orange Stallion" which he can eat by himself.

B A message arrives for Iz. The messanger says that Molros from the League of Los Nystel would be interested to discuss your ideas over lunch in the "Silver Chalice". Iz panics a bit and starts trying to think of a sound plan to palm off on the League rep.

B Fabius decides to go to see Belidarn and ask about the symbol in a more up front manner. Guerin goes to the pub with Fabius and Iz - who is waiting for Rilly to get off duty.

B Whenslidayle and Ralpere head back to the Thrune church and meet Scounan, the record keeper. Scounan is helpful and gives Bellidarn's address and suggests our best line of enquiry would be to see Bellidarn himself. He adds that he would be happy to assist us and Bellidarn in any research we decide upon.

B At the "Floppy Goat" Rilly gives Iz a special meal including oysters. Fabius goes over to Bellidarn's table as he does not want to be a gooseberry. Fabius brings up the subject of his family sign and shows him a similar sign which he says comes from a temple in Azilhar. He blinds Bellidarn with science and suggestions of untold wealth although Bellidarn seems unconvinced and thinks it's just a goat. Fabius makes sure his toad is well hidden under the table and heads off to the toilet. He does not pick up any gossip via the toad whilst he is away. Guerin cannot hear what is being said but can make out that Bellidarn and his companions are probably talking about Fabius, they glance across at Iz from time to time. Whenslidayle and Ralpere turn up and Ralpere gets them in. Iz comes over to the growing throng at Bellidarns table. Ralpere mentions that Whenslidayle has a relative in the area but Whenslidayle does not seem keen to pursue it. Belledarn asks Iz how his trading is coming on and Iz mentions his appointment with the league. Iz talks business but Bellidarn will not be drawn, however later he takes Iz to one side and invites him and Whenslidayle to a end of season dinner party in two evenings time. Iz talks Whenslidayle into going to the meal and doing his party peice.

B Guerin has been sitting in the inn all evening and is parched. Towards chucking out time he finally manages to sneek a drink. When Bellidarn leaves Guerin follows him.

B Ralpere heads back to the Essini church and spends the night looking at the sky.

B Iz shafts Rilly again.

B Everyone else [When you find out what Fabius is doing this equals Whenslidayle! - Ed] goes to sleep.

C When Bellidarn reaches home Guerin tries to follow him through his door. Guerin is sleepy and slumbles into Bellidarn. Becoming visible he bolts up the street with Bellidarn shouting "Stop thief!" in his wake. Guerin keeps on running using a circuitous route, luckily it's almost a new moon so it's not too bright. Guerin hears sounds of pursuit behind him but does not stop too look. Someone shouts "Stop!", it sounds as if the pursuers are catching up. Guerin zags around town, puts on a spurt of speed notices someone in a doorway beconing him and dives through the door.

C The door is shut and locked behind him. It is dark inside. Guerin says "Thanks" and a candle is lit. There are six men in the room, two sitting at a table and four beefy armed men. One of the seated men says "Good evening Guerin". Guerin says "Good evening" in reply. He is asked a direct question about why he is so interested in Bellidarn. Guerin tells them the truth about out interest in the symbol however he is cagey about who sent us. The guy is remarkably well informed about Guerin's movements. Guerin asks what he can do for him. The man asks him to stop breaking in to Bellidarns property and speculates again over the reason for the groups actions. He implies that he has some control over neferious activities. The guy has a whispered conversation with the second guy and then instructs Guerin to inform his friends that they should leave town. He says that he doesn't like strangers coming in to his town without so much as a by your leave and interfearing with his business. He repeats that Guerin must come up with a better story or leave town. They let him go.

C Guerin checks to see if he is being followed but he can see no one [GPN - He is being followed] so he makes his way back to the "Orange Stallion".

C Shortly after the pub closed Fabius wakes Whenslidayles at the "Orange Stallion" and tells him that he suspects that Guerin may be in trouble and that should this turn out to be the case we should act as if he was only a travelling aquaintance. Whenslidayle is tried and slightly the worse for drink and takes a while to catch on the what Fabius is saying. However once he gets a handle on the conversation he certainly keeps a tight grip and maintains that he knows no one until well in to the next day!

C Guerin gets back to the "Orange Stallion" and sneeks back into the room where Fabius debriefs him. Whenslidayle practices not knowing him. Fabius admits that he was watching Guerin at Bellidarn's house. Guerin tells Fabius about the meeting with the "Unimportant Man". Fabius suggests that Guerin tell the "Unimportant Man" the story he told Bellidarn about the symbol being related to treasure and religious artifacts. Guerin did not arrange any way of contacting them again! They decide to tell everyone what has happened in the morning and go to sleep.

Sun 13 Nov 1588

A Iz turns up fairly early wanting to go to sleep. Some time later Giganticus arrives closely followed by Ralpere. Shortly after noon we a confrence in our room. Giganticus recounts his failed attempt to follow the two young men from Bellidarns place then Guerin says what happened to him. Fabius recounts his suggestion, everyone thinks it is a splendid idea. Plans are honed.

A Guerin and Fabius saunter off to the area where Guerin saw the "Unimportant Man".

B Iz remembers that he has a meeting with the League at the "Silver Chalice" and heads off. Iz arrives at the "Silver Chalice" and discovers that prices a extortionate. Iz waffles his way through lunch only he's not waffling he's making a lot of good trading suggestions. The lunch is a success although Iz is cleaned out.

A Guerin and Fabius arrive at the place where Guerin was questioned and discover it is the side door to the "Pony's Dead". They go inside and get two pints. Guerin sits with his back to the wall. After a bit Guerin goes over to the bar and says that his name is Guerin. After a slight misunderstanding he is shown a side door. Guerin and Fabius go in to a room containing four people. The guy sitting at the table is the same one who interrogated Guerin the night before.

A Guerin returns the skin he took from Bellidarn's warehouse. He introduces Fabius as his boss, Fabius just manages to disguise his astonishment. Fabius gets out his piece of paper with a diagram of part of the glyph containing the "goat" sign and spins the story about the religious/treasure implications of the symbol. The "Unimportant Man" is hooked and chastises Guerin for not telling the truth in the first place! They agree a fee of 200CR to stay in the town unmolested. Extra assistance comes at a price.

C A meeting is conviened back at the "Orange Stallion". Fabius imparts what has happened. The majority of the group, whilst agreeing that the deal was probably quite good, are not happy at having to fork up 33CR. Giganticus has to sell his two prize ponies and Iz agrees to give Fabius 25% of the first shipment on his deal in return for Fabius paying his share.

C A number of options are discussed about what to do next. In the end Fabius, Guerin and Giganticus go to see the "Unimportant Man". When they get to the "Pony's Dead" the barman refuses to serve Giganticus. Guerin and Fabius suggest Giganticus leave and that the "Unimportant Man" may not be well disposed towards him. Eventually Giganticus gets the message and leaves. Fabius and Guerin hand over the cash.

D Fabius and Ralpere go to the "Floppy Goat" to see Bellidarn again. Guerin and Whenslidayle go elsewhere. Fabius makes a concerted effort to get to see Bellidarns family records using magical support. Success!

D They go back to Bellidarn's house and Fabius meets Kaleena and Yanar. Kaleena was working at a needlework frame in the corner of the main room of the house which has some chairs, a fireplace replete with fire, a small cask of beer and a small cupboard containing glasses and wine. There is a shuttered window which will open on to the street. Yanar comes in through a side door.

D Kaleena rises and offers refreshment. Fabius and Bellidarn have a glass of beer. Fabius repeats the lie about the sign when asked why he is there. Whilst Kaleena is interested in what Fabius has to say, Yanar makes his excuses and leaves. After a while Bellidarn gets up to fetch the family records and heads out of the same door that Yanar left by. As he continues his conversation with Kaleena, Fabius realises that there is a disagreement between father and son in the other room.

D After a while Bellidarn returns with an armful of papers and suggests that they retire to the dining room. Fabius generally doesn't notice much but he can tell that the inside of the house is better appointed than the outside and the area would suggest. The dining table will seat twelve and there is a tall cupboard in the room. There is a closed door which lead towards the back of the house, and two shuttered windows which lead on to the street.

D Bellidarn spreads the papers out on the table and explains what the various documents are. Fabius starts looking for references to the family sign, any references to strange behaviour in the family and specific religious references. Its the kind of family stuff he was hoping for (not business records), references to the sign are there but Fabius can glean no useful information. There is a lot of material covering quite a long time period some of which is difficult to read due to its age and the archaic nature of the script. There is much more than Fabius could possibly get through this late in the evening so he starts making encouraging noises about how interesting and useful it all is. Fabius extracts a promise from Bellidarn to let him return the following day.

E Whilst Fabius is at Bellidarn's house Guerin and Whenslidayle go looking for a pub that they havn't already been in and eventually settle on "The Hen's head". They are severely overcharged and nearly start a fight but reason that there is something odd in a pub that charges that much and still has customers so they decide to fork up and see what happens. Whenslidayle is concerned that he thinks the barman was hiding something. They drink slowly and watch the goings on but nothing exceptional happens. Guerin and Whenslidayle sidle up to the bar to see what everyone else is charged. It seems that everyone else is being charged the same. They order another pint and decide to head somewhere else next.

E At the "White Squirrel" they have an argument over the likely sexual orientation of the clientel as the place is fancy. They end up in the "Bull" which is a large, busy, honest, down to earth establishment. They have some goat meat loaf which is very nice, the goose, which Whenslidayle classes as poofy food, looks even better. The "Bull" is very conducive and they have a pleasant evening including a bit of arm wrestling and loosing a small amount of cash in some wagers. Whenslidayle wants to take a room there but Guerin half heartedly talks him in to going back to the "Orange Stallion"

E On the way back Guerin and Whenslidayle make a concerted effort not to get in to any trouble and go so far as to seek out some members of the town guards and explain their actions whilst complementing the guards on the excellent work they do. Somewhat surprisingly they get back the the "Orange Stallion" without incident.

F During the night Ralpere watches the sky again.

Mon 14 Nov 1588

A At Guerin and Whenslidayle's suggestion they take Fabius and Giganticus down to the "Bull" for breakfast. They leave a note in their room to tell Iz and Ralpere what they have done.

A Breakfast at the "Bull" is a very nice cold goose with magnificent chutney. Fabius is converted to the cause of moving to the "Bull".

C Fabius describes the events of the previous evening and Giganticus mentions that there is a library at the Thrune academy to which he has access. Fabius has a discussion about what Giganticus should look for in the Thrune library, whilst Guerin and Whenslidayle discuss who they know who would be likely to like the "White Squirrel". Whenslidayle and Guerin go to see Karnok but both he and his boat have gone. The majority of boats are laid up for the winter and it looks as if hiring another one will be difficult.

B It is late morning by the time Fabius arrives at Bellidarn's house and Bellidarn has left. He is met by Kelli and apologises for his late arrival and gives her a gift he has bought for Bellidarn. Kelli leads him in to the dining room where the papers are still on the table. It is now apparent that the other door leads to the kitchen.

B Kelli leaves Fabius with the papers and he continues his work of the preceeding night. Fabius knows that he cannot do a thorough search in the time available so decides to resort to thievery. After two attempts Fabius does not "Reduce" the size of the papers. He crams what he can into his scroll case, which is not very much. He arranges to come back the next day.

C Later when Fabius has a chance to look at the papers he cannot find anything useful. He heads back to the "Orange Stallion" and finds Ralpere. He tries to make his excuses but has to take him to the "Bull" where they meet Guerin, Whenslidayle and Iz. Fabius says that the farm is less than a days journey to the south east. Giganticus turns up and explains that he has arranged for an acolyte to read for him at the Thrune Academy. He has started him on the Catapult section.

D Whenslidayle, under protest, goes to Bellidarns dinner party with Iz. Bellidarn, Yanar, Belric, and eight other business men are there including Minlan and Dornal, a cloth merchant, who Iz has seen before. Carrath, Varsal, Meldar, Varranson, Thalliusson and Kellorson are the others. Swift introductions are made and a large mug of ale is given to everyone. The tone for the evening turns out to be the end of season piss up. The food is unusual and very nice and the drink is flowing. Whensidayle soon realises that he is the "entertainment" and he is expected to get drunk and tell lots of rip roaring stories. He sets out not to disappoint. Despite being only 22 years old Whenslidayle discovers that between his adventures with the Party and his job as Modo's bodyguard, he has a large store of tall stories already. Iz spends most of his time complementing Bellidarn on his efforts.

A Fabius negotiates a room for us at the "Bull". It is more expensive than the "Orange Stallion" but considered worth the money.

C At the Bull, Guerin confirms that he intends to go to Bellidarn's farm with Whenslidayle tomorrow. Giganticus enquires after the timetable of events and says that he intends to spend the next day and a half researching at the Thrune library. Fabius is researching the scrolls he half inched and Ralpere looks at the stars again and also intends to go with Guerin and Whenslidayle to the farm. Guerin is not expecting an early start as he thinks Whenslidayle will be a bit worse for wear.

A Whenslidayle and Iz get back to the "Orange Stallion" and remember that they have moved to the "Bull". They eventually get back to the "Bull" without further incident.

Tue 15 Nov 1588

A Brunch at the Bull. Whenslidayle has a hangover, he wants a drink but is talked in to having some black coffee. The lamb for lunch is expensive but very nice, as is the waitress.

A Ralpere thinks he got something from the stars. He was trying to find out when the sign of the goat first appeared. He got a little rhyme about lives in his head.

 Life after life,

lives for every life, [lye-ves]

one life over all others

Ralpere thinks there may be some significance in the first line having three words, the second four and the last line five. Speculation, mainly that of Ralpere and Fabius, reckons that the answer is "four generations" but the documentation of Bellidarn suggests it is much older.

A Whenslidayle, Guerin and Ralpere decide to get and early start in the morning. Guerin is a little concerned that he is being followed by the unimportant man's heavies so they decide that Guerin and Ralpere will leave together and Whenslidayle will come behind.

C Iz goes to get his leg over but Rilley is busy.

B Fabius goes to look at Bellidarn's records again and finds out that the new farm building was built about four generations ago. One of the sons four generations ago was found dead after using ash wood in the new farm building (ash wood is unlucky). Fabius found lots of references to superstitions, the protective quality of blue, shedding blood at funerals, sacrificing the first spring lamb. There is an unusual number of recorded deaths in the family record

A It is thought that the key to the mystery is in the farm building. Fabius is going to try to get an invite to the farm for himself and Whenslidayle.

A Whenslidayle goes to his room to recover from the party. Guerin is trying to find out if someone is trying to follow him, he doesn't see anyone. Iz has gone to the market.

In the evening Fabius goes looking for a job as a translator to fund him through the winter. Iz suggests that Fabius could earn some money over the winter by renting out Obum. Whenslidayle wants a season ticket but Fabius does not like the idea.

Wed 16 Nov 1588

A Guerin, Whenslidayle and Ralpere go to the Thrune academy for some combat practice. Giganticus wanders over and he and Whenslidayle practice throwing daggers at the butts. Whenslidayle has never done it before but Giganticus is happy to teach him and he gets off to a reasonable start. Whenslidayle lends his long sword to Ralpere and Guerin trains him in its use. Before lunch Guerin and Whenslidayle practice the long sword. Whilst Iz and Guerin debrief each other.

B Iz goes to the market to see if he can pick up some unusual local herbal medicines. He recognises nothing but buys an assorted selection.

B Fabius gets permission from Bellidarn to go to the farm house and he says that Bellot is going to the farm tomorrow anyway and will show us the way.

B As practice for following Fabius tomorrow, Guerin follows a random person back from the Thrune academy, he looses him at the gate whilst handing in his weapons. He is unable to find him again. Oh dear!

B Back at the "Bull" Iz shows his medicine to Ralpere who disagrees fundamentally with some of the instructions for use that Iz was given.

Thur 17 Nov 1588

A Fabius, Whenslidayle and Bellot set off for the farm. Bellot is mounted. Guerin is following at a descreet distance. Fabius tries to engage Bellot in conversation and gives him the usual story about why we are here. Bellot is unimpressed and suggests that his uncle Belal at the farm will not be so easily impressed as Bellidarn. We find out that Belal's son is Robeal and his daughter is Melna. His wife is Minda.

A Fabius recalls that the most recent death in the family was Robor, Belal's son who died only last year. Before that Baslan, Bellidarn's uncle (brother of Roblen) lost three sons and twin daughters (the daughters died at the same time of some disease). In response to questioning Bellot tells us that Bellidarn and Belal have another brother, Barnal, and sister, Kelenrill, who have moved away. Fabius askes Bellot if he is the eldest twin, Bellot confirms that he is the eldest twin but takes exception to Fabius's persistent questioning about the family. Fabius explains himself by mentioning that in Itadom it is a sign of politeness to show interest in your hosts family. He goes on to tell some stories about his past to Whenslidayle.

A A theory is developing that the sign is some sort of curse on the family. It might be that the eldest son of the eldest son has a responsibility for the family and lives in Talserrin whilst the second son of the eldest son of each generation has responsibility for the farm. The curse might be that the second son must produce enough offspiring (male?) to provide periodic (five years?) sacrifices to evil and that all the children of the second son will die, hence the lineage through the eldest son. The eldest son must therefore produce at least two heirs. The evidence we have so far will fit this speculation!!! We wonder if Bellot's cheery disposition (not!) is because he is the fated second son who will take over the farm after Belal.

A After a few very tiring hours travel in the inclement weather we are coming along a ridge when we see a large farmstead in the valley below. Fabius asks Whenslidayle to see if he can see any sign of the sign, but he can't spot anything.

B When they arrive in the farm courtyard there is the bustle of work in some of the outbuildings. The sign hanging outside the farm is "the sign". It is a very extensive farm with a fair amount of newish construction. The main farmhouse looks as if it the oldest bit although there is some new work on it.

C Following behind Guerin sees Whenslidayle, Fabius and Bellot go down to the farmhouse, he looks for a secluded spot out of view of the farmhouse that he can use as a base. He finds an adequate spot but it's far from ideal. He scouts round the farm and see's goats.

B Bellot walks into the farmhouse so Whenslidayle and Fabius follow him just through the door and get ushered in by a servant. The servants are all hulons. A particularly tall hulon comes in and Bellot, refering to him as Sinni, asks him where his Uncle is. Sinni says he is in an outside workroom so Bellot stomps off.

B About fifteen minutes later Bellot returns with Belal. Indroductions are made and Fabius crawls a bit. Belal invites us grudgingly to dinner citing his brothers generosity. He gets the servants to find a room for Whenslidayle and Fabius, it is very basic and they move back into the general farmhouse areas. Fabius asks the servants about the farm, they are polite but are too busy to talk much.

D At dinner, served in the main hall, Belal, Bellot, Minda, and Robeal (12) attend. Fabius does his stuff, Belal doesn't talk much but is not particularly scornful, unlike Bellot. Robeal thinks it's all very exciting Belal gives Fabius permision to look through the general parts of the house, but not the private rooms.

C Guerin sneaks through the rain to get a better look at the farm. he disturbs a dog and has to rush back to his shelter. However he can't find it.

D There is a knock on the farm door and a shepherd is let in. Belal greets him as Garhan and they move to the fire. They converse over a plate of stew. Bellot becomes vocal and is obviously trying to obscure the other conversation. Fabius is able to guess that the shepherd is talking about something that has been going on outside involving the dogs.

D Minda asks if we saw Melna in town. Fabius admits that he did not even though he was at Bellidarn's house. He mentions that he saw all of Bellidarn's family. Bellot assures Minda that Melna is there.

D Belal comes back to the table and Garhan leaves. Bellot quietens down again. Belal and Bellot move to the other side of the room and have an earnest conversation in low tones. Whenslidayle and Fabius are left with Minda and Robeal. Fabius engages them in conversation about local superstitions.

C Elsewhere Guerin has made a shelter and is getting very wet.

D Whenslidayle realises that one plate of food was kept to one side then burned on the fire, he is starts to comment on this but Fabius quickly elbows him and Whenslidayle realises it would be impolitic to mention it. Robeal keeps looking over to his father and cousin and does not look very happy. Whenslidayle tells Robeal stories of the liberation of Salsorme then asks him what he does. Robeal snaps back "Chores" and Fabius chips in saying it's worth it as one day all this will be inherited by him. Robeal looks puzzled. It comes out in conversation that Bellot will inherit the farm as Bellidarn is head of the family and owns the land. Belal runs the farm on behalf of the family.

D Fabius asks Robeal where he would look around here for a secret entrance to a lost temple. Robeal says there are caves in the mountains and a ruined farmhouse although he immediately looks guiltily at his mother who appears not to have heard. Robeal seems to be struggling to make things up.

D Belal calls Robeal and tells him to get on with cleaning the tack room. A little later Belal and Bellot stand up and excuse themselves on the grounds of having work to do in the morning and say they are going to bed. Whenslidayle and Fabius go to their bedroom.

E Back in Talserrin Iz and Ralpere go to the castle. It is guarded. They go away.

E Giganticus continues looking for catapults in the library.

E Iz goes to releave his frustration on Rilley.

Fri 18 Nov 1588

A Fabius approaches Robeal and asks if he will show us the ruined farmhose. Guerin sees Whenslidayle, Fabius and Robeal leave the farmhouse and tries to follow them. After an hour or so they arrive at a ruined farmhouse. They look round, it is a small ruined farmhouse. Even a "Detect magic" fails to turn anything up.

Sat 19 Nov 1588

A Back in the main farmhouse Fabuis does another "Detect magic" near the living quarters. There is magic in the family quarters which we have been asked not to enter. Fabius sends his toad into the family quarters. It sees a group of rooms at the end of an "L" shaped corridor. The second door is open, the toad enters into a well furnished room which might be Robeals. The toad comes out. There are five rooms one of which is has a door slightly ajar and there are noises coming from the othe side. The toad puts it's head round the door and sees Belal and Bellot having a heated discussion in Belal's bedroom. The toad waddles over and hides under the wash stand.

B Belal and Bellot are talking about us. They know about Guerin, they think we are stupid and we are potentially on to something and could jeopardise everything. They leave and shut the door. The toad looks round and then hides.

C Fabius suggests to Whenslidayle that they should inform Guerin of what has happened and send him back to get the rest of the Party. Fabius suggests that he will follow Belal and Bellot tonight, he also thinks that they will slit our throats. Fabius and Whenslidayle decide to go out by themselves to see if Guerin makes contact.

E In Talserrin, Iz comes back to the "Bull" after lunch having gone to see Rilly at the "Floppy Goat", he announces that she has gone. She did not tell him and he thinks she has been abducted. Iz and Ralpere go to the "Floppy Goat" and find that her room is completely cleaned out, everything has been taken. The barman is not particularly helpful but he confirms that she seems to have left of her own volition. He did not see anyone with her when she left. Iz is miserable so Ralpere offers to buy him a drink just as it seems the barman will offer a freebie. Iz has a treble. The barman does not seem to think that there is anything untoward about Rilley going away. He hinks she has probably just decided to move one to another establishment.

E Iz goes to one of the shopkeepers to ask if he saw her go. He did, and points out in which direction. They check round all the gates to the city but no one has seen her leave. Iz goes back to his rooms to sulk. Ralpere goes back to comfort him.

F Giganticus turns up and asks if anyone has heard anything from the guys at the farm. He asks if some people want to accompany him on a journey he has been asked to undertake. There is some money in it. Ralpere says that this would pull them off the trail of Bellidarn's sign. This confuses Giganticus as he thinks the Party are after a Connel spy. Ralpere sticks to his assertion that the Party are after information pertaining to the sign of the goat. The light slowly dawns on Giganticus that he's been had. Iz is not very helpful as Rilley has gone off with all his samples. Giganticus thinks that everyone has been ripped off by Fabius. Ralpere elaborates a little about Rallink and the sign of the goat.

F Ralpere asks about Giganticus' job. Giganticus says that it will take a few months . Ralpere says that he cannot spare the time so Giganticus talks to Iz. It is a job for Thrune, he has been asked to go somewhere find out some information and come back. He needs someone who can read to go with him. Iz asks why they have asked Giganticus if he can't read. Iz says he might go as Rilley doesn't love him anymore. He's wallowing. Iz asks where the job is but Giganticus has wandered off.

C At the farm, Fabius and Whenslidayle set off for the ruined farm to try to liaise with Guerin. Whenslidayle notices that they are being followed. Fabius creates a "Phantasmal force" of himself, he goes "Invisible" and intends to "Sleep" the follower when he catches up.

C Guerin has seen Fabius, Whenslidayle and someone following them, he also spots someone following him. Guerin runs over a hill top and hides in a bush. The follower does not appear so Guerin creeps back to the top of the hill and realises that there is more than one person who he thinks is watching him.

D Fabius successfully "Sleeps" the follower who appears to be a local shepherd. Whenslidayle ties him up and then kicks the man awake. The man comes round and shouts "Murderers!", "Foreign Scum!", "Bastards!" and various combinations of the three at Fabius and Whenslidayle. He thinks that we have killed or kidnapped his cousin Hearer yesterday but Whenslidayle points out that Robeal was with us all the time. This does not cut much ice and the shepherd is totally hostile in an amateurish kind of way, effective though! We find out that Hearer dissapeared from around here. It's obviously got something to do with Belal and Bellot and sacrifices but the local is still far from convinced. Indeed he is no more convinced than when Whenslidayle kicked him awake, Whenslidayle kicks him again.

C A figure holding a long bow appears from the trees. Whenslidayle quickly throws a dagger at it and dives sideways before Guerin is able to say "It's me, Guerin". Fortunately Giganticus has not honed Whenslidayle's dagger throwing skill yet and it flys well wide of its mark. Fabius briefly fills Guerin in on what has happened and Guerin is no more kindly disposed to the shepherd than Whenslidayle.

C Guerin walks off towards where he thinks the other observers are hidden and says that he knows that they think we have taken Hearer, the daughter of the captive's uncle Cicarian. A rock is thrown at him but mises. Guerin runs towards the direction it came from and is met by a few more rocks. He shouts to the men to come out and fight like men but is hit by another rock. He runs after them and gets on someones trail, he is hit by another rock and fires an arrow at the man he was pursuing. He misses and returns to Whenslidayle and Fabius.

D In an effort to assure him that we did not do anything to Hearer we release the shepherd who runs off. Fabius, Guerin and Whenslidayle decide to try and find the locals and pursuade them to stop Bellot and Belal, however it is getting late and Guerin is a crap tracker. In the end Fabius and Whenslidayle go back to the farm and Guerin is going to spend another night in the rain to keep watch for Bellot and Belal.

C When Whenslidayle and Fabius get back to the farm Fabius makes it clear that he is fed up, feeling ill and intending to go home the next day. Bellot and Belal are nowhere to be seen. Melna is there and says they are busy on the farm. Fabius has gone to bed and Whenslidayle can only spout inane drivel to Melna and Robeal.

G Meanwhile in Talserrin, Giganticus and Ralpere spend some time in the kitchen consecutively.

G Ralpare goes down to the "Hen's head" to see Tombar who he knows through the Essini church. Ralpere wishes to engage the services of Tombar to find Rilley, whom Ralpere describes. Tombar points out that his fees are 10 silver pieces plus expenses per day. Ralpare pays five crowns.

H Back at the farm house Fabius has had enough, and tries to find his toad but his "Locate object" spell won't work in this case. So he has a look around and can find no sign of it. Fabius heads to the private chambers down a dark corridor. He can find no doors that will open although he is hampered by a total inability to see anything. The rushes covering the floor mean that he cannot move without making some noise so he decides to go back to bed and get the sleep he needs to recoup his spells.

I Whenslidayle is still whittering in the main hall. He does find out that Bellot and Belal are in the farm house. Shortly after finding this out Whenslidayle goes to the bedroom leaving the door slightly ajar. After leaving an object just behind the door to act as an alarm Whenslidayle keeps watch out of the window. Later he hears a noise and sees a servant taking some food to the main hall. He goes to the kitchen to get a drink and tries to listen to any conversation that may be going on in the main hall. He hears hushed voices he wanders round the corner and sees Belal and Sinni the steward. Whenslidayle makes an excuse about being cold and Sinni goes off and gets him some mulled wine. Whenslidayle asks Bellot about the missing girl and Bellot speculates that she has run off to town, speculation with which Whenslidayle concurs. Whenslidayle goes back to the bedroom after mentioning that Fabius is the investigative genius of the pair!

Sun 20 Nov 1588

A Shortly after 2 a.m. Whenslidayle is struggling to stay awake when Fabius gets up and says that some bastard has nicked his toad. Fabius is going to the main hall to cast a 360 degree "Detect magic" to try to find the toad, however he realises that the toad itself is not magical so decides not to cast the spell after all. Whenslidayle goes to sleep. In the end Fabius goes to the main hall to cast an "ESP" for the toad towards the private living quarters then working round if necessary. Fabius establishes that there are four people in the living quarters, the toad is not there. Fabius casts the spell again, the toad does not seem to be in the kitchen area either!

A Fabius wakes up Whenslidayle and explains that the toad has been put in a sack, moved about alot and deposited somewhere cold and hard and asks Whenslidayle if he can think of anywhere. They split up to listen as Fabius asks the toad to make it's loudest "Rivet". Whenslidayle is fairly confident that the toad is not in the kitchen area. Fabius asks the toad to jump up and down. It falls off whatever it was on and lands on another cold hard surface and sustains a minor injury. The toad, "Prince", rivets again and although it does not hear anything it does think the room it is in is large and echoy.

B Fabius goes to the edge of the living quarters, stations himself out of the way and creates a huge barking sound using an "Audable glamour". Guerin hears a huge barking commotion at the farm house so he sets off rushing down the hill. Whenslidayle pauses slightly and rushes out of the bedroom. There are people all over the place.

B Fabius hears footsteps coming down the corridor from the living quarters. People enter the main hall from the kitchen end and at the same moment Belal enters the room. Belal heads back to the boot room area with two servants. The door to the corridor is ajar. Whenslidayle is in the main hall. Belal and the servants go out the "back" door tooled up. Fabius sees tha Bellot is outside the back door. Neither Bellot or Belal have lights although all the servants seem to have one. Fabius sets off down the corridor of the private quarters. He tries the door to Robeal's room. It is locked and someone on the other side screams. Fabius quickly moves on towards Belal's room but Robeal comes out of the second door on the right and shouts "Mother, are you alright". Fabius backs back into the doorway opposite the one he tried, as Robeal gets to his mothers door Fabius shoots off into Belal's room. He gets his light out and moves to the other door which is locked.

B Whenslidayle has gone back to the bedroom and is watching what is going on outside whilst getting his full kit on. Belal is taking charge and sends people off in various directions.

B Back in Belal's room the second locked door crashes open as Fabius "Knocks" it from a scroll. He sees a small room containing a desk, chest and a stand containing Belal's armour and weapons. There are no other obvious ways out. Fabius looks at the desk, finds all the usual stuff but nothing exceptional. He finds no secret compartments and the chest is locked. Fabius leaves the room's and goes to the "third" door in the corridor. Robeal is not in the corridor any longer.

B Whenslidayle sees that Belal is getting things in the courtyard under control. He keeps asking people to "Shut those bloody dogs up!" but a small pack seems to be particularly determined to carry on. Belal has sent a number of small parties with dogs off to search further afield. Guerin sees a few of these as he steams down the hill.

B Fabius finds that the third door is locked. He "Knocks" it open. On the other side is a store room which may have been a bedroom in the past.

B Two dogs jump on Guerin. Guerin gets his sword out an sets about them. People start shouting that "He's over here". Meanwhile Whenslidayle climbs out the window to go and search the outbuildings but Belal sees him and shouts at him to get back into the bedroom. Whenslidayle obliges.

B The dogs are making mincemeat of Guerin. A servant hears Fabius as he tries to leave the private quarters. Unfortunately the servant decides to go and investigate and notices the rushes move as the invisible Fabius tries to get out of the way.

C People are closeing in on Guerin so Guerin shouts "Call off your dogs and I will throw down my weapons". One of the men calls the dogs but they continue their attack of Guerin so he reciprocates.

B Fabius casts "Sleep" on the servant and then whacks him on the head and runs back to his room. The dogs in the courtyard are no longer barking.

C The dogs stop attacking Guerin. Guerin is ordered to put his sword down which he does reluctantly. Guerin is ordered to walk in front back to the farm house.

B Whenslidayle asks Fabius to make him "Invisible" but Fabius cannot, however he can become invisible himself so Whenslidayle suggests he uses what's left of the confusion to search the outbuildings.

B Both Fabius and Whenslidayle see Guerin being brought in looking a bit the worse for wear. Belal orders that Guerin be takem inside. The first servant through the door sees the unconcious servant in the private corridor. Belal gets five servants to arm themselves and keep a close guard on Guerin as he goes off down the corridor to the private quarters. In the bedroom Whenslidayle secreets his daggers about his person.

C Belal instructs a servant to search Guerin whilst he examins Guerin's long sword. The items found are placed on the table. Belal asks Guerin why he is skulking around the hillsides. Guerin explains that he is following two aquaintances who he thinks are ripping him off over some treasure and that he heard the commotion at the farm and came to see what was happening. Belal gives Guerin a general grilling and includes questions about Hearer to which Guerin answers in a similar fashion to the story Whenslidayle gave earlier during the night.

C Belal questions Guerin for an hour or so and then has him taken away by three servants to a room to the right where he is locked in. The room contains a bed and a wash stand, Guerin realises that it is one of the guest rooms. The window is shuttered and there are guards posted outside.

B Fabius goes the the workshops and storage area and decides to look about and wait for Bellot until about half an hour before dawn. Fabius sees Bellot go back into the main hall but cannot see which direction he came from. He thinks it might be the cheese area so he goes over for a quick search and is fairly sure that it is an unexceptional cheese making area. It does not seem to have been as thoroughly searched during the commotion as the the workshop and storage area.

D At dawn Whenslidayle goes out for breakfast, there are two guards outside the next room in the corridor. The servants seem very nervous of him. Belal soon turns up and Whenslidayle is "arrested" and returned to his room. Whenslidayle tells Belal that he thinks the man he detained was Guerin and that he thought that he was left in Talserrin. Whenslidayle complains that Fabius has dissapeared and moaned that grunts are not told anything these days.

E In the morning at Talserrin, Giganticus explains to Iz and Ralpere that he is still in negotiations over the job he mentioned. Giganticus is still agrieved about being "fleeced" by Fabius, he suggests that they should do the decent thing and tell Bellidarn. Giganticus suggests that they sell Obum to get their money back. Ralpere and Iz both claim that it was never suggested that Connel spies were anything to do with the mission and that Fabius did not contradict Giganticus as maximum secrecy was important for the mission. Giganticus asks how long they have known Fabius. Iz and Ralpare have not known Fabius for long but he comes recommended by Rallink, the high priest of Essini. During the conversation Ralpere confirms that they have a connection to the "Winged Arrow" through Whenslidayle. They decide to go and see Bellidarn to enquire after Fabius and Whenslidayle.

E In the end they send a message to Bellidarn asking if he knows when Fabius is going to return to Talserrin. A message comes back from Bellidarn saying that he would have thought we would be more likely to know but if we wanted to send a message his neice is returning to the farm this afternooon and could take a messeage. The following message is composed:

Fabius and Whenslidayle,

When are you coming back. We think we should be moving on and we need to talk to you.

Ralpere and Iz

E They send it over with thanks to Bellidarn. Then they go to see Obum to see if she knows when Fabius is coming back. She doesn't but they ask her if she will tell him they need to speak with him urgently if he does come back.

F Ralpere admits to Iz that he had employed Tombar to find Rilley. He gave him some money but he has recently returned the money and seems scared to continue with the job. he does not appear to be the kind of person who would get scared for nothing. Ralpere thinks there might be more to the dissapearance of Rilley than meets the eye. Iz thinks back but it did not seem that she was pumping him for information or that she was out to get whatever she could. The relationship seemed fairly genuine.

F Iz and Ralpere go out to see if they are followed and try various mechanisms to detect their followers. They don't see anyone following them but some of the town guards seem attracted by the antics. They go to the "White Squirrel" and have an inconspicuous pint.

G Giganticus goes round town making arrangements for his mission.

H Fabius turns up, gets a meal and takes Ralpere and Iz up to the room in the "Bull" for a debriefing. He explains what happened at the farm and says that they havn't got much time to free Prince, Guerin and maybe Whenslidayle (if he too has been detained) and report back to Rallink. Ralpere tells Fabius that Giganticus wanted to shop him to Bellidarn and goes on to tell him about Rilley and Tombar's reaction to being asked to find her.

H Giganticus turns up. He is surprised to see Fabius. He enquires after the Connel spy story and Fabius puts him straight. The atmosphere gets a bit tense over discussions of the payment to the local crooks. Fabius alludes to the existing difficulties but will not trust Giganticus enough to give him the unedited details of the incarceration of Guerin and the probable incarceration of Whenslidayle. Giganticus pulls back from the brink and believes Fabius.

I A discussion ensues over how much to involve local officialdom. Ralpere, Fabius and Giganticus go to see the local Essini priest, Declan. Declan explains that the position of the Thrune church will be to support Bellidarn, a major contributor to their church, in the absence of any hard evidence. Declan says that the only likely source of local help will be himself and he regrets that he will be of limited use as he has little experience of these matters and has limited resources. Declan is able to arrange emergency transport out of Talserrin. Ralpere gives Declan a message which has been edited by Fabius.

J Dear Rallink,

The centre of the trouble seems to be concentrated around the Bellidarn farm.

Bellot (Bellidarn's son) and Belal (Bellidarn's brother) seem to be caught up with something suspicious, though we are not sure exactly what.

There are a number of suspicious deaths in Bellidarn's family. The second son runs the farm and he seems to be the father of children that die suspiciously.

Fabius, Whenslidayle have visited the farm. Fabius has returned. Guerin and Whenslidayle are in trouble at the farm - We think they have been accused of abducting or killing a young woman, Hearer, from a neighboring farm, who has disappeared in mysterious circumstances.

Also Rilley, Iz's friend, has also moved on. Tombar, who I asked to look into this was scared and returned the money I gave him.

We don't have anything concrete and are going back to investigate and try to free Guerin and Whenslidayle. However we are sure evil is about. Fabius overheard Belal and Bellot talking about Fabius and Whenslidayle spoiling everything and they might need to be disposed of. We think they are responsible for Hearer's abduction and they are fitting up Guerin and Whenslidayle for it. We think there is an underground complex at the farm.

Your servant,

Ralpere.

F During the night Ralpere watches the stars.

C At the farm, Guerin lookes through a crack in the shutters and sees that there are guards outside as well as inside.

Mon 21 Nov 1588

A Far away, Yossilana and Juleau get to Salsorme with the bodies of Maurice and Hortense. They tell the harbour master that they have an urgent message to deliver from Farlas to Gilla. The harbour master has no problem with this, however he is not keen to let the dead bodies through. Yossilana asks to go to the Essini church to converse about the disposal of the bodies. The harbour master considers it a health risk to bring the bodies in to the city. The captain of the ship is not keen to have them left on his boat. They eventually negotiate the hire of a skiff from the captain at a ridiculous price that Yossilana is unable to knock down much. Juleau rows out a short way in to the harbour with the bodies in the skiff.

A Yossilana goes straight to the Farah church and delivers the message to a priestess. About an hour later Gilla turns up. Yossilana hands over the incense blocks and explains the problem with the stiffs. Gilla says she will sort it out.

A Eventually Juleau is summoned back to the wharf. A Farah priestess has sorted things out with the harbour master, the bodies are removed. Juleau goes up to the Farah temple to rest with Yossilana.

A Later in the day Gilla turns up for a chat. Yossilana fills her in with events up to the burning of the tree. The stiffs (Maurice and Hortense) are going to stay dead as it is too late to save them. They decide to contact Rustbulj over disposal as Maurice and Hortense were both Christians. Gilla asks the priestess Rerietha to accompany them to see Rustbulj. On the journey over to the Christian church Rerietha says that lots of exciting things are going on in Salsorme. Changes are being made to the running of the city. They seem to be mainly for the better, however a statue of Farlas has ben raised in the square of Ardeniss.

B Rustbulj has a new church building in a nicer bit of town (near the Parties residence), he is not there but Angelica is. She explains that Rustbulj has gone off on a journey to the west. He is expected back soon, he has been away for a few months. Yossilana explains about the need to dispose of the bodies. Whilst Marius Tellman will need to be told it is expected that he will already know as he had candles for Maurice and Hortense.

B Some of the Party members who remained in Salsorme (Lejak, Sharell, Couron) get involved with the planning for the funerals with Anjelica. Various city luminaries are on both of the guest lists including the Wizard and Caspar (Sharell's uncle). Baccus composes a dirge to be delivered at Hortense's funeral which is to be on 24 Nov 1588

C In Talserrin there is concern over the extent of the opperation. Declan has been asking around and Hearer's disappearance has been reported but there is no report of the detention of any suspects.

C The planning begins to drag on and Giganticus suggests that the planning continues on the journey to the farm. Iz suggests taking some meat for the dogs or rubbing theselves with goat dung to confuse them. The latter plan is not popular.

C Iz gets some meat and the "Slightly magnificent four" set off to rescue the "Hearer three". Fabius reckons he can cast a spell so that he can look, sound and smell like Belal. In the end Fabius makes Ralpere invisible and gives him two extra swords.

C When Ralpere gets in sight of the farm there are obviously three guards outside the guest section. Ralpere goes back and tells the rest. Whilst the discussion on what to do develops Giganticus sees two blokes on patrol. The group manage to stay hidden until dusk avoiding the hourly patrols although the third hourly patrol check out the clump of trees the group are hidden in. Fabius cleverly "Sleeps" both of the patrol, a difficult maneouvre as they are almost exactly 20 feet apart. They are bound, gagged, dragged into the trees and searched.

C When they regain conciousness they are frightened. Fabius recognises them both from when he was at the farm. The prisoners are kept gagged due to the proximity to the farm. Fabius asks them if they know where the girl is. The first one stubbournly refuses to respond so Giganticus rubs his knife and hands in the blood from Iz's meat then they go round the bush to the other one and pretend that they have killed the first patrol man. The second patrolman is very willing to answer the questions. They get a reasonable selection of answers to basic questions from him.

D A plan of attack is formulated. It starts to go wrong straight away when a dog comes pounding round the corner of some sheds. The dog is confused that it cannot see anything where it obviously thinks something should be. Fabius gets past the dog as it corners Ralpere. Fabius "Sleeps" the guards (yes, all of them).

D Iz and Giganticus see the lights that the guards are holding fall to the ground and set off down the hill, although not with quite as much haste as the original plan suggested.

D The dog tries to bite Ralpere, it does a good job. Whenslidayle realises there is a commotion at his window, he tries to push open the shutters. Outside Fabius is trying to prise out the spike holding the bar in place. Fabius reckons he will not get the spike out so he casts a "Reverse enlarge" on the bar.

D People are rushing out of the farm area to oppose Iz and Ralpere who are taking it easy whilst sussing out the situation.

D Ralpere tries to make a break for Guerin's window and unexpectedly avoids the dog who starts barking. Whenslidayle is out through his window and Fabius instructs him the get Guerin out of the next room. Whenslidayle tries to get the bar off but it is tough.

E Iz and Giganticus speed up when they hear the barking dog. Ralpere arrives at Whenslidayle and manages to give him a sword, although giving someone an invisible sword is a potentially fraught maneouvre. Fabius sees three guys running in from the farm area, they will soon be upon him. Fabius warns Ralpere and Whenslidayle about the oncoming men. Ralpere says he will take over trying to open the bar so Whenslidayle takes the short sword, a weapon with which he is unfamiliar, and turns to face the farm hands. Whenslidayle quickly changes his mind and gets out a dagger. The ensueing fight lasts until Whenslidayle makes a hit when the opponents withdraw.

E Iz notices someone about to hit him so he stabs at him and gets a hit, the guy falls to the ground but hits Iz hard on the way down. Gigantucus sustains a nasty injury from a farm hand wielding a club before he stabs him and the guy falls to the ground. Iz and Giganticus see two dogs pounding towards them. Iz starts throwing the chunks of meat to the dogs but the dogs ignore it and attack. Giganticus kills one of the dogs stone dead.

E Lots of the farm hands are shouting warnings.

E Guerin smashes a leg off the bed just as two guards burst in to the room. Ralpere is joined by Fabius in trying to prise off the bar. Guerin sets about one of the guards who drops his staff.

E Whenslidayle is hit by a staff and falls to the floor. Whenslidayle grabs the legs of the guy standing next to him and brings him to the floor. Belal comes out of the farm house carrying a sword. Ralpere breaks open the bar on Guerins window. Whenslidayle sees Belal running towards him wealding a sword and sprints off with Belal in close pursuit.

F Iz and Giganticus have had fair success against the dogs and the men running in to support them. They have backed off so Giganticus charges at them with Iz close behind. Giganticus fast talks his way past an opponent!

F Guerin bear hugs his remaining opponent. Ralpere grapples the guy cowering in Guerin's room and becomes visible. Fabius shouts "Get out of there!!!!" into Guerin's room. Guerin continues to bear hug his opponent whilst Ralpere gets kicked off by his opponent who proceeds to hit him masively in the guts. Bellot is in the corridor.

F Giganticus and Iz are in danger of being overpowered. Giganticus can't fast talk his way out of this one and misses hit attack as well, he does manage to dodge this attacker though. Iz is racking up his tally of discouraged dogs.

F Whenslidayle is putting distance between himself and Belal. Giganticus narrowly manages to avoid somebody falling on him. Guerin continues his bear hug whilst manouvering to try to thrust the guy out of the door. Fabius sees that Iz and Giganticus have arrived in the viscinity of the window. They are being homed in on by people around the courtyard, Giganticus hits one who falls back. Iz is hit. Guerin thrusts his hugee out of the door into Bellot.

F Whenslidayle is long gone as is Belal. Between 12 and 16 farm hands have formed a horseshoe around Iz and Giganticus (and Fabius - who they can't see). Giganticus is obviously a much more competent fighter than the locals [Or anyone else in the group - Ed] he bashes another one heartily and they fall back again. Iz and Guerin swap weapons as the farm hands seem to be taken in by Iz's lie that he is better with a spear than a sword. Ralpere draws his bastard sword. The opponents look very unsure but are holding their positions.

F Fabius sees Belal sneeking back. Guerin asks where Fabius is, Ralpere says that he is invisible, Guerin says loudly that he saw Bellot in the corridor outside the guest room. Fabius tells Giganticus that Belal was over by the cheese sheds.

G Whenslidayle eventually stops running. After satisfying himself that he is no longer being followed he carefully begins to make his way back in what he thinks is the direction of the farm house.

F Ralpere is hit by an arrow so the group climb in to Guerin's room. Guerin tries to break the inside door down but it is tough. Dissent grows within the group. Giganticus questions a cowering man in the room but he knows nothing about basements or Hearer. Guerin asks if anyone has picks. Eventually Iz realises that he is referring to lock picks as opposed to pick axes and tries to pick the lock but has no luck.

G Fabius leaves the room through the window, sees two groups of farm hands creeping up, relays this information to the people in the room and rushes off. Iz, Ralpere, Giganticus and Guerin climb out the window and the two groups of farm hands quickly scamper away. The group head up the ridge and do not appear to have been followed.

G Whenslidayle can see the lights of the farmhouse. He gives it a wide berth until he is able to find a good vantage point up a tree.

G Fabius heads back to where the whole mission started. He finds the two patrolmen still tied up but no one else. He tries to find the spot where Guerin was watching the farm but is not sure if he can pinpoint the exact place. Fabius can't see the rest of the group who are very close to him because they are keeping hidden and they can't see him as he is invisible! Fabius goes back to the farm courtyard and tries to find a position where he can see the front door from fairly close so that there is no chance of missing anyone coming or going.

G Everyone watches from their various locations for a few hours until Whenslidayle decides to head back to Talserrin.

Tue 22 Nov 1588

A About an hour before dawn Fabius starts the journey back to Talserrin via the two blokes who are tied up.

A The rest of the group hear someone blundering about in the dark. Guerin says "Who's there? I'll kill you if you don't drop your weapon." Fabius says "You'll have to see me first" . They both realise who they are. When asked about the toad Fabius reports that it is within the environs of the farm and that the girl is with it.

A The two patrol men who were tied up are seen being carried back to the farm area by four others at about dawn. Shortly after five people on horseback leave the farm in the direction of Talserrin. It is difficult to tell who the riders are but it looks like four men riding in a protective formation around a female. It does not look as if Belal or Bellot are amongst them.

B Fabius suggests that it may be better to try to negotiate with Belal so that he can try to influence him. The ensuing discussion centres on the practicalities of releasing the girl, Hearer, and the pragmatic approach of retreaving as much of the groups property as possible. Guerin insists that the group should continue to look for a way to release the girl. Giganticus agrees with Guerin but takes a rather obscure angle on the best way to achieve this. Fabius cannot believe that Guerin and Giganticus can hold to this proposal in the face of a total inability to achieve it and becomes frustrated by their unwillingness to look for a compromise. Discussion settles down after a while and revolve around ethics and morality. Giganticus suggests that the only way of getting out of this part of the country alive is to rescue Hearer. Ipnar is a town on the next junction of the river about 40 miles north of Talserrin, Lehrbahn is another 60 miles north east of that. The Valen border is forty miles west through the mountains.

A After masses of discussion the group go to the ruined farmhouse so Fabius can get some sleep. It is suspiciously unpeopled in the countyside. It is impossible to make a fire as everything is wet. It is raining. Guerin stands watch.

C At dawn Whenslidayle finds that he is by the river so he has gone off course. He starts to follow the river back to Talserrin. As he approaches Talserrin he eagerly anticipates lunch at the "Bull" however as he staggers towards the town gate he is hailed by the guards who appear to be somewhat predjudiced against him. Not wanting to risk incarceration a second time, Whenslidayle immediately discards his sword and jumps in the river. He is taken past the town by the current and manages to reach the shore on the other side of town. He climbs out of the river and sets off out of town, wet, cold, exhausted, without food, drink or money - it's November, it's cold, it's wet, it's time to mug a passer by.

D Nothing happens whilst Fabius is asleep. The group make their way back to the farmhouse where Ralpere, Giganticus and Guerin are going to hold off the enemy whilst Fabius and Iz search. We run across the ground in front of the farm and the alarm is raised. However we get to the back of the farm and Fabius "Knocks" the door open. The servants in the kitchen run around in panic shouting "The murderers are back! Don't kill us!".

D Giganticus, Ralpere and Guerin go on the offensive whilst Fabius and Iz check out the kitchen. Fabius is pretty sure that there is no entrance to a cellar from the kitchen. Iz is threatening the kitchen staff who are cowering away from him whilst Giganticus, Ralpere and Guerin engage the guards. Giganticus downs one, then downs another whilst Ralpere is carefully hitting to subdue. Iz thinks that the kitchen servant has said that the prisoners are behind the door so he tries to open it. Giganticus downs a third guard. Ralpere arranges the binding of their wounds.

D Guerin tries to smash the door down with an axe to get at the prisoner. After a few crunching hits the door splinters open to reveal a small square room. Iz goes in and searches the room, he thinks there is a concealed door on he opposite wall. Iz gets it open and finds himself in a dark corridor. The group go down the coridoor Ralpere opens the door at the end to reveal another corridor. Fabius recognises that they are in the private quarters. Two arrows would have zinged past except they both pincusion Ralpere.

D The group overcome three guards who are protecting the sleeping Bellot. Guerin slits their throats. Giganticus ties Bellot up whilst Iz searches the room. It is probably Robeal's room. Ralpere lights a tourch to shed some light on the situation. They find the key to Bellot's room which is the one which they previously thought was Robeal's room. There is nothing in there other than that which you would expect. A second room is empty.

D Giganticus is stuck in a corner of the corridor fighting a stranger who is difficult to see as they are surrounded by shadows. Ralpere thrusts the torch at Iz and leaps in to assist him as Fabius shouts "Lay down your weapon or Bellot dies!". Giganticus collapses on the floor and Ralpere shafts the beshadowed opponent. Everything goes dark around Ralpere.

E Guerin goes to look in the store room, it contains stores. He cannot get through the door to Belal's room as it is locked.

D Ralpere cannot see in front of him as it is unusually dark, no one is attacking him so he backs up the corridor after Giganticus.

E Fabius and Giganticus have a discussion on the psychology of interrogation then Giganticus awakens Bellot and starts to interrogate him. Fabius soon joins in and does a double act with him. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of killing Bellot before Giganticus asks Bellot where Hearer is, he gets no response. Giganticus says that Belal is dead but Fabius is unable to keep his composure at this remark and probably gives the game away. They pretend that they have Sinni, the chief servant, as a prisoner. They are getting nowhere so Fabius goes for a magical solution. Bellot says that Hearer is in the cage by the alter and that you get there through the trap door at the end of the corridor (underneath Guerin).

E Iz searches for the trap door and finds it under the rush matting. The trap door is one of the stone flagstones and has a small pentacle carved on it, there is no obvious way to open it. Fabius gets a bit frustrated by the unfocused lack of activity by most of the rest of the Party.

F After a number of abortive attempts to open the trap door the Party eventually they crush five beetles from a nearby nest on the corners of the pentacle and the trap door opens. Ralpere goes down the exposed ladder followed by Iz with a torch, it is 50 feet down to the bottom. Fabius follows them down.

E Guerin is still trying to get through the door to Belal's room whilst Giganticus is watching Bellot and the corridor.

F The three down the hole under the trap door are faced with a long corridor. The corridor opens out into a room without an alter. Fabius gets his continual light pebble out this considerably improves the visibility. The room is empty so Ralpere goes into the room and gets attacked by one then five ghouls.

G Guerin finally breaks into Belal's room, he goes in and immediately gets walloped, he jumps back out of the door draws his short sword and chucks some burning rushes into the room. Guerin is able to see that Belal is in his room. Belal goes to the wash stand and throws water on the fire. Guerin throws some more flaming rushes into the room.

F Ralpere is under extreme pressure against the ghouls in the room. Iz tries to help by briefly coming into the room. As he retreats down the corridor two ghouls follow him. Fabius rushes to the bottom of the ladder and shouts for help. Guerin and Giganticus can't make out what was said. Fabius hears Iz running down the corridor screaming so he starts climbing the ladder. Iz is hit and paralyzed by a ghoul. Down the corridor Ralpere is finally paralyzed by one of his opponents.

G Guerin and Giganticus have gone into Belal's room and Giganticus nips in with a quick hit. However Guerin is badly hit twice before he manages to grapple Belal. Fabius gets to the top of the ladder and sees the combat going on in Belal's room. At that point it appears the Belal can't see so Fabius rushes in and hits him with is staff, Giganticus hits him from behind again and Guerin grabs his leg and holds on. Giganticus gets some good hits on Belal whilst Guerin hangs on until Giganticus eventually kills him. Fabius pleads with Guerin and Giganticus to hurry to the aid of Ralpere and Iz. Guerin smashes open the other door to the room and retrieves his weaponry.

F Giganticus plays twenty questions with Fabius about ghouls whilst Guerin gets his kit on. Giganticus searches Belal's body and pockets two keys, a small one and a big one. Guerin goes down the ladder and Giganticus opens the chest in Belal's room. It contains a number of potions (the first is fizzy, luminous, bitter and aquamarine (Breathe in Water (?) - Fabius); a second is and oily pale brown and sour (Elixir of Health - Fabius), the third is black, liquorice and viscous (Invisibility - Giganticus) and the forth is blue with silver specs (Healing - Guerin)), some papers with ornate writing in a variant of lagoin and a rather ornate looking wooden box with metal corners. Giganticus rifles through the papers chucking them all over the floor then tries to open the ornate box with his knife. It goes "Bang" and Giganticus is flame grilled. The box remains shut.

F Fabius says he will look after Bellot so Guerin goes down the ladder. Fabius follows him down leaving Bellot! Giganticus waits a few minutes until he thinks everyone has moved away from the bottom of the ladder and chucks some dead bodies down the hole. Guerin goes down the passage and passes a torch sputtering on the ground. Guerin throws the torch into the room and can see the bodies of Ralpere and Iz stacked against the far wall. Guerin moves into the room and sees two ghouls so he backs into the corridor to face them. Guerin kills the two ghouls who came to fight him and decides he must take a ten minute rest.

F Having dropped a few bodies down the hole Giganticus moves Bellot to the edge of the hole, ungags him and demands to know how to get past the ghouls. Bellot says nothing of use so Giganticus chucks him down the hole. There is a terminal sounding splat.

F Guerin is now able to move into the room without the three remaining ghouls moving however when he gets to the bodies the other three ghouls move to cut him off which they do successfully. Guerin immediately kills one and Fabius goes invisible. The ghouls do not appear to be able to see Fabius now he is invisible.

F Fabius administers the suspected Elixir of Health to Ralpere who remains paralysed. Guerin continues his individual battle against the ghouls.

F Having dropped all five bodies down the hole Gignticus climbs down the ladder closing the trap door behind him (having tested that it will open again).

F Guerin does well but is overwhelmed by numbers and becomes paralysed. The ghouls drag Guerin over to the pile of bodies and then go back to their niches.

F Giganticus moves in to the room and hits one fo the ghouls which immediately goes down. Fabius "Burning Hands" the other which also goes down.

F The room has a door on the far wall with a pentagram drawn on it with the signs of "The Five" in each corner, starting at the top moving clockwise - line, diamond, pentagon, triangle, circle.

It is all that Fabius can do to remain concious so he sits down and looks through the papers he collected after Giganticus had chucked them on the floor above. Giganticus' brain is addled and he comes up with some wierd ideas on what to do next but Fabius is not at all conversational. Giganticus then attempts to revive the unconcious Guerin, Ralpere and Iz but cannot so he searches the room. Iz comes round and starts babbling about market deals.

F The papers Fabius is examining appear to be more intersting than household records but nothing immediately helpful is apparent. Giganticus instructs Iz to help searching. Shortly afterwards Ralpere stirs and starts searching. After some cogitation it is decided to go back to retrieve the exploding box.

F Giganticus cautiously opens the trapdoor, smoke rushes in so he closes the trapdoor again. It appears that the farmhouse is ablaze. Fabius thinks that the fire will burn for some time so he goes back to examining the papers. The air quality is deteriorating.

F Some time later Guerin comes round and asks whats going on. Turning their attention to getting past the bepentigramed door the usual round of door opening bollocks ensues without success. Eventually someone has a flash of inspiration and turns off the light. The line symbol is glowing. When it is touched the circle glows, when this is touched the door opens.

H Giganticus steps through in the dark as Fabius flamboyantly relights the pebble [Altough no one saw him 'cos it was dark! - Ed]. Fabius still cannot hear his toad. The new room is about twice as big and the far wall sloaps to that the right walll is longer than the left wall. The Party think that the underground complex is going to be five sided. To the left of the door in the same wall is a small semi circular alter with kneeling cushions in front and a black alter cloth. To the right of the door in the same wall is a triangular shaped shelf supporting a gold bowl and a pitcher. In the middle of the left hand wall is carved a niche in which is what appears to be a cloth. In the middle of the right hand wall is a little platform on a triangular plinth on which are some red and blue things. In the far wall is another shelf, rectangular, covered with a silvery cloth on which stands some wooden blocks with a knife on top.

H The light is turned off but nothing is seen from the doorway. Cautiously everyone enters the room. Giganticus heads for the blue and red objects. The red things are candles and the blue things are incence sticks, some are partially burnt. In the centre of the platform is a small depression containing oil and a wick. The top of the alter is stained and scorched. There are carvings behind the alter. They are not very nice. The gold bowl is spotlessly clean and pitcher seems to be half full of blood. The niche seems to be half a pentagon containing a green shammy leather. The stone shelf is covered in a silver mesh cloth. The wooden block on top in intricately carved in an abstract pattern. On the block is a knife with a recurved blade. There are poems woven on either side of the silver mesh cloth:

H

H Interpreting the vertical occurances of "The five shall be one" Ralpere speculates that the poems might contain the following instructions - Plunge knife, clean blood, light candle, burn cloth, open portal. This looks good. After some phaffing Ralpere attempts to follow the instructions. However there is concern over the role of the clean gold bowl, the wick floating in oil and the precise neuances of each part.

H At the end of the process Giganticus notices there is a green cloth in the niche again. They have another go, starting with lighting five candles to provide illumination at each point. It doesn't work again. Iz has a go and gets it right! The trick was in ammasing the items as you go through the process. A door opens behind the protruding shelf. Iz walks over and puts the knife on the shelf which becomes insubstantial so entry can be gained through the door.

I The real alter room is discovered. It is pentagonal with a pentagonal altar in the middle. There are various implements - ropes, bowls, odd items of torture. In the wall to the right is a metal cage containing a screaming girl, a goat and a toad going "rivit, rivit, rivit!". Giganticus shouts to the girl "Are you Hearer?", but she is totally hysterical and carries on screaming. The alter and room are covered with recent gore and and detritus. The group turns the light off, nothing can be seen but the girl screams louder.

I Giganticus unlocks the cage with the second key and Fabius goes to retrieve his toad. The girl faints. Plans are tossed about about how to get away from the region without falling foul of the local constabulary. The favoured plan involves returning the girl to her family and hoping they might asist the group. Fabius asks if there is anything that can be done to defile the alter, Iz immediately retorts that he could pee on it. He had been making this response to most questions recently.

J Everyone including the goat leave the altar room, the door closes behind them and the knife is substantial again. The girl and goat are taken into the ghouls room, the sight of the ghouls causing an increase in the girls hysteria. The knife, wooden blocks, bowl and pitcher, the silver cloth, black cloth and green cloth, the candle and insence sticks and the wick are taken and dragged down the corridor. The blood is tipped out of the pitcher and does not replenish. The girl becomes once again gets uncontrollably hysterical and faints at the sight of the dead bodies at the end of the passage. It is obviously going to be impossible to get the goat out so it seems more humaine to kill it. This is done.

J During a pause for breath it is decided to write down the process of getting into the altar. Iz does it.

J Ralpere sticks his head out of the trapdoor. It is uncumfortably hot but the fire is out and it's not raining. The walls are still standing but most of the roof and wooden fixtures are gone. The Party wrap extra protection around their feet and climb out. Giganticus clears a path out through Belal's window. He doesn't see anyone out of the window, but some of the farm buildings are burnt down. Giganticus tries to find the box but the room it was in is a bit the worse for wear and he can't see it in all the smolding rubble.

J The rest of the Party get out of the underground complex. Iz is last and shuts the trap door behind him. Ralpere manages to haul the girl out although he burns himself in the process. Fabius is badly affected by the hot conditions. The Party make it to an unaffected building on the other side of the farmyard. The items from the altar room are shared out, two to each Party member.

K After a brief look around the farm it is decided to return the girl to her family. The Party arrive at her farm at dusk and the locals are scared whitless. Ralpere tells them that the group are returning Hearer and that they should protect her from Belal and Bellot and their kin. The Party ask for some food and a place to shelter for the night but the locals are pretty unresponsive. The Party sleep in the barn with a watch.

L On the other side of town Whenslidayle holes up whilst he dries out. He steals some farm animals to eat and then a dingy in which he drifts down stream recuperating for a couple of days until he reaches the junction of the Bahn.

M We arrive at Rimdies and are welcomed in style. The populous line the streets cheering. At the castle everyone is allocated sumptuous rooms, it is a bit overwhelming.

N After a bit Farlas is informed that Earpolin Sorve Tamlich would like the honour of his presence. Grim rather tactlessly discovers that Earpolin is the Lord of Tamlich and the exiled King of Van Lies (south of Van Connel). Farlas goes, together with Willan, Holmir, and Nalin.

M Shortly after they have gone the rest are invited for refreshments. Nylas decides not to attend. Abubaca does not speak to anyone as he is still suffering from the "pun" glyph and does not have a noted sense of humour. Isiil Oômé turns out in his priestly garb and confuses the local priests by his ignorance of religion in general. Isiil Oômé finds out that the Essini priest here is Raline Tyr Essini. Rez and Aretha get nowhere trying to find someone who can "cure" Abubaca. No one recognises Aretha as Cheskon's abducted daughter (yet - we are not far from Ub's new holdings!). Rez and Holmir score. Bazron and Grim and a few of the locals have a drinking session. Bazron and Grim go on and on and on and on....

N Farlas and co. arrive at Earpolin's room. Willan recognises him from the meeting in which we reported back from the Fehermes, he nudges Farlas, who didn't! There are a couple of Knights and court ladies with him. Pleasantries are exchanged and we get a run down on the recent events in Salsorme. Ruistor has recovered quite a lot of land that had been captured by Van Connel (for the first time) as a result of border skirmishes inspired by our success in Salsorme. Earpolin enquired after our recent activities, Farlas gives him a brief overview. Earpolin does not press Farlas to go into detail as Farlas has not yet reported to Lyndham Falc (the leader of the Knights) . The King wishes to meet Farlas tomorrow.

O We find out that Gorondel is in the castle. Gilthon suggests that Farlas send word, via the Knights, to the Knights guarding the fragment of the Star of the Seven Firmaments in the tower at Gran Fordir that Norgraze and his crones are on the loose.

Wed 23 Nov 1588

A Farlas goes to see the King. Genuflections are exchanged as are excuses for excess drinking the night before. They have a semi-formal natter. The King wishes to reward party members for their part in bringing "order" to both Salsorme and the Fehermes! The King wants to reward individuals. The King asks that Farlas accept the Margravate of Terilgem in Tamtiris. Willan is offered the Barony of Goltorn, Nalin is to be enrolled as the Factor of Pelektorn. He offers other gifts to be distributed as Farlas sees fit. Dereldem will advise us of everything we need to know. The King wants a banquet in our honour in two days time and a full formal debriefing the day after that.

A Dereldem is one of the Kings ministers. Farlas subtly makes it known that he needs help in divvying up the dosh. Dereldem informs Farlas that Terilgem encompasses the castle and lands at Janinkir and the castle and hunting forest at Pelliskirk. All these gifts are in the newly recovered border area. Goltorn is to the north of Terilgem, in addition there is Temnel which carries the title Demel Aronin , Revdirin (Baronet), Illonsor (Demel Aronin) and Tisinsol (Demel Aronin). Pelektorn are the hill lands to the north of Temnel, the Factor (to be Nalin) has the residence which includes a Royal Mint!.

B Farlas confers with Party members and it is decided that Holmir should be the Baronet of Revdirin. There are a surprising lack of candidates for the three Demel's. Taran is given Temnel which is closest to Willan, he is going to give it to the Farah Church. Isiil Oômé is given Illonsor and Farlas holds Tisinsol in trust for Gilthon.

B It is about 5 days journey from these properties to Salsorme

B Efforts are made to find out correct forms of address to go with our new status. The Lady Aretha is able to tell us that:

A Margrave is addressed as Sorve (My Lord), the title is hereditary

A Baron is addressed as Sorve always followed by the Barony eg Sorve Goltorn (My Liege)

A Baronet is addressed as Lyn and can use their fathers name eg Holmir could be Lyn Farrin

A Demel Aronin is addressed as Demel (Master) always followed by their own name.

C There is a discussion about court etiquette. Some of the party do not get Farlas' point about advantages accrued from correct use of procedure. Eg negotiating in advance with the kings advisors and the king "rubber stamps" the decisions. Farlas talks to Dereldem about court procedure in general and specifically about giving his report on Salsorme to the King. Dereldem explains that written briefs are a good idea but that if the King has asked for a personal report you should not talk about it in advance.

C Farlas intends to give him a full detailed report. There is a long discussion on the nuances of Farlas' report. It is suggested that Farlas should mention the Hulon's and the Clan Bharazracrh in his report, he points out that he will not over emphasise their role. He also mentions Couron and Sharell to Dereldem for some (non-material) reward.

B We ask about our gifts of land, Dereldem had anticipated this and gives us some maps he has prepared! Dereldem does not think it will be easy to grant lands to the Farah church as Taran is hoping to do. Our lands are within the boundaries of the Thane of Tamtiris.

B The lands at Janinkir contain a castle, a market town and eight villages. The lands at Pelliskirk also have a castle, four villages and a hunting forest. Farlas as Margravate of Terilgem can expect a gross annual income of 120,000 marks (6,000 gold pieces)

B The lands at Goltorn contain a fortified house and hunting lodge, three villages and an iron mine, the area is known for skills of two of the local smiths. Willan as Baron of Goltorn can expect a gross annual income of 30,000 marks (1,500 gold pieces).

B The lands of Temnel have a castle, five villages and a market town. Taran as Demel Aronin of Temnel can expect a gross annual income of 20,000 marks (1,000 gold pieces). However he has expressed a desire to give the lands to the Farah church although Dereldem has since explained that this may not be possible.

B The lands of Revdirin contain a castle, a market town and five villages. Holmir as Baronet of Revdirin can expect an annual income of 40,000 marks (2,000 gold pieces).

B The lands of Illonsor contain a castle, a market town and six villages. The area is comparatively sparsely populated. Isiil Oômé as Demel Aronin of Illonsor can expect an annual income of 15,000 marks (750 gold pieces).

B The lands of Tisinsol have a fortified house, a market town and five villages. Farlas as Demel Aronin of Tisinsol can expect an annual income of 20,000 marks (1,000 gold pieces) the net profits of which he may hold in trust for Gilthon who he has decided to give the lands to should he return from the gate to Nessemnar.

B The lands of Pelektorn in the mountains have a residence which Nalin as Factor of Pelektorn may or may not consider suitable (possible holiday let?). The area contains a lot of dwarfen mines and is one of the mints for the king.

B The League of Los Nystel controls the trade, especially along the rivers (Los Nystel means "Over Rivers")

D Isiil Oômé is able to establish to some extent the protective qualities of the ansachat belt and Belthazar confirms that is not evil (neither is the bracelet). Farlas puts the bracelet on, it does not seem to add protection or make him invisible. It is not "free action" or strength. It is not inscribed, the black stones are onyx. It does not let you fly or breathe under water or resist heat or give you infravision .

E Continuing the theme of unidentified magic, back near Talserrin Giganticus wants to go back to the smoldering ruins of the Bellidarn family farm to try to find the box that will not open. It is too difficult to travel in the dark so the Party wait until dawn.

E Near the farm Giganticus sees people trying to hide from the Party in the trees. The Party ignore them and push on into the farmyard. The farm has cooled down so Guerin and Giganticus re-enter the main building. They notice that someone has been through the window since they were last here. Giganticus cannot hear anyone inside. In the first room Guerin and Giganticus get there weapons out. In the inside room there is a dead body. It has died from burns. The box is visible under some of the rubble. Giganticus moves forward as Guerin moves back quickly. Giganticus picks up the box and it does not go off. He searches the body which appears to be that of a local but there is no loot of any note on him.

F Guerin and Giganticus come out of the farm house and the Party set off down the valley. They skirt round to the far side of Talserrin as night falls. We see some local farmers as they go and are sure that they have seen us. The Party find a place to hole up and Fabius heads into town. The Party will wait for Fabius until dusk the next day and then head for Lehrbahn.

F Fabius gets into town and manages to meet up with Declan, the Essini priest. He has recently been released from a fairly unpleasant interrogation at the hands of the town guard. The Party are wanted for the arson of Bellidarn's farm and the murder of some of his family and other locals. The town guard are looking for us alive or dead and Bellidarn has put a massive price on our heads. All the Party property left in the town, including Obum, has been confiscated.

F Not suprisingly Declan is no longer in a position to acquire a boat for the Party. Fabuis tries to make arrangements with him to buy back Obum at an appropriate time. However although Declan says nothing against this directly it is apparent that he is not inclined to take such a risk over something so trivial and unrelated to the quest. Fabius decides to hire someone to buy back Obum when he gets back to Lehrbahn.

F The Theign of Tamscorr's lands run from the Bahn to Meresvale and from Valen to the border of Sor Crell in the mountains. The free city of Lehrbahn is on the border of Tamscorr's lands so the Party will be outlaws all the way back!

Thur 24 Nov 1588

A Fabius gets back to the rest of the Party and tells us of the shit we are in. Fabius manages to persuade a local to sell us a boat for 50 gold pieces.

B Following a simple ceremony attended by her friends and the few party members in Salsorme, Hortense is buried in the south west of the church yard near to the church itself.

Fri 25 Nov 1588

A Willan and Farlas will accept their honours at a formal ceremony from the king. This involves handing your sword over to the king whilst he delivers a speech. Farlas and Willan then receive the kings shield and make a speech, the last two sentences or so are personalised. Nalin also has a ceremonial hand over (gets a scroll and a medallion) but it is more discreet. Everyone else gets their gifts from Gorondel.

A Farlas' personalised bit is "Now that lands lost are returned and balance is restored, I devote my all to your peaceful reconciliation with your brother king and to the battle with the greatest enemy of men honourable and true. I shall not rest until the five taste the bitter pill of utter defeat."

A Willan's personalised bit is "I am hugely honoured to follow a fair and good king and I pledge everything to the furtherance of good in your name, and the defeat of the forces of evil" - this goes down particularly well.

A We decide to get instruction on the correct way to behave now some of us are important.

B After the awards there is the nosh up. Farlas and Willan get to sit next to the top table. The rest of us are all over the place, based roughly on perceived status.

B Amongst others we meet -

ON THE KING'S TABLE: Gorondel, Tamarin - elderly advisor to king, Janan Pol and Pourkin - two senior knights, Earpolin sorve Tamlich (king of Van Lies), the Thane of Tamtiris and Trascor Tyr Thrune.

WITH DEMEL ARONIN'S (AND BARONET): Demel Cheis of Corton (a confident young man (17)) - one of our neighbours.

WITH FARLAS AND WILLAN: Psurlarve Sorve Revsoom - The land immediately west of Farlas

We find out:

• It is unusual for the king to personally grant Baronies.
• Wiffle Sorve Aldier has lost his lands many times.
• Illonsor used to be held by Cheis brother.
• Skopor is owned by the Thane of Tamtiris and his son Garrik has a house there.
• Gless are the kings lands.
• No one seems to know who holds Froggat at the moment.
• Tirellin is a bit uncomplimentary about Pelektorn.
• Carparron was a general who defended the boarder with Gorondel.

B Spring is a time for rebuilding, there are a variety of opinion over a summer campaign, some think we should press home our "advantage" others that we should consolidate.

B King Connel has FIVE champions (one of whom was the wiggly sword guy in the Fehermes).

B Holmir has taken the title "Lyn Farrin"

B Isiil Oômé introduces Cheis to Farlas and Willan who regurgitate stories about Salsorme and the Fehermes. Farlas then asks Cheis about his part in the liberation of the borderlands. He fought well and is in the "consolidate" camp. The current border (in our area) is now back in its historic position. Cheis is doubtful that local forces could retake Tamtiris as it is heavily defended. The border between Ruistor and Connel is not a closed border however it would be unwise for prominent members of the community to cross it.

B King Connel uses a network of "Sheriffs" to administrate his lands rather than hereditary rulers.

B Terilgem used to be administered by Derrun however he died in the recent battles, Goltorn has been with the king for a bit. Tisinsol was under Demel Liennen who was murdered. Temnel was previously under control of Peydon who was swept away by Connel. Revdirin was under Kidren who is dead.

B Later in the evening the first people the king and the Thegn of Tamtiris come over to speak to are Farlas and Willan. The king introduces Tanilcor, the Thegn of Tamtiris. Everyone tries to out gush each other. In reply to probing from Farlas, Tanilcor implies that there is something unsavoury about the administrator of Froggat, he carefully avoids telling Farlas what his name is. Tanilcor says he is looking forward to hearing the tails of the taking of Salsorme and other stories. Farlas agrees to meet with the Thegn before setting off for his new lands. Farlas and Willan will join him for archery practice on Sunday 27th. The king and Thegn move off.

B We ask Dereldem who the incumbent at Froggat is. He claims that he is unsure. By asking around we eventually discover that his name is Lethil, but people quickly change the subject. We try to arrange a "do" with Cheis but he declines. Farlas introduces Isiil Oômé, Taran and Lyn Farrin to Psurlarve, Willan is there too. Willan invites him hunting in Goltorn and Psurlarve accepts, however none of our group knows anything specific about hunting! Psurlarve has a passing interest in falconry but it is not one of his passions - a bit of a disappointment to Lyn Farrin, whose father was a falconer. There are Wolves in Goltorn.

B Liennen was murdered by "brigands", Psurlarve seems to be having a go - Isiil Oômé has outstayed his welcome......but has not realised yet. Other members of the group have to intervene! When Farlas successfully changes the subject Psurlarve agrees that Pelliskirk is one of the best hunting areas in the district. Although his acceptance of an invitation to hunt is a bit strained. Isiil Oômé buggers off to arrange archery practise.

B In the evening everyone gets together to discuss the report of Farlas and Willan to the King tomorrow

Sat 26 Nov 1588

A Rustbulj returns to Salsorme before the funeral of Maurice and does the biz. Maurice is buried in the nave of the church and it is intended to build a small chapel in his honour. Maurice's funeral is grander than that of Hortense, Caspar and some surprisingly senior Salsorme dignitaries attend. Baccus gets the gig again. Angelica mentions to Rustbulj that she has arranged for a message to be sent to Marius Tellman.

B Hortense leaves everything to Mig (Offa originally) in her will. Maurice has left everything (including Willan's armour (which is church property)) to the church.

C Farlas and Willan make a full report to the king in his audience chamber. The kings council is with him, this includes Gorondel (whom Farlas "ousted" as Archon Archas at the Riparleff).

C After the kings introduction it looks as if the structure and nature of the required answers are going to be different from what we planned! The formal nature of the situation is not working in our favour. At one point Farlas is asked for his opinion of the abilities of the current Archons in Salsorme. We don't know much about Porter [Archon Epsi - Ed] or Grilcheese [Archon Achas - Ed]. Farlas is asked about Caspar, he explains that Caspar has been a good friend of the party since we arrived in Salsorme, has frequently aided us and is a thoroughly decent chap. Gorondel then asks Farlas if Connel is likely to recapture Salsorme either conventionally or using our methods (!) Farlas explains that without control of the Fehermes he hasn't got a snowballs chance in hell, at least using conventional means. Otherwise it is difficult to know if Connel has the resources to construct a force of such an individual nature as ours although the possibility should not be discounted. Farlas suggests sending emissaries to King Connel's court to keep tabs on him. Farlas defers to Willan for a review of the defensive position. Willan says the town must be kept secure and you can most effectively rule with the support of the populous.

C The debriefing goes on all day.

Sun 27 Nov 1588 : 28 Nov

A In the morning Farlas arches with Tanilcor. Willan declines an offer to join in and acts as "caddy" for Farlas. Farlas is able to gauge his ability relative to the Thegn of Tamtiris, and narrowly looses the match. Tanilcor heaps even more land grants on to Farlas in gratitude for the way the liberation of Salsorme had the knock on effect of causing much of his own lands to be recovered. He invites Farlas to visit his court (which is in Rimtiris at the moment). The conversation moves on and Farlas explains about the quest. Tanilcor seems a bit sceptical.

A Tanilcor suggests to Farlas that not everyone knows that "Farlas Lyn Falc", "The Margrave of Terelgem" and the General "Winged Arrow" are one and the same person, and that it could be to his advantage not to publicise the fact that they are.

B In the afternoon Farlas goes to see Telanir in his capacity as Lyndham Falc. They talk about "The Five" and the partial success / partial botch of our recent attempt to prevent Norgraze returning to this plane. Telanir seems very pleased with Farlas' efforts as a knight. He says he would like to create a new post "Warden of the Tiris Valley" for him but it would be impolitic at the moment. Instead he makes Farlas "Warden of Tamtiris" - we've been stitched again!

B Telanir tells Farlas that Essel has indicated that he considers that now would be a good time to retire from the position of Warden of Zeim Falc. Telanir would prefer Essel to continue but will not stand in his way if he insists on stepping down. After telling Farlas that he had considered him for the post but that it would not be convenient at the moment, he asks Farlas for his opinion. Farlas gives him a thorough resume of all the people in the field of consideration and their relative merits and finishes by recommending Lencoff (or was it Almenonn). Telanir admits that he had not thought of Lencoff in this context but seems impressed by the suggestion and is obviously giving it serious consideration.

C Later on most of the Party get together for the evening meal. Conversation drifts on the lifestyle, reproductive methods and uses as a pet of Gelatinous Cubes!!!

Tue 29 Nov 1588

A On the way back to Lehrbahn Fabius, Iz, Ralpere, Giganticus and Guerin catch up with Whenslidayle and pick him up.

Thur 8 Dec 1588 : 11 Dec

A Fabius, Iz, Ralpere, Giganticus, Guerin and Whenslidayle arrive back at Lehrbahn.