Seven For Thebes

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Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: The Seven For Thebes
GM: Michael Parkinson
Season: Autumn 807 WK

Party

• Christopher E&E Human Male Leader
• Lady Kathleen E&E Human Female
• Caprice Illusionist Human Female
• Tom Air Human Male Mil Sci
• Douglas Mind Human Male
• Tyro Dark Celestial Human Male
• Aqualina Water Human Female Scribe

Time on adventure

Duration: 70 days (01 Fruit '800 - 10 Vintage?)

Employer

Prince Ed from Tower Hill

Mission

To find out who is raiding the port towns in the Ellenic States

Plane

Alusia

Places Visited

Port of Freetown in the Islands of Adventure

The Ellenic States

Thought

Crisis

Tower Hill

Place of Goats

Argos (The Bright City)

The Oracle at Dolphin

Major NPCs encountered

Ezra Goodfellow - a hobbit from Tower Hill (arrived at the Guild with Prince Ed)

Lord Pharos - a vampire

Sir Ernest Drake - black dragon in Freetown

Don Fanthaceco. Destinian airmage

Father Pio - Michaeline priest

Pedro & Palo - two Destinians

Lord Afaro - Destinian ‘tourist’

Elpenor (Man’s Help) - guard captain at Thought

Prince ManyCattle - current ruler at Tower Hill

Princess SurroundedByCattle - the prince’s wife

Bodyguard - Ellenic guard at Tower Hill

Cedric Swellfoot - a hobbit in Tower Hill and Ezra’s brother in law

Don Juan di Quattro - second officer on Destinian main ship

Swiftwing - Ellenic airmage

Prince All-Eyes - Prince of Argos

Scribe Notes - Summary

1st Fruit

Met our employer, Ezra Goodfellow, and his companion, Prince Ed from Thebes (Tower Hill), a city in Cowland which is one of the Ellenic States. The coastal states have been plagued by a band of pirates that have been looting and carrying people off as slaves. Ed wanted to deal with the problem, especially since Cowland had been accused as being the cause as they hadn’t been raided yet. The fact that Cowland didn’t have a coastline seemed to be irrelevant. We sailed off in Ed’s boat that evening.

7th Fruit.

Near the Five Sisters and encountered bad weather. Had to shelter in a bay near a village where we were attacked by a vampire, Lord Pharos, and his followers, including a wiccan. Finally we were allowed to leave.

11th Fruit

Reached Freetown, a port in the Islands of Adventure. Invited to the celebrations of the local Lord, Sir Ernest Drake, a black dragon. Received more astrology readings. Late that night, were smuggled on board the merchant ship Dawn Treader.

12th Fruit

Sailed off with Ed’s boat in tow.

21st Fruit

Arrived in the city of Thought in the Ellenic States. Met with visiting Destinians, Don Fantaceco, Palo, Pedro, and a Michaeline priest, Father Pio. Looked around the city and saw another Destinian, Lord Afrio, who was touring the Ellenic States. That evening Christopher was attacked by Father Pio. After the fight, Pio was killed, Pedro captured while Fantaceco and the others fled. Tried to leave town but had to turn back.

22nd Fruit

Questioned Pedro. ‘Pirates’ are freedom fighters. Captives are being sold as slaves to raise money for a counter-revolution in Destiny. They are being led by Destinian Royalists, the Cult of the Martyrs for King Carlos. Fantaceco is a spy. The captive and body were turned over to the local authorities and we started sailing to Crisis.

23rd Fruit

Reached Crisis. Some of the party visited the Oracle at Dolphins but gained no useful information.

24th Fruit

Left Crisis for Tower Hill and port town of Slip. Stayed at Tower Hill palace. Met interesting elf called Bodyguard who was very perceptive.

25th Fruit

Slip raided early morning. Unfortunately they got away. From witnesses, we concluded we could be dealing with invisible windwalking assassins. Three ships with cloaking devices were involved. All the raiders were wearing black and spoke with demonic sounding voices. Later on, spoke to a local hobbit, Cedric. Arranged for skin changes. Went to the Place of Goats to wait for Destinians to raid it.

22nd Harvest

Destinians finally show up. Use skin changes to turn into mice and sneak aboard ship in the grain sacks. Found the room with the cloaking device in it and nibbled our way in. It’s a huge crystalline sphere on a metal dais surrounded by a cold iron cylindrical cage. Entire floor warded with ‘Wrath of God’.

23rd Harvest

Watched as Destinian bypassed the ward with the phrase ‘Long live Carlos the Glorious’

24th Harvest

Broke into the cloaking device room and got access to the sphere.

25th Harvest

Early morning, before dawn, the ships were approaching a target port. Ed removed sphere and teleported away with it. Some of the party crossed over to the other ship and destroyed the device there and captured the second officer. Much confusion resulted as we made our escape and landed on the coast at dawn.

Destinians had started to attack town but were fought off. Discovered two Destinian ships scuttled and partially destroyed on the beach. The third and larger ship got away. Claimed ship and fittings in exchange for weaponry. Flew to Tower Hill to find Ed. Interrogated captive, Don Juan di Quattro. They had been going after healthy citizens, avoiding mages and pacted people. The people had been captured as slaves and were being sold to the Lunar Empire. The Cult of Carlos the Martyr was ruled by someone calling himself the ArchBishop who was originally from the Far East. The Government in Exile was also set up in the Lunar empire at a place called Imbrium. He didn't know how many cloaking devices there were but believed their manufacture was under the control of Il Barone, or the ArchBishop. An army was also being assembled, but he did not know if that was in Imbrium or one of the Islands of Adventure.

26th Harvest

Took Don Juan to Thought and reported to local authorities, then claimed ship and sailed home with captured cloaking device.

Scribe Notes - Full

What excellent timing. An adventure came up that required a Water Mage when I was ready to go out again. This adventure was announced by a halfling, Ezra Goodfellow, a merchant from Cowland, accompanied by a rather large muscular man, Prince Ed of Cowland a.k.a the Prince of Thebes (or as the guild chairperson announced it ‘The Prince of Thieves’ – probably a misprint on the note).

Ezra told the meeting that they were from the Ellenic States and that the neighbouring states to Cowland were being plagued by pirates. A party of adventurers were required to help Ed deal with the problem. Since Ed was the local hero he was to be the one to be seen to do it. As Ezra put it, we were to make Ed look good. They had come here by boat. Originally they had arrived at Nova Dom but the crew had been eaten by undead there. Only Ezra and Ed had made it here.

To complicate matters some of the other neighbouring states think that Cowland is behind the raiders, even though Cowland doesn't have a coastline.

In one of the meeting rooms I met my fellow adventurers:

• Sir Christopher Reynard. A rather handsome human male, 5'10", dressed casually and carrying

a rapier. He knows some E&E magics but prefers to concentrate on agility fighting. He's also a philosopher in religion and is pacted to Gabriel, one of the Powers of Light.

• Lady Kathleen Reynard. A beautiful 5'8" woman with shoulder length light brown hair in a bun,

wearing fine green courtly clothes as well as a truesilver estoc and main–gauche. She's Sir Christopher's wife, a courtier and also knows a smattering of ranger and merchant. She is also an E&E mage but prefers the ensorcelment side. She speaks elvish and hobbit. Turns out she's the only one of two party members who can converse with Ed as he only knows hobbit and Ellenic.

• Douglas Walin. A tall 6' male human mindmage with blond hair wearing new leather armour,

a long leather coat, and a bright shiny new short sword. a competent navigator and a beginner healer. He also speaks hobbit.

• Caprice. Another stunningly beautiful woman, 5'6" tall with knee length black curly hair. I was

starting to feel rather outclassed in the beauty stakes. Ah well. She was dressed as a gypsy and is an illusionist, troubadour and was versed in the use of a crystal ball and tarot cards. For a weapon she uses a staff. Also there is a snake wrapped around her wrist.

• Tyro. Human male with brown hair and brown eyes wearing leather and carrying a tulwar. A

Dark Celestial. Tom. A thin human male with short dark hair, short dark beard and eyeglasses, originally from the Plane of Dirt. He's an airmage as well as a medium ranked military scientist and healer.

• Finally myself, Aqualina. 5'1" human female from the islands of Pasifika. Brown skin, blue eyes

and hip length dark hair. I'm a Water Mage, expert swimmer and can navigate and sail small boats. Currently I was dressed in a parau.

Ezra wasn't coming back with us as he had family business. However he would stay around for a bit in order to translate for Ed. The principle language where they come from is Ellenic although Common is spoken near the seaports as a trade language.

We would have to sail south, then east, to get there. The Ellenic area is made up of several city states with wilderness in between. The wilderness contains monsters. Each city state has a prince which is either a hero or a descendant of one. Usually the only people to travel the wilderness are merchants or heros.

Ezra also told us that there were a few mages and they are either respectable priests of the local deities or really evil types. Some entities have strange talents, mostly passive ones. Lots of spirits were around so we were advised to avoid killing priests as the local spirits or gods would get annoyed and seek retribution, usually by laying a curse on the offender. Even the pirates have been avoiding killing certain people.

The ancestry of some people, especially the heros, can also be rather obscure, owing to the intervention of the local gods. It is believed that many of the heros may have one of the gods as a parent. Ed had been adopted by Ezra's brother in law, Cedric Swellfoot of Tower Hill, a neighbouring territory to Cowland. Cedric had been away on business and, as well as bringing back livestock, he also brought back a child who had been left to die in a jar on a foreign mountainside.

By the time Ed was four, it was obvious that he was a hero by performing feats of strength. So he was adopted by the current Prince of Tower Hill and his childless wife. While still a youth, Ed travelled to the Oracle of Dolphins & began a heroic career of doing good -- which culminated, some 20 years ago, in his slaying of a monster which was visiting grand destruction on Thebes (the main, and only, city in Cowland). The grateful citizenry married him off to the widowed but childless princess & they now have 4 children. and later became the Prince of Thebes for slaying a rampaging monster after the previous prince had died.

Most heros are more handsome than the average and most are male. Apparently there is a great market for sidekicks. Basically they travel with the hero and take care of all the mundane things, leaving the hero to do the heroic stuff. In this case we were to be Ed's sidekicks and point him at the problems for him to solve.

Very few of the city states are composed entirely of humans. For example, the city state of Thought, which is mainly inhabited by philosophers, has a large population of elves.

The pirate raids had been going on for the last ten weeks and they had been taking valuables, provisions, and people, mostly women. So far they had kidnapped 400 people with three quarters of them being female. They attack by surprise, wear masks, and speak Ellenic with a sinister tone.

I asked whether or not the local merfolk could help us trace these pirates but Ezra replied that they were rather barbaric. Even though they’re hostile towards the Ellenic States, they’re too barbaric to be conducting raids in this way.

Ed arrived in the room at that point. He was very solidly built, especially in the chest, with visible muscles. He was 5'5" in height, about 260 pounds, with a handsome face and golden, shoulder length, hair. His armour was made out of gilded bronze. He must have been drinking in the guild pub while he waited as his first comment was 'Those are real dwarves?'.

Ezra and Ed then left us to sort ourselves out. After some discussion, Sir Christopher became the party leader, Tom was the military scientist, and I became the scribe. Also, as he was less experienced than the rest of us, Tyro agreed to half shares.

I was wanting to take my horse on this adventure but, given the nature of the boat, it would have been impractical. Caprice suggested that I talk to a wiccan about 'packaging my horse'. She also mentioned that the snake is poisonous and her staff bites as well.

It was possible that the pirates also had magical means and it was theorised that their ships my be invisible until they got close. That reminded me of Commander Fish's ship and I wondered if they were using that. However, I was told that another party had recovered that boat from the drow a few years ago and were paid by Il Baronie Scarpia from Destiny.

We decided to get some astrology readings with the following questions:

"Where will we find the pirates"

"What are the major dangers"

"What magics do the pirates use".

We split up after that. I went to check the boat that Ed and Ezra had came in. Ezra had previously told us that, after the crew had been killed at NovaDom, Ed had rowed it to Seagate taking seven days and nights to get there. That was really good going according to my calculations. Even though Cowland didn't have a coast, Ed had obtained the boat after defeating one lot of pirates.

Ezra had described the boat as long, narrow, and unstable, propelled mainly by oars but did have a small sail. He believed that it was of elvish construction although there was a possibility that it may be drow in origin.

It was certainly obvious which boat it was by the time I got down to the harbour. The name on it was the Jalepeno although Ed had told us it was originally called The Winsome Gladiolus when he had captured it. The Jalepeno was 60' long and 10' wide at the widest point. Most of the deck was open although there was a canvas cover near the stern. Checking the underside revealed a heavy keel running down the length of the boat which extended forward forming a ram. This meant that the boat was fast in a straight line but it was going to be difficult to turn. My intention was to examine the underside at close range but I discovered there was something about the keel that made me wary of getting too close. TDP came down later to have a look and he confirmed there was some sort of magical aura on the keel. Also the boat, in his opinion, was a hybrid design, half of which was drow. It had a 12 ton displacement.

I then went to try and obtain some coconuts with the intention of making some traditional cream to help protect the others from sunburn. The other benefits would be an additional food and drink supply. However the only ones I could find were very old and useless for my purpose. So I visited a herbalist who had a salve that would do the job.

Meanwhile Christopher was stocking up on other supplies such as spare wood, and extra tarpaulins.

Christopher had offered Lesser Enchantments all around so I went and got one done before obtaining some Waters of Healing and Strength ingredients from the Water College. My plan was to make them up during the voyage.

The astrology readings came in a bit later in the afternoon. According to the astrologer, all the answers came to him in a vision although he suspected that the third one could be completely wrong. The first one was also suspect and he believed that there may be forces acting against the readings. It is known that certain individuals (e.g. certain guildmembers) cannot be guided or detected by Astrology. This is something similar, he imagines

READING 1:

72 With mortal tug the wildered spirit clings

73 To its known shore of firm reality,

74 Yet feels drawn outward---like the ebbing sea

75 That hugs its beach so closely and in vain---

76 In this vast ebb of Being to its main.

77 And it is eerie in the night to lie

78 Lonesome, all naked to the awful sky---

79 This secret spawning-time of hell on earth,

80 When mist and midnight give the toadstools birth,

81 And worlds of shy leaf-shadowed life steal forth,---

82 What time the Powers of Darkness have their day;

83 Our world asleep and Heaven so far away:

84 When in the shroud-like stillness there may be

85 Shapes moving round us that we do not see!

READING 2:

1 Who hath not marked how graciously the Don

2 Comes smiling when some stormy night hath gone?

3 As Beauty lifts the heaven of her eyes

4 Full on you large with their serene surprise

5 That you should dream such gentleness could dart

6 The looks that hurt you to the very heart!

7 Calm eyes, that through luxurious reaches spoil

8 The richness of their rest upon the soil.

READING 3 (The astrologer apologised for the extreme length. In his professional opinion, either the answer is somehow concealed or protected, or the reading is a backfire.

1 Night after night I wakened with a start

2 That tore the curtain-cloud of Sleep apart,

3 As though I had been fettered fast by Death,

4 Who imaged Sleep to take away my breath.

5 The silence looked so ominous, the gloom

6 Just losing shape and feature in the room:

7 Had I but wakened sooner, without doubt,

8 I should have found some dreadful secret out!

9 Nothing to grapple with; nothing to see:

10 Yet something fearful there must somewhere be;

11 Some shadow of the Unapparent stole

12 Over me, with a shiver of the soul:

13 Dim horrors loomed from out each hiding-nook;

14 A strange life lurked in the familiar look

15 Of innocent things, as though upon the eve

16 Of issuing, terrible as its prey perceive

17 The Mantis in the likeness of a leaf,

18 Changed in a moment to a Murderous Thief.

19 I peered out of the window,---nothing there

20 But the vast heavens with all their loneness bare---

21 The phantom presence of Immensity

22 That from behind its dumb mask whispered me.

23 At times a noise, as though a dungeon door

24 Had grated, with set teeth, against the floor:

25 A ring of iron on the stones; a sound

26 As if of granite into powder ground;

27 A mattock and a spade at work! sad sighs

28 As of a wave that sobs and faints and dies.

29 And then a shudder of the house; a scrawl

30 As though a knife scored letters in the wall.

31 About the room a gush and gurgle went,

32 As if the water-pipe got sudden vent;

33 Drop after drop, I heard it plop, and ping,

34 Into some vessel, with metallic ring.

35 Yet, on these very nights there was no rain;

36 And then, betwixt the ear's suspense and strain,

37 A faint voice crying in the air or brain.

38 The wind would rise and wail most humanly

39 With a low scream of stifled agony

40 Over the birth of life about to be.

41 Through all the house its coldest wave hath rushed,

42 Although a moment since the night was hushed.

43 And ere the hurried gust had ceased to moan,

44 The dreaming dog would answer with its groan.

45 At times I seemed to waken at a call,

46 And rose up listening for the next footfall

47 Which never came, as though it could not keep

48 The step with that my spirit caught in sleep;

49 For I, in waking, must have crossed the line

50 Bounding the range of spirit-life from mine.

51 I felt the Presence on that other side

52 Grope where some secret door might open wide.

53 I knew the brain might strike the electric spark

54 Which should make live this phantom of the Dark.

That evening, we set off on the outgoing tide. According to my calculations, it would take 210 active hours of Mage Current to get us there. I put a Ship Strength on the boat then provided a Mage Current to help push us along.

However, I have to keep reminding myself just how wide that current is. Once I noticed that other moored boats were being affected, I cancelled the spell and asked Tom to provide a Mage Wind. Besides I wanted to see how this boat performed under sail.

Ezra was on the dock, seated in a palequin, with bearers supporting it. He waved to us as we sailed out. Kathleen waved back but I had a sneaking suspicion she had actually cast a spell. Still, it’s none of my business.

Anyway it didn’t take long to determine that this boat looked like a fish, moved like a fish, and steered like a cow. That keel provided so much mass that it was taking a lot of my strength to force the tiller at the stern to move. The only way I could see to manoeuvre was to turn the Mage Current and have the boat dragged along with it. I just hoped we didn’t have to turn in a hurry.

Finally we were in open water in Confederation Bay. I pointed the bow due west then produced a Mage Current. Soon we were speeding over the water. Once out of the bay we would then head generally south then east again towards the Ellenic States, island hopping all the way.

Ed settled down for what turned out to be a twenty hour nap. Before that, it was obvious that he had taken a dislike to Christopher, probably because of the curse Christopher had. Tom was looking rather ill so Kathleen sent him to sleep. Douglas offered to try and cure Tom but Tom wasn’t keen on how Douglas intended to do it – with hypnotism.

Later on, once he was feeling better, Tom sorted out the watch order. Since I had to spend much of the day steering, I was excused night watches. Also Tyro volunteered to sleep during the day and stay awake during the night. Makes sense to me. So the watches became Caprice/Tyro, Tom/Tyro, Christopher/Tyro, Kathleen/Tyro and Douglas/Tyro.

7th Fruit 800WK

The previous five days of sailing had been reasonably calm although I had to use Wave Control spells at some points to flatten out the swell. The weather had been mainly fine and rather warm, apart from some bouts of heavy rain, so I was down to a basic two piece costume with a parau over top. Caprice was doing miracles with our supplies making food that was delicious, as well as flirting with the guys, including Ed. Also I had produced four Waters of Strength for Christopher. The fifth attempt had failed. By now we were in the vicinity of the Five Sisters.

On the sixth day, just after I had done my morning Waterbreathing on myself, Christopher announced he could detect bad weather ahead. Sure enough he was right and it looked like it was going to be a rather bad storm. We needed to head towards the nearest land, preferably the leeward side. Unfortunately, when I said that, my companions burst into laughter. To my chagrin, I then remembered that particular piece of coast belonged to the Alusian main continent.

As we got closer to the shore line, made up of rather steep cliffs, whitecaps on the water betrayed the presence of submerged rocks close to the surface. Even one of those was enough to tear a hole in the bottom of the boat. So I went to the bow to watch for more and to change the current when required while Douglas took my place at the helm.

Tom Windwalked off to scout ahead. Soon he found a gap in the cliff which lead into a bay, near which was a village. He could see six to eight buildings but there may have been more as camouflage had been used to hide them.

We dodged the rocks and headed for the gap. I turned the mage current off as I was sure we were travelling too fast to be able to navigate the gap properly with it but Christopher insisted on having it back on so we could be pulled through in the right direction. Unfortunately I wasn’t fast enough in getting it going in the right direction and, as we passed through, the boat scraped against the side of the cliff. Ed did a marvellous job of fending us off but it wasn’t enough to prevent damage to the side of the boat, fortunately above the waterline. It would take at least a week to repair it properly.

As we entered the bay we could see a reception committee standing on the jetty. I aimed the boat at the jetty, intending to reverse the current at the proper moment and bring us to a graceful stop alongside. There were four people there, two with bows, one carrying a large sword, and another who was dressed as some sort of chief. As soon as we sighted them, Christopher and Kathleen decided to make everyone, except Ed and Douglas, invisible.

Just then a cloud passed over my mind and I lost track of what was going on as the boat continued towards the shore. Then something rather hard hit me on the back of the neck and I lost consciousness.

What had happened was that these people had decided to be hostile. Two arrows thudded into Douglas. I had been put under a mind compel, presumably to be used against my companions later. Christopher had realised this and rendered me unconscious with the butt of his sword. Ed and Tyro moved forward to engage the enemy when the boat struck land. Ed struck a heroic pose over my prone body.

My aim must have been slightly off as the boat struck the jetty, knocking Christopher, the chief, Kathleen, and one of the archers into the water. The current continued pushing the boat onwards demolishing most of the jetty, and trapping the archer underneath it, before coming aground on the beach. The others jumped onto what was left of the jetty and engaged what was left of the opposition. However, initially, it didn’t look good for our side.

The chief was soon shown to be a Mind Mage vampire and identified as Lord Pharos (thanks to Douglas's telepathy. He and Christopher were tussling underwater during which Christopher recognised him as a vampire. He suddenly went gaseous and vanished. There must have been a wiccan out there as well as Caprice was cursed with a century long sleep. Tom succeeded in windwalking the swordsman. Caprice was attached to Ed's back and everyone regrouped on the shore, among the trees. Ed was carrying me. There was enough of a pause in order to heal up those that needed it.

Douglas determined that the pause was because the villagers were waiting for 'Lucy to deal with the intruders'. We presumed Lucy was the wiccan. A Mass Fear hit the group which affected Tyro and forced him back into the boat. One of the villagers (presumably controlled) as he spoke slowly) asked our group to surrender or face the consequences.

Tom succeeded in putting up Barrier of Winds around everyone but, as he finished, he was turned into a frog. So he sought the relative safety of Christopher's pocket. There was no sign of the wiccan through the searching wizard eyes but Douglas detected a malevolent mind in a group of rocks nearby. Just then someone flew up from them. The party didn't get a good look but got the impression of someone at the short end of human.

Just as the fighter came out of windwalk, he was blinded by a flash of light then set upon by Ed and Tyro. Ed soon vanquished him. Christopher was then knocked out by a phantasm. For some reason the vampire, through his controlled servant offered us our freedom if we didn't loot the fallen bodies and we left by sunset. This seemed surprising as they still seemed to have a tactical advantage. If they were slavers, as we suspected, maybe they figured we may have been more trouble than we were worth.

However that was what happened. I recovered consciousness soon after. Christopher and Ed pushed the boat away from the remains of the jetty and I cast a Ship Strength to repair the damage. We had to wait four hours until the storm passed but, once it had weakened, one mage current later and we were off.

Caprice was woken from her sleep by Ed kissing her. We knew it had worked when she kissed him back. Tom had to be fixed by a remove curse ritual as we didn't have a suitable princess. In the meantime I made sure he was looked after and protected from harm, especially from Caprice's snake.

Near sunset, we were overtaken by three Destinian vessels, La Fanciulla del West, Suor Angelica, and La Mariposa.

11th Fruit

After four days we were finally among the Islands of Adventure and coming into a port called Freetown. There were lots of vessels in the port of assorted types. Ed told us that this was a place full of seafaring people, many of which could be pirates or other dubious characters. Basically this place is similar in reputation to Sanctuary. Ed was hoping we would get some useful information here.

I followed his directions and soon we were docked. Waiting on the wharf was a dwarf who was dressed in the style of an arabic vizier. Six large eunuch guards with rather impressive swords were standing behind him. He requested that we attend the evening celebrations in the castle of his Lord, Sir Ernest Drake, a well known Lord of the Sea. They would be taking place tonight. Ed decided to accept, especially since he had declined the invitation previously and, to do so twice, would be taken as an insult. The dwarf then cast a spell that allowed us to comprehend all languages.

We were to proceed to the castle where we could freshen up. On the way, Ed warned us about the dwarf as he was evil and not to be trusted. From the stories I've heard, I'm beginning to wonder if that is part of the job description for vizier. Most of the population we passed were humanoid and all were armed. There were a couple of centaurs and even a few beings that reminded me of sylphs.

Douglas had a telepathy up and, as we walked, he detected that there were quite a few people eyeing us up as potential slaves – me especially. In fact, some of them were thinking that they should attempt to kidnap me at the first opportunity as I'd be worth quite a lot, even more than Caprice.

Finally we reached a very impressive castle. The common room had thirty foot tall doors and the ceiling was 40ft tall. We were beginning to suspect that Sir Ernest Drake was an actual dragon. Because of the danger to me Caprice used an illusion to make me look like Kathleen. She took a risk as we discovered shortly afterwards that no spellcasting was allowed without the express permission of Sir Ernest. Meanwhile Kathleen used a special item to turn her into a man and told us to call her Robert.

We had a look around the town, in a group, then returned and freshened up for this evening's revelries. An elf led us to a large circular chamber with a domed roof, 200ft in radius and 120ft high in the centre. We weren't the only group here either. On our left was a group of traders from the Baronies who greeted us warmly, much in contrast to the group on our right who were a surly bunch from Arabique. As we sat down, Douglas discovered that his telepathy, which was working as we entered, had suddenly dropped out.

Sir Ernest was also there and, as we suspected, he was a large black dragon, dressed in some sort of radiant toga and a large gold choker was around his neck.