Butyltina 26, 1000 PC

Post date: Aug 02, 2009 3:28:25 PM

After the battle with the ice elemental last month, Oli decided it was time for everyone to go to Troll's Bridge and oust his father from power. Except Luanes - she had some quest to attend to without us. That is too bad too, because I like the woman's positive attitude. Anyway, we have been planning this for too long as it is. I would complain that leaving at this time of the year means walking through snow, but with Wintersky's gift of magic boots, I barely even feel the cold. So now, I have to say "goodbye" to Redemption. They were a good tribe to me, and Troll's Bridge sounds much less welcoming. In fact, I am writing from the city now. We arrived early, but I'll get to that soon.

Fey like to ambush travelers through "their" territory, so it was no big surprise when a gang of creatures called Redcaps attacked us. Awful looking fey; they were like old gnomes with scythes and blood-red hats. They are probably used to robbing people without any opposition on account of their evil looks alone. However, the last time I checked, fey were not resistant to fire! Their pitiful attempts at forest-robbery were cut short by an early fireball of mine. Everyone had a useful part to play in the battle, of course: Sparta trapped many of the fey when he instructed the natural vines to entangle them; Wintersky rained arrows on everything and everyone while her panther pounced into battle; Legeand hacked and slashed at the fey as soon as he closed into melee range; Oliveryn mostly tried to make peace with the redcaps, but he use compulsion magic in his attempts (very shrewd); Ozi, aided by one of my invisibility spells, danced around the battlefield with impunity as he slipped daggers into the redcaps' backs. T'krosh and Eregard mostly tried to spear the fey, but their weapons could not cause significant wounds against them.

Once the massacre was over, a King fey named David emerged from the woods with his entourage. Was he just watching while his fey brothers tried to murder us? The timing would suggest so. He told us that we would need to kill the dragons in Tanglewood: Cedarcleaver, his family, and Drymorjoc. I am not opposed to that kind of mission on principle, as Wintersky seemed to be, but it did not seem a very equitable deal that the king offered us. King David said we would receive "other gifts" and free passage through the tanglewood, but immediately after that, he said Wintersky would not be allowed through the woods! He is not a very good bargainer, I think. He promisef us nothing specific, and then he insulted Ms. Sky! And then to top it all off, he removed a block on our memories that covered our last encounter with some fey. Now I remember very clearly that a Queen fey gave us a similar mission while we were close to the gnome thorpe. If memory charms are how the fey conduct their diplomacy, then perhaps it will be better if my new city remains closed to them.

To get around the "problem" of Wintersky traveling through fey territory, the King suddenly teleported us all to separate places in Troll's Bridge. A shortcut to be sure, but not a very convenient one since kobolds are likely killed on sight in this city. Luckily, I appeared in an empty warehouse, out of sight to any softskins. With careful use of my hat of disguise, I bluffed my way to Oliveryn's manor as a small human child. I was worried that I would have to kill the warehouse guards and incinerate the evidence, but luckily it did not come to that. I later gathered that we all arrived safely in the city. T'Krosh even found a coven of kobolds beneath the city - potential recruits!