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The Kordovian Adventurers Guild
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7526754" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 56: WHAT A BUNCH OF FAIRIES!</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 16</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 16</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 16</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 16</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 16</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 16</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Aithanar Ivenheart, elf fighter 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jinkadoodle Dundernoggin, gnome illusionist 6</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Malrin Ivenheart, elf druid 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> MARCI, humanoid construct</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 17 November 2018</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>"Guys," said Castillan, "I need your help."</p><p></p><p>The others gathered around the elven bounder as he explained what he'd been up to in his months of absence before they'd run into him in Greyhawk City, both groups dealing with the "fire demon" that appeared to be attacking the city.</p><p></p><p>"Several months ago," Castillan began, "I was called before my father, Aroban. As you all know, we don't get along that well - Aithanar's not that fond of him, either. Anyway, he told me that he had a job for me: that I was to report to his brother, <strong>Lord Kelboran Ivenheart</strong>, who had requested my presence in Veluna City immediately for a family emergency." Veluna City was the capital of the kingdom of Veluna, south and west of Kordovia, beneath the edge of the Clatspur Mountain range.</p><p></p><p>"When I reported to Lord Kelboran, he informed me that his father - my grandfather - <strong>Lord Darborel Ivenheart</strong> - had been missing now for nine and a half years. During that time, Lord Kelboran had been serving as the Acting Baron of the Western Marches, his father's role, but if his father didn't report back to duty after ten entire years had passed, it would look bad and cause a stain upon the honor of the Ivenheart family. He'd had spellcasters cast multiple divinations and to the best of their knowledge Lord Darborel was still alive, but somehow out of the range of all <em>scrying</em> attempts and even <em>sending</em> spells. He wanted me to use my resources as an adventurer to pick up the search where the others had left off. I was to find out what had happened to Lord Darborel, my grandfather, and drag him back to his duties if he was still alive, or bring back the Baronial Ring of office if he was dead so Lord Kelboran could continue on as the Baron of the Western Marshes in a full-time capacity. I somehow got the idea he greatly preferred the second option."</p><p></p><p>"And I take it you haven't found Grandfather yet?" asked Malrin, Castillan's younger sister.</p><p></p><p>"Not yet, no - but I have made some progress. The divinations indicated not only that he was still alive, but reachable from his study. I gave the place a thorough search and came up with a good idea of what happened to him, but I need your help - particularly yours, Gilbert - to track him down."</p><p></p><p>"That make sense," agreed Gilbert, nodding knowingly. "I probably find him, no problem."</p><p></p><p>"I hope so," replied Castillan. "The ten years since his disappearance is up in two weeks from today, so I'm bringing you guys into the investigation, even though Lord Kelboran wants this kept inside the family, if at all possible. I'm pretty sure we're at the point where it's better to bring in others and actually stand a shot of finding him before the deadline."</p><p></p><p>The group loaded their gear (to include their various animal companions) on the dragonfly vessel and Jinkadoodle piloted it to the outskirts of Veluna City, where the group surreptitiously disembarked from the flying ship. "If my uncle finds out I have a flying ship, he'll likely try to confiscate it for the benefit of the Velunan army," Castillan explained.</p><p></p><p>"Can we take our animals along?" asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Nope - we'll be going straight to Lord Darborel's estate, in the rich part of town. They're not going to allow us to traipse into their manor house with a dire bear cub or a dire fox in tow. They won't even like it having them walking around loose in the streets."</p><p></p><p>"I'd prefer to have Obvious along," argued Binkadink. They decided to leave the animals on board the dragonfly ship under Aithanar's care, but to smuggle the <em>carpet of teleportation</em> in with them inside the <em>bag of holding</em>. That way, if they had an opportunity to sneak the animals into the study they could do so, hopefully without being discovered. Hagan brought Wezhley along, figuring he was small enough to remain on the half-orc's shoulder as usual, and Gilbert shrunk his earth elemental familiar Mudpie down to pebble size with his <em>slingshot of rock shrinking</em>, depositing him into a pocket for safekeeping.</p><p></p><p>Arriving at Lord Darborel's estate, Castillan and his group were met at the door by several elven servants. They sniffed in disdain at the obviously seasoned adventurers, whose armor and weapons showed the ravages of time and indications of having been put to rugged use. But they escorted them into Lord Darborel's study, where Castillan closed the doors once they were all inside and had the place to themselves.</p><p></p><p>"Fancy," remarked Hagan. "I've seen official libraries smaller than this place." Lord Darborel's study was filled with rows and rows of books along the eastern wall, while his massive wooden desk was centered against the back wall. Another door stood along the western wall, and a table with four wooden chairs provided ample places for study. The north, south, and west walls were also lined with shelves of books from floor to ceiling. Gilbert looked greedily at the titles on the spines, mentally calculating how much time it would take to copy all of these books into his own <em>Omnibook</em>. Days, likely!</p><p></p><p>"Let me show you what I've found so far," Castillan suggested. He pulled open a drawer of the desk and pulled out a leather-bound appointment book. "This is from ten years ago," he said. "The last entry is dated nine and a half years back, and consists of just the letters 'MJS'."</p><p></p><p>"Any idea what it means?" Finoula asked.</p><p></p><p>"After I gave this place an initial look-through and came up empty, I started checking around the city. It turns out Lord Darborel wasn't the only one to disappear nine and a half years ago. At about the same time, there was a human girl, seventeen years old, named <strong>Mary Jo Spatchcock</strong>, who went missing from her father's farm. MJS," he concluded.</p><p></p><p>"Kidnapped?" asked Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"I doubt it," replied Castillan. "There was never any ransom, for either of the two. But let me show you this." He walked over to the side door, on the western wall, and snapped his fingers to cause his <em>stonepiercer's dagger</em> to appear in his hand. Carefully sliding the blade along the edge of the door jamb, he pried it away from the wall all in one piece.</p><p></p><p>"Check it out," the bounder said, showing the others the back side of the door jamb he'd removed - which was covered in a layer of lead. "Lead-lined: to prevent <em>that</em> from being detectable by magic, I'd wager." Behind the door jamb, the border of the door was covered in arcane runes and a series of figures: humanoid forms with butterfly wings and goggle-eyed lizards or dinosaurs. Malrin cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell and examined the doorway. "It's magic all right," she confirmed. "I'm picking up strong auras of both transmutation and a type of conjuration magic - teleportation, to be specific."</p><p></p><p>"That would have been my guess," Castillan said. "I think Lord Darborel walked right through this doorway, only instead of going to the hall" - here he opened the door to show the other heroes the hallway of the manor on the other side of the door - "he ended up at the other end of a <em>teleport gate</em>."</p><p></p><p>"So now we need to find way to activate <em>teleport gate</em>," reasoned Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"Yes. And that's where you come in, I'd imagine. Got any way to figure out the command word or phrase?"</p><p></p><p>"It no doubt right here, under our noses."</p><p></p><p>"Here?" Where?" demanded Castillan, looking around the room.</p><p></p><p>"We in library! Command word in book!" reasoned Gilbert, walking around the library and reading the titles that lay on the shelves before him. As might have been expected, there were large sections on military history, the geography of the region, and numerous volumes on combat tactics and strategies. However, there was also a rather surprisingly large section devoted to fairies, fairy tales, and the various types of fey creatures.</p><p></p><p>"Aha!" Gilbert cried. "Fairies, like around door! Answer here somewhere, I bet!"</p><p></p><p>Malrin, in the meantime, had continued concentrating on the <em>detect magic</em> spell she'd cast, searching for other magical exits from the room. It wasn't likely that her brother would have missed finding any existing secret doors or passages, but there was always the possibility of a powerful illusion spell in place or something. But then Binkadink pulled a volume from the shelf and passed it over to the young elf. "Check this out," he suggested.</p><p></p><p>"This page is magic," Malrin confirmed. "How ever did you know?"</p><p></p><p>"There was a bookmark in it," the gnome replied. "Kind of a giveaway." Castillan frowned; while he'd hoped his friends would be able to shed some light on his grandfather's disappearance, he would have preferred it if they didn't just waltz on in here and find the answer so quickly, after he'd spent months on the investigation all alone!</p><p></p><p>"Probably <em>secret page</em> spell," deduced Gilbert. "We need <em>true seeing</em> spell, but I don't have one at hand."</p><p></p><p>"Let me see," demanded Castillan, eager to aid in figuring out the trick the book was hiding. Now that his attention was drawn to this specific page in question - it wasn't as if he'd had time to read through every book on the many shelves in the few months since he'd started investigating! - he noticed something the others hadn't yet picked up on. "Some of the letters in the words on this page are underlined," he said. "A...L...T...O..." he called out as he focused on each underlined letter in turn.</p><p></p><p>"Altomorphus," said Binkadink without hesitation once Castillan had called out all the underlined letters on the page. He then looked expectantly at the door, but there was no change.</p><p></p><p>"Look!" exclaimed Malrin. The command word apparently hadn't been for the door but the <em>secret page</em> spell, for upon the gnome's utterance the words on the page had changed. Now, in an engraved box in the middle of the page was the phrase,</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Binkadink wasted no time reading the phrase aloud. Turning back to the western door, he smiled as he saw the fairies and lizards were now glowing a faint blue. "I'll bet if we open that door and walk through it now, we'll end up wherever your grandfather went," the gnome hazarded.</p><p></p><p>"Let's go!" Castillan called out, but the gnome held back the eager bounder with a hand on his arm.</p><p></p><p>"Not so fast! Since we have no idea where we'll end up, I want to bring Obvious along."</p><p></p><p>"And I want to bring Wrath," Finoula added. Malrin pulled out the <em>portable hole</em>, removed the <em>carpet of teleportation</em> from it, and the heroes took turns going back to the dragonfly vessel to fetch their various animals. By the time they were done, the runes along the doorway had gone out, but Binkadink repeated the activation phrase and the door was once again outlined in a light blue glow. "After you," the gnome offered to the bounder; it seemed only fair that Castillan should lead the way to finding his errant grandfather. Without a moment's hesitation, the elf opened the door, revealing not the hallway beyond but rather a shimmering field of silver sparkles, and stepped through. The others, including the animals, followed one by one in his wake.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, the other side of the <em>teleport gate</em> was a completely different place altogether. For one thing, despite it being late morning when the group had stepped through the door from Lord Darborel's study, it was now just the beginning of twilight. Furthermore, they were now standing in a large clearing in the forest, with trees overhead in all directions and large fireflies pulsing their glowing bodies as they flew about here and there.</p><p></p><p>But that wasn't the most significant change about this new place. As each member stepped through the magical doorway, they appeared in the same general vicinity but at random locations throughout - and not necessarily in their original bodies. The animals - Wezhley, Obvious, Grumps Junior, Wrath, and Taihar - all looked the same, but each of the adventurers now found themselves in a completely different form.</p><p></p><p>Castillan had been the first to step through the doorway - and find his body changed on the other side. He now sported skin of a deep forest green, with hard, thorny protrusions growing out of his body: all along the top of his head in place of his hair, and along his forearms and lower legs. Most of his leather armor had vanished - subsumed into his polymorphed body, as he understood it - leaving him in an armless vest and pants that only reached to his knees. He was glad to see he still retained his <em>gloves of storing</em>, and a quick snap of his fingers reassured him that the weapons he had loaded in there were still at hand. But turning around he saw no visible doorway as he'd expected; apparently the <em>teleport gate</em> was one-way only!</p><p></p><p>Malrin had appeared next, and although her face still bore her own features, her skin was now a light blue, her hair a darker blue, and webbing had appeared between each of her fingers. Castillan recognized her new form as that of a nixie, having encountered that race before up in Lake Quag - and with a start, he realized he was probably only about three feet tall in his new form, for Malrin was still about his own height in her new form and he knew nixies weren't all that tall. That would explain why the forest above seemed so large and foreboding!</p><p></p><p>Darrien was the next hero to appear, only it was more difficult to identify him as he was barely half the height of Castillan and his sister. What's more, he was completely naked, with a lower torso looking rather like that of a grasshopper and gossamer wings growing out of his back. In fact, what first identified the half-elf as Darrien in his new grig form was the <em>Arachnibow</em> he held, still the same shape and appearance despite its greatly reduced size.</p><p></p><p>Finoula's new form was the most different yet, for she bore a centaurian build with the body and antlers of a deer and only her upper torso looking as it did as an elf. She wore only the upper part of her armor, the lower half having been subsumed into her hybsil form. She glanced around in confusion, looking down at her four-legged form in shock and surprise.</p><p></p><p>Hagan appeared next, in a humanoid body a mere foot tall. His first action was to sprawl flat upon his face into the dirt, for Wezhley had been riding upon his shoulders when he stepped through the doorway and the weasel familiar was now larger than the atomie upon whom he stood. "Sorry!" Wezhley apologized, and the others all looked over at the unexpected utterance, for Wezhley had only ever spoken to Hagan, his master, in their own shared language - no one was aware he could even speak the Common tongue as he just had.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink suddenly appeared in mid-flight, startling himself greatly. He was in the body of a pixie, minus his red dragonhide plate mail armor and his <em>gnomish stilt-boots</em>. But he still held his magical glaive in hand, although its size had conformed to his own greatly diminished stature. "What--?" the gnome sputtered in shock.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert was the last of the heroes to appear, having been the last to step through the doorway from Lord Darborel's study. He looked much his old self, save for the curling horns growing from the top of his head - and the fact that his overweight body was supported by a pair of goat legs. "I a satyr!" he exclaimed, looking down at himself in surprise. MARCI appeared suddenly at his side, looking around in apparent puzzlement at her new surroundings.</p><p></p><p>"What's going on?" demanded Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, this is weird!" agreed Grumps Junior - which caused another round of shock, since the dire bear cub - despite being the size of a full-grown grizzly bear - was a simple animal, incapable (until now) of speech.</p><p></p><p>"What you expect?" replied Gilbert. "That door not just <em>teleport</em> us - it <em>plane shift</em> us as well! We in Land of Faerie!"</p><p></p><p>"And it seemed to have <em>polymorphed</em> us as well," observed Hagan, looking up at his friends towering high above him.</p><p></p><p>"I did see transmutation energies around the door as well as conjuration," Malrin pointed out. "Apparently it gave us new bodies, and gave the animals the power of speech." She turned to her dire fox, Taihar, now much larger than herself. "Can you talk?" she asked him.</p><p></p><p>"It would seem I can," replied the fox, licking his chops.</p><p></p><p>"As can I," Obvious added.</p><p></p><p>"Me too," pointed out Wrath.</p><p></p><p>"It feels lighter here," Darrien observed, raising and dropping his arms to his sides.</p><p></p><p>"Lighter gravity," Gilbert agreed. "It take us awhile to get used to it. Time flow different, too - I think more time pass back home than pass here."</p><p></p><p>"What do you mean?" asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"We spend day here, full week pass back home."</p><p></p><p>"Then we only have two days to find my grandfather," reasoned Castillan.</p><p></p><p>MARCI had spent the moments since her sudden arrival in this strange place scanning her companions with the red light from her single eye. "No humans detected," she announced.</p><p></p><p>"MARCI, it me!" Gilbert insisted. The metal construct examined the satyr before her; it certainly had Gilbert's facial features and speech mannerisms. To be sure, she scanned him a second time with her eye. "No humans detected," she repeated.</p><p></p><p>"Fine. But it best if you stay by us for safety, until you find new humans to serve," Gilbert reasoned. He was fairly certain their chance of stumbling across any actual humans in the Land of Faerie were practically nonexistent.</p><p></p><p>"Logical," MARCI replied.</p><p></p><p>Sudden laughter from all around them stopped the newcomers from exploring anything else about their new surroundings or their new bodies. The laughter came from all directions, from well within the trees surrounding the clearing into which they'd appeared. And then a sudden light appeared overhead, a glowing ball of energy about the size of a human fist. It floated down from a height of about thirty feet, directly above the heads of the assembled group, in the middle of the clearing. It fell erratically, following the likely path of a falling snowflake - and it worried the heroes that they had no idea what would happen when it finally landed.</p><p></p><p>But then their attention was diverted yet again by the sudden, unseen attacks. Grumps cried out in pain as a blade cut open a gash in his side; Wrath howled at almost the same time as a blade carved a line of pain across his right foreleg. But it wasn't just the animals under attack, for Castillan, Gilbert, and Finoula were also targeted - by something moving so fast it couldn't even be seen, even though the breeze of its rapid movement could be felt and the heroes' foreign flesh definitely felt the cuts of invisible blades. Castillan used his bounder training to spin away as soon as he felt a blade touch him and thus was barely harmed; the others were not so lucky, and the blades went deep, spilling blood.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert responded by casting a quickened <em>dimension door</em> spell that deposited him into the middle of the clump of newcomers, where it was safer - it seemed like the five targets had all been chosen by their positions on the outer edges of the mass of bodies. Malrin abandoned her nixie form for her preferred combat form of an owl and learned that the decreased gravity in the Land of Faerie allowed her to attain a higher elevation that much faster with but a few flaps of her wings. She flew high enough that she should be out of reach of a human-sized foe, but still well within range to be able to swoop down to alight by any of her friends who might need healing.</p><p></p><p>Darrien, despite being much smaller than he was used to, discovered that it didn't impede his spellcasting abilities any; he cast an <em>animal growth</em> spell on all five of the group's animals, having recently learned just how advantageous that could be in battle. Grumps Junior attained his full, adult size; Taihar and Wrath were now the size of horses; Obvious the size of a small elephant; and Wezhley the size of a small dog. With their switched comparative sizes, Hagan did the obvious and leaped upon his weasel's back, riding him like a pony. He cast a <em>mage armor</em> spell that encompassed them both.</p><p></p><p>Finoula brought out her weapons, <em>Tahlmalaera</em> the longsword and her <em>flaming whip of thorns</em>, and held them at the ready. She wasn't sure just what had attacked her, but she'd make them pay for another such attempt! Over at the other end of the group, Castillan did likewise, holding his enchanted short sword and his <em>stonepiercer's dagger</em> at the ready. Wrath glared out at the forest and the unknown enemies it harbored, his hackles raised as blood spilled down the front of his leg.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink followed Malrin's strategy and flew up higher, to a level he deemed to be out of stabbing range. He had his glaive at the ready, extended to its full length. "Obvious! Dust!" he called to his riding mount, using the Common tongue instead of the secret language of burrowing mammals he usually used when conversing with his jackalope. Obvious spun around, pointing his back toward the forest, and started digging with his hind legs. Dirt went flying behind him, raising a great cloud of dust in a wide arc; anything invisible that tried attacking them from that direction should become at least momentarily visible.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert looked worriedly up at the slowly-falling ball of light, but then figured it for what it was: a simple <em>dancing lights</em> spell, likely cast as a mere distraction. He then cast a spell of his own: a <em>solid fog</em> spell whose 20-foot radius encompassed the entire group except for Wrath, who had the misfortune of being farther away than the rest. Still, he hoped the wolf would have the good sense to retreat back into the safety of the spell, where the unseen attackers would have a hard time seeing their targets and their incredible speed would be negated. Mudpie, in the meantime, crawled out of Gilbert's pocket and allowed himself to crash to the ground, the impact restoring him to his normal, three-foot-tall size. He regained his feet and stood protectively by his master. MARCI, on the other hand, stood puzzled by all she could see - although this was a rather common occurrence in her life since she had first encountered the human designated Gilbert Fung.</p><p></p><p>With maniacal laughter, the quickling bounders rushed back in to attack, dismayed to see most of their foes encased in a <em>solid fog</em> spell. Three of them went for the obvious target, Wrath, and the wolf howled in pain as three invisible blades cut deep into his flesh. Two others stopped just short of the <em>solid fog</em> and sent spells of their own flashing blindly into the interior. Binkadink felt and heard a shattering noise indicating all of the potion vials he carried had simultaneously burst, victims of a <em>shatter</em> spell; he now realized, with their healing potions gone and MARCI unwilling to heal nonhumans (and no longer recognizing the other heroes that Gilbert had instructed her to treat as humans), Malrin was now their sole source of healing, unless any of the others carried healing potions with them.</p><p></p><p>Malrin heard Wrath's predicament and tried flying in his direction, but the <em>solid fog</em> impeded flight as much as it did ground-based movement; it felt like she was flying through taffy. But she put the full strength of her wings to the task, moving slowly in the wolf's direction. Wrath, for his part, saw the wisdom of falling back with his friends and backed halfway into the <em>solid fog</em>.</p><p></p><p>Unable to see out of the <em>solid fog</em>, Darrien took the opportunity to cast a <em>barkskin</em> spell upon himself as he trudged to get to the spell's edge of effect. Finoula was already at the edge of the <em>solid fog</em> and could see out somewhat, but cast the same spell upon herself as she waited for the attackers to try another assault.</p><p></p><p>Grumps was also at the edge of the <em>solid fog</em> spell, but despite being the size of a full-grown dire bear he was still just a cub and wanted little to do with fighting invisible foes with blades that caused so much hurt. He bumbled his way back, not sure what was impeding his progress so much, for this was his first experience with fog that was so thick you couldn't even move through it very fast.</p><p></p><p>Castillan, having heard Wrath's howls of pain and figuring he might be near death (and how much that would infuriate Finoula), used his magic ring to <em>dimension door</em> from his place of relative safety at the edge of the southern part of the <em>solid fog</em> spell to the absolute danger of about twenty feet outside the <em>solid fog</em>'s northernmost edge, just past Wrath, who was slowly backing his way into the safety of the spell. Castillan trusted in his bounder training to be able to fend off the worst of any incoming attacks, even if he couldn't actually see them coming.</p><p></p><p>Snug inside the <em>solid fog</em> there wasn't a whole lot Hagan could do in the way of attacking their invisible foes. But as he was right next to Obvious, who was still kicking up a dust storm behind him, the atomie sorcerer cast a <em>greater magic fang</em> on the jackalope, certain that eventually the antlered rabbit would end up in physical combat - that was, after all, the whole point of Darrien's <em>animal growth</em> spell. Binkadink was also safe inside the <em>solid fog</em>, but that was emphatically <em>not</em> where he wanted to be; he flapped his pixie wings to get him to the spells' outer edge and readied his glaive to come crashing down at anyone who might attack him. He even lowered his aerial height to five feet so he'd be a viable target to the unseen attackers.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert cast a <em>haste</em> spell upon all of his fellow heroes and the combined animals fighting alongside them. Almost immediately thereafter, Binkadink's strategy bore fruit, for one of the quicklings who had just cast a <em>shatter</em> spell - while still invisible - <em>levitated</em> up beside the gnome-turned-pixie and attacked him with an invisible blade. Binkadink had time to retaliate with a thrust of his glaive at the unseen attacker, and by the cry of pain it elicited his strike hit true.</p><p></p><p>Two other invisible quicklings opted to take out Obvious, whose back half protruded from the safety of the <em>solid fog</em> spell. After all, if they could slay the jackalope raising all that dust, the other quicklings would have that much more of an avenue of attack. Their blades sank into Obvious's flanks from either side, causing the jackalope to cry out in pain and stop kicking up the dust - so while they had failed to slay him they had at least succeeded on the one front. But it was a victory not without cost, for Obvious struck out with his antlers in the direction of one of the attacks, catching a quickling by surprise and impaling him on the prongs of the jackalope's massive rack of horns.</p><p></p><p>Another quickling could see enough of Finoula's hybsil form to move in to attack, thinking he could then speed away before she was any the wiser, but he'd not anticipated the rapidity of her reflexes, and she drew blood with <em>Tahlmalaera</em> before he could bound away in time. The hybsil ranger opted not to try to follow her invisible foe but took up her defensive stance again, ready to lash out at anyone who might attack.</p><p></p><p>Malrin by this time was close enough to land upon Wrath's haunches and send a wave of healing energy through her taloned feet and into the beleaguered timber wolf, who sighed in contentment as the worst of his wounds sealed up. "Thank you," he replied, startling Marlin who was unused to hearing animals speak aloud (for she herself couldn't speak while wildshaped into an animal form).</p><p></p><p>Darrien was close enough to Obvious to be able to reach out and touch the side of his furry face; he didn't have any healing spells readied, but he did have a <em>bear's endurance</em>, which would at least allow the jackalope to stay in the fight that much longer before collapsing. By his side, Hagan coaxed Wezhley into heading - slowly - to the edge of the <em>solid fog</em> so he could bring his own spells to bear.</p><p></p><p>Castillan, out in the open, tried goading the enemies into making an appearance. "What's the matter?" he called out to the forest. "Are you afraid to face me? I'm all of three feet tall! Cowards!" He heard some of the incessant laughter turn to snarls and figured he'd hit a nerve.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink, in the meantime, had figured out the probable location of his unseen foe and brought his glaive down - hard. He sliced through the quickling, then spun in midair and sent his blade crashing down over to the side of his jackalope, luckily catching one of the quicklings harassing Obvious. Behind him, the one he'd just slain turned to full visibility upon death, revealing a thin, lithe torso and limbs and an elven head with ridiculously long, pointed ears. The dead quickling was no larger than Binkadink in either his gnomish or pixie forms: about a yard tall.</p><p></p><p>Obvious had managed to flick off the invisible quickling he'd snared on his antlers and grab him up in his teeth, and was now busily shaking him like a rag doll while scratching at him with the claws of his front paws. From the poor fey's screams, he didn't much appreciate the treatment he was receiving. His sword fell from his grasp onto the ground, attaining normal visibility once it left his grasp.</p><p></p><p>From the safety of the still-active <em>solid fog</em> spell, Gilbert cast a <em>stoneskin</em> spell upon himself and Mudpie, finally declaring himself ready for battle. But by then the quicklings were running back off to the safety of the trees, after getting in some last stabs against Binkadink, Finoula, and Castillan. Finoula by then was bleeding rather heavily, and Malrin flew over to her to help. Unsure whether this was a full-fledged retreat or if the quicklings would be back, Darrien cast a <em>spike growth</em> spell on the section of forest floor to the immediate west of the <em>solid fog</em> spell, ensuring any quicklings who might attack from that direction would be getting quite the surprise.</p><p></p><p>After Malrin had healed the worst of her wounds, Finoula again took up position at the northeastern section of the <em>solid cloud</em> spell, readying herself to strike out at any who might attack. She greatly preferred going straight into combat with her enemies, but if they were going to hide behind invisibility, she was going to counter with the protection of a <em>solid fog</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>Castillan, hearing the invisible quickling bounders scurry off at ridiculous speeds, took the opportunity to bound up into the overhanging limb of a tree. Maybe he could catch them unawares if they came back to try to find out where he'd gotten to.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert and Mudpie sidled up to the edge of the <em>solid fog</em> spell, beside Hagan and Wezhley, and called out to the quicklings, "Who you working for?" He got back an almost immediate response, although one coming from deep within the forest: "The Queen! All will work for her, eventually!" That was less than informative, although from what he could recall of the Land of Faerie, the quickling likely meant the Unseelie Queen, the ruler of evil fairykind.</p><p></p><p>The discourse might have been responsible for the quicklings' return to battle; it was difficult to say. But one of them tried attacking from a different direction and sped directly into Darrien's <em>spike growth</em> zone, cursing in pain as he did an abrupt about face and hobbled back the way he'd come. "I'm out!" he cried to his fellows, his invisible feet leaving quite visible bloody footprints in his wake.</p><p></p><p>That was apparently enough for the others. "Sorry, <strong>Skrixxit</strong> - you're on your own!" called one of the fairies before the rest of the quicklings sped off to find safer mischief elsewhere. "No--wait! Help me!" called the invisible quickling still caught up in Obvious's rodent teeth, to no avail.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert dismissed the <em>solid fog</em> spell and then worried that it had just been a ruse to get him to do exactly that, but the quicklings did not return. "Spit him out," he told Obvious, and the jackalope dropped his victim to the ground and then put a foot upon his chest to keep him in place. The hapless quickling had picked up a bunch of dirt from the clouds Obvious had kicked up and was thus partially visible in any case. Too tired to keep up his <em>greater invisibility</em> spell any more, Skrixxit came full into view.</p><p></p><p>"We only here to find missing friends," Gilbert said to the pinned quickling. "You tell us if you see them, maybe we let you go."</p><p></p><p>"And maybe you can go screw yourself, satyr!" Skrixxit spat.</p><p></p><p>Malrin landed beside the quickling and resumed her elven form; apparently wildshaping allowed her to revert to her normal form despite the nixie body she'd been given upon her arrival in the Land of Faerie. "That isn't very nice," she scolded the quickling. "But we're in somewhat of a hurry, so we won't waste a whole lot of time on asking nicely. I'd advise you to start being helpful before we go straight to the torture." Malrin was merely bluffing; she'd be the first to try to prevent any of the heroes from torturing a helpless captive - but she saw no reason to let the quickling know that.</p><p></p><p>Her plot didn't work, as evidenced by the one-finger gesture the quickling managed to give as his only response. Seeing Skrixxit wasn't going to provide any information, Castillan executed him on the spot with a blade through the throat.</p><p></p><p>"I might be able to help you," called a voice from the trees above. Looking up, Gilbert spotted a squirrel scampering along an overhanging branch. "Who you?" the portly satyr wizard asked.</p><p></p><p>"My name is <strong>Nutbreath</strong>," replied the squirrel. "What's this about missing friends?"</p><p></p><p>"Two people like us, a man and a woman," Malrin called up to the squirrel. "I'm...not entirely sure what they would look like," she added, realizing that Lord Darborel and Mary Jo would likely have ended up in different bodies upon their arrival in this plane of existence, just as they all had.</p><p></p><p>"Sure, I remember!" cried Nutbreath. "About a year and a half ago! A man and a woman, just like you said!"</p><p></p><p>"Er, this would have been about ten years ago..." Darrien started to correct the squirrel, but then Gilbert explained again that a year and a half in the Land of Faerie would correspond to about ten years back home. "Do you know where we might find them?" he asked Nutbreath.</p><p></p><p>"No - but I know who probably does," replied the squirrel. "<strong>Chibimibi the Pale Monarch</strong>. I can show you the way to his island." He dropped down from the tree and scampered along the ground, looking back to ensure the others were following him.</p><p></p><p>"Wait one moment, please," asked Gilbert, indicating for Malrin to open the <em>portable hole</em> she carried. Once it was open, Gilbert plopped it over MARCI's head and she was engulfed inside the extradimensional space. "She safer in there for now," he explained. "Don't want her wandering off, looking for humans." He then folded the hole back up and returned it to the elven druid. "Lead on, squirrel," he said.</p><p></p><p>The island of Chibimibi the Pale Monarch was across an expanse of swamp. Binkadink, Darrien, and Hagan could fly in their current forms, but Hagan had a better idea. "Everybody gather around," he ordered, and <em>teleported</em> everyone across the swamp to the shore of the island. (Given the number of people and animals involved and the current size of some of the animals, it took the sorcerer several trips.)</p><p></p><p>"Chibimibi!" Finoula called once they were all in place. "We come in peace, seeking lost friends!" Almost instantly, the air before her started to shimmer and a massive form took shape, materializing from thin air. It bore the appearance of a gargantuan white dragon, with piercing blue eyes and wisps of frost rising from between its jaws. Even once it was fully in view parts of it were partially see-through; the group got the idea that this dragon could instantly move between the Land of Faerie and the ethereal plane at will. Gilbert focused on the draconic image before him, ensuring he wasn't some form of undead; his magically-enhanced vision told him that the dragon was indeed among the living.</p><p></p><p>"WHO DARES DISTURB CHIBIMIBI THE PALE MONARCH?" the dragon roared, its face contorted in anger.</p><p></p><p>"We seek--" began Gilbert, but he was immediately cut off.</p><p></p><p>"PROVIDE AMPLE TRIBUTE BEFORE SPEAKING, MORTAL WORMS!" roared Chibimibi. He looked expectantly at Binkadink, one of the heroes closest to the dragon. The pixie pulled the <em>necklace of lightning crystals</em> from his neck and tossed it in front of the dragon. "THIS IS APPROPRIATELY SHINY!" approved the dragon. "I LIKE IT!" He turned to focus his attention on the grig before him, Darrien, who sported one just like it. "I'LL HAVE YOURS AS WELL!" he demanded. Without hesitation, Darrien removed it and tossed it into the sand beside Binkadink's.</p><p></p><p>Chibimibi then focused his attention upon Finoula, and the <em>lightning amulet</em> she wore around her neck. "AND YOURS!" he demanded.</p><p></p><p>Finoula blanched at the thought of handling over her magic amulet, which she'd put to good use over the years since she'd taken it from a slain stone giantess back in the Clatspur Mountains. "I would rather present you with a gift of many golden coins!" she counter-offered. "They would increase your treasure hoard by--"</p><p></p><p>But she was also cut off in indignation. "YOU WOULD DARE HAGGLE WITH CHIBIMIBI THE PALE MONARCH?" demanded the dragon, and the ranger saw an increase in the amount of frost spilling from the dragon's lips. It looked like combat was imminent!</p><p></p><p>But then Malrin, who had been silent during this whole exchange, suddenly called out, "It's an illusion! Chibimibi's not real!" Alerted to the trickery, the other heroes concentrated and the dragon's visage suddenly became even more see-through and less real. "You a fake!" accused Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>The dragon winked out at once and another draconic creature flew into view. This one was little larger than a housecat and sported a pair of butterfly wings on its light-scaled back. "So I am," Chibimibi the Pale Monarch admitted with a smile. "What's up, guys?"</p><p></p><p>Castillan had been ready to leap into battle with the white dragon and now couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of the situation. "We're looking for my grandfather, an elf, and possibly a human girl as well. They would have appeared nearby about a year and a half ago."</p><p></p><p>"Ah, you must mean Lord Darborel and Mary Jo," Chibimibi stated matter-of-factly. Then his eyes narrowed and he asked with a grin, "How much is their current location worth to you?"</p><p></p><p>"Not this," answered Binkadink, grabbing back his <em>necklace of lightning crystals</em> and putting it around his neck. Darrien did likewise with his own.</p><p></p><p>"How about a belly rub?' asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Sold!" Chibimibi agreed at once. Once his belly was good and rubbed down, he led the others to a small, ramshackle cabin at the other end of the island. There was a handsome eladrin standing on the porch as if waiting for the group to appear. The door opened behind him and out stepped a most extraordinarily beautiful young woman - a nymph, the embodiment of the beauty of the natural world.</p><p></p><p>"Castillan!" beamed Lord Darborel as his grandson approached, easily recognizing him despite his current appearance as a thorn fairy. "And little Malrin as well! Welcome! I'd like you all to meet my wife, Mary Jo!" The nymph smiled shyly at the strangers.</p><p></p><p>Introductions were made all around, and then Lord Darborel explained what had happened to send them to the Land of Faerie. "It was love, as plain and simple as that," he said, looking into the face of his wife. "I was an elven nobleman and Mary Jo was the human daughter of a farmer. Our being together would never be permitted - we were from different worlds. But the very first moment I lay eyes on her, I knew she was the one. She was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."</p><p></p><p>"Or rather, the rest of mine," corrected Mary Jo.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed," said Lord Darborel. "Humans have such tragically short lives on our home plane. But things are different here; we are in timeless bodies in a mostly timeless realm - there's no reason we shouldn't have centuries together here in the Land of Faerie."</p><p></p><p>"But you've abrogated your responsibilities back at home," countered Castillan. "Your son has been acting in your stead all these years - nearly ten, back at home."</p><p></p><p>"And I'm sure he's doing a perfectly fine job of it," countered Lord Darborel. "The military life means more to him than it does to me. He's welcome to it."</p><p></p><p>"But he needs your ring," said Malrin. "The Baronial ring of office."</p><p></p><p>"This thing?" scoffed Lord Darborel, removing it from his finger. "A mere bauble. He no more needs this ring to do his job than..." he cast about for an apt analogy. "...Than a pair of gnomish sock-garters." But he handed it over to his grandson nonetheless. "Still, if it means that much to him, he's welcome to it."</p><p></p><p>"Great!" said Darrien. "Now we can get back home."</p><p></p><p>"Not so fast," replied Lord Darborel. "It wouldn't do to leave the Land of Faerie without permission." He turned to the fairy dragon who had brought the heroes and their animals to the eladrin's cabin. "Chibimibi, would you be so kind as to ask Queen Titania for an audience?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, yeah? What's in it for me?"</p><p></p><p>"A belly rub?" offered Mary Jo.</p><p></p><p>"Deal!"</p><p></p><p>The heroes were invited into the cabin for the night, which proved to be much less ramshackle on the inside - it was, in fact, a <em>Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion</em>, Lord Darborel being an accomplished wizard. They spent the time catching up on the Ivenheart family, although Gilbert did have one pressing question: "Why we need permission from Fairy Queen to leave? I'd think she glad to see mortals go back home."</p><p></p><p>"<strong>Queen Titania</strong> does not appreciate mortal intrusions into her realms," Lord Darborel explained. "At least, not by those who do not intend to stay." He looked into his wife's eyes and smiled; she smiled back. "Leaving without her permission would be an unwise act, as she'll likely take it personally. Insult her and there's a good chance you'd find a slew of fairy pranks following you for the rest of your days, some merely making you objects of ridicule; others possibly dangerous to the point of being quite deadly."</p><p></p><p>Eventually the group opted to catch a few hours of sleep rather than reminisce with their hosts any further. The next morning came soon enough, although the sky outside still showed as twilight - merely a lighter twilight, to distinguish it from true night, which was merely the last normal throes of twilight before full darkness took reign. Chibimibi was there outside the cabin, to inform Lord Darborel that the arrangements had been made. And thus, after a quick but nourishing breakfast and the opportunity for the spellcasters to prepare the day's spells, the group went off to a nearby set of standing stones in a forest clearing.</p><p></p><p>After many minutes of waiting, a glow finally suffused the interior of a set of stones and a pair of armed fey stepped through. They looked around at the assembled group (the animals all back to their original sizes), deemed them safe enough, and nodded back through the opening through which they'd just stepped.</p><p></p><p>Lifting her skirts, Queen Titania stepped through the <em>gate</em> formed by the two standing stones and the plinth lying horizontally across them. She was taller than an elf, with regal features and wore a crown of dark horns. Lord Darborel approached, bowed, and explained the heroes' presence in the Land of Faerie. Queen Titania heard him out, her stern face expressionless as she listened to her subject's tale.</p><p></p><p>Finally, she deigned to look over at the mortal heroes. "You stand as trespassers in my realms," she intoned. "Still, you are vouched by Lord Darborel, who has proven to be a good and loyal subject. I will allow your departure, but I will have a boon first."</p><p></p><p>"As Your Majesty commands," replied Castillan, bowing deeply, taking the initiative to speak for the group before somebody - like Gilbert - opened their foolish mouth and said something stupid. "What would you have of us?"</p><p></p><p>"There is a bullywug village nearby, in the lands contested with the Unseelie Court. I would have you go yonder, for there are disturbing rumors to be had of their recent practices. Break up whatever shenanigans they are undertaking, even if it should mean slaughtering them to a man - and then you have my leave to depart back to your own lands. Thus have I spoken; thus shall it be."</p><p></p><p>"At once, Your Majesty," replied Castillan, bowing again and stepping back. After a moment's hesitation, the other heroes did likewise, rejoining their animals who had wisely kept their distance from the glowing stones. With a regal nod, Queen Titania returned through the <em>gate</em>, followed immediately by her two guards.</p><p></p><p>"Which way to bullywug village?" asked Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"I can show you," offered Chibimibi.</p><p></p><p>The village was some ways away. Right before they got within visual range, the fairy dragon warned them the bullywug camp was just beyond the next grove of trees. Therefore, before they got any closer, the group jointly decided to perform their "combat is imminent" preparatory spellcasting. Darrien started off with an <em>animal growth</em> spell, which was well on its way to becoming a standard practice. All five animals gained their larger sizes, much to their approval. Gilbert cast a <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell linking all but Castillan, a spell he hadn't had time to cast before the fight with the quicklings. Malrin cast an <em>attune form</em> on everyone, so that the plane's naturally lesser gravity didn't throw off muscles used to the normal weight of the material plane. Darrien followed up with another <em>greater magic fang</em> spell on Obvious and Finoula did likewise for Wrath. Gilbert cast <em>spell turning</em> on himself and Mudpie and then a <em>haste</em> spell encompassing everyone. Darrien activated his <em>ebony fly</em>, then he and Hagan climbed aboard. Hagan left Wezhley to guard the rear, so he could inform his master over their shared empathic link if any enemy forces approached from that direction - it was a good job for the sneaky weasel, and one which kept him out of combat. Then, with a shared look of readiness, Gilbert gave the go-ahead and the team moved forward.</p><p></p><p>Darrien directed his <em>ebony fly</em> over the tree-tops, catching sight of two bullywug fighters on guard duty at the nearest corners of the encampment. From their aerial position, the ranger and the sorcerer could see numerous hide tents below them. Hagan looked to the far side of the camp, and sure enough there were two more bullywug fighters on duty there as well, each armed with a longspear. The edge of camp backed up to the shore of the swamplands that surrounded the island.</p><p></p><p>The fly had taken them toward the middle of the camp, so Hagan cast a <em>delayed blast fireball</em> spell directly below him, smack in the middle of three of the larger tents. The following explosion caused each of the three to burst into flames, but the atomie didn't see anyone fleeing them - they'd either been burned to a crisp at once or the tents had been empty, perhaps belonging to the bullywugs currently on guard duty. But the explosion was enough to gain the bullywugs' attention; they began croaking a warning loudly in their own guttural tongue.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink flew to the guard at the southeastern station, leading with his glaive and getting in a good hit. Behind him, an oversized Grumps followed in his wake. Castillan snuck along the tree line at the other end of camp, stealthily approaching the other guard at this end of the encampment.</p><p></p><p>A larger tent toward the other side of the encampment opened and a bullywug cleric stepped out, his gnarled staff held in one webbed hand. <strong>Mudlord Plorrpnik Blorgenblotter</strong> croaked out an incantation, his staff held above his head and aimed at the swamplands. There was movement at the smaller tents as well, as eight humanoid frogs with glowing eyes emerged and looked about them for the invading enemies. Two of them cast <em>unholy blight</em> spells, one up at the <em>ebony fly</em> and its two passengers and the other at Binkadink and Grumps Junior.</p><p></p><p>Finoula scampered up beside Binkadink as the pixie was in combat with the bullywug fighter, but then turned to face the one Castillan was sneaking up on. Holding forth her <em>lightning amulet</em>, she turned her hybsil form into a blast of lightning which went crashing through the other bullywug's body before becoming a deer-centaur once again. Wrath approached his mistress, who even though she had a different form smelled much the same as she always did - enough to convince the wolf that Finoula was still Finoula. He bit the bullywug in the arm holding the longspear with which he was threatening the hybsil ranger.</p><p></p><p>About this time, a massive croak - much louder than the warning the bullywug fighter had made to warn the rest of the encampment that they were under attack - reverberated across the area. This was the work of a monstrosity rising up out of the swamp at the bidding of the Mudlord, its creator: a massive amalgamation of toad, snail, and octopus. The froghemoth waddled forward on its froglike hind legs, dragging a bloated belly along the ground and waving its multiple tentacles about in the air as it peered through the trio of eyestalks rising up from the top of its head. Instinctively it headed toward the Mudlord, awaiting its commands.</p><p></p><p><Think we found bullywug "shenanigans!"> Gilbert called to the others over the telepathic bond.</p><p></p><p>Malrin saw the approaching monstrosity and wildshaped into her owl form just so she could take to the air. There was no way she wanted to be anywhere within that thing's reach! She quickly gained altitude, looking down upon the battle unfolding below.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert and Mudpie approached, the satyr casting a <em>stoneskin</em> upon them both as they moved toward the trio of burning tents. Then he cast another spell, a quickened <em>fly</em> spell that encompassed them both and the satyr rose into the air, a panicked Mudpie not enjoying the sensation of flight but dutifully accompanying his master.</p><p></p><p>Darrien shot a barrage of arrows from his <em>Arachnibow</em> down at the Mudlord, peppering him like a pincushion. From just behind him on the <em>ebony fly</em>, Hagan cast another <em>delayed blast fireball</em>, this one targeted directly at the bullywug cleric below. The blast blew up into an impressive explosion, taking out three more tents in the vicinity and several of the blindheims. Hagan realized his attack spells were much more impressive here in the Land of Faerie than they were back on the material plane - and didn't mind one bit!</p><p></p><p>The bullywug fighters did their best against their attackers, one stabbing up at a flying Binkadink pixie while the other tried catching Finoula on the point of his own longspear. But Finoula easily dodged the first attack and was only grazed by the second, while Binkadink's glaive brought down his own foe. The two other bullywug fighters from the far side of the encampment went running forward to meet the enemies invading their territory.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink moved up to face his next enemy, but this was one of the bright-eyed humanoid frog monsters, and the pixie had to squint at the blindheim's eye rays to prevent himself from being blinded by the glare. Castillan finally reached the bullywug fighting Finoula and managed to stab his blade deep into the amphibian's back, drawing a deep gush of blood in the process.</p><p></p><p>Burned badly by Hagan's spell, the Mudlord cast a <em>cone of cold</em> spell up at the offending fly and its two passengers. The spell slew the <em>ebony fly</em> outright, causing it to revert to its statue form and plummet to the ground below, but both Hagan and Darrien could fly in their current forms and the two remained airborne.</p><p></p><p>By now, the blindheims had advanced upon their enemies. One cast an <em>unholy blight</em> spell upon Castillan, Finoula, and Wrath, while another took a bite at Binkadink, catching him in the leg with a mouth full of pointed teeth. Finoula used her <em>lightning amulet</em> to blast through two blindheims that were nicely lined up for her, reforming into a hybsil at the other end of the battlefield. She regained her form just in time to see both blindheims fall to the ground, dead, their bodies still smoking from the electrical blast. She then took a moment to cast a healing spell upon herself to close up the worst of the wounds administered by the bullywug fighter's spear before racing back to help her wolf and her fellow elf.</p><p></p><p>Malrin could see the froghemoth getting closer to the heroes (and getting peppered with arrows from Darrien's <em>Arachnibow</em>) as Hagan cast an attack spell that fizzled against the creature's warty skin; apparently it, like many powerful monsters, had an innate resistance against spellcraft. Wrath continued snapping his jaws at the bullywug now fighting Castillan, and Malrin flew over to her brother to lend a healing talon as needed. Gilbert cast a quickened <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> that engulfed Mudlord Plorrpnik Blorgenblotter, two blindheims, and one of the advancing bullywug fighters. But before any of them could attempt to grapple their way out of the encompassing appendages, Hagan cast another <em>delayed blast fireball</em> down at them, slaying all four at once. With a growl of frustration, Gilbert dismissed his spell, allowing the writhing tentacles to be absorbed back into the ground from where they had sprung up.</p><p></p><p>Wrath tackled his bullywug enemy with his mouth clamped firmly around the amphibian's arm, but the fighter pulled free and regained his feet, swinging his spear at the wolf - only to be stabbed again by Castillan's flashing blade. Binkadink maneuvered so a blast from his <em>necklace of lightning crystals</em> shot through two blindheims and straight into the advancing froghemoth.</p><p></p><p>But now the froghemoth's weak vision could pinpoint some of its foes. It cast forth an <em>unholy blight</em> spell encompassing Finoula, Castillan, Wrath, Malrin, and the bullywug fighter they were battling - although the latter's evil nature made him immune to the spell's effects. Despite her own damage from the spell, Malrin could see the poor wolf was on his last legs and channeled healing energy through her talons to close his wounds.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert cast a <em>greater invisibility</em> spell on Finoula, hiding the hybsil from sight. Darrien, still airborne, continued to shoot arrow after arrow into the froghemoth. At his side, Hagan cast another of his most powerful spells at the bloated frog-thing, hoping the overcharged energy the very plane seemed to pump into arcane attack spells would make his deadliest spell even that much more deadly. He managed to overcome the froghemoth's natural spell resistance, and the <em>polar ray</em> spell - enhanced to its maximum effect by the Land of Faerie itself - caused the wounded beast to freeze instantly in place, topple precariously, and then shatter into thousands of pieces as it struck the ground.</p><p></p><p>A great cry went up among the invading force, causing the sole remaining bullywug fighter to look over to see what was going on. Upon spotting the demise of the massive froghemoth, he realized he had no chance against these Seelie forces and turned to flee. That turned out to be a bad move, for Wrath's muzzle darted forward and he caught the fleeing bullywug by the ankle, sending him crashing to the ground. Castillan's blade took the life from the bullywug before he could even think about getting back onto his feet.</p><p></p><p>Their enemies slain, the heroes started rooting around the place for any treasure, but most of anything of value was ablaze in the burning tents: rare books on spellcasting rituals, expensive alchemical equipment and reagents - all burning away in a pyroclastic display. Darrien flew down and recovered his <em>ebony fly</em> statue, then saw something in the Mudlord's pocket that looked very similar. It was an <em>opal frog</em>, which the grig claimed as his own. But once it was apparent there were no further enemies lurking about the place and no other useful treasure to be had among the ruins, the heroes met back up with Wezhley and Chibimibi and returned to the standing stones to report their success to Queen Titania.</p><p></p><p>"I am pleased by your accomplishments," she intoned regally to the Kordovians. "You may depart back to your own lands, never to return - or choose to stay here, as Lord Darborel and Mary Jo have done."</p><p></p><p>"We will depart your fair lands, Your Majesty," replied Castillan, bowing low.</p><p></p><p>"Then one further thing: upon your return, dismantle the <em>chameleon gate</em> leading to my lands. I would prefer not to have a back door into my realm."</p><p></p><p>"Of course, Your Majesty," replied Castillan. "It will be done." Satisfied, the Seelie Queen nodded slightly and returned through the standing-stone <em>gate</em> once more.</p><p></p><p>"Well then," said Darrien. "Let's get back home!"</p><p></p><p>"Err..." began Gilbert. Finoula picked up on his hesitation at once. "What's wrong?" she demanded of the satyr.</p><p></p><p>"We need <em>plane shift</em> spell. I don't have one ready."</p><p></p><p>"What?" demanded Castillan. "You knew we needed the spell to get back to Oerth! Why in the world didn't you prepare one?"</p><p></p><p>"No sense getting spell ready if it not needed!" argued Gilbert. "I get it ready when we need it."</p><p></p><p>"We need it now," pointed out Binkadink.</p><p></p><p>"It be ready in morning," insisted Gilbert. "After I get good night's sleep, and ready to prepare new spells for day."</p><p></p><p>Castillan gave a world-weary sigh and turned to his grandfather. "If we could impose upon you for another night...?" he began.</p><p></p><p>Lord Darborel swatted him playfully on the shoulder. "Not a problem," he guaranteed. And thus it wasn't until the next day that the Kordovians and their animals were once again gathered together, this time so Gilbert could cast a <em>plane shift</em> to return them back to Oerth. As the wizard had hoped, upon their arrival they reverted to their original forms; the <em>chameleon gate</em> had been designed to give those who passed through it fey forms only for the duration of their time in the Land of Faerie.</p><p></p><p>"It was cool to be able to fly under my own power," Binkadink observed, "...but I'm glad to be back to my own body!"</p><p></p><p>Malrin set up the <em>carpet of teleportation</em> and they took their animals across to the dragonfly vessel, which Jinkadoodle had parked back up on its cloud island hangar. He promised to steer back towards Veluna City where he'd dropped them off, and the group returned via the magic carpet back with Castillan, who had kept watch over it as the others teleported to and from the ship.</p><p></p><p>The heroes made their way across the city to Lord Kelboran Ivenheart's estate. If Castillan had expected any gratitude for having returned with the Baronial Ring under the deadline, he was sorely disappointed: his uncle was more preoccupied with berating him for waiting until the last possible day - for although two nights had passed for the Kordovians in the Land of Faerie, two weeks had passed here on Oerth and it was now ten years to the day since Lord Darborel's disappearance. Lord Kelboran placed the Baronial Ring upon his finger and, satisfied that he had prevented shame from falling upon the Ivenheart name, dismissed his nephew and his companions with a wave of his hand.</p><p></p><p>"Ungrateful sort," complained Hagan once they were back on the street and out of earshot.</p><p></p><p>"Isn't he, though?" agreed Castillan. "He's as bad as my father."</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: I have a blue shirt with a pair of Groucho glasses, beneath which is the legend, "DAD: Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult." I felt it was a good way to represent how the PCs would be "disguised" as fey creatures for the majority of this adventure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7526754, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 56: WHAT A BUNCH OF FAIRIES![/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 16 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 16 Darrien, half-elf ranger 16 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 16 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 16 Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 16[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Aithanar Ivenheart, elf fighter 4 Jinkadoodle Dundernoggin, gnome illusionist 6 Malrin Ivenheart, elf druid 9 MARCI, humanoid construct[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 17 November 2018 - - - "Guys," said Castillan, "I need your help." The others gathered around the elven bounder as he explained what he'd been up to in his months of absence before they'd run into him in Greyhawk City, both groups dealing with the "fire demon" that appeared to be attacking the city. "Several months ago," Castillan began, "I was called before my father, Aroban. As you all know, we don't get along that well - Aithanar's not that fond of him, either. Anyway, he told me that he had a job for me: that I was to report to his brother, [b]Lord Kelboran Ivenheart[/b], who had requested my presence in Veluna City immediately for a family emergency." Veluna City was the capital of the kingdom of Veluna, south and west of Kordovia, beneath the edge of the Clatspur Mountain range. "When I reported to Lord Kelboran, he informed me that his father - my grandfather - [b]Lord Darborel Ivenheart[/b] - had been missing now for nine and a half years. During that time, Lord Kelboran had been serving as the Acting Baron of the Western Marches, his father's role, but if his father didn't report back to duty after ten entire years had passed, it would look bad and cause a stain upon the honor of the Ivenheart family. He'd had spellcasters cast multiple divinations and to the best of their knowledge Lord Darborel was still alive, but somehow out of the range of all [i]scrying[/i] attempts and even [i]sending[/i] spells. He wanted me to use my resources as an adventurer to pick up the search where the others had left off. I was to find out what had happened to Lord Darborel, my grandfather, and drag him back to his duties if he was still alive, or bring back the Baronial Ring of office if he was dead so Lord Kelboran could continue on as the Baron of the Western Marshes in a full-time capacity. I somehow got the idea he greatly preferred the second option." "And I take it you haven't found Grandfather yet?" asked Malrin, Castillan's younger sister. "Not yet, no - but I have made some progress. The divinations indicated not only that he was still alive, but reachable from his study. I gave the place a thorough search and came up with a good idea of what happened to him, but I need your help - particularly yours, Gilbert - to track him down." "That make sense," agreed Gilbert, nodding knowingly. "I probably find him, no problem." "I hope so," replied Castillan. "The ten years since his disappearance is up in two weeks from today, so I'm bringing you guys into the investigation, even though Lord Kelboran wants this kept inside the family, if at all possible. I'm pretty sure we're at the point where it's better to bring in others and actually stand a shot of finding him before the deadline." The group loaded their gear (to include their various animal companions) on the dragonfly vessel and Jinkadoodle piloted it to the outskirts of Veluna City, where the group surreptitiously disembarked from the flying ship. "If my uncle finds out I have a flying ship, he'll likely try to confiscate it for the benefit of the Velunan army," Castillan explained. "Can we take our animals along?" asked Finoula. "Nope - we'll be going straight to Lord Darborel's estate, in the rich part of town. They're not going to allow us to traipse into their manor house with a dire bear cub or a dire fox in tow. They won't even like it having them walking around loose in the streets." "I'd prefer to have Obvious along," argued Binkadink. They decided to leave the animals on board the dragonfly ship under Aithanar's care, but to smuggle the [i]carpet of teleportation[/i] in with them inside the [i]bag of holding[/i]. That way, if they had an opportunity to sneak the animals into the study they could do so, hopefully without being discovered. Hagan brought Wezhley along, figuring he was small enough to remain on the half-orc's shoulder as usual, and Gilbert shrunk his earth elemental familiar Mudpie down to pebble size with his [i]slingshot of rock shrinking[/i], depositing him into a pocket for safekeeping. Arriving at Lord Darborel's estate, Castillan and his group were met at the door by several elven servants. They sniffed in disdain at the obviously seasoned adventurers, whose armor and weapons showed the ravages of time and indications of having been put to rugged use. But they escorted them into Lord Darborel's study, where Castillan closed the doors once they were all inside and had the place to themselves. "Fancy," remarked Hagan. "I've seen official libraries smaller than this place." Lord Darborel's study was filled with rows and rows of books along the eastern wall, while his massive wooden desk was centered against the back wall. Another door stood along the western wall, and a table with four wooden chairs provided ample places for study. The north, south, and west walls were also lined with shelves of books from floor to ceiling. Gilbert looked greedily at the titles on the spines, mentally calculating how much time it would take to copy all of these books into his own [i]Omnibook[/i]. Days, likely! "Let me show you what I've found so far," Castillan suggested. He pulled open a drawer of the desk and pulled out a leather-bound appointment book. "This is from ten years ago," he said. "The last entry is dated nine and a half years back, and consists of just the letters 'MJS'." "Any idea what it means?" Finoula asked. "After I gave this place an initial look-through and came up empty, I started checking around the city. It turns out Lord Darborel wasn't the only one to disappear nine and a half years ago. At about the same time, there was a human girl, seventeen years old, named [b]Mary Jo Spatchcock[/b], who went missing from her father's farm. MJS," he concluded. "Kidnapped?" asked Darrien. "I doubt it," replied Castillan. "There was never any ransom, for either of the two. But let me show you this." He walked over to the side door, on the western wall, and snapped his fingers to cause his [i]stonepiercer's dagger[/i] to appear in his hand. Carefully sliding the blade along the edge of the door jamb, he pried it away from the wall all in one piece. "Check it out," the bounder said, showing the others the back side of the door jamb he'd removed - which was covered in a layer of lead. "Lead-lined: to prevent [i]that[/i] from being detectable by magic, I'd wager." Behind the door jamb, the border of the door was covered in arcane runes and a series of figures: humanoid forms with butterfly wings and goggle-eyed lizards or dinosaurs. Malrin cast a [i]detect magic[/i] spell and examined the doorway. "It's magic all right," she confirmed. "I'm picking up strong auras of both transmutation and a type of conjuration magic - teleportation, to be specific." "That would have been my guess," Castillan said. "I think Lord Darborel walked right through this doorway, only instead of going to the hall" - here he opened the door to show the other heroes the hallway of the manor on the other side of the door - "he ended up at the other end of a [i]teleport gate[/i]." "So now we need to find way to activate [i]teleport gate[/i]," reasoned Gilbert. "Yes. And that's where you come in, I'd imagine. Got any way to figure out the command word or phrase?" "It no doubt right here, under our noses." "Here?" Where?" demanded Castillan, looking around the room. "We in library! Command word in book!" reasoned Gilbert, walking around the library and reading the titles that lay on the shelves before him. As might have been expected, there were large sections on military history, the geography of the region, and numerous volumes on combat tactics and strategies. However, there was also a rather surprisingly large section devoted to fairies, fairy tales, and the various types of fey creatures. "Aha!" Gilbert cried. "Fairies, like around door! Answer here somewhere, I bet!" Malrin, in the meantime, had continued concentrating on the [i]detect magic[/i] spell she'd cast, searching for other magical exits from the room. It wasn't likely that her brother would have missed finding any existing secret doors or passages, but there was always the possibility of a powerful illusion spell in place or something. But then Binkadink pulled a volume from the shelf and passed it over to the young elf. "Check this out," he suggested. "This page is magic," Malrin confirmed. "How ever did you know?" "There was a bookmark in it," the gnome replied. "Kind of a giveaway." Castillan frowned; while he'd hoped his friends would be able to shed some light on his grandfather's disappearance, he would have preferred it if they didn't just waltz on in here and find the answer so quickly, after he'd spent months on the investigation all alone! "Probably [i]secret page[/i] spell," deduced Gilbert. "We need [i]true seeing[/i] spell, but I don't have one at hand." "Let me see," demanded Castillan, eager to aid in figuring out the trick the book was hiding. Now that his attention was drawn to this specific page in question - it wasn't as if he'd had time to read through every book on the many shelves in the few months since he'd started investigating! - he noticed something the others hadn't yet picked up on. "Some of the letters in the words on this page are underlined," he said. "A...L...T...O..." he called out as he focused on each underlined letter in turn. "Altomorphus," said Binkadink without hesitation once Castillan had called out all the underlined letters on the page. He then looked expectantly at the door, but there was no change. "Look!" exclaimed Malrin. The command word apparently hadn't been for the door but the [i]secret page[/i] spell, for upon the gnome's utterance the words on the page had changed. Now, in an engraved box in the middle of the page was the phrase, Binkadink wasted no time reading the phrase aloud. Turning back to the western door, he smiled as he saw the fairies and lizards were now glowing a faint blue. "I'll bet if we open that door and walk through it now, we'll end up wherever your grandfather went," the gnome hazarded. "Let's go!" Castillan called out, but the gnome held back the eager bounder with a hand on his arm. "Not so fast! Since we have no idea where we'll end up, I want to bring Obvious along." "And I want to bring Wrath," Finoula added. Malrin pulled out the [i]portable hole[/i], removed the [i]carpet of teleportation[/i] from it, and the heroes took turns going back to the dragonfly vessel to fetch their various animals. By the time they were done, the runes along the doorway had gone out, but Binkadink repeated the activation phrase and the door was once again outlined in a light blue glow. "After you," the gnome offered to the bounder; it seemed only fair that Castillan should lead the way to finding his errant grandfather. Without a moment's hesitation, the elf opened the door, revealing not the hallway beyond but rather a shimmering field of silver sparkles, and stepped through. The others, including the animals, followed one by one in his wake. Sure enough, the other side of the [i]teleport gate[/i] was a completely different place altogether. For one thing, despite it being late morning when the group had stepped through the door from Lord Darborel's study, it was now just the beginning of twilight. Furthermore, they were now standing in a large clearing in the forest, with trees overhead in all directions and large fireflies pulsing their glowing bodies as they flew about here and there. But that wasn't the most significant change about this new place. As each member stepped through the magical doorway, they appeared in the same general vicinity but at random locations throughout - and not necessarily in their original bodies. The animals - Wezhley, Obvious, Grumps Junior, Wrath, and Taihar - all looked the same, but each of the adventurers now found themselves in a completely different form. Castillan had been the first to step through the doorway - and find his body changed on the other side. He now sported skin of a deep forest green, with hard, thorny protrusions growing out of his body: all along the top of his head in place of his hair, and along his forearms and lower legs. Most of his leather armor had vanished - subsumed into his polymorphed body, as he understood it - leaving him in an armless vest and pants that only reached to his knees. He was glad to see he still retained his [i]gloves of storing[/i], and a quick snap of his fingers reassured him that the weapons he had loaded in there were still at hand. But turning around he saw no visible doorway as he'd expected; apparently the [i]teleport gate[/i] was one-way only! Malrin had appeared next, and although her face still bore her own features, her skin was now a light blue, her hair a darker blue, and webbing had appeared between each of her fingers. Castillan recognized her new form as that of a nixie, having encountered that race before up in Lake Quag - and with a start, he realized he was probably only about three feet tall in his new form, for Malrin was still about his own height in her new form and he knew nixies weren't all that tall. That would explain why the forest above seemed so large and foreboding! Darrien was the next hero to appear, only it was more difficult to identify him as he was barely half the height of Castillan and his sister. What's more, he was completely naked, with a lower torso looking rather like that of a grasshopper and gossamer wings growing out of his back. In fact, what first identified the half-elf as Darrien in his new grig form was the [i]Arachnibow[/i] he held, still the same shape and appearance despite its greatly reduced size. Finoula's new form was the most different yet, for she bore a centaurian build with the body and antlers of a deer and only her upper torso looking as it did as an elf. She wore only the upper part of her armor, the lower half having been subsumed into her hybsil form. She glanced around in confusion, looking down at her four-legged form in shock and surprise. Hagan appeared next, in a humanoid body a mere foot tall. His first action was to sprawl flat upon his face into the dirt, for Wezhley had been riding upon his shoulders when he stepped through the doorway and the weasel familiar was now larger than the atomie upon whom he stood. "Sorry!" Wezhley apologized, and the others all looked over at the unexpected utterance, for Wezhley had only ever spoken to Hagan, his master, in their own shared language - no one was aware he could even speak the Common tongue as he just had. Binkadink suddenly appeared in mid-flight, startling himself greatly. He was in the body of a pixie, minus his red dragonhide plate mail armor and his [i]gnomish stilt-boots[/i]. But he still held his magical glaive in hand, although its size had conformed to his own greatly diminished stature. "What--?" the gnome sputtered in shock. Gilbert was the last of the heroes to appear, having been the last to step through the doorway from Lord Darborel's study. He looked much his old self, save for the curling horns growing from the top of his head - and the fact that his overweight body was supported by a pair of goat legs. "I a satyr!" he exclaimed, looking down at himself in surprise. MARCI appeared suddenly at his side, looking around in apparent puzzlement at her new surroundings. "What's going on?" demanded Finoula. "Yeah, this is weird!" agreed Grumps Junior - which caused another round of shock, since the dire bear cub - despite being the size of a full-grown grizzly bear - was a simple animal, incapable (until now) of speech. "What you expect?" replied Gilbert. "That door not just [i]teleport[/i] us - it [i]plane shift[/i] us as well! We in Land of Faerie!" "And it seemed to have [i]polymorphed[/i] us as well," observed Hagan, looking up at his friends towering high above him. "I did see transmutation energies around the door as well as conjuration," Malrin pointed out. "Apparently it gave us new bodies, and gave the animals the power of speech." She turned to her dire fox, Taihar, now much larger than herself. "Can you talk?" she asked him. "It would seem I can," replied the fox, licking his chops. "As can I," Obvious added. "Me too," pointed out Wrath. "It feels lighter here," Darrien observed, raising and dropping his arms to his sides. "Lighter gravity," Gilbert agreed. "It take us awhile to get used to it. Time flow different, too - I think more time pass back home than pass here." "What do you mean?" asked Finoula. "We spend day here, full week pass back home." "Then we only have two days to find my grandfather," reasoned Castillan. MARCI had spent the moments since her sudden arrival in this strange place scanning her companions with the red light from her single eye. "No humans detected," she announced. "MARCI, it me!" Gilbert insisted. The metal construct examined the satyr before her; it certainly had Gilbert's facial features and speech mannerisms. To be sure, she scanned him a second time with her eye. "No humans detected," she repeated. "Fine. But it best if you stay by us for safety, until you find new humans to serve," Gilbert reasoned. He was fairly certain their chance of stumbling across any actual humans in the Land of Faerie were practically nonexistent. "Logical," MARCI replied. Sudden laughter from all around them stopped the newcomers from exploring anything else about their new surroundings or their new bodies. The laughter came from all directions, from well within the trees surrounding the clearing into which they'd appeared. And then a sudden light appeared overhead, a glowing ball of energy about the size of a human fist. It floated down from a height of about thirty feet, directly above the heads of the assembled group, in the middle of the clearing. It fell erratically, following the likely path of a falling snowflake - and it worried the heroes that they had no idea what would happen when it finally landed. But then their attention was diverted yet again by the sudden, unseen attacks. Grumps cried out in pain as a blade cut open a gash in his side; Wrath howled at almost the same time as a blade carved a line of pain across his right foreleg. But it wasn't just the animals under attack, for Castillan, Gilbert, and Finoula were also targeted - by something moving so fast it couldn't even be seen, even though the breeze of its rapid movement could be felt and the heroes' foreign flesh definitely felt the cuts of invisible blades. Castillan used his bounder training to spin away as soon as he felt a blade touch him and thus was barely harmed; the others were not so lucky, and the blades went deep, spilling blood. Gilbert responded by casting a quickened [i]dimension door[/i] spell that deposited him into the middle of the clump of newcomers, where it was safer - it seemed like the five targets had all been chosen by their positions on the outer edges of the mass of bodies. Malrin abandoned her nixie form for her preferred combat form of an owl and learned that the decreased gravity in the Land of Faerie allowed her to attain a higher elevation that much faster with but a few flaps of her wings. She flew high enough that she should be out of reach of a human-sized foe, but still well within range to be able to swoop down to alight by any of her friends who might need healing. Darrien, despite being much smaller than he was used to, discovered that it didn't impede his spellcasting abilities any; he cast an [i]animal growth[/i] spell on all five of the group's animals, having recently learned just how advantageous that could be in battle. Grumps Junior attained his full, adult size; Taihar and Wrath were now the size of horses; Obvious the size of a small elephant; and Wezhley the size of a small dog. With their switched comparative sizes, Hagan did the obvious and leaped upon his weasel's back, riding him like a pony. He cast a [i]mage armor[/i] spell that encompassed them both. Finoula brought out her weapons, [i]Tahlmalaera[/i] the longsword and her [i]flaming whip of thorns[/i], and held them at the ready. She wasn't sure just what had attacked her, but she'd make them pay for another such attempt! Over at the other end of the group, Castillan did likewise, holding his enchanted short sword and his [i]stonepiercer's dagger[/i] at the ready. Wrath glared out at the forest and the unknown enemies it harbored, his hackles raised as blood spilled down the front of his leg. Binkadink followed Malrin's strategy and flew up higher, to a level he deemed to be out of stabbing range. He had his glaive at the ready, extended to its full length. "Obvious! Dust!" he called to his riding mount, using the Common tongue instead of the secret language of burrowing mammals he usually used when conversing with his jackalope. Obvious spun around, pointing his back toward the forest, and started digging with his hind legs. Dirt went flying behind him, raising a great cloud of dust in a wide arc; anything invisible that tried attacking them from that direction should become at least momentarily visible. Gilbert looked worriedly up at the slowly-falling ball of light, but then figured it for what it was: a simple [i]dancing lights[/i] spell, likely cast as a mere distraction. He then cast a spell of his own: a [i]solid fog[/i] spell whose 20-foot radius encompassed the entire group except for Wrath, who had the misfortune of being farther away than the rest. Still, he hoped the wolf would have the good sense to retreat back into the safety of the spell, where the unseen attackers would have a hard time seeing their targets and their incredible speed would be negated. Mudpie, in the meantime, crawled out of Gilbert's pocket and allowed himself to crash to the ground, the impact restoring him to his normal, three-foot-tall size. He regained his feet and stood protectively by his master. MARCI, on the other hand, stood puzzled by all she could see - although this was a rather common occurrence in her life since she had first encountered the human designated Gilbert Fung. With maniacal laughter, the quickling bounders rushed back in to attack, dismayed to see most of their foes encased in a [i]solid fog[/i] spell. Three of them went for the obvious target, Wrath, and the wolf howled in pain as three invisible blades cut deep into his flesh. Two others stopped just short of the [i]solid fog[/i] and sent spells of their own flashing blindly into the interior. Binkadink felt and heard a shattering noise indicating all of the potion vials he carried had simultaneously burst, victims of a [i]shatter[/i] spell; he now realized, with their healing potions gone and MARCI unwilling to heal nonhumans (and no longer recognizing the other heroes that Gilbert had instructed her to treat as humans), Malrin was now their sole source of healing, unless any of the others carried healing potions with them. Malrin heard Wrath's predicament and tried flying in his direction, but the [i]solid fog[/i] impeded flight as much as it did ground-based movement; it felt like she was flying through taffy. But she put the full strength of her wings to the task, moving slowly in the wolf's direction. Wrath, for his part, saw the wisdom of falling back with his friends and backed halfway into the [i]solid fog[/i]. Unable to see out of the [i]solid fog[/i], Darrien took the opportunity to cast a [i]barkskin[/i] spell upon himself as he trudged to get to the spell's edge of effect. Finoula was already at the edge of the [i]solid fog[/i] and could see out somewhat, but cast the same spell upon herself as she waited for the attackers to try another assault. Grumps was also at the edge of the [i]solid fog[/i] spell, but despite being the size of a full-grown dire bear he was still just a cub and wanted little to do with fighting invisible foes with blades that caused so much hurt. He bumbled his way back, not sure what was impeding his progress so much, for this was his first experience with fog that was so thick you couldn't even move through it very fast. Castillan, having heard Wrath's howls of pain and figuring he might be near death (and how much that would infuriate Finoula), used his magic ring to [i]dimension door[/i] from his place of relative safety at the edge of the southern part of the [i]solid fog[/i] spell to the absolute danger of about twenty feet outside the [i]solid fog[/i]'s northernmost edge, just past Wrath, who was slowly backing his way into the safety of the spell. Castillan trusted in his bounder training to be able to fend off the worst of any incoming attacks, even if he couldn't actually see them coming. Snug inside the [i]solid fog[/i] there wasn't a whole lot Hagan could do in the way of attacking their invisible foes. But as he was right next to Obvious, who was still kicking up a dust storm behind him, the atomie sorcerer cast a [i]greater magic fang[/i] on the jackalope, certain that eventually the antlered rabbit would end up in physical combat - that was, after all, the whole point of Darrien's [i]animal growth[/i] spell. Binkadink was also safe inside the [i]solid fog[/i], but that was emphatically [i]not[/i] where he wanted to be; he flapped his pixie wings to get him to the spells' outer edge and readied his glaive to come crashing down at anyone who might attack him. He even lowered his aerial height to five feet so he'd be a viable target to the unseen attackers. Gilbert cast a [i]haste[/i] spell upon all of his fellow heroes and the combined animals fighting alongside them. Almost immediately thereafter, Binkadink's strategy bore fruit, for one of the quicklings who had just cast a [i]shatter[/i] spell - while still invisible - [i]levitated[/i] up beside the gnome-turned-pixie and attacked him with an invisible blade. Binkadink had time to retaliate with a thrust of his glaive at the unseen attacker, and by the cry of pain it elicited his strike hit true. Two other invisible quicklings opted to take out Obvious, whose back half protruded from the safety of the [i]solid fog[/i] spell. After all, if they could slay the jackalope raising all that dust, the other quicklings would have that much more of an avenue of attack. Their blades sank into Obvious's flanks from either side, causing the jackalope to cry out in pain and stop kicking up the dust - so while they had failed to slay him they had at least succeeded on the one front. But it was a victory not without cost, for Obvious struck out with his antlers in the direction of one of the attacks, catching a quickling by surprise and impaling him on the prongs of the jackalope's massive rack of horns. Another quickling could see enough of Finoula's hybsil form to move in to attack, thinking he could then speed away before she was any the wiser, but he'd not anticipated the rapidity of her reflexes, and she drew blood with [i]Tahlmalaera[/i] before he could bound away in time. The hybsil ranger opted not to try to follow her invisible foe but took up her defensive stance again, ready to lash out at anyone who might attack. Malrin by this time was close enough to land upon Wrath's haunches and send a wave of healing energy through her taloned feet and into the beleaguered timber wolf, who sighed in contentment as the worst of his wounds sealed up. "Thank you," he replied, startling Marlin who was unused to hearing animals speak aloud (for she herself couldn't speak while wildshaped into an animal form). Darrien was close enough to Obvious to be able to reach out and touch the side of his furry face; he didn't have any healing spells readied, but he did have a [i]bear's endurance[/i], which would at least allow the jackalope to stay in the fight that much longer before collapsing. By his side, Hagan coaxed Wezhley into heading - slowly - to the edge of the [i]solid fog[/i] so he could bring his own spells to bear. Castillan, out in the open, tried goading the enemies into making an appearance. "What's the matter?" he called out to the forest. "Are you afraid to face me? I'm all of three feet tall! Cowards!" He heard some of the incessant laughter turn to snarls and figured he'd hit a nerve. Binkadink, in the meantime, had figured out the probable location of his unseen foe and brought his glaive down - hard. He sliced through the quickling, then spun in midair and sent his blade crashing down over to the side of his jackalope, luckily catching one of the quicklings harassing Obvious. Behind him, the one he'd just slain turned to full visibility upon death, revealing a thin, lithe torso and limbs and an elven head with ridiculously long, pointed ears. The dead quickling was no larger than Binkadink in either his gnomish or pixie forms: about a yard tall. Obvious had managed to flick off the invisible quickling he'd snared on his antlers and grab him up in his teeth, and was now busily shaking him like a rag doll while scratching at him with the claws of his front paws. From the poor fey's screams, he didn't much appreciate the treatment he was receiving. His sword fell from his grasp onto the ground, attaining normal visibility once it left his grasp. From the safety of the still-active [i]solid fog[/i] spell, Gilbert cast a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell upon himself and Mudpie, finally declaring himself ready for battle. But by then the quicklings were running back off to the safety of the trees, after getting in some last stabs against Binkadink, Finoula, and Castillan. Finoula by then was bleeding rather heavily, and Malrin flew over to her to help. Unsure whether this was a full-fledged retreat or if the quicklings would be back, Darrien cast a [i]spike growth[/i] spell on the section of forest floor to the immediate west of the [i]solid fog[/i] spell, ensuring any quicklings who might attack from that direction would be getting quite the surprise. After Malrin had healed the worst of her wounds, Finoula again took up position at the northeastern section of the [i]solid cloud[/i] spell, readying herself to strike out at any who might attack. She greatly preferred going straight into combat with her enemies, but if they were going to hide behind invisibility, she was going to counter with the protection of a [i]solid fog[/i] spell. Castillan, hearing the invisible quickling bounders scurry off at ridiculous speeds, took the opportunity to bound up into the overhanging limb of a tree. Maybe he could catch them unawares if they came back to try to find out where he'd gotten to. Gilbert and Mudpie sidled up to the edge of the [i]solid fog[/i] spell, beside Hagan and Wezhley, and called out to the quicklings, "Who you working for?" He got back an almost immediate response, although one coming from deep within the forest: "The Queen! All will work for her, eventually!" That was less than informative, although from what he could recall of the Land of Faerie, the quickling likely meant the Unseelie Queen, the ruler of evil fairykind. The discourse might have been responsible for the quicklings' return to battle; it was difficult to say. But one of them tried attacking from a different direction and sped directly into Darrien's [i]spike growth[/i] zone, cursing in pain as he did an abrupt about face and hobbled back the way he'd come. "I'm out!" he cried to his fellows, his invisible feet leaving quite visible bloody footprints in his wake. That was apparently enough for the others. "Sorry, [b]Skrixxit[/b] - you're on your own!" called one of the fairies before the rest of the quicklings sped off to find safer mischief elsewhere. "No--wait! Help me!" called the invisible quickling still caught up in Obvious's rodent teeth, to no avail. Gilbert dismissed the [i]solid fog[/i] spell and then worried that it had just been a ruse to get him to do exactly that, but the quicklings did not return. "Spit him out," he told Obvious, and the jackalope dropped his victim to the ground and then put a foot upon his chest to keep him in place. The hapless quickling had picked up a bunch of dirt from the clouds Obvious had kicked up and was thus partially visible in any case. Too tired to keep up his [i]greater invisibility[/i] spell any more, Skrixxit came full into view. "We only here to find missing friends," Gilbert said to the pinned quickling. "You tell us if you see them, maybe we let you go." "And maybe you can go screw yourself, satyr!" Skrixxit spat. Malrin landed beside the quickling and resumed her elven form; apparently wildshaping allowed her to revert to her normal form despite the nixie body she'd been given upon her arrival in the Land of Faerie. "That isn't very nice," she scolded the quickling. "But we're in somewhat of a hurry, so we won't waste a whole lot of time on asking nicely. I'd advise you to start being helpful before we go straight to the torture." Malrin was merely bluffing; she'd be the first to try to prevent any of the heroes from torturing a helpless captive - but she saw no reason to let the quickling know that. Her plot didn't work, as evidenced by the one-finger gesture the quickling managed to give as his only response. Seeing Skrixxit wasn't going to provide any information, Castillan executed him on the spot with a blade through the throat. "I might be able to help you," called a voice from the trees above. Looking up, Gilbert spotted a squirrel scampering along an overhanging branch. "Who you?" the portly satyr wizard asked. "My name is [b]Nutbreath[/b]," replied the squirrel. "What's this about missing friends?" "Two people like us, a man and a woman," Malrin called up to the squirrel. "I'm...not entirely sure what they would look like," she added, realizing that Lord Darborel and Mary Jo would likely have ended up in different bodies upon their arrival in this plane of existence, just as they all had. "Sure, I remember!" cried Nutbreath. "About a year and a half ago! A man and a woman, just like you said!" "Er, this would have been about ten years ago..." Darrien started to correct the squirrel, but then Gilbert explained again that a year and a half in the Land of Faerie would correspond to about ten years back home. "Do you know where we might find them?" he asked Nutbreath. "No - but I know who probably does," replied the squirrel. "[b]Chibimibi the Pale Monarch[/b]. I can show you the way to his island." He dropped down from the tree and scampered along the ground, looking back to ensure the others were following him. "Wait one moment, please," asked Gilbert, indicating for Malrin to open the [i]portable hole[/i] she carried. Once it was open, Gilbert plopped it over MARCI's head and she was engulfed inside the extradimensional space. "She safer in there for now," he explained. "Don't want her wandering off, looking for humans." He then folded the hole back up and returned it to the elven druid. "Lead on, squirrel," he said. The island of Chibimibi the Pale Monarch was across an expanse of swamp. Binkadink, Darrien, and Hagan could fly in their current forms, but Hagan had a better idea. "Everybody gather around," he ordered, and [i]teleported[/i] everyone across the swamp to the shore of the island. (Given the number of people and animals involved and the current size of some of the animals, it took the sorcerer several trips.) "Chibimibi!" Finoula called once they were all in place. "We come in peace, seeking lost friends!" Almost instantly, the air before her started to shimmer and a massive form took shape, materializing from thin air. It bore the appearance of a gargantuan white dragon, with piercing blue eyes and wisps of frost rising from between its jaws. Even once it was fully in view parts of it were partially see-through; the group got the idea that this dragon could instantly move between the Land of Faerie and the ethereal plane at will. Gilbert focused on the draconic image before him, ensuring he wasn't some form of undead; his magically-enhanced vision told him that the dragon was indeed among the living. "WHO DARES DISTURB CHIBIMIBI THE PALE MONARCH?" the dragon roared, its face contorted in anger. "We seek--" began Gilbert, but he was immediately cut off. "PROVIDE AMPLE TRIBUTE BEFORE SPEAKING, MORTAL WORMS!" roared Chibimibi. He looked expectantly at Binkadink, one of the heroes closest to the dragon. The pixie pulled the [i]necklace of lightning crystals[/i] from his neck and tossed it in front of the dragon. "THIS IS APPROPRIATELY SHINY!" approved the dragon. "I LIKE IT!" He turned to focus his attention on the grig before him, Darrien, who sported one just like it. "I'LL HAVE YOURS AS WELL!" he demanded. Without hesitation, Darrien removed it and tossed it into the sand beside Binkadink's. Chibimibi then focused his attention upon Finoula, and the [i]lightning amulet[/i] she wore around her neck. "AND YOURS!" he demanded. Finoula blanched at the thought of handling over her magic amulet, which she'd put to good use over the years since she'd taken it from a slain stone giantess back in the Clatspur Mountains. "I would rather present you with a gift of many golden coins!" she counter-offered. "They would increase your treasure hoard by--" But she was also cut off in indignation. "YOU WOULD DARE HAGGLE WITH CHIBIMIBI THE PALE MONARCH?" demanded the dragon, and the ranger saw an increase in the amount of frost spilling from the dragon's lips. It looked like combat was imminent! But then Malrin, who had been silent during this whole exchange, suddenly called out, "It's an illusion! Chibimibi's not real!" Alerted to the trickery, the other heroes concentrated and the dragon's visage suddenly became even more see-through and less real. "You a fake!" accused Gilbert. The dragon winked out at once and another draconic creature flew into view. This one was little larger than a housecat and sported a pair of butterfly wings on its light-scaled back. "So I am," Chibimibi the Pale Monarch admitted with a smile. "What's up, guys?" Castillan had been ready to leap into battle with the white dragon and now couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of the situation. "We're looking for my grandfather, an elf, and possibly a human girl as well. They would have appeared nearby about a year and a half ago." "Ah, you must mean Lord Darborel and Mary Jo," Chibimibi stated matter-of-factly. Then his eyes narrowed and he asked with a grin, "How much is their current location worth to you?" "Not this," answered Binkadink, grabbing back his [i]necklace of lightning crystals[/i] and putting it around his neck. Darrien did likewise with his own. "How about a belly rub?' asked Finoula. "Sold!" Chibimibi agreed at once. Once his belly was good and rubbed down, he led the others to a small, ramshackle cabin at the other end of the island. There was a handsome eladrin standing on the porch as if waiting for the group to appear. The door opened behind him and out stepped a most extraordinarily beautiful young woman - a nymph, the embodiment of the beauty of the natural world. "Castillan!" beamed Lord Darborel as his grandson approached, easily recognizing him despite his current appearance as a thorn fairy. "And little Malrin as well! Welcome! I'd like you all to meet my wife, Mary Jo!" The nymph smiled shyly at the strangers. Introductions were made all around, and then Lord Darborel explained what had happened to send them to the Land of Faerie. "It was love, as plain and simple as that," he said, looking into the face of his wife. "I was an elven nobleman and Mary Jo was the human daughter of a farmer. Our being together would never be permitted - we were from different worlds. But the very first moment I lay eyes on her, I knew she was the one. She was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with." "Or rather, the rest of mine," corrected Mary Jo. "Indeed," said Lord Darborel. "Humans have such tragically short lives on our home plane. But things are different here; we are in timeless bodies in a mostly timeless realm - there's no reason we shouldn't have centuries together here in the Land of Faerie." "But you've abrogated your responsibilities back at home," countered Castillan. "Your son has been acting in your stead all these years - nearly ten, back at home." "And I'm sure he's doing a perfectly fine job of it," countered Lord Darborel. "The military life means more to him than it does to me. He's welcome to it." "But he needs your ring," said Malrin. "The Baronial ring of office." "This thing?" scoffed Lord Darborel, removing it from his finger. "A mere bauble. He no more needs this ring to do his job than..." he cast about for an apt analogy. "...Than a pair of gnomish sock-garters." But he handed it over to his grandson nonetheless. "Still, if it means that much to him, he's welcome to it." "Great!" said Darrien. "Now we can get back home." "Not so fast," replied Lord Darborel. "It wouldn't do to leave the Land of Faerie without permission." He turned to the fairy dragon who had brought the heroes and their animals to the eladrin's cabin. "Chibimibi, would you be so kind as to ask Queen Titania for an audience?" "Oh, yeah? What's in it for me?" "A belly rub?" offered Mary Jo. "Deal!" The heroes were invited into the cabin for the night, which proved to be much less ramshackle on the inside - it was, in fact, a [i]Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion[/i], Lord Darborel being an accomplished wizard. They spent the time catching up on the Ivenheart family, although Gilbert did have one pressing question: "Why we need permission from Fairy Queen to leave? I'd think she glad to see mortals go back home." "[b]Queen Titania[/b] does not appreciate mortal intrusions into her realms," Lord Darborel explained. "At least, not by those who do not intend to stay." He looked into his wife's eyes and smiled; she smiled back. "Leaving without her permission would be an unwise act, as she'll likely take it personally. Insult her and there's a good chance you'd find a slew of fairy pranks following you for the rest of your days, some merely making you objects of ridicule; others possibly dangerous to the point of being quite deadly." Eventually the group opted to catch a few hours of sleep rather than reminisce with their hosts any further. The next morning came soon enough, although the sky outside still showed as twilight - merely a lighter twilight, to distinguish it from true night, which was merely the last normal throes of twilight before full darkness took reign. Chibimibi was there outside the cabin, to inform Lord Darborel that the arrangements had been made. And thus, after a quick but nourishing breakfast and the opportunity for the spellcasters to prepare the day's spells, the group went off to a nearby set of standing stones in a forest clearing. After many minutes of waiting, a glow finally suffused the interior of a set of stones and a pair of armed fey stepped through. They looked around at the assembled group (the animals all back to their original sizes), deemed them safe enough, and nodded back through the opening through which they'd just stepped. Lifting her skirts, Queen Titania stepped through the [i]gate[/i] formed by the two standing stones and the plinth lying horizontally across them. She was taller than an elf, with regal features and wore a crown of dark horns. Lord Darborel approached, bowed, and explained the heroes' presence in the Land of Faerie. Queen Titania heard him out, her stern face expressionless as she listened to her subject's tale. Finally, she deigned to look over at the mortal heroes. "You stand as trespassers in my realms," she intoned. "Still, you are vouched by Lord Darborel, who has proven to be a good and loyal subject. I will allow your departure, but I will have a boon first." "As Your Majesty commands," replied Castillan, bowing deeply, taking the initiative to speak for the group before somebody - like Gilbert - opened their foolish mouth and said something stupid. "What would you have of us?" "There is a bullywug village nearby, in the lands contested with the Unseelie Court. I would have you go yonder, for there are disturbing rumors to be had of their recent practices. Break up whatever shenanigans they are undertaking, even if it should mean slaughtering them to a man - and then you have my leave to depart back to your own lands. Thus have I spoken; thus shall it be." "At once, Your Majesty," replied Castillan, bowing again and stepping back. After a moment's hesitation, the other heroes did likewise, rejoining their animals who had wisely kept their distance from the glowing stones. With a regal nod, Queen Titania returned through the [i]gate[/i], followed immediately by her two guards. "Which way to bullywug village?" asked Gilbert. "I can show you," offered Chibimibi. The village was some ways away. Right before they got within visual range, the fairy dragon warned them the bullywug camp was just beyond the next grove of trees. Therefore, before they got any closer, the group jointly decided to perform their "combat is imminent" preparatory spellcasting. Darrien started off with an [i]animal growth[/i] spell, which was well on its way to becoming a standard practice. All five animals gained their larger sizes, much to their approval. Gilbert cast a [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell linking all but Castillan, a spell he hadn't had time to cast before the fight with the quicklings. Malrin cast an [i]attune form[/i] on everyone, so that the plane's naturally lesser gravity didn't throw off muscles used to the normal weight of the material plane. Darrien followed up with another [i]greater magic fang[/i] spell on Obvious and Finoula did likewise for Wrath. Gilbert cast [i]spell turning[/i] on himself and Mudpie and then a [i]haste[/i] spell encompassing everyone. Darrien activated his [i]ebony fly[/i], then he and Hagan climbed aboard. Hagan left Wezhley to guard the rear, so he could inform his master over their shared empathic link if any enemy forces approached from that direction - it was a good job for the sneaky weasel, and one which kept him out of combat. Then, with a shared look of readiness, Gilbert gave the go-ahead and the team moved forward. Darrien directed his [i]ebony fly[/i] over the tree-tops, catching sight of two bullywug fighters on guard duty at the nearest corners of the encampment. From their aerial position, the ranger and the sorcerer could see numerous hide tents below them. Hagan looked to the far side of the camp, and sure enough there were two more bullywug fighters on duty there as well, each armed with a longspear. The edge of camp backed up to the shore of the swamplands that surrounded the island. The fly had taken them toward the middle of the camp, so Hagan cast a [i]delayed blast fireball[/i] spell directly below him, smack in the middle of three of the larger tents. The following explosion caused each of the three to burst into flames, but the atomie didn't see anyone fleeing them - they'd either been burned to a crisp at once or the tents had been empty, perhaps belonging to the bullywugs currently on guard duty. But the explosion was enough to gain the bullywugs' attention; they began croaking a warning loudly in their own guttural tongue. Binkadink flew to the guard at the southeastern station, leading with his glaive and getting in a good hit. Behind him, an oversized Grumps followed in his wake. Castillan snuck along the tree line at the other end of camp, stealthily approaching the other guard at this end of the encampment. A larger tent toward the other side of the encampment opened and a bullywug cleric stepped out, his gnarled staff held in one webbed hand. [b]Mudlord Plorrpnik Blorgenblotter[/b] croaked out an incantation, his staff held above his head and aimed at the swamplands. There was movement at the smaller tents as well, as eight humanoid frogs with glowing eyes emerged and looked about them for the invading enemies. Two of them cast [i]unholy blight[/i] spells, one up at the [i]ebony fly[/i] and its two passengers and the other at Binkadink and Grumps Junior. Finoula scampered up beside Binkadink as the pixie was in combat with the bullywug fighter, but then turned to face the one Castillan was sneaking up on. Holding forth her [i]lightning amulet[/i], she turned her hybsil form into a blast of lightning which went crashing through the other bullywug's body before becoming a deer-centaur once again. Wrath approached his mistress, who even though she had a different form smelled much the same as she always did - enough to convince the wolf that Finoula was still Finoula. He bit the bullywug in the arm holding the longspear with which he was threatening the hybsil ranger. About this time, a massive croak - much louder than the warning the bullywug fighter had made to warn the rest of the encampment that they were under attack - reverberated across the area. This was the work of a monstrosity rising up out of the swamp at the bidding of the Mudlord, its creator: a massive amalgamation of toad, snail, and octopus. The froghemoth waddled forward on its froglike hind legs, dragging a bloated belly along the ground and waving its multiple tentacles about in the air as it peered through the trio of eyestalks rising up from the top of its head. Instinctively it headed toward the Mudlord, awaiting its commands. <Think we found bullywug "shenanigans!"> Gilbert called to the others over the telepathic bond. Malrin saw the approaching monstrosity and wildshaped into her owl form just so she could take to the air. There was no way she wanted to be anywhere within that thing's reach! She quickly gained altitude, looking down upon the battle unfolding below. Gilbert and Mudpie approached, the satyr casting a [i]stoneskin[/i] upon them both as they moved toward the trio of burning tents. Then he cast another spell, a quickened [i]fly[/i] spell that encompassed them both and the satyr rose into the air, a panicked Mudpie not enjoying the sensation of flight but dutifully accompanying his master. Darrien shot a barrage of arrows from his [i]Arachnibow[/i] down at the Mudlord, peppering him like a pincushion. From just behind him on the [i]ebony fly[/i], Hagan cast another [i]delayed blast fireball[/i], this one targeted directly at the bullywug cleric below. The blast blew up into an impressive explosion, taking out three more tents in the vicinity and several of the blindheims. Hagan realized his attack spells were much more impressive here in the Land of Faerie than they were back on the material plane - and didn't mind one bit! The bullywug fighters did their best against their attackers, one stabbing up at a flying Binkadink pixie while the other tried catching Finoula on the point of his own longspear. But Finoula easily dodged the first attack and was only grazed by the second, while Binkadink's glaive brought down his own foe. The two other bullywug fighters from the far side of the encampment went running forward to meet the enemies invading their territory. Binkadink moved up to face his next enemy, but this was one of the bright-eyed humanoid frog monsters, and the pixie had to squint at the blindheim's eye rays to prevent himself from being blinded by the glare. Castillan finally reached the bullywug fighting Finoula and managed to stab his blade deep into the amphibian's back, drawing a deep gush of blood in the process. Burned badly by Hagan's spell, the Mudlord cast a [i]cone of cold[/i] spell up at the offending fly and its two passengers. The spell slew the [i]ebony fly[/i] outright, causing it to revert to its statue form and plummet to the ground below, but both Hagan and Darrien could fly in their current forms and the two remained airborne. By now, the blindheims had advanced upon their enemies. One cast an [i]unholy blight[/i] spell upon Castillan, Finoula, and Wrath, while another took a bite at Binkadink, catching him in the leg with a mouth full of pointed teeth. Finoula used her [i]lightning amulet[/i] to blast through two blindheims that were nicely lined up for her, reforming into a hybsil at the other end of the battlefield. She regained her form just in time to see both blindheims fall to the ground, dead, their bodies still smoking from the electrical blast. She then took a moment to cast a healing spell upon herself to close up the worst of the wounds administered by the bullywug fighter's spear before racing back to help her wolf and her fellow elf. Malrin could see the froghemoth getting closer to the heroes (and getting peppered with arrows from Darrien's [i]Arachnibow[/i]) as Hagan cast an attack spell that fizzled against the creature's warty skin; apparently it, like many powerful monsters, had an innate resistance against spellcraft. Wrath continued snapping his jaws at the bullywug now fighting Castillan, and Malrin flew over to her brother to lend a healing talon as needed. Gilbert cast a quickened [i]Evard's black tentacles[/i] that engulfed Mudlord Plorrpnik Blorgenblotter, two blindheims, and one of the advancing bullywug fighters. But before any of them could attempt to grapple their way out of the encompassing appendages, Hagan cast another [i]delayed blast fireball[/i] down at them, slaying all four at once. With a growl of frustration, Gilbert dismissed his spell, allowing the writhing tentacles to be absorbed back into the ground from where they had sprung up. Wrath tackled his bullywug enemy with his mouth clamped firmly around the amphibian's arm, but the fighter pulled free and regained his feet, swinging his spear at the wolf - only to be stabbed again by Castillan's flashing blade. Binkadink maneuvered so a blast from his [i]necklace of lightning crystals[/i] shot through two blindheims and straight into the advancing froghemoth. But now the froghemoth's weak vision could pinpoint some of its foes. It cast forth an [i]unholy blight[/i] spell encompassing Finoula, Castillan, Wrath, Malrin, and the bullywug fighter they were battling - although the latter's evil nature made him immune to the spell's effects. Despite her own damage from the spell, Malrin could see the poor wolf was on his last legs and channeled healing energy through her talons to close his wounds. Gilbert cast a [i]greater invisibility[/i] spell on Finoula, hiding the hybsil from sight. Darrien, still airborne, continued to shoot arrow after arrow into the froghemoth. At his side, Hagan cast another of his most powerful spells at the bloated frog-thing, hoping the overcharged energy the very plane seemed to pump into arcane attack spells would make his deadliest spell even that much more deadly. He managed to overcome the froghemoth's natural spell resistance, and the [i]polar ray[/i] spell - enhanced to its maximum effect by the Land of Faerie itself - caused the wounded beast to freeze instantly in place, topple precariously, and then shatter into thousands of pieces as it struck the ground. A great cry went up among the invading force, causing the sole remaining bullywug fighter to look over to see what was going on. Upon spotting the demise of the massive froghemoth, he realized he had no chance against these Seelie forces and turned to flee. That turned out to be a bad move, for Wrath's muzzle darted forward and he caught the fleeing bullywug by the ankle, sending him crashing to the ground. Castillan's blade took the life from the bullywug before he could even think about getting back onto his feet. Their enemies slain, the heroes started rooting around the place for any treasure, but most of anything of value was ablaze in the burning tents: rare books on spellcasting rituals, expensive alchemical equipment and reagents - all burning away in a pyroclastic display. Darrien flew down and recovered his [i]ebony fly[/i] statue, then saw something in the Mudlord's pocket that looked very similar. It was an [i]opal frog[/i], which the grig claimed as his own. But once it was apparent there were no further enemies lurking about the place and no other useful treasure to be had among the ruins, the heroes met back up with Wezhley and Chibimibi and returned to the standing stones to report their success to Queen Titania. "I am pleased by your accomplishments," she intoned regally to the Kordovians. "You may depart back to your own lands, never to return - or choose to stay here, as Lord Darborel and Mary Jo have done." "We will depart your fair lands, Your Majesty," replied Castillan, bowing low. "Then one further thing: upon your return, dismantle the [i]chameleon gate[/i] leading to my lands. I would prefer not to have a back door into my realm." "Of course, Your Majesty," replied Castillan. "It will be done." Satisfied, the Seelie Queen nodded slightly and returned through the standing-stone [i]gate[/i] once more. "Well then," said Darrien. "Let's get back home!" "Err..." began Gilbert. Finoula picked up on his hesitation at once. "What's wrong?" she demanded of the satyr. "We need [i]plane shift[/i] spell. I don't have one ready." "What?" demanded Castillan. "You knew we needed the spell to get back to Oerth! Why in the world didn't you prepare one?" "No sense getting spell ready if it not needed!" argued Gilbert. "I get it ready when we need it." "We need it now," pointed out Binkadink. "It be ready in morning," insisted Gilbert. "After I get good night's sleep, and ready to prepare new spells for day." Castillan gave a world-weary sigh and turned to his grandfather. "If we could impose upon you for another night...?" he began. Lord Darborel swatted him playfully on the shoulder. "Not a problem," he guaranteed. And thus it wasn't until the next day that the Kordovians and their animals were once again gathered together, this time so Gilbert could cast a [i]plane shift[/i] to return them back to Oerth. As the wizard had hoped, upon their arrival they reverted to their original forms; the [i]chameleon gate[/i] had been designed to give those who passed through it fey forms only for the duration of their time in the Land of Faerie. "It was cool to be able to fly under my own power," Binkadink observed, "...but I'm glad to be back to my own body!" Malrin set up the [i]carpet of teleportation[/i] and they took their animals across to the dragonfly vessel, which Jinkadoodle had parked back up on its cloud island hangar. He promised to steer back towards Veluna City where he'd dropped them off, and the group returned via the magic carpet back with Castillan, who had kept watch over it as the others teleported to and from the ship. The heroes made their way across the city to Lord Kelboran Ivenheart's estate. If Castillan had expected any gratitude for having returned with the Baronial Ring under the deadline, he was sorely disappointed: his uncle was more preoccupied with berating him for waiting until the last possible day - for although two nights had passed for the Kordovians in the Land of Faerie, two weeks had passed here on Oerth and it was now ten years to the day since Lord Darborel's disappearance. Lord Kelboran placed the Baronial Ring upon his finger and, satisfied that he had prevented shame from falling upon the Ivenheart name, dismissed his nephew and his companions with a wave of his hand. "Ungrateful sort," complained Hagan once they were back on the street and out of earshot. "Isn't he, though?" agreed Castillan. "He's as bad as my father." - - - T-Shirt Worn: I have a blue shirt with a pair of Groucho glasses, beneath which is the legend, "DAD: Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult." I felt it was a good way to represent how the PCs would be "disguised" as fey creatures for the majority of this adventure. [/QUOTE]
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