theworldofdreams.com

Greetings all,

I was passing by the Britain bank after Ciara's party, which I shall relate in another missive, when Cathavene called out to me. We had only met formally the night before, if you can call wading through bunny blood a formal occasion. Cathavene was the druid that had been healing me and saved me repeatedly from incipient destruction at the paws of the rabbit breed I like to call 'lupus atrocious'.

Cathavene, more fully addressed as Cathavene Bloodrose, asked me if I had time to listen to a curious tale involving the new spate of outlaws that have been encroaching on the wilds of Brittania. She knew I had helped eradicate several outlaw bands and thought I might be interested. I am always interested in a good tale! We traveled to her home in Magincia and sat at a table before the blazing fireplace. She paused, collecting her thoughts and then began to speak. I have attempted to transcribe what she told me faithfully in the following paragraphs:


I had been chatting with Nox Starfire via telepathy, often referred to as msg-ing, when he exclaimed that he had discovered a band of outlaws. He was near the Minoc moongate and I quickly headed there after assuring I had a proper supply of both mage and druidic reagents. It was an awful battle that seemed to go on forever and both of us were at the edge of death several times. Incantation mumbling dark priests, powerful archers and vicious assassins assailed us from all sides. I cast offensive druidic spells, mage spells, healing spells on Nox and myself but they continued to press close. The assailant's choked as necromantic plagues washed over them with feverish effect. But they continued to fight! Nox's eyes widened at one point and he glanced at me and yelled, "Flee, I am undone!" With that decidely dramatic flair, he fell to the ground lifeless. Perhaps he said "My pants are undone." but I really think it was the former. Hmmm. I sobbed with disbelief as I retreated to a quiet place momentarily to bolster my magical reserves and then advanced cautiously again to resurrect him. His pants were on so I felt assured he had said that he himself was undone, not that it is really that important!

This event shocked me to the core since I knew how powerful and adept Nox was. How could we have a chance to assail this powerful enemy with any chance of survival, much less victory? Nox just grinned at me and said, "Ahh now, Cath, don't ya worry one teensy bit. They're going down and I'm gonna make sure they hurt as they're dyin'!" Before he had a chance to put the hurt to them, Belle Remings and Gweneth arrived to join the fray. Gweneth is a new mage in the World of Dreams but performed brilliantly and Belle Remings was her usual extraordinarily competent, courageous self. The five of us managed to defeat the vicious band. We discovered three important things in their belongings.

One was a sash labeled Order of the Prophet, the second was a book entitled "My Legacy", and the third was a magical staff that was hidden in a bag labeled Valdric's bag. The staff itself was called Valdric's Staff. The book was written by a man named Valdric, which makes sense if you think about it. It was a journal of sorts to his son, Vondir, and it commanded him to take the staff to Edan, in Moonglow. We didn't see anyone called Vondir there so I fear that he must have falled prey to the outlaws that are beginning to infest our forests.

We could not refuse a dying man's request to his son, who was probably also dead. We traveled to Moonglow and handed the staff to Edan, who owns a third of a mage shop there. Edan took the staff with reverent hands and a beatific smile lit his face. He raised his head and gazed at us with silent gratitude. Immediately, a golden glow sprang up around us all and we received massive Virtue. Nox cursed quietly under his breath, but Belle, Gweneth and I was elated! Edan handed us a map called Valdric's map as well.

We puzzled at the map, trying to decode it but none of us were able to. We called Edison, a well known oldbie who's knowledge and abilities transcend that of the mortal weave. Edison couldn't figure it out either, which enraged him so much that fireballs flew out of his ears! One of the fireballs nearly ignited the precious and yet still un-decoded map so Belle put out the fires with a deft Tidal Wave. Nox opened the bank doors to let the waves of water flow out and caught the town crief in mid spate. "Outlaws have be..GLUG glug glug...sputter." The crief glared at Nox who just shrugged innocently and closed the door again.

Nox called in a friend called Ulric Swiftfoot who was able to decipher the map and he joined our band. At this point, Gweneth had to leave and we all thanked her for her assistance. Belle Remings, Nox Starfire, Edison, Ulric and I ventured to Occlo to find the treasure the map indicated. We ran into another band of outlaws there! They had a kettle set up with fire and animal, at least I hope it was just animal, carcasses around it. The five of us were able to vanquish this band in relatively short order unlike the earlier band. Ulric pulled out his lucky shovel and began to dig in the ground. In a remarkably short time, the dull gleaming metal of an iron chest appeared and with a flourish and a smile, he opened it.

Two dragons leapt out of the small chest! They were REALLY unhappy at being shut up in there for so long and they attacked us without hesitation. But, with the kind of organized firepower we five wielded together, the two named dragons collapsed to the ground with deep, throbbing moans. I don't remember their names now but since they are dead, it doesn't really matter. I did skin one and am going to have a tailor friend make some nice dragonhide boots. I think perhaps a dragonhide belt for Nox too, in case he does have problems keeping his pants up.

The loot in the chest? Were we able to carry it all back in one trip? Oh, well there were a few things in there and some Benson quality magical items but nothing of significance. We felt as if it was very anticlimatic. Almost depressing, you know? I imagined an indestructible druid staff of Destruction or something but no, not this time. Maybe next.

However, the point is that I feel sure that the outlaw activity is only going to increase in the near future. This account may have sounded humorous in a slight way but dire tidings may await us in the future and that is deadly serious. Fell die are rolling from the god's dice cup and how they come up is anyone's guess.


I sat there, enthralled and intrigued at this tale. I turned to look at Cathavene and for a moment, watched the warm hues painted over her face by the flickering fire. She looked at me and I thanked her for relating this tale to me. I asked if I could make it known to the rest of the inhabitants of the World of Dreams and she looked startled. "Why do you think I asked you here anyway? To stare dreamily at a fire? Of course I want you to tell everyone!" We chuckled together at the sally and I promised to post an account of the adventure, which I hope I have done accurately and without fabrication or poetic license.

Yours scribingly,
Bayn.