Elpi jumped up and down in his excitement. "This is... this is... this is... incredible!" Elpi exclaimed. It was a rare occasion for Elpi to be stuck for words and this was one of them. After making his rounds to insure everyone was okay, Elpi made a mad dash for one of the trees.

{DM may want to check his climbing skill.}

Not really aware whether or not the others had seen him run off Elpi started clammoring up a tree. He wanted to see this world from the view of a bird!

Climbing the tree was easy for Elpi - but it did take a while. These trees were several hundred feet high. Normally when he'd climb a tree, he could wrap and arm around a branch. But the lower branches on these trees were so thick - sometimes over six feet in diameter - that he found it easier to use the rough bark surface. When Elpi broke through the canopy, he found that he wasn't on the tallest tree. But he was still well above most trees, and he could see all around.

The sea of giant trees looked more normal from up here. The evergreens extended in an undulating carpet from horizon to horizon. The sun was basically directly overhead, so it was hard to tell directions - that is, assuming the sun moved the same way on this world.

The only prominent feature Elpi could see, was a giant cliff. It looked much closer than it was, meaning that it was absolutely immense. It cliff extended almost vertically into the clouds. It wasn't possible to see the top of it. Elpi had never seen a cliff so high. It made him very curious what was on top!

Looking around, something else caught his eye. He almost missed it. In the distance, heading about ninety degrees counter-clockwise from the cliff, was a tower. It's shiny tip was poking above the trees! The top looked black. The sheer size of this tower must be utterly impressive. The tower was closer than the cliff, but not really on the same way.

Elpi scampered down from the tree. "Hey guys!" he yelled. "You should see the giant... cliff!" he was going to say "tower", but then he realised something. The others might not have noticed it. If he didn't tell them, he could secretly check it out on his own, and be a hero. Also, any treasure that was there could be safely stored by him for his friends.

{It's up to you if you want to tell them about it. You don't have to...}

"Look at me!" Elpi shouted down. At this point, Elpi took a 360 degree look at the area.

Lenear said, "So, How many engineers does it take to blow a ship to who knows where?!" and he smiled.

{Lenear wants to see if there is a place to climb a tree, or a mountain so we could see which way we should go to get anywhere.}

Lenear climbed the tree, and looked around. He saw the cliff, and Elpi on another tree. After looking around, Lenear came back down. {Lenear didn't see the tower.}

When Lenear got down, Elpi was already back down too. He was talking about the cliff. But he seemed overly excited. Rand was poking around the ship.

Rand moved to one of the control boards, and placed his hand on the plate which would activate the ship's cloak. That should keep away unwanted visitors. He didn't think that the whole "bad karma" effect would make a difference here. Most magical items could not be classified as good or evil. Rand flipped the control.

"Vzzzztt!" went the cloak, making an unusual sound. Lenear was outside, and he saw the ship flicker invisible for a moment, and then return to visible. He could also hear Rand cursing.

"Hey, Lenear," called Rand with a muffled voice, "come look at this!"

Lenear went back in the ship. He walked over to where Rand was. He had his head in a cabinet. It was where Raskus had installed the crystal.

"Check this out," said Rand. He gently pulled the crystal from it's metallic socket, and showed Lenear. The crystal was almost black, although it was glowing slightly. There was also a sooty residue where Raskus had put the connections. In a word, it looked spent.

"I'm just about ready to kill Raskus," said Rand. "He should have known if these things wear out." Rand thought sarcastically how "ingenious" it was for Raskus to re-route the whole ship's power through the crystal.

Rand felt where the spare crystal was in his clothes. "At least we know we have one left to get us home."

Rand decided to take a quick look around their immediate area. Among other things, he wanted to know if Elpi had wandered off again. He'd decide later if they'd actually try to find him if that were the case. "Oh," he thought sarcastically, "it would be SUCH a tragedy if that stupid fungus, er, poor little kender got lost and was never seen again."

Rand put his fingers to his temple. They hadn't been gone for an hour and the trip had already turned into a disaster. Blood and ashes he thought. Blood and bloody ashes!

He decided it was time to compare notes with his companions. "Alright boys, girls, and whatever. It looks like out resident genius goofed up again, in a big way. Maybe he's gone senile or somethin'. In any case, the crystal that was installed looks broken," he said as he held up the black crystal. "Now, we can replace it now and put up the cloak, but that risks something like this happening again. Or we can do it later, as we leave. That leaves the ship basically undefended. What do you guys say?"

Andarra spoke first. "I say later. If the second crystal burns out, we're stuck here, which I'm sure you would all agree, would be pretty bad. Can I have a look at that crystal, Rand? It's still giving off a glow. Maybe it can be fixed or something." Rand passed the crystal to Andarra.

Andarra looked over the crystal. It reminded her of most magic items, and in her expert opinion, she thought it could probably be charged. But she knew you'd need one heck of a power source. Andarra gave the crystal back to Rand. She didn't want to carry it. Crystals were hard, but they were also brittle. And who knows what would happen if it broke.

Rand spoke again. "Now, the next order of business is, where do we go from here? Did either of you two clowns spot anything that might be useful?" he quipped, looking at Lenear. Elpi had already wandered off.

Lenear said, "We have a densely forested area, that goes on forever. Then we have the biggest cliff I have ever seen, that seems to touch the clouds. We can head out in any horizontal direction or go up. Either way we seem to be lost ladies." He paused, and looked up with a sigh.

He added, "The gods would not put a giant cliff in front of us without the intent of us climbing the sucker. I mean what fun would that be ! I think they would be sorely disappointed if we just looked at it, said 'nice cliff' and left it the hell alone."

Lenear then said, "What do you think Rand? Shall we try our fortune among the trees or in the clouds? Perhaps we could scout the close proximity, look for roads or path and follow them.. We are bound to find something this way."

Rand thought for a moment. "The trees are pretty dense, right? That means there can be any number of things below them that you couldn't see. I've never felt like doing what the gods wanted me to... no offense Andy."

"None taken," she replied. "Of course, the god you swear by doesn't like that sort of thing, either."

Rand smirked. His god, Ranald the Trickster, tended to help those who helped themselves. "So that latter suggestion sounds good to me. Lets check the immediate area first. Actually... I'll stay here while the rest of you do that. I'm going to try to conceal the ship the old-fashioned way."

{Rand is going to try and cover the ship with shrubs and branches as best he can, so that it's not obvious. He'll keep it up until his companions return.}

Andarra sighed. She hated the feeling of cluelessness she had right now. In a way, she envied Elpi of this... he was able to wander through life, carefree and oblivious to his surroundings without it bothering him.

Andy, however, was a Hawkwind. No Hawkwind liked not knowing what they were doing. While she was much more flexible than her brother on this point, it still rankled her. She didn't think much of the cliff at the moment. Rand was an expert climber, Elpi as well (though that came more from his gloves than his actual skill), Lenear's suit made the cliff more like a floor to him, and she, in a pinch, could use her Air Walk spell. Still, she'd rather she what she could see before they took that route.

Rand stayed with the ship, while Andarra and Lenear decided to go for a long walk. For lack of a better direction, they began by heading in the direction of the cliff.

{DM Note: For the sake of communicating clearly, I'm going to say the cliff is due east of where you are, and basically runs north-south.}

Following the rolling hills was tiresome. It undulated up and down, and there were many large protruding roots to step - or even climb - over. After about thirty minutes, the couple looked at each other, shrugged, and decided to turn north.

The canopy of trees was so high, it was like a giant cathedral. Andarra thought druids would love it. She also noted a difference in wildlife. Around Auspelis, for example, there were many small birds, especially in the forests. But here, there were almost no birds. The three or four that they saw were larger birds, and seemed to spend most of their time picking for seeds among the fallen foliage. Andarra also noted that they roosted on the ground. They also saw squirrels, and large, fat hares. Hunan would have a ball here.

They were trying to walk in a straight line, but it was difficult with the rough terrain. After walking for about an hour north, Lenear and Andarra began to feel disoriented. They also began to get a sense of forboding.

Lenear was acute to this, because he had been to darker planes. Forboding was an understatement - these places were outright terrifying. But Lenear still knew when his senses were telling him "ick".

Andarra was also acute to this, because she was a priestess. She also had a sharp intuition. Maybe it was the quietness of the animals. It could be the stillness of the air. But something eminated "unwelcomeness".

They plodded on anyway, and shortly stumbled across a road.

The dirt road was narrow, and strewn with dead foliage and branches. It was obviously very old, and rarely traveled. It was crossed with deep cart tracks. Lenear remembered when they were doing renovations to the castle. This reminded him of a work road - one you put in just to get your building supplies in. But it certainly made walking easier by a long shot.

The road meandered around the trees, but basically headed east and west.

Andy remarked, "Well, we've finally found SOMETHING. We'd best head back and let Rand know. He's had a decent amount of time to cover the ship, I think."

They headed back for the clearing, to tell Rand what they found.

For Rand, covering the ship alone was very hard work. There was no trouble finding branches. But they were so large, that moving them was taxing. Elpi was nowhere to be seen. After about two hours, he had successfully covered the ship. It now looked like a mound of branches.

Proud of his work, he sat down in the clearing to rest. He wondered if the others had found anything, and if they were okay.

For a moment, Rand considered going to look for Elpi. Quickly, though, he quashed that idea. Chances were, Lenear and Andy would bump into him. Besides, it would be bad news if he wasn't here when they got back. On that note, he wondered if the COULD find their way back. That forest was pretty dense.

The eerie feeling around him pervaded. Rand began to know why Pentagarn hinted that fear was an enemy... as he so often said, he had a bad feeling about this. Of course, the kender that was foisted on them was nowhere to be found.

Inspiration struck. Reaching into one of his cloak's pockets, he pulled out his lute. Taking a moment to admire his single most treasured possession, he decided to play a tune. This would both let his friends know where he was and help him feel better. Thinking a moment, he chose the song Samlethe. It was a haunting, yet calming melody he enjoyed at quieter moments.

Rand was playing his beautiful song, when Elpi appeared, shouting.

Jumping around with excitement Elpi approached Rand. "Did you see that?! It was huge! Do you think we could go there guys? Maybe we could even go see that cliff after too! Although the cliff doeasnt look as nearly as fun as a huge tower!" Rand had been alone for nearly four hours.

"A tower?" asked Rand.

Elpi looked around, "Hey, where did Lenear and Andarra go?"

"They went scouting around." At that moment, Lenear and Andarra arrived back.

"We found a road!" exclaimed Lenear.

"That's nothing - Elpi saw a tower!" remarked Rand. "Why didn't you tell us hours ago, Elpi?" he asked.

Elpi was so excited, he forgot to tell the others right away. He just assumed Lenear had seen it. It was so exciting just to be in a different world! He was frolicking in the forest, and lost all awareness of time. "Oops," he said.

Rand wondered if the cold air was making Elpi hyper. He knew that children were sometimes like that - it was their way of keeping warm.

"Where did you see the tower?"

"Um, that way," Elpi pointed. He pointed North. If everything was anything like at home, the sun was now starting to set in the West, and making the giant cliff a deep rose colour. A bitter wind implied a cold night.

Rand considered making a fire, but he wasn't sure if that would attract attention from any unfriendly wildlife. They decided to go back inside the ship. Since it was now late afternoon, they decided to prepare some supper.

"Well, we have the road, and the tower," said Andarra. "And they're in the same vicinity. I wouldn't be surprised if the road lead to the tower."

"Oh," she added. "I got an uneasy feeling there."

"Yeah," said Lenear, "we got some serious heebie-jeebies!" Elpi giggled.

This worried Rand. He wondered what it must take to give Lenear the heebie-jeebies.

Elpi took a moment to consider the situation. He thought, "Here we are, in the middle of nowhere and there was a limited supply of food... unless!" {Elpi reached into his bag and pulled out his bell of food. Then he rang it.}

Immediately, a gourmet meal of Elpi's favourite food appeared, complete with a tall glass of cold milk. Elpi began to chow down.

Andarra sighed. [Oh brother,] she thought. "Uh, Elpi... we've got plenty of food on the ship. Still, thanks for reminding me. In case anybody is short, we should top up from the ship's stores."

"Hey Guys... do all your magic items work here?" Elpi then took some time to check out his equipment.

{So far, any items you have used seem to have worked.}

"I think it would be a really bad idea to stand around until it gets dark," Rand barked impatiently. "This place... well, there's something not right about it."

Andarra had to concur. She remembered her last outing with Elpi had him spending hours at one spot just so he could get the magic item he wanted. Time which could have been put to better use elsewhere.

Elpi somberly turned to Andarra and said, "If the road looks like it leads to a tower then i think we should kill 4 adventureres with one rock!" He innocently grinned after this comment.

She scowled at this. As a healer, she disliked any flippant attitude towards one's health. "Well, that road goes two ways. One way leads towards this tower of Elpi's. The other leads generally towards the cliff. That tower is probably dangerous. I'd rather avoid trouble until we have no choice. I say we take the road away from the tower first."

"So it is the cliff or the tower," asked Lenear. "Either way, we do not know what awaits us. I'm pretty indifferent, but since Andy wants to go for the cliff, that is cool with me.  This place in general seems to have a way to get to you. My childhood was spend among trees, so it is not the primal forest that gives me bad vibes.  We may be close to a negative plane, perhaps this Ravenloft place. Let us rest in the ship and move out in the morning. I have a feeling that nights may not be safe."

{Lenear: If we rest, do it in the ship, and take turns watching.}

Rand nodded his assent. While he wasn't big on dawdling, it would very likely be safer to travel by day. The ship offered some security.

"So I guess the majority has it. We set out in the morning, to the road leading away from the tower first," stated Rand.

Andarra settled down, first checking the herbs in her healer's bag. Unlike Elpi, most of her magical items could not be easily tested. "Well, my staff could, but I don't want to ask anyone if they'd mind being whacked upside the head," she thought with a chuckle.

Seeing as they had some time to kill, Rand once again produced his lute. Apart from being something to do, he always found that it helped morale. The trip hadn't gone particularly well, so maybe it would be a good idea to calm down and get a fresh start in the morning.

Thinking for a moment, he knew what to play. Stones was one of the more popular songs in the Old World, played in castles and taverns alike. Rand firmly believed that there was no one else who could play it the way he could. After all, he wrote it.

Soon into the song, the strings were accompanied by a woman's voice. Rand smiled. Andarra had decided to lend that five-octave voice to it. There weren't any words, but it didn't really matter: her voice alone complemented the lute well. This was one of the reasons why he considered Andy to be one of his better friends. Apart from her appealing personality, she had a good appreciation for music.

Lenear asked, "Elpi, how far would you say that the tower is from here?"

Elpi said, "The tower looked like about two hours walk, but I could do it faster!"

{DM, how far would Lenear say that the cliff is from here?}

Lenear guessed that the cliff was about two to three days walk to the East, provided that road went all the way to the base of the cliff. The cliff looked much closer, because of its size. But Lenear knew better.

{Lenear wants to practice with his swords, to make sure that the balance is okay. Also, to try his magical rings, to make sure that they are working.}

Lenear felt fine with his swords. They were swinging smoothly, especially his Sword of the Planes. All of his magic items appeared to function normally. Andarra found the same - all of her items seemed to be functioning normally.

As they prepared to sleep, Lenear took first watch. He sat at the front console, so he could see outside.

After a few hours, a light drizzle began. His watch seemed to pass uneventfully, and Andarra took over.

After several hours, Andarra saw first light of morning appear.

As she looked out, it seemed dreadfully bleak. That light rain was still falling, and the sun's light was not bold. Because it was hidden behind the cliff, the morning light was indirect and gray. After about four hours, she awoke the others.

The party slept fine. They prepared some food, got their stuff together, and reluctantly stepped out into the wet forest. They headed north east.

Traveling through the forest was terrible. It was cold, and within five minutes, everyone was drenched. Lenear found his Phoenix sword kept him warm. Now and then, Andarra would come by and hug him. He thought she was just being nice, but he figured out later it was also so she could warm up.

The rain made the felled trees slippery, especially where the squirrels had chewed it off. And it was cold. After nearly two hours of walking, they reached the road. They decided to head east.

The road was very muddy. At first, they thought "this must be better than the forest". But the road was winding, and muddy. At some points, the mud was so thick, your boot would come off. If you weren't paying attention, and took another step, your sock would go into the mud.

"What a dreadful place," said Andarra.

Rand chucked. In a way, it reminded him of Port Blacksand. "Yeah, I don't think Starleamus would like it here," he mused.

They plodded on. After walking on the road for about three hours, the sun was high overhead, but it was a dim light, shrouded in the clouds. The rain persisted.

After another three hours, the road widened and became more flat. A rope had been tied across the road, to two of the trees. Cautiously, they ducked under the wet rope. Not far from that, the characters saw a sign pointing back from where they had come from. The sign had one word, "Tow". Underneath, nailed crudely to the same post, was another sign, written in big letters "priv!". The characters rested for a moment, then kept walking.

It was much easier to walk on this newer road. It was much straighter, and had much less debris on it. As they walked, several dirt roads branched off to the north and south. Walking a short distance up these, Rand came to the conclusion they were farms. It appeared they were growing various vegetables, such as potatoes and squash. Some of the farms had cows and pigs.

Elpi wanted to go and play with the pigs, but Andarra held him firmly by the scruff of the neck.

{You can check out the farms more thoroughly if you wish.}

After passing several of these smaller roads, the party found another sign. It had an arrow pointing in the direction they were going. The word on the sign was "Sig". Various things made them guess there was a village up ahead. It was still raining.

Rand tried to think of what the words might mean. He'd always had a knack for writing... to the point where he was often able to piece together what foreign writing meant based on the context. That, or they were proper names rather than foreign words.

"Tow" could be short for "tower". They knew that was what was down the road. "Priv" could mean "private". That, along with the rope, made sense... the clear idea was 'stay away'. "Sig" could be a proper name. It seemed a bit odd to him that a sign leading to what was (according to Elpi) a large tower would be written in such truncated slang.

{Would a Read Languages check apply here?}

{Not in my opinion. There wasn't really much text there at all. I think in this case, a player's guess would be not far from the character's.}

In the distance, they saw someone advancing slowly on a cart.

Rand quickly addressed his companions. "I think we should talk to the driver. No, not you, Elpi. We have no idea where we are, and this seems to be our best chance of getting an idea what's going on."

Andarra touched Lenear's arm to get his attention, and looked significantly at Elpi. She knew he was very likely to jump ahead (again) and do something foolish. If that happened, Lenear was the only one who was quick enough to stop him before he did anything drastic. Well, she could stop him, but she'd either have to hit him or cast a spell on him, neither of which were desirable.

{If everyone agrees to talk to the carter, Rand is planning on doing the talking. Just simple questions about what is down the road, at first.}

"Elpi , we do not know who these people are." Lenear pulls Elpi toward him. "We should be discrete, so how about we do not tell anyone who we are or what we are doing here. At least not until it is necessary."

"One thing that I have learned while traveling through places like this, is never assume anything". Lenear gives Elpi a serious look. "I mean their culture, and their laws may be vastly different. I know of a place outside of our realm where they shove a living snake up your ass for stealing." Lenear produces an evil smirk. "This place looks pretty screwed up so far. Who knows what they may do to thieves or troublemakers."

Turning his head toward Elpi, Lenear continues with a smile, "Naturally, us being the upstanding beacons of moral fortitude, do not have much to fear from the law." Lenear nearly chokes before finishing this sentence, but quickly recovers. "Nevertheless we should be careful".

Lenear knew that eventually Elpi was going to get everyone into trouble. At least for the time being, he may think twice about doing something stupid. Lenear had no illusions that making such assumptions about Elpi would be an exact science. It would indeed be quite careless not to keep an eye on the kender. Lenear waited until the cart approached, and let Rand spin his magic.

Rand approached the cart slowly, while the others waited at a safe distance. The lone driver pulled the reigns, making his arch-backed mule stop abruptly. Rand could see the cart was in great disrepair. He wondered how it didn't fall apart. It was carrying large pumpkins. Rand instinctively knew that these must be the ones that didn't sell today.

"Hello, dear farmer," said Rand, with a warm smile. The farmer seemed to hesitate. It was as if he was trying to understand what Rand was saying.

"Welc, you must be fors," he said, in a scratchy voice.

Rand paused for a moment himself. This was weird. "Yes, we are travellers from a distant plan-- uh, place!" said Rand. The man put down his hood. He was very old. How was it that such an old man was still going to market with heavy vegetables?

The man paused for what seemed like over a minute. Was he just thinking? Was he hard of hearing? Rand waited patiently during this uncomfortable moment. Then the man spoke again.

"Your lang conf me. You are fors. That is obv by your clothes," said the man, matter-of-factly. Rand decided to speak more slowly, and to use simpler words.

{Just a note to people reading this. The above words were truncated intentionally - that is the way these people speak.} "What town is that, up this road?" asked Rand, pronouncing clearly.

The man responded right away. "The town is called Sig." (He pronounced it like Sig in "Sigil"). "Please be caref, the laws are strict, and some fors get in troub."

Rand smiled to himself. He remembered a jester he had met a while ago. The guy had introduced him to a concept called "The Game", where they would communicate only with words of one syllable. However, here it seemed that it was a dialect of common, where multi-syllabilic words would simply have all syllables cut off after the first. Wierd, but easy enough to understand once you got the hang of it.

"Thanks for your help, friend," he said, gratefully. While the farmer didn't really provide much information about their surroundings, he had helped Rand to figure out how to communicate. "We'll be on our way, then."

Once the farmer had left, Rand turned to his friends.

"Well, as far as I can tell, they do speak common here. However, they have an odd dialect. They only use words with one syllable. The funny thing is, if a word would have more than one syllable in common, they still use it, but they cut out all the syllables but the first."

He smirked. "Do you guys und? Len, And, Elp, fol me. We're go to Sig." He hurried down the road before anybody could throw something at him, chuckling.

The party moved on, walking toward the town of Sig. They passed many more farmers and peasants, and finally they could see the town in the distance, under the large trees.

It finally stopped raining, but it was still muddy. The trees were still wet, and the cold wind had the annoying habit of occasionally tousling the giant trees enough to make small showers of cold droplets.

They passed a large, very old wooden sign. The sign was muddied and termite-eaten. Drawing closer, Rand could see the sign spelled out "Sigisoara".

Rand considered for a moment. So he was right... obviously the people here spoke a dialect of the Common tongue. At one point, at least, words had more than one syllable. He wondered what had happened to change that.

Pressing on, the characters passed a few small houses, and then some small stores. Needless to say, after traveling for hours in the cold and wet forest, they were relieved to find civilization.

Having been soaked, and splattered in mud from waist to toe, some party members might have felt somewhat self-conscious. But that seemed to fit in here.

All of the buildings were dilapidated and dirty looking. Rand saw a clothiers, and a feed store. They passed a "Tav", and other familiar buildings.

People here seemed overly cautious. Some peasants would glare at the travelers, and then cover their faces with a hood and plod on. Parents drew their kids closer, chastising them bitterly, and then stared. Some of them even crossed the street to avoid entering that "dangerous" twenty foot radius surrounding the party. Adding insult to injury, some shops closed abruptly as they passed.

Rand knew these people weren't afraid of theft - they all looked like they only owned the clothes on their backs. Auspelis was a bustling metropolis by comparison, which had all tiers of society, from the filthy rich, to the bitter poor. Unlike Auspelis, however, there appeared to be no beggars.

*It's because we're outsiders,* Rand mused. *We look strange, like we don't belong, and they fear that.* Andarra murmured, "They show all the signs of a repressed people... scared of their own shadows, because fear has become such a common experience for them." Pulling near to the center of the town, they saw a temple. In the center of town was a small water fountain. And something there glinted.

Naturally curious about this, the party drew closer to see what it was. Everything suddenly seemed to get quiet. Andarra looked around, and noticed that this central part of the city now appeared devoid of life.

A small dog crossed the square, made a small whine, and chased after a boy that, moments earlier, had been playing with him.

The fountain was very old, and gothic in appearance. Perched on a convenient shelf, near one of the jets of water, was a small, solid gold cup. Maybe it was the consistent squalor of the surrounding environment, or perhaps it was the gold itself, but the cup shined like the purest, most polished gold the party had ever seen. It was clear that the purpose of the cup was to allow a drink from the fountain, which now seemed to be designed for drinking more than for aesthetics.

Rand frowned. That cup would be very valuable at home. So why was it out in the middle of town? The lack of people was also strange.

"Whatever you do, DON'T take that cup," Rand said. "It looks like people avoid this part of town, and for now, we have to assume they have a good reason to do so. These folks look pretty poor. Why, then, would they leave something so obviously valuable lying around?"

Andarra felt that this place was like one of the areas avoided by some primitive cultures: what was the word? Taboo. They'd need to learn more, but be subtle about it. These poor souls obviously were very suspicious of strangers.

Andarra said, "Maybe we should go to the tavern... er... 'tav'. Hopefully, we'll be able to find out a thing or two. Let's be careful, okay? These folks seem to be easily spooked, and we don't wan't to alienate anyone."

"Besides," she continued, with a slight smile, "we've been trudging through rain and mud. I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm wet, and I'm hungry. And I'll call anyone here who claim's they're not a liar."

Rand, Andarra and Lenear decided to go into the tavern. "Meet you back here in a little while," said Rand. They left Elpi alone in the square. The sun was beginning to set.

Lenear responded to nature's call in the alley, and then followed Rand and Andarra into the bar. As soon as he turned his back, however, Elpi disappeared. Glancing at the fountain, Lenear noted that the gold cup was still there.

Approaching the tavern, they smelled the musty smell of ale. Upon entering, Rand realised it reminded him of the "Pig's Trough" in Parravon. Hay was strewn on the floor, and chickens clucked about. It was late afternoon, so there the place was busy.

A little boy came up to Andarra and asked, "Hey, nice wom? Could you spare some change?" The boy looked up at her with big, watery eyes. Andarra realised she didn't have any Ashterod currency.

"Hey, hon," she said, kneeling down so she met him eye-to-eye. Reaching into her coinpouch, she retrieved 10 silver coins. Taking the silver, she put it into the child's hands.

With a warm smile, she said, "It's not from near here, but it's still silv. Don't spend it all in one place, eh?"

The kid's eyes bugged out. He looked stunned. "I'm rich!" he said. He ran around a while, then bolted outside.

Rand looked at this with a small smile on his face. Andarra could get very testy at times, and had a fierce temper, but her sheer kindness was probably unequalled by anyone he knew, except perhaps for her brother. Cynically, he thought of all the thieves in Blacksand who would use kids to get money out of compassionate people like her. He pushed that thought aside. What did it matter if the kid was truly needy or a miniature con artist? They could more than afford to spend the money. Besides, he always had a soft spot for the underdogs.

Rand realised his lack of local currency as he came up to the bar. A stout bartender was there. He asked Rand, "What will it be?" Rand poked around in his pouch for some silver. He noticed they were using silver coins of some kind here, as he could see by the tips on the bar.

"Will you take my,... uh,... silv?" Rand asked, carefully. He handed a coin to the bartender, who snatched it away. Durenoran silver was about the same diameter as their coins, but it was decisively thicker.

The man gave a flat grin. "Yes," he replied. "Ale then?" asked the burly man. Rand nodded.

"So, any news from this town?" Rand queried. The man raised an eyebrow as he drew a dark ale.

"Well, let's see," said the man, thoughtfully. He put the ale down in front of Rand. Rand could tell he was choosing his words. "The town is fine, noth much happs here," he said. "At least the Neph are leav us be these days."

Rand had never heard of Neph before. "What are Neph?" he asked.

The bartender chuckled. "I knew you two were fors when you walk in here. Now I know you must be from ver far," he said. He cleaned a few glasses, then he drew closer. "The Neph are big, bad men." Rand noted that ale was inexpensive here. He dropped two silver on the bar.

Andarra came and sat down beside Rand. He noticed a few people were sitting closer, as if they wanted to hear. Maybe the spirits had calmed their fears. Rand thought for a minute. The bartender must have been talking about giants.

Andarra whispered to Rand, "Did you see the post?" Rand shook his head. Andarra pointed, and Rand went up to look. Tacked to a post, was a wanted sign.

Andarra whispered, "I think that means 'Trey Brul'... somebody's name... 'for robbery. See Lord Tep for reward.'"

"I think we should think about this. It will get us some local coin, and would definitely get these folks to trust us more."

Rand went back to his bar stool. The bartender added, "If you want to know more on the Neph, ask the town scribe."

A skinny man approached Rand, "Hey, where are you from?"

{By the way, I might forget how these guys speak, so if I do, please remind me. It's easy to forget.}

Rand pondered for a moment. How to answer in a way the man could understand... without giving too much away?

"Far from here. I don't call one place home, but the last place I was in was called Dur. Can't tell you, where it is from here, 'cause I don't know. Won't surp me if you've never heard of it." Rand made a show of looking sheepish. Sympathy could go far. "My friends and I, we're kind of lost, you see."

The beauty of it was, it was basically true.

The man seemed satisfied with that answer, and went back to his ale.

Rand spoke to the bartender again. Lenear listened in. "Hey, what's up with that Tow? Does a man live there?" Rand told the man they saw the sign and rope across the road.

The bartender thought for a moment. "You best stay far from that tow. That man is craz."

Rand wanted to know more, "Who is he?"

"All I know, is some peop got all cur and went to see it, and they nev came back," said the man. He served some other customers, then came back. "Smart to keep off that land."

Rand asked for directions to the scribe, which the bartender provided. The scribe was in a nearby building. He also asked for directions to Lord Tep. The bartender said, "His place is ver obv - he's in the cast on the east side of town. You can't miss it. If you speak to the guards, they'll show you in."

Rand also asked about room and board. The bartender said he had some rooms in the back for 10 silv, "such as they were." He indicated there was a more comfortable establishment also in the east end, for around 14 silver.

{Make sure Elpi hasn't done anything too stupid (like take that cup). Andy will ask him directly about it, to see if he's lying.}

It bothered Andarra that Lenear had lost track of Elpi. Lenear comforted her and said he made sure Elpi hadn't taken the gold cup.

{DM: It's evening; I'm not sure if you want to just go to sleep, or do something else first.}

{We want to check on Elpi every once in a while...}

{DM: Elpi's pretty unpredictable. If you want to check on him, just let me know at that time. Rather than having me 'autopilot' your PC, I'd rather you told me what to do about him as things come up.}

Andarra was a bit nervous about travelling at night here. It was nothing logical... purely instinct. However, it was not arrogance for her to say that her instincts were better than anyone else she knew... it was simply fact. There was something fundamentally wrong about night in this place.

"I don't really blame you about the Fungus, Lenear," she said to her husband. "Take your eyes off him for a second and he can disappear."

She frowned with worry. "Still, I think we should take the time to look for him. There is no telling what kind of tomfoolery he's getting into as we speak.."

She was interrupted by Rand. "How about Lenear and I look for him, while you get a room for us? To be blunt, we can see in the dark, and you can't. There is a more comfortable place than this in the east side of town."

Unspoken was the thought that Rand simply had a better idea than Andarra as to what Elpi was doing. Once upon a time, he'd be doing the same thing. *From thief to thief-chaser. Full circle, I guess,* Rand thought. He chuckled at the irony of it.

Andarra grumbled a bit at the idea that she wouldn't be much help in looking for Elpi, but had to concede that Rand was right. Elpi was very stubborn, and liked to have his way no matter what. If he saw them coming, he might hide. Frankly, stealth was not one of Andarra's strengths. Her presence could very well alert the kender and give him a chance to bolt.

"Alright, fine," she muttered. "Just don't take too long. While I'm all for seeing he doesn't get himself killed, there are limits to how much I'm willing to baby it. Appearances aside, he's an adult. That means that he's responsible for what he does. He'll never learn that if we keep pulling his fat out of the fire."

That said, she went looking for the inn.

Rand sighed. In all honesty, he didn't particularly want to look for the kender at all. Elpi had used up whatever grace he had with Rand some time ago. Still, he had to at least take some effort in looking for him.

He told Lenear what they had seen, and of the plans they made.

After searching for Elpi for hours, Rand and Lenear decided to call it a night. They met Andarra back at the inn. It was called the Unic Inn, and had a beautiful horned white horse on its sign.

The beds were comfortable and clean. They quickly went to sleep.

In the middle of the night, Lenear awoke. Something was making noise. Shortly thereafter, Rand awoke.

They could hear a distant sound, which resembled thunder. Except that it came in regular intervals.

It was making Lenear's coins rattle on nearby table.

In an instant, Rand's Power crossbow was out. A few moments of cranking later, it was loaded. He loaded his Speed crossbow as well. In general, he would open a battle with the more powerful weapon, then switch to the quicker one.

He grinned... a smile without humour in it. "If my guess is right, that noise is coming from the Nephs I've heard about. Care to see what's going on?"

Andarra frowned slightly. Why did it always have to come to this? With some resignation, she hefted her staff. Trouble was afoot, and she meant to be ready for it.

"Someone should complain about the noise," said Lenear, as he somersaulted from the bed. By the time he landed both of his weapons were out and ready. A quick horizontal slash with Phoenix relit two large candles on the table.

{Lenear joins the others. Peek outside to where the noise is coming from.}

The characters bursted outside of the inn. Looking around, they realised it would be impossible to see any distance at all, with all the huge trees surrounding the village.

Those "boom" noises sounded like something walking. Lenear expected to see something large, like an Iron Golem, tromping around in the town. If it was, they would easily see it. There was nothing in the town.

The sound continued, and seemed to be coming from due North. Rand, Lenear and Andarra all began running through the streets and alleys, toward the edge of Sig.

Having reached the edge of town, the party continued running on small roads. They cut across fields, and hopped fences. Andarra was lagging behind a bit. Lenear was caught between wanting to run at full speed, and not leaving her behind.

Lenear had forgotten that Rand was also a good runner. Also, he was able to spring over bushes and fences. Before long, they were in the forest again, and running involved more footwork. In fact, it was downright difficult to run in the forest in the dark. There was a fine, cold, low-hanging mist that made it hard to see the ground in some spots. The cold mist condensed on their arms, making them clammy.

Andarra told them not to wait for her. She was running, but she couldn't run as fast.

Now moving as quickly as they could, Rand and Lenear found themselves running together. Shortly, Lenear began to pull ahead, and Rand followed behind him. This made it easier for Rand to keep up.

They stopped running for a moment to listen. The "boom" noises weren't getting any louder. In fact, they were now coming from the North East. Lenear bolted ahead, while Rand stayed behind to tell Andarra about their change of direction.

Andarra found herself disoriented. She looked around, and suddenly, all the trees seemed the same. She continued running for a while, and then decided to stop, for fear that she might be running in the wrong direction. The "boom" sounds were so faint to her, it was hard to tell what direction they were coming from.

She called out to the others, "Rand? Leneeeeear?" Her voice echoed through the dark forest. She heard Rand's voice "Over here!". He was much closer than she thought.

When Andarra caught up, Rand told her they were going to change direction. They began running again.

After going at it for another 15 minutes, Rand and Andarra were jogging more than running. They were out of breath. They heard something coming closer. It was Lenear.

Surprisingly, he sounded out of breath himself. "I ran... very fast... (pant) ... but, the sound kept getting... (pant) more faint," said Lenear. He leaned against a tree. Rand could see Lenear had scratches on his hands and face. Obviously, branches had scraped him.

Andarra spoke up. "Are you telling me that, whatever-it-was, could walk faster than you could run?" Lenear shrugged. All he knew, was that he ran for a very long time, as fast as he could, and the "boom" noises got gradually more faint. He wasn't even able to see what he was chasing.

Andarra asked, "Which way is it back to Sig?" She looked at the others.

Rand and Lenear both pointed back in the same direction. Andarra asked, "Are you sure?" Rand and Lenear both felt pretty confident that was the right direction.

"Now what should we do?" asked Rand. The misty forest looked strangely eerie at night.