Honoured Desna, thank you for the strength to decline the bribes of Mammon, for the power to survive the wisdom draining allips and for your aid in smashing the evil construct. I also pray on behalf of my brother Trevarric of the Black Isle that you grant him the foresight to deliver a killing blow to his nemesis, that treacherous Githyanki.

Well met again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this troubled oracle, being lower than my chops,
as a winged butterfly of Desna
Unto the dark reaching starless eyes
Of a mortal that falls back in golden gluttony,
touched by dwarven magic cast from puffy clouds
That sail upon the bosom of the air.

Lissandra Glissander, wherefore art thou Kobold?
Deny thy race and refuse thy treachery.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but human in my eyes,
And I’ll no longer hate your fellows.

Thou are thyself, but tainted by thine own,
in deed complicit, in league with snakes.
Lissandra, what’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
But Kobold is as Kobold does, Dragonheart,
and heart so rendered, now broken bittersweet.

How blind I was, bescreened in lust
So stumbled on my innocence, thou dost
revile me to my very soul, that I must turn from thee,
and in the treasured bowl now trust.
Lissander Glissander, wherefore art thou Kobold?

Oh Great Dreamer, Queen of the North and Goddess of the Starry Night, hear the prayersong of your humble servant from the confines of a dark and dreary mountain, closed from your natural starlight and the only butterfly, a crude symbol worn by your loyal subject. Bless this group of ours with your Holy Favour. Show us your good will and restore us to our noble path, out of this mountain and into the cool night air where stars unseen can yet be felt through your gracious power.

Lord Trevarric of Black Isle
The narrative of the adventures of a nobleman and his faithful companions; the memoirs of a gentleman explorer, adventurer and arch-mage.

Sunday;
We have returned from the dark underworld of the mountain having fought armies of ravenous monsters. Under my command we reinstated the ingenious ventilation system invented by the dwarfs to working order. The catacombs again fill with fresh air and the denizens of the mountain were saved from harm. On returning from the depths we happened upon a Slyph lord of the air that I immediately engaged in diplomacy with the aid of an interpreter. As the party had been plagued by the evil backstabbing of a Gashenki I agreed to a pact to exchange this villain in the shadow realm temporary with Aaron Glaw one of my party in order to bring him to justice. I explained carefully to the rest of my troop the plan for the morning to ambush this assassin.

Monday
I have no desire to cast reflections upon any of the parties engaged in this Expedition, and in these pages have simply stated facts, for the truth of which I can positively vouch. For all future leaders it is a prudent warning that no plan is ultimately fool-proof. The assassin appeared as commanded in the summoning circle in plain sight. But ill fortune struck as every bolt, arrow, blow and spell went wide. The fighters failed yet again to follow simple instructions to form a shield wall, how many times must I explain they have one job, one simple job,. So unimpeded the Gashenki charged me and I stood firm in mortal combat, blade against my wizard lore. Dodging blows I struck him down with one shocking blast. Davok, bless him, missed the killing blow against our prone foe. We might have won the day there but Moribund charged. The brave but impetuous fellow in his haste charged through the still open portal and disappeared in the shadow realm. It is a simple rule never to run into the mysterious magical portal by accident. To cut a long story short I had to cut another deal with the Slyph to exchange my trapped fellow(s) with the unconscious Gashenki. Still they are brave companions and I do not regret my decision. Aaron Glaw bid his farewells to spend more quality time with his steed Godsfear, a valuable lesson to future leader that love and loyalty can bind companions together tighter that glue of feudal bondage or mercenary payments. Aaran and Godsfear we salute thee.

But now I have to still keep a watchful eye other my shoulder for that shadow dancer; fornicate, fornicate, duck buggery, excrement, merde, retardoes… ^&$%&^&£^%…(*)&^..apologies I forgot to turn off the auto-scribe spell.

It is said that the wings of a dragon can create such a wind as to knock a man off his feet.
Yet in Chaos theory, the wings of a butterfly can sustain such dramatic change throughout the world from just a tiny flap. It is that wing flutter that we seek, Oh Goddess of the Starry Night. For as we approach the tumultous heart of the mountain, let our own hearts be of even harder stone. Let us sing songs from the Eight Scrolls and defeat the Dark Lizard in your Most Glorious Name. Oh, and grant haste to the buffing of Aaron Glaw!

“If you go down to Willow Farm,
to look for butterflies, flutterbyes, gutterflies
Open your eyes, it’s full of surprise, everyone lies,
like the fox on the rocks,
and the musical box.
Oh, there’s Mum & Dad, and good and bad,
and everyone’s happy to be here.”

(Supper’s Ready – Genesis)

And so in the final test comes a horror of horrors. Noble Desna, you fluttered your glorious wings and the flames on my burning body ceased. You guided me straight through dark corridors keeping me safe from ill distraction. Now, we come to the final test and I see before me such abhorrence as would contaminate the clear night sky of your realm.

Give me strength, oh Maiden! Bestow upon us your blessings as we engage wholeheartedly with this arrow flinging fiend and her devillish companion. How dare these abominations taint your world and try to keep us from the safe deliverance of the desperate people in this citadel.

Oh, pitiful souls! We shall not fail you.

It was a horror of rooms
and we tired
of this sky high sea.
When I searched the lower deck, it was gloomy with nobody home.

We were looking for a killer
and we didn’t like the way that he do
and he do.
We opened strange doors
that we’d never close again.

We bagan to wail terrible screams
Killer in the boiler room know what I mean.

Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared.
Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared.

No rest for the wicked, they say….. Well, let me tell you, no rest for the Chaotic Good either! After a hard time adventuring, I took my rest, as both my body and your worship demands. They say I snored loudly while blade clashed against elemental beast, but I know nothing of this. It seemed my awakening was sharp and sudden, and who in his right mind would wish to wake up next to a Xorn?

Actually, who would wish to wake up and start the morning with a battle against an undead Medusa. The Evil gods must be testing us, oh Goddess of Dreams. Throw in evil soulblades, rascally halfings and re-awakened treants and you will see most clearly that we struggle ever in your honour, oh Queen.

But many thanks be due, for you have lifted the veil from our eyes and shown us the wiles of Drumvoro and the wicked ways of that rude and obnoxious servant, Roddenai. Roddenai! Aye! And an Eye for an Eye! What goes around, comes around, I say.

Desna, give us strength!

With the wind of the wings of the butterfly behind us, we strode into the evil domain of he that is named The Red Blade. Countless were his minions, untold his mirror images.
From within the fog of dreams I was able to keep my friends and I alive as they battled bravely against all manner of beasts. In the end, it was not enough to save that valiant ranger of the Sable Company and we were forced to enter even darker tunnels.

Here there was not a flutter and I felt my eyesight dim, hardly believing such a thing possible. But through the HOLY power of Cayden Cailaen we pushed through, past the Demon of Darkness, to claim our prizes. Hard won they were and in the end that demon of dread remained unscathed; but at least we made it out, and our noble ranger lives. We had to reach out deftly to save the halfling, but luckily his love handles provide good grip and we were able to avert his certain death.

Your amulet I will wear with honour and pride throughout all my life, oh greatest Desna, Queen of Dreams!