Letters Home - 3

Dear Mum,

We had our first bit of adventure today! Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything dangerous, we just met someone new and got a little bit more information about what we might be facing when we find Phanto. On a side note, it’s kind of strange to realize you might not read these letters until after everything is over with our Quest. Since I can’t send the letters your way until I see a traveler going that way, I have no way of knowing when these will reach you or if they will all get to you all at once! Don’t worry, I’m keeping my eyes open for chances to send the letters north with a passing traveler, but there just aren’t as many opportunities now as when I was traveling from town to town, so I think you’ll probably get a big bundle all at once. I hope that Magnus gives you a good long break so you can sit and read them.

Wow, I got completely off topic, ok, back to our new friend. His name is Rory and he’s a young Halfling. He came across our party when he was running from monsters (which turned out to be Kobold’s, yah, he was really “excited” to see Whiffy) and he fainted right at our feet! I felt a little foolish because I thought he might be suffering from some sort of magical spell until Meren pointed out that it looked like he’d simply fainted. I guess I’m eager for drama huh? I need to be careful of that, I’m sure I’ll have more than I can handle soon enough!

Oh – another side note – Whiffy can’t say Halfling. I never thought I’d say this about a kobold, but it’s adorable!

Anyway, it looks like some of Phanto’s men have kidnapped a local priestess and another boy (forgot to ask much about him) so we’ve added saving them into our quest. It only makes sense, we can’t ignore their plight and it fits right in with what we’re already doing! We probably would have ended up rescuing them anyway. Now my only concern is for Rory. He’s a bit young to be involved in something like this, he’s sworn to avoid the fighting and just be on guard duty, but we’ll see what actually happens.

Oh – and apparently the ever mysterious Meren speaks Halfling! I wonder where she learned that?

Well I better get some sleep, I have third watch tonight, so going to be early is a good idea.

Love,

Illia

Letters Home - 2

Dear Mum,

We set out on our mission yesterday morning, and I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am! This is exactly the type of thing I’ve been hoping to do ever since I set out from Jayall. I mean, sure I love getting to see different towns and people, but for once I’m going to be a part of the stories I sing about. I can make a difference in the lives of the people of this town. Maybe I’ll even get to write my own song about our adventures!

I spent some time at lunch yesterday talking to Meren. She’s the wood elf in the party and Lady Kris’s apprentice. She intrigues me. I haven’t known very many wood elves, and I know they can be very different from high elves, but something about her seems off even for that. It might just be that she’s a wizard’s apprentice, but I don’t really think that’s it either. I mean, I’ve known some wizards and their apprentices (remember when Nadoll set the town hall on fire?), and it seems different. I can’t put my finger on it.

Oh well, for all that she’s different, Meren is very nice, and she seems to know what she’s doing, at least so far. We’re in her element right now because we are travelling through the forest towards the place where this “Phanto” is located. Right now we’re on the path, but we’ll be leaving it eventually to avoid some kobolds. The last thing we want is them notifying Phanto we’re on the way, or worse, ambushing us.

You know how much I love languages right? Well Meren has started to teach me Wood Elvish! I’m so excited! There are some similarities to High Elvish, and some things that are very, very different. At least that’s how it seems from what little I’ve learned so far. Mostly we’ve just been exchanging words. How to say “pot” and things like that. She doesn’t know High Elvish, so I’m teaching her what I know as we go along. I’m hoping to pick up a few words in the languages of our other travelers as well. Not too sure I want to learn kobold though…

Meren says hi by the way. She thinks it’s great that I’m writing you!

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I didn’t have time to finish this at breakfast – hopefully I’ll have enough time to catch up this time!

Last night we met some small creatures that I’ve never seen before. I have no idea what they were, but they were friendly, and they were good musicians! We ended up spending some time playing tunes, and some of the other members of the party even started dancing! I think Gen was a little tipsy, there’s no other explanation for the gnome dancing with the kobold…you would have been cracking up Mum! Wish you could have seen it.

Speaking of dancing kobold’s, who would have thought that they are such good dancers? Not only was Whiffy pretty good at dancing with Gen, he surprised us all with some incredible acrobatics! I almost dropped my harp and started clapping. I settled for a whistle instead if I remember correctly. Last night’s a little fuzzy. I promise I didn’t drink much, but apparently the “moonlight” that Meren shared with us is much stronger than what I grew up around at the tavern! If it makes you feel any better it hit Gen pretty hard too. Although Gen’s a gnome, so who knows how differently our body processes things? We were all glad that Meren had some tea that helped take away some of the side-effects!

This letter is getting long, so even though I have more to say, I’ll seal this one up and start another one with its own stories. I love you Mum!

Illia