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Supplies Needed

[Borsk’s official report]

Supplies delivered.

[Borsk’s private journal entry]

Delivery to Master Uris or Days of Elfs Past

It seems the wizard Uris is in need of assistance again. As we have had dealings in the past, and I wished to see how if she had managed to get her assistants out of the time warp bubble, I took the job posting. In the common tavern with its usual patrons, I spotted fair Valis sitting with her friend. I wondered if she would like to join on such a mundane task. From the strange comments her friend gave me and the sly grins she gave Valis, it appears I have been the subject of some conversation. I hope it was good things and not how I let the vile creatures infesting the monastery root me in place.

Valis agreed to join me! And it took very little convincing, she almost seemed eager. Well, that’s nice.

Julian also went. Along with his company of cat companions. I held onto Master Uris’ bag of holding. Who knows what sort of magical supplies are inside and I don’t trust Julian.

When we exited the portal, we found ourselves in a strange town. Usually there’s a portal on the other side so that we may return home, but this time there was not. We wondered if we would have to secure other means to get home. There was a magic pulse, similar to the one that erupted from Master Uris’ tower when her apprentice was possessed. However, this time the ground did not erupt into fire or acid or any other such calamity. The elves of this town did not seem to notice the magic pulse.

And that was the thing…. There were only elves in this town. And none spoke common, only elvish. There were more elves than I had ever seen in my life. Even Valis, who is an elf, remarked on the large population.

As we walked through the town and Valis spoke to the locals trying to get a sense of where we were, a strange thought came into my head. I could not remember exactly the names on the tombs of the king and queen whose ghosts we fought before, but the stories that were written about them remind me of this place. We were in the land of King Almer, a great elven kingdom that has seen remarkable peace. A people who didn’t speak common, who looked at Julian and I strangely as if they had never seen a human or cat that could speak before.

What if… what if we’ve gone back to the time of this kingdom? We arrived to the realm we had intended, but more than a thousand years into the past. Before the building of the inter-realm gateways, before humans had thrown themselves over all of creation, before the decimation of this great kingdom.

I told Julian he had better not pull out that cursed sword that he looted from the tomb. We were told of an attempt made on the king’s life recently, and walking around with his sword would certainly make us suspects. We already stood out terribly.

We learned some things about this kingdom that we didn’t know before. They don’t like necromancy, devil or demon worship, or dragon worship. I quite like these elves, I think. Though I wonder what befalls them that causes the ghosts of their king and queen to linger on in their tombs for so long. There was also a ceremony to be had in the afternoon to honor a revolution of some sorts. The king was supposed to be there. We thought that perhaps we could present the sword to him and explain our tale and get some assistance.

First, we went to their wizard school to try and find out more information and help. That turned out to be a bad plan. Of course the wizard there did not believe our outlandish story. Julian, idiot, in an effort to be intimidating, used one of his warlock spells. Now they hate us and they tried to kill us.

As if this adventure hadn’t already gone incalculably wrong, Julian had another trick up his fur. He summoned a great, metal griffon to be our escape. We climbed on and crashed through the wall and soared into the air.

Despite that we had ruined any chance of finding assistance from these elves, I have to say I rather enjoyed the griffon ride. Soaring through the air, fair Valis sitting behind me with her arms clutched around me. Damned all this blasted armor. The momentary enjoyment was short-lived as we crashed again, this time through the balcony where the king was preparing to make his speech. We tried to convince him, but as we had killed two of his guards when the griffon crashed through the wall, he wasn’t exactly on our side.

At least we only got arrested and not executed on the spot.

While we were in the prison cell, the king was killed along with the queen. So that was the day that it all happened. We were released by a young squire that we had met when we first arrived. I’ve decided he needs to stay a fair distance away from Valis. Such a boy could not possibly understand the sort of care and respect a woman like Valis deserves. A boy like that would bask in her beauty and offer nothing in return.

We discovered that the king had been stabbed. A single dagger through the chest. The queen, whom upon our last encounter had been quite aggressive towards us, appeared to have put up a fierce fight. Her arms were covered in wounds as if she had defended herself against many dagger strikes. Her body and clothes were singed with magic. We began to suspect perhaps their son, if not involved, at least knew something.

We went to the prince’s room and discovered it abandoned. A recently used teleportation was hidden in there. Again on the griffon, we followed the magical energy to the bell tower. It was a strange sight. It looked like the room that Master Uris’ assistants were trapped in, the same sort of magic was flowing through it. The prince was there along with a pale-looking companion. His companion had cuts all over her body--evidence of her fight with the queen.

This creature, a vampire we discovered, marked Valis as the only one who could truly hurt her with her radiant magic. She went after Valis in a frenzy. I did my best to protect her, and even Julian was quite useful with his foul magics. The prince, we decided, was not nearly as dangerous as the vampire and focused all of our efforts on her, even the griffon got into the fight. I landed what should have been the killing blow, a vengeance for her assault on Valis, but the coward disappeared into a mist and escaped.

The prince also proved himself a coward and jumped out of the window. He had some sort of magical item that allowed him to fly, but Valis… oh beautiful, intelligent, wondrous Valis. She used her magic to dispel the magic of the prince’s flying and he dropped like a stone, falling towards the ground. Our griffon managed to catch him, but not before he took significant trauma.

There was still the large task of returning to our own time to overcome. We could see Master Uris through the shards of magic in the time bubble, but it seemed only we could see it. To the elves of this land, they saw only their bell tower. After resting, Valis figured out how to contact Master Uris. Through careful manipulation of magic and word choice, Uris explained how to get home. It took some convincing of the town guard, but we retrieved what was our anchor to this world--the dagger that had killed their king.

As we were preparing to leave, I insisted to Valis that I go through last. I had to make sure she reached the other side safely. Just before I pushed her up the ladder to go through the portal, the young squire who, I admit, had been a help, appeared. He asked to go through the portal with us, to travel to the future. Valis seemed keen on the idea. I was quick to register the obvious problems with this plan, that the boy likely had a destiny here and we’d be screwing up the future more than we already had by being here. Valis probably could have convinced me to let him come with us, as I would do near anything for her, but the boy let something slip that I couldn’t quite shake off. I think he might be some sort of dragon worshipper. It’s not just my jealousy that he had gotten Valis’ favor, but I do think there is something shifty about this boy. I finished pushing Valis up the ladder and through the portal, making sure the boy knew that he could not follow us.

Upon returning to the right time and now in the right place, we took a few days to stay with Master Uris. Whatever strange magic had trapped us in the past was also connected her assistants being stuck in their own time bubble. Everything seemed to sort itself back out once we came through the portal. Master Uris thanked us for bringing her supplies and told us stories of the kingdom of King Almer. It seemed a Dragon Knight that had once been a knight of that realm had risen up against the kingdom and that was what had led to its downfall. While I don’t believe it’s possible for this person to still be alive, Uris insists that is the rumor. Valis and I have vowed to bring him to justice should we find him.

Valis and I went down into the elven tombs in order to pay our respects to the fallen king and queen. And I wished to return the sword back to its rightful place. Julian insisted I bring the sword back, even though he couldn’t even wield it. I’ll just give him my share of the gold later. The sword belongs back with its king.

The ghost of the king rose again, only this time he only told us his wonderful jokes instead of turning me into a rabbit. We talked about what had transpired and how sorry we were we couldn’t stop it. I asked him if he wanted the sword returned and instead something truly remarkable happened.

I trained near everyday from boyhood. I was squire to Sir Hamelin for three years. My knighthood was a guarantee. I would take my place next to my father in the king’s army and achieve great victory for our realm. It was my birthright, but I never felt as if I had earned it. I was following the path that had always been laid out for me and inheriting greatness.

The ghost of King Almer asked me to kneel before him and I did so without hesitation. He made me a knight of his kingdom and I do not think I have ever been so proud and humbled at the same time. He bestowed upon me the sword he had been buried with, the one that we had stolen under my strong objections. It was a family heirloom of his kingdom and a sword that had killed many dragons. And now, it is mine. I promised that I would slay many dragons with it, in his name.

Upon exiting the tomb, I knelt before Julian and offered him my apologies. I had been quite hard on him during our journey, but it was his griffon and quick thinking that had helped us greatly. I couldn’t promise to not get angry at him in the future, as the way we view the world is still quite different, but I let go of my anger and dislike of him.

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