The Fairy Diary Day 282 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

At the close of our meeting Merlin announced that he would accompany us. We assembled this morning and set Dunfallon the task of selecting which entrance to take into the shaft. 

While we made our preparations, the pixie delved into the three we had discovered so far. He kept in mind the size of his friend Grimace and settled on the widest one as the best. 

It was a moot point, however, for at the last the troll decided to stay with the allies in order to look for his brother. 

We were all saddened by his decision, but understood. 

In the midst of our leave taking, a messenger from Laguayil arrived with dire news. An invasion force has arisen out of the canyonlands to the south and is marching on Corbelin and Laguayil.

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The Fairy Diary Day 279 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

Things did not go as planned – with one happy exception. 

Rumble, Noralei and I scouted around the mouth of the shaft and found at least three points of entry. We were at the point of exploring further, when Merlin returned with Dunfallon and Grimace. Merlin has been successful for his part, locking down the enemy camp as to any access from the outside. Our allies will be able to advance now more easily. 

The pixie and the troll however did not find Geog with the trolls in the camp – a fact at once both good and bad. 

We were about to turn our attention back to the shaft, when a loud shrieking filled the air behind us. There on the rim stood the giant walking plant that has been stalking us.

The Fairy Diary Day 278 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

My recent message to the High Fairy stirred things up mightily. It contained a strange request – from Merlin. The wizard asked me to use the pendant to summon him. 

I did. And in the span of two wing beats he was there beside us. 

He began by commending us for a job well done. Then went on to tell us that our allies were close to breaking through in mass. 

To that end he said it was crucial that we prevent the enemy from activating his nearby troops. 

We looked around our little circle in wonder. ‘How’ was the word that sprang from our lips. 

Merlin laughed and said that it would be all his concern. 

But Dunfallon spoke up and protested that he and Grimace had not yet found Geog. 

This appeared to take Merlin by surprise – but only briefly. 

Then, he said to the duo, “you two shall come with me.” 

The Fairy Diary Day 277 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

We three fairies joined Dunfallon and Grimace on their side of the rim this morning and together we compared our experiences. 

Rumble summarized his notions and those of Noralei and mine. The crater is barren in every direction. A desert really. But at the center lies a great mystery. Each of us looked into the shaft at the center of the crater and felt something different. Rumble thought it strange to see so much smoke swirling but never rising into the air above. Noralei is sure the red glow from below indicates a forge burning and someone or something is hard at work. I experienced an overwhelming heaviness that increased the closer I came to the shaft’s opening. 

Rather than tell us their discoveries, Dunfallon and Grimace took us to a camp set up a fair distance away from the crater. Together they had investigated it, having walked the silent grounds filled with the entranced forces of the enemy. The two asked my permission to check the trolls among this host. 

I granted it to them. And got out the scroll to write out this latest account to the High Fairy.

The Fairy Diary Day 276 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

We have the High Fairy’s reply. We are to await the arrival of their combined forces – the Dromadil pixies, the elves of the light, the fairy troops and Merlin. In the meantime he wants us to learn all we can. 

I selected Rumble and Noralei to work with me to scout the crater – first those parts easily accessible and then the shaft that appears to be in the center and lowest part of the depression. 

I assigned Dunfallon and Grimace to patrol the far side of the crater and perhaps ascertain how we can help our allies from our position in the rear of the forces opposing them. 

It’s an assignment our pixie especially relishes. 

The Fairy Diary Day 274 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

We have strange things to report from this valley. The plant life baffles Rumble. Besides their sick appearance, they give off a palpable aura of distrust and malevolence. It is stifling to his senses. Any of his attempts to coax them to health is actively resisted. 

And Noralei and Grimace keep hearing things that neither Rumble nor I do. Something is moving out there beyond our sight. 

Then at last we were relieved at the return of Dunfallon only to have similar problems reported from his recent experiences. Contrary winds kept him and his mount on constant guard throughout their flights. He was quite shaken at having nearly fallen off of his eagle into a large crater immediately to our front. 

All these omens would seem to conclude we are closing on the enemy.

The Fairy Diary Day 273 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

I have come to the conclusion that there are no dark elves in this land – and this not just from our own experience thus far. Grimace tells us that he has not seen nor encountered one in his traverse of the entire country. 

That left us all wondering exactly who or what it is that opposes us – that has mounted the attacks against our lands. 

Then this valley took a turn to the east at the end of the mountain range to our right, and another valley opened before us – one that appears to cut through all the ranges we saw from the heights a few days ago. 

Straight ahead per Noralei’s compass lies the source which attracts the greater amount of the red ashes. And both my pendants which have been ‘silent’ since we passed beyond the barrier were quivering. 

We are impatient for Dunfallon’s return. 

The Fairy Diary Day 272 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

Yesterday I reported to the High Fairy about the new member to our group and asked that he relay the good news to Grimace’s brother, Geog. His excellency replied to us today with the sad news that Geog has gone missing. He had been leading a phalanx of fairies into battle against a pack of wolves and walking dead trolls – he got too far ahead and was cut off when the enemy was reinforced. The fairies did see him escape into the forest beyond. So they had held out hope that he was safe. 

We were progressing right along when this came in. After I shared it with the others (a mistake) Grimace and Dunfallon were all for striking out immediately to his rescue – all despite their ignorance of where our friend might be. 

Rumble, Noralei, and I were finally able to calm them down, but only with the compromise of allowing Dunfallon to fly over the land between here and the crystalline tower. 

I kept everyone else plodding along in this interminable valley through abandoned village after abandoned village. 

The Fairy Diary Day 271 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

Of course there was no keeping Dunfallon from his friend Grimace. There was much hooting and hollering between them. Mostly the pixie. It was all I could do to keep us going forward. 

But the encounter was more than fortunate, for the troll knew exactly which way to go, delivering us from our quandary. 

Grimace had much to tell us, the more important details of which spilled into today. 

He had escaped the clutches of the troll enslavers when in the camp near the black crystalline tower. He tried to rescue some of the others but it was too late. They were rendered into the walking dead, and a number of them set on his trail. 

Rather than head back home through the land of the Dromadil pixies he pressed deeper into the land of the dark elves. 

He gave an entire history of his movements from that day to this. 

And that is how we came to abandon the straight route of Noralei’s compass and followed the first valley northward.

The Fairy Diary Day 270 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

For the first time Noralei’s compass shows that the red ash clump that we identify with the enemy’s location is closer than the walking menace behind us. 

Yet we do not see anything like a city or a tower or any habitation before us. Which given what we know is not at all that surprising. Rumble and I surmise that there must be bands of black plants surrounding it and masking it from our view. 

We stopped atop the highest point in the vicinity to surveil the way ahead. If we were to follow straight on to the destination per the compass we had nothing but mountain range after mountain range ahead of us. 

The four of us were pondering this when up from the other side a giant figure rushed into our midst. Immediately our weapons came to hand – but luckily we did not have to use them. 

For the giant figure was our missing troll, Grimace, Geog’s brother.