We spent some time recovering from our bout with the dragon. I commissionned a new armor made from the best BDD had to offer. I expect it will look quite smashing when it's done. I also got a nice pair of dragon pants made. About a week after we returned from the mine, the lord threw a banquet in our honor. It was a far cry from the usual festivities in this town-- it was a very stately, high-tone affair. The guests were mostly the people from Lord Lara's small but growing court, including three new councillors sent to her by the King of Steinhall. Two of these were men; one was a very beautiful woman. Those of our party who are from this town were upset that none of the town elders were at the party. The town is changing from a hick lumber town to the seat of a lord, and they don't seem to see that changes in the local politics are inevitable.

This was a typical "meet our local celebrities of the moment" soiree, where everybody acted very impressed with us, in a snooty sort of way. It was actually pretty dull-- the courtiers didn't feel comfortable in the town mayor's dining room, and the few townsfolk who were there certainly didn't know how to deal with high society.

Of course, these rough Norsemen aren't about to become civilised without putting up a fight. In the middle of the meat course (venison), the door swung open and Hal's neighbor, the crazy old woman, shuffled in. She muttered her usual bit about how Draco will return, and evil is afoot. She was thanked for the warning and led back out. We finished dinner, and the tables were cleared for some stately mingling and dancing. I tried to engage the interest of the woman councillor, Lady Greda. She was very polite and charming, promising nothing. It was obvious she's practiced the art of diplomatic flirtation for years. I grew tired of the game after a while and sought greener pastures, in the persons of a young lady-in-waiting by the name of Mara Lisson, and her charming sister Bess. Later on, I noticed Vrba had become enthralled by the icicle bitch councillor, and spent the rest of the evening with her.

The door flew open again, and it was BRB, Elspeth, and the town elders with a keg of ale. They were crashing the party. It certainly picked up after that, quickly degenerating into the usual drunken revel. Erose had taken it upon herself to introduce the two male councillors to the "wonders" of Helga's Camel Spit Ale, the poor sods.

The door banged open once more (the mayor should really get that fixed), and Draco came in, wearing armor covered in mud and blood. He'd clearly come straight from the field. He seemed a bit miffed that he hadn't been invited. Greda apologised, and said that they'd expected that he'd be busy with the war, and wouldn't be able to attend. Draco clearly didn't believe that excuse any more than Lady Greda did, but let it pass for the sake of polite society. He came over and to talk to Sanjay. He said that he'd been spending time with the wood elves, and that he'd met a "lass" who very much wanted to meet the "Great Sanjay." We all had a laugh at that-- Sanjay having a groupie. In particular, Draco had met with a tribe of wood elves who were fighting off a squad of orcs, and helped them out. Among these elves was one (called "Sparky") who shot lightning bolts. This peaked Sanjay's interest; apparently that spell is not known to be possible by means of wood elf magic-- it requires "the book"-- and Sanjay's school hasn't graduated any students yet.

The night wore on. Vrba and Lady Ice stopped by the corner where I was sitting with Keef, Hal, and the Lisson sisters. By then, I was more than a little drunk, and I almost died laughing when she propositioned me for a three-way with her and Vrba. Hal said, "Face it, she's just an Elf groupie." Vrba and his lady left and went to her apartment in the castle. She chained him up and had her wicked way with him. He woke up the next morning with no recollection of anything that happenned the night before, after Greda began undressing. (More on this later.)

The next day, Sanjay and Hal came by my inn and told me that they needed to talk to us all. I met with everybody else, and Sanjay said, "Um, I don't know how to tell you this, Vrba, but I think you screwed a Drow last night." Vrba, of course, freaked out, demanding to know what Sanjay was talking about. Apparently, during the party, Sanjay'd been playing with his discharged anti-Drow device, and had poked Greda with it. She reacted with a startled jump, which she quickly concealed, and called Sanjay "cheeky." It was only much later that Sanjay realized that her reaction was similar to Elspeth's to a full one, right after she'd been tainted with Drow blood. Sanjay surmised that there was probably some residual charge in the device, which caused a minor reaction in Drow. Vrba then told us that he couldn't remember anything of what had happenned the previous night, after he got to Greda's room. He was in a near-panicked state, and was talking about having to kill himself by leaping into a pit of flaming dragon dung. We convinced him to investigate a little bit before he did anything rash, to make sure it was really warranted.

We checked out Greda; Elspeth said that she couldn't detect anything particularly evil about her-- certainly nothing like one got from a Drow. Sanjay cast "dispell magic" on her. Her appearance did change-- she'd been wearing a glamor-- but nothing dramatic; she didn't turn into a Drow. Sanjay then went to check out Throntax's library (which, fortunately, was located underground and had thus survived the destruction of her tower). He found some notes on the device, which Throntax had been studying. Her idea was that it works due to the fundamental difference between the souls of true Elves and the tainted souls of the Drow. Just like water will flow to a low point, the energy in the battery (so called because of the extreme violence it does to the Drow) flows to the 'point' of low, or corrupted, elvish nature. Or something like that. Most of it was beyond my comprehension. So, we concluded, Greda could simply be tainted somehow by the Drow; she needn't necessarily be one. Vrba decided to perform a test of his own, to see if she showed an adverse reaction to bat dung.

As we left the castle, we met with a messanger from Lubeck. He was carrying an invitation to our group, inviting us to a banquet in our honor, one week hence. That was barely enough time to get from RE to Lubeck, but we could hardly refuse a summonsfrom the baron.

We continued back to town and stopped by the River's Arms for supper. As the sun set, we saw people coming into town from the north. It was RE soldiers returning from the front. They were followed by Draco, and his troops. Victory has been declared in the war against the Orcs. There was much celebration that evening.

We spent some time talking with one of Draco's soldiers. He said that Draco was a very good leader, and that he thought that he'd seen Draco during daylight, briefly, maybe.

Vrba had his date with Lady Greda, and did the bat-dung test by presenting her with a "gift" of it. She showed no adverse reaction beyond the usual, and Vrba explained that he'd gotten confused, and gave her a jewel instead, and then they had sex again. (The implications of Vrba screwing somebody who we strongly suspect of being tainted by the Drow will not be explored here.)

Next day, we set out for Lubeck. We arrived in the city, and went to the castle. We ate at the banquet, and then had a private meeting with the old Baron. He spent some time talking about how the country was suffering from a "disease of spirit," and how people didn't follow the old ways anymore, and so forth. He complained about his courtiers and councillors and how wussy they were that they wouldn't let him go out to fight so that he could die in battle and go to Valhalla. Then, he told us that he had a cunning plan: we'd get him out, and help him die in a fitting Norse manner.

I swear, these humans are mad. There is no way I am going to participate in the kidnapping and death of a baron, and that's how the authorities would see it.