SFF Short Stories

Dancing Fairies by August Malmström - public domain

The Story of Mister MistMeister and his Many Transformations
—
In Tobbins Shire there are Tobbins and Mubbins and Muffens plus an occasional Baggins or Took. It is a trading Shire, on the river, with docks, warehouses, and stores. On one street there are big houses for biguns whose kids like swimming in the river off the docks. Some of the Tobbins, Mubbins, and Muffens join them but you won’t catch a Baggins or a Took in the water.

Mr. MistMeister
—
Ari and Caper run across Mr. MistMeister, a dangerous water elemental, on a hike outside of Caper’s Shire.

Before he was Mr. MistMeister he was a water sprite. One day when he was flying a potion maker, greatly afraid, threw a potion of gaseous form on the sprite. The combination of magicks locked the elemental into it’s gaseous form and Mr. MistMeister was born.

He used to enjoy coralling loads of fish into fishermen’s nets so they became so heavily laden that they would break or even capsize the fishing boat. In his mist form he has been corraling people by showing them abandoned houses from the past and luring them into his misty form. He is not evil. He just does what he does because he doesn’t know what else to do. He could be convinced to take up another avocation but he can only be destroyed with very high level magic that counters both the potion and fey magic at the same time.

https://en.wikipedia … ogle_Art_Project.jpg

Pictured is Dancing Fairies painted in 1866 by the Swedish painter August Malmström. Unlike the faires pictured Mr. MistMeister cannot return to the water but is locked above ground as a mist.

Background material above was written by Larry Heyl aka DM Hairy Larry

Cast Of Characters
—
Ari is a human healing sorceress who is bossy and good at reading people.
Caper Tobbins is a halfling bard who is likable.
Tude is Ari’s pet wildcat who is protective and obnoxious.
Clairen is a friendly bouncy dwarf.
Edge Bravestone is a cautious, friendly fighter.
Wyleth is a soldier who was raised on a farm.
Snurgi Snurgison is a dwarf who is a fighter and a poet.

In The Shire
—
Ari is Vivian’s PC
Tude is Ari’s pet wildcat and also Vivian’s PC
Caper is Larry’s DM PC
—
At Inspired Unreality Ari and Caper visit the Shire. So now we have a Milyagon Shire and we’ll have to place it on the map. Probably through Wilken Woods and across the river.

We used Shire friendly dice tables found in the Hearth & Hillside Home.pdf, a name your own price download.

https://weirdandblue … th-and-hillside-home

First we rolled up elevenses from the Sweet Treats table. Caper rolled Tart rhubarb pie with clotted cream and an extra flavour that everybody either loves or hates and Ari rolled Sticky honeycomb fresh from the tallest oak this side of Woolshod Hill which Caper had recently rescued from the bees.

As a good hobbit would, Caper suggested they follow up on elevenses with Breakfast for Dinner. Caper rolled Spicy sausages with flavours from the distant empire of Man and Ari folllowed up with a still-twitching boiled crab that always goes for the nose. So sausages and crabs it was after Caper detwitched the crab with a single blow.

Unable to eat any more Caper suggests a walk through the woods to enjoy the sun. Before they get out of town they meet weary halfling travellers trekking into town wearing the scandalous fashions of a distant March. In fact their garb is brightly colored and entirely inappropriate for the shire. They said some fairies had played a trick on them changing their sensible clothes for this rubbish.

Ari escorted them into a second hand clothes shop where, Mr. Muffen, the owner assured them all he could arrange an exchange for more suitable attire knowing that the brightly colored clothes would sell well when caravans of humans passed through town. No accounting for the tastes of humans. Brightly colored scarves just assure that you’ll be seen in the woods.

After walking a short way out of town Ari and Caper met A well-groomed pony with courtly ribbons, plodding under the weight of a pompous Shirrif and his tall feathered hat.

The Shirrif was complaining about the fairies who he said, “Tied the ribbons to my pony and gave me this stupid hat. Caper said Mr. Muffen will trade that hat for a better one and he probably knows where you could trade the pony for a sturdier horse. They talked on for a while, as one does well met in the woods, and then Ari and Caper continued their hike while the Shirrif plodded on to town.

The Rescue
—
Ari is Vivian’s PC
Tude is Ari’s pet wildcat and also Vivian’s PC
Caper is Larry’s DM PC
—
Last week the Shirrif was plodding on to town and Ari cast detect magic on him. All the ribbons on his pony as well as his hat and the feathers in his hat glowed with fey magic. Caper thought, “Interesting” and he also thought the Shirrif’s stout little pony might make a good gift for the Jenkins kids.

Ari explains aura colors to Caper. Red means blood, white means blind or a child, no aura means the human doesn’t care about colors. Ari said the Shirrif had no aura which didn’t surpise her.

They continue along the trail and coming to the top of a ridge they see mist filling a field that opens up before them, evening light glinting off the dewy roof of a distant cottage. (from Scenery On Your Long Treks d12 table)

They walk through the field towards the cottage and Ari, feeling like something might be wrong here recommends caution. Tude’s fur ruffles up on the back of his neck, a sure sign of danger.

Caper suggests they drink some farseeing tea so they can see through the windows from a safe distance. He quickly gathers twigs and builds a fire boiling water in the teapot from his hiking pack. Ari sprinkles in some of the tea and Caper tends the pot while Ari looks around, wondering.

Caper pours two small cups and Ari without thinking stirs her tea with the silver wand from the fairy, King Groad, that enhances teas and potions. After putting out his fire Caper is quickly running about exploring the house through the windows and open door from a distance of about 100 feet. He can tell the house is empty and in some disrepair.

Ari, however sees something completely different. Lost in the mist are human men, women, and children. Ari starts making notes in her notebook for future reference.

She glances up and notices Caper sneaking into the house with Tude following ready to protect him. In the cottage Caper finds a lavishly illuminated tome chronicling a time when the Commonwealth was a wild land of barrow-kings and bigfolk. (from the Heirlooms Of The Estate d10 table)

He can’t wait to show Ari the book and rushes out to her. Ari glances at the book but she is more concerned right now with the lost souls in the mist. She describes them to Caper who can’t see them.

Ari suggests that Caper finishes the tea and gives it a stir with her silver wand. Caper chugs tea straight out of the cold pot and now Caper sees the people too. Ari asks if Caper has brandy and Caper grins tapping his hiking pack.

Ari thinks the minimal amount will help Caper move the people out of the mist and away from here. Caper says he’ll take the minimal amount which is usually one good chug followed by another. Ari says take half the minimal amount and then lead the women and children out because we don’t want a lot of dead bodies which is where this could go.

So Caper takes a wee nip and then starts playing his flute and dancing with the children in the mist. When he leads them across the field they follow enchanted by his flute. The women follow the children and the men follow the women and soon Caper has them all heading across the field toward the path with Ari and Tude bringing up the rear.

There are seven kids, five women, and six men that follow them out of the mist. Some of the men are younger, without whiskers yet, but full grown.

Ari now sees from the trail another even bigger cottage across the road that is also unlived in.

The people still have no clue about where they are. Some of them gripe and complain about the people running a village. They all calm down and start to get along after fussing awhile. Caper says the fussing is a good sign that they have returned to normal. Big folk are always fussing.

Ari is determined to make sure that the people she’s with go a different direction. She’s afraid of danger to them. They could be hurt, killed, or locked up.

Caper wants to examine this bigger cottage on the other side of the path. He can’t wait to see if there are more books for Ari stuck up on a shelf somewhere. He still feels the effects of the farseeing tea and he’s checking out what he can see from here on the trail.

Fey Enigma
—-
Ari is Vivian’s PC
Tude is Ari’s pet wildcat and also Vivian’s PC
Caper is Larry’s DM PC
—
After the eighteen people who had been trapped in the mist recovered their senses Caper and Tude looted the big house across the road and (after rolling another one on the Heirlooms table) he found another book. This looked to be a book of Kings with pictures of Kings surrounded by text. It’s very fancy. Caper grabs it and takes it back up the hill to Ari. Tude nuzzles Ari’s hand.

Caper shows Ari the Book of Kings and Cyndre, the lady boss of the rescued humans, pops over to look. She says, “Oh, aye! I ken him. Old King Cartyr, he died last year.”

Ari and Caper look at each other and Caper says, “King Cartyr is legendary. He died 400 years ago.”

Cyndre looks up noticing details in Ari’s clothing she hadn’t see before. Finely woven cloth with rows of silver buttons. She also notices Caper’s well made boots, made by the cobbler at Tobbins Shire. She bows to Ari and says, “Sorry, my lady, but I worked in King Cartyr’s Castle and he died just last year.

400 years ago, Cyndre and her party left Tobbins Shire and when they crested a ridge they saw a beautiful field covered in mist with an abandoned farmhouse. When they went to see the farmhouse they walked through the mist and that’s the last they remember until Ari, Caper, and Tude led them out of the mist and back up to the road.

Ari and Caper have a short confab and decide that there’s nothing for it but to take these people back to the shire.

Caper shouts, “Time to eat”, thinking they must be hungry if they haven’t dined in 400 years and he takes off down the road back to Tobbins Shire singing a merry tune. With Ari’s encouragement they follow and Ari and Tude bring up the rear being careful that no children stray from the path.

When they get to the shire Caper takes them all to the Inn where they have a hearty stew. The rescued people still don’t believe 400 years passed but they can tell that things are much different then they were when they left Tobbins Shire, as it seems to them, just this morning.

Caper arranges for rooms and breakfast. The Inn only has five man size rooms so the two families take a room and the others bunk up 2 or 3 to a room.

Caper takes Ari aside and says, “It’s not too late. Let’s check Muffens Used Clothes and see if he bought that hat.”

They enter the shop and Caper makes inquiries. “Yes, indeed,’ says Muffens, “the Shirrif did come by and I bought his hat.” Caper asks the price and pays 4 silver without bartering which kind of bothered Muffens. He’s never know a Tobbins to pay asking price once in his life.

Caper also asks about the pony. “Ah yes,” said Muffens, “I directed him to Old Took on the south road not a mile from the shire. He may have sold it there. I tell you he looked a sight on that poor little pony.”

Caper, thinking of the Jakobs kids and those magic ribbons decided to check on the pony in the morning. Ari and Caper continued on to Caper’s Hobbit Hole where they had a nice repast of crab, mutton, and vegetables and decided to end their adventure for the day.

Caper’s Pony
—
Ari is Vivian’s PC
Tude is Ari’s pet wildcat and also Vivian’s PC
Caper is Larry’s DM PC
—
At Inspired Unreality Ari and Caper once again adventured around Tobbins Shire. Ari enlisted the help of Dood a th Wood (pronounced Dude ah th Wude) to divine the spells on the hat and the feather. The feather is a large owl’s feather, probably from Wilken Woods and it is enhanced with fey magic to be a magic augmenter. The hat makes the wearer lighter. The hat takes 25% off and with the feather 50%.

They went to see old Took where Caper bought the pony with the magic ribbons and also bought some light tack for the pony.

Then back to the Inn to see the people they rescued. They now realize they have been thrust 400 years into their future and are at a loss. Ari suggests they make furniture since antique furniture from their era is valued. Turns out a couple of the men are furniture makers and most of them have carpentry experience. They decide to go into business making genuine reproductions with the slogan, hands from the past.

The Ghost Of The Shire
—
Ari is Vivian’s PC
Tude is Ari’s pet wildcat and also Vivian’s PC
Caper is Larry’s DM PC
Clairen is Liz’s PC
—
Adventuring in Tobbins Shire at Eclectic Geekery

Our granddaughter Liz joined Vivian and myself at Eclectic Geekery to play Just Quest. She’s playing a dwarf, Clairen, who is friendly and bouncy.

We woke up in Caper’s hobbit hole and had a fine breakfast. Roughly-chopped turnips, baked crispy brown and served with a selection of chutneys. Also Beastie-shaped roast veggies that create visions of long-forgotten magic.

Then Caper served a sweet treat, A suspensefully swaying tower of sponge cake, liqueur, orange pieces and custard, topped with a layer of syllabub cream. (Now if I just knew what syllabub is)

Clairen wanted to head to town and make new friends so off we went. On the way we met Pogbert Piper blowing spectacular smoke rings in his garden. His smoke looked like soot from a roaring black hearth.

We all heard the ghost of the shire making smart ass comments about the game. (When we are playing in Tobbins Shire and a non player kibitzes they are providing the voice of the ghost of the shire.)

Not to be outdone Caper asked Pogbert for a pinch of bacca and he started blowing smokerings resembling long-gone monsters. He blew a huge ring which floated above their heads and then he blew a Gryphon that flew through the center of the ring.

Caper played a merry jig on his flute and every one was tapping their feet or hoeing in time to the music except Clairen who was bouncing up and down.

Then on to town and a visit to Mr. Muffen’s second hand store. Clairen bought a yellow headband. Caper bought a black saddle for his pony. Ari looked at a brown saddle for her brown horse streaked with white but she wasn’t convinced she needed it. Then back to the hobbit hole to try out the saddle. When they passed Pogbert Piper’s garden he was nowhere in sight. Probably inside for elevenses, which made Caper start to think about what they would eat for elevenses when they got back home.

Acorn People
—
Ari is Vivian’s PC
Tude is Ari’s pet wildcat and also Vivian’s PC
Caper is Larry’s DM PC
Clairen is Liz’s PC
Edge Bravestone is Anthony’s PC
—
Acorn People and Mister MistMeister

Adventuring in Tobbins Shire at Eclectic Geekery on June 18, 2022

On their way back from Mr Muffen’s Second Hand Store Ari, Caper, and Clairen met Edge Bravestone, a cautious fighter. Caper said “Well met” and invited him to his hobbit hole for elevenses. They had a floral mix that, when steeped, thickens the air with love and tea infusing aromas from across the Four Marches.

Caper mentioned that he had heard of an interesting tree across the river in Wilken Woods and when everyone said they were up for a hike anyway off they went.

They took a short cut along the riverbank and soon were crossing the bridge and entering Wilken Woods, a magic forest. Ari and Caper had been to the tree before so Caper led the way, a little over a mile on the road and then a slight veer to the north following a barely used woods trail.

Soon they came to a large oak tree with some owls perched in the upper branches and acorns covering the ground. Caper gathered a bunch of acorns in a pile and stirred them with his finger and up popped an acorn man who said, “We are acorns from the sentient oak. When met with intelligent interest we wake up and talk. The sentient oak can talk too but time runs slow for him. We acorns can understand him but other living creatures cannot.”

Caper continued talking to the acorn man and Ari, Clairen, and Edge gathered acorns together. Soon they were all talking to acorn men.

After talking about the tree, the owls, and everything (including fairies) Caper’s acorn man stepped to the fore. He said, “We need your help. There is nothing we would like more than to lay on the ground and wait to be an oak tree. But acorns lying in the shadow of a sentient oak cannot grow. The owls sometimes help by carrying acorns or acorn men to other parts of Wilken Woods but they never cross the river. We would like to expand our horizons and answer our constant conundrum, which came first, the magic forest or the sentient oak trees?”

Caper said, “I know just the spot.”, turning to Ari, “Remember the hill above the mist where we rescued those people from the past?”

Ari agreed that the hill would be more than suitable. Caper said, “We have some unfinished business there too and maybe we can make the misty valley safe with the help of Clairen, Edge, and our new friends, the acorn people.

So each of them carried an acorn man on their shoulder and trekked back to Tobbins Shire and then up the road leading to the misty valley.

When they got to the top of the hill they could see the mist in the valley below and the two ancient houses on either side of the road. The acorn men loved the spot and they jumped onto the ground and ran in different directions looking for a nice place to lie down and wait to be an oak tree.

Caper filled everyone in on the danger of the mist while he started boiling water for tea.

“Ari and I drank this tea before and then we braved the mist and pulled about 20 humans out and guided them to the top of the hill. They wandered into the mist 400 years ago and when we brought them out it was still the same day to them. It wasn’t until the next morning that they began to believe they were 400 years in the future.”

Everyone wanted to solve the mystery of the mist and dispell the danger.

Ari pulled out a bag of tea and four cups. Caper made the tea and poured it. Ari stirred each cup with the silver wand King Groad had given her in feyland. Caper added a drop of Brandy.

“So drink this down.” said Caper, “It’s not safe in the mist and we don’t want to be waking up 400 years in the future, if we’re lucky enough that someone comes to rescue us.”

Ari said, “The tea protects against fey magic and when enhanced by the fey magic in the silver wand it is very powerful protection, indeed.”

When the party entered the mist it was Edge Bravestone that started a conversation, calling out to the mist believing there was a persona involved.

The mist was soon showing multiple faces and waving hands. Although his conversation was disjoint and punctuated with oooos and ahhhs here’s the essence of his story.

“I was a water elemental and one night I took to gaseous form to explore the dry land near the river. I got in a fight with a mage and his magic crossed my fey magic wrong and I got stuck in gaseous form. That’s how I became Mister MistMeister.”

“Time doesn’t mean much to me so I don’t know how long ago this happened. Later a party of humans wandered into the mist. They were lost and distressed. I liked them and I didn’t want to hurt them so I froze time for them.”

“Later on two of you came into the mist and took them off. I don’t know why you weren’t lost and distressed. I tried to freeze you in time anyway but it didn’t work.”

“And now here you are back again with two others. I like you and I’d like to keep you but my magic isn’t working on you again.”

Caper kept an eye on Mister MistMeister while Ari, Clairen, and Edge tried to come up with some ideas to fix things. Disperse the mist? Turn it back into water? What kind of spell could do something to a water elemental?

Ari said, “Ah, but you forget, I am Arimeth, and I am not new to this game.” She picked up a D20 brandishing it in front of us and then she made it disappear. It reappeared on the floor and it was a 5.

Checking the Entirely True Tales From Beyond The High Hedge dice table we read.

The Dwarf-King’s royal artisan has a secret technique for brewing molten metal into heavenly spiced mead.

Clairen the friendly bouncy dwarf is still a dwarf and she could read between the lines. Maybe we need to get Mister MistMeister drunk. That seems to solve most problems for dwarves.

That got Caper’s attention. He tipped his hat to one of Mister MistMeister’s many faces and said, “I believe we’re going to help you out in a bit.”

Then he led the party out of the mist, to the top of the hill, past the resting acorns, and on towards Tobbins Shire to get a keg of ale.

Mister MistMeister Gets A New Name … Twice
—
Ari is Vivian’s PC
Tude is Ari’s pet wildcat and also Vivian’s PC
Caper is Larry’s DM PC
Clairen is Liz’s PC
Wyleth is Conley’s PC
Snurgi Snurgison is Carl’s PC
—
Tobbins Shire July 16, 2022
Session summary (with some additions for narrative flow (or jokes))

The party went to town for a keg of ale to get Mister Mistermeister drunk. In town Edge Bravestone got called away and Wyleth, a soldier who was raised as a farmer and Snurgi Snurgison, a dwarf who is a fighter and a poet, joined us. We carried the ale in our pony cart back up the hill towards the valley.

On our way we saw two farmers taking a picnic break from their toil. Wyleth hailed them and asked if we could join them. They said, “Sure.” and asked about the ale so Caper poured a round. Clairen was happy to have an impromptu picnic with new friends.

Snurgi was inspired to compose a poem on the spot.

We was walking along and found some farmers
We knews they was safe, they wore no armors
Our friend sat down plop, to eat a potluck
And we was confident, no one would harm her

One of the farmers was an idiot but they were both really nice and we enjoyed their company.

And then off we went to the top of the hill overlooking Mister MistMeister in the valley. Caper quickly brewed some tea that protects against fey magic and after Ari stirred it with her silver wand and Caper added a drop of brandy we all drank the tea.

Then we filled buckets of ale and tankards for ourselves. Mister MistMeister was quite curious about the buckets. Caper called out, “We brought you some ale.” and everyone set the buckets down on the ground. Mister MistMeister liked it and he made a face for every bucket and then some smaller faces started trying to steal the ale from our tankards. Caper covered his with his hand but everyone else just chugged their ale down. Snurgi emptied his whole tankard in one quaff with most of it going down his throat but some spilling onto his beard. Mister MistMeister made a dozen little faces to drink the ale from his beard.

After drinking nearly a keg of ale Mister MistMeister was drunk. Pretty soon the mist started thinning revealing a yellow rivulet cascading down the valley towards the river. The party decided to follow him down to the river to see how he was doing.

When they got to the river his face popped up out of the river as yellow as can be. He said, “I used to be Mister MistMeister but now I’m Mr. PissMeister. Clairen suggested that he could try some cranberries. Nobody had any cranberries but Ari had some Panacea Berries which look like cranberries and have general healing properties. She tossed one to Mister PissMeister and he turned pink. Everyone thought it was an improvement. He certainly smelled better. Mister PissMeister said, “I used to be Mister PissMeister but now I’m The Red Headed Rascal.” He did a series of swoops and dives all the time remaining careful not to take his gaseous form and become mist again.

He asked if he could do something to repay us. Caper said, “I know time is different for you and you don’t think in days and years like we do but when those people wandered into the mist that was 400 years ago for us. Can you show us this valley 400 years in the future?”

The Red Headed Rascal said, “Easy as pi. In fact I can take you there if you want.”

Caper demurred, “Oh please no, I just want to look, I’m happy enough in my own century.”

The Read Headed Rascal said, “Look.” and he looked up the valley. When the party followed his gaze they saw a large circle colored green and yellow and some colors they didn’t know. In the circle was the valley, fully populated by sentient oak trees. And when they looked under the trees their was a village of acorn people with houses, roads, and carts pulled by beetles. The sentient oaks did so well growing in the valley that the acorn people lived lives of their own before finding a final resting place where they could lay down and wait to be an oak tree.

And looking up to the top of the hill they saw four giant sentient oaks that must have grown from the acorn people they had carried across the river. They decided to name them the sentinel sentient oaks.

After bidding fare thee well to the Red Headed Rascal the party climbed to the top of the hill and looked around. No more mist. And no more houses either. When Mister MistMeister returned to his liquid form he must have lost all connection to the time when he captured the humans in the mist.

On the way back to town they saw the same portly shirrif wearing a hat with a feather and riding another pony all bedecked in ribbons. Caper talked to him for a while but he told Caper he was the shirrif and he could ride a pony if he wanted and it wasn’t any business of his. The shirrif said, “The last pony I had wouldn’t carry me after I sold my hat to Muffen. I’m keeping this pony and the hat.” After the shirrif passed Ari detected magic and sure enough the hat, the feather, and the ribbons glowed with fey magic. Caper shook his head and said, “Those fairies have been having fun with the shirrif again.

They made it back to town before dark and returned the empty keg to the tavern. They saw some of the people they rescued in the tavern and they decided to join them, have a drink, and fill them in on The Story of Mister MistMeister and his Many Transformations.

—

We played using the dice rolling tables in Hearth & Hillside Home, Being a book of pastoral pleasures for Halflings and Bigfolk alike.

https://weirdandblue … th-and-hillside-home

During play at the last session dice were rolled against the Idioms For Idiots D20 table for all conversation from Farmer 1. He was the idiot.

https://archive.game … s.org/blogs/post/968

Thanks to DM Kier for the Mister PissMeister joke.

Thanks to Eclectic Geekery in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, for providing gaming space.

Ari and Caper have been campaigning together for over 30 years.

—

Illustrations

Gamer+ Photo Gallery
https://archive.game … album/hairylarry/127

Capers Hobbit Hole
by jawajeziorski - Pixabay License
https://pixabay.com/ … new-zealand-6314749/

Caper’s Pony
from FREE*SVG
https://freesvg.org/ … n-pony-color-drawing

Dancing Fairies
by August Malmström - public domain
https://en.wikipedia … ogle_Art_Project.jpg

Session Summary
Milyagon Adventures
Just Quest Sandbox
Library Game Day
August 10, 2024

This map of Woods Way across the magic forest, Wilken Woods, was drawn by Bre who played Flower the halfling cleric.

Amberly, an elven ranger, and Ukelele Elf, a human rogue, traveled from Milyagon across Wilken Woods to Tobbins Shire for the fair. In Tobbins Shire they meet Flower, a Halfling Cleric who loves nature. She decided to return to Milyagon with them for the scenery and the company.

Our story begins when they leave Tobbins Shire, cross the bridge, and step out on Woods Way. Amberley is walking lead point and after about an hour she notices something ahead, just off the trail on the left, that looks like a nest except that it’s a little bit too orderly.

As she approaches she can tell it’s a basket so she takes a step off the road where she can see a human baby sleeping in the basket.

The babe wakes up when Amberly picks up the basket and brings it onto Woods Way. Flower immediately loves the baby and lifts the babe out of the basket and gives it a gentle hug and a rock. Ukelele Elf has no experience with babies and he is also quite afraid of Wilken Woods as he has heard the story of Yon Rogar’s Hat.

After a short discussion the party decides to take the human baby on to Milyagon, a human village, rather than back to Tobbins Shire. There is a Biguns Road in Tobbins Shire but if a human babe had been missing it would have been the talk of the fair.

Generally speaking, Woods Way is safe for travel during the day, so the party hikes on for several hours without incident. They can see a large tree on the right with branches overhanging the road when suddenly they hear a loud noise behind them, like a tree falling in the woods. They turn to look but don’t see anything. When they turn back there are three owls perched on a branch in front of them, above their heads.

Their eyes all open wide and Flower waves a hand and says, “Hi”, feeling kind of silly talking to some owls in front of her new friends.

The owl in the middle says, “Hello. I see you have a baby.” Everone is surprised to hear the owl speak but, after all, they are in a magic forest so they’re not that surprised.

Amberley and Flower both speak to the owls asking what they know about the baby, do they know where it came from, have they seen it before?

The owl in the center says, “We don’t know where it came from but we did see it before. The fairies had it in the woods.”

Amberly and Flower wonder if it is a human baby, since the fairies had it.

The owl in the center says, “Indeed it is a human baby. It’s often hard for us to determine what the fairies are up to since they are so flighty.”

Amberly thanks the owl for the information and says they are taking it to Milyagon to see if they can find the baby’s mother or at least someone to take care of it.

The middle owl says, “That’s probably wise.”, and then all three of them are gone in a frenzy of flapping wings and feathers.

After about another hour of hiking the party crosses the bridge over Rune River, they see Milyagon ahead and to the left they see Yon’s brother, Jon Rogar, over by the docks.

Ukelele Elf shouts out, “Jon, we found a baby.”, and Jon waves them over. Ukelele Elf works for Jon in an informal capacity and he sleeps in the stables so he is glad to leave the magic forest behind and be back home.

Amberley carries the baby over and Jon and the baby grin at each other.

Amberley asks Jon, “Have you heard of a missing baby? I found it just off the road on Woods Way.”

Jon says, “No. I haven’t heard anything about a baby but it sounds like fairies to me.”

Ukelele Elf shouted out, “The owl said he saw the baby with some fairies.”

Jon nodded and said, “You better take it to town and ask around. That baby can’t take care of himself”, assuming the baby is a boy without actually checking.

Now Milyagon is a small village centered on an old army fort with log walls and lookout towers. Since they are no longer at war the gates always stand open. Mayor Bannych and Sherrif Slykver oil the hinges and close and open the gates on the first day of every month just in case there’s an orc raid from the north or possibly a group of bandits hungry enough to try to get at their stores. Since the end of the war several buildings have been built inside the walls leaving roads and alleys between them. (See the Milyagon Players Handbook Minizine or One Page for maps and NPC descriptions.)

Just through the gates is the inn so the party decides to stop there first to quench their thirst and ask about the baby. Tyad Miggles, the innkeep, approaches the party with a grin. “Amberly, Ukelele, what’s this?”, he says, “A halfling and a baby?”

Amberly introduces Flower to Tyad and says, “I found the baby just off the road on Woods Way. An owl said the fairies had it.”

Tyad nods his head and replies, “Oh, so you talked to the owl. That’s probably right then. Fairies have been known to play tricks like that.”

Flower says, “Do you know about a missing baby?”

Tyad shakes his head, “No, you better try to find the Sherrif. He was here a few minutes ago. He’s probably still in town.”

So after a quick quaff the party is back outside looking for the sherrif. Making a circle past the well they pass the mayor’s house and go into the Town Hall. They are greeted by the clerk and they ask for the Sherrif. The clerk says the Sherrif is with the Mayor.

So it’s back to the mayor’s house where they knock on the door. Mayor Bannych and Sherrif Slykver come out onto the porch.

“So Amberly”, says the sherrif, “When did you have a baby? And who is the cute halfling with the big stick?”

Amberly introduces Flower and says, “It’s not my baby. It’s human. Do I look human?”

Ukelele Elf shouts out, “We found him in the woods. The owl said the fairies had him.”

The mayor says, “So you talked to the owl? Probably fairies then. But we haven’t heard of a missing baby. In fact there’s been no baby born recently in town.”

The Sherrif says, “You probably better go see the witch. She delivers most of the babies around here. And she always knows who’s had a baby.”

The witch lives about three miles north of town so after a few more hat tips and nods the party takes their leave and heads north through the back gate.

Ukelele Elf shouts out to the gatekeeper, “We found a baby and we’re going to see the witch.”

After being introduced to Flower the gatekeeper says, “You should be safe enough with Amberley and her bow. There have been some bandits a little bit too close to town for my liking. The Sherrif and I will probably have to clear them out soon. If they’ve got any sense they won’t get crossways with the witch.”

Amberley ties the baby and basket around Flower’s shoulders like a back pack to make the hike easier and so their arms can be free in case of trouble.

After walking about a mile they see four ruffians off to the right up a hill in front of a wood lot. They don’t look like woodcutters so Amberley grabs her bow and Ukelele Elf pounds his club into his hand hoping the ruffians will stay where they are. But no, here comes the tallest one with the other three not far behind.

The bandit leader shouts out, “Don’t look like you have much. What’s in that basket, a picnic.”

Flower bangs her staff on the ground and shouts back, “No it’s a baby and you’ll have to come through me to get to it.”

Now Flower’s staff has a crystal attached to the top of it mainly because Flower thinks it’s pretty. She’s a cleric, so she doesn’t need a focus for her magic, but the bandits see a fierce halfling wizard threatening them with a staff. (The crystal does make a pretty good head conker.)

Amberley and Ukelele step forward in front of Flower and the bandits can see that they’re ready to protect the baby too.

Now they are closer, Amberley and Ukelele Elf recognize the bandit leader and he recognizes them.

He shouts out, “Oh, hey Ukelele, don’t mean no trouble. We don’t want a baby anyway. All that crying and mess. You all just go on your way and forget you ever saw us.”

Ukelele Elf leads the party on towards the witch’s cottage with Flower following. Amberley takes tail point walking backwards with her bow still in her hand. The bandits retreat back up the hill to the shade of the wood lot.

After they are out of earshot Amberley says, “Looks like we might have a problem to take care of after we see this baby is safe.”

They hike on and get to the witch’s cottage without any further problems. The witch is out in her garden tending her herbs.

Amberley calls out, “Grandma Mary, we found a baby on Woods Way. Come and see.”

The witch looks at the baby and you can see the gears whirring around in her head.

Flower says, “I love your garden. The plants are so beautiful. I wish I could grow plants like that.”

The witch says, “Plants grow themselves. If you have trouble gardening it’s almost always because of too much care.”

Flower says, “Any time I try to grow anything it dies.”

The witch says, “Well, you have to take care of this baby first. But then come back and enjoy the plants and I may have a pot or two around here where I can help you start a hardy herb and you can gain some confidence.”

Amberley says, “I love plants too but what about the baby. Do you know who the mother couold be?”

The witch looks at the baby’s tiny fingers and says, “This baby is young. The last time I saw Goodwife Jones she was big but I haven’t heard any bad news from that way. The Jones farm is on the right a few miles up the North Road. I think you should take the baby up there. But you need to watch out for bandits. I’ve been so busy I let them get too close. Of course, they don’t come around my place.”

Amberley said, “We already saw them and sent them on their way. I think the Sherrif has got the word too. Someboy’s going to have to deal with them bothering people just a mile out of Milyagon.”

So the witch repeats her invitation to Flower and the party is back on the road heading north again. In less than an hour they saw the Jones farm on the right, a nice little house and an open pole barn for the animals to get under during a storm.

They go up on the porch and Flower knocks on the door. Goodwife Jones steps out onto the porch and immediately notices the baby Flower is carrying in a basket strapped to her shoulders.

“Ohhhh, my baby!”, Goodwife Jones says as she lifts it out of the basket.

She cuddles the baby in her arms and the baby grins and says, “Gooooo.”

Goodwife Jones gets a confused look on her face and says, “But how could you have my baby out here when I just put her to sleep in her crib.” Amberly and Flower notice just how wrong Jon had been.

Goodwife Jones turns and walks into the house as the party follows. Standing by the crib they see another baby that looks exactly the same as the baby they had found. Goodwife Jones carefully lays her baby down next to the other one.

Everyone sees two identical twins laying in the crib, one sleeping and the other slowly reaching out. When the babies touch the glamour falls away from the fairy baby and now everyone see two babies laying in the crib, the one they brought, human, and the other one, fey. The fey baby wakes up and they both gurgle and goo at each other.

Now Ukelele Elf doesn’t like fey at all in fact he’s quite scared of them. He also has poor impulse control and before you know it his club was in his hand and heading straight toward the fey baby.

Fortunately Flower quickly intervened with her staff and reprimanded him saying, “Ukelele Elf, it’s a baby.” She snatches the fey baby out of the crib to give her some love.

Goodwife Jones says, “All day long I’ve been loving a fey baby and my baby was missing. I didn’t even know it.” But she still loved the fey baby and she took her from Flower’s arms.

Goodwife Jones’ baby suddenly noticed she was all alone in the crib and started to cry. Flower reached down and picked her up, comforting her.

Then Goodwife Jones said, “If those fairies don’t care enough about their own baby to care for it I’m just going to keep her and raise her with my own. I’ve got enough love in me to raise two babies and we certainly need the help on the farm.”

Amberly says, “What about your husband? What will he say about a fey baby?”

And Goodwife Jones says, “He’s going to love both babies because I’m going to tell him to.”

All present laughed and grinned, even the babies who didn’t get the joke but still caught the mood. Goodwife Jones put the kettle on so they could all have tea before walking back to Milyagon. (With a couple of side quests on the way.)

Actually the party was quite relieved that they didn’t have to care for a baby any more.

The end.
(Everybody levels up.)