Bern

Selaena managed to get us an update: the Princess was overjoyed to hear that her True Love yet lived and sought her embrace, but insisted on seeing the ring before actually doing anything. So we tried to arrange another distraction. The guests kept demanding new and obscure dishes (everything from roast swan to pizza rolls) and sending the waitstaff – us – down to the kitchens to get it. u-Heury was downstairs trying to arrange for his wrestling match with the ogre when Selaena managed to sneak upstairs again – this time with the ring and and plan.

Seleana somehow convinced the princess to open a window and climb down the outside of the tower with a rope. The princess was willing, but as this was her “first time” climbing down a tower, she begged Selaena to “take it slow and don’t hurt me.” Selaena obliged.

By this time u-Heury was creating his own distraction by arguing with the troll about when their wrestling match was, instead of feeding the guests. Since I was the only one feeding them and thus preventing them from investigating either the princess above or the servants hiding below, things got tense. My excuses were getting thin and tying some morsel to my belt for Kiki to chase after did not amuse anyone.

Even pointing out the troll wrestling match failed, because it wasn’t happening; somehow u-Heury had eaten another mushroom and shrunk down to about half the size of my – ahem. Anyways, when I threw open the windows to point out the troll fight there was no troll fight. Total fail. But I went back down with two guards for a refreshing investigation with a side of pizza rolls. While the guards were hassling the troll and goblin duo, I heard a quiet thumb from just out of sight. The Princess had landed!

I quickly lured my two guards back up stairs and kept distracting them for a few more minutes. When I heard u-Heury and Kiba making a break for it, I decided it was time for me to do the same. I ran straight for the window, my new huge shield held before me, and crashed through. It was a bit of a fall, but only from the second floor; the shield took most of the impact. From there I made my way into the woods, circling around to return to the world of men.

Sadly, I must report the death of our colleague Arabash, who went missing while on a mission with the Glorious Blades years ago. He had wandered into the candlelit portal to the world of fae, and been pressed into service as a butler in the manner as the rest of us were. Based on when we last saw him, he’s been trapped here for years. I told him we would try to get him out, but he died when he fell from the 2nd floor of the tower during my escape. Tragic.

In the end, we all escaped safely (… well, almost all), and regrouped in the burial chamber with a very fae living princess and her spectral betrothed. A happy ending for them, and for u-Heury, who was offered a wish.

He’s been thinking it over for an hour now.