Village Mourns Pan Woodstock Genest, Sea 2 / 1622 - The village of Genest was preparing for the funeral of Paniteles Woodstock yesterday after his shocking death at the hands of form B9109. "There seems to be a bit of confusion about the body," said bailliff Mr. Revarnos in an exclusive interview today. "It was last seen walking off in the direction of Thule. However, as soon as it's been recovered we'll have a grand funeral, and a merry wake of course." "This is such a tragedy," said Fr. Groatalus. "I can hardly believe he's gone, I was only talking to him a few minutes ago." We tried to contact the (surviving) militia but they were too drunk for coherence, obviously overcome by the loss of their comrade. The grieving widow is being comforted in her hour of need by Marcus Woodsman .

Ulerians Feel The Earth Move Thule, Storm 27 / 1621 - a small earthquake rocked Thuleshire last night, measuring approximately 2 on the Shaker scale. Crockery rattled on shelves, animals panicked and earth priestesses prayed after the disturbance last night. No fatalities were reported, but emergency crews were called to the Ulerian Temple where screams had been heard. This turned out to be a false alarm but it's got the word "Uleria" in it so we thought it would sell more copies.

Anyone want a statue for 500L? Oh, all right then, I'll take 25L. - Desperate Doc Bart, (failed) Etyrian trader, Mossbridge.

 Troubled by boils, warts or moles? Worried of being burnt as a witch?...

Summary

Bart, Gelert and Ammerdale sold a statue of Erath to The Magister, then returned to their home villages via Thule, where Ammerdale was enticed into a naked romp through the streets with Janus the decadent, devil-may-care alchemist. They then returned to the Drood Woods to pick up more Drood drugs and find Erath shrines, trying a new route this time.

When they returned, they pooled information with Marcus and Pan and it turned out that they also had an interest in Erath and that Marcus had been looking into her for a long time! They decided to research his / her cult further.

Meanwhile, Marcus had a trip down to Aquapor (in a solo session) and Pan spent most of his time regrowing a leg. When Pan got home, he found that he had been declared legally dead due to an "error" in the Imperial Beaurocracy, and proving you're alive can be quite difficult.

Details

Dramatis Personae: Ammerdale (Alan); Gelert (MarkB); Bart (MarkLD)

{Pan(Charlie) and Marcus(Lynne) did Bugger All - hampered perhaps by the fact that Pan was first legless and then dead}

We set off East on Storm 38 with a pack mule from Arin House to find the fabled cross-country North East Passsage. We passed through the following settlements: :

Elderweed (pop.100): a picturesque rustic community nestling in the shadow of some ancient ruins, sporting a charming tavern which serves a classic Elderweed wine exported as far as Aquapor. The community is famous for its peace and tranquility, and many elder citizens retire here for a quiet life. Sample also the local speciality, pizza made with sourdough bread, guaranteed to add inches to your waistline.

Passing on through lightly farmed countryside, beautiful with a light dusting of snow, one comes to Yolandholt (pop. 2-400), notorious for its wild annual festival. Play the local sports of Legover, Sheep-Worrying and Chickenbash, always good for a family day out. During the long winter nights the locals stay up late into the night, telling each other ever more intricate lies and trying to catch each other out. Each year the champion liar is crowned King Liar and sent to Thule to argue for lower taxes. (Or is he?) Avoid the Broobreath beer, stick to milder brews such as Wildebeeste Wind or Dogbolter.

The next day we entered the fabled Wyldwood, and those of us who are Outlyers were immediately uplifted by the song of the wood spirits permeating the trees. Our 7M friend, however, seemed nervous at stepping beyond the Glowline and found the trees crowding around him oppressive, "classic ambush terrain" he muttered, so be warned if you are of a neurotic disposition. We traveled on in this mean until we came to the village of Lepidos, where we cheerfully accosted one of the locals quaintly attired in a tattered, but serviceable hooded cloak. Imagine our surprise when we perceived he was a leper! Looking around, we noticed that the inhabitants seem universally depressed, shuffling around in rags and no-one seems to care much for the appearance of the place. In addition, they were less than welcoming. We have to advise our readers to give this place a miss, it's just no fun. We can't rate the Ulerian here either. Disappointing all round.

We moved on to the next settlement, but night fell before we reached it. We determined to have a jolly night camping in the woods. A word of warning to our readers here. It's bloody cold, camping in snowdrifts without a tent. Be sure to take a trained survivalist. Our paranoid companion showed us how to build a lean-to shelter, make a fire by rubbing two elves together, roast a brace of polecats for dinner, and built a standard entrenchment / earth ramp / sharpened stake fence / series of pit and tripwire traps around our lean-to, or fort as he described it. Considering the state of the polecats when we found them, I have to award him 10 / 10 for ingenuity.

Next day we reached Esk, origin of wind-chimes and indeed the origin of one of your reviewers. We were afforded a fine welcome by the folk here, and plied with acorn muesli, acorn mash, hot roast acorns, acorn bread, acorn pie and sap wine (a bit rough at first but, sure warms you up). The houses are of the distinctive Drood Treehouse style, swaying gently in the wind. A tourist tip for those of you who have never visited Wildwood before: don't forget your Bangles. We visited the local Sight: their Erath-Shrine, a worn statue of a woman made from a red stone with the runes Harmony/Truth at its base. She holds the hand of a man said to be Crom Serpos.

From here, we travelled widdershins (for most Drood villages are in a ring around Wyldwood's centre, on a road known as The Circuit) to Coppertree. Coppertree sports a handsome Inn, and the people here are used to travellers. Their cosmopolitan cuisine includes jellied acorns, sauteed acorns and acorns a la carte. They too have a shrine to Erath, in fact a double-shrine for in addition to one similar to Esk's, there is an icon showing her face and bearing th runes Harmony/Truth , that is, it is of Lunar manufacture. Curiously, the man holding the statue's hand here is described as Kyloris.

On from Coppertree, we came to Ashelm, a diffuse collection of treehouses in two clumps, which seem to correspond to whether you follow the left-hand or right-hand Drood Way. There is no Erath shrine here, but we had an interesting night listening to the locals singing, which reminded us strongly of wolves howling.

We decided not to branch off to Callydd, which we were told had an Erath shrine but did not welcome strangers. We continued on the Circuit to Darkwyd, but were diverted by snowdrifts down a side-path. We stumbled upon a settlement so small it had no name, but the inhabitants took us in and made sure we and our mule were warm. We have never been so glad to see acorn stew. By now it was night, and our hosts locked all the doors and windows "lest the winter spirits get in", and left a mirror hanging behind the door "to guard the house". Before they retired, we heard them praying to Erath, and we asked them about this in the morning. They were evasive, however, and changed the subject.

They guided us past the drifts and set us on our way to Darkwyd. Here, we found the whole village lived in one big hall, and we had great fun when night fell... but I digress. Although there is no Erath Shrine here, there is a Crom Serpos shrine a couple of miles away, and two of us were taken there and allowed to worship - there was a carving to Erath in a corner of the cave. She was rendered as a rather podgier woman, and this time we were told she held the hand of Oramis.

I shall not trouble you with our trip back, for we simply retraced our steps after reaching Esk.

Loot

Items aquired this game 1 copy each to Marcus, Gelert and Pan: a book from The Magister: (see the various collections of Stories etc.from previous Game Memos)

Predictions for next game:

Tune in etc.....

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