1239, Winter

We are inside a volcano, outside of a castle which is surrounded by a lake of lava. Allistor is the only one of us in human form, so he is the only one who can talk. Maedbh and myself are both in bird firm, so are limited to simple chirps.

I take off the earring, and turn back to human form. Maedbh jumps up and lands on my shoulder, trying very hard to stay balanced.

We head across the bridge towards the castle gate, which is currently open. The distances don’t seem to be working properly. We take only a few steps, but seem to be a long way across the bridge, and it stretches back for ages behind us.

Halt! Who Goes There? Says a head that pops over the battlements.

I introduced myself as Pisciculus ex Criamon, and state that we are merely here to meet our neighbours. I ask who the lord of this place is, and the guard replies that it is the King of Fire is the lord of this place. He is the Mighty One. 

Allistor creates a flame in his hand, and the guard seems to consider this a suitable response, so tells us to enter.

The castle is large, and strongly built, but there don’t seem to be many people here. There is a large courtyard, with a blocky stone building in the middle of it. It’s almost a crude pyramid, with a ground layer block, and a smaller block on top. Fiery light shines out of windows on the top floor.

A man with high quality armour, which seems to be made from rock/obsidian armour comes towards us. His face is obscured by a stone helmet, which just as a strip of obsidian where the eyes would be.

“Greeting Travellers. I am Sir Alec.”

I introduce Maedbh, though she chirps herself, and Alistor introduces himself.

He says that there has been a great injustice that needs fixing, so the King has brought his realm closer to ours. He also mentions a love that must be satisfied.

We head into the central building. There are people, with red hair and slightly pointy ears, sleeping here. The man in the armour gestures for us to head up the stairs. He says that they are sleeping and waiting for their time on duty, but they just seem to be laying on the floor.

The whole place feels like it was made by someone who had a vague idea of a castle, but didn’t really know what they were for.

There are two people dressed as knights sleeping here.

We go up stairs again, and there is a room with a throne. Sitting on the throne is what looks like a burning stone statue of a king. He says that he is the King of Fire, and wants to know why we have come to his domain.

He says he sent a gift here to his love – the Queen of Ice. The gift he sent was a burning rose, which symbolised his love.  Her domain  is not far from here.

I think that he means Ben Nevis, which is more snow covered than usual this year.

His Queen does not know of his love for her,  because his rose has not been delivered to her. She is reaching out to him, and he must reach out to her, so that the two must meet. I think this would be bad. Obviously, something happened to the messenger who took the burning rose.

Maedbh hops down off my shoulder, and turns back to a woman. The Fire King asks her if she and her servants (us?) will take on the quest to find his rose and deliver it to his Queen.

Maedbh asks if he has a backup gift. He is shocked at the idea. The gift is a symbol of his love, there cannot be another. Maedbh makes a suitable non-binding agreement, and he thanks her. Her servants made it possible for him to move his realm here. That really wasn’t us.

Maedbh asks for a token of his messenger so that we may seek him. One of the knights goes looking for the messenger’s hat. Which is stone. 

We leave, both the castle and the volcano. Flying up out of the volcano, we see Edinburgh. There are rivers of lava, but they seem to be missing the town at the moment.

We land, and I cast the Inexorable Search using the hat as a connection. Eventually, we track him to somewhere between Falkirk and Stirling. Which is also where Bannockburn Forest is. We’ve heard that gifts of silver have been appearing at both towns, and also that the  Forest seems to be growing.

We head to an inn to get a room, some food, a cold bath and a sleep.

There is a lot of mist as we travel to Falkirk. The land is marshy. To the north west, we can see a very green looking forest. Which is unusual for this time of year.

We land and Allistor casts a spell to track the messenger by the scent from his hat. We head into town, and Maedbh asks about to see if anyone has seen someone who might wear the ‘hat’. Everyone gives her strange looks.

Allistor picks up a scent from a nearby inn – the messenger was probably here for a while, but has left since then. Maedbh tries to ask around in the inn. She speaks to the woman running the inn. Apparently someone did come in – he comes in every year. The inn always seems warmer when he turns up. He obviously doesn’t appear as a stone man. Just as a bit foreign and funnily dressed.

After he left, he headed north, but there are bandits on the road so we should travel as a group and be careful.

We fly along the road, landing as we read the wood at Bannockburn. The snow here seems to just stop at the edge of the wood. The scent that Allistor is following seems to go into the woods.

We head into the woods, and eventually there is the smell of smoke, and sounds of merriment. Following the path, Allistor suddenly stops – and points out a thin twine across the path. It seems to be a trap designed to set off an alarm. We step over it, and continue carefully onwards.

We leave the path and head up a slope towards the noise. It seems like what we are climbing are the remains of a giant tree, some twenty yards across, which rises up, forming something like a crater in the middle. In the clearing of the tree’s middle, is a party. There is a big bonfire, as well as smaller camp fires. The people are wearing strangely stylised peasant garb. One though has horns growing out of his head, and is garbed in tree roots.

Allistor reckons that the messenger is down there, but we can’t see him.

There is a lean-to where the scent seems to be coming from. There are also boxes and barrels around there, possibly loot taken from locals or travellers.

We head down into the clearing. Eventually, someone spots us and points us out to the rest. They stop dancing and playing music and look at us.

Maedbh asks whether anyone has seen one who carries a token of true love? They state that they have been collecting all sorts of things, and redistributing it to those in need. Taking from the rich and giving to the poor. One of them, who seems slightly larger than the others, looks a bit sheepish. The others seem to find the story of true love delightful.

As we get closer to him, it does look like his skin is actually greyish, and he is covered in pink paint. His hair also seems to be straw.

One of the dancers asks whether he had been bearing a symbol of true love. He admits that is so. Everyone is giving the painted statue an accusing look. He is embarrassed, because he has been enjoying the partying here so much. Maedbh makes a speech, and I point out that him denying the symbol of true love is hurting those that they are claiming to help, due to the onset of fire and winter. The dancers seem to be fey, who are telling their own story but are now delighted by the new story of true love.

He makes his apologies for taking advantage of the hospitality here, and thanks us for helping point out that he has been remiss in his duties.

We follow him out of the woods, and accompany him towards his destination. He was waylaid by the ‘outlaws’, who took his goods, including the rose. He got caught up in their story of wealth redistribution and forgot about the story that he was meant to be part of.

After a few days, we get to Ben Nevis. We see a shiny, silvery, multi-spired palace at the top of the mountain. It is completely different to the home of the Fire King.

We climb the ‘mountain’, and reach the palace. There are guards who are clad in what seems to be clear frozen water. They bow to the messenger, and let him pass. They seem to ignore us as we follow them. The armour of the guards is beautiful and intricate, and all the guards seem to be women.

In the throne room is a woman. She looks impressive, and slightly scary. She informs the messenger that he is late. Her voice is beautiful and terrible as the dawn. The temperature here is refreshing. 

Next to the throne is a small vase. The messenger presents the box to the Queen. She opens it, and pulls out a rose, which has a small flame upon it. She places it in the vase, and the fire flares into life, and everyone seems to take on a more fleshy appearance. 

She smiles and nods, “The gift is received. Rest now, for soon I will give you a favour to take back”.

You have come uninvited to our court, but I sense that you came in order to help our people. Is there a boon that you desire?

She asks me what I want, I say that I merely seek to help those that need help. She grants me a boon that once a year I can help one who is beyond help. For Maedbh, who said she sought to aid True Love, she grants True Love. To Allistor, who sought to bring balance, she grants balance.

She suggests that we leave before they head back to their realm.

We head back go the woods, but the party there seems to be over. There are some evidence of fires, but the large tree is no longer there, and neither are the tents or the revellers. The loot has gone as well, and the trees are shedding their leaves.

We head back to our labs.