Chapter 1: Birthday Season Begins

There were four "towns" in total: the entrance to the festival was located in a small village called "Aeldar" and was described as a "small village on the outskirts of the kingdom". From there, two "roads", each about a quarter mile long, led from Aeldar to a different "town". The north "road" led to the town inside the castle walls. Simply called "Castle Town" and "The Castle", these locations were supposed to be the "main" town area where most of the merchants and events took place. The South road from Aeldar traveled through a forested area, and ended in the "elven camp". This "town" was described as "a temporary elven village located in a clearing deep within the Elastrian forest." There was another road between Castle Town and the elven camp, this one about half a mile long. Along each of the three roads were several paths that led to an area in the center of the "triangle" that they formed. Where the roads met was the fourth "town", which was labeled on the map in the pamphlet with only a question mark on top of what appeared to be a drawing of a mountain. The description read: "what lies beneath the mountain's peak?"

A few key locations other than the four towns were: "The Bandit's Camp", located off the main road between Aeldar and the Castle; "The Fishing Lake" located just outside Castle Town, and "Lover's Grove" located off the main road between Aeldar and the elven camp.

After reading the pamphlets, we all discussed our plans on what we wanted to do, and when. Our plans were:

We'd enter the fair, introduce ourselves in-character to each other, go to the elven camp, explore the "mountain", head to the Castle Town, watch the jousting matches at 5, then get dinner and go home. We'd explore the smaller areas as we passed them, just to see what's there.

*

At nine thirty on the dot, the gates to the fair opened, and medieval music could be heard playing inside. The crowd started flowing toward the entrance, and by nine forty we were inside the gates.

Passing through the festival gates felt like traveling back in time. As soon as we were on the other side, we were in a village on the outer edge of a medieval kingdom. In the distance, the parapets of the castle could be seen rising over the town walls.

Amy squealed with delight, wrapping her arm around mine, "We're finally here! Isn't this exciting?!"

She had obviously forgotten to start playing her character, so I replied as Grogun, "Indeed it is, Elyveria , darling."

Immediately, Amy got the hint and changed her demeanor to that of her elven sorceress. She stood up straighter, straightened up her dress, and spoke in a more whimsical, elven tone, "Our long trek here from Goldrune was well worth it."

Goldrune was the name of the kingdom in the campaign from where our characters had originated. Tommy had run that campaign, so our characters had never met either of the Kordek Sunbeards. Ironically, Jaden's Paladin, Father Anders A. Aringol, shared a campaign with one Kordek (The first one) while Adora shared a campaign with the other (younger) Kordek.

"Kordek, is that you?" Ashely asked in the high-pitched voice she had used for Adora.

"I am Kordek Sunbeard," Tommy replied in his best "dwarven" accent, "But I'm afraid I don't know who you are, little lass."

"It's me," Ashley anounced, "Adora Bla'as. We adventured together for over a year."

"I'm sorry," Tommy said, "You must have me mistaken for someone else. I would remember adventuring with such an adorable ass. I mean, adorable lass."

It was all I could do to stop from laughing. Amy couldn't help but laugh.

"Kordek Sunbeard!" Jaden walked over to Tommy, "It's been too long my friend, how have you been?"

"You must be Father Aringol," Tommy replied to the towering paladin, "My father told me of his adventures with the famous 'Benevolent Bulwark'."

In the campaign Jaden had played Father Aringol, he had earned the nickname of the 'Benevolent Bulwark' by holding off an entire legion of orcs by himself in the final battle of the campaign.

"Ah," Ashley said in Adora's voice, "You must be the father of the Kordek I adventured with."

"It seems some sort of temporal oddness is going on here," Jaden replied, "The Kordek I know has yet to bear a child."

"Excuse me," Amy interjected, "Did I hear you say you were of the Sunbeard clan?"

"That I am, milady," Tommy replied, "Can I be of assistance?"

"The Sunbeard clan is notorious for being skilled clerics. My bondmate and I are new to the area and were wondering if you would like to join us in exploring this land."

"Indeed," I replied when Tommy gave me a quizzical glance.

"Your enormous friend would be welcome to join us as well," Amy continued, looking at Jaden.

"What about me?" Ashley asked, jumping in front of Kordek.

"Oh, we didn't see you there, little one," I replied, "I'm sure you have some skills that might be useful."

"She does have an adorable ass," Tommy noted.

"The name's Adora Bla'as," Ashley replied, holding out a hand to shake, ignoring Tommy.

Amy shook her hand, "I'm Elyveria Flamewind, Elven Sorceress. This is my bondmate, Grogun."

"It's odd to see an elf pairbonded with one of his kind," Tommy wrinkled his nose in pretend disgust at me. Kordek wasn't very fond of orcs, even half-orcs.

"If you have something against orcs," I stood right up to Tommy, towering over him, "Then you should say so now."

Tommy puffed up his chest, pretending to act tough, "My family's been fighting against the orcish armies for over a thousand years. Generations of Sunbeards have sworn an oath to exterminate every vile orc we come across. Only your human ancestry has stayed my axe from cleaving your head when we met."

Like I said, 'not very fond of orcs'.

I smiled, intentionally emphasizing my orc tusks, "Good answer, Dwarf. Orcs are a blight on the realms and should be exterminated with extreme prejudice."

By the way, Grogun hates orcs, too. He was the result of an orcish raid on his family's kingdom that left most of his mother's family dead, including her husband, and left her emotionally traumatized so badly that she killed herself shortly after his birth. He swore vengeance on all orcs when he learned of this, and has ever since been known as "Orcscourge" by the orcish tribes of his homeland.

"Then you and I should get along just fine," Tommy laughed.

After our in-character introductions to each other, we set off toward the elven village to explore. As we did, Amy took my hand in hers. I looked over at her as she did. Seeing the blush on her face, I couldn't help but smile. She saw me and smiled back. Our eyes met. For a moment, I was enraptured by the verdant green of the contacts she had in. She closed her eyes and crinkled her nose cutely, something I hadn't seen her do in years. I laughed, nudging her shoulder with mine, then we kept walking.

As we walked the quarter mile to the elven camp, we all discussed our characters' personal backstories with each other:

Father Aringol had grown up in the service of another of our homebrew deities, Pelision, God of Healing and Protection. He had been assigned as the 'Servant Protector' of a local town that was plagued with orcish raids. After meeting up with the first Kordek and the rest of their party, Father Aringol helped defeat the orcs, earning his nickname.

Adora Bla'as was born to the servant of a noble house. Having grown tired of service by adulthood, she ran away and learned how to survive in the wilderness. Considering herself 'truly free', Adora only ventured into town to trade for necessities, until she met the younger Kordek, and joined him and the rest of their party in a trek through the underdark in an attempt to form an alliance with a Dwarven kingdom who had recently come under attack by an army of...

...you know, we seemed to always have orcs as the enemies. Several of our characters hate orcs to an unreasonable degree, and we always seem to be saving one kingdom or another from armies of them...

Elyveria and Grogun met while he was hunting down an orc raiding party. Even though they weren't the main enemy of the campaign, orcs did play a major part in several side quests.

Kordek, that is the Kordek that Tommy was Roleplaying as at the ren fair, had apparently just left his home in search of adventure, following in his father's footsteps.

Just before we reached the elven camp, soon after entering the forest, we came upon a side road with a sign that said, "Lover's Grove."

"Grogun, my love," Amy said in her sweetest Elyveria voice, "we should check out the lover's grove together. I..If we have time, I mean... After the jousts."

The slight stutter in her voice was cute, but surprising. Amy only ever stuttered when she was embarrassed about something. Maybe it was just the fact that staying in character caused her to ask me, her brother, to do things she normally wouldn't. Or was she really wanting to go with me to the lover's grove? I couldn't tell.

"Indeed," I replied, smiling a toothy smile at her. Amy's face lit up, brighter than before, but a moment later she returned to her more whimsical "elven sorceress" face.

"That's a great idea," Ashley agreed, forgetting for a moment to use her "Adora" voice, "I mean, 'That's a great idea'," she repeated in-character as Adora, "I wish I had someone to go to the grove with," she eyed Jaden slyly, "But alas, I am without another in my life."

Jaden said nothing, but snickered as he pretended to ignore her.

"I'd go with you," Tommy said as Kordek, "But I only just met ya, so I doubt we'd count as 'lovers', unless you wanna do something to change that distinction."

We all started laughing. Ashley retorted, "As if I'd be that easy."

We all laughed harder as she playfully turned her back at him.

"At least buy me a drink first," she muttered loudly so we all could hear her.

We all laughed some more. It would have been weird watching Tommy proposition his sister, but Kordek hitting on Adora was a staple of the campaign Adora had been played in, so it was actually fun watching them cosplay their characters just as they played them in our D&D games.

"Come on," Jaden laughed, "Let's continue to the elven village."

"Okay!" Ashley happily skipped ahead of the party.

As we headed off, Amy took my hand in hers again, holding it a little more tightly than before.

The elven village was a few makeshift huts, several horses and wagons, and a bunch of people dressed up as elves, most of whom were part of the festival. There were a couple food vendors offering "elven" food, there was an elven bowyer making custom bows for a reasonable price, an archery range where you could pay to shoot ten arrows at a target in exchange for prizes, and a small petting zoo with exotic animals like alpacas, foreign rabbits, deer, and even a baby giraffe.

Upon seeing the archery event, Ashley started jumping up and down, "I know what I'm doing!"

She skipped over to the "elf" running the event.

"Oh, great," Jaden moaned out of character as Ashley paid the vendor.

"Welcome lass, to the elven archery range. Elven rangers hone their skills here to become master archers. Would you like to try your hand at the ancient elven art of archery?" he asked.

"Absolutely!!" Ashley said cheerfully in her Adora voice.

We all hurried to the viewing area to watch what would surely be a disaster of a show. Adora Bla'as may have been a master at archery, but as far as I knew, Ashley hadn't even held a bow before.

The vendor let her select her bow and handed her a side quiver with ten blunted practice arrows. All the bows were standard barebow recurve bows, like you'd expect to see in a medieval elven village.

She did a little hop as she skipped over to the marked position where she was supposed to stand.

"Do you have any experience with a bow?" the vendor asked.

"Please," Ashley replied, never breaking character, "You see this bow on my back? I'm a leading member of the ranger's guild back home."

"I mean a real bow," the vendor said in a very un-elven voice, "I have to ask for legal purposes."

Ashley replied in her usual sweet voice, "Yes, I know what I'm doing."

"Good," the vendor replied in his elven voice, "Let me explain the rules. You have in your quiver ten arrows. The target is ten yards away from the shooting line. All you have to do is hit the target with one arrow to win a hand-carved commemorative plaque with your name on it. If you hit with two or more arrows you will also win a token good for a free meal at any food vendor in the kingdom. If you hit with five or more arrows you will win a token that will allow you to enter the Master Archery Tournament in Castle Town this afternoon.

"So, it doesn't matter where on the target I hit?" Ashley asked as Adora.

"That's correct," the vendor replied.

"What happens when I hit with all ten arrows?" Ashley asked.

Amy was intently watching Ashley, but still holding my hand. While siblings holding hands as much as we were may have been unusual for people our age, it was perfectly in-character for Elyveria and Grogun, who had vowed to never leave each others sides, and often held hands while adventuring.

"Well," the "elven" vendor replied to Ashley's boastful query, "We do have a special reward for the first person to do so, but nobody's been able to achieve that feat so far."

Ashley grinned, then took her stance as the vendor backed away. Her archery form was not what I'd expected. Rather than a shaky, unconfident amateur, she had a perfect square stance with her feet perfectly parallel to the shooting line, one on either side of it. I didn't know much about archery myself, but from the way it looked, she did.

"Here we go," Tommy announced, slipping out of character.

Ashley aimed the bow. Not a twitch or a shake. She held the pose for a few seconds. Then, without warning, *Thwak* the arrow was suddenly in the target, dead center. I hadn't seen Ashley move at all.

The crowd went wild! Even the vendor was impressed. Ashley aimed her second shot. *Thwak!* less than an inch to the left of her previous arrow. *Thwak* The third arrow hit less than an inch to the right. *Thwak* *Thwak* the next two arrows hit one after another, one at the top of the target, one at the bottom.

"That's five," Ashley boasted, "Lets have some fun!"

She held the bow a little higher than before, reached around behind her head, drew the arrow, waited a second, then fired. *Thwak* The arrow hit within three inches of the center.

By this time, the crowd around the archery range had gone from about ten people to nearly three times that, all applauding as if Ashley were a paid performer.

The next shot she took behind her back. *Thwak* just below center.

The crowd kept cheering. I looked over at Amy. She was staring at Ashley, cheering louder than anyone. Even my cheers were overwhelmed by hers.

"Who wants two at a time?" Ashley yelled into the crowd in her Adora voice. Her question was met by thunderous applause.

She nocked two arrows, aimed, and *Thwak* both arrows hit at the same time one on the outer left, one on the outer right.

"One Arrow Left!" she yelled.

As she pulled the arrow from the quiver, she held it in her hand for a moment, then examined it, and grinned, glancing at the vendor.

This time, she aimed nearly straight up. She held the shot for a moment then released. The arrow went high in the air. When it reached its apex, Ashley turned to the crowd, took a bow, and held it. The crowd was silent. Not a breath could be heard...

*Thwak* The arrow penetrated nearly completely through the target at a steep downward angle, but clearly through nearly dead center.

A cacophony of cheers and applause rang out. Ashley skipped over to the vendor and returned the bow and quiver.

"I..." the vendor stammered, "I don't believe it."

"I told you I knew what I was doing," She gloated as Adora.

The "special reward" for being the first person to hit with all ten arrows turned out to be having her picture taken in front of her target, and a copy of the photo was placed at the booth titled, "Ranger Guild Champion".

As the crowd dispersed, Jaden, Amy, and I all looked accusingly at Tommy, who had the biggest grin on his face. Ashley's victory was not at all a surprise to him.

"What?" he asked defensively, "Ash has been practicing with that bow on her back almost every day since she got her archery merit badge in The Scouts when she was thirteen. Girl can shoot."

Just then Ashley came skipping up to us holding her three prizes, "That was fun."

"Ashley!" I nearly yelled, "That was awesome!"

"That?" she replied, "Please, putting the target at ten meters is just begging for an archery trick shooter to show off. And having that last arrow intentionally unbalanced was just cheating. I had to show that arrogant elf he couldn't get away with that."

I suddenly felt Amy squeeze my hand, which she was still holding. I looked over at her and she was staring at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Amy closed her eyes for a second, took a breath, then opened her eyes and smiled, "Nothing. Sorry."

I turned to fully face her. "You sure? You looked bothered by something."

"It's nothing," she replied, "I'm good."

"Okay," I said, squeezing her hand gently.

"Alright, guys," Tommy announced, back in-character as Kordek, "We're all impressed with the young lass's archery skills, but we should head out if we're going to explore the rest of the kingdom today."

"Agreed," Ashley, as Adora, exclaimed, "On to Castle Town! I have a tournament to win!"

We all laughed together as we headed to the northern exit of the village, to Castle Town. As we were about to leave, a strange "elven" man approached us. He was dressed in a white robe with seemingly elven runes along the trim.

"My good elven lady," he addressed Amy, "If you and your orcish paramour wish to put your love to the test, I suggest you visit the lover's grove and speak to the oracle therein. He can tell you if your love is true and destined."

I laughed, about to break character and tell him that Amy and I were siblings, but Amy responded in-character, "We planned to visit the grove later on, perhaps we will visit the oracle while we're there."

She looked over at me and squeezed my hand.

"Indeed," I said, using Grogun's intentionally overused "catchphrase".

"Very good," the "elf" replied, then addressed Ashley, "You and your strikingly tall paramour might also wish to visit the Oracle of Lover's Grove, if you wish to put your love to the test."

"With him?" Ashley asked as if put off by the idea, "Why would you think that I would have anything to do with a high and mighty priest such as him?"

The "elf" chuckled, "The bonds of love cannot be hidden from the Eyes of Fate."

He then continued on into the elven village without another word to us.

"That was... Odd..." Tommy noted as Kordek.

"Yeah," Jaden agreed as Father Aringol.

"Let's just continue on," I suggested. Everyone agreed.

About a hundred yards from the edge of the elven village, the forest opened up into a field. We could see the road off in the distance curve around "the mountain" to the right. About halfway to the Castle Town, a path led off up and into the side of "the mountain" at a "cave" about a hundred yards or so away. There were no signs of any kind, but the path had people walking to and from the "cave" entrance.

Tommy stopped at the path, "Let's go see what this mountain is all about."

Jaden pulled out his phone to check the time, "Well, It's only eleven thirty right now. The Joust starts at four, so we have plenty of time."

"Actually," Ashley corrected as Adora, "My Archery Tournament is at three, so we need to be there by two thirty."