It all started when Haley oh so thoughtfully woke us all up to go get breakfast, despite the fact that Leighla and I had been up for half the night trying to figure out what Delphi was up to. You know, Haley's my best bud and all, but sometimes I wish she was less focused on her stomach!

So anyways, we were all headed over to the dining room to get some breakfast, and naturally, there wasn't any! Instead, there was Fran sitting there looking guilty, and that was it. No Delphi, no Felix, and most importantly, no food! I can't believe Haley made me get up so early just so that I could have the pleasure of talking to Fran...

Turns out that the reason Fran was looking so guilty is that he wanted to apologize for his behavior last night. Seems he was pretty upset at having to cut the cat open, and since it was Leighla's fault... So he decently offered us his apology, and most of the rest of us just as decently accepted it. The exception was Leighla, who still really dislikes the man for some reason. Oh, she said it was okay, but then she turned around and stalked off, saying that she wanted to take a walk, and it was pretty obvious that Leighla and Fran were two souls in less than perfect harmony.

This pleasant little interlude out of the way, I decided now would be a good time to find out what Delphi had been up to last night, so having found out from Fran that she was in the kitchen cooking, Prihelm and I went that direction, ostensibly to help her but really, of course, to grill the girl within an inch of her life. Unfortunately, when we got to the kitchen, what we found was huge clouds of black smoke; Delphi is evidently an even worse cook than I am, if that can be believed! And Prihelm let her know that in no uncertain terms, too, the cad! Delphi, of course, was very upset by his criticism, and ran out crying before I had a chance to talk to her! Paladins! You just can't take them anywhere!

Fortunately, Leighla walked into the kitchen at about this time, looking mighty peeved and muttering some unfriendly things about Ratboy (seems he insulted her hunting ability as she was on her little walk...). She stopped just long enough to tell Pri and I that Delphi had headed off to the north before I talked her and Prihelm into going up to Delphi's room to apologize to her and to pump her for information. They did so while Haley and I cooked breakfast (I'm impressed with Haley's ability to cook, although naturally it's nowhere near as great as her ability to eat...) and the others sat around talking to Fran.

Though naturally I wasn't with Leighla and Prihelm and can't tell you exactly what happened, Leighla tells me that all they really found out is that Delphi likes to take walks, that Fran would be upset if he found out, and that Delphi isn't afraid of walking around alone at night because she's a good climber and fairly stealthy (perhaps Delphi is a thief in training?). Also, they learned that Delphi likes to skinny-dip in the sea and she wants Prihelm to go with her next time; it should be interesting to see how our noble paladin deals with that!

Well, so eventually we all got seated around the table, just in time to hear Fran asking if we would do him a favor. Those of us who'd been busy elsewhere had no clue what was going on, but apparently DB and the others did, since they said they'd think about it after talking to the rest of us. Once we got back to the guesthouse, they explained everything. Fran, it seems, believes that the Table mentioned in the journal is responsible for the curse of the Broken Ones; he thinks he knows where it is, and he wants us to go and get it for him. This is apparently because he has the disease himself (only a minute surprise!) and thinks he can use the table to cure himself and to stop the curse from spreading somehow.

After a great deal of pointless bickering, we eventually decided to shelve the question of what we would do with the Table once we found it and at least go investigate. Of course, it was also decided not to bother letting Fran know we were going to go search for it, which I think is a mistake, but oh well... So we bravely snuck out of the stockade, using the map of the island that Fran had given us to avoid the nearby village of the Broken Ones in case they proved to be unfriendly.

Sadly, we were less than successful in avoiding the darn things. We'd been walking for several hours in relative peace when we found ourselves surrounded by something like twenty of them! Ever eager to display her fine gift for diplomacy, Leighla immediately attacked them, and any hopes of peacefully resolving the encounter were blown! This was very unfortunate, as there were a whole lot of them, and they were bigger and stronger and tougher than any of us...

Pretty much before I knew what was going on, they'd knocked Haley unconscious, and the next thing I remember is Alamon holding me up saying something about how I'd almost died. And I wasn't the only one! Aside from Leighla and Alamon and Prihelm, the entire group was wasted! Apparently, the monsters had broken off their attack at some sort of signal, despite the fact that they would have had us for sure in only a few more minutes. I wonder why they didn't stick arond long enough to finish us off, although I'm sure not going to complain about it!

We also learned that this particular set of Broken Ones evidently despises Fran completely, which Leighla takes as proof of her thesis that Fran is responsible for their condition. I'm not sure about that, but it's food for thought at least...

At any rate, it was quickly decided that we'd have to rest for a while, so Leighla and I decided to go scout the village (which was still not too far away) while the rest of the group recuperated. But we'd only gone maybe a mile into the woods when we saw a vision: a maple tree (the only one on the island) pierced by one of Leighla's arrows. The arrow was broken, and the tree was bleeding. Deciding that this was evidently a vision sent by Leighla's god (either that or a vision due to the indigestion my cooking was causing...), we turned around and went back to camp. Prihelm was trying to march a stealthy perimeter, but I could have told him that it's awfully hard to do that in splint mail, and the racket he was making was almost painful to my sensitive ears. I like the guy a whole lot, but sometimes I really worry about him!

Not too long after we got back, Alamon had a scathingly brilliant idea! He'd noticed an abandoned village on the map, and that the river, which wasn't too far off, went right by the place, and best of all, it was closer to our destination than we were now! He suggested that we could build a crude raft and float down the river to the abandoned village, were we could camp for the evening and get a chance to really recover from the battle. While we haven't as a rule had much fun with rafts, this seemed like a good idea, so we tied a few logs together and floated on down the river. Fortune was smiling on us, it seems, as we weren't attacked and Prihelm didn't even fall in! Our first successful rafting voyage ever!

We got to the abandoned village in the late afternoon; there were maybe fifteen or twenty buildings there, all with stone foundations, all without roofs, and all looking to be in rather sorry shape, as if they were about ready to collapse. Naturally, we took this as a good sign, since no one in his right mind would still be living there! The first thing to do, of course, was to explore the place; we quickly decided that since I'm the lightest and the fastest that it would be best for me to look around; Prihelm, for example, would probably have collapsed the buildings by going into them!

Haley followed me into the first building, which was empty, and since nothing bad happened, she decided to keep me company, just in case (personally, I think she was just trying to keep an eye on me; doesn't she trust me?!?). This didn't last long, since while we were exploring the second building, she slipped and managed to bring the entire house down on top of both of us! The others were eventually able to dig us out, and after Al did what he could for my headache, I decided I'd be a whole lot safer leaving Haley outside! I knew she'd been eating too much!

Now we're camped here for the night. Tomorrow should see us at the Table; I hope it's a more successful day than today has been!