We had been sailing for a while in great discomfort in this little thing we called a ship (and I use the term loosely) when Prihelm managed to run us aground. I suppose I can't blame him, since those mists were everywhere and even I, with my superior elven vision, was having problems seeing, but...

We sat there for a while, then things got busy. Dogboy decided to check the ship while Prihelm checked the area around the ship. Over the side he jumped, fell flat on his face (I somehow get the impression that Prihelm would be a lousy dancer), and after getting up and dusting himself off, he checked around, only to report some really rather odd things.

It seems that we were marooned on something that wasn't really land. I don't pretend to understand, but the long and short of it is that we decided that we weren't going to be able to sail anywhere and that we couldn't stay where we were, either. I jumped over to help explore (naturally, I had no problems maintaining my balance), and soon enough, we decided to head off in a random direction, having nothing better to do. So we roped ourselves together and off we went!

This was actually easier said than done, since I walked a whole lot without getting anywhere. Eventually, Alamon figured it out and suggested that I think about myself moving, and while I was fairly skeptical, I was surprised to find that it actually worked! Thus encouraged, we moved happily along until suddenly we stumbled (well, the others stumbled, but I, of course, didn't) upon real land!

After yanking the rest of the rope in and stowing it in my pack (I must remember to return Prihelm and Dogboy's rope to them), we trudged off towards the town we saw in the distance, Odiare by name, according to the sign post.

Imagine our surprise when we got there and they were having a celebration! It seemed like the entire population of the town was out having a party! This was very bizarre, since we haven't seen people partying anywhere else in this strange land and I was beginning to think they didn't know how, but nevertheless, a party it was. And we were invited.

We wandered around at random for a few short minutes getting acquainted with the area before someone came up and handed me this adorable little puppet, inviting me to a puppet show later that night. This sounded like a lot of fun, but given how hungry I was, I don't think I was as polite in accepting his invitation as I could have been. Oh well.

Dogboy, meanwhile, was propositioned by one of the local women, who gave him this utterly gorgeous red scarf. Imagine my irritation when the great lummox gave it to Haley! I wanted it, darn it! It was pretty! But I suppose Dogboy is only human, so I'll forgive him his mistake in judgment just this once.

While Dogboy was busy irritating me, Prihelm was trying to get information from one of the locals. He soon discovered that this was a festival called Bambeen, or some such thing like that, which was supposed to celebrate the children of the village. I find human customs incomprehensible, as a rule, but this one seemed like a pretty good idea, to me! What a wonderful excuse to have a party! And they hire entertainers!

Well, naturally, once I found out about this, I decided I'd need to make some money performing here, because these people are sure to have never run into a real elven bard before. And everyone knows that we elves are the best around. So I asked directions, and we started heading towards the inn (I can't perform on an empty stomach, and I was getting very hungry), although Prihelm said something which leads me to believe that he's not quite the pure and innocent paladin he claims to be. "Spread the word," he told the locals, "that our entertainer does exotic dances. Sure to please the entire family!" Either he's even more naive than I think he is, or else he's going to have to be taught a lesson about being truthful. Actually, I may have to have a word with him later either way. The nerve! I'm still a little upset with the great bloody oaf!

So we were headed towards the inn to get some food when we heard a scream. "Someone murdered my husband!" I don't know why it is that we get dragged into these things, but next thing I know, I'm heading up stairs to keep Haley from being eviscerated by the murderer.

We did not, in strict point of fact, run into the killer at this time, but there was, of course, a body there. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that the poor man's throat had been cut, someone had slit his mouth to make it open wider, and used the blood to make a red circle on each cheek; I think it was supposed to look like a clown, but all I could think of is that someone out there is really really sick.

I decided to leave the corpse to its own devices and discovered the poor man's daughter. She was sitting traumatized in her room playing with her doll, Knuckles. It was at about this time that the fat useless constable, Ardo by name, showed up. We were soon deputized (I don't know why, but I think it's Prihelm's fault... He and I need to have a talk about sticking our noses where they don't belong!) and enlisted to help with the investigation.

The dead man was one Franco Sertino; his wife, who was in a great deal of shock, was Maria, and the daughter was Giselle. Eventually, we got Giselle down stairs with her mother (which was no small task, let me tell you!) and made our investigation in peace. Leighla and I decided to watch the building and let someone else inspect the corpse (oh gods I'm sick of murder mysteries!); Alamon obliged happily and reported some fairly odd things. Apparently, there were a lot of little puncture wounds on Franco's arms and legs, and the murderer had used an extremely sharp knife to do the cutting. Haley was very impressed with the knife technique and wouldn't stop commenting on it, so I decided to leave her to her own devices and hang out some more with Leighla, who was duly honored by my company.

Having determined all we could, we decided to go get some dinner (finally; I was about ready to start gnawing on someone, I was so starving!), but alas, the inn was closed for the darn puppet show! We were just headed that way in the hopes of finding a concession stand or something when the fat constable told us he'd made an arrest. We followed dutifully along, only to discover that the idiot had arrested Pietro, the town drunk, chiefly because he didn't like the man. Leighla and I were rather amused, if disgusted, by this, and we managed to talk the man into letting poor Pietro go. Ardo was just doing this when yet another villager ran up, screaming about how all the adults at the Secolo (the puppet theater, it seems) had vanished and only the children were still there. This was sufficiently odd to get through to even Ardo, so we all went over that way.