We went along to the temple, and headed right inside. I was all for being quiet and stealthy until we knew it was safe, but my comrades ruined that plan for me (as usual; I don't think they understand the value of being quiet at all!). So we decided instead to investigate the place; it wasn't that big, and there were only a couple of rooms plus a balcony type thing. Prihelm went to investigate the rooms while I went up to the balcony. This was a bad move, all things considered.

You see, there were more of those darn puppets up there. I saw them, but not in time to keep them from jumping on me; this startled me and I leaped back... and promptly went right back down the stairs, saying some things that I won't repeat in my journal.

Meanwhile, Prihelm had gone into the bedroom and found.... puppets! He tried to fight them off as they closed and locked the door behind him, leaving the lot of my friends to help me, except for Leighla and Alamon, who went running off at the thought of desecrating a temple by fighting in it. Religious people! Geez! I must remember to have a word with them when I next get the chance...

So there I was, trying to fight off a pair of puppets with the help of Liss, Haley, and Dogboy. Seems easy, eh? Well, I thought it would be too! Then five more puppets came through the window. This was a great concern, but not too worrisome. Until, that is, Liss, in trying to brush one of the puppets off of me, slugged me in the gut, and Haley zapped me with a spell in trying to get rid of another of the puppets. Then that idiot Dogboy tackled me, and Haley and Liss held me down and the last thing I remember is a puppet stabbing me in the back of the skull, and saying something utterly stupid like "nighty-night!"

Not that I saw this, but apparently my erstwhile friends then helped the puppets beat up on poor Pri and the same thing happened to him. I really must remember to discuss the incompatibility of the words "betrayal" and "friendship" with them sometime soon.

Well, so an indeterminate amount of time later, I woke up to find myself in a wooden cage. In the body of a puppet, while my actual wonderful elven body was being borrowed by one of those darn puppets. Grr... My "friends" were caged also, I guess, although I'm not sure that I trust them right about now. Eventually, Alamon had the bright idea of knocking his cage from the ceiling; it burst, and he was free. We all followed suit, with varying degrees of success, and started trying to find a way out, once we'd freed Dogboy from his annoyingly well constructed cage and mended the little crack in Prihelm's arm.

Finding a way out of the toyshop was easier said than done. While Prihelm went looking for weapons, I headed for the windows and Haley went upstairs. To be more accurate, she tried, but a dart trap stopped that idea pretty quick. As long as she didn't try to go upstairs, they didn't bother her ("they" being these nifty hovering darts), but when she did, they did. You know what I mean...

Prihelm was eventually able to get his hands on some needles, and armed with these, we went searching for a way out. The first thing we found was a book; apparently, the toymaker had created a living puppet named Figlio, who he doted on. Figlio, however, was a bad little boy, to say the least. He created some living toys, calling them "carrionettes," and they set about killing people and stealing their bodies and stuff; it says that we can regain our bodies by stabbing them in the back of the neck with silver needles, just like was done to us... Also, Figlio claims to rule this town, calls himself Maligno, and claims to be able to keep people from leaving it. Just what we need; a puppet with a good solid case of megalomania!

We eventually got up onto one of the tables by the window, and were met by a pair of puppets (not carrionettes) who tried to beat up Pri and I. We weren't in any mood for this, and after a brief battle, highlighted by Prihelm's fall from the top of the table, we were able to defeat them and were just trying to break the window when we heard a good loud smash.

Whirling around, we saw that a small chest had come sailing down the stairs and burst to reveal another pair of puppets. After a rather tense introduction, we learned that these were also former people, named Samar and Sirius. They decided to join us, in the hopes that we could recover our bodies more easily in a large group than in a small one.

Our ranks thus bolstered, we set about trying to break the window; this was greatly facilitated by a toy battering ram attacking Sirius. It was able to clip him just before he got it all tied up, and we started to hoist it up onto the table top. We'd just gotten it up there, preparing to use it to break the window (at my suggestion, though of course I got no credit for that!) when we were attacked!

I find the entire situation truly ridiculous, but it was an animated slingshot pelting us with marbles. Geez. After knocking me around a bit, as well as Sirius, it split Haley's head pretty good and knocked her off the table before we were able to get the ram to the window. Haley joined us shortly, and we broke the window. Sirius, in his excitement, had forgotten to let go of the ram, went flying out the window, bounced a couple of times, and took off down the street a ways before he finally let it go. Meanwhile, I jumped out and (of course) landed on my feet, while the rest were somewhat clumsier. Haley landed pretty solidly on her little wooden butt, and Liss landed on his head... Serves him right for bragging about his incredible abilities!

The next order of business was to find some of those little silver needles so we could get our bodies back. Fortunately, the silversmith was right across the street... How very coincidental! We were just going over there when we heard some dogs coming. The others decided to try to play dead, while I, in my own customarily brilliant way, climbed a wall to make sure they couldn't get to me. The dogs had lots of fun with the "dead" people, then decided to annoy me. I was going to try to keep their attention on me by making cat noises, but they didn't buy it, and Haley spoiled it by laughing anyway, which left her with a nice set of tooth-marks on her little wooden head...

Eventually, the dogs left and we broke into the silversmith's, collecting four or five silver needles a piece, and then setting off through the town to try to find our bodies. Luck was with us, as I quickly figured out where we were (right across from the Sertino home), and even more so once we ran across Dogboy's body... He was "testing" the brewer's stock, and we were able to get the drop on him and stuck him full of needles . Soon enough, Dogboy stabbed his body in the base of the skull, then he slumped over. He woke up in his own body, we pulled all the needles out, burned the puppet body, and that was that! One down, too many to go!

After hitching a ride, we made our way towards the performance hall, but stumbled across a tavern first. We all waited while Dogboy went inside to try to identify someone, and he found Liss. Not the right one, maybe, but oh well.

Dogboy lured him outside, and after a prolonged struggle, Liss got his body back as well. I wish he would put up that much of a fight when he's helping us... And now we're setting off to find the rest of our bodies, hoping especially to find mine (because after all, where would we be without me?)! I just wish I knew where Leighla has run off too...