[[Day 6|<< Day 6]] ## 5 Hammer 1493 We made it back to Valentia and our friends were all there. Ezmerelda was only a little mad at me for disappearing in the first place. Also, it's my birthday. I'm still a human. The Wayward Pool didn't work and Charm couldn't do anything for me either. Zybilna gave me a modified wand of polymorph to help ease things a little, but she couldn't provide a permanent solution. I can fly, at least; before we went to the palace, Nia suggested returning to Nib's cave to see if he could make me anything to help. He gave me boots; they're ugly and gaudy, but they get me into the air. We took care of several other things before we went to the palace. We checked in with Will, settled score with Dumphrey and Bloody, and checked in with Jingle Jangle at Skoll's insistence. After that, me, Skoll, and Nia headed to the palace with Amidor, Pollenella, the crystals, Elidon, and Elkhorn. Molliver also came with us, even though she was hesitant to leave the brigganocks. Despite its size, navigating the palace wasn't too difficult, and we found Zybilna soon enough. The only problem was that the Jabberwock was there. He was curled up, sleeping right in front of Zybilna. Nia and Elidon went to sneak past the dragon so that they could free Zybilna, but then someone else started approaching: Zargash, a member of the League of Assholes. I tried to drag him away. My hand was over his mouth, but he yelled, so I pushed him away from me and backed against the wall as I watched the Jabberwock wake. The Jabberwock killed him in one swipe of its claws. It was pretty gruesome, but it gave Nia and Elidon enough time to make it to Zybilna. With a touch of Elidon's horn, Zybilna was freed from time. She called off the Jabberwock. We explained why we were there and caught her up to speed on Prismeer. Given the state of things, she wasn't in a great mood, but she was still appreciative that we managed to help her and her domain. Zybilna offered to grant us a wish in return for our services, but just one — so we couldn't wish to be transported to Valentia *and* for her to change me back into an owl. I will be fine. For the most part, things don't seem so dire now that I can fly and am out of the feywild. We let Zybilna know about the various people stuck in Prismeer, like the children and the actors, for example. It seemed like she's going to take care of it, so that was a weight off my mind. She's also going to take care of the League of Assholes with the help of Valor's Call — they have a deal worked out, apparently. I felt a little bad leaving them to that, but we needed to get home, and I'm sure an archfey can handle herself — especially now that she doesn't have a coven of hags keeping her trapped in time. We said goodbye to everyone. I'm going to miss them; Molliver and Elidon, at least. They're cool. Once we were ready, we provided Zybilna with our wish: we wished to be back in Valentia at Skoll's home with Rictavio, Ezmerelda, Ireena, and Selise. Zybilna told us to close our eyes, we heard a calliope, and then we were in Skoll's garden. Just like that. I ran inside. There was a freshly-made birthday cake with my name on it on the table, which was a relief; it meant that we had only been gone for a tenday and a half. Pidlwick, Rudolph, and Jord were there; the rest were still absent. Rudolph nearly tackled me when he saw me. It was sweet. Ireena and Selise ended up being transported onto the roof. Ireena didn't recognize me at first, but she was happy enough to see me, and I was happy to see her. It felt like forever, but I eventually heard Ezmerelda's voice from the garden. She had found her crystal likeness; by the time I made it back there, the crystal had been beheaded. Ezmerelda was pretty shocked once she figured out who I was. She didn't react poorly, at least, and it was enough of a distraction that she let the crystal-her go without much of a fight. Rictavio showed up and started going on about how we interrupted his meeting with the Baba Yaga. Apparently, he and Ezmerelda had gone to meet with her in an effort to find us. He also wasn't too happy to hear that we had killed two of her daughters. Unfortunately for Rictavio, I didn't really give a shit. I hugged him and asked how his curse was going. He told me that he wasn't able to find the family that he was looking for in Darkon; but he's still "working on himself," which I guess was good to hear. I did make the mistake of half-jokingly referring to Rudolph as my and Ezmerelda's son. Judging by her reaction, I don't think Ezmerelda liked it that much. Also, it inspired Rictavio to essentially call himself my father, which was another thing that I wasn't really equipped to deal with. Something else, before I forget: Rictavio has a thing for Skoll, apparently? He's even talked to his wife about him. I guess it makes sense in hindsight, but I won't pretend that I wasn't surprised. I'll have to bug Skoll about it later. Anyway, we all had a lot of catching up to do. Skoll made us dinner; we ate, we talked. And then Yesper showed up, thinking it was the solstice. Yesper made me and Ezmerelda matching sweaters. It was nice of him, even though mine had a depiction of myself as an owl on it. It's good to be back. Plus, being around Ezmerelda seems to have the added benefit of making me feel less insane about everything. About most things, at least. It's still hard not to feel insane about things regarding the two of us. But I'm just glad to be with her again. I'm going to go bug her. I have a whole tenday and a half to make up for. --- ## Page Tags/Properties **Tags:** #Journal **Category:** [[Journals and Writings.base|Journals and Writings]] **Character:** [[Krue d'Avenir|Krue]] **Campaign:** [[Wild Beyond the Witchlight]] **Date ([[Calendar of Harptos|Harptos]]):** 01/05/1493