The premise of tonight's Tales with the Handmaidens was to have an ad-lib style event where participants ferried a story, person by person. Here is an excerpt of that enchanting tale, as spun in Ta'Illistim's Solarium this very eve --


Ysaeril introduces, "It was a dark night in Gyldemar Forest, when there came a crash from the ruins of Calelith Villa. And out of the corner of their eye, the adventurers did spy...""

Rohese softly repeats, in Elven, "It was a dark night in Gyldemar Forest, when there came a crash from the ruins of Calelith Villa. And out of the corner of their eye, the adventurers did spy ... a hideous troll wearing the oddest assembly of garments imaginable. He blundered towards you and ..."

Rohese glances around the room.

Rohese points at Lucrecea.

Lucrecea continues, "The troll blundered towards you and abruptly raised one fist in front of him, shaking a heavy sack that clinked! Pointing accusingly at you, he bellowed...."."

Saarosh says, in Elven, "He said, 'Dnuor'rg 'ght ot noirtrid'dra larghufr'r'ruoloro ar karmri slur'riar'rtn ruo.' Well, you did not want your entrails to make a colorful addition to the ground, so your dodged, but unfortunately you tripped over the train of the troll's pink spidersilk ballgown and went flying into the villa. That was when you spied a ghost child, who said..."

Ithilwyn warily says, "Nothing that you could hear, but her lips moved and she acted as if she was trying to tell you something of import. Gesturing wildly, she grabs you by the hand and leads you toward the stairs. Glancing up you see...."

Tavore slowly says, "...Glancing up toward the top of the stairs, you see two more ghostly apparitions, two adult elves that bear a striking similarity with the child. The female opens her mouth, as if to speak, but instead--"

Amalexia says, "The female opens her mouth, as if to speak, but the male apparition interrupts, shouting "Oko Wraatk, pratka Usk!" at you. Startled, you..."

Laehna softly says, "'Startled, you turn to your book of things to say, page fourty two, and it reads..."

Rohese flusteredly says, in Elven, "Um ... it reads, "Oh, what a lovely Villa you have!" Regaining your composure, you look back down the stairs only to see the troll stomping his way back through the front door mumbling something about ..."

Ysaeril humbly says, in Elven, "Hmm... So the troll was intervened by a trali, who again repeated the aforementioned warning from the male apparition... The trali sauntered up to you, as vines gathered around his ankles.... "Spritka... Surrot... Frarat!"

Nyqa says, in Elven, "You glance from the nonsensical Trali to the incomprehensible ghostly man, then to the silent child. Finally you turn your gaze on the ghostly woman, who opens her mouth and speaks with perfect clarity: "All of us are under a curse. If you would help us to break the curse, you must chase down the hideous troll, search through all the things it has stolen, and find the one item that is marked with an X. Then burn it."

Nyqa says, in Elven, "Nodding, you turn to face toward the troll, who runs back out the door. You dash off to follow it..."

Taulramil says, in Elven, "You follow it outside and through a portal, which when you enter, you notice yourself in the entrance to the Stronghold with an Illoke Jarl holding a toy doomicorn with an X on it."

Taulramil says, in Elven, "But upon further inspection. You notice the Jarl is blind and humming a tune you would hum to a child."

Amalexia says, "But as you get closer to hear the tune better, you kick over a pebble which makes a loud clattering sound. Stopping his humming, and brandishing his Doomicorn menacingly, the Jarl shouts, "You woke the rooster this time, ya lemon-squeezin' peach basket" and then charged..."

Lucrecea says, "Fortunately, you are quite an accomplished .... mage, so you immediately draw on the power of your element, fire, and hurl crimson flame at the creature. It screams harshly, and then--"

Ithilwyn softly says, "Runs through the portal, nagging the troll about his lack of parenting duties by allowing such boisterious visitors to wake the baby. Running back in toward the screaming child, the Jarl drops the x marked doomicorn. As you inch closer to it you feel...."

Ysaeril whispers aloud, in Elven, "The doomicorn huffed and puffed tiny siwrls of smoke from its nostrils! Before thine very eyes, the toy began to ignite! Quickly I droped the vicious incineration to the floor, caring more for my own well being than some shred of fantasy. But the curtains and the rugs, they too became consumed so I ran to the safety of the door!"

Saarosh says, in Elven, "As you ran for the safety of the door, you began to sense the presence of something deeply wrong within the fire. An entity--not a ghost, but a spirit--that was draining ghosts, trolls, trali, and Illoke of mind and will. Moreover, it was trying to herd you back toward the fire so that it could use the flames against you, forcing you to surrender your will to it. And as you recognized this, you knew it could be beaten...if you distracted it. Quickly, you forced the door open and escaped. Then you began to craft the distraction that would break the spell, which was..."

Ysaeril says, in Elven, "I hurriedly throttle a peacock from the nearby foliage and pull its feathers far and wide, creating a veritable screen of distraction. The bird screams HALP! HALP! as I echo the same, and in releasing the bird I can only hope our cries drown out one another, creating chaos and sewing confusion wherever thefire may seek to winnow my weakness. And thus, I sneak away in the haunting cries of my House's emblem, as it, too, is lost in a confusion."

Lucrecea says, "With the cries of the peacock shrieking in the distance dwindling, I realize that I am lost in the midst of the Gyldemar Forest. Turn after turn, I cannot find my way, and I start to fret as it grows darker out. As the evening insects begin their chorus, I spy the pale shape of a small ghost in the distance. Tentatively, I draw closer, and..."

Rohese softly continues, in Elven, "Tentatively, I draw closer and the small ghost senses my presence. It suddenly hurtles towards me with a high pitch scream and passes right through me. Reeling from the icy cold shock, I turn and watch it disappear in the direction of the Villa where I see the tiny shapes of the troll, the trali, the Iloke and more disturbingly, a ...."

Nyqa says, in Elven, "Reeling from the icy cold shock, I turn and watch it disappear in the direction of the Villa where I see the tiny shapes of the troll, the trali, the Iloke and more disturbingly, a frightul scene in which the ghostly man and woman are beginning to dissolve. But before they completely disappear, they speak. "You burnt the item that binds us! You've broken our curse. There's only one thing left to do now..."

Laehna softly continues, in Elven, "And that is to return this spidersilk dress to its original owner, or bury it next to them since we don't know how long ago it was stolen. Hearing this, you pick up the dress and tuck it neatly into your backpack, after noting on the tag the name ..."

Rohese softly announces, in Elven, ""Not a Nalea!" Regardless of it being a cheap imitation, it's still a pretty shade of pink so you decide to keep it anyway."

And thus, an end to the ridiculous tale was called.

Thanks to all who joined!