Sherwood, The Beginning: Missing Pixies!

Eloyn opens the Gate

"Edro..." Eloyn hushed intently, finishing the incantation.


Twigs and branches gathered and pulled from the surrounding forest underbrush.  Rising from where he had drawn glyphs in the dirt, Eloyn rubbed them out with the toe of his soft-leather boot.


The tall, Elven man was a champion archer of the Faerie Court and today, a ranger.  As the fallen limbs magically assembled themselves, a free-standing doorway presented itself in the middle of the wood.


"This is where we leave the Silver Path, Ladies." 


A gruff voice objected, "AND germs - do I look like I'm in a dress to you?" It belonged to a fierce-looking Redcap by the name of Furybash the Mad.  He then refocused his attention on making sure the kitten traveling on his shoulder was comfortable.


Eloyn rolled his eyes (just as well that Furybash didn't notice), as he glanced at the entourage of fae behind him.  For their part, they were just as curiously glancing over and around his shoulders, trying to glimpse what lie on the other side of the door.


"You're sure this is where the Sherwood Fantasy Faire is?"  Princess Lolly asked, unwrapping a piece of candied ginger and popping it in her mouth.


"My tracking skills have yet to fail me, Highness." bowed the Archer. "There have been many scuffles in this area of late."

Breezle the Pookah, scouting from above.

Princess Lolly eyed Lady Briarleaf - her friend and (usually quite mischievous) lady-in-waiting.  The chestnut-haired Lady twirled a lock and did her best to shrug innocently.


The maid was spared any sort of commentary when the trees above the group rustled and there was a low, nearly in-audible pop.  Up in the branches, Breezle, a green-and-purple striped Pooka appeared.  Her furry ears hung off her shoulder as she dangled from the tree.

"Trees and barks speak the same, scuffling is a-game and the pixies and fae are...away..."


The Princess quirked her the corner of her mouth with some perplexity.  Next to her, a cup in Lady Briarleaf's hands shook and rattled of its own accord.  The autumn-robed Lady turned the vessel upside-down and shook it thrice.  Out popped a Genie, who proceeded to dust herself off and look around!


"Without reiterating the shenanigans that led us to this predicament," Eloyn glanced askance at the unlikely pair of magic-bearing creatures.  Even he was dubious as to how Lady Briarleaf had managed to come into the possession of a Genie. "I suggest we get to finding out who has captured our fellow Fae."


The group agreed universally and, one-by-one, set foot through the bracken doorway and onto the grounds of the Sherwood Fantasy Faire.  Behind them, the wooden portal crumpled to the forest floor again, leaving no trace of Faerie passage...

...to be continued....

Princess Lolly & Her Fierce Racing Snail
Courtesy of Herb Leonhard Arts

Wishing Well of Wenatchee: Conclusion

Entrancing the Rats

I'm sure you're all familiar with the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin.  It's all about a guy that lured the rats out of town by mesmerizing them with his trilling and piping, thus sparing the denizens of Hamlin from their infestation.


In the case of our story however, it was more like the Fairy Flautist of Wenatchee.  The Royal Rat-catchers were doing an knock-out job of rounding up those rats and collecting tails but they needed a little help.  Reaching for her double-flute, Princess Lolly began to play an enchanting tune.


The trilling fairy music was too much for the rats to resist.  Dazed, they began to follow the notes on the breeze as the Princess led them around the faire.  When she played a jig, their knees kicked up in a dance and the children laughed.  If her tune was drawn and slow, the rats languidly mosied along behind her.


Round and round the Wishing Well they went.  Each time the spiral was a bit smaller, and each time more and more children, peasants, craftsmen and nobles gathered to watch as the Rats crawled into the Wishing Well one-by-one and didn't emerge again.

We found the Magic Plunger!

It should come as no surprise that amongst the on-lookers and rubberneckers, were the Bellydancers - just like a raccoon, they cannot resist the mystery of that which is shiny!


It wasn't long before whispers began to rush through the crowd.  Those clever kids found the Bellydancer who had absconded with the Magic Plunger and beguiled it away from her so that it could be properly restored to the Faeries.


Princess Lolly was so happy with the children for helping her get the Magic Plunger back, that she declared a drawing must be done that very moment for fabulous prizes!

Despite all protestations from the Bellydancers that the Magic Plunger was really just a useless piece of old junk and that they had found it fair-and-square, the children handed it over to the lop-eared Breezle.  Pooka - which is what Breezle was - have their own language that generally involves never saying anything straight.  There is a twist to their doublespeak however, and Breezle knew just how to cast the spell to use the Magic Plunger to retrieve the Golden Plunder.


Once...twice...thrice!


Into the Wishing Well she dipped and withdrew a pile of treasures that were given away to the lucky winners!  Among the goods were awesome items from artists and merchants such as:
Purple Eggplants
Art of Suiter
D&D Chain Maille Creations
Occams Edge
Tymon's Forge Works
Cat and the Cradle
Neptunes Treasures
Quicksilver Fantasies
Nomad Traders
Mercy Nine Designs

News travels fast, it seems, and it wasn't very long before a band of merry men got wind of a certain Fairy Princess who would be traveling through the forests of Sherwood Fantasy Faire...and you had better believe they started scheming on just how to gain all that fairy gold!...

Join us in Sherwood June 16-17, 2012 to see what happens next!