Scouting Report from Hallis

Tonight, during my patrol, I encountered a long lost friend, Aelar. He was leading a strange group of travelers. Among them were an inquisitive dwarven cleric, a shifty halfling, a shadowy and mysterious eladrin, a grumpy dragonborn, a human mage, two half-elves, and a sulking captive.

Aelar told me that these travelers were seeking the counsel of the High Priestess of Melora. He claimed that they had found us through the advice of a squirrel. Apparently, the human mage can speak with the animals here. (Preposterous!)

Aelar also claimed that their captive was the Mad Mage. (I doubt this was true, since a powerful figure such as the Mad Mage would hardly been seen wearing garish reptilian jewelry around his neck!) If indeed this was the Mad Mage, why did they not kill him? They said that they needed to learn something from him.

Against my advice, he insisted on bringing the entire group of strangers with him to our settlement. He claimed to trust them, but for the safety of our people, I cautioned him against making our settlement known to outsiders. This was especially a concern, since we had to move to our hidden ravine. I explained that I was dispatched on patrol to prevent outsiders from discovering the location of our people. However, he would not listen to reason and we ended up bringing the group with us.

When we entered our village, we were greeted by stares, as I had expected. There is a reason we keep our village hidden.

I had neglected to tell Aelar of our late leader's passing. Aelar had expected to see Lorandal again but was instead welcomed by Luthe, our new chief. Luthe and Aelar have had differences in the past, so the moment of their meeting was quite tense. Fortunately, Luthe agreed that they should see the High Priestess. The Priestess was at a retreat north of the village, performing the spring ritual (a religious ceremony).

Luthe asked Aelar if he was returning to stay for good, but Aelar said he had to complete this quest and wanted to continue to explore the outside world.

This is all I have to report for the moment. I had meant to record this earlier, but my pen and journal went missing. (This is what happens when you let strangers into your home! I suspect the halfling stole these from me.)

-- Hallis