Three members of the Miller clan, Shnoggle Miller, JB Miller, and Emitt Snow (a cousin of Shnoogle and JB), live by the sea at the old Mill House. Their lives are usually dull, and composed mostly of hard work, chores and helping the old man with the Mill. He's a decent and kindly old man, treats everyone fairly, and has been a good man and hard worker all his life. His name is Joseph Miller. His wife, Sara, is a sweet little old biddy who has many hearth-skills and enjoys a good game of rummy.
On this particular fine summer's day it happened to be the Princess Gwen's 18th birthday. Everyone in the surrounding countryside, a mountainous alpine land called Griswaldia, was excited for the festivities, feasting and contests.
But Millers are all home doing their chores. They chaffed at their work and hoped something, anything, of interest might happen. The horns of the knights of the King blared in the distance. Well, that did it. Asking for leave of their kindly father, they went to take a look.
JB, our young and heroic enchantress, leaped high into the sky with her flying magic to see what the commotion was about while Emitt and Shnoggle grabbed their weapons and armor as quickly as they could and charged up the path to the gate of the Mill House to see what they could make of it.
In moments the Satyr was within sight of the Mill House, and the young men made a valiant effort to slay the beast before it could get any further. Being young adventurers without any experience they charged forward and Emitt, courageously meeting the monster head on with his sword, and attempting to put himself between the monster and his cousin Shnoogle, was instantly dashed against a tree by the beast and nearly slain in a single blow! The lad was, after all, really but a boy facing off against a 20 foot tall giant!
JB had flown away to see if she could get help from the King's Knights, but when this happened she abandoned her goal and swooped down to her cousin and with her mystic power, healed him, thus saving his young life. Meanwhile, Shnoggle launched volley after volley of arrows, all to no avail as every shot was an unlucky miss. At least he was not slain as the monster charged by him with a ill aimed swipe that Shnoggle just managed to dodge!
The giant carried the helpless girl around the side of the Mill House and down to the pier on the sea, where the Millers spied a small boat with a black sail, blue trim, and little flashes of bright brass all around the deck. A handsome boat it was, and on it there was a small cabin at the center.
JB got it in her head that the monster might not be a villain after all. Perhaps, she thought, he was carrying the girl away from the villains, and was himself a good creature. Regrettably all of her efforts to find out if this were true or not were met by the snarling roars of the beast. No, he really was not a good creature after all.
At the boat, there was a little man in a blue shirt with a black cape. A stout little fellow only three feet tall. He had a burly look with a big bulbous nose and wide rugged cheeks, and at his side was a small war axe of cunning design. The little man, we can call him a dwarf, you know, called for the beast to quickly come and bring him the girl. This the beast did, despite Shnoogle's arrows whizzing past, and into a cabin she was shoved. The poor thing had fallen unconscious by then, having been so badly jostled in the running battle. Snoggle continued to attack the monster, but to no avail as JB flew around trying her best to question the abductors. She clung to her belief that they were good people until the very end, because, as she said, she's a good person who believes the best about people.
In the Mill House, meanwhile, Emitt had broken into Sara Miller's locked cabinet and taken a jar of magical healing ointment. He promised to repay her when he could, though of course she didn't hear him make that promise. Yet, perhaps the promise was enough, as the healing ointment did wonders for his wound. Feeling almost entirely restored he dashed out to help his kin rescue the girl. As fast as his feet could carry him around the Mill House he dashed.
While Emitt was doing this, Shnoggle heroically threw his useless bow down and lept onto the boat with his sword drawn. He tried to subdue the beastly little man, but as it happened the fellow was far stronger than he looked, and the two got locked into a standing wrestling match on the deck. JB, from above, deciding she couldn't get into the cabin to rescue the girl without breaking her flying spell, chose to fling darts at the little man instead. This was a wonderful choice and with two flicks of her wrist the darts plunged into their target and the dwarf squealed as he fell over the side into the sea. Once this happened Shnoggle grabbed a pole from the deck and began pushing at the struggling dwarf with it to prevent him from gaining a hold on the boat. This in turn lead to a debate as to what to do between JB and Shnoggle, and as often is the case with siblings, the debate turned into a quarrel. And at this moment Emitt made it to the shore and with a leap landed on the deck.
"Korogus! Korogus! Help me!", he yelled, and the monster, who had seemingly lost all interest in battle after handing over the girl (and had instead been pilfering chickens from the hen house), turned, snarled and ran to aid his master. But it was too late. The magical boat had caught a wind in her sails, and began to sail out to sea. The three kinfolk, somewhat frightened by the prospect of being carried off by the magical boat to who knows where, tried hacking at the ropes and sail and deck with their swords, but it was useless. The boat was far too magical to be damaged by such weapons.
JB, realizing there was nothing else to do, landed on the deck and took out a book of lore from her satchel. She began to flick through the pages hoping to find knowledge of enchanted boats.
The little dwarf was absolutely furious beyond belief, stamping his feet and cursing up a storm, as the magical little boat caught the wind and began to sail away all on it's own. The sales trimmed themselves when need be, and the till turned it's own way by itself. Even if they tried, they could not change the course the boat had taken.
The dwarf stood on the shore in an absolute fury with the giant standing next to him eyeing the chicken coop hopefully. A string of such dreadful curses bellowed from the dwarf's mouth I couldn't possibly repeat them.
As the little black and blue boat whisked out to sea on the great gust of wind that had risen up so suddenly, the girl emerged from the cabin with a startled and fearful expression.
"Who are you!?" she asked tearfully. The young adventurers told her all that had happened and she thanked them heartily and explained that she was the King's daughter, Princess Gwen, and that they would surely be richly rewarded for rescuing her... if they could ever find a way to return home again.
"Where ever are we going?" fell from her lips hopelessly, as the shore receded ever further into the distance.
Notes:
- All Characters started at 1st Level.
- Flying spell costs 3 Mystic Points to cast. Healing costs 1 Mystic Point. JB only has 5 MP to use at 1st level.
- Flying spell stops when the caster lands. One can not cast spells while flying, but can cast miracles (such as healing).
- Shnoggle shot his bow 4 times and missed every time. He had a 33% chance to hit the monster, but ... luck was not with him.
- Emitt learned the hard way that death can come swiftly at 1st Level, so it behooves one to be careful. Yet, as always, having a healer nearby has it's benefits!
