The only way to visit the hidden forest kingdom city of Tupelu is to be guided on foot by the city’s scouts through its enchanted woods. Even the birds don’t see it from above without an invitation.

Of course, if the scouts have been turned into ravens and are getting beaten up by other ravens and an ancient evil hag of legend has been freed from her stone prison (by a meddling wizard seeking undetected passage through the forest) and is plotting to seize her pond back to restore herself to her former glory, resulting in the tragic death of a druid, her poor gentle husband, and several forest animal allies, plus a whole generation of pixies and one or two giant spiders, then you are going to have some additional difficulty getting there.

But you made it! And stopped Green Maggs from reclaiming her hold over the forest. There’s no time to rest on your laurels, however (the forest doesn’t have laurel trees anyway), and so you must continue your urgent pursuit of Trimphid and his abductee, Daisy’s brother Tumn. From an intercepted letter to one of the wizard’s associates, you know your quarry came to Tupelu and “traveled by Court to the Mound”, whatever that means, and had to avoid a local named Ruthorian – who might be a possible ally?

The city’s full name, you soon learn, is Tupeluon’Uird’Oklu which means “Gray Morning Mist” in elvish. Tupelians like to shorten it to Tupelu and call it “Eternal Tupelu” in common, but truth be told, there’s not a lot of common being spoken in the city if it can be helped. They’re an isolated lot, the Tupelans, and prefer to stay hidden in their forest, away from outsiders. Tourism really isn’t a valued industry here, which is a shame, as there are some nice sights to see.

Right off the bat you notice the fashion, which is quite ostentatious in texture, form, and style, but not in color – so as not to compete with the warm lovely greens and yellows of the city itself. A saying in elvish goes, “as gray as a Tupelian”.

You follow the ravens as they weave through the streets, trying not to stop and gawk at the exotic sights and sounds that surround you. Although you stand out as outsiders, the ravens prove to be even more of a distraction to the locals. You notice the battered black birds are eyed with disdain; many an elven curse word is uttered at their sight. Some children try to throw rocks at them; one even goes to fetch an archer. Eventually the ravens’ flight ends at the barracks of the city’s wardens, where they settle down to perch in a nearby tree, trying to nurse their wounds.

You stop a passing warden, dressed in intimidating darkwood armor that looks like rough black bark, and point out the ravens to her. She thanks you and promptly whips out her bow to dispose of the foul creatures forthwith. You stop her from unleashing her arrows, and proceed to tell your outlandish story of how these ravens are actually magically-transformed scouts you followed after killing Green Maggs, she of the old children’s stories, and how you got an Ettercap to help you fight little twig-people, and may have participated, albeit regrettably, in the near-genocide of the forest’s piskie population. This is clearly above her pay grade so the warden takes you to her superior, Chief Warden Elriel, who after hearing the story again, promises to confirm the details herself before dismissing them outright. She provides you a place to stay in the barracks, probably so she can keep a closer eye on possible nut-jobs wreaking further havoc on the citizenry.

In a morbid moment of clarity, Dov realizes he should really start decapitating his victims and start carrying their heads around so as to be able to offer more immediate proof of their deaths.  Possible other uses as well.

You learn that all ravens are outlawed and put to instant death if caught. The birds became enemies of the city ever since they mysteriously went bad centuries ago, called themselves “The Unkindness”, and began working together to antagonize the elves. But if what you tell them is true, and the ravens you followed are actually polymorphed scouts, then perhaps an exception in their case can be made. You watch as they are collected and caged, and several wardens are sent to find a powerful enough magic-user to reverse the spell cast upon them.

While you wait for your story to check out, you have a chance to spend some time in Tupelu. You sample the delicious local root cuisine Sarser and visit the zoological gardens, an attraction that only Nim can appreciate on any level, for the zoo’s rather too abstruse and well, elven, for Daisy and Dov’s tastes. You also go to the market and sell your loot to collect some decent earnings. On a lark, you venture into the rough part of town, the Old Gnomish Quarter, just to see what it’s like, but nearly get beaten up by tough-looking gnome youths with splotchy face-paint and blackened tongues, who act like they own the place. For all you know, they do.

Dov does what Dov does. Which is to say, he gathers lots of information. Besides discovering that furniture is big right now, as are flutes, there’s also a HUGE fad of hen breeding (called fiki) right now. The elves like to strut about the city’s parks cradling their prized hens in their arms and showing them off.

Eager for more pertinent info relevant to your quest, Dov has the Chief Warden put him in touch with a city scholar named Vordrit, and over long rambling discussions, the investigator learns the following:

• Ruthorian is well-known. He’s a famous sculptor from a well-established aristocratic family, with a reputation for work that’s rather macabre (The Harpies Descending on Their Prey you saw in Trimphid’s underground gallery was one of his). He has a nice house downtown (which you learn later is called Faetol Aranfadori (“Gargoyle Tower”)), and a position at court.
• The Elven Court is actually a magical realm-space (?) that the elf nobility visits in order to feel like gods. All the noble elves around the world share the place and have access to it, even Nim’s mother’s family in Razulanta. You gather Trimphid, with his Chrygora family connections (his ancestor Dezelda Chrygora was named Vana’Tylar, highest honor for non-elves, thus giving her and her descendants a position at Court for all time) has used the Court to travel to wherever “the Mound” is. It’s considered very crass to use the Court to travel from one place to another; one is expected to exit back through the gateway one entered. But Trimphid was never one for propriety and is clearly “hacking” the Court for speedy travel across long distances.
• Though the elven scholar is unacquainted with the flying gargoyle at the pond battle, Vordrit recognizes the strange stones it threw that summoned mysterious allies for you. These are the Tuista Durista (“Sowers of Sorrow”), nicknamed Twisters. Not much is known about them, except that they are an unsavory society of elven assassins that one can somehow “subscribe” to. The practice is considered the worst sort of dark magic, and is unfortunate for both the throwers of the stones, who must pay dearly for the service, and the tragic beings that get birthed into being to do battle at their bidding.
• Trimphid’s note mentioned that Ruthorian was a member of “Artivole’s club”.  Vordrit recognizes that name, as does Dov once his memory is jogged. For Primwizard Artivole is the most famous wizard of the age. Human wizard, anyway. His current whereabouts are unknown, and no news of his recent adventures has reached Tupelu.  As far as Vordrit knows, Artivole has no club.

The next day, the Chief Warden is able to confirm the details of your story and has a healer restore Dov’s strength from the hag’s claw wound. She tells you a wizard was successful in restoring the scouts back to their original form. One of them is recovered enough to recall the circumstances of his transformation. He believes it was the golden fox that polymorphed him and his fellows, perhaps to save their lives. Green Maggs, intent on killing the elves out of revenge, would have been prevented to do so as she was oath-sworn never to kill one of her raven allies.

Eventually you decide it’s time to pay a visit to Ruthorian. You arrive at his gothic-looking mansion in the evening to find the door already opening for you. Elegant and stark, dressed in fine black clothes, with pale skin and long straight white hair, the sculptor stands just inside to greet you. He proves to be a good host, inviting you to join him for a lavish dinner. Turns out he has been informed of your role in the forest by his gargoyle Scrafe, who aided you during the pond battle. Scrafe had been keeping tabs on the ravens in the forest, and seeing the Blazzerbuzzle turning south, decided to do his part to stop Maggs’ attack.

At the dinner, you meet Ruthorian’s snobbish niece, a dandy named Vyrin Lortis. Her father, Ruthorian’s brother-in-law, was Lord Vorn, a leader of a nativist society (i.e. gang) called the Princelings. He was recently killed by his rival Gwebbo (aka Big Blot), leader of the Inkies, the gnome gang that currently rules the Old Gnomish Quarter.

Eventually talk turns to why you are in Tupelu.  Ruthorian hears your story and reveals his own association with Trimphid. The wizard is a member of a vast criminal organization in Paradon called the Seven Sovereigns. Their symbol is the same seven-pointed star you saw tattooed on Overseer Brunus’ arm.

Ruthorian admits he has been acting as a spy, albeit a poor one, using Trimphid’s art patronage to further infiltrate the Seven Sovereigns. He is working for another order, one that he is not prepared to speak about.  He promises to aid you in your efforts, however.  He will look into how to get you all into the Court and track Trimphid there. He hopes that when you eventually intercept him, that you will find out what the Gridean has on him and prevent him from sharing what he knows with the Seven Sovereigns if possible.

The sculptor also senses Daisy’s crazy powerful sword and suggests you speak to a fellow member of his order located in the Old Gnomish Quarter as he’ll be able to determine its properties.

To Be Continued…