Den Mother of Clan Adalbern takes a seat at the table of The High Elf High King Gilgolfin of the large Elven forest Kingdom of Ashvale and Three Rivers. Sitting to his right from the far South is Grey Elf King Amathithren. And to his left, Sea Elf Queen Eärwen Seasparkle and to her left sat a spritely looking old man wearing light blue robes that seemed to have the appearance of sea waves flowing about them; it was a little disconcerting. Across the table from them and next to the place set aside for the Den Mother are to her right Phoebe Brightly, the Leading Dryad and to her left, she was surprised to see two large Orc Chieftans, one with a forest Green Skin and the other with a vivid Red Skin. As soon as Aurora bows to the High King and sits as bidden while Gilgolfin nods a welcome and the table is set for afternoon tea, and hot piquant tea is poured before each of the eight guests.

They sat on the terrace of the new High Kings Palace overlooking the thriving Harbour with many ships and the rebuilt city in the background and in the foreground, the large, grey, slightly ruined and very weathered Old Palace that still showed fire damage from its sacking and the damage that the Volcano had inflicted on it so many years ago. The High King had ordered that the building remains as a visible sign of the wound left by the Ice King and as a reminder of unfinished business until such a time as the matter was settled. A golden Griffin lay seemingly asleep on the terrace and was the source of a golden antiscrying charm surrounding the Palace grounds.

The High King smiled and spoke, "Welcome, Den Mother; when the enemy attacked Big Bear Town, they did it to cause frantic ineffectual activity, incite division, spread chaos and confusion and for them to be able to exploit that subsequently. They thought they had succeeded when we let their first strike through. They still seem not to appreciate the response they have had, and the successive escalating threat level Big Bear now represents to their plans. All here thank you, Den Mother, for the work of Clan Adalbern, one of us much more so than you yet know"

The Den Mother glanced at the Grey Elf King before replying, "We would be even more of a threat if a boon were asked of the Grey Elf King Amathithren to ask his blessing upon the Adalbern and Hibernation City and Big Bear. It would be nice to complete the set..."

The High King smirked and replied, "A good guess; to complete the set? I fear the Ice Elf King would only curse..." A wave of mirth spread around the table at his words.

The High King changed the topic, "I do worry over Prince Gilgallant; this is his first campaign; he is in earnest to do well."

The Den Mother allowed the change, having got her marker on the table for later, "Speaking of worrying Royalty, Tystin was doing well, but what is with her building a battering ram? Was she developing a prophetic edge or just being pragmatic?"

The High King countered, "Maybe such a conversation of joint approaches to other Royal conundrums should wait until we join forces with King Leonardis V in due course?"

The Den Mother stated, "All the trusted of Big Bear are now routinely invited to Honeymoon for two weeks in Hibernation City; after all, it worked for King Leonardis V Fecundity and Queen Blessed Fecundity, and their children if her Bloodburn bloodline runs true, would make them exceptional in battle, more number for our allies. I fear the war will cause many refugees, and now I have no doubt that with the work of StongMedicine and the mushroom farming Kobolds, we will certainly have food for refugees now. I perceive interesting times ahead for Big Bear and Clan Adalbern. However, something I am curious about is that I recall the old teaching that all Orcs, Goblins and Kobolds were grey skinned, and yet I see you two Orc Chieftans, and I know the Kobold's skin colour to be Blue, has something changed?”

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“Ahhh, now the Kobolds, that is my fault”, the old man who had been silent till now spoke out, “For it was I that freed the Kobolds from the curse of the shadow, and they transformed from Grey skinned to Blue Skinned, but the doing of this Deep Magic was draining and a deed done long ago. Just after the Dark Lord fell, I tried to break his Curse to remove the shadow with light, and indeed the shadow curse weaved by the Dark Lord began to unravel, and it looks to me that it is still unravelling”.

The muscular, bright red skinned Orc Chieftan spoke up, “If I may High King, introduce myself. I am Fireeyes Redflame, Chieftain of the Fire Orcs, and I would love to meet Queen Blessed Fecundity Nee Bloodburn and her Father Earl Urferno Bloodburn. Long ago, my people fought their ancestors, and when the shadows curse diminished, those who had suffered burns when fighting the immolated ones grew stronger and became Fire Orcs.”

Then the large Green skinned Orc Chieftan rose from his Chair and spoke, “I guess it is my turn to speak, first to thank you from all our Clan for what you have just done with Clorisa Bera, the hybrid half human half Orc green baby that Theria had the Clerics bless, and Theria not only blessed herself but made her a Ward too, this pleases us muchly. We see the Adalbern as kin, as with the Fire Orcs. When the shadow fell, those of us who had been wounded by the tooth or claw of the Bearkin did receive nature's blessing, and we became Great Orcs. We also developed a strong affinity with Giant Ground Sloths and Giant Walruses of the far South, and these are twice the size of those you have in the North. I am called Hardgrit Longrun, and we are in you and Duchess Theria's debt.”

Grey Elf King Amathithren smiled and spoke, "Not all who are Grey are tainted by the shadow. We have travelled a long way to repay the kindness Clan Adalbern and their human allies did for us long ago. I gladly and freely give the boon almost asked of us to put my blessing on the Adalbern, and Hibernation City and Big Bear City. In fact, I intend to accomplish this over the next week."

Phoebe Brightly "I report that our young Dryad contingent from Hibernation City have joined the young Dryads of WildWood’s grove between the Ironchest mines and Big Bear. Strengthening our position for the coming storm. The exciting thing that's new for us is those Dwarves, the Feybeards and their fast friendship with our Dryads there. They have really hit it off, something I have never seen before between any of our two races before. The Royal Dragon has started something which I guess can only lead to extraordinary things happening; perhaps this, too is the Curse of Shadow being unravelled further still. I don't recall hearing of a Dwarven this excited since young Theria designed that halberd with the Deep Cleanse Runes with the help of Princess Tystin, it was structurally solid despite having voids throughout, which was then filled with a second forging of silver, making the blessed silversteel halberd ready to defend against werewolves."

The Sea King spoke, "New things, well I have never heard of Kraken breeding in freshwater before, but apparently, Clan Aldabern now have what may be a wholly new subspecies that has been breeding first in their Reservoir and next probably in the Moat, I pray that the Kraken have no need to use the Sewers. As I would no doubt get the blame if, in a hundred years, Kings complain to me of problems with their rampant sewerkraken.” many around the table laughed or smiled at this.

Den Mother “I am sure that Winston Wallowfur and the Giant Spiders that dwell in the Sewer’s of Big Bear might have something to say about that too!”

The High King changed the subject again, “I used to play chess with the Ice King in the previous Age, and I knew him. I sense we fight unseen another mind who is behind him, a former Lieutenant of the Dark Lord or perhaps another Balrog, certainly an ancient enemy. We all need to be on our guard, for I suspect as we do not fully reveal our strength, neither have they”