Epic Adventures: Session One

Okay let's see how it goes this time around.   Okay, first off, look I got Princess Lumpy's plant onto the Growing Garden.  So exciting for me.  Anywho, now that Lumpy is on the floor more often and actively working on playing with the boys she has become somewhat of a dress up toy.  Case in point, she was most recently turned into 'Super Tea' complete with cape and Iron Man light-up sound action bands.  Which since she is in the wiggling and kicking stage, she kept them blinking and beeping the entire time she was wearing them.  It was very cute and very funny to watch.  Luckily for me she seemed to really enjoy the attention and her outfit.  

Oh, speaking of outfits and clothing there is big news on the Dash's character sheet, he has acquired his first rank in 'use rope'...or to be more exact he can now tie his own shoes.  He is very proud of this fact and even posed for a 'cool picture' of himself in one of our local grocery stores and requested that I 'take a picture of me being cool'.  So without further ado, voila! 

So we were down at Stone Ram and while I unloaded the van the boys decided to go and decorate the landscaping.  Note, all three boys are in the first picture below.  I told Grins to stand up...what I got next was the second picture.

Meanwhile somewhere back at home, we see the resident Druid with his faithful animal companion.


Lumpy stands and bounces happily in the Exer-Saucer now.  Pretty soon she can put her first rank in crawling.


Alright, now with the paperwork out of the way let's get into today's adventure.  We find our merry band of adventurers just outside of the small village of Linden Falls.where they have heard rumors of a Dragon, great treasures, oh and did we mention fellow adventurers?

Yes for this venture they have enlisted the aid of another party of adventurers.  We shall call them Raven, D, S, and the Oneironaut.  The Dragon lay somewhere upon the extensive and somewhat elusive "L" trail, or was it "2"?  The guides could not seem to agree upon this detail, and it was not considered important, and so the first Epic adventure begins.


Into the forested trails with trees covered in mosses and fungi, on this very quiet day.  Flora and Fauna are inspected along the way.  Soon enough we came across the first landmark on our map.  A several century old quarry and masonry shop.  Headstones to regular old yard signs, they have you covered, right behind the shop is the source of most of the stone in question. 

 Oh and if you lose your hat on the trail...lost and found is here. :)

After searching the buildings Raven, D, S, and Oneironaut take the lead and we are off again in search of the quarry.

Chubbly serves as lookout on Papa's back.

Epic and Mama scout out the surroundings, the view is amazing.

So inspiring the entire party is called over to check it out.  Local grasshopper jumps up on Grins to see.
Everyone pauses to refresh themselves with our water supply, and then its back onto the trail.

Ahh the ancient quarry, we are heading the right way.  The boys are in high spirits.

The journey continues over hill and vale, the next landmark is a reclusive artist's retreat.

Around a final turn it suddenly comes into view.  Beautiful, yet slightly morbid.

No one is home, so we hurry on further up the trail.  No dragon sightings yet but there is a rumbling off in the distance. 

Grins quickly locates the source and we all stop for snacks, then after awhile we ate some lunch and the growling ceased.  Hunger monster defeated, we could now continue.
The downhill journey begins, Lumpy takes a much needed cooling break.  Oneironaut, Mama, Epic and Lumpy lead the way, a rousing round of "Following the Leader" is initiated, progress is made and the Kilometers pass by.


Finally the town comes into view, Linden Falls and the castle ruins are only a few miles away.

But wait, is that not the windsock we saw earlier by the Masonry shed?...Yes dear children we just took you on a very very long trip that essentially was going in a circle, this is how hiking trails around here work, get used to the idea that we will always try to end up where we started, makes getting home by car much easier.

Well now that we have reached the top, we need to start back down.  Princess Lumpy is ready for her nap.

Almost three miles into our journey...Epic decides that it's tough work trying to keep this particular 'herd' of people together on such a long hike.  He too needs a break, luckily there is ample opportunity to do so when one is hiking with young adventurers.

We finally exit the forest to reach the next destination, a stone tower lookout.  The men venture forth and inspect it bravely ahead of the ladies and the hound opted to protect us.  Contemplative moments abound with Oneironaut around.

The world is so expansive from up so high, or so seems to think little D.

Grins preferred the security and safety of the stonework.  Can't really blame him.



The girls get their turn finally and play Rapunzel.  Alas we don't have enough hair, stairs it is.

As you will note by the sign, this is not an old tower, but rather a new (1907) structure build to allow people to view the surrounding countryside and see the various villages and hamlets in the area at leisure.  Very 'romantic' I guess, ah yes our illustrious windsock.  These marked our ascent at various points on the trip.  This was the highest one I think we saw.  Makes me really curious if there is much for low flying aircraft in the area for the need to arise, then I realized oh wait yep, I know why.
Just wait, you'll see what I'm talking about, I'm sure.

Ah, well as the sun is set to go down in a few hours, we best head back to our chariot, sad that no dragon was found on our journey...oh wait.

There she is, Lindra, the Light-Dragon...and the rest is about the businesses that funded and installed the artwork, but that's not as much fun.  Well with our final goal attained it was time to load exhausted adventurers into the awaiting carriages and begin the drive home for dinner, baths, and bedtime.  As we left Linden Falls we were greeted by one of the many users of those delightful windsocks...

Ballonist(s?)  They are all over around here, but hey now you know why the windsocks. :)
Until the next session begins. ~Hummingbyrd over and out.