This is a tale of events at Pennsic XXIX that almost led to a war between two camps - the Four Winds and Dun Phalin. Four Winds is a small and caring camp, ably led by an elemental sisterhood. Nico is the seductive darling South wind, Brid is the nimble little minx of a North wind, roguish Alexandria is the pirate (see: heavily-armed merchant) wind of the West, and Nydhu is the evil and merciless wind of the East. Two other members of the camp are the sturdy and flamboyant duo of Raphael and Nicholai. Sometimes appearing with the men is the fickle Wilfredo.

Dun Phalin is comprised of many rascally rapscallions led by Ogre, King of Da Naked Peoples. Ogre's merry band of ne'er-do-wells includes Craig and Aisling, Woody, Bastard, Beast, Da Slave Boy, Malcore and Ox just to name a few . . .

Stories must have conflicts, and this is their telling:

It all started one evening when someone kidnapped Da Slave Boy. Dun Phalin received a picture of the Da Slave Boy helplessly tied to a tree. Later that same evening, as the brave men of Dun Phalin were preparing to search for their comrade by innocently relaxing by the fire; across the campground the members of Four Winds heard a ruckus outside of their main bridge. Crossing the bridge they saw Da Slave boy running down the road, screaming for help! The Four Winds immediately ran to his side. Just then, security showed up . . . (and I use the term "security" loosely -)

Security viciously grabbed Da Slave Boy, vowing to return him to Dun Phalin - blaming Four Winds for the kidnapping!

The Four Winds were then attacked, as an "unknown" person tried to kidnap Brid.

Thankfully, Alexandra's friend Link chased down the miscreant and brought Brid home.

The next day the Four Winds rose in the morning to find their precious (and valuable) entrance sign missing! Who could have done such a thing, they could not even fathom… Being the resourceful souls that they are, the Four Winds constructed a new sign for their camp out of paper plates (shut up, it's all we had) and they were very, very angry.

The evil that had targeted the Four Winds was not yet satisfied, and that night the paper plate sign was too stolen. Feeling somewhat dispirited, the Four Winds headed to the camp of their good friends and Crusaders, the Lions of the Cross. The Four Winds and the Lions enjoyed a wonderful feast and had just settled around the campfire for an evening of song when Nicholai came bearing the horrible news - in their absence, the Four Winds' camp had been sabotaged once again! It had been wrapped in police line (yeah, that was a nice medieval touch!) and worst of all, the rear wooden bridge that led to their tents had been stolen!

Unable to cross the huge creek to their tents, the Four Winds were furious. Enough was enough! The Crusaders of the Lions of the Cross rallied to help them regain their belongings, but this was still too small a force. Then Alexandria said, "I know who will help us! Our brother camp Dun Phalin! Let's go see Ogre!" So off went the band into the cold and dark night in search of their reliable allies.

The trek through the swamp to Dun Phalin was long, and some members began to hallucinate. Visions of grails and pilsner appeared randomly. Some even thought they saw phantoms in the form of Raphael and Link running quickly carrying a bridge. Finally, the group reached Dun Phalin. What occurred next shocked the Four Winds. Dun Phalin had armed and stone-faced guards at their gate, and claimed that the Four Winds had turned against them! Nico and Ogre argued for what seemed hours, and many events occurred (I'm still missing my flashlight that was stolen out of my basket you creeps!). During the debate, the "Kilt Check" sign mysteriously disappeared from the front of the Dun Phalin gate.

No one really knows who stole the sign, but strange and evil hooligans were observed in the vicinity.

Eventually, logic and love dissolved rumor and suspicion. The Four Winds and Dun Phalin agreed that neither one of them could ever do anything so horrible to the other, and everything was then blamed on the Crusaders.

And there was much rejoicing . . . . (yea!)

Da Slave Boy and Brid	Ogre and Nico

After a night of celebration, the Four Winds wearily returned to their camp to find their sign and rear bridge back in place. There was one addition though - a sign stating that the Four Wind's camp had been sold by a company called "Swampy Realtors". (Nice try, boys . . .)

Later still, on her way to the PortaCastle, Nydhu the East wind heard a sobbing coming from the woods. Warily, she followed this sound and found the poor "Kilt Check" sign tied to a tree. Nydhu unsheathed her dagger from her belt and rescued the sign by cutting it's bonds. The sign was immediately returned to Dun Phalin.

The "Swampy Realtors" sign was eventually returned to its rightful owners.

I have no idea who did that . . .

THE END
(Of course until next year . . . . )

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