Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: The Diary of Percival the Mage, part the third Message-ID: From: tomscud@ruf.rice.edu (Thomas Reid Scudder) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 20:20:01 GMT The Diary of Percival the Mage, part the third It is very cold here, and I can scarcely believe that I am only halfway through the mountains. I wonder which god I have offended, that he sent the winter this early? My supply of wood for my fire is running low, and I do not know if it will last until the snow outside this small cave where I am encamped is over. I have just eaten the last of the meat from the mountain goat I killed a few weeks ago, and my other supplies are also running low. If my luck does not change for the better, I will probably die before I see the other side of these peaks. Things went fairly smoothly for the first few days of my travel. The going was rough, but my backpack was full of supplies, and my heart was still bright from my time with the dwarrow. I even had some success hunting, dropping a few rabbits as well as the big prize: a mountain goat which has provided me with food ever since. Proudfoot was none too happy carrying the meat off the carcass, but he has been a true soldier and carried on with more energy than I am capable of. It was after a week, when I was starting to hope that I would make it through the mountains without seeing a hint of snow, that the weather started to worsen. Dark clouds gathered, and the temperature started dropping, making me grateful that I had heavier clothes along to last me for the winter. And three days ago, the snow started. At first, I tried to struggle through it. But soon, I was making hardly any headway at all, and, finding this cave with some shrubs growing around it, I stopped here, cutting down the shrubs to use as firewood, as well as for fodder for poor old Proudfoot, who is taking the weather worse than I am. Thank the gods! The snow seems to be falling more lightly now. As soon as it stops, I shall be on my