Maeve appeared to me again, late last eve, to tell me the story of the immortal known as Magus Rune. Quite an amusing tale to say the least. The god of jesters and libation indeed has earned that title.

The story starts many years ago when Fraktyl was still too young to lift a sword. It was said that for the longest time Fraktyl was a very fussy child ndeed, spending days, even weeks, screaming as loudly as he possibly could. Maybe the young god of tricksters was already playing pranks upon his poor mother and father. Well, after many weeks had passed, his exasperated parents put a call out to all of the mortals of Tharel: anyone who could make the child stop crying and laugh would receive great riches and reimbursement.

All manner of men and women appeared upon the immortals' doorstep to try for the prize. But still the child cried on. Day and night passed and the young Fraktyl would not eat or sleep. He simply cried and screamed and threw his toys at the people passing through.

Very early one morning, a loud thumping on the door rose Toroid and Maeve from their restless sleep. This was followed by, "Hey!! HEY!! 'Tis I... um... 'tis me!! Let me in!! I can appease the child!"

Rather upset at this early morning intrusion, Toroid shot to the door and threw it open. His angry eyes fell upon a man, mug of mead in hand, propping himself against the doorjamb. Instantly, Toroid detected a hint of smoke and his eyes widened seeing the base of the man's cloak was on fire.

"You dundering idiot! Your robe is on fire!"

Looking down, the man replied, "Well so it is... damn teleport spell." With that he pulled his outer robe off and stomped the fire out on the ground. Grumbling to himself, he donned the now dirty and wrinkled robe.

"You must be Toroid." He bowed before the immortal and glanced at Maeve. "And you must be Maeve. And I am..." He stared off into the night sky for a few moments. Snapping back, he looked at Toroid and said, "What were we talking about?"

"Do you have business here, man?"Toroid queried, anger growing in his words.

"Ah yes, I have come to solve your child problems, good sir."

"I sincerely doubt, my drunk friend, that you can solve my child's problems. I will thank you to leave my home."

With this, the stranger propped himself against the wall and stood on his head. Balancing with one hand, he picked up his tankard of mead with the other and quaffed it in an instant. Standing back upright he spoke, "Feels alot better when you drink it that way Toroid!! You should try it sometime."

"We might as well give him a chance, Toroid," said Maeve. "After all, he did come from afar, most likely, otherwise I am sure we would have heard of this character by now." Toroid nodded in agreement, and she left the room to fetch the child.

Muttering to himself, the drunk looked up and exclaimed, "Magus Rune!! My name is Magus Rune! You would think that an easy name like that I would remember it more often than I do... yes, Toroid?"

Their conversation was cut short by a howling that was getting louder by the moment. Maeve entered the room, screaming child in arms. Magus Rune stumbled across the room to the mother and took the child from her arms.

Quietly he whispered, "Now watch your father, Fraktyl." With a flip of his hand, Toroid's skin began turning different shades of blue. The child giggled, as did Maeve.

"What? What did he do?" Toroid asked. Magus Rune just giggled and with a flip of his hand, Toroid's skin was flesh again. Chanting low, the mage held his hand flat, allowing a small human shaped flame to dance on his hand. The child was entranced with it; he followed the flame's hypnotic dance until he soon fell into a deep slumber.

Magus Rune handed the child back to his mother and bowed before the father. "I have solved your child problem as I said I would, kind Toroid. Now if you will, I would like my reward and shall be on my way."

"Well let us sit and have a drink first, Magus Rune."

So they drank. Eventually, at some time in the night, Toroid had Magus Rune agree to entertain and take some care of the child. He agreed to do this for quite a sum of gold and mead. So for the passing of many days and many nights, Magus Rune acted as a surrogate parent for the busy parents of Fraktyl. Magus Rune taught the boy many of his tricks and jokes, and some things about the pretenses of spell crafting. Eventually, Magus Rune began to age, and young Fraktyl did not, as immortals age differently to common mortals... Back to the story.

Well Magus Rune began to get old andgrey, and seeing this he consulted Toroid, informing him he could care for the child no longer as he wanted to see his friends once more before his time ran out.

So Magus Rune set out. Being far too old to try and cast the exhausting spell of teleport, he rode on horseback across the land back to his home in Naerlan. Along the way, however, he was accosted by brigands. As he went to draw his sword, he realized the depth of Fraktyl's pranks when his hand slid from the hilt of his sword. Cursing, he readied a spell but was cut down by the brigands arrows. The only thing coming from his mouth was the blood he was drowning upon.

So that day he died. When he reached the nether realm of Toroid, however, he explained all that happened and what had come to pass. Toroid, annoyed with his son, granted Magus Rune second life: life eternal He named him patron of libation, parties, and jesters.

And this is the story of Magus Rune, as told to me in dreams by the goddess Maeve. May she bless me and keep me always.