Ailyll in Scottland
Ailyll arrives at the druid center in Heathchester - once a cursed abbey, home of the Hell Mouth where Doth-Roanna was almost summoned and begins preparations for raising her Standing Stones.
Rumor has it the Galeb-Dur rock druids don't like having standing stones erected around here, and may have recently prevented Kithrow from doing so. Ailyll goes to meet with the Galeb-Dur on the outer Heperdies. They tell her they are upset because there is a strange stone that does not belong here, and they are messing with the Standing Stones as a protest. The stone is the Stone of Scone, coronation stone of the king of Scottland, it was brought here centuries ago by way of Ireland. The stone is now far to the north, on an island full of Norsemen called Mass-Hao. The stone is guarded by Hugboons and belongs near the stone of the South Wind. The Galeb-Dur tell Ailyll that if she can get rid of the stone then she will have their blessing for stone raising.
On the way back to Heathchester Ailyll is intercepted by a big snakey sea monster who wants her to lift the ban on serpents in Ireland. Ailyll declines and a brief scuffle ensues. At Heathchester the other Druids confirm that the stone was brought by some king or his brother, who died and left it in Scottland. Some say it is in the lost city of Auonian, others that it is in the seat of the chair at the King's home. Mass-Hao is really far, near a vanishing island in the Orkneys. Ailyll Transports up as close as she can then Communes with Nature to find the rock.
Meanwhile Deirdriu misses her transport and ends up back with our snakey friend. Ailyll goes to rescue her and meets some amphibious grey elves. The serpent has mind-controlled Deirdriu and is trying to convince them to help him get the serpents back in to Ireland. Ailyll pulls Deirdriu free from his coils and beats him up, much to the confusion of the elves, who cannot see him for some reason. They say there is no way to leave this island so we might as well get comfortable. We thank them politely and transport away when they aren't looking.
Finally we make it to the mound where team summoned creatures + Deirdriu fight some Hugboons while Ailyll sneaks around looking for the rock. She runs into Famous Glorianous (not his real name), a remarkably typical-looking Irishman who speaks druidic and seems to recognize Ailyll. He says he wants to re-populate the Hugboons in Ireland. Ailyll manages to swap the rock for a hollow fake (filled with water to match the real rock's weight) and she and Deirdriu transport away to the Atlas mountains. They try to talk to the rock but it is unusually slow even for a rock, also as far as they can tell not at all magical. They bury the rock, have a brief chat with Aegis II, then head back to Scottland.
On April 15 Ailyll begins construction of her Standing Stones. On the 29th she has a weird dream about the Stone having been moved once again. Drat.
