From the personal journal of Sir Henry Markham, Grand Knight of Loskalm

It was with some relief that I brought the group to Loskalm as per the Queen's request.  I had expected the Baron and his devious Priest to be much harder to convince but as things turned out, they came with little protest.  Once they had been sequestered at the Royal Estate of Wake House, I dined with Prince Robert Vandenburgh, my father and Cardinal Foss.  It was clear that the Prince and I were of one mind and my father and the good Cardinal of another and a vigorous debate ensued over dinner. 

To put the arguments plainly, the Prince and I believed it was no mistake these individuals coming together at this time.  We both sensed the Creator's divine hand and the influence of Saint Talor's sense of humour in his original choice of companions, as told in the surviving fragments of Valsburg, was not lost upon us. 

My father and the Cardinal's opposite view was that only those feted and pure of heart should contest the Mask in this age and no matter how well intentioned, a ragtag band of pagans and Rokari venturing upon such an important quest was only likely to end in disaster.  This flies in the face of the Quest's history of course and I feared my father was more concerned about his personal influence and honour being diminished should we fail.  Prince Robert was diligent in listening to both sides of the debate before revealing the Queen's wishes.  Cardinal Foss would preside over three tests of worthiness and should the group win then she would give her blessing to the Quest in their hands.  Foss was agreeable although my father was not and spoke dark words about notifying the King.  To his credit, the Cardinal talked my father round, feeling certain that pagans and Rokari could not prevail unless it truly was the Creator's will and it was agreed that the tests would begin in two days.

In the meantime I spoke to the would be Questers and asked them to submit to the Prince's will.  They all agreed and were interrogated by scribes as to their parentage, history and lineage.  They were also taken to the House of Laughter at Valsburg where the monument to Talor and his companions lies today.  Here the pagans and the Baron were surprised to see their own features reflected in the stone carvings.  As Vera the Red said of Elsa's tomb, it ‘felt right' to be there - as if this moment in time had always been meant to happen. 

The companions were thus resolved to undertake the Cardinal's tests and made light work of the first one - The Test Temporal - the Tower conundrum that has vexed many a squire.  Emboldened, the second - The Test Spiritual, was held at Talor's Chapel where each was asked one of that Saint's favourite riddles that oft drove his companions mad for he would never reveal the answer until one had so divined it.  It was here that I grew certain of the rightness of our purpose for each would be quester successfully answered their riddle with little trouble.  Here, for posterity are the riddles they were posed but like Talor, I will leave the answers out!

This was the riddle posed to the Baron Tamar

Four Dilly Dandies

Four stick standies
Two crookers
Two lookers 
And a wig wag 

This was the riddle posed to his Priest

I am all on my own,
Wounded by iron weapons and scarred by swords.
I often see battle.
I am tired of fighting.
I do not expect to be allowed to retire from warfare
Before I am completely done for.
At the wall of the city, I am knocked about
And bitten again and again.
Hard edged things made by the blacksmith's hammer attack me.
Each time I wait for something worse.
I have never been able to find a doctor who could make me better
Or give me medicine made from herbs.
Instead the sword gashes all over me grow bigger day and night.

This was the riddle posed to Fenix of Humakt

I was abandoned by my mother and father.
I wasn't yet breathing.
A kind woman covered me with clothes,
Kept me and looked after me,
Cuddled me as close as if I had been her own child.
Under that covering I grew and grew.
I was unkind to my adopted brothers and sisters.
This lovely woman fed me
Until I was big enough to set out on my own.
She had fewer of her own dear sons and daughters because she did so.

This was the riddle posed to Vera the Red

My dress is silver, shimmering gray, spun with a blaze of garnets.
I craze most men: rash fools I run on a road of rage,
And cage quiet determined men.
Why they love me--lured from mind, stripped of strength--remains a riddle.
Who am I?

This was the riddle posed to Sir Bellebois of Rokar

Head down, nosing--I belly the ground.
Hard snuffle and grub, I bite and furrow
Drawn by the dark enemy of forests,
Driven by a bent lord who hounds my trail,
Who lifts and lowers me, rams me down.

All that remained was the final Test - the Test Military to be contested at Challenge Field outside Northpoint.  It was here that I would join the Questers and hope that Talor's blood truly did run in my veins as the Prince had told me it did, for here I would face my own father and younger brother in combat...