The Sanctuary of Order in Bosch brings many people… each seeking something. Some come to become stronger, some come to become wiser, and some hope to grow closer to the gods – unfortunately as the phrase goes, madmen are the closest to the gods and Bosch has a way of turning the strongest and wises of men into lunatics.

Still, people attempt the pilgramage. To make the journey safer a path has been prepared with holy symbols placed into posts at intervals. Outside the path though, madness rules.

Baddock looks around, then pauses briefly to check his equipment, fumbling slightly with the knot holding his bo staff and it's holder on his back.

A caravan of pilgrims make their way along the winding trail, some of them bearing gifts for the sanctuary to pay for their time there. Some of the figures walk, others ride mounts or lead their heavy ladened animals along. These are the fringes of Bosch, and there is a definate worry that things will get worse the deeper in the travelers go.

"Remember now, " A scarred wolf in Chitin armor barks at the people behind him. "Don't eat or drink anything you didn;t bring in yourself. Make sure your animals don't either."

Baddock looks down at his mount, then back up at the others in his traveling party and gazes out at the road beyond.

The winds stir up a dervish of red sand. for a moment it seems to take on the form of a dancing woman before disentegrating the instant it touches the path.

A Cervani in rusted metal armor moves to ride alongside Baddock. "So what brings a little thing like you to such a desolate place? Don't tell me your parents are bringing you with them?"

Baddock looks over to the Cervani and smiles, "I'm here for training," he says happily.

The deer nods his head, causing a few holy symbols placed in his antlers to jingle. "Are you from Chronotopia? You have the look of a potential Landsknecht but your accent doesn't sound like one from there."

Amos, Baddock's mount, paws at the ground nervously. Manic giggling can be heard off in the distance.

Baddock smiles and pets his Dromodon's neck reassuringly as he peers out into the distance.

A mountain range seems to be coming into view, although just before it there seems to be a bunch of strange creatures playing a game of ball.

Baddock looks up at the Cervani, "Are those imps? What are they doing?" He studies the playing creatures with his usual curiosity.

"Hard to tell, my eyes aren't as good as they used to b-" The deer's head suddenly jerks upwards, "By the great gear… look at the sun!"

Baddock blinks, a bit startled by the deer's sudden reaction. He looks up into the sky.

Up in the sky, the sun has taken the shape of an eyeball. It blinks down at the group below.

Baddock laughs and grins, "Wow, cool!" He looks back down at the deer. "That was neat! Did you do that?!"

The carravan rides past a skull on a post. A singing skull, "Weeeelcome to Bosch! We hoooope you enjoy your staaaay!"

"I most certainly did not. Baugh!" The Cervani shrinks down in his saddle.

Baddock smiles in amazment at the singing skull and chuckles lightheartedly. "This is a pretty neat place!"

The imps up ahead come into better view. "Hey! Come play ball with us!"

Several of the riders quicken their pace.

Baddock picks up his pace to keep up with the others, moving back up next to the Cervani. "Anyways, you asked where I was from… I'm not really sure, to be honest. I think I've been traveling most of my life."

"You sure you don't want to play ball? Your head looks to be the right shape!" A strange imp with a large head croons. Below him is a smiling fuzzy imp with bright eyes stuck in a pair of stocks. The larger imp brandishes a hacksaw at the smaller's neck.

The 'ball' goes sailing overhead… it's a smiling severed head.

Baddock looks back and waves as he calls, "Sorry, I can't right now! But have fun anyway!" He looks back to the deer, "So where are you from?"

"Awwwwwww!" the imps whimper in unison.

The Cervani shakes his head, "It amazes me that you take this in such stride! Ahh… youth." He shakes his head, making the trinkets in his antlers jingle once again. "I'm from Chronotopia, I am a former Landsknecht and I wished to prove to myself that I was still worthy of my armor." He thumps his plated chest.

The group passes a field full of singing flowers with odd animal and human faces, "Please pick the flowers" the sign reads.

Baddock looks at the armor quizzically, then looks up and smiles, "You must've had it for awhile, huh? You were a knight? You look pretty strong." He gazes out at the field of unusal flowers and laughs, "This place is pretty wild, huh? First the big eye and the singing skull, now these wierd flowers!"

"PickmePickmePickmePickmePickme!" the flowers chitter to the pilgrims. A couple of them stoop to examing them more closely but are hastily wrenched back before they travel off the path.

Baddock looks up ahead at the path, wondering how much longer he has to travel.

Up ahead, the carravan has come to a dead stop at the base of the mountains. It's little wonder why as the path appears to lead right into the maw of a large humanoid giant!

"We're trapped! It would br crazy to go any further!" "It's just another trick of Bosch… the path is safe." Says who?"

The Cervani tuggs his Drokar to a stop. "It appears we're at an impasse. I'm not too sure if I want to risk being swallowed by that thing."

Baddock eyes go wide at the first sight of the giant. He then looks to the deer and frowns, "You mean we can't go any farther?" He sits quietly on his mount as he ponders the situation at hand.

The scarred wolf turns his Dromodon around to face the pilgrims. "Those of you who wish to go back, may. The path is safe, I assure you."

The crowd murmurs.

Baddock looks up to the giant and calls out. "Hello??!! Excuse me, sir?!!" and waits for a reply.

The giant eyes blink and angle themselves towards the young human boy. "Uhhh?" it bellows, sending a blast of hot air on the carravan.

Baddock winces at the sudden gust of hot wind, and looks back up at the giant, calling out to it. "May we pass, please?!! We really need to get through!"

One of the giant's eyes screws up in thought. Several of the pilgrims stare at Baddock incrediously.

"Sorry to disturb you," the young boy calls out, "But we've all come an awful long way, and we'd hate to have to turn back now!!"

"Oh-hay," the giant bellows and then rises to it's feet. The darkness of the tunnel doesn't change in the slighest as the ogre removes himself from the path and wanders off into the field of flowers.

Baddock smiles happily and waves to the giant. "Thanks a lot, sir!! We all really appreciate it!"

Several flowers squeak in protest as the giant steps upon them. But the path seems clear now. It appears to lead into a tunnel carved into the mountains.

Several of the pilgrims still stare incrediously at Baddock.

Baddock calls up to the wolf leading the caravan. "Is it okay to go now?"

"Buh… er… uh… yeah!" The wolf turns his mount around. "It apparently it. Good work, lad."

"No problem!" Baddock smiles and starts his mount back up.

Some of the pilgrims still seem unsure about the trip and turn their mounts around or turn to walk in the other direction. A few more remain and head into the darkened tunnel.

"I wish I had a Khatta's eyes right now," the Cervani comments. His direction given away by his jingling ornaments.

Baddock heads into the tunnel with the remaining pilgrims, blinking and listening to the sounds echoing off the walls as he waits for his eyes to adjust to the total lack of light. He stares ahead into the total darkness as re rides forth.

The sound of the hoofbeats seems to magnify in the tunnel. and then oddly they seem to grow faster as though the mounts started running. One moment they sound distant, and another they're thundering in the child's ears. even the holy trinkets in the Cervani't antlers make odd noises like the gonging of bells or the chiming of a music box.

Baddock shakes his head, wincing as he tries his best to ignore the bizarre, alarming cacophony… he looks in what he thinks is the general direction of the Cervani. "Do you hear all that noise?"

"Noise? What noise?" "Beep beep!" "I am the voice of the mountain!" "Teehee!" "Be quiet!" "Make me!" Voices echo though the tunnel, drowning out the child's.

"I'm the only one who can hear it?" the young boy thinks to himself as it becomes clear that the noises aren't being produced by natural means. He ignores them as best he can, concentrating on his mount so as not to be totally disoriented.

"Maybe you're going CRAZY… Crazy… crazy… " a voice shreiks through the tunnel. Up ahead light starts to prick through around a corner. The Drokar mount's hoofsteps still don't match his apparent gait though.

Baddock blinks in suprise as the light pierces the utter darkness. He quietly ponders the forces at work in this strange reigon as his Dromodon pounds onward.

Finally the human founds himself outside again. The landscape has become less friendly though. The sun looks to be ten times larger than it should be and the ground on either side of the path boils like lava. The Cervani and the other remaining pilgrims gather themselves up.

"Ack! Now I regret this armor." The former-Landsknecht groans, pulling at his collar.

A few more of the pilgrims have turned around and headed back down the path leading back to Gallis.

"Wow… " Baddock whispers, brushing a stray hair from in front of his awe-struck eyes. He surveys the landscape, as it goes from wickedly surreal to downright brutal.

Amos begins to pant and sweat drips from the Drokar's mane.

"We'd best hurry before the heat takes us." The wolf leader spurrs his mount and starts down the path again. Markers with holy symbols clatter in the wind.

Baddock offers his mount a handful of his water and continues on, following closely behind the leader.

The Drokar gratefully accepts, licking the boy's fingers until it's managed to get every last drop.

The harsh cauldron of a landscape continues until Baddock feels as though he's going to evaporate into thin air. And then suddenly the air becomes much cooler and misty, soothing to the human's burnt skin. Pools of clear water glisten a few feet off of the path.

Baddock keeps Amos moving steadily foward, not allowing him to stop and drink from any of the pools, "Remeber what the leader said, Amos! Don't drink any water unless I give it to you!"

Baddock sighs in relief as the searing heat fades away. He offers the Dromodon some water from his canteen as he looks out ahead.

Several others of the remaining travelers are having similar problems keeping their beasts from drinking out of the pools, and several more look like they wish they had taken drinks themselves. The wolf whacks a younger Khatta cub's head with a wooden pole as he wanders too close to one of the pools.

Ahead, there appears to be a village built on the side of the path. It looks like a normal settlement.

Baddock studies the village warily, reluctant to trust its benign appearance.

A human woman with a flock of children, some of them look to be about Baddock's age, wanders down the side of the path cradling a bucket in her arms. "Greetings travelers!" The children around her smile and wave.

Hammerblows echo from the quiet village, as though someone were building a house.

Baddock smiles and waves from the path, then looks on at the road ahead. He pulls his hat down a bit, unwilling to fall prey to Bosch's illusions and tickery and determined to reach his goal.

"They're probably pilgrims who wavered from the path," the wolf mumbles, shaking his head.

The children erupt into laughter, and then the laughter starts to sound strange. A metallic empty sort of noise.

One of the houses in the village suddenly collapses followed by startled screams and singsong laughter.

The boy frowns, distressed by the thought of the many innocent souls trapped in this land. "One day," he says to himself, "I'm going to come back here and set them all free so they can return to their families."

The children start laughing even louder and suddenly turn on the older woman like a pack of snarling monsters. Their teeth turn into sharp fangs and their hands sprout clawed talons as they pulls the woman down and tear her apart.

The woman's quiet singsong whistlen doesn't waver in the slightest… that is until there's nothing left of her to sing.

Makign the sign of the great gear on his forehead, the Cervani warrior shuts his eyes as tightly as he can.

Baddock looks down sadly, suppressing the impulse to fight and reminding himself that it's all part of an illusion. He remembers his own mother and sighs. "Yeah. One day… " He picks up the pace of his mount a bit and presses onward.

"Just another stretch and the sanctuary will be in view." The wolf guide barks. "Then we can rest."

Baddock's heart lifts at the news. "Great! I could use a rest."

Leaving the village behind, the travelers pass more oddoties. The skies above and the ground around them change from desert sands to oceans of blood and black stones. Voices try to lure them away, or treasures glittering just outside the path. Along the final stretch the air takes on a decidedly sweet aroma… like vanalla.

The edges of the path looks like they're ringed in frosting! The rocks jutting out of the sugar coated ground are piles of ice-cream and sweet peppermint poles just from the earth like trees. Cotton candy clouds float overhead and gingerbread animals frolic around.

Baddock smells the air, wondering if the pleasant aroma is coming from the sanctuary… or is just another illusion. He blinks as he looks around, noticing the abrupt change in the landscape and sulks, realizing it's all just more of Bosch's deception… "How dumb do they think I am?" He mutters to himself, smirking.

The boy's Dromodon makes a pained whimpering noise, apparnetly it has a bit of a sweet tooth.

"I'll have to tell my grandchildren about this place!" the Cervani chuckles.

Baddock snags Amos's attention away from the treats with a quick yank. "Forget it, Amos! We've come to far to let this place get the best of us now!!"

The deer sudenly reconsiders, "Oh wait… perhaps that would be a bad idea afterall."

Ahead is the Sanctuary of Order, a cleaming gear-shaped structre that sits like an oaisis in the middle of all the madness. In fact, the landscape itself seems to be warping back into something more mundane. Mountains of chocolate turn into plain old rocks, and the sugary sand become bitter dust blown in the wind.

Baddock looks at the leader… "That's really the Sanctuary, right sir?"

"Yes. Bosch can create many illusions… but it cannot duplicate the image of the sanctuary. Remember that should you ever travel here without a guide, although pray that you never do." The wolf nods.

Several raccoons scurry ouf ot a doorway set into one of the outer spokes of the gear and raise their arms to greet the new arrivals.

Baddock looks around and smiles, weary from the ordeal but happy that he can once again trust his senses with confidence.