The Story of the Milkriver

A long time ago, when otherwise he was teetering under the cruel bondage of Axel Ackland, mining ores for many long years of the sun, Wailer roved far afield in search of all the rare and mysterious ores the lands of the Grail had to offer. At times he thought he saw a light off to the far north and west, sometimes reflecting off the surface of the water at sunset, as he camped after a day of wrestling with iron and eating a repast of stale bread. When he was able to do so he set out towards a rocky island and began to explore the sea caves.  After much searching he found a hidden grotto consisting of multi-colored rocks.  

     The mineral deposits created the eye popping red, green, blue and yellow color inside the caves. There he discovered a spring  that pooled into shallow basins and rock-formed cisterns. Rainwater and limestone deposits mixed together in a mysterious alchemy to create a fresh natural spring that tasted similarly to a cereal milk. Wailer was amazed and had never tasted anything like it.  He continued to explore the sea caves and came across the wreckage of a ship. The tides which washed out many of the caves twice a day, had apparently brought the vessel to its final resting place. It was broken and scattered and there was nothing of value to be found. From nearby Wailer heard the distant sounds of an animal and had supposed that this island was uninhabited. He explored further and discovered a hermit with a small herd of cows living in one of the larger caves. 

     He was made welcome and it was explained that these were castaways from the ship. The hermit gave Wailer some of the fresh milk and Wailer was amazed at the creamy richness and felt all his fatigue melt away. The hermit explained that the cows drank out of the springs and needed no other type of nourishment. They produced a milk like no other, and that therefore, he called it "Milk of the river" or "Milkriver" for short. Furthermore, its unique properties could be distilled over time into elixirs of unparalled quality which could heal all kinds of ailments. These secrets Wailer inscribed onto a leather square and stowed it safely in  his pack. Once he was completely refreshed in both body and spirit, the hermit allowed Wailer to gather together a few of these and take some promising calves back to Spero so that all the grail lands may benefit from these miraculous things. 

     On his way back Wailer was waylaid by bandits and they searched through everything he had brought and they took as much of his ores and baggage as they could carry. His elixirs and parchment were all taken. He was left with a some stale bread and a few jars. Most of the jars were plain water for his journey and only one was the spring mixture necessary for nourishing the calves. They got drunk on his wine but finally allowed him to leave and take some of the animals back for to them they just appeared as ordinary calves. Wailer made a long and painful journey back to Spero.

     When he returned Axel said "where are my ores"? and "what are you doing with these calves"? Wailer explained that bandits waylaid him and stolen virtually everything. In a foul humor, Axel said, and "they gave you some calves"?? and refused to give him any compensation at all for his journey and walked away plotting more schemes.  Wailer led his small flock to his ranches and went to his alchemy lab with the remaining spring mixture. He was able to make a great quantity of it. He made some healing potions. His calves bloomed and produced a delicious milk that was quite the rage in the marketplace. Wailer smiled but knew that this was not as good as it could be for he had to remember the formula from the square by heart and had no doubt made some small errors in distilling the formula. The healing potions were excellent, but also, as only Wailer knew, lacking in their potential. 

     A long time later, Wailer, grown into a fierce swordsman who all bandits knew to stay clear of was teaching a young seeker named Terrai the ins and outs of unfettered and unrepentant combat. Terrai became a great traveller and roved the lands of the Grail far and wide. When he was in Sarmiz  he heard a story about how some bandits had come into town with a load of ore and potions. They had gambled away all their loot with a card sharp named Cae, except for the potions. The potions had turned an odd color after exposure to the heat and light and no one wanted them and assumed they were poison. But as they were an unusual milky color, they were not discarded either. 

     When browsing the markets, Terrai encountered a drunk merchant who had a great quantity of leather squares. In a discard bin were the ones that had writing on them and were, therefore, unsellable.  On a hunch, Terrai said, I will give you a beer for these and make something to wipe my animals. The merchant, thinking only to his next drink, agreed. Terrai rummaged through them and to his great delight, found one that was in Wailer's handwriting. It was the original recipes for the elixirs and nourishment for the Milkriver cows! Eventually he discovered that the potions had found their way into the hands of an alchemist named Mottie and kept as a curiosity. He shared his discovery with her and they worked on the potions and brought them back to full potency. Mottie received a gold for her trouble and the elixirs made their way back to Spero just in time for semi-annual combats with a pumpkin of unusual size and some other foul creatures. 

     With the aid of the elixirs Spero was able to best all the other towns  in these battles. Wailer, with his recovered formulas, is now able to raise Milkriver cows to produce a milk of legendary potency. Visit Spero and see for yourself!