<div class="floatleft">(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/lyona/images/3/3f/Emmerick-0.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160919030941)</div><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: impact;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Crispin Oldfield</span></span><br/>Elven Wizard, 27 HP, AC 15, Character Sheet (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1677221).<br/><em>A scholar and a gentleman.</em><br/><br/>Mr. Oldfield stood at the base of the carriage, inspecting the rear-right wheel.  He felt a third of its outer circumference with a gloved hand, and then stood back.  It was sturdy, he thought, as a carriage wheel ought to be.<br/><br/>"It's a wheel," Barnaby said.  Barnaby was a white owl that was usually perched atop of Mr. Oldfield's shoulder.<br/><br/>"And a solid one at that," Mr. Oldfield replied.  When the elf spoke, his words sounded curt and dismissive, but to a person with a greater sense of people, the elf sounded as if he were lost in another runaway thought.<br/><br/>"Why do you admire it?" Barnaby asked.<br/><br/>"It is a construct whose latent defects might strand us," Mr. Oldfield responded again in his quick manner of speech.   "If I look upon it, the latency might be revealed.  If there is no latency, then I look upon it with the hope that its defects will remain unknown to me.  Like a prayer, Barnaby."<br/><br/>"But you do not pray," Barnaby said.<br/><br/>"Prayer takes a variety of different forms," Mr. Oldfield replied, this time smiling.   "In my anxiety, I have found a religion.  It is preparation, and a hope that it is enough."<br/><br/>"This is a strange country," the owl observed.<br/><br/>"Aye," Mr. Oldfield agreed.<br/><br/>"Is that why we are here?"<br/><br/>"Aye," Mr. Oldfield answered.   "The strange attracts me."