S'TOO ARTSMITH BATTLES THE METAL GIANTS FROM FARRAWAY.

It had been some time since S'Too Artsmith was seen in the realm of the dinosaurs. He had not disappeared, however. He was merely recovering his strength for the battle that he knew was to come. I had hoped to be at his right hand for the test, but had been forced to take exile with my family for a short while in Al Garve - not the one near Contin. My desire to be with S'Too was heightened by my receipt of a gift of magic socks from Sin Dee, the wife of my cousin Mykel, who had visited me from their home on the misty and distant west coast of Caanad'a. 

I had not had an opportunity to test the power of the socks, but they were wondrous and beautiful to behold and I was sure that they would speed me over all sorts of terrain.

As readers of previous adventures with S'Too will know he could use his powers to become invisible and, of course, you cannot see him in this photo, despite the presence of Maureen with her bag of sweets.

Dave even looked for him in his backpack, but to no avail. However, they could feel his presence and they knew that he would help them if they needed it as they prepared to enter the mountain domain of the metal Turbino gods.

They soon  caught site of the first of the graceful, but powerful Turbinos. They were known to create a terrible, but invisible power. They would need to be careful to avoid their blindly flailing blades. 

They soon found evidence that they were not the first people to have passed this way. The shotgun cartridge was a sure sign of a previous battle. Given the continued presence of the Turbinos, they could only guess at the terrible fate of their predecessors.

However, S 'Too Artsmith was with them and used his abilities to be close to them, although they could not see him.

They trudged on through the mist and low cloud which hung like a pall over the blasted landscape.

They saw traps set for small animals. They could only guess at who might have laid these traps and what might happen to whatever was unfortunate enough to come this way.

The Turbinos watched from afar as they made their way deeper into unknown territory.

They struggled with many dangers,often having to cross raging torrents.

However, S'Too Artsmith could ghost past them so easily he did not even need to take his hands out of his pockets!

Despite the raging torrents, Dave's new shoes did not leak and he was happy. Old men do not like wet feet.

Before long, the women had become separated from the men and the Turbinos seemed to be crowding in on them.

They were getting closer and closer.

The women were confused and did not know which way to turn.

There was a fork in the path and they knew that the wrong choice could be disastrous. Luckily Hugh was not there to make that wrong choice.

However, S'Too Artsmith had seen the remains of a small animal that had made the wrong choice and he was able to help them on their way....

.......although they were somewhat reluctant to trust his judgement.

The way forward required them to pass close by the Turbinos and great stealth was needed to avoid the huge blades.

By now the walkers had been re-united and Dave was quick to admonish the girls for not keeping close together. They laughed when he went away.

Soon they came upon a Turbino  guard tower that S'Too Artsmith had disabled. He had prised  loose the cap on one of it's sensors and so it could not see, hear or feel them.

Thus they were able to continue on their quest while the Turbinos could not sense their presence because they were all linked in a mysterious way with the disabled guard tower.

Their ability to walk past the Turbinos without fear soon had the dinosaurs chatting away and enjoying the weather, which seemed to brighten to match their mood.

Despite the unspoken menace of the Turbinos, they felt safe and brave enough to sit down in the flickering shadows for a much needed meal. S'Too Artsmith made himself visible to them and they immediately understood how they had survived so far. They willingly shared what little they had with him.

They even shared Mac's extra strong real ale.

This gave them the courage to sit at the foot of the largest of the Turbinos, safe in the knowledge that S'Too Artsmith was with them and would protect them.

Their meal complete, they were soon on their way.

While the dinosaurs carried on down the path to safety, S'Too Artsmith knew that he had to make sure that the Turbinos could not cause any more havoc. He had to permanently stop the flailing blades! He slipped away from the dinosaurs and tracked back across the wilderness to the Turbinos.

He soon discovered that the Turbinos had realised their danger and they had brought up a vanguard to aid them in their return to their full and awesome power.

S'Too Artsmith had to scale the leader Turbino and force open its metal body to expose the innards to the elements. It could not function like this and so the Turbino leader was vanquished. The others lost heart and S'Too Artsmith could see that they were no longer a threat.

Oblivious to the drama unfolding behind them, some of the dinosaurs turned their thoughts to more mundane matters. Dave and Jimmy could not believe their luck in finding a big pile of chestnut palings and wanted to take them home to use in all sorts of exciting ways, because they can never pass up an opportunity to use something that someone else has discarded. 

Mac and Janet were the voice of reason and told them that this was a stupid idea and they needed to press on before darkness fell and all sorts of horrors came creeping out of the gloom.

And so, they continued on their way passing close by the enchanted forest, but none of them dared enter it.

They crossed the metal hedgehog traps....

....some more gingerly than others.

And so they came to the end of their adventure. By now S'Too Artsmith had become invisible again. You can just see the space where he was standing, unseen, between Janet and Dave.

He may have been unseen, but he was the one who had bridged the gap between chaos and safety. They owed a great debt to him and they still carry that with them today.

They also owe a great debt to Jimmy and Jacque for organising the walk around the Farr wind farm and to Susan and Robin for helping them scout it out. Luckily, Robin decided good taste should prevail and decided against wearing a silly hat.

Hopefully, that is not the last of S' Too Artsmith's adventures with the dinosaurs, but I guess that depends upon when he decides that it isn't cool for a boy to go walking with his grandparents and their old friends. Nor to have the walk chronicled by some deranged guy who wasn't even there.