A Journey to the Sea (Greyhawk) UPDATED 7 February 2008

[sniffles]

Letter #40

3rd Patchwall
The Plane of Air

One of the three men who emerged from the back of the cave turned out to be Xymos, the man who'd taken Pheretimma's bottle. He seemed unconcerned by our presence or the fact that we had slain his two giant guardians. Thor immediately stepped forward and demanded that Xymos return the djinn.

Xymos wasn't at all contrite about having taken her, nor about having hidden her in our belongings in the first place. Thor was uncharacteristically belligerent and determined to have Pheretimma returned to us. Xymos was uncooperative until I think he saw that we wouldn't give up. But he insisted he couldn't take us to her immediately, nor would he tell us at first where she could be found. At last after a good deal of argument it was agreed that Ninad would go with Xymos to assure that he wouldn't disappear, and we would all meet after dark at Kouroush's inn.

During our discussion with Xymos he told us that some of his confederates fear a prophecy that the djinni will rebel and overthrow the country. They are setting the djinni free simply to avert this. Others among them are concerned that the Archmage Shopar intended to use Pheretimma in a device called an 'orbulon'. No one seems to know what an orbulon does, but they are very fearful of it. They believe the object will cause a terrible cataclysm.

Another item of concern that Xymos mentioned is that freeing the djinn from their bottle prisons is potentially fatal to them if not successful. This greatly concerned Thor. And as much as I've found the djinn irritating, I have no desire to see her dead. This confirmed our determination to meet with Pheretimma and assure her safety.

While Ninad spent the day with Xymos, the rest of us planned for our trip to visit Pheretimma. Xymos had finally admitted that she was already on the Plane of Air as we'd suspected. We spent the day preparing for this journey, discussing what spells we should prepare and how we would transport ourselves.

When Ninad and Xymos arrived, Xymos gave us a ring of flight to use during the journey and told us to seek his agent, Nadereh, with Ianus, the king of the air whales. In addition to the ring, we intended to use our flying carpet to travel, but as we'd already determined it isn't sufficient to bear all of us. Thor and I planned to transform into birds, and Varian had managed to acquire a hippogriff mount to ride.

The next morning Kouroush let us into the room that leads to the Plane of Air. I cast a spell to make my bird form a bit more hardy and shaped myself into an eagle. It's the first time I've really taken advantage of this ability the Keen Eye grants me.

With Varian astride his new steed, Xolo flying along under the enchantment of the ring, Thor ahead as a larger eagle, and the rest of my companions sitting on the carpet, we set off into the vast expanse of air. Unfortunately Thor and I weren't able to bring Rahon and Beaker as there was no practical way to transport them.

We'd provisioned ourselves with as many goodberries as I had time to make the day before, and I was prepared to make water for us though my friends had all filled all the waterskins they could easily carry. Our initial flight was uneventful, though fascinating. We eventually encountered a few hunks of earth floating randomly in the air, and observed a rainstorm passing by. At one point we even came upon a shallow pool of water!

As the day progressed we came upon an even more curious sight: fragments of some broken structure, floating ahead of us. Portions of it were still intact. It was covered with birds, being a nice place for them to roost. We decided to rest there for the night. We were obliged to settle on two different parts of the building because no fragment that still had a floor was large enough to contain all of us.

Shishir and I were on watch when our first unpleasant experience occurred. I caught sight of a large dark shape swooping toward us out of the formless night. It dove at the portion of the structure where the twins and Erasyne had taken refuge. I shouted a warning to Shishir as I prepared my bow.

It was a manticore, I realized when I saw the tail spikes it fired at him. All the birds had fled at its approach. I took several spikes myself after I shot at it. Shishir attacked it with one of his frosty orbs, and I summoned a lance of ice to pierce it when I feared I might spend too many arrows trying to wound it.

It kept circling us, undeterred by our assault. Either it was very hungry or we were invading its territory. It managed to wound the hippogriff badly. Despite this Varian mounted the animal and flew up to combat the manticore. He's fortunate he didn't lose his mount.

Thor limned the manticore with faerie fire so we could see it in the dark. Then Shishir sent Balamani to set it afire and Varian charged it with his lance. It was already full of arrows that Erasyne and I had fired. When the lance struck it fell tumbling away into the distance.

We rested a little later the next morning than we ordinarily would have to recover from our wounds. The manticore had managed to strike several of us with its tail spikes. Once we'd recovered we set off again, bidding farewell to the strange ruin.

After some hours we came upon another unusual sight: A large greyish shape ahead, with many smaller shapes swarming around it. As we drew nearer I could see that the large shape appeared to be a whale, thrashing about as perhaps a dozen winged apes stabbed it with long spears. The apes had no armor and no other weapons, but they had entangled the air whale in nets.

I swooped in and lit on the whale, then resumed my natural shape and drew my scimitar. One of the apes approached and stabbed me with its spear. It was too far away for me to strike it with my sword, as its arms were very long. I instead began trying to cut off the net that bound the whale.

The whale rolled, trying to shake off the nets, and I fell but landed on the beast's side. I kept sawing at the nettting as Shishir landed on the whale and attacked the flying ape. Xolo flew over and began to stab the ape also. The rest of our party were flying about beyond the whale, trying to battle the remaining apes. Erasyne was steering the carpet while Ninad fought, and Varian was struggling to control his hippogriff, which wasn't trained for battle.

Thanks to the Keen Eye I withstood the attacks of the ape and cut away the nets, while my companions dealt with the rest of the winged apes. When we had eliminated them and freed the whale, it began to sing to us. But the song seemed to contain no words. Ninad cast a spell to allow him to understand any speech but could make nothing of the whale's song. He then began to speak to it, telling it that we sought the air whale king. This seemed to make an impression on it, and the whale began to swim through the air, heading in the direction we had been following.
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Quips & Quotes:

DH: "What's the damage and crit range for the giants' hammers?"
patv: "Well it's not written on the side of the hammer..."
sniffles: "Oh no! Somebody took the sticker off!"

DH: "Xymos isn't mad we killed his big brutes?"
Zora: "Well they're only $1.50 a dozen." (He was referring to the price of the minis patv was using.)

Hedrin: "It was a hippogriff that was only ridden on Sundays by a little old lady."
sniffles: "Did you test drive it before you bought it?"
Hedrin: "I think it's having some rear-end trouble."

patv: "The chunks of rock have a top and a bottom. You can't walk around all sides."
DH: "So we can't run around it and make it spin."
Devo: "Eventually it would revolve around me!"
DH: "Because you're the densest."

Hedrin: "Looks like the manticore has a ma(w)."
sniffles & DH: "Does it have a pa(w)?"
Hedrin: "Yes. Four of them."

Zora (singing): "Fly like an eagle..."
sniffles: "Fly like an ego? If it's got a white head then it's a bald ego."

DH: "The apes have got more reach than I've got."
Devo: "Better looking, too."

patv: "What's the ape's number?"
Zora: "Up."

 

[sniffles]

Letter #41

It's difficult to tell time here without shadows to judge the hours by, but I believe we'd only been traveling with the air whale for a few hours when we were attacked. When we spotted the dark shape ahead I was apprehensive, but it wasn't until I realized it was a huge flock of ravens that I grew concerned. I grew more worried when Thor exclaimed that our whale friend was very weak and his health was failing.

Then Thor warned that he sensed some larger creature at the center of the raven flock, goading them on with fear. The ravens were heading straight for the injured whale, which was moving too slowly to flee. I landed on his back, resuming my natural shape, and summoned a spell to heal some of his hurts. Ninad drew a wand out of his bag and added its curative power to my efforts.

When I had done casting my healing spell, I called on more of nature's power to give myself wings so I could fight and fly. I also cast a spell on Varian's hippogriff to permit it to fly even faster than it normally could. By the time I had done casting all these spells, the ravens had reached us.

Ninad produced another wand as the ravens neared, and sent a blast of fire into their midst, much to Thor's dismay. He would have liked to let them be, as the thing among them was forcing them to attack us. Ninad tried to direct his fireball at that creature, but it was so large that it burned some of the birds as well.

The larger creature dived on the flying carpet that was presently occupied by the twins - Erasyne had elected to ride on the whale's back. Once out of the flock of ordinary birds, the creature was revealed to be crow-like in form, but it possessed three horrible eyes. When it gazed at us we all felt ourselves quail slightly, though no one succumbed to its evil stare.

The ravens engulfed the carpet in their flock, pecking and clawing at the twins. Despite the wounds they dealt, Shishir sent Balamani to carry a fire spell to burn the evil bird-thing, then fired one of his icy orbs at the creature.

Thor meanwhile used his affinity for winged creatures to good effect, causing almost half of the ravens to stop attacking. I summoned up a spear of ice and shot it at the evil creature. Ninad hit it with more balls of flame, unfortunately burning more of the ravens in the process.

Varian managed to get control of the hippogriff and charged the creature with his lance, dealing it a fierce blow. I called a flame to my hand and hurled it at the thing, but sadly my aim was poor. I was prepared to throw another flame at it, but it then decided to flee.

Ninad wasn't willing to chance it coming back after us again, so he set off in pursuit on the carpet, sending more fireballs its way. The creature, now blackened as much by charcoal as by its own coloring, began to plummet into the bottomless air.

As it fell, it occurred to Ninad to draw out the shard dowsing rod he carries. He was horrified to realize that the bird-creature carried one of the black crystal shards, for there was no way that anyone could now catch its falling form.

Greatly disappointed at having lost one of the shards, we regrouped aboard the whale to treat our wounds. I gave thanks to the Keen Eye that I hadn't suffered any harm during the struggle.

Once my companions and the whale were feeling a bit healthier, we set off again, this time accompanied for a while by some of the ravens the evil bird had been commanding. Eventually they went their own way, and we realized that the light was growing dimmer. There was no sign of any solid surface on which to rest this night. Thor and I made efforts to communicate with the whale as best we could, and felt that it had no desire to stop moving and no objection to our using its back as a resting place.

On the following morning, my companions had only just awakened and I was busy absorbing the magic of nature when I noticed that the twins seemed to be doing something odd on the carpet. They'd already boarded the carpet and flown away from the whale a short distance. I saw a puff of what looked like dust. Curious, I managed to communicate to the whale my desire to approach and look closer.

The twins were arguing with a small creature that appeared to be a denizen of the plane, who seemed to be poking his head out of an opening into… nothing. Shishir was trying to ask him if he knew the way to the king of the air whales, and the creature - a mephit, I think - was not reacting favorably to the conversation.

Then a hummingbird came fluttering out through the opening around the mephit's head. The mephit angrily withdrew through the opening, and the hummingbird alit on the whale's back and turned into Thor. He explained that he believed the other side of the opening had led into the Astral Plane, which he declared was very dull - mainly because there weren't any birds, I suspect.

After this diversion we proceeded on our way, letting the whale choose our direction, though his choice agreed with where Xymos's ring indicated we should go. The air around us grew colder, which I noticed more now as I'd chosen not to transform into a bird and was instead riding on the whale.

After a time another dark mass appeared ahead, though not as dark as the flock of ravens had been. Soon we could see flashes of lightning. It was a great storm, accompanied by considerable rain. The whale seemed to be making an effort to fly above it, but as he approached it the storm appeared to be deliberately heading toward us!

In the center of the storm was a darker shape, which Thor identified as some type of elemental. He had the presence of mind to cast a spell on us to resist some of the effect of lightning. The elemental was apparently angered by our presence, or perhaps disliked the whale, for it began shooting lightning bolts at us. I had cause then to regret having chosen studded armor, but at least I wasn't as vulnerable as Varian was in his suit of plate.

I shaped myself into an eagle and began flying alongside the whale, hoping to stay unharmed so that I could later heal my friends. Some of the lightning bolts from the storm seemed to occur at random, but some were decidedly intended to hurt us.

A bolt struck Shishir, attracted to his metal bracers. His brother sent a ball of fire at the cloud that held the elemental, but it had no visible effect. Thor, in the form of a dire eagle, flew into the cloud to attack the elemental with his talons. Xolo and Erasyne took out their bows and fired arrows into the cloud.

The carpet bearing the twins sped well ahead of the whale, who was still slowly flying along. Varian, standing on the whale's back, shouted a challenge at the elemental. It responded by blasting the whale and everyone riding him with lightning. I was spared as I was flying alongside.

I saw that the hippogriff had been very frightened by this and was about to take flight. Fearing it would be further injured and that Varian would lose his steed, I landed and returned to myself, alighting on the hippogriff's back. I put my hand on its feathered neck and healed some of the damage the lightning had done. Xolo had also run to the creature and caught hold of its bridle to prevent it fleeing.

Varian was trying to get to the hippogriff himself, but the whale had rolled slightly when the lightning hit and he lost his footing and fell over. At the same time, I saw Erasyne disappear from the whale's back, replaced by Ninad. I could see that Ninad was ready to cast a spell as soon as the elemental came within range.

Thor came winging out of the cloud to the whale's back and resumed his gnome shape, then summoned a spell that rather amusingly granted the whale a pair of insubstantial wings. It began to move faster.

The elemental sent another bolt of lightning at the whale as it began to move away. The rain was decreasing, indicating we had reached the edge of the storm. Shishir hit it with two orbs of ice, which seemed to do it some harm. Its cloud swallowed up the flying carpet for a few moments. Then the carpet came out of the cloud and we were on our way out of the storm.

The elemental evidently had no desire to pursue us once we left its territory. The twins used their spells to dry us all, as we were thoroughly soaked by then.

Some time later we saw the other air whales. There were many of them ahead, all gathering in the same area. As we drew nearer our whale sang a joyful song to its brethren, and in their midst we could see one vast, snowy white whale.

We knew immediately the white whale must be their king - but Xymos hadn't told us that he was also a god. His presence was, of course, awe-inspiring. He sang a song in a voice so deep and powerful that it was almost painful to my ears. When we approached, a great slow voice asked us who we were.

Thor, who was still in eagle form, began to squawk and chirp at Ianus. I don't know what he said, but we could hear the god's reply. Between whatever Thor said and other comments from Ninad, our quest was explained to the god.

In the meantime the woman we'd come seeking, Nadereh, arrived aboard another air whale and demanded to know what we were doing there. She was surprised to learn that Xymos had sent us. She insisted that what we'd been told about the fates of the djinni wasn't entirely correct; most of them survived being set free. But my companions weren't satisfied with this. Thor was presumably demanding to see Pheretimma.

Nadereh told us she'd already given Pheretimma's bottle to Ianus. It was the whale god who set the djinni free, by absorbing the magic that bound them to their bottles. While Thor was squawking at the god about this, Varian suddenly asked if Ianus had seen the floating egg he seeks.

For a few more moments the discussion of Pheretimma continued. Then in his great voice, Ianus announced that he also had the egg and asked us which thing we would most want to have: Pheretimma or the egg?

I know what Thor said even though I couldn't understand his words. Shishir blurted out the same thing. We were only lately helping Varian find the egg; we had been in Pheretimma's company for months.

But before anyone could say anything further, a djinn abruptly appeared amongst the whales and exclaimed, "I am Shazar and I wish to speak also."
_________________________

Quips & Quotes:

Varian's mounted mini, attached with blue-tac, fell off his mount.
patv: "Your butt's not sticky enough. Do something about that."

patv: "The ravens seem like they might be awed."
Devo, Hedrin and Zora (like crows cawing): "Awe! Awe! Awe!

patv: "The whale's song seems more serene."
Zora: "Serene Dion?"

patv: "You realize you're probably going to want to stop and rest soon."
Zora (singing): "Stop, in the name of lunch…"
DH (singing): "…before you break your fast…"

patv: "You're all affected by a minor form of awe."
Everyone: "Awwww!"

 

[sniffles]

Letter #42

The djinn announced himself as the Khan Shazar and began recounting his lineage in a pompous tone. I'm afraid I don't recall any of it. Thor kept chirping at him as he spoke, until he glared at the giant eagle and Thor suddenly fell silent. Shazar then announced that Pheretima is his daughter and he wanted her to be set free! This took us all a bit by surprise, as Xymos had told us that Shazar was partly responsible for his daughter's imprisonment.

When questioned about this, Shazar claimed he had been trying to find out what Shopar's "orbulon" would do. He wouldn't tell us much, other than that it would not bring about another Rain of Colourless Fire, which was what Xymos's people had feared. He seemed disappointed by this. I suppose this means that Xymos's friends with the prophecy of a djinni rebellion aren't entirely wrong.

Nadereh was as confused as we were by Shazar's story, since he'd told her how to find Pheretima and get her to Ianus. The Whale King then interrupted the discussion to ask again which we most desired: Pheretima's freedom or the magical egg Varian seeks?

The twins and Varian promptly started arguing over which was most important. Much as I have disliked Pheretima, I would choose her freedom over an egg that may fulfill part of some obscure prophecy for someone who's only been with us for a few weeks. Varian is sometimes a bit hard to comprehend. I thought knights were supposed to be honorable and chaste.

Finally Ninad asked Ianus what we could do to obtain the egg. The Whale King replied, "Rid me of Bloodfist." I then had a picture in my mind of one of the flying apes we'd fought earlier, but his one was much larger and had a hugely oversized right arm that appeared to be stained with blood. He bore an enormous sword in his other hand. In addition to this image, I also saw something that resembled the moon Celene, but marred by a large crater and a crevice across its middle. The crater always faced inward toward the Plane of Air, like an eye in the sky. A smaller rock orbited this odd moon eratically at great speed. I knew somehow that this Bloodfist could be found on the cratered moon, where he kept his army of flying apes to prey on the air whales.

After receiving this vision, we all agreed one by one to do what the Whale King asked. In return he agreed to let us speak with Pheretima. He put forth his immense tongue and her bottle prison rested on it. Shishir took the bottle and unstoppered it.

Pheretima was rather confused to find herself on the Plane of Air, as Xymos's people hadn't spoken to her or explained what was going on. Ianus indicated we could talk with her overnight, so we retreated astride Gimli, the whale we'd rescued from the apes, to consult with her over her fate.

I didn't particpate much in the discussion, but the twins and Thor explained to her what had taken place and asked her to decide if she wanted to take the risk to be set free or remain a prisoner of the bottle but avoid the chance of death. She hadn't made up her mind yet by the time I began my meditations.

The next day we began to talk about how to attack Bloodfist. Varian kept suggesting very complicated plans that sounded like they would require many more people than our party contains. The King agreed to send one whale to transport us to the apes' abode, and he also told us what other residents of the Plane of Air might be enemies of the flying apes. Among those he mentioned were arrowhawks, a people he called Hawkmen, cloud giants, and a dwarf named Cail who lives in the Great Trench on the cratered moon.

Finally Pheretima decided to speak with her father before making up her mind. Shazar insisted he thought she would survive the effort to be free. Finally she decided to take the chance, so she reentered her bottle and was swallowed by the Whale King.

I'd thought that our new friend Gimli would take us on our voyage to the ape moon, but Ianus summoned another, much larger air whale to be our companion. He looked very similar to the King but for being red in color. His name is Avollo. Fortunately he can communicate with us by thought.

When we'd said farewell to Nadereh and the King, Avollo bore us off to seek allies. We went first to the arrowhawks. I've heard of such creatures before, but never seen one. They look quite odd with their four wings and lack of other limbs. They can fly with amazing speed and skill. I find myself much more appreciative of that since I've spent the past days traveling as a bird.

Five larger arrowhawks approached us when we neared. We were introduced to their leader, Okan, though our communication passed through another arrowhawk called Ronsa who can speak the common tongue.

The arrowhawks agreed after some discussion to join us and act as decoys while we attack Bloodfist. Our plan is to lure his soldiers away so we won't have to fight our way through them to get to him. Shishir has a strong suspicion that Bloodfist's distorted arm is due to one or more black shards, although he wouldn't let his brother use the dowsing rod to prove this. But this makes us more determined to follow through on attacking the flying ape, even if we don't care as much about the egg and the prophecy as Varian does.

Ronsa agreed to go with us when we went to seek other allies, although he'd told us that the arrowhawks and Hawkmen don't get along. Our next potential allies would be the cloud giants, although Varian wasn't happy about this as he doesn't trust giants. But they were closest to where we met the arrowhawks.

That evening we found some floating rocks and decided to camp there so we could rest on something more solid than Avollo's immense back. I settled alone on a small chunk of earth, seeking privacy. It was only first watch when we got into trouble. I heard wolves howling, rather bizarrely in this place of nothing but air, and then I saw something vaguely wolf-shaped attacking Ninad!

I conjured up a pair of insubstantial wings for myself and also brought a flame to my hand, which I hurled at the wolf-thing before I approached. When I got nearer I could see that it did look very wolf-like, though it was as lacking in substance as my magical wings. It behaved very much like an ordinary wolf, which led me to think it was only protecting its lair. I flew around the rock Ninad had camped on until I found a second 'air wolf' snarling from a small opening in the rock. I shouted up to my companions to let the creature alone; it was only behaving as it naturally would, and if we let it alone it would do us no harm.

Unfortunately, although the rest of my friends listened to my advice, Varian didn't and kept swooping his hippogriff at it. Finally it collapsed and the second air-wolf came flying out of its lair to attack him. Thor flew over to the first wolf and cast a spell of vigor on it, then withdrew to Avollo's back where the rest of us awaited.

Thor spotted the second wolf, evidently the female, gathering three cubs from the lair and flying away with them. A few moments later the male wolf revived and flew after them. But they'd left one cub behind.

The twins started to get their flying carpet out to head over to the abandoned cub, but I asked them to let Thor and I deal with it. Between us we managed to coax the frightened cub out of the cave and convey it back to Avollo. I'm not sure what we'll do with such a curious creature, but we feel responsible for its parents abandoning it so we'll take care of it until we can find some way to return it to its proper habitat.
__________________________
Quips & Quotes:

DH: "Oh, you mean that's a finger ring?"
Zora: "Yeah, it doesn't shrink to fit."

patv: "There was a huge burst of power as a cloud appears..."
DH: "Sorry, that was me."
Hedrin: "It was the iron rations."

patv: "Thor goes silent."
Everyone: "Hurrah! Yay!"
DH: "Does Shazar want to join the party?"

Hedrin: "What's Bloodfist been doing that his arm's that big?"
patv: "Flinging poo."

patv: "Pheretima makes a Will save to avoid being confused by Thor's story."
sniffles: "Maybe that should be a Fortitude save."

Devo: "Uncle Owen's still good at djinn rummy."
Zora: "We've been hitting the djinn ourselves."

patv: "Yes, the moon does look like the Death Star." Rolls randomly for which potential ally is closest. It's the arrowhawks.
DH: "They're the X-wings!"
patv: "Oh, no - they have a lightning attack. They shoot lasers!"
DH: "Can the arrowhawks hit the exhaust port? Do they have natural enemy: womp rats?"
sniffles: "Natural enemy: exhaust port."

patv: "I thought the cow jokes were bad during the Mormog the Minotaur adventure."
DH: "That was a beefy adventure."

patv: "It takes a little while to get used to riding a whale."
Hedrin: "I got my whale legs, finally."

Devo: "I'm multi-talon-ted."

sniffles: "Avollo is a boy whale."
patv: "How do you know?"
Hedrin: "Well, it's a sperm whale."
patv: "Then the race is doomed."

 

[sniffles]

Letter #43

7 Patchwall
The Plane of Air

Dearest brother;

I never thought when I set out to seek adventure that I'd be flying through the Plane of Air as an eagle, intending to do battle with a horde of flying apes. Life is certainly full of surprises.

After gaining the cooperation of the arrowhawks, we set off to try to persuade the cloud giants to join us. The arrowhawk called Ronsa came with us. But we weren't fated to have as much success with the giants. As soon as Avollo the whale came within rock-throwing distance of their stronghold, they began hurling boulders at us.

Thor, as usual in bird form, went winging off toward the giants. I flew after him. The twins steered the flying carpet nearer, and Xolo also flew toward the giants, though he made himself invisible first to avoid becoming a target. On reflection this might not have been the best approach. The giants were hostile and probably saw our approach as an attack, and surely it couldn't have helped us that the only member of our party who speaks Giantish was shouting at them unseen.

Thor alit on the floating stone stronghold and assumed his natural shape, trying to talk to the giant sentries. It was only his small size that spared him serious injury. I followed his example and tried to show the giant I faced that I didn't mean to threaten him, but Xolo was invisibly shouting from somewhere nearby and I think the giant thought the voice was coming from me. In any case he didn't react favorably to my attempt at diplomacy. Dealing with man-like creatures is much more difficult than dealing with animals. I resumed my eagle form and flew back to Avollo to avoid the giant's enormous morningstar.

The giants had hit the flying carpet with several rocks, injuring Ninad and damaging the carpet, though not enough to ruin it. After I returned to the whale, Thor did likewise, assuming the shape of a hummingbird so the giants couldn't see him. The twins turned the carpet away from the giants, and finally Xolo reapppeared. We decided to take Erasyne's advice and make our exit. The giants simply weren't willing to listen.

Disappointed, we turned toward the domain of the Hawkmen. Ronsa's people don't get along with the Hawkmen, but he stayed with us and showed us the way. Eventually we came to a great wooden longhouse floating in the air. A group of winged people wearing helmets shaped like hawk visages flew out to meet us.

The Hawkmen first thought we'd captured Avollo, but they didn't seem greatly impressed when we told them he was an emissary of the air whale king. We were escorted to the longhouse when we asked to see their leader, Vultan.

Prince Vultan is a loud, boisterous individual, but friendly enough. He wasn't eager to take the battle to the flying apes - he prefers to wait until their "moon" comes within easy reach of his territory. But when he heard that the arrowhawks were willing to join us he agreed to give us his aid. First, however, he desired proof that we are worthy allies. He wanted us to defeat Bloodfist's harpy scouts. They stay on a flying rock that circles the ape's moon very swiftly and eratically.

Thor wanted to set off right away to get rid of the harpies, but we waited until the next morning to depart for the harpy's base. By then we'd been joined by two more air whales and the arrowhawks were on the way for the major assault on Bloodfist. While we waited for morning we got acquainted with Vultan's daughter, Shiera, and learned a little more about the wolves of the air since we've become foster parents to one. My companions have named the cub Ernie. What an odd name.

After two days of flying we came near the harpy rock at dawn. Vultan told us there were half a dozen of the harpies. We found two of them in sight when we approached. Avollo, who'd agreed to join us in battle rather than just acting as transport, flew us right up to their wildly orbiting rock. He'd reduced himself in size to be less visible, though he was still quite large.

When we arrived a third harpy appeared suddenly out of the rock as if from nowhere. I summoned up a lance of ice to pierce one of them. The harpies were hurling slingstones at us. Shishir sent Balamani to set one of them on fire and then hit her with an orb of cold, while his brother followed up with his sound orb.

Now there were five harpies on the rock, and then a sixth came climbing through some hidden egress. To my misfortune, the sixth one started to sing. Just as happened when we met harpies back in Ket, I fell under the spell of her song. I found myself walking off Avollo's back onto the rock, trying to get as close to her as possible.

Shishir grabbed hold of her and tried to pin her so Erasyne could attack her. Erasyne was dancing all around, slashing the harpies with her swords. I just stood there listening to the song. Though it seems like a dream now, I can recall seeing Ninad punching one of the harpies several times, and Varian and Xolo flew up and began stabbing at two others. Avollo even lent a swipe of his tail to the fray. I never saw what Thor was up to.

Finally Shishir put his hand over the harpy's mouth and muffled her voice, which allowed me to recover my wits. I called to mind the spell I'd been about to cast when the song began and my arms turned to fiery wings.

But by that time my friends had slain or badly wounded several of the harpies. I managed to burn one with my flaming wing, but the rest had all fallen except for the singer. Before we could stop her she retreated back inside the rock.
______________________________
Quips & Quotes:

DH: "Can I rip off my underwear and attach it to my lance as a white flag?"
Zora: "You said a white flag."

Hedrin: "I'm in UR cloud speakin' UR language."

Devo: "What should we call the air wolf cub?"
DH: "If it was a worg we could call him Ernest Worgnine."

patv: "Avollo's a sperm whale so he doesn't really sing."
Hedrin: "No - he raps."

Hedrin: "So the longhouse has lots of holes with pegs under them, like a birdhouse?"
patv: "Yes. And a mailbox. Because they get really good airmail."

patv: "I assume you're all in normal form now?"
Zora: "No, Thor's a gnome."
sniffles: "He's in gnomal form."

Devo: "Where did the Hawkmen get all the wood for the longhouse? Is there a forest in the air? Is there an air forest?"
Hedrin: "How big is your air forest?"

patv: "Something doesn't feel right about this character card."
Devo: "It's made of sandpaper?"

Hedrin: "I embark on a Xolo career!"

 

[sniffles]

Letter #44

As the harpy disappeared through a hidden opening to the interior of the rock, three winged monkeys emerged to attack. They were smaller than the flying apes we'd previously encountered. Thor set one of them on fire while Shishir grabbed hold of another and his twin struck the third.

I prodded the area they'd emerged from with my toe and found that although it looked like solid rock, there was an opening. Shouting to my friends, I dove through. Thor flew after me in the shape of an owl.

At the end of a short tunnel I found myself in a large cavern. Logs had been driven into the walls to form perches for the flying creatures, though I'm not sure where they found the wood in this treeless place. Three harpies were roosting on the perches. Fortunately there was a light source in the cave other than the fire of my wings. I flew across the cavern to attack the nearest harpy with my flames. She retaliated by stabbing me several times with the spear point of her staff, then raked me with her claws.

I kept exchanging blows with her, burning her while she stabbed and clawed me. Thor meanwhile also employed fire against one of the other harpies. The twins arrived on the flying carpet and within a few moments one harpy had tumbled off her perch and plummeted to the floor of the cavern. The harpy I didn't face let out a loud squawk and flew across the cavern, seemingly crying an alarm, though there was no one else present that we could see. Thor pursued her.

Shishir jumped onto the perch with the harpy I fought and wrapped his arms around her. But he didn't cover her mouth and she began to sing. Thank the Keen-Eye this time I didn't succumb, nor did the twins. I think it might have affected Thor, though, as he came sweeping back around nearby rather than continuing after the fleeing harpy.

I kept on burning the harpy Shishir held until she finally ceases struggling with him. He gave her a final squeeze and she went limp. His brother had been watching the wall the third harpy had flown to and announced that it was shrouded in magic. We suspected another hidden opening like the one we'd entered through. But by that point I was badly wounded and wasn't willing to fly recklessly into an unseen space, and I couldn't use the wand I carry. I hovered in front of the opening while the twins poured potions into my mouth.

Thor had recovered his senses and came to add his healing to the potions the twins gave me. Thus fortified, I was ready to fly into the next chamber. This one was much smaller than the previous cave. The last harpy had taken refuge in the narrow rear of the chamber and began hurling slingstones at us. But these were obviously enchanted stones, as they burst with icy cold when they struck.

Shishir maneuvered the flying carpet beside her perch and Ninad jumped off onto the perch and struck her hard with his fist. I saw the harpy's eyes roll back and she dropped her sling, but she didn't fall. Shishir then moved the carpet beneath the perch and grabbed hold of her legs. Ninad pummeled her again, and I let her feel the flames of my wings. But despite all our efforts she managed to struggle free of Shishir's grasp.

I flew back to the entrance to prevent her escape, but it turned out that she had another bolt-hole. Instead of coming toward me she began to crawl into the crevice behind her. Thor quickly shaped himself into a hummingbird and followed her. Realizing she was going to get outside, Ninad lobbed one of his sound orbs at her, both to injure her and to alert the rest of our companions, who'd been guarding the main entrance.

I knew I couldn't crawl through such a small space without the use of my hands, so I flew back through the large cavern to the outside. Sadly in my hurry I turned the wrong direction, and by the time I'd righted myself there was no chance that I could catch up to the fleeing harpy, who was winging toward the moon at top speed. Then Varian's hippogriff came swooping at her and he pierced her with his lance. Her wings fell slack and she went tumbling away into the distance. There must be some scavengers here or the place would be littered with floating carcasses.

We were all outside the floating rock by then - Ninad had very nearly fallen out in his pursuit of the last harpy, but he'd caught himself at the edge of the secret opening. The twins and Thor went back inside the rock to search for anything of value, especially wanting to get their hands on the enchanted sling the last harpy had used. Once they'd gathered up whatever they could find - including a surprisingly large quantity of gold coins scattered on the floor - we decided to make our way to the moon to seek the dwarf called Cail.

At is reduced size Avollo was just able to navigate the winding trench on the moon's pocked surface. After a time we came upon an opening, spotted by Thor, which got him quite excited. As we were examining it, the twins noticed a flying creature gliding across the trench, though it didn't look like an ape. They investigated and discovered that Prince Vultan's daughter, Shiera, had followed us. As there was no way to safely send her back to her father, it was agreed she could stay with us, though Shishir insisted she do as he said.

The tunnel we entered led to several other connecting passages, all of them used, but one more often than the rest. We decided to follow that one. After a time Ninad warned that he could hear a deep voice, apparently singing drunkenly. I didn't hear it at first; eagles don't have hearing to match their keen sight, and I'd elected to remain in eagle form.

We found a large cave with a firepit in the center. Sitting by the fire drinking beer was a large dwarf. He had obviously been drinking for some time. Thor conjured a quantity of water and splashed it on the dwarf to sober him. After we'd introduced ourselves and explained our mission, Cail was persuaded to show us the way to Bloodfist's stronghold.

On the way he told us a story of how another band of adventurers had defeated Bloodfist's father, Red Chest, long ago. It grew darker and darker in the tunnels, though of course that didn't trouble the dwarf. Eventually he told us to wait while he went ahead to scout. While waiting, we discussed how to go about attacking the ape. Thor had already sent a message through his birds to Vultan and the arrowhawks, but it would be some time before they would arrive.

During our discussion, Delna the fairy emerged from hiding and remarked that she could "do things" with the magic glass the Fey Queen had been using to spy on us. When Shishir asked her a few questions about this, she explained that the glass could somehow manipulate time - though of course she didn't use those words. As you know, brother, the small fey are rather simple. I imagine her conversation resembles how Rahon would speak if he could.

By this point Cail had returned and told us he could take us nearer to Bloodfist's location. He was surprised that we already knew where Bloodfist was; while the dwarf was gone Ninad had used the dowsing rod to confirm that Bloodfist has black shards. As we followed Cail toward the ape we continued discussing Delna's claims and what we should do.

After a good deal of questioning Delna managed to explain that the show glass could cause a day to pass for those using it while anyone else would experience no time passing. It could also cause time to stop altogether. Thor was very excited by this and became unusually thoughtful and serious. He's usually so reckless, I forget how clever he can be. He suggested that we could use the glass to give us extra time to rest and prepare spells before facing Bloodfist.

But Delna wouldn't agree to this unless the glass was returned to her care. Ninad tried to persuade her to take it back only temporarily, but she would have none of that. Shishir didn't like the thought that the Queen could spy on us again, but Delna was convinced that the Queen wouldn't be angry with her any longer if she had the glass. At last I suggested that perhaps letting the Queen spy on us was less dangerous than failing to pursue Varian's prophecy, and we could simply try to assure that the Queen wouldn't see anything we didn't want her to see now that we knew she was watching us.

Shishir reluctantly agreed to this, and the glass was handed over to Delna, who clutched it protectively to her breast and settled in mid-air. It was almost comical to watch the tiny fairy screw up her face in concentration. She and the glass began to glow and I felt a strange sensation wash over me.

_______________________

Quips & Quotes:

Hedrin: "What's the d6 for?"
Devo: "It's for generating random numbers between one and six. But that's not important right now."

patv: "The harpy doesn't like your presence."
sniffles: "Aw, but I gave her the gift of fire!"
Devo: "The gift that keeps on giving."
Hedrin: "She wants to return it."

patv: "You feel the weight of your brother on the carpet."
Zora: "No, I'm not heavy, I'm his brother."

patv: "The harpy's sling is still lying on the perch, like a discarded bra."

patv: "You can see the moon is pocked, cratered, has acne..."
Zora: "It's the Edward James Olmos moon!"

Hedrin: "It's an underground flying ape movement."
Devo: "I had one of those once."

Devo: "Stop the whale!"
Hedrin: "I want to get off!"

Devo: "Respect my au-Thor-ity!"

Devo: "So the dwarf's a beeritone. Who knew?"

Devo: "I cast create water."
patv: "Is it cold?"
Devo: "It's twelve gallons."

patv: "Bloodfist's father was Red Chest, from the blood of his enemies."
Devo: "Guess what his mother's name was?"
Zora: "Red Butt, because Red Butt gives you wings."

 

[sniffles]

Letter #45

13 Patchwall
The Plane of Air

When I went to train with the druids of the Tree I never thought I'd spend so much time serving as a warrior.

Delna fell asleep as soon as she activated the power of the show glass. I suppose using such power took a great deal out of her. We were left with no source of information on how the time manipulation worked - though I doubt the fairy could have told us much even if she'd been awake.

Thor transformed himself into a bat and flew away from us to discover that we couldn't move more than 50 feet from Delna. We also found that we couldn't move Delna. We would have to spend our extra time in the same place where she activated the spell. Having discovered that, we settled down to rest and restore our spells in our rather cramped pocket outside of normal time.

We didn't know precisely when the effect would fade, but it did so at about the time we expected it to, some 24 hours after Delna activated it. Prepared as best we could for our encounter with Bloodfist, we followed Cail to the chamber where we'd find the ape. We could hear apes hooting and moving about as we approached. Their noise grew louder and louder just as Thor received a message from his birds that our allies were beginning their attack.

Erasyne crept ahead to peer into the cavern and then we heard a loud voice bellow something in a commanding tone. The ape noises fell silent. Ninad drew out the dowsing rod and confirmed that Bloodfist was in the cavern.

Then Thor had a clever idea: rather than fight our way through the crowd of apes between the cavern entrance and Bloodfist, he used the Rock of Ages to make a hole in the tunnel wall nearer to where Bloodfist stood. Just before he did this Shishir drank a potion that greatly increased his size. After Thor opened the wall, Shishir picked Thor up and moved the gnome closer to our target.

I hung back for a moment to cloak myself in a skin of bark while my friends slipped through the opening Thor had made. Varian and Shishir headed straight for Bloodfist. The ape leader was enormously tall, and his right arm seemed even larger and more grotesque than it had appeared in the whale king's vision. He wielded a huge sword with his distorted limb.

Ninad followed his enlarged twin across the cavern, casting a spell on his staff to increase its power. Then the ground to my left began to tremble and a large earth creature emerged into the chamber, pinning one of the flying apes against the wall near the opening Thor had made. It wasn't an ordinary elemental and looked rather sinister, but at the time I thought Thor must have summoned it with the Rock, as it was attacking the apes.

Bloodfist hit Varian several times with his huge blade, wounding the knight badly. The blade cause wounds that bled profusely. I summoned up a lance of ice and stabbed Bloodfist, but not surprisingly he was too tough to be stunned by the blow. Then I saw Varian collapse.

None of my companions were facing Bloodfist at that moment, being occupied with dealing with the apes around him. I was sure he would slice Varian in two. Though there were several apes between me and the knight, I decided to chance running to his side. Thank the Keen Eye the apes all had long spears and didn't have room to strike at me effectively. But when I got to Varian, Bloodfist menaced me with his sword and I miscast the healing spell I'd prepared.

Bloodfist took a few steps back and I decided I'd have to defend myself and Varian. Then Thor came winging over and healed Varian enough that he at least wouldn't die immediately. I summoned a blade of flames to my hand. Ninad moved around behind the ape and struck him several heavy blows with his ensorceled staff. Bloodfist turned his attention to dealing with the young monk, and soon Ninad had also fallen to the ground.

Erasyne had been at the other end of the cavern fighting the ordinary apes - if winged apes can be called ordinary. She'd been helping Shiera, who had impulsively rushed into the cave as soon as we began our assault. But now Erasyne came running past me and began whirling in her dervish dance, her blades repeatedly slashing Bloodfist's flesh. I cut into him with my flaming blade twice as well. Thor flew to heal Ninad enough that he could get back on his feet.

Bloodfist was beginning to look rather battered by this point and took flight to get away from us. Erasyne and I both stabbed him as he lifted off. He didn't go far and we followed him. Shishir joined us, having crushed several of Bloodfist's soldiers by then. It was Shishir's massive blow that finally brought the ape leader down.

I made certain Bloodfist wasn't going to rise again, thanking Solonor that he didn't gain any kind of regenerative power from the black shards in his arm. I sliced the arm off for good measure, and Shishir, whose hands were coated with acid, began probing the dead flesh for the shards. It was rather unpleasant and I didn't object to a chance to move away when Erasyne called out that Shiera had fallen.

After I'd given some small amount of healing to the hawkgirl, I turned my attention to Ninad. On reflection I should have prepared more healing spells and not worried so much about being ready to fight, though the flaming blade was very useful.

Cail reappeared at about this time; he'd disappeared during our battle. He explained that he'd gone to look for the vault of the dwarves, for the moon had at one time been occupied by his people. He hadn't been able to locate the vault by himself. Erasyne, ever eager for treasure, offered our aid in locating it. Evidently Cail felt ashamed enough by his failure to fight that he agreed to allow us to assist him.

Thor had flown outside the moon and made contact with our allies. The arrowhawks left as soon as the fight with the other apes was done, but Prince Vultan entered the cave to see Bloodfist's lair. He wasn't happy with Shiera for disobeying his orders, but he was proud that she'd proved herself in battle.

Ianus and a numbef of other air whales arrived then, and we were presented with the kokobu egg as we'd been promised once we showed the king Bloodfist's severed head and arm. Ianus had brought Pheretima with him, safely freed from her bottle prison. As a reward to us for freeing her, she offered us a single wish. We'll have to think carefully on what we would like. Erasyne wants to ask for Vogelein the clockwork fairy to be made so that she'll never need to be wound again. An admirable wish, but I think we should ask for the location of the lost temple Varian seeks.

And Thor has revealed that using the Rock of Ages comes with a price: the earth creature that appeared wasn't there to help us but to recover the Rock. It apparently belongs to Ogremoch, the lord of evil earth creatures, and he wants it returned.
__________________________

Quips & Quotes:

patv: "It's the 13th of Patchwall."
DH: "The 13th of Pat's Fall?"

Hedrin: "It's the new Apple i-Anus."
DH: "Does it come in black and white?"
Hedrin: "It comes in brown."

patv: "I'm seeing that Huey Lewis song coming into play any time now..."
Devo: ""It's Hip to be Square'?"

Dh: "So I'm officially an old fart now."
Zora: "So you added 'old' to your title?"
Dh: "I replaced 'lame' with 'old'."
Hedrin: "Why?"

(patv started recording the session)
Dh: "The moral of the story is, don't say you're doing anything on tape." (leans in to the recorder) "We're not doing anything."
Hedrin: "And this is different for you how?"

Jubilee: "That's a lot of hot monkey lust."

Jubilee: "I finally get to the front of the party and they make the back of the party the front of the party!"

patv: "He (Bloodfist) doesn't look like he's wearing a lot of armor."
sniffles: "He's just wearing a lot of arm."

p[atv: "You cut into his... southeast - because I rolled my compass dice by mistake."

patv: "You get his full and unabashed attention."
Hedrin: "I hit him with my staff, so I think I get his bashed attention."

 

[sniffles]

Letter #46

We're returning to this campaign while another campaign goes on hiatus, and I realized I hadn't brought it up to date.

I've also inserted the "Quips & Quotes" inside the text where they originally occurred, but s-blocked for those who don't want to read them.
---sniffles
--------------------------------------------

15 Patchwall
The Plane of Air

Dearest brother;

As I told you in my last letter, we struggled over how to use the wish Pheretimma granted us. Finally we made up our minds, though: we would wish for a way to extract the black shards from those who had absorbed them without harming such creatures.

In return for this wish we received a new ‘dowsing rod’ to locate the shards. We also consulted with Ianus the air whale god to see if he knew of any way to get rid of the shards. His suggestion was to return them whence they came, which I suppose means taking them back to that strange fey realm where we found the Queen of Air and Darkness imprisoned.

The next day, after saying farewell to the hawkmen and Pheretimma, we agreed to help Cail the dwarf look for the vault of his people. He’d been absent from the moon when Bloodfist’s army came and drove his people out, and didn’t know where they’d gone. But he wanted to retrieve the treasures they’d probably abandoned in their flight.

Cail led us to a pair of great stone doors covered in runes, which opened at his touch. Then we proceeded into the caverns his people had inhabited. We were immediately attacked from above by nearly a dozen darkmantles, but we fought them off. Cail then took us through a second set of doors and down a spiral stair into the dwarven steelstone mines. Steelstone, if you’ve never heard of it, is a stone that can be shaped like metal. I’m not certain if it can be found anywhere but this “moon” on the Plane of Air.
[sblock]
Jubilee: “By ‘see’, Pat means ‘imagine’.”
Devo: “I don’t have an imagination – I’m a roleplayer!”
[/sblock]
It was cold in the mines. Thor and I clothed ourselves in skin of bark to protect us from any threats. As we descended we saw signs of damage, which indicated that thoqqua had been tunneling in the area. Eventually we came upon a blocked passage and were attacked by thoqqua, I suppose because we were invading their territory.
[sblock]
Devo: “What does the water taste like?”
Jubilee: “Stale water.”
Devo: “Whale water? Ew!”
[/sblock]
Then another thoqqua arrived that was much larger than the rest. Erasyne attempted to speak with it to negotiate our passage through the mine, and it agreed to take us past a collapsed area that had apparently been set as a trap, though I’m not sure if that was by the dwarven miners or the thoqqua themselves.
[sblock]
Zora: “I wish for experience.”
Hedrin: “You had an experience. You got married and had a kid.”
--------------------------------------------------------------
Patv: “Does anyone speak thoqqua?”
Jubilee: “Maybe Cail can communicate with the thoqqua by interpretive dance.”
[/sblock]
After a time we came to another pair of great doors, flanked by heroic sculptures of the five dwarven clans who live in this place. Cail couldn’t open these doors, but Shishir produced a magic key he carries and opened them easily.

When we stepped through the doors, Ninad noticed something up above us and climbed up to see what it was. Thor borrowed a light from Erasyne and flew up after Ninad. They found a huge cobweb above us. While they looked at the web, Erasyne determined that the next door we faced was trapped to deter thieves. She began to examine it to determine how to open it.
[sblock]
Patv: “The ceiling is ridiculously high.”
Jubilee: “Yeah, it’s like, seven feet!”
[/sblock]
Then a huge spider, obviously no longer living in the true sense, dropped down and caught hold of Shishir. It held him so tight he couldn’t get free or cast spells. Thor and Ninad both began to attack the spider with fire, while Erasyne began her dervish dance, slashing it with her scimitars. I summoned a lance of ice and skewered it. But our attacks couldn’t prevent the spider from biting Shishir, and he went limp.

When Shishir stopped moving, the spider dropped him and went for his twin. We all kept attacking it with whatever weapons we had to hand. Then Erasyne realized that it was within reach of the trap on the door, and she managed to explain this to Thor. He flew down toward the door, resuming his normal form, and triggered the trap, causing a mass of spikes to shoot out of the floor and impale the horrid creature.

The spider collapsed – and then burst into thousands of tiny, dead spiders! I’ve never seen such a bizarre thing. But I could hardly care that the spider was dead – so was Shishir.
[sblock]
Hedrin: “So I’m thinking that if Ninad switches clothes with Shishir, he’s got a pretty new wife!”
[/sblock]
There was nothing we could do to save him – the spider’s bite must have slain him. Thor determined that the spiders were vampiric in nature, so in an attempt to prevent Shishir rising as a vampire spawn he put the sun medallion he carries around Shishir’s neck. I was afraid the small spiders would rise again as well, so I set to work burning them all.

After all that trouble, the chamber Cail thought was the vault turned out to be empty. I would have given up and returned to the surface then, but someone suggested perhaps the ornate trapped vault had been made to mislead thieves, so we took some time to search the area for hidden doors or compartments. We found a room that was full of webs left by the vampire spiders. Thor burned them.

After a time our search led us to a doorway in a passage, which Cail openend. Beyond we found a second door guarded by an ornate statue of a minotaur and a dwarven lord. Cail spoke to the minotaur, and the door opened. Ninad told us that within the small chamber beyond lay four magical objects.

Within the vault we found a chest containing an elaborate golden compass and a rune-covered tablet. Cail explained that the runes on the tablet told him where the other dwarves had gone. Ninad sadly gathered up the items from the chest. Naturally it was hard for him to rejoice for Cail’s good fortune.

Cail gave us all steelstone daggers as reward for our aid, but it hardly seems a suitable recompense for losing Shishir. As with Illtud’s death, we're at a loss what to do. Would Shishir want us to return him to life? He has a wife and child to care for now, though of course his brother would look after them in his stead. In any case, we cannot raise him ourselves. We must go to find someone who can.

I hope that when I write you again I'll have happier news to relate.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #47

[sblock]
Patv: “So, nothing happened last time, nothing at all.”
Sniffles: “Just like always!”
------------------------
Patv: “Let’s summarize. No, no, that takes too long.”
[/sblock]
24th Patchwall
Zeir-i-Zeif

Dearest brother;

I'm sorry my last letter ended on such a dismal note. As it turned out, returning Shishir to life was far simpler than we expected. Prince Vultan's people had a priest among them who was capable of using the scroll to return Shishir to us.
[sblock]
Patv: “That’s how you get elves. You plant a fairy and water it and put some fertilizer on it, and it grows up into a full-sized elf.”
Devo: “That’s what I’m going to do the next time I get my hands on a fairy – bury it.”
[/sblock]
It took us four days to get back to the portal to Zeif. Our journey there was uneventful. I've learned to shape myself into larger animals, and spent my time enjoying being a large owl.

But as we found the portal, we were attacked by three very large creatures of air. We had reason to believe the elemental prince of evil air creatures had sent these three to claim the kokobu egg. If you'll recall, when Thor employed the Rock of Mages in the Moon, an earth creature appeared and demanded we hand it over to him.

These creatures didn't speak to us, but we felt certain they wanted the egg. We hadn’t put the egg’s powers to use, but as we were still on the Plane of Air the air creatures could probably sense it more easily.

As they were made of air they were difficult to hurt. I was pleased with myself that I was able to direct a bolt of lightning to arc between two of them, but it did them little harm and I couldn't use the lightning again. Erasyne and Xolo managed to open the portal and we all darted through into Kouroush's inn as quickly as we could. Thankfully the air creatures didn't follow us.

We were greeted by a startled servant, who rushed off to notify Kouroush that we’d arrived. After we'd caught our breath, we descended to the common room and were met by Kouroush. After he greeted us and we told him a little of our adventures, he told us he'd recently become acquainted with someone who used to belong to the Black Flame cult. I think I've mentioned them before. They've been troubling us ever since we disturbed the Kali cultists in Ket, and they were responsible for Illtud's death.

We believe these cultists have something known as the Flame, one of the four objects we need to complete the quest from Varian's prophecy. The Rock and the kokobu egg are two of the other items. Each of the items is related to one of the four archomentals. The Rock obviously represents earth and the egg is the token of air.

It amazes me when I recall that we went to the Plane of Air only as a result of meeting Varian on the road a few weeks ago.

Kouroush has arranged for us to meet with this ex-cultist in a few days. In the meanwhile, we've been reunited with our missing companions. I left my dogs behind with Shishir's wife and daughter and Thor's beloved Beaker while we visited the Plane of Air.

It was a joy to feel Rahon's fur under my hand again and cuddle Morwen in my arms. As much as I enjoyed taking bird form, I'm glad to be back in a place where there is more solid ground.

We met with Nadereh, Xymos's confederate who took Pheretimma's bottle to the Plane of Air. We had to return the ring of flight that Xymos lent us. Nadereh wants to purchase our flying carpet. Since Xymos's organization is not exactly seen favorably by most of the citizens here, Nadereh can't be seen openly shopping for a flying carpet. I don't care what is done with it now that I can assume bird form easily.

After we finished our other business, we decided to visit the Caliph's menagerie and check on the couatl. At the menagerie we met a young man called Aziz, who serves the old priest Kianeous whom we'd met there previously. Aziz arranged for us to see Kianeous and show him the kokobu egg we'd recovered.

The old priest is absolutely convinced that the couatl and the kokobu egg are part of the fulfillment of the prophecy. Naturally Kianeous was very excited to see the egg. Erasyne discovered that the egg could be opened. Inside is a small golden statue of a couatl with two heads, which lends credence to Kianeous's beliefs. He's also certain that the couatl in the menagerie is the "Perfect One", which can use the four objects to fend off some great evil and restore the balance between the good and evil elemental princes.

Kianeous explained to us what the imagery on the outside of the egg means. It all has to do with the elemental princes and the Perfect One. This encouraged us to pursue the Black Flame cultists, although Kianeous seemed a little confused as to why we think they've got anything to do with our quest. We haven't told him everything, though, so I suppose I can't blame him for being confused. You're probably confused, too. When I see you next I'll have to explain it all to you in detail.

Kianeous still wants to free the couatl, as do we. We're considering returning the reward the Sultan presented to us for the minotaur's head, in exchange for his releasing the couatl. Since his neighboring countries are currently at war with one another over the bit of land once occupied by the minotaur, we hope the Sultan will find the offer of funds enticing. But we want to try to retrieve the Flame first so that we can leave the city in company with the couatl when it is freed.

I wish we knew the creature's name. I recall that such creatures are said to be quite intelligent, though this one hasn't shown much sign of that. I also recall that the little girl, the northern princess, claimed she knew its name. But in childish fashion she wouldn't tell anyone.

Now that we think we can remove the black shard from the couatl without harming it, we hope that it will be able to show us to the temple in Darjiin that is spoken of in the prophecy.

We're on our own until the meeting with the former Flame cultist. Since we're expecting to be traveling into the desert soon in search of the water-associated object from the prophecy, we decided to have some special items made for ourselves. I've heard that some armorers can make enchanted armor that will remain useful while I'm in animal form. I think I'll see if I can obtain a suit of such armor here. It could come in handy.

We’ve also sent my broken spear to be repaired. I don’t recall if I mentioned before, but we’ve discovered that many of our enchanted weapons were made by a wizard called Castanamir, who found a way to combine multiple enchanted items to make an item that has different properties than each of the items demonstrate separately. The spear, when combined with a buckler we’ve also acquired, will form a lance that Varian finds very enticing.

I’ve decided that I may as well let him have the spear, as he’s been pestering me for it since we first discovered what it can do. Humans get so attached to things.

I'll write again after we meet with the Black Flame cultist.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter 48, pt. 1

4th Ready'reat
Zeir-i-Zeif

Dearest brother;

As I told you in my last letter, the innkeeper Kouroush had arranged for us to meet someone who formerly belonged to the Black Flame cult. At the appointed time, Kouroush introduced us to a man named Babak. He seemed to know a little about us after we explained who we are. Someone called Sethis had warned the cult leader about us - we think this Sethis was the assassin who attacked and killed Illtud back in Ket.

Babak told us everything he could about the layout of the cult's lair, which is located in an abandoned manor house. He drew us a simple map of all the areas he's familiar with. He also told us what he knew about the way the Flame is presented to the cult members and how it's kept, though he didn't know much about that. It stays with the cult leader, presumably Kaligos, when it's not being displayed for cult activities.

After saying our thanks to Babak, we decided to go and have a look at the cult's lair, at least to see where it lies. Thor is now able to transform a whole group of people into birds, much to his delight, so he turned everyone else into ravens and we all flew there as a flock.

The cultists hadn't sealed up the house thoroughly and the twins were able to get inside and look around a little. But the cultists are so fearful that they keep a guard on the place at all times. We couldn't look in every room.

There's a statue of St. Cuthbert in the yard near the front entrance. Erasyne claimed she sensed something odd about it when she alit on its' head, but we couldn't investigate it further without drawing the attention of the sentries.

Babak had told us that the cult's next meeting would occur on the next dark of the moons, and we decided to wait until then to make an assault on their lair, in hope that we could wrest the Flame from them at that time. Since it would be another week before the meeting date, we had more time to fill with idle activities.

I had an odd experience with Delna - if you remember, she's the fairy who came to spy on us for the fey queen. I haven't paid her much attention since we fought Bloodfist, nor worried about the Queen's scrying, even though Shishir gave Delna back her scrying device.

Delna came into my room one afternoon while I was looking over the odds and ends I've gathered in hope of one day creating a bogun. Before I could stop her she crawled into my pack and pulled out the twig token the Lord of the Green gave me. Then she ran off to the twins' rooms and took their tokens as well, the cord ring and the acorn.

When she put all the tokens before me, she told me she thought if I incorporated them in the making of the bogun it might do something unusual. Being a fairy, of course she couldn't say just what she thought would happen.

I haven't been able to complete the ceremony, partly for lack of time and partly because I haven't quite all the knowledge I need to perform the ritual. Delna seems to think that using the fey tokens would make that special knowledge unnecessary. Ordinarily I wouldn't give much weight to the claims of a fairy, but I've given it some consideration and I think she may actually be right.

I spoke with the twins at dinner that evening, apologizing for Delna taking their items without their leave. They've both given me their blessing to go ahead and try using the tokens. If the ritual doesn't succeed I'll return their tokens to them; I don't think the objects will be harmed if the ritual fails. But I'm still not sure when I'll have the time to perform on the ritual.

The gods have been with us - all of our special items were finished before the date of our visit to the cult lair. I look forward to trying out my new armor. Thor has purchased a charm that can prevent the use of certain teleportation magics. I've never seen Kaligos myself, but Thor thinks he has, and the man escaped by use of such magics.

At the appointed date we made our way to the cult lair a short while before dusk. Varian kept complaining that we hadn't planned our assault well enough. I think he forgets we're not soldiers.

Thor shaped everyone into owls and I took my large owl shape as well. Then we perched on the crumbling stables to watch as the cultists arrived for the meeting.

Thor kept up a running chatter for us, as he was the only one who could communicate with everyone while in bird form. The cultists had two dogs in a small gatehouse, which he realized weren't ordinary dogs at all but hellhounds! After a bit we began to have the sense that our attack was anticipated.

Then someone alit on the statue of St. Cuthbert and it behaved oddly again. Its eyes reportedly glowed and it emanated a sensation of warmth, though I never experienced any of that myself. Ninad also claimed he saw an image of the saint in a window of the house. Thinking it might be some kind of blessing, he passed along that information to the rest of us through Thor.

I didn't think a whole group of owls swooping down to sit on a statue's head would look quite right, so I declined to try it myself - and in any case, I was larger than everyone else and would have been more obvious.

As more cultists entered the house, we all flew through an open window into the upper story and Thor returned us to our natural forms. Thinking protection from fire would be a good idea among the cult of the Black Flame, I cloaked us all in a protection from fire.

I wish I'd had the forethought to realize the cultists would have protection from fire, too.

Erasyne opened the first door and we found several armed men waiting at the foot of the stairs. We took them by surprise, though - they hadn't expected us to come from above. Thor transformed himself, Varian and I into birds again so we could get behind the men. Once that transformation was over, I shaped myself into a tiger. I've wanted to do that ever since I saw one up close weeks ago.

I had hoped that the sight of an armored tiger would be enough to scare off a few of our foes, but I guess they felt safe with their greater numbers. I'd underestimated how big a tiger is and found that I filled up the narrow corridor. I couldn't do much in the tight space. But after snarling and snapping at one of the men, I worked my way out into a wider passage.

Shishir came bounding down the stairs, avoiding the guards as if they didn't exist, and went haring off down the passageway after one man who fled. I decided to follow him.
-----------------------------
To be continued...