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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sniffles" data-source="post: 3621495" data-attributes="member: 30035">Letter #42The 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."</blockquote>

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