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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1134842" data-attributes="member: 8530">Game #2 - 9/14/03Chapter 4, “Into the Mountains,” September 12th, 1019, 3:30 P.M.Alton had been flying for a couple of hours now.   One advantage of his flying above mountains on a warm sunny day is that he had the benefit of hot thermals rising up from below, allowing him to glide with a minimum of effort.   Cassie eventually notices an east-to-west chasm in the mountains below, and signals for him to descend.   The fly parallel the cliffs and ledges of this mountain notch, seeing that the bottom follows a path of what had once been a river, that is now dried out.    They fly lower, seeing that wagon ruts and horse tracks cover the riverbed.  “Makes for a convenient road,” Cassie comments.   “Except for during spring thaw, when it’s probably a raging river,” Alton adds. Seeing no evidence of giant beast tracks, they conclude that the monster hasn’t reached this section yet.    They assume this is the same mountain road that they saw on the map, but also consider that it may be a different road, as not all roadways were depicted on the tapestry.  They decide to head east, exiting the notch and then looking towards the forested lands to the east.    They do not see the monster they are looking for, and continue to fly for several more miles in that direction.   The flying is now much harder on Alton, with the benefit of thermals, and he starts to complain about becoming tired.    Seeing no evidence of either the monster or destroyed settlements, Cassie recommends that they turn back towards the mountains.   She suggests that they go back through the pass and then head west towards Gheldaylin, where they can find the Dragon Stalkers and question them about the beast. Inside the Bag of Holding, Mark is taking a long nap and Purge is meditating.     This particular Bag is large enough to comfortably hold six party members, and temporarily hold up to eight in an emergency.   With only four inside, there is enough oxygen to last for a few hours, perhaps even longer as the ranger and monk are exerting a minimum of energy.    Mojo and Narg however, are becoming quite bored, playing cards to pass the time away.    “Aw crap!” Narg exclaims.   “What?” asks Mojo.   Narg replies, “I forgot to leave behind a note for Vallessa telling her I was going.  She’s going to kill me when we get back.”   Mojo tells his companion, “Calm down.  I’m sure Jerry will get the word out about where we’ve gone.  She’ll certainly understand your being summoned away by the Queen of Phlooredah, since she was once one herself.”  “Shouldn’t we have gotten to where going by now?   How long have we been in here?” Narg asks.   Mojo glances at his wristwatch, a souvenir from a 20th Century world he once spent some time on, and says “We’re going on three hours now.”  Narg exclaims, “Geez, how long does it take those guys to find a hundred foot tall lizard?”   As if on cue, the top of the Bag of Holding opens up, letting them glimpse out through the dimensional opening.   They see Cassie on the other side, with mountains and clear blue sky in the background.   “Well, it’s about time!  Let me out of here!”  Narg exclaims.   Cassie says through he opening, “Stay put.  We’re only stopping for a few minutes so that Alton to rest his wings.   I just opened this up to let in some fresh air.”   “What’s taking so long?” Narg calls out.   Cassie replies, “Either this is the wrong road or the monster hasn’t reached here yet.   We’re going to head to that town to check with the Dragon Stalkers.”   Mojo comments, “I don’t know.   Wandering around aimlessly might be better than trying to talk to them.”   Cassie replies “Typical man.  You’d rather waste time than stop to ask for directions.”   The wyvern’s head then passes over the opening, and Alton says inside “I just flew in from northern Kralt, and boy are my arms tied.”   Hearing that, both Mojo and Narg say in unison “Shut the bag.”  The Bag is closed up again and Narg tells Mojo “We’ve got to find ourselves some other mode of transportation!”  Alton and Cassie soon reach the western edge of the mountain pass.   The road then turns to the south and slightly west, running parallel the mountains.   Alton flies along the outer edge of the mountains to take advantage of the warmer gusts of air, doing his best to also keep the woodland road within view.   They fly for another hour, covering an estimated fifteen more miles.   A large lake is seen in the distance, situated between the mountains and road.    “I’m beat, let’s stop there,” Alton comments.   Cassie agrees, telling him “You’ve flown a lot farther than Maynard ever has in a single day.”  “He must be smart enough to tell you no,” the druid replies. They land alongside the large L-shaped lake and Cassie dismounts.   She lets the others out of the Bag of Holding as Alton’s wyvern form drinks over twenty gallons of water and then collapses backwards into the lake to cool off.     The four men exit the Bag, and begin to stretch their muscles.   “About bloody time,” Narg comments.   “What are you complaining about?  I’m the one who has been doing all the work,” the wyvern exclaims.    “At least you picked a scenic place to stop,” Mark comments.  Cassie heads over towards some nearby trees and bushes, cutting off branches of types that she knows to be good for a wyvern’s digestive system.    She piles it up near the water, instructing Alton, “Eat up.”  “Eat that?” he replies.  “Just think of it as a wyvern salad,” she answers.   He does as instructed, but thinks that the assorted food that the others are now eating looks much better.  “Hey, how about some of your food?” he yells.   Cassie laughs and says, “Guess again.  In that form you’d eat everything we brought with us and still be hungry.” Narg asks, “Why doesn’t he just change back?”  “Because we’d then have to smell him again,” Mojo comments.    Cassie says, “We may need him to fly some more today.”   “No way, I’m done,” Alton replies.   “I don’t think so,” comments Mark, now standing on the nearby roadway and examining several sets of tracks.    “What did you find?” Purge asks.    Mark replies, “A group of approximately ten horse drawn wagons accompanied by another ten or so mounted riders.  They appear to have traveled past here heading south around an hour ago.”   “Probably refugees from the settlements the monster destroyed.” Cassie comments.  “Could be.  Based on the wagon wheel indentations I’d say they were heavily laden,” the ranger replies.   “Let’s Go!” Narg exclaims.  Cassie glances at the exhausted Alton, and says “Let him eat and rest a while longer.   Alton can fly a lot faster than that caravan, so should be able to catch them quickly enough.”  Narg exclaims. “Forget it.  I spend too much time being stuffed in bags.  Let’s just walk.  I’m sick of sitting around in the bag!”  Cassie says, “Narg.  They have horses.  We’ll never catch up with them by walking.”   Narg turns to Purge and exclaims “Support me on this one.  I know you monks are into walking.”   Purge replies, “I believe that speed is of the essence in this situation, so would have to concur with the others.”   Narg mutters, “What’s the world coming to when even Pajama Boy objects to getting some exercise!”</blockquote>

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