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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jfdlsjfd" data-source="post: 9610778" data-attributes="member: 42856">The cyclops falls, slowly turning into a greenish foam.We release the old man, who informs us the creature ate his 23 companions and he was the last on the list. In a two page section of expositional text, we learn that he comes from a monastery north of Kurland (not-Germany), that he is the abbot of the community there, that he has a divine mission to plant a seed of hope for the world post-Armaggedon (that is happening on year 1,000 with the coming back of the True Magi), unfortunately, the seed was stolen by a wizard from a sect in Opalar (not India, IIRC, or maybe not-Persia) they had a brother who was a converted heathen wizard who offered to cast a gate spell, but fumbled and instead of arriving in Opalar they got stuck here.We offer the abbot a ride on our Ta'ashim demon, the djinni. After his obligatory heart attack, we try to convince us he'll be better able to travel to Opalar from Hakbad than from... (all while the Djinni keeps a comically polite and deferent tone when talking to "the Lord Abbot") this place in the middle of the sea, with a very bad reputation.Since it was still guarded by Sahak'natur's cyclop, it is a safe bet to say that this place was unlooted before, I get the feeling we're missing something there. We're asked if we have a golden mirror, and we have (duh! we used it earlier). He notices it. As usual, we're carrying all our stuff in the open, as if we didn't have haversacks but small peddlar's stalls... He shows us a vision in it, telling he is adept at using divination devices. Which contrary to the Gate spell, are totally kosher and not heathen at all. He shows us a serpent, a tree, and say that they are symbols of life, and that they are linked to a sword. It is somehow supposed to be a usuful vision, since he deduces it to be linked to our quest. Out of gratitude, we let him keep the golden mirror.The book actually has the gall to tell us that it would be a jerk, sorry, an "ungenerous" move to keep it when we don't know how to use it and he does.Despite, well, having established in numerous occasion that we are totally ungenerous -- we whipped a slave no earlier than two days ago for showing us a room, as he was instructed by his master, that we deemed beneath our station -- and well, an item with little value for us can still be sold for a high price to someone who get high value from it, that's not ungenerous, that's how the economy works. The farmer has an excess of wheat, the miller has a mill and no wheat, they both exchange to get flour they value more...Anyway, I am appeased... we're told later that "we can ask him for the mirror back if we really want."Sigh.Then we're asked how many wishes we have left. If we had had two left, we could have moved to the Magian sect stronghold, recover the seed and get back. If we had none left, we could have witnessed a funny scene where the abbot try to convince the djinni to help, because if the seed of Hope isn't planted before Armaggedon, the next world will be worse than this one. Which doesn't convince the Djinni, who reminds him that (1) he isn't a Ta'ashim demon since he was already stuck in the bottle when the Ta'ashim religion was started (2) it isn't possible that the next world will be worse than the current one, where he passed 70% of the time stuck in a bottle.As we only have on wish left, we must leave. The abbot understands that we don't want a one-way ticket to Opalar and waves us goodbye, saying that he'll use the gate back to his monastery and assemble another team of heroes to get his seed back.With the feeling that we missed something, we resume our travel on Air Djinni to Hakbad.As we close, we realize it is not-Baghdad, founded on two rivers, a marvel of one million inhabitants... We use our last wish to enhance Trixie the same way (as expected, the book has forgotten that we did use a wish and doesn't forbid us for retaking one we already took) we did to Esmeralda. +1 to all  stats, except HP +10. Then we proceed to 432.[OK, I'll explore the alternate timeline where we do have two wishes left in the next installment... It holds a strong moral lessons for the reader.]</blockquote>

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