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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2118215" data-attributes="member: 1210">Riding the Whale6/11/369 O.L.G., at seaOur heroes meet up with Weeweerinwee the whale at the appointed time, spotting him by his blowhole.  After some banter with him, he reveals that he’s actually a she.  Whoops. How’s a halfling to know?“It’s ooooookaaaaaay,” the whale says, “I can’t teeellll about yooooouuu eiiiiither.”The party spent several days constructing a harness that will slip over the whale’s body and fit over her flukes.  They attach themselves to it and ready themselves for a whale riding experience unlike anything they have ever experienced.  They have food on hand, fresh water and wine- they’re ready.“How long do you suppose this is going to take?” wonders Naomi.“A feeewww daaaaayys,” the whale answers.Then she begins to swim forward.  The vines woven into lines holding our heroes fast behind the whale grow taut and our heroes are pulled through the water.  At first it’s fun; but after an hour it’s brutal.  The party gasps for breath as the whale moves quickly through the water just below the surface.  The bump along the surface, constantly battered by waves.  By the time they’ve been out for a day, all of them have sunburns.  They have also discovered how hard it is to eat when moving through the water.  Federico tries to keep their spirits up by cracking jokes, but the little kobold can only go so far. The grueling journey lasts three days and two nights.  By the time it’s nearly over, our heroes are ready for it to have been over for a long time.  It’s incredibly hard on them, leaving them all fatigued and groaning.  When Weeweerinwee explains that they have to swim the last little way ashore- it’s too dangerous for her to go closer to shore or to approach a boat- they have a nice big taste of despair.  But they can see the beach- they’re so close!  Timothy casts fly on himself and Thelonious, who carries Beau and pulls Naomi with a rope.  The more fit Martini and Jawbreaker swim in, though at the end Martini nearly flounders, and Thelonious makes an unseen, half-hearted attempt to take the helmet from him.  But he lets the opportunity pass as Martini recovers and finishes his journey to shore.Gasping, exhausted, our heroes stumble up the beach past the high tide mark and collapse behind a sandy embankment.  It’s late morning; when they wake up it’s evening.  They build a fire and cook a meal, then plan to rest and finish drying out.  Tomorrow they will set out and look for civilization. But in the night, Beau notices a distant scarlet glow coming closer.  Pointing it out to his friends, he wonders what it is.  Whatever it is is approaching.A voice booms out of the darkness before them.  ”BOW BEFORE DHALI!!” it shrieks.  “Uh-oh,” says Timothy.Striding forward is what seems to be some sort of living volcano.Next Time: On Dyshim, our heroes face a living volcano!  Get a little better idea of where they are next time as they look around and find out more themselves!</blockquote>

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