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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sagiro" data-source="post: 58931" data-attributes="member: 726">Thanks for the bumps!  I've been doing other things when I clearly should have been working on the Story Hour. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  I just wrote up the first section of the last run; there's more, but that will have to come later.  -SagiroSagiro’s Story Hour, Part 138aWednesday, July 17The Company heads back to the Moonspell.  Morningstar desperately needs sleep, but before she hits the sack, she sends a sending to Grey Wolf back in the Greenhouse, giving  him a brief recap, and asking him to see if he can learn anything about a "Divination Sink."  Grey Wolf reports back that things have been quiet in the Greenhouse, and that his studies continue apace.A few minutes after the Sending, there is a knock on Grey Wolf’s door.  Skorg is there with a big grin on his face.  "Lunchtime!" he says brightly.  Grey Wolf can detect an unpleasant odor coming from the kitchen.  Skorg rouses Kibi as well.  "Come on!  You wizardy types need to eat sometime, to keep up your strength."In the dining room the table is set with plates containing some sort of black oozy substance.  A questionable smell wafts from the plates.  Eddings is already seated, trying not to look disgusted.  "Black lizard pie!" announces Skorg proudly.   "I made it from scratch myself.  I had the Icebox deliver a brace of fresh black lizards, and used some of Ernie’s spices to give the pie extra flavor.""I suggest the spices," Eddings offers helpfully.  "Lots of spices."Kibi and Grey Wolf sit, their noses wrinkling uncontrollably.  Skorg starts wolfing down forkfuls of pie.  Eddings pushes his food around with his fork without enthusiasm.  And then the Greenhouse vanishes.   Grey Wolf feels a lurching in his stomach, and the constant feeling of churning semi-nausea is replaced by a different sort of discomfort.  Now it feels like a deep vibration, like a buzzer is going off in his innards.  After a second of disorientation, the four of them look around and see that they are in deep, deep trouble.It is night.  They are outdoors, on a vast plain, in the midst of an army.   All around them are tents, campfires, and the sounds of an army camp at night.  They can hear grunts, clanks, voices, horses, the crackling of torches.  The air is filled with the aromas of sweat, urine and gruel that follow large armies wherever they go.  They are all still in their chairs, forks in hand.   Eddings looks around slowly.  "I, uh, don't suppose this is something you have done on purpose?" he whispers.None of them move.  Fortunately they have appeared in a small pocket of empty space, out of the direct light of any fires, and a good 40 feet from the nearest tent.  But they are clearly in the midst of the camp, and not at its edge, and there are several patrols of soldiers with torches.  One of these is moving in their general direction.  Kibi and Grey Wolf are unarmed, and have none of their magical items.  But both of the wizards wear their component pouches as a matter of course, and their heads are full of spells that have gone unused for the last few days.They have a quick, whispered debate about what to do.  If they cast spells, they’ll be heard.  If the try to sneak away, they’ll probably be spotted.  If they stay where they are, they’ll be found by the roving guards in under 30 seconds.  Skorg whispers, "oh god, we’re going to die, we’re going to die, we’re going to…" but he is shut up by the others.  Finally they decide they have to risk spells if they are going to escape.  Kibi and Grey Wolf start casting spells – haste, fly and invisibility.  Nearby guards immediately hear the sounds of spell-casting, and move quickly to investigate, barking in an unfamiliar tongue.   Just as they get close enough to see those of the four who aren’t yet invisible, Kibi and Grey Wolf fly straight up.  Eddings is clinging to Kibi’s back, while Skorg clutches Grey Wolf.  The guards shout, point upward, and that section of the camp erupts with activity.  Arrows whistle upwards, but none of them find their mark, and soon they aren’t making up as high as the flying wizards.  Eddings is taking all of this in stride, but Skorg is terrified, squirming and clutching at Grey Wolf in an effort not to fall.  "I’m scared of heights!" he whimpers.  "Then don’t look down," Grey Wolf advises.   Of course, Skorg instinctively looks down and becomes even more terrified.  Kibi thinks that it’s a good thing it’s not him carrying Skorg, or there would likely be a "terrible accident" involving a plummeting orc.  As they hang there in the air, pondering what to do next, three magic missiles come streaking out of the night sky below them and strike true… upon Eddings!  (Kibi is invisible, but Eddings is not.)  Eddings lets out a groan of pain, and they realize that a flying wizard must be pursuing them.  They fly away at top speed; Kibi, hasted, tries to cast fly on Eddings as well, but it proves too hard for him to cast with someone holding on to him for dear life.   Another set of magic missiles shoots out of the darkness, again striking Eddings.  The butler goes unconscious, and Kibi just manages to grab hold of him before he falls down into the army camp.  Grey Wolf finally spots their attacker, tells Skorg to hold on, and manages to Concentrate well enough to launch a lightning bolt at the enemy mage.  The stroke of electricity strikes true, and its target falls out of the sky, trailing a line of smoke. "We’ve got to get heal Eddings!" Kibi cries.  "Or he’s going to die!"And then the army disappears, and it’s late morning, and they are flying out over the bay above Tal Hae.  The buzzing in Grey Wolf’s gut is replaced by the more familiar churning.  They fly down to the nearest dock, and Grey Wolf manages to stop Eddings’ bleeding before the butler dies.   The magic missiles have left horrible open wounds upon his skin, and his breathing is still shallow, his face pale.  They fly him slowly over the city to the temple of Yondalla, where the clerics there tend to his wounds.  Soon he walking out under his own power, and the four of them go back to the Greenhouse, which is now out four very nice dining room chairs.…to be continued…</blockquote>

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