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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BoldItalic" data-source="post: 7209100" data-attributes="member: 6777052">It was ......... being tended by a strange creature, the like of which Tasha had never seen before. It was vaguely humanoid, in the sense that it had arms and legs and a head in roughly the right places, and vaguely reptilian in the sense that it had green scaly skin, a pointed snout and a thick, muscular tail. But it was about 15 feet tall and heavily built and it definitely didn't have wings.It looked up as she cautiously approached, and called out to her in impeccable common. "Come on in. You must be from the shipwreck. Welcome to the Isle of No Return. That's what I call it, anyway. My name is Overweight and I am, like you, a survivor of a shipwreck on these shores.""I'm Tasha. My four companions have been overcome by a mysterious slumber. Do you know how I can wake them?"Have they been eating the bait-food? If so, that is bad. It is very dangerous. It is exuded by a psychic fungus that is native to this island. The exudation takes on the shape of whatever the victims most desire to eat but once inside them is starts to grow into the body tissues until the victim eventually explodes and spreads the fungal spores into the wind. It is a horrible way to go.""Can it be halted? I left them down on the beach. I didn't want to leave them but I needed to find help.""If it is not too late, I may be able to cure them. Can you bring them here? I will need to prepare an antifungal broth and we must force it down them. I must warn you, though, every minute counts and it may already be too late."So Tasha toiled to and fro to the beach, carrying her inert companions up to the cave while Overweight busied himself with boiling up a noxious brew in a large cauldron. They tried it on Inannyunot first. It was risky, getting broth into an unconscious man without choking him but Overweight seemed to know what to do. After a few minutes, Inannyunot went red in the face and belched out a great quantity of black bile which smouldered where it fell. "That is good," said Overweight re-assuringly. "Quickly, let us treat the other three the same way."While they waited to see if anyone would survive the treatment, Tasha asked Overweight about the island. She learnt that is was habitable, with freshwater springs, and there was food if you knew what to eat and what to avoid, but there were dangers, of which the bait-fungus was one of the least deadly."I lost my magic halberd in the shipwreck," Tasha confided. "It's probably buried on the seabed somewhere. If the wizard survives he may be able to locate if for me, using a special spell that he knows. Then I could maybe dive down and get it. It summons dragons. I may be able ask a dragon to carry us away from this island."Overweight was surprisingly negative about that scheme. "You'll never find it," he asserted forcefully, "No dragon will help you. You cannot leave this island." It was hard to read expression into the lizard-like face and the emotionless eyes, but Tasha thought she detected a hint of hostility as he said that. She began to regret letting him treat the others, but what choice did she have?After a while, the four victims started to come round. But .....</blockquote>

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