Game Log 23

## Game Log 23: Are those metal pants or are you happy to see me?

"I want to get bigger," Mankar said with a serious look on his face.

Mantis blinked, thought about the size difference between their leader and Aud, then shook his head. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Who would you ride? I mean, what! What would you ride!"

"No, not like that!" The big man struggled to put his thoughts into words. "You remember the gods on our heroquests? They were above mortals in all ways, including size! But we are still mortal and have to bridge the gap carefully. What I want is the ability to be big in all ways except for, ummm, bigness."

"Hmmm. There are spells that will do that, I think."

"No, that won't work. I want this to be permanent... inherent. Or even just switchable. I can be my regular size except when important and then change when needed." He flexed his arm. "I'm feeling constrained by the limits of my body. We need more strength, more everything for the challenges ahead!"

"I'll look into it." He worked hard to dispel a vision of an even larger Mankar and Aud together. *Poor woman!* he thought.

After some research by Mantis and Astra, they found several useful legends, most revolving around Orlin-Ma: the largest and stupidest of the Thunder Brothers. The stories were all somewhat similar mostly differing in how stupid Orlin-Ma was and who he happened to betray in his quest. The main theme was that he wanted to the leave the storm tribe to join the dragon tribe because he was so very stupid. In some stories, he convinces a dragon to eat giant children who trusted him, in others he himself was eaten by the dragon but rescued by Kolat or Challana Arroy.

Listening to all these version, Mankar was less than pleased with the options. "So I can become stupider, permanently, sacrifice wind spirits or eat dragons and/or giants?"

The shaman shrugged. "They are just paths and we can follow them or not."

"For now... not. But you said something interesting about your tattoos and spirits. We are facing so many enemies now that I can hardly afford to weaken my mental defenses but that means I can't use any magic! I think a bound spirit or two might be necessary."

"That's no problem. An appropriate tattoo can easily contain a spirit or two. If the proper image is chosen, there can even be other meritorious effects."

"I have this idea..."

Several hours later, Mantis finished up the tattoo on Mankar's back. Since the big man scoffed at the idea of rest breaks for something as simple as pain, the art had been completed quickly and well.

"How is it?"

"Good! I did, if I may be so bold, an excellent job of capturing the likeness. With this tattoo, spirits will have a very hard time resisting being bound."

"That was the idea!" He laughed boomingly as he put on his shirt.

The image of Candle-Eyed Jack seemed to wink at the shaman before it was covered... or that might have just been his imagination.

The Firstborn (less Ryala who was on a Babeester Gor vengeance quest) sat around the stone table that Mantis had made for important meetings. Mankar knocked on the table and, perhaps surprisingly, there was a distinct rapping sound one wouldn't expect.

He did hit rather hard.

"We'll be going on our extended heroquest soon, so it's best we complete any quests or projects before we go. As it is, Ryala and I haven't gotten our rewards from Dwarf Run and we have some trade goods they would likely be interested in. Rumor has it that there are many wonders there and we need to grasp every opportunity to get stronger."

"One can get too strong," Aud said quietly.

Mankar grinned. "That's only in theory. Right now the only paths are 'strong enough' and 'not strong enough'. I know which path we should seek!"

Astra nodded in agreement. "Let's be off then. I'm curious to see if the fabled Dwarf Run is equal to its rumors!"

Two days later, the party (minus Ryala) arrived in the region near the run. Mantis's eye twitched a bit and he seemed to be trying to breathe out and in at the same time. "The spirits say we should get there tomorrow barring any unforeseen circumstances."

Mankar grunted, "You foresee things and I'll deal with any circumstances!"

As they got ready to sleep for the night, 'circumstances' raced toward them in the form of sinuous figures speeding through the air like ribbons caught in a malevolent hurricane! With supernatural speed, the creatures pierced the tents and bedding with sharp teeth and claws of wind!

Astra shouted a warning and shot beams of fire at the monsters. In the light of her flames, she could see that they looked like flying furry snakes with the faces of foxes. Contemptuously, they twisted and their bodies avoid the attack with ease.

Mankar grabbed two of them biting him and was about to break their necks when his eyes glazed over. He managed to stammer out, "P-poison" before collapsing on the ground, twitching. He efforts were not for naught, though, because this allowed Astra to blast one still caught in his hand.

Alerted, Mantis rolled to his feet and shouted, "Rocky, get them!" Two planes of earth sprang from the ground and clapped two of the beasts with a thunderous crash! Their bodies dissolved on contact with the elemental energies and the others fled immediately as they recognized their nemesis.

Aud moved to Mankar and touched his chest, chanting quickly. As if squeezed, Mankar turned red and toxins literally exploded out from his body before they could paralyze his breathing. He retched and then coughed before he could speak normally.

"First, thank you, love. Second, I swear, one day, I'm going to skin those bastards alive and turn them into a pillow!"

Mantis said mildly, "I think they are an aspect of elemental air and would be hard to either skin or, having been skinned, to keep their hides trapped and intact."

He waved off the shaman, "You handle the details when the time comes."

"...of course."

Finally arriving at the area near Dwarf Run, Astra was complaining. "How did that fool shaman manage to sell HIMSELF? To Lunars!"

Aud tried to pacify her. "What's done is done and he should be somewhere in the Run ahead of us. He's clever... I'm sure he'll do fine. BE fine. Yes, he'll BE fine!"

Mankar flipped a golden wheel before putting it back in his pouch. "Ten lunars isn't bad, either."

"Whatever. Let's finish this before something else happens."

After careful investigation (and several near-encounters with lethal dwarven automatons), a tattered air spirit floated by and announced loudly. "The shaman is safe and at the Iluria temple!"

Astra tried to question the creature but it just fled as if in fear for its existence. "Useless thing. And the second half of the message was entirely unnecessary."

Mankar rubbed his chin. "Still, the intent is clear! There was no warning given so I imagine we can just walk in normally rather than skulking about." He walked boldly down the road, followed by the two women. As predicted entry was as simple as paying only a mildly outrageous entry fee. Likewise, finding Mantis was equally easy as he was enjoying himself at the Iluria "Temple" (which turned out to be several wagons).

"What's the situation?" Mankar asked without preamble.

"We can talk to the head dwarf tomorrow morning. First come, first served. Since it's getting dark, I've arranged for lodging for the night."

Astra asked, "Where? I didn't see any buildings or inns."

"Here of course, where else?"

The sizeable wagons had plenty of room for the group with the only disturbance being Ilurians trying to sell 'extra services' to make the night pass quicker... to no avail. One was heard to mumble, "First time I've been paid for getting OUT of bed!"

Her sister-acolyte laughed, "There's plenty of room with the shaman... let's go there!"

After a restless night, Astra found herself waiting in the line to see the head Dwarf. Dawn was still a ways off but she felt more comfortable out here than in the Ilurian wagons. A persistent priestess kept 'accidentally' getting into her bed and undressing with a sleepy (though sultry!) look in her eyes.

Standing outside in the chilly pre-dawn air seemed much more restful!

As she was congratulating herself on her wisdom in coming early, a huge man (though a bit smaller than Mankar) came behind her. "One side, woman, I will be first!"

"You'll just have to wait then," she retorted primly.

The man, obviously not used to be contradicted, "You dare to challenge me?!" He seemed to be working himself up to attacking someone half his size, and female.

Astra, no fool, saw this where this was going. As his head of steam reached the peak, she held out her hand and said, "Pay me."

"Eh?" He deflated a bit with shock. "What was that?"

"I was here first, but you seem to be in a hurry. I'll let you buy my spot."

"That... is acceptable." He handed the diminutive scholar a handful of gold coins and she willingly moved back while she slipped the currency in one of the many pockets of her cloak. Astra was quite satisfied with the transaction. Second was nearly as good as first and brains defeated brawn yet again.

As they waited, another arrival drew close. A woman on a palanquin carried by two servants came up haughtily. The lead bearer shouted, "Make way for the lady!"

Astra tilted her head and, in her estimation, the woman would be less amenable to reason that the previous man. She pointed at the big man. "If you want the first position, talk to him."

"You dare to challenge me!?" he shouted immediately leading Astra to wonder whether he only had a limited vocabulary of stock phrases.

Almost immediately, a short melee broke out leading to several palanquin bearers dying and the big warrior sidelined with a massive wound. The snobby woman looked quite put out in that she had to actually walk but she took her place at the head of the line, ignoring both the big man and her own dead/injured servants.

Astra almost clucked her tongue... she had hoped that the two sides would take each other out so that she could be first or second again. Still, third wasn't bad and she didn't have to exert any effort at all.

With several other line changes, and the arrival of the rest of the heroes, they finally got close to speaking to the 'dwarf' that had come out of the hall. Though dwarf in name and parentage, he was significantly larger than Mankar! The person just ahead of them had just bought a very, very large magically cannon. The Malkioni rubbed his hands together with glee. "With this I, Karnak the Carellian, with take down the Pharaoh's great wall and destroy his empire!" His servants hooked up animals to the cannon and began to drag it off. "Remember my name when the Pharaoh is no more, ha ha ha ha ha!"

Aud looked puzzled, "This Pharaoh... is he important?"

Astra nodded, "You could say that. He's one of the people that has successfully resisted the encroachment of the Red Moon for many years."

"So, this Karnak's motives aside, it would be good if the Pharaoh got some warning of this, eh?" Mankar appeared thoughtful. "A reward might even be in the offing, if we do this right. There is no enmity between Orlanth and the Pharaoh and good allies are better than gold. Either way, we win, eh?"

After that, they had their own turn with the Dwarf. What followed was the most blatant attempt at lying, cheating, ill-dealing and outright chicanery they had ever experienced. Every loophole was found (or created through blatant misinterpretation) and ruthlessly exploited. It was only through spending much more than they wanted (several steel gears) that they barely got in their order for the steel boots that were owed them and, as a 'bonus', access to the pants worn by Orlanth's largest (and stupidest) son.

The dwarf servant pointed at the pants which were far, far too small to wear. "There they are. You have exactly 3.3 hours of use or additional charges will apply."

The shaman looked at them and pulled out a bottle of mushroom wine. "Let's get started!"

Mankar held up hands. "No. Just... no. I think ecstatic dances in honor of Orlanth more appropriate and less messy." There was fervent agreement from the women and after some effort (and more than a few literal missteps), they entered the Godplane.