07/17/745 A.E. About noon.
The Efreeti looked at them, waiting for their response, knowing full well the heat in this room that was natural and comfortable for him was quite oppressive to the little humans and it was clearly beginning to bother them. He knew he held all the cards here, except for his promises; even though they were exacted under duress, they were binding. Such power, that bottle held. He frowned while they made up their minds.
Katsumi suggested, quite practically, "We might as well get out of here so we can make our wishes." But Jarmain scolded her for her impetuous actions that had released the Efreeti before they were ready. Thankfully, they were not dead, but only due to the fact the Efreeti apparently was a 'man' of his word.
The Efreeti was tired of waiting. "Surrender the bottle and we may go, Now!" he demanded, with a commanding presence that was almost as oppressive as the heat.
Jarmain wanted to clarify the situation first. "You are bound by your word, and when I return this to you, (motions to bottle) you are bound to return us to the Prime Material Plane to the location from which we came, AND are bound to honor our three wishes. Correct?"
The Efreeti squirmed a bit. It was almost correct. He promised three wishes, but he never said exactly who amongst them would get them. So he simply reiterated, "I will take you all back to the island from whence you all came and grant three wishes. It's as simple as that. I promise." He didn't point out the subtle difference between the two statements, but he wasn't honor-bound to.
Janjit pointed out the flaw in the logic of Jarmain's thinking. "If you have to ask him if he's going to keep his word, it's probably not worth asking, anyway." This was true, for anyone who lied about keeping his word would likely also lie about anything else. Still, they quibbled, hoping not to make a misstep (trying to get home unscathed, or nearly so). Eventually, after a bit more banter along these lines, they agreed and handed over the bottle, that awful thing that had the power to entrap an Efreeti. The Efreeti took it, spoke some archaic language, and the bottle was banished from his realm. He cursed himself for times past, for he had known that bottle was somewhere in the wizard's keeping, ready to do the spellcaster's bidding, but he didn't know where, and he thought killing the mage was enough to take care of that possibility of it being used against him. Apparently, it wasn't. It had taken some time, but that mistake had come back to bite him in the ass. "Damn my shortsighted anger," he thought.
"Hold hands, in a circle, like this." The Efreeti extended his massive hands and took Kat's in the left and Jarmain's in the right, waiting for the others to complete the circle. They did, and a strobing effect of the light is all they could see, its white illumination giving way to a yellowish cast, then gray, darker, ever darker, then total blackness accompanied by an oppressive heat, a quick strobing of white light again, and then they were on the island in front of the yellow sphere, elsewhere in darkness and heat, the sphere, dark heat and sphere, dark heat, eventually stopping the strobe-like effect until finally only the sphere and the room's normal illumination and temperature remained. They were back. "It is done. Now, three wishes, but I give them to the one called Janjit. He may wish for whatever he desires." The Efreeti smiled, his seeds of dissension now clearly planted. He couldn't hurt them, but maybe they would hurt themselves or each other while bickering, and he'd certainly do all he could to twist their words if they were not careful.
Katsumi raises an eyebrow and begins laughing. Janjit gives the Efreeti a curious look, and then Janjit said, "See? I knew being a smart ass would be handy one of these days."
The Efreeti smiled and thought some more. "In fact, I'll give you four wishes, if you others will but kill the one called Jarmain." Oh, he hoped they would do it, for he so desperately wanted to see the death of the one who had trapped him in that bottle and forced this intolerable set of circumstances upon him. Gillmesh growls deep in his chest, displeased with the way things were heading.
Jarmain looked at Janjit and said, "Well, I guess my life is in your hands; my life for one wish, and I am weaponless and out of spells. What shall it be?" Janjit scrutinizes Jarmain closely, as if inspecting some object for value. "Bah, I'd need two wishes to kill you properly, Jarmain," said the thief with a smile.
They all take their discussion downstairs and emerge on the ground level, and the Efreeti continues to float outside alongside of them. Katsumi refills her canteen with Yellow water, as if she had not learned her lesson. Outside, a light, misty rain falls from the sky. The Efreeti sneers at the ruins in disgust, raises his hands, and then the ground begins to shake. After a minute, the tower collapses. The Efreeti just smiles and laughs, as if he had remembered some joke he decided not to share. If there was anything else of value there, it was now thoroughly buried beneath tons of rubble.
Now the Efreeti seemed to dislike the rain. "The rain is not unpleasant, but it is also not the best in the world. Why not use that magic tent you have?" It seemed the Efreeti could 'see' things. This worries them a bit. Unnerved at the source of the suggestion, nevertheless they try out their new tent after the Efreeti assures them it is not a trap (he even promised). The 20-pound package unfolds with 10 minutes' work into a very large pavilion with plenty of room. Entering it, they find it is waterproof, though they expected as much. It also has an unusually durable black silk floor, quite puncture resistant to normal use, though nobody tried to stab it with a sharpened blade or anything to seek its limits. Furthermore, the inside temperature is cooler than the hot, jungle air without. (Later, they discover the tent always maintains a temperature between 65 and 75 degrees (when it's between 0 and 130 outside), unless attacked with exceptional fire or cold.
Next, the Efreeti summons a throne and sits in it, saying, "Just remember, if you wish for too much and it fails, it still counts as a wish. I am not responsible for your failings or your greed, mortals."
Janjit took this in stride. "I had surmised that there were limitations." They begin to discuss their options, each time they ask the Efreeti for information, and he simply smiles and asks, "You WISH to know that?" but they never fall for it, and they continue to struggle with their own assumptions for hours to come. During that time, they learn their new tent has some sort of warding field at the entrance that zaps small creatures (bugs) in blue or violet electrical flashes. It is a rather nice tent, if you're not a bug, nor overly concerned for their welfare.
Janjit asks the Efreeti a question. "I feel discourteous calling you 'Efreeti' all the time." The Efreeti looks at the rogue, sensing he wants power. Will he be careless? "You wish to know my name, is that it?" Jarmain almost screams, "NO! he WANTS to know your name. He doesn't wish it."
"Ah, that. Well, you can call me Zim if you like. Though it is not my Real or True name, it will suffice." Janjit nods, "Zim, it is." Jarmain tells the Efreeti they are not fools so he should quit trying to trick them. The Efreeti glares with burning hatred directed at Jarmain. "What if I gave you two more wishes to kill him?" he asks Janjit? Again, they decline his offer and the Efreeti sits back in his chair and sighs. "He's hardly worth the effort of one, anyway," Zim scoffs at Jarmain.
Janjit looked to Gill. "Gillmesh, you've been rather on the quiet side. Thoughts?" Gillmesh responds, "Same as ye, Ah donea trust em. Tis tempten though nea somthin ta pass over."
Janjit hits upon one of his deep desires. "Aha. This is a very thiefly wish . . . I'm thinking of invisibility and inaudibility, a ring to help me slink around." Jarmain asks for something the party could use, "How about a Rod of Identify? It would be useful." Katsumi make her desires known. "The only other Magical Item I can think of is the 'Kometto des Faia Ken, a Magical katana I once saw."
Janjit finally makes his first wish. "I wish for a ring of improved invisibility and inaudibility, continuously active, not limited by charges or uses per day or any similar constraints."
Zim considered the wish. "Ah, such a ring. Powerful. Tricky. Very Tricky," he says, pondering the request. "Very well. But I warn you, it may not work, or it may simply bring one of lesser quality. The confluences of the ether will decide - not me." The Efreeti speaks in that archaic language of his, and a ring does appear. "Hmmm." The Efreeti looks at it, smiles, then gives it to Janjit. "Here you go, such as it is."
Janjit quickly asked, "It worked? I got my wish?" Zim quickly responded: "You wish to know how well it worked, eh?" Again, there is an uproar within the party members so Janjit doesn't mindlessly reply in the affirmative. So again, the Efreeti is stopped short of his malevolent tricks. Sigh.
Testing it, he later concludes the ring is a ring of invisibility only, but he seems happy with that.
Again, Janjit wishes, making his second wish. "I wish for a magical rod which identifies magic items, usable once per day."
Zim considered it. "A Rod of Identification. Tricky. Hmmm." He speaks the archaic words and a WAND does appear; he examines it, and then hands it to Janjit. "This may do, but things are not always as they seem. This one was trickier than the last. The further I must reach out into the shadows, the harder the wish, and the less likely anything good will result. Such an item is not usual, but this one may do. Ah, it is a charged item. Well, it does have 100 charges, but you can use it as often as you wish in day, until you either break the wand or use all the charges; then it will crumble to dust. Them's the breaks," he says, laughing at the mortals.
Janjit scoffs. "No matter what we wish for, Zim will try to twist it." Zim objected. "Please, I'm hurt you think so little of me. I'll bet you wish you had never gotten yourself into this mess in the first place? Hmmm?" Jarmain glares at Efreeti. "STOP IT!!!"
Zim asks Janjit, "How about a ring of seduction? You can have all the woman you'd ever want with that. Even this one, this Katsumi, you could have her anytime you wanted. You could have her anyway you wanted. How about it?" Garren simply glares at the Efreeti, but Katsumi just giggles. Again, they decline his offer.
Janjit paces the silken floor. "Do you know where to find a magical katana?" Zim thinks about it, a far off stare. "Yes, but perhaps not the one she wants, or as powerful as she'd like. Do you wish to have it? Yes, a certain amount of luck is always involved. These shadows are ever-shifting, so you'll get what you'll get, but you must make a wish. It is usually better just to wish for the best one handy rather than try for very specific things." The Efreeti seemed to actually be helpful. Odd.
Janjit makes his third wish. "I wish for a magical katana of the greatest possible power that can be gained by the wishing."
Zim chuckles. "Very well." He speaks the archaic words, a burst of flames shoots at him and he cringes in surprise but grabs a katana out of no where. "Hey!" is all he says, and then he looks at the sword, and then hands it to Janjit. Zim stands up and the throne disappears.
Janjit smiles at the katana, apparently happy. "It's been good doing business with you, Zim."
Zim now seems angrier. "Mortals, I will take my leave of you. Be warned, if you ever set foot in the City of Brass, I will take that as an attack, and then I will not hesitate to kill you all." With that, the Efreeti disappears in strobing flashes.
They go to the Dakon village to retrieve Jarmain's weapons, figuring the shaman might have taken them since he was no where to be seen, and not one to leave useful items laying around. There is a minor celebration that they are alive and the evil pool of yellow water is now destroyed. Thinking the great cats will return to their normal status, all seems well. They bid their farewells and depart for the Augustine, still concerned as to what may have happened to Trekken and Sedoc.
Inside the village, Garren had used the wand of identification on itself as well as many other magic items they picked up along the way.
(This wand will give rapidly the results similar to a mage's Identification spell. Only one charge is expended if a mage uses it, 2 charges for clerics, and 3 charges for non-spell casters.)
The katana is a +2 weapon with abilities. The possessor is immune to fear (like spell, dragon aura, stuff like that), the possessor (attuned, actually, since you have to carry it for awhile before any of this will work) has minor empathy; the sword must be within 20 feet of the attuned for his function to work. A dual function, you can have Storm Giant Strength but pay for it with 1 HP (a permanent loss that cannot be regained or healed by anything short of a Wish spell) each time you use it. The strength will last one day only, but the HP loss is forever and no normal or magical curing will restore it. Katsumi Yuriko holds her sword up and names it Zantetsuken.
The cloak with silver trim adds 10% to Hide In Shadows and is a +2 Cloak Of Protection. The chainmail is +2 Chainmail. The potion is HASTE (they later give to captain Tracy), the powder is Healing; when mixed with water, it has a shelf life of one week, and it takes 2 rounds to mix properly, but can be imbibed on third round), and it cures 3d8. They have 12 doses. The wand of ID has 94 charges left.
The repairs to the Augustine are on schedule, and they learn the grim fate of Trekken from Sedoc. Some black, shadowy creature attacked them from the sea's depths. It smashed the boat. They fought it, but Trekken was dragged under the water when he rescued two of the crewmen from a similar fate. Alas, he did not do so well himself. Sedoc laments, "There was nothing I could do. With the dinghy smashed, all I could do was get the other crewmen back to the Augustine and wait for you. I'm glad you are all right." Janjit puts a hand on Sedoc's shoulder and offers consolation to his friend.
They all bed down for the night, healing, praying, thankful nothing else seems to be getting in their face. The evening passes.
07/18/745 A.E.
The repairs were completed the following morning. The captain floated the Augustine off the sandbar; then they loaded the cargo, and once again made for the high seas. The Asian Gulf should be only two days hence.
Kat spends the rest of her time in her cabin, in mourning, for she had traveled with Trek for nearly a year before they joined this bunch of adventurers. They were not the best friends in the world, but they did like each other, and she felt deeply sad that he had lost his life, and his body was beyond recovery. Had they known, she would have wished for his life, or at least his body to be returned to them. But they hadn't known. She would perhaps think of Trekken, though, every time she drew her blade.
Jarmain finds captain Tracy and speaks to him, "Well captain, I'm terribly sorry for the loss of your crewman on the voyage, and yet even more sorry that we didn't encounter those Pirates." Captain Tracy seems to understand but says, "I don't think there were ever any pirates there, Jarmain. The serpent seems to have been the cause of the missing vessels. It would have been the cause of the Augustine's mysterious disappearance, had it not been for you and your group of friends. Aye, the bill for the specialists aboard her will be one the empire will gladly pay. So, I think the Augustine has completed her task."
"That could also be true, and if so, then I'm glad we were able to dispatch it." Jarmain then went below decks.
07/20/745 A.E.
The A.I.V. Augustine makes the port of Katana early in the morning. Experts evaluate items of value, the Empire's representative (the captain) assesses their taxes, tithes are paid, presents exchanged, and farewells are offered. The party departs the Augustine with the thanks of the Alodarian Empire (and 1,000 GP each, in addition to their own personal shares of the treasures gained on the voyage). Also, whenever they wish, and whenever it may be available, an imperial vessel will take them home, free of charge, their return voucher and names left with the harbormaster of the port of Katana. For now, they take their gear and depart for the city of Katana itself, the gleaming jewel of the Asian Gulf, which awaits before them.
They split up, each going their separate ways, probably to search for training or pursue other various interests. They agree to meet again in 5 weeks' time at a moderately sized inn (Some foreign word by name, they are told it translates as, "Our Lady's Embrace,") and it is close by the harbor.
SESSION ENDS:
Next time, it should be about 09/15/745 A.E. Almost the end of the summer months.
© March of 2000
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096