How Dio got his goop back

Long story short guys—I have to run and no one care anyway. We yack it up with a newly charming ogrid and a dead pope. We then go to an island, and get in a fight with thousand mile eyes and ears with the wind. I immediately get thrown 100’ into the ocean. Happily, I’ve had a half-full vial of breathing underwater goop since zolvija’s castle. I breath fine. Koyla shows up a few moments later, and I wipe the goop all over him. He and I remark upon the filth covering the ocean floor here. These people don’t care about the well being of the fish or anyone else living outside of their houses. Jerks. I mean, how is the ocean different from the black forrest? How are fish different from my friends there? I got so worked up over this that I charged back to the beach, leaving Kolya way behind me. As I emerged from the water I started screaming at them about the horrible things they were doing to the local aqualife, and I was promptly thrown 100’ back into the ocean. By the time I got back, the remainder of the DG almost killed one of the two, and the other cared so much for his pal that he decided to chat with us.

Turns out someone was spreading rumors again. These two were told we’d show up here and now,a nd that we killed some people are are no-goodniks. We tell them that we’re yes-goodniks, but they seem to really only care about strength. They’ll help us forever because we beat them up. So, I’ve found a new conception of trust. Trust only those who can beat you up. So far we have

1) trust everyone

2) trust no one

3) trust only you friends

4) trust only those who can beat you up

5) trust only the trustworthy

6) trust only those who are right.

7) Trust only those the deities tell you to trust

8) Trust only the dieties

9) Trust only those people who are so foul in their corporeality that they must be holy (like me and gerbertus and eorl and Dr. S.)

So, that’s something.

Afterward Zombres displays a cunning understanding of ocean-going psychology. He wants to get Arowa to help us, but we just let her out. She’s not going ot be keen on doing things for people when she’s not been able to do anything for herself in ages. We needed to hit her right in her sense of humor, and her sense of needing-to-protect-the-incompetent. So, he intentionally teleports us right into the mud, threatening our very lives. She saves us and agrees to help us, since there is no way we could help ourselves, and she will take us to the dragon king’s pagoda. Unfortunatley, that is deceit, so that is why 1, 3, and 6 are wrong.

On our way we have to fight a weird ugly turtle and weird ugly snake. They don’t seem holy, which is why 9 is wrong. We take the turtle shell and build a shell-ter out of it to sleep. Now it’s the morning of the 24th and we get to the pagoda. Outside there is a yin-yang door telling us that they are here to keep us out. There is another door with a barricade. We remove it, and some lawful lacky of the dragon king who has less reason and more fidelity to the letter of the law than a bloody modron saying that his loyalty to the dragon king prevents him from helping the king, helping us help the king, or stopping us from helping the king so long as we just don’t set foot into a certain room in our attempt to do so. Above there is a window into which Karl gazes and sees some horror or another that is not his wife’s love of another. We try to open a shadow door, but out of it pours shadow goop. I capture a little bit in the vial that used to contain water breathing stuff as a memory of grmlich. Seems like Jesus hasn’t forgotten me, and heard how sad I saw when Zombres gave that stuff away.

All signs point to a fight, so we’re going to fight the yin-yangers as soon as I’m done writing this down.