Tales of Aqualaria

"How ostentatious!" said the Blob-God. "I am an omnipotent being - a million times more evolved than you! What can you possibly offer me?"

Astra said "I can tell you a story! Yeah, I bet you don't hear a lot of stories living down here."

"But after I absorb you and drain your mind." the Blob-God said "I will have access to all the information within your brain. It will be like reading an open book!"

"Reading a tale from a book is not the same as hearing it told, silly!" Astra said, thinking fast as the tendrils came close enough to brush her face. "There's many different ways to tell the same story, making it a different experience every time!"

"Hmm. Sounds suspicious." the Blob-God said. "Again I detect deceit."

"Well, it's true I'm not as good a storyteller as my ol' Mum was." Astra blushed. "But I can give it a shot!"

"Very well then, go ahead. I can see no harm. And perhaps it will help me understand what these things called stories really are."

The tendrils were withdrawn, and Astra sighed in relief. She started telling the Blob-God a little fairytale her mother had told her long ago, and the gist of it was this. A fisherman named Bob went out in his boat one day, and caught a magic copper fish that, according to legend, could grant wishes and also knew the location of the other seven magical fish, each made of precious metals. The fish tried to bargain wishes for its life, but Bob refused, and asked instead to know where the other, more valuable fishes were. Finally the fish cracked and revealed the location of the bronze fish, but instead of letting it go like he promised, Bob tossed the fish in a sack and kept rowing. He followed the fish's instructions to a magic river that flowed up a mountain. So he went a- rowin' and a-rowin' up that mountain, catching each of the magic fish and tricking it into revealing the location of its more valuable brethren before tossing it in a sack.

As Astra told the story, she made sure to include the proper hand motions, and paid specific attention to her tone of voice when narrating Bob's conversation with each fish.

"So finally!" she grinned. "Bob had caught the last fish, the gigantic Diamond Shark, and was admiring the sight of it in his nets. But just then, some Aqualarian soldiers caught him, and sent him home without his boat, since he had trespassed on royal sporting grounds! The fish they brought to the King and Queen, who had a grand feast."

Just as Astra had hoped, the Blob-God was now asleep and entirely at her mercy. It was snoring loudly, in fact. The Tales of Aqualaria had special powers, including poison, sleep and berserk, but this was the first time Astra had used one successfully. She still couldn't believe it worked on something as large and formidable as this Blob-God. Perhaps it wasn't all it claimed to be?

1. Astra will have her revenge on the Blob-God.
2. Astra quickly exits through a hatch she spots heading down even lower into the caves.
3. Astra searches the room for anything else of interest.

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