Preparation Time
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 40213
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"Besides," Sartoma added, "I am not sure that Astra and Checkers would be
willing to come if Fred was left behind. From their stories, both of them
seem to regard him highly. They will trust him more than they do us, and
they might be suspicious of our motives if we said that we wanted him to
stay behind. It's true that news that something has happened to Minestus
will inevitably soon be spreading, if it hasn't already. That is implied
by Astra's tale, where she described how she was captured by bandits who
were working for him. So we shall need to make some arrangements to ensure
that nobody tries to take Minestus's place whilst we are gone. We
shouldn't be away for more than a couple of weeks, so a temporary solution
ought to be fine."
"The technical matters have been successfully resolved," Sartoma told Astra, Checkers and Fred when she and Solbert rejoined them. "Now I need to explain to you in a little more detail how we plan to make the journey." Once Sartoma had finished her explanation, Checkers asked: "When can we set out?" Sartoma replied: "It should not take long to dig out the equipment and supplies that we will need. It may take a little longer to ensure that the caves are properly looked after whilst we are away. Whilst Sorbert and I see to that, it might be a good idea if Astra goes for a test flight unencumbered by any equipment, so that she can get used to her wings. That will need to be outside the caves, of course. Even this Amphitheatre is too small for any prolonged flight. It ought to be a nighttime flight to avoid any risk of being seen. Don't worry about crashing into anything. Dragons have very good night vision." "Will you transport me outside magically, like you did to bring the table, food and crockery into the Amphitheatre?" Astra asked. "The amount of magical 'energy' needed for such a transportation is proportional to the weight of the object to be transported and also to the distance that the object is to be moved. So it's not possible to send you outside using magic as you are now. You are much too heavy and the distance is too great. So we are going to need to get you back in your human form." "The distance is much further than I managed to cover in human form last time," Astra pointed out.
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JH
3/28/2004 7:56:54 AM
Extending Enabled
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