Ah, there’s the rub!

A while ago I stated that everyone, even people who have never fished before, would readily chose fishing over fighting an enemy of overwhelmingly superior numbers and legendary brutality. But what if fishing is the only alternative in the long run – if, day after day, you’re stuck in a place where there’s nothing else to do but fishing? I know that that might sound paradisaical to certain people, but they’re definitely in the minority – and a minority none of our friends, not even K’ip*, belongs to.

After countless days of fishing, fishing and more fishing, the party has finally reached the point were an honourable death in battle starts to look downright attractive, compared to more fishing, fishing or fishing. Fighting is nothing like fishing, even if it’s spelled somewhat similarly, and being dead isn’t anything like fishing either, so there’s nothing they have to lose by confronting their waiting enemies.

Which means it’s the moment to rally their spirits and fortify their wills…and Snuka has the right speech for the occasion at hand. And this time, nothing is going to stop him from reading it out in full. After all, it’s not exactly a long speech, much to the Professorian’s relief. Although it’s not nice to suspect Snuka of being a fan of Ayn Rand – it’s true, back in the real world, before he became a paladin, Snuka used to be very selfish and highly amoral. But that doesn’t automatically mean he’d be a fan of Ayn Rand…it only means Ayn Rand would have been a fan of him.

More on Thursday.

*Being a cat, he can spend much more time with a cycle of fishing and napping, but even he has his limits in that regard.