From mrhyde@netcom.com Wed Dec 14 02:05:24 1994 Date: Tue, 13 Dec 1994 16:33:00 -0800 (PST) From: "Mr. Hyde" To: Beware the other head of Science! Subject: HouseStorming 3/3 >From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Aug 24 10:11:25 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7568 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!csn!yuma!lamar.ColoState.EDU!not-for-mail From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [HouseStorming] Pygmalion, I asked you not to come! Date: 22 Aug 1994 19:17:26 -0600 Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 Lines: 121 Message-ID: <33bin6$305e@lamar.ColoState.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: lamar.acns.colostate.edu ADMIN: The cast, characters, and techie crew of the [HouseStorming] Thread: Alan Smith ...............Palandun Lintesul Spider .......................Selna Chris Meadows ...................Andrea, Sheryl and Jay. Andrea Evans ...........Kadrys Penny Hutchison .................Leah and Errol Stephen Hutchison ...........Miro Alfvaen ...................Eowyn/Teonyl Wolvie ...................Lance and Blaze Invaluable help: Colin Sebastian Roald nevyn@camelot.bradley.edu Kelly J. Cooper Liralen Li All characters are copyright their respective authors, and shouldn't be used, copied, etc. witout said authors permission unless you really like being sued. We will make exceptions for normal archiving. All rights reserved. Background: Just after the storm Andrea and Sheryl bought a house which proved to be loaded with traps. So they gathered together the rest of the team to help them discover the secret to their new home. The party is spread out into teams throughout the place, with Palandun Lintesul serving as a central coordinator. ****** ****** ****** ****** ******* ******* ******* After Jay and Sheryl had left, delivering the paper, Palandun was, if anything, busier than before. But, since he wasn't being distracted by the kid and the 'corn he felt a lot better. Besides, if he wanted to accomplish his own project, he was going to have to be able to handle this much information flow and swing a sword at the same time. Typically, the pattern went thusly: A team member would find and defuse a trap, telling another team member (who was near a dragonet) the salient details, and remarking on anything novel or interesting they found. The second team member would put this into images and send it telepathically to the dragonet, which would in turn relay the image to the dragonet sitting on Palandun's shoulder. Palandun would relay (or, rather, have relayed) the same information to Leah, who was outside, and anything novel about the trap to the other team. At the same time, he would note down the trap's location, trigger, and kill devices on his plans of the house, which were rapidly becoming crowded. Whoever the previous owner was, he was probably the most paranoid person Palandun had ever had any association with. "Holy Sheep!" Palandun exclaimed, taking a breather and looking at the sheer density of marks on his plans. "I'm gonna have to write smaller. "Cheep!" The dragonet, which Palandun had dubbed 'Metabolism' on account of his ability to go through the stored rations like they were going out of style, replied. "Exactly." Palandun said, who hadn't the vaguest notion what the dragonet was driving at. The dragonet, sensing that the human and it weren't exactly seeing eye to eye, attempted to fullfill it's obligations to communication by projecting a mental image of some rock-food that wasn't standing still like rock-food usually does. Palandun, unenlightened but slightly hungrier, reacted to the dragonet's next "Cheep!" by pulling out (another!) strip of beef jerky, pulling it in half, and feeding the half he wasn't eating to the dragonet. The dragonet, resolved that it would get it's message across or cheep itself hoarse trying, emitted a bloodcurdling "CHEEEEEP!!!" and pointed behind Palandun in exactly the same manner that an irish setter would, had it had six limbs and been named "Smaug". Palandun turned, looked where the dragonet indicated, and saw nothing. "There's-" He said, and did a double take. He then uttered a word or two which, this being a family thread, we shan't repeat here. Suffice it to say, he was very surprised and not a little worried. The reader will perhaps remember that when we first entered this ballroom that there were four giant granite statues situated along the wall. Palandun and the dragonet were staring at just one of these statues, specifically, its left foot. Rather than being beside its mate, as was the situation when they entered the room, this foot was extended a foot or two forward as though the statue was going to take a step. There was then a breaking and tearing sound, a cloud of plaster, and that's exactly what the statue DID, steeping away from where it was embedded in the wall. There was another such sound behind them, where another statue stood. "Get outta here!!" Palandun commanded, drawing a small sphere from his belt loop and throwing it with all his might at the archway of the door they entered by. "Send these to everybody." He continued, and imagined himself and the heroic dragonet beating a very brave retreat, and Leah, outside, taking over as coordinator. "Now GO!" Without needing any more imputus than that, the dragonet took off through the door, now enshrouded in smoke from the broken sphere. Palandun siezed the opportunity to stuff some maps into a bag, saw that he wouldn't have the time as three statues were approaching him a little too quickly, and fled through the doorway. Or, at least, bonked his nose on the fourth statue. Palandun reached for his sword and pickadze. **** ***** ******* "Now," The mage said, or at least Palandun guessed it was a mage. You pretty much had to be one in order to animate one statue, let alone the three which were guarding him (one was left on the floor of the ballroom, incapacitated). "Who are you?" For his part, Raykor examined the captive Bismanian with a contemptuous scowl. Palandun's sword and tool had done their job well, as was evidenced by the gashes and missing appendages on his working statues, but that only made Palandun a halfway dangerous enemy, and not much of that, so long as he had the Horn. Palandun had been thinking on what would happen if he was questioned on the one hand, he knew he could resist anything the mage could throw at him, but it might not be exactly pleasant. On the other hand, if he answered the questions, the mage, having no further use of him, would simply kill him. He would have to buy time for his rescue. So therefore the reply was: "What's it to you?" "A good deal." Raykor said. "Andrea's friends may be...inconvenient to me. No, I don't mean you, sword-grunt, but I do mean the others. I'm sorry to fry your mind like this but..." He raised his arms, with the Horn in one hand and uttered the Mind-Drain incantation. Green fire shot from the Horn to Palandun's forehead. "Let me know when you start to fry my mind." Palandun said, leaning nonchalantly against a statue. >From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Aug 24 10:11:35 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7574 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!src.dec.com!crl.dec.com!jac.zko.dec.com!leggy.zk3.dec.com!orb!not-for-mail From: spider@Orb.Nashua.NH.US (Spider Boardman) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [HouseStorming] Half a league, half a league, half a league onward.... Date: 23 Aug 1994 17:51:39 -0400 Organization: Duchy of Wabesylvan Obspauk Lines: 162 Message-ID: <33dr1b$os4@orb.nashua.nh.us> References: <1994Apr6.064811.73767@yuma> NNTP-Posting-Host: orb.nashua.nh.us ADMIN: The cast, characters, and techie crew of the [HouseStorming] Thread: Alan Smith ..........Palandun Lintesul Spider Boardman .........Selna Chris Meadows ..............Andrea, Sheryl and Jay. Andrea Evans ......Kadrys Penny Hutchison ............Leah and Errol Stephen Hutchison ......Miro Alfvaen ..............Eowyn/Teonyl Wolvie ..............Lance and Blaze Invaluable help: Colin Sebastian Roald Heather Loresch Kelly J. Cooper Liralen Li All characters are property of their respective authors, and this story is a group effort, copyright 1994 by Aaron V. (Alfvaen) Humphrey and Spider Boardman. Permission is granted for the distribution of this story on the usual alt-net channels and for archival but all other rights, including repost, are reserved to the authors. Background: Just after the storm Andrea and Sheryl bought a house which proved to be loaded with traps. So they gathered together the rest of the team to help them discover the secret to their new home. They split up into two teams after leaving the ballroom. This picks up the progress of the team heading toward the master bedroom. === === === === Teonyl watched as Selna cast a trap-detection spell from the base of the main staircase. Instantly, several areas lit up on the steps. Useful things, she mused. She caught herself making a mental note to mention this to the Florians when she returned. But of course she wouldn't be returning. Besides, magic was just used less on her world. She still wasn't used to its ubiquity here. It was considered useful as an untraceable assassination tool by the Florians, but not trusted for other purposes... She paused, following another line of thought. If trap-detections spells are more common here, then a master thief would take that fact into account in setting up his house. Therefore... "We should double-check these traps," she said out loud. "The ones we can detect may just be decoys for magically concealed ones. And there may even be concealed ones layered under the detectable ones." Errol and Kadrys exchanged glances, and then nodded. "Good idea," Errol said, approvingly. Teonyl recognized that voice. It was the one a master used to tell a student he'd passed a test. She was torn for a moment between embarrassment at having stated something so seemingly obvious, and satisfaction at having figured it out for herself. They began moving carefully up the stairs, disarming the obvious traps and checking for the less obvious ones. Kadrys discovered a concealed trap in the apparently clearest path; Teonyl herself found one under another previously-detected trap, and once again felt herself flushing with mixed emotions at Errol's approval. When they had climbed almost halfway up the staircase, the group took a break to allow tense nerves and numbed senses to rest. As he stood up straight for the first time in an hour, Kadrys began peering into the gloom. After a moment's distraction, he turned to his companions and asked, "Do you smell something?" Errol half-shook his head, and started trying to smell something. Teonyl's "No, wh--" was interrupted by Selna's sneeze. "The dust has been bothering me," she apologized. The mage then put her hands over her nose, and began drawing in air slowly. The inhalation and the subsequent "Hmm" sounded oddly distorted. Her pensive look gave way to a look of recognition as she lowered her hands again and stated "Wood rot." Errol nodded and confirmed, "Indeed yes... that's it! Wood rot!" "Well, how bad is it?" Teonyl asked. Instead of answering, Selna began chanting softly and quickly. An orange beam of light spread between her hands, dropped to the stairs, and spread to match their width and thickness. The light then went up along the staircase and faded after crossing the landing. In its wake, the next one-third of the total rise was still illuminated in varying shades from dull red at the edges to an almost fiery orange in the middle. "The darker parts have wood left," she explained. "Is there anything left solid enough to stand on?" Teonyl pressed. "Maybe the traps?" suggested Kadrys. Errol shrugged, "Ah, we didn't really want to walk up these stairs." After a quick consultation through the dragonets with Palandun, the team descended the stairs again and went around them, disarming yet more traps along the way. When they were beneath the upstairs landing, Kadrys and Errol rigged a rope ladder with their grapnels. They flung it up to the railing; it stayed. As they tugged on the ropes to be sure they would stay, however, Kadrys said, "This doesn't feel right." Selna, following his glance, sent a witch-light up to illuminate the balustrade. "There," Kadrys said, "You see that?" He indicated the top section of the ladder. Teonyl squinted, and after a moment made out the thin wires positioned to cut through the ropes when adequate pressure was applied. So they'd anticipated someone's taking _that_ shortcut, too. "How do you plan to get around that?" she asked. Kadrys raised his eyebrows and looked at Errol, who shrugged and looked at Selna. "My turn!" the latter agreed, and leapt for the ladder and started climbing. "NO!" Teonyl shouted, dashing under the rope ladder to catch her comrade, then gasped in astonishment when she didn't fall. "What the--How'd you..." Teonyl suddenly felt a bit foolish when she noticed that there was no sign of tension on the ropes and that Selna wasn't working hard enough to explain her upward progress. Hmph. Why couldn't she just _float_ up while levitating, like other mages? "Oh, I'm sorry," the elf said, looking chagrined. "I didn't meant to alarm you." Her expression returned to normal for a moment. "But thank you," she added with a smile. She then resumed her 'climb', finally abandoning the pretense of using the ladder when she neared the wire. Her staff floated up to join her, and she cast another trap-finding spell to cover balustrade and landing. The area itself was mostly clear, but the points at which the wire attached to the walls glowed a warning. Selna nodded to herself. "It doesn't look safe just to cut this, folks. Relax for a bit while I try to fix it another way." She produced a small shank of steel, and began chanting at it to make it bend in her fingers. She molded it around the rope to her left, armoring it against the wire. She chanted again to restore it to its proper hardness. She sighed then, produced another shank, and repeated the process for the other rope. "O.K., folks, I think this will hold it," she called. Errol jumped up and down on the bottom loop to verify the relative safety of the ladder, and then climbed up, followed by Kadrys and Teonyl. They quickly cleared the landing of its remaining traps. When they were done, Selna indicated the direction they were to go. "I've informed Palandun of our progress," she said, indicating a nearby hovering dragonet. "He indicates that the other team is doing fine, and confirms that this is the most direct way in." Slowly they made their way through the halls, the traps getting denser with every step, until eventually they came to what the dragonet-linked mapper called the door to the master bedroom. Kadrys whistled softly as he looked over it. "I've seen worse," Errol said. "So've I," Kadrys replied, "but it takes a real paranoid to do *this*." "Not *too* paranoid," Selna noted. "This is the real door." She cast another, longer trap-detection spell. The whole door, all the jambs, and the walls, ceiling, and floor for several feet away from the door lit up. "This," Kadrys said, "is going to take a little while." "Palandun's running out of paper," Selna reported after they had cleared the traps along the floor and halfway up the door and jambs. "Didn't he just get some?" Errol asked, pulling out a pressure trigger. "Yeah, but he sent it away. Seemed to be really happy to do it too." "Never met someone who didn't get along with paper before," Kadrys remarked. -- --Alfvaen(Web page:"http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~aaron/") Current Album--Loudon Wainwright III:Fame And Wealth Current Book--Edgar Pangborn:Davy "We meet with friends, we talk carcinogens" --Happy Rhodes >From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Aug 24 14:18:58 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7576 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!src.dec.com!crl.dec.com!jac.zko.dec.com!leggy.zk3.dec.com!orb!not-for-mail From: Andrea.Evans@Orb.Nashua.NH.US Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [Housestorm] A Learning Xperience Date: 23 Aug 1994 20:26:32 -0400 Organization: Duchy of Wabesylvan Obspauk Lines: 122 Sender: news@Orb.Nashua.NH.US Message-ID: <33e43o$hau@orb.nashua.nh.us> References: <1994Apr6.064811.73767@yuma> <33dr1b$os4@orb.nashua.nh.us> NNTP-Posting-Host: orb.nashua.nh.us ADMIN: The cast, characters, and techie crew of the [HouseStorming] Thread: Alan Smith ..........Palandun Lintesul Spider Boardman .........Selna Chris Meadows ..............Andrea, Sheryl and Jay. Andrea Evans ......Kadrys Penny Hutchison ............Leah and Errol Stephen Hutchison ......Miro Alfvaen ..............Eowyn/Teonyl Wolvie ..............Lance and Blaze Invaluable help: Colin Sebastian Roald Heather Loresch Kelly J. Cooper Liralen Li All characters are property of their respective authors, and this story is copyright 1994 by Andrea Evans. Permission is granted for the distribution of this story on the usual alt-net channels and for archival but all other rights, including repost, are reserved to the author. Background: Just after the storm Andrea and Sheryl bought a house which proved to be loaded with traps. So they gathered together the rest of the team to help them discover the secret to their new home. They split up into two teams after leaving the ballroom. This continues the progress of the team heading toward the master bedroom (begun in "Half a league, half a league..."). =========================================================================== The last of the lights kindled hours ago by Selna's trap-detection spell, faded from the handle of the bedroom door. Errol straightened, and turned, bowing toward her and Teonyl. "Ladies first..." he smirked. Teonyl was tempted to take him up on it, not out of bravado, but because she felt sure, despite his mocking manner, that he wouldn't have made the offer if it wasn't safe. But in the same moment Selna chuckled, saying "Nono, _kind_ sir. Age before beauty." At that, Errol glanced sideways at Kadrys, and drew breath to speak, but grinned and stayed silent. His gloved hand caressed the doorknob, and it turned with an anticlimactic click. Errol poked his head round the door, assessing the room at a glance. The others, waiting in the hall outside, heard him snicker suddenly. "What did Andrea say her landlord's name was? M. Valdemar perhaps?" Kadrys leaned forward, peering over Errol's shoulder. "Now that's what I call a late sleeper." He pushed the door fully open, and as the two thieves moved further into the room, Teonyl and Selna caught their first glimpse of what lay beyond. The master bedroom was a wooden-panelled, windowless space, with few furnishings apart from a massive carved double bed. And the bed was occupied. The withered corpse of the master thief lay sprawled across the bed. Teonyl caught her breath, only now picking up a faint, faded reek of mold and dust and rot. The body was so old that the worst of the decay was years past, and the leathery skin had dried and shrunk tight to the bones. Errol glanced back over his shoulder at Teonyl, his round eye catching the light in a sudden sharp glint. "What do you think?" She needed no further prompting. Another test, then. Very well. Her lips tightened and she surveyed the room in a detached, businesslike way. Beside her, Selna's voice rose and fell in the clear song of elvish spellcasting. Teonyl paused, waiting for the telltale glimmer to pick out any further traps. Nothing. She released the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. "Well, uh, apart from the lack of unpleasant surprises... present company excepted," she added with an ironic nod toward the corpse, "there are no hidden rooms off this one, there's no spare space in the layout for them." She glanced at the dragonet perched on Selna's shoulder. It chirruped its agreement at her. She took a few slow steps toward the bed, hesitant not from fear but from recent experience in this house of traps and more traps. She stared more closely at the body. Its left hand was clawed against its shrunken chest, and its head was thrown back in an agonised contortion. Heart attack? Who knew. Its other hand, crooked as an eagle's talon, was stretched out over its head. Toward the wall? Teonyl stared at it, straining her sight. Nothing, not a crack. She tapped on the panelling, listening for any hollowness. Solid as stone. Not the wall. The bed? She stepped closer still, staring at the carved wooden frame of the bed, the tall bedposts, spiralling in mockery of a unicorn's horn. The bedhead, carved in a simple repeating pattern of crosses and circles. She leaned forward until her nose was almost against the wood. Circles. Crosses. Nothing. Nothing. ...Wait. There. Tiny marks of abrasion, almost too faint to be seen. Marks surrounding a single element of the repeated pattern. Teonyl stepped back, looked over at Errol, and allowed herself a smile, as she pointed toward the particular piece of carving. Errol nodded. "Heh. Yes. 'Hugs and kisses' go together, but it's still X that marks the spot." He spoke no word of praise. He did not need to. The grin that crinkled the corners of his eyes was enough. Teonyl raised her eyebrows, moved her finger a little closer to the carving. "Should I?" Errol shrugged, nonchalant as always. "It's your discovery, it should be your honour." Without hesitation she pressed it, trusting in Selna's magic, in Kadrys' skills, above all in the ability of Errol as a mentor in the Art. Under her touch, the X sank into the headboard with the faintest possible click. And, all over the silent house, there rose a running tide of tiny noises, snaps and sproings and twangs of arcane mechanisms, as traps mundane and mystical were at long last secured. *** Interlude *** "Hugs and kisses, uhh, nowait, noughts and crosses, that was it. Hey remember that one? How 'bout we play another round of that?" A man grins eagerly across a gameboard that is a living, turning world. His grin is met by another, changeless grin. A skeletal hand is extended, and gives an emphatic thumbs down. "Oh fooey. You're just sore cause we tie in that version. Spoilsport." >From alt.pub.dragons-inn Tue Aug 30 16:45:51 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7599 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!yuma!lamar.ColoState.EDU!not-for-mail From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [NTY][HouseStorming] Nightcap at 'Raelfs... Date: 26 Aug 1994 15:13:46 -0600 Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 Lines: 431 Message-ID: <33llua$34mc@lamar.ColoState.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: lamar.acns.colostate.edu ADMIN: The cast, characters, and techie crew of the [HouseStorming] Thread: Alan Smith ...............Palandun Lintesul Spider .......................Selna Chris Meadows ...................Andrea, Sheryl and Jay. Andrea Evans ...........Kadrys Penny Hutchison .................Leah and Errol Stephen Hutchison ...........Miro Alfvaen ...................Eowyn/Teonyl Wolvie ...................Lance and Blaze Invaluable help: Colin Sebastian Roald nevyn@camelot.bradley.edu Kelly J. Cooper Liralen Li All stories are copyright their respective authors, and shouldn't be used, copied, etc. witout said authors permission unless you really like being sued. We will make exceptions for normal archiving. All rights reserved. Background: Just after the storm Andrea and Sheryl bought a house which proved to be loaded with traps. So they gathered together the rest of the team to help them discover the secret to their new home. Once inside they split up and Palandun Lintesul (who was acting as a central coordinator) has been captured by the person controlling all the traps. ****** ****** ****** ****** ******* They should have hurt, but he was beyond feeling anything. Blue lightning played across his face, coming from a spiral-twisted wand in the hands of something too dark to be seen. It hovered close, and its breath smelled vaguely of too much rat-aux-ail. Palandun tried to wince and close his eyes but he couldn't move, couldn't twitch. The lightnings hurt, a little, like having someone slap him in the face with a length of raspberry cane. He felt a pressure growing against his brain, a sensation like the worst sinus headache he'd ever had. The pain began to blot out vision and he dimly heard a voice, commanding, "TELL ME NOW." The world swam away, like a salmon going upstream to spawn. He was left with disjointed shreds of reality, bits of feature in the empty darkness. The darkness was too cold, so he stuck two of them together and wrapped them around himself for warmth. -- ** -- Palandun came up to the door to the lighthouse and pounded on it for a while. It was very important that he see 'Raelf, he remembered, because... Why? He had a reason when he walked up the path but he could not, to save his life, remember what it was. If 'Raelf opened the door and he just gawked at the mage, he (the mage) was probably going to feel somewhat put out. A mage that felt annoyed was not a good thing. Palandun had just turned to go back down the path when 'Raf appeared, looking like something the cat threw out. "Could you please not breathe so loud... Oh, hey, Palandun. How goes it?" The satyrlion blinked at the young Bismanian with eyes that looked like they had been sandpapered. "Uh, I, uh, you're 'Raelf's brother, right?" Oh no, not a hung-over annoyed mage... "Right." 'Raf tried to collect his wits about him. Just a few solid hours playing, that was all he needed, but the band was all worn out. He blinked, and Palandun was still there, so it wasn't an hallucination. In that case, he could guess what he (the Bismanian) had come here for. Just in case, he said, "What can I do you for, dude?" "Huh?" Palandun said, taken by surprise. His brain nearly froze, but hit on something to ask. "What is this?" he said, holding up a statue that he couldn't remember taking with him. It was a small wooden piece, with a picture of something an artist in one of the hallucenogenic dens must have dreamed up. It was a squid-lizard-bat thing, with most of its tentacles spread and one covering the beak, which was open. The statue sort of looked like something a truly deranged mind came up with trying to burp politely. Palandun was surprised when he didn't get the expected answer of 'It's a statue. Ugly one, too.' Instead, 'Raf merely got a very serious look on his face and said, "Where'd you get that? You'd better come in." Palandun found himself inside before he realized that his feet were moving. 'Raf had taken the statue, and it was locked in a shimmering blue sphere of something not like light. And they were in a big room that went off quite a ways into the distance, with a white roof some thirty feet up, with bright magelights at regular intervals lighting up the utilitarian workbenches below them. "Sorry, I had to take a shortcut. Welcome to my lab." "Nice place." Palandun said, taking it in and being impressed. He had been in mage labs before, but this was a very well equipped one. "Lotta room. What's the deal with the statue?" "How much do you know about the Shunned Center?" 'Raf asked, puttering around with some alchemicals. Palandun addmitted that he knew very little, beside the fact that nobody wanted him to go there, and the few times he had he hadn't found a single halfway-normal rat. "There's a reason for that." 'Raf said. "A very ugly reason. And I can't really tell you what it is unless... With your permission?" "What?" Palandun felt a strange sort of sensation as the satyrlion stared at him, eyes like pools of molten glass. "May I touch the surface of your mind?" "Uh, ... all right, just don't get too personal." 'Raf laughed quietly, and Palandun had a brief strange sense of being off-balance, and when he grabbed the table to keep from falling, he wondered why his hand was olive brown and with the tracing of black hairs instead of the tan with gold fur he ... no, that wasn't him, that was the other guy. The sensation vanished. "Sorry, dude," 'Raf said, "You got some feedback there. Anyway, you know about her already so I can tell you. The Great Mother." "Who?" Palandun asked, trying to remember why he associated the term 'Mother' with that statue. "Great Mother is a... well, there isn't a classification you know about. In some places she'd be considered a god. She's been worshiped as a god here, but she's not really the same kind of thing. The statue is one of her tools, it's an image of one of her morphs." "Cool!" Palandun said, suddenly heading for the door, "New species!" "No!" 'Raf said, swiftly moving to head off Palandun while turning up the blue not-light around the statue. "You don't understand. She's a chaos being, something that doesn't really belong here on this nice quiet mundane plane. She isn't a part of the life-web here, except by accident. If you get too close to her, she'll _eat_ you like a kid gobbling candy." Palandun felt his mouth opening like a fish, and closed it. "And when she eats someone, it's not that superficial kind of chew-up-and-digest way you're used to thinking about, either. The people she eats live through the experience, and they end up as cells in her group-mind. If they're lucky and she doesn't just put them straight into her own version of hell, then she lets her Overmind play with them, and the Overmind is a council of the twelve most vicious and malevolent assholes that this city has ever known. You do _not_ want to meet them, trust me. Palandun, if you have any sense at all you will not go in there, being eaten by her is probably the worst fate you could find." Needless to say, Palandun was kind of stunned. "You mean to say that there's a thing that rips peoples souls out of their bodies and puts them in some kind of wallet *here*? In Generica?" "No, dude, she eats them, soul, body, and wriggly bits." Sitting on a lab stool, 'Raf continued, "It was one of my main reasons for not wanting you guys to put your colony there in the Low City. See, you're right on the edge of her personal space. And she hunts, dude. She sneaks into the minds of the locals while they're asleep and vulnerable, and she grabs the ones that seem like what she wants at the time, or she sends out one of her Spawn to collect them. Your colony, fresh new meat -- she's gonna want to taste a few Bismanians. She can take about ten people a week from the town in general, and get away with it clean, by making the right people forget. This is a big city. We don't want you to lose people, Pal. Maybe you should have them move." Palandun cogitated on this, then finally spoke. "What about the rest of the city? Can they leave as well?" At 'Rafs shrug, he continued, "Right. Running away isn't going to help, we have to stop this thing." "You can't." 'Raf said, "Not by force of arms, and all the magic power in Generica is about half of what you need, and that's being optimistic. Palandun, get them the hell out. She's got her hooks into your folks already, get them to safety. There is nothing you can do." Palandun sat down and closed his eyes "Ever hear of Sovia? On the western Continent? Danuib, Andria, Bismania and Newmeanor together can't defeat that behemoth, couldn't ever since the first orc war, 150 years ago. We fought three more wars though, you know why?" he opened his eyes and gazed intently at 'Raf, "Because an evil you cannot defeat you may be able to contain, or attenuate. That is what I'm going to try to do, but I'll need some help. Can you help me? At least to remember?" 'Raf sighed. "You really want this, don't you." "To remember? Yeah-" "No, that's not what I meant. You really want to be able to fight against evil and make a difference." "Yes. Of course. With all my heart." "I was afraid you'd say that." 'Raf stood back from the glowing blue sphere holding the statue, drawing one fist back in what looked suspiciously like an Etarusian fighting posture. There was a loud roar, Palandun jumped, and Raf's fist had penetrated the globe, shattering the statue. "Why the hell did you do that?!" Palandun half shouted, watching the pieces of the statue fly around wildly inside the globe of light, grinding themselves ever smaller. 'Raf shook his hand, wincing in pain. Drops of blood flickered redly on his fur and vanished. "I have a curse, my friend. You've invoked it." "What are you talking about?" 'Raf smiled, showing lions' teeth. "You told me your hearts desire. You want to be able to fight evil and make a real difference. I'm cursed to grant heart's desires, Pal, so please don't go telling everybody, ok? Anyway, this is the first part. When those pieces are done flying around in there, they'll be the basis for an alchemic process. I'm going to extract a component that, when I blend it in the right potion, will protect you from the Great Mother." "Hey, that's great!" "Hold on. This is the first step. There will be four more. Go downstairs and tell Kev to show you the library. I'll be down with the elixir in an hour." Palandun saw a glowing yellow line on the floor, starting at his feet. He followed it and found himself on the ramp leading down into the living-room area of the Lighthouse. Kev was there, making a kite. "Hey, kid," Palandun said. "'Raf said for you to show me the library." "No prob, kid," Kev replied, and jumped up. "Follow me," and he sprinted through the door and down the hallway past the kitchen and a number of doors. Palandun ran to keep up. This wasn't the same layout that the place had during the party. All the little cubby-hole rooms were gone from the main living-room, and this hallway had been closed off. Kev stopped suddenly and Palandun had to brake hard to keep from running him over. "Here y' go, da libry. Have fun, an' don't let da books eat ya." Kev giggled and ran backwards, returning to where he had started. "Weird kid," Palandun muttered. The door opened at his touch, and he stepped inside. Inside it was dimly lit, but after a second the light began to rise, revealing a wall covered in books. "Wow," Palandun muttered. "I wonder if they've got a card catalog." "ook!" said something behind him. He whirled. There was a transparent orangutan hunkered on top of a shoulder-height cabinet, filled with small drawers labelled in the Bismanian alphabet. "Thanks," he said to the orangutan, and began flipping through the cards, looking for "Great Mother." There was one card, and it showed, in green, the following headings. "Mother Love, collected religious poetry of Old Generica" "The Life and Slimes of C'Tulhu" "Old Ones, Great Old Ones, and Not-So-Great Old Ones" "Chaos and Spawn" "Ecological Role of Chaos Entities in Magical World Complexes" The last entry caught his attention. He touched it with his finger and looked up at the placid face of the orangutan, which said "ook" once and swung across the bookshelf, disappearing around a corner, then coming back out suddenly from the opposite side of the room carrying a thick black treatise. It crooked a finger at him, and he followed it across the room. Behind a rack of shiny-covered colorful magazines was a small sunken rest area. There was a study carrel like the one he had at the University, and a comfortable chair, and a small window which looked out over the city. He frowned for a moment, remembering that he had gone LEFT into the library, and that the city was off to the RIGHT down that hallway. Oh well, mages, what can you say. At least the whole area had good light. He sat down to read. He half-felt the presence of someone watching him and looked up, blinking hard. Strange images swam in his head and he wasn't sure he wanted to think too hard about them. He looked out the window and was surprised to see that it was twilight. "Ook, ook." The orangutan was sitting on the floor staring at him. When he looked at it, it crooked one long finger and went scuttling across the floor to the doorway. He followed it. 'Raf was waiting in the hall, with a gold-skinned elf that Palandun vaguely recalled was named Miro. "What's up? Is it ready?" Palandun asked. "Yeah, but it's got some serious side effects. You want to eat dinner with us first while we discuss it?" Palandun realized that he was hungry, and more important, he needed to use the euphemism as soon as possible. "Sounds good to me. Is there a place I can wash and, ah," he started. "Down the hall across from the kitchen and dining room," 'Raf said blandly. After making his ablutions, Palandun found 'Raf and Miro in the dining room. There was a small supper laid, three places. Something smelled like Etarusian food. "Hey, you didn't have to go to any trouble for me," he said, and Miro smiled and waved vaguely at one of the chairs. Palandun sat down, and the other two joined him. Food was dished out, and tea poured, and they started to eat. "So the side effects," 'Raf said. "You realize this kind of thing always has some hidden costs, right?" "Yeah," Palandun said cautiously. "What kind of hidden costs do you expect it to have?" "That depends on two things," 'Raf said. "First, on how the potion accomodates itself to you. It's not one of those sloppy one-size-fits-all generic potions like you can get at your herbalist conjurer's shop. It's going to protect you from Great Mother, and more generally from mental invasions, magical or otherwise. Just how it does that will depend on you. The second thing is, your hearts' desire was for more than just being able to help your colony out. You've got a destiny, dude. Your timeline is very heavy. So the potion has some stuff in it that just felt right to me at the time, based on my curse. It'll make you able to fight evil and make a difference, but I can't tell you how it will do that." "Oh swell," Palandun muttered. More forebodings about his future, as if that trip to Rameshan the month before hadn't already made him nervous about what lay in store. "One other thing, boyo," Miro said, the first sounds Palandun had heard from him so far. "Tis a guid idea if ye wait an hour after dinner before ye drink the wee potion. T'will mingle with the food, and this kind of food always makes ye hungry an hour later, and y' don't want tae be wanting to drink another potion in an hour." An hour later he was hungry -- that prediction came true. He got up from where he was reading the last of that creepy book, and wandered out into the living room. 'Raf was nowhere to be seen, but Miro was watching the sunset and plunking morosely at a lute. "Uhm, could I try taking that potion now," Palandun said. "Otherwise I'm gonna lose my nerve." "Surely, laddie. Here 'tis." Miro did a sleight-of-hand wave and produced a crystal flask, holding an uncomfortable amount of a glowing red liquid. "Do I need to do anything special?" "Nae. Just drink it in one swig, and sit down. It'll be putting you out for a wee time." Miro handed him the flask and Palandun unstoppered it, and squared his shoulders, blew out a deep breath, and began to down the stuff. The room started to shake. When he came to again, the sunset sky was a deeper red and it looked to be a half hour before darkness. "Wow, I'd better get back down," Palandun said. "The path up here is pretty narrow and I don't want to get hurt going down in the dark." "We'd better test it first," Miro said grimly. Palandun looked at him, puzzled. "The potion, lad. You're going back down to where She can get at ye." "Oh. Can you do that? Test it, I mean?" "Aye, none better." The elf looked him in the eye, a searching gaze, but after a moment Palandun grew impatient and said, "Will this take long?" "You should go for a swim first," Miro said. "What? Why? It's almost dark and they're expecting me." "Good. Laddie, it works." -- ** -- The room swam back into focus. "So, the woman with the flying lizards is barely more than a beastmaster. No wonder she won't risk her dainty white skin indoor near the traps, so much easier it is to send in one's animals, and safer. And the elf who has accompanied Andrea and that foolish pair of lovebirds is a petty thief with minor magic at best. Just as I thought. And the other group, simply two human thieves and one elvish, and that other baggage merely an illusion weaver garbed to appear an elf, with a wand that seeks out traps. So, you thought to block me from your mind with a mere amulet, foolish man. I must go tend to my guests, now. Consider well what form of beast you most despise, for when I return, my spells will change you into it." Raykor said, sighing with satisfaction. The barbarian had thought he could hide the truth from Raykor, ha! He went off to research the spells that *did* turn one into a frost dragon, anyway... Palandun stared after the mage, gaining new appreciation for exactly what the potion could *do*, implanting exactly what the mage apperently wanted to hear and was inclined to believe. Even turning into a frost dragon wasn't *that* bad, one could still talk and get changed back, and meanwhile he could possibly have a magecicle as a snack... >From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Sep 14 08:47:27 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7680 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!src.dec.com!crl.dec.com!jac.zko.dec.com!leggy.zk3.dec.com!orb!not-for-mail From: spider@Orb.Nashua.NH.US (Spider Boardman) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [HouseStorming] Queen of Hearts Date: 13 Sep 1994 19:42:09 -0400 Organization: Duchy of Wabesylvan Obspauk Lines: 274 Message-ID: <355dch$cr7@orb.nashua.nh.us> References: <33bin6$305e@lamar.ColoState.EDU> <33e43o$hau@orb.nashua.nh.us> <1994Apr6.064811.73767@yuma> <33dr1b$os4@orb.nashua.nh.us> <33llua$34mc@lamar.ColoState.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: orb.nashua.nh.us ADMIN: The cast, characters, and techie crew of the [HouseStorming] Thread: Alan Smith ..........Palandun Lintesul Spider Boardman .........Selna Chris Meadows ..............Andrea, Sheryl and Jay. Andrea Evans ......Kadrys Penny Hutchison ............Leah and Errol Stephen Hutchison ......Miro Alfvaen ..............Eowyn/Teonyl Wolvie ..............Lance and Blaze Invaluable help: Colin Sebastian Roald Heather Loresch Kelly J. Cooper Liralen Li All characters are property of their respective authors, and this story is a group effort, copyright 1994 by Spider Boardman, Stephen Hutchison, Penny Hutchison, Andrea Evans, and Aaron V. (Alfvaen) Humphrey. Permission is granted for the distribution of this story on the usual alt-net channels and for archival but all other rights, including repost, are reserved to the authors. Background: Just after the storm Andrea and Sheryl bought a house which proved to be loaded with traps. So they gathered together the rest of the team to help them discover the secret to their new home. They split up into two teams after leaving the ballroom. While the upstairs team was dealing with the master bedroom, the group's mapper (Palandun Lintesul) was kidnapped by Raykor. This picks up after the just after the traps have been deactivated at the end of "Learning Xperience". === === === === As the team turned to their accompanying dragonet, ready to tell Palandun that the traps were now off, they were suddenly flooded with images of moving statues, a mad scramble for maps, a smoke screen, and being waved off by the mapper. As one, they started running for the ballroom. No one bothered to use the ladder, but instead chose various methods of jumping or dropping over the railing. When they approached the ballroom they saw (and smelled) the dissipating remains of smoke. Making a dash through the now much diminished smokescreen they encountered the remains of a small battle. The gear that the team had left behind was strewn about the room, along with the maps, the furniture, and several medium-sized blocks of stone, most often making statuary hands or feet. Across what was the top of the table lay a deeply scored block of granite which arched and flexed at times. There were several granite limbs, each trying to make its own way to the large block. "Still alive after being cut up like that?" Errol noted. "How ... curious." Kadrys shot him a sideways glance and smiled whitely. "No blood has been spilled in here," he noted, after a quick visual inspection of the room, "so Palandun may still be alive, somewhere." "There's probably some kind of amulet or runes on the statue," Selna said, shoving a crawling half-of-a-hand back into the corner with the end of her staff. "Look for anything strange. We'll need to know how to take them out of commission. I'll be trying to search out where Palandun's been taken." The others nodded, and spread out through the room. Teonyl jumped almost straight up as a statue-arm wriggled suddenly from under the table, flopping towards the body. She saw the thing roll itself back against the quartered torso, severed stump matching severed arm. A flash of green light left a strangely patterned after-image on her eyes, and the arm was re-attached as if it had never been cut off. "I saw some kind of runes, just then," Teonyl said, blinking to clear her eyes. "I don't know what kind." Kadrys, meanwhile, had found the head. It rolled blank eyes at him and gnashed its teeth. "What's this?" he said, gleefully. "Errol, could you come here?" Errol had climbed up on top of the hip-abdomen section of the statue. As he looked up to answer, the sculpture twitched and then tried to roll out from under him. He balanced easily against the sudden motion, and blinked in surprise. "Hold still, you nasty excuse for a caryatid," he sneered and stomped, hard and quickly, on the statue's groin. A fracture developed and grew under the small man's foot, and the stone torso twitched and subsided. "Oh, that's interesting," Kadrys said. "When you hurt it, the face reacted." Errol smiled nastily in reply. "What was it you wanted me to look at, my dear?" Kadrys twined his fingers around the carved stone hair and lifted the massive head as if it weighed no more than a small dog. "Look here at the mouth. I think there's something under the tongue." Errol lightly hopped down and peered into the carving. "I can't see anything. Eowyn," he ordered, "Hurt it for me, if you would be so kind." Teonyl nodded and looked around. There was a stone finger crawling towards the hand. She picked up one of the larger chunks of rock and brought it down sharply on the finger, frowning in distaste as the rock tried to wriggle out of her grasp. Errol, meantime, stared intently at the face. It screamed soundlessly, and with a lightning motion, he struck with a long thin dagger that he pulled out of nowhere. There was a flash of green light, and the moving stones stopped. "Ahh," he breathed, "we found it." On the end of his dagger, a glass and wire beetle was impaled, wriggling its legs impotently. Teonyl moved over to where they were standing. "Both kinds, then, runes _and_ amulet." "Hmm." Selna's voice came from the doorway. Her eyes were closed. "He managed to cut apart one statue, but ... ooh!" she winced, "... two distracted him; the third got him from behind. There was a mage already in the house -- I can `see' his magic triggering the statues. "Once they had him, they activated a teleportation spell, that leads -- mmph, how to get past his scry-proofing... Hey!" she yelped, suddenly. Her eyes flew open. "That was personal!" "Selna!" Errol exclaimed, as she started to reach behind her. "What?" She finished the motion, and a greatsword appeared in her left hand. She drew it from its scabbard. Kadrys winced and backed away from her. "What do you make of this beetle?" Errol held the impaled bug out towards her, dagger-point first. As he did so, he moved and stepped between Kadrys and the greatsword. "Disgusting," she said. "There's a human ghost trapped in there." She touched the bug with the sword and it stopped moving, a faint and irrational feeling of liberation washing through the room. "I located the place where Palandun was taken. The mage who has been hiding here is trying to find out more about me than I want him to know, and I'm having to concentrate to keep his probe from telling him anything." She looked at Kadrys and Errol, and frowned. "There is a power in this sword that I can use to free the ghosts from the statues. It normally only works on contact, but I can make it extend to arm's reach. If any of you has died and been brought back, though, it might be bad for you to be in range. Kadrys? Errol?" Both nodded wordlessly. Kadrys gave a close-lipped, mirthless grin, which Errol echoed. "Eowyn?" Teonyl was taken aback. What kind of people _are_ these? she asked herself, not for the first time. "I've--uh--never been actually killed," she said. "Good," Selna said. "I'll need you to be bait, if you please." "Wonderful," Teonyl muttered under her breath. At that, Errol looked up at Kadrys and murmured, "_Not_ a member of the club, my pet." There was a swirling plummet into cold, numbing blackness with faint, whirling stars, as the four of them disappeared from the ballroom. ==== ==== ==== ==== They appeared twenty feet from one end of the room which now held the statues. Selna ran towards one end, where a statue was poised. Kadrys and Errol made for the other. Teonyl looked around, and saw that there were two statues flanking a door in the far end of the room. Which were moving, towards the two intruders. Behind her, Teonyl heard a sort of "snksnk" noise and a CRASH! rollroll. She glanced back. Selna was standing in a swordsman's stance, on the far side of the statue, and on the ground was the statue's head, with a surprised expression on the face. The neck stump and the head were both burning with a faint blue-white fire matching the flickering blaze that ran up Selna's greatsword. A hissing, mocking laughter came from the far end of the room -- Teonyl saw that Kadrys had joined in a kind of martial dance with the statue, dodging aside as it lunged for him. She was surprised to see the black-clad man grip the statue's outstretched arm and blur into a spin, which sent the statue sprawling into the centre of the room. Meanwhile Errol was blowing a wreath of that foul stinking cigarette smoke that he favoured into the face of the other statue. It ignored him and he looked momentarily nonplussed. The statue on the floor began to rise, and Teonyl ran forward, slashing at it with her sword. It swiped at her feet, and with surprising speed got up off the floor and lunged at her. She back-pedalled fast, whirling and running past Selna, who was waiting in a half-crouch at the end of the room. SnkSnk WHUMP crashrollroll. Two down. Again at the neck. Teonyl marvelled at the precision of the cut even as she half-ran up the wall to turn around. The third statue had smashed a granite fist into Errol, but all that was there was his trench coat. He stood, unfazed, in the far corner, with a nasty looking bright-black dagger drawn and ready. Meanwhile Kadrys was continuing his 'catch-me' game with the statue, playing it like a matador plays the bull. As it looked away, Errol dashed out from the corner, and stuck the dagger in its back. It whirled, and Teonyl saw that there were three daggers already in place, rock crumbling around them. "Over here, stupid," she shouted. The statue looked up and something ugly seemed to glare out of its eyes. She made a truly insulting gesture with her left hand, and it snarled without sound and rushed her. She dodged back at full speed, came up hard against the wall, and SnkSNK WHAM thud. The last head was off the last statue. "That was sword practice for now," Selna observed, and Teonyl slid down the wall, gasping for breath. She was getting out of shape; after she got out of this she'd have to see about getting more regular workouts. Selna sheathed her sword. Errol was casually shrugging himself back into his trench coat, and Kadrys was examining the daggers he had stuck in the back of the statues. She recognised the door from her earlier 'trace' -- Palandun was on the other side. She sent a tentative probe questing past the wards on the door. Something strange was happening there. She smiled and helped Teonyl to her feet, checking her for injuries. A moment later the door opened and Miro looked out. "What kept you?" Selna asked brightly, as she finished getting her hair back in place. Then, seeing that the bemused Bismanian was free again, she bent her will to following the traces of the spell that was still trying to lock onto her. She smiled tightly -- she had found the new location of the kidnapping mage. She wasted a moment trying to point him out to Miro before realising that he was trying to point out the villain's location to her. "Flank maneuver?" she said. Miro nodded, grabbed Palandun's hand, on one side, his sword on the other, and yanked the Bismanian Sideways from where they were, through a hole in the Air. "Show-off," someone muttered, and Selna collected the group together. "Be ready for anything," she said, and again they vanished.