Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@hutch (Stephen Hutchison) Subject: [KQ] Marcel 'Raelf Thk [Factory] DEEP HURTING Message-ID: <1992Aug24.185027.4649@intelhf.hf.intel.com> References: <14281@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu> <1992Aug24.041443.4403@news.Hawaii.Edu> Date: Mon, 24 Aug 92 18:50:27 GMT PRODUCTION FLOOR OF THE JOYSTIX FACTORY: Marcel entered, followed by 'Raelf... then Quruuminias turned, and they were presented with the sight of a mauve-skinned humanoid whose face looked kind of like a small squid had grown out of its nose. Mind-Flayer. Illithid. Brain-Eaters. C'tulhu's stepchildren. The illithid's voice echoed in Marcel and 'Raelf's minds. "Well, this is interesting. A Magna Veritan, and a Traveller Mage. And just in time for dinner. Traveller brains go well with a nice spinal fluid cocktail." "Oh shit," muttered 'Raelf. This was major trouble. The thing was clearly bluffing - Travellers don't HAVE brains in the usual sense - but illithids use psionics, and that's CHEATING. Bring up the mu-shin ward! "And you're just in time to join your scaley friend." He gestured towards an unconscious Thk, suspended over a boiling cauldron by a thin rope. Two guards stood on the catwalk above, one with a knife near the rope. "Now do put your weapons down." (They ignored the order.) "Interesting," intoned the mind-flayer. "There are two minds in the knight, one subordinate to the primary. This will be enjoyable" He rubbed his tentacled hands together. "Now, ~do not move~." Marcel and 'Raelf felt the compulsion freezing their limbs. {Mind/NoMind/Mountain is there is no mountain [*] ...} 'Raelf reached inside his tunic and grabbed the chopstick/staff. "~DO NOT MOVE~" {can't touch what you can't see} move NOW, grasshopper <> 'Raelf disappeared and reappeared on the catwalk next to the guards. His staff was now full sized, and FLICK, he was in back in his human form. That left Marcel to take the full brunt of the mental assault. (OOPS! I didn't mean him to take the whole thing ...) Marcel grimaced, his face twisted with rage. He howled at the ceiling. The toon rope vanished and Marcel ran at Quruuminias, instinctively drawing his sword. (Meanwhile up on the ramp. The two guards are heavily dosed on fumes of the variant Joystix formula that will, when they get an adrenalin rush, turn them into superhumanly strong and fast, berserk, monsters, with a fairly short life expectancy. Hey, nothing's perfect.) <> The tip of the staff glowed red, then shot a gout of flame at the rope above Thk. (He still has his ring on, right? Yes, the glow is still there.) Should save him from the boiling gunk. Hope the shock wakes him up... The two guards were taken momentarily by surprise. 'Raelf taunted them. "Come on, make my annum." <> the staff arced with electricity. He assumed standard defensive posture. The two guards formed the intent of lunging, and 'Raelf SNAPPED the staff down on the closer of the two. ZORCH-CRACK - the collar bone shattered. "Dude! Didn't that hurt?" The guard gibbered. "Asparagus for dinner AGAIN, Mother?" and lunged. 'Raelf sidestepped, but there wasn't enough room on the catwalk, and the other guard was amazingly fast, and -- GLOMP! the asparagus guard grabbed and tossed the staff to the ground below. It continued to spark, menacingly. "uh-oh." 'Raelf went down under a mass of flying fists. The black stone amulet around his neck THWAK turned dark brown, THWAK, red, CRUNCH, orange, PUMMEL, yellow, GOUGE, white, SKUD, crumbled to powder. "uh-oh." WHAKKATA WHAKKATA CRUNCH <> HIT PUNCH (Meanwhile, back at the branch) The mind flayer raised his six red fingers. ~FREEZE!~ But the command found no purchase on the Cyberknight's berserk mind, and the monofilament edge of his sword came down at him with appalling speed -- * SHREEAAK! * Quruuminias opened his eyes in surprise, to see two crossed swords mere inches above his head. Marcel's monofilament blade has bit deeply into Arvor's Zweihander sword and the two armored juggernauts stood locked in a duel of strength. SAVED! Quruuminias rolled out from under their feet and scuttled away. (Up on the burning rope) Thk came to, seeing the muck boiling below him. On the catwalk, 'Raelf was being pummeled by two foam-lipped guardsmen, who were definitely beyond the far extreme of impolite. The catwalk appeared ready to give way any second. Below, Marcel was fencing with another armored fighter, both doing serious damage to furniture and surroundings. He spotted the mindflayer frantically trying to crawl to safety, and called down insults in Lizardspeak. He snapped the ropes binding his hands, and prepared to perform harmful acts on the body of the MindFlayer. Then the rope broke, dropping him towards the cauldron of gunk below... On the catwalk, 'Raelf tried to stand under the blows of the two completely berserked guards. Despite having turned his body to the consistency of granite, they were managing to inflict some pain. True, they'd never be able to use their hands again, but... WHAM then the catwalk, having taken all it can stand (and having an added 800 pounds of weight suddenly appear on it) ... collapsed. They fell towards the ground below, 'Raelf still held in the guards' manic grasp. Behind the crates, near the staircase leading down, Elstrek let go his breath slowly. This battle could still go either way. Better be prepared to help things along. On one of the the crates in front of him, he lined up several bottles of aqua regia and a few potion flasks... He looked up, and saw the broken end of the catwalk swing down towards him. [Admin - YEAH, hey, where's the cavalry when we need it! Guys?]