Date: Tuesday, 8 Sep 1992 12:41:52 EDT
From: Mike Sander <344LWKC@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Message-ID: <92252.124152344LWKC@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [DQ] Lancos Week 7: A debriefing and a meeting

>The blonde man begun tapping on the case, muttering at the box in words
>that sounded like wind. The image of SunStorm was a very short, very
>dense one. It lasted maybe two seconds, and 'Raelf replayed it back and
>forth, oblivious to the comments of the others. He looked up, finally.
Lancos stayed mostly quiet, preferring to just expectantly look towards
'Raelf for some sort of explanation.

And he received one --along with some puzzling terms. Seeing looks from
Valgar and Kadrys revealing the same lack of comprehension, Lancos decides
to speak up:

>"What is a mad scientist?  What is a PCD?
> What is a flojstan? What is an essef movie?"

The answers came quickly, though the understanding did not. His headache
caused from the wound in the previous battle seemed to interfere with his
comprehension somehow. Still, he shrugged and nodded towards 'Raelf's
comments, happy to save any further, deeper thinking about them until a
time when his mind was not as clouded.

Soon afterwards, Alita literally pointed out something that brought a
further investigation from 'Raelf. He switched crystals, bringing forth
a crude picture --obviously touchable, at least to 'Raelf-- of some sort
of compacted library.

>Finally, it stopped, on a page showing a complicated image that
>resembled a line-drawing of the PCD. Runes flowed along the side.
Even though Lancos knew it was only a picture, he barely contained
an involuntary flinch at the sight of the 'PCD', which had seemingly
recalled some intense memories in him. That taken care of, he tried
to make sense out of 'Raelf's spiel about his ancestors...

>Anything living, or anything with a mind, touched the module,
>it gets taken to the main structure, and examined. If it has a high enough
>self-awareness, it gets torn into its components, and saved for later
>examination.
'Great!' thought Lancos 'One of the few things I understand, and it has to
involve being torn apart!'. The others seemed to share his opinion, as a
cumulative "Ugh!" was expressed on their faces,temporarily interrupting 'Raelf.

After 'Raelf was finished, questions still loomed. As 'Raelf looked towards
him, Lancos was rubbing his temples, involuntarily grimacing. "I'm too er...
tired ('Good an excuse as any' his mind thought) to fully understand what
you're saying, 'Raelf. You say you know what this is --can you destroy it,
or barring that, can you get SunStorm out of it.
>'Raelf shrugged. "Destroy, not likely. Get SunStorm out, only if
>I can get close enough to touch it. That shadowy fellow is not
>likely to let me get that close without a fight. If we even knew
>how to get there, that is.

Lancos was satisfied, at least for the moment. The 'shadowy fellow', as 'Raelf
referred to it, was not the important thing right NOW. In fact, Lancos was
thinking about turning in when fate stepped in, and...
>Valgar slid his chair back and reached into his pack.
>"I think I found something that can help with that part."

Lancos causally listened to Valgar explain about the book, as best the latter
could in his somewhat sloshed condition. During the speech, his headache had
seemed to clear a bit, the day's events had more than compensated. Lancos
excused himself and started heading towards the stairs.

A small gathering drew his attention. Spotting the man who had tried to help
them versus the 'PCD' --and realizing none of his party had done so-- Lancos
decided to express their appreciation. He sits down across from the man
and says...

"Hello! Er... I don't even know your name, but..."

"William", the man answers, somewhat surpringly not missing a beat from
his activities.

"Lancos. Anyway, William, my friends told me about your spell, and I wanted
to thank you for it, even if you didn't seem to be successful. Who knows,
perhaps you weakened it enough for 'Raelf to destroy it! I'm not sure if
you're just the helpful type, or you wanted to join us or whatever...".
At that point, Lancos finally looked down at the clay William was molding.
Although it still held a blob-like shape, part of his mind tried to
convince him of something familiar within it. 'Probably due to lack of
sleep!' he thought 'STILL, might as well ask..."
"Say, what ARE you making there?"

===========================================================================
Michael Sander 344lwkc@cmuvm.csv.cmich.edu
AKA Lancos Erredan