Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [DQ][ADMIN] Summary through Week 14 ... Message-ID: From: hutch@hfglobe.intel.com (Stephen Hutchison) Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 07:06:38 GMT WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE This has been a fairly long thread. As a courtesy to those who have been writing "huh, who are these goons?" letters, the following precis: SunStorm is a giant from the last city on the world of Titania. He was sent through their only Gate to retrieve a magic stone which is their last hope against the DemonMother, an evil creature who has destroyed almost all life in Titania. ShockWave the DiamondSword is a magical crystalline sword, created eons ago at the start of the conflict. TrueSilver is a silver dragon who befriended SunStorm, and who came with him to Generica. He was subsequently captured, by the agents of Lord Raven, who is a vampire-lord with pretensions of godhood. Lord Raven, called "Dark Master" by his slaves, has taken control of the DemiPlane of Darkness, wrenching it from the sentient but very strange mind of the Dark One, the ancient horrible spirit that feeds on the evil that permeates that plane. He accomplished this by using a device, the "Tan-Ru probe", an ancient plane-shifting artifact of the time-and-space-travelling 'Kan race. The probe appears to be simultaneously a pyramid, cube, or diamond, due to its multidimensional construction, and has been dubbed the PCD. Lord Raven has embarked on a campaign to expand his influence, intending to use the PCD to conquer first Titania, then Generica, then the ... SunStorm, shrunk to 1/3 size by some parlor magic of Luthor Anside in order to make conversing with him more comfortable, was gathering questors to help him with the search for TrueSilver, who disappeared in the riots that raged through Generica a while back. He was quickly able to recruit Lancos Erredan, an adventuresome fellow who is a tracker and outdoorsman. Lancos was able to recruit Kadrys, a very very old vampire (who has come to the Dragons' Inn because the ennui of his secretive existance becomes unbearable every a few hundred years or so). He also recruited 'Raelf Berenson, a 'kan Traveller who happened by sheer coincidence to be in the place, and Valgar, an escaped slave who had gotten away from a ship crewed by some fairly twisted beings. Some research takes place, and Lancos discovers evidence that a dragon was taken off towards the sea, from a graveyard south of the city. Valgar, having taken the clue "sea cave" from an obscure riddle posed by a seer, finds a book in one of the dark dusty parts of Generica - a diary of a madman who claimed to have found a treasure cave by the seacoast south of town, a cave that is only there at the dark of the moon. They prepare to leave. The evening before they were ready to leave, 'Raelf's "twin" appeared, and cryptically warns them that Bad Things are afoot. He is revealed to be the older 'Raelf, who has returned "early" from the quest for the dragon after the utter and total failure of their quest - he alone was able to escape the DemiPlane, but at great personal cost. He refuses to tell any of the questors what will happen, and only hints at possible dangers, instead using his Traveller skills to twist time so that the "second time" things will turn out differently. At this point Lord Raven attacks - he causes the PCD to send out a "remote" to the Plaza outside the Dragons' Inn, and the probe's ability to steal the minds of those around it is brought into play. But only SunStorm is taken, and only his spirit. He is sent into a "misery loop" where he is forced to relive all the worst experiences of his life, over and over, with the desired end being his capitulation to evil. 'Raelf is able to disrupt the remote, causing it to vanish. But the Dark Master has sent his servant Krastin to ensure that his plans succeed, and Krastin is enraged by the loss of what he thinks is the only gateway to his Dark Master's realm. Enraged, he sends a flock of gargoyles, which he had dominated with threats and bribes, to kill the questors - especially 'Raelf. Through a combination of unexpected power and the skills of the questors, they defeat the gargoyles. The sword ShockWave is able to control the giant's body through their shared soul-bond - but not too well, and in the fight, gets the body injured while draining most of its power. 'Raelf, though not too steady himself, is able to use his professional skills (he's an artificer-mage) to repair the sword. While this is happening, the timefork that 'Raelf Elder started, is becoming wider. The sword gets a much deeper bond with the giant, which is not what happened in 'Raelf Elder's past. Once everyone's healed and back inside, 'Raelf Younger uses his magical "toolkit" to analyze what the PCD was, and finds a brief description of it in an old encyclopedia article describing his race's very early planar explorations - it is a sort of "space probe" which developed a mind of its own, with tremendous power but limited application. He also finds that SunStorm's spirit is being tormented within the device. They make plans to leave the next day, the full dark of the moon, to find the dragon. During the usual alarums, they are joined by a blue-skinned woman who calls herself Alita and in a very forward fashion, seems to know them all (and claims to know them, ahem, intimately) - and she hangs around with them for a while. Lancos is distracted by the sculptor in the corner, and Valgar drags the shrunken, drunken sword/giant to bed, not neglecting to get some rest for himself - during the fight, he'd grown a full beard, and some other strange manifestations. 'Raelf Elder sends 'Raelf Younger off to escort Alita home, and then (once things seem to have calmed down) he takes the shape of a birdlike being, Maribel the Prophetess. She explains to Kadrys that if the vampire goes along, he will give into his curse, and become the thing he despises. Using Maribel's powers of godcalling, she takes Kadrys away to a special place in the Astral Realms, where she demands that the two beings who have been using Kadrys as their pawn, pay him back a fragment of what they owe him for their treatment. Kadrys is taken to a place of spiritual healing, and Maribel departs, returning to Generica as 'Raelf Elder, and joining in the Kron Quest. The younger 'Raelf drops Alita off, then goes to where the gargoyles had their lair, using the memories he took from one of them, and takes their treasure, then goes off to the bay and goes surfing until midmorning, waiting for the others to wake. On returning to the hung-over group, he makes a NASTY hangover cure and is introduced to William (the sculptor/mage). In return, 'Raelf suggests that Alita should join them as well, and she shows up, only to be driven off by SunStorm/ShockWave, whose inherent powers detect "demon essence" on her. He is finally convinced that she can go. 'Raelf finds that she has already left, and that she'll be meeting them at the cave. They finish their preparations and go there, finding it just before sunset. The first thing they find is Alita, strangled, hanging from one of the stalactites. The magically animated rope attacks 'Raelf, who kills it, and then after a pleasant interlude when the necromancer Vornik sends a swarm of zombies at them, they drive him away. Exploring, they find the gateway to the DemiPlane of Darkness, and through a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, they bring William along, even though he would just as soon stay behind (but NOT in that cave, thanks). They arrive in a twisted replica of Generica, and meet up with Alita, who doesn't recognize any of them, and her friend Miro, who knows 'Raelf from somewhere. Kadrys rejoins them, greatly refreshed in spirit. And then in the morning, Alita seems to once again be the strange confused person she was in Generica, which amazes Miro. Kadrys was sent back with "directions" and they board a Ghost Ship at the Sea of Black Dust, which is the evil reflection of the Great Blue. Meanwhile there is mounting evidence implicating each of them as the Traitor who was mentioned in the prophetic verses that the giant had purchased. They travel for some time, but eventually arrive at an island where they meet an Entity, which gives them obscure hints and double-edged gifts: Alita, the full knowledge of her powers as a succubus/incubus; Kadrys, the power to draw life-force as well as to sustain himself on blood; Lancos, a deeper attunement with his protective medallion; Miro, flashes of insight into the minds of his enemies, to know their plans; 'Raelf, the knowledge of what it was Lord Raven had done to enslave the PCD; ShockWave the sword, the power to change and reshape the body of his wielder; SunStorm (bodily - his spirit is trapped) the power to command undead; Valgar, the ability to become "one" with the beast within him; William, a clear knowledge of how magic works in the Plane of Darkness. Then it transports them to the stronghold of Lord Raven. All except Miro (who foresees it and avoids it) are taken again by the PCD's mind-numbing powers, which this time hold them with more pleasant (or at least, not actively miserable) memories and images. Alita breaks them free, somehow causing the PCD to send a timeshadow of herself to Generica so she can aid them, enabling them to be broken free. (Confused? it gets worse.) After a few moments respite they are attacked again, this time by the overwhelming forces of Lord Raven and his four chief minions: Krastin, now transformed to a Death Knight; Vornick, now a wight, an animated shell of himself; Noira, a priestess of the goddess of torture; and BlackSilver, the dragon for which they came in quest, who has been twisted by magic and the PCD to serve Lord Raven. In their abortive attempt to fight, 'Raelf is killed by a wooden ballista quarrel meant for Kadrys, and his spirit is sucked into a Soul Jar in the hands of the priestess Noira. Lancos, falling under the control of his protective medallion, turns traitor. (That medallion's ideas of "safe" are rather peculiar...) The surviving questors are taken to separate holding cells to think about how they will be tortured into serving Lord Raven. Lancos, as an untrusted but probationary servant, is given a room with a smaller lock. Miro remains thoroughly invisible, looking for a way to free his friends. Noira is ordered to place the Traveller's spirit in a pentacle, so that its knowledge of planar travel can be stolen by Lord Raven, but the PCD determines that the 'kan spirit is not present, that the ghost in the jar is someone that 'Raelf assimilated into himself years earlier. Since the spirit is totally uncooperative and resists Noira's attempts at coercion, Lord Raven punishes her by giving her to Alita, who is a succubus/incubus, a sexual-pleasure demon, and the antithesis of Noira's worship of pain. After the punishment, Noira is permitted to use the ghost in the jar to animate a stone golem, which she constructs during the night. The prisoners are dragged to the room outside their cell, and Lancos is ordered to kill one of them. He chooses Kadrys, or rather, the medallion chooses Kadrys, and the vampire is staked to the wall, through the heart. Later, Vornik steals the medallion, jealous of Lancos' "favored" status. He begins magical explorations, while Lancos, gradually coming out of the medallion's mental control, goes to Vornik's laboratory to kill him. Miro follows. They defeat Vornik (who is encased in a thick block of ice) and Lancos gives the medallion to Miro to keep for him until they are in a place where it will not endanger them all with its peculiar ideas about "safe" and "protection". They locate and free the others, and Kadrys, once the stake is removed, is returned to his unlife. All are freed except ShockWave/SunStorm, who is in a special cell overlooking the pit where the PCD is imprisoned. Miro warns the others that Noira has placed a trap on their route, and how to avoid it, and then goes to get the Soul Jar (which they believe still holds the ghost) while the others go to free SunStorm.