Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: kring@efes.physik.uni-kl.de (Thomas Kettenring)
Subject: [Mista][L] Bakr tries to help
Message-ID: <1992Nov20.021728.12274@rhrk.uni-kl.de>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 02:17:28 GMT

>  When he left the shop, he saw a merchant ripping a page off something Bakr
>recognized as a Generican Calendar.  "Hm.  I guess the others will be gone
>when I return to the inn..."

  Then he turned in the direction of the inn and found that a fight was going on
on the Plaza.  A female elf was approaching someone who was going up in flames
but who didn't seem to care... it must be a fire creature from an elementary
plane.  He remembered having learnt about elementary creatures at home, in
Midgard.  Dvergar, Hunar, Galdrar, Elementary Ghosts, Frodefolk, and... what
was the name?  Unimportant.  There were a lot of Earth thingies around -
what's the plural of Joerdmand?  One of them was quite large - perhaps a Hune
or a Galdre.  He saw a whirlwind - he had forgotten how they were called - and
then he recognized Firecat the gnome, badly distorted, through a transparent
thing that looked like a man made out of water - a Fossemand?  There were no
Ice Elementals though... (Bakr didn't know that Ice was not an element in most
of the worlds)

  Hey - was that Erik?  Yes, definitely.  Luthor's mentor.  He had last seen
him in Cormyr.  If Erik was here, then Luthor was probably not far away.  That
thought made him realize that he shouldn't just stand there but do something.
With his newly-purchased magic items...
  Ring of Repulsive Stench?  No, elementals didn't have noses.
  Wand of Nosebleed?  Grrmbl.
  Instant Imp?  No.
  Sawdust of Pacifism!  That was it.  He would throw it at some of the Earths,
and they would stay away from the battle (and start a sit-down strike, Bakr
would have thought if he had been from another world).
And the Clinging Marble for the big one!
  Licorice of Fur?  Yes!  He could protect himself for the case that the other
things wouldn't work.
  Bakr cast Self Control, ate one of his licorices - whereupon he grew a dense
black fur on the whole body so that only his once-white burnoose could be
recognized - and charged.

  He reached the Earths and started to throw sawdust at them, careful not to
come too close.  The first one just ignored him - he was not standing in the
way - and approached the inn.  The second one ignored him too, and when the
third one did the same, it dawned upon him that these creatures probably had
thought structures so foreign that the sawdust wouldn't work...

  The Scharidian mage retreated.  He started Plan B:  He took the Clinging Marble
and threw it at the big Earth Elemental.  He hoped that the ground wouldn't
shake too much when the creature repeatedly slipped on the marble...
  The item landed at exactly the place where the Elemental would put his foot
next, as it was supposed to - but it was just crushed under said foot.

  Desperately, he unsheathed his dagger and charged the smallest Earth he could
find.

--
Bakr ibn Ja'far ibn Musa al Mekneshi, apprentice mage.