Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@hfglobe.intel.com (Stephen Hutchison) Subject: [DQ] Week 17: Home Sweet Home Message-ID: References: Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1992 19:11:40 GMT [ADMIN] This is a "group effort" post but it's mostly Mike Sander's work. Especially the footnotes are Mike's. >"So where are we?" Lancos asked, uncertainly. "Home sweet home. Or close enough for rock-n-roll. The Known Lands, just outside Generica. Near the graveyard, in fact." "Right. It's just with the nighttime and desolation and all, it's just so... similar. SunStorm's even still normal size." "All in the probabilities. The spell could be broken, and so it was." "Let's head back to Generica then. I'd rather be there than here." "Just a sec -- something feels wrong." 'Raelf said abstractedly. "Oh, merde, the portal's still there! Just a sec, I'll fix that!" 'Raelf pulled a flask from one of his bandolier pockets, a glass stoppered vial, and poured some BLACK grit into the air beside them. It flowed into a door-shaped shadow in the sword's light. <> - the words were like a warning gong, and the black grit flashed white fire, pulling the door in after them as the dust from the Great Black returned to its source. "Of COURSE it was open -- we had to get through! What's wrong with that?" "No -- it was open all over -- including the WorldGate! No doubt something disgusting and evil got out, to wherever they wanted to go!" [1] "Great... makes me feel even better" came the sarcastic reply. "But at least we're safe... and home." Valgar countered. The party agreed to that sentiment. "How do you suppose we should deal with these two," Kadrys gestured at the unconscious giant and comatose dragon. They were far too large to carry back by normal means. "Geez. Let me take a look." 'Raelf pulled his amber amulet from inside his voidsuit. The amber glow played over them, sparking rainbow flashes as it illuminated their auras. "Lame. They're in some kind of magical stasis. I think it's the dragon's fault - he's gone into regeneration sleep. Best not to even TRY to move them." "I'll guard them. Put me into SunStorm's hand," the DiamondSword urged. They complied, and the sword glowed brighter for a moment, then a swirl of colors formed around them, and they suddenly blended into the hillside. "Nice illusion," 'Raelf said. The sword did not reply, wanting to keep the seeming from breaking. They were left in the dark, 'Raelf's makeshift torch already burned out. Lancos started to pull out a torch of his own, when he felt a mental hint that it wasn't necessary. He grasped the medallion, trying to safely add his focused will to that of the item. Suddenly, he found he could see almost as well in the night as in the day. Following close behind was the concept that Vornik was wrong; that the device had an undiscovered power or two left. 'Nice trick' Lancos thought to himself. 'But all it did was remind me that I have work to do with you.' He removed the medallion, and took out a torch. The DragonQuesters headed north, at a brisk pace. * * * * The door to the Dragon's inn opened suddenly. Lancos stepped in, looking as if he hadn't meant that to happen. But it could not be helped -- the door of the inn was built to open "suddenly" by default. The inn was very quiet, only a few of the Rabble were around. [2] [3] 'Raelf had stayed outside, with a hastily muttered "Stuff to do, see ya later." 'What did you expect?' Lancos pondered, 'A heroes' welcome?'. No, he never sought fame, just acceptance. But after all the crap they had been through, it would have been nice to get SOME kind of positive response. A cry from the Rabble told why. "And the award for the longest rendezvous goes to... the 'DragonQuesters'." a voice said somewhat sarcastically. "Where's the blue lady?" Lancos was slightly aghast. Not because their work had seemingly gone unnoticed -- the party had been in a different plane, and it was better if Generica never knew the nature of the threat it had avoided. But they seemed to have been gone only a short while. Sure, time had lost any meaning in Ak Ir'neg, but he had thought that surely they'd been gone weeks... months... years?... "She's gone, and won't be back." "Give it up, Jack!" another voice from the Rabble announced. "You never had a chance with her anyways!" "We'll never know." Jack replied, "I'm just surprised they're going to try to find the dragon without her." "Oh, that" Lancos nonchalantly said, "We've done all that." The Rabble's interest piqued. "Really? Tell us about it, then! I bet you must have kicked some butt!" "We lost" Lancos answered unemotionally. "You're lying -- you're HERE, after all!" "Not in how _I_ consider it. The only reason we're still alive is because our enemy didn't really TRY to kill us while he thought he could use us, and then it was too late." "Yeah, but then you wasted him, right?" "As the riddles said, 'You Can't Kill What is Death.' Hmm... I can't believe I quoted that. Just goes to show I should be heading for my bedding. We've got things to do tomorrow -- hold something to mourn William's death; check on TrueSilver's condition; get some decent, edible food in our bodies. But right now, I'm going to try to get my first decent night's sleep in ages. [4] ---------- [1] [ADMIN: Feel free to use the Gate/Portal opening as an excuse for new foes. Of course, describing them is up to you...] [2] [ADMIN: In fact, with all the threads around, I wonder if (hardly?) anybody's even in the inn] [3] [ADMIN: Actually, just assume whatever day/time it is in your thread, we're at the same spot]. [4] [ADMIN: And with any luck, life will reflect art...]