Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [L&S][Party] 'Raelf and ar'Elya: Let's play Twister ... Message-ID: References: <93057.093440ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu> Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1993 07:01:10 GMT [ADMIN] Sir Lance used by permission of Chris Motherway. Serene used by permission of Laurie A. Luthor used by permission of The Dreamer ..... "Oh come on, ralfy boy. jushw won mre" "Norm, you are stinkin' blotto." "I am not, I washed ver' carefully thish morming." "OK. One more game. But this isn't the kind of game for a nice housewarming party like this." Rowan LittleFair laughed - "It's OK for my Inn but not for the privacy of Serene and Luthor's new home, you say?" He settled back into his chair. He seldom got the chance to sit back and relax to watch this sort of thing, having so much to do at the Inn. 'Raelf grinned in reply, and set up the shot glasses onto the grid, pouring more Catamount Amber into each. "Serene? Another number for Toblero di Gucci?" Serene laughed, lifting the baby-sling into a more comfortable position, then crooked an eyebrow up - for the third time today, one of ar'Elya's rainbow of little dragonets was curled protectively around Mista in her sling, apparently not bothered that the baby was chewing toothlessly on it's tail. The dragonet was crooning. She shrugged, and walked over to the Toblero table 'Raelf had made from an empty wine cask. She laughed - "Another game? You're going to get drunk and what will I do with a drunken wizard around the place?" "I'm not a wizard," 'Raelf said with surprise. "Mage, maybe. Raye's the wizard." Another small jewel-tone dragon of purest blue peeked up over the edge of the table, and sniffed curiously at the ale in the shot glass. "Go get your own beer," 'Raelf said, grinning. Raye was off in another part of the household, apparently she was being Leah right now, and let her dragonettes loose again. He wondered briefly why she was doing magic here - maybe talking to Blaze? They seemed to be similar in some respects... "Six." Serene was tapping her foot, watching the dragon hovering in front of her face, not sure she approved of its impertinent attitude. "Pardon? Oh, the queen's number. Thank you, milady." "You're welcome. And Norm, that's all for you right now. I don't want to be explaining to Vera about how you got too drunk to come home. And where IS Vera? You should have brought her." 'Raelf hid a grin and gestured to the bored-looking Knight standing on the sidelines - his current opponent having been evicted. "Sir Lance? You were watching earlier - would you like to join me for a game of Toblero di Gucci?" "Well, I'm not really one for drinking, but I guess one game can't hurt, and I think I can outplay you." 'Raelf smiled a card-shark smile. "Radical, I love a challenge." The tall knight took the opposite seat, and after having the variations of the Count di Gucci explained - the substitution of beer for the coins usually used as counters - they made the traditional toast to the Count and his good health, and began playing, rolling the dice and sliding their seven glasses back and forth, capturing and trading fills, all to the great glee of the surrounding crowd, who were continual and gracious in the flattery aimed at the two contestants at each clever scoring point, because the tradition in response to the flattery was to offer around shots to the more flagrant. At the end of the game, 'Raelf stood, bowing politely to his opponent, who toasted him with the small amount remaining in his glass, and left the table, refusing entreaties to play further with the others. Sir Lance also declined the offers, yielding the table to other players. 'Raelf wandered off to where the Contradancers from Serene's homeland were resting between gigs. There were three very bored children with them, and a scattering of fashionably sullen adolescents. He sat down beside them after introducing himself to their parents. "I need to do something different. Hey, you guys want to see some games from far away? I used to play these when I was your size." There was the usual enthusiastic apathy that came when adults suggested party games to kids. "Fine. I'll demonstrate it then." He grabbed behind him where the blue dragonet was hovering around trying to play hide with the younger of the girls. "You. Go find the rest of yourself and bring the Twister game, eh?" It churruped and vanished. After a few minutes, a fair of half-a-dozen came in, swirling like rainbow leaves, and deposited a box filled with games, and a moment later, a white-furred wolf, with black ears and tail, came in backwards, pulling in a woman who managed to look dignified while being dragged - she was wearing a white and grey habit that covered all of her body except for her face and hands. 'Raelf stared. "Raye. You've been in the Catamount Porter again." "Of course. This is a celebration. Don't be such a stick in the mud." She sat down in a lotus position, and the wolf trotted back to the kitchen where the Halfling cooks had been feeding him scraps. 'Raelf shrugged, and laid out the Twister pad - a five-foot square of flexible white, with sixteen colored dots the size of dinner plates, arrayed inside it. He tossed the spinner to one of the adults. "You hold it flat, and spin both of those spinners, just snap them, yeah, like that. Then you call out what it says there under the first spinner, and the color." "So this is a right hand, and the arrow is on red, so I say `right hand red', is that correct?" "Yes. Thank you. Now, we both have to put our right hands on a red dot, and not move it from there until the next time a right hand is called." The surfer-mage reached down and touched his right hand to one of the red circles. The dignified Sister rose from the ground and bent down, placing her right hand on another circle. "Now spin again." "Ok. Left foot yellow." The kids began to be interested, and some of the adults were as well. So far, there wasn't anything too bad. "Left hand red." (In the south part of the garden, Luthor was talking to ar'Elya, who was sipping delicately at a glass stein filled with a blackish porter. "So, I'm concerned about what effect the magical leakage will have on the flowerbeds. I'm sure 'Raelf is careful and everything, but this is such unsubtle magic, leaking all over the place..." "Oh, no, Luthor, I'm sure Rafe wouldn't be using anything leaky. Let me check it out ... Ah. Yes. I see - you're concerned about the edges of the gate being so fuzzy, and the mana dissipation along the boundary. Yes, that would normally be a problem, and I expect that my surfer dude is being a bit of a show-off, but let me put your fears at rest. The leakage around the edges is temporally bounded so that it flows back to our power plant. The gate field is blurred like that so that nobody bumps into an edge and gets a nasty injury - severed limbs can have such a damping effect on a party." "Ah. I'll still be happier when it's gone, of course, but if you think it's not a problem..." "Oh, no, not a problem, but I do wonder why he's using so much power on this gate - he must have shut down the factory. Hey Rafe ...") "Right Foot Blue" The nun stretched a black-clad limb under 'Raelf's arched back and spoke, "Hey Rafe, why do you have the factory shut down?" "Huh? Oh, some sort of astral-field instability, the enchantry keeps going offline" "Left hand Blue" "... offline, and ...ack ... so I shut down the line until it stabilizes, and I'm using the" "Left foot Yellow" "... the (urg) power to hold the gate instead. Sorry, I know it's gonna crock the budget." "Not a problem, but ..." ("Well, Rafe says that he's shut down the factory because of some outside problems... so the power drain isn't a problem. I was afraid he might be pulling it off the WorldGate." "Excuse me." A youngish-looking man, tonsured, fit-looking, in his mid twenties, wearing the habit of an itinerant monk, came up behind Luthor. "Yes?" "I'm sure you won't recall who I am, we only met very briefly, but since ar'Elya was good enough to rescue me from a predicament I was in, and I find myself at your party, I thought I'd take advantage of the chance to apologize, and ask you about a friend of mine." "I don't recall ever meeting you, so it must have been very brief." "I was a member of the band of brigands your small party demolished on your way to the iron gates. My friend Mat infiltrated your group and went off with you. I stayed behind, and ended up in the blue dragon's cavern, caught in one of his traps, until I was rescued." "You rescued him - where DID she go?" Luthor looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen. He scratched his head. "Oh, she's around somewhere. Anyway, my name is Kachin, and I apologize for attacking your group, I've been mending my ways since then, and I was wondering whatever happened to Mat?" "Well, I accept your apology, since no lasting harm was done, and since you seem repentant. Mat died in the attack on Queen Shana. He turned traitor at the last minute, and got himself killed in the crossfire." "That's too bad. We were good friends, but he was always clever-stupid, if you know what I mean? Smart with scams and ideas, but no sense." "Is there anything else?" "Yes. I own the dragon's hoard, by right of survivorship, and I wanted to ask if you could contact the merchant who was travelling with you. I feel responsible for his losses to our group, and I wanted to pay him compensation. You too, if you want them." "Oh. Commendable. I'll see if I can find him around, and I'll convey your message. It's up to him to see if he wants to meet with you." "Thank you. 'Raelf or ar'Elya can always find me." The man blinked out, suddenly not-there, and Luthor startled. Magesight showed a faint sparkly reflection fading where he had been.) "Left hand red" The nun was unable to reach the red dots, and smiled mischievously (unusual on that face) and a white cat with black paws and tail crawled out of her robes, and sat on the mat, its left paw on the red disk. "Oh, so we're gonna cheat, eh?" 'Raelf grinned. He had no problem with the red, but he was stretched out kind of far across the mat with his right foot on the green. "Right Foot red" An uncomfortable-looking tangle was the result, but somehow neither of the two fell, and the cat smirked. "Left hand green" "Cheat, hun?" 'Raelf flickered - where he had sprawled, a ten-foot tall marble statue was instead present, and it had four arms. One of the left arms easily reached the green disc. "All right, you. Enough is enough. Let the kids play now." Serene had come in, accompanied by a smallish man with large liquid eyes and a nervous giggle - someone from Earth would remark on how much he resembled Peter Lorre. The two contestants got up, and 'Raelf reverted to his more usual shape, and they spread out two more mats for the giggling kids (and a few adults). 'Raelf whispered an aside to the nun. "What is with you - you're all over the place. Pull yourself together!" "I don't know - I think it's the Catamount Porter - I keep finding myself being distracted and going off in other directions. Hey, how many places are YOU in right now?" "Not the same thing." "I know, timefolding is more dangerous." "How many?" "Oh, five, six, it changes. I'm fine, really, I promise." One of the quieter kids came up, with a little girl in tow. "Scuse me, mister ralf," he said, tugging on 'Raelf's poncho. "Strella wanted to see the dragons again." ar'Elya smiled, no longer being the stern and somewhat forbidding Sister, instead assuming her shorter neutral form, and pulled two dragonets out from her red-brown hair where they were peeking from behind her neck. The children didn't seem to mind that she had transformed, intent on the dragonets in her hands. "Purty. What's her name?" The little girl reached hesitantly out, and the bright blue dragonet stretched its neck out, wings flapping gently for balance, and tasted her scent with a few licks of a snakelike tongue. "That tickles," the girl said solemnly. "Her name is Azur. This is Purpur." The second dragonet was a deep violet color. It launched itself, hovering in front of the boy like an oversized bumblebee. "Oh wow, they look kinda like snakes, are they cold and slimy?" The boy was fascinated, but he was being very careful not to reach out to touch the unfamiliar creatures. "No, they're warm-blooded." "Wow. Can I touch one?" "Me too, me too." "You must be careful when you approach a strange creature, not to startle it, and don't touch it if it doesn't want to be touched. Why don't you ask them if they'd mind." The little girl said, in her best grown-up-manners-voice, "Azzer, may I please touch you?" The dragonet landed on the ground next to Strella and raised its head to be touched. The girl sat down, and the dragon, catlike, rubbed against her, making a crooning noise. The boy repeated a similar introduction with the violet dragonet. 'Raelf whispered an aside to ar'Elya. "Hmm. You're going to be in real trouble when they have to leave. They'll want to keep them, you know." "Can I keep her?" the little girl asked, big eyed. "Well, she'd be very unhappy if she had to leave her sisters and brothers, and she'd probably get sick. You wouldn't like that." "No. OK. Can I show her to Mommy?" "Of course. Just be very careful." The girl went off, dragonet perched on her head, and the boy followed, balancing Purpur on his arm carefully. 'Raelf stretched, and noticed the box of games and toys on the ground. He pulled out one, a battered white box with colorful but faded illustrations. "Hey. I didn't know this was in here. Raye, you wanna play Risk?" "No. How's the market locally for stuffed toys?" "Huh? Oh no. You wouldn't." "I think it's a great idea." "Teddy dragons are NOT appropriate for this culture." "Foo, they are too. What should I do, Tunnel Crocodiles? Besides, you're just jealous you didn't think of them first." "I suppose you're going to animate them." "Well, of course. Dead toys aren't much fun."