Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [Kal & Co] History of the Horn Message-ID: <1993Mar1.180309.502@walter.cray.com> From: bdavis@pepper.cray.com (Brent Davis {x67000 CF/ENG}) Date: 1 Mar 93 18:03:08 CST 'Too many questions!', Kal thought to himself. 'Who was that witch, and why was she bound to help him...and them?' 'For that matter, just who were "THEY"?' Kalendraf surveyed his new companions in the wagon. Driving it was a man called Denner, who apparently owned this cart and the odd barrels in the back. 'Where was that man who was lending us the use of his horse. And on top of that what happened to the last one? Probably not very important.' Across from him, lay a young man named Kevin, also a newcomer to this world. Inside, Kal felt a kind of bond between them - two strangers thrown into a dangerous world. Next to Kevin rested another man, closer to Kal's age. There was something strange about this fellow, especially the way he had reached up to the ceiling to hoist himself up. His eyes must have been playing tricks, but Kal could swear he saw the man's arms stretch. Right next to Kal sat a bizarre creature. Obviously not human, and probably not even a humanoid. From its face hung gruesome tenticles, but its childish behavior suggested that it was quite harmless. Whatever the beast was, Kalendraf guessed that he would find out somewhere along this journey. "So who exactly is this wizard, Ivy?," Kal asked Denner. "Well, she's uh..." he began. Suddenly Kal realized that the hag's spell was still allowing them to communicate. Quickly he asked, "This magic that allows us to speak, how long will it last?" "Hey, uh...one question at a time!" Denner was not happy about being interrupted, especially since he had lost track of what he was about to say. "Not really any way of knowing with magic." "That is true, though it surprises me that it is still working," Meran observed. "In my experiences I have never witnessed this type of spell endure for so long. I wonder..." He reached across toward Kalendraf, and then he lifted the necklace over his head. "A little experiment." He threw it onto the road behind the wagon. "Hey! What do you guvax lbh'er qbvat?" Everyone looked at Kalendraf and then towards the smiling Quicksilver. Denner brought the cart to a full stop, allowing Meran to walk back to it. "Exactly as I guessed. Looks to have about a 10 foot range. Seems the hag's gift has more abilities than she told us. Probably activated by her little ceremony. That reminds me, Kal, I think you owe us an explanation." "I agree. The hag said something of a horn, and...a Wyeriun?" Denner turned to face the rest of the group. "We'll take a little rest for the horse's sake." The group exited the wagon, and then they stretched to relieve their cramped limbs. "It's a long story, one that could last all day if told in its entirety." Kalendraf paused as he placed the returned necklace over his head. "But it seems that everything that has happened in the last day, or even weeks has been somehow related to myself and what brought me here." The group formed a circle in a small roadside clearing. Most of them decided to lean against the trees to rest their tired bottoms. Only Quicksilver, who had only recently rejoined the group in the wagon chose to sit on a large boulder. "On my world, I live on an island called Uncis. I am, or at least I was, Lord of the Isle. But, our waters were threatened by a great evil. Creatures called Sea Devils attacked our vessels and raided our shores, capturing or killing many of my people. They held us in terror. The trade ships changed their route, and hard times fell upon the island. There was little we could do, for the sea devils are deadly opponents in their native environment." Kalendraf's heart was pounding as he described the attrocities committed by the creatures on his world. "I sent a message out to the companions of my earlier years. Yes, I too was once an adventurer before accepting the rule of Southport. My old friends arrived within a few weeks, but their help was not the only request that I had made. For I knew that there must be an enemy of these Sea Devils, and if they could be located, then it might be possible to convince them to help us." "Such an enemy did exist, very powerful ones. They are called Tritons, the Guardians of the Sea. They almost volunteered to help, but they also told me of a Triton prophesy. In return for their help, I would need to fulfill my destiny. All they would reveal was that I needed to blow a conch shell at the right time. Seemed harmless enough. There were also some warnings that they told me...warnings that I should have paid closer attention to." "A long underwater battle ensued, until eventually we reached their lair. Everywhere the water was filled with biting sharks...slashing claws. It's a wonder we ever penetrated their fortress, but eventually we forced our way within. What awaited us was terrifying. The tritons called it a god, and I have no doubts of it's origin, a devil straight from hell. That is when I blew the horn." Kalendraf sighed heavily. Retelling his tale was nearly as bad as reliving it. "Go on, go on. Anybody got any popcorn?" E'Karam was quickly bored by dramatic pauses in any storytelling. "I don't quite remember. There was a flash of lights, which the tritons had said would happen at the banishing of the evil god, but then the world around me seemed to blur, and I too was 'banished' to this world. I awoke in the water, still bleeding from the battle. Apparently, the magic involved somehow caused a pair of sea mages to get dumped into the sea as well. One of them is named Ezrin, and the other...is the Wyeriun." "They took me back to Kraken tower, where they examined and interrogated me. I assumed that my task was finished, and as a gesture of good faith offered the horn to the Wyeriun. He did seem quite interested in it, but Ezrin and Velnar...oh, he's their language specialist, said he was one of the most highly respected and revered men in all of Generica." "What about that witch at the inn?," Kevin asked. "I do not know who she is, but she spoke the language of my world. She made me drink her blood to restore the strength in my body. I have a strong hunch that we'll see her again sometime." "This curse you are under...do you know anything about how the horn is draining the water from your body." Denner's curiosity in water magic led the discussion back to the horn. "Until the witch told me of it, I was unaware of any curse. I had been experiencing black-outs, but I never made the connection that they were occurring when I would drink or even think about drinking." Kal rubbed the short hairs of his unshaven face in contemplation. "The tritons performed some kind of religious ceremony with me and the horn. Perhaps there was more involved there than I thought." "OK, now it's my turn. Who's this Ivy we're going to see?" Kalendraf stared at Denner, along with the rest of the group. -- / bdavis@cray.com | T | Given that 6 x 9 = 42, \ ( Cray Research, Inc. | 3 | then the Universe must ) \ Chippewa Falls, WI | D | be a base 13 function. /