From: starride@nighthawk.ksu.ksu.edu (David Chase) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Re: [Kal & Co] Meeting Wizard Ivy Date: 13 Mar 1993 11:08:35 -0600 Message-ID: <1nt4ejINNt6o@nighthawk.ksu.ksu.edu> References: <1993Mar12.222911.12419@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca> Two hours after Denner's wagon broke through the forest, the group arrived at Ivy's keep. It was late afternoon, and the overcast sky was a deep gray which was rapidly darkening, giving a gloomy air to the seaside keep. The keep itself was rather small and humble.. not too much more than a tower, about twenty feet, built from squarely hewn stones of a pale color. Kalendraf surveyed the keep and cast a doubtful look at Denner. The young man may have meant well when he suggested this Wizard Ivy, and apparently had a high respect for her; but to Kalendraf, Ivy's keep didn't look like the keep of a powerful alchemist.. it looked more like the keep of a local hedge wizard. Scott looked at Denner, "I thought you said she lived in a tower?" "Well .." Denner turned back, with a note of defensiveness in his voice. "You don't have to have to a great big shiny tower to be the best, Scott. Ivy's never concerned herself much with any wizardly politics or social matters, and this keep's all she's ever needed to do her work." Scott looked back at Denner wondering why the lad became so defensive over his simple comment. `Hmm, lot more going on here than any of them are telling,' mused Scott. The wagon rolled up to the door of the keep, and Denner hopped out and walked up the short stone steps to the entrance, taking the knocker in his hand and rapping it loudly on the wooden door. "Good afternoon, Denner! I'm right behind you..." Denner and the others (save Scott, who had been paying attention to Ivy's coming) turned to see a white-robed woman wearing a straw hat and carrying a walking stick strolling up the path to the door. She grinned from underneath her hat at Denner's surprised, and waved a free hand to him. "Hello, Ivy! I didn't see you come up." "No, you didn't.. I was going for a walk down to the village before I started dinner. I'm sorry, Denner.. I knew you were coming, but you were late and I stopped bothering to wait for you. Good day..." Wizard Ivy gave a casual nod to the others. "Are these friends of yours, Denner? It's good to see you've finally gotten about to making some..." "Oh, well." Denner searched for words. "Sorry about being late, and as for these people.. well, reasons for those are both the same thing, and I think I'd rather wait a bit before I explained everything to you..." Ivy nodded, her graces fading slightly as she tried to decipher Denner's statement. "Whatever you say, Denner." The alchemist peered over the wagon's edge to look inside at the barrels that Denner had brought for her. E'Karam woke up from the nap he had been taking with a snort, and opened his eyes to come face to face with a surprised woman wearing a straw hat. E'Karam blinked. "Excuse me, miss.. did you know that your hair's green?" "Goodness!" Ivy started back from the strange creature, then blinked a few times to refind her bearings. "Ah yes, this. Don't you have any second thoughts about it!" The Wizard Ivy removed her hat to reveal a tide of curly green locks. "This is just a little experiment I had when I was young and vain.. maybe it'll come out someday, but I'm quite used to it now and won't be changing it." "Hey, that's no problem!" E'Karam peeked out from the wagon's edge and placed his elbows on the wheel guard. "I think it really suits you." "Why, thank you!" Ivy tucked her staff under the crook of her arm and extended a hand in greeting to the purple creature. "And I'm sure you're quite handsome for your species, too. Your name is...?" "E'Karam." the tentacled monster replied. Then he looked down at Ivy's hand and shook it as an afterthought. "Pleased to meet you." Scott shifted in his saddle, looked around and then up at the overcast sky. "Well, nice to meet you, My Lady Ivy, but maybe we can talk later. As it's about to rain and I don't see any need of us getting wet during pleasantries." Ivy turned to the mercenary, then to Denner. "I'll explain later." Denner said. Ivy sighed. "Fine by me then. Denner, take the wagon to the stables. The rest of you gentlemen will have to sleep on the floor, I don't have provisions for more than one guest at a time... (Ivy looked them over) but I suppose that's not too much of a problem for your sort. Denner, we'll take care of the barrels next morning, it's getting dark out early today with the clouds, and we need to be able to see." Denner nodded. "Yes, ma'am!" "I'll set up my tent My Lady Ivy, it is large enough for several of us if it would make matters easier. I even have cots", directing the last towards the group. "Well why don't we go inside first. I'm sure that all of you could use a rest," replied Ivy. Denner got back into the wagon and sent it rolling towards the stables. As the wagon turned the corner out of sight, Ivy crossed her arms and pondered. For all the months she knew Denner, she always considered him to be a lonely sort- a bit sad, a bit polite, a bit too concerned for the feelings of others, and most of all too reserved to make friends. She had held hope that one day Denner might change for the better- and had thought when she saw the wagon that Denner had- but now it looked like Denner had just gone and gotten himself in some sort of trouble, his personality winning over his common sense... The group walked around the corner on foot, each wondering why anyone would want to live here. Kalendraf walked up to Ivy. "Wizard Ivy, could you please show us where you want us to put our things?" Ivy nodded with a slight frown. "Yes, yes.. go upstairs and lay it all down in the corner of my quarters." Ivy stopped and looked carefully at Kal's amulet. "That's an interesting amulet... name?" "Kalendraf." "Yes. Is it magical by any chance? Your mouth didn't seem quite right with what you were saying..." Kalendraf nodded. "Yes, it is. Thank you, Wizard Ivy, we'll take this upstairs.." "All right. And please, I'm an alchemist, only the village children call me a wizard.." "Yes, I know, Denner has explained it to me." Kalendraf called from the staircase inside the keep. "Ah." Ivy stopped Denner, who was the last in line. "Denner, did the toxins come through alright?" Denner looked down at the ground. "No. One barrel was lost." Ivy was greatly surprised at Denner, but refused to let it show. "Really? You're usually so careful about that.. Dear me, what happened? You must be feeling awful about it..." "I'll have to explain later, it's got to do with everything else today..." "And that man, Kalendaf, what was he doing with a magic amulet?" "I'll explain _later_." Denner turned and shuffled the equipment up the stairs. Ivy looked up at Denner as he walked up the staircase into the shadow. This was unusual for him. She hoped that Denner wasn't trying to take advantage of her good nature by dragging in trouble for her... Ivy looked up at the sky and frowned. Rain. Cold seashore rain tonight. She always hated this sort of weather... Kalendraf ran down the staircase, stripped to the waist. He ran down to the seashore in front of Ivy's wondering eyes and started waving at the sky, "Come on! Come on! Hurry up and rain, I've been waiting for this all day already!" Ivy raised an eyebrow at the strange man. Obviously, Denner would explain later. Scott watch Kal run down to the shore, looked around at the terrain and shrugged. It looked safe enough. He turned back to setting up the tent. Noticing that the Lady Ivy was still standing outside, Scott commented "I will be in shortly, My Lady, after I have set up and secured my things." Ivy looked at Scott, an obvious mercenary, and realized that Denner explaination was not going to be a simple one. -Aphoriel/Kinsman Sean Givan Ivy [ADIM] With editing from David Chase aka Scott Gillig Seems that some lines of communactions are not getting through. (Sigh)