Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [MG][AU] quite a sight to see Message-ID: References: <16B991325B.CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu.Ext> Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1993 01:29:43 GMT [ADMIN] Pardon any multiple copies of this you might see. I got the wrong file into my windpipe. I *think* I've cancelled all the botches. This is a crossover between Andrea&Unicorn and Mages'Guild threads. Just a small one, though, no earthshaking disasters. Chris wanted me to point out that I corrected a typo in the quote of "Off to see the Wizards" which precedes my post - the original had Sheryl tossing some silver onto the table to pay for the food, and unicorns seldom carry pocket change. ------ + "Coming right up," Littlefair said, and true to his word, in +under five minutes their breakfast was ready. Andrea and Sheryl +ate, and then Andrea plunked down a few silvers on the table to +pay for the meal. "That was quite good." + "Thank you," Littlefair said. + "Do you know where I might find 'Raelf?" Andrea asked as she +turned to go. "I would like to thank him for his hospitality of +last night." + "You might try asking at the Wizards' Guild," the innkeeper +suggested. He walked to the door and pointed down the street. +"You go down there, then you..." He gave her detailed +directions, then as he returned to the bar, Andrea pulled out a +gold coin and tossed it to him. + "Thanks," Andrea said. Then, "Come on, Sheryl...we have a +Guild to visit." Once they got outside, Andrea said, "So, +'Raelf's a magician, eh? This gets better and better...maybe he +can help us!" + And with that, the twosome started off down the street, +following the directions Littlefair had given her. If it had +been the Andrea of several years previous, her mind would have +been abuzz and her spirits lifted with hope that a wizard could +help her, but by this time she had long since lost much of her +faith in wizards--none of them had been able to help her before. +She was more looking forward to the chance to thank 'Raelf +properly and apologize for any embarrassment she might have +caused than to see about securing an end to the condition which +had caused her and Sheryl to wander nearly from one end of the +world to the other. As for Sheryl, she capered down the street, +thoughts of angst and suffering farthest from her mind. Andrea +almost envied her that. + It was in these frames of mind that Andrea and Sheryl walked +down the street toward the Wizards' Guild. The instructions weren't really complicated - "Go out the door, turn right, stay on the street until you come to the guild hall. You'll know it when you see it." She strode confidently up the street, Sheryl frolicking around - but not too far away from her; she was drawing a few stares from the passers-by, and one or two of those were avaricious. A warning glance from Andrea sent those ones running. The avenue came up to a bridge - the plaque read "Keruon" in the old common runic, and the river was about a half mile across at this stretch. The bridge was hung between pylons, a mish-mosh of styles, not quite a suspension bridge, not quite an arched bridge. There was only one center support, and the arch of the bridge wasn't very steep, just enough to provide leverage. It was fairly wide - the street was wide enough for five men to walk, arms outstretched and hands touching at fingertips, and the bridge was a little wider, to make room for the raised walkways on either side. Andrea gestured and Sheryl came in closer to her. They started across, stopping briefly to glance down at the traffic below. The central pylon was bigger than the bridge, and there was a building on it, a few shops and a pie store and a guard station. She smiled sweetly at the guards as they stared with suspicion - this adventurer was clearly not a fighter, so she had to be a thief, but what thief was pure enough to keep a unicorn as a pet? The bridge arched downwards again, towards the far side of the river. The street kinked a bit, going off more to the north on this side. Things were Much Nicer over there - the houses and buildings were freshly painted, servants' entrances, that sort of thing. Not quite as much traffic. Sheryl saw the first fountain and nickered a strange sort of noise. She pranced up to it, jumped in, splashing water around herself. From a nearby house, a servant came rushing out - "Here, get that animal out of the ... oh. Sorry, ma'am" and went back in, embarrassed. Unicorns were Not Bad Things to find in your water. "Come on, Sheryl, we need to get going." "Pbbtr-weeeeeigh!" The unicorn jumped out, and preceded Andrea as they wend up the Avenue of Fountains, stopping at each fountain to deliberately dip her horn in and splash around a bit. The waters sparkled brightly as she passed. Andrea stopped for a moment in front of a milliners shop. The woman going in was blocking the entire walkway, and the production she was making of exiting her carriage, crossing the three feet to the door, and entering the shop, reminded Andrea of the airs that were put on by the noble daughters in her homeland. Of course, this one didn't wear any of the badges of nobility, but that down-the-nose sort of look was a sure sign of someone wanting to be taken down a few steps. She put on her awed-at-the-great-lady expression while considering if there was any profit in tracking her down later and "visiting" her house. But not right now, she decided, she still needed to get the lay of the town. "Darling, there's a unicorn in the garden." Andrea turned, looking for Sheryl. She wasn't in sight. There was a house with a large, fenced-in ornamental garden, the wrought-iron fence coming down to the street; she looked through and past the hedge of shrubs to see Sheryl looking placidly at a somewhat-older man, who was holding a cup of tea in one hand. A faint, bored voice came from inside the house, a woman's voice. "That's nice, dear." The man held out a rose to Sheryl, who happily ate the flower off. "Darling, the unicorn just ate one of my roses." "Yes dear. Come inside now." The man went inside, and Andrea stage-whispered: "Sheryl! Get over here!" The 'corn skipped over, then ducked down and through the hedge, and got through a wide spot in the wrought-iron fence. The woman's voice came from inside: "You're out of your mind. I'm going to call the hospital and have you committed." Andrea nudged Sheryl and they proceeded up the street, oblivious to the domestic disaster unfolding behind them. They went two more blocks, and four more fountains were magically purified by the Unicorn horn. Then they came to the Mages' Guild - LittleFair had been truthful, it was unmistakeable. It was only four stories high but there were at least fifteen stories worth of doors, windows, and such - and there were walkways and fountains and things on parts of it, but the directions they went had nothing to do with up and down. It was painted a very pretty color, sort of a rose-petal-pink, with green borders and blue trim. The entry was a big glassed-in area, probably stone or metal that had been enchanted to be transparent, because that much glass would be impossible to blow out without rippling or clouding or bubbles. The door was even stranger - it was like a wheel on its side, with walls of glass, and it went around in a circle. People went in one side, the door turned, and they came out the other. It was very strange. Sheryl thought it was fascinating. She skipped up to it, Andrea hurrying up behind her, and managed to push on one of the glass faces with her horn before Andrea could stop her. There, she was inside, and Andrea got bumped from behind as the door swung her around and deposited her inside as well. "Stop that! Don't play with the door, Sheryl," she scolded, trying to regain her dignity. She looked around, but nobody seemed to be laughing at them. Directly across from the door was a young, roundish short woman wearing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, slid halfway down her nose. "May I help you, ladies?" the woman asked. "Uhm. I'm looking for the magician called 'Raelf, I was told I might be able to contact him here." "Let me see if he's on site." The woman made a flipping-through-rolodex sort of gesture, and stopped, examining one of the invisible cards. "He's in conference with Archmage Dasham. Shall I page him?" "Would he be interrupted?" "Not if he doesn't want to be." "Oh, well, sure, I guess." She tapped a finger against the invisible card, and a chime sounded. "You have a guest at the front desk." She smiled the professional smile of a receptionist. "Please have a seat in our waiting area." "Thanks." Andrea followed the direction she was pointing. There was a comfortable-looking set of overstuffed chairs around a small table, with a carafe of some savory-hot smelling beverage and cups. Andrea was sure that it hadn't been there before. Sheryl trotted over and began to eat the popcorn from the bowl on the table. Andrea shrugged and sat down. "I wonder how long this is going to be?" "Not long at all. Glad to see you're feeling better." 'Raelf appeared in the chair next to her, not wearing the colorful garb he'd worn the day before, but this time wearing an almost sedate black poncho and long black baggy pants. He was wearing amber-colored goggles of some kind, with sparkly runes flashing along the edges. "Sorry to be working while I talk to you, I only have a few hours to do this analysis before I have to go back to Dash's labs." "Oh, that's quite alright. I wanted to thank you for helping me last night, and I want to repay you your gold." "My pleasure. But don't bother with the gold, it's no big deal, I can get more of the stuff. Think of it as me paying someone else back a debt to them." He pulled a sheaf of papers from empty air, and started waving an amulet over them one at a time, returning each one to the empty air. "That's a strange way of doing things. The gold, I mean." "Yeah, isn't it? Confusion and chaos to the hidebound." "Anyway, so, you're a magician, then." "Well, yeah, I guess so. I don't think of myself that way." "Do you know about breaking curses?" 'Raelf laughed. "I seem to be in demand for that sort of thing lately, but it's not my specialty by any means. Who's got the curse, then?" "Sheryl." "Really? She seems like a pretty carefree 'corn to me. May I take a look?" He nodded to the unicorn, who had finished the popcorn and was sniffing at the papers he was doing things to. She nickered, and assumed a well-practiced, bored sort of stance. "Done this before, eh?" He took the amulet he'd been using on the papers, and whispered into it. After a few seconds a golden light sprang out and washed over the young unicorn. Sparks began to fly off her horn and hooves, and her eyes began to glow with internal fire. He held it for a while, then covered it, stopping the light. The unicorn returned to her normal aspect. "OK, I'll run that through standard and detail and let you know what I come up with. Hey, should I do the same for you? Sometimes these things can be contagious." "Uh, I'm not sure, what will this cost me?" Andrea was almost panicked, the thought of her being accursed hadn't occured to her. "Oh, for diagnostics, nothing - if there's anything I can do for you, then we'll work out the terms." "All right then. What do I need to do?" "Just hold still." He aimed the light from the amulet at her, and she flinched as it washed across her. She wondered what she was supposed to feel, her hands started itching, and she flexed them nervously, then held them still again. "Great. Hey, this'll take a few hours to run, and I've got to finish this records search so I can get back before Dasham misses me. How about we meet tonight at the Dragons' Inn, I'll tell you what I discovered." "All right." "Cool. See you there around sunset." He picked up the remaining papers and nodded, then vanished. "That was strange." Sheryl nickered agreement, and whiffled at the bowl where the popcorn had been.