Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: Re: [BDAY] Dancing with the Dark Message-ID: References: <1sst6u$huu@huon.itd.adelaide.edu.au> <1sstqk$huu@huon.itd.adelaide.edu.au> <93133.124902BANNON@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> <1993May11.183653.22731@midway.uchicago.edu> Date: Sun, 16 May 1993 06:20:48 GMT [ADMIN] All characters appearing in this posting are by prior arrangement with their owners, although some details of conversation may be changed in minor ways. 000----000 The party continued. Drinks were drunk. People danced, sometimes with each other, sometime just because it felt so good just to dance. Over in one corner, a drunk ghost, and an equally drunk mage talked about past lives. The ghost giggled, "Okay, lemme get thish straight. There's a group of people on this other world who just exershise for a living." 'Raelf head bobbed. "Yup, then they kind of flex around in tiny swimsuits, to see who's the most bufft." "Buff?" asked Krupp. "Umm, who has the best body." "Oh, so it's a beauty contest for guys. Who pays them to do it, or is it another fad for rich folks?" "Oh, most of them have real jobs-" "'Raelf," interrupted Krupp. "Yo?" "Am I supposed to have hallucinations with this Tear stuff?" "Nah, mild color shifts, maybe. Why, what do you see?" "There's a bigass demon talking to kadrys and that weaver woman." 'Raelf twisted around to take a gander at the scene. "And her foot's funny looking," continued Krupp, blithely. "Pastafazoo," muttered 'Raelf. "What?" "It is a demon." "Oh," said Krupp. He looked off into space. "A DEMON?" he shouted. "Yeah, they always did have lousy timing. Ray, did you happen to bring a registatum temporalis with you?" "Oh, yeah, I always carry that kind of thing in this body." The redhaired giant scowled, and fished in a pocket, then pulled out a flask and tossed it across the table. 'Raelf snatched it from midair and emptied it onto the table. The thick silvery fluid inside ran like quicksilver onto the table, forming a glowing circle with little letters written all over it. <> The liquid rippled, then little silver spikes started rippling up. They met in the air, and began forming intricate spiderweb-like patterns. "Very pretty," interjected Krupp. "What's it doing?" "It's a 3-D projection of a 5-D trace of this moment in history." "Of course, I should known." Krupp shook his head. The demon fighting Kadrys had vanished under Kardia's cloak, and Kardia was looking at Kadrys Curse and wigging out. ar'Elya put a hand on the table and loomed over 'Raelf's shoulder. "It's happening now, isn't it?" 'Raelf nodded. "Yup." He muttered to himself. "Hmm, it's a very balanced equation." <> The metal spiderweb started to sag and melt. "Whoa!" <> "Well, that's it then." <> The quicksilver spiderweb reverted to a pool of liquid that flowed backwards up into the flask. "Littlefair, another Catamount?" Krupp looked up expectantly. "So...." "Oh, it's the demon invasion." "And you're just sitting there?" demanded Krupp. "He can't get involved," said ar'Elya. "Me either." "Why not? He went into the Shunned Center with Kron." "It's a totally different thing," said 'Raelf. "That web, it was a probabilty sorter. There's a lot of hot and heavy magic that's going to fly at that Keep. If I go to help out, I'll screw it up." "But can't you not screw it up?" "No, it's not that I'd do the wrong thing. If I went in, and did the right thing, it would still screw things up." He took a pull on his mug. "No matter what I did, if I went in, things would go from bad to worse. Not only that, but I'm looped seventeen ways to Sunday. If I do much more, Paradox is going to take a big chunk out of my butt." "But what about the demons?" "Them? HA! They're not a threat. They're tempters, nothing more." "In Common...." "They're monkey-paw creations. They'll offer you your heart's desire. But with all Nephilim, there's the catch. Maybe it'll make an old woman young and beautiful, but she'll be blind, so she can't see it." "Uh-huh." "They're attracted to the seed of corruption in someone. If you've got the sense to say no, it's not a problem, and if you say yes, they mess with you, but you can still repent, and they have to go away." "I thought once a demon got its teeth in, you were stuck." "Nah. That got changed a while back. At least, for this kind." "Wow. 'Scuse me, 'Raelf," ar'Elya muttered, "One of them's messing with my hostel. I gotta squish it." He drew a big black glowing sword from across his back and vanished. "Hey," Krupp complained, "You just said you can't get involved." "Oh, but we CAN defend ourselves," 'Raelf grinned. "Just can't go out looking for trouble." __Pardon me, Mr Krupp,__ came a voice from beside the halfling, causing him to jump slightly. __Would you be interested in returning to a real live body?__ Krupp stared. The goober talking to him was about half his height, looked like it had been a troll once but got squished under a big rock or something, without quite crushing it. It was giving off a real vile aura, too, but it was also putting out a real meal of fresh greed. Krupp began to feel kind of full, and it began to get edgy. "Hell, no," he finally said. "And I wouldn't take it from you if I did. Go away." __I can give you very attractive terms on the identities and locations of a certain group of murderers__ "Not. In. Ter. Est. Ed." Krupp growled, grabbing the thing by the wrinkly thick skin of its neck. He gave it the full high-wattage glare, and it made a meeping noise and vanished in a cloud of greasy orange smoke, leaving a bad smell behind. About then ar'Elya reappeared, a satisfied sort of grin on the broad barbarian face. The big black sword was chuckling and ichor was evaporating off the edges of the blade. "Got 'em. That'll teach 'em." "What happened?" Krupp asked, curious. "Oh, bunch of them demons got into the Rameshander slavers that hang out near the bazaar. Bastards been making that neighborhood a real hell for women and kids, snatching anyone they think they can get away with. Fools let the demons promise them invulnerability to priestly magic, so they could ignore the old Sister, then they came in and tried to set fire to the hostel, carry off the women and kids. Well, they forgot that swords aren't priestly magic, and then they found out they were invulnerable to their own priests' healing spells." He grinned, and grabbed a mug of Catamount Amber, and drained it. A rush of wind passed over the group as a great silver-grey shape batwinged over the Plaza, then circled back and landed next to the bale of straw in the street. "'RAELF! HEY, WHERE'S LANCOS AND KADRYS?" A booming voice echoed down from astride the shoulders of the Silver Dragon. "SunStorm? Hey, welcome back, dude, how ya feelin'?" "YOUR SPEECH HAS IMPROVED, FRIEND." "Yours is still loud. Moderate, please." "SORRY. TESting One Two Three, Hmm ,mmmm Is this better?" "Much. Hey, Kadrys is over there somewhere, Lancos I have not seen for a few days but he's in town somewhere." "Oh. How about Valgar?" The giant swung down from the dragon's shoulder and landed lightly on the ground - or at least, it looked light. "He's around, but I haven't seen much of him. I think he got a job at the Library or something, when we got back." "I sort of remember something real, well, strange going on. Like I was two people." "You talk to ShockWave about that?" "Yes, but he had this crazy story about a pyroclastic diamond and sharing my body and some babe named Alita." "'S'all true, dude." "Faugh. Next you'll be telling me that the business about TrueSilver betraying us was true." "Only sort of. He was controlled, man. No volition." "Oh. He told me some kind of story but I didn't want to believe him either. Last I remember was having too much to drink that night we were about to leave on the dragon search, and then I had these really strange dreams, then I woke up on a hill outside of town with TrueSilver and ShockWave stuck into the ground and complaining about rust." 'Raelf laughed. "The day that sword rusts is the day Rowan Littlefair starts a fight in his own bar." "I'll have you know I was very uncomfortable," the sword retorted from the sheath on the giant's back. "So it was all true," the giant sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Right." 'Raelf reached behind him for his drink, and found his hand brushing ar'Elya's face. "Oh, hey, I almost forgot. Ray, this is SunStorm and the sharp fellow on his back is ShockWave, and the big toothy guy is TrueSilver. Though I never really met HIM. SunStorm, this is my lifemate, ar'Elya." "Oh?" The giant looked confused for a moment, then the sword interrupted, "SunStorm, look, a shapeshifter, imagine that!" "Pleasedameetcha" the barbarian said, shaking the giant's hand. He looked up and laughed. "Not too many people I have to look up to look 'em in the eye." SunStorm met the barbarian's gaze, then saw something inside them, the Paladin who overcame Impossible odds. He blushed in the torchlight, and laughed a little unsteadily. "Well, I was just coming to say goodbye, and thank you for your help in finding TrueSilver. ShockWave says he already paid you, and I guess it wasn't a dream, so that's even. I have to continue my search for something that can defeat the Demon Mother." "Huh," 'Raelf muttered, "I thought we fixed her when the PCD blew." "She came back," ShockWave said, "I was dedicated to defeating her when I was created so her return woke me, and I woke these other two." "So are you all recovered?" 'Raelf asked, looking at the Dragon. "Oh, they're fine, really," the sword replied, interrupting the dragon before he could speak. 'Raelf looked annoyed but didn't get a chance to interrupt, as another fight broke out near the edge of the dancing. "Hey!" The DiamondSword shouted, "HEY! There's a demon over there!" SunStorm groaned. "Where?" "Over there on the Plaza, talking to that old woman!" The giant looked in the , and after a few moments said "Hey, you're right, shall we go get some practice?" "Oh, no, let's just sit around and watch it," the Sword said sarcastically, as they ran down the street, shouting: "HEY!! YOU! THE DEMON! COME BACK HERE AND FIGHT!!" The dragon jumped into the air and followed them as they went roaring down Dragon Lane. "What the hell was that?" Krupp demanded. "That was ShockWave the DiamondSword and his Paladin and their Silver Dragon. Loud, ain't they?" Krupp snorted.