Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: kring@efes.physik.uni-kl.de (Thomas Kettenring)
Subject: [inn] Kloote and Bakr
Message-ID: <1993May17.232110.14279@rhrk.uni-kl.de>
Date: Mon, 17 May 1993 23:21:10 GMT

ADMIN: Here is the posting belonging between "[Bazaar/Inn] Bakr visits Brycur"
  and "[NTY] One More Meeting".  It was mostly done by me, with the help of
  Chris Steiner.

ADMIN: When I wrote this I found out that I used to misspell "crumple" as
  "crumble", giving it another meaning.  Probably I make more such mistakes,
  this is not my native tongue...  Could the more pedantic among you please
  correct me when I do?  Thanks!

>  Some time later, the door of the Inn opened, and in came Bakr.  At one of the
>tables sat a tall elderly man in a purple cloak, a sort of lizard on his arm,
>and got rather pale when their eyes met.

  Medor pulled his head out of Kloote's glass when he felt his mage's arm
stiffen.  He tried to focus his eyes on what his mage was looking at, but
for the moment could only see a blur.  His vision sharpened quickly as a
quick hangover set in.

  Bakr had seen this man before.  Before he had entered the Rat Quest, when he
had sat at the fire covered with fur, the man had been there too, but he hadn't
recognized Bakr as he did now.  (He hadn't had the familiar then... it didn't
behave as if it could move on its own account without falling over every
few seconds.)  Bakr was now sure this had to be the man he looked for.  He went
to the table and said, "I have been told to contact you."

  Sensing that his mage was tense, Medor scurried up his arm and crouched,
ready to defend him if necessary.  He briefly entertained the idea of
growling menacingly, as he'd seen other familiars do, but stopped when he
realized that this other person either couldn't hear him or simply wasn't
scared.

  Kloote quickly decided that this was not for the public.  He motioned Bakr
to follow him, stood up and went to the bar.  "Can we have the back room?"
  Rowan nodded, "Sure," and the two left the main room.

  "What do you want?" Kloote was a bit nervous.
  "Back home."
  Kloote looked to the floor.  "How did you find out?  Do others here know
too?"
  "I didn't tell anybody.  The Oracle told me I shouldn't."
  "That's good.  Well, I am afraid I can't help you.  The picture is in the
Mysty Mountains, or rather, Spach has it, wherever she is."
  "What picture?  Who is Spach?"
  "Female gnome.  A real pest."  His nose went up.  "You don't know the
details?"
  "No, please fill me in."
  "I draw a picture of the creature I want to conjure, I surround it with a
circle, I crumple the paper, I throw it on the floor - the creature appears.
I left your picture in the woods, together with the others, and Klikk took it
with him.  Now Spach has it."
  Bakr's face lit.  "You conjured me?"
  Kloote felt like kicking himself.  "You didn't know that?  What DID you
know?"
  "I was thrown into this world while walking to Ikonium with my comrades, then
after a long search I found an Oracle, which told me to come here and contact a
tall person in a cloak.  Of course the place is full of them.  You recognized
me, so I knew it was you."
  Both were silent for a while, ordering their thoughts.  Then Bakr spoke.
  "Can you bring me back?"
  "No, you need the picture for that.  Just tear it apart, but it's you who has
to do that."
  "And Spach has the picture?"
  "Yes."
  "You know where she is?"
  "Recently she was in the Inn, but she tore her own picture apart, sending her
back to the Mountains.  Can't you use the World Gate?"
  "I guess I'll have to.  I wanted to do that anyway before I saw you."
  "Fine.  Bye."
  "One moment."
  "What else?"
  "What did you do that for?"
  "Conjure you?  Uh..."  Kloote pondered then decided he'd tell the truth, or
at least part of it.  "A friend of mine and me, we got drunk, and I made some
pictures of silly faces, just for fun..."
  "Silly faces."
  "Well, you have to admit that that nose is unusual in these parts."
  "Hm...  I am here because you had too much booze?"
  "One could say that."
  "Don't you have any sense of responsibility?  Where I come from you'd be
thrown out of the Mage Guild for that!  Are you in the Mage Guild?"
  "Nonononono!  I am a conjurer, not a mage!"
  "Aha.  Unorganized, huh?"
  "Unorganized.  I won't do it again too.  I lost a county because of it.
That's enough punishment, one should think.  Please don't tell anybody, I am
trying to open business here."
  Bakr started to feel a bit sorry for him.  "Okay, I'm a tomb for all
practical purposes."
  "Thank you very much!"
  "A county is too high a price for... One moment!  How many persons did you
conjure?"
  Kloote blew up his cheeks and left out some air.  "Around ten."
  Bakr grimaced at him.  "What's your name?"
  Silence.  Then, "Lifilis Kloote."  Littlefair knew his name, so lying was too
dangerous.  "And yours?"
  Bakr told him.  Silence again.
  "I guess there's nothing else to say," said Kloote.
  "Yes."

  Bakr left the back room and looked around.  Kloote followed him, visibly in a
good mood.  This could have been worse.  Medor looked his mage in the left
eye as if to say, 'So what was all that about?'

>  Bakr came out of the back room, followed by Kloote, when he overheard the
>sentence "So, what do you know about rats?" at a nearby table.

--
Bakr ibn Ja'far ibn Musa al Mekneshi, apprentice mage
aka Lifilis Kloote, conjurer and artist
aka Thomas Kettenring
and
Medor the Night Lizard
aka
Chris Steiner