Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [MG][LH] Even Archmages Let Down Their Hair Message-ID: References: Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 05:47:31 GMT [ADMIN] This post is Copyright 1993 by Stephen Hutchison. The characters of the Mages Guild are NPC's, ...sage, Sir Lance and Lady Blaze, Erik, and ar'Elya are used by permission of their respective owners. Any glitches in characterization are totally my fault. Lex glanced across the room, meeting 'Raelf's eyes. Unspoken question, how did it go? He nodded, shorthand, it went fine, all parents who remain will get their kids from the orphanage once the healers okay it, as planned. 'Raelf smiled faintly, tossed his head in imitation of 'Raf's unconscious gesture, a questioning quirk of his eyebrow. Lex grinned and nodded, in reply: done, only one disaster, the fur-group guests will arrive shortly. "What was that?" Erik asked. "Shorthand," Lex replied. "We think really alike, so I know what he's asking and he knows what I'm answering. Saves us shouting across the room." "Huh. What's that game they're playing?" "Sir Lance is playing Toblero. 'Raelf is playing a different game with Sir Lance. Seems he's losing an unusually large amount, and seeing how long it takes Sir Lance to notice that he hasn't gotten drunk from it." "Why's he doing that?" Erik fidgeted with his GREY cloak as they walked towards the magical gateway. "Oh, just for kicks. Mischief. Lady Blaze noticed it after the first game, and she's in on it now." The gate came to life as Lex gestured power into it. Four people walked through. "Milady archmage," Lex bowed to Rivy. Her long blond hair was coiffed elaborately with pearls and silver pins, almost too much, but it was overshadowed by her deep blue dress, with the sapphires sewn into the delicate sky-colored overlace. "The party wouldn't be anything without you," he continued. "And milord ArchMage Urcohea. You will find someone you wanted to speak with in the reading room. Nice suit," he said under his breath, and Rivy giggled. She had him wearing a similar deep blue outfit, with a formal ruff the same sky-blue as her overlace. It suited him better than the loose, somewhat sloppy mage's robes that were standard in the Guild Hall. He was followed by a somber Guildmaster Gwaliostrok. "Have a good time, Guildmaster," Lex said to Gwaliostrok as that functionary followed after Urcohea and Rivy. They strolled past the garden, then around into the building. Lex continued looking at them as they entered, absently making the gate close, while Erik watched Archmage Leonaco watching Lex. Leonaco was a spare, wiry sort of man, thinning brown hair, an intense expression that made his slightly prominent nose seem like an eagle's beak. He was doing SOMETHING with magic, but it didn't seem to be bothering Lex, so Erik didn't interfere, standing back so his chaos aura wouldn't bother either magician. After a moment the Master of Production spoke. "How are you doing it?" "Beg your pardon?" Lex said in a voice that Erik hated. It was his torment-the-town-guard too-innocent voice, and it always promised trouble. Erik smiled to himself. "I've scanned you five ways from tomorrow, and you check out. But that elf over there by the damn door also checks out." "Miro? Are you lurking again, dude?" A blur of grey and the elf materialized from his cloak of invisibility. "Sure and why would I be lurking in me own home, now?" he drawled. "Leonaco says we both check out. Far out, huh?" "Ah. Well. Then he must be right. Tell me then, Leo, old boyo, what is it that we'd be checking out .. about?" The expected response didn't materialize. He didn't get angry or lose his train of thought, instead, he laughed. "I can see how you made poor old number eleven lose his temper," he chuckled. "I do hope you play this one on Dasham soon." "We plan to," Lex said. "You're the real thing then. Not a construct." "As you are. And he is. Except for minimum deviation that goes with having different forms, you have the same Truename. How do you do it?" "Temporal fugue, with a heavy dose of Gifts as War. Didn't you read my debrief?" Lex waved as Miro drifted off back into the party. "No, Dasham and Urcohea have marked that file Need To Know." Leonaco shrugged, "They're taking this far too seriously." "Well, that was rude of them. I suggest you get Urco to unseal it for you, I don't want to go into it in detail right now." "Damn. I was hoping it would be something I could use to get out of this week's meeting. Will you be giving me a tour of your factory?" "Uhm, sorry, Leo, can't do that. It would change the way you do things, cultural contamination. Against the law." "Is it that much better than our own methods?" Leo crooked an eyebrow, looking around casually. "This place, it's nice work but nothing beyond our standards." "Not really beyond what you can do, just different, the ideas about how to make artifacts. You're doing something very innovative and new with your own route, and I don't want to interfere with it in any way." "Ah. That's comforting to know, I suppose. So is there anything I can do here that's entertaining?" Leonaco scowled at the garden. "Can't sniff the flowers, you have a keep-off spell running." "Nothing besides relax," Lex laughed. "Yeah, we've got some cool games going, a few interesting people. You might like the band. And the food's good." He blinked suddenly. "Or we've got some hellacious varieties of alcohol, even enough for an engineer like yourself." "Hmf. Mind if I snoop?" "If you hurt yourself it's your own fault. If you break anything you'll pay through the nose. And I'll know if you break anything. Say, you better go in and witness things with Gwalio. ...sage is about to spill the beans to Urcohea and Rivy about who planted the clone at the general meeting. I predict it's a dead-end though." "You found ...sage?" "Sure, he was in the Library like always." "Hm. Take me to him please." Leonaco looked slightly grim. "OK... Erik, shall we? There's nobody else coming tonight who can't get in by themselves." The ShadowMaker fell in beside Lex and they escorted the Archmage inside. ...sage was drinking a White Russian and looked rather irritated. "The fact is, my friends, that I can only think of two people that might have my pattern and the required skills and power ... sorry, three. 'Raelf, you could do it too." He nodded, blind eyes focussing on Lex. He glanced across to where ar'Elya was talking to another guest, out in the main room, and blinked. "Not guilty, dude." Lex shook his head, and the Truthspell that Coral was operating did not vary in color from gentle blue. "Then, it could be Lucas Murphy, or it could be Iglyarch. Both of those persons have the knowledge and might have had the opportunity." Urcohea shook his head. "Lucas Murphy? Who's he?" "A depressing little git," Lex answered, "who suffers from one of the most pernicious forms of contagious omniscience in the infinite cosmos of universes. He's a Melancholic -- have ...sage show you about them in the Library sometime, but whatever you do, don't talk to him, it'll wreck you for sure. It wasn't him." ...sage arched his eyebrows curiously. "Really? But you yourself went to some trouble to discuss things with him." "I deliberately forgot everything he said, too. Some kinds of enlightenment I can live better without." Rivy interrupted. "I'm sure this is fascinating but we do want to know why you think it wasn't him." "Part of the condition is a real strong apathy. He couldn't bring himself to make the effort -- he can hardly bring himself to talk to a pretty girl and he's a priest of Fecunda -- besides, I, or at least my main self, was there at the meeting. The clone wasn't Lucas' work. It was this Iglyarch dude, but before you go looking too hard, I'd better warn you he's dead." Urcohea frowned in surprise. "How do you know?" Lex scowled, unhappily. His eyes focussed on infinity, staring blindly. "He was... an enemy of mine. I know where my enemies are, and what their weaknesses are. His spirit is in the Inferno being fed to the fourth keeper of worms, 24th level, 321st pit. He is suffering great misery because he enjoys the attentions and knows that they will be ended soon." Lex shook, forcing his attention away. "That's a nasty condition _you've_ got, lad," Urcohea whispered. "It'll pass," Lex said curtly. He leaned back against Erik's legs, and the ShadowMaker's GREY cloak moved down to touch him. "If it was Iglyarch, and we can't question him, then we can't tell anything about why he sent the clone to the meeting," Gwaliostrok said, irritated. "But we _can_ prove that neither I nor my agents contracted him," Urcohea said, smiling grimly. "Leo, I hold you as witness." "Fine." Leonaco stood. "I'm going to see about these drinks you promised me. We'll see if they can stand up to an engineer's gut."