Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: rudnick@cfatrw.harvard.edu (Bret Rudnick) Subject: [VampQ] Window onto Hell Message-ID: Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1993 19:43:57 GMT ============================================================ [VAMPQ] Window onto Hell Admin [The cast of characters for the [VampQ] thread: Character Created/Managed by --------------------------------------------------------- Ja'nis arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith) Bluestar Dreamer NC312022@WVNVAXA.WVNET.EDU Gemini (Feline familiar of Bluestar Dreamer) Moria Runecaster Master Hawk Rathan Barbar Morning Reaper Turion "Mr. Sinister..." a salamander (Turion's Travelling Companion) Billy the Torch JGE103@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Matte Kudasai Matt Hebert Tomonobu Fujiwara rudnick@cfatrw.harvard.edu (Bret R. Rudnick) Mathew Dawnstrider jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com Synopsis: The Questors are in disguise on the Undead plane where they hope to find (and return with) the Vampire Orchid. They are at the castle of a vampire named Pericles, who experiments with matters of death and life.] Admin [As always, comments/questions welcome.] ============================================================ > "Let's take an hour or so to look around, then > meet again here in the hall," Tomonobu whispered. "Don't > take any unnecessary risks. And assume you're > being watched. As we are now. " > > "Huh?" the voice of Billy asked. "How can you > tell?" > > "When we first entered this floor, the suit of > armour at the far end of the hall grasped the halberd in > its _left_ hand," Tomonobu replied. As the others went their various ways, Tomonobu followed a wide passage on the floor below. There was no access to a higher floor from the area where their sleeping quarters were located, and Tomonobu wanted to get to higher ground to survey the area. Besides, this hall seemed free of the suspicious suits of armour that were standing at various places in the castle complex. At a fork in the passageway, one side sloped up and the other down, so he took the elevated path. But after a short time the strange geometry of the castle took over, and he found himself going several levels down, even though by all outward signs he should have been going up. As the wide passage began to narrow, he passed several large doors on his left. There were no windows or openings in them, but as he passed them, each one promised something unusual lurked on the other side. One pushed hot air into the hall, while another sent out ice-filled mist. Still another vibrated while a deep hum from the other side could be heard. After a time there were no doors on either side, and the passage continued to narrow. Tomonobu was about to give up and turn back when, as he turned a corner, there was a small door in front of him, standing slightly open. He cautiously approached it and listened, but heard nothing. The door silently opened as Tomonobu carefully entered the room. To his surprise, the wall at the opposite end of the smallish room was made of a thick, clear glass. Sulferous clouds wafted upward from the other side, but the air in the room was clear and unaffected. A machine of some sort with an attached chair and eyepiece was the only furniture in the room. Tomonobu felt himself drawn to the seat and eyepiece, as if he were beckoned to them by a distant siren's call. As soon as he was seated he realised that this room jutted out over the ledge the castle rested on, and looked down into the fissure the party had noticed earlier when they approached the castle. The viewing apparatus was pointed down into the fissure, and the mounting was such that although some lateral movement of the mechanism was possible, it was plain the intended direction to view was down. As he looked into the eyepiece the mists deep in the fissure cleared, and Tomonobu could see a distant land of plateaus jutting up from some sort of volcanic sea. As he manipulated the levers, he found he could bring distant objects closer or widen the field of view. And to his astonishment, he could _hear_ what was being seen as if he were actually there. Some manipulation of the mechanism focused on a plateau of unspeakable horrors. Huge creatures with human bodies and bird-like heads were devouring people, while other monstrosities engaged in acts of torture and abomination. "A window onto Hell itself," he muttered. Tomonobu wanted to look away and quit the room, but he felt compelled to manipulate more levers on the machine. He was soon focused onto a different area, but one where the surroundings seemed more familiar. Here was a deserted roadside home in the mountains, similar to the village where he grew up. In the light of what seemed to be a pale, cold winter moon he saw the ghostly images of an older man and woman, motioning him to join them. "Come, my son," he heard the woman say, "join your parents in Hell. Why did you desert us? Why did you leave us? It was wrong of you to do so." It took all the mental strength Tomonobu could muster to tear himself away from the image. "NO!" he declared out loud. "My parents sold me into service when I was a boy. It was _they_ who deserted _me_!" He forced himself out of the chair and to the door. "I already travel the path to Meifumado," he said to the room as he paused at the door. "If I journey to Hell it will be on a raft supported by the river of blood that will righteously flow from my enemies!" Tomonobu then hurried back to rejoin his companions. -- |----------B. Rudnick -- e-mail: rudnick@cfatrw.harvard.edu --------| |--------------------------------------------------------------------| | All that we see or seem, Is but a dream within a dream -- E.A. Poe | |--------------------------------------------------------------------|