Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: cmeadows@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) Subject: [AU] [HouseStorming] The Briefing Message-ID: <1994Jan28.204637.17459@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 20:46:37 GMT Okay, here it is, entry #1 in the [HouseStorming] thread. I am really, REALLY sorry it took so long. But now that it's started, I hope we can get the momentum up, get going, and get me back into writing this thing! This entry is designed so that those people who are involved in the HouseStorming can interpolate their comments by quoting the reply text. Thus, if I forgot some authors, those people can quote reply text and insert introductions where they ought to go. The same for questions for Andrea about the HouseStorming. So, have fun with this...I know I will... --------------- Andrea and Sheryl stood at the head of a table in a room 'Raelf had set up for them. At the head of the room was a big glass panel, about six feet by six feet in dimension. 'Raelf had explained that it would project the somewhat sketchy plans she'd been able to acquire of the house. This was the point of the gathering. The table had plenty of comfortable seats arould it, most of which were occupied. All those people who had signed up for the HouseStorming were here, in their seats. There was Selna, chatting amicably with making notations on some sheets of paper, apparently quite experienced at waiting for lectures to begin. Lance and Blaze were sitting together, quietly discussing something with each other. And there was Eowyn, sitting opposite Kadrys, all her attention on the screen in front of them. Kadrys appeared more patient than anyone else at the gathering; Andrea wondered why. She also wondered why there was something about him that made her slightly nervous, even though she couldn't understand why. N'graytha was curiously silent on this score. ar'Elya sat at the far end, across from Kadrys and behind, folding a sheet of paper quietly. A deadly-sharp looking paper airplane suddenly launched from her hand heading for the back of Kadrys' head; without looking, his hand intercepted it. They both grinned like schoolchildren getting away with something, while 'Raelf blatantly ignored them, still talking to Selna. Sheryl nickered, and Andrea nodded. It was time to get the meeting started. She stood, and the talk around the table quieted down. Andrea waited for the stillness to be complete, then she began. "I suppose you're wondering why I called you all here today..." she began. This elicited a chuckle from most of those seated around the table, and broke the ice sufficiently for her to continue on less formal terms. "I realize that some of you may not have met each other," Andrea continued. "Since you will all, barring some misfortune, be working together to help me clean house, I think this would be a good time to exchange introductions. To start off, for those of you who may not know me, my name is Andrea, and this is Sheryl, my...companion. We travelled a long time before we got here, starting out in the city of Selactica where I was trained, looking for a solution to some personal problems we had. Shortly after we got here, we found that solution." Sheryl nickered affirmatively. "After that, we decided it was time to settle down, so I bought a house. This house, as you may know by now, belonged to a former master thief, and is full of traps to catch the unwary. I'm told that several people have lost their lives already trying to storm it. "Who wants to go next? Er...to introduce themselves, not to lose their lives." Teonyl stood up next. "I'm..." she glanced briefly at Selna, "Eowyn." Her eyes dropped as if she was unable to meet Selna's gaze. "I haven't been in Generica long, but I've been in this kind of business for a while." "...And my name is Kadrys," the gaunt, pale figure spoke up. "Unlike many people here, I have no gifts for wizardry and no dealings with gods. But I am a thief, and I've had a little experience with both magical and technical traps in my time," he finished with a slight, ironic smile. Palandun looked nervous. "I'm Palandun Lintesul, you can call me I spent some time as a warrior there. I'm also a Grad student at the university, so I could help with military tactics and live animals, but dead object traps are a little bit beyond me." Then he added as an afterthought, "I can't cast spells or call gods either, but I'm pretty good at bandaging and some healing." Lance stood and said, "My name is Sir Lance. I am a former knight from far away. You need not call me 'Sir' if you find it uncomfortable. This is my mate, Blaze." Blaze rose and bowed to the others. "She is a sorceress, a spell-caster. We met Andrea and Sheryl after the great Storm. My sword and my mate's magic are at the service of everyone." As soon as the introductions were over, Andrea stepped back to the screen and raised the pointer. In the back of the room, 'Raelf muttered something into his amulet. The screen lit up, and the blueprints appeared. Andrea had half-expected it not to work, and admonished herself for her skepticism. "When I found these blueprints, I was rather startled, in several ways. Firstly, that they actually existed; I'd been told that the former owner had destroyed all known copies of the plans. These concept sketches were apparently done by the original contractor prior to commissioning the actual plans, and never destroyed either because the owner never knew about them, or perhaps because they didn't pose any threat to the security of the house. Thus, they were originally pretty rough, just pencil sketches actually, but 'Raelf somehow refined them into the neat graphics you see on this screen. It's more than likely they'll be inaccurate in many ways. "Another source of amazement to me was the actual size of the mansion. I'd expected the mansion to have fifty, maybe sixty rooms at most, and if these schematics can be believed, it could have over ten times that many." Andrea chuckled. "I guess you might say it was even more of a steal than I thought." There was some more laughter that was more polite than anything else. Andrea continued. "The first trap that I know of is right here." Andrea pointed, then took something wrapped in a handkerchief out of her tunic. She unwrapped it carefully--it appeared to be a largish metal dart, with a sticky black substance on the tip--then tossed it onto the table where it landed with a resounding THUMP! "As I was stepping up to take my first look at the house, this flew out and hit the gatepost. I'm fortunate it didn't hit ME." She moved her pointer. "I suspect it's a dart gun mounted in the house that was triggered by stepping on one of the stones in the path." Andrea idly smacked the palm of her left hand with the pointer. "So, we at least know our first obstacle." Sheryl nickered, "What about the house?" "Oh, right, good question. Sheryl just asked me about the house itself. I guess I should move on to show just what's in there, right? Okay, so here we go." She moved the pointer up to the house. "This is the entry foyer. It's kind of a corridor that moves in from the front door. I imagine that it will be lined with dozens of potentially lethal devices. "Once we get past this, we will come to a series of corridors, halls leading throughout the mansion. I will touch upon some points of interest." Andrea pointed to a rather large room on the first floor. "This is, I understand, the Grand Ballroom. It's very large...I understand it was capable of hosting dances even larger than the party recently held in this lighthouse. There is a balcony around the perimeter, with access to various hallways on the second floor. "The main kitchens are located on the first floor, not far beyond. There is a special corridor here which is, so far as I understand, for food delivery only. I believe there is a series of carts rigged up to run between the kitchen and the ballroom by this corridor, for catering dances and parties, I assume. Sheryl nickered happily, and from the smug expression on her face, it was possible even for those who did not know her to guess that she was envisioning riding back and forth on those carts once the house was clear of traps. Andrea smiled, and scratched her younger sister around the base of her horn. "Okay, I confess, Sheryl insisted that I point that one out." She chuckled. "All right, now on to business. Here on the second floor..." And the view changed accordingly. "...is the library. It is here that I expect we might find some useful information. After all, if the master thief who used to own this place kept copies of the full blueprints anywhere, it would surely be here. This, then, will be one of our main objectives. "Another such objective will be the living quarters of the master thief himself. I do not actually know for sure which room this is, but floor is the most probable." She indicated a suite at the end of one of the hallways. "As you can see, it is likely, simply from the sheer number of possible escape routes-- windows, probable secret corridors, and the like. It is possible that useful information could actually be found here." Andrea moved the pointer back to the icon on the screen that would call up the first floor. "All these rooms in here would seem to be servants' quarters, though I can't really say for certain. This here would be the stables, and this room looks large enough to hold several coaches and carraiges...here would be a laundry, and storage for food supplies...things I can only guess at. "Here on the second floor are more servant's rooms, guest quarters, various possible storage rooms, and a lot of things that I'm not sure of. On the other floors..." Andrea continued, pointing out possible features of the house. At last, she concluded. "As for the basement, there's really no way to say. The plans only show one basement, with a wine cellar here, but I believe there could be several basements and subbasements, perhaps even connections to the sewer system. It's impossible to say with any certainty. If any of us go down there, I think we should go in groups, with plenty of protection. "Now." Andrea tapped the pointer against her hand. "Are there any questions?" "Yes." Palandun said. "Are we planning on going in the front door? It doesn't seem tactically sound. Maybe go in the ballroom instead? It should be harder to hide traps in a great empty space like that for one thing." "The ballroom doesn't actually connect to the outside," Andrea said. "It's in the middle of the floor. The front door is a bit of an obvious lure, true, but I believe it would be the best choice. First of all, we already know where the first trap is. Second, we have a psychological advantage in that we know for certain that there will be traps there--we won't get too overconfident, setting ourselves up to be hit when we least expect it. Third, I am confident in this party's ability to detect and defeat traps, and to deal with the consequences of any traps that spring on us. "As for the ballroom, I fully agree with you. It would probably be more difficult to place traps there, which is why I think that we should probably make it our base of operations. We will store excess supplies there, and meet back after a specified time if we decide to split our party." "Anything else?" -- Chris Meadows | Robotech_Master's First Law of Superguy: CHM173S@NIC.SMSU.EDU | Continuity is Overrated. 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