Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!uunet!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!xlink.net!rz.uni-karlsruhe.de!stepsun.uni-kl.de!sun.rhrk.uni-kl.de!physik.uni-kl.de!kring From: kring@physik.uni-kl.de (Thomas Kettenring) Subject: [Welcome] BT: Died In The Wool Message-ID: <1993Oct29.005459.2421@rhrk.uni-kl.de> Sender: news@rhrk.uni-kl.de Organization: FB Physik, Universitaet Kaiserslautern, Germany Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1993 00:54:59 GMT Lines: 87 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bakr's Tales: Died In The Wool ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ADMIN: This follows "Fulfur's Findings" and is finally the last of Bakr's Tales. Thanks to all readers out there, and thanks to those who sent me fan mail and critique. Special thanks to Luthor Anside who probably didn't have an idea that his Welcome thread would grow to contain such a mammoth story! Ephialtes, by small talk on the market, found out that Periklymenos had disappeared from the ship during the voyage. One night he had simply not been there. The tailor said that he was probably "eaten alive, alive-o by cuttles and mussels." We would have liked to know more but we could not very good leave the cellar. Manual made a remark about his patience, so the Chain problem slowly got urgent. "Manual, I can control animals. That is, move their bodies as if I were them. Do you think I could also use the Chain during that time? I mean, control a dog and wish to be a wolf?" "You won't come near Caramon with that chain!" said Compass. The nickel frowned. "Hm. I don't see a reason why that shouldn't work. I'll teleport you all outside the city walls, and we try to find an appropriate animal." "But..." Too late. We were already standing on a meadow. "Hey, look! Sheep! That would be a good choice!" ----- A few minutes later we four, Manual, and a sheep stood in the shadow of a forest, just out of sight of the shepherd. I had the sheep under my control, and Tarik put the Chain around its neck. I slipped into the sheep, and when Manual looked into my eyes questioningly I wished to be a goat. I had an extremely odd feeling, similar to that I had when I grew horns; maybe that was because I was growing horns again... Tarik said, "It works!" I released the sheep, looked at it, and indeed - it had turned into a goat, and the Chain had gone. "And now all we have to do is kill it, and I'm back to normal!" The others readied their weapons and attacked the goat. The goat didn't like it. It tried to run away, and it made lots of noise. It was harder to kill than we had supposed - it kept moving. And suddenly the shepherd stood before us. "What are you doing here?" "Uh... we fight a rabid goat," I said. "It bit me in the finger!" The shepherd goggled first at the goat, then above my head, then at the goat again. Then he turned and ran. Well, after a while Ormgwen wounded the poor beast, and I felt my horns shrink. And that was the moment I left Midgard and came to Nexus. But that's another story and not one I am allowed to tell. ----- ADMIN: "Lindwurm" is a German word for a beast that the dictionary translates as "dragon", but the standard word for that is "Drachen", and that's something else, at least on Midgard. Pythagoras had many followers, who called themselves "mathematicians". All others were "akousmaticians". The mathematicians were not allowed to eat beans because Pythagoras objected to it. Their beliefs were quite mystic - numbers had all sorts of secret meanings, and many numerological traditions originated with them. They also believed in reincarnation; Pythagoras himself is said to have been reincarnated, among others, in someone called Periandros. A few Greek names, like Baros, Almes, Mnogiatzes, Kalamatas, and Astron, I found written on a big vessel that had once contained olives and that now stands on my cupboard. The other Greek names are taken randomly from myths. Pylades, for example, was a close friend of Orestes son of Agamemnon. Ziemi Smeisebal, Fulfur Worsegolf, Thelma Yabak, Gospupin Spoknul, Sir Arni, and Jelay Yelay were among the better output of a random name generator program I once wrote. Rhald, Magrondar, Sundron Kanthariol, and Preg are my own creations. -- Bakr ibn Ja'far ibn Musa al Mekneshi, apprentice mage aka Lifilis Kloote, conjurer and artist aka Thomas Kettenring