Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!spool.mu.edu!nigel.msen.com!yale.edu!yale!hsdndev!cfanews!cfatrw.harvard.edu!rudnick From: rudnick@cfatrw.harvard.edu (Bret Rudnick) Subject: [VampQ] The New Kid Message-ID: Sender: news@cfanews.harvard.edu Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL0] Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1993 14:22:02 GMT Lines: 242 =========================================================== [VAMPQ] The New Kid Admin [This post is a joint effort involving: Bluestar Dreamer (as himself) Matt Hebert (Matte Kudasai) Mr. Sinister (Turion) JGE (Billy the Torch) Alan Smith (Ja'nis) Master Hawk (Moria Runecaster) Bret Rudnick (Tomonobu Fujiwara) Synopsis: On a quest for the Vampire Orchid, a troupe of adventurers are enroute to the mysterious Gate to Nowhere.] =========================================================== It had been three days since the terrible storm and battle, and bodies were gradually healing and muscles became less stiff and sore. The rough scrubland monotonously rose and fell before them, mile after mile. It had been a peaceful journey since the battle. The party had dispersed to a new marching order. Gemini went ahead scouting with Ja'nis and Billy in rotation. Tomonobu took point in the actual group, followed by Moria, Billy (or Ja'nis), Matte, Bluestar and Matthew sweep. They kept their swords to the outside and magic in the middle. Moria and Blue were not close together, and Bluestar could telepathically communicate with Gemini ahead scouting and voice communicate with everyone else. The party set out again as dusk fell, Ja'nis replacing Billy up ahead scouting the way. Tomonobu let them draw a few minutes away, and then led the rest of the party off. After a while, Bluestar and Moria slipped ahead of the main group, to give the others a bit of a rest. Bluestar and Moria picked their way through the narrow path that the road had become. Charged with finding a way through the brush, the two elves worked quietly, barely a word spoken between the two. When they were well away from the others, Blue stopped suddenly and turned to Moria. "Moria?" Bluestar said hesitantly. "What?!" An underlying tone of anger tinted the dark elf's voice. "I just wanted to...thank you....for healing Gemini," Blue stammered out. The drow turned around, shocked by the unexpected words of kindness from the usually cold elf. "And..." Blue continued, "to apologize for my harsh words and actions. I..I was wrong." Moria thought about chiding him, Bluestar Dreamer actually admitting to a mistake. But she could see in his eyes that this was no joke. "It was nothing," She said awkwardly. Suddenly she was very aware of Blue's proximity and his handsome features. Moria tried to turn away, but found she could not bring herself to do so. Likewise, Dreamer was surprised that he had never noticed how lovely Moria's eyes were. Blue argued with himself that he could not be attracted to a drow, but his body said otherwise. Neither of them remembered moving, but they quickly found each other with noses almost touching. "Moria?" Bluestar breathed, desire clouding his mind. Flushed with heat, Moria did not answer, but moved to kiss the blue-haired elf. Blue moved to meet her, but suddenly the spell was broken by the sound of someone approaching down the trail. Suddenly aware of their actions, Both elves backed away from each other and nervously straightened themselves, as Billy came into view. "Tomonobu found another path he wants Blue to check out." The thief said, seemingly mindless of the matching nervous looks he got from the elves. "Okay," Blue said, starting back down the path almost pushing Billy along. The elf stole a look back, but Moria was already turned and working her way on. * * * * * * * * * * * * The road was rough and seemed little used. Vegetation was sparse, and grass grew freely along and within the trail. Here and there were dotted over the wilderness patches of trees which loomed in the dusk, remnants of a great forest long since gone. Gemini, sitting on Ja'nis' shoulder for the viewpoint, scanned the road ahead. Mice and other small animals scurried about, heading home for the night, but all else was still. Suddenly, he spotted something odd up ahead on the trail. [Do you see that?] he asked his human. "Hmmm?" Ja'nis asked, trying to stay as quiet as possible while on the scouting rotation. She peered into the gathering dusk, trying to see what Gemini's eyes had picked out. [Up ahead and just off the road to the right.] Ja'nis looked. At first, she saw nothing more than what appeared to be a camp fire glow, or at least, she thought it was. But something looked wrong. "Let's get a little closer and have a better look." [I don't know about this,] Gemini replied but remained seated. They crept closer and saw some kind of humanoid sitting on a rock facing a BIG tree stump. Above the humanoid, hanging in the gloom, hung an orb from which the glow came. The humanoid was moving something on the stump, and with the new light Ja'nis picked out that they were chess pieces. Across from the humanoid, sitting on the stump, was something that resembled a...'Night lizard?' Ja'nis thought, 'No, more chameleonlike.' It glowed itself with a soft red hue. [Peculiar, no?] Gemini sent. "No, this is damned weird. You'd better get off and hide, so you can call in the cavalry if I need it. You can disappear better than I can." Gemini dismounted and Ja'nis walked up to the person, hand on her sword hilt. "Ah, Ja'nis." Turion said, seeing the female warrior of the party, "You're late." Ja'nis just stood there. It wasn't so much he knew her name, or the fact that the 'night lizard' turned and gave her an incredulous look, but that he said she was 'late'. "Excuse me?" stuttered Ja'nis. "No time for that." he replied. "But.." "Or that either." "Now just a minute!" she was beginning to feel really put out by his tone. "Who are you and what in the name of are you doing out here playing chess; with a ... a...whatever it is!?" "All in good time, my dear. But I think you should get the rest of your party. As I said your all horribly late. Tell them to hurry along now." He turned back to the game, "Your move." The salamander turned back as well and waddled over to a piece, picked it up and knocked over the humanoids knight. "Check." By this time the rest of the group had gathered around the strangers. Tomonobu threw his hands up in disgust. "More magician's trickery. Does it never end?" Turion looked up from the game, annoyed at being in check, "Hmm magic, where? Turion is no trickster." As Matte stepped around the taller members of the group, she got a good look at the fellow on the boulder. She froze for a moment, then shook her head in absolute bewilderment. The salamander waved to her, and brought the problem into focus. It showed clear signs of life. That is, Matte could see the radiance surrounding it; a radiance she expected from one of its kind. But the man gave no illumination at all. There was no spiritual presence to him whatsoever. "He's... undead... almost." Matte's voice was barely a whisper. There was something about him that she could not identify. He was the most peculiar creature she had ever experienced, and he gave her the willies; she wasn't accustomed to meeting creatures whose life could not be accounted for. She shrank back into the protection of the group without taking her eyes off the being. "What, what's this now? Did I hear 'undead'. Well bless me my dear do I really look undead to you?" For the slightest instant, so fast was it Matte was not sure if it really happened, there appeared to her in Turion a point, just one, of blinding white light. Then it faded as if it had never been. "You don't look _alive_ to me. But I admit I've never seen anything like you." Matte's voice still had a chill in it, but her body seemed to relax. "Well, let us be off," Turion said as he rose and gathered his things. "As I have already said, you are all very late. The quest is waiting, and so is the Gate." "And what makes you think you are coming with us?" Bluestar asked, his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword. "Why, to help you of course." With that, Turion repeated the riddle, word for word, that the group heard originally at their first meeting: 'For Tomonobu Fujiwara, where to find the one you seek.' 'For Ja'nis, your life's work.' 'For Mathew Gabriel Dawnstrider, a paladin's power.' 'For Moria Runecaster, a new home.' 'For Bluestar Dreamer, a heart, anew.' 'For Rathan Barbar, experience.' 'For Billy the Torch, resolution of debts owed.' 'For Matte Kudasai, knowledge from beyond.' Each member of the group looked at the other and nodded. It looked as if Turion had joined the club. * * * * * * * * * * * -- |----------B. Rudnick -- e-mail: rudnick@cfatrw.harvard.edu --------| |--------------------------------------------------------------------| | All that we see or seem, Is but a dream within a dream -- E.A. Poe | |--------------------------------------------------------------------|