From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Dec 15 09:03:38 1993 Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!olivea!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!destroyer!gumby!yale!hsdndev!cfanews!cfatrw.harvard.edu!rudnick From: rudnick@cfatrw.harvard.edu (Bret Rudnick) Subject: [VampQ] Guess What's Coming to Dinner! Message-ID: Sender: news@cfanews.harvard.edu Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL0] Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1993 22:15:59 GMT Lines: 180 ============================================================ [VAMPQ] Guess What's Coming to Dinner? 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 Ah (Blood spider created by Rathan) 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 party members have been ambushed at a dinner given by their host, the vampire Pericles. A great battle has just begun.] Admin [As always, comments/questions welcome. All the good parts of this post were written by Matt Hebert.] ============================================================ > Unable to enjoy her food and not really interested in > dessert, Matte had just begun to try to excuse herself from > the table when the servants attacked. Halfway out of her > seat already, she quickly leapt upon her chair and picked up > a piece of cutlery from the table. She attempted to hit one > of the creatures attacking Moria on the opposite side of the > room, but was picked up from behind as she drew her arm back, > the knife falling harmlessly to the floor. Matte felt the grip of the armoured servant tighten as she was lifted from her feet. The creature's grasp was very firm, and she was unable to free herself to conjure assistance or use her weapon. She grunted and kicked at her captor but to no avail. Suddenly, she felt the iron grip give way as she landed on her feet and heard the clatter of armour fall to the floor above the din of battle in the room. She turned to see Tomonobu behind her, his sword flashing at more armoured servants further away. "Rescuing you is getting to be a habit, Little One," he said as he moved away to deal with problems of his own. "Thanks," Matte smiled, and she turned to face the main open area of the Great Hall. The rest of the party had spread themselves out fairly well in an effort to defeat their would-be captors. Moria was hurling spells right and left, Tomonobu and Bluestar seemed engaged in another contest of swordsmanship, and Rathan had just hurled a blast at Pericles. Even during all this chaos, Turion sat calmly at his place, sipping wine. "I hope Billy isn't in the middle of it," Matte said to herself. Through the huge double doors at the far end she saw enter the Hall at least a dozen giant trolls, all armed with nets and cudgels to subdue the questors. "Do not destroy them," she heard the voice of Pericles above the pandemonium in the room. "Subdue them!" "Well, they might be in for a nasty surprise," Matte grinned. Since Tomonobu had succeeded in giving her some breathing room, Matte smiled and decided she had time to collect a large favor. She quickly fell into the trance which connected her to the most desolate planes. After a moment in which she appeared to nearly collapse, the little exorcist's head violently jerked up to stare almost vacantly at the ceiling. An arch of flame which nearly touched that ceiling burst forth from Matte's mouth and struck the floor in front of the right flank of trolls. As Matte was quickly recovering from her trance, the flame burned itself away and left in its place a wide, low demon which glowed red against the flat black of its cooler areas. The creature's body was stocky, but molten, and seemed to be constantly on the verge of dripping away into a puddle. Two luminous eyes immediately locked on the nearest trolls. The demon extended two disproportionally long arms to grasp a brace of opponents by their throats, smoke curling up at the contact, the stench of burning flesh slowly collecting in the large hall. A moment later the trolls' heads tumbled onto the ground, their necks burned through, and the trolls' bodies stumbled about in search of them. The demon ignored the headless trolls and waded into the flank. "Blast it!" Matte was obviously disappointed with the results of her summons. "I'm going to have to invite Miost to my place for another chat. I deserved better than that!" A quick look around told her she had time for one more conjuration. Through a trance that lasted only a moment, she summoned a flock of small winged demons with talons like long, curved knives. These dropped out of the air and fell upon the trolls with tremendous zeal and terrifying shrieks. Pieces of troll quickly began to litter the floor, and the demons were effective in shredding several nets as well. Matte felt much better about the new troops, but did not have a real opportunity to relish her handiwork. A skeletal servant, who obviously had shed his Festival costume, buried the head of a bardiche into the floor near her. Hiking up the front of her skirt and briefly exposing her short muscular legs, Matte quickly retrieved her flail and began an attack of her own. Her prowess with the weapon was quickly apparent, and she easily parried the clumsy strokes of the skeleton. The creature's skull fragmented into tiny pieces a few swings later, and Matte paused a moment to determine the current state of the battle. Her demons were succeeding in slowing the trolls down, but these seemed to withstand the effects of fire better than most. Two of the winged demons had already been dispatched by the cudgels, and it was clear that the battle was far from over. Tomonobu's fighting had taken him further into the middle of the room than he would have liked. He would prefer to have his back to a wall or some other large object that wouldn't spring to life and attack. But as he started to make his way back to the fireplace many of the remaining armours saw the opportunity to cut him off, isolate, and capture him. They made a move to surround him. Tomonobu, tiring from the ferocity of the battle so far, raised his sword, Onigoroshi, above his head in preparation for an all-out assault. The blade gleamed with the pale yellow light of a cold, full winter moon. "This way to Hell!" he shouted at the creatures as they closed the gap. Matte turned at the warrior's call. She hesitated for just a moment. If it had been anyone but Tomonobu, she would have doubted they could defend against this kind of onslaught. But the samurai had saved her life several times now, and she had almost begun to see him as invincible. The armours, however, pressed him ferociously, and it appeared that he might be overwhelmed. The little half-hobbit quickly began to attack one of Tomonobu's flanks from behind. These armours were better fighters than the skeletons, and her flail was less effective against them. But she did manage to distract them enough to provide Tomonobu with some openings, of which he quickly took advantage. She also made quite sure that she did not get herself too deeply into a battle of her own that she could not win. As the last of the armours fell and the warrior turned to the center with a fresh stance, he nodded briefly but respectfully to the barefoot lady. "My thanks, Little One." "I don't like debts, Samurai," Matte quipped. They shared a somewhat grim smile, then quickly turned their attentions to the main fray. -- |--------------------------------------------------------------------| | On the edge of Oblivion, all the world is Babylon, And all the | | lovers and everyone, a ship of fools, sailing on -- Wang Chung | |--------------------------------------------------------------------|