From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Mar 16 17:11:09 1994
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Organization: Central Michigan University
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 14:02:22 EST
From: Mike Sander <344LWKC@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Message-ID: <94075.140222344LWKC@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [BBD] The Mission
Lines: 493

[ADMIN1: A brief What Has Gone Before: When last we left the BBD thread,
Bek and Raoh (who currently has control of Tarkyn's body) where on their
way to the Mage Guild, to pick up an item Velric ordered BBD to get.
Meanwhile, Lancos and Kaalzic were approaching BBD's HQ, intent on rescuing
Myrnien.  Meanwhile #2, Myrnien herself, while in a dream, met wolves who
knew Kaalzic, and found them to be a bit more than they seemed.]

[ADMIN2, Accredations.  Raoh and Tarkyn belong to Barry Prismall; Myrnien,
Kaalzic and the wolves to Dan Peters; Gutt Man to the Dreamer; BBD and Lancos
to myself.  Also, thanks to the Mage Guild people for... well, allowing this
to happen, and for helping with the post.]

His first waking thought was a memory of pain.  Someone was calling him.
The voice was annoying, imperative.  How dare they?  He would destroy...
No.  The memories were returning.  He'd heard this voice before.  It had
woken him, called him out of the darkness, out of the hoarded pool of
souls that the accursed runeblade had stolen.  He opened his eyes, again
seeing the face of the stranger in the mirror: Tarkyn, the man who had
killed him.  The voice spoke again and he reocgnized the mage holding the
mirror: Bek.
...

Raoh stopped the memory there, and approached the Mage Guild with measured
steps.  He felt a strange sense of nervousness as he neared, which he
attributed to being in this new body.  It surely had more physical strength
than he was accustomed to, but it was weaker magically, and it was magic --
that and a bit of good acting -- which would help him in this endeavor.

For, BBD had informed him about the Mage Guild, stressing how thorough they
were, and how badly they would treat an invader.  After being defeated once,
Raoh was ready to agree with BBD that subtlety was the best course, especially
after Bek hinted he could use someone else.  Of course, the time for thinking
of such thing was in the past; now it was time to concentrate on this task.

After trying to prepare himself for anything, he stepped through the door,
felt himself being scanned, and received... an amazing amount of disinterest.
No bells, no whistles, no flaming balls of death, nary a raised eyebros at his
entrance.  Which meant that either BBD had overestimated the defenses -- which
Raoh seriously doubted -- or else he'd succeeded in fooling the sensors.  He
kept focussed however, as he moved forward.

"Afternoon, Tarkyn." came the greeting from the front desk, followed by a
stifled yawn.  "It's been a while since I've seen you around here.  Almost
since you came back after defeating Raoh."

Raoh grinned at the deskworker, and hoped that the expression conveyed
friendliness, although its true significance was pleasure.  After all, both
Tarkyn's Mage Guild membership and the lazy, late afternoon atmosphere had
apparently proven to be as beneficial as hoped.  Of course, he couldn't tap
into the ranger's memory to find out this fellow's name, but that was a
minor inconvenience.  Giving a small shrug of his shoulders, he said, "Yes,
I've been rather busy lately."  That was certainly the truth.

The deskworker nodded.  "Yeah, who hasn't?  So anyway, what are you up to
today?"

"Oh, I just plan on doing a little experimentation."

This caused a slight surprised look.  "Well, you must be feeling more
comfortable with your magic."

"Yes, I guess you could say I'm almost a new person in that respect," Raoh
said quickly, hoping he was staying within Tarkyn's characteristics.

A smile in reply told him he had salvaged things.  "That's good.  I'll let you
get on with your business -- I'm sure you know where everything is."

That wasn't exactly true, but Raoh nodded nevertheless, and gave a wave as he
walked away.  'That wasn't too bad,' he said to himself.  'Of course, what
comes next should be significantly more difficult...'

* * * *

Myrnien felt the dream world grow dizzy around her, and the next thing she
knew, she was in the middle of a forest.  Besides trees, all she could see at
the moment was the sun making its descent, and -- far to the east -- the
front of a large black tower, which seemed to fluctuate in and out of view.
She was blinking her eyes at the discomforting sight, when a noise in front
of her diverted her attention.  Zana and Toric emerged, followed close behind
by several other wolves.

"Sorry for any discomfort," Zana said.  "But we feel more comfortable here.
And so it is here that we will help you escape.  And all we ask is that you
return the favor."

"I'd do anything for my freedom," Myrnien said, then paused for thought.
'Anything but give it up to someone else,' she amended, reminding herself
about how she'd been trapped in BBD's service.  "What would I need to do?"

"Your talents will help to free us from a prison, just like ours will do for
you.  More than that we dare not say while someone else has access to your
mind.  Is it agreed?"

"Yes," the warrior replied.  She felt she could trust these creatures, but
even if she were wrong, she couldn't see what harm they could do.  It was
_her_ dream, after all.

"Good.  Then move your left arm away from your body, so that we can grasp
your bracelet."

Myrnien found herself looking down at her hand, for the first time noticing
the object was also around her arm in this dream.  She lowered her arm, but
almost jerked it back when Zana tried to grasp the bracelet with her teeth.

"Hold still," said the wolf.

At first, little happened, despite Zana's attempts to break open the
bracelet's clasp, so it could be removed.  But then the other wolves
appeared to... flow into the first?!?  The result was that Zana grew
larger, and therefore stronger, slowly warping the bracelet further.
Myrnien smiled, anticipating success.

And in the waking world, Myrnien fumbled with the bracelet, the clasp on
it holding together because of its magic, but slowly starting to give way.

* * * *

BBD sat in the shadows, trying not to lose his patience, which had proved to
be overall more difficult ever since Velric had gained control.  In most
areas, BBD had extraordinary patience, but getting his revenge was an
exception.  And having to depend on someone else's skills didn't help matters.
Still, in many ways he had conquered parts of Generica before, so he was
confident that this plan would work.

A small alarm was relayed to him, informing him that one of his houses had
been entered by someone other than one of his minions.  He did a quick survey,
and found it was his headquarters.  It figured -- the one place he didn't
have full defenses up, in case Raoh needed to teleport there in an emergency.
BBD had thought about forcing Raoh to put on a bracelet in order to reenter
the headquarters, but it made _so_ much more sense to wait until he was
trapped _inside_.  Velric's command kept BBD at the Mage Guild for now, but
that mattered little to him.  All he had to do was send a signal to his
servants.

However, he encountered an unexpected barrier.  He couldn't seem to wake
Myrnien; she appeared to somehow be disconnected from him.  Which didn't make
a grain of sense; it was all very frustrating.  At least he managed to rouse
Gutt Man, who he was sure could handle whomever had intruded.

At least until he found out -- through Gutt Man's thoughts -- who it was.
Kaalzic and Lancos, who had troubled him before?!?  That also didn't make
sense: BBD was sure the spell he'd cast to make his foes forget where his
headquarters was had been successful.  So how had they found their way back?

He again cursed Velric's command, and silently debated about removing the
bracelet _now_.  However, that would leave him too weak, at too critical a
time.  And, with no safe way to speed up things here, all he could do was
anticipate the time he could attack these pests, and all teach Velric
about making such restricting demands on him.

* * * *

After their first step into the house, Lancos and Kaalzic took a quick glance
around.  They were in a hallway that led to a large room that was just out of
sight, torches and doorways littering their path.

"Is it just me or does this place seem different?" Kaalzic asked.  "I don't
remember things being like this."

"Well, I think BBD had us sent to the main room," Lancos replied, pointing
in front of them.  "So we might as well check these other rooms while we
can.  You start on the right -- just be careful."

Kaalzic nodded, slowly pulling on the knob, and backing away as opened the
door.  When nothing showed, he peered in, the sight before him causing a
wide grin: a few feet in front of him lay Myrnien.  She had her eyes closed
as if asleep, but she clapsed her bracelet as if trying to force it off.
This convinced him that the item had some sort of way to control her, and
the painter was determined to help her remove it if he could.

Just then Lancos came over, his own door producing nothing, and wondering
about what Kaalzic was looking at.  "Myrnien!?" he said quietly, stating
the obvious.  "I can't believe our luck."

"Your luck has just run out," a familiar voice said.  They turned to face the
Gutt Man, who wore a maniacal grin.

"You go help Myrnien if you can -- this battle is mine." the ranger said,
matching his opponent stare.

Kaalzic nodded, and went into Myrnien's room.  He knelt next to her, for a
moment simply too glad to see her again to move.  But then he looked down to
her bracelet, and swore to himself that it would be removed.  He pulled hard
on the clasp, lending his strength to her effort.  Which was harder than he
thought: the bracelet was fairly tight on her skin, and the clasp seemed to
resist most of his attempt at force.  Still, he refused to stop trying as
long as there was hope, and smiled as he was rewarded by the feel of the
bracelet giving way.

"The bracelet's loosening!" Myrnien said in her dream, momentarily unable to
keep her composure.

"That is because you have help both in the real world and that of dreaming."
Zana said, this time through mental communication.  "Let us take advantage of
this -- on the count of three, push as hard as you can.  One... two...
_three_!"

Kaalzic felt a sudden surge flow into him, making him feel stronger.  He
pulled with full force, closing his eyes as part of the strain.  The next
thing he knew, he was falling backwards onto his rear.  He opened his eyes
and found his hands still around the bracelet, which was no longer connected
to Myrnien.  He threw the item towards the nearest corner, and stood up over
his sister.

Even without looking at her hand, Myrnien knew the bracelet was off.  She
heard a clink and -- despite the fact that it shouldn't have happened on the
soft ground around her -- thought it possibly the most beautiful sound she'd
ever heard.

"Now we will do the same for Gutt Man," Zana stated.  "It should come easier,
although he might be more resistant to it."

"Gutt Man?" Myrnien asked, astonished.

"Yes.  Remember, he was trapped just like you were.  Besides, he is too
dangerous to Generica with his current abilities."

"Ok, I'll agree with _that_.  But I'm still far from fond of the idea.  What
do I have to do?"

"Fortunately, he is already halfway there.  Just grasp him, and we'll help
you enter his dream, and assist with the rest.

"Fine with me."

"Good.  You best awake now.  I am sure the sight will please you..."

Myrnien opened her eyes, slowly adjusting to the level of light in the room;
to these surroundings.  She quickly scanned the room, her eyes locking on
Kaalzic's form, and smiled widely.  Emotion overtook her and she moved to
hug him, something that was eagerly returned.  She sat there, silent, joyous,
on the verge of tears for many reasons, until she remembered what Zana had
said in her dream.  She backed away, and stood up.

"What's wrong?" Kaalzic asked, worried about what might interfere with their
reunion _now_.

"Kaalzic, I missed you and we really need to talk, but there's something we
need to do first.  Come on."

* * * *

Lancos and Gutt Man moved slowly at first, sizing each other up.  The walk
here had allowed the warrior to regain his physical energy since the spars
with Kaalzic, and earlier Karl.  However, despite the hatred he felt for
Gutt Man -- in fact, perhaps _because_ of it --, he didn't want to rush into
battle with someone as reckless as the child-killer.

Gutt Man, on the other hand, was prepared to attack as soon as he'd seen the
ranger.  However, BBD had commanded him to draw out the battle as long as
possible, probably in hopes of finishing them off himself.  Gutt Man was
starting to really hate the bracelete around his hand, despite the powers it
gave him.  First it had brought him back here, away from his prey, now it
delayed his attack versus one of the few people to so far escape his
"cleansing".  There was some flexibility to the command though, as so he was
soon able to initiate the battle.  He drew his knife and the sword he'd taken
from Lancos in their earlier battle, and charged at him.

The ranger was waiting for this, and drew his own scimitar, and the short
sword he'd replaced the first with.  He braced for the charge, and pushed
back after it was met.  No harm done, except for maybe from smelling the
murderer's foul breath.  Lancos then came with his own attack, slicing
towards Gutt Man's left shoulder, but failing to connect thanks to a dodge
on his opponent's part.

Then, like their first encounter, they settled into a pattern of attacks and
parries, occasionally punctuated by a minor wound on one side.  However,
unlike the prior battle, Lancos didn't have to worry about BBD casting spells
at him, and so he was able to turn things to his favor.  The main advantage
Gutt Man had had was his unorthodox style, but now that the ranger had figured
the basics of it out, he could manipulate it.

He stepped one pace backward, and then slid his right foot back, as if it had
unexpectedly slipped on something.  The Gutt Man, seeing this, came rushing in
towards Lancos' left.  It was the correct move, but it was also what the
warrior had planned.  He brought his left foot back quickly, executing a
legsweep on Gutt Man immediately after he got his balance.  Gutt Man was able
to slash at Lancos, even causing a good-sized gash along his left arm.
Nevertheless, Lancos was able to force his foe to the ground, locking Gutt
Man's left leg behind him at a painful angle.  Gutt Man tried to reach back to
attack, but from this position, it only caused himself more pain than it ever
could Lancos.

Before Gutt Man could try something else Lancos struck him in the head with
the pommel of his scimitar.  Even as Gutt Man's head hit the floor, Lancos was
tempted to follow with a swipe from the other end of the weapon; something to
finish off this threat once and for all.  But then he thought of Little Rat,
of the bad example that he might set, and instead gave Gutt Man another blow,
for her sake.  After some thought he felt a bit guilty about doing something
so cruel, but shrugged it off after figuring Gutt Man no doubt deserved worse.
Lancos reached down to pry Gutt Man's weapons away, his own blade coming close
to Gutt Man's head.

It was at this time that Myrnien and Kaalzic walked into the hallway.  "Wait!"
Myrnien cried, almost surprising herself with her concern.

Lancos spun around, getting his first good look at Myrnien.  She was older
than how she looked in Kaalzic's picture, but still seemed to retain her
beauty, although her current look suggested she could also be dangerous.
"I was only removing his weapons," he explained.

"Good.  Because we need to remove his bracelet.  Otherwise, I'm not sure even
his death would stop BBD from controlling him."

"All right.  What can we do?

"Just give me a minute, and then help pull on the bracelet," Myrnien answered.

Lancos only shrugged, and exchanged a puzzled look with Kaalzic when Myrnien
lay down as far away from Gutt Man as she could possibly get, but still be
holding his left arm.  "What is she doing?" the ranger whispered to Kaalzic.

"I have no idea," came the equally quiet reply.  "But she knows more about
the bracelets than we do."

Myrnien again found herself in the forest, but it was slightly different.
She was joined by a tall handsome man with hands that burned with an evil-
looking fire and eyes that were the incarnation of insanity.  His clothes
were white, splashed with deep crimson.  The trees around him were bare and
the birds that perched there screamed like children on fire.  It was almost
more than she could stand.

He looked about himself, slightly confused.  "What have you done with my
pretty little knives?  I'm never without them," he said in a deep voice,
unsettling in its rich, intellectual tone.

Myrnien took advantage of his disorientation and drew her sword, pointing
it towards his chest.  "Move or I'll run you through."

"But dear, don't you want ta join my flock?" he asked, motioning to the
screaming bird/children.  He reached towards her with his burning hands.
"The fire has cleaned them.  I could clean you too.  I love you."

She poked him in the chest slightly.  Enough to cause pain.  A new crimson
stain joined the others on his white shirt as she broke skin.

Zana, still enlarged, spoke up.  "Gutt Man.  We know you want to remove
your bracelet, and we are going to help."

Gutt Man showed no trace of surprise at seeing the animal speak.  "Really?
It hinders my mission.  I suppose you want to just cut off the hands, and
destroy me forever?"  He held up the arm with the bracelet.  It cut into
his wrist, making the flame flicker violently.

"No, we are not so cruel, unlike you.  We won't cause you any harm.  Besides,
we know you desire your freedom, and you have no option of returning without
us allowing you."

Gutt Man frowned, after realizing the wolf was right.  He had no weapons.  He
couldn't even guess where he was at, or how to get back to Generica.
Effectively, as much as he hated to admit it, he had no choice.  "All right.
But if you cause me any pain, I'll steal your children and have them join my
little flock."  He held out his hand, now without the burning flame.

Zana nodded, and carefully slipped her muzzle again between bracelet and skin.
As predicted, the situation went smoother this time, thanks to the wolves
being more familiar with the bracelet's weaknesses, and the added strength of
Lancos in the real world.  Soon the bracelet was off, although all remained in
the same place.

"Please place your hands behind you," Zana addressed Gutt Man.

After a poke by Myrnien's sword, Gutt Man slowly complied.  He grumbled as he
did this, trying to disguise his hands moving for Myrnien's sword.  He smiled,
knowing it was almost in reach -- but then, he disappeared.

Myrnien resheathed her sword, and looked toward Zana.  "Our part of the
bargain is finished," the wolf replied.  "Now, as soon as you can, come to us
in the waking world.  Your brother can lead you to us, and once your enter
dreaming there, the rest can be accomplished.  Be sure the ranger accompanies
you -- he also has some unusual skill in this area.  Afterward, your
destination shall be that tower," she motioned to the east.  "It appears as it
does because you should not be able to see it from here, but it is where you
must go, both to have your revenge and to stop an invasion into Generica."

Before Myrnien could reply, she found her eyes reopening, again taking in the
sights of BBD's headquarters.  She looked around, and was relieved to see a
rope around Gutt Man's hands and feet, Lancos and her brother preparing to
drag the child-killer by it.  "We'd better leave," she stressed.

"I was thinking the same thing," the ranger replied.  "After all, I'd like to
get Gutt Man to Glorashanned Keep as soon as I can."

"No, you don't understand!  BBD's alive, and could return any second!!"

Lancos stared in surprise.  "What?  BBD?"

* * * *

Raoh, after what seemed like endless searching, finally found the door he had
been looking for.  It had a magical lock on it, but that would be no problem
to disengage without detection, he thought.  And he was right, although the
spell he cast made him feel unusually woozy.  He pondered about the limits of
Tarkyn's magic, not knowing that the ranger had been taking a drug that
suppressed magic, making any spell more straining.  Nevertheless, Raoh quickly
scouted the room, until he found what he was looking for.

A vial, containing the tears of a ki-rin.  It was rare, but not part of any
spell that Raoh knew of.  Which probably explained why it wasn't behind more
powerful defenses, though it left open the question of what BBD was going to
do with it.  Of course, that wasn't _his_ problem.

What was his problem was to avoid being caught.  To do so he needed to
execute the next few steps as quickly as possible.  He began the incantation
to his next spell even as he reached for the vial.  He grabbed it with his
left hand and let loose the built-up magical energy with his right, letting
it shape into a portal.  Raoh didn't sense any alarms going off, but he knew
they had, and swiftly placed the vial through it.

However, from there, things strayed from what had been planned.  After all,
the Mage Guild only allowed certain entrances and exits in its building, and
the portal certainly wasn't meant to be one of them.  Which meant it was a
strain for Raoh to maintain it, especially with the suppresant running through
his veins.  Then, some defense of the Guild seemed to strike him, and he
stumbled, trying to concentrate both on escaping, and keeping the doorway
open.  He tried to step toward the portal, but the pressure overcame him, and
he collasped, falling into unconsciousness.  The portal, with no more magic
to support it, instantly disappeared.  When security arrived moments later,
all they found was the slumped body of Tarkyn.

* * * *

Still outside the Mage Guild, BBD saw a rectangular box of light appear
before him, and smiled: the plan had worked.  The vial soon came through,
and BBD immediately grabbed it.  With Velric's command no longer active, and
figuring Raoh would be shortly behind, he teleported back to his home base.

>Lancos stared in surprise.  "What?  BBD?"

"In the proverbial flesh," BBD said, smiling as he came in to their rear.
"Drop Gutt Man!  I may have lost his services -- albeit temporarily --, but
that is no way to treat one of my minions.

Lancos felt his arms grow heavy, as if every inch of them weighed several
pounds.  He unconsciously loosened his grip on Gutt Man, and the knife he
still held.  Gutt Man, who had revived by now, started to wriggle towards
the weapon.  Meanwhile, Lancos struggled, trying to draw the energy to pull
out his weapons, or maybe even his medallion.  He also backed away, pushing
Myrnien and Kaalzic towards the exit.

"Ah, ah; it won't be that easy," BBD said, seeing what the ranger was up to.
He cast another spell, one intended to subdue his opponents.  'No use killing
them, and wasting good slaves,' he told himself.

The energy travelled quickly in their direction, and suddenly _stopped_, about
an inch away.  BBD blinked, and then saw that they were surrounded, by what
appeared to be a mystical field of eyes.  "Oh, so one of you has some magic
on your side.  Don't expect that to save you, though," he said, beginning
another spell.

Meanwhile, Gutt Man had reached his knife, and began to use it to cut his
bonds.  It was a painful experience, even for someone as used to handling a
knife as Gutt Man, but eventually he was able to slice the main knot, with
only a few minor rope burns as a result.  He went to work on the other bonds,
knowing it wouldn't be long before he was totally free again.

Myrnien stepped forward, screaming "You won't have me as a slave again!".
She lunged at BBD, who sidestepped the charge, but nevertheless shifted, as
if having to adjust his spell.  Myrnien sliced again, this time at an angle
BBD couldn't dodge.  She smiled as her sword came down, but lost her grin
when it passed right through BBD, who laughed at her attempt.  Myrnien was
stunned: she had had a dream like this; could BBD even penetrate that far
into her mind while she wore the bracelet?

BBD showed what could only be assumed to be his real self.  "You got your
one chance.  Now the time for games is over!"

Gutt Man quickly cut the bond to his feet, and then jerked at the one
between his arms.  Some skin came off with the rope, but it was more than
worth it, in his opinion, to be free.  He scanned the room, trying to decide
on a target.  He quickly locked on BBD, partially because he knew he'd have
to get past him to escape, and because he wasn't exactly excited about having
to face Lancos again.

Just as BBD motioned the energy outward, Gutt Man bumped into him, slashing
a wound in his left arm.  The energy dissipated, only causing a nasty-lookin
burn in the floor.  "You'll pay for that!" BBD cried, even as he healed
himself.

"I don't think so," Gutt Man replied, making another swipe at BBD.  The mage
was forced to retreat a bit, giving even the murderer enough time to make it
out of the doorway.

BBD cursed, and debated about going after them.  However, he figured by now
they had scattered.  Besides, he had bigger fish to fry, in Velric.  Raoh
hadn't shown up yet, which likely meant that he had been captured, and took
him out of BBD's plans, but that didn't stop the mage from being confident
of his chances of getting his hands on the DarkSeed, and toppling Velric.
Then let Generica -- _especially_ those who had opposed him -- fear him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Sander 344lwkc@cmuvm.csv.cmich.edu
P.S. Congratulations if you actually read this far {:-)!}