From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Sep 14 08:47:16 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7675 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!pacbell.com!well!nbn!hilbert.dnai.com!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!alberta!aaron From: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca (Aaron V. Humphrey) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [MI] Out of The Ether Date: 12 Sep 1994 17:15:19 GMT Organization: The Anna Amabiaca Fan Club Lines: 120 Message-ID: <3522b7$742@scapa.cs.ualberta.ca> Reply-To: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca NNTP-Posting-Host: cab107.cs.ualberta.ca Originator: aaron@cab107.cs.ualberta.ca ADMIN: All characters herein are my own property, excepting the Wasters (Rook, Scorpion, and Blink)who are more-or-less common-use NPCs. In our last episode, Alfvaen, his internal companions Elstree, Lassiviren, and (the god)Azpiazu, made their way through the catacombs towards the goddess Lolth's device that was draining Azpiazu's power on this plane. Alfvaen let Lassiviren free to slay a couple of the Stiletto guards on duty. Meanwhile... >Noctu stood on the rim of the pit. As always, it called out to him >insidiously. But he knew better than to answer. He needed to earn a higher >place in his Queen's following before joining her at her side. He would >prove to her that a male could be just as capable and loyal as any drow >female. >He turned away and looked back down the dark corridor. They were coming. >He'd sensed the outburst of energy from the amulet's use, as it brushed by >him on its way to his Queen's device. >He would not be able to best them all. But he only needed to best the one of >them. He would soon have plenty of help for the rest. >"My Queen," he whispered. "The time has come. Send your aid." Elstree said. Alfvaen responded with nonverbal assent. He'd become familiar with the map during his scrying earlier. A right turn about fifty feet ahead, and then they would be able to see the pit. Lassiviren said matter-of-factly. <'Raelf made this map to reflect reality. It's not just some old copy made from blueprints. It's what's _here_. If there's anyone ahead of us, we can deal with them. They can't hide too many people up there without making noise.> Rook touched his arm, and whispered in Thieves' Cant, "I hear something. A voice." Alfvaen cocked his ear and nodded as well. It sounded like chanting. 'Raelf had said something like males weren't allowed to be priests of Lol--the Demon Queen, but what if he was wrong? Or maybe there was a priestess there too. But if he could summon aid from his mistress... It was little more than a shimmer in the air. Rook stumbled on a loose stone, and as Alfvaen's gaze automatically turned her way he saw the shimmer solidify into something large and many-legged. "Roll!" he shouted in Cant, and Rook did. Lassiviren said. Alfvaen said, drawing his short swords. As if the first attack had been a signal, eight-legged forms, from tiny to knee-high, crawled out of cracks and from the corridor behind them. More shimmers appeared in the air around them all. "I guess the time for subtlety's over," Scorpion muttered. He concentrated and let loose a bolt of energy, which hit one of the ether spiders and dented it severely. "These things are touch," he muttered. His next shot, however, missed, striking the corner ahead of them. "Something's throwing off my aim!" he shouted. --It's the crystal!-- Azpiazu said. --It's drawing chaos-energy towards it, including Scorp's blasts. Weird things could happen if they get much closer, but I think I can shield us from the effects.-- "Az says you guys gotta stay back from the crystal," Alfvaen said. "It's too dangerous otherwise." Blink ducked the jaws of an ether spider, grabbed its leg, and it vanished, as did the smaller spiders trying to crawl up his leggings. Then Blink himself flickered for a moment, then reformed. "Too dangerous," Rook agreed, as she pelted a few of the smaller spiders with throwing darts. "Especially since my power's a bit hard to turn off. If I got too close to that thing..." "Cut a path for me, then," Alfvaen said, sheathing his swords. "I've got to get through there as soon as I can." Scorpion tried another blast along the floor, and Rook and Blink took a few shots with crossbows they'd taken from the guards. The spiders they were aimed at merely faded out, but Alfvaen took the opportunity to run forward and dive through the space they had just occupied. "Let's hope these things can't do a quick reversal," he muttered as he tucked and rolled. Lassiviren remarked dryly. Finishing his roll, he rose to a crouch. Rook had moved in to deal with the spiders he'd passed through, which were belatedly returning to corporeality. Few of the spiders had come this far down the hallway, and the ether spiders didn't move very fast. Something was nagging at him, though... He moved slowly down the corridor, counting on his internal companions to keep watch at his back and flanks. Then he reached the corner, and came to a dead stop. "Shit," he said. "I forgot about the webs." There were no torches on the edge of the pit, but enough stray light came from the torches behind him that he could see a few sparkling strands. And he could just make out layers behind that--web upon web upon web. And surely some of them still had their guardians... Alfvaen turned, but too slowly. Furry legs landed on his shoulders and back, and fangs sank into his neck...