From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Oct 12 12:32:57 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7804 Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!convex!news.duke.edu!eff!wariat.org!malgudi.oar.net!sun!vax.cns.muskingum.edu!hsexauer From: hsexauer@muskingum.edu (Rapunzel) Subject: [Legacy] Through labyrinthine halls Message-ID: <1994Oct11.162738.1@muskingum.edu> Lines: 104 Sender: root@sun.cns.muskingum.edu (Operator) Organization: Muskingum College Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 20:27:38 GMT [ADMIN] The write of this thread coughs apologetically for her slacking off with Legacy. She's kinda waiting for Coltren and Kyar to catch up with her here. And RL work tends to interfere a great deal. Sorry! "Either we're going in circles, or this is one sprawling complex," Elcoran remarked when the corner they turned ended not in a wall, but another staircase. "Can't be circles, we haven't gone _down_ a single stair yet. Always up," Ruel exaggerated. He sighed gustily when Aleric led the way up the newest flight. "Are we there yet?" he complained in a quavering, childlike voice that brought a hastily smothered laugh from Elcoran. Aleric looked back and smiled at the valeman. Count on him to find something humorous in anything. "Not yet," he answered with a smile to the chorus of disappointed noises behind him. "It's only been four hours since we got in here. And may I point out that half the time we've been hiding from the Shekiren or dodging patrols of demons. There have only been four flights we've come up for all the connecting sections we've explored." "You counted?!" Ruel asked incredulously. The Lyorn shrugged. "I mean, sure, I can find our way back, but I never actually paid attention to how many floors we've been on." "Eight, including the crypt and the three layers of the catacombs." Ruel groaned and put a hand to his forehead in mock despair. "Eight levels, countless smaller buildings all connected by those damnable breezeways and we're still roaming the keep like a pack of wolves." The valeman had come to a new appreciation of the ingenuity of the early Lyorns. Their construction of their fortress had been nothing less than... unpredictable. What had appeared from without to be a single massive edifice was actually a complex of connected structures of varying styles stacked on top of each other. About the only thing many had in common was the actual keep that surrounded them. It was nothing more than a basic enclosure, meant to look more impressive than it was. But that keep had been added to over the decades in smaller segments until it had entirely filled the space left empty by the original keep. By this time it truly was as impressive from the inside as it looked from the outside. More than a few of the segments were for nothing more than decoration, containing pieces of artwork and sculpture. It was for these decorations that Ruel had developed an annoyance since the rooms were not constructed for the convenience of strangers. They often had numerous halls leading any which way for display of their art. While they were aesthetically pleasing, the valeman was prone to losing his sense of direction among them. Even worse were the artistic gardens that had begun to show up on the upper floors wherever the construction did not completely cover the level below. Dirt plots showed where carefully cultivated patches of greenery had grown together with colorful rock gardens and statuary. These tantalizing glimpses to the outside world only made the stygian gloom between the walls more oppressive. "I didn't build this, don't blame me," Aleric protested with a sarcastic twist to the mouth. He was also gaining an appreciation of his ancestors, not all of it flattering. "No one ever claimed they were great architects." "Surely they knew someone who knew what they were doing," Ruel replied with an emphasis on the nebulous contact, shaking his head slowly. He sighed and fell silent. Elcoran meanwhile, had bounded ahead of the two in order to investigate a bit on his own. He was waiting for them, perched on the pedestal of a decorative statue in a tiny open courtyard at the juncture of three substructures. He had his face turned to the sun overhead, letting its late morning rays dispel the touch of the dank shadows they had come from. "I for one am glad they weren't the typical architects because I like the little deviations from the usual. Besides, if it weren't for that, I'd never have seen this." The elf pointed up where the sky was partially visible. A narrow glint shone off of something very nearby with blinding intensity. The white spire rose out of the cluster of riffraff in quiet domination. "Maybe I ought to revise my opinion of your illustrious forebears my friend," Ruel said, clapping Aleric on the shoulder. He, too, stared upward at the spire and marveled at its construction. "Looks like a special place to me, d'you think that's it?" "Only one way to find out. Let's go find it." Aleric glanced around the yard judging the direction. Finally he pointed, "That way most likely." -- hsexauer@muskingum.edu DIPLOMACY: The ability to tell someone to go to Hell so that they'll look forward to making the trip.