From: Mike Sander <344LWKC@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU> Date: Thursday, 27 Aug 1992 15:05:40 EDT Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [DQ] 'Raelf Week 6: "... and when I'm bad, I'm better." [ADMIN: All right, now I'm posting for Stephen, who will lose contant with us for the weekend as his system is worked upon (I hasten to say "upgraded").] ============================================================================== SITUATION: The DragonQuestor party, sitting in the Inn recovering from the attack, and putting together their plans for the next day, and generally relaxing whil 'Raelf's automated magical assistant analyzes the recording of the PyraCubicDiamond construct. Ever think there was too little going on? --- ShockWave has proven himself to be a helpless bibbet. It wasn't so much that the others weren't looking out for him, but he had been drinking only as much as they remember SunStorm drinking, and he had never lost it quite so badly --but then, SunStorm was more practiced... 'Raelf looked at his younger self. The first time, there had been a bar fight, and Listener had been hard pressed to calm the mob. This time, there wasn't --the patrons had realized that it was an unprovoked attack, and accepted it. And of course, Alita hadn't come in yet --this time. 'Raelf watched his older self surreptitiously. There was something wrong --he was too quiet, too morose. Something serious was going to happen, and the rules of no direct action was going to keep him from preventing it. Paradoxes. There is a lot of loose temporal energy floating around here. He rolled the dice experimentally, and rolled twenty sevens in a row. Major probability breach coming. Lancos decided that SunStorm/ShockWave had reached his limit. But the giant, while shorter, was still quite massive, and they had some trouble getting him to navigate. Just then the alarm on the MageFamiliar Model 500 indicated that the analysis of the PyraCubicDiamond recordings had finished. "FINALLY!" He jumped, and moved to read the results. Hmm. Artifact, Traveller origin, not common design, not registered in custom design bank, multispatial travel structure, semi-sentient (uh-oh) with life bank. He tapped out the code sequence that would start up a search through the compressed archives of 'kani engineering history... Just then, a blue-skinned woman, scarlet-tressed and acting the seductress, Made an Entrance (no, just walking in would have been too tame for her). She smiled, a combination of femininity and predatory cunning which would have shocked la Gioconda. Her every movement was an artifice of innocent wantonness calculated to arouse every man, and humble every woman. "Hello, boys! Recognize me? I'm sure you don't!" She laughed lightly this time, in a sort of an innocent sweet way, rather at odd with the veiled secrets behind her words. Kadrys puzzled. He remembered her. He was sure he had heard that laugh before, but when? One of the other patrons tried to move in on the lass. An easy pickup. She put him down with a thump and a crash. Serene scowled, and went to set things upright again. She nodded towards the Listener --this one might cause trouble. A gentle tinkling wash of peaceful notes brushed over the crowd, calming the outraged temper of the humiliated man, and his friends called him back to their card game. ShockWave, unused to the sensations of drunkenness, now found SunStorm's body providing completely new sets of stimuli --who is this BABE? Alita undulated towards ShockWave. With a cavalier taunt, and a slight shove, she pushed him over --one could say, he fell for her-- but only backwards. And a snore rose from his unconscious body. Lancos examined the giant. "Out cold, probably the booze." 'Raelf the elder didn't comment. His eyes narrowed. Already taking control of the situation, but this time she hadn't enthralled Lancos first. Just as well, he didn't need the pain. She teased flippantly about her first hangover, then managed to dismiss Lancos and Valgar while flattering them in the same breath. She also managed to pass a note to Lancos.. maybe this time he won't be a fool and trust her. Maybe this time he'll open it in front of the others. They dragged the unconscious giant to a room... 'Raelf frowned to himself. Is this where I should intervene? He looked up to see Alita directly in front of him. "So, you ain't gonna say hi to an old friend? Well, I'll do it for you." OH shit. Shields up! She immediately kissed him. Quickly and lightly, right on the nose. "See, that was easy. No problem, I like youanyway... Huh, can't you smile, my dear? Hah, don't fear. After all, I don't carry YOUR baby!" No kidding. You are going to regret this. Trust me. He smiled, patently a false smile, and replied, "'Lita, dear, be careful what you ask for. You wouldn't LIKE having my baby." A momentary brittleness caught her smile, but she recovered, and turned to his younger self. "Hello. Wow, what a nice looking thing. Let me touch?" "Huh..." Who was this creature? WHAT was this creature? Completely opaque, must have protections up the wazoo, can't see past her skin at all... "Ha, no problem. It's fragile or something, so you want nobody to touch it except you. I can understand that. No problem, I'll wait until you're asleep. Teee hee, only joking! Say, is that your big brother?" Wow. I haven't heard lines like those since before the cheap hookers got run off the boardwalk in Venice. What a... bimbo. What's her act? She pointed at 'Raelf Elder and bent to caress his head. She then murmured something in his ears: "He's good looking, but, well, I like you better anyway... and remember, there aren't many girls who know where you're going!" She hopped up and spun towards Kadrys. A momentary shock --damn, that touch HURT-- what does she have for wards, anyway? He centered, focussing. Full analysis suite: FLICK a handful of marbles --Karma: slurred grey, insufficient evidence in local akashic record-- magic: OH yes, but he already KNEW that --intent: no immediate menace-- sanct germaine: Over the top, healthy, not insane by any measure, but very weak reaction --Truth: amazing, already shattered, she seems to lie like a rug. FLICK --the marbles vanished back to the Void. Well, she's not from around here, but few of us are. Way too heavily screened and warded. Don't trust her. Let her actions prove her. She spent several seconds murmuring to Kadrys, who seemed both disturbed and annoyed by her attitude. Then she grabbed the startled vampire in a liplock -- 'Raelf glanced down at the display on the MagFam. "By the Great Void!", he shouted. Everybody turned toward him, even Alita. "You know, do you really know how bad your bloody rotten timing is?" ('Raelf the elder smiled to himself. Nice pun.) 'Raelf tapped a key on the case and the image bloomed into life. Before them, a dark cave, a figure engulfed in shadows, staring with black- glowing eyes down at a bank of machines, covered with strange dials and lights and switches, and fasteneed by heavy cables to a huge glowing structure, shifting in space yet remaining still, clearly some kind of a big brother to the PyraCubicDiamond they had seen earlier. And embedded in the center like a fly in amber, like a butterly pinned to a display board, the image of SunStorm, surrounded by facets of his life, and screaming in mortal agony. Stephen Hutchinson Hutch@ibeam.intel.com SAQ: "She Blinded Me with SCIENCE!"-Thomas Dolby ======================================================================== Michael Sander 344lwkc@cmuvm.csv.cmich.edu AKA Lancos Erredan SAQ: "But she's always a woman to me"-Billy Joel