From: aaron@helios (Aaron Humphrey)
Subject: [KQ] Nirvan[Jacinthe's]: Watching helplessly
Reply-To: aaron@space.ualberta.ca
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 04:20:02 GMT

ADMIN: Yeah, I know I've neglected Nirvan for a long time.  Remember, he got
brain-blasted by Seer, picked up by Jacinthe, healed by Tvarne on the condition
of another day of bed rest, and sent a message out to the KronQuestors by way
of Jacinthe's 12-year-old brother Hercli.  Jacinthe's house is quite close to
the Shunned Center...

Nirvan was gazing with adoration into Jacinthe's eyes when Hercli came running
back inside.  "I see them," he yelled.

"Who?" Jacinthe asked distractedly.

"Malayoo and Kron and a buncha others," Hercli said.

Nirvan started.  "Where?" he asked, getting up and following Hercli out
slowly.  His back was feeling better, but there were still a few positions he
couldn't assume.

"Over there," Hercli pointed.

They were there all right.  He counted them off.  Maleiu and Kron he could
recognize.  The tattooed lady, the lizard man, the half-elf, and Captain he
remembered from the fight by Ratty's.  The knight and the man with the axes
he didn't remember--no, wait, maybe he had seen the man with the axes around
the time of the Broadmarch incident.  Hmmm.  One more figure that looked
vaguely familiar...

Then it connected.  Looking down from a building...meeting a pair of eyes...
and then a brain exploding in painful memories.  That was Seer, from the
Wasters!  And the others were following him!  Into the Shunned Center, no less!
"Damn," he muttered.

"What is it?" Jacinthe asked, concerned.

"Seer is taking those guys into the Shunned Center, and they aren't even trying
to resist.  He must have them all charmed, or something."  Nirvan's best friend
had once been a kid named Fadayo.  Fadayo had decided he wanted to be a
Shunrunner.  'All it takes is one find and you're rich for life,' he had said.

Nirvan had seen what was left of Fadayo's body.  One hand, with a tantalizing
bit of gold still clutched in the thumb.  He'd kept that bit of gold for years,
eventually having to hock it for food one winter.  Fadayo's sister was working
at Yirma's now, and his younger brother was in Grunge for a year or two before
getting killed in a street fight with the Chaos Creating Crew.

And now Maleiu and Kron and the others were going in there.  They might barely
stand a chance--they all looked like formidable fighters.  But if Seer had them
in control, then they might not even fight for themselves.

Hmmm.  Maybe there was an angle here.  "Agoust, Hercli, come here.  Agoust, I
want you to spread the word that Kron was seen going into the Shunned Center
with the intrepid band of adventurers with whose help he trashed the Wasters."
Better omit the Joystix factory--too many angry addicts out there.  "Hercli.
You follow Agoust, and after he's gone through, tell them that they were seen
going in with Seer the Waster, and probably under his control.  Got it?  Tell
'em Nirvan sent you."  God, a tragic story in the making.  Beautiful.  And the
kids would probably get better money for those stories than they'd seen in
years.  Soon people would be stopping them on the street, pressing silver
pieces into their hands, asking them what the latest news was.  And they could
make it up, it wouldn't matter.

Maybe I should go work for the Examiner, Nirvan thought.  But no--I have my
pride to consider here.  He limped back inside with Jacinthe, and sat down
facing away from the window--he didn't want to know what came out of there.

--
---Alfvaen(Canadian SF Quasi-Activist)
"I'm a few bricks short of a load, but a full load always hurt my back."
   ---Barenaked Ladies
Current Album--Brian Eno:Before And After Science
Current Read--Nicole Luiken:Running On Instinct