From: cam@gu.uwa.edu.au (Cameron Neylon)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [DQ] Week 10 part 2 and a little surprise
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 00:57:22 GMT
Organization: University Computer Club --- Perth, Western Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: mullet.gu.uwa.edu.au


William raised his head from an appraisal of the ground,as he heard
Valgar gasp.  The cave was dead, and dank, without being wet.  It was
dusty, not the place to find clay.  Not a place you'd want to find
anything in, who'd want to be here in the first place?

"Oh my god!" he retched violently, dashing from the path of the lamp
light to the side of the cave.  The others were too startled to notice
the forlorn sight as he threw up quietly on the floor.

The sight that they beheld was horrific.  Alita was hanging from the
roof of the cave,a rope tightly wound around her neck, and leading
up into the darkness above them.  Her eyes bulged and her tongue
hung languidly,almost, in a horrifying way, suggestively out of
the side of her mouth.  The whole scene looked calculated for greatest
effect.Just after a corner, where a lamp would first alight, making
the first sight in the new passage . . . He retched again.

The others stood frozen in time, too shocked to react.  Most, though,
held on to the contents of their stomachs.

William dared another look at the macabre sight,and again was
convulsed by stomach spasms.  The others seemed less effected now, though
even 'Raelf was still quiet.  Not for too long though.

He walked over deliberately and cut the rope, despite its unusual
toughness.  Alita feel to the ground in a crumpled heap releasing a
miasma, a disgusting stench wafting over the questors.  The movement
galvanised the group, or some of it, into action.

The party disconnected the rope that had held them together through the
other parts of the cave.  It no longer seemed as necessary, and it was
good to do SOMETHING to get their minds off of the sight of Alita.

"Is she still alive?" asked Shockwave.

"Not a hope guys,"  'Raelf's speech was strangely comprehensible.
"She's a gone one. . Hey what. . . !"

The rope had whipped itself from around Alita's neck and was intent now
on constricting around 'Raelf's.  For the first time since they had
entered the cave,indeed since they had left the inn, shouting broke out.
The noise sounded strangely hollow in the cave but it was a comfort
almost that there was some noise.

"Hey!  Stop that - gaggk - cut it OUT - ag..."

The rope had now would itself around the neck of its captive and was
beginning to tighten.

Sharp intake of breath, "Stay back dudes! I gotter get this sucker on
my own. . . Valgar, _stay BACK_!"  He managed to get a hand between the
rope and his throat, and pulled in a ragged breath.

"Stay clear guys, gonna blow GGK" the thing wrapped another loop, <<FIRE to 10>>

'What on earth does he think he's doing,' thought William, coming around
briefly, 'if he dosen't get out of there soon, he's . .'

And then, as if on cue, William felt a wash of warmth, and saw 'Raelf turn
a bright yellow color, then burst? into? flames! and the rope burned fiercely,
crackling almost cheerfully.  And then there was a strange sort of negative
image of a feline figure, and then the fire wasn't there, but 'Raelf was,
his usual self.

'What the f$#@!,"  William almost forgot about the body briefly.
'Who in hell are these people anyway?  Why do I always end up involved with
strange people on strange quests?'

"Are you okay 'Raelf?,"  he asked hesitantly.

"Hey,I'm fine dude, gratias muchly for the concern, what about you
though?"

"I'm fine. . just . . .fine, its just  . . ."

"You sure?" asked Valgar, as the group started hesitantly to move off
again, the weird lighting almost obviating the need for the lamp, except
that without the lamp the light would have been almost unbearable.

"Yeh, you went one bodacious shade of green there.  Totally bogus color
scheme," reiterated 'Raelf.

"No I'm fine, there's just too much death in here.  The whole place
stinks of dead. . . of dead . . just dead."

-- 
Cameron Neylon  cam@gu.uwa.edu.au
I can't think of anything witty enough that people 
would really want to see it time after time after . .
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn