Organization: Central Michigan University
Date: Thursday, 27 Aug 1992 15:05:40 EDT
From: Mike Sander <344LWKC@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
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