ftp.ee.pdx.edu/2014.02.ftp.ee.pdx.edu.tar/ftp.ee.pdx.edu/pub/frp/stories/darkness/darkness.10

Internet Message Format | 1991-06-12 | 29KB

From [e-mail] Tue May 14 12:28:26 1991
From: [e-mail] (bruce.w.reisman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: STORY: Darkness Rising (part 10)
Keywords: long
Date: 14 May 91 05:25:36 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories


+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|            Copyright 1991, 1990 by B. W. Reisman & E. Wolfe.            |
|                           All rights reserved.                          |
| No part of this tale may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,   |
| or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying,  |
| recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the     |
| authors.                                                                |
|                                                                         |
| Permission is hereby granted, in so far as no fee or charge is made for |
| such publication, and that this notice is retained.                     |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+


MONKEY BUSINESS


    [the Western Plains]
    The 14th day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 92 - low 67
    sky:        clear until mid-morning, then drizzle
    wind:        2-15 mph (slight-moderate breeze) (diminishing)

After we breakfast, Leia dispels her magical protection and we return to
the prime material plane.  Alfonse decides that Elured shouldn't be so
attached to his weapons and staff and proceeds to slice the twine that he
so carefully tied, when Elured isn't looking.  Elured spots the activity
and tells Alfonse, "That's not nice."  Alfonse hides in his sheath and
Elured ties the pieces of twine together.

As we ride, Alfonse again hacks the twine.  Elured gets quite upset.

Everyone except Todd hears, "Phooey ... Phooey ... Phooey ..." from
somewhere ahead.  We prepare in various ways and Maisie slows her pony's
pace.  Suddenly, an ugly, green, 4' tall bi-pedal creature, waving a club,
steps out in front of us.  Merle Lir gestures and speaks a single magical
syllable.  It falls asleep!

Elured wants to hack up its club using Alfonse, who protests quite
strenuously.  We ride on, leaving the creature snoring in our wake.

While eating lunch, we hear "Phooey ... Phooey ... Phooey ..." coming
closer and closer from the direction we'd come.  Elured draws Alfonse and
races back to slay the creature.  He comes upon it suddenly and it swings
its club ... Elured parries with Alfonse, but Alfonse dodges the club! ...
Elured is knocked unconscious.  Merle Lir finishes her magical incantation
and a peculiar look comes over the creature's countenance.  It turns and
walks away.  Todd had been circling around behind it, and now it stumbles
across Todd and instead of attacking, avoids him.  Todd leaps behind it
and stabs it; it screams once and collapses.  Leia's ring gives off a
bright red glow.  In death, it suddenly changes form, becoming a rather
large, furry white rabbit.  [Ed.  Todd has successfully dispatched "Little
Rabbit Foo-Foo".]

Meanwhile, Elured recovers and starts arguing with Alfonse (who insists
that he could have been broken by the club).  Todd reports that the "goon"
apparently just liked to "bop" whatever it met.

We cover 17 miles before camping.  Merle Lir and Leia take their standard
precautions.  Merle Lir exercises the carrier pigeon.  Leia suggests a
brief prayer to Brigit.  Elured holds his own service for Diancecht.

            *    *    *

Around midnight, during Elured's watch with Leia, he becomes aware of some
evil hovering outside Leia's magical protection.  He tells Leia.  It seems
darker against the ever-present gray of this place between the planes.
Leia attempts to discover what lies in wait outside her protection, but
finds only the night and drizzle.  Elured awakens everyone.  Merle Lir and
Felicia are sure "something" is out there.  The darkness on one side of
us increases, creeps closer.  Leia cancels her magic and we return to the
prime material plane.  Whatever ominous threat awaited us, it does not
follow us here ... we find only the night's normal blackness, darkened
further by the rain.

We move several hundred yards and Merle Lir and Leia cast their magical
protections once more.  The rest of the night passes uneventfully, save
that while Elured sleeps, Alfonse minces the twine tied to his possessions.
When Elured wakes, he is not at all happy with his new sword.


    [the Western Plains]
    The 15th day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 89 - low 65
    sky:        drizzle ending early afternoon, then partly cloudy
            until drizzle resumes in late afternoon, then
            finally clearing late evening
    wind:        2-28 mph (slight-strong breeze) (increasing)

During late morning, Merle Lir notices one of the pack horses limping.  She
checks its hooves and removes a small stone that had become lodged in its
shoe.  We decide we might as well eat lunch.  The incessant drizzle soaks
into our clothes, causing them to chafe; making uncomfortable trickles in
the heat.  We plod on, making roughly 15 miles before sunset.

We make camp with the usual preparations.  About an hour into the first
watch, Merle Lir and Felicia notice the "creeping darkness" again.  They
wake everyone; Leia checks outside the circle of protection, and all is
quiet in the prime material plane.  Meanwhile, we prepare for battle.  The
Princess dispels her magical shelter and we again step into the normal dark
of a rainy evening.  After we move several hundred yards, Merle Lir and
Leia re-set their protections and we go back to sleep, except for those on
watch.

It is after midnight, during Maisie's and Todd's watch, when the darkness
makes itself felt again.  The first warning comes from Maisie, who feels an
ill-defined discomfort.  Todd reaches out mentally, but the only sentient
beings he can reach are the party.  Eventually they notice that it is once
again darkening on one side of the protective circle.  Using magically
enhanced vision, Todd stares into the darkness ... and panics!  He wakes
Leia and moments later we return to the normal night.  At least the drizzle
has stopped.  We decide to remain on the prime material plane for the rest
of the night, relying on Merle Lir's magical alarm system and our rotating
watches for protection.


    [the Western Plains]
    The 16th day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 71 - low 38
    sky:        dawning clear, but mist rolls in by early morning,
            giving way to drizzle in early afternoon, then
            partly cloudy skies at sunset with no further
            precipitation
    wind:        4-28 mph (slight-strong breeze) (increasing)

Rather groggy from our interrupted night's sleep, we eat and set out once
again.  The morning passes uneventfully, but Merle Lir's alarm proves
useful when we stop for lunch.  Suddenly, an overpowering stench fills our
nostrils, warning us that something has approached within 100' of where we
sit.  We quickly prepare for battle, but don't see anything to fight.

Then Elured, Leia and Merle Lir spot the large felines slinking closer
through the tall grass.  Merle Lir and Maisie take charge of the ponies.
Leia is in no mood to fool around: a ball of fire forms in her outstretched
hand and she hurls it at the center of the three beasts that she's seen.
It explodes catching all of them (and actually doing more damage to the two
furtherest from the middle).  Elured and Felicia charge forth to finish off
the big cats.  Alfonse protests that he "could get damaged in a fight like
this and wouldn't it be better to wait," but Elured pays him no heed.  With
a load roar, the singed cat leaps for Elured.  Elured thrusts with Alfonse.
Elured is injured by the cat, but the cat is dead!  Felicia and Todd finish
off the other two where they lay stunned by the force of Leia's fire.  We
think we see one more slip away as we scan the grass for others.  Merle Lir
suggests that we clear out quickly and put at least a couple of miles
between us and the dead beasts.  Maisie concurs.

            *    *    *

Late afternoon, we reach the coast.  We look down from the top of a cliff
and see the waves crashing against its base.  We turn north and travel
parallel to the edge, but about 50' away.  At dusk, we stop and set up
camp.

Merle Lir suggests not using Leia's magical haven, but she is out-voted.
Leia and Merle Lir cast their magical spells and we settle down for supper.
Felcia and Merle Lir (especially) are alert and have their weapons ready.
No sooner are we done eating, than Felicia yells out to Leia to dispel the
haven.  She does.  Merle Lir has no trouble convincing us now.

We move up the coast a couple hundred yards and Merle Lir sets her magical
warning in effect once again.  After Felicia goes to bed, Maisie joins
Merle Lir on watch.  About an hour later, Merle Lir detects a musky animal
scent; Maisie does not.  Merle Lir murmurs an incantation and a beam of
light leaps from her right hand, stabbing into the night.  She holds her
bow ready in her left hand as she sweeps the beam around, seeking to see
what she has smelled.  Maisie peers into the night as well, but as the
minutes pass, they find nothing.  The brisk breeze erases the scent.

Midnight comes, time to change watches, but Merle Lir's spell continues and
she's too wound up to sleep.  She tells Maisie, "I'll stay on watch until
the light goes out."

Maisie says she'll keep her company, but goes to wake up Elured since it's
his watch.  Elured sees the effect of Merle Lir's spell, mutters a quick
prayer to Diancecht, and a slightly less powerful light springs from his
palm.  Unlike Merle Lir, he thinks it's a fine toy and waves it all around.
While Merle Lir and Maisie exchange looks, Elured draws Alfonse and
starts chattering to the sword.  Eventually he asks why they woke him up,
forgetting that he was supposed to be on watch.  His antics continue until
both lights wink out, almost at the same moment.  Maisie wakes Leia and
fills her in on what's happening.  Elured complains that he doesn't want
to stay on watch (everyone ignores him).  Merle Lir pulls her bedroll near
the ponies, as it's gotten a bit chilly.  Maisie smiles and does the same.

A ball of fire forms in Leia's hand as she offers a prayer to Brigit.  The
fire grows brighter until it illuminates a 30' radius around her.  She
walks the perimeter of the camp so that the inner edge of the lit area just
overlaps the edge of camp.  The rest of Elured's watch passes uneventfully.

Elured wakes Todd with a solid smack, "Todd there's a battle!  Wake up
quick!"

Todd leaps to his feet, dagger in hand, and Elured tells him it's his watch
now.  Todd is annoyed; he hunts for a pebble as he goes to join Leia.  As
Elured heads off to sleep, something smacks into the back of his armor.
He whirls, but nothing is nearby and Todd is walking away from him toward
Leia.  Elured asks Alfonse if he knows what hit him, but the sword admits
nothing.  Elured climbs into his bedroll and is soon asleep.

Todd concentrates and suddenly he can see as though it were day, thanks to
the magic imbedded in his headband.  He and Leia scan the area between the
camp and the edge of the cliff, finding nothing.  Finally Todd reaches the
edge and looks down.  A herd of animals is walking slowly along the narrow
shore at the base of the cliff.  They're big as elephants, but move like
gorillas.  He guesses them to be about 10' at the shoulder, perhaps 8' at
the hindquarters, and 12-15' long.

Todd tells Leia to put out her light and come look.  She does, but can't
see a thing in the pre-dawn darkness.  He motions her away, afraid to talk
lest he attract the monsters' attention.  She backs off and he utilizes his
headband again, this time to transform into a cloud of mist.

The strong updraft gives him trouble as he tries to fly down to investigate
the creatures, but finally he gets close enough to detect if they have
magical powers.  They do not.  Todd is hurled high over the cliff by the
updraft and tries to land before the spell expires.  He is still several
feet up when the spell fails but, with a little magical boost of his own,
lands safely.

He tells Leia that there are 15 or more of the creatures, perhaps a family
group since they vary in size.


    [the Western Plains]
    The 17th day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 91 - low 44
    sky:        light rain becoming drizzle in early evening
    mind:        2-15 mph (slight-moderate breeze) (diminishing)

After everyone gets up, Todd tells about the creatures.  Elured says,
"Oh, dinner!" and is promptly told that he can go get one, if he wants.

No one knows what they could be.  As we travel, Todd checks the shore
every so often, but his vision spell has worn off and the visibility is
poor.  We remain alert and nervous.  Around mid-morning we hear growling
close by; Merle Lir loops the reins of the pack ponies and readies her
bow, Elured, Felicia, Maisie and Todd dismount with their weapons ready.

It's foggy to our left and we can't see what's making the noises.  We
wait ... and wait ... and finally mount up and continue.  The growling
parallels us for a while, then seems to fall behind.  Abruptly as it
began, the noise stops.  Todd concentrates, extends his awareness, and
finds ... nothing.

We eat while riding, too skittish to dismount.  Everyone keeps looking
about, expecting something to leap out of the fog.  It's mid-afternoon
before something finally does.

Todd spots the head and shoulders of one of the creatures as it clambers
over the edge of the cliff.  Merle Lir utters the words to a spell and
gestures at the creature.  It doesn't seem to affect it as it rises to its
full height.  Merle Lir calls out, "We're in trouble," as though we hadn't
noticed, and draws her bow.  As Todd says, "Don't make any sudden moves,"
Merle Lir yells, "Boo!"  The creature bellows in response and the ponies
panic.

Two of the pack ponies break free of Merle Lir's grasp and veer off in
different directions.  She rides after them.  Elured yells and makes faces
at the creature as more climb over the cliff.  The lead creature rears up
again, roars and pounds its massive chest.

Todd yells to us, "Keep going....  See if they follow."  Already, ten of
the monsters have climbed the cliff.  Maisie prods her pony to a walk, as
the first creature goes down on all fours and ambles toward us.  Its pace
is slightly faster than the pony's walk, so Maisie encourages her pony to
canter.  The other monsters follow the first; it continues to gain on us.
There are 17 of the creatures: 12 adults and 5 young.

Todd fires a water bolt from his rod in front of the leader, hoping to
scare it off.  Instead, it bares its teeth and launches into a full run!
Maisie urges her pony to a gallop as Todd fires a second water bolt at the
creature's chest; it doesn't seem to faze it at all.  Leia has once again
called upon Brigit's power and holds a ball of fire in her hand.  She
yells at Todd to get out of the way.  Too late.  The giant gorilla sends
Todd flying with a swipe of its paw.  Todd rolls head over heels, stunned.
His pony takes off.

The rest of us try to rein in our ponies so we can come to his aid.  The
creature rears to its full height, standing over Todd, and pounds on its
chest, roaring.  Todd plays dead.  The other creatures stop and watch.
The creature prods Todd, then yells in his ear.  We finally get our ponies
turned around.  Todd vanishes, leaving a very surprised-looking beastie.


Merle Lir gathers the first of the ponies and rides toward where the other
is grazing.


The creature swats at the mist rising from where Todd had lain, and Todd
decides to float up out of reach.  The monster gets an odd expression on
its face, scratches itself, and ambles toward the ponies once again.

Elured, Felicia and Leia struggle to turn their ponies.  Maisie notices
that the group is falling behind and pulls hard on the reins, riding back
to rejoin us.  Leia yells for Todd to get away and to Elured to stay clear
as she prepares to hurl the ball of fire at the creatures.

The giant ape-like creatures continue to advance, the largest in the lead.
Leia throws the fireball at it and four explosions blast it in the chest.
Still it comes on, apparently unfazed.  Then, it abruptly rolls to one
side, tumbles a few times on the ground, and remains still.


Unbeknownst to the rest of us, Todd had landed upon its back, become
solid, struck it through the brain with the "dagger of death" and tried
to leap clear.  Unfortunately, a limitation of the creatures' joints
prevents them from reaching behind their backs, so the moment Todd's
presence was felt, the monster began to roll to remove the irritant
>from its back.  By the time, Todd had pulled his dagger free, it was
too late.  As he leapt, the creature's massive frame crushed down upon
him, evening the score.


The other creatures seem surprised by the collapse of the leader.  Rather
than chase us, they gather around its prone body.  Three of the largest
sniff at it and prod it with their forepaws.  When no response is evident,
they growl at each other and begin to "display" for each other.  The
remaining "giant apes" form a circle about the three and the fallen leader.

Elured draws Alfonse, waiting for a hostile move.  He comments that the
big guy just keeled over; Todd must have done something to it.  Alfonse
retorts, "Who says?  It could have had a heart attack!"


Merle Lir collects the second pony and looks back.  She can't see us, but
she can see that the apes have stopped, several miles from where she is.
She puts on her elven cloak -- no point in drawing attention to herself.
Then she rides back toward the coast, angling to reach it some distance
north of the apes, with the pack ponies in tow.


Leia draws her broadsword and commands it to flame.  It does.  Felicia,
her battle axe raised, runs toward the gathered "giant apes" screaming in
an attempt to chase them away.  The nearest turns toward her and growls.
Felicia grinds to halt, for the first time realizing just how big the
things are: it towers twice again her height ... and it's not the biggest!
Elured mutters an enchantment to make himself appear more powerful.  Leia
changes her mind and instructs her sword to turn off its flame.  Felicia
puts up the hood of her elven cloak and backs off.  The monster turns back
to the confrontation within the circle.

Only two of the "giant apes" remain in the middle, the third having backed
down.  And the challengers have begun cuffing and biting at each other.
Elured invokes another spell and a brilliant light flares in the center of
the circle.  They don't seem to notice, but Merle Lir does.  She urges the
ponies to a gallop.  Meanwhile, Maisie gathers the reins of our mounts.

Leia yells, "Maybe we should get out of here while we can!"  She runs back
to the ponies.  Leia reaches the ponies and again yells for Felicia and
Elured to get going.  Elured again casts the spell that produces the blast
of light; again with no apparent effect.  Felicia runs to the ponies.
Leia yells to Elured that we're taking his pony with us.  We mount up and
Leia instructs Maisie to lead on.  She does.  Elured reaches his pony just
in time.  We ignore his ramblings as we ride away.


Merle Lir gets close enough to see the "giant apes" clearly, but doesn't
see the party.  She veers right and comes across Todd's pony.  Adding it
to her collection, she rides on for another five minutes before finally
seeing rest of us.  Another minute at full gallop brings her within
shouting distance and she yells that she's coming up behind.  Maisie slows
up and we follow suit.  Merle Lir catches up and asks, "Where's Todd?  I
have his pony."  We slow our mounts to a walk.

After some discussion, we stop so Leia can cast omens to try to find Todd.
She concentrates on the question, "Will Todd catch up to us?" and draws
hoegl [setbacks?], eoh [journey of the dead?] and ger [natural cycle?]
for past, present and future.  Leia tells us that Todd won't catch up and
that something terrible has happened to him.  She concentrates for a few
moments and then says that she thinks he's back where we left the "giant
apes" ... and he's dead!

She asks everyone to join her in a prayer to Brigit.  We gather around her
and she offers a medium jacinth as a sacrifice and prays eloquently for
Todd's safe return.  The gemstone glows and vanishes.

Merle Lir suggests we leave the ponies and sneak back at angle to try to
find Todd.  We decide to circle away from the shore and lead the ponies,
rather than leave someone behind to guard them.  Periodically, Felicia or
Merle Lir mount up to reconnoiter.

For about the first fifteen minutes, the two "giant apes" in the center of
the circle continue quarreling.  Finally one emerges victorious, sorts out
the group, and they head north (a good thing we didn't leave the ponies
behind).  They cover ground much faster than we do and, by the time we
come to the dead monster, they've nearly passed out of sight to the north.

Maisie calls us over to where she's found a lot of blood and a flattened
Todd, the dagger still clutched tightly in his hand.  Elured rushes over
and uses his staff to begin healing the internal injuries.  As he places
the staff against Todd's mid-section, an almost audible vibration is felt
by all of us and an amber glow flows down the staff, surrounding Todd, and
upward the length of Elured's arm.  Elured gets comfortable, explaining
that it make take as much as ten hours for the healing to be complete.

Maisie keeps watch as the rest of us set up camp.  We feed Elured at
suppertime (to his obvious pleasure) so that he can hold onto the staff.
About two hours after sunset, the staff goes dark.  Then Elured begins
a prayer of regeneration to ready Todd's body for the return of the life
force.  Almost a half an hour passes before he tells Leia that all is
ready.  Leia prays to Brigit and kisses Todd upon his lips.  A spark
leaps between them and Todd begins to breathe again.  A few moments
later, his eyes flutter open -- he has a *bad* headache and stomach-ache.
Nevertheless, he thanks Brigit and Leia and Elured.

We decide that Elured and Todd can skip their watches this night, given
their ordeals.  Maisie mentions that our food supplies are running low.
Todd suggests eating the "giant ape".  Merle Lir is repulsed.  Maisie
says that she doesn't know whether or not it is edible.  She suggests
that perhaps Elured would like to try it, given his vast recuperative
powers.  He declines.  Leia says that she can provide enough to feed us,
if she doesn't over-extend herself on other magic.  We decide to sleep
late.


    [the Western Plains]
    The 18th day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 91 - low 51
    sky:        drizzle giving way to partly cloudy skies by
            mid-afternoon, then drizzle and light rain from
            sunset until after midnight, followed again by
            partly cloudy skies
    wind:        1-18 mph (slight-moderate breeze) (diminishing)

After Todd wakes, he checks his belongings, he finds that all but two of
the potions he carried had been shattered by the monster's mass; the glass
>from the vials is embedded in clothes he'd wrapped about them for
protection.  He shakes out the clothes, deciding to keep them and wash the
glass fragments out when he gets the chance.  His scrolls are okay, though
slightly stained at the edges.  He's not sure about the herbs.  His lock
pick set is sticky; he borrows some of Merle Lir's clean underwear to wipe
them clean.

We rest through the morning and after lunch, we continue southeast.  The
mis-direction goes un-noticed.  We camp with the usual preparations.


    [the Western Plains]
    The 19th day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 73 - low 49
    sky:        drizzle giving way to clear skies by early
            afternoon, but clouding up again at mid-evening
            with the arrival of the fringe of a hurricane that
            passes after midnight
    wind:        4-139 mph (slight breeze-hurricane)
            (increasing, then slowly diminishing)

After breakfast, we continue north.  The day passes uneventfully and, at
sunset, we make camp.  Merle Lir exercises the homing pigeon, as usual.

During the second watch, Merle Lir and Maisie notice that the wind
is really getting bad.  Elured is presuaded to invoke the circle of
protection, as Leia had done in the past.  He prays to Diancecht and
suddenly, we are shifted to some other plane, separate from all normal
time and space.  The grayness is all pervasive.  We watch uneasily for
the creeping darkness that had found us during Leia's last attempts.

As the time approaches for the magic to cease, Elured dons his helm and
sticks his head out of the protective bubble.  It's windy, but not too
bad.  He cancels the spell and we return to the prime material plane.


    [the Western Plains]
    The 20th day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 76 - low 45
    sky:        clear skies at dawn, but driving rain and rapidly
            increasing winds reach hurricane intensity by
            early morning, winds moderate and it changes to
            light rain by late morning, becoming drizzle at
            midnight
    wind:        3-118 mph (slight breeze-hurricane) (diminishing)

We start north again, but the wind soon becomes too strong.  By
mid-morning we stop, and Elured once again shifts us to safety.

When Elured checks in mid-afternoon, it is still raining, but the wind has
died down.  He terminates the spell and we move on.  At sunset, we camp.


    [the Western Plains]
    The 21st day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 88 - low 51
    sky:        drizzle at dawn, but winds return along with the
            hurricane by early afternoon
    wind:        0-123 mph (calm-hurricane) (increasing)

We break camp at dawn and head northwest -- we'd gotten too far inland and
could no longer even hear the ocean.  When we once again can hear it (and
see a large number of sea birds), we turn due north.

After lunch, the wind begins to pick up again.  We stop.  Elured prays
and a circle of space about him shifts from the prime material plane
(fortunately, we and all the ponies are within the radius of effect).
After three hours, and again after six, Elured checks and finds that the
storm is still raging.  After the second check, he notices that it's
getting dark.  Leia prays, preparing her circle, and then, simultaneously
with Elured's termination, invokes it.  We escape the darkness again,
and also the storm.

It is mid-evening and, if we remain unthreatened, we can remain in the
space of Leia's spell well into the next day.  We take our normal watches.
Every three hours, Leia checks -- the hurricane's fury is unabated.  But
the night passes quietly.


    [the Western Plains]
    The 22nd day of Lo Summer in the year 6049
    temperature:    high 88 - low 60
    sky:        hurricane
    wind:        93-135 mph (hurricane)

We continue to watch apprehensively for the creeping dark.  Every few
hours we check the progress of the storm.  As Leia's protection gets
close to expiring, Elured invokes his.  And vice versa.  The hurricane
rages on.

The ponies are getting hungry.  Leia prays and a pile of hay appears.
Leia also prays and receives food suitable for us.  Merle Lir feeds the
pigeon with grain she'd set aside for that purpose.  The eternal gray of
this place between the planes wears on our patience, but there's little
we can do.  Except wait.  And wait some more.


A little after midnight, during Todd and Leia's watch, in Leia's haven,
they notice that it's beginning to get darker.  Leia kicks Elured awake
and tells him to prepare his haven.  Leia cancels hers as Elured invokes
his.  We avoid the storm and again escape whatever danger the "creeping
darkness" poses.

Elured complains that we shouldn't wake him except for a battle.  Leia's
holy symbol flares in momentary pique that she chooses not to show Elured.

The rest of the watch passes uneventfully and Felicia replaces Leia.  Todd
sees something flying towards him as his watch with Felicia drags draws
near its close.  Todd yells to wake everyone.

Elured grabs Alfonse; Merle Lir rolls to her knees and strings her bow,
looking wildly about, and checking to make sure her magical rods are
within easy reach.  When she realizes that the attack is not already
underway, she joins Maisie in gathering the ponies' reins.

The flying creatures are gray and look vaguely reptilian.  Todd suggests a
quick switch of magical havens and Leia and Elured prepare to comply.  The
winged demons fly closer and ...

Leia invokes her haven as Elured cancels his.  The creatures vanish from
view.  Leia checks on the hurricane; it continues still....
--
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
      Bruce W. Reisman          AT&T  Bell Laboratories
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      908/957-6533              Middletown, NJ  07748-4801