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Article 35198 of rec.games.frp:
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From: [e-mail] (bruce.w.reisman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: STORY: Darkness Rising (part 3)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 16 Mar 91 16:47:32 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 439


TRUN

    [Lannons-Trun]
    It is dawn on the 12th day of High Spring in the year 6049
    The weather is:
        temperature:    67
        sky:        partly cloudy
        wind:        14 mph (gentle breeze)

As the army breaks camp, Jhere and Felicia set out to hunt.  They are soon
joined by the army's hunting party -- David, Gil, Gundabald, Walter and
Milo, the squad captain.

Jhere soon locates fresh deer tracks.  She warns everyone to move quietly.
Walter launches into a long assurance that he's quite quiet when necessary,
but that Gundabald better watch his step, because he tends to be clumsy.
Milo eventually orders him to close his mouth.  Jhere is very annoyed and
gets a strong feeling that she'd be better off alone.  Nevertheless, only
Felicia and David actually manage to continue without making some noise....


Meanwhile, Merle Lir suggests to Vilim that they ride down to the river
so they can spend some time alone.  He quickly agrees.  On the way, they
discuss their knowledge of magic and arms and disclose the properties of
the various items they carry, so as to be better able to work together
the next time they find themselves in danger....


About an hour passes without the sight of any game larger than squirrels.
Jhere signals the group to stop.  Fortunately the deer are upwind, so the
approach goes unnoticed.  Jhere whispers that the tracks are very recent.
Felicia climbs a tree and spots ten deer (including a magnificent buck)
in a clearing just ahead.  The buck is staring in her direction, but
isn't looking high enough to see her in the tree.  Milo sends Gundabald
and David to the left; Walter and Gil to the right.  Jhere wants to move
ahead, but he persuades her to wait until his men can get into position.

As Jhere, Felicia and Milo reach the edge of the clearing, the buck starts
nervously.  They select their targets and fire almost simultaneously.  Milo
hits a doe.  So does Jhere.  Felicia hits the buck.  The remaining deer and
Jhere's doe bolt in all directions from the clearing.  Four come right at
the hunters -- Jhere and Milo duck out of the way, Felicia wounds one.
Milo finishes off his prey.  Felicia and Jhere run after theirs.

Felicia's shot had hit the buck's leg and the wound slows him enough that
she quickly catches him.  Two more arrows at close range abruptly end his
life.  David and Gundabald kill two does that pass close by their ambush.
Gil and Walter don't see any where they lie in wait.  Jhere chases the doe
for an hour before deciding that the arrow must not have injured her that
badly.  On her way back, she shoots two rabbits and avoids a pack of boars
by climbing a tree, picking off the last one as it passes almost underneath
her.  The other boars flee.  Jhere dresses the boar, slings it around her
shoulders, and walks back to the clearing.

Milo's men have cleaned the deer and prepared two travois by the time Jhere
returns.  Felicia spots a tick on Jhere's leg.  A close examination reveals
that everyone is "decorated" with the little parasites.  They carefully
pluck them from themselves and each other.  Jhere regrets not having worn
breeches.  A good night's sleep would help eliminate such carelessness....


Merle Lir and Vilim reach the river and continue to explore each other's
capabilities.  After about an hour and a half, they decide they'd better
ride back to the army.  Taking a guess at the army's rate of progress,
they ride through the forest to intersect the road where the army should
be.

After a two or three hours, the horse begins to get skittish and they soon
find their way blocked by a white, fibrous curtain.  Vilim cloaks them in
invisibility as Merle Lir reaches back for her rod of shock bolts.  Merle
Lir suggests, "Let's get out of here, fast!"  Vilim guides the horse to
the right and follows the "curtain" around until they reach the point at
which they first encountered it.  They realize that they are completely
enclosed....


Todd and Leia begin to be concerned by Vilim and Merle Lir's extended
absence.  Just to be sure that they are all right, Todd draws runes
concerning their whereabouts.  He gets: Rad, Tir, Hoegl.  Studying them
he tells Leia that Vilim and Merle Lir are in trouble and may die without
help.  He says that they must try to save them that this will result in a
battle and he and Leia could die.

They express their concerns to the King and invite him to come along.
Thiokol gives word to his captains, all horsemen are to accompany him (and
the Princess and Todd).  Ragnor and Elured are left behind as the riders
follow Leia's lead -- she invokes divine aid to lead her to Vilim and Merle
Lir.

Shortly after the horsemen depart, Alicia passes over the slowly moving
army.  It is obvious that something is wrong, so she lands and Kidd
dismounts and asks what's going on.  The soldiers don't exactly know, but
he eventually finds Ragnor and Elured and they tell him that Vilim and
Merle Lir are in trouble.  Elured sees his chance and gets to Alicia
before Ragnor and Kidd realize he's slipped away.  Elured climbs on
Alicia; she spreads her mighty thyfur wings and flies over the forest in
pursuit of the riders....


Before they can discuss what to do next, something leaps onto Vilim's back,
nearly knocking him from the horse as it rears in fright.  The invisibility
spell is cancelled and Merle Lir sees the monstrous spider that is trying
to make them its next meal.  Flame bursts from Vilim's hand as he tries
desperately to free himself by attacking the spider with fire.  As he
falls from the horse, another spider leaps onto Merle Lir from behind.
She defends herself with blasts from her rod, but soon is toppled from the
horse as well.  Vilim loses consciousness and his attacker jumps onto the
horse, before it can flee....


Alicia sees the King's soldiers riding through the forest, but can't find
any nearby place to land.  Anxious to get in on the action, Elured leaps
from her back into the trees, planning to snag one of the upper branches
and carefully climb down.  He falls almost 300' before smacking into a
stout branch, breaking his hip, and losing consciousness ... and his staff
of healing!

Leia guides the riders to the spiders' web.  She calls upon Brigit's aid
and a small globe of flame appears hovering over her hand.  She hurls it
into the thickly woven strands of web and they burst into flame.  Todd
sends his thoughts ahead to see what will befall them when the ride into
the space enclosed by the web:  he sees a horse with a giant spider perched
upon its back.  Before he can share his vision, a horse races through the
opening, trying to shake off the massive spider clinging to it.  Todd leaps
onto the spider, striking it with his dagger as the King's arrow pierces it
from the side.  A soldier hacks it with his sword as Todd strikes it for
the final time and jumps free.  Legs quivering in death, the spider falls
from the horse's back.

Leia, the King and the soldiers ride on as Todd gains control of the horse
(and quickly searches the saddlebags).  A spider jumps at the Princess,
but she again prays to Brigit and a small ball of fire appears.  She hurls
it at the spider, pouring power into it.  The ball of flame explodes --
instant crispy critter....


Meanwhile Elured manages to heal himself, and reach the ground and his
staff.  He wanders through the forest in search of the soldiers, Leia,
Todd and the missing Vilim and Merle Lir....


The soldiers find human-sized parcels enclosed in cocoons of spider-silk.
Leia and Todd (carefully) slice them open and find Merle Lir and Vilim
inside, quite dead.  Leia offers a prayer to remove the poison from their
bodies, and another to heal their wounds.  As she completes the second
prayer, Elured nonchalantly strolls up.  He lays hands upon Merle Lir,
healing the damage to her body but losing consciousness from the strain.
Leia kisses her, restoring her life spark; Merle Lir begins to breathe and
her eyes flutter open.

[    Merle Lir suddenly feels warm all over and a bright light    ]
[    beckons her from some cold dark place into which she had    ]
[    fallen eons (or was it moments?) ago.  She wakes to find    ]
[    Leia bent over her.                        ]

Merle Lir thanks the Princess for bringing her back.  She finds Vilim
nearby along with Elured -- still recovering from healing her wounds.  She
strokes Vilim's hand and then chews (but doesn't swallow) a mirenna berry.
[Ed. Now where d'ya think that came from?]  Then she kisses Elured and he
regains consciousness with a funny taste in his mouth.  Elured lays hands
on Vilim, again blacking out from the effort of healing so much damage at
one time.  A kiss from Leia (under Merle Lir's watchful eye) brings Vilim
back to life.  Leia then turns her attention to the injuries the horse had
sustained.

[    Vilim is drawn towards a flame from a dark cold place and    ]
[    the grasp of departed comrades.  Wistfully he allows himself    ]
[    to be brought back to the land of the living.            ]

Merle Lir sees the echoes of his mixed feelings reflected in his eyes as
they open.

Merle Lir and Vilim draw cloaks about themselves as they ride back to join
the main body of the soldiers -- the soldiers' stares have made Merle Lir
aware of the damage wrought to her clothes by the spiders' poisons.  Upon
reaching camp, they bathe in Merle Lir's magic bath and change their
clothing.

Elured announces that he "healed himself until he was almost dead"; Ragnor
thinks he hears Elured's staff mutter "why me?" in elvish....


Jhere leads the group through the forest, angling toward the road so that
they won't be too far behind the main party.  She reaches the road at dusk
and checks the tracks.  She tells us that the army passed about two hours
earlier.  It starts to rain, lightly.  Milo sends David ahead to get a
wagon.  About an hour and a half later, the wagon meets us and we ride the
last stretch into camp.  We will feast tomorrow when we reach Trun.

Elured regales Jhere with a fabulous tale of the rescue of Merle Lir and
Vilim and offers her the opportunity to join him for a bath in his ward.
She counters with the suggestion that they use hers, this time.  He agrees.
They go in and she gives him her soap (it is apparently his first exposure
to that marvel) and she quickly bathes and cancels the ward leaving him
swimming in the mud of the road (to several soldiers' great amusement).
She picks up a couple of his pouches and Elured goes wild, grabbing his
sword and threatening her.  She drops the items and walks casually away.
He calls up his ward and gets rinsed off, deciding to keep the remaining
sliver of Jhere's soap.

    [Lannons-Trun]
    It is dawn on the 13th day of High Spring in the year 6049
    The weather is:
        temperature:    48
        sky:        light rain
        wind:        9 mph (light breeze)

In the morning, Elured approaches Jhere as she starts to eat breakfast.
He launches into a convoluted and fanciful explanation of courtship rites
of the region where he was raised.  Jhere takes it as an apology for his
behavior the previous evening, but as he presses her for an answer, she
insists that he must wait until everyone has seen the queen.  When he
finally departs and she goes back to eating, she decides that the food no
longer tastes right and discards the uneaten portion.

The light rain continues throughout the day and the temperature climbs
into the 90s, making it quite uncomfortable and muggy as we complete the
last part of the journey to Trun.  In the middle of the afternoon we
finally reach the city gates.  Jhere slips away into the forest to offer
a prayer to Freya.  She offers a sacrifice of five gold pieces and thanks
Freya for allowing her to be Her humble servant.  She asks guidance in
dealing with Elured and in purifying herself to be accepted into the
queen's service.  Though the sacrifice appears to have been declined, a
sense of joy and peace and contentment fills her.

The King's party (including us) is greeted by massed throngs throwing
flowers and a fanfare of trumpets and drums as we make our way from the
city wall to the royal keep.  The remainder of the army camps outside the
gates.

Elured immediately begins looking around town for anyone with magic items.
He makes it clear to people that if they lead him to a person with an item
that he would like he will tip them at least 1 gold piece.  Elured tells
them of his pendant of strength, two-handed sword, potion of poison, and
shows them his bracelets -- he's willing to trade these for magic items.

Vilim and Merle Lir linger upstairs while the rest of us head down to the
Great Hall for the feast.  A bit later they join us, long before the food
shows any sign of running out.

When Jhere finally enters the town, she makes her way to the Hunters'
Guild House.  Except for Mudge, the partially senile old fellow who
apparently keeps the place neat, all have gone to the feast.  Jhere gives
a quick demonstration to assert her rank and indicates that she'll return
the next day to pay her respects to the Guildmaster.  She proceeds to the
Keep, where she easily persuades the guard on duty to let her pass.  A
young woman, apparently part of the Princess' household staff offers to
bathe her and find suitable attire.  Jhere let's her draw the bath, but
bathes herself and refuses the proffered dresses.

Merle Lir has a very good time at the feast.  Besides the fact that she's
quite social (compared to the others) and likes to dance, she's still
worried that Vilim didn't really want to come back from the dead (and it
worries her that the sleeping arrangements will keep them apart later that
night) and so she encourages him to join in the dances.

On arriving at the feast Jhere pays her respects to the High Table by
briefly approaching and bowing, then joins the rest of the party.  She
eats quickly and leaves early to do a little judicious exploring about
the keep (as much as permitted) and then goes to bed.

At some point during the evening, we notice the Queen has left the feast.
A bit later, a comely young woman beckons to Ragnor and they disappear
into some other part of the keep.

The maidservant tells Ragnor the Queen wishes to see him.  He, of course,
agrees to follow the young woman to the Queen's audience chamber.  Queen
Ariel greets him and asks how he has fared.  She talks a little of the new
effort she wishes him to undertake, but he pretty much stops listening
after she tells him about Smidge -- she is carrying his child!

When Ragnor returns, he won't discuss what happened, but drinks himself
into a nearly stuporous state.

    [Trun]
    It is dawn on the 14th day of High Spring in the year 6049
    The weather is:
        temperature:    66
        sky:        drizzle
        wind:        6 mph (light breeze)

Alicia rises before dawn to continue training the tiger and the hawk.

Jhere returns to the Hunters' Guild where she meets with the guildmaster,
Reginald, and makes the acquaintance of several rangers.  One of the
rangers, Maisie, chats with her as she returns to the Keep.  Jhere spends
the remainder of the day in the chapel praying to Freya.

Elured makes several minor purchases and sells off a few unwanted items.
A small man makes arrangements to meet with him later that evening
regarding his interest in magical devices.

Merle Lir and Vilim go shopping; Vilim purchases some pipe tobacco; Merle
Lir makes arrangements for several articles of clothing and converts a gem
to currency.  She sends Vilim back to the Keep with the better part of the
coins she received for the gem.  Then she purchases a small gift and books
the best room at the best inn in town for the night; reservations for
dinner, too.

Kidd and Elured also order new clothes and Alicia orders a quiver of
arrows and picks up a couple of sundry items.

Queen Ariel enters the Keep's chapel and converses with Jhere.  Jhere goes
with the Queen to an inner chamber and begins study under the highest
living acolyte of Freya -- the Queen, herself.

Ragnor tells Leia that the Queen accepted his request for a memorial
service for our departed comrades and that the Queen wishes to discuss
the details with Leia.  Ragnor joins Leia as she goes to meet with Queen
Ariel, but only Leia is admitted.  The Queen describes the intended
service (to be performed tomorrow) and requests the presence of Leia and
her entourage in the Great Hall at midnight.  Leia passes the word to us
to be there.

Elured brings Todd to his evening rendezvous.  The man contrives to get
Elured alone.  After consulting with Todd, Elured agrees to accompany the
man by himself.  Elured is put to sleep, but quickly rouses himself and
nearly gets himself killed trying to stop the thieves from making off with
his belongings.

Elured gets Todd, Leia, Felicia and Ragnor to help him try to recover his
stolen possessions.  They recover his staff and leave three men dead --
one bearing a scrawled note from Todd demanding the quick return of the
remaining items.  They make it back to the Keep in time to join Alicia,
Kidd, Merle Lir, Slither and Vilim for our audience with the Queen.  Jhere
is nowhere to be found (no one has seen her since breakfast).

Queen Ariel enters and proceeds to her throne as we bow and curtsy.  She
congratulates Elured on having been reunited with his father after all
this time.  We react in consternation (finally concluding that Ragnor is
the one to whom she is referring).  She explains that things are much
worse than she had expected and sooner.  An ancient evil has been loosed
in the world and already has gained dominance throughout much of the
south.  Six beings, servants of the Dark Lords, known as the "Death that
Walks" or more simply, "deathstalkers", are roaming the land and seizing
sacrifices to their Lords.  No magic, nor army, can stand against any one
of them, yet some of us must try to contain them.  Meanwhile, the others
will seek the lost secret of how they were defeated the last time, some
3,000 years ago.  (Ragnor volunteers to lead the party to the south --
the home city of the idiyva lies there.)  Despite all her research in
the Keep's archives, all she can find are hints of a citadel of learning
that once existed in the west.  There, perhaps, the secret of the
deathstalkers' defeat can be uncovered.  No road goes west from Pegor,
but that is where the city (Oriri) is said to be.  And the Queen has
sent parties searching in that direction several times -- none has ever
returned.  And the people that once inhabited Oriri -- the elves -- have
all but passed from the history books and legends; none have been
encountered for centuries.

After much discussion it is decided: Princess Leia, Todd, Merle Lir,
Elured, Ragnor, and Slither will go west; Queen Ariel, Jhere, Vilim,
Alicia, Kidd, and Felicia will head south.  (The Queen decides on Jhere's
behalf and we do not dispute her right.)  The Queen departs (vanishes to
be precise), and we head for our rooms, except Vilim and Merle Lir who
bid us goodnight and go back to the inn.

Ragnor stops by the kitchen for a late night snack before heading to bed.
Merle Lir and Vilim return to their room at the inn.  When Alicia rises
before dawn to continue training the tiger and the hawk, they are just
getting to sleep.

After a brief rest, Merle Lir and Vilim head for the Keep.  On the way,
Merle Lir collects the finished items of clothing and is fitted for the
leather breeches that are being made to her specifications.

Ragnor, Merle Lir, Leia and Kidd search the scrolls in the library of the
Keep for some clue to aid them in their quest.  Torrap joins them there.
Slither keeps watch at one of the doors (probably for lack of any other
way to appear useful).

Shortly before noon, Leia leaves the library to join Alicia, Queen Ariel
and two other priestesses in preparing for the memorial service.  Though
the sky remains mostly cloudy, the rain which has fallen most of the
morning finally stops.  The priestesses draw a pentastar and each arranges
appropriate sacraments and her appointed point.  At noon, a crowd masses
(including the rest of us, except Jhere) and Leia has Alicia begin the
service.

As each priestess invokes the name of her goddess in the memory of
Terrence, Stoutheart and the Lady Christine, a glow builds in the
center.  Suddenly it flashes brilliantly, blinding many who are caught
unsuspecting, as the five priestesses simultaneously step into the
radiance and vanish from view.

[    Princess Leia and Alicia encounter Christine, Stoutheart and    ]
[    Terrence.  They respond to a request for guidance with "Beware    ]
[    the shining (k)night.  Beware the dark day."  Final farewells    ]
[    are said and the priestesses emerge.                ]

The light folds in on itself and vanishes from view.  As the ceremony
ends, the clouds once again begin to release their burden, soaking any
who linger.

            *    *    *

Meanwhile, Omerta, heir-apparent to the Dukedom of Knearn, completes his
arduous trek to Trun.  His title gets him past the outer and inner gates
and permits him to reach the courtyard in time to see the end of the
ceremony.  After the crowd disperses, he makes his way to the keep.  After
a brief wait, he is shown inside and given food, drink, a bath and fresh
clothing before being ushered in to see King Thiokol.

He tells the King how Knearn refused to pay ransom (in virgins!) to the
minions of the Dark Lords and how hordes of gibberlings overran the city,
killing all within (at least he hoped all were dead -- it was a better
fate than what lay in store for any virgin taken alive).  He mentioned,
too, how incredibly cold it had become during the attack....  Somehow he
had been overlooked.  But he found no one else living, nor any trace of
his parents or the Duke and Duchess (his uncle and aunt) as he slipped
from the ruins of the city.

The King says he will mount an army to seek retribution.  He tells his
squire to summon Sir Ragnor.  When Ragnor arrives, the King tells him
to re-organize the mercenary army still camped outside Trun for a march
southwards.  Ragnor is in a quandary -- the Queen has told him to go west,
now the King tells him to go south -- he mumbles an explanation of his
problem to the King, giving an outline of the Queen's plans.  The King
sends his squire for the Queen.

Ragnor and Omerta are dismissed as the Queen arrives.  The Queen convinces
the King that sending a normal army to fight in the south is merely sending
the men to their deaths.  The King prevails in his wish to have Ragnor go
south.  Felicia will replace him in the west-bound group.  The King will
organize massive defenses at Roore to prevent the armies of the Dark Lords
from invading the northern cities.  To provide a base for operations in the
south, he also proposes to send soldiers and masons and laborers to rebuild
the keep at Knearn.  The Queen agrees to ask Torrap's people to fly to the
Cities to request volunteers to resettle and rebuild that city (each to be
given land in their own name).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feedback time:  Is anyone reading this?  Should I post more?  (Thanks.)
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