NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/pub/dragons/4599

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 10.2 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Rick Jones)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: Krupp [Inn] Strangers in the Night
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 26 Jan 93 18:49:57 GMT
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tx
Lines: 160
NNTP-Posting-Host: chain.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu

>    "Excuse me, sir,But are you aware of the
> fact that you are dead...?"
    said the depressed priest.  I blinked a couple of times, and tried
to find my tongue.   I looked up at him.  In the light of the
fire, I could see something Important behind those tired eyes.  I knew he
wasn't just some depressed priest.  I saw ages upon ages of walking.
Waiting.  Not despondent or beaten down, but more like... resigned.
    I knew he wasn't lying.  Or insane.
    "I just thought you might want to know," he said with a lackluster
shrug. Then he turned back to his table, only to discover the blue dame he'd
chatting with was gone.  "How typical..." he muttered.
    I looked up at Serene.  She shrugged her shoulders.  "Father Lucas
is rarely wrong.  Often depressing, but not wrong."
     I hopped down from my chair and walked over to the guy.  "Okay,
Father.  If I'm dead, what am I doing here?  I don't feel dead."  I was a
tad reluctant to believe I was dead.  On the other hand, I wasn't exactly
solid either.
    He shrugged his shoulders.  "If you felt dead, you'd _be_ dead,
and not standing around moaning about it... of course, my knowledge of the
undead deals mostly with the best ways of destroying them, not keeping
them around. My Goddess," he said fingering a carved rabbit hanging on a
leather thong around his neck with a hint of resigned distaste, " considers
them an abomination to the natural cycle, you see, although I don't..." He
sighed and looked around the Inn.  "The being over there dressed in black
and talking to that group of people can, I guess, tell byou more about dead
things than I.  "And the blond man next to him, or the albino drow at that
table there, might also be able to help you. Probably more than you even
need..." He added with a slight frown. He turned back to his recently empty
table again. "Why does this always happen when I sit down somewhere...?" he
muttered.
    "Serene," I said.  "This is all a big joke.  Right?"
    She shrugged.  "I truly don't know.  And if you are a ghost, Kadrys
probably can give you some pointers.  And 'Raelf is a smart wizard. So is
...sage.  One of them should know."
    "Humph.  Well, it can't hurt." I walked over to the table the priest
had pointed out.  I tapped the black cloaked man on the back, forgetting the
finger would go into him.  He felt funny, and actually started to turn.
"Hello, my name is Kru-" VAMPIRE!  I panicked.  I turned and ran, going
through half the crowd.  In my defense, I have to say I didn't scream or
wet myself.  Probably couldn't wet myself, but it's the thought that counts.
    I knew I was getting close to the wall.  I had enough presence
of mind to realize I could go through it, so I took a deep breath, leaped.
And banged into the wall.
    Magic, I hate it.  How 'bout you?
    "Whoh, dude, is there a problem." I rubbed my forehead, and looked
up.  I must have hit my head harder than I thought, since the blonde guy
from the table was flickering.  First a young nobleman (had to be, not a
scar on him or a callus of an honest day's work), then a cat-man,
different from the Draga race, and back and forth, with fire, water and
rock as intermediate steps.  Next to him was a hulking man, looking on
with concern.  He sometimes was petite redhead woman, and sometimes a big
snowflake made of mirrors.  And next to him was the-
    "Vampire!"  He moved his lips up in a smile, his lips hiding the
fangs I somehow knew were there.
    "It's okay, Krupp.  I thought you knew," interjected Serene.
"Kadrys is okay."
    I tried to calm down.  It didn't take any time at all, actually.  I
guesswhen you don't have a heart it doesn't take any time for it to slow
down.  "Well, um, sorry about that."
    "It's all right."  He did seem a likeable sort, for someone who drinks
blood.  Besides, what did I have to worry, if they were right?  No blood,
no problem.
    The catman/blond guy was looking at me strangely, his eyes a strange
crystal color.  "Whoah, dig the amps he's putting out, Raye.  Heavy
wattage." I knew he had to be a mage, then.  Nobody normal talks Common
without making any sense at all.  The hulking fighter/woman/snowflake
glowed briefly and became a zatfig blond enchantress, complete with a flock
of dragonettes buzzing around her. It replaced the warrior in her cycle of
changes.  The dragons continued their orbits, ignoring their mistress'
(master's?) changes.
    "Yes, it is unusually powerful, for a manifestation of his apparent
age."
    "Look, I don't mean to be rude, catboy, but could you and your
girlfriend speak Common, and stop changing.  The lights are giving me a
headache."
    The catman looked at the women/snowflake.  "Hmm, Spirit Vision."
    "Not uncommon among spirits."  Each of them made a slight gesture,
and their forms became more solid, and the rapid fire changes slowed down
to a slow crawl.
    "Why don't we all have a seat, and discuss this like civilized
people," proposed the vampire.
    We went back to their table, and we all sat down.  Introductions
from everyone revealed that the nobleman/catman was 'Raelf, the snowflake
woman was ar'Elya, and the vampire was Kadrys.  While we were talking, a
big ranger who introduced himself as Lancos sat down.  I knew he was a ranger
for the same reason I knew Kadrys was a vampire. That is to say, no good
reason.
    "Well, Father Murphy said I was dead, and you guys are saying the
same thing.  It fits with some other things that happened since I woke up."
    "Where did you wake up," asked the snowflake.  Nobody else seemed
to act strangely towards a glowing snowflake, so I tried not to stare.
    "Um, Low City.  I was tailing one of Creft's men."
    "Do you remember the date?" interrupted the vampire.
    I told him.  It seems I'd lost a month.  Creft was dead too.
Snuffed by one of the Wasters.  Tried to frame Kron too.  The frame was
bogus, but it got Kron kicked off the Watch.  'Raelf had a sad expression on
his face when he mentioned Kron.  I followed his gaze over to a corner
table.  Kron was passed out in his chair, a dozen empty tankards in front
of him.
    "What happened to him?" I asked.  I had met Kron once or twice.  Honest
cop.  One of a kind.
    'Raelf looked down at his Catamount Porter.  "He had to kill his
sister. It's a long and awful story.  Ask ...sage if you want the
unexpergiated version."  He took a long draw on his mug.  "Ugly story."
ar'Elya put a comforting arm around him.
    "It's okay, Rafe," she muttered.  "You all did what you had to."
    "Yeah well, it's just proof there's some things magic can't fix."
He shook his head, and brightened a bit.  "But that's the past.  Let's see
what's up with you.  Raye, would you like to do the honors?"
    "Always the gentleman."  Everyone should see a snowflake hug a
catman.  It's... interesting.  She gestured  <<Show and tell>>, and a
circle oflight appeared between the two of us.  "Can you see this?" she asked.
    "Circle of blue/green light, about a foot in diameter."
    "Yes, it's a lens of sorts.  It allows me to see you more
clearly."  The sorceress and the mage stared at me for a bit.  "You can
move or talk with Kadrys, if you like.  This'll take few centons."
    "Minutes, Raye." interjected 'Raelf.  The two of them started
muttering in Wizard, the only version of common worse than Lawyer.
    I tried to ignore the fishbowl feeling I was getting.   Putting on
my best 'talk to the clients' face, I smiled at Kadrys.  "So, what do you
know about ghosts."
    He leaned back in his chair.  "Well I've me a few in my time, but
you seem to be an analomy.  You died about a month ago, but it usually
takes years before one can manifest a 'body' of your resolution.  Also,
you're quite a way from the Low City alleyway.  It also takes time to build
up strength to travel so far from your resting place."
    "You mentioned strength.  I can't eat, obviously.  And I don't have
your,ahem, dietary restrictions.  So what do I do?  I don't feel hungry or
particularly full."
    Kadrys pushed the bowl of peanuts 'Raelf had been absently
munching on closer to him.  "Well, this is just a theory, but I think
ghosts feed on fear.  A minor haunting unnerves people who sleep in the
bedroom.  The ghost gets stronger, and can move a little farther away.
Eventually, it's throwing the china across the room and terrorizing the
whole house.  Or farther."  He paused.   I looked down at my toes.  This
did not sound good at all.
    "Actually, you're close, but not completely right, Kadrys." said
ar'Eyla.  "It's not just fear, but any strong emotion.  Fear is just the
easiest to for haunts to cause.  It's easier for a ghost to scare someone
than to make someone happy.  Just like most of your kind find it easier to
take the blood, than to ask for it nicely.  Any emotion will do, Krupp.  It
just has to be strong.  Just hanging around the Inn ought to keep you from
dissipating.  Rafe, do you have that Handbook you bought on Saturn?"
    "Hmm, it's in the crates marked for the library."  He looked over
at me, Kadrys, and Lancos.  "We just moved into the new place.  Not
everything's unpacked.  But you guys are welcome to come on down."
    I really didn't like the idea of being at a wizards' tower, but
they were the folks who seemed to know what they were doing.  "I guess
so.  What did your," I wiggled my fingers, "tell you?"
    The redhead sorceress replied "Nothing conclusive.  I mean, you
are a ghost, but there's no good reason why you aren't a translucent
indistinct figure, sitting in that Low City alleyway rattling chains,
instead of sitting here, plain as day and quite clear."
    Mysteries.  It's ironic.  After all the mysteries I solved on my
own, and now I need help to solve my own murder.
--
Rick Jones               "Calvin, can you tell us what Lewis and Clark did?"
[e-mail]      "No, but I can recite the secret superhero origin of
Systems Support Center    each member of Captain Napalm's Thermonuclear League
Voice: 713-798-7352      of Liberty."  - Calvin & Hobbes