The Staging Area
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 15890
|
The four adventurers turned around and went back the way they came,
finding Qundarian right where they had left him. Fred was about to jam
his sword down Qundarian’s throat, and only the quick reflexes of Astra
prevented him from doing so.
Carola spoke up. "There’s nothing there." "Oh, the dragon blocked the entrance again, didn’t he? That’s both good news and bad news." "Where’s the good news if we can’t get in?" Qundarian started down the passage they had come back. "Come on. It’s easy enough to get in, if you work from the inside." Confused, they followed Qundarian down the passage, as he continued talking. "The dragon must be really worried about you, to seal off the entrance like that. It’s happened only a couple of times before, so he obviously thinks that your group has a good chance of obtaining the ring. The others that saw it blocked off found many illusions after they finally entered, and none were able to discern between illusion and reality. That, of course, is the bad news." They finally reached the dead end, and Qundarian worked his magic. There wasn’t much magic to it, really, except for the change in tone in Qundarian’s voice and the occasional strange word. "Yo, Gnome-boy, hit the hydropumps for me." "That’s the magic spell?" Fred asked. "Aside from yo, gnome-boy, and hydropumps, all of those are words I know." Carola answered. "Gnome-boy is probably someone that got sealed inside, which would explain why Qundarian said to work from the inside, if you were listening to him at all earlier. Look at Qundarian, he’s listening for an answer." After a little bit, Qundarian spoke again. "Yeah, the second and third pumps are fine. Blast the dragon, he’s sealed up the primary one." He turned to the four adventurers. Carola was giving Fred a kind of I-told-you-so look. "Watch out, it’s going to get a little wet." In a moment, two sprays of water broke down the rock, enough to form a small hole through which they saw a small man. "That’s Gnome-boy," explained Qundarian. "He’ll give you more details about the quest. I’m sorry I can’t come with you, but I understand the area of great peril involves tests of agility and strength that I could never hope to pass." With that, he left down the passage. Cautiously, Fred stepped into the hole, to face the midget known as Gnome-boy. Astra, Belinda, and Carola followed, though Belinda and Carola had difficulties. Gnome-boy looked at the four of them. "Well, look what we got here. I ain’t never seen no group of adventurers with more than one woman, and here I got three hot ladies right ‘fore my eyes." All four of them were slightly confused. Astra asked, "Can you repeat that in Aquilarian?" Gnome-boy looked up, way up, at Astra. "Sorry. I keep hoping the next group of adventurers is from my time. I got sent here through some odd multi-dimensional hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo space-time-bending stuff I bought on the street, and I’ve never found my way back. Anyway, I’m Gnome-boy, or at least that’s what everyone called me back before this happened. I run the staging area for the area of great peril, making sure every group of adventurers has the right equipment to take on the area of great peril. You two (pointing to Fred and Astra) look like you’re okay, but ugh! (looking at Belinda and Carola) Low-cut purple dresses are so not in for the adventuring type anymore!" Even though Belinda didn't completely understand everything he said, she understood the meaning of it and tried to explain. "The dragon’s been keeping us in a dungeon of luxury. These Royalty designer dresses were the only thing in our wardrobes." Gnome-boy waved her off. "Never mind the reason, we’ve got to get you some new clothes. Let’s see what’s over in the clothes box." Gnome-boy went over to a big cardboard box labeled "Clothes," climbed a ladder, and dove in. "Green socks, orange sweaters, bulletproof vest, blue bikini—Ow! I’d love to see her in that!, big clunky boots, ah, yes! Here we go! I think this will work." Out of the box flew a pair of shirts of light mail and two sets of leggings that looked like they wouldn't have fit Carola when she was eight. Gnome-boy climbed back out of the box and jumped down. "Just go over there somewhere and change into that stuff." "Don’t you have any chain mail leggings?" asked Carola, nervously eying the short leggings that appeared to be made of cotton. "I only get what I can get. Besides, you heard Qundarian—there’s a test of agility, and you’ll be a lot better in athletic shorts than in chain mail leggings." Carola grumbled, but decided that if these "athletic shorts" were the best they could get, they would have to wear them. Maybe they were enchanted.
|
unknown adventurer (noticing that no one has bothered to detail clothing yet in this thread)
3/21/2004 6:35:42 PM
Extending Enabled
25489369 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.