Departure of a Play's Script...

"Wait, I recognize this stuff!" Fred says, looking up in surprise....

The dragon would cast me in the role of my namesake, Fred thinks darkly to himself.

This chess game with the dragon had more and more nuances the more and more he looked. The more and more he looked, the less he liked it...But....oh must that dragon die for what he'd done to him and Astra!

It was almost maddening not knowing how much time had passed outside the Southern Caverns while he and Thessamer were being the Dragon's "guest" (that the gods that he had his love or it would have finished him). He could have asked Velus, but couldn't work up the courage to ask. After the Dragon was dead, that question would be answered, though, whether he wanted it or not.....

All this flashes through his mind as he begins to show the others it, only to find that the text was only visible to him. Ears twitching in annoyance, Andrea cast a quick spell and it became visible for all to see.

(Note: taken from episode 2095 by Y)

The Oracle that the Prophet saw:

How long have I cried out and you do not hear? I cry out 'Injustice!' and
you do not liberate us. Why do you let me ----- such wickedness, why
-----behold such turmoil?

Fred could see that insects had visited the scroll in its stay here within the bowels
of the earth, and it seemed that worms had bored holes into it. He continued
reading, what he could that is.

Robbery and ---- are in front of -------- and conflict continue. For the Man
of Lies hems in the righteous man, therefore judgment comes out
perverted.

I see being raised up the Cardasii who are swift and ------- in war,
annihilating ---------- in the authority of -------- no faith in the Law of ----

They range across ------ to seize ------ their own. Dire and ----- they; their
law is but lawlessness, their fame comes from themselves.

----------------avoid the ways of---------- until the time appointed for
punishment is past ----- all the Boundary-Shifters and all of it will be done
in the age of evil ----- now I shall make known to you
-----------------------------------

Beware the -------- she will follow the Cardasii!

Beware ----------- for her mouth is great!

Beware ------------------- end is nigh!

Fred and the others could make out nothing else, the scroll was too abused, too eaten- away. However Fred and Thessamer were familiar enough past history lessons and bard tales to know what this cryptic message was speaking of. Their now long dead ancestors were key players in it. It had been a rather heroic....if melancholy tale of heroism and sacrifice that had only be told by the one known as Velus (a name that was common enough back then as well as the time that "Fred's" Velus...who'll we'll call the "elder Velus" for convenience sake) who lived only long enough to tell the tale to a wandering scribe/monk. Further scryings by both grieving nations in the caves involved would confirm the tale beyond all doubt. Happily, the plans of Sir John and an unnamed female dragon (that female mentioned in that rotted scroll which Fred had been told to beware of...quiet a surprise to those heroes at the end) were foiled, but Fred and Astra apparently were grievously wounded but covered in the blood of their enemies. Whether dead or unconscious, Velus was not clear headed enough to see for himself, but Velus had been able to drag himself (restored to his rightful form by a stray bolt of magic) out of the caverns....

All this both Fred and Thessamer (who chuckled grimly at the irony that they'd been playing out scenes from the family history unknowingly) told the others after Jarlath had blasted the silent skeleton scribe (and the it's "friends" who'd followed. It was obvious to both Jarlath and Andrea that these horrid things were puppets of the Dragon of the Southern Caverns and nothing more (having a ghostly necromancer as a friend had advantages).

"....and here we are." Thessamer sighs, fingering the dragon jewelry she still wore.

"I see, but I fear I don't know what the heck a Cardasii is." Joan says finally.

(Part of the next is based in large part from episode 16910 by Y).

"Thank the Goddess that you don't," Thessamer says solemnly, "Because they carry the resemblance of great apes but have knowledge of demons."

They walk silently down the dark caverns for a few seconds, then......

"Okay, that's a beginning but....more information might be useful....just in case," Annafrid prods gently, a bit nervous about the idea of actually having to fight something like that in addition to everything else. Brave she is, but the more she knows of an opponent the better she'd feel about any upcoming battle!

Thessamar frowned, this topic was beginning to bother her. "The Cardasii are said to live within the bowls of the earth. When raised, they hunt; that is their sole purpose - the hunt, the kill. They look like southern apes, they run and leap and climb like the simple beasts, too, but they are far from simple. These are terrible monsters that possess magics; they howl incantations, they screech curses. They can crush your skull with their bare hands or burn your soul with a magick'd cry."

A bit more input from Fred and Thessamer revealed to the others that these "Cardasii" were....very familiar. In fact, they were the same creatures that had held Joan and Astra hostage so long ago.

"But we escaped and then Aqualarian forces cleaned up those Orces up soon after," Joan said, remembering fondly a young Astra, still a child, quipping about Joan's first attempt to use the....er....facilities as a woman (re: 9692).

Fred and Thessamer, meanwhile, are now looking at her closely and upon seeing that she's perfectly serious.....are now even more comfortable about taking on the Dragon in his own lair! If their new friends come from a world where they took on and defeated the Cardassi.....

As for Fred, Andrea saw a thoughtful look in his eyes. When asked, he chuckled grimly.

"I am presently working on the next this next move," he says quietly, "And we shall see whether or not we can depart from the script. That and use the knowledge of the script we'd been following unwittingly before being swept up by the Red Pyramid...in efforts to defeat the dragon." Should be an interesting "game", eh?

A bit later.....

"What are they doing?" the dragon asked himself, perplexed. "It's almost as if....."

1. But that was impossible! Even if they had the knowledge, they couldn't have undone it! They hadn't had the time!

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