Strange Convergence

"Do you hear that?" asked Mist.

"Yes," said Ardua. "Its...a tinking sound."

"No it's not," said Astra. "It's a chinking sound."

"Actually," said Mist. "Unless my waterlogged sense of hearing befouls me, I think it's footsteps."

The rythmic sound became louder and seemed to be approaching the door to their prison room.

"It must be our captor," said Ardua.

"And he must be wearing armor," said Astra.

"You girls don't give me away, OK?" said Mist. "I'll just pretend to be a puddle, if it gets hairy, I'll... I'll... do something."

Soon the two women and Mist (pretending to be just a puddle) saw a short armoured person enter the room. He (or she?) was carrying a torch which illuminated the whole scene.

"A dwarve?" said Ardua.

"A midget?" said Astra.

The armoured person said not a word. He (she?) stepped into the room making a clinking sound followed by a strange whirr. He (she?) approached the women.

"How dare you imprison us!" yelled Astra.

"Don't think you will get away with this!" yelled Ardua.

The man (woman?) lifted an arm and, horror of horrors, a metallic blade came forth from his (her?) metal glove.

"NO!" screamed Astra.

"Don't do this!" screamed Ardua.

Then, with a repetitive motion he (she?) lunged at the chains holding Ardua's leg and slowly sliced through them. Then he (she?) did the same for Astra. Though he (she?) was too short to reach the upper chains this proved to be unneccesary as it had only been one chain looped through the three rings that had held the women. With the bottom of the chain cut, it was just a matter of maneuvering until the women were completely free.

"Thank you Sir Knight," said Astra wondering if her assumption was correct.

"As you have helped us, we shall aid you," said Ardua.

But still the armoured person said nothing. In fact, the women began wondering if some menace had cut out his (her?) tongue. Then they did hear a voice, from outside of the room.

"Hey there!" they heard. Astra thought the voice sounded familiar.

"Isn't this little guy great?" And with that a man popped into the room. It was.... Fred!

"Fred you little !@#$@!!!" yelled Astra. "What is going on here?"

"Hey, hey!" retorted Fred. "I went to the library and found this piece of armour standing in a corner, beside it was an instruction manual!"

"A manual for what?" asked Ardua.

"For him" said Fred pointing at the armour. "It's some kind of automatic soldier." Then, looking at the beuaty of Ardua he changed his tone. "Hi! My name's Lord Frederigo of Suffex, Kingsman of Allaria."

Ardua looked Fred over with a smile. "And I am Mistress Ardua L'Fontaine of Gelda, you little puck of knight!"

Astra ignored the two while she inspected the suit of armour. She lifted the face visor and was startled to find gears and slips of wood and metal within. "My Goddess!" she exclaimed. "This... this thing resembles the fabled Machina, the perfect warrior built in the forges of Vulkan!"

"I wouldn't call it 'perfect'," said Fred. "It took me a while to get the thing started."

"I wonder where it came from and what it is doing down here," said Ardua.

"I wonder where 'here' is," sighed Astra.

"Oh," said Fred. "I got that covered. In the library I found... this." And he held in his hand a book. Upon opening it he showed the women that it was a diary. Apparently a traveler had stumbled upon a cave opening into the Shreken and bumbled his way to this lost castle. Reading the diarist's words they saw that he understood this castle to be part and parcel of some subterannean system, and though some of the areas were 'man' sized, a good majority were much smaller.

"Smaller..." hummed Ardua.

"Good enough for the likes of this metalman," said Astra.

"I think its pixies," said Fred.

"Pixies!" said the women. "They wouldn't live in a place like this!"

"The kind of pixies that live in Allaria would," replied Fred with a firm assurance. "Why, I've heard tale of pixies, wixies, pookies, wookies, kobolds, lobalds, ruffians, and brownies... and all of them are hard- nosed, mean-spirited, grumps! My Mother's midwife said it was because they are small."

Suddenly the group was interrupted by an "ahem", it was Mist. After some more introductions the group left the dungeon cell and worked their way back to the library. They were keenly aware that they still did not know who or what had imprisoned the two women. Leading the group was Fred (whom Ardua had taken a liking to, and whom Astra had come to respect a tad bit more) and in the back was the metalman.

1. Once at the library...
2. Before they reach the library Astra sks Fred how he knew they had been trapped...

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