Introductions to Moral Questions 101...

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 42699

Artizza

This must be swift and quick, or the castle guards will be able to get their act together quickly enough to swarm over us!

I am the party leader here so ultimately whether we succeed or fail rests on me. Fine and well, shan't shirk from that duty.

Okay, idea here is to take advantage of certain facts we've observed of this world if Belboz's advice is accurate (should be, considering what's at stake, the safety of his "niece"). This world outstrips us in certain areas (one being that somehow this worlds class of mages, at least the UPPER end know the lost art of transformation of the Matrix kind). Fine and well, considering that such magicks don't effect us (thank GOD)! But where they lag we shall take advantage.

The magic users of this world have means of flight, but it's through harnassing mystical creatures large enough for such tasks. This of course doesn't include dragons (too powerful to be controlled), but still effective enough.

Lord in Heaven, I feel so sorry for the gryphon population of this world....

...

But honestly we don't have the means of redressing that issue IF it's an issue (just because there are gryphons on this world doesn't meant that their sentient, some Terras out there have dragons who are little more than mindless beasts). We're too few to do anything about it, anyway... Sorry, but no.

Burns my butt, but no....

....

What we need to do is take advantage of the flight characteristics and capabilities of our magic carpets. We can do things with it that cannot be done by winged creatures. We're more maneuverable and agile, in certain respects. That is, the swooping and diving we do to bypass most of the castle defenses from a high altitude. Whatever early warning detection spells which would have warned the gaurds (and Stryke) of our approach hadn't been activated. They'd been set for more massive flying creatures, you know. Not a bunch of people on flying carpets (a novelty, unique to this world).

What little defenses mustered against us when we land aren't effective for MOST of us (more on that in a bit).

Though I'll just say it has to do with what I talked about earlier here about magic leads and lags. Seems Belboz isn't the only one who can...

No, in a moment... wait.

....

Well, we are able to magically neautralize most magical gaurdian (and some mundane ones). Either by magery or bullet (later courtesy of Cuthbert), we get to be able to "blockify" the dancers (not bothering to dispell their condition . . . at least not yet). Then we fly away before more effective means of defense can be brought to bear.

See, the arrows and slings thrown our way are blocked by the very magical defenses (magical walls if you will, to block people from being able to walk up to the dancers) OUTSIDE the magical rings we'd bypassed by flying in by carpet. So we get away without a hitch in that

Just . . . we're going to have to figure out what to do with Belboz, now. See, he needs. . . diapers and a wet nurse.

Later, find out that victims of one particular gaurdian spell that Belboz failed in countering produced perfect victims for . . .bloody sacrifices to demons....

Mages tell me that the baby has no adult memories, now. Blank slate, and 'tis justice, really. And he's (or should say she...seems that another little trend continues) going to grow up in a normal rate of growth....

Whatever magical aging he'd been under when leaving the Southern Caverns got banished with his youthening.

Well, when and IF we get back to Terra Prime....

No, don't feel like raising the tyke as a daughter. Not at all. Too many . . . bad memories about what she'd been before....

Believe we'll put her up for adoption IF we get her back safely. Cannot just abandon her to the elements and I don't think we can . . . Or maybe we could drop her off at the doorstop of some likely peasant family's house? That's an option, but someway she's going up for adoption, either here or Terra Prime.

We have a long trip to our pickup point (this worlds version of Wallants, natch). Shadow city is so very prominent in OUR live, it seems sometimes.

WE have a lead on Stryke's hunters, but we need to take care of one thing. Yeah we could just leave the victims as block and be done with them, but feel we at least owe them an introduction, right? Right? To let them know who's swept them up? Tell them we're here to rescue them instead of use them like Stryke would have supposedly done?

Good manners, if nothing else.

Joan 2

"Do you think that breaking the dance compulsion won't cause them to collapse?" I ask worriedly, looking at the dancers doing their stuff (green haired nymph looks . . . familiar).

After all, Joan my sister had a special magical compulsion that had held at bay (but not eliminated) the fatigue that was building up. If that was the case with these dancers, they might have accumulated a huge debt for fatigue and when/if we break the compulsion, we could put to paid our Quest. The sudden breaking of the dam would drown them in fatigue and would stop the heart of a mortal. Wouldn't them, but would count as a LOSS, you see.

A failure and God only knows what would happen to them then!

"Already checked," Synizn 2 reassure me. "They'll be okay."

Synizn 2

Not like I want to see them collapse, but then again I understand Joan's concern and worry. Why she is asking what would otherwise be questions that would be insulting to me.

Joan's taken the task of nursing the baby, so at least she's no longer hovering. Good news that.

But as for the dancers?

She feels the doppelganger effect (positive type) for some of the dancers and the ones she doesn't Artiza does. That (I hope) will make the job AFTER I break the dancing spell easier, but like Joan I'm being extra careful here myself.

Besides decency and honor, I don't wish to have my love fail her initiation Question, after all!

She's a Champion, no doubt about it, but want her first Quest to be a success...

....

Right, let's get down to it. Break the spell and introduce ourselves once they stop dancing. And I DO so very much want to get that silly outfit and ring out of the dancing bear, it's just . . . almost an insult on the eyes!

But speaking of sights, I do hope that what I see in the liquid dancer doesn't mean we'll be buried in an avalanche of puns. Right now the dancer is the splitting image of Manfox Fred! Got to wonder what that implies and would like to explore it. Research it, but now is not the time....

The dancers (one of who's still crying) suddenly find themselves staggering as their dancing compulsion....

  1. CEASES!!

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MSG

6/7/2004 5:19:29 PM

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