Subj: [ffml] [MW] What did curiosity do to the cat? Date: 00-08-10 17:41:37 EDT From: darklord@compusmart.ab.ca (His Dark Lordship) Reply-to: ffml@egroups.com To: ffml@egroups.com (ffml) Thanatos examined the image before him. "So they have their own Goddess... do they?" Wilma sighed. Thanatos had been watching these "Avariel" for awhile now, but she noticed he was getting more and more intregued by them each time they did something. She knew he was going to try contact. She knew too much about him, which was odd to her. It was like she was learning through Osmosis. So, when he rose from his throne and ordered Nightmare to watch the fortress, she was not in the least bit surprised. She sat back. He'd be fine, she knew that. At the same time however, she did have a burning anxiety in her. It was like they were treading into the extreame unknown. Of course, the other thing that bothered her was his rashness in leaving the fortress when it was fairly obvious that his rival, Loltrek, was planning something. * * * * * * Tim had just rode off when he appeared. Nighthawk had just started to return to the wood when she felt the eerie presence, and her guards yelled something. She whirled about. What she saw was something... beyond anything she had really seen before. A Black Reptile... 10 feet in height. Long, Gorrila like arms with fearsome looking claws. Covering it's back was a tattered, black cloak. A breastplate covered it's torso, a breechcloth covered it's loins. Large black boots covered it's feet, but from them sprouted a large, sickle like claw. She heard her guards prepare their bowstrings. She reached for her sword. The thing spoke. "So you are Nighthawk..." it said slowly. "I'm here looking for... infomation on your 'Goddess.' Now, would you care to inform me or will I have to draw it from your minds?" -- The eternal lord of darkness... Subj: [ffml] Re: [MW] What did curiosity do to the cat? Date: 00-08-10 20:52:27 EDT From: larathia@mcs.net (Larathia) Reply-to: ffml@egroups.com To: ffml@egroups.com What Nighthawk saw was something... beyond anything she had really seen before. A Black Reptile... 10 feet in height. Long, Gorrila like arms with fearsome looking claws. Covering it's back was a tattered, black cloak. A breastplate covered it's torso, a breechcloth covered it's loins. Large black boots covered it's feet, but from them sprouted a large, sickle like claw. She could *feel* power and evil radiating from the creature in sickening waves. She heard her guards prepare their bowstrings. She reached for her sword. The thing spoke. "So you are Nighthawk..." it said slowly. "I'm here looking for ... infomation on your 'Goddess.' Now, would you care to inform me or will I have to draw it from your minds?" * * * * Nighthawk immediately faced her guards. "This is a thing beyond any of you. Go! Get the priests!" And without hesitation, her guards fled. Once they were gone, she withdrew her hand from her sword, and faced the creature as bravely as she dared. "I sense thy might, Lord of Evil," she said. "I will not spar with thee." Inside, she was praying harder than ever before in her life. Her Goddess was a fickle one, but surely she would not ignore the presence of a deity on the Material plane, *surely* she would not let her children die..." The Dark Lord could hear Nighthawk's thoughts, and smiled inside. For all her bravura, he could almost hear her knees knocking. And then, all of a sudden, he could sense nothing at all. Nighthawk's eyes changed from their usual forest green to a solid field of sky-blue. Her skin, too, changed from a milk-white to a solid blue. A small whirlwhind flowed around her at waist-height, obscuring her legs. When she opened her mouth, a voice like wind through a ravine, or birdsong, came forth: "Why do you threaten my children, Thanatos?" "This is not your world, whoever you are. It's not their world either. You *interfere* in plans you cannot conceive of." "I concieve of them, evil one. I am the one you sought information on. I am the Goddess of the Avariel, Aerdrie Faenya of the Seldarine. That this is your world, I grant. Do no direct harm to my children, and I will answer you." Interesting, he thought. She as much as admits I can hurt them easily without doing anything myself. It was a win-win bargain; information at no personal cost to himself. Grinning, he nodded. "A deal, Aerdrie. First, why do you take over your minion's body? Why do you not come yourself, as I do?" "A compact made long ago forbids any of the Seldarine from acting personally on the material plane. We must act indirectly, and through proxies and avatars. For me to enter into the material plane personally would be to incite war. You may consider Nighthawk my proxie; a mortal invested with a tiny portion of my power. When I am gone, so will that power be." "Why do you call the avariel your children?" "Because I am their creator; it was I who took my brother Corellon's creation and gave it wings. Of all of the children of the Seldarine, only the avariel enter my realm." "Who are the Seldarine? What is your realm?" "The Seldarine are the Brothers and Sisters of the Wood; the collected gods of the elven peoples, across all the worlds where they are known. My realm is the sky, and all goodly creatures that live in it. My power is control over wind and weather." Hmph. Quite a limited scope. "Why did you interfere in the lives of your creatures? Why did they come here?" "They came because they chose to come. That was not my doing. I sent omens because they were creating a situation that would have resulted in all of their deaths because they lacked critical information. I watch my children; if they wish to die, I wish to see that they go clear-eyed." "So you admit that they will die?" "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Even thou canst not command Fate; it may be that they have a role to play, all unforseen as their arrival is." The voice sounded somewhat amused; the Dark Lord did not like that at all. "What is to stop me reaching out and snapping this avariel's neck?" "If you, a god, should act directly against the children of the Seldarine, you will draw the wrath of all of them down upon your head. Personally. Starting, of course, with me - but I will not be alone. I came because you threatened to tear information from this one's mind; by the compact, an act of war. You have not agreed to the compact. I chose to inform you of it, on the advice of Corellon, who leads the Seldarine. We extend to you now the choice: act only indirectly or by proxy, or snap our daughter's neck and begin a war among gods." "And if your 'children' should come calling at my keep? Am I to sit tamely while they try to run me through?" he growled, not at all pleased at being threatened. "Any that enter your castle enter your realm; it is accepted that in doing so they forfeit their protection, just as they would if your realm were on another plane. This, too, is part of the compact. I think you will find our children have no interest in sparring with gods." Remembering Nighthawk's words earlier, he rather thought he agreed. She was undoubtedly the strongest of the little army, and she had backed down very quickly. "I take it that if I agree, you also will agree, and will not personally come down and interfere in my plans." "Yes, Thanatos. But be warned; to hold agreement with evil beings, we have learned not to rely on spoken words. If you agree, you cannot renege and hope to avoid war. Will your brother gods defend you if you pull such trouble down upon your head?" The Dark Lord knew immediately that they would not; it would be to their advantage to let him sit in the trap of his own making. "Very well, agreed," he said. "I suppose you will let me know what counts as direct contact. Omens don't, I take it?" Through Nighthawk's mouth, Aerdrie smiled. "I did not tell them what they needed to know, only that they needed to look. Now they know more, and have more resources, than if I had spoken through one of the priests. I influenced events, but not personally. I believe you understand the difference." He had to admit he did. An intriguing method of communication, possibly resulting in smarter followers. He would have to think on it. "One last question," he said. "What will happen to this one when you depart her body?" The apparition took on a sad face. "She summoned the priests; I have slowed time to converse with you. They will arrive shortly after I depart - but she will be greatly weakened for days, even with their attentions. If you would speak with me again, play a flute in the presence of a winged creature. Now - your presence, visible, to my children will void the compact; I suggest you hide." Still curious, the Dark Lord did just that, using his arts to render himself invisible. Nighthawk's figure froze; slowly, the blue left her eyes and skin, and the whirlwind about her waist dissipated. She didn't even look around to see what had happened; at the moment he knew the goddess had fully left Nighthawk's body, she collapsed onto the ground. Shortly therafter, a group of blue-winged avariel came running up. On seeing their leader fallen, immediately they began picking her up, dusting her off, and casting spells of restoration. One or two could be overheard saying "Do you think the beast the guards mentioned did this? What was it?" "Do you think this is some doing of Lord Tim's? He only just left..." Chuckling to himself, the Dark Lord decided to head back for home. In one day, he had managed to accomplish quite a bit, and perhaps a little 'relaxation' was in order. -- Larathia Subj: [ffml] [MW] If there is a Hole, where is the Dirt? Date: 00-08-15 11:19:32 EDT From: larathia@mcs.net (Larathia) Reply-to: ffml@egroups.com To: ffml@egroups.com Nighthawk opened her eyes and saw stars. Literally. Somehow, she was on her back, looking at the night sky. Her blue-black wings did not feel pressure, so she must be suspended. What had happened? Lord Tim had gone on his way after she agreed to deploy her people as he wished. *Something* had shown up; a great black lizardlike being that radiated an evil and power that dominated her senses. It had threatened her...and then nothing. Somehow, she had gone from the edge of the camp where that *thing* was, to this place. Did she come here under her own power? Not likely. If she had, she wouldn't be on her back, but standing. Carried, then. Since her wings felt no pressure, she was suspended. A slight movement of her fingers indicated a hammock, and there did indeed feel to be a concentration of material between her wings. Her wings were each nine feet long. A bit too high for humans to tend her, and her wings touched nothing, so she was probably with her own people. This was only slightly less disturbing than the idea of humans seeing her in this less-than-hale state. Her people needed her to be strong, invincible; to see her fallen must have sent them into a panic. So she must get out of this netting and get back to her job. She tried to roll out of the hammock. It rocked gently, and the movement was enough to make her very dizzy. It also alerted whoever was keeping watch on her, because she heard a very relieved "So, you're back with us, then", from the ground. She decided against turning her head, since it was still spinning, and settled for, "And you are?" "Eiris, Captain, of the Jay." One of the priests. Something had happened that was so serious she needed watching by priests? "All right, what happened?" "You met with Lord Tim, Captain, and he left, and something like a black lizard showed up - or so the guards you sent away claim - and you called for us. When we arrived, there was no lizard, no Tim, but you were fallen to the ground. The people are worried, Captain, that whatever it was was Tim's doing, some trick to take you out and to sieze control over us." Ah. She should have expected that, really. Human soldiers always made the people nervous, having had to face too many of them on the field. "I remember only that Tim had gone before the creature arrived, but I am confident it is not Tim's doing. If he had the sorcerous might to pull something like *that* out of his hat, there would be no moogles on this planet. I could feel its might. It rivals the lords of the Abyss; I do not think there is a human on this planet that could have summoned and controlled it." "The other option, Captain, is that this thing came personally to attack you." Yes, that was what was troubling her, also. She could not remember what had happened, and it felt like a gaping hole in her mind. It had asked after the Lady...she remembered dodging the question, but anything could have happened after that. It certainly had had the power to do as it threatened; rip the facts from her mind. Was that what had happened? Had she fought it? No...there was no mind-bruising as there would be after a mental assault. Just extreme fatigue, and this hole in her memory. The idea of her frightening it off was ludicrous; the power she had sensed could flatten buildings. So what had happened, that she was not bruised but still alive? "Captain?" "I'm all right, Eiris. I think. Have your order examined me for spell effects? A geis perhaps?" "Yes, Captain. There is no sign you are ensorcelled. But you have been unconscious for over a day." Something had worn her out. Immediately on the heels of that thought, she checked herself for signs of moogle-attention aftermath, and found none. So there was at least that small mercy; whatever had worn her out had left her unmolested. But whenever she tried to think her way into that hole in her memory, it felt like something sapping at her energy. She had a war to win. There was no time for this. Settling back into the hammock, she said "I will probably take a while to recover from whatever happened, and there are things that need doing. Send the flight captains to me, then Triu...and the human bard. If I am to rest, I might as well learn while resting." "Yes, Captain. You are sure you will be all right? We have done all we can." "I think it's safe to say I am as all right as I am going to be. Now, get moving, please." The flight captains, she ordered to maintain full patrol vigilance, but to sound an alert rather than fire on intruders that weren't moogles. An official explanation exonerating Tim was given to be disseminated. On off shifts, they were to step up ground combat training. Triu, she ordered to serve as liason to the humans, since they seemed to like her and she was young enough to be curious about them. She was given special orders to keep her eyes and ears out for anything resembling the black lizard or clues to its identity. When they were gone, the bard took his seat on the grasses near her elevated hammock. "Tell me more of the tales of Bacca," she said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.mcs.net/~larathia ICQ: 22170253 A witch who is bored might do *anything*...the last thing you want a witch to do is get bored and start making her own amusements, because witches sometimes have famously erratic ideas about what is amusing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------