Almech made his way back to the "Art of
Writing for Dummies" book and continues from where he
left off.
Contrary to what the DRC think, trap
books can be written. Simply write an age that
spontaneously combusts any linking book brought. This
can only be done to a descriptive book, so it is
suggested that you write a new age to act as a trap
book. To create a trap book...
"A trap book
would be useful. It would probably be more convincing if
I did a copy of an actual age, say Gahreesen. But where
would I find one of the descriptive books to copy
from?"
Veronica finally arrived back at the
Institute with a heavy heart. She still had no idea what
has happened to Grizz and no one at the Institute, save
Kestryll (shudder), seemed too concerned about his
absence.
After the long day, she has reached
several conclusions. She is no longer afraid of Bizzy
the gnome. She would not be afraid should she cross
paths with the giant white mouse she once saw (a Squee,
someone called it?) She was not even very afraid of
Professor Thietris. However, she was terrified of
Kestryll.
Almech emerges from Grizz's store with a
blank descriptive book and the "Art of Writing for
dummies," plus an assortment pens and several small jars
of special ink. Leaving a note for Grizz, he prepares to
carry his things over to a private room. Then he spots
Veronica.
Grizz eats a few more than 10 Fig
Newtons before he arrives at any conclusion. But as he
considers the words on the wall, where they came from,
and the fact that he, himself, was taken by captors who
had also probably snatched his message to the Prof.
before the Prof. could see it, he suddenly realizes that
he is thinking in sentences that are far too long and
involved, and that if he doesn't simplify there is no
way on earth that he will figure anything out, or even
understand his own thoughts!
That being clearly
established, he tries to simplify. One: his captors have
somehow posted some of his own words on the wall. Two:
their reason for doing so must be tied to their reason
for kidnapping him. Three: the words and phrases all
have one theme in common, the dignification of the
Bahro. Four: the Bahro must be a little miffed about how
people have been talking about them and treating them.
Five: he doesn't know what in the world he can do about
it.
Not yet anyway, but there must be
something!
Then his eyes begin to show a little
internal spark. He sits up straighter, and begins
mumbling to himself. If you were to listen closely, you
would swear that he was memorizing something.
At
length he seems satisfied. He gets up and crosses the
room to the glyph. He places his hand flat on it. Then
he says, slowly and very distinctly...
"I promise
to do everything I can possibly do to help humans
understand that the Bahro are not inferior animals; that
they are intelligent creatures with a culture of their
own, and deserve respect and equal footing with humans
as sentient beings. I swear it by this
glyph!"
The light goes away, but the glyph
flares brightly and briefly. Grizz fells no heat, and
nothing else happens for a moment. Then there is a
rasping sound, and the light comes back. Grizz spins
around and sees that the standing stone has moved about
three feet to one side. There is a dim light coming from
a hole in the floor where it had stood.
He
crosses and looks in the hole. There is a book in it. He
picks it up, and discovers that it is his own linking
book. He hurridly attaches it to his hip where it
belongs.
Before using it though, he cleans up
the cell. He folds the blankets into a neat pile,
gathers up all the Fig Newton debris and stuffs it in
his pocket, collects all his dirty clothes, and checks
to make sure that the cell is as pristine as it was when
he arrived.
Then, holding the bundle of clothes
in one hand, he holds his breath, and touches his Relto
book. The linking sound echoes in the now empty
cell.
_______________________________ Prop.
D'ni Internal Supply Co. "If we don't have it, you
don't need it!"
There's a bit of a commotion down in
the depths of the DISCO. Someone is yelling. There's a
scraping sound which steadily grows louder. The yelling
gets louder as well...'out! none of that now!
out!'
Suddenly twelve bright red traffic cones
burst out the front door of the DISCO and pile into the
railing. One unfortunate cone goes over and into the
little stream. The rest fall all over themselves as they
re-orient themselves and hurtle up the nearest flight of
stairs.
There's a shout of BEGONE! just as
Kestryll comes barreling out of the DISCO in pursuit of
the fleeing cones. He catches himself on the railing
just before he's flipped into the stream and spots one
of the cones sinking to the bottom.And stay
there!
The rest of the cones manage to
reach the linking room and pile up in front of the Nexus
book. Kestryll screams up the stairs and stops. He
glares around him until he spots the cones trying to
escape. He runs up to the Nexus Book just as the last of
the cones flips itself up and links away. He grabs the
Nexus stand to slow himself long enough to slap his hand
onto the book itself and is gone.
The hood is
quiet again. Down in the stream a single red cone
stealthily makes it's terrified way across the bottom
and into the garden.
It slowly and shakily rises
to the surface. Climbing onto one of the little islands
it pauses. Then slowly begins to slide forward. It
pauses again when it realizes it's making a wet scraping
sound. When there's no other movement it makes a sudden
dash for the Nexus Book.
Kestryll links back in
by the fountain and starts across the bridge. He spots
the lone cone rushing up the stairs and runs to catch
up. The cone suddenly realizes Kestryll is back and
slides even faster. It trips on a crack and is sent
flipping end over end into the linking room. Kestryll
grabs the door frame as he rushes past and gets slammed
into the wall.
Both take a second to right
themselves. The cone backs up as Kestryll steps into the
doorway. They pause. The cone slips forward slightly.
Kest leans forward slightly. The cone slips back. Kest
narrows his eyes at it. The cone flips forward straight
at the Book. Kest rushes forward and tries to grab it.
They both hit the book and link out at the same
time.
Grizz arrives on his Relto, grabs a
quick shower in the falls, and looks in his closet for
clean clothes. Unfortunately, there is very little left
in there that is clean. There is one old outfit that
hardly seems suitable for the surface, much less the
cavern, but any port in a storm. Grizz puts it on, and
going to the books, opens the one to the surface. He
links
out.
_______________________________ Prop.
D'ni Internal Supply Co. "If we don't have it, you
don't need it!"
Deciding that Veronica must have had a
bad day, almech enters his private room and organizes
his supplies. Grabbing up his crowbar, he links to
library and forces the upper doors open. He finds rows
and rows of bookshelves filled to the brim with
descriptive book.
"And it has to have every book
the D'ni wrote. This could take a while." Almech mutters
as he begins to search for an age he knows.
Grizz enters his surface office. He
boots his computer, and opens notepad, where he spends
some time composing. Then he copies, and logs on to the
web. He accesses as many area newspapers as he can
recall, and leaves an ad to be listed in each for the
next week.
WANTED: A person to fill the
directorship of a new organization. No fundraising
needed. Successful applicant will have good people
skills, and tolerance for odd people and events. Good
pay and benefits. Apply in person, D'ni Internal Supply
Co., the cavern, Institution
Neighborhood.
Satisfied for the moment, Grizz
sighs, logs off the web, and shuts down the computer.
Time to head for the DISCO to see how Veronica has been
faring.
_______________________________ Prop.
D'ni Internal Supply Co. "If we don't have it, you
don't need it!"
"I'd love to go," says Ronda. "Well
then, onward!"
And both walk through the
doorway. "It certianly is dark in here!"says
Ronda. "Yes...but look in that corner! There's a
light there."
*they walk towards it*
"That
light looks like a fire marble...but what are those
things under it...they look like stands of some
sort... They're linking books to Voltaic, Edanna,
Amateria, and Narayan!"realizes Merlin. "We should
take these to Thietris! And after that, I want to take a
better look around
here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Merlin
in the Institution and Mysti in the A&C Team Bahro
Agents Infiltration, Rescue, Espionage, and
Puzzle-Solving
Grizz arrives in the hood, and goes
imediately to the DISCO. Veronica does not seem to be
there. He is about to go search for her when a thought
hits him. Maybe he'd better check now, although it's
probably already too late.
He gets a lantern and
heads for the third sub-level. He thinks he might just
find some trace of a Bahro glyph down there, and it
seems important to look before they have more time to do
anything about it.
He finds the spot where he was
grabbed fairly easily. Holding the light high, he
explores the dark alcove. On the wall is a suspicious
looking clean patch. But it is too clean for any trace
of what was there to remain. He nods thoughtfully, and
heads back to the first
level.
_______________________________ Prop.
D'ni Internal Supply Co. "If we don't have it, you
don't need it!"
RW linked into the Institute by the
fountain and went over to check the imager. "Hmm,
seems the good Dr Boatingirl has some ideas about the
cavern ceiling, crystals and the GZ." RW looked
up. "I wonder what her ideas are for getting up
there?"
Having been holed up in his Relto for
several days, RW had finally come to the conclusion that
the supposedly D'ni ghosts he heard had to be some kind
of synaptic inhibiting, hallucinative property of the
very powerful combination of Irish Coffee and Acorn
Mead.
He blushed a deep crimson red thinking
about his mad dash to the DISCO with Veronica in tow.
Hopefully, possibly, she had forgotten the embarrassing
and unfortunate incident.
Anyway, after
recovering from the affects of the spirits, he had been
drafting plans for some modifications to the little D'ni
sub by the Ferry Landing. Although the metallic
composition seemed resistant to the very dilute suphuric
acid of the lake, the long exposure to the acid had
taken it's toll. Additionally for what he had in mind,
further modifications were needed.
But none of
that was why he had come. RW had simply got tired of
eating SPAM at his relto and knew
the Egg Room would have some real food. He headed off
toward the Egg Room noticing the ladders to the balcony,
and the flower Shoppe. "Things sure do change in a
hurry around here. Tires a body out just trying to keep
up!"
[This message was edited by rohnerw on Tue
April 20 2004 at 07:13 PM.]
Veronica wanders back down the stairs
from the Eggroom, passing the waterfall and down the few
steps towards the DISCO. There was no message from Grizz
and she cannot find Cordelia to ask her if she has seen
him. "What else can I do?" She pauses and leans over the
railing, looking at her reflection in the water. "You
are not very helpful, you know."
After what seems like hours of
searching, almech discovers a descriptive book for a
garden age that could be Eder Kemo. However, he decides
to be sure and applies his meager knowledge of D'ni to
the text on the spine of the book and makes out that it
is one of the many garden ages that the D'ni had.
Tossing it in the bag he had brought, he continues to
search.