Lost.....

[Tanuchan]

Tanny shifts uncomfortably under Mynx's gaze, noticing how some people look at her and wait for some sign of hope. Getting hold of herself and controlling her natural impulse of fading into the background - which came always when she was the focus of attention - she bits her lip softly before finally nodding.

 

"Alright... let's try it... the idea is that I'll try to tap more energy from the threads I can manipulate, and Mynx try to focus again on Gryphon... any energy that any of you can tap and send to me would also help... "

 

::Need help with earth-contact, Wolf-Lady?::

 

::Stephen?!::

 

Tanny looks around, and smiles at seeing her friend striding towards her.

 

"If I can be of any help, Wolf-Lady...." He bows, smiling also.

 

"Any help is welcome, and I know we work nicely together."

 

::But with some unexpected results also...:: sends Tanny, with a suddenly wry smile that Stephens senses.

 

::Yeah, my thoughts also... we still don't know how that Portal back from Gaia was opened, right? Maybe we can get a hint this time...::

 

::You have a twisted sense of humor sometimes, Ranger...::

 

Stephen snorts, their mindspeaking unnoticed to the others. Tanny quickly sorts out all people who want to help. Stephen sits down besides her, already linking to earth; Mynx sits on the other side, her scythe across her lap and Patham right behind her, ready to give support in case she needs it. Vlad, still handling Gryphon's portal stone, keeps nearby. Feeling Anna's energy, Tanny smiles and waves her to join the open circle.

 

 

Some minutes later, Tanny once again touches the pure flow of earth energy deep below the Underground. Coaxing the threads to surface and weaving them in a net, she reaches for the few faintly familiar threads in the Wall. Gryphon's jewel feels warm against her flesh, and she can feel the solid wall that's Stephen's energy flowing into her. Unfamiliar threads of energy reach her, though she can't define where they come from - whether from the Wall or from some of the people around her.

 

Mynx feels the steady flow of energy pouring into the tiara, and concentrates hard on contacting Gryphon again.

 

Unnoticed to those concentrated on helping Tanny, the Wall brightens and the sparkles start to rapidly change colors, in a pulsing rhythm. Vlad blinks, seeing his portal stone acquire some pulsing sheen that it has never had. Patham gasps as Salinye's stone suddenly warms...

 

 

Tanny feels the wild energies pick up speed and strength, and struggles to control it. She tries to ignore a throbbing pain in the back of her mind, but all of a sudden the energy contained in the Wall is pulsing through her channeling, disrupting all threads. She hears a distant scream - her own - before blacking out.

 

There's a searing white flash of energy centered on the Wall, and then it quiets as suddenly as it had started to glow and pulse. Of the people who had been near...

 

 

 

 

Tanny cringes and whimpers.

 

::Go 'way... stop hurting me... ::

 

The insistent nudge in her mind slowly gets past the pain, and she recognizes Stephen's whisper.

 

"Tanny, are you alright?"

 

She moans, her attempt to move triggering another surge of pain. "If this is alright, I think I'd rather be dead..."

 

"I know what you mean... believe me... "

 

She tries to open her eyes, and closes them quickly as the light hurts her more. The quick glance gave her the impression of lying down on a grassy plain somewhere.

 

"Where are we... and the others?"

 

"And you ask me?" Stephen smiles wryly. "I can hear Mynx whimpering, and I think Patham. The others... "

 

After some seconds trying to nudge her sluggish memory, Tanny whispers. "I felt something like nether energy... maybe Vlad... he's a lich, isn't he? And also quite the opposite... maybe Anna... but there was a lot of energy that got wild. No idea what happened... "

 

To her surprise, she hears Stephen chuckling softly.

 

"Wolf-Lady, it seems that every time we try to work a Portal, something strange happens... I just feel this is a strange land, and I know we aren't anywhere near we were some time ago. No idea either how long I, or you, have been out either."

 

Sighing softly, Tanny gingerly feels for the energy in the earth below her, slowly nursing it.

[Katzaniel]

Travelling from the carnival's item auction to her cave outside the keep's walls, Inbi smiles to herself. A good day. She had spent 50 of her hard-earned geld, but she had gotten a magical cloak out of the deal. The cloak was supposed to allow her to visit people's dreams, and she couldn't wait to try it out.

 

As Inbi arrives at the cave's entrance, she grins even more. The obsidian stone Gryphon had given her for his quill quest sat nestled in a small hole in the center of the floor, and the sight of it, as usual, cheers her up. As good as he'd said it was, the stone kept away all manner of annoying bugs, bad temperature, and random theives, making her living quarters very comfortable indeed.

 

Inbi heads for the pile of leaves in the far corner, intending to fall asleep as quickly as possible and try out her new item. She knows that few Pennites will be asleep as of yet, but she drapes the cloak over her shoulders anyway, and it isn't long before she drifts off.

 

The world of the cloak is immense before her, a seeming infinite black vista in all directions. Inbi sees a few familar forms as she surveys the area around her, but she doesn't go closer yet. Instead, she travels around, testing to see how far she can go, figuring out in her mind how real-world location must correspond to location here, and staring in wonder at the hazy representations of people she knows.

 

After about an hour of exploring in this manner, Inbi is surprised to see Gryphon and Sweetcherrie appear. They don't look like anyone else does here; they're mistier, somehow, and tinged blue. Their faces also reflect shock and fear and even pain. Inbi casts around, wondering what it means. No one had mentioned anything like this. She hadn't even tried the cloak's regular operation yet, and something seemed to be wrong.

 

Inbi does not hear the panicked message sent by her friends, because she is too far away, deep in the forest outside the keep, and asleep to boot. But by virtue of the cloak's mysterious powers, she gains an intense sense of their need.

 

Gritting her teeth in concern, Inbi tries to lay herself into Sweetcherrie's representation, as she had been told to do in order to visit a dream. Inbi doesn't see the rescue group appear all at once around her, just before her vision goes temporarily black. Instead she wonders vaguely, before the sense of falling overtakes her, whether this will work at all, and whether the need was real or part of a dream.

Edited September 15, 2005 by Katzaniel

[Black9]

Anna awoke in an almost dream like state. The constant worry over her friends caused her powers to overload themselves and some how bring on another state of conciousness. She could see herself on a grassy field as the Slayer slowly opened her eyes. The field was cloaked with a valley nearly void of life. Before her stood an old but formiliar house that that almost resembled the place she once lived. This was impossible, though, as this place was years in her past. Things really got strange when a man that looked almost exactly like her father stepped out of the front door. Anna gasped in shock as her father had been dead for some time, but it had been no more strange then recent events. The man turned to Anna with a smile as the Slayer began to speak.

 

Anna-"Father? Am I dead?"

Joseph-"No Anna...your just dreaming. You must wake now."

Anna-"But I don't want to wake! I want to be here with you!" Joseph smiled once again and spoke with a soft voice.

 

Joseph-"Wake Anna...wake." Once released from the dream, Anna was seen laying upon the ground nearly unconscious. Those around her could feel a fading holy energy focusing in her general area, but poping in and out with unpredictable bursts of energy and finally fading way. Anna could feel her body drained of much physical strength as she began to open her eyes. The visions before her blurred as she spoke one last phrase.

 

Anna-"Wha...what happened to me?"

Edited September 15, 2005 by Black9

[Gyrfalcon]

Gyrfalcon hummed to himself as he leaned back in a comfortably padded chair, flipping a page quietly as he read one of the latest books to be delivered to the grand library of the Pen. His humming ceased as words exploded into his mind with unexpected force.

 

“Urgent message to all pennites!!! *sshsshsh* stranded on an unknown plane *sshshss* Help us!! *sshsshsss* beware of trolls and other *sssshshsh* We- *ZAP* I can’t hold them off much longer, Sweetcherrie!! The Alliance of Vagabonds and Vanguards needs your help! *sshssshssh* Almost done here, Gryphon! Aaaaarggg…..Spiders!!! I hate Spiders, get us out of here!!

 

*Shsshsshshsshshsh……*”

 

He clutched his head as mental static rushed through it, then blinked his eyes open as even that static cut off, leaving his mind once again his own. The half-elf’s eyes narrowed is he stood, letting the book fall to the floor unheeded as he quickly strode out of his library and across the suite of rooms, throwing open the opposite doors to stride into his armory.

 

Only minutes later, he strode back out, clad in studded leather armor and with his cloak swirling in his wake to reveal the hilt of his katana at his waist on the right-hand side, a quiver on the opposite hip and the shaft of his longbow rising over his shoulder. He looked around the room once and then nodded before racing out, thundering down the stairs at breakneck speed, leaping entire flights of stairs as he sped down and out of the tower.

 

Reaching the ground floor, Gyrfalcon burst through the portal opening out onto the common grounds, legs stretching out into a sprint as he started towards the gate leading deeper into the Pen and towards the Alliance of Vagabonds and Vanguards.

 

He stopped though as he heard something thump to the ground heavily behind him. Gyrfalcon turned and blinked at the fox morph who rose from a crouch, flexing his hands and starting towards Gyrfalcon with a determined expression on his face. “Come on, you don’t think I’d leave Sweet and Gryphon in trouble, do you?” Daryl said to the half-elf’s startled gaze. Gyrfalcon shook his head mutely and looked up... and up... finally finding the only window Daryl could have come out of, at least three stories up.

 

Daryl met the half-elf’s incredulous expression with a shrug. “Faster then the stairs.” he said, brushing past Gyrfalcon before turning at the gate. “What are you waiting for? Come on!”

 

Gyrfalcon chuckled to himself as he ran after Daryl, following his friend’s russet tail as Daryl darted into the central keep and ran through the many corridors. Daryl darted around a corner that would take them to the stairs leading down to the lower levels and Gyrfalcon followed after. Suddenly, there was a distinct clang ahead before Daryl bouncing back into view, lying on the ground and rubbing his forehead. “Ow, watch where you’re going!” he complained illogically.

 

Gyrfalcon slowed and peeked around the corner to see a giant armored dominion chuckle and extend a hand to help up Daryl. “Are you alright? And who... or what... are you?”

 

Daryl agilely jumped back to his feet and grinned, shaking the dominion’s hand with his own. “Hi, I’m Daryl and I’m a werefox, and you’re an impressive wall!”

 

Knight chuckled again, and then caught sight of Gyrfalcon. “Gyr! Good to see you, I assume that you’re coming to see what’s going on with the AVV?”

 

Gyrfalcon nodded in acknowledgement and looked between the two. “Daryl, Knight. Knight, Daryl. I’d like to talk more, but right now, let’s go see to our wayward Pennites.” The ranger slipped between Daryl and Knight and led the way towards the stairs leading down to the Alliance of Vagabonds and Vanguards, with the werefox grinning before following right behind him.

[Mynx]

Mynx tried to stand up and failed, staggering to her knees and retching as the aftereffects of the spell hit her body full force. She had completely lost track of her scythe but that was the last of her worries at the moment.

Unable to stop the soft whimper of pain that escaped her lips, Mynx tried to search the plane she was on, the bright light against her eyes creating only fuzzy shapes that were taking longer than she preferred to adjust.

Seeing two figures that Mynx thought to be Tanny and Stephen, Mynx gingerly rose up to her hind paws and began slowly walking to them.

 

She had about halved the distance between them when a blinding pain hit her again, driving her to the ground as she clutched her head in pain.

She was vaguely aware of someone talking to her...Tanny? but she was too preoccupied with the voice in her head...a voice she had not heard in years...

"No!" Mynx whispered in horror. "No. It can't be..."

Trying to drown out the voices, Mynx whimpered and curled up into a ball...

It was only then that she noticed that her tail was slowly turning black.

Mynx let out a feral scream...

[Sweetcherrie]

Rocks sliding over rocks the troll moved towards them, and Sweetcherrie slowly stepped backwards, sword held in front of her. The rocktroll hadn’t seen here yet, and she hoped that this thing didn’t have eyes, but she hoped in vain.

 

As if an avalanche had come rolling into the cave the troll lifted it’s head and looked straight at them.

 

Just as they turned around to run the earth and energy in the air shook, and they were thrown off their feet. It was clear that something or someone had entered the plane with force.

 

Unfortunately for them the troll had a steadier stance, and was now towering over them. With a tired and painful movement Gryphon tried to raise a shield, but the magic in this plane was too unstable and wouldn’t allow him to do this.

 

Sweetcherrie closed her eyes, praying for some sort of miracle, and in a flash she saw the faces of her friends.

 

She heard the unsheathing of Vincent’s sword far away from them; saw Tanuchan’s in front of her, her features showing hurt, but she was alive, and here. Mynx was there, Patham, Vlad, Stephen….even Anna. Warm feelings of thankfulness and relief flowed through her, and she opened her eyes with more courage, prepared to try her sword on this troll in front of them….but discovered that it was….gone.

 

She blinked and looked around. Gryphon’s face mirrored her disbelief. The cave was empty now, and the immediate threat seemed to be over. They scrambled up and looked at each other.

 

“We’ll have to find a way out somewhere, before these…these things get back.”

 

Gryphon nodded and, after they had checked themselves over for broken bones, they went on their way, deeper into the caves, and hoping that there would be a way out on the other side.

[Mira]

Mira had been sitting on a rock in one of The Pen's many courtyards when Sweetcherrie had sent out her telepathic plea for help. He had been basking in some of the last bright rays of summer, idly strumming a guitar, while contemplating the success of the Summer Carnival. Yes, it was a good day, and could only continue to get better he thought to himself smugly, and then Sweetcherrie's cry for help went out. Luckily for Mira, he had long ago lost his ability to sense such things as Telepathic, Transplaniar communications, and for several minutes was able to carry on in bliss ignorance. It wasn't long, however, before he was able to tell there was something wrong. He began to notice people moving around the hallways like they had purpose, not an altogether odd sight, but one that had a tendency to unsettle Mira at any rate. "Perhaps someone summoned up something a little bigger than their circle of binding could hold" he thought to himself, and then he saw it. Gyrfalcon came bursting out of his tower at a near run, dressed all in armor and armed to the teeth. Mira let out a groan, knowing that the Ranger probably wasn't off to enjoy the last days of summer by slaying a dragon or something far away from The Pen and his rather comfortable spot on the rock. Instantly he the guitar vanished from his hands and he jumped up and set off in the direction Gyrfalcon had been going.

[Appy]

Appy looked up in awe, then suddenly jumped up, threw her arms in the air, and exclaimed:

 

"You've prettyfied him! Cooooooool!"

 

As Valdar grins, Bubble's eyes flickered again, but Appy took no notice as she picked up her skippyball and scrambled up the demon's arm. She grabbed a horn as she reached the shoulder, stood up, and talked to the small planewalker over the demon's head.

 

"Hi! You heard them too huh? We have to go save 'em! I'm almost sure that they were in that Role Play Guild Dungeon Thingy.. but something must've gone wrong!"

 

Forgetting where she is she jumps up and down and almost looses her footing..

 

"Woah!" the little girl stands very still for a moment and concludes, "I guess I better sit down, right?"

 

And with that she settles in on the pillow and looks expectantly from Valdar to Bubbles to somewhere along the corridor...

Edited September 15, 2005 by Appy

[Cyril Darkcloud]

Elsewhere – The windswept margins

 

Emptiness. Expansive and inviting, so like those reaches of Sky that stretch without end beyond the tops of the clouds where there is no shield from the burning heat of sun and the lungs must fight to find sufficient air for breathing. Space both vast and harsh in its openness to possibility and movement has drawn suddenly and unaccountably near. He smiles. So like the feel of that unforgiving place of living struggle and struggling life that he names home is this nearness of terribly great possibility that his heart cannot but skip a step or two of its movement. How few are the truly open spaces of this board so far from the Sky and so consciously styled after a keep, a fixed structure of rigid stone where activity is placed within rooms and passages and corners, and how refreshing this presence of that spaciousness which reaches beyond margins and overturns the power of fixed form.

 

Urgent pleading follows of course, as it always does when such things occur. Frantic words rise in a din of PMs and postings as if the losing of one’s moorings or the assaults of that which lies beyond those limiting gates whose opening and closing we deceive ourselves into believing we control were any more terrible than the continual truncating of movement between those great courses of confining stone. He ignores the pleading and soon its words fall mute and scattered for the wind of the margins does not suffer long the speaking of the center.

 

The guilds and their survival mean little to him. But the calling of this expansiveness so like that of the limitless Sky, that is another matter entirely and he will not suffer it to be silenced by those that dwell within walls of stone.

 

He reaches for his axes.....

Edited September 15, 2005 by Cyril Darkcloud

[Katzaniel]

The sensation of falling lasts for seemingly hours but in truth is over in a matter of seconds. It ends with an abrupt halt, a little movement backward, and then a sudden restoration of vision.

 

What Inbi sees is Sweetcherrie and Gryphon, huddled together and staring right at her. Sweetcherrie has her sword out. The expressions of fear and concern have magnified, but immediate pain seems to have subsided. Inbi sighs and steps forward to comfort them.

 

At least, that is her intention. Neither the sigh nor the reassuring words make it past conception, but Inbi doesn't have long to ponder that, for the step forward does. But it doesn't go as she intends; in fact Inbi realizes she isn't controlling her body at all. She pushes down the panic and tries to look down. Of course, she can't cause that to happen, either. What does happen is a sort of out-of-body experience in which Inbi sees a troll's body, her body, from a slightly elevated view. And it steps forward again.

 

Panic rises once more, but the young woman forces it down. She had been warned about this: An inexperienced dream-walker might appear in the dream as any form, and be subject to the dreamer's interpretation. Only patience and experience would lead to the Walker gaining control over how she appeared or what she did. Inbi recognized now that Sweetcherrie was somehow dreaming this troll, and that she expected it to hurt her. The question was, would it really hurt her, or would the dream shift before then? And if it didn't, would any real pain be caused? Common sense said no; if a person got hurt in a dream, they woke up, or forgot and started dreaming something else, or sat there nursing the wound until they did. But Sweetcherrie and Gryphon had appeared differently in the dreamscape. Why? What did it mean?

 

So Inbi puts all her effort into stopping the forward movement of the troll. She tries pure force; she tries thinking sedentary thoughts; she tries convincing herself that she's actually standing still, or, better yet, moving backward. She attempts to talk to the inner brain of the dreamtroll, to convince it to stop. She tries to talk to Sweetcherrie's subconscious, and convince it that the troll has stopped moving. Inbi, as she realizes later, is working on a different timescale, and so she has time to attempt many and varied tactics, all of which fail. The troll steps inexorably forward. The cave shakes. And then it vanishes.

 

For a moment Inbi Infusco is projected (in her own mind, at least) where the troll had been, surprised and confused and definitely concerned, like someone who is magically and without warning stripped of everything but their underwear. Then everything shifts and she's inside one of the rocks on the cave floor. Better than a troll, but still not much use.

 

“We’ll have to find a way out somewhere, before these…these things get back.”

 

"No!" the rock tries to call. "Wait... pick me up... or something..." but Inbi-the-rock realizes the futility. Her two friends step off further down the tunnel. She knows she will have to find some way to follow them, and quickly... but how?

[Vlad]

The portal glowed, then everything went blank. What a day... what a day... Vlad thought to himself. He wasn't in pain, but he didn't feel like himself either. His body felt... not there? No, that's not it. He felt numb, everywhere at once. Must have been some feedback from that magic Tanuchan was working.

 

Still with his eyes closed, Vlad focused on what had happened. Last time his body felt numb, he woke up as a lich instead of a vampire - an experience he wasn't ready to repeat. There was the spell... and then... lots of energy, maybe... unfortunate, really...

 

Hesitantly, he cracked open his eyes. There was white. White-ness all around him, a blank world. Well, that explains the numbness. As he looked down to check if his body was intact, the lich felt everything shift. It was as if the world rotated when he moved his head, pushing his legs and torso up. Alright, no sudden movements, now. Vlad looked to his left, and again felt the world around him twist his body, this time clockwise. Now expecting the movements, Vlad looked to his right and sure enough felt the world moving with him. What a place this is...

 

Gathering enough courage to lift his hand, the lich braced for tremors or quakes to come from the world. Nothing came. He bent his leg and took a step. Still nothing. Vlad breathed a sigh of relief. As he exhaled, a strong gust came from behind and startled the lich.

 

He waited a moment, and decided it safe to go on.

 

"This is all-"

 

The words had barely escaped his mind, when Vlad saw Minta running straight toward him. She was going fast, even for his recollection of the girl's speed. Trying desperately to slow her down, Vlad opened his mouth wide to scream, but no sound came out.

 

The running girl was making a beeline to the lich's current location. As she came closer and closer and closer, Vlad braced for impact. After she stopped, he had a few questions to ask. But she didn't stop, she just kept running and running and went straight through him in but a moment.

 

Vlad stood dumbfounded as he turned to look behind him. Minta wasn't there.

 

"-her fault."

 

Reaching into his pocket, Vlad pulls out the portal Gryhpon gave him.

 

"I used a portal to get here..."

 

The stone glowed green again, and isolated bolts of electricity leaped out from it. the lich tried to visually see where they lead, but most dissipated into the white-ness. He tried to focus the stone as Tanuchan had done just a short time ago, but no energy came to him.

 

"...so I can use a portal to get out?"

 

The electricity began to coalesce into a circle in front of him. Sky blue arcs intermingled with royal and navy blue swatches, marring the white. Robin's eggs fluttered about meeting denim, lilac, and cobalt. Vlad looked about himself, and saw purple encroaching on the white, with speckled ash of emerald, topaz, amethyst, and white diamond mixed in.

 

The lightning brought together clouds and shadows fell, despite the appearance of everything being illuminated from within. Vlad shivered with fear and anticipation. This was not the cosmic energy that he was used to, but it was a close relative. Reaching out to the now solidified, but still sworling, azure gate, Vlad closed his eyes and hoped for the best.

 

When his fingers touched the makeshift portal, a coldness covered the lich's body. Everything went numb again, and thought inside his head began to shake. Oh, HELL no... Not this again... Everythign became blazing for a moment, then subsided. The lich shut his eyes even tighter, trying to protect himself, but to no avail. He still felt in free-fall, finally ending with a heavy thud.

 

Letting out a low moan and slowly opening his eyes, Vlad saw a figure hunched over him. His eyes refused to focus through his now splitting headache, and all he could do was let out another groan.

[Vincent Silver]

Vincent charged into the mass of black-clad men, wave after of of dark engery slaming into his armor. Most of the force was asorbed by the armor's magical propety, the remaining barely slowling Vincent's blind charge. After braving the barrage of dark magics he finnaly met his foe, swinging his longsword with great skill and strength he cleaves through the first man's armor, flesh, and bone leting out a piercing cry of pain. He swords danced through each man's armor and flesh sending sprays of red that stained Vincent's silver and gold armor. He tore throught the ranks, tearing men apart in a blind rage of emotion before the forces began to overwhelm him.

 

He felt swords pierce his body from every side but he kept fighting, he fought and fought untill he could barely stand from the amount of blood he lost, his vision began to fade as he collasped to the ground like he done those many years ago...the last thing he was before he blacked out was the massive castle of Lindson crumbling to the ground.

[Zadown]

Letting time flow past him at its own unhurried pace, the Dreamer stood where Appy had left him, thinking colossal, slow thoughts. Most of them did not contain any words, only shadowy abstractions and inhuman logic, the end result again crystallizing to words that mortals may have understood.

 

The Elders have the Lists of the Pen, but the real culprits are the two who sent the message.

 

He frowned alone in the empty corridor, then turned abruptly around and started striding towards the AVV, taking a slightly unusual but very short route. The planewalker met nobody on the way and ended up staring at the wall of magical energy, his frown re-appearing on his face. His cream-white robes made a stark contrast to the black surface of the sparkling barrier as he stood there, a careful distance away but unafraid. Little arcs of energy leaped from the wall and earthed themselves to his wards, but he didn't pay attention to them - the wards had survived worse in the depths of the Void and on the lawless Lost Paths. His eyes, black and red to begin with, the color of slowly cooling lava, shimmered and shifted to the Astral blue color of deep contemplation.

 

What a mess the mortals can make, when they really try. Of course, they do not have a long life to hoard.

 

The Dreamer raised his hand towards the unstable wall and the arcs and sparkles grew more wild and agitated, constant lightning striking his outstretched hand. He narrowed his eyes and retracted his hand, shivered slightly.

 

Self-powering magic and it is trying to wrench me away. This path is not worth the trouble, let the mortals clear their own mess - if the universum doesn't clear this for them and collapse this portal completely. I'll just go to find an Elder to clarify with them the matter of this message.

 

He shrugged and turned around, the blue in his eyes darkening back towards the colors of cold anger.

Edited September 15, 2005 by Zadown

[Patrick]

As he heard Mynx's scream Patham rushed over to see what had happened. He had been just behind her when they had been sucked through the portal, but had landed some direction away. Patham had reacted quite well to the passage through the portal, and had only bumped one of his knees upon landing.

 

"Is everything alright Mynx?" - he asked.

[Black9]

The visions still a blur, Anna can feel the energy around her fade. It was as if the energy had been sucked from her body as a vampire does blood. The Slayer had no clue as to why this had occured, but was fairly certain that she'd had to do something about it. Attempting to get to her feet, Anna made it half way up and fell with a sudden thud upon the grassy ground that she once lay. Straining to think of something besides dying in such a lonesome location...the Slayer tried once again to get to her feet and again failed miserably.

 

Anna-"Is anyone out there...anyone?" Anna could hear a voice coming from somewhere around her, but couldn't quite make out who or what it was. As it lay she was a sitting duck and would surely fall to the man...woman...or thing if it had been hostile. Putting all her hope into survival...the Slayer called to her father in a desprite cry for aid, but knew very well that he was dead and gone and that she would have to fend for herself. Slowly the energy came back to her as the figure's shadow loomed over her small body like death itself. Anna turned into the figures direction with what little energy she could muster and blinked once more as her vision was still hazy.

 

Anna-"Who...who are you?"

[Sweetcherrie]

The tunnels were dark and damp, just as tunnels were supposed to be. Every now and then it seemed that there were things glowing around the next corner, but when they would reach that corner, it turned out to be only hopeful thoughts.

 

Sweetcherrie’s feet were hurting heavily and she almost wished that she’d never started this whole thing. Why on earth did they decide to clean up around those portals, they should’ve just left them the way they were. She wished she could talk to some of her friends for a moment, but she had felt their presence in this weird place, and that was what kept her going at the moment. She could now only hope that all were safe.

 

With a sigh she once again put her next foot in front of the other, and they continue deeper and deeper into the caves.

[Tanuchan]

The energy slowly flowing into her helps at first, and for that Tanny's grateful. However, as soon as the pain abates to bearable levels and she's able to think more coherently, she feels a sharp tugging and a warping of the thread she's holding.

 

What...?

 

She gasps, feeling that small, once familiar thread fighting her as she were an enemy, and all of a sudden being joined by several threads. She reaches for those threads, using all her skill to quiet them - to no avail. Each of the threads seem to wrap around her, not protectively as she would have woven them, but in an aggressive, strangling way.

 

No! This can't be!

 

Frantically she turns her concentration to Gryphon's focus jewel, forcing the panic down. The earth threads seem then to quiet, and she breathes.

 

I haven't lost control like this in... decades...

 

She gingerly opens her eyes, suddenly wondering where Stephen is. The tall figure of the Ranger can be seen some steps away, crouched. Tanny stands up carefully, trying to call him; her voice comes in a hoarse whisper, and even the thought of using mindspeech sends a stab of pain through her mind. She reaches out to earth out of instinct and, feeling the clean energy flowing, she lets it envelope her.

 

At least it has calmed...

 

A sudden memory comes to her, and as if dragged by the memory, a cold touch crawls in with the threads she's channeling.

 

Cold as the air! No!!!

 

The cold blanks her out for a second. When she can breathe again, she sees herself among the last of tall trees, a river flowing into a grassy plain. Taking the landscape in, she just knows that a couple of miles to the east lies the Mirror of Night, the pool where she had first learned to work with water threads. And, a day of travel farther, the heart of Shadowmere.

 

Misty figures appear, changing from human to fox, wolf, rabbit, bird. And more. Some peek in, curious, and scurry away when she stares at them, their names rolling from her tongue in a rarely-heard language. Some produce shimmering weapons of ice or fire, threatening her but not approaching. Among those, she recognizes who her heart knew would be there.

 

"Eldest of the Elders..."

 

"You cannot return, Tanryell. You've been banned. Coming into this land is death to you."

 

"I don't..."

 

"We know you learned the Air. Have you unleashed the Fire also? Have you finally let Miryenne's blood free?"

 

Tanny steps back, letting the untainted energies of earth and water from her Homeland fill her in. The Eldest points his staff at her.

 

"Are you reaching into the Abomination now, Tanryell? Dare you to weave what has not been woven in Shadowmere in centuries?"

 

Sudden fear wells in Tanny's - Tanryell's - heart as she sees more warriors joining the group.

 

"Leave. Or share Myrienne's fate. Tanryell's has been dead for decades now... we'll see to it that not even the memory survives. Or a shadow of a legend... you've been banned and defied the ban."

 

Tanny turns and flees, changing mid-jump into her wolf form. She reaches for the earth, and the water, let them flow into her and out, moving vines and rocks and hampering her pursuers. She reaches out for Air, weaving with difficult a shield to deflect the waves of ice and fire trying to grab her. She reaches into one of the shafts of fire...

 

 

NO!

 

She swims through the river, into the grassy plain, out of the Clan lands. The grassy plain wavers... and the wind brings the faint sounds of battle somewhere ahead.

 

Tanny turns her attention to the wind, and stops after some time. Her first thought, which she brings and plants firmly in front of anything related to her encounter, is to the group she had been with.

 

Stephen... Mynx.

 

 

Pain comes with her attempt to mindspeak to any of them. She looks for the comforting touch of earth, pushing back any memory of rebel threads and energies she knew she couldn't manipulate. Through the earth, she sends a whisper.

 

Stephen will hear. He will know.

 

 

A feline scream is heard, and Tanny changes into her human form.

 

"Mynx?!"

 

There seems to be a shape approaching her, something that could be Mynx. And the sounds of battle ahead of her seem to get louder.

Edited September 16, 2005 by Tanuchan

[Katzaniel]

Time slows again for Inbi as Sweetcherrie and Gryphon begin to disappear from her vision. Her mind races. She had tried everything she could think of already, but she couldn't possibly give up.

 

Inbi begins again to go through possible methods of making a change to the dream. Either moving something (preferably the rock she's ... well ... in) or moving her consciousness. Or backing out of the dream with the intention of reentering, possibly further down the tunnel. But even that proves to be difficult. This as much as anything convinces Inbi that it's not a regular dream. The guildleaders would have tested the cloak before auctioning it off, and would not have sold her something dangerous, at least not without dire warnings. Exitting the dream should not have been difficult.

 

The last trace of the two Pennites eventually disappear from sight, and Inbi begins to panic a bit. What if she can't get to them in time? What if she can't get out of this rock at all? Time passes and the young woman works at seeing herself in her own body, at being in her own body, with no success. More time passes and she's beginning to go cross-eyed at the concentration and concern, still to no avail. Finally she pauses for a moment and starts to think again, over and over again through too-familar thought patterns, trying to think of something new. As she does so, she stares absent-mindedly at another rock in the cave, a little further down the tunnel.

 

Inbi isn't aware of the change right away, but at one point she becomes the other stone. When she realizes it, she becomes very excited. Small progress in the big picture of what she needs to do, but huge given the lack of any progress in so long. So she thinks about it; what had she just done? She comes to the conclusion that it must have had something to do with not thinking about it. Okay, well yeah, but it's not exactly easy to intentionally not think about something. In fact, she had already tried exactly that method dozens of times. But it also had something to do with the similarity of one stone to another, and the darkness of the cave: for a brief moment, she had gotten confused about which rock she was in.

 

So she stares at another rock, and tries to let her mind wander. At first, she keeps finding herself thinking about it, trying too hard, or too quickly breaking out of a reverie to see whether it had worked yet. But finally, finally, Inbi notices that she's in the third stone.

 

So of course she keeps trying. And though it takes time, Inbi eventually gets the hang of it. She has only to look at the object that she wants to haunt, shift her mind away for a brief moment while distantly telling herself that she is that object, and then become it. Crash course in travelling about: Complete. So she works her way down the tunnel in the way that her friends had gone.

[Vincent Silver]

Consciousness faded in and out for Vincent, one moment the roar of battle, the clanging of swords, the sight of blood slowly trailing down the streets, the walls and building collasping to rubble- the next blackness. He strugled to breath, to think, to surivie. His hand clinged tightly to the acient blade in his right, his left moving slowly searching for something - anything to help him. He traced his hand along the blood soaked cobble-stone streets, diging his nails, kicking his legs, and draging his massive weight of body and armor as much as he could. He inched along like this till he hand found the steps of one of the last standing builings, with a show of strength that nearly caused him to black out again he heaved his-self up into a siting postion and inched into the open doorway away from battle. As much as he wanted to fight the dark foe that haunted his dreams he could do little dead.

 

He began to unbuckle whatever bit of piece of armor he could manage, throwing it to the side with a loud clang that was dwarfed by the raging battle outside the thin walls. Once he had enough access to his wounded flesh he placed his hand gently over it and closed his eyes in prayer. Innaovin's power came slowly and weakly, it was only with great force of will that he could heal the many wounds on his body just a fraction of what they needed to be. He let out a sigh, leaned back aginst one of the walls of the empty house, and prayed- both to Inaovin and that he would surive this day.

[Venefyxatu]

“Wolf-Lady, it seems that every time we try to work a Portal, something strange happens... I just feel this is a strange land, and I know we aren't anywhere near we were some time ago. No idea either how long I, or you, have been out either.”

 

Wolf-Lady? Who was that, and why was he talking to her?

 

Carefully he felt around to try and find out where he was ... he was sitting in the grass against a rock, but where?

 

And why was he feeling around? He could see just fine, albeit a bit blurry ... maybe he shouldn't have smoked that plant.

 

Slowly he looked around. Why was everything looking so strange? There were more stones ... big stones. No, wait, that one wasn't a stone, it was alive!

 

He saw a creature standing there, looking straight at him with small, beady eyes sunken deep into the ugly head. Its mouth hung open to reveal two double rows of razor-sharp teeth. When it took a step towards him, Stephen tried to struggle to his feet but immediately fell down again. It took him four more tries to get up, and by then the monster had gone.

When he heard something behind him, he turned around and charged. The stone he ran into didn't mind.

 

 

 

He woke up again to a touch of earth energy that felt very familiar. It resonated with her personal energy.

 

“Tanny?”

 

He got up, automatically picking up his quarterstaff. The touch of earth was still there, so he extended his senses to see if he could follow it. As he trotted off, he moved around the stones without paying any attention to them.

[Tanuchan]

Tanny stares warily at the slowly approaching shadowy, feline-like figure. It wavers a bit, and suddenly Tanny isn't sure if it's her friend or one of the Clan warriors in hybrid form. Still badly shaken, she again pushes back the memory and shimmers into her wolf shape, turning and trotting towards the battle in a pace that can be easily matched by someone intending to catch up with her.

 

If it's Mynx, she'll follow me. If it's not... I hope it hasn't actually seem me... The thought is incoherent, but Tanny ignores the flaw as she suddenly senses some kind of energy being channeled.

 

Focusing her mind on that, she succeeds on calming herself down by the time she sees the first buildings. There seems to be a battle raging down a street - where has the grassland gone? - and she can glimpse the sun reflecting on plate mail.

 

Keeping to the shadows of the buildings, Tanny follows the fainter and fainter channeling, always keeping an eye on the direction of that somewhat ghostly battle. Finally, turning a corner, she sees a fallen warrior. By then the channeling is almost gone, but she can still sense that he is the focus.

 

 

Vincent moans softly, turning his head slightly and opening his eyes, trying to locate where the army has gone. Doing so, he sees the black wolf right at his side. With an energy he was surprised to find, he grasps his sword and manages to draw it towards her, propping himself on his elbow.

 

The wolf quickly steps out of the range of that sharp blade, and shimmers into the form of a black-haired woman. Vincent gasps in surprise, and at the same time his elbow gives way and he collapses down.

 

"Vincent... you remember me, don't you? Tanny, from the Pen... " She calls in a soft voice, approaching slowly.

 

Her voice helps clearing his mind, and he nods weakly. Tanny touches him, and opens herself to the earth flows. Grounding herself fimrly, she reaches down the deepest she can, looking for a pure, strong thread. Slowly, ignoring a hint of pain in her mind, she brings that energy into Vincent's body.

 

It's... sluggish... but I hope it's enough...

 

 

Concentrated on healing Vincent, Tanny doesn't notice when Stephen carefully steps around the corner of the house.

[Black9]

The beating of Anna's heart quickened with every moment that passed. The figure before her growing ever easier to make out...seemed to draw a scythe from who knows where and don a wicked grin. Now able to see clearly, Anna could easily tell that this man...thing...creature...was most certainly not here to help! With a high pitched scream, Anna shielded her eye's...ready to embrace death. This lasted for but a moment, before the Slayer had noticed no pain. Uncovering her eye's and once again turning the once direction of the creature...Anna found nothing. This changed nothing, however, as she'd still not contained the energy to fight...or move for that matter!

 

Attempting to once again get to her feet, the Slayer does so with some trouble and looks around to see no living thing...friend nor foe. Only holding the ability to walk, Anna sluggishly made her way to an old cabin and hope to dear God that someone had lived there. Opening the door to the cabin, Anna noticed a fire going and wondered if this meant that life existed on this plain. Fairly certain that she'd reached the end of the adventure we call life...Anna took a seat in the chair located near the fire. The energy she exhausted walking that short distance drained her to nearly the level she'd once been and forced her to fall into the chair with quite a thud. A tear came to Anna's eye that her demise was not in some grand battle, but rather alone in some place that chances are...she'd never be found.

 

Anna-"Some Slayer I turned out to be! I couldn't even control these blasted powers enough to save my life...let alone my friends!" Angerly Anna slammed her fist into the armrest of the chair and somehow mannaged to blow the thing to shreds...falling with a thud upon the floor of the cabin. Anna quickly got to her feet as this sudden blast echoed the response of the former creature...his scythe entering the doorway to the cabin.

 

Anna-"No! It can't end like this! I have to..." After that...the only thing that Anna could remember was blackness.

[Mynx]

Trembling in shock, Mynx fought against the voices in her head as she sensed a battle occuring...she thought.

Glimpsing what she assumed to be Tanny, Mynx dragged herself upright and began to slowly follow the wolf.

By the time she caught up, Tanny was working at healing Vincent and Stephen had just stepped out from behind a building. Mynx cautiously looked around. Half of her senses insisted there had been a battle but the other (more logical half) was proving that there wasn't.

But then, why did Vincent need healing?

 

"What...happened?" Mynx rasped in a voice she didn't recognise, causing everyone to jerk and turn to her in shock before they recognised the form if not the voice.

"I honestly don't know," Tanny began after she finished the healing spell. She sat back on her heels to give Vincent space to sit up, and twisted so she could look at both Mynx and Stephen as she spoke.

"I saw...things...not exactly nice either. I think this realm is affecting...or being affected by our thoughts..." Tanny trailed off suddenly and gave Mynx a quizzical look. "What's up with your paws?"

Mynx glanced down to see that the black had spread to about halfway up her forearms. Swallowing uneasily, she pulled the sleeves of her robe down over them.

"It's nothing. I just...had a bit of a flashback..."

 

Quickly changing the subject, Mynx looked around the township they seemed to be in, noticing just how devoid it was of people.

"So...is there anyone else here?"

[Vincent Silver]

"My people are out there fighting!" Vincent roared stumbling to his feet, he barely got to the door before he almost lost his balance, and before Tanny caught his arm. "Don't be foolish Vincent, you almost died out there, you're lucky I found you." Vincent just ingored her breaking her grip and pushing passed the changed Minx, he gripped his sword tightly, "I can't fail my people again!" The words hit him like a brick wall..., he couldn't fail them again because they were already dead.

 

He staggered and fell to his knees, the supernatural rage that once filled his body leaveing him exuasthed, "Wha...what is this place?," he mumbled to himself, then spoke a bit louder, "This looks like my homeland...but it isn't...it can't be it was destroyed long ago," he glanced around at the others gathered there, "What is this place?"

 

 

 

 

Edit: Thanks to Sweetcherrie for pointing out my typos

Edited September 18, 2005 by Vincent Silver

[Valdar and Astralis]

Valdar sat very still for a moment, eyes reflecting the dark blue clouds of the Astral as he sorted through the many lines of magic passing through the pen. The Dreamer's magical field blazed in his mind's eye, obscuring the lesser traces of passage. Rivalling that brightness was what could only be the result of the cascading resonance from the AVV. He sent a gently probing thought towards it, felt it try to draw him in and pulled back thoughtfully.

 

"WOW" He exclaimed to the curious Appy. "We’re not going that way, nuhuh. It's so foggy I dunno where we'll end up. Let’s go by the Astral!"

 

Without a further word he extended his protective wards around Appy and their mount, then sidestepped Bubble and it's passengers into the Astral. Appy's gasped at her first sight of the Pen Keep, Astral side. Defensive wards formed bright stars in a massive nebula of visible mana surrounding the plane. The Astral harbour was visible, jutting out into the darkness and protected by wards unseen. Valdar's own lesser entrance was nearby, a heavy oaken door with runes scrawled all over it.

 

"Yeah, Pretty" Valdar agreed absently as he followed the thin trails leading into the darkness. "They went that way! Let’s go Bubble!" The demon roared and spread it's leathery wings. Guided by Valdar's thoughts it leaped towards the closest path as the two children shrieked in excitement.

 

**

 

"Are we there yet?"

 

"Nuhnuh"

 

"Are we there yet?"

 

"Nuhnuh"

 

"Are we there yet?"

 

"Nuhnuh"

 

Bubble snorted a small pillar of fire as it clawed it's way along the lost paths. The Planewalker's blazing earblades cut through the darkness, leaving two narrow trails into the territory of chaos.

 

"Are we there. . ." Appy trailed off into an awed "wow". Valdar also stared, ears bent in concern as he drew Bubble to a halt. The trail led directly towards a dark band of cloud stretching as far as they could see in both directions. Red and purple lightning flashed from within, strange worlds silhouetted in the dim light.

 

"Ummm. . .I really hope we don’t need to go in there." Valdar said worriedly.

 

"Why?"

 

"Because that’s . . . the madness."

 

Appy gave the elf a strange look, having never seen him this fearful before. Valdar nudged Bubble forward again carefully. The demon moved warily as they approached the madness, blazing eyes tinged with what might have been fear.

 

"Yay! We found it!" Valdar exclaimed, pointing both ears at a hazy looking sphere of a world. Appy looked dubious. "How'd cha know they're in there?

 

"Their trail leads right in, anna few others too! We gotta be careful though, that thing's right on the edge of the madness."

 

He poked Bubble hard and the demon reluctantly obeyed, moving them to the pearlescent border of the world. Valdar hesitated again and gently stroked the misty surface, eyes distantly reflecting the dull white. After a long pause, he withdrew his hand, an awed look on his face.

 

"Cooool - this is an old Planewalker house! It was made from pure thought an magic. It's really old though, so the magic is all crazy. The whole place is unstable, but I found a steady bit. Sorta. C'mon!"

 

Without waiting for a reply, the little elf slipped Bubble and Appy into the fabric of the ancient world. They appeared just inside a dusty hallway. White mist obscured the exit, while the other direction led deeper into the old stronghold. Valdar meeped as Bubble stepped on an unseen rune. The demon growled the ward fizzled and spat beneath bare hooves.

 

"Whew, It's all really old. That spell would have hurt a bit!"

 

The little elf hopped down, motioning Appy to stay mounted. "I'll walk in front an disarm stuff! I think we gotta go this way."

 

Valdar led Bubble forward on a shiny leash, both ears pointed at the walls and eyes on the floor. Occationaly he would stop to trigger rotted wards in a shower of sparkles. Eventually they came to face a rusty iron door, runes of deflection and strength all but eroded by plain rust. The little elf flared his ears, and the doors exploded inwards to reveal a large chamber with a bright red alter of sorts in the middle. Appy dismounted as Bubble stooped to enter the chamber.

 

"Wow" She whispered as the room responded to the presence of a Planewalker. Faint illumination came from above, revealing the walls to be covered in runes, with three large characters arrayed around the huge circular alter in the middle. She carefully approached the strange structure while Valdar scrambled around the floor trying to read the huge runes.

 

"This is oldold Planewalkerese! This one is- Um."

 

On closer inspection, the circular object was painted bright red, and looked very tempting to Appy. She poked it curiously, and found she could push it downwards and it would spring back up.

 

"DOOoooooooooooooo"

 

"Hey, it's bouncy!" She called out to Valdar, who was busy with the second rune. She pushed harder, gave up and sat on it. The thing sank partway down as she climbed fully on it.

 

"NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooott"

 

She hopped experimentally a little, causing it to sink further. Then she gave it a full fledged bounce with an excited "Wheee!" as it sprang back up, throwing her into the air. Landing harder she bounced again, and the thing sank into the floor with a loud CLICK. It sprang up again with a CLACK, sending Appy airborne again. "It's a bouncy button!" She yelled at Valdar, who had just started examining the last rune. The elf's ears perked up at the word, and he abandoned his examination, alarmed that someone else was bouncing and he was not. Within moments, the two children were happily bouncing up and down on the springy structure.

 

The rune "Press" remained undeciphered.

Edited September 19, 2005 by Valdar and Astralis