City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

As for an ingrediant suggestion...what about the tears of a crocodile, to be added once our hero's get the water flowing. They'll have some horrible effect I'm sure.

[Masterweaver]

Or hen's teeth.

For, you know...

Bad catchphrase, but it's technically mine.

[dinranwen]

Start the water back flowing for sure....but that may mean you have to break the heat first, and for that we need to get out of the oven....

Which means we have to wake Helga up, how about our heros start doing something which causes the smell of burning (but not really burning, just the horrible smell associated with burning bread) to wake Helga up and force her to take out the Cauldron.

Oh...P.s. I just loving the Dinranwen character in this story, (I wonder why) she reminds me of my more curious scientific side that I don't let out of the box that often.

[Masterweaver]

How would they contact Helga? They don't know about her!

Perhaps that sonic game hasn't fully dissolved. You could still throw in shadow the hedgehog.

[Kalanna Rai]

What about deathsbane, a plant so vile and dark that it cause untold suffering for our heros and yet will also be the cause of the Hag's own undoing.

Could they short it out with the water some how? As in the water, cool spring water, overflow's the cauldron and floods the Hag's house?

[Idea master]

I do like these ideas...*Makes careful notes*
Three or four more days (Depending on how lazy I am!) and the top three or four suggestions will go to Lordy for a poll!

[Masterweaver]

Spit! Prayer! Blood! Swimtrunks!

Four choices. Up and ready.

[Crunchyfrog]

Make a clockwork device out of the leaves and branches, that fans that area of the glade for a temporary solution, whilst the heavier work of unblocking the bowels of the fountain are in progress.

Alternatively, or perhaps at the same time, do a bit of that stuff you do searching for the good ole H20 with sticks... water divining?

Maybe another water source can be found.

:D

So, er... Fan the glade. :D

[LordoftheNight]

Poll is up.

[tramp in a storm]

*reads, sees poll, votes* wow! I haven't been gone that long have I? I missed a bit... lol. I'm all caught up now. And I'm blaming the...erm....German, the weather and homework (no idea why I blame German but I do anyway).

I'm out of ideas of what to throw in...

[Idea master]

Chapter five - Water, water nowhere
OR
I can’t stand this heat!

Cheri was stunned. Someone had dared to mess with nature? She would have them filleted! “We must unclog this fountain!”

“But-” began Richard before Cheri cut him off.

“Would you like it if you were deprived of your water? Would you like it if you slowly roasted alive? I’m going down there to fix this once and for all!”

Thus saying, Cheri jumped into the now-empty fountain, with Thurgo following quickly behind. A few seconds later, there were two cries of pain. “Are you two done now?” Surtum asked.

The moaning stopped. Surtum nodded and extended his tail to function as a sort of ladder for Richard, Dinranwen, and Fredrick. The three climbed carefully down so as to not scrape their skin on a spike or a scale. Even with the help from Surtum, the rest of the group still had a ways to fall, which they did with much lack of aplomb. “Are you all down now?” Surtum bellowed.

They didn’t get a chance to answer, as Surtum leapt down. And in spite of a million to one odds, he landed at just the right angle to crack the already slightly weakened plugging boulder so that the water pressure could shatter it into infinitesimal pieces. This took the water pressure all of thirty seconds to complete, though it was enough time for Surtum to pick up the bruised and battered group and move them off the boulder.

The water roared up behind them in a triumphant display of sheer, raw power. The fountain was restored. Above, the spirits of the glade stirred. Life was flowing back into their veins, and soon they could break the unnatural heat that had been imposed upon the glade. Where those adventurers had gone, they didn’t have the slightest clue…

Helga woke up to hear the sound of rushing water. Nothing was overflowing…until she took the cauldron out of the oven! Then there was a flood of ghastly proportions. Helga muttered several oaths that turned the air black momentarily.

In the distance, a figure crept closer to the hut.

Helga rummaged around in her hut for something to add that would stem the flow. She held up a bag of DragonSand, ready to toss it in…

A knife flew in through the window, pinning Helga’s sleeve to the wall. A character burst into the hut. “I am Draconis, of the Death’s Wake clan of Assassins, here to stop the meddler of worlds.”

Helga screamed and kicked out, connecting with Draconis, knocking the assassin into the cauldron. In a fit of anger at daring to mess with her brew, Helga tossed in the DragonSand as well, hoping that there would be some ghastly side effect.

The cauldron smoked once, and Helga passed out, mercifully landing backwards so as not to get sucked in.

Surtum looked at the direction from which they had entered this vast labyrinthine cavern, or series of caverns. The geyser was blocking that escape route. Surtum had tossed pebbles in only to see them get turned into sand. He wouldn’t be able to survive that route, much less the humans.

When Thurgo first woke up, he muttered something that sounded like an oath. When Thurgo began moving around, Surtum realized it had been a small healing spell. After performing what looked to be a quick body check to see if any organs were vastly out of place, Thurgo began a more complex incantation. Cuts and lacerations healed, and his leg bones realigned themselves and fused back together. Looking about, Thurgo saw the others not yet conscious, and he passed from one to another, freely healing, his hands glowing sky blue.

Everybody else woke up shortly, moaning quietly. Surtum fixed Cheri with a steady glare. “And where, o mighty druidess, do we go now?”

Cheri cast a defiant glance back at Surtum, then focused. “I sense a massively powerful life force down here, in many ways similar to Surtum. Perhaps that person or thing will be willing to help.” Cheri glanced about. “I wouldn’t say no to a bit of light, though…”

Dinranwen rummaged about in her cloak for a few minutes before procuring a small sack, which she dipped two fingers in and began coating her unseen face with. She moved to Richard. “What is this vile-smelling stuff?” Richard demanded.

“This,” Dinranwen said while smearing what looked to be blue sand on Richard’s face, “Is Flash-Sand. We picked it up long ago. Just snap your fingers, and it lets off a glow. It will grow dimmer with time, but only a very long period of time.”

Dinranwen proceeded to smear the rest of the human companions with the sand. There wasn’t enough for Surtum, but he merely shrugged and said, “I don’t need it anyways. Let us be going to this new person.”

Surtum led the way under Cheri’s guidance through a myriad of tunnels and caves, all seemingly alike to the gloom-surrounded party. Finally, Cheri said, “The person is straight ahead of us, probably just one cavern over.”

Surtum entered the cavern, and then whispered, “That’s no person…”

Curious, Richard snapped his fingers. He gasped in surprise at what he saw.

It was a dragon roughly the same size as Surtum, colored deep blood red, with black flames making intricate patterns that the eye could not follow. The head whipped around to look at the cause of the sudden glow. “What are you humans doing here? Humans have never entered the realm of Earth and Fire and lived to tell the tale. Return, quickly, lest the dark elves find you.”

“Madame,” Surtum began. Cheri winced. Madame was very formal dragon-speak, used only when one dragon was severely interested in another for some of the more, uh, baser acts of nature.

Surtum continued. “Madame, we would love to leave these caverns, but as it turns out, our entrance and our exit was the same route, but it only lasted long enough for us to enter. If you could kindly lead us out, then our gratitude would know no bounds.”

The dragon, dragoness, Cheri corrected herself, pondered awhile. “I know of one route. Come, quickly.” The dragoness whipped around and left through a far opening. Everyone hopped onto Surtum, who took off after the dragoness.

“By the way, I never got your name,” Surtum yelled.

“Rai. Kalanna Rai, third descendent of the Draconic Ruler of the Realm of Earth and Fire.”

One uneventful trip later, the group was in front of a wall filled with tunnels. Thousands, there must have been. “Which one takes us up?”

“That is not for me to tell you, for I know it not. It is a matter for this little monster.” Rai tapped a stone statue that put the troll beast from earlier to shame. It had a face that not even a mother could love. In fact, the mother had probably tried to push this little beast back in, or at least run from it screaming and never looked back. Just as Cheri was wondering what it was, the statue animated.

“Gargoyle,” Cheri breathed.

“Indeed,” the thing rumbled with a voice that sounded like boulders crashing together. “What is your business?”

“We seek passage to the surface.”

At this, the gargoyle cheered up. “Oh do you now.”

“Yes.”

And then it danced and recited a poem.

A thousand tunnels lay behind me
But which one is the one for thee?
You could end up anywhere!
From another plane to a basilisk’s stare.
You must find the right one, you see.
So follow my directions implicitly.
Start at the bottom, work your way up,
Turn right when you run out of luck,
Loop-de-loop, ‘round dead ends
You’ll be lost ‘till eternity ends!
The secret up is not so simple, not easy,
The Guardian alone holds the key
To getting you up and out of here!
And for that, you may cry or cheer.
So now, how will you act, where will you go,
Knowing now up is not as easy at it was a second ago?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

How WILL our band of adventurers respond to this new twist? I don't know, that's why I have you guys! I ran out of Idearium, but I worked everything in, including a rather obvious character addition that I was paid for. Yes, it took me a while. I had to juggle college and my personal life before I could get to this, but I did it.
So. Get suggesting!
F12
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[Kalanna Rai]

[insert evil laughter here]...Now that I've got that out of my system.

I'm normally very good with riddles but if it's the Guardian we need the I believe we must take the gargoyle since he's the one apparently 'guarding' the way up.

As for the rest...sounds like a roller coaster of epic preportions...or maybe another 'Waterslide from Hell'....

[Idea master]

*coughcough* It's actually a she gargoyle.

[Crunchyfrog]

Great chapter!

Start at the bottom. So you have to go down first.

And by the way - is the golden frog still in Din's pocket? :D

[Idea master]

Yes, but the previous animation charm wore off. There's not been much call for a small golden frog deity. You're still there, Crunchy.

[D-Lotus]

Very entertaining read. I'd agree with Rai, convince the gargoyle to guide you. After all, it (supposedly gargoyles are sexless) should be excited that something's finally going on. It seemed happy when the adventurers asked for a way out.

Anway, good writing, keep going. :)

[dinranwen]

I agree with the others here. Take the Guardian (the Gargolye) with you, start at the 'bottom' and work you way up....

As I am fresh out of Idearium....I'll come back when my brain and Idearium supply is refreshed.

[Idea master]

Chapter six – Twisted tunnels
OR
“This is a room of small, twisty passages, all alike” – Zork*

Richard went forward and placed his hands on the gargoyle. “Hmm…” Richard hummed to himself. Rai and Surtum sensed power flowing. The gargoyle twisted around. “What do you think you’re doing? Get out of my head!”

After a few more minutes of the gargoyle’s screams of pain and Richard’s humming, Richard pulled away. “It’s no use. She controls the passageways.”

“She?” Fredrick and Thurgo were convinced that the gargoyle had no gender.

“Oh really?” Surtum growled, and in a lightning-fast move, plucked the gargoyle off the ground and held her beneath his right front foot, quite ready to crush her into gravel. The gargoyle resumed her fervent screaming.

“Now, gargoyle, you can do one of two things. You can be crushed into gravel so that we can pass by easily without your interference…”

She screamed again.

“Or if you ask nicely, I’ll let you up, under the conditions that you guide us safely to the surface.”

The gargoyle nodded as well as she could and continued her screaming, but this time she formed words. “Anything! Just don’t kill me, please!”

Surtum let up on the gargoyle, which gratefully ran out from underneath the dragon to her normal post. “Right, the way you want to go is-”

Rai cut the gargoyle off. “Do you think we trust you? You’re coming with us.”

“To the surface?! I can’t do that! Nothing from Below can go Above!”

Surtum and Rai lifted their front right legs about three feet, hoping the gargoyle would get the message.

She did, and signaled as such with a gulping noise. She then turned around and began walking towards a tunnel entrance, with the group of adventurers following. Dinranwen paused only a moment to pick up a piece of the gargoyle that had snapped off, and then followed the rest.

----------

Some time later down the tunnel, the band** of adventurers heard muffled voices. “Shh!” Cheri quickly whispered. “Rai, you’ve lived down here your whole life, what could be making those noises?”

Rai listened for a moment. “Drow. This is not good. They’re coming down this tunnel looking for the way to the surface so that their war plans can commence. We have to hide!”

Thurgo was skeptical. How does one hide one dragon, let alone two? Rai’s movements became much more agitated until she finally said, “I must flee! If I am caught it will only be the worse for the dragons down Below!” She barreled down one fork of the tunnel, which the gargoyle quickly made completely safe from Drow. Surtum quickly followed Rai, in much the same manner that Thugo obeyed Cheri.

Din could vaguely make out two dark forms at the end of the tunnel. Richard snapped his fingers, and the resulting glow revealed two tall lanky forms that had the pointed ears of elves, but pale gray skin, along with black hair. They were also coated with what looked like deadly weaponry. “You are now prisoners of Utha Gardon, and you will follow us.”

“But-” Cheri began.

“No talking! Prisoners and slaves speak only when spoken to! Now come, before we are forced to kill you early.”

Richard laid one hand on Cheri’s shoulder and another on Din’s shoulder. Richard’s voice echoed in their minds. Touch Fredrick, the gargoyle, and Thurgo.

The ladies quickly did just that. Now let’s go with them for now. Let’s see what happens when a wild mage lets his magic loose in their underground city.

The group nodded solemnly and walked forward. One Drow got behind the gargoyle as he began to bring up the rear. “Hey, now, aren’t you the gargoyle that controls these tunnels?”

She nodded weakly. Both Drow smiled. “Oh, the Matron Mother will reward us mightily for this one. Ten surface female slaves each, I imagine.”

“Indeed,” The Drow in front replied. “But first, we must bring it to her. Come, prisoners!”

The group walked forward into the darkness and gloom. After a short while, a pair of huge city gates loomed from out of the sheer rock wall. One guard was there, and he nodded at the Drow that had the group captive. “Prisoners?”

“Better,” the Drow in the rear replied while kicking the gargoyle forward. “The gargoyle.”

The guard hastily opened the gates. The scene before the group was one of immeasurable beauty. It was a huge cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites the size of the mountains that had enclosed the Glade of the Gods. Carved from the rocks themselves were statues depicting ancient scenes of battle and moments from history captured forever. Buildings were nowhere to be seen at this point in time.

The Drow brought the group forward onto a mysterious rune etched into the floor. There was a jerking sensation, and then they were inside one of the massive stalactites, standing on a similar rune. Buildings clung to the rock wall for support. All of them were shaped like stalagmites, except for one that was shaped curiously like a dome structure. Statues adorned it in much the same fashion as they did outside the stalactite. Two Drow walked up to talk to the two Drow that had captured the group. “Prisoners that require transportation, then?”

“Yes,” one of their Drow replied, “But we’ll be taking this one to the Matron.” And with that, the Drow that had captured the group surprisingly picked up the gargoyle and walked off with her without any weight issues. The other two Drow marched the prisoners to small stone cages and locked them up. The group couldn’t even sit down, the cages’ small size wouldn’t allow them to do anything but stand. Cheri began to cry in despair. “What are we going to do? Our situation is hopeless!”

Dinranwen thought and brought out the small golden frog statue. She tapped it three times like before, and it animated like before. “Now what?” CrunchyFrog asked.

“Can you get us out of here?” Dinranwen pleaded.

CrunchyFrog turned his eyes to the lock and let out a large croak. The lock evaporated, allowing Dinranwen out so that she could unlock the others. CrunchyFrog muttered, something about being disturbed, and settled back down inside Dinranwen’s pocket. The group looked at each other. Richard then said, “I can try making us invisible to the Drow.”

The group shared a collective gulp as Richard cast the spell. Nothing about them changed to their eyes. “Is this supposed to mean anything?” Thurgo was skeptical again.

“We’re invisible to Drow eyes. We shouldn’t see anything if the magic is working properly. Let’s get to the temple and rescue Eirra.”

“Eirra? That thing has a name?”

“Yes, but you shouldn’t say it too often. She doesn’t like it.”

The group quickly walked out of the prison and looked for the temple. Drow in the streets took one look and fled screaming down alleyways and into buildings.

“Richard, I don’t think we’re invisible. Quite the opposite.”

“Hmmm…” Richard hummed to himself, thinking what could have gone wrong. He cast a modified version of the same spell so that they could see what they looked like. Instead of a ragtag group of adventurers, Richard saw a group of demonic beings. Everyone glanced at the turquoise demon, whose cheeks flushed bright red.

“Sorry.”

Fredrick was quick to take advantage of this opportunity. “You, Drow, we are lost. Which way to your temple? We have business with the Matron.”

The poor Drow pointed in one direction with a rather shaking hand. “I-I-It’s the big round building, you can’t miss it.”

The group of demonic creatures lumbered off towards the temple, leaving the poor Drow to faint, which he promptly did, falling down in a puddle of his own bodily substances.

-----------

“Shh, stop poking!”

“You stop! Your armor is worse than anything!”

The spell had worn off by this point and replaced with a normal invisibility spell. The group was inside the temple, and it was quite a sight. The walls were made of carved obsidian, and long flowing script covered the walls. Statues were at four points on the floor, which was supported by struts over a red pool. Cheri didn’t want to think about what that pool was made of. The Matron, an older female Drow, and several of her assistants were gathered around Eirra in a circle that was about half the size of the floor. Eirra was lying on the floor and whimpering with pain.

“Richard, what are they doing to her?”

Richard closed his eyes and tried to unobtrusively observe the magic that was flowing between the Drow priestesses. It was drawing its strength from the pool below, and its target was…

Richard snapped his eyes open. “They’re trying to learn her true name so that they can order her to make a tunnel to the surface. Failing that, they’re going to extract her ability from her and use it themselves. They intend to kill all the aboveground elves, followed shortly by all humanity that they can reach. They’ve already devised a system for surviving in sunlight, all they need is access, which is what Eirra was designed to prevent. Now she’s in their clutches. We have to rescue her!”

“How?” Thugo asked skeptically again.

*An online game that is text-based. Yes, I am a nerd, sue me.
**They were anything but merry.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
So the gargoyle is captive of devious Drow that want to rule the world! How do we save her? DO we save her? My Idearium ran out, so I don't know! Get suggesting!
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[Crunchyfrog]

Say "PLUGH!"

:D


Seriously, rescue her. We need to get to the surface.

[tramp in a storm]

Get out, find the dragons. Cast an invisibility spell on them too. Sneak the dragons in and get them to blow fire on the Matron and whoever tried to fight them. If they are all invissible it would be eaier to win.

[dinranwen]

Rescue the Gargolye of course.

However I disgree with Tramp about Rai and Surtum...there simply would not be enough time to go and retieve the two dragons and then return to save the Gargolye.

So....how about using CruchFrog again?

Or failing that...the various items I'm sure I (Din) have in my pockets somewhere?

Or perhaps use your invisibilty to your advantage.....
One of them....don't ask me who I get confused easily....can distract the priestess drawing their attention elsewhere.

Richard can caste the invisibilty spell on the Gargolye, and the guy with the sword his hand (whatever his name is) can go and retieve her....leaving the others to distract the prietess as everyone starts running towards the nearest exit.


Ohh...and possible indrgredents to add to your list: The Tears of the Nightshade Flower, Flour, Baking Soda, the skin of a newtfrog, feathers of a turtle dove, and an old fashion quill pen.

(The Tears of the Nightshade being a sleep potion...don't ask how I know...the Flour for thicknening, baking soda for rise, the skin of a newtfrog for warts/nausea/motion sickness, feathers of a turtle dove for an unlike love attraction doomed to failure, and a quill pen because as the saying goes The Pen is mighter than the Sword.)

[Idea master]

Stratagems noted, supplies added, and so far we have three people saying "Go rescue Eirra!"

All in one day too. Any other opinions out there?

[Kalanna Rai]

I don't run away...

Could the dragons be lurking in the vacinity? If not I say split up with a couple of the party members trying to distract the matron and drow and a couple of others getting the gargoyle back.

[tramp in a storm]

Maybe the sword can somehow remember a spell that his mum used on him when he was little to make him go to sleep. Then they can put them all to sleep and save Eirra.

[LordoftheNight]

Poll is up.

[tramp in a storm]

I voted!

[Idea master]

I am highly caffeinated as of right now, and as such, here is your chapter!

Ignore the coffee stains on it.

Chapter Seven - Surface! Surface!
OR
The Wrath Of Hags

Fredrick looked over to where Eirra was lying down on the ground. "Not too difficult," He said, and began walking towards the Matron.

"What are you doing?" Dinranwen hissed. "The moment you get close to Eirra, they'll know!"

"Ah." Fredrick paused behind one of the priestesses. "But what if they weren't concentrating on the spell? Richard, do you think you could make us look like demons in a few minutes?"

Richard nodded bemusedly. Fredrick grinned. "Come on then, ladies and gentlemen. It's time to have some fun." And with that, Fredrick picked up a priestess and threw her into the pool below. There was a loud and long shriek, followed by a plopping noise and an acidic hiss.

The other priestesses immediately looked up, and in that instant the spell was broken. Thurgo, ever the one to try and win Cheri's heart, ran towards Eirra and tried to drag her out. He had just reached Eirra and was beginning to poke her in the right direction, Raven protesting as loudly as he dared. However, in that instant, Richard's spell was done, and the group appeared as demons to the priestesses, who immediately fell on their knees. The Matron looked up. "High Lords from Far Below, we did not know of Your coming."

Fredrick began to implement his plan with a deep booming voice. "As well as you shouldn't have. We will be taking this gargoyle with us."

The Matron looked shocked. "But we planned to use her to bring about a thousand years of darkness up Above!"

"Yes, and your clumsy ways of extracting information would have failed, leaving us most displeased. We have finer, much more pleasing methods that we will use, before, and after, she gives us what we want. Then we will tell you the secret to going Above, in exchange for your eternal servitude."

"Yes, my Lords. Shall I choose one of my own to accompany you now to the Far Below?"

Fredrick could see trouble ahead, and began an illusion spell tied with an invisibility spell so that their escape route would be covered. Richard continued his silly speaking which would likely get them all killed, while Dinranwen and Cheri began to shuffle unobtrusively towards the door. Thurgo stayed put, trying to get Eirra to move, which she wasn't doing anytime soon, not with demons about. "Yes, pick out one that has never served you well. We shall make her loyal before long. Though whether or not she returns is up to her."

The Matron nodded and pointed at the pool below. "You already got rid of the worst one, my Lords. The next worse one is her."

The Matron pointed a long yellowed fingernail at a particularly shapely priestess. Of course, all Drow females are particularly shapely, but this one seemed to catch Fredrick's eye moreso than not. "Good. We shall leave as soon as she comes closer."

The priestess in question gave out a low moan and shuffled closer to Fredrick. Cheri and Dinranwen also moved in, sensing a plan. Richard let loose his spell, and suddenly demonic creatures, gargoyle, and priestess all vanished in a flash of flames, which soon vanished to leave behind...

Nothing.

The small group quickly made their way to the door. Eirra moved freely now, and Fredrick dragged the priestess along behind him. Everybody moved at a brisk pace towards the doors, which were still open for some unknown reason. They made their way silently, albeit hastily, towards the teleportation rune that they came in by, and from there made their way quite quickly into the maze of tunnels. Only then, when the invisibility spell wore off, did anyone stop.

"I have no idea who you are, but I'm going back there to fetch the entire city to kill you all!" The priestess that they had kidnapped was understandably upset.

Fredrick sighed. "If you leave these tunnels, then you'll never find us again. Right, gargoyle?"

Eirra nodded. "I'll lay down a maze so thick that any Drow entering it will be lost for centuries before finally being ejected even further Down Below."

"So you see, miss-"

"The name is Raimah," the Priestess cut in.

"Raimah, then. You can leave either the way you came in, if the gargoyle allows it..."

Eirra smiled sadistically, which Raimah took to be a 'no.'

"...Or you could come with us."

Raimah gulped. She had never liked the city or being Below. She always wanted to see the Above-world, not conquer, burn, and destroy it. She would have everything to gain...

"I'm in, then. We are going Above, right?"

Thurgo nodded. "If we can get up now. Can we?"

Eirra concentrated. The tunnel ahead of them shifted into place with a sound like an earthquake. White light filtered down from somewhere, most likely Above.

"Um, not to be nitpicky..." Cheri started, "But where's Surtum? And Rai?"

Eirra concentrated again. "They made it Above. Beyond that, I don't know. We should get going."

Everyone dutifully began to walk up the slope of the tunnel, with Thurgo keeping close to Cheri, as per his usual. Fredrick usually spent his time trying to talk to Richard, but this time found himself oddly drawn to Raimah...

Helga came to. She groaned and made a mental note: Never add DragonSand again, at least, not that much in one go! Helga began to pace her hut, and then remembered her brew. She took one look at it and screamed. The morsels had survived! Then she pondered...
Helga paced her hut, picking out likely ingredients to add. Finally, she selected four. "And now, my pretties, your troubles will finally begin! Unfortunately, this will mean your end! Eheeheehee! Feathers from a turtledove! Boiling Blood! And Plague-Flies to feast on what is to come! And to top it all off, I add in...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Coffee = goooooood.
So. Surtum and Rai made it to the surface, that much we know. Do we know if they're alive or not? Well, you probably do!
Plus: Does anything await our team of...*Counts* Eight souls on their surfacing? If so, what?
And what do those ingredients do? I have a vague Idea or two, but I love to hear from you! More attentive readers will note that I pulled them directly from my Litany of Stuff, the ever-growing list that it is.
But most importantly...
What is the final ingredient, and what does it do?
All suggestions will be written down, and eventually used if I get around to it. Nobody really loses...
So. Get suggesting...
NOW!
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[Kalanna Rai]

I say the flowers of the Turtledove bring unexpected friends to our aid...the dryads most likely. But the boiling blood sends other foes our way, countering any good the dryads might have done.

As for the plauge flies...those will bring sickness to weak party members, forcing us to travle slowly and become weaker.

[dinranwen]

Well...to answer all your questions:

1.) Of course Surtum and Rai are alive. And well, and probably comfortable too...*giggles and then ducks the swipe from Rai*

2.) See answer to question number 4.

3.) The Feathers of a turtle for an unlikely love doomed to failure from the start. Boiling Blood for unreasonably kindled rath, hatred, and jealously. Plague flies that produce actually flies or anything else that's small annoying and flies, that feast off emotions.

4.) The Final Indregient will be the scale of zycon (yes I made that up!), a Zycon being a creature that loves to create mischief and so acheive it's own ends. A frequent companion of Emo Flies(see number 3), this beast is the incarnation of what happens when you combine the feathers of a turtle dove and boiling blood. The Zycon is a scalling four legged creature much like a blood hound only larger and purple. A Zycon can turn invisible and likes to create trouble by stirring all the troblesome emotions of the human heart. Singly resonsible for what happen to Helen and the City of Troy, these beast is deadly and mischievous. It's favorite occupation is getting humans to kill each other so it can eat them afterwards without having to trouble itself.

5.) The Zycon and the hord of Emo flies having already caused trouble in some way admist Sautrum and Rai, will be awaiting our eight when the reach the surface.**

I can't wait for the chaos to start. *pulls up a fluffy shadow chair and dark chocalate popcorn to wait for the next chapter*

**Of course all of this is only a suggestion...

[Chinaren]

IM. Please PM me if you wish this SGame to be promoted. It has passed the Head Eaters review, but you haven't written a chapter for nearly a month.

[tramp in a storm]

I think most of them should be alive. But one of them could die. I don't know who and I'm not sure about the rest yet, I quite like the ideas already sugested.

*waits for next chapter*

[Idea master]

Real Life: The bane of many an IFian. Fortunately, I have managed to cut out a very large time-consuming part of my Real Life, just to bring you this chapter. I didn't really need to sleep anyways...

Chapter 8 - All's fair in love...
OR
Doom, doom, doom...

Helga seized a large mallet and thrust it into the cauldron, along with her other ingredients. "This ought to knock some sense into you! Now you won't mess with me, my morsels! Eheeheehee!"

The cauldron simmered, then bubbled viciously as it digested this latest addition...

"Light! Glorious light! Oh merciful gods, this is the best thing ever!"

Thurgo was, to say the least, pleased at the sudden wash of sunlight on his face. Everyone else in the party shared in his sentiment if not the enthusiasm contained therein. They managed to drag themselves out of the tunnel and collapse on the nearby ground, exhausted from their ordeal below. They were tired, still slightly chilly despite the sun, hungry, and thirsty. Suddenly Cheri brightened. "Oh Thurgo, my sweet..."

Thurgo came obediently to her side much like an actual dog would. If he had been one, his tail would be wagging and he would be barking in excitement. Needless to say, he was quite excited at the prospect of earning favor with Cheri. "Yes, O sparkling goddess?"

"Would you be so kind as to locate some food and water for these gentle ladies? Perhaps your friends could help you?"

"At once, milady!" Thurgo practically dragged Richard and Fredrick with him in the search for food. Meanwhile Dinranwen, Cheri, Raimah, and Erria sighed in relief. "How do you do that?" Raimah asked.

Cheri giggled. "He's infatuated with me for some reason. It sometimes hinders me, because I don't quite return the feelings, but it does prove useful. Think: if he didn't adore me as much as he did, then we'd be gathering food and water ourselves!"

"The horror!" Dinranwen interjected, and the women all fell to giggling. Eirra looked confused. "I don't understand."

The three women looked at her with expressions of horror. "What?"

"I don't understand what's going on here."

"You mean, you've been a gargoyle for...how long?"

"A thousand years or so, I lost count."

"And you don't understand the powers we have over men?"

"I'm basically a golem, there's nothing more here than a mind with what I was given and stone."

The three women gave shark-like grins, two of which could be seen. "Oh dear, we'll have to educate you then. We should have plenty of time to do so adequately before they get back..."

-----

Thurgo was looking at a bush. Those berries looked familiar, but he noticed how other animals had left the bush, and it's leavings, alone, so he did so as well. "Find anything yet?"

"Hah!" There was a shout from Richard, a red flash, a small thump and moaning noise, then nothing. Thurgo worked his way towards Richard, wondering what the disturbance was, and getting a sight indeed.

A deer lay dead before him, killed without leaving a mark on it's body. He carefully poked it with the front of his leather boot and got no response. "Okay, how'd you manage this with Wild Magic?"

"Well, actually," Richard sort of clucked, and Thurgo turned around, noting what looked to be a chicken's beak and white feathers sporadically dotting his flesh.

Thurgo couldn't help it, he laughed for all he was worth, with Fredrick growing slowly redder and somehow managing to cast a menacing glare, which didn't help matters. "It ought to wear off in a half hour or so," he stated.

"Yeah, until then, we ought to stay away from the women, otherwise they might mistake YOU as dinner!"

Richard couldn't help, at this he joined in the laughter. "Well, how'd you do on the dessert?" he asked while wiping tears from his eyes.

Thugo shrugged. "Everything seems to be poisonous. I'm going to see if I can't find Fredrick, or failing that, the stream he was supposed to find."

The stream was located in short order, a small babbling brook which almost sounded like it could make intelligent conversation, and as such, would be a decent sleep aid and water source. Fredrick came into view later and volunteered to go fetch the women while Thurgo went off to find dessert, possibly on the other side of the stream. Richard commenced lugging the deer towards their newfound campsite, a small clearing in the woods just downstream of where they were, and began looking about for materials for a fire. While he could have started one up magically, he didn't wish to accelerate the process of becoming a chicken.

Thurgo had gone upstream when a sight for sore eyes met his eyes. A black-and-red blur was chasing a bright blue blur in midair before landing some distance from him with a small thumping noise and a cloud of dust sifting outwards. He hurried towards the impact point, hoping that his gut instinct was right.

He happened upon Surtum and Rai, the two dragons who had managed to escape from down Below, and they seemed to be rather at ease with each other's presence. "Hey! Man, I'm glad I found you two! We'd been wondering where you'd gotten to!"

Rai whipped her head around and nodded at Thurgo. "It might have been boring yesterday, but as night fell, we began to reveal more and more about ourselves to each other. Frankly, I was surprised that the age-old prophecy still held power over my family's lineage."

"Prophecy?" Thurgo was bemused. Rai simply nodded again and continued.

"It was from long ago, when the First Dragon of Fire met the First Dragon of Earth. There was much to-do about it in the natural world, but when the two went to an old hag famous for her prophecies, she gave them this: You are well suited for each other, but alas, your offspring shall only marry royalty, until finally, when the final heir is born many eons hence, she will unite all four Elemental Dragons."

Thurgo looked over to Surtum. "You mean...?"

Surtum tried to dig his front right foot into the dirt and look down in self-perceived shame, and got out, "Yeah...my mother is the Queen of Water and my father is the Lord of Air...I wasn't too happy being down Below, but if I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have gotten to meet this wonderful creature." He lightly nipped at her wing.

"And if you hadn't come, then the prophecy would have driven me to you. You know the way these things work." She playfully nipped back.

Thurgo was torn between telling them to get a room, asking them if there was any vegetation nearby that wasn't poisonous, and telling them to follow him back to the others, when he heard a low chanting.

"Nod solus finis resquiem..." It sounded like. He didn't get to inquire as to what it meant when suddenly, everything went dark. A pair of heavily robed hands caught him before he hit the ground.

-----

Richard and Fredrick had managed to lead the ladies back to their campsite. For some odd reason, they all had vaguely smug looks on their faces. By this time, the chicken feathers and beak had worn off, and Fredrick began carving up the deer. Richard noticed that Eirra was slightly closer to him than normal and was watching him out of the corner of her eye. He knew because he kept catching her, and she pretended like she had been looking at something else.

Eventually Cheri voiced the question that was on everyone's minds: "Where's Thurgo? He ought to be back by now."

Richard and Fredrick were about to reply when they all heard chanting. "Nod solus finis resquiem..."

Richard felt the power behind that chant and managed to keep it from influencing him. However, the others were not so lucky and promptly hit the ground snoring, so he figured he'd do so as well, just to see what was happening and if he could help prevent anything worse than a sleep spell.

Several voices spoke up. "She'd make an excellent candidate for the Darkness, and he's better at Light than the one we currently have."

"Good. Take them all then. I don't want any witnesses, and that one looks like a mage. Obviously not very good if he can't fight our incantation, but he still might make trouble for us. The others...Well, if worse comes to worse, we can find...uses...for them."

There was an evil chuckling, then one knelt down by Richard. "M'lord! The mage is still awake!"

The chant was repeated quickly, with more power behind it, and Richard succumbed to unconsciousness.

-----

Richard woke up. Ow, his head...it felt as though someone had taken a large stone hammer to it. He opened his eyes, and noticed the bars of a cage. He tried moving his arms and legs, and felt nothing broken. He then tried moving, and despite initial sluggishness from getting up out of a weird position, he felt fine. He looked about his cage, and quickly backed up to the edge.

He'd been knocked out and laid out on top of Eirra. And was now in the same cage as her. This could not be good. For one, he was slightly suspicious of her intentions towards him. And for two, anything that could cause a mage to sleep, much less a golem, could only be trouble.

His actions caused her to wake up, though, and she looked about dazedly. "Huh? Where are we?"

"I don't know, but I'm not sticking around to find out," An oddly familiar, but not quite, voice piped up. Richard looked over to find Dinranwen and Thurgo, sans Raven the sword attached to his hand, in the next cage over. Cheri was in a cage that made a perfect triangle with the other two. The source of the voice was shown to be CrunchyFrog, the ever-present golden frog deity. He was sitting in Dinranwen's palm, and as he croaked, a large portion of the bars melted away.

"Come on," Richard said after dusting himself off. "We've got to find the others."

"What others?" Eirra piped up.

"They've got Fredrick and Raimah somewhere, along with someone else. You didn't think this was a random act, did you? No, these guys have a plan, I'm sure, and we just happened to get caught in the cross-fire. If we leave, it won't make a difference, but if we stay, we can do some damage. CrunchyFrog, if you could turn into something other than that form, it'd be most helpful."

CrunchyFrog cast a baleful eye at Richard before shimmering. He gained size, weight, and began blurring at the edges. Dinranwen quickly put him down, and from the shimmering golden orb that CrunchyFrog had become, a large golden frog, about six feet high and built like a human, stepped forth. "Better?" he croaked.

"Yes. Now come on and let's find them." The group fanned out, though not too far as to be past whispering range of another. They quickly came upon a clearing where an odd sight met their eyes.

In front of a large altar was what looked to be a huge fly, roughly human sized, but shaped like anything but. In what could most accurately be described as a mob in front of him, other large flies and some humans milled about uncertainly. "It looks like they're waiting for something," Cheri whispered.

"Brothers!" The fly on the altar boomed, "Our wait is over!"

"Nice try," Thurgo whispered.

"Wait for what?" Eirra pondered.

"The time is nigh! Let all the world fear us now, as we have..." The fly paused dramatically. "THE ELEMENTS!"

With that, the fly gestured and opened up a large portal in the sky. Surtum and Rai thumped down, followed by Fredrick and Raimah, along with an unknown person dressed in mostly black and shades of black.

"The very foundations of this place will cower before us, as we now possess the means to destroy it all by activating...THE DOOM PROTOCOL!"

The small band of adventurers whispered to each other. "That can't be good."

"Earth and Water!" And at this, a small orb of brown shot out of Rai and a blue orb shout out of Surtum.

"Dark and Light!" A very black orb shot out of Raimah, and a very bright one out of Fredrick.

"Fire and Air!" A red orb came out of Rai, and an almost invisible one was ejected from Surtum.

"And...a sacrifice! None other than the legendary thief Raven himself, returned to human form after a hundred and one years, as our founder had foretold!"

By this time, the mob of flies and humans were accelerated to a fever pitch of insanity. Their dreams were nigh! Soon they would rule the earth!

The group looked at one another. What could they possibly do?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well, I dealt with my Real Life issues...mostly. I still have a little to do yet, but no worries. I'll get around to it tomorrow at about...noon.
You may have noted that there is no ingredient tossed in by Helga. My brain is overtaxed, so y'all will deal.
However, I figured the chance to end a world-destroying spell was too good to pass up, so I let you off easy this time in the Idearium department.
How DO they stop this Doom Protocol? I don't know. In our corner, we have a Wild Mage, a Gargoyle, a Druidess, a Sorceress, a Priest, and a golden frog deity. In their corner, they have a mob of flies and humans, along with the ability to blow the world up when they kill off Raven.
Raven'll probably die anyways, unless you lot want to save him. It's saving the world that matters!
How do we do it? Any thoughts welcome, though stupid ones are tossed out.
F12
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

[Kalanna Rai]

*adds IM to list of people to hurt*

Well gee, maybe unleash some Wild Magic and hope that it doesn't hurt you as much as it hurts the others?

[Crunchyfrog]

Rescue Raven.

They've extracted the orbs, but without Raven they can do nothing. Rescue Raven and the world is saved from destruction. Our heroes may gain a regular pain in the arse tagging along with them for the next couple of chapters, maybe, but it may be interesting having a bad apple amongst the troops for a bit.

Oh, er, I suppose there is the obvious one... One giant frog - several giant flies... Frog is hungry... you get the picture. A possible diversion whilst the rescue is taking place maybe? :D

[Lilith]

Hmm... a delightful story, IdeaMaster! It entertains and has such a diverse area of plot twists and descriptions! ;)

I do agree with CF and that a hungry gold frog-person + flies= satiated gold frog-person and flies mysteriously missing... lol! Also, it seems that there is no choice but to keep Raven safe at all costs. No sacrifice, no doom protocol. :cool:

Good luck with your battle with RL. It sucks and I empathize with you. :D