City of IF

[solus.serpen]

The slight golden glow of a candle flame illuminates a thin pale hand, which is lying on what looks to be an old piece of parchment.
The stillness of it, and the silence of the area suggests that whoever it belongs to either isn't there or is
creak
...Solus...
...wake up - someone is here...
The hand twitches slightly, then withdraws from the light.
A pause.
...Who?...
A longer pause, then the hand reappears and hovers over the small flame. Closing around the fire, the light goes out immediately, leaving the corner in true darkness.
The swish of a cloak is heard, and then the soft sound of bare feet on the wooden floor.
The room smells musty, which seems to suggest that the parchment that was seen before isn't the only paper there.
A little way away, a luminous green light can be seen. Eyes which adjusted quickly to the dark, a figure wearing a black cloak that looks slightly too big for her slips in-between two bookshelves.
Peering through a crack in the woodwork, she allows herself a slight smile.
...Jez!...

Rounding the bookshelf, Solus stopped, still shrouded in the shadows.
"Brother..." A pause. "...Long time no see!"
Stepping into the light just long enough to give him a quick hug, Solus retreated again. Fully cloaked with the hood up anyhow, it didn't really make much difference.
"Solus! I didn't know you were here..."
"No, I've...been... ...working..." She replied quickly, although sounding slightly unsure.
"Solus..."
"I'm fine - I just...feel a bit out of it at the moment..."A slightly awkward silence ensued. "- I...it's hard work." She consented with a sigh.
"You look different..."
...He is suspicious of you, Solus. He's not sure you're you anymore...
...stay out of this. He. is. not. your. Brother...
"Just a bit paler...not much different..."
"Solus! Why won't you tell me what's..."
"Sh! You wanted to find a book? I know this library almost off by heart by now...I've been here quite a while."
...it pains you, doesn't it? - Not being able to tell him... - I feel for you...
...SHUT UP!...
Unable to control them, Solus's hands trembled slightly. Except for her feet, they were the only part that could be seen.
Slightly paler had been an understatement. They were white.
Glaring at them from under her hood, she sent the intense thought at them, a frown on her normally impassive lips. ...calm...
They stopped shaking immediately, and Solus waited for her brother's reply.

[dinranwen]

Deftly ducking and avoiding the guards IM had sent out presumably to herd back into the games section, Din had finally managed to find her way to Mage Mountain on the edge of the Achieves.

Bridgette, Din in disguise, looked up on the mountain and sighed. The mountain was beyond her skill to try. There was no way that even if she managed to climb it she could find Rai...although why she had the insane urge to find the Dragoness was beyond her.

All she knew was ever since she got back to the city, there was this burning desire to find Rai...a throbbing passion that kept pushing her even though something of her conscience told her something was quite right with that the desire. It was like there was something wrong, but every time she tried to figure out why her fingers slipped off the problem like oil on water.

As she stood contemplating the Mountain...the back of her was on fire, screaming at her to climb the mountain, to find Rai....

Din paused. Something was definitely wrong with this picture.

Find Rai...threaten Rai...follow Rai...

Why? She asked herself, I am suicidal or something? After all Rai did kill me in the first place?

Doesn't matter...you need to find Rai...you need to talk to Rai...make her understand...apologise...and follow Rai.

No. Din told her mind. But whatever it was wouldn't stop, and Din weakened from Death as she was...couldn't resist.

But she could talk to Rai...which is exactly what the back of her mind wanted to do.

Maybe, Rai could help. Or IM, Din said looking at her mod necklace, he's somewhere around her.

Sending a P.M. Rai's way, Din sat down at the bottom of the mountain and waited for the answer.

The message said, "Rai, I think we need to talk...X and Sprite will know who I am.

Signed Bridgette."

[D-Lotus]

D stopped as the tunnel began to give signs of widening into an open field.

"Crunchy, we need to get to the soul well. You need to get to the soul well."

Sasuke stood nearby. He held the fox now, but he was surprised when it suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. The Key disappeared as well.

"IM must have returned to his form." D said, as they all turned to see the smoke dissipate. "Sasuke, you know the way to the soul well through the tunnels, right? In that case, you and Crunchy don't need any map."

Crunchy waited for D to explain his plan.

"Crunchy, you have to dive inside the original well and find where the souls are being released from. There must be a fault of some kind. When you find it, use this on it." He withdrew a strange object from a secret pocket nobody had noticed before. D grinned. "I didn't know I had it either." He gave the object to Crunchy.

"Sasuke will help you. I'm sure you can do it. Meanwhile, I need to settle something personal. I'm sorry."

D began to walk towards the end of the tunnel as Crunchy and Sasuke watched him go.

"D," shouted Crunchy. D-Lotus turned towards him. "May the soul be with you." Crunchy waved goodbye. D nodded as his figure diffused into the distance. Crunchy and Sasuke began to follow, taking the strange object with them.

[Idea master]

"Come on, Smee...Just come together now..."

IM was weaving his hands about in a complex fashion, hoping to break the spells Smee was under. If he could break the mixed spell itself, then all would be well.

There was a sudden SNAP in the fabric of reality. A flash of lightning struck at IM's feet, and Smee was deposited safe and sound.

"Smee! Thank goodness you're okay!"

Smee looked around for a few seconds. "I'm back early. Thanks, I guess. Now what?"

IM yanked Smee in one direction. "Now we get to Mage Mountain before Lordy or anything that reports to him finds us."

Smee waved his hands around in just as complex a fashion as IM had done, and suddenly the two were at the base of the mountain itself.

IM and Smee quickly climbed the slope of Mage Mountain, pausing only to shoot a spammer that lurked in a hidden cave. They finally reached the cavern where Rai was hiding sometime in the middle of the night.

Looking back, IM reflected that it probably wasn't wise that he'd left all of his moderator adornments in his other robes.

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai, seated between Cami and Angel, paused with what she was doing. "Never mind Rath, it seems they've already arrived." Slowly IM and Smee walked in, both looking as wary as well...mages in a cave full of dragons. Rath settled back down before Rai's feet, looking at them calmly. "Gentlemen, good of you to arrive."

"Well, you did send for us. You said Lordy was after me...why?" Rai shrugged.

"All I know is that Lordy became very excited when I mentioned I had a copy of your book. He shrugged it off when I said I no longer had it but...well when Lordy expresses interest in something it's generally not good for the current owner." IM nodded, he could understand that.

"You were working for him, weren't you. Why the sudden change of heart?" Rai snorted.

"Working with him, not for him. As for the change of heart...when the death threats started in I realised that if I wanted my heart to remain where it was I had better start choosing my steps wisely. Lordy isn't likely to threaten me. Send hordes of Raver Demons after me sure, but not threaten."

"But why suddenly start working with us?" Rai raised an eyebrow.

"Was I ever working against you?"

[Idea master]

Legalese, double-talk, politician, IM understood it all. He'd make a great mayor one day, if he ever got off his fat arse. But Rai's story had a ring of truth to it. She was, after all, an assassin, and they were known to be loyal to themselves. IM must have factored in somewhere in her plan; otherwise he'd be dead meat in a few different bellies at this point in time. IM nodded slowly. "You do realise, of course, that once their services are no longer required, your characters will have to go back to their places in the Games district, yes?"

"Ye- wait, their services are required?" Rai was puzzled.

"Of course. With your and their permission, of course, I'd like to see if Smee and I can break the curse on Key right now. We're drained, but you lot aren't."

Mages and dragons had a history together, and in many tales it was written in shed blood. IM could only hope that this animosity would be put aside temporarily in light of the crisis upon IF.

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai looked at her ladies. "Well you lot, willing to pitch in and turn a Key into a King?" The dragonesses rolled their eyes. "Very well and good then." Rai pulled the gem off her left hind leg and each of her dragonesses let a single drop of blood fall upon it. Slowly the gem began to glow with power, purple from Angel, red from Rath, and golden from Cami.

When the flow of power had depleted itself enough Rai deftly plucked the gem up. With the tip of a talon she laid open both Smee and IM's left palm, placing both upon the gem's surface. "If you're ready to proceed gentlemen, I'll anchor your attempt." After all, nothing could ground magic like a highly resistant dragoness.

It was about this time that Rai received a PM from...no it couldn't be. But it was...dinranwen...

[Idea master]

IM and Smee flung themselves into the spell weaving like nothing before. They didn't immediately move their hands about moulding energy, though. This was precision work. If they only hit a few aspects of the curse, then Key could be stuck like he was forever. IM unconsciously pulled out his tome and opened it so that if he needed information, his body could look it up for him.

Power. Raw power and hatred. Smee's thoughts flickered across the ether.

Hmm. Emotional spells are always harder to break, they're infinitely more convoluted. IM was busy tracing the spell itself; it seemed like one thread fed back into itself constantly, like one of those darn Mobius strips.

But find the key thread and tug it, and it all falls apart. What is the source of the anger?

...It seems similar to the fog of souls hovering over the city...but it's coming from outside the wall...

Spammers, flamers, and trolls, then. Makes sense. But what mage in their right mind would aid them?

...It wasn't a mage...it was a daemon.

Oh dear. This will be interesting. Wait, I've found something, it looks to be the core of the curse.

Hang on, let me look...Yeah, that's defiantly it. All the loops pass by that point. Ready?

Yup. Let's do this then!

IM and Smee focused their thoughts and wove power through the intricate weaves of the curse to build up in the core of the curse. More, more...then there was a deafening, mountain-shattering BOOM.

The force that was used to break the curse caused Mage Mountain to explode in a brilliant flash of light. Key was restored, that much IM knew. Then he hit the ground, and knew no more.

[Kalanna Rai]

"Whoa!" Rai flapped as hard as she could, reattaching the gem to her hind foot. Luckily it hadn't vaporised in the flash that blew Mage Mountain and half the Archives out of the city. Hovering in position she scanned around her, watching as Angel, Cami, and Rath all shook their heads and stood on wobbly legs.

Sniffing about Rai managed to locate IM but not Smee...it seemed he'd been knocked into sometime next week. Checking the mage for injuries she could treat, Rai muttered to herself about the fragility of mortals and thanked every power she was willing to admit existed that she was a dragoness of some toughness.

"Although I could do with some sleep soon...I've been stretching myself way too thin." She snorted. That had to be the understatement of all understatements...but she'd be fine...for now.

[Idea master]

IM was unconscious, but was not granted the mercy of being completely disconnected from the world. When one breaks a powerful curse, the caster is usually notified...

"Ah, IM, I see you restored Key. This sets my plans back, but not irreparably so. I have already dispatched some interesting characters to 'take care' of that problem, but seeing as you're still around, I figured I'd teach you a lesson."

IM quaked in his non-existent boots. Lordy was going to do something to him, and he could do nothing to stop it!

"Ah, yes...I'll just...wipe your memory, shall I? Don't be worried, you might gain it back, D-Lotus did the same, after all. Farewell..."

On the spirit plane, nobody can hear you scream.

[Kalanna Rai]

Okay Rai was finally willing to admit it to herself that she needed some sleep as she and her ladies winged their way to Jester Park. Landing next to her glyph and Lebby, Rai set IM down next to the skiffy mod. "Rath, I understand you'll be returning to Games soon...you'd better grab the others to go back with you. Cami, stay here and guard me, you belong in the Park anyway. Angel...since the mountain has been destroyed you may take over guarding my Council Hall Lair."

The dragonesses bobbed their heads. Slowly Rai walked over to the aHEM guildhall. Opening the door she made it all the way down to her Lair in there, curling up on her mounds of gold. Setting the formidable guildhouse defences on high alert, and locking down the Lair just for safety sake, Rai finally dozed off...

[Crunchyfrog]

The explosion on Mage Mountain shook the city. Although most did not know what had caused it, let alone what had happened to Key or Smee, many were affected by it.

In the rooms of the archives that had not been blown to bits, the books had toppled from their shelves, burying Jez and Solus.

Somewhere in the streets, Masterweaver took cover as falling masonry crashed to the ground.

In the dungeons of the palace, Xansta gripped the wall as the very fabric of the building shook.

D stumbled as the ground beneath him swayed.

Polokin dodged flying rock as he fled through Jester Park, unwittingly running past the motionless Lebrenth....

* * *

Sasuke and Crunchyfrog had already made good progress out through the city and into the burnt trees near Jester Park when the explosion happened. The ground rumbled and a crack opened up with wisps of fog rising from it. They found the hole that they'd emerged from when they'd escaped the labyrinth that morning, and crawled back inside.

Keeping his hand tightly closed over the object D had given him; Crunchy followed Sasuke, as they pressed onwards through the tunnels. After an hour or so they noticed the tunnels rising slightly - they must be inside the cliff now. Crunchyfrog remembered the damp cool air, and the strange mushrooms.

Finally they arrived in the cave where the tunnels converged. The pools were still there.

"It's over to you now, I guess." said Sasuke, settling back on his hind legs.

"Yeah, I guess..." replied Crunchyfrog.

Approaching the pools, Crunchyfrog stared at the one that Masterweaver had fallen into, almost 24 hours ago. He looked over his shoulder at Sasuke.

"If I'm not back in 12 hours, go and find D." He said.
Sasuke nodded bravely.

Crunchyfrog turned back towards the pools, one of which now swirled like a whirlpool, glowing softly, as if it was expecting him.

Sasuke watched as Crunchyfrog took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and walked towards the pool like a man condemned...

In one second he was grabbed, stretched, warped, twisted and sucked down into a glowing vortex... In the next, the pool darkened and was quiet - and Sasuke was alone.

[JezSharp]

A pale hand and arm shot out of the pile of books, followed by a second. Then Jez's head, looking slightly dazed. Panting he pulled himself out and shouted 'Solus'. There was a muffled reply nearby and the sound of sliding books as she emerged. "Ok," Jez said relieved, "what on Earth was that..." Solus didn't respond, and she too looked rather confused. "Never mind," Jez said as he stared disconnectedly at the jumbled heap of books, reading the titles with some despair, 'The Adventures of Goth...How to clean a sewer - Wayne Pipe...Treasured Secrets of IF by Keavney...What to do if you're accosted by the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Troll by... Wait a minute, that sounds promising, he thought as he scooped down and picked up the Treasured Secrets of IF. Turning to Solus he said,

"Perhaps you should head back to the TI, I'm not quite sure how safe it is here." Dust was still falling from the ceiling...besides it's not exactly healthy spending so much time in here anyway, he thought as he awaited her response.

[Crunchyfrog]

The sky began to lighten over the City of IF. It had been nearly 24 hours since D had found himself on the cliff ledge, along with Crunchyfrog, Masterweaver, and a fake map, as well as suffering from amnesia, and having a vengeful BStheGreat after his hide.

During that time, his amnesia had lessened, and he had begun to regain his strengths as one of the forces of the city, reacquainting himself with his sleuthing skills, his sixth sense and spider senses. He had only been half aware of the conversation between Crunchy and IM back at the mansion about the impending Council meeting, since he had been elsewhere on the Astral plane with Lebrenth, but now his senses crystal clear and all working together, it struck him now... The Council Meeting was to be in half an hour in Jester Park.

That would be at around sunrise. He remembered that the sunrise was what triggered the entrance of the labyrinth to suddenly open 24 hours ago... He hoped that Crunchyfrog had got a good head start towards the Soul Well, as there could easily be an opportunity for anyone with a map to find it, at this time of day, via the front entrance.

He also hoped that Lebrenth would have kept his promise in his Astral meeting with D, and assist with the Soul Well - which would mean to be there for Crunchyfrog when it counted. However, D was not aware of Lebby's current mortal reliance on the Crypt Spider in Jester Park. And that even if Ideamaster woke up beside him, his memory had been wiped so cleanly he'd not even know what a Crypt Spider was, let alone safely remove its jaws from Lebby's neck...

* * *

Crunchyfrog's stomach churned as he fell through void after void. He tried opening his eyes to avert the nausea, but the swirling clouds, light and movement that flashed in front of them made him feel even worse....

[solus.serpen]

...Well, that rather spoilt the opening...
...like it wasn't already...
Solus quickly reached up to pull the hood back over her uncovered face, then stopped. What was the point? Jez was her brother after all...
"Why should I go back to TI?" Deep black eyes peered at him curiously from beneath long white hair. This appearance on a teenager of age roughly 14 - 17 looked unnatural - but what didn't in this place? It was obvious that Jez was surprised at this new look.
...So he has noticed you've changed...
...It would be hard not to - but that doesn't matter...
"What's going on?" Solus finished.
She had heard the unspoken words in his tone of voice.
...Yes, it is unhealthy - but that's my problem - I've lived with it this long...
...He is just trying to help...
...The books...
Solus looked around in horror at the jumble of books lying on the floor as if she had just realised.
"I should sort out the books..." She muttered softly, almost to herself as she bent down and picked up a book. Placing it back on the shelf, she bent down to pick up another but a restraining hand on her arm stopped her.
"It doesn't matter - it would take ages to sort out these books. How about you just go to TI and wait there?"
"Wait for what? Where are you going?"
Jez hesitated, then shrugged.
"I have a council meeting."
...I don't want to leave here...
...I know what you mean - but maybe it is better if you go to TI...
...I don't like TI. It's too light...why can't I just stay here?...
"Can I come to the council meeting too? I'll hide so they don't see me if you want - I've done that before!"
An annoyed frown crossed Jez's face for a fleeting moment.
...I thought you didn't want to leave here...
...I don't know why I said that!...
...well, I suppose it can't do any harm...
"Well..." Jez started.

[dinranwen]

Din felt herself being zapped somewhere in the back of her mind, but reconstructing she became another of Rpg characters. One thing about being a shadow so long, surviving through death, a laser gun shot, and having a mountain crumble on your head, you got used to reconstructing. In fact, Dinranwen had just discovered a new skill. If she let herself to take over a shadow near herself, she could become as flat and as invulnerable as that shadow.

Another good thing - whoever/whatever was driving her thoughts before the Mountain Crumbling on her, only to be saved just in time by her very lucky discovery, apparently thought she was dead. So she was left alone with only a slight headache and a few bumps the worse for the wear. Shifting into the ever punk-ish Brithil Cirya's form, Din paused a moment to look at her mod necklace...according to it she had not quite twenty minutes to make from ruins of the former mage mountain to her natural environment of Jester Park.

Starting to run as Brithil's brown skirt slapped against her bare legs, Din winced...she bet that Jester Park was a mess after that explosion. Increasing her pace to avoid the possessed miners, the fog, and the denizens of the Realm of Dead Ifian's Din had let into the city; Din finally stood before the gate of Jester Park.

Fifteen minutes...her necklace beeped....

Din shook her head as she looked at her reflection in a broken mirror. There was no way she was going to go to a Council Meeting without one of her cloaks, but there was simply not enough time to retrieve them. Even if she took the quick way...but then something caught her eye that was far more interesting than the disaster of not having her cloak.

There on the ground with a huge spider on his neck was Lebby. Din screamed. She hated spiders. Pulling out a spare dagger left over from her Bridgette disguise. Din went about removing the spider from Lebby's neck.

Then using a two-by-four she squished the thing until it was flatter than the street it laid on.

Turning back to Lebby, Din blinked...was it her imagination or did he just blink?

[JezSharp]

Really, why is she acting so strangely? The elf thought, puzzled. Sighing he replaced the frown with a smile,

"Ok, sure," he said as he dived into the tunnel. Once Solus had slipped in after him he ordered the trolls to try and sort the books into alphabetical order, something that a few of them could just about muster.

Quickly he strode along, his eyes scanning the first few pages of the book. Flicking over a couple more he found an original sketched map of some of the key places in IF. Nowhere near as exact or precise as the original, but each with a ream of information hidden within the book.

As they reached a door, Jez adjusted the lights so that they were far dimmer, and behind he heard Solus relax slightly. She really does spend way too much time underground at the minute, I thought I was bad...

It wasn't long before they once again reached the heart of the TI, "ok we can travel there by tunnel or by car", Jez pondered out loud, "which do you think, Solus?"

[D-Lotus]

It can wait, thought D-Lotus. He turned his head towards the ominous Ferris Wheel in Jester Park. Searching his body, he discovered to still be in possession of the Stupidium gun. If he hurried, he could make it in time for the council meeting. Indeed, what better time to expose everything? Yet, how much good would that do? In any case, D-Lotus trusted in Crunchy's ability to close the breach in the soul well. After all, the sacrifice was made so that the soul well would not go beyond control.

[Idea master]

IM came to. He looked around carefully, to ensure that he was safe, and then began to wander off in search of food and the other basics of life. He didn't remember where he had been or where he was going. All he was interested in was his own survival.

Deep in IM's brain, a war raged. The part of his memories that his magic had been able to salvage were pitifully small, and the memories that had been supposedly wiped clean raged to get out. Lordy's curse separated the two via an overwhelmingly thick mental block, which both sets of memories were struggling against, trying to not succumb completely. Unless he helped his own brain, IM might stay like he was forever.

[Kalanna Rai]

A single sleepy chime from a waterclock was rewarded by the said waterclock exploding into a spray of mist and fine particles by a jet of flame. Rai cracked an eye open and muttered about the foolish calling of a Council meeting. Still, sleep or no, she had to be there. "I'm not going unprepared though. Shit will hit the fan.." Standing she walked to the back of her Hoard and, without doing anything noticeable, vanished.

She popped back into existence a few moments later standing over Lebby and an RPG character that could only be Din in disguise. Din whirled around, spider-gut covered 2X4 in hand. "You..." Her voice trailed off as she got a good look at Rai. Camwyre wasn't the only dragon to wear armour after all...Rai's was just a sleeker set. It crackled over her glowing red scales like hazy black fire just daring a fool to try it.

"Good to see you again Din...I knew you'd find your way back."

"You mean you...Oh dragoness I could be very angry with you." Rai smiled.

"You could...or you could look at it this way. Now you can cross that roomful of mousetraps without being snapped..."

[Crunchyfrog]

The twosome stood together in Jester park, waiting for somebody else to turn up. Ideamaster had wandered out of sight, unnoticed by either of them. Lebrenth was laying on the ground, breathing fast, and looking feverish, as the venom from the Crypt spider had been withdrawn, and his bodies own defences were left to deal with what was left of the poisons he had imbibed earlier.

The sun could barely be seen through the hazy fog as it peeped between the lower rise buildings of the city, starting its climb into the sky. The fog itself, thick and greyish, still coiled itself tightly around the spires of the city centre, sliding like a serpent through the streets, full of whispering, angry souls.

Jester Park was a mess, as was much of the rest of the city, littered with rock, craters, scorch marks...

D steeled himself as he picked his way through the debris. His mind was going through what he was going to say at the meeting, and what Crunchyfrog might be going through right now.

* * *

As he continued to fall through the Soul Well, Crunchyfrog began to feel his body being bounced from one rocky wall to the other, collecting bruises to be proud of. He scrabbled with his hands and feet every time he felt something he could hold on to, to break his fall, until finally he lodged himself in what seemed to be a rocky shaft. Feeling the blood rush to his head, he realised he was facing downwards, and, alarmed, he opened his eyes to see what kind of abyss awaited him.

Incredibly, he saw light... a whole world stretched out below him. It looked beautiful, tranquil, a small village, fields, forests... but how could he be in a cave... in a hole up in the sky? He craned his neck to get a good look at the sky from his position - it was angry, with great vortices swirling in it.

He had no idea that below him was, in fact, the Realm of Dead IFians.

Crunchyfrog lost his grip and fell towards it.

[solus.serpen]

"Tunnel." Solus replied without hesitation. As she did so, she frowned slightly.
...Are you annoyed that he hasn't commented on your new appearance?...
...He has hinted at it...
...Hardly worth the effort...
...It wasn't meant for that, anyway - It was so I could prove it to myself...
...To me?...
...To myself...
Solus frowned slightly as she followed Jez through a door, absentmindedly wiping her hands on her robes as she did so. She hoped there wouldn't be anymore trolls in this tunnel. They really did disgust her - and the thought of them touching all those beautiful books...
...she shivered.
She wished she had stopped Jez from asking them - now that she knew that the trolls had fingered them, she would have to think twice before picking them up.
...They're all ruined...
...Not all...
...Oh yes - there is that one...
Hand moving to a concealed pocket in her long black robes, Solus fingered the top of a small book that was hidden there.
...Just this one...

[dinranwen]

Brithil smiled at Rai..."True, but only if I can get my form back...as of right now, I'm stuck my various RPG characters until I can harvest my shadow half...which by the way was only thing that survived after that nasty little fall."

Pausing a moment, Din looked at Lebby, "I would ask...." shaking her head Din decided against it, "But I won't prove the saying of Curiosity Killed the Dinranwen twice in one day thank you." Cocking her head Din decided to take a chance...after all there wasn't much worse things that Rai could do other than kill her again. "I suppose I owe you an apology though...what can I say I'm insanely curious and sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me."

"Curious my tail." Rai growled, "Curiosity I can forgive...but it's not like you to threaten. Beg maybe...but never threaten."

"I know," Din said as she knelt next to Lebrenth with a bag she had conjured from Rain's possession, Din knew she could return it soon enough. Working various herbs into a mixture, Din went about making a potion whilst she talked, "I'm curious about that myself...In the tunnel it was just curiosity that drove me at first but after I came back...." Din shook her head and added a dash of something else in the mix, "It was like my curiosity had doubled itself...quite unlike me. If I am correct enough to guess, I would say someone placed a spell on me to get me to spy on you."

"I wonder who..." Rath muttered. "No time for that now, we have a meeting to get too."

Din poured the green goo into a chalice she pulled from the nearby shadow, and using the same shadow sent Rain's healing bag back to it's owner.

Prying Lebby's Jaw open she forced the substance down his throat, muttering, "Anti-venom venom taken from the spider over there, quite harmless in this form," at the curious look from Rath and watched for change in her temporary patient. But upon being reminded of the meeting, "Oh yes, that. That reminds me...could you help me with..." Din gestured over her current form helplessly, "I would like to appear as myself at the meeting...I can't get to my Council Chambers in time to weave together my new 'form'. Can you help? I am afraid the only thing I can offer is some priceless information about the fog in the city, and maybe a valueless ancient antique from another plan...but would you do it for me, please?"

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai sighed...if she could just...nevermind. With a few quick movements she pulled a few shadows from around the park, stretching and pulling with tendrils of magic twisted throughout. Holding out a shapeless shadow-form she raised an eyebrow.

"Hopefully this will work...I don't do shadow-weaves much anymore." With a massive yawn the dragoness curled up on the ground and closed her eyes partway. Still alert, still keeping an eye out, she settled into a half slumber. "Tap me when everyone gets here."

[Lebrenth]

Paralysis sucks Lebrenth thought to himself in sublime understatement. The last few hours he could barely blink and his breaths became impossibly slow. It was like breathing through a small straw, each second you feel yourself suffocating because you can't get enough air. Through his mod ring he was able to hear about some of the events of the city. The news was scattered and confusing, but most of all frustrating. And each time another IFian ran past Lebrenth knew that if he could only muster a small yell that he would be helped.

Just as he was thinking no one would show for the council meeting, everyone began to converge. Lebrenth wanted to hug Din's shade as she removed the spider... he would be happy to do about any action if it meant he was no longer paralysed. When she noticed him blinking he felt a wave of relief. It was rough but he could communicate. Then again, how the hell do you blink: "Find Lordy now!"

Carefully thinking up his own version of Morse code, Lebrenth began blinking. With a pen and paper they could decode the brief message. Din noticed his blinking and immediately established a meaning. His eyes must be dry.

As another strange substance slithered down Lebrenth's punctured throat, he did not care what the effect would be. Even death seemed rather pleasant comparatively. He certainly didn't expect the surge of energy that sprung him to his feet.

"Lordy!" Lebrenth bellowed loudly. The sound of it was quite unsettling to those who heard it, even Rai, who was used to it. Then Lebrenth's body went into overdrive; as though all the time spent holding still was charging up suddenly exploding.

"Ah! Thank you Din, I owe you one Rai. What's going on and why did you put that nasty spider on me and leave? Do you even know what it feels like to be paralysed? But wait, I have to find Lordy before the Soul Well implodes I have no time to explain goodbye!"

Lebrenth runs away before his words are fully understood.

"What's in that green stuff?" Rai asks Din.

[Idea master]

IM wandered around, looking for food, when a sight stopped him. There before him was a huge red dragon.

IM's new beliefs that sprung from his amnesia warred with what his eyes were now seeing. It couldn't be real, could it? Something wasn't right with the world.

Or maybe, a treacherous little voice said in the back of his mind, The world isn't the one with a problem. Maybe it's you.

Okay, you can shut up. There is nothing wrong with me. I know I've been like this for as long as I can remember-

which is all of twenty minutes.

[Crunchyfrog]

The Story So Far...

The last 36 hours probably had been the most dramatic the City of IF had ever seen.

During the New Year celebrations in the City of IF, Smee had discovered somebody in his basement, weaving a spell to try and crack open the Soul Well.

The Soul Well had been created several months previously, when thousands of soulless IFians' were exorcised from the city. After the Mass Exorcism, Chinaren, the Mayor, had performed the Ceremony of Release, casting the exorcised souls into the Wells.

Smee did his best to thwart the attempt to crack the well open, but the result was a tangling of spells causing a huge gaping hole to appear where Smee's house used to be. As well as Smee being knocked, quite literally, into the future, and a fear spell hanging over the area. The unknown perpetrator sent up a massive magical flare when his work was done, seen by many of the New Years revellers as a huge crack of lightning. IFians could be been seen fleeing from the city in all directions. Now that it was open, and with souls pouring out of it, the Soul Well was unstable and in danger of imploding.

As the sun rose, a strange fog hung over the city.

Crunchyfrog and D-Lotus woke up clinging to a ledge high up on a cliff face, with no memory of how they got there. The last thing either of them remembered was the huge crack of lightning. The first thing they discovered was that Crunchyfrog had a map planted on him. It later turned out to be a fake of the Master Map of the City, stolen from the Council Hall. D-Lotus was rather perturbed when the second thing he discovered was that BStheGreat was seriously after his hide. Due to his amnesia, he had absolutely no idea why.

The cliff face, however, turned out to be the entrance to a labyrinth, that coincidentally lead to, and contained, the Soul Well.
Along with Masterweaver, D-Lotus and Crunchyfrog tried to navigate the labyrinth using the map, but did not get very far because they soon discovered it was a fake, and also Kalanna snatched it from them and took it back to the city, leaving them to find their own way out. In the labyrinth they met Sasuke, a half breed dragon who had secretly witnessed Chinaren's Ceremony of Release, and on their escape back to the city, encountered Xansta, an IFian from before the Mass Exorcism, who had somehow been strangely changed by the event.

On their journey back to the City Centre, they also briefly encountered Polokin - an IFian who had been approached for help prior to the start of the story by both BStheGreat and by D. He pledged his allegiance to BSthegreat, to assist in his vengeful quest against D.

On examining the fog in the city, D deduced that it contained many escaped souls from the Soul Well, who were somehow evoking hatred towards Chinaren amongst otherwise respectable IFian citizens. And they, along with miners, and other residents, were rampaging and revolting in the city - tearing down the Mayoral mansion, and any of Chinarens entrepreneurial enterprises. Fortunately for Chinaren, he did not seem to be at home.

Worried about Kalanna's strange behaviour with the map, D-Lotus made the decision not to find her and tell her it was a fake, but instead confided in IdeaMaster, who, after hearing of D's adventures, decided to find Key. After losing Masterweaver and Xansta in the throngs of the Open Forum, D, Xansta, Crunchyfrog and IdeaMaster broke into Key's palace, and with Kalanna's help, rescued him, to discover that Key had been the subject of a curse - turned into a key. Shortly afterwards, in the tunnels under the palace, Dinranwen, who was determined to tag along with Kalanna, was pushed by the dragon down a bottomless pit to her apparent death, enabling Kalanna to retrieve an object she required - an object Lordofthenight wanted from her - a vial of red liquid. What this vial is, is unknown, but upon retrieval, Kalanna simply said: "The blood of the beginning...check!"

Unbeknownst to Kalanna, or to anyone else, for that matter, Smudger, a little hunchback who had been creeping about the tunnels in the vicinity, fell down the bottomless pit after Dinranwen.

D-Lotus had been knocked about a bit during the daring rescue of Key, and was at this point, barely conscious. However, the blow to his head helped his amnesia retreat; his special sleuthing senses and powers were returning. IdeaMaster brought everyone back to his mansion, which doubled as a high security fortress, partly against the rampaging mobs, and partially because of their mistrust of Kalanna.

All the while, Polokin, who had parted company with BStheGreat for now, was never far behind them, tailing them in the shadows. But for now, he was shut out of the mansion. Meanwhile, JezSharp, the Tourist Information elf, had been quietly continuing his project of digging his own maze of tunnels under the city, from his quarters underneath the unassuming Tourist Information booth, using the REAL Master Map of the city. (He had stolen it a long while back, when he first took over the TI, and replaced it with a fake, which in turn got stolen during the New Year party and planted on Crunchyfrog, and is now in Kalanna's possession)

His tunnels were close to completion, but he had to hide evidence of his digging project and the map quickly, when Lordofthenight arrived unexpectedly with an unconscious Lebrenth. Lebrenth, (Skiffy moderator) had accidentally stumbled across the Dream Chamber, and was in a deep sleep. Lordy ordered Jez to do whatever was needed to revive him, which included administering some rather interesting potions.
Lordy also ordered Jez to set up a Council meeting for a few hours time, in Jester Park, to show a united front, given the strange goings on over the past 18 hours. Concerned about his secret tunnels, and suspicious of Lordy and Kalanna, Jez temporarily imprisoned Lebrenth in a room in the TI, whilst he saw to the tunnels completion.
Kalanna soon came to the TI to rescue Lebrenth, taking him to Jester Park and causing Jez to completely secure the TI against any further unauthorised breach. He also managed to complete the tunnel network, make copies of the Master Map and PM it to various individuals, and then return the original Master Map to Council Hall. However it soon fell into Lordy's hands. Jez used his tunnel network to get into the City Archives, and found a book entitled "The Treasured Secrets of IF", by Keavney, before moving on to the Council meeting, along with solus.serpen, who had mysteriously appeared in the tunnels. Something was...different about her, somehow.... The potions imbibed by Lebrenth caused some interesting effects, as he lay semi-concious in Jester Park, not least to put his mind in a place where he was able to communicate on another plane with the consciously impaired D-Lotus....
During his incarceration in the TI, Lebrenth had learned much of what had happened at the New Year party. And with D's amnesia slowly retreating, their otherworldly meeting helped D remember the horror of a sacrifice he had performed on someone, for the good of the city, to help stop the Soul Well go beyond control. During the encounter he asked Lebrenth for his help, to use the Soul Well.

On returning to consciousness, D gave his orders to Crunchyfrog to go and dive into the Soul Well, and take an object with him, to help make a repair. Then resolutely went off to see to some unattended business, but decided to check in on the impending Council Meeting on the way.

Crunchyfrog, already severely traumatised by the events that had passed thus far, retraced his steps with Sasuke's help, back to the pools in the labyrinth, and dived into the Soul Well. He found himself plummeting towards a rather idyllic looking land under an angry sky, totally unaware that this was actually the Realm of Dead IFians, the very place that Dinranwen and Smudger had just left, merely hours before.

The Realm of the Dead IFians was where Dinranwen had ended up after being kicked down the bottomless pit by Kalanna. Located directly beneath the Soul Well, it was a resting-place for inactive IFians such as Muadib, Raven and Wing. Whilst in the Realm Dinranwen discovered that the Souls were being sucked back into the city, in the form of the fog, and that the anti-Chinaren sentiments were being controlled by someone else. She persuaded the residents to accompany her back to the City, in disguise.

Throughout the whole time, Lordofthenight and Kalanna Rai had been meeting and communicating in secret.
Several cryptic conversations between them suggested that Kalanna had been seconded to do some dirty work for Lordy. She had so far provided him with a copy of the Master Map of the city, with certain areas marked, and then set off to guide certain 'test subjects' in the right direction, at Lordy's request. Now she held the 'Blood of the Beginning' vial, which Lordy wanted. Kalanna's position was an interesting one - having done a lot of work for Lordy, she had become a subject of great mistrust by many who knew her. To the point where IdeaMaster had even gone as far as to try and kill her, by substituting his spell book that she had stolen for a Necromicon.

IdeaMaster had contacted Smee, from whom he had learned about the attempt to crack open the Soul Well, and obtained agreement to help reverse the curse on Key. With an apparent change of heart, Kalanna, along with some of her RPG characters, assisted IdeaMaster and Smee in reversing a curse on Key, to turn him back into his rightful form.

This resulted in blowing up most of Mage Mountain, and half the city archives being blown apart. Smee was nowhere to be found, and more importantly, nor was Key.
Even more worryingly, IdeaMaster subsequently had his memory wiped, seemingly by Lordofthenight....

* * *

The sun is now rising over the City of IF. The Fog still curls and whispers around the city, that is littered with bits of Mage Mountain, City Archive, and other unidentified burning rubble, left by rampaging crowds.

Gradually, Council members are gathering in Jester Park for the Council Meeting.

Kalanna and Dinranwen are already at Jester Park.
D-Lotus is making his way to the rendezvous point.
IdeaMaster is in the vicinity, and can see Kalanna.
Polokin is close by. JezSharp and Solus are travelling via Jez's tunnels.
Lebrenth has run off, looking for Lordofthenight.
Crunchyfrog is in the Realm of Dead IFians.
Sasuke is in the labyrinth, by the pools, at the entrance of the Soul Well.
Masterweaver is somewhere in the city.
Xansta is in the dungeon of the palace.
Smudger is somewhere in the city, dressed in a uniform of some sort.

The Council Meeting is due to start in 20 minutes...

[dinranwen]

((Sorry for taking so long everyone...RL has been rather harsh lately.))

Looking at the sleeping dragoness to the lifeless two-dimensional shadow form Din held in her hands and then back, Din sighed.

Holding up the shadow critically up to the pale light of street light, Din cringed...but looking at the sky Din knew sunrise wouldn't be far away. The Sun would bring council members to Jester Park and the resulting Council Meeting. There was simply not enough to be fussy....besides the Council Members would probably be curious if they saw a RPG character and not Dinranwen, HEM Cleaning MOd at Large.

Folding the shadow form neatly, Din grabbed a drain pipe to scrabble up the nearest roof. A few falls, bumps, and scratchs later Din sat trimpuphantly on the roof of a nearby building that gave her a very nice view of the night shalottes that made up Jester Park.

From here, Din decided she would be able to keep a look out for Council Members, and once the Sun arose survey the Damage on Jester Park. After all, Din thought, it wasn't likely that Rai cleaned it....at least not personally, she probably drug those orange green haired creatures out again...and they never do a good job.

Settling down, Din pulled out a needle and thread and began her work. Stiching here, pulling there, twist that, and tugging this, Din widdled the little that remained of the night working on the shadow. Holding up the finished article Din look at the shadow, it was still flat as a piece of paper but at least it looked more lifelike than before. Still she could have done much better work if she had her loom.....ah well.

Stealing a link of chain mail from Brithil's regaila and a couple of gems from a braclet, Din hurriedly stiched a quick cloak tie. Swirling the shadow around her shoulders, Din sighed contendly as the shadow swirled and conformed to Brithil's smaller frame.

The shadow cloak was a long shot from being returned to her body, but at least now she partial looked like her oldself even if Brithil's form was under the cloak.

Glancing up for the first time, Din noticed that the sun had finally rose, turning the smuag from the Laboratrory into a brillant swirl of colors.

Pulling up a new, Din surveyed the City as it was slowly revealed by the sun's rising light.

All over the City smoke swirled pink and gray. Dents, Scraps, and even a blast or two from a certain wandering Lightening bolt told Din that most of this damage had been done by the RPG characters IM had let loose.

Looking toward her left to the Fantasy district Din saw the left over of grandages, shovels, pickets, and helmets....Must be from the minners Din thought.

In the rear of her sight, toward the Hall of Legends, Din glanced toward where Mage Mountain had once been. Once been being the key words in that sentence.....all that was left of that once towering mountain was a pile of rubble.

Din shuddered just hours before all this she had been over there and had only barely escaped.

Finally, Din turned to Jester Park mentally preparing herself for the damage she was probably about to see.

But no amount of preparing could have readied her for what she saw....

Wigs, parts of clowns, gaudy garments lay about the street sorched and some of them still smoking.....piles of melted wax from rides lay across the scene. Glancing at her partially singed office quaters, Din saw the flicker of smuldering coals. What beast had lit this fire, Din thought.

Even the mighty ferris wheel of Tempting Fate was distorted in a odd way by the heat of the now dead fire....Din shook her head sadly. Jester Park was a mess, and it would take more than her feather dusters to clean it up.

Looking farther into the park to the Tired of Death Carousal....Din spotted what looked like a glowing gliph. If she remember rightly, Rai had carved the gliph to indicate the meeting place.

Shaking her head in disgust one final time at the mess, Din turned her gaze to the street.....people were heading this way and judging by the frantic flicker of her mod necklace they were all council members.

Jumping off the roof, Din gently woke Rai up standing far back just in case Rai decided to snap off her head. Telling the dragoness of the coming delgates, Din watched as Rai woke up, streched, and lopped off to the meeting place.

Obediently following Rai, Din found herself wondering who exactly would show up first for this 'meeting'.

[Crunchyfrog]

Sitting down next to Kalanna, Dinranwen peered through the fog, as some shapes came into view. The first she could see was Smudger.

"Hey, Smudge!!" she yelled, relieved that he was still around in the city. Kalanna narrowed her eyes, and snorted.

"That's Smudger?" she asked incredulously, looking at the tall uniformed man striding towards them. He looked nothing like the little hunchback she knew of old. "What happened to him?"

"He fell down the bottomless pit to the Realm of Dead IFians, after me." replied Dinranwen darkly. "Like me, he is borrowing a body to appear in IF."

Waving at Smudger, Dinranwen asked of the whereabouts of Muaddib and the others.

"They are all waiting on the edge of the park." replied Smudger, as he approached the meet point, and touched what was left of his Mod ring on the glyph, to confirm his attendance.
"When I told them I would be attending a Council Meeting, they decided to hold off any action until afterwards. They felt that they needed to learn more. Besides, they dont want to be here. They want to be back in their Realm."

"Well I intend to reveal everything I have learned at this meeting." replied Dinranwen. "This is going to be interesting."

"Indeed, " added Kalanna. "It will be very interesting, looking at what I'm seeing over there..."

She pointed a talon at a figure running full pelt, sort of towards their general direction, although still some distance away, calling out for Lordy at the top of his voice.

Having realised that the council meeting was about to commence, Lebrenth now expected Lordy to be back at the place he had just left. He'd turned heel and was running for all he was worth, dodging the piles of melted wax and scorched clown bits, back towards the meeting point.
"LORDY!!!" he bellowed. The panic and adrenalin levels within him were rising. He had to tell Lordofthenight NOW about the iminent danger of the Soul Well imploding, and its likely repercussions.

Unfortunately for Lebby, he ran straight into a tree. The collision took the wind right out of him. He was showered with apples, and then unexpectedly flattened by one very confused Ideamaster, who lost his grip of the branches.

"Ideamaster! What were you doing in that tree?"

"I was hungry." replied IM. "Care for an apple? Who are you anyway? And who's Ideamaster?"

Before he could answer to these unexpected remarks, Lebby thought he saw a figure looking very much like D, ducking behind some shrubs.

"D-Lotus! Is that you?" he hissed. But there was no reply.

Directly underneath where Lebby and IM lay, Jezsharp pounded through his underground tunnel network, clutching at his book, "The Treasured Secrets of IF and dragging Solus behind him.
"Come on, we're late! Lordy will brain me if I'm late again..." he muttered, his cloak billowing out behind him, revealing his sharp cream suit underneath. He secretly wished he'd had his workers bore a hole to the surface closer to the meet point. It would have saved him a lot of time...

Meanwhile, Polokin sat quietly on a bench in Jester Park, surveying the chaos around him. Oddly, it was the same bench he'd sat on just 24 hours ago. He smirked at the irony. He'd gone on a journey around IF hunting down D, and really if he'd sat on that same bench all the time, D would have eventually come to him.
Still, there was much in store to see for this spectator, and he waited hopefully to see the Council members converge at the meeting point, for the Council Meeting. Although judging by what he was seeing, he wondered if they were even capable of doing that...

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai yawned and stretched, eyeing the glowing glyph to make sure it was still sending out it's signal. Sitting up she put on her poker face and flexed her wings. It was interesting seeing her fellow mods acting like novice spammers...but it also troubled her.

"Has everyone lost their minds?"

"Humm?" Din looked up at her.

"Nothing...nothing at all." Narrowing her eyes the dragon wondered if this sudden outbreak of erratic behavior was the cause of her earlier power-grabbing. That was unlike her, she preferred to be an intimidating, figure lurking just off screen. "Now who could benifit if we all went crazy?"

Rai could think of only one person...

[D-Lotus]

D-Lotus hid behind a large oak, gnarled and hollow. He leaned against its rough surface carefully, without making much sound. He felt fully comfortable with his abilities now. It all seemed funny, that he'd been wandering around IF like an unwitting fool, when in reality he'd possesed such stealth. But there hadn't been the painful memory of his actions then. When he'd killed it, D-Lotus had felt as though he had murdered a part of his own self as well.

Strangely, it was now D who was playing with the shadows- although the daylight was making it harder to hide. Indeed, Lebrenth had spotted him as he jumped into some shrubs, in search of cover.

Lebrenth. He and I must reveal everything to the council.

Through the swaying leaves he caught view of Smudger and Rai, and others converging under the glyph...

[Crunchyfrog]

...and watched as Lebrenth dragged IM to his feet. Again, Lebby cast an eye towards where D was hiding, but was more concerned at the moment with the state of IdeaMaster.

"Come on, let's get you to the meet, " groaned Lebrenth, and he guided IM towards the glowing glyph.

"Meat?" asked IM hopefully. His stomach was growling.

D was worried about IdeaMaster too. Having been unaware of what happened on Mage Mountain, D did not know whether Key had been successfully reconstituted.

Stealthily, he crept closer to the meeting point, stopping to hide behind a huge rock on the ground, that had once been a part of the mountain. Now he could see them a little more clearly.
He counted the council members. Apart from Smudger, who were the others with Rai? Her shape was obvious... the one next to her he couldn't make out. A shadowy one... could it be Din? He hadn't seen her since he'd left Key's palace many hours previously.
Two other figures emerged from the fog, coming from the opposite direction. One of them was obviously Jez, he could tell by the tall, slim shape, but he couldn't make out who had arrived with him. He wondered what tale Jez had to tell.

With Lebby and IM, that made seven. That was more than enough council members to constitute a meeting. He knew that when at least five had confirmed their attendance on the glyph, the chairperson would arrive.

He had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to be Lordy.

[Chinaren]

O.O.C: If I may...


A purple coloured hole opened in the steaming remains of what was once Chinaren's public* trophy room.

After a moment a dishevelled orange figure shot through, to land on a charred beam. After a few moments the hole in IFspace-time wobbled and collapsed in on itself.

"Ouch," said Chinaren standing up carefully and looking around. He sighed. "Seems I can't leave anything for five minutes without it all going to heck in handbasket. Good job I'm insured."

He walked around, kicking a few burnt items to once side and staring at the floor. Eventually he bent down and pressed something hidden. A trapdoor slid open, revealing stairs leading down.

Taking one last look around, Chinaren climbed in. The door slid closed behind him.

*The private one being, well, private and hidden in a more secure location.

[Idea master]

IM took his seat around the huge glowy thing inscribed in the ground. Who was this Idea Master they were talking about? Why did that name sound so familiar?

There was a flash of flame, and suddenly a red, green, and blue jester hat appeared in the middle of the glowing thing. There was a piece of paper attached to it, but it was the hat that started the triggering.

IM could remember something about that hat. He just couldn't put his mental finger on what it was...

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai raised an eyebrow when Lordy's bloodstained Jester hat popped into existance on the glyph. A small note was attatched. Snagging it she cleared her throat and read it aloud. "Sorry all, will be slightly delayed. Don't start without me." There were a few groans from the assembled mods who, without a doubt, had better things to be doing. Like getting the city back in order.

Still it was the tiny scrawl underneith that message that caught Rai's eye. "I'll do all my talking at the meeting. He can just wait..."