City of IF

[dinranwen]

"Holding Jez, stepping on Pad to regain memory." IM stepped on the pad and there was a bright flash but when IM immerged he looked just the same expcept for a evil sparkle and the smile of revenge planted on his face. "When I get to Lordy..."

"What's that?" Jez's voice crackled again.

"Never mind." Im said quickly, "We have to deactivate and remove these bottles before they go off. I may not know what they do but I don't want to find out."

"And how exactly are we going to do that pray tell?" Jez said sacrasm rining in his voice.

"Don't know but I'll come up with something," IM said before shutting down the line of communcation between him and Jez. Turning toward where Din and Smudge stood, IM jumped in surprise, "Din, Smudge, what are you doing here? Why didn't you go down to the Realm of Dead Ifians."

"I had an odd feeling you may need our help, and blast it if I wasn't right." Din said pushing up her sleeves. "It seems to me what you need is some assasintance."

"Yes, No." IM stuttered uncertainly.

Taking that for a yes, Din frowned, "Stand back, I'm not sure if this is going to work. I haven't exactly done it before."

Striding over to the nearest shadowy corner, Din reached in and twisted and twisted again, then pulled. Nothing.

Reaching further into the shadow, Din stuck out her tongue in concertration and repeated what she did before this time muttering something under her breath.

There was a pop and a bumb as Din landed on her backside, and two figures sailed across the room barely catching themselves before crashing into the far wall.

"It worked. It really worked." Din said clapping her hands exicedtly in between rubbing her sore bum. Her enegy soon vanished however as she turned an unbecoming sickly pale color. "Man I'm tired. But it worked."

Across the room rubbing their bruises, Lilth and ChristalNightShade were looking really confused.

"Well, we're off." Leaving Im to figure out to do with his new 'help'. Din began to descend the long stair to the Realm of Dead Ifians.

[Crunchyfrog]

As they watched Dinranwen and Smudger descend down the stairwell, IM opened a panel on the wall, and pressed a discreet button. The two holes in the floor, the one curving away to the Dream Chamber, and the one leading directly to the Realm of Dead IFians closed without a trace of ever being there. He looked around at his new companions. Lilith looked to be friendly, but Christalnightshade appeared to be insane. One minute looking quite demure in her demeanour, the next looking completely deranged. IM could only attribute it to the uncorked bottle of gas that she had kicked away at the Council meeting, and he felt very unconfortable in her presence.

He opened communication with JezSharp again.

"Jez, how close are you to completing your analyasis of the actual gas itself?"

"Um, well, so far, I've exposed it to two rats, a hamster and a lizard, one of the rats is playing poker with the lizard, the hamster is pole dancing, the other rat is threatening to sue for cruelty to animals. "

"Yeah, but what about the actual gas itself?" inquired IM.

"Something parasitical. Seems to leach something from the brain. Dont know. I have it under a microscope now..."

Jez's face appeared on the mod ring screen in a bright pink full anti-contamination bodysuit.

"Well, be quick about it," said IM. "I'm locked in my mansion with Crady, and she doesn't look good..."

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai forced herself to stay on her feet, her legs wobbling under her like never before. She laughed. "In this condition a half trained stable-boy with a moderately sharp kitchen knife could deal me some serious damage." Luckily no such person was anywhere near her present local...nobody was near her present local.

Looking at her gem she ground her fangs. She'd have to fold IFspace once again to shave enough time off of her journy to make her next destination in time. "What a bitch." Here she was running low on sleep, low on power after restoring Key, low on paitence, and low on time. The only thing she still had plenty of was tricks up her sleeve. Still, thanks to the mod gem's power, she managed to make the necessary fold and get through it in one piece.

Reaching the other side though she was panting like she'd just been fighting off three Terrasques. "Hell...that would almost be easy at this point compared to this shit..." Another circular chamber, much like the one she'd just come from and the one she'd shoved Din into, waited for her.

It seemed to be mocking her own weakness...laughing at seeing the dragoness laid low. That sparked an anger Rai harbored in her darkest heart. "DO NOT MOCK ME!" With a roar that turned heads all across the city and shook the unstable ground, the dragoness lunged forward. There was a flash as the defensive spells tried for their kill. Scales were stripped from Rai's skin, spines cracked, feathers tore free from her wings, and blood spattered the stones under her as she landed in an ackward heap with the crunch of splintering bones.

Just before her lay another thing on a plinth, a shard of ivory bone encased in crystal. With the shaking talons of her right forepaw, her good forepaw at this point, she plucked the thing free and consinged it to join the other two items in the red gem around her neck. "Bone of the end...finally I've got them all."

Summoning what might well be the last of herself, Rai ripped open a hole in time and hurled the gem through. Collapsing in on herself the dragoness could only vainly hope that her future self was around to catch it...if not...well at least it'd be safe. "As long as I'm actually there...please let me be there..."

Blood pooled around her form as the time hole closed. Giving a long sputtering cough Rai stared in horror at the bright blood on her talons. A darkness rose up and her head hit the floor...

[Crunchyfrog]

Lebby waited patiently, as D-Lotus closed his eyes and concentrated. Now that the Private Investigator's sleuthing skills had returned, he was giving D as much time and space as possible to reach out with his spider senses, trying to locate Lordy, whilst Lebby kept watch for trouble.

The two of them, along with Polokin and Solus were huddled in a side passage between two tall buildings on the edge of the Nobs district, not far from Jester Park. When they had left Jester they had seen Lilith assist Dinranwen, IM and Smudger escape the rampaging monsters and clowns, and Lebby hoped that they had reached the tunnel to the Dream Chamber safely. He had not heard from IM yet. Pulling his Cloak of Forboding around him, Lebby looked down at Solus, who seemed to be weakening with every moment, whispering, seemingly to herself. He was concerned with her condition.

Looking around him, he noticed that although the swirling fog of souls had become still, coinciding with Crunchyfrog's temporary 'plugging' of the Soul Well, that had stopped more souls seeping out into it, he could still hear shouts of rioters echoing in other streets not far away. There had to be more to the cause behind their behaviour than just the fog, he found himself reasoning.

D-Lotus drew breath, and opened his eyes.

"Well?" asked Lebby.

D shook his head.

"Nothing." he sighed. "I cannot locate Lordy anywhere. Maybe I'm not up to full strength yet..."

Lebby tapped his mod ring.

"Jez?" he muttered. Jez's face shimmered into view.

"What? I'm busy!" came the reply. "I'm in the middle of analyzing the Greater Evil Gas. I heard from IM. They got to his mansion safely, but apparently another bottle of the stuff was discovered there. Who knows how many more of them have been scattered about the city. From my analysis so far I would bet that it has had a LOT to do with Kalanna's very overbearing behaviour recently, and maybe even the rioting..."

"Oh?"

Polokin, Lebby and D listened intently.

"I'm doing some final tests, before working on an antidote." continued Jez.

"Jez, we need your help, with finding Lordy. " said D, into Lebby's ring. "You had the map, right? We need to find the most likely place that Lordy might be... "

(Edit to add - hint.... consider Jez's reply, given the ideas suggested in the discussion thread, ref the ley lines, the recent addition to the map, his wanting to check out what's in the book he found, etc. etc.)

[Lilith]

Jez appeared to be racking his brain. "I recall a certain point on the map that seemed to significant... now what was it?"

"Well, come on then! We're running low on information at the moment and we need to find Lordy before his plan commences!" Lebby shouted at Jez through the ring's image of him.

"Gimme a minute!" Jez's face shimmered and wavered as he tried to recall the area on the map that had been marked important... it had been originally so insignificant...what was it? Maybe he should tell them about the fake in the repository and then placing the real one in Chinaren's chair...

"Okay, I can't exactly remember at the moment where that spot is on the map but I do know where you can find the REAL one." Jez stated, looking nervous. "I placed it in China's chair back in City Council Hall...."

[Crunchyfrog]

...warned Jez, frowning. He paused, as Lebby was clearly looking confused.

"Leb, are you okay?" asked Jez.

"Fine, why?"

"Well, not just 2 minutes ago, I told you that I was in the middle of analyzing the Greater Evil Gas, and that another bottle of the stuff was discovered at IM's mansion. When I reminded you I was examining a bottle over here, you said 'What bottle..' - Either you were'nt paying attention, or you've got a memory like a sieve..."

"You heard from IM?" asked Lebby, struggling to keep up.

D looked quizzically at Lebby.

"And you seem to have forgotton that China's been missing... " continued Jez, through the ring, "...we can't assume he picked up the map I left on his seat at Council Hall. Although as I said, I'll bet he's got his own personal copy locked away somewhere, it's the sort of 'Chinaren' thing we've all come to expect..."

D-Lotus looked down to his left, and noticed a familiar looking bottle laying on the ground nearby, the glass cracked, and a vapour escaping from it, and figured out what was happening to Lebby.

He grabbed Lebby's hand, and spoke into the ring.

"Jez, we've got to get out of here. We'll head for China's mansion, but the last time I saw the place, there wasn't much of it left after the rioters had finished with it. If you can, please give us some ideas on where we really should be headed. The city is too dangerous to be in for long, and we may not have time to go snooping about the remains of Chinaren's residence looking for a map. This gas is clearly starting to have an effect on Lebby..."

"Okay okay!!" came the reply. "I'll check the copies I made on my computer when I get a moment, and I'll look up some references in this book, too. But right now, sorting out this antidote to the gas takes priority..." replied Jez.

"Understood." replied D.

Facing Lebby, he jerked his head in the direction of the next street.

"Come on." he said.

Polokin helped Solus to her feet, and the foursome moved on.

[D-Lotus]

The path towards China's mansion was slow and methodical. Slow, because Polokin had to support Solus all the way. D-Lotus cursed under his breath, but reflected that Solus might come in handy in case someone decided to speak through her again. Methodical, because the foursome had to constantly dodge the crazed men and women who rampaged through the main street. As soon as they heard cries, they slipped into some corner or side-alley.

At least Solus seems to be good at hiding, thought Lebrenth.

Eventually, they discerned the once-glamorous mansion through the swirling fog and gas. It was a skeleton stripped of its flesh, with its windows smashed in and wooden boards barely held on by loose nails. Pieces of wall lay on the ground, and the gaping holes in the house evidenced of their place of birth. Liquids were spilt across the withered grass, giving it a strange color, and pieces of fiberglass and wallpaper floated in the wind. It was a ruin.

And there were guards, placed there in case Chinaren returned. There were six of them, standing on the front doorsteps and drinking alcohol while laughing racously. Ocassionally, one or two of them would get the urge to do something violent, and they began hitting the doorframe or some window with their shovels. Obviously, they'd been there all day, without bothering to enter the mansion. The group stood concealed behind a shed, watching them.

Lebby started speaking into his ring, "Jez, how's the gas coming?"

Jez's voice came across, "I think I have final proof now. The gas has a similar effect as the souls, it makes people violent, although it isn't as powerful as the souls themselves."

"Do you think this was also planned by the evil creature D slayed?" asked Lebrenth, at which D unconsciouly shuddered.

"Maybe. But it could also be Lordy, in his attempts to create further panic. Who knows." said Jez.

"Incidentally, do you happen to have any other kind of gas, to get rid of the thugs standing in front of the Mayoral Mansion?" spoke Polokin, as he held on to Solus.

D-Lotus faced the other three. "Should we take them by force, or does anyone have any other subtle plan?"

[Crunchyfrog]

As D's eyes shifted first from Solus, to Lebrenth, and then to Polokin, Polokin shuffled from one foot to the other.

He patted the blue luminous sphere in his pocket, the one that BS had given him when they had parted company several hours ago. All he had to do, he'd been told, was to throw it on the ground, and say 'BStheGreat'. He was not quite sure what might happen when he did it, but he supposed it might summon BS somehow.

Somewhere in the city, he knew that BS was still out hunting for D, and probably armed to the teeth, knowing him. And with this gas about, who knows how violent he had probably become. He'd be a perfect ally in this situation, but he'd probably pulverize D before anybody could get an explanation as to what had been going on.

Deciding that enlisting BS's help might not be a good idea after all, he bit his lip and remained silent, staring at the ground.

It was at that point he stood on a loose stone, and slipped, yelping as he grabbed D to regain his balance.

"Shhhh!!!" hissed Lebrenth.

They stood as quiet and as still as possible. But the guards had stopped their alcohol induced laughter.

"What was that? " they heard a voice say quietly.

"Ah, nothing. Probably just rats..." slurred an inebriated second voice.

"Best be sure." said the first, again. "Hey, you, and you. Go and look... Over there, by that shed..."

[Chinaren]

D-Lotus looked around desperately. “Come on, over here, behind those bushes.”

They scurried over, crouching down behind the shrubs as one of the guards poked around unenthusiastically. After a while he shrugged and looked back. “Mustav been a rat or sumthin’” he slurred.

D sighed and leaned back. His hand knocked on the ground with a thump. “Hello,” he said. “What’s this?”

He scrabbled about, pushing back the earth, to uncover a trap door hidden under the soil.

“A secret entrance!” Exclaimed Polokin. “Of course, Chinaren would have a bolt hole.”

“Keep an eye out for the guards,” said D as he fiddled about with the lock. “Help me here Lebby.”

D and Lebrenth tugged and twisted with the hidden door, and eventually succeeded in forcing the lock. The hatch pulled open with a hiss of air to reveal a narrow staircase hidden in the earth.

“Come on!” Said Lebrenth.

One by one, carefully and slowly they descended. Polokin closed the door gently behind them.

The stairs wound down for several minutes, a blue light illuminating the way, making it seem they were under water.

Eventually it leveled off into a passageway with a single door at the end. They approached it and looked at each other.

“May as well,” said Lebby, and pushed.

The door swung open onto a sumptuously furnished room. At the far end, next to a large leather chair and near another door, Chinaren stood with a large orange bath towel wrapped around him. He looked up startled and then dived through the door with a squeak, slamming it behind him.

D-Lotus looked at Polokin, who shrugged.

Various curses and clattering noises emanated from beyond the door. Finally it went quiet and Chinaren’s voice issued forth.

“Ah, excuse me. You are early. I don’t suppose you would mind going out and coming back in again would you?”

D looked around. Polokin sighed, Lebrenth pointed at his temple and moved his finger round in circles. Solus stood and looked at the wall blankly. They shuffled out and closed the door in silence.

After a moment of standing in the hallway, Lebrenth opened the door again, and they filed back into the room.

All appeared to be the same, except the leather chair was now facing away from them. Smoke curled into the air above it.

“Ah, gentlemen, and lady of course. This is a pleasure. Come in do, I have been expecting you.”

The chair swiveled round, to reveal Chinaren enclosed in the folds. He was wearing a bright orange silk robe with the Chinaren Inc. logo embossed on it. In one hand a cigar was revealed to be the source of the smoke. The other hand stroked a white animal of some kind curled up in his lap.

“Chinaren!” Said D. “Where have you been? Key is missing, Smee is time traveling and IF has been going to hell!”

“Indeed my dear D, indeed. It seems that things are a little further on than I anticipated.”

“You anticipated?” Lebrenth repeated. “Do you mean this is all your plan?”

Chinaren lifted a finger. “No, no of course not. It seems that during my unexpected excursion to places strange and bewildering* things have become a little… disorganized. Never mind, I am sure everything will work itself out somehow.”

“You mean you knew this was going to happen? For the love of IF man! Why?”

Chinaren stroked his animal and puffed on his cigar once before answering. “Elementary my dear Lotus. Fables.”

“Fables?” Polokin stepped forward. “You mean this was all about money?”

Chinaren held his finger up. “For the good of the economy. Admittedly, some people would be slightly inconvenienced, but think! What comes after chaos? Rebuilding. And rebuilding means jobs, work. Fables re-entering the city. People would profit. Things would be built, IF would be revitalized.”

“You let the souls out on purpose?”

Chinaren made a tutting sound. “I didn’t let them out my dear Lebby. I merely set a chain of events in motion.”

“Look at the anarchy it has caused!” Shouted D. “This was your plan?”

Chinaren waved a hand. “Oh, I know. The plan wasn’t for all this to happen. Once some of the Souls were loose I planned to step in and seal the gap. However, I was sucked into another place, and everything went too far.”

“Great,” said Lebrenth. “So, what is your plan now then?”

“Well, I was rather thinking of a light lunch, followed by a nap. You seem to have everything under control. There is no need for me to go running about like a loony now, is there?”

They all stared.

“Hey, is that a stuffed cat?” asked Polokin.

Chinaren blushed, though this couldn’t be seen under his hair. “Ah.. Well. It’s just easier you know? Cat’s need feeding and everything, not to mention the mess.” He changed the subject. “So, is there anything you need from me? If you would hurry, my soup is getting cold.”


*See Tales of IF, part II

[JezSharp]

Jez shook his head, Drat, I really haven't been thinking clearly lately he thought angrily. It's trying to fight off theose souls, the gas, the constant chaos. Tipping a few liquids into a grey mixture he released it into the tank, the rat playing poker subsequently cashed in his chips. Hmmm, looks like I need more gegin weed and less essence of fungal heervite, Jez thought as he quickly prepared another mixture, and only the lizard left.

The mixture he made this time was a frothy light blue, he released onto the lizard. After observing it for a few minutes he straightened up satidfied. Lebrenth's voice again travelled over by ring,

"Any more progress?"

"Yes I think so, I'm going to start pumping the gas out into the City now, it should counteract the poison...however there may be a slight risk of side affects."

"What do you mean side affects? How many of the test subjects survived?"

"Well one," Jez admitted reluctantly trying to ignore Lebrenths gasp, "but it should be fine, the lizards back to normal now...well almost," Lebrenth's voice was almosta whisper as he repeated the words, "almost?"

"Yeah, he's grown a beard and an extra set of arms...but the side affects probably different for Ifians...anyway there's no more time unless we all want to go mad so I'll take a large batch of the stuff to the ventilation station and feed it across the City."

[Lilith]

"A... beard? An extra set of arms!? Are you insane already, Jez?" Lebrenth queried.

"Hey, it's all we've got at the moment! Do you want to stop this madness or not?" Jez retorted, already busily working away.

Lebrenth bit his lower lip. This could be catastrophic! On the other hand, it is our only weapon at the moment!

" I know I am going to regret this later, but proceed, Jez and then meet up with us later. " Lebrenth broke the connection and took a deep breath.

"What's up?" D-Lotus asked, not having paid any attention to the conversation between Lebrenth and JezSharp.

"Well, he has a gas to counteract the effects of the Greater Evil Gas, but.... it will have side-effects. And, I don't think they're going to be pleasant. I could be wrong, you never know.." Lebrenth trailed off and focused on Polokin contemplating a blueish orb once again.

D-Lotus noticed Polokin's strange behavior also.

[solus.serpen]

For some reason, Solus chose that moment to 'wake up' as it were, pulling away from Polokin with a hiss before seeing where she was and blinking suddenly in confusion.
"Solus?" Polokin asked, wondering why she had hissed at him.
"Oh, errrr." She blinked again and looked about her, confusion still showing on her face. "...How did I get here?"
Before anyone could answer though, she shook her head with a sigh.
"I don't suppose it matters. But..." Here she turned to Polokin, "...I think I can stand by myself."
Glancing around again, Solus moved to the side and leant against one of the walls, rather disproving her point. For a moment her eyes glazed again, but then she blinked and they returned to their normal peircing black.
A moment after that and the rest returned to their conversation with Chinaren.
Although still obviously fighting against fading out again, Solus seemed, at least for the moment, to be in control.
What would the group decide to ask Chinaren for though?

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai blinked several times and shook her head to clear the fog of death from her head. She flexed some talons trying to discern if she was fully meshed into her new body. "Hello Rai, plesure to see you again. Have a seat won't you?"

Smee grinned as the startled ghostly dragoness turned a surprised face toward him. King Key waved a lazy hello in the direction of the ghostly mod before turning back to gaze at the time zipping past. "Smee? Key? Where in IF...why arn't I in flesh again?" The wizard chuckled.

"Well you died a smidge too soon. Looks like you're just going to have to wait around with Key and I until we catch up." Smee watched the dragoness look around. "Lost something?"

Rai spread her claws in a gesture of futility and nodded. "You wouldn't have happened to notice an amulet with a magical ruby the size of a small imported car whizz past would you?"

[D-Lotus]

Lebrenth regarded Chinaren with distaste.

"When will you overcome your greediness, Chinaren?" he asked.

Chinaren laughed, as his orange fur shook in rythm. He took another puff of his cigar.

"Well, what are you going to ask of me?" he said in a condescending tone, instead of answering Leb.

"Look here, China, I think there's something very important we need to know." Said D, grimacing as the mayor continued slowly petting the immobile cat.

"Yes?"

"Where is Lordy, and how can we reverse the effects of the souls?" finished D.

"Hmmm..." meditated Chinaren, as his hand finally relented from his grotesque pet.

[Chinaren]

"I have no idea where Lordy is," replied Chinaren. "I told you, I was whisked away and things seem to have got out of hand. It's really a bit careless of you, losing all these people."

He took another drag of the cigar and blew some smoke rings. "As for the Soul Well. You need some Soul Salve. Idea Master was keeping it for me, just ask him where to find it. Surely that can't be a problem, can it?"

[JezSharp]

Carried by a convoy of trolls the anti-dote had reached one of the many ancient maze of vents taht crisscrossed the city. This particular set were used to take flood water from the streets, and as it wasn't raining at present it seemed a good way to let the gas out into open spaces where it was probably needed. Well it will be better than the effects of being poisoned, and any side affects should be minor from it Jez muttered to himself, I can deal with finding an antidote to the antidote later.

Slowly and methodically the strange gas was tipped into the tunnels and poured out into the streets. Jez meanwhile had left to catch up with D's group, carrying a set of gas masks.

[Lebrenth]

Lebrenth does not give up so easily, they must find Lordy. He opens his mouth to say something profound but stops suddenly. He draws his Cloak of Foreboding open to reveal an abysmal hole that seems as limitless as oblivion. Of course, it’s just an illusion. He puts his hand in the large pocket and pulls out a small manual entitled, “So you want to be a moderator?” He thumbs through it. Chinaren coughs and taps his claws on the arm of his chair.

“Ah ha! Right here,” Lebrenth says holding the book open for him. A trail of cigar smoke curls out of his right nostril as his brow contracts and looks down. It’s open to the “Moderator Ring” section. He can read the large chapter heading anyway. Chinaren’s vision is still a little intoxicated, so the rest of the page is rather blurry.

“Understood?” Lebrenth says smugly.

“Er… of course, but what does that have to do with me?”

Lebrenth looks to make sure he was pointing to the right section… which he was….

“Um… well, every moderator was given a ring or similar item when they took their duties, but with the understanding that as long as they possess the mod power, their location would show on the Master Map of IF.”

“What of it?” Chinaren acknowledges in an aura of smoke.

“We need to find Lordy now! You hardly need to lift a finger, just show us the map!”

Chinaren chuckles malevolently.

“You think it’s that easy, do you?”

“What do you want? Money?”

“Sure, I can be bought, but some things are beyond price. Even I couldn’t afford what it’s worth.”

“We don’t want to buy it!” D-Lotus insists, “Just borrow it.”

Chinaren shakes his head.

“Ah come on, just a peek?” Polokin asks, though hardly worried about Lordy… there must be a lot of interesting things on that map. Chinaren does not stir, except to light a new cigar. “Don’t make us get unpleasant!”


“Unpleasant!” Chinaren repeats menacingly. “I don’t believe you really know the meaning of unpleasant! Perhaps you would like Security to give you a lesson?” he says, his finger an inch away from a disguised button. The air burns with intensity as the standoff begins. Chinaren’s fierce breath flares his cigar like a demon’s eye. They can feel the heat of the cigar where they stand as it burns down to a third its size, when he loses grip on it, and like a pigeon into a jet turbine the cigar shoots into his throat.

For a moment he just stares straight ahead with his mouth open like he was hit on the back of the head. They can see the burning end of the cigar in the back of his mouth. Then the scorching and suffocating really kicks in. He runs around like a madman, banging his head against the wall, punching his stomach and throwing himself onto a chair trying, unsuccessfully, to give himself the Heimlich.

The others look at each other as he races around frantically.

“What?” D-Lotus says. “Even if we save him he probably won’t give us the map.”

"There's something kind of familiar about this," Lebrenth says.

[Kalanna Rai]

Smee and Key shook their heads as Rai sighed. "Oh well...at least it should show up when we get there."

"It's probably just a little further along in the time stream." Key mused. "Speaking of which, heads up Rai."

"Huh?" Twisting her head to look around the dragoness had a moment to get the perception of something large and red coming at her at mach speed before she and her future body impacted with tremendous force. "Ouch. That's a rather unplesant sensation. Remind me not to do this again."

Smee chuckled. "If the situation ever arises where you've inadvertantly sent a copy of your body into the future and yourself, Key, and I find ourselves zipping through Space Time again...I'll try to remember that."

[Argonaut]

Lebrenth's Mod ring crackled to life again. This time it was Idea Master's voice, sounding quite distressed.

"I got some shocking news. We've been following traces of magic from the Mage Mountain explosion, trying to find where key went. Well we didn't find Key, but we found Kallana. There's no way to get close enough to be sure, but it looks like she's dead..."

"that's bad!" exclaimed Polokin.

Before anyone else can react, Jez's voice come across the mod channel.

"The antidote has been released, and it looks like it's working. I've reached the streets near Chinaren's mansion, and the rioters are dispersing."

"That's good!" Polokin yells.

Suddenly Solus snaps back into a trance-like state and emits a strange croak.

"If anyone can hear me, listen up." she says in CrunchyFrog's voice "Dinranwen and Smudger have brought the dead IFians back, and they say the lost souls are draining out of the fog. But Muaddib says the realm of the dead can't take much more of the soul well's energy. If this isn't fixed soon, even the dead will have no place to live."

"That's bad."

"Um, guys?" D-Lotus speaks up, "Chinaren's not breathing."

"that's... um," Polokin starts uncertainly.

"That's bad!" Lebrenth yells, snapping into action. He and D-Lotus run to the prone form of Chinaren, leaving Polokin to prop up the still entranced Solus. Together they lift the furry orange mayor and give him what is perhaps the most powerful Heimlich maneuver ever performed.

The still burning cigar flies across the room as Chinaren coughs his way back to life. One small crisis averted, and several large ones looming, Lebrenth, D, and Polokin look at each other in a moment of indecision. The moment is broken by JezSharp bursting through the door, waving a piece of paper over his head.

"I just remembered the map copies I sent out earlier. I pulled this one out of Chinaren's mailbox, it's got the 'important' place marked on it."

"See," Chinaren stands up, pretending for all the world that he had merely chosen to lie down for a while and had never once choked on anything in his life, "You gentlemen have things well in hand, no need to bother me with the details. Besides I doubt using the map to locate Lordy's mod ring would do any good. I have reason to believe it's been separated from him."

"does anyone even know what's important about this place?" Lebrenth asks, "How is this going to help us?"

"I don't know." says D, "But right now it's our only lead."

[Lilith]

Lebrenth spoke into his mod ring again. " By the way, Idea Master? Can you get us some Soul Salve for the Soul Well? Chinaren said you were holding some for him AND that it would help with our Soul Well issue."

IM frowned for a moment and began to rummage around for a bit, muttering. After several minutes, Idea Master held up an orange jar that said "Soul Salve". "Yes! I have some! Why didn't I think of that before...Soul Well needs Soul Salve..." IM rabbled off.

"Never mind that! Half of us need to get that to the Soul Well and the other half needs to track down Lordy!" D-Lotus interrupted IM's half-concious comments. "Now who's going where?"

[Polokin]

Polokin ventured his opinion, "How about solus and Lebrenth go to the Soul Well. Me and D can track Lordy down."

Lebrenth and D nodded in unison. Polokin let Lebrenth carry the still entranced solus down the tunnel. He stopped near the end and tried to get solus up the ladder. He stumbled and cursed a few times but finally succeeded. He looked back at chinaren, D and Polokin.

"Good luck!" D said, the words resounding off the walls.

"You too!" Lebrenth shouted back.

Lebrenth climbed out of the tunnel and he was out of sight.

"Well, I'll be going now, I have to finish some... Buisness..." chinaren suddenly said with a smirk on his face. He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

D turned to Polokin. "Polokin, is there anything you want to talk to me about? You've been acting very strangely since the Council meeting.

Polokin flinched. Had it been that obvious?

"Well..." Polokin began.

[Crunchyfrog]

"...The morning of New Years Day, BStheGreat approached me with an offer I couldn't refuse, to assist him in tracking you down and killing you."

D raised an eyebrow, but motioned for Polokin to continue.

"Ever since, I have been following you through the city, until hearing your revelations at the council meeting, I decided to reveal myself, and offer my assistance to you, understanding the reasons behind your torturing BS."

The expression on Polokin's face then darkened as he went on... "However, the more time I have had to think, the more fantastical and ridiculous I think your story is. And now, upon hearing Chinaren's version, that it was in fact HE that started releasing the souls, and for a totally different purpose..."

At this point he raised the hand that was clutching the blue orb...

"...I have decided to summon BS now to finish the job. Lotus, it was good knowing you... "

He threw the orb at the floor, ready to call BS's name.

Before it had a chance to hit the floor, Jezsharp, in a manoever of immense swiftness and grace that only elves are capable of, lunged from behind Polokin, and saved it in one hand, sweeping Polokin backwards in the process.

D-Lotus quickly overpowered Polokin, whilst Jezsharp contacted Lebrenth and Solus, urgently asking them to return to help out.

"But I dont understand!" D protested to the struggling Polokin. "You heard my story backed up by Lebrenth and IdeaMaster... I saw the evil manifestation attempt to crack open the well with my own eyes, smelt it, even watched it disintegrate as I attempted to slay it... How can you believe Chinaren's story?"


"Because both are true." replied a pathetic little voice from the corner of the room. All three whirled around.

There stood a small, orange furry creature, a minature version, almost, of Chinaren, save for a strange bald spot on his head. He was one of the many servants that worked very hard for a pittance in the mayoral mansion and around the Council Hall.

"Who are you?" they all asked in unison.

"My name is... Oddlybalding." the creature muttered. "But I think I can explain a little..."

D nodded for him to carry on.

"His Masterfulness Chinaren indeed wished to cause a little havoc with a few of the Souls that he excorcised to allow some rebuilding and refurbishment to take place, particularly around the Newbs quarters. For they are, lets face it, slums, and it was a good chance to try out his new Chinaren Inc. Prefab housing." began Oddlybalding.

"But he went up to the Soul Well himself early in the evening of New Years Eve, to the pools where he originally cast the Souls. He took one of Key's blitzing tools, and with it, made one of the pools just a little unstable. Not much, but just enough to let a few souls out.

He always intended to make sure he reversed it again, but just in case he was unable to, he wanted to make sure somebody else would have the tools to do it. So he told me to find someone called D-Lotus, and give him the Master Map of IF and a crystal shard. He also told me D-Lotus would know what to do."

The others stared at the orange creature, who continued.

"It was just as well, because, after his Masterfulness Chinaren returned from the Soul Well pools, he went to the Party, during which there was an accident at the Mayoral Mansion, and he disappeared. There was also a massive explosion at Smee's house, and Smee and D-Lotus went missing.

So I had to find D-Lotus. I eventually found him, or at least I think I did - I found two people on the cliff ledge outside the labyrinth containing the Wells - I didn't know which one was D-Lotus, so I put the crystal shard in the pocket of one, and stuffed the map down the pants of the other... he was clinging to a tree, you see..."

"Well I'm D-Lotus..." said D. "And the other guy was Crunchyfrog. We lost the map, but I gave the shard to Crunchy and he used it to made a temporary fix on the Soul Well for now."

Oddlybalding visibly relaxed.

"So His Masterfulness Chinaren won't beat me then?" he said hopefully.

"You tell him our story, and he should be pleased." D replied.

At that moment, Lebrenth and Solus re-joined them.

"Problems?" asked Lebby.

"Not any more." replied D, letting go of Polokin, who had also relaxed.

He looked at the map Jez had given him. Sure enough, as Lebrenth's 'So you want to be a Moderator?' handbook indicated, the location of Jez, Solus, Chinaren and Lebrenth's mod rings, could all be clearly seen together in the Nobs district. IdeaMaster was in the vicinity of Mage Mountain, still. Smudger and Dinranwen could not be seen at all, and nor, worryingly, could Kalanna. But Lordy's was clearly visible, and it was right out of town, a mile or so north of the city, and not so far from the place marked 'important'.

"Do we go there?" asked Jez doubtfully. "Chinaren suggested Lordy was separated from his ring."

"It is our only lead." replied D-Lotus. "We may find a clue there. I think we should stick together for now. I have a bad feeling we're going to be up against something very powerful, and we need the power of 3 moderators among us. Come on."

[D-Lotus]

"To the IFmobile!" cried D-Lotus subsequently, and upon his invocation, the magical energies of IF began converging. First came the sudden, fast-paced music, which was followed by some noises outside. Everyone climbed out in time to watch a car begin to materialize out of nowhere.

"Woah! How'd you do that?" asked Polokin, his mouth hanging open.

"One of the tools of the trade." D hurriedly explained. Lebrenth and Jezsharp furrowed their brow somewhat suspiciously, especially when they began to climb onto the back and spotted an empty license plate. Solus struggled inside and sunk into her seat. D inserted the key and the motor revved up.

"Let's go!" shouted everyone except Solus.

The tires screeched and the streets began to move past in a blur as Jez and Lebby calculated Lordy's position.

"To the right, to the right!" yelled Jez. The car made a sharp turn and lurched everyone together.

"Down two streets..." Lebrenth whispered tiredly into D's ear. D stepped onto the gas pedal and the car began to hum with power.

"Ok, we're getting closer!" shouted Jez excitedly after a while. A few moments later, the car stopped, smoke trailing after it.

"Wow, what is this place?" asked Polokin.

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai, Key, and Smee had been reduced to playing I-Spy while whizzing through Space Time to pass the time, no pun intended, when they were suddenly spat out with a thump. "Ouch!" Key groaned. "What did I land on? A rock?" Rai untangled herself, her head was caught under her wing, and gave a short snort of joy.

"Nope just me." Quickly the revitalized dragoness stripped her body of everything important in a few quick seconds. "Hang on, my mod gems have gone cold. It'll take me a few minutes to bring them on line again." Smee glanced around apprehensively.

"Is it safe to stay here while we wait for that?"

"No place safer. The wards should be back online by now. Going out's no problem, coming in requires somebody with a deathwish."

"Indeed." Key murmered one pudgey hand on one of his chins. "I'm astonished you found this place." He glanced at Rai with narrowed eyes. "Just how did you accomplish that?" Rai quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I had a good copy of the Master Map." To this Key made no reply other than a long 'hheerrrm' which might just have been his breathing. Smee poked at the wards a bit while Rai stole the essences from her former flesh.

"I still say we get moving...we need to find the Soul Well if what you told us in transit were correct." The dragoness didn't argue, she had to find her red amulet after all and she was pretty sure she knew where it was going to materialize. Quickly scooping up Smee, it took a few moments for her to lift Key and get them both comfortbly situated on her back, they looked around. "Why aren't we moving."

"My gem's not back up yet. I don't have a map until it is...unless you do?" Smee shook his head. It was at that moment Key fished around in his massive belly rolls and pulled free what looked like a much abused lunch napkin.

"I happen to have one right here...."

[Crunchyfrog]

The air was charged with a sinister magic that was not familiar to IdeaMaster. He, along with Lilith and Crady had traced the remnants of the spells from the explosion at Mage Mountain, and were now standing in a pile of rubble in a tunnel, still aghast at the sight ahead of them, Kalanna Rai, dead.

She lay at the rim of what seemed to be a huge hole, that stretched down into the ground forever, in a circular chamber, behind the remains of an archway. There seemed to be the remnants of some kind of plinth in the chamber, whatever that was for.

Having given Lebrenth the sad news earlier, IM began to reflect on the events that had passed since the party, the utter chaos, the loss of a significant councillor, and wondered whether IF would ever be the same again.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice Lilith starting to pick her way through the rubble towards Kalanna's body.

"No, Stop!!" IM called suddenly. It occurred to him that whatever had happened to Kalanna, could still have an effect on someone else. "It's too dangerous!" he explained.

"I was only looking..." Lilith murmured, her voice echoing strangely in the enclosed surroundings.

"Hey, IM..." Crady said suddenly. "Is it just me, or did Kalanna have a large amulet with a gem in it she used to carry with her?"

"Huh? Yes, I suppose..." said IM.

"Well it's gone, now."

Not realising the significance of this statement, IM nodded, still in a haze. He looked down at the jar of Soul Salve he had found in his robes, and wondered how in IF he was going to get to the Soul Well now, and what he should do with it when he got there. His thoughts were broken by the buzzing of his mod ring again.

"Lebby?" he responded.

"We've got to where Lordy's supposed to be."

"Uh, well done, um, but exactly where is that?" asked IM.

"Remember your Mod training, IdeaMaster, " reminded Lebby, waving his book So you want to be a Moderator? in front of his own face, so that IM could see it on the screen of his ring. "The Master Map shows the location of Mod Rings."

"Well, describe where you are, then!"

"There's not much to describe, IM. We're out of the city, to the north, near the edge of a forest. Probably not far from the place marked 'Important'. There's a few trees, flat land, that's it. No sign of Lordy... but there seems to have been a scuffle of some kind. There's blood on the ground... uh, wait!"

IM saw Lebby's face jiggling about, and a faint shout could be heard. Crady and Lilith crowded in to look at IM's ring, to see what was going on.

"Lotus has found Lordy's ring!" Lebby announced excitedly. "Lordy's been here... we can start tracking him!
But that's not why we contacted you. Take a look at this..."


Lebby waved the jester hat in front of his own Mod Ring screen. "Can you see the handwriting?"

"Lordy's. " replied IM. "That is the note Kalanna read out at the meeting."

"No, no, this smaller writing underneath..."

"Hold it still so I can get a good look at it..." said IM. "That's Kalanna's!"

'Kalanna, you must destroy yourself, within 5 hours. Something happened during the spell weaving on Mage Mountain which ripped a part of you away. You absolutely must not survive long enough to meet yourself. Take courage now. Your future self, Kalanna.'

"We cannot make any sense of it." said Lebby. "Can you?"

IM looked over at Kalanna's body.

"You mean, she sacrificed herself?" he said incredulously. "For what?"

"At the meeting she said there was something she had to do." remembered Crady, suddenly. "She said that if she survived she'd join us in the assault on the Well. She kept looking at the amulet gem when she was saying it..." she continued. "The amulet has gone now..."

"I hope she knew what she was doing..." came Lebby's voice sadly, shaking his head.

IM looked resolute, and gazed back at Kalanna.

"I'll try a little forensic magic here, and see what I can find out what happened to her." he said.

[Lilith]

"You do that while D and I track Lordy with his mod ring. Stay in touch." And with that, Lebrenth broke the connection.

Idea Master took one step closer to Kalanna's body and held his hands out, feeling for any unusual energy traces. As he stood there, Crady and Lilith picked their way around and through the rubble and debris, saddened by the loss of a friend and a great warrior-assassin.

Suddenly IM opened his eyes and said clearly, "If you value your own lives, you won't get any closer to Kalanna's body than you already are!"

Crady and Lilith both stopped moving. "Why, what's wrong?" Lilith asked, giving Idea Master a calculating look.

"What do you think killed Rai?" IM repilied, backing up away from the center of the pit.

"Well, whatever it was it had to be really powerful and dangerous, right?" Crady suggested.

Lilith nodded in agreement. "Kalanna is-.... was a fighter. And a good one at that." She added to Crady's comment.

"I concurr. There had to be some powerful spells here and I think they could still be active." IM stated, still backing away.

Christalnightshade went pale and she and Lilith followed IM's example.

[Idea master]

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, right underneath the spot marked 'Important' on the master map of IF...

Lordy paced back and forth in his inner sanctum. Damn, damn, and double-damn. Everything was falling around his ears. As the old daemon saying went: The best laid plans are often undone by mortals. He'd just never believed it until now.

IM had not only recovered his memory, but also went out to find what remained of Rai. Fortunately, she was dead, killed off by some old spell or other, but she'd sent her necklace to her future self. She'd somehow gotten herself entangled with Smee's time-travel spell from earlier. All was not lost, however, as her gems would take time to retune themselves to her after her apparent 'death.' If he could nab them soon enough, there was an off chance they'd retune to him instead.

D had found Chinaren, and learned the truth and also recovered his memory. Polokin had almost finished him off nicely, but then more truth had come out. Bah. And now they were on his doorstep, albeit a hidden one. He couldn't just sit and wait for them to find him. He'd have to eliminate them as well.

And then there was the matter of the Soul Well. It was being haphazardly patched up, but if the citizens of IF continued in this fashion, then their metaphysical duct tape would do the job that the fancy magics were supposed to. There had to be something he could use to retake control of that situation.

Control. He had to regain control. That was key here. He took a few deep breaths, and realized what he had to do.

"Servile minion!" Lordy bellowed. Quite quickly, an impish figure appeared in a small flash of flames. It bowed to him, awaiting his orders.

"Set loose the Devourer upon Kalanna Rai. Tell him that any jewelry he finds is to be brought to me outside his stomach. Release Smauna in the outer antechamber-"

"Sir, IM, D, Crunchyfrog, and Sasuke already destroyed the Fauna Slug." The imp quivered as he contradicted his master.

"Then supplement her with the Destroyer." The Greater One had given him many cool minions with names like that which had abilites to match. "I do not wish to be found until I have completed the essential spell-weaving. Let loose the ghasts and shades into the Realm of Dead IFians, seeing as they are the only ones that can safely enter that realm. That is all."

The imp bowed. "I obey your will, master." It vanished in another puff of flames.

Lordy considered. He needed to get away, and he needed to harness the power of the Soul Well. There might be a way to do both, and he carefully flipped through an old spellbook that moaned softly as he turned the pages, looking for an anwser. Yes...by tying the Unsummoning ritual with the one that would give him total dominion over the power of the Soul Well, he might be able to drain the power directly home.

IM would be tricky. Lordy pondered awhile, and then realized that IM would have been cursed several times over by now. He quickly did a scan of IM and reactivated the most potent curse he could find, carefully recalibrating the area of effect to also nab whoever was near IM at the time in a similar curse, and set it to go off when he was surrounded by people. That ought to be interesting.

Stopping D would be easy, he would just unleash his secret weapon once D reached him. There would be no escape...Lordy allowed a small evil laugh to escape his throat. As he finished, dust billowed down from above, and he realized it might not have been so small after all.

[Crunchyfrog]

The girls sat down in the rubble, whilst IM searched in the folds of his cloak for his spell book. They watched, as he leafed through the book, and studied one of the pages. Then, inching forward towards Rai's body, as far as he dare, he extended one hand, waggling his fingers about in the air in a strange way, as he mumbled some words under his breath. He withdrew them sharply, as if he had been burnt, and sniffed them.

Crady and Lilith exchanged glances, but said nothing.

IM repeated the forensic spell, each time, daring to take a few steps nearer. Then he stopped, and studied his book again.

"Well, it's safe enough to approach," he said. "The spell that killed Rai is spent. It was designed to guard something - something that is evidently not there now. Anyone getting close to whatever object it was, would have their innards crushed to dust from the inside. But it was only designed to kill one person, and then become inactive. Looks like Rai was unlucky enough to be that person..."

"But what was she trying to get?" asked Crady. "And whatever it is, who has got it now?"

IM shook his head, as he inched nearer, repeating his probing spell over and over.

"There is something else here.... it smells like.... Odd, it smells like the time curse that was cast upon Smee by whomever it was that tried to crack open the well in his basement! But I thought I'd managed to speed up that spell and break it...unless it was stronger than I thought, and reactivated itself again, so that he would reconstitute somewhere later again today. Hmmm, that would explain his disappearance again during our breaking of the Key curse on Mage Mountain... and possibly Key's disappearance too... It was a big explosion - but why am I finding traces of it on Rai? Unless... somehow, a version of her got ripped forward in time with him too!"

His face brightened for a moment.

"I think that's a little far-fetched." replied Lilith gently. "It would be nice to think she's still alive, somehow but... well, you shouldn't get your hopes up..."

Before IM could reply, his Mod ring crackled to life again. Jezsharp's face shimmered into view on the tiny screen.

"Go North!!!" he said urgently.

"Jez! You found Lordy?"

"No, but we've got a good guess," replied Jez, waving his book The Treasures of IF in front of his face, so that IM could see it through the Mod ring. "I wish I'd had time to read it earlier, instead of messing around with that gas... There are magical lines criss-crossing this land. They are Ley lines, IM, and where they intersect one another, there are places of intense power. The book instructed me me how to make the Leys show up on the map... Anyway, there are intersections at Smee's house, the Soul Well, but most significantly, at that place marked on the map as 'Important' - 3 Leys converge there, and we are betting that this is where Lordy is."

IM could then see Lotus's face pushing across Jez's.

"IM!" said Lotus. "Are you listening? We believe that Lordy is going to make a powerful spell to fully open the well. Just as he told me back at Smee's basement the night of the party. We think he has already collected the necessary ingredients, called the Blood of the Beginning, Flesh of the Present, and Bone of the Last... They are mentioned in Jez's book. We think Lordy has them all at this place marked Important, on the map. We have to stop him, IM, and tell him that the Well is about to implode!

"Lotus, how do we get there?" asked IM. We don't have a map."

"No matter! Get Transport! Go out of town, and go NORTH!! Stay in touch and we'll guide you..."

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

Next person to post, please read my comments in the Discussion Thread, before posting the next part of the story! :D

No RP posts please. If you want to change the point of view to your character, please raise it in the discussion thread first.



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

[Argonaut]

"Alright, we're on our way." Said IM into his ring, as he climbed out of the secret tunnels and back onto the surface streets of IF. "It's going to take a while to navigate the city, with all the destruction and this new blue mist."

"that would be the antidote to the Greater Evil gas, sorry." Replied Jez.

The streets were eerily quiet without rioters, as the three companions got their bearings and started north.

"something's coming!" Crady called out, pointing to a wildly flailing figure in the mist.

"Looks like he's got four arms and a beard." Said Lillith.

"Oh no!" Cried Jez's voice from the mod ring, "I thought the side effect wouldn't take to IFians."

Before the Three of them could fully grasp the meaning of 'side effects' The figure came stumbling to a halt in front of them. His extra arms revealed to be nothing more than the sleeves of a long coat hanging from his shoulders, and the beard to be nothing more than mutton chops. He cleared his throat and straightened his bow tie as a blue bird alighted on the brim of his hat.

"Not the best entrance by far." he halfway mumbled to himself, "You say your not going to do these things but sometime you just have to..."

"What on US are you mumbling about Argonaut!?" IM snapped.

"Right, right on to the point." Argonaut addressed the puzzled adventurers, "I'm here to lend a hand, you need some transportation out of the city, and I have just the thing. Follow me!"

Still slightly baffled, the group broke into a run, following the still babbling Argonaut through the streets.

"It sure was hard to find you," He continued, "What with all the accounts of forged and or copied maps. Not to mentions the near infinite amount of secret tunnels. You know I think there's not actually any ground left underground, it's all tunnels."

"Wait, how do you know all this?" Lillith interrupted.

"What? oh... um.. I've been reading. Aha! We're here."

Argonaut stopped abruptly to lift a wide rolling door on a strange hanger-like building. The door slid on tracks into the ceiling, and revealed a complex wood and cloth mechanism that looked like a schizophrenic's dream of a Davinci flying machine.

"One of my older projects," he said with obvious pride, "you'll need some magic to keep the winds in your favor, but it should get out out of the city in a hurry."

"I can certainly handle that." said IM, cracking his knuckles.

The four IFians quickly pushed the contraption out of the workshop. IM took the controls as Argonaut offered a hand to help the ladies aboard, then pulled the pin from a huge spring in the back, setting the gears in motion.

"Bon voyage!" Argonaut yelled as the flying machine began to lift off.

"You're not coming with us?" Asked Crady.

"Oh no, can't be needlessly weighing down the story at this point. I'll be rooting for you though."

"What is he talking about?" said Lillith.

"Oh I almost forgot..." Argonaut's words were lost to the wind as the machine finally gained the momentum to jump skyward.

"What did he say?" Yelled IM over the wind.

"I dunno, something about Lordy." Crady yelled back.

[Lilith]

"Oh, shit! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" IM yelled back down at the top of his lungs down to Argonaut. Argonaut yelled something in return but his voice was lost as the three in the flying machine rose steadily higher.

"Damn!" cursed Lilith. "Now what? That could have been crucial information!"

"Oh well," replied Crady. "I guess we'll just have to wing it! Haha! We are winging it! Literally!"

IM's mod ring made an inconspicious noise and Jez's face appeared on the screen, again. "IM! Where are you? Are you moving towards the point we told you about?" Jez urgently said.

IM looked around quickly for a way to steer the machine north of IF. Finding none, he came up with an idea. IM quickly adjusted his control over the wind and had it be his tool to steer the aircraft.

"Now we are! Can you give me some exact coordinates Jez?" IM asked.

"Hmm... give me a few minutes to pinpoint the exact location." Jez broke the connection and the screen went blank.

"Uh-oh," IM said, a frown marring his brow. "I think we have a problem."

"Why what's wrong?" Crady and Lilith replied in unison, looking around for signs of trouble.

"I feel kinda funny. Kinda like that one time when...."

[Crunchyfrog]

"...back at Mage college we tried out a Curse on ourselves... being irresponsible students we thought it was quite funny at the time... But not now, really, I could do with out it happening to me again right now... You can both hear and understand me okay, can't you?"

Lilith and Crady looked at one another, shrugged at such an odd question, and nodded at IM, and then peered over the side of the airbourne gondola, down at the vista below them, as Argonauts amazing machine majestically travelled northwards through the sky.
Its sails billowed above them, as IM continued to let loose a stream of magic to harness the winds to fill them. Underneath the contraption, paddles and propellors slowly turned, and gears creaked with a gentle rhythmic sound. It was a welcome respite after a fraught time. They too, felt a bit odd, but put it down to the after effects of the Greater Evil Gas.

At last, after what seemed nearly an hour, IM's mod ring crackled back into life. IM smiled. That would be Jez with the co-ordinates.

"Yako, uoy deen ot eb 3 selim throm fo eth ytic, dna a tib tsew, no eth egde fo a tserof." said Jez.

IM went white.

"Oh no... I was right..." he thought quietly to himself. "The Mirror Curse..."

"What was that? What did Jez say?" asked Crady.

"He's talking a different language!" exclaimed Lilith.

"No.." said Crady after a moment. "Sounded like he was talking.... backwards!"

"He's not talking backwards, Crady." said IM, scrabbling for his spell book for confirmation of his terrible realisation. "WE are. We've been hit by a Mirror curse - a very potent one, that I played with in my youth. If you are cursed by it, you speak backwards, and write backwards. Everything else to you will look, and sound backwards. Look..."

He picked up his spell book, and thrust it at the girls, who stared at it. The text, to them, looked backwards. It was unreadable.

"Somehow the curse has been reactivated... by whom, I dont know. And it has affected all three of us..."

"So how will we understand Jez's co-ordinates?" gasped Crady.

But IM had no time to answer. Argo's magnificent airship began to list alarmingly. IM's sudden realisation of the Curse that had afflicted them all, had meant he had broken his concentration on controlling the magic that filled the sails.

Crady ran to take the helm - and struggled with the wheels and levers in vain.

"Lilith!" cried Idea Master. "Go to the lookout post! Keep watch on the ground for Jez, Lebby, Lotus and Solus... They could be anywhere!"

"Dont worry Jez," he said into his mod ring, to a very confused looking JezSharp, "We'll find you!"

He fell across the swaying decks and slammed into one of the seats.

By this time the machine was lurching dangerously to port. The wind had gone out of the sails, and the gears were grinding and squealing. They were losing height fast.

"We need more height!!!" screamed Lilith, as they plummeted towards the ground a little too quickly for everyone's liking, as IM tried to gather his wits and control the winds once again.

The flying machine lurched upwards again, listed the otherway, and then took a nosedive.

"Where's the life raft on this thing????" shrieked Crady.

~ ~ ~

Shading his eyes, Lebrenth looked out towards the city, a few miles out to the south. He saw a strange object coming into view, flying low and losing height rapidly.

"What is that?????!!" he yelped.

[dinranwen]

"teG tuo fo eht yaW!" IM shouted waving furiosly at the tiny figures he could barely made out.

"What did it say?" D asked Leb looking very very confused.

"Don't know." Leb shrugged, "Hey isn't that IM?"

"Yea," D said gazing at the crazy machine IM was driving, "I think that vechile is from Argo's hold, been down there once or twice, nice stuff but not cheap."

"Ow...I guess it took it literally when I told him to get transportation, any transportation," Jez said crossing his arms and watching the flying vechile coming vapidly towards them at alarming speeds.

"Um guys...." D said backing away as turned pale.

"What?" Jez and Leb responded simitonously.

"Run!" D said scrattering rapidly in the direction as the IM and crew grew larger by the minute in their flying vechile.

"!evoM" Crady shouted waving her hands at the group.

"!nuR" Lilth cried despertatly as IM lost complete control over the group.

Confused and puzzled D, Leb, Jez, and Co didn't even pause to figure out why IM was spouting nonsense as they hustled to get out of the way of the crashing vechile.

Inside the vechile, "Think they understand us IM?" Crady said pouting a little.

"No, but somehow I think they got are point. Now everyone hang on I think we're going to......."

CRASH!

[Crunchyfrog]

With the sound of screeching metal and splintering wood, the flying machine hit the ground with force, and bounced back up into the air again, the sparkles of IM's magic still in its sails. It descended once more, and scraped along the ground at high speed, the aft propellor breaking free, and spinning wildly through the air towards Solus, who gazed calmly at it.

Polokin dragged her away just in time as it slammed into the ground inches from where she had been standing.

Giant sparks flew up from the bottom of the machine, which ignited one of the sails. Mixed with the magic, the fire quickly consumed the cloth, sending multicoloured fireballs in all directions.

"RUN!!!!" screamed Lebrenth, as he continued to pound as fast as he could away from the scene.

As he fled, D accidentally dropped Lordy's Jester hat, and started back and retrieve it. But before he could get near, a huge orange fireball landed on the hat, vaporizing it.

The flying machine continued to slide for some distance, taking trees with it, until eventually, it came to a rest, the sails burnt to nothing.

Lebby, D, Polokin, Solus and Jez caught their breath, and converged on the crumpled mess.

"Ooops!" said Jez. "Argo's not going to be pleased!"

"Look! They survived!" pointed Lebby, as three dishevelled heads appeared over the rim of the broken gondola, and a ladder began to descend. He waved at IM. "IM!! Are you okay?"

"You know, I'm not sure they are," muttered D, as they watched IM help Crady onto the ladder. "They appear to be talking to one another in gibberish..."

The first to get on to solid ground, Crady rushed over to D, and started to explain what they had discovered about Rai.

"Retsamaedi sknith Iar saw gnikool rof gnithemos, dna sawdellik yb a naidraug lleps." she began. "Tub eh osla sknith esh yam eveh neeb tghuac ni s'eemS emit esruc, dna yam eb evila tey..."

She was met with blank stares from D, Lebby, Polokin, Solus and Jez.

"Are you okay?" ventured Lebrenth, as IM and Lilith alighted on the ground behind Crady.

This time it was IM, Crady and Lilith's turn to stare blankly. Lebby turned to D.

"What do we do with them?" he asked. "They can't understand us, and we can't understand them! What happened to them?"

"No idea," replied D, who was already looking back at the map. "But we'll have to take them with us to find Lordy. We can't leave them here to fend for themselves without being able to communicate with anyone. And this wreck of a flying machine is a dead giveaway of their whereabouts."

"How do we communicate with them?" asked Polokin.

"Allow me..." replied JezSharp, stepping forward.

Looking IM straight in the eye, Jez pointed in the direction that they were all headed, and then beckoned.

Lilith, Crady and IM understood, that they were to follow D and the others, and nodded. Then, all eight of them, began their long walk to the place marked 'Important'.

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


Okay, well done everyone on that chapter! :D

We'll leave them there on their journey for now.

Drinks and light refreshments are available in the Discussion thread, where we are going to sort out what's going on in the Realm of Dead IFians!!!

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

[Crunchyfrog]

The Hangover


Chapter 25 (Working title -Escape from the Realm of Dead IFians)


The party was in full swing. Snatches of music could be heard coming from Ye Olde IFian Tavern Club, entwined with peels of laughter and singing. Inside, the drinks flowed freely.

The Dead IFians had returned home, thanks to the efforts of Dinranwen and Smudger, and they were celebrating.

Din and Muaddib, their differences forgotten, sat together swaying to the music, as their tankards magically refilled themselves each time they were emptied. Crunchyfrog sat woozily in a corner, listening to tales of the Good Ole Days recounted by some of the revellers.

Smudger, back in his hunchback form, delighted anyone who cared to watch, with his unique style of dancing. This principally involved shuffling around in circles, yelling 'The Bells! The Bells!!' at carefully planned intervals.

In one corner, a ricketty set of steps extended from a table top up to an open trap door in the ceiling. Beyond the trap door was a cluster of rooms, one of which was the 'Channel IF' room. There, a very bored Sasuke sat in front of a bank of monitors, keeping an eye on events in the City.

"This sucks," he thought, listening to the merriment below. "It's not my fault I'm under age..."

He gazed at one of the screens that showed the world through Solus' eyes, and saw that she, D-Lotus, Lebrenth, Polokin and Jez had recently been joined by IdeaMaster, Lilith and Crady. There was a wreck of some kind of flying machine in the background...

Tapping the microphone that was set up in front of the screen, he toyed with the idea of scaring the pants off them all, by talking through Solus, but thought better of it.

An hourglass attached to the wall turned itself over. Time to make the regular check on the Soul Well.

Sasuke left the room and clambered up another set of steps, and out through a skylight onto the roof of the Tavern. The sky above him boiled. There were 3 spinning vortices directly above. Two were quite small, one being the exit to IM's mansion, the other the exit to the Dream Chamber, which he, Dinranwen, Crunchy and Smudger should have gone through by now, if it wasn't for this blasted party. He was beginning to think that the other three didn't want to leave this Realm...

The third vortex, by far the largest, writhed about in the sky, sucking up anything that it's lowermost tip came near. This vortex had appeared as a result of the crack in the Soul Well. Even though the energy from it had been diverted downwards by Crunchyfrogs crystal shard in the ground, it was still growing. The Realm of Dead IFians was becoming unstable, cracks were appearing in the ground.

"Hmm, perhaps that shard needs relocating..." he thought, as he climbed back in through the skylight. Sasuke headed for the party downstairs, to alert his friends.

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

Here's the scene setter for the new chapter. Check out the Discussion Thread before posting. :)

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

[Idea master]

Hiding near the roof of the Realm of Dead IFians, the wraiths and shades awaited their moment to attack.

It would not be when the young half-dragon was idling about near the Channel IF room.

Nor would it be when he went back inside the pub, which abruptly lost it's noise and good nature as he informed them of their need to relocate the object that was patching up the Soul Well.

When the Dead IFians were far too far from the pub to safely have all of them get back, that was the time.

As one, the wraiths howled and the shades moaned. They all swooped down upon the Dead IFians, not only scaring the daylights out of them. Anybody the wraiths could pick up would become possessed by the shades, and then delivered to their master, Lordy, for 'entertainment.'

The Dead IFians tried to flee. They even turned about as they screamed in terror and ran to the pub.

Not all of them would make it.

[dinranwen]

((*Adds Crunchy's Shadow to Polokin's in her bag* For the Record...I don't drink anything but Tea. So it's tea cup, not tankard!))


(((Deleted because of Content. Sorry for the Confusion Guys, I misunderstood IM's post.))))

[Crunchyfrog]

lol, okay, hold it right there!!! :D

We've jumped from Sasuke heading downstairs to alert his friends at the party, to the wraiths hiding near the roof, to Dinranwen in the bar, in the space of 3 posts! This is not flowing well like we had it before....

What I am going to do is disregard the last two posts (please do not delete them, there's good ideas in them!!!) and let's try again.

A temporary shift to the POV of the shades and ghasts soon would be good, but lets establish the scene a bit more first...

Take a look at Argo's comments in the discussion thread too, they are good observations.

Let's try again with the next author following on directly from my last post! The narrative should be seamless.


Okay,

Hangover resumed! Post away!

[Lilith]

Sasuke trotted downstairs and went over to the barkeep Bronu. After explaining the situation to him, Bronu nodded and called the tavern to order in a loud booming voice.

"EVERYONE! STOP!" The decibels of his voice shook the entire tavern to silence. Dead IFians stopped their merriment and almost immediately sobered up.

Bronu stepped to the side and allowed Sasuke to get up on the bar and speak.

"Fellow Dead IFians! We seem to be having a problem with the crystal shard that is keeping the Soul Well under control at the moment. It seems the ground is breaking and cracking around it! I propose that we relocate it!" Sasuke paused after his long speech, looking a little unnerved at the almost hostile glances from the merry makers. He did stop their partying, after all.

Din, Crunchyfrog, and Smudger (having realized that as Mods they should try and set an example) stood up.

Din spoke. "The boy's right! If the shard doesn't hold long enough for the others to stop the Soul Well permanently, we may never be able to patch it up!"

Sasuke jumped down off the bar and lead the now cheering (and sober, for once) crowd of dead IFians out of the door towards the the biggest of the three vortexes.

Little did they know that the shades and wraiths Lordy had sent were about to strike.

[Crunchyfrog]

(IM's post to be put in after Liliths, contents below...)

Idea master wrote:
Hiding near the roof of the Realm of Dead IFians, the wraiths and shades awaited their moment to attack.

It would not be when the young half-dragon was idling about near the Channel IF room.

Nor would it be when he went back inside the pub, which abruptly lost it's noise and good nature as he informed them of their need to relocate the object that was patching up the Soul Well.

When the Dead IFians were far too far from the pub to safely have all of them get back, that was the time.

As one, the wraiths howled and the shades moaned. They all swooped down upon the Dead IFians, not only scaring the daylights out of them. Anybody the wraiths could pick up would become possessed by the shades, and then delivered to their master, Lordy, for 'entertainment.'

The Dead IFians tried to flee. They even turned about as they screamed in terror and ran to the pub.

Not all of them would make it.


~ ~ ~

In the midst of the terror in the crowd, Muaddib shouted to Din. He could barely be heard above the howling of the wraiths as they swooshed above them.

"Half-shadow! Get yourself, Sasuke, Smudger and Crunchy back up to the Dream Chamber, whilst you still have time!" he yelled. Drawing three other Dead IFians beside him, he said bravely - "We'll take care of the shard..."

The wraiths screeched as they swooped above the threesome, as they, along with the rest of the crowd ran for all they were worth, back towards the pub.

"We have to alert D-Lotus! He won't have much time!" puffed Crunchy as he drew alongside Din.

"We can do it on the way up to the Tavern roof - We have to go up there to get up through that whirly thing to the Dream Chamber..." panted Din, indicating one of the smaller vortices in the sky.

The wraiths swooped in front of the crowd.

"Hey, they appear to be herding us..!!" somebody shouted, as everyone swerved to the side of the Tavern.

Smudger, who was not as quick on his feet as some of the others, was starting to lag behind.

[dinranwen]

Running hastly to the Tavern despite the wraiths, Dinranwen only paused to look back in search of Smudge.

"Where's Smudger?" she shouted above the shreaks.

"Don't know!" Crunchy said looking back too.

"There he is!" Sasuke shouted pointing back the way they come where the hunchback was being picked on by some wraiths as the spirits sang, "The Bells, The bells," in glee with their merriment.

Looking around Din saw the chaos as the wraiths tried to heard the residents away from the tavern. Shoving up her sleeves, Din placed a hand on her hips looking like a shadow version of the poster declaring, "Ow no you didn't!"

"Go on!" Din said shoving Sasuke and Crunch into the Bar, "I'll handel this."

"Dinranwen," Crunchy said frowning, "What about you?"

"I'll be find. Wraiths and Shadows are made of the same stuff. These things can't hurt me. But I can sure as Phang-fire hurt them," giving the pair another shove into the tavern, "No go, and warn D before it's too late! I'll met in the Dream Chamber with Smudge."

Watching to make sure the pair obeyed her orders, Din turned to survey her work. "I think this is going to take a little bit more than my feather duster," Din muttered as she reached into the black shadows of the Realm she stood in to pull out a sword Rai had recently given her as a present saying it would come in handy.

Slicing through a wraith easily, Din grinned as she rushed to aid of Smudger......