City of IF

[LordoftheNight]

The Daemon Lord in question was bent over a map of IF and its neighbours, studing it intently. As usual while in the mortal realm, it was His human form he wore, and His long black hair fell down over His shoulders. Pale skinned and bare-chested, it was obvious visiters were not on His agenda, though He gave little sign of it.

As His moderator ring let out a single chime, the red rune enlaid across the black gold glowed with a sudden piercing light. Lazily, He reached for the moderators tool, slipping in over His left index finger.

"Yes?" Kalanna Rai's face floated into view, the draconic features clearly visible. Evidently she was in the process of travelling, from her constant movement.

"We need to talk," she replied, glancing over her shoulder, almost as if believing someone could follow her even there.

"Is it about...?" He started to ask, but she cut Him off.

"Yes, and it's important. Where can we meet?" The Daemon's black pupils traversed the interior of his chambers, more elaborate than the other mods. One of the many privilages of being Lord High Chanceller - He was able to extend himself a budget from the Treasury purely for interior design. For one thing, the blazing orange that featured so prominantly in all other Council areas was no-where to be found.

"Not here," He replied, unwilling to let her into His inner sactum. Or to let her see the other plans He was in the process of putting into motion. "The Archieves - no-one ever goes there. Not even the few tourists searching the Hall of Legends venture that far into obscurity."

Abruptly He servered the connection, banishing the image from before him. He gazed around the room once more, motioning at various maps and diagrams spread around the walls, which swiftly changed to designs more suitable for a high-ranking offical. Shrugging His shoulders, He willed clothes onto His body, before disappearing in a swirl of dark light.

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai snapped her jaws in irritation. "This is what I get for dealing with daemons..." Shifting course in mid wingbeat she headed for the Archives.

A few moments later the dragoness, in a semi-human shape, wadered into the massive dusty building. Lordy stepped out of the shadows. "Well? You dragged me away from something important." Rai snorted, it wasn't his life on the line out there.

"Well Lebby has been hit hard by the Dream Chamber, Sasuke has been telling everyone about the Ceremony of Release and the Soul Well, and Masterweaver has managed to whip all the Iderium Miners into a frenzy over China's blood. Why do I get the sense you've planned that." Naturally Lordy didn't reply.

"However, I did bring you this." She tossed a roll of parchment onto the dusty floor between them. "It's not the fake but it's also not the original. A copy is all you'll get from me at the moment. However, what I wanted to warn you about is D-Lotus. It seems that he has a case of amnesia, conveniant indeed. But I warn you Lordy...if he suddenly remembers I'm not going to be the one under suspicion."

"He won't remember." Rai chose to ignore the self-sasisfied smirk. "Was this all you wanted to tell me? These are trivial matters."

"No..." Enclosing them in a bubble of silence the dragon told the daemon the real problem threatening all his carefully made plans.

[Lebrenth]

Lebrenth tosses in his sleep, as though dreaming of a fight. For a moment Jez thinks he sees a pattern, as though Lebby was performing some sort of somnambulant game of charades. The moment passes, however, when Leb props himself up on his face like an inchworm. He stands to get himself something to drink, but stops when he hears Lebrenth mumble. He gets closer:

“World of Warcraft?” Lebrenth mumbles. “That’s a red herring. What happened to the Wuidum... mibbity.”

Then Lebrenth rolls onto the ground with a thump.

[LordoftheNight]

"Three hmm?" The devil-spawn spat. "Why is it always Three - can't they ever use an original curse?" Shaking His head ruefully, He considered the options at hand.

"Hmm....the IFians you mentioned - MasterWeaver," at which point the daemon shuddered, His palms clenching, "Sasuke and D. Is there any chance they're staying together?" At Rai's nodded assent, He smiled.

"Excellent. It seems we already have three perfect...subjects. Though I'd prefer not to use D - someone might notice if he goes missing," He mused. "Regardless - by the time anyone realises, it'll be far too late to stop us."

"Here's what we're going to do - you left Lebrenth with Jez correct? I'll go to him, and try to get him up and about - we can't have people sleeping on the job, no matter what I'm doing in the meantime. You go find our test subjects, and try to steer them in the proper direction."

After a few more moments talk, the pair seperated. Rai shrugged her shoulders, her human form sliping away like water. Great wings burst from her shoulderblades, and the dragon took off, flying back int the direction of the Key's Palace.

The Daemon watched her go with interest. A smile twisted acroos His face, and he knelt, picking the copy of the map up from the ground. Unfurling it, he looked at the areas Rai has marked, before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

[Idea master]

"Ready guys? If it shoots, move it...err...wait. Damn dyslexia."

IM kicked at the door. The door remained firmly shut, and there was a small crunching noise. IM then reverted to hopping on one leg while looking for the proper healing spell. Then, in a fit of revenge, IM turned his blaster to full power and blasted the door.

The whole front of the palace dissapeared. IM smiled casually and began to work his way towards the inner chambers of King Key.

[Crunchyfrog]

As they made their way, IM, Sasuke, Crunchy and D-Lotus barely had time to compose themselves when they realised more crowds of baying IFians were gathering at the Mayoral Mansion next door. There seemed to be even more than before, D thought...although it was difficult to tell through the fog.

The fog...

"Listen..." he said, suddenly, as IM was fiddling on a security keypad on a door in one of the now exposed rooms in the palace.
"Yeah yeah, I hear it, lots of noise, rabble, shouting..."
"No... LISTEN!!!" Everyone stopped for a moment.
The fog sighed past them, voices whispering within it. A feeling of forboding came over Crunchy and Sasuke. Crunchy's eyes glazed for a moment.
"I never met this Chinaren yet, but is he really such a bloodthirsty mayor?" burbled Crunchy half to himself, half to his companions. "Perhaps we should get rid of him, you know"
"Where did you get that thought from?" demanded D.
"I dont know... Just now...I felt... heard... a voice..." faltered Crunchy.
"EXACTLY!!!!" said D. "Dont give into it." He turned to IM. "This fog. It's everywhere. I would guarantee it came from the Soul Well. It's been here since this morning. We could see it hanging over the city from where we were on the gorge."
"Are you saying that this fog contains escaped souls?" asked IM.
"Possibly thousands of them. And somehow it is influencing whatever citizens are still left here" replied D. "I believe the Exorcised Souls have returned to the City of IF!!!!"

The impact of this statement was shortlived, as the sound of shattering glass could be heard from the Mayoral Mansion.
"Oh heck.." said Crunchy. "What happens if the crowd notice that most of the front of the palace has disappeared?"

[Idea master]

IM quickly looked through the room he was in. If his memory hadn't failed him, then the button he was looking for would be right about...

Aha! IM pressed the button under Key's rug. A wall slid back to reveal...

"Another wall."

"Yes, but it's one of the walls exported directly from the old aHEM guildhouse. Quickly, touch this briiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccccckkkkkkkkk."

[JezSharp]

Jez continued to check at irregular intervals how Lebby was doing, but there wasn't much change, funny, he seems almost delusional...perhaps I should try using one of my experimental potions... Maybe it would have worked, but the side affects of such potions were relatively untested...still...

As it happened Lebby was spared any such happenings by the red light flashing again. 'Popular today' muttered Jez, irratably, as he left the snug roomy confines of the TI and walked back into the Info Street back room. There through the glass he saw the creepy human form of Lordy.

"Er...hi Lordy...?"

"I hear you have Lebrenth," Lordy replied, not missing a beat, "I came to sort him out." JezSharp wasn't sure whether to trust him, but decided he really had no choice, considering he was in charge of the City's Budget.

"Sure," Jez replied, opening the secret door that led from the public to the private section of the Info Booth, "he's right this way."

[Crunchyfrog]

Meanwhile....

".......iiiiiiiiiccck!!!!"

THUMP!!!

THUD THUD!!!

SPLAT!!!

"Ugh, what have I landed in?"
"What has who landed in? I can't see a thing. "
"It's pitch black in here.... OW!! that's my toe you're standing on you moron!!!"
"Who you calling a...."
"Ideamaster, do I take it you touched the wrong brick?" suggested D.

The foursome stood in complete and utter darkness.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" ventured Crunchyfrog.
"Will do as soon as I find a lightswitch... Errgh!!! These walls are slimy..." exclaimed IM as he wiped his hands on his clothes. Of course nobody could see him do it, it was pitch black.

"No lightswitches in here, I guess..." said Sasuke, helpfully.
"So does anyone have a light?" suggested Crunchyfrog.

Silence.

*Cough cough*.... *Splutter*... *Sniffle*

And then there was light. Well, not much. A tiny flame about the size of a small candle burned steadily from Sasuke's left nostril.

"Cooooooool!" said Crunchyfrog.
"Shnerfluntblabldahlditlong..." grunted Sasuke.
"What did he say?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"He said Shnerfluntblabldahulditlong." replied IM. "It's obvious. He shan't be able to hold it long. Good grief..."

They looked at their new rather damp and smelly environment.
"So is this the Guildhouse?" asked Crunchyfrog brightly.

[Idea master]

"No, this is the passageway to Key's inner chambers. I don't remember them being so...slimy though. Let me find my normal spell book..."

IM rummaged a bit in his robes, then pulled out a small book. "Sasuke, could you bring your nose over here?"

There was a small shuffling, a cry of 'watch it, that's my foot,' and then, there was light. A small orb of light hovered over IM's head, and with a gesture, the orb split into four other orbs. Then the group examined where they were, and they almost wished they hadn't asked for any light.

The walls were covered in green slime. If there had been no slime, they the walls would have been lined with corpses. A tunnel lead them onwards where there were odd skittering noises. IM pulled out his gun. "Well? Shall we?"

[JezSharp]

Jez was careful not to let Lordy see the full size of the TI...actually he was very careful Lordy should see as little of the TI as possible given it was only supposed to consist of a few underground laboratories and not a riddled maze of complex tunnels and rooms, hidden behind panneled doors, that ran beneath the chaotic city overhead.

Quickly he led Lordy to Lebby who was still lying unconcious upon the floor,

"He keeps waking up and muttering about 'World of Warcraft and some Weedum stuff', sounds rather delusional to me," said Jez as he stepped back to let Lordy examine the stricken Lebby, "I wasn't quite sure what he needed, I thought about a dosing him with a reality drug made by creating an antibody to some of the more exoctic fantasy forest plant life - but I don't quite know what side affects that may have...is there an easier way to cure him?"

[LordoftheNight]

The daemon gave an elaborate shrug, and knelt, examing Lebrenth's prone body. Taking hold of the Skiffy moderator by the chin, he pulled the unconcious body upwards, and dangled it off the ground. He peered at the rapidly fluttering eyelids of the illusion given form, before turning to face Jez.

"To be honest, I was just going to hit him until I got a reaction. I do have better things to do with my time afterall." Before Jez could raise a protest He continued. "Your way does sound more practical and effiecent. Less fun though."

"It will take some time to prepare," the elven moderator explained, but was cut off with a wave of the Chancellor's hand.

"Take your time - he's not going anywhere." Returning His gaze to Lebreneth, He stared for a few moments longer, before allowing the counciller to drop to the floor. "Do you know what happened?"

[D-Lotus]

Meanwhile, in a clammy tunnel, four shuddering figures huddled together as they walked. The dripping slime uncomforted them.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" asked Sasuke, who was having problems cramping his slight wings below the tunnel ceiling. He had ceased his flame; instead, four revolving light orbs led the way.

"Of course," said IM, averting Sasuke's gaze, "I've been here thousands of times."

D and Crunchy ignored the doubtful reassurance, focusing instead on what was ahead of them. The slime, green and viscous, was resuscitating unclear memories in D's mind.

"I remember something about this tunnel." said D, clasping the bridge of his nose as he tried to remember. The tunnel walls had been constructed with cheap mortar, in a circular shape- like those of sewers. It certainly smelled like that. As they walked, their eyes searching beyond the orbs, the smell began to subside.

"See? I told you we'd be getting out of here." IM said smartly, as the signs of an expanding route increased. But D-Lotus' memory told him otherwise. There was something sharper in the air, that he could almost identify. Suddenly, they reached a large open area surrounded by high rocks, over which iron crossbars acted as a ceiling. You could observe a large chair above looking into the cage-like arena. D-Lotus was suddenly overcome by the memory of the arena, and he urgently grabbed IM's arm, but it was too late; Crunchyfrog was already staring beyond.

"Oh, Dear God." he whispered without averting his eyes.

From behind the shadows, a giant slug emerged. It was wearing an enormous saddle over its back, and it brayed pathetically, yet terrifyingly. Slime dripped from its body as it slid into the middle of the arena.

"Ethereal Fauna..." gulped D, as the monster, one of Chinaren's GREEDy creations stumbled forth. "That accounts for her disapearance."

IM waited no longer- he pulled out his gun and shot at the creature. The creature reared on its hind suckers, in agony, but then it began advancing towards them again.

"It doesn't have enough Idearium in it to harm it enough!" yelled Sasuke, who seemed nervous, due to the flying limitation that the bars on top of them created. He'd probably be nervous anyway, all of them were.

"Crap..." murmured IM.

[Sasuke]

"Wait, the mushrooms!!" cried Sasuke.
"What about the mushrooms?" replied Crunchyfrog.
"The mushrooms we took with us from the caves. They help you see through deception, right? So they'll be packed full of Idearium. C'mere Crunchy" Sasuke said. "How many mushrooms do we have left?"

As D and Crunchy took out all the mushrooms from their pockets and counted them, Sasuke stretched his wings trying not to let his claustrophobia come to the surface.

"Around, ten" Crunchy answered.

"Perfect."
Grabbing D and Crunchyfrog, Sasuke lifted them both and hurtled along, flying just below the cage ceiling.

"Errgh, slow it down, please Sasuke" moaned Crunchy as he puked again. Flying wasn't his thing.

"No time!! Throw the mushrooms at the beast!!" ordered Sasuke. "D can get a shot at it... This may be our only chance..."
As the mushrooms made contact with the slug they started to dissolve in the slime, fizzing and making the beast squeal.

FLASH!!!! KABLAAAM!!!

A single shot fired from D's Stupidium gun vapourised their foe.

[Xansta]

"Right," said Xansta. "My newfound flaming ability seems to be acting strangely as well." The flames shaped themselves to look like the cloth of a yellow, orange and red dress. The fashionably flaming frock flattered Xansta's figure. She twirled fetchingly.

"Hey, weren't you male yesterday," said Masterweaver.

"Probably," said Xansta. "I'm either male or female depending on the number of stars I count. The switches can be disconcerting, so I avoid counting stars whenever possible. Sometimes, it just happens, though."

"What gender were you in your former IF life?"

Xansta thought about it intently. "I don't exactly remember," she said at last. She climed the spiral stairs back to street level. "We need to investigate this fog more closely," she said heading towards the quietest part of the fog.

"Wait," called out Masterweaver as he hurried to catch up to her, "don't you think that's a little dangerous?"

"Maybe," Xansta grunted as she found that the fog seemed to be pushing back. She reached a point in her struggles where she appeared to be leaning into a tornado by looking at her combustion-inducing clothing. Masterweaver a few feet behind her moved to the side to avoid the licking lace. He, too, seemed unable to penetrate the fog any further.

With a loud crack and a bright flash, Xansta staggered through the invisible barrier. Her flames no longer burning brightly seemed rather to have become simple clothing. She got slowly to her feet, examining herself inquisitively. "The fog apparently removed my flaming ability," she said wonderingly.

"Don't leave me out here in this hostile fog," pleaded Masterweaver.

"Seems I have little choice," said Xansta. She turned and headed deeper into the fog. A trap door opened underneath her and after a fall, slide and a tingling sensation, she found herself in some sort of palace or castle dungeon.

[D-Lotus]

Dealing with the danger in such an interesting manner, D couldn't help a tinge of sadness taking over. Ethereal Fauna had been a friend before her monstrous conversion.

But such thoughts were interrupted by a voice, coughing and mumbling. The shadow of a hunchback stood against the arena wall. He stared in from above and moaned.

"We're sorry for the damage. Is Key around?" asked IM after his hurried apology.

The unknown IFian only moaned again, giving no sign of his intentions...

[Idea master]

IM was now minorly shaken. "Okay guys, hang on a second. I'm going to try opening a portal..."

IM tapped his fingers together and a spark of magic appeared, hovering, doing nothing just yet. He pinched the spark and tugged, pulling it into a line, then rotating it into a disk. Finally, he spun the disk so that it became a sphere of pure magic, blue and white colored.

That is, it looked like that to any mage trained to see magic.

"IM? Could you do the portal thing today please?" D was impatient to say the least. All he saw was fancy hand movements.

IM bent his thoughts towards Key, and then let loose the sphere. What he got wasn't what he wanted. He got a Key-compass.

"What is that thing?" D asked.

"It's a Key-compass. And Key is...just up ahead, hopefully. Come on." IM held the compass in one hand and his gun in another and bravely led the group onwards.

He didn't even think about his ancient spellbook that he had accidently dropped back in the battle with the Fauna Slug...

[JezSharp]

"Do I know what happened?" Jez asked incredulously, "Rai just dropped him here unconcious and flew off...Anyway I guess I'd better start preparing the potion...you're welcome to stay of course, but I'm guessing you have more pressing concerns at the moment..." Jez's eyes narrowed, "has this got anything to do with the sudden appearence of thick fog over the area?"

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai had been about to go hunting for IM, D, Crunchy, and Sasuke, when one of her gems flashed alarmingly. "Someone's using my tunnel." Rai didn't know who had found out about her secret tunnel from the old aHEM guildhouse to Key's Palace but they'd not only be traveling very close to Chinaren's arena, and Rai Corp.'s Deathmatch ring, but also close to her Hoard.

She flashed to Jester Park as fast as she could, scooting past an irate Dinranwen, and let herself into the guildhouse without a sound. Traveling down to her Hoard she slid in past that into a room where horror upon horror had happened...all thanks to a pencil called Stubby and a strange teleporter/cloning chamber.

"Well it's not my passage they're using...it must be the other one. I should never have let Key have that wall." Stepping through her private passage Rai noticed the signs of a battle that had recently taken place. "Looks like they ran into Flauna...oh and isn't IM getting careless."

Reaching down Rai picked up the spellbook IM had dropped, leafing through it causually. "Humm, naughty boy. Where did you get the Seven Curses of Dralico." For a moment Rai uttered several draconic curses before slamming the book shut and tossing it into secure magical storage. "I'd better hang onto this. Who knows what would happen if a mortal attempted to use this."

Walking confidantly down the tunnel, tracking them by IM's magical aura and Sasuke's odd half-dragon scent, Rai shook her head. "Oh I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. Next time they use anything from Jester Park they'd better make sure they've got a guide...or at least a how to use manual."

[D-Lotus]

Suddenly an oppressive feeling took over D-Lotus. It was as if he could feel something creeping down the tunnel behind them. Perhaps this was part of his powers, as IM had mentioned? The more memories he regained, the more he felt in control of himself.

"I think we better start moving, guys." D said, accelerating his pace.

"Why?" asked CF.

"I have a strange feeling that someone is following us. I don't know who, but considering the slug we just met, this could be it's mate." D extrapolated.

"Trust him." IM spoke without doubt. He had heard of D's 'sleuth senses'. As they all began walking steadily and quickly, the tunnel began compressing. The ceiling wasn't getting any lower, but the width of the tunnel soon forced the foursome to walk in a line, one after the other. Sasuke was complaining about his wings again. At one point, the width stabilized, but the height began shrinking, until all four were forced to crawl on their knees. At this point, the tunnel started heading upwards. The crawling was tough, and everyone shouted encouragement to one another. D still felt like he was being followed, and whatever it was, it was catching up. Finally, the walls turned into hard aluminium walls, and they found themselves dragging their bodies through sheets of hard plated metal.

Sighting some light, IM scrambled as well as he could towards it. He punched in the light's general direction and more light streamed forth after a brief clattering sound, as of a lid falling to the ground. IM pulled himself out tiredly, and fell to the floor in a thump. The others followed him and soon they were all contemplating a giant, deserted kitchen. They had just crawled out from some old, inactive vent. Sasuke stretched out his wings happily.

"Where do we go?" asked Crunchy.

[dinranwen]

((*Dinranwen popping in Hangover for the first time, realizes exactly what it is.*My, this isn't what I thought it was. I'll join, and look I have great opening. Yay me!))

An very irate frazzled and ruffled Din was standing in front of an open window in the Jester Park Mod office when Rai came flying through ruffly shoving her aside, and tearing her already tattered cloak even further.

"Hey!" Din cried to the tail end of Rai as began to swing behind the dragoness. Why was her co-mod in such a rush? And where was Rai going anyway?

Too frazzled, frayed, and frustrated to even care what would happen to her in Rai's precious treasury room, Din stormed into the door barely catching it before it slamed with a loud bang.

Catching a glimsps of Rai's departing tail, Din vainly try to yank her hood over her face. Her efforts were in vain. Her hood was in the same state as the rest of her cloak, more hole than fabric. To make matters worse, Din suspected that with the tears her cloak was doing more harm than it helped hid her face.

Giving up with a frustrated toss of her hand, Din lifted up the hem of her dress to reveal her patent leather no heel boots and ran after her co-mod.

Forgetting to look where she was running, Din lifted her head a minute or two to gaze in front of her. Snap! she thought, as she dug her heels into the floor. But she was too late, she was already skidding across the too slippery floor and was sliding...sliding. Smack! Right into Rai's hind leg.

Landing her backside, Din rubbed the tender areas she probably just permantly bruised.

"Din! What in the world *((well actually it wasn't world that Rai said, but hey this is a pg site now.)) are you doing here? Go back to the office right this minute young lady." Rai said begining to shove Din across the floor with a spare talon.

"Where have I been?" Din foamed standing up and straigtening her cloak. "Where I have been?!? I have spent the last ten hours warding off a group of mass murders who tried to bore me to death with tales of RL, Manic Miner Rebells who are frantically looking for Chinaren's immediate demise last I checked. I had neutralize a batch of stupidum that manganed to mix with the Local Jester Park Cotton Candy and then tried to consume everything it touch into obvilion. Had to manage the mass panic as even the Lab rats freaked out at the sight of untangiable mist that seems to be made of out Dead Souls. Was forced to cram L.A.N.D.I. in a box because he declares himself as the new mod, tries to kill me, and turns out to be the leader of rebelling clown group who are trying to take over Jester Park. Clowns, that I have spent btw pelting with ordinary cherrie pies because they managed to get a hold of the Storygame Cherrie Boomer 2000 Factory. And you ask me where I have Been!" Din finished panting nearly screaming now.

"Where have you been instead of in Jester Park where you could have helped me?" Din accused waving a finger at Rai, "I am only a half-shadow you know, there's not much I can do against the armies of Jester Park."

"I have been busy okay." Rai said raising an eyebrow at Din's rantings and not lossing her cool for a minute. "Now go back and play with the clowns dearie, it's not safe here."

"No." Din said setting her foot down with a slam. An effect which was ruined by what Din stepped in....ewww, gross just what was in this tunnel anyway? "This time I'm not crawling back to safety like a scolded child. I am no coward you know."

"I am not arguing with you. No go back before I spell you back there and chain you to you chair."

"No, you are going to take me with, and willing too." Din said pulling her cloak tight against herself as if it could actually protect her from what could be ahead. "Or I am going to tell everyone where your Real Lair is."

"You wouldn't dare."

Din raised an eyebrow, "Try me."

[Idea master]

IM looked at his compass. It was pointing east and upwards. "He's upstairs, for one. I, however, am hungry."

Thus saying, IM began to look about the kitchen for any food. Hmm. A few chocolate cake mixes, a little bit of flavoring, some eggs, some butter, and chocolate chips. While IM magically levitated and mixed the ingrediants, he began looking for some milk, or possibly rum. Maybe some Grog, Gungle Juice, or Old Stoat Reserve.

The ingrediants had become a huge mass of cookie batter, which seperated itself into dozens of tiny balls. Those balls began to heat up and cook outwards in all directions, then cool down and assume a smaller, more rigid form. Then they all flew onto a large but previously unnoticed plate.

"Anyone care for some spherical double chocolate chip cookies?"

[JezSharp]

"Oh that's a sea of dispensed souls who've escaped and are spreading anti China sentiment about the city...I think China may have gone into hiding."

"Really..."said Jez in a voice infused with deep thinking, "well I'll only be a few minutes so you are welcome to stay and watch."

"Wouldn't miss it," Lordy replied, a malicious grin touching the corners of his mouth.

It did indeed take four minutes, then Jez returned carrying a white ceramic jug filled with a light purple liquid with the aroma of damp moss, it looked as though pieces of grass had lived their for some time. Slowly Jez gently pouredthe mixture down Lebby's throat and stood well back looking anxious.

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai looked at Din, grinning nastily. If she's going to threaten me well then...this changes things a bit. She set off briskly down the tunnel.

"Fine, fine, follow me. I do hope you can handle it though."

[Idea master]

After having throughly sampled his newest creation and saving the other five dozen cookies for later rations, IM led the way towards the upper floor of the eastern wing, where Key was said to sleep, if he got any sleep at all. The stairs were wider than Key, which was saying a lot, and the door showed signs of recent renovation. Key was putting on pounds again.

IM carefully opened the door and peeked in. Barely a second later, he screamed and ran away from the door, holding his hands up to his eyes. The compass rolled to the floor, and D picked it up, reading it carefully. "Key is in there or beyond there somewhere. Judging by IM's reaction, we'll have to be blindfolded. I'll go in there, no sense in everyone dying. Do we have some cloth?"

There was a scuffle, and IM held up a hank of cloth. D put it on tightly over his eyes, took a deep breath, and went in.

"There goes a brave man," Sasuke said.

"A brilliant detective," IM said through stifled screams and sobs.

"I wonder if I can clean his house out when he's gone?" CrunchFrog mused.

[Crunchyfrog]

The Story So Far...

As the sun rose on New Years Day in the City of IF, it was clear that all was not well.

During the celebrations the night before, there had been an almighty flash of lightning, and IFians had been seen fleeing the city.

At some point during the evenings proceedings, the Master Map of the City had been stolen. Although this had later turned out to be a fake (leading to the question, where in IF was the real one?) it still did not explain why the fake one had been planted on Crunchyfrog, (hapless Newbie) and why he, along with D-Lotus, (Private Investigator) had found themselves clinging to a ledge on a cliff face in the gorge, which happened to be the entrance to a labyrinth of tunnels, with no memory of how they got there.

They were not in possession of the map for long that morning, since Kalanna snatched it from them saying it should be returned to the City, but instead, unknown to D and Crunchy, she kept it and provided a copy of it to Lordofthenight, with certain areas circled on it. Hmmm....

The labyrinth, turned out to contain the Soul Well. The Soul Well had been created some time previously, when it had become necessary to exorcise several thousand 'soulless IFians' from the city. After the Mass Exorcism, Chinaren, the Mayor, had performed the Ceremony of Release, casting the exorcised souls into the Wells. This had been silently witnessed by Sasuke, a half breed dragon, who had been trapped in the labyrinth for a rather long period, and is searching for the identity of his father.

Since the New Year celebrations, a strange fog has been hanging over the city. It has been discovered that fog is a manifestation of the Souls from the Well. Whispers from within the fog are currently whipping the remaining citizens of IF into a frenzied mob, using suggestions that Mayor Chinaren is looking to kill them at any whim. They are rampaging the streets, and smashing up the Mayoral Mansion. Fortunately for Chinaren, he is not at home.

D-Lotus is suffering from amnesia. The cause of it is not yet clear, but has thought to have occured as a result of the 'event' at the New Year celebration. All he can remember is his name, profession, and the people he knows in the City - he has no recollection of prior events, recent or long term. This includes a prior encounter with BStheGreat, for which BS seems to want revenge.
Polokin, having received requests for assistance from D-Lotus and BS prior to the opening of this story, has chosen to assist BS in his quest to hunt D-Lotus down.
Polokin hides a secret from them both, in the form of an object concealed in his pocket.

On returning to the City, after his escape from the ledge via the labyrinth, D told IM of his adventures, the fake map, the well and his concerns about Kalanna's odd behaviour. IM decided the best thing to do was to find Key.

Kalanna Rai is now also hunting D-Lotus. She has been sent on this mission by Lordofthenight, who has plans for D-Lotus, as a 'test subject'... The other selected 'test subjects' are Sasuke and Masterweaver.
Her mission, is to guide the three 'test subjects' in the right 'directions', for whatever dastardly reasons, as yet unrevealed. Lordofthenight and Kalanna are also hoping that D-Lotus does not 'remember' something, although what this is, is not yet known.

Dinranwen, having spent the last 10 hours dealing with the rather weird events unfolding in Jester Park since the New Years party, has decided to join Kalanna in her hunt for D and his friends.

Lebrenth, the Skiffy moderator, whilst answering a routine call of duty, attempted to teleport himself from the Skiffy Library to the Council Hall became diverted to the Dream Chamber, and succumbed to the mists within. Now Jezsharp, the Tourist Information elf, along with Lordofthenight, (who is officially Up To No Good) are doing what they can to revive him from unconciousness.

* * *

Currently Lordofthenight and Jezsharp are in Jezsharp's Tourist Information Headquarters, pouring a rather intriguing purple liquid with bits growing in it, down the unconcious Lebrebth's throat.

Masterweaver, who had *ahem* 'assisted' D, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke in the labyrinth earlier on in the story, has been accosted by a strange figure claiming to be Chinaren.

Whether this is really Chinaren, or another of his many delusions, or an imposter, is yet to be revealed.

Xansta, who D, Crunchyfrog, Masterweaver and Sasuke had encountered near Jester Park on their escape from the labyrinth has just fallen through a trap door into some kind of a palace or castle dungeon. (Xansta was an IFian from before the Mass Exorcism, but was somehow affected by it. He/she was trapped in the labyrinth and only escaped recently, and had no interaction with any IFian since that time)

After slaying the Etherial Fauna slug, and navigating some pretty vile tunnels, Ideamaster, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke are now outside Key's sleeping chamber in the Royal Palace. D has just entered the chamber, blindfolded, due to something horrific IM has seen inside. Even though he is starting to recover the special powers that he had forgotten about due to his amnesia, this has not stopped Ideamaster sobbing and screaming uncontrollably, and Crunchyfrog wondering if he can get his hands on D's possessions after he's gone...

Kalanna, is also in the Royal Palace, but still in the underground tunnel some way behind the four heroes she is hunting. She is in possession of Ideamaster's spellbook which IM carelessly dropped after overcoming the slug. She has reluctantly agreed for Dinranwen to accomany her, after Din threatened to reveal where Kalanna's real lair was.

And just who is the hunchback in the tunnels under the Royal Palace?

Chapter 4 - Assassination, Domination, and Sado-Masochism :shock:

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai sighed as she walked down the tunnel, Din gliding along a few paces behind. My real Lair eh? She's got no clue, none at all. Still I don't like it when people try to blackmail me like that. Rounding a corner she came upon a set of stairs that led upwards. Following them she found the party she'd been tracking, minus D-Lotus, attempting to put IM back in his right mind.

"Hello all, once again we meet under strange circumstances. Where's D?" They all pointed to the doorway and Rai shuddered. "Oh sweet DM, you sent him in there! The last time I went in there I turned white for...well I suppose you took precautions."

"We blindfolded him." Rai shook her head.

"It won't be enough, not to withstand that." She swallowed hard. "I'm going in."

[D-Lotus]

Once again, as D-Lotus stepped into the room blind-folded, he had a wave of apprehension pass over him. Ignoring this now, D advanced through the room, his arms outstretched. The first thing that battered him was the horrible smell, as of rotting flesh. He grabbed in the air for the wall, to guide himself along. Secondly, he heard grunting and the sound of smacking, although it wasn't anything like Akon's* song envisions.

D-Lotus retreated against the near left corner of the room. On an impulse, he opened his blindfold, only a crack. What he saw... it was of a level of degenerate visual that cannot easily be described. A man was spanking himself with what appeared to be a paddle in the hand of a stuffed witch, Stoat. Shuddering, D-Lotus realized that the man, most probably General Powers, from a Greed story, was so involved in these...motions, that he hadn't noticed D. Looking beyond the enormous bed where these actions were being carried about, D spotted the door leading, he sensed, towards Key, or at least someone else who could help. The key was dangerously balanced at the edge of the bed, titilating in accord with the bed's motion.

Putting his blindfold on again, D rushed towards the bed and instinctively grabbed the key. Powers suddenly stopped and shouted something at D, but D had already reached the door and was unlocking it. But as he was pulling the door open, the other entrance door burst open, and Kalanna Rai poked her scaly red head in, searching for D with her eyes. Some primeval feeling took over D again, and he ran through the door, locking it behind him. He heard Powers begin to shout at Kalanna violently, angrily. Kalanna's silence seemed to indicate that she was somewhat intimidated, especially after having interrupted the privacy of his leisure.

D immediately began to look for a way out, before both the mods agreed on something.

"Hello." said a voice.

D looked around. Then he looked down at the key he still held in his hand. "Key?"
__

*The hip-hop singer

[Crunchyfrog]

Outside the room, IM looked around at Dinranwen, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke, as he could hear a strange knocking noise. At first he thought it might have been Kalanna banging at the door to come out. Then he realised it was Crunchyfrog's knees knocking together. The howling and shouting coming from within the room sounded terrifying.
The fact that Kalanna could no longer be heard was now even more terrifying....


* * *

Meanwhile, in the TI, Lordofthenight and Jezsharp quietly continued to watch closely for any change in Lebrenth's unconscious state after the administration of the purplish mossy smelling liquid.

They were unaware that plumes of fire were rising in the financial quarter of the city. The Bank of Chinaren had been looted, and the jubilant crowds, now enriched with thousands of fables stuffed into their pockets, clothes, bags and shoes, were marching through the city towards the Market Bizarre, to pillage his Avatar shop, with flame torches and makeshift placards, shouting "Down With Chinaren!! We Want A NEW MAYOR!!!" DOWN WITH CHINAREN!!!" "WE WANT A NEW MAYOR!!!"

The fog swirled around the crowds, whispering, suggesting, almost egging them on in their crazed revolt....

[LordoftheNight]

As they watched, Lebrenth's body began to twitch. His fingers trembling. The shivers continued up his limbs to his chest, until he entire body was shaking.

"You were right," spoke the Daemon in amusement. "This is fun." It was mere misfortune, prehaps, that at His words the unconcious moderator's twitchings became more violent. One of Lebrenth's nigh on flailing limbs came crashing against the Chanceller's leg, Jez leaping away just in time to avoid a similar blow.

"Prehaps I gave him a bit too much," the elf commented with a studical interest. "The potion is designed for elven-kind afterall, and a mortal body may suffer slightly modified effects."

"Really?" the Daemon replied, His voice dripping with sarcasum. "I assumed this was supposed to happen. Why administer potions to someone without the expectation of such a mishap?"

With the state his unconcious body was in, one could only assume what was happening within Lenrenth's mind, the inital target of the medicinal potion.

[JezSharp]

Lebrenth convulsed several times and turned green. On the plus side he had been jolted out of his far off RL coma. He sat up and blinked, staring at the smooth grey walls, lit by ever burning candles.

"Where am I...and why am I green?" he said incredulously.

"Oops" muttered Jez, "side affect of some of the fantasy plant matter, don't worry I have an antidote somewhere. Everything will hopefully be ok." With that the elf slipped back into his laboratory and started to rummage about for the antidote, returning within a minute with a red vial which he handed to Lebrenth who sniffed at it depreciatingly,

"It smells of rotten flesh," he said as he drunk it,

"Not far off," Jez replied, "it's made from the squeezed skin of a deer amongst other things, I think it was still within the sell by date...but I haven't checked for a while..." Lordy's grin increased slightly as he observed Lebrenth half-choke on the liquid, but it had the desired affect - within minutes Lebrenth was back to his usual color (assuming that is pinkish...).

"Ok," said Jez, "so in summary a sea of should has descended on the City stirring up anti Chinatic sentimentalities within the local populace with the mentioned target of such anger having temporarily vanished to an unknown destination...in which case I have places to go . . . either of you is welcome to join me but you'll have to decide now, or go and attend to whatever you need to do, is there anything else going on we should know of Lordy?"

The other two just about caught the last part of the speech, Lebrenth still letting the last of the first mixture clear away strands of RL from his head and Lordy still standing there like a grotesque statue, carved from chalk, of a medieval goth - the same half smile fixed upon his lips.

[LordoftheNight]

"From what Rai told me, MasterWeaver is causing trouble again. Apparently he's the one causing riots in the city. With the Mayor missing, and his Highness Kinky mainly away from the city, I suppose it falls to me to go and deal with them." The Daemon paused, as if considering His next words.

"I've had word that China might be away longer than expected. As the City Council members, it's best if we show a united front under such circumstances. Jez - could you and Lebrenth call a Council meeting?"

Still dizzy from the potion, Lebrenth stared blankly at the Daemon. Jez, on the other hand, nodded his consent.

"I can't do it now though - I've got places to go first," the elf replied, unwilling to explain the reasoning behind where he was traveling.

"That's probably for the best. Does five hours suit you? It'll also give the other members time to prepare - I need to know who started this, and what's causing it." He looked at the Skiffy councilor, who was still slightly out of it. "Lebrenth - you stay with Jez. I don't want you taking yourself out again."

[Kalanna Rai]

Rai lounged quietly on the large bed that had belonged to Key until a few minutes ago. It wasn't as bad as last time...not nearly. Bringing a talon up to her fangs she fished around a bit until she pulled out what was bothering her...a rubber mask that had until moments ago adorned the head of General Powers.

"A bit of a let down really...the man behind the mask really was quite bland and flavorless...unless you count the lingering taste of rubber." Sighing she rose off the bed gracefully and towards the door where D-Lotus had disappeared moments before. Assuming semi-human form, there was no two ways about this, she tried the knob. "Why do they always think locking it will keep me out? Don't they realize that you've got to have at least twenty levels of Rogue to be a decent assassin?"

Pulling out a set of custom lock picks from one of her mod jewels Rai inserted several into the lock, humming a cute tune as she swiveled them around. After only a few delicate motions she was rewarded by a soft click. "Bingo." Replacing the picks from whence they came, Rai walked into the room...and had to duck as D-Lotus swung down at her head with the massive key.

"Take that!" Reaching up and catching the unbalanced D in a rather nasty immobilization hold Rai hissed in his ear.

"Idiot! I'm the freaking rescue party!" After all she was going through to save his life...was it really worth it ?

[Idea master]

IM had finally managed to get his mind in the right order. It had taken some doing, but there was nothing one perversion couldn't do that another perversion couldn't undo. Mind, even that one second of Powers was enough of a solvent for most of his issues..

He heard a thumping noise. Kalanna Rai had just dragged D out from that cesspool of a room. IM noticed that D was completely out. "Was that absolutely required?"

"Probably not, but it made me feel better," Rai answered.

IM sighed and said, "Well, we're no closer to finding Key now."

"You called?"

Everyone looked about, seeing no additional people. IM hesitantly asked, "Key?"

"Down here."

Everybody looked at the prone figure of D. "No no, not D-Lotus! Me! I'm in his right hand!"

IM carefully picked up the key. "Key? Is that really you?"

"No, it's the invisible man! OF COURSE IT'S ME!"

IM frantically checked for his ancient spellbook. "Oh no. This can't be good."

"What?" CrunchyFrog asked.

"I've lost my ancient spellbook. If someone else picks it up and reads from it, then who knows what could happen? Plus, it's the only book I know of that can undo a transformation spell this powerful. I need to get it back!"

[Kalanna Rai]

Doing her absolute best not to grin, and succeeding, Rai returned to her dragon form before slowly looking at IM. "If I'm not much mistaken you did file a copy of that book with the IF Hazardous Items department." The dragoness grimaced; those damn gremlins in IFHI had been after her for months asking for permission to poke around in her Horde for contraband. Of course there was contraband in her Horde but that was beside the point.

"I'm also pretty sure these tunnels lead right under that wing of the Council Hall." Looking around Rai sniffed the air a bit and consulted her mod gem before finding the tunnel exit she was looking for. "Ah here it is...this way please." Picking up D in her jaws she headed off, the darkness bothering her not one bit.

[JezSharp]

Jez nodded as Lordy left and headed back up to the surface, and towards the Tourist Info portals. When he was sure he had left Jez turned to Lebrenth,

"Right, ok. We need to alert the Council that there will be a meeting in five hours, given that most council members are too busy dashing about to check their mail we'd better send out urgent messages at once...follow me." Lebrenth slowly got up and carefully followed Jez up the flight of stairs into the back of the Tourist Info booth. They walked past the mike to the far wall where Jez put his hand on the wall and mumbled a word, a trapdoor opened and a ladder fell from it.

"Can you make it up?" Jez asked Lebrenth, who nodded as his strength returned. It took a few minutes but he finally made it, stumbling into a cozy wooden room, with computers, a fridge and an assortment of games and sketches.

"Ok, you'll need to log onto the IF network as a guest," Jez yelled up from below...he waited a few minutes until he heard Lebrenth call down,

"Right I've written the messages, where should we meet?" Jez considered the question thoughtfully..."Given the anti-China sentiment I'd suggest Key's Palace or the Fantasy Forest - your call though, there's food in the fridge by the way."

"Food...why would..." With a hiss the ladder retracted and the trapdoor shut, as it did so Jez's voice echoed up from below,

"As I said I have somewhere to go, but you should be safe up there until I return." Then, swiveling on the spot Jez headed down into the depths of The Technical Institute, sealing the impenetrable door shut behind him, before heading to collect a very special object.

[dinranwen]

Din who was beginning to wonder if she really head back to Jester Park, obediently followed IM, Rai, D-lotus, Crunch-Frog, and a key that was claiming to Key himself. When Din threatened Rai, she hadn't really ment anything by it. Of course to really fullifill her threat she would of had to known where exactly Rai's lair was, and of course Din didn't actually know that.

But then again, Rai didn't like to be threatened, blackmailed, or any such things. On the other hand, if Din hadn't threatened to do exactly what she couldn't do under any circumstances, Rai wouldn't have let her gone anywhere. In fact if she hadn't threated her co-mod, Din imagined she would be chained to a chair in her office, locked in a closet, or chained to a wall if not all three. Rai never let her have any fun.

Rai thought she was harmless, helpless, and the comletly unable to harm a fly. 'And she's propably right,' Din thought to herself, 'but how is I am suspussed to learn if no one let's me have any fun?'

Making a mental note to apologize prefusly after this and perhaps giving Rai one of the rare objects Din kept in a secret hoard only she knew about, Din pushed off her thoughts and strood up the lovable frog known to her as Crunchy.

"So, Crunchy you mind telling me what has been happening in the city lately?"

"You don't know?" IM said raising his bushy eyebrows.

"I know a few details, but I am afraid I have been a little busy dealing with Jester Park rather than keeping up with city events, besides I was talking to Crunchy not you."

"Well, Din, this is what has happening....." Crunchy said as Din walked and listened to where ever the group was heading.

[Idea master]

IM tuned CruchyFrog and Dinranwen out as he jogged to catch up with Rai. "Hey, Rai, wait a second!"

IM huffed and puffed and caught his breath. "Have you had dealings with these little gnomes before? Can I actually get my book back from them?"

[Kalanna Rai]

"Sure you can...They'll give you a copy I'm sure. But you'll have to warn them you lost the original." Rai snorted, well not lost really.

Rai led them through a maze of underground passages, stopping every once and a while to check her mod gem and sniff the air. Finally she spit out D on the ground. "Right, IFHI is right above you guys. Din and I, however, are off to clean up Jester Park." Din nodded her hood. Turning the pair headed down a tunnel to the left.

They twisted downward through places long forgotten until suddenly Rai came to a halt. "Great my tail's stuck. Will you head through that archway up there? Jester Park is just on the other side. Go grab me a crowbar so I can get myself out." Din looked around a bit before scrabbling through the glowing archway. Rai felt bad for all of six seconds as a horrible scream filled the air.

Slowly stepping forward, her tail had never been trapped; Rai entered a place long forgotten by IF. There was no sign of Dinranwen. There was, however, a vial of something red floating in a column of light in the center of a round chamber. Reaching out and snagging it Rai chuckled to herself. "Sorry Din but threatening a dragon gets you nowhere."

Putting the vial into her gems Rai gathered herself up and quickly teleported back to her Council chambers. "Blood of the Beginning...check."

[Smudger]

A dim silhouette of a hunched figure shuffled along after Din and Rai. The figure stopped, wheezed, and continued his slow waddle forward.

"I'm getting too old for all this running, hiding and getting lost malarkay, I'm telling you."

He started advancing after the cloaked shadow and the giant dragon.

This is Smudger. The unknown linear mod who basically wrote one linear story, retired and spent all day in the tavern chatting.

When it was New Year he still stayed out the way. Not very sociable is Smudger. Too grumpy.

He saw the things happening and knew the best chance of survival was to follow the shadow and dragon. Simple.

But no. They had to vanish after the scream of Din. Smudger sighed. Why did I follow a dragon and a shadow? Safety? Rubbish, their gone now!

He bowed his head a dragged his foot along the tunnels in hope of finding a friendly IFian face, or at least a face anyway. Wait, I have that ring too!

Smudger thought hard about the Council Hall and being inside it. The ring glowed, got brighter. And brighter...

BANG!!!!

The ring and gem exploded on Smudger's hand. The hunchback hobbled in a circle screaming at his flaming hand. Linear always gets the duds...