City of IF

[Crunchyfrog]

.

Welcome to The Hangover. :D

What you read here is an experiment in Co-Authorship. The original story was laid down spontaneously in This thread. However, the writing style was very much Role Play to begin with, so the story needed some heavy editing to bring it into a more easily flowing, chapterised format, in this Final Version thread.

During the experiment, a discussion thread was set up, where we eventually learned to plan each chapter before writing it, and write co-operatively from a single point of view. By Chapter 25, the writing style had evolved to the point where each contribution could be transferred directly to this Final Version thread, with very little alteration.

The material from each co-author is identified by their own symbolic icon, the key to which is below.

On behalf of all of the co-authors, I hope you enjoy the journey and evolution of The Hangover :D

- Crunchyfrog







































Chapter 1 - The Labyrinth and the Well






It had been a marvelous New Years party. The skies above the City of If had been ablaze fireworks popping above the decorated streets, the great spires of the municipal buildings shimmering in the light. Throughout the evening long and tall tales had been told from the vaults, grand speeches had been given by the King, Mayor, and many of the normally quieter citizens had come out into the streets, to party the night away.

But that seemed a distant fuzzy memory now, as Crunchyfrog dangled dangerously from a tree root that protruded near the top of a cliff face, some distance from the city. Hanging by both hands, he stared out to the horizon, where he could see the spires in the mist, as the sun began to rise. Something didn't look right. He thought he could see smoke hanging over the whole city. Everything looked dull, not gleaming like it did when he came upon it for the first time a month ago. Something had happened after he blacked out at the party.

He had no idea how he'd got here now. Looking down, there was a narrow ledge about 10 feet below him, then a sheer drop of several hundred feet below that. On the ledge lay a figure, which was beginning to stir. He recognised the groans as coming from one of his new IFian friends...

Above him, he could hear scuffling, and the cries of some mythical animal he was not familiar with. Presently, a dark hood peered over the edge of the cliff.






"Crunchyfrog?" called Masterweaver. "Is there any particular reason you're hanging down there?"

Crunchyfrog craned his neck upwards.

"I'm not really sure," he answered weakly.
Masterweaver sighed. "Hold on, I've caught a Pegasus, I might be able to get you out. Careful now, it’s not very tame-"




Crunchyfrog listened to more scuffling on the clifftop above, wondering how Masterweaver was going to achieve this.

As Masterweaver took hold of the makeshift bridle, the Peg turned around, lifted its tail and dropped a load over the cliff, narrowly missing Crunchyfrog and the unconscious IFian on the ledge below. Masterweaver attempted to cajole the animal into allowing him to mount it, but it reared up and shook its head menacingly.

"Wait... This isn't going to work! shouted Crunchyfrog. “Whoever it is that is lying on the ledge below me is barely conscious. If I let go of this tree root, I may land on him/her, and possibly make any injuries worse. And I can't get both of us on to the Peg's back as it flies by, not from this position. The ledge is far too narrow, and I'm not confident about lifting a person who may even be heavier than me.”

Masterweaver stopped.

"Hmmm." he said. "I see what you mean."

Masterweaver stared down at Crunchyfrog hanging from the tree root, and the other IFian, lying on the ledge 10 feet further down.
"Maybe a bit of rope might be more sensible... I could get the Peg to help pull you up instead..... "

Masterweaver paused, and stared over the cliff at Crunchyfrog.

"Hey, Crunch, why have you got a huge piece of rolled up parchment stuffed down the back of your pants?"

"I don’t know, I didn't put it there!" yelled Crunchyfrog. "Now, you were saying about that rope..."






"That parchment looks really long! Can we use it as a rope?" called Masterweaver.
"We could if I could reach it!"
"Ok, stay there!"

Crunchyfrog rolled his eyes.

The black leather robe let himself fall onto the ledge below Crunchyfrog, accidentally nudging the unidentified IFian closer to the edge.
"Right," said Masterweaver. "You drop, I'll catch you, and we'll use that parchment as a rope, agreed?"
"What about the Peg?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"It flew off." grumbled Masterweaver. "Now I'll have to catch it all over again. Ah well. Ready? One, two three-"

THUMP!!!

Crunchyfrog let himself fall, knocking Masterweaver over. They scrabbled to safety away from the edge.


"Sorry, was I supposed to wait until 'go'?" grinned Crunchyfrog.

"Oh, no prob," said Masterweaver, dusting himself off. He pulled the scroll out of Crunch's clothing, and unravelled it.

"This parchment is certainly long enough to use as a rope. You got a grappling hook?"

"No..." Crunchyfrog shrugged.


Suddenly, they heard a groan, as their unknown companion stirred. Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver gasped as he rolled over, causing his legs to flail over the edge.





D-Lotus groaned, fluctuating between consciousness and a deep ensnaring darkness. He could detect shouts somewhere above him, but they seemed distant and dimming. He was now holding on to a protruding rock on the edge of a ledge, using all his strength to persevere. He could feel a biting cold around his dangling legs and feet. All his muscles were tensed and tired, but he mustered a cry of help towards the heavens.

He couldn't remember why he was here, or who had placed him in this precarious position. The last thing D had contemplated was his office, and grabbing his coat to join the celebration outside. He remembered the oaken door with a fuzzy rectangle of glass incrusted in it's middle, and the words reading:

D-Lotus
Private Investigator

What case had he been working on? D couldn't remember. The only memories he could hold on to were of leaving the office, putting his coat on, and then a white flash- that's all.

[Crunchyfrog]

Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver inched their way across the ledge to pull their companion back to safety, but just as they did so, a huge red dragon soared past, with a large lampshade on its head. It could only be Kalanna Rai.




Upon landing on the cliff edge above and behind them, she pulled the lampshade off her head, and, reaching down with her tail, neatly lifted the figure back onto the ledge.

"Don't party if you can't hold your own, " she warned, condecendingly. "I've got to be going gentlemen, and robe. Enjoy the day."

With that Rai launched herself upward again.







As they stared after her, Masterweaver and Crunchyfrog considered that they were evidently blessed with some luck; whether it was good or bad, neither were quite sure. After all, they were still stranded on the ledge, with an unconcious companion...

The shafts of morning light slowly began to move onto the ledge and finally Masterweaver was able to get a good look at their companion.
"Hey, it's D-Lotus!" he exclaimed.
"D-Lotus!"
Crunchyfrog nearly toppled off the ledge in surprise, but Masterweaver pulled him back.
"D-Lotus, are you okay?" asked Crunchyfrog.

D-Lotus groaned, opened his eyes momentarily and closed them again. Was that Crunchyfrog in front of him? AND Masterweaver? What was Masterweaver doing to one of the parchment scrolls from the City Council Hall?

He tried to point and tell Masterweaver to stop mangling the precious scroll but was still recovering his senses.

Crunchyfrog stood up and put his hand on Masterweavers shoulder.

"Wait, I think he's trying to say something." he said.

Masterweaver leaned on the cliff wall, as the shafts of sunlight continued to move across it. Then he simply fell through it, as a section of the rock slid downwards, revealing a tunnel within.





Finally the world was becoming clearer and sharper. In front of him, D-Lotus could see Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver. Something red and scaly had answered his call to heaven and somehow dropped him to safety. D tremblingly got up and rested against a tree while the two Ifians started raising their voices.


"What is it?" Asked D, extenuated.

A muffled cry reached out from a black hole in the cliff wall.

"I found a tunnel!"

A tunnel? Didn't D's investigation have something to do with tunnels..? And what about the City Hall parchment scroll?


_______________




Meanwhile, BStheGreat stood in the distance, his figure hidden from view behind a large willow tree and his solid black eyes grasping the scene before him. He was kneeling down with his right hand resting against the staff of his bow, and his left hand tossing feeling the soft soil beneath the root of the tree. As silently as a cat about to strike, he stood up and grabbed an arrow from the quiver over shoulder. It was a simple wood arrow made with an iron head, although a violet colored ribbon lay tied to it.

"Your life is safe today D-Lotus," BS said to himself. "But you are a marked man, and I shall not forget what you did to me. Your life may be over sooner than you think."

With that BStheGreat loosed an arrow, and listened to it whistle as it soared through the air. With near perfect accuracy, the arrow landed just in front of the crowd of three, and before the assailant could be identified, BS disappeared into the retreating shadows.

_____________







There was something like a sizzle in the air or an angry whistle and an arrow burrowed itself at D's feet. D looked around, but there was only a dead silence everywhere. Suddenly a change overcame D-Lotus and he sprung to balance. A plot...tunnels...arrows... it was something he had been investigating, except he couldn't remember what.
“What in the world is going on?” he thought to himself. “Is this connected to my last case?”
He warily made his way closer to the other two for protection, although it seemed the assailer had left. Well, better find out where that tunnel led to- maybe it held the answer to this mystery.

"Let's get a torch." said D.

The tunnel was dark, earthy and scary; in addition it was filled with spiders webs and scurrying sounds. Crunchyfrog was holding the quickly manufactured torch in her hand. It consisted of a piece of garment rolled around the end of a branch lit on fire. Consequently, there was a large rip in Masterweaver's undershirt.

"Where are we going?" asked Masterweaver.

"I'm not sure. Here, let me see that parchment." said D-Lotus.

Masterweaver reluctantly handed the brittle paper to D, who held it under the torch light. There seemed to be some kind of magical quality to it, as it wasn't defined by any size- it kept changing. The picture that D opened up began changing as well. It slowly transformed into the map of a myriad of tunnels. A red arrow began creeping through the map, indicating a path towards the convergence of all the tunnels.

"This way." pointed D, as Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver followed him speculatively.


Presently, they came to a junction, and a new tunnel.






"I don't think that tunnel's on the map," replied Crunchy.

Masterweaver glanced at the map, then at the tunnel.

"GET DOWN!" he cried suddenly.
"What? It's not like there's going to be a cave-in??" said D.

As if on queue, the tunnel imploded. Everyone fell to the ground.

_______________





Meanwhile, back at the Council Hall Rai was surprised to find it a flurry of action. Grabbing one of the small, furry orange things that Chinaren had hired to do the fetch and carry work, she demanded to know what was going on.

"It seems that sometime last night, an unknown person, or persons, stole the Master Map of the City. The Mayor and King are both rather upset about it, since that Map is the only one with the location of...er...things."

Rai had to take her time with the creature to get it to divulge exactly what the map showed. Her eyes went wide.

"Sweet DM in the sky! They have the location to the Soul Well?"
The creature glumly nodded. After the Mass exorcisim that expunged the soulless IFians the excess soul power had to go somewhere, thus the Soul Well had been created. Now, some mad Ifian had that info. "I've got to do something." she said.

Taking flight over the city, Rai searched, almost frantic to spot something that would lead her to the map, even though it was a billion to one that she would. She was gliding over Games when an explosion boiled upward from below. Twitching a scaley eyebrow she plunged downward, switching on a momentary intangibility spell. She found herself in a rubble filled tunnel confronting a very odd bunch.

Masterwaver, Crunchyfrog, and D-Lotus stared back at her, covered in dust and rubble. Rai shook her head, she'd just left them! "I'm gone for a moment and you three managed to ruin a major section of the city." Only then noticing the parchment held in D-Lotus's hand she reached out and snatched it up.

"What! You stole the map!?"






"I didn't steal it. He did!" said D- Lotus, pointing at Masterweaver, since the first time he'd seen it was when Masterweaver was trying to make a rope out of it.

"I didn't steal it. He did!" cried Masterweaver, pointing at Crunchyfrog, since when he had first seen it, it was stuffed down the back of Crunchyfrog's pants.

Kalanna turned on the newbie.
"And how exactly did YOU come by the map?" she asked.

"Er... uhhh... well.... I have no idea.." Crunchyfrog replied. "You see, I was at the New Years Party, in the City, and then all of a sudden there was a flash, and I blacked out, and then I was hanging from a tree root at the top of that cliff, with er, this parchment stuffed down my butt..."

"The same white flash I experienced?" muttered D-Lotus. "I ended up here several feet below you. Strange. What about you, Masterweaver?"

"I didn't go to the party." replied Masterweaver. I was a good boy, and concentrated on my storygames. I spent the night out hunting for specimens for my Mythbiology game. I caught a Pegasus, which I have now gone and lost trying to rescue you guys...."

"But did you see anything unusual?"

"A huge flash of lightning from the City, and then just about everyone running from it, towards the gorge, on the northern side of Fantasy Forest and out to the southern side of Jester Park..."

"And what about you, Kalanna. What were your experiences?" asked D, as he picked up the arrow, with the violet ribbon, which had amazingly survived the explosion.





Rai glared at them. "Oh do you mean Smee's fireworks? I know they got a little out of hand but really...running in terror?"

Of course Rai had had a lampshade over her eyes for most of the evening. The flash hadn't really affected her. "But now come to think of it...Smee was finished by that time...humm." she thought to herself.

Still she had the map, although thinking of it as froggy toilet paper made her handle it with talon tips, her job was done.

"Well I think that the three of you have been...hey lemme see that."
Her tail flicked the purple ribboned arrow up to her eyes for closer inspection. Taking an unabashed sniff she growled a bit.

"I'm afraid one of you has a BS problem," she announced.
The entire party instantly turned their gazes upon Masterweaver who made a defensive gesture. The dragon sighed.
"Not that kind of BS problem," she explained. "I'm talking BS the Great, although what you could have done to him is beyond me. If I were you I'd watch your backs for a while."

Remuttering the intangibilty spell Rai turned one large copper eye on them.
"I've got what I came for and had better return it to the Council Hall before China has a coronary...remember, watch your backs."
With that she took flight, leaving the three puzzled Ifians to figure their own way out while she returned the Map.






"Watch your backs? Is that it?" said Crunchyfrog incredulously, as he watched Kalanna disappear back towards the rather lifeless looking city centre, still enshrouded with a strange fog of smoke. "She takes away the one piece of information we might need to get ourselves back to safety, and tells us to watch our backs?"

"Something tells me there was information on that parchment we were not supposed to see. Something privvy to moderators and other City dignatories." mused D-Lotus. "It's return to the City vaults is obviously much more important than our personal safety right now..."

"Something tells me that whoever swiped that parchment, thought it would be very funny to plant it down the back of my pants, and then place you and I in a predicament from which we could not escape, for whatever reason. And right now they think we're still there, incapacitated. And if it's that important a document, they're going to be coming back for us, thinking we've still got it." said Crunchyfrog.

"BS The Great?" ventured Masterweaver.
"Maybe." replied D-Lotus. "Who knows. We'd better move on"

They climbed over the rubble and headed further into the labyrinth.

_______________________________




Meanwhile, Rai winged her way back to the Council Hall and returned to her Lair there. Depositing the map on a table, and covering to keep it safe, she tapped her Crystal wall and settled back. Soon enough a familiar face swam into view.
"Lordy, you owe me this time."

The demon smirked at her.

"I trust you got it back?" he asked.

The dragon inclined her head. What kind of fool did he take her for?

"I did although I'm not going to explain to China what you were doing with it in the first place. That's all your mess to sort out." she replied.

"I trust you haven't returned it."

Did he think she was stupid?

"No, but I'm also not letting you have it back," stated Kalanna. "Like I said, you've got to clear this little 'excursion' with the higher-ups before I'll have anything more to do with it. I've got enough invested in the Idearium mines that I don't want you fooling around with it."

The demon grinned.

"Trust me," he said.

Terminating the connect Rai decided that maybe she had better keep a good eye on that map after all.

______________________________

[Crunchyfrog]

Guided now only by their memory of the map, and some good guesswork, D-Lotus, Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver slowly made their way further into the labyrinth under the cliff. They noticed that it was getting colder as they moved inwards. They had been travelling down the same tunnel for nearly an hour, when it





opened up suddenly, into a large cavity full of stalactites and frosting. D tried to cover himself from the cold with his arms. Crunchyfrog's hot breath turned into steam. Throughout the cavern there was an innumerable number of small pools, large enough for a man to jump into. They seemed shallow, but it was impossible to tell the depth because they were covered in a film of cloudy swirls.

"What is this place?" asked Masterweaver, staring around in bewilderment.

"It's obviously the convergence of all the tunnels." D said, pointing at all the other tunnel openings throughout the cavern.

"That's strange. I was sure we got lost and weren't following the red arrow in the map at all." Crunchyfrog reflected.

"You're right." said D, furrowing his brows. "Which means either of two things: one, that there is more than one path to this cavern, or two, that the map is wrong."

"Well, the map only showed one possible path, so it has to be wrong anyway in case the first option is true." Crunchyfrog elucidated.

"So the map is a phony! A fake! That is why it was planted in your pocket, to lead us to a false route. We need to tell Kalanna about this urgently..." D was concluding, when suddenly Masterweaver began yelling and scrabbling back from one of the pools where he had wandered to. But it resulted ineffective, and he was suddenly yanked into the pool where he disappeared while D and Crunchyfrog stared in amazement. Not just because Masterweaver had disappeared into the pool, but because the last thing they saw was his hand, attempting to hold on to the floor of the cavern before it was swallowed by the cloudy pool. Masterweaver was a robe with no apparent body within it. How could there have been a hand? They were beginning to wonder how much of what they were seeing was real...

"Now what?" asked D.







"We get the hell out of here." said Sasuke as he came out of his hiding spot behind a spire by the pool where Masterweaver had been sucked in.

D and Crunchy stared. In the darkness, a young kid emerged. There was something strange about his calm manner.

"We'll need help to get him back," Sasuke continued. "Has anything changed in If in six years?"

Crunchy and D stared for a moment as they took in the question.
D was the first to speak.
"Uh, where have you been the last six years?" he asked.
Sasuke was appalled, thinking: "He can't figure that out?" but then spoke quickly and calmly as possible.
"In here," he replied.
"Well... what did you do for food?" asked Crunchy, surprised.
"Mushrooms." replied Sasuke, smiling, indicating clumps of curious looking mushrooms, growing in the damper corners of the caverns.







Before they had the chance to come to terms with Sasuke's appearance on the scene, the waters of the pool started bubbling ferociously, and suddenly, exploding from the pond came a grey seven headed hydra with the wet cloth that was Masterweaver, held in the rightmost maw.

Slowly, the middle head intoned an ancient spell.

"Blard Gaes Incrorted Woldf arcaf."

Spinning from the the caves, a portal zoomed closer. Crunchyfrog and Sasuke jumped away. D, however, appeared to be consumed before he could turn around.

"Niteo gast eroid uion."

Anthor portal twirled hungrily forward,







and in the confusion, Sasuke tried to push Crunchy out of the way, knowing that Crunchy wouldn't escape this, but his attempts were in vain.
They felt the portal sucking them in, as the hydra appeared to throw Masterweaver straight into it.






"What's going on???" screamed Crunchyfrog, as he struggled against the suction of the vortex.

He glanced at Sasuke at his side and noted the continued calmness of the young Ifian, staring into mid space, to a point beyond the portal, as if it didn't even exist.

"Just don’t believe it's there." Sasuke said calmly.
"Huh?" shrieked Crunchyfrog.
"Because it isn't."
"WE'RE GOING TO METROID FUSION!!!!"
"Have a mushroom." replied Sasuke, pulling a mushroom out of his pocket and slamming it into Crunchyfrog's mouth.

After almost choking on the mushroom, he finally swallowed it, and after a moment reality began to take hold again. The pool was quiet. D and Masterweaver were quivering wrecks on the floor, D believing at the moment that he was somewhere in the realm of World of Warcraft.

"What about the hydra?" gasped a perspiring Crunchyfrog.

"The hydra was hallucination - a property of these caves. A power of the ..... souls..... "

"Souls?"

"You have not seen what I have seen." said Sasuke distantly.






Crunchyfrog blinked. This was too much.
"Okay, explain everything right now, Mushroom, boy!" he demanded. "My friends are taking a bath with a hydra, you're talking cryptically about souls, we were about to get sucked into portals ending up supposedly in giant fantasy computer worlds, and I want to know what's with these frigging mushrooms!"
Sasuke stared at him calmly.
"Where do you want me to start, Crunchy?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.
"Explaining how and when you got stuck in here, would be a good start..."
Sasuke stared at the ground.
"My mother locked me in here..." he replied.





Crunchyfrog took a deep breath, and let his anger pass. This was getting weirder by the minute. Carrying on this line of interrogation probably wouldn't yield anything of use, he thought, and he could do without childhood sob-stories right now.

Although he was thankful that Masterweaver was still with them, he didn't quite understand the sequence of events that had just passed, with the portals, and was amazed at how someone could survive six years in a cave on mushrooms alone. But he had to admit they were very tasty, and probably quite nutritious, and if they possessed properties that counteracted aberrations in reality, then he was all for that.

D-Lotus, who had been unconscious on the ground regained his senses with a start, and was surprised too, to see Masterweaver lying next to him.

"Dont get too excited." said Sasuke. "Masterweaver is alive, but he's been in there. He’s been in one of the Wells. How his physical form got spat out again I don’t know, it doesn't usually happen..."

"What does that mean for Masterweaver? Will he be ok?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"His mind can still be rescued, but not from here. It will take time to get where we need to be, in order to reunite that body, with his soul." replied Sasuke. He stood up and began walking towards one of the tunnels.





"Follow me, we'll need Key. He is still king correct?
"Yes..." replied Crunchyfrog the newbie, naively.






Crunchyfrog looked back at D and Masterweaver, still laying, quivering by the side of the pool. Masterweaver could not be helped for now. But without the aid of the mushrooms, that he, Crunchy, had eaten, would D still be hallucinating? He saw D rise to his feet and try to follow.





D-Lotus stood still, encroached and surrounded by three or four pools. The child that had suddenly appeared from behind a spire was walking away with Crunchyfrog towards another tunnel where bats were emerging from. Why was he leading towards that path? It seemed more dangerous than any of the other tunnels. Did he have some sort of control over Crunchyfrog? Who was he, anyway, and how had he been here all this time? There was something fishy about this kid's story. He had said he'd been here for six years, yet Key only became king last year- he was mayor before that. So how could the kid know Key was king- furthermore, six years ago, Key had been called Keavney; he changed his name when the site moved from Interfable to Cityf of If. D made a note not to trust everything the kid said from now on.

D turned around and saw the hydra staring at him.

"Help!" he cried to the two who were leaving without him. They both turned towards him, with smiles on their faces. What are they laughing about? D attempted to run, but the pools were all around him, shimmering with their cold veil.


"Mushrooms!!!" yelled Crunchyfrog, pointing to a clump growing by D's feet. "Take the mushrooms! Eat one! TRUST ME!!!"

D froze, gaping at the hallucinations the pools were throwing at him.

"EAT ONE, DAMMIT!!!" screamed Crunchyfrog.

[Crunchyfrog]

The Hangover

Chapter 2 - Mayhem in Jester Park







Masterweaver came to in the shades of a thick forest. He felt different. Although he could not explain how he got here, he strangely still had an awareness of what was going on in the caves that he had just been pulled from. He could hear the voices of Sasuke, D, and Crunchyfrog echoing in the deep recesses of his mind. He felt almost like he could communicate with them.
As he sat up he realised what felt different. Looking at his form he gasped.
"A chicken? I'm a...a giant chicken?" he squawked to himself. "And look at these wings! They're useless!"

Masterweaver paused to think. He was an anthropomorphic--no, partially anthropomorphized fowl, in what looked like Fantasy Forest. He'd best get out quick.

He took a step, and promptly fell forward, as he was unused to having a body.



At that same moment, back in the cave, Crunchyfrog had looked down at the limp robe on the cavern floor, by the pool, and asked of him:
"Masterweaver. Why don't you get up?"

His words drifted through Masterweaver's bird brain clearly.

"Because," replied Masterweaver the chicken out loud to the trees, "I'm in the body of a large fowl, in a place that looks like Fantasy Forest, some distance away. I can't see you! I can only hear you!, in my mind!"

Back in the cave, D-Lotus, having recovered from his hallucinations, thanks to the mushrooms, looked at Crunchyfrog and shrugged, hearing Masterweaver's voice coming from the robe, but not understanding what in IF he was talking about. Clearly, they both thought, he had gone quite mad.

"Well then," said D, "Maybe we should gather your body."

"Maybe you should." replied Masterweaver. "Don't put the robe on, though! I'd hate to be 'on' any of you-"


In Fantasy Forest, Masterweaver (or the chicken that contained his mind) suddenly dropped silent. In front of him landed the Pegasus. The one he had captured before.

It looked at his partially prone body, then poked it with its talon.

"Caw?"

”Great,” thought Masterweaver. “Just perfect.”







Meanwhile, back in the caves, D-Lotus wandered off to one of the cave walls, and stared closely at some etchings, obviously carved by Sasuke. There were pictures, and some markings, obviously counting time. He made some calculations. Since the boy had no idea when the sun was up or down, D-Lotus understood how easy it could be to lose track of time. Looking at the markings, he estimated Sasuke had been in the caves for just under a year. It explained a lot.

He asked Sasuke:

"Tell me, boy, have you actually seen anybody come through these tunnels recently? Someone who survived?"

Sasuke shuddered as he remembered.
"The pools were not always dangerous like this. Once, an evil, horrid, little orange furry fellow, with horns, carrying pockets stuffed with money, and with a strange instrument, he came, with some companions, and a map..." he began.
"He had a box, he unleashed terrible power from that box which he unlocked with that instrument.... he made the pools as they are now with that power.... He is evil. EVIL!!!" The terror on Sasuke's face was genuine.

D-Lotus nodded. He began to understand what the boy might have witnessed. Things were beginning to get a little clearer now...

Crunchyfrog gathered up the black leather robe and draped it over his arm. He looked down at it and sighed. Whatever realm Masterweaver's soul was in, he must be having a hard time. Crunchyfrog hoped that they could do something about his predicament soon. It was quite clear that coherent conversations with Masterweaver were going to be difficult for a while.

The threesome, with the limp Masterweaver still over Crunchyfrog's arm, and a supply of mushrooms, stumbled on through the labyrinth, looking for a way out.

As they did so, D's mind raced. Had Sasuke really witnessed the Ceremony of Release? If so, he could understand why the event might have looked so terrifying.
D remembered the day of the Mass Excorcism, the soulless IFians being rounded up and taken from the city in a container specially built for the purpose... had they really been taken and released here, into the pools?

He then had a chilling thought. If that was the case, why would an IFian want to steal the map and find his or her way back here?







D-Lotus and Crunchyfrog, having finally decided to trust Sasuke to guide them throughout the creepy tunnels, braced themselves against occasional rumbles, and the earth shaking around them.

"It's only the guardian troll on the east side." Sasuke said.

Crunchyfrog twitched nervously, remembering that the phony map could have easily led them towards the east side of the tunnels. In fact, that was probably the plan of whoever planted the map in his pocket.

"D," Crunchyfrog said, as Sasuke guided them in the dark, "Don't you think that someone was trying to kill us? I mean, they placed us right next to a cave full of monsters and evil pools and gave us a map heading right towards them!"

"It's lucky we escaped, although Masterweaver didn't." lamented D. "Who knows for how long he'll be trapped in a dual world?"

Crunchyfrog was right. Somebody had wanted to kill them without dirtying his/her own hands. Someone had given them a weapon with instructions to kill themselves, but he/she'd failed. D remembered the arrow- could it be BS the Great? Naw; from what he remembered, BS wasn't the kind to hatch plots of this kind. BS liked to make his prey feel hunted, but he wouldn't go to all this trouble. There was something greatly sinister, and D-Lotus knew he had the answer hidden somewhere in the recess of his memory, but he just couldn't dig deep enough. What was the connection between the Mass Exorcism and this mayhem?

Sasuke punched a hole through one of the tunnel walls and a ray of light filtered into the gloom.

"The tunnel you came through the first time is brimming with giant spider guards, so I'm opening my own door through the wall at it's thinnest point." he kicked the earthy wall again. "Help me open a hole." he asked D and Crunchyfrog, who immediately began helping the boy until a large hole of light blinded them, and was big enough for them to crawl through.

Crunchyfrog was the first to crawl outside and breath in the air with his eyes closed- oddly enough, the air smelled like toast. Crunchyfrog opened his eyes and frowned.

"Sasuke, are you sure there's no other way out?" he said.

"None." said Sasuke, as he too crawled outside and contemplated the immense wall of fire surrounding them and creeping around burning trees towards the group.







____________________________________

Meanwhile Polokin was perched on a seat in Jester Park.

He had been sitting there for hours, it was getting late and he needed to make a decision quickly. He had recently found out about a plot, a sinister plot which involved a well known IFian, D-Lotus.

BStheGreat had asked Polokin to help him get revenge, yet he wouldn't reveal what he wanted it for. Also a few days before that encounter, D-Lotus had asked Polokin if he would watch his back, for he had a feeling that somebody was out to get him.

Polokin was about to make the decision to stay out of it, when suddenly a figure emerged from the mist.

"Who's there?..." Polokin called out anxiously.









"Out of my way!" shouted Masterweaver, crashing through the under brush and toppling over the Ifian crouched in front of him. Polokin had just finished dusting himself off when he was knocked down again by a low-flying Pegasus. He could smell burning, and thought he could hear his friends through the crackles of fire. But they were in the caves, surely?

"Crunchy! D! Kid! Where are you?" he squawked.

"Weaver! We're surrounded by fire...somewhere,"

Masterweaver the chicken looked around anxiously. Yes, they were definitely nearby.
"I think I see where you are. Hold on." squawked Masterweaver, seeing figures amongst the burning trees, and with great skill, the fowl leapt up and came down upon the Pegasus, to be carried majestically over the fire, and land gently beside the captives.

Or that was how it was supposed to go anyway. It was a miracle they had both survived the manoeuver, though the Pegasus was now knocked out.

Hobbling away from the crash, Masterweaver-chicken stated,
"Help me get back into my own body, guys."
"How?" asked Sasuke.
"I'll probably have to touch my body to get back in it. Prop the robe up so it's standing, okay?"


"Alright," said Crunchyfrog, holding the robe by the hood. The chicken trotted up to the robe, and jabbed at it with it's wing.

As Crunchyfrog and the others stepped back and watched, the robe and chicken started moving in perfect sync.

"Did it work?" asked D doubtfully.

The robe held its hood and the chicken its head.
"No, it just made things worse." they groaned in unison. "Now, I have two bodies."





Suddenly, the chicken went into convulsions. Clearly, the proximity of the temporary host of Masterweaver's soul and it's rightful owner was too much stress for it's physical form to take. It danced and clucked around the park bench where Polokin had been sat, like a, well, demented chicken. And then it exploded.

From within the explosion came a tiny light, presumably Masterweaver's soul, which zipped straight into the hood of the black leather robe, with such force that it caused the robe to whoosh about like a long thin balloon flying from the force of the air expelled from it's neck. And like the bespoke deflated balloon, the robe finally flopped limply onto the ground. Presently it raised itself, and Polokin, D, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke looked at it expectantly.

"Wow, what a trip." said the now complete Masterweaver.

The Pegasus, having been shaken back to consciousness by the explosion, took flight over the burning trees, never to be seen again.

[Crunchyfrog]

At the same moment as the Pegasus flew off, a rhythmic thundering noise in the sky gradually grew louder and louder, until it drowned out the sound of the roaring fires. Kalanna Rai appeared above them once again.





Rai had been returning to her original hoard in Jester Park when she noticed the small explosion. Looking down, she was livid. Yes, Jester Park was supposed to be messy but in a wacky sort of way. What presented itself below her looked like something straight out of Skiffy.

She landed with a thud that knocked them all flat. Her eyes narrowed to red slits, magical energy gathering like shadows on her red hide, the dragon stuck her massive face down at the motley bunch.

"I want this mess clean, CLEAN!, you understand before I fly back over you. I've got something to take care of...it'll take me five minutes. If this isn't looking funny and park-like by the time I get back I'll see what happens when we splice all of you together."


"B...b..but.." began Crunchyfrog.





"I want this fixed, you miscreants!" she thundered. Then, without receiving an answer or assent, she flew off.

"How the hell are we supposed to do anything?" thought D. "We might even die here!"

Why had Kalanna scolded them, intead of helping? There was something mysterious about that too- or maybe it was just a lack of interest.

D looked around him. They were surrounded by the outside walls of the tunnels and the fire. They'd regained Masterweaver, but it seemed he and the rest were doomed anyway due to the blazing inferno.

Yet the cliff wall wasn't so high at this point- a tall ladder would relieve them from danger and the burning valley.

Meanwhile, there was a possibility of reaching the lake a short distance away. Of course, the problem was, the adventurers would need to bliezkrieg through the burning woods to reach it. But if they hurried enough, they could jump into the lake without suffering too much from burns.

Was it time to split up and try luck? At least, if one method didn't work, the other would, and not all the adventurers would die.





Having left the group to clean up their mess, Rai landed by the old aHEM guildhall...walking inside she found her hoard and rummaged around until she found what she was looking for. With a chuckle, after verifying it was what she thought it was, Rai decided to nap.

"Give them a little more time," she thought.

However, the moment she settled and closed her eyes she saw the whole of Jester Park going up in flames. Sighing, she thought better of her nap, and left her hoard.

Winging her way back over the Park she saw the entire group surrounded by burning forest. Lofting herself up she beat her wings with a fury, turning the area immediately around the group from fire to smouldering ashes. At least the worst of the fire was out.

Landing with another sigh Kalanna shook her massive head.

"I suppose I was too harsh on you...after all you are traveling with Masterweaver. I should have dealt with it the moment I saw the problem, since this is my district and all, but I've been a bit stressed lately. Other concerns on Council Hill..."

Making sure the damage was limited, she nodded to them.

"Speaking of concerns, once again I've got to be going." Dropping a small red disk on the ground she took a running leap and went skyward. "Use that to call if you need me."






Polokin slowly crept away from the group without them noticing.

"Phew," he thought to himself, "that was close, I'm glad Masterweaver didn't come any earlier or everything might have gone wrong."

He spied a place where the remaining fire looked thin. He jumped through the flames with his hands infront of him and braced himself for the pain. But as he jumped through, the pain he had expected never came.

"Strange..." He thought, "There's something bigger going on than what I expected. I'll think about this later, right now I'd better get to BS and tell him what I've decided."

Polokin turned back and looked at what damage the fire had caused. Some large trees had burnt down and a lot of smaller ones had been charred black too. Most of the grass was black and there was sparks and ashes flying everywhere. Well, that was what he saw, but if the flames didn't hurt him... This had to be some sort of illusion.

Polokin remembered the object in his hand and quickly slipped it into his pocket. Nobody could find out about that... Not the D and the group, nor BS.





Unaware of Polokin creeping away, Crunchyfrog noticed something strange about a section of fire to their left. It seemed to be waving at them.

"You see that?" said Crunchyfrog to D-Lotus.

"What?"

"That section of fire," said Crunchyfrog, pointing hesitantly. He did not want to seem foolish if it was just his overactive imagination.

"It looks like a body made out of flames, or something," said Masterweaver.

"Wait, if you listen closely, you can hear the crackling and hissing of the flames modulating into something like speech," said D-Lotus.

They all listened intently for a couple of minutes. Then they clearly heard "Follow me" from the apparent flaming female at which point a gap opened up in the walls of flame where she had been as she ran away from them.

"This may be our best chance to get out of this place without being dipped in BBQ sauce for somebody else' feast," yelled Crunchyfrog as the flames drew nearer.

Without any further hesitation, Crunchyfrog leapt through the hole in the flames, closely followed by D and Masterweaver.

[Crunchyfrog]

"Wait a minute, Where’s Sasuke?" said D, whirling round, trying to account for everyone.
"Here!" yelped the youngster, as he leapt through the closing hole in the flames, clutching the disc that Kalanna had dropped on the ground.

"Give me that..." D demanded, holding out his hand. Sasuke shrugged and tossed the disc over to D, who deftly caught it in his left hand.

Crunchyfrog caught D's eye, as he examined the disc. Even though Crunchyfrog was new to IF - and did not know anyone that well, he saw doubt and worry in D's body language. It was true that Kalanna's behaviour of late had been self contradictory. Was she hiding something? D knew her better than Crunchyfrog did...






D-Lotus would be lying if he'd said that he wasn't extremely suspicious at the moment. Everything he was surrounded with seemed untrustworthy. He jumped out of surprise when a tree went down, consumed by flames. Kalanna had managed to turn the fire down so as to ensure its death in time, but for now the adventurers were still partly trapped. He noticed Crunchyfrog observing him.

"What?" asked D testily.

"Well, are we going to tell Kalanna about the phony map or not? Now we can call her whenever we want, thanks to that red disk you're holding." Crunchyfrog said, gesturing at the object in D's hands.

"I think perhaps...perhaps we should contact another council member...Kalanna's been acting somewhat strangely of late." D said hesitantly. Crunchyfrog, however, understood his meaning and assented in agreement. There was a moment of mutual understanding and then they turned towards the rest.

Masterweaver was speaking to Xansta whisperingly in the middle of the smoldering forest. Masterweaver was summarizing their adventure's events for the fire-covered entity; knowing Masterweaver, that was likely to confuse Xansta.

He approached the pair, and introduced himself, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke to Xansta.






"Thanks for rescuing us... But who are you?" asked D-Lotus.
"I'm Xansta," replied his new companion. "I'm supposed to be your everyday normal denizen of IF, but that all changed during the mass exorcism that made the Well. I've been stuck down in those caves since that time and only recently was able to get out. I've had no interaction with IF folks during that time. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised to spontaneously combust upon my exiting the caves. That's what I call a destructively-non-terminal case of BO."

Masterweaver looked at Xansta quizzically.

"Dont worry. This flame thing is not painful, but I'd like to figure out how to undo it and attempt to get back to what passes for normal for me in IF." continued Xansta.




Sasuke, meanwhile, was looking lost amid the subsiding fire. He was waiting uncomfortably for somebody to take direction away from his natural habitat.

"All-right, everybody!" shouted D above the crackling fire, "Anybody know how to get the hell out of here?"

He noted that the lake could still transport them to safety, but that was probably not a viable path for the fire-creature who seemed to have joined their group. On the other hand, the group was becoming too large. Perhaps they should split up- one side to investigate whomever caused the forest fire, and the other to contact a City council member other than Kalanna.


A sudden creaking noise startled the party and they looked up in horror to see another nearby tree, completely consumed by fire, start to fall. They stood helplessly in its path, with nowhere to run, except into more flames.






On her way back to her hoard, Kalanna heard the screams of the party of adventurers. Figuring that since they were in her section of the city and it was her duty to keep things 'slightly' organized, Rai turned towards the party. The blades on her tail lashed out just in time to split the falling tree down the middle.

"I give you people a direct line of communication and you won't even use it to save your lives...figures."

Crunchy shrugged.

"Well being an 'assassin for hire' doesn't really inspire much confidence in you really. It implies that you're more likely to serve our heads on a silver platter than you are to save our skins." he replied.

Rai tapped a talon on the ground.

"Depends on how much I've been paid to deal with you. Besides, I can't kill D...I'm enjoying Confession Box too much." She flicked a talon causing gooey custard to dump onto the raging flames, smothering them flat. "Besides...if I'd wanted to kill you all you'd already be dead. Comforting thought isn't it?" Flicking custard off themselves the rest of the party only stared.

Rai sighed. "Since I think you've caused enough problems here in the park, Din's going to have a field day with her cleaning tools, I'll offer you a lift back into the Open Forum. I'm headed to the Council Hall anyway so it's really no trouble." Extending a massive hand Rai thumped her tail on the ground. "Let's get moving...I do have things to do."

_________________________




Meanwhile...

BStheGreat stared at the small arsenal of weapons lying in the closet of his IF City apartment. There were frag grenades, smoke grenades, flash bangs; there were hand guns, revolvers, and automatic handguns; there were various assault rifles, and even a rocket launcher. He cared little about these, they were the weapons he used to hunt normal people. Who he was about to go up against was D-Lotus, whose power was unimaginable. But fate was on BS' side; D-Lotus did not even know he had any power, his memory failure consumed much knowledge of his past, including the two's previous battle.

No, the weapon needed by BS was hidden in a trap door under a rug. He lifted the trapdoor and picked up the beauty; at first sight, it seemed to be nothing more than a normal sawed-off shotgun. But if you looked at it real closely a slight aura surrounded the gun where the magic inside of the gun let off its steam. The shotgun, nicknamed "Ludesa" by BStheGreat, had the ability to shoot bullets that were hotter than a blacksmith's furnace. And even better, the gun had the magical ability to never run out of ammunition. All he had to do was point and shoot, no reloading. What BS did to receive this gun was unthinkable; because of it he could never step inside a church again.

BS grabbed the gun and left the apartment, the real hunting was about to begin...


____________________________





Polokin made his way towards BS's house, when suddenly he saw a figure in the distance holding what looked like a big stick. As he came closer, he saw what he was really carrying. Polokin dived to the side of the path as a small ball of fire came towards to him.

BS was about to fire another shot at the young man with Ludesa when he realised who it was.
"Polokin!?" He yelled.

Polokin took the bow off his back and notched an arrow to it in the same movement.

"He has to be drunk... Who else would shoot a fire ball at someone...?" He muttered to himself.

He heard him call his name. He loosened the arrow and lowered the bow.

"BS?!" hissed Polokin. "Is that you? Why in IF did you shoot a fire ball at me!?"

"Sorry about that, thought you were somebody else."

"Well, that's alright, at least it missed. Anyway, I've made my decision."

"And?" inquired BS expectantly, raising an eyebrow.

Polokin took a deep breath.

"I've decided to join you, whatever D did, it must deserve revenge." he replied.

"Well, come with me, Polokin, I'm heading to the gorge, where I saw D up on a cliff ledge, earlier."

"A ledge?" replied Polokin, surprised. "I saw D half an hour ago in Jester Park... He said he was heading to the Open Forum."

"Right, to the Open Forum it is then!"

________________________

[Crunchyfrog]

The Hangover


Chapter 3 - The Fog, the Mage and the Dream Chamber





Breathing in the cool sea breezes, sipping the milk of a coconut, while laying in the shade on a hammock, Lebrenth felt completely disconnected from the rest of IF. In the giant satellite dish of Skiffy, that cast its shadow over haunted mansions and graveyards, Lebby found a perfect place to move the Fabled Island. In the middle of the large dish, he could see none of the rest of the city, and was able to blissfully conduct his storygame in peace.

For a while he watched his airplane circling like a seagull over the island with its large banner in tow reading “SHAMELESS ADVERTISING”. Then Kalanna Rai flew over the edge of the satellite dish and into his sight.

“Oh, not again.”

With a tremendous breath, Rai consumed the plane in fire, which spiraled with its banner aflame and crashed into the sea. Lebrenth sighed. He also noticed she was carrying passengers. He pulled out his telescope and focused in.

“Wow, that’s a lot of people,” he said to himself, counting everyone. “D?”

He could tell they were heading toward Open Forum, but what they would want there was beyond him. He put on his moderator’s ring with the 6 swirling gemstones representing the 6 principle parts of IF. A flood of summonses and warnings overwhelmed him.

“Oops!” he blurted and scrambled to find the remote. It seemed the lava from Fabled Island’s volcanoes was flowing off the edge of the satellite dish onto Jester Park…. He laughed uncomfortably as he pointed the remote in the air and pressed a button. The satellite shifted and the lava stayed where it was supposed to.

”Now, to answer the summons,” he thought.

Donning the 'Cloak of Forboding,' a little something he found in the city when he first came to IF, Lebrenth headed for the ancient abandoned library of Skiffy.

Wearing the dark tattered cloak, Lebrenth appeared much taller and his voice grew loud and malevolent or else just a whispering murmur that seemed to come from all directions. His face and body was mere shadow, protected in the illusion of the cloak. And that was all it really was, illusions, but it was effective for traveling through IF without appearing to be a small mortal an inch away from Death’s sickle.

Lebrenth entered the library, and passed through it easily with the cloak, ignoring wraiths and creatures akin to zombies.

In the center of the library, there shone a green light. The source is a T-shaped object that resembles a push knife. The protective field vanished as Lebrenth pointed his ring at it. Then he stepped forward and took hold of the Index.

Rings of yellow light washed over Lebrenth’s form, and when they were done, he was gone.

The power of the Index could teleport him to the his choice of several designated locations, but when he reappeared, he was not where he intended to be. He had attempted to teleport directly into the council hall, but the index had malfunctioned somehow.

Instead he found himself standing beneath the starry sky, surrounded by rolling mists. He nearly lost his balance as the ground rolled with the mist. Taking several steps backward he bumped into something… someone!

Laying on the ground as though in a peaceful sleep, he saw a furry white stoat. Her features were unmistakable.

“Shady!” Lebrenth said, his words echoing as though in a large room. As the clouds rolled, other figures appear, such as the lion-like form of Reiso, the twins Raven and Wing, and a figure covered in mounds of soil, Solomon Birch (gasping between holding his breath, even in his sleep). “The Dream Chamber,” Lebrenth says aloud. He had heard of it… these were the lucky ones. Too beloved to be eradicated, they were spared the fate of the Soul Well, but none of them awake at the sound of Lebrenth's voice.

Perhaps they never will, he thought. He covered his face with his hands, trying to contain his sadness, but not only at the sight of lost friends. He did not need to search to know that his brother was not amongst the sleeping. Composing himself, he realized he must be inside the palace… but why did the Index take him here?

He began looking for a door, but could not see one. As he yawned he realized his eyes were beginning to feel very heavy…. The startling realization did little to combat the weariness…


_______________________________________





The view from Kalanna's back was impressive. The Open Forum, indeed, was not enclosed by any walls. It was simply a beautiful valley surrounded by trees, lakes, flowers and draped by a gorgeous sun. Only a mile away, the waves from the sea crashed onto a beautiful white-sanded beach.

Throughout the entire valley, however, there were hundreds or thousands of small stalls, big stalls, shops, restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, clothes shops, ice-cream parlors, video-renting, book stores, etc. The green valley was mottled in large splotches by the brick or wooden commercial buildings. And surrounding these buildings, was of course, a huge tourist population- a mass of people sifting like sand back and forth throughout the street, shouting and laughing and making a big racket in the peaceful valley. They seemed like ants, scurrying everywhere, carrying their souvenirs or bags with them.

Finally, Kalanna began descending. As she did so, one of her Mod gems began to glow. The glowing light was pulsing quickly, indicating that one of her fellow moderators was in distress. The signal went unnoticed as she continued her descent.

As she did so, the people below pointed at the sky and laughed or took pictures. But as Kalanna came speeding down towards them, a large space quickly formed among the masses. The buildings on both sides of Kalanna shook and wobbled. The shop owners or clerks ran outside worriedly, but retreated into their shops again when they caught sight of the group.

Everybody descended from Kalanna's back quickly. But as soon as they had, people began walking all around them again- women holding hands with their husbands, children enjoying ice-cream, fathers consulting the map as they marched. They had seemed to forgotten about the dragoness and the group- only another tourist attraction to them. D-Lotus began to find this a problem. People were streaming all around him, pushing and nudging. He was trying to speak to the group, but he kept being pushed away by the crowd. He tried to push against the stream, but he was only carried farther away from the group. He saw that everybody else except the dragoness and Xansta were experiencing the same problem. He shouted out towards them, but received no answer except the rumbling of the crowd.

Finally, he managed to jump into a side-street without people. Then he suddenly caught view of Crunchyfrog being carried much in the same way he had. Rushing in, he took CF's hand and managed to pull him back to the side street. D-Lotus noticed that they had left the red disk with the group, and were therefore unable to call Kalanna, who they had completely lost sight of.

"Now what?" asked D.




"Are our friends safe with Kalanna? Maybe we should try and rejoin them..." ventured Crunchyfrog.
"I still think we should alert another Councillor about the phony map." insisted D. "Even if they do decide to tell her, we should be wary."
Crunchyfrog nodded in agreement.
"This way." said D, and he beckoned to Crunchyfrog. They started at a brisk trot down the sidestreet, until they saw a horse drawn taxi. D hailed it, and the pair climbed up onto the cart.
"City Central, please!"
City Central was where the Council Hall, Mayoral Mansion and many of the more up market residential areas were located.
"I aint goin' there." said the driver, flatly. D and Crunchyfrog exchanged glances.
"Why not?" asked D.
"I aint sayin'..." the driver said, shaking his head.
D waved a 50 fable note at him.
"Okay, I'll take you part of the way." mumbled the driver, and he shook the reins. The horse moved forward. The ride to City Central was quite a distance, so they were glad of the lift.

As they left the buzz of the Open forum behind them, and moved through the narrow streets of the residential areas towards the City Central, they noticed a strange fog thickening. They also noticed an eerie silence around them.
"I aint going much further..." warned the driver. "It aint been right since last night... since those fireworks... Everyone ran. And they aint come back. An' there's this smoke. Here's where I stop..."
He snatched the 50 fable note from D, who then climbed down from the cart, followed by Crunchyfrog. They thanked the driver, who turned the horse and cart around, and hurried back to the Open Forum.

They looked about them.
"This place is deserted!" exclaimed Crunchyfrog.





Back in the more crowded area of the Open Forum, there was a sudden disturbance. Men with chains ran through crowds, carrying makeshift weapons and shouting, "Down with the tyrants! Down! Down!"
The otherwise peaceful crowds shrieked and backed away as more of them assembled.

"It would appear we've encountered some sort of slave revolt," commented Xansta wryly. "I vote we run!"

"Seconded!" replied Sasuke, whirling after him.

"This is why I never wanted modship," cried Masterweaver, as the angry slaves engulfed him and the pyrokenetic.




Sasuke thought quickly. His companions were in trouble, and he had to help them. Ah well, he'd have to show his true nature, at some time or other. Nobody had noticed his scales up until now, as they were mostly covered with clothing.
Mustering all the strength he had, Sasuke, the half-breed dragon, bared his fanged teeth, and breathed a small flame from his mouth. But sadly his powers were not yet mature. He was too small, and his efforts did little to scare off the mob.






"Oh dear," sighed Rai in a sarcastic tone. "Whatever will I do?" With a thump her tail landed between her charging companions and the charging workers...both sides skidded to a halt.

"One moment," she said to the other party members.

Turning to the workers, clearly Idearium miners, she cleared her throat.

"What can I do for you ladies and gentlemen?"

The revolters looked around completely confused by the fact she was being polite and solicitous. There was a bit of shuffling and finally one dirty worker was nudged forward.

"Iffen ye please yer Modship...we've been working long hours for little fables. There are greater demands than ever on the Mines and, well, we're being strained to the utmost. It seems all well and good for, erm, some of youse but for us it flat out stinks."

Rai nodded her head.

"I see your point. I suppose I've been a bit taxing on you myself."
There were many nodded heads. Rai knew she was notorious for having many SG's running at the same time. "But I recently made a donation back didn't I?" Again some nods.

"I can't really say how many new members will create new SG's but I suppose I can at least offer you this...I won't start anything new for, oh, a month." Smiles beamed.

"Thank'ye, yer Modship. But what about pay?" Kalanna gave an evil grin.

"You'll have to talk to the Mayor and the High Lord Chancellor. I don't do funds. And you'll need to fill out a petition...none of this revolting."

With that the workers grimly filed off, determined to fill out forms.



Half the crowd, mollified, dispersed. The remaining started chanting, "No more slavery! No more slavery! No more-"

Rai whirled back around. The crowd went silent.

"...And what do you want?" she asked ever so sweetly.

A haggerd but still pretty young woman shuffled forward. "Well, it's just we attend to all yer palace things, marm, and yer kind and all that, but you kill us at a whim, and we don't like that."

"I think you have Rai confused with Chinaren," volunteered Masterweaver.

"Be quiet," murmered Xansta.

The lady looked up suddenly. "Yer right! It is that orange beast! KILL HIM AND WE STOP THIS WHOLE THING!!!"
"He lives right down the road," said Masterweaver, pointing. "Not the big palace on the corner, but the one next to it."

"Come on, my good fellers!" yelled a voice from the crowd. "We have a fuzzball to kill!"

Shouting and chanting, the crowd ran off down the road.

Rai shook her head. "Chin's going to have his hands full..."

"Why did you do that?!" cried Sasuke. "They're going to kill the mayor!"

"How'd you know he was Mayor?"

"Never mind that now," said Kalanna. "Where's D and Crunchy?"

"They went towards city central," replied Xansta.





Rai walked off, leaving the companions to do whatever necessary.


After a moments hesitation, Sasuke followed her. There was something on his mind, and he needed to talk to her.

Masterweaver and Xansta stood together, wondering what to do next.





"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.






Not wanting to head to Council Hall just yet Kalanna tapped a talon on the sidewalk, debating her options.

"Humm, maybe I should just go elsewhere for a while...lay low somewhere I'm not known."

She glanced down at the small gem that hung on a chain around the base of her neck. Of course by small she meant something the size of a small Volkswagen.

"Then again I could just dump this in some little corner of the Internet where it's unlikely to be found." Walking forward the gem caught the light, drawing glimmering replies from the matching jewels on each of Rai's feet. She bobbed her head to a few citizens as she passed, heading toward Fantasy Forest. Something darted between her feet.

Looking down she recognized Sasuke who was trying to get her attention.

"Need something?" she asked.

_________________________

[Crunchyfrog]

Meanwhile, back at his mansion, IM sighed. He would need a whole truck's worth of cleaning fluid to get his traps working properly again!

Ever since those bloody fireworks, all sorts of strange things had been happening. Fortunately, he was sober enough to come home and activate the traps AFTER he'd gotten into his mansion's main control room, but drunk enough to collapse without hitting any particularly devastating buttons.

"Clean these as well as you can. I'll fix up what's left," IM said to his mutated servants. He then began a long, slow plod through the Open forum to the Games sector to make sure it was still tidy. Maybe on the way he could ask Key or Chinaren why he had acquired moderation powers over City Central in his bout of the RL's. What he hadn't expected was to see D-Lotus in the distance. "D! What are you doing here?" IM asked while waving.





"Hey, IM!" D yelled, waving back at him.
"Who's that?" whispered Crunchyfrog.
"Idea Master." explained D, beckoning to IM, to get over to the quieter, foggy side street.
"Cool!" said Crunchyfrog. "He was listed in the Auditorium as a City Central mod when I first signed up, that means he's a Council member, right? Can we tell him about the phony map?"

Before D could answer, they were pushed against a wall as an angry mob of respectable citizens rampaged past them, yelling "Kill the fuzz ball! Get his orange pelt, yeah!!!"
"Whoa, who are they?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"To me, they look like an angry mob of respectable citizens out for Chinaren's blood." replied D, detatchedly. "It appears they are off towards the Mayoral Mansion, where they are about to turn Chinaren inside out. Excuse me..."

D casually tripped up a mobster as he passed. Picking him up by his jacket, D demanded:
"Since when have you been under the impression that Chinaren deserves a good thrashing?"

The man looked haunted.
"Since the party last night." he said. "He can kill us - get rid of us, just like that! At a whim! We'll get him first, though!"
"And exactly what makes you think that?" enquired D.
"Whispers...Voices...Rumours...."

D let the man rejoin the mob, who were busy smashing their way into the Mayoral Mansion.

"Something isn't right, Crunch." said D. "This fear of Chinaren has something to do with the Mass Exorcism of a few months ago, I'm sure...There was never fear before. Why now?"

Presently, the mob charged past them again in the opposite direction, yelling "Find the Mayor! Coward!!!"

"Chinaren's evidently not at home." observed Crunchyfrog.

The eerie, silent fog swirled in the wake of the crowd.
The way it moved made them all feel uncomfortable. Crunchyfrog understood why the taxi driver didn't want to drive this far. He felt he could hear whispers from within it... It was so eerie. The three of them stared at one another...

IM walked towards D and Crunchyfrog.
"So what are you doing here?" IM repeated.





"And for that matter, why can't I do anything about this blasted fog?" IM raised his hands and attempted to use his newfound powers to mod away the fog. If anything, it pressed down harder.

"You? Do something about the fog?" CrunchyFrog was bemused to say the least.

IM sighed. "Long story very short, I somehow have mod powers over all of City Central except this newfangled PPP area. So unless we're in that, then I don't see why I can't get rid of this...It makes finding my way horribly complex, and I didn't have a good sense of direction to begin with! Now, remind me... what are you doing here?"






"I'm investigating." D-Lotus replied to IM's initial question.

"As always." replied IM. "But be careful. I heard BS is after you. It's your business, you should know."

"This is different, yet alike." reflected D-Lotus.

"Whaddaya mean?" inquired Crunchy.

"It's like I've lived through this before," D said with a faraway look in his eyes. "Like Dejavu." he laughed.

"How do you plan to get rid of BS?" IM asked while leading D and Crunchy towards his strangely crooked and somber house. "Are you going to use your powers again?"

"What powers?" asked Crunchy.

"I don't know. He always keeps them a secret." IM said.

"Ah, yes, I might." D answered, somewhat puzzled but silent. IM opened the door to his house and one of his servants lopsidedly shuffled towards them. "But first, IM, may ask you if I could have your assured secrecy?"





"Naturally, one Mod to another and all that. Although we should go to my inner chambers, so that we can’t be overheard."

Thus saying, IM pushed a hidden button, and the floor beneath the group of people shook and began to slowly fall.

"Not to worry, it's just the elevator."

After about two minutes of a careful descent, they came level with a small drawing room. IM pushed another button after everyone was within the room and the elevator began to rise again.

"Now. What is it?"





IM indicated for them to sit down.

"Things have been strange since last night." D began. "Both Crunchyfrog and I have been afflicted by several hours of amnesia following a large flash of lighting, after Smee's firework display."

He hesitated at this point, he had the feeling he was making a severe understatement on his own account, but went on, anyway...

"We came to at sunrise, at the entrance to a hidden labyrinth, high up on one side of the gorge. Crunch discovered a map had been planted on him. The map turned out to be of the labyrinth."

"Go on," said IM.

"During our adventures in the tunnels, and with the help of Masterweaver, we think we stumbled upon the Soul Well, and deduced that the map was a fake representation of the Master Map of IF.

"How did you know you found the Soul Wells?" asked IM.

"We found a young dragon half-breed, who claims he was trapped in the tunnels for six years. From his story I believe he witnessed the Ceremony of Release, when Chinaren committed the exorcised souls into the Wells... the description he gave of the event seems accurate enough..."

Again, IM nodded.

"Later we met Xansta, claiming to be an IFian since before the Exorcism, having escaped the caves very recently.... I have a theory he was once an exorcised soul, but have not questioned him to verify..."

"So where is the fake map now?" asked IM.
"Kalanna took it. She said the Master Map was stolen, and she our map and returned it to the city."
"Of course, you've told her by now that the one she has is fake?"
"No."
"Why not?" asked IM.
"Kalanna has been acting strangely of late. We don’t know why the fake map was planted on us in the first place. It was like someone wanted us to follow the map part of the way, get lost in the tunnels, and then she snatched it from us. She saw us on that ledge and even nudged me back onto it, and did not rescue us from it, as if she wanted us to go into those tunnels. Weird, really. And then she was less than friendly to us later on when she encountered us again in Jester Park, although more recently she's
been ok. To be honest, we don’t really trust her, and felt that someone else ought to know what is happening."

A cloud of concern passed over IM's face....


________________________





Polokin and BS stuck close to the shadowed parts of the Forum, searching for D.

"Soon... Soon I will have my revenge..." BS thought to himself, "You can't hide D, it will only be a matter of time before you're found."

Polokin tapped BS on the shoulder, breaking the trance he was in. Polokin pointed to a certain person in the crowd.
BS nodded...

"They could help us find him..." BS mused. "But we would need to make them an offer they couldn't refuse..."

________________________________

[Crunchyfrog]

Back within the safety of IM's mansion, IM sat quietly, contemplating the story that D-Lotus had just told him. There was something not quite right about D, and he was sure it had something to do with his inexplicable appearance on the ledge earlier that morning. Their story of the Soul Well, the map and Kalanna's behaviour deeply worried him.

Finally, IM looked D and Crunchyfrog in the eye. "This is serious," he stated. "Where is my direct orb line to Key?"

IM rummaged around in the drawing room's many cabinets for a few minutes, tossing sheaves of paper around, along with other...erm, items. Needless to say, he used the drawing room for entertaining people other than the ones currently seated in it.

"Aha! Got it!"

IM pulled out a dusty sphere and blew carefully to remove all the dust from it, making CrunchyFrog cough a few times. Then IM made a few gestures at the orb. After a few seconds of blue swirling smoke, the orb printed these words:

'We're sorry, but the orb you requested was not found.'

"Argh. Key probably sat on it again."

IM once more rummaged about in his drawing room, withdrawing a huge tome-looking thing.

"Cool!" said CrunchyFrog. "That tome contains all sorts of ancient spells that will protect us on our quest, doesn't it?"

"No, that one does." IM pointed to a smaller book that he had already picked up and set down on the table. "This one contains something even better."

IM opened the book and withdrew three Stupidium-fueled guns and passed one to D and the other to CrunchyFrog. "Careful that you don't keep your hands on the fuel chamber for too long. We ought to be safe now. If it looks threatening, shoot it and it'll evaporate." IM pocketed his gun and book of ancient spells and gestured towards the elevator again. "I'm off to find Key. Anyone care to join me?"

D-Lotus and Crunchyfrog both rose from their seats, and followed IM through the crooked corridors of his mansion, and out through a side door, into the foggy outdoors.





The path from IM's house was relatively quiet. Once, a lost Idearium miner rampaged forward towards them, but IM pulled out his gun and the man turned around mid-way. Surprisingly, D-Lotus also reacted by expertly withdrawing his gun and immediately aiming at the worker's head. He couldn't remember ever having done that before, but there were a lot of things he couldn't remember. For a while after, Crunchyfrog walked in wondering silence besides D. The instinctive drawing of the gun, like an expert, had caused shivers to course throughout Crunchy's back.

"We're going to have to borrow a car." IM finally concluded, without noticing CF's thawing coldness.

"What do you mean?" asked D, "Don't all mods have cars?" A vague memory surfaced in his mind, from when he himself had been a mod. Slowly and with effort, he remembered; he'd been a mod, but then he'd quit, or he'd become destitute.

IM smiled uneasily. "Well, mine's in the garage for repairs. It was a dark night, and the light post seemed to come out of the darkness. But...let's not inform Key, will we?" he grinned.

"Who will we borrow a car from?" asked CF somewhat nervously.

Just then, they reached the deserted house of Saxon215, the Ify co-host who had recently lost his life in an epidemic or RL. His house was trashed and littered with broken alcohol bottles and syringes. A broken window revealed a dingy cot. Of course, it'd been that way when he was alive, too. IM withdrew his gun and blasted the garage door. To the astonishment of D and CF, inside the garage waited patiently the most beautiful car in existence. A red and yellow and blue fire design covered the front and backside, stretching out around the whole car. A smell of expensive perfume lingered still under the removable top of the sports car. The seats and wheel were covered in soft leather, and the wheels gleamed hungrily.

"Let's go." IM said.





IM turned the key, which had been amazingly left in the ignition. The car roared into life, making him feel like he had suddenly won a trip to outer space and was just now taking off.

"Awesome!" CrunchyFrog said in the back seat through chattering teeth. "Hey, what does this red button do?"

Before IM could say "No" "Don't" or "Stop" there was a small 'beep.'

Instantly, the radio slid back to reveal a weapon panel. IM grinned insanely.

"D, I'm in love with this car already and I haven't even left the garage yet. I think I'll be keeping this one." And with that, the band of adventurers roared into the otherwise quiet IFian night.






Finally Sasuke had attracted Kalanna's attention. It had taken long enough. Now freed from the caverns containing the Soul Well, he had the opportunity to question a dragon about his parentage. Before he could speak, she peered closely at him.
"Wait you're Maiyasa's child aren't you...? She said that you had..... " she stopped mid sentence and changed her approach. "Where have you been? " she asked suspiciously.

"My mother locked me in the place that apparently contains the 'Soul Well,' " Sasuke replied. "And I only just escaped. I want to know why she did it..."

"Odd behaviour. I have no idea why, either. Unless she was covering something up. Your father was obviously human. Do you remember him? Maybe he would know..." replied Kalanna.

"No, I've got no idea. I've been in there so long I cannot remember much of him at all... just a vague memory of what he looks like..."

"And??"

"He looked kind of like D, in a way. But of course, that can't be possible..." Sasuke answered
Kalanna shook her head, slowly.

"Show me the inside of your shirt." she demanded.
On pulling down and turning out the neck of his shirt, Kalanna noticed a tiny motif embroidered on it, in the shape of a lotus.




Rai looked at Sasuke and shook her head in disbelief. It seemed that the son of the Lotus had just walked into her hands. Whether that meant it was actually D-Lotus or not, she had no idea, but whoever his father was, it was clear that he was still going to be in danger around her. It was then that she finally noticed that one of her mod gems had been glowing and pulsating.
"Sweet DM in the sky! How long has that been flashing?" she wondered.
"Sasuke," she announced, "I've got something to do that I can't do with you. I'm going to have to reunite you with Crunchy and D.... the hard way. Brace yourself..."

As soon as she had magically banished Sasuke to his destination, Kalanna took to the air in response to the S.O.S of her mod-gems. Whirling through the air, she followed the signal, until she landed in an unfamiliar part of the city. In the failing light, she found an opening in the ground, and, assuming her human form, climbed into it. A short, unlit tunnel lead her straight to the Dream Chamber.

Staring in wonderment at the sight, evoking memories of happier times, she saw the sleeping forms of many lost friends...among them Reiso, Rave, Wing, Shady, Muaddib, and....

"Lebby!!!"

Already feeling the effects of the mists of the Dream Chamber, she held her breath, and dragged his inert form out and up the tunnel.

Once free of the tunnel, Kalanna returned to her dragon form, and rose into the sky, dragging her unconcious passenger underneath, in her talons. Finally, she set him down by the dock at Gadiri harbour, in the Skiffy district.

Lebrenth was completely unconcious. All she could do was wait and hope that he would recover.






....And so the sun set on the City of IF, as it reeled through its first day of turmoil, and was about to plunge into its first night of sinister suspense.

The strange, smoky fog began swirling more thickly through the streets, like a serpent, and spread to greater areas of the City. It seemed to have a life of its own, almost sighing as it slowly wrapped itself around the buildings, and up around IF's city central spires.


The tourists left the Open Forum for the day, the market stall holders packed up their wares. Masterweaver and Xangsta stood in a shadowy side street just off the Open Forum, having just witnessed the sudden disappearance of Sasuke, and Kalanna taking off. They were unaware as to why.

Polokin and BS stood in the shadows, somewhere nearby, watching, and waiting.

The rampaging mob of respectable citizens continued to stampede about the city streets, looking for Chinaren. But Chinaren was so far nowhere to be found.

In the back seat of Saxon215's car, Crunchyfrog was examining his Stupidium gun. Bored by the Mod talk going on between IM and D in the front seats, he wondered what it would actually do to someone if he fired it. Make them stupid?
Suddenly there was a lot of bashing and clunking coming from the trunk of the car...
"Hey, what's that noise?" he asked, turning to look behind him.

[Crunchyfrog]

The Hangover


Chapter 4 - Terror at the TI!






Deep in the many numerous sprawling labs of TI a blonde haired, slim figure in a cream suit and dark sunglasses bent over various bubbling test tubes when a red light began to flash a steady alert.

Someone wants Information from the Tourist Info booth? JezSharp thought in some shock. Silently he moved through the maze of corridors and up some stairs into a small room with a microphone and one way looking glass. Peering through it he saw a large mob waving placards and yelling, ‘Where’s China! We must know! We must kill!’ Frowning JezSharp sat down and turned on the mike,

“Ahem…attention numerous and ahem…important folk of IF, I believe you wish to know where our exalted Mayor has gone.”

With one voice staggered into many separate parts the crowd bayed ‘yes’! JezSharp sighed, he hated mindless violence and the temptation just to knock the group senseless with the special nerve gas placed in the enquiries area was becoming increasingly tempting. Brightening up an idea struck him,

“Ok people listen up, unfortunately I cannot divulge the Mayor’s location…(a chorus of boos began to rise and some began to hammer on the glass)…however just say a hypothetical Mayor had recently entered here and had used the handy portal link to say…ummm…Skiffyville it would be completely inappropriate for me to tell you that.”

And completely incorrect, JezSharp thought with some glee as he watched the crowd rush for the Skiffyville portal. Wait is that heavy fog outside?!?





Meanwhile, in Skiffyville, Rai drummed her talons on the timbers of the dock at Gadiri Harbour, splintering them ever so slightly, as she waited in vain for Lebby to sleep off the effects of the Dream Chamber mists.

"Come on Lebby, this is no time for a long nap. We've got things to discuss...namely why the hell you sent me the message you were in danger." she muttered impatiently.

It was true, when her gems had flashed it had been Lebby's last ditch effort to call for help.
She wondered whether she had inadvertently intercepted his call to someone else.

Hearing the shouts and screams coming from beyond the SG's walls, Rai stuck her nose out to investigate. "Oh damn..."

Rai saw a portal open and dump the rampaging miners into Skiffy. One of them spotted her. "YOU! Where is the mayor! We know he came this way!"

Rai shook her head.

"And what moron told you that?" she boomed.

"The elf in Tourist Info." yelled a filthy miner.

Rai smiled. Jez was up to his old tricks again.

"Um folks if you haven't noticed Tourist Info only gives accurate Info to tourists," announced Kalanna.

Their faces fell.

"However,” she continued, “I can open a portal to China and let you all go through."

A massive cheer went up as each of them chanted 'Rai, Rai, Rai' over and over again. The dragoness smiled.

Opening the portal she watched as they glanced around. "Hey this really is Chi..." Then she shoved them all through with a tail sweep. Behind her Lebby groaned and Rai decided it was time to move him...

"I'm thinking it's time to pay Jez a visit,” she decided, and clutching his unconscious form in her talons, she rose back into the sky.





When Jezsharp responded to the call at the TI booth, he was surprised to see Kalanna gazing at him from the other side of the booth’s glass. She grinned down at Jez who glanced from unconcious Lebby and back.

"Would you mind watching him for me?” she asked. “Besides dealing with rampaging miners appearing through portals in Skiffy, I've got other pressing business to attend to."

"What's in it for me?" asked Jezsharp suspiciously.

"Not getting eaten," came the reply.

Jez looked at the unconscious Lebby then at the dragon. He’d have time to escape into the TI before Rai could reach him, he reckoned, but she could make rather a mess of the Info street shop.
“Oops,” he thought. “What happened to him? Maybe the miners I sent to Skiffy landed on Lebby. Perhaps I should send them further afield next time." He shrugged his shoulders, and from behind the screened glass he spoke through the mike.

“Fine, why not, guess that makes things even,” he replied. He watched Rai flash a mean smile before turning and flying out into the dense mist. Then he slipped to a corner of the booth and pressed a secret button that opened up a narrow doorway in the wall. Walking through, he stopped to observe the dense mist outside, everywhere looked unusually deserted as well. He dragged the unconscious Lebby through and into the depths of TI, shutting the door behind him. There he laid him out in one of the many spare rooms waiting until he recovered to hear what on IF was going on outside.





Winging off Rai knew what she had to do. "It's time to pay a call to Lordy," she decided.

[Crunchyfrog]

The Daemon Lord in question was bent over a map of IF and its neighbours, studying 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 visitors were not on His agenda, though He gave little sign of it.

As His moderator ring let out a single chime, the red rune inlaid across the black gold glowed with a sudden piercing light. Lazily, He reached for the moderator’s 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 traveling, 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 moderators’. One of the many privileges of being Lord High Chancellor - He was able to extend himself a budget from the Treasury purely for interior design. For one thing, the blazing orange that featured so prominently in all other Council areas was no-where to be found.

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

Abruptly He severed 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 official. Shrugging His shoulders, He willed clothes onto His body, before disappearing in a swirl of dark light.









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

A few moments later the dragoness, in a semi-human shape, wandered 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 Idearium 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, convenient 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-satisfied smirk. Lordy continued anyway. "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 of the things that concerned her. Things that could cause possible threat to his plans - how she was worried that D-Lotus may have stumbled across the Soul Well, the fact that Sasuke, who had lived much of his life in the vicinity of the Well was in D's company, and that...*shudder* Masterweaver had somehow got himself involved.


When she had finished, the Daemon Lord paused momentarily, as he absorbed the facts.






"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 still together?"

"No, D parted company with MasterWeaver some time ago. He is now travelling with one newbie, Crunchyfrog." replied Rai. "A short while ago I banished Sasuke to their side, Sasuke should be with D and Crunchy now."

The Daemon Lord 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 separated. Rai shrugged her shoulders, her human form slipping away like water. Great wings burst from her shoulder blades, and the dragon took off, flying back into the direction of the Key's Palace.

The Daemon watched her go with interest. A smile twisted across 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.

[Crunchyfrog]

Meanwhile, back at the TI, Lebrenth tossed in his sleep, as though dreaming of a fight. For a moment Jez thought he could see a pattern, as though Lebby was performing some sort of somnambulant game of charades. The moment passed, however, when Leb propped himself up on his face like an inchworm. He stood to get himself something to drink, but stopped when he heared Lebrenth mumble. He moved closer:

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

Then Lebrenth rolled onto the ground with a thump.






Jez bit his lip. He had 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..." wondered Jez to himself. "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, irritably, 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."

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 unconscious 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 exotic fantasy forest plant life - but I don't quite know what side affects that may have...is there an easier way to cure him?"






The daemon gave an elaborate shrug, and knelt, examining Lebrenth's prone body. Taking hold of the Skiffy moderator by the chin, he pulled the unconscious 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 after all." Before Jez could raise a protest He continued. "Your way does sound more practical and efficient. 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 Lebrenth, He stared for a few moments longer, before allowing the councilor to drop to the floor. "Do you know what happened?"






"Do I know what happened?" Jez asked incredulously, "Rai just dropped him here unconscious 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 appearance of thick fog over the area?"

"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." replied the Daemon Lord dismissively, his eyes examining every inch of the room.

"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 poured the mixture down Lebby's throat and stood well back looking anxious.






As they watched, Lebrenth's body began to twitch. His fingers trembling, the shivers continued up his limbs to his chest, until his 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 unconscious moderator's twitching became more violent. One of Lebrenth's nigh on flailing limbs came crashing against the Chancellor’s leg, Jez leaping away just in time to avoid a similar blow.

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

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

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

[Crunchyfrog]

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 souls 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 str