There are 3 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Awards 2005
From: "Edward L Murray" <elm.murray@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
2. Reminder: Check the Message Board, 6/3/2005, 12:00 am
From: WeaversFiction
3. [DL-J] Setting The Stage
From: trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
1
Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2005 07:11:59 -0700
From: "Edward L Murray" <elm.murray@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: Awards 2005
The awards Page has been updated with links at the top showing the
different
worlds and the nominations already submitted. I am extending the time
of
submission to June 12, 2005. Any post from June 1st 2004 to May 31st
2005
is eligible. You can also submit who you think was the best rookie
writer
the most creative or the best writer of the year. You can find all the
information you'll need at the following link.
http://www.geocities.com/elm5.geo/Dragonlands/Awards2005/ww_awards_template_
2005.htm
Please be patient with me as I update the list each night before I go
to
bed.
Thanks
Edward L Murray
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Message: 2
Date: 2 Jun 2005 23:50:23 -0000
From: WeaversFiction
Subject: Reminder: Check the Message Board, 6/3/2005, 12:00 am
Reminder from the Calendar of WeaversFiction
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 01:42:44 EDT
From: trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[DL-J] Setting The Stage
Tara
Day 1, Early Afternoon
/snip from [DL-J] Kisses Sweeter Than Wine/
Corwin grabbed the front of Oga's tunic with one hand and swung his
massive
fist again and again into his face, and would have continued to pummel
him, if
Syngnath's frantic voice wasn't echoing in his head to look after
Hsina.
Keeza was frightened for her rider and could not reach her there in the
quartermaster's office.
Corwin dropped Oga with a heavy thud, and hoped that the bruise he'd
have
when he came round would hurt! He gave him one more good kick in the
ribs before
he turned to look at the woman he loved.
/end snip/
Tara watched as Corwin turned away from the prone form of Counselor
Oga, and
hurried over to tend to Hsina. She told Varaenna to make sure the med
center
was warned that they would soon be receiving a very important patient.
She
was tempted to tell Corwin to hurry, and to remind him of Hsina's value
to the
warren, but then realized it was unnecessary. Unless she was totally
misreading the situation, Corwin's personal feelings for Hsina would
lend greater
urgency to his actions than even his knowledge of her importance as a
seadragon-queenrider. She knew that Hsina would be in good hands with
Corwin.
Counselor Oga was another matter. "You might as well give up
pretending to
be unconscious," she said unsympathetically.
Oga groaned and half-rolled over, then made as if to sit up - only to
be
stopped when he found the point of Jerram's sword just inches from his
throat. "I
fear there has been some great misunderstanding here," he said, rubbing
his
jaw where Corwin had punched him.
"And *I* fear that you've caused a great number of misunderstandings,"
Tara
replied coldly, motioning for a number of guards to come forward.
"What have
you done with Emperor Toru?"
Oga looked shocked. "I?" he asked. "I came into this warren with my
rescue
party to find him and his daughter, Her Royal Highness Princess Kiyomi.
If
you have harmed them, I warn you that..."
Tara waved off his reply. "I'm not even going to bother to question
you,
since I know that anything you tell me will be a lie anyway. We will
make our
own contact with the Kataani generals offshore and discuss this matter
with
them. We may, if we decide we can trust them sufficiently, let them
come ashore
and inspect the warren for themselves." Just as well Hsina would be in
the med
center, she'd scream if she heard Tara was even considering such a
thing.
"As for you, however, YOUR freedom will be limited to a rather small
and
thick-walled cell in the lower levels of the warren." She motioned to
Jerram and the
guards. "Take him away!"
She stood watching them go. Oga didn't seem inclined to make trouble,
though
that was probably more due to the fact that Jerram still had the point
of his
sword pressed against the back of the sorcerer's neck than any sudden
change
of heart on his part. She would have to have him carefully watched
until such
time as they could arrange some sort of truce with the Kataani army and
turn
Oga back over to them - as a prisoner, hopefully. She remembered from
his
last visit here just how dangerous he was, and what sort of powers he
commanded.
As far as she was concerned, he couldn't be out of here quickly enough!
* * * * *
Oga stood impassively as the heavy iron door clanged shut behind him.
No
doubt the darkness in the tiny cell was meant to be disconcerting to a
human
prisoner, but Kataani eyes were adapted to see in far lower levels of
light than
weak Lander eyes were. He saw one of the guards peering in through the
small
observation slit in the door, and the Counselor found it humorous that
the
guard could probably see nothing but darkness inside the cell in any
case.
A small wooden bench was attached to the wall, and Oga sat down on it
and
waited. That was all there was for him to do now, wait...wait until
the proper
time came to end all of this.
Everything he had planned had come to pass perfectly. He knew by now
that
General Sentari's attack toward Haven had failed. However, it hadn't
needed to
succeed - what it needed to do was to make Tara aware that he knew the
location of the Scepter of Ythfaru. And in this, he knew, the attack
had succeeded
perfectly. If all else had gone as planned, then the deliberately
prolonged
attack on the pirate Dolfis' ship would have drawn dragonriders to his
rescue.
He knew that two seadragons and their riders had left the warren
earlier, and
only a short time ago another dragon and rider had left. He was
counting on
Tara's need to make sure that her great prize - soon to be his - was
still
safe. If he read her right, she would have it removed from Haven.
The possibility existed, of course, that she would have it moved to
another
inaccessible inland site. But that was another reason or having the
huge
Kataani army offshore. Tara would, he reasoned, want the Scepter here
to use as a
bargaining chip - or, if necessary, as a means of holding back the army
from
entering the warren. In the hands of one of her traitorous Kataani
dragonriders, this would be possible.
Of course, he could not appear to be *too* much of a threat at the
moment,
for this to work. He'd been prepared to accept a good beating, most
probably a
stabbing, from the giant warrior-woman as a way of demonstrating his
"powerlessness." He'd deliberately put himself into a vulnerable
position, convinced
that Tara would not permit her subordinate to kill him as she surely
would have
liked. It had almost upset his plans when Hsina collapsed on her own
*before* she could act out her part in his carefully orchestrated play.
He'd had to
admit, he'd been momentarily at a loss as to what to do. Fortunately,
the big
ex-sailor had come to the rescue, and given Oga a clout to the jaw that
had
made it seem perfectly reasonable that they'd be able to take him
prisoner.
Yes, he decided, on the whole, things were progressing very smoothly!
Now, Oga himself was inside the warren. Exactly where he wanted to be.
Yes,
things were progressing exactly as he had planned. Now he only needed
to
wait.
* * * * *
Tanami
Day 1, Afternoon
Offshore (with Clowie, Emperor Toru, and Baron Kiriisha)
/snip from [DL-J] Imperial Rescue/
"Look!" said Clowie, pointing ahead of them and a bit to the left.
Tanami and
the Emperor both peered into the murky darkness of the waters and saw
what
human eyes would never have been able to detect at such a distance.
Kataani
soldiers - hundreds of them - were moving in their direction, forming a
living
wall of shields and spears.
/end snip/
Tanami gritted her teeth as she watched Clowie interpose herself and
her
dragon in the path of the oncoming soldiers, but refrained from
ordering her not
to do so. The fact was that as long as Emperor Toru was seated behind
her on
Kethriss' neck, she dared not engage in combat. Although she hoped it
would
not come to pass, it just might be that Clowie and Faragone would need
to buy
time for her to get the Emperor to safety. At her order, Kethriss
turned around
and began moving rapidly south, toward the center of the Kataani army's
line
where - she hoped - they'd find the commander, General Nakamo.
Behind them, she saw Faragone began to backwing, swimming in reverse to
keep
the onrushing Kataani warriors from making contact any sooner than
necessary.
It was clear that they'd soon be overtaken, however, and she saw
Faragone's
sides began to swell as the dragon ingested a full load of seawater to
superheat into steam.
In a moment, though, it all became academic as a second group of
Kataani
soldiers suddenly surrounded Kethriss and her two passengers. They
seemed to have
come out of nowhere, and Tanami cursed herself for not being more
attentive.
The soldiers quickly formed a circular perimeter around the seadragon,
while
others rushed forward toward Clowie and her dragon. As soon as the
first
group of warriors saw the new arrivals, they turned tail and
disappeared into the
murky waters.
"I don't understand," said Tanami. "Are we prisoners, or...?"
"No," said the Emperor with a slow shake of his head, as Clowie and
Faragone
swam up alongside them. "I know these warriors. They are of my
personal
regiment, part of the Imperial Guard."
An officer swam up beside them, bowing. "Your majesty!" he said,
barely able
to contain his astonishment and relief. "You are alive! We feared the
worst!" He turned a dark look on Tanami. "Make no move, traitor, or
else..."
Toru held up a hand. "Hold, Captain! There is much you do not know.
Conduct
me...conduct *us*...to General Nakamo's headquarters, at once!"
The Captain gulped. "At...at once, Majesty!"
* * * * *
General Nakamo was, in a word, speechless when the Emperor glided into
his
Headquarters perimeter on the back of a seadragon. Toru was quite
patient in
explaining, for a second time, that Tanami and Clowie were not enemies,
but even
with the General's barked orders it took a few minutes to get the
troops
surrounding the Headquarters back into formation and ensure that none
of them
would take it upon themselves to attack the seadragon riders whom they
clearly
considered traitors to their own kind.
Once order was restored, the Emperor demanded a full report. General
Nakamo,
with the assistance of his aides, provided it in a quick and efficient
manner. Baron Kiriisha was inclined to ask detailed questions about
how Counselor
Oga presented his case, back at Neaopi, that the Emperor had been
imprisoned at
the warren. Finally, Toru raised a hand to stop the questioning.
"The good Counselor himself can best answer these questions," said the
Emperor. "And they are many, as we can all now see. Where is Oga now?
Is he in
custody?"
General Nakamo cleared his throat nervously. "We...we believe so," he
said.
Toru narrowed his eyes. "You BELIEVE so?"
"Majesty, it transpires that while the senior commanders were occupied
elsewhere, Counselor Oga led a platoon of warriors from one of the
forward units
ashore, on what he told one of the lieutenants was an...armed
reconnaissance."
Toru frowned. "Counselor Oga would not risk himself in the front lines
on a
military mission without good reason."
"His own reasons, perhaps," Tanami ventured.
"Just so," said Nakamo. "I certainly issued no such orders. And now
it
appears that the entire army was lured here on a wild eel-chase. Why?"
"The answer should be obvious!" Baron Kiriisha snapped. "He wants..."
The Emperor held up a hand and gave the Baron a stern look. "He wants
power,
and this is his way of getting it, clearly." Tanami breathed a sigh of
relief, knowing that the Scepter of Ythfaru was not something to be
casually
discussed even to a senior army commander. The fewer who knew of that
cursed
artifact's existence, the better.
"A question, if I may, General," Clowie said hesitantly. "Who were
those
soldiers that we saw at first? They looked as though they might attack
us."
General Nakamo turned to the officer who had led the Imperial Guard
unit that
had escorted them in. "Captain Sanai?" he asked. "I had not heard
this
part."
The Captain saluted. "Sir, I believe she is right. We were escorting
your
messenger to Brigadier Sentari, if necessary to enforce your order that
he
appear before you to explain his deviation from your orders. The
warriors we
encountered were from his brigade, and in my judgment they did in fact
mean to
attack His Majesty and the dragonriders. We intervened, of course, to
protect
His Majesty. I apologize for not delivering your message, but I deemed
it more
important to bring His Majesty and the Baron back here to safety."
"Quite correct," General Nakamo said, nodding absently. "But it adds
to the
mystery of Brigadier Sentari's actions, and that of his brigade."
"General, it sounds like there is something I should be told," the
Emperor
prompted.
General Nakamo quickly explained how Sentari's brigade had attacked
directly
inland, instead of swinging south to attack the northern defenses of
the
warren. That, in conjunction with a second, equally unplanned attack
by a junior
commander on the main front, had led to a costly debacle.
"There is more here than meets the eye," said the Emperor. "And I
think we
are more likely to get them from Brigadier Sentari than from Counselor
Oga.
General, carry out your plan and have him brought here. We will wait."
* * * * *
Evening, Jasra Warren
[Plastyra comes!] Varaenna announced, and Tara had bolted out onto the
green
before the echoes of the queen's voice had faded. Corwin had already
confirmed, after finding Ansel and Eliase, that Tyler and his dragon
had left with
Dolfis. Despite the dim light, she recognized the pirate captain and
his first
mate seated behind Tyler as the multicolored dragon landed.
"Welcome to Jasra," she said, as she watched the three of them
dismount.
"A hell of a welcome," Dolfis said with a frown, while Tyler stood
behind and
looked a bit embarrassed. Griffen, as always, just looked dour and let
Dolfis do the talking with the warrenfolk. "Plucked off the deck of my
ship
without so much as a 'please' or 'thank you'..." Dolfis groused.
"Where, had you stayed, you would have either ended up in the custody
of the
Kataani Empire or else feeding the fish," Tara reminded him. "Let's
drop the
small talk, Dolfis, do you have it?"
Dolfis grinned wolfishly. "Ah, well now, that depends on how much it's
worth
to you."
Tyler rolled his eyes and detached a well-wrapped bundle from
Plastyra's
harness and handed it across Dolfis' shoulder to Tara. The pirate
quickly
snatched it and held it close to him, eyeing both of them suspiciously.
Now it was Tara's turn to roll her eyes. "Dolfis, would you rather I
send
your daughter to 'reason' with you? In any case, you may leave the
warren, but
*that* is not going with you. Not yet, at least."
Dolfis sighed. "You drive a hard bargain," he said. "Oh, very well."
He
gently unwrapped the package and Tara's eyes widened. She reached down
and
brushed her fingers over the chill, metal length of the Scepter of
Ythraru.
* * * * *
Down in his cell, Oga looked up sharply. His eyes gleamed in the
darkness,
as though he could see through the solid rock - which, in effect, he
could do
by virtue of his magic. Almost time, he thought, almost time...
(NRPG: No tags just yet - as the title suggests, this post "sets the
stage"
for the final confrontation. My assumption is that all of the players
have
either returned to the warren by now, or - as in the case of Tanami and
Clowie -
soon will. Things are about to start happening!!)
Submitted by:
John
Tara & Varaenna
Tanami & Kethriss
Counselor Oga
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