Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sdcc6.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcc6!ir278 From: ir278@sdcc6.UUCP (=[Useless Ulysses]=) Newsgroups: net.jokes Subject: "The Wraith", final chapter. Message-ID: <1843@sdcc6.UUCP> Date: Wed, 26-Dec-84 00:43:42 EST Article-I.D.: sdcc6.1843 Posted: Wed Dec 26 00:43:42 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 27-Dec-84 03:03:17 EST Organization: U.C. San Diego, Academic Computer Center Lines: 161 Some of you may remember a story I published to this network a while ago called "The Wraith". Well, the author has returned to San Diego for two weeks, so he wrote a final chapter to his saga. If you would like a copy of the original 20 chapters (I recommend them), or have any compliments/comments/complaints, write me at sdcsvax!sdcc7!ir278. ----------------- Dear Reader: since what has transpired since chapter I is a little confusing, I will give a brief chart of (major) events here before beginning with the chapter dealing where last the series left off. WARNING This series has been found to contribute to the wearing-out of 'n' keys, if you know what I mean. EVENT CHART Thoron's relative gets enslaved. Everybody goes off looking for him. On an island which carries people racially intolerant of dwarves, the group gets in trouble; sent thru a magic hoop to a hinter-land. (Matthias Reinsch and others disappear). The king which sent them thru the hoop had confisticated their posessions until their return; Sartar took off with the entire treasury. After a while the group travels to another dimension; posessions found, but Sartar sold them. Owner willing to part with them for slaying of Krith. Group goes out looking for Krith. After an extremely long and tangled series of events, the group gets past a sphinx and sees a pyramid structure which is guessed to be Krith's place. XXI (wraps it up) After assuming that it is Krith's hang-out, the group wanders around inside, watching out for the diversity of traps laid. The group come upon an arena and Mhohoram puts on the crown they got from Sith Kith Kith in exchange for knowledge, suddenly feeling superior. Getting the feeling that he is supposed to open a certain door, he does so, releasing a dragon, which, with it's gaze, transforms Pierre with one deep stare into a terra-cotta statue. The rest of the group overcomes the dragon and leaves the remains of Pierre on the edge of the arena. Krith's laboratory had the appearance of a rat lab with an absense of rats. On a central table was a living bat confined within a wire frame, it's wings extended (as well as it's chest; that is to say the chest had been opened up and the heart was beating away). I suppose the lab also must've had the appearance of a chemical lab, since various glass containers, beakers, powders, scales, etc., were strewn about (there were also a number of books upon a shelf). Krith turned out to be a female (so what), seven-foot tall eight-fingered humanoid with red eyes who was a powerfull sorcerous. (Earlier, Thoron and others were arguing about poking around in odd areas to look for treasures. Thoron gave an example of why Krith should leave a powerful weapon lying around: "No, look! See, Krith says, "What'll I do with this legendary sword? I've already got the 'Okay Knife'...I guess I'll put it with this demon, I guess it'll be safe there!"(breaks out into a snicker, as does others)) Almost everyone is injured as they run after Krith, her throwing little spells over her shoulder as she runs along that almost kill the Wraith and several other people. Eventually a large room is reached, within which is a branch shaking in the air. It wallops Thoron on his head, but Winn Dexter grabs hold of it and is thrown out of the room, where it stops moving of it's own accord. Everyone in the room gets a huge spiderweb covering them. Krith is on a ledge high up in the room, laughing her head off. She waves her hands at Thoron, who vanishes without a trace. Still laughing, she waves her hands at Warth, also called Mouse, who in turn starts laughing. As his very being begins to change, he had a waking dream: Krith: "Let's see...I think I'll change you into a mouse! How fitting!" Warth (frowning): "Not a squirrel?" Krith: "All right, I'll change you into a squirrel!" Warth: "No, wait a minute. I'm not sure..." Krith: "You can either be changed into a mouse or a squirrel. Which is it?" Warth: "What about a dragon?" Krith: (doing a moron-impersonation): "Oh, okay! I'll change you into a dragon!" He scampered away. Mhohoram was able to send a wall of force up to Krith, through which she was not able to throw more sorceries, so she walked backwards into the rock wall. Mhohoram freed any others there were to be freed and they walked a short distance to a lavish bedroom, obviously Krith's. A notable feature was a large wooden chair shaped like the base of a tree. Mhohoram seated himself in it and started pressing different buttons until the chair swivled around and he was on the other side of a wall with Krith in front of him. Mhohoram finally slew Krith but he himself was extremely beat up. For one thing, he had absorbed a lightning bolt. Meanwhile, the mouse on the bed of Krith spotted a black cat entering the chamber. He ducked beneath a maroon pillow which the cat was about to lift up when another party member attracted the cat's attention by grabbing at it. The cat raked this person, but was slaughtered (which was fine to the mouse). The remains of Krith was a small ball of withered blackness. Several people had asked them to retrieve Krith's head, but it was hoped they would not mind particularly what condition she was in. Unlikely as it may seem, through the wonders in the books in Krith's lab, Pierre was restored more-or-less to his original state, although his face had the appearance of being partially melted and one of his ears had broken off. The books did not have quite the same success with Warth. After experimenting with several different techniques, it was little more than a limp ball of fur. After resting a night in the different rooms, Mhohoram walked to the lab where the mouse was on a table. The magician Estarriol Nochay looked up from reading a tome near the table where the mouse lay. "Is he dead yet?" "Our friend Warth, I fear, is squeaking his last. I have no idea what's going on with him. Maybe he couldn't take the different view of the universe. Maybe he contracted some disease. I dunno." Now that either your heart is breaking, you're cheering, or you're totally uninvolved and indifferent, I have to tell you that this guy was helped by something called Wind Squirrel. Sorry! I'm not *trying* to make it like a comic-book! The group of people travelled all the way back to where they were originally sent on the mission. The one who sent them created a golden door in the air, which our group stepped through, and into space, where there were hazy golden lines where corners would be in hallways. The ways to travel were numerous. "I didn't know space had halls." declared Winn Dexter. Finally, they wandered around to their own dimension and a familiar-looking terrain. There were several dwarves which unfortunately believed them to be ghosts, since they were not yet solid. They hastily stepped back into somewhere else and walked behind some rocks to become solid. Escorted to a dwarven fortress (don't worry, it's not another story), they find....... Thoron!! He, he said, was transmitted to yet another universe, but through the aid of friendly creatures he was sent here. His father wanted him and his companions to let his son (Thoron's younger brother) tag along and see the world. The other person's name was Thorax. Winn commented, "Thorax and Thoron! Son of Moron!" Any similarities between insect anatomy and the dwarf's name is purely coincidental. :\