A little shorter this time, without much happening. This is
mostly set-up for the next couple of chapters (where things
really get messed up). This is to also answer a request I
received back at chapter 1 that I show what's going on in
the home universes.
Oh yeah, can we *PLEASE* drop the fight arguments? It's
annoying and a moot point. Complaints won't make me change
the scene's outcome, and there is not going to be a rematch
(no matter how much Ranma wants one).
I'd like to thank Mark (AKA Nightfire) for pre-reading this
fic, and for being a sounding board for some of my stranger
ideas.
Disclaimer: I own none of this (except the plot and the
observers, and two of those observers were creations of my
GM). The mutilation below was written for entertainment
purposes only. I am not being forced to write this
disclaimer. The scimitars at my throat do not exist.
The Warriors Path
Chapter 3: Interludes or "News From Home"
One the scrying mirror, the image of Drizzt knocked on the
door to Pirotess' room.
"That's no fun," Amanda said.
"He's not Ranma," Jade replied. "Of course, knowing Drizzt,
he might try to get back at Deedlit, and that should be
fun."
Ranger placed his hand on the control crystal for the
mirror. "Let's see what's going on in the home realities
for this group, shall we."
*******
The world of Toril, a land of fantasy. On it, and in it,
live dragons, wizards, elves, and a host of other creatures
that test the imaginations of humans.
The Harpell's are a family of wizards, known to be somewhat
eccentric. Examples include Regweld, who for years tried to
cross-breed a frog and a horse (the scary thing is that he
succeeded). Another is Bidderdoo, who turned himself into
the family dog, only to later find a way to turn back into a
human but it backfired and instead he became a werewolf.
Then there was the statue of Matherly, which was the wizard
himself (the moral of this story is don't mix potions,
ever). Looking at the residents, the fact that a stream on
the mansion grounds runs uphill and the rail fence in really
a painting on an invisible wall does not seem so out of
place.
What did seem out of place, at least to Harkle Harpell, were
the half a dozen dwarves at the front gate. They were
typical dwarves, meaning they were short, broad shouldered,
and bearded. All were armored in mithril and armed to the
teeth. The leader was a red-bearded warrior armed with a
large, notched axe and wearing a helm with one horn broken
off. He walked though the gate (shoving it open with such
force as to nearly break it) and stood before Harkle, who
was too nervous to do anything sensible, like run. The
dwarf grabbed the collar of Harkle's robes, and pulled the
wizard's head down so that they saw eye to eye. Fires to
rival the nine hells burned in Bruenor Battlehammer's single
eye as he uttered three words.
"Where's me girl?"
*******
<One of many Earths, Nerima>
The door to the Cat Cafe burst open, and in walked Akane
Tendo, followed by Ukyo Konji. Akane slammed her hands on
the counter, denting it, and leveled her gaze at the
withered form at the cash register.
Cologne looked up at the intruder. "Is something bothering
you, child?"
"What have you done with Ranma you old crone?"
"What are you talking about. I have not seen son-in-law for
almost a week. Shampoo is going out of her mind with
worry."
"Going?" Ukyo asked.
Akane ignored her companions comment. "He hasn't been seen
in five days. Nabiki says that he isn't within a two
hundred mile radius. I know he's with that bimbo, so where
is he?"
Cologne was silent for a moment. "I was afraid of this."
"Afraid of what?" Akane was ready to smash something (as
usual).
"It is too much to explain here. I need to gather a few
items before anything can be done. I will meet you at the
Tendo dojo in one hour. Is that acceptable?"
"No," Ukyo said, whipping out her BAS, "it's not. Where's
Ranchan?"
Cologne sighed, and disarmed Ukyo before the girl could so
much as blink. "Child, listen carefully. If I am right,
and I pray that I am not, Ranma is no longer on this world.
Five days ago I felt a surge of energy near here. When I
tried to investigate, there was nothing at that location.
Now, I need time to prepare a spell that might be able to
locate him. If you wish to be there, fine. If you are
going to argue, leave now. Do you understand?"
Both girls nodded quickly.
"Good," Cologne tossed Ukyo's weapon back to her, "now I
will meet you in an hour. Go."
They left. Neither ran, but they also didn't want to be
around the mummy on the off chance she went from annoyed to
angry.
*******
"Cologne knows magic?" Amanda asked.
"How else," Jade replied, "do you think she's lived for a
couple hundred years? I wonder what will happen when they
find out where those two are, and who they're with."
Rangers laughter was answer enough.
*******
<Lodoss>
Karla watched the events unfolding several universes over.
A pair unbalancing factors had been removed from Lodoss, and
Karla meant to see that they stayed that way. Luckily,
those two had been too preoccupied with the search for their
long lost loves to take part in the local events.
But how could she keep them on that world? For the sake of
Lodoss, those two had to be kept away, they were just too
powerful. But Karla didn't know of anything that would even
provide a threat.
Karla's body gave another sign of it's decline, this time in
the form of an ache in it's joints. She would soon have to
find another one...
A thought suddenly struck her. She had not thought of her
elder sister in centuries. It was the perfect solution.
After a short search, Karla discovered her sibling was
already in that dimension, attempting conquest.
*Ten thousand years and she hasn't leaned what I did in a
few hundred?* Karla asked herself, and set out to gather the
energy needed for a dimensional communication spell.
*******
"Karla's sister?" Amanda asked.
"Think about it," Zaranth said, "pale skin, purple eyes,
switches bodies, and is ten thousand years old, give or
take."
Amanda looked confused (no surprise there, someone known as
"the divine slut" wouldn't be known for brain power).
"I'll give you a hint, her name starts with an 'M.'"
Jade got it. "Oh shit, not her."
"Yes, her. And you though it was bad enough already."
*******
DelRoy, eldest of the Harpells, was unused greeting
visitors. So he was rather surprised when the High Lady
Alustriel of Silverymoon appeared in the Harpell mansion
without warning just a few minutes earlier. Her appearance
wasn't what caused the surprise, rather it was the fact that
she appeared in the hall outside his door, and promptly
began knocking.
"I must say," Harpell said, bringing his guest a cup of tea,
"that your visit is most unexpected."
"I could feel the explosion all the way to Silverymoon,"
Alustriel replied. "I had to make sure that it was not
something that might threatened the northland, among other
things."
"My daughters assistant mixed several potions and stirred
the brew with a wand of wonder. As though Matherly wasn't
fair warning not to attempt such an act. There was a small
dimensional instability, but it was quickly corrected before
much damage was done. None were harmed by the explosion
save the assistant, I'm afraid he didn't survive. The
instability was rather interesting though, and the residue
is being studied."
The door chose that point to shatter inward. The dwarf that
kicked the door stomped into the room and grabbed DelRoy by
his robes, repeating his earlier question.
"Where's me girl?"
Alustriel shook her silver-maned head. "I can see why you
wanted to be dropped off outside the town. You do like to
make an entrance."
Bruenor shrugged. "Makes 'em more cooperative if they think
ye gonna rip 'em apart with a wrong answer." He tightened
his grip on the wizards robe. "That doesn't mean I won't."
"Has your daughter disappeared?" DelRoy asked.
Bruenor released the elderly wizard with a growl of disgust.
"Drizzt Do'Urden is missing," Alustriel said. "He
disappeared from this world the same time as that
explosion."
"How can you be so sure?"
She held up a small locket. "This can track Drizzt wherever
he is on this world. It grows warm when near him. It took
several years for me to recover it from those I lent it to."
Bruenor seemed a little embarrassed by that statement. "When
the explosion happened, it became colder than ice. It has
not changed in temperature since. And since Cattie-brie was
with Drizzt, it is safe to assume they are both gone."
"Dead?"
"No, dead would produce a different effect. Were any of you
able to find out where the dimension rift went?"
DelRoy shook his head. "No, it was as if the rift had
attached itself to a summoning spell. We are attempting to
track the summoning, but it was rather complex. Not to
mention the spell did not begin or end in this world. The
path was near enough to our universe that the rift latched
on to it."
"Perhaps I can help. Perhaps using the residue of the rift
as a guide, and with the help of the location spells on the
locket, we can find them."
"That would be most welcome, Lady Alustriel."
All Bruenor could follow in the conversation was that they
were trying to find his only daughter, and his closest
friend. That was good enough for him.
*******
"I always knew I would one day have to track the boy down,"
Cologne said as she unpacked several arcane instruments in
the Tendo dojo. "For that purpose, I created this." She
placed a small statue on a in the center of the room. The
statue was of Ranma, accurate down to the individual hairs
in his pigtail. A second statue remained in her pack, this
one of Ranma's other form.
"Ryoga's been missing since then as well," Nabiki feigned
boredom, "could that be related?"
Cologne though for a second, then shook her head. "Even if
that were true, I don't want to perform a location spell on
Ryoga. There's something about that boy that makes it
impossible to locate or guide him. He's even caused GPS
devises to report wrong. I tried one such spell on him a
few months ago, the results were unpleasant."
"Does that," Ukyo asked, "have anything to with the
warehouse explosion that leveled three blocks?"
"Now you understand why I don't want to try that again."
"I'm surprised you're still alive," Akane grumbled.
"As am I. No matter, Ryoga is a lost cause for location,
but Ranma is not. Now, the second component we need is
something that was important to Ranma, something he
interacted with a great deal."
"Can you rephrase that please?" Ukyo asked, "I think the old
bastards are a little confused by all of this."
Indeed, the old farts in question were either crying their
eyes out (Soun), moaning about their woes (Genma), or
attempting to get drunk (both).
"No matter," Cologne continued, "we need something that he
might have left a shadow of his essence on. Casual
interactions will not work."
"Will this help?" Kasumi held out a notebook Ranma used in
school.
"We've seen him in class," Akane said, "he doesn't use it
enough."
"Look on the second page from the end."
They turned to that page, and then knew that they had hit
paydirt. On the page was a half-finished (but very well
done) drawing of a woman with long hair. On the opposite
page, in Ranma's handwriting, were the words "Who is she?
Why does she haunt my dreams?"
*******
Two spells were cast at the same time, for the same purpose,
with targets close together. Surprisingly, neither
observing party knew of the other, though both views were
the same.
The view was that of two youths sleeping in a room
somewhere, with a slender, dark skinned man dozing in a
chair off to the side.
*******
"There's Drizzt," Alustriel said. "But I do not recognize
the location or who the others are."
"Do ye see me girl?" Bruenor asked, searching the image in
the scrying bowl.
"No, but there appears to be another room connected to this
one, it's a simple matter to direct the view."
*******
"There he is," Akane huffed, "the jerk was safe all along."
"Ryoga too," Ukyo said, "that jackass must have really
gotten lost. And dragged Ranma there with him."
"The question that should be asked," Cologne mused, "is who
is that in the chair?"
"Doesn't look like any of the usual suspects," Nabiki wasn't
paying much attention to the image, instead wondering how
much money she could make with a device like this.
"There's a door," Akane said, pointing to the edge of the
view, "maybe someone else is in there."
*******
The view shifted to a similar room. This time the beds were
occupied by a woman with auburn hair and another woman who's
coloration was similar to the slender man in the other
room. On the opposite wall a hammock was strung containing
a blond woman. They appeared normal, except for the ears on
two of the women...
*******
Bruenor breathed a sigh of relief. Just seeing his daughter
alive had erased the fears that had haunted him since
Alustriel came to Mithril Hall seeking information on
Drizzt.
"I'd say those are elves," DelRoy commented, "but their ears
are rather strange."
"Agreed," said Alustriel, "I wonder if they're being held
there."
"No," Bruenor put in, "look at the way Drizzt and me girl
are sleeping. If there'd been trouble, they'd be awake, or
wouldn't be sleeping soundly."
"You know them best, what should we do."
Bruenor was silent for a long time. "Can ye use one of them
lockets to keep track of where they are now?"
"Yes."
"Do it. They made their choice. They wanted to go out into
the world. We've no right to stop them just because they're
not within easy reach. Might we be able to send a message
across as well? Or what about bringing them home?"
Now it was Alustriel's turn for silence. "Either option
would take a great deal of energy, but they are possible."
"Good. What we're gonna do is send a message across, and
give them a way to call for help if they need it. Nothing
more."
"The communication item you want may take a while..." DelRoy
trailed off when he looked back at Bruenor.
"Then work harder. Ye have 'till tomorrow."
*******
The picture matched the woman in the hammock.
"That pervert, running off with some alien hussies, and
dragging poor Ryoga with him." Akane's ranting was, as
usual, ignored.
"I'm not sure where this place is," Cologne was saying, "but
I suppose I must go there if we are to know what is going
on."
"Wait," Ukyo said, "what are you talking about?"
"Simple, child. We need answers that cannot be given though
observation. The only choice is for me to travel there."
Akane chose this point to stop her ranting. "I'm going with
you. No way I'm letting him get away with this."
Cologne bopped her on the head. "Child, I am not taking
anyone. It is dangerous for me, it would be suicide for
anyone else. The spell requires hours of preparation, and
enough energy to power Tokyo for a week. I give you my word
I will not force Ranma to do anything, including marry my
granddaughter, until we all know what is going on. Is that
satisfactory?"
Akane and Ukyo nodded.
"Good, then I shall begin at once. Within a week, we should
have the information we want."
"Just be sure to bring the jerk back here. I'm gonna give
him a pounding he'll never forget."
*******
The sub-demon was not happy. It's two favorite toys had
disappeared. Nerima just wasn't any fun anymore. It pulled
out it's map to see where to go next.
*Hey, America is having elections this year. No, wait, "too
many cooks spoil the soup" or some such. Might be nice to
say hi to the guys over in D.C. Or maybe I should stop by
Bill's place. Nah, he has enough to do running that
company....* The thoughts trailed off as the demon floated
over the Pacific ocean.
*******
The Abyss, a collection of over six hundred sub-dimensions
clustered together in a stack. On one of the lower layers,
a being by the name of Errtu sat, brooding. For nearly
three years, the demonlord had been trapped in the Abyss,
banished there by the thrice-cursed Drizzt Do'Urden. Over
the past centuries, the balor had risen to great power, yet
all that was crumbling away because of a single mortal.
It seemed odd that a creature who's face was a cross between
an ape and a dog would have any expression. Even so, Errtu
was scowling, as he had since he was banished to the Abyss
by the renegade drow. He was the laughing stock of the
Abyss, or had been until the spider queen Lloth had
entrusted him with her power during the time of troubles.
Even so, there was something he had to do before his rise to
power could begin again.
He had to kill Drizzt Do'Urden.
*I can help you do that.*
Even a balor can be surprised by a voice coming from
nowhere. "Who's there."
*An ally. I can bring you to him. I can help bring you to
the world where Do'Urden is.*
Errtu smiled. "And what do you want in return?"
*A service which you may be able to provide.*
"We shall see. If you get me to Drizzt Do'Urden, your reward
will be whatever you desire."
*Agreed.*
"May I have your name, my new friend?"
*My name, is Ashram.*
End Chapter 3.
notes:
1) I think we all know by now that BAS stands for Big Ass
Spatula.
2) 10 points if you can guess who Karla's sister is. (gee,
does that count as anime?)
3) I got the idea for Colognes location spells from the
Guardians of the Flame series. They require something that
would identify the target without a doubt. Images work most
of the time, as would some other things, depending on the
circumstances. In one of the novels, a piece of metalwork
created by the target was used. I figured a drawing that
Ranma had spent hours on would work as well. Also, since
the spell was being used interdimensionaly, they needed
multiple items so they didn't pick up some other Ranma.
For anyone who is so much as considering contemplating the
idea of thinking about the notion of asking whether or not
Entreri is going to show up, I will tell you now, he isn't.
I have a way to get him to Earth (dimensional rift during
the time of troubles), but I wouldn't be able to do anything
with him once he was there (or I would end up changing his
character so much he wouldn't be recognizable). The show up
and duel to a draw routine was old even in the novels (which
I think is why it didn't happen in Starless Night). Though
I have to admit it would be fun for Ranma to be beaten
consistently by two different people (two people that aren't
over a century old), I don't want to kill him (if he fights
the assassin, he will loose, then he will die).
Okay, I should have the stats for this group finished soon.
Anyone who want then respond privately. I will make a list
of those who respond then e-mail the stats to them
(discussion possible with the "reply all" function). I
don't want to clutter the list with RPG discussions. It may
be a couple of weeks before I send them out, though, since
the stats will contain information relevant to the next
couple of chapters.
BTW: if you need the first two chapters, e-mail me
privately. I don't have a page (or the time to set one up),
or a host, so this is unavailable on the web. I am revising
the first two chapters (mainly making corrections that were
missed before the release, and trying to make the dialog a
little less dry), but any requests will get the version I
released to the list.